Motorsport News Issue 257 - May 21-June 3, 2003

■■■!■!■ RICHO TO DEBUT NEW CASTROL VY

Australia $5.95 NZ $7.50 incl GST No. 257 May 21 - June 3 2003

Schuey ■ but Still wins in Austria

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moMRMrt issue 257

21 May - 3 June 2003

news and opinion 5

Ingall and Marcos SBR looks at teaming up its aces 6 V8 Enduro Frenzy Who will share with who (whom?)

10 Je m’appele Mario Will Renault grab Benz’s lllien?

12 500 reasons to win Hello takes pole for the Indy 500 15 Getcha hands off! Solberg plans his long service leave 25 Motor Mouth It's Frost! No, I’m wrong, it’s Colin Bond 26 Box Seat Saward hits the hooch. He’s a journo, after ail 82 Talk Converter We have mail. We hope

features 28 Five Minutes with Nicolas Minassian A Frenchman at Team Dynamik 30 Five Minutes with Ryan Briscoe Adding an Aussie flavour to European F3 32 Ingall Speaks Everyone’s favourite Enforcer clears his throat and speaks out 38 To the Left, March! Who brakes with the left and who uses the right?

44 What an FI feeling! Toyota’s finest look at their sophomore season

race coverage

20 Sebastien Co Bourdais breaks through in CART - and then wins again

regulars

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●'I images.com and AFl.

68 Drag Racing

70 Histories

72 National Scene

76 Marketplace

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by CHRIS LAMBDEN

THE dream SBR long distance driver pairing - Russell Ingall and Marcos Ambrose -is an option, according to Ingall himself.

In an in-depth interview with MNews this week (see page 32), Ingall says that putting the two team regulars together in one car is a possibility being considered by the team.

CATs mate Seton's Barra due this weekend

THE midnight oil has been burning in Dandenong this week as Ford Performance Racing prepares to run its second Ford Falcon BA this weekend.

Providing there are no delays in the car's preparation, Glenn Seton will race the car alongside Craig Lowndes's CAT BA and the FPR AU of David Besnard.

The team's schedule was for the car to be loaded onto one of its pantechs and taken straight to Winton, where Seton will shake it down this Friday.

Besnard will not race the car

he has driven so far this year.

The 2002 Queensland 500 winner has been aboard the older of the team's AUs and, should all go to plan, will race the car Seton has driven this season, reliveried in FPR colours (rather that Ford Credit).

There are also a number of detail changes between the team's cars. Seton has raced this year with a remote gearshift linkage, while the taller Besnard has preferred the 'extended lever' version, similar to the Stone Brothers car he raced for the last two seasons.

With the two driving Falcons with different prime backers(Caltex and Pirtek) through the season, it has been assumed that separate co drivers would be brought in to pair with the duo -SBR's Konica star Mark Winterbottom now touted as one. But Ingall's comments suggest that team boss Ross Stone might just be working through the commercial considerations necessary to run a powerhouse lead car.

One option would include negotiation of a 'merged'livery for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 races.

Ingall was frank about the possibility when asked,commenting that: "It's still being talked about at the moment. We're down the road as far as getting driver line-ups together and ... that is a consideration. No doubt about it. Whether it will happen or not remains to be seen. It's

definitely a consideration; an option, for sure.

"Anything can be made to happen!"

SM was to make decisions regarding its long distance line-up a couple of weeks back, but the meeting was postponed. The team is, however,keen to finalise its arrangements as soon as possible.

"That is a consideration.

No doubt about it" -Ingall, below

iRicho loves h STEVEN Richards looks likely to debut the all-new Team Castrol Perkins VY Commodore at Winton this weekend.

At the same time, team boss Larry Perkins said this week that his team's new Commodore is the best car his team has ever

llfl built:

%

I "This is the 41st race I Commodore we've built over the I years and the best yet to come I out of our workshops," he said, i "The new Holden Motorsport< designed V8 engine will give us I back the horsepower gains Ford I have held over Holden since I 1993."

I Team leader Steven Richards

I conducted the shakedown j testing of the car at Winton last E week and pronounced himself 4

more than happy: "The car was good," he told MNews on Monday.

"We didn't have a huge amount of time on track, but we did make two changes to it and it responded positively both times and was better on each occasion," he said.

"Already, it feels better than the VX. The front seems more 'connected' to the rear, if you like. It feels more like a race car.

With the VX, there was always some compromise to get that balance right.

"So, emotionally. I'm happy to drive the new car. Assuming the team is on top of everything else - like spares etc - then we'll run if," he concluded (Richards has been away from the team since the test, running

motorsport sews

NEWS

rose an option

BJR = BJ and JB and JC and AJ OZEMAIL Racing will name its enduro lineup this weekend at Winton. We believe the pairings for the team's two Falcon BAs will be Brad Jones/John Bowe and John Cleland and Andy Jones.

■ Paul Morris has joined the ranks of V8 Supercar drivers who will soon need a babysitter on speed-dial.

Morris's wife Alana gave birth to a son weighing 6 pounds 15 ounces last week. The new addition to the family has been named Nash.

"We're all very happy, and importantly, everyone is healthy and well," said the Dude.

■ Lansvale V8 Supercar driver Cameron MoConville gave a helping hand to the Star Day charity two weeks ago. With the hope of raising funds for the Starlight Children's Foundation, McConville was joined by a whole host of celebrities who helped raise more than $1 million dollars for seriously ill children.

. Dirk Klynsmith

Pirtex, Caltek, 4 or 9? Ingall and Ambrose might have just that problem come the endurance races.

Calder loses licence

CALDER Park has lost its track licence.

CAMS this week announced the cancellation of the licence, effective immediately, due to the operator.

Calder Park Motorsport Promotions Pty Ltd, becoming insolvent, as reported in the last issue of MNews.

A brief statement from motor

is new rocket

in Targa Tasmania), Perkins explained that the new machine is a completely fresh

design: "We've redesigned the whole of the car starting from a clean sheet of paper rather than the evolution process of past years in order to accommodate the new front suspension and the lower, lighter engine under 21 May 2003

Project Blueprint.

"Hopefully this will be reflected in consistently better race times and it was certainly looking good out of the box on test day."

Richards will join Garth Tander, Jason Richards and Simon Wills as the only drivers running 'fullspec' VYs in the championship.

- CHRIS LAMBDEN

sport's governing body,issued on Monday,said: The Board of Calder Park Motorsport Promotions Pty Ltd passed a resolution on 19 March 2003 that the entity was insolvent and has been subsequently placed into administration.

With no expectations of future trading and no ability to pay for Calder Park's track licence for 2003, CAMS President, Colin Osborne, said CAMS had no option but to remove the licence.

"This unfortunately means that no CAMS permitted events can be held at Calder Park after today unless a new operator successfully applies for a track licence", said Osborne.

"Administrators of Calder Park Motorsport Promotions Pty Ltd have been given every opportunity to continue with the current track licence but have chosen not to."

Osborne concluded,"The situation is obviously disappointing for clubs that have meetings planned at Calder Park in the coming months. CAMS will endeavour to provide assistance to the affected clubs in sourcing alternative venues to enable these meetings to run".

■ Maher Algadri has assumed sole ownership of Prancing Horse Racing. Algadri bought a 50 percent stake in the team from founder Tony Raftis last year, and acquired the remaining share two weeks ago.

Raftis will retain an interest in the Nations Cup series through his ownership of the Trident Racing outfit, which runs the new Maserati Trofeos in Group Two of the series, and will contest an N-GT version of the car for outright honours in the Bathurst 24 Hour race in November.

■ Bathurst 24 Hour event manager Brian Lawrence leaves for Europe this week to liase with potential entrants for this year's race.

Lawrence will attend the FIA GT and N-GT round at Brno in the Czech Republic this weekend, an event that will also feature the running of an ETCC round. Amongst those slated for discussions with Lawrence are Monica Sipsz, manager of the works Nordauto Alfa Romeo touring car team, as well as teams that made the trip last year such as Cirtek Racing and Graham Nash Motorsport, The following weekend, Lawrence will attend the Nurburgring 24 Hour to try to drum up further interest in the race around the mountain in November.

■ Speaking of PROCAR and the Nurburgring 24 Hour, Ross Palmer will make his sixth consecutive appearance at the event this year.

Palmer will join fellow PROCAR competitors Peter Boylan, Geoff Morgan and Peter Hansen at the wheel of the Duller Motorsport BMW E36 M3 that finished third in the inaugural Bathurst 24 Hour last year.

5

First pieces ofthe puzzle

THE V8 Supercar co-driver puzzle is getting a little clearer, with Kmart Racing expected to announce soon that Andy Priaulx will rejoin the team for the endurance races.

The Brit, who raced for the KRT squad in the endures last year, below, reportedly told a European source last week that he had confirmed his deal to race a Commodore at Sandown and Bathurst this season.

Priaulx, who has forsaken the British Championship for a BMW drive in the European series, is likely to be paired with Cameron McLean, who tested for the team earlier this year at Winton Raceway.

As usual, KRT is expected to team up its lead drivers, Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly.

With KRT likely to be set, and Holden Racing Team looking at retaining 2002 co-dfivers Jim

Richards and Tomas Mezera, the piece missing from the former TWR Racing outfit is Team Brock. MNews has been told that the driver choice is yet to be settled, three names connected to the team being 2001 Bathurst winner Tony Longhurst, former team owner and Holden Young Lions principal John Faulkner and Yvan Muller, who shared a Kmart car with Priaulx last season.

On the Ford side of the fence, two names have been connected to Dick Johnson's Shell Helix team. Warren Luff, who drove with Cameron McConville at Lansvale last season, is one name we hear, while New Zealand TranzAm ace Andy McElrea is the other.

DJR faces the prospect of having its regular drivers, Steven Johnson and Max Wilson, in their 'own' cars because of the difference in

their size.

Matthew White is likely to rejoin Briggs Motorsport after a strong performance with the squad last season. The Konica V8 Supercar Series frontrunner recently stepped into an exBriggs Falcon AD after starting the season in a Commodore.

Nicolas Minassian is in the frame at team Dynamik (see separate story), possibly to share the ride with TD new lad, Neil McFadyen.

The Formula Ford frontrunner recently joined the team as a 'development' driver, in a similar role to that filled by Mark Winterbottom at Stone Brothers Racing.

With the preference Russell Ingall expressed to share a 'split' SBR Falcon with Marcos Ambrose (see separate story), Winterbottom is the favourite to drive the other SBR Barra in the endures.

The Sfim 3!

S

EXPERIENCED French driver Nicolas Minassian is in line for a V8 Supercar enduro seat following a successful test with Team Dynamik at Mallala last Thursday.

"It was great fun," he enthused, "There was lots of power and they drive really well. I have never driven a car Like that before and it was great," Minassian completed just imder 40 laps during his outing, and the team was pleased with the results.

"He was very good," said team owner Kieren Wills."Obviously tire gearbox was a bit of an issue, with the shift being on the wrong side and in an H-pattern, But that was his only real issue. Apart from that, he was exactly what you'd expect him to be."

No decision has yet been made as to whether Minassian wiU suit up for

Bright horizons Webber and Jaguarjoin forces for the long haul

MARK Webber has made a morale boosting commitment to Jaguar Racing until the end of 2005.

V\Trile the FI norm is to hold back and haggle through the Silly Season until August, Webber and Jaguar surprised the FI fraternity with an announcement last week that the Australian has committed to the team for a further two years.

It suggests that while Jaguar management has clearly decided tliat Webber is a major asset to its team, Webber himself has concluded that Jaguar Racing has the potential to become a front-rimning squad at its present pace of progress.

Initially contracted to Jaguar on a 6

one year plus one year option deal, Webber is now committed until the end of 2005.

The announcement also followed

closely on rumours in the European motorsport press that current top teams such as Williams were showing interest in him.

"They've got some very clever people at the team now," Webber told MNews this week,"and while I agree with some people's assessment that we could possibility win a race next year - if circumstances fall our way - that's not really what it's about.

"These guys believed in me and gave me the Opportimity. We're

puttmg in a lot of hard work and I believe we can turn Jaguar Racing into a regular podium contender.

Why leave then, when you've done all the hard work?

"Right now, we're rebuilding confidence throughout the team.

Respect is important in FI and I reckon that the respect for Jaguar Racing is growing daily right now.

"We've still got a lot of work to do.

We've shown some pace, but we've also failed to convert it into a result more than onca "I'm hopeful everytliing will click soon and that we'll be able to reward everyone with a really good result."

- CHRIS LAMBDEN

motorsport news

NEWS

Taking it to the Creek

i

Fpenchman

the Melbourne 500 and Bathurst, nor when another opportunity to test might arise.

"At the moment we are just going tltrough a process of seeing how he likes us and vice versa, and if we decide that we're comfortable with each other then we'll probably do a deal," said Wills.

Testing alongside Minassian was Dynamik's new development driver Neil McFadyen, the Formula Ford steerer having his first outing in a V8.

"He'd obviously never driven anything like that before but he did a good job," Wills remarked,adding that MacFadyen got less track time than Minassian because he is more readily available for the team's other test days in the future.

It seems, however, that the enduro

line-up for Dynamik's second car is not a two-horse race, with Wills admitting to MNews that the team is looking at another European driver.

"We can't say who it is at the moment,but it is a driver with similar experience to Minassian," said Wills.

Meanwhile, Minassian, whose resume includes F3000,CART, SportsCars and ASCAR as well as FI tests with Williams and Honda,says that his Bathurst ambitions are not limited to the 1000.

"There were some nice cars in the Bathurst 24 Hour," he said. "If somebody asked me to come and it was in a good team,I would be really interested."

For more on Minnssimi'sfirst taste of a V8 Supercar, turn to page 28.

- MARK GLENDENNING

AVESCO gets a promotion V8 GROUP AVESCO may seek to take on the promotion of the Bathurst 1000 when contracts for the race’s promotion are renegotiated.

The current contract between the Bathurst City Council and AVESCO to stage the race has two years to go and MNews understands that the V8 group might look at also taking on the promotionai role currently held

by IMG - depending initially on how its first promotional venture, the VIP Pet Food 400, in November this year, goes.

Speaking of Bathurst, MNews believes that a redevelopment of the facility will commence just days after the 24 Hour race in November.

21 May 2003

THE revamped NSW round of the Australian Rally Championship is set to kick off on a spectacular note with two Super Special stages under lights at Eastern Creek on Friday July 4.

The Premier State Rally will open at Eastern Creek Raceway with a 3.7km gravel stage around the perimeter of the facility and 2.7km tarmac stage run back-to-back before moving up to the central service park at Tuggerah on the NSW central coast for Saturday and Sunday.

The event will be set up arenastyle, with spectators located either above the pits or in the paddock area as well as up on the figure-eight track. Unusually, a good deal of the action will take place above eye level, offering crowds a whole new perspective on rallying.

The tarmac stage will involve the rally cars negotiating the circuit in the reverse direction, culminating in a quarter-mile flying finish down the drag strip, while the gravel stage will incorporate such features as the skid pan and a water splash.

Another new initiative for the event will be a reverse top-20 countdown format, in which the cars wil l run from number 20 to number one on the gravel stage before undergoing a tyre change and repeating the process on tarmac.

"In theory the fastest-seeded car should be the last one on the track and hopefully they'll get the fastest time, but ideally there'll be the Simon Evans' of the world, and others, who are trying to knock them off," said event manager Kirk Marks.

Although the event is being lit, Marks says that onlookers will still be treated to the spectacle of the cars running with full rally lights.

"We're not lighting it to the extent that the competitors can run without full lights," said Marks. "We're lighting the centre part where the spectators are, but in the outer part, it will

be pitch-blafck."

The Premier State Rally will serve as round four of the 2003 ARC Super Series, and will feature around 250km of competitive stages located mainly around roads in the Watagan forest.

- MARK GLENDENNING

Happy New Logo Henry TO coincide with its 100th birthday.

Ford will change its corporate identity. On Tuesday, June 17, Ford will have a new blue oval, launching the Ford Motor Company into their second century.

■ The 2002 Nurburgring 24 Hour all-Australian line-up of Jamie Green, Ric Shaw and Warrick Rooklyn will team up for another crack at the event this year. The trio, who finished second in class and 50th outright last time around, will drive the #200 Matador Rennsport BMW E36.

■ If we ever needed proof that people actually read the items in these Briefs columns, we got it last issue. Our snippet about the Formula Ford driver who raced at Eastern Creek with a picture of Neighbors actor/pop starlet Delta Goodrem tucked into his race-suit for good luck managed to find its way everywhere from the daily newspapers to radio station Nova FM. And who was the driver in question? Take a bow, Michael Trimble ...

■ Kart Stars graduates Clint Cathcart and Adam Graham tested their Formula Fords at Winton last week, guided by 2002 runner-up, Mark Winterbottom. The current Konica Series points leader gave the young FFords stars some advise and assistance with car-set up, hopeful of improving their fortunes in the third round of the series at Winton this week.

■ Natural Blonde-backed racer Scott Shearman will be forced to miss this weekend's Carrera Cup event at Winton due to family matters.

However, Shearman's has been working hard on securing a replacement driver for his #77 machine, which is prepared by Fitzgerald Racing Services in Melbourne. At the time of publication, a replacement had yet to be named.

Shearman's car from last season will make its first appearance of the year in the hands of Victorian Marc Cini. The car has been updated to 2003 spec, and Cini will make his debut in the class at Winton.

Returning to Carrera Cup and competing in his first championship round will be Queenslander David Scaysbrook. The Fuzion Internetbacked machine was badly damaged in a qualifying incident with Dean Cook at the non-championship Australian Grand Prix support event, and has undergone a rebuild to be back on the track for the Winton round. ?

Courtney cD .

k”

WILL Power has parted company with British Formula 3 team Diamond Racing.

The reigning Gold Star Champion confirmed that he had left the team after a difficult start to the season culminated in two crashes at Croft earlier this month.

"Things weren't working out," said Power.

"It's just too hard to come over here in your first year and try to develop a new car."

Power, who was the only driver in the championship utilising the new Ralt chassis, admitted that the accidents early in the weekend at Croft were the straw that that broke the camel's back.

"I'm not normally a crasher," he said. "I was probably just frustrated and trying too hard. After that I just decided that there was no point

-:rypr——^—

-

m.

UK Vi

going on.I'd had enough."

Power,above, will remain in the UK to hunt down a new drive for the remainder of the season, either in F3 or, possibly, the British Formula Renault series that his compatriot Will Davison contested last season.

- MARK GLENDENNING

JAMES Courtney has scored another double victory in the Japanese Formula Three Championship at TI Aida.

The 22-year-old from Sydney, who has now won five of the six races this season, qualified his TOMS DallaraToyota on pole position for both races

and took the lead when the lights went green. From there, he was never headed and won Race 1 by seven seconds.

The second race was no different and he took an 8s victory.

"It was a pretty straightforward weekend," said Courtney's UK-based

Always Bet on Red r

Red Leader: Ricardo Sperafico is the third winner this season in Formula 3000. The Brazilian led from pole and dominated the race and now lies one race win from the lead in the series.

8

RED cars dominated the A1Ring last weekend when experienced Brazilian Ricardo Sperafico added to Michael Schumacher's Austrian win.

Sperafico became the third different winner in as many races, crushing his Formula 3000 opponents.

The Italian qualified on pole and went on to lead the entire 35-lap race. It was the Colon! driver's fifth career victory and his first win since his truimph at Spa in 2001.

Championship leader Bjorn Wirdheim gave chase the entire distance, but would settle for second place, crossing the line three seconds behind Sperafico.

Wirdheim continues to lead the championship, having not finished lower than second in the

disappointing fifth. The Durango driver passing both Vitantonio Liuzzi and Townsend Bell on his way to the final podium place.

LIuzzI eventually finish fourth, while Bell struggled, dropping to seventh by the flag, Enrico Toccacelo continued his consistent championship bid. finishing fifth. The Italian sits comfortably in the top five in the points, Australian entrant Rob Nguyen endured a difficult weekend after qualifying a lowly 17th. The Brisbane driver made a good start but would eventually finish 14th. "| tried to maintain my positions at the start as best possible but some cars passed me. I'm waiting the next race in Monaco ..."

three races so far. The Swede also set the fastest lap.

Pantano crossed the line a creditable third after qualifying a

Sperafico/Pantano 16,Toccacelo 14, Liuzzi 10, Patrick Friesacher 8,Jaroslav Janls 5, Nguyen 5, Yannick Schroeder 4, Nicolas Kiesa 3. melorspori news

NEWS

does It again

In Jos we trust JOS Verstappen's supporters in Holland include one or two of the country's wealthiest businessmen and it is rumoured that two of

them are planning to come to the rescue of the Minardi team, which :;has been struggling this year because some sponsors have decided against continuing.

In Austrian the team no longer carried sponsorship from Russia gas giant Gazprom but we hear that in the near future Jos's supporters Trust and the Muermans Group are going to up their involvement to help the team pay for some much-needed development.

"The problem I have this year is that almost everyone has a good car," says team boss Paul Stoddart.

"Last year I could rely on a bad Jaguar or an Arrows and a couple of the drivers who should not have

manager, Alan Gow. "He has been working very hard on making sure the car is set up for the tracks he is racing on and he has really gelled with the TOMS team."

Courtney has opened an enormous lead in the series. The next Japanese F3 round will be at Motegi on June 8.

been there. This year everyone has improved. We are trying to keep up. I am not in FI to be where we are, but closing the gap is tough."

It is expected that Minardi will

M©bil O

■ Jamie Green and Richard Antinucci, Carlin team-mates in the . British F3 series, have had their results from round one of the series at Donington re-instated. The pair , were rubbed out after the team ' erroneously sent each car out with the types upon which the other had qualified. The revised result sees Green awarded the win, allowing the Brit to close the gap on points leader Alan van der Merwe.

get a slightly different colour scheme if the new Dutch backing is confirmed, with the cars switching from their all-black livery to a black and white combination.

-JOE SAWARD

A

21 May 2003

■ Mauri Rose, son of three-times ■ Indy 500 winner Mauri, got behind the wheel of the 1951 Murrell : Belanger that Lee Wallard drove to victory in that year's 500-mile classic.

Rose was supposed to lap the . Indianapolis circuit in the car his Dad : drove to victory in 1947/48, but was ; forced to abort those plans after officials found a mechanical problem with the car.

■ Florida will be title sponsor for : the IRL race at Pikes Peak International Raceway for the next three years. The event will be known . as the Flonda Indy 225. This year's race will take place on June 15.

Honda supplies five teams in the USbased all-oval series.

'73

tsi

months ago tlnat we would do the car with two gearbox configurations.

"One has a differait concept,and the other is a more traditional

PROOF that at least one member of ZZ Top is still alive and well comes with the news that lead singer Billy Gibbons waved the green flag for the inaugural Freedom 100 Infinity Pro Series event at Indianapolis Motor . Speedway last weekend. We reckon ■ it would have been way cooler if he had dyed his beard green and waved that instead.

■ A handful of Carrera Cup teams took to Winton Motor Raceway on Monday, May 12, fortesting prior to the third round of the all-Porsche series at the venue on May 23-25.

9 ^06new McLaren-Mercedes MP418 will run for the first time this week at Paul Ricard and,according to team boss Ron Dermis was designed to have two different gearboxes.

"It takes a very long time to design and build a gearbox," Dennis said. "It's not so much the casings,it's the internal componentry: the lead time on some of them is months and montlrs.

And w'e took a decision more than six

It’s only rock & roll & racin’

gearbox, based on the 17D. We did that to ensure that the new-concept gearbox didn't interrupt the race debut. But we are in full production of both gearboxes and they went to test on to the transient dynos within a few days of each other. The car was always designed to use two different t)'pes of gearbox: they're both raceable, they're both built in x’olume to enable us to race either. It's just a slightly more expensive way,but it's the proven way to go about it."

Dennis said that the new car wiU not be seen at Monaco.

"There's no logic in bringing a new

car to Monaco, howe\-er quick it Ls," he said. "It is very much a driver's circuit. And while the car does pla\' a role, what vou need is total reliability. a known quantity in \\'eaknesses and strengths. So 1 don't think it would be the smart thing to do,even if we were quick.

"But the car's on target, we re programmed the timing of tlie car after the first two results of the season. we were encouraged by the perfonnance of the 17B (above)and therefore changed the target dates, just a little bit."

-JOE SAWARD

■ Frank Biela escaped without injury after a major testing shunt a fortnight ago. The three times LeMans winner lost control of his Audi R8 on oil at over 200kmh. Biela will share the car with former FI driver Mika Salo and veteran Perry McCarthy in the Audi at the classic LeMans race on June 14/15.

■ Peugeot's current TV advertisement, which is airing in Britain at the moment, has been voted in a British on-line poll as 'The Nation's favourite ad'.

■ Subaru World Rally Team Principal David Lampworth paid tribute to Possum Bourne at the beginning of Rally Argentina.

Lampworth said: "Possum was one of the great characters of the sport, he was truly a great ambassador for Subaru and over a 20-year career, competed with and often beat some of the best drivers in the world."

9

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home of

!

[motorsport 2003 V8 Supercar Championship* May 25 ...Winton

.Rd4

June 8

Barbagallo

.Rd5

Jun 29

Hidden Valley ..

.Rd6

Jul 20

OLD Raceway .

.Rd7

Aug 17 ,..Oran Perk

.Rd8

Sep 14 ...Sandown Ocl 12 Bathurst

.Rd9 .Rd 10

Oct 26 ... .Surfers Paradise

.Rdll

2003 Konica V8 Series’ July 6 ... .Phillip Island

,Rd4

Aug 3

Winton

,Rd5

Aug 30 .. .Mallala Oct 11 ... .Bathurst

,Rd6 .Non Championship

2003 FIA Formula One Jun 1

Championship* Monaco

.Rd7

Jun 15

Montreal

.rd 8

Jun 29

Germany ..

,Rd9

Jul 6 Jul 20

Magny Cours Silverstone .

,Rd 10

Aug 3

Hockenheim

●Rdll .Rd12

2003 CART Championship* Rd 6

May 31 . . .Milwaukee J un 15

Rd 7

Monterey

2003 IRL Championship*

Rd 4

May 25 . . .Indianapolis .Texas Jun 7

,R d 5

Jun 15

. . .Pikes Peak

,R d 6

Jun 28

Richmond ,

,R d 7

2003 MotoGP Championship* ,Rd 4

May 25 , , .France Jun 8 .Italy Jun 15

Catalunya

Jun 28

Assen . . .

,Rd 5 ,Rd 6 .R d7

Jun 8

,Rd6

jun 22

Cyprus .

,Rd7 ,Rd8

Formula 2 was part of the fabric of the sport from its .Rd2 .Rd3

poor in 1952 that Formula 2 regulations were used for the

.Rd4

World Championship.

That finished at the end of 1954, and for a couple of

Rally Queensland

Jean-Jacques His and Illien has been less than comfortable in recent months at Ilmor (the company he formded in 1983 with the late Paul Morgan).

This is in the process of being purchased from him by MercedesBenz, and although he stiU holds 15 percent of the shares, these will be signed over to Mercedes-Benz by the year 2005.

Illien has been designing the Mercedes-Benz FI engines since the start of the program, but since Mercedes-Benz began buying out the business it has installed Dr Werner Laurenz,formerly of BMW,in the Brixworth operation. He is now working alongside Illien.

Ihnor Engineering has enjoyed huge success in CART and FI,but in recent years competition has intensified from Ferrari and BMW. Renault, on tlie other hand, has been struggling constantly since the decision was taken to return to FI officially a couple of years ago.

outside the sport that the championship is the formula nearest to Formula 1. inception in 1948 as a less powerful formula than Formula 1. Entries in the World Championship were so

.Sydney

Renault is looking for a replacement for the recently-departed

3000 Championship is to be renamed Formula 2.

This win make it much more obvious to the world

Championship Jun 15

Renault Sport is making a big bid for Mercedes-Benz engine designer Mario Illien.

FIA reconsiders F3000 name

2003 Australian Rally

Jul 6

THE big rumour in Austria is that

in June it may announce that the International Formula

Championship* Greece .

Aug 10 . , .Rally Of S.A. .Melbourne Oct 5

●Rd5

2003 Procar Championship .Rd 3 May 30 . . .Wakefield . , .

Jun 13

OLD Raceway

.Rd 4

Jul 11

Oran Park

.Rd 5

rt en1

J

home of

[motorsport All event dates in this calendar were correct at the time of printing. Please consult any individual tracks andior associations lor date changes.

Series or events telecast on Network Ten are I

Formula 2 Mk 2

Mario <

WHEN the FIA World Motor Sport Council meets next

2003 World Rally

July 27 . . .Germany

COSWORTH Racing is not sure it wiii continue to be a customer engine suppiier Jn Formula tin the future, particularly if the other automobile manufacturers insist that engines must be supplied to customer teams for US$10m(AUD$f6m).

“It is unrealistic to imagine that' a competitive F1 engine package can be provided for US$1 Om,” said a senior 4' Cosworth executive.

'The only way that could be Motor no more; achieved is by a subsidy from a Cosworth maypulfthe plug.on \ manufacturer. At the moment it is supplying customer teams difficult to see how a commercially viable deal can be teams because what they need achieved."

Cosworth is the latest is competitive engines." !

The only manufacturer which organisation to come out against has pubiicly said that a US$1i0mi ! the idea, following in the engine deal'is possible is footsteps of Honda, BMW and Mercedes-Benz but to date noothers. one has asked for a supply of ; “We cannot get the cost to the engines for,2004. figure that is on the table,” said BMW's Dr Mario Theissen. “This The idea of a cheap engine would be below our own Cost supply is part of the package i and I think that we are not which is being put forward by the prepared to do that. We certainly GPWC but the lack of support for the idea suggest that it will can produce some 50 engines never happen. for that amount of money but it JOE SAWARD would not help the independent

marked with an asterisk. Check your local

years F2 died out before returning in 1957. Formula 2 was cancelled again at the end of 1960 and did not return until 1964.

Three years later the first European Formula 2 Championship was organised and it remained a major series imtil 1984, when it was combined with the European Formula 3 series to create the new Formula 3000.

There have been various attempts since then to revive the F2 name, but none have been successful. In recent years, however, the FIA International Formula 3000 Championship has been under increasing pressure from other series that have offered cheaper alternatives, and as a result the number of competitors has reduced significantly.

It is hoped that the International Championship can be revamped with suggestions that the races should be held on Sunday mornings at each Grand Prix, and that costs should be reduced.

- JOE SAWARD

Glory days: fackie Oliver (BRM PI38) leads Johnny Servoz-Gavin (F2 Matra MS7) at the German GP in 1969, back when FI and F2 ran side-by-side.

motorsport news

NEWS

)n the move?

A round of Pina Cofadas, thanks

i

1

X,

K,

il

At the moment Men is refusing to make any comment on the matter, while Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug says that "everything is in perfect order" between the company and Illien.

This conflicts with well-sourced rumours suggesting that Dlien is looking for a way out of his contract in order to move to Renault.

"We have to be fully concentrated on what we are doing and not on what the rumours are saying," said Haug. "Tliis is a non-subject. Mario is concentrated on his job, we are, and

we need to go forward. I think we made a step forward with this car, and expect us to do another step with the next car."

Haug said that "everybody speaks to the other guy and lots of people have offers" but he said he had asked Illien and Renault boss Flavio Briatore about the rumours.

"I asked Flavio Briatore, he said no. I asked Mario, he said no,so this is not a subject for me any longer," said Haug.

Time will tell...

- JOE SAWARD

IF you like pineapples, and a Victorian-based driver wins the Queensland 300 round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series,take a baseball glove to Queensland Raceway.

The winner of the event will receive - wait for it - a crate of pineapples. Yes folks, Indy may have the milk, and everywhere else the champagne but only Canetoad County has pineapples.

The idea is great, so long as a Queensland-based driver like David Besnard wins the event.

The problem is that, should any interstate-based steerer take the big race, they will have to rid themselves of their spiky booty before coming home It is illegal to transport fresh fruit across the state border fruit flies, don't you know ...

Spare a lot of fivers?

THE CART organisation has just published its first quarter results for the year and they do not make very positive reading although revenues are up by US$600,000(AUD$1M)compared to the same period next year.

This year CART pulled in US$6.2m compared to US$5.6m last year. The bad news is that the company’s expenses have sky-rocketed from US$7.6m in 2002 to US$20.6m this year. This is largely due to the fact that CART is paying out financial support packages for teams.

These amounted to US$11 m in the first quarter, during which teams received a maximum of US$42,500 per car per event - in addition to the prize fund. CART says that the payments are necessary to ensure that there are enough cars to keep the series viable.

According to the financial statements made, CART says it intends to spend a total of US$33m this year on team support. In addition to that, the company is committed to spend US$16.1m on buying TV coverage. The accounts show

21 May 2003

5

Lean-ish times: Or does CART have enough in the piggy banks to keep the circus afloat? currently worth US$3.35 a share, that TV advertising sales, which which values the whole business are now being handled by CART, have brought in only US$189,000. at US$49.3m.

There has been a lot of talk in The result of this is that CART recent months that Bernie made an operating loss in the Ecclestone may buy into CART first quarter of US$14.4m, of as a way of expanding the which US$1.2m was on the operations of the Formula One purchase of the company which group of companies but with organises Miami’s Grand Prix of the Americas. financial figures such as these it is hard to imagine that CART has one thing in its Ecclestone will get involved. favour at the moment, however, It is more likely that he will wait as it has around US$70m in the until the money in the bank has bank, left over from its stock reduced significantly and then market flotation several years make a move. ago. According to the company’s - JOE SAWAR D stock market valuation it is

Take a Punto FERRARI'S parent company Fiat continues to struggle financially with its first quarter results revealing a bigger loss than was the case in the same period last year.

The company reported a firstquarter operating loss of US$393.6m (AUD$600m)compared to last year's loss of US$259m. The biggest problem remains the losses at Fiat Auto, which is currently working at only 70 percent capacity because of the lack of demand. Its first-quarter loss was US$290m, although the company hopes to win back market share with the launch of the Punto in June and other new models which are scheduled to appear later in the year.

Fiat bosses have always said that whatever happens the company will not sell control of Ferrari, but it is likely that there will be a flotation of half the shares in the firm as soon as market conditions make the move desirable.

■ The FI tyre companies have agreed to take a supply of extremeweather tyres to all remaining Grands Prix to ensure that there are no problems such as occurred in Brazil where cars were having to be run in very wet conditions on intermediate tyres.

These tyres will only be used if the Race Director specifically informs the teams of the need to run them.

■ Nelson Piquet's son. Nelson Angelo Piquet, has won his first victory in the British Formula 3 Championship.

The 17-year-old Brazilian took his first win at Knockhill, on his first visit to the Scottish track. He was second in the first of the two races and then won the second.

The victory also makes Piquet Jr the second-youngest man ever to win a round of the British F3 series.

The youngest was American Elton Julian, who won a race in 1992.

■ Jaguar Racing says that it has been approached by a string of drivers offering money to join the team this year.

The recent troubles with Antonio Pizzonia have created the impression that the team may have a vacancy although it is understood that most of the youngsters trying to get work want to buy the chance to test for the team on the Friday at each Grand Prix.

This would involved the team running three cars and at the moment the Jaguar management says that it is in no position to run another car and would prefer to concentrate on improving the reliability of the cars being driven by Pizzonia and Mark Webber.

- JOE SAWARD 11

Helio takes Indy 50(

THE number on the side of the car said it all.

Helio Castroneves will start his

campaign for an unprecedented third straight Indianapolis 500 victory from the best possible place - pole position.

The Brazilian recorded a time of 2m35.3564s for a four-lap average speed of 231.725mph in his Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota, taking his first 500 pole and second in his IRL IndyCar career.

"This is one of the best days of my life," Castroneves said. "It's fantastic.

It's a dream come true. That guy upstairs made it happen, trust me.

"I didn't know I had that fast of a car. I knew it would turn the speeds but not for four laps. All of a sudden I think the cold weather helped the tyres. Oh my God,I'm just so happy."

The pole position was the first for Toyota and first for a Japanese manufacturer at The Brickyard (it's the 87th 500), as well as Team Penske's 12tli. In their first year in the race, Toyota and Honda totally dominated the results, taking the first 17 grid spots between tliem. Leading Chevrolet runner was defending IndyCar Series Champion Sam Hornish Jr in 18th in his Panther Racing DaUara/Chevrolet at 2m39.1335s/226.225mph.

Countryman Tony Kanaan qualified second at 2m35.8400s (231.006mph)in his Team AndrettiGreen Dallara/Honda,just edging out team-mate Robby Gordon (2m36.3822/230.205mph).

Pole Day was held in cold conditions, with temperatures in the mid-teens and gusty winds, which played havoc with car set-up. A number of teams decided to delay their qualifying runs,including Penkse,both Castroneves and Gil de Ferran waiting until the final 90 minutes of the session. "(With) the wind this morning, we just weren't comfortable this morning, wanting to run as clear as we had to get the speed we wanted," Roger Penske said."We just made the decision, we've done it before with (Rick) Mears,and said,'Let's wait and make that decision' because we had a full day of good weather.

"It was going to be cold and windy, and we had a chance to understand what it's aU about. And Helio just kept tuning it and tuning it, and we got there."

Gordon set the early pace after only 45 minutes. His first lap was only 228.829 due to gusty winds,but he then finished with three consecutive laps of 230 mph.

"The car had a big push in Turns 1 and 2 on my last warm-up lap, and 12

that hurt my momentum on the first lap," Gordon said."We never talked about waving off the run. We took a half turn out of the front wing after practice this morning,and I think that was the difference in qualifying today."

Kanaan took a different approach than his Andretti Green Racing teammate. He didn't attempt to qualify in his spot in the draw, instead deciding to work on his car.

Kanaan took to the track two hours and 40 minutes into qualifying, taking the provisional pole until Castroneves seized the top spot.

Michael Andretti fought the wind with disappointing results. On his first lap, Andretti was forced to lift when the strong west wind nearly pushed him into the wall in the second turn. He'D start 13th in the final race of his driving career.

"It was unbelievable," Andretti said."I've been here a few years now, and these were the most eventful four laps I've ever had around here. It's days like this that I'm glad I'm retiring."

To showcase how tricky the conditions were, veteran Scott Sharp and rookie A.J. Foyt IV were both caught out on consecutive qualifying runs one hour into the session.

Foyt, grandson of four-time Indy AJ Foyt, made a huge save after his Dallara/Toyota/ spun exiting Turn 2 on his first qualifying lap. The car headed backward toward the outside

wall, but Foyt steered it clear and coasted backward to a stop down the backstretch. He was unhurt.

"A second run was definitely not what we were wanting and not the speed that we wanted,but we have to take it," Foyt said. "Definitely the wind was a factor, and (it was) very possible that it could have hit me and turned me around. There was a lot of luck involved with that, especially a spin. I looked on the computer and I was going 168 mph backward,so it was pretty much a wild ride, and I was surprised I didn't hit anything."

Foyt qualified later, taking 23rd spot at 2m40.5872s/224.177mph. The feat gives the family a unique double; at 18(he turns 19 on raceday) Foyt becomes the youngest driver ever to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. His grandfather, AJ Foyt II, remains the oldest-ever driver to qualify for the race.

On the next run after Foyt's accident. Sharp hit the SAFER Barrier in Turn 2 after a quarter-spin in his Dallara/Toyota. Sharp was unhurt and returned to become the last

Foyt was one of eight rookies who qualified. Scott Dixon was the topqualifying rookie,fourth at 2m36.4547s/230.099mph m the Chip Ganassi Racing Panoz G Force/ Toyota.

Last Sunday's Bump Day saw nine slots open and nine cars qualified.

Any less than that would have seen

the first sub-33 car field since 1947 ...

Under the unusual qualifying system,final qualifier Victor Meira, who led the Bump Day session, wUl start 24th, eight spots back from where he would be if he ran his speed on Pole Day. Alex Barron, wearing the racesuit of the withdrawn (and much taller) Arie Luyendyk, qualified 26th.

Zanardi comi

qualifier of the day at 2m37.3734s/ 228.755mph,for ninth on the grid. motorspori news

I Pole

CART before the hordes: Helio Castroneves starts his run at a third 500 win from pole.

Carburetion Day is tomorrow (Thursday) while the race will be on May 25, with live coverage on Network 10..

NEWS

2003 Indianapolis 500 Grid

Pos 1 2 3

No 3 11 27

Driver Helio Castroneves TonyKanaan Robby Gordon

Dallara-Toyota Dallara-Honda Dallara-Honda

Ave Speed 231.725 231,006 230.205

4 5 6

9 26 15

Scott Dixon DanWheldon Kenny Brack

GForce-Toyota Dallara-Honda Dallara-Honda

230.099 229.958 229.509

7 8 9

12 32 8

ToraTakagi Tony Renna Scott Sharp

GForce-Toyota Dallara-Toyota Dallara-Toyota

229.358 228,765 228.755

10 6 Gil de Ferran 11 55 Roger Yasukawa 12 — JO— -Tomas Scheckter

GForce-Toyota Dallara-Honda GForce-Toyota

228.633 228.577 227.769

Car

13

7

14 15

13 54

Michael Andretti Greg Ray Shinji Nakano

Dallara-Honda GForce-Honda Dallara-Honda

227.739 227.288 227.222

16 17 18

21 31T 4

Felipe Giaffone AlUnserJr SamHornishJr

GForce-Toyota Dallara-Toyota Dallara-Chevrolet

227.210 226.285 226.225

19 20 21

52 2, 91

Buddy Rice Jaques Lazier Buddy Lazier

Dallara-Chevrolet Dallara-Chevrolet Dallara-Chevrolet

226.213 225.975 224.910

22

24

Robbie Buhl

23 24

14T 2T

AJFoytIV Vitor Meira

Dallara-Chevrolet Dallara-Toyota Dallara-Chevrolet

224.369 224,177 227.158

25 26 27

23 20 19

Sarah Fisher Alex Barron Jimmy Vasser

Dallara-Chevrolet GForce-Toyota Dallara-Honda

224.170 227.274 226.873

28 29 30

99 98 5

Richie Hearn Billy Boat Shigeaki Hattori

GForce-Toyota Dallara-Chevrolet Dallara-Toyota

225.863 225.598 224.589

31 32 33

44 18 5T

Robby McGehee Jimmy Kite Airton Dare

Dallara-Chevrolet Dallara-Chevrolet GForce-Toyota

224,493 224.195 223.609

Dietes his final race IT was quite a day in Germany.

Sebastian Bourdais won the race, his second straight CART round and first won on an oval.

But, in almost everyone's eyes, Sunday May 11 belonged to Alessandro Zanardi. The two-time CART champion completed the final 13 laps of the 2001 German 500, the race that cut short his brilliant career when he crashed, losing both legs.

Zanardi returned to the track as Grand Marshal for the 2003 race but there was another, more pressing engagement. He drove 13 iaps of the track in a speciallyprepared Reynard-Ford, modified so that he could drive the 2-mile track with hand controls.

"Yeah, it was just fantastic," grinned the Italian after the race.

"Obviously, this is something that I've been doing all my racing career. In the past year and a half, I never got even close to drive a proper racing car. So just for this 21 May 2003

reason it was great again to feel the speed, to feel the downforce.

Most of all what made it particularly enjoyable was the love of all the people in the Champ Car community, in particular the drivers, and certainly the fans. It was just awesome."

And fast. Flis lap times were startling: after a push start, made necessary because he could not operate the clutch with his prosthetic leg, Zanardi got to work in the manner you would expect from a man of his speed and experience. Flis first flying lap took 40.546 seconds and from there his laps times were; Lap 2: 38.918s; lap 3: 38.381s; lap 4: 38.096s; lap 5: 37.661s; lap 6: 37.533s; lap 7: 37.532s; lap 8: 37.539s; lap 9: 37.509s; lap 10: 37.504s; lap 11: 37.507s; lap 12: 37.495s; lap 13: 37.487s (average speed, 194,27mph/310kmh).

Flad he done his final lap in qualifying, Zanardi would have

started the race proper from fifth on the grid.

"It was just flat out, wide open," he said modestly, "I can't say pedal to metal, because I didn't have a pedal, I just had a little knob, but that was all I had in the car.

For sheer class, it is hard to go past Alex Zanardi. As part of his duties as Grand Marshal, he was handed the microphone at the start of the race.

"Thank you, everyone," he said in German, before adding in English, "Friends, start your engines."

Suitably, it was a great race.

Alex will be back at a racetrack sometime; it's impossible to think that he will stay away from the sport he loves forever.

Flis final 13 laps were really memorable, but we could have predicted that; because, with Alex Zanardi, so were the thousands than came before it.

Automatic Le Mans entry?

THE ACO has delayed announcing full details of its proposed le Mans Tournament' sportscar race series until next month. The ACO wants to operate (or to be otherwise involved in) a series in which, like the ALMS, teams could qualify for automatic selection for its annual Le Mans 24 Hours race. It had intended to appoint BPR series founder Patrick Peter to organise a series on its behalf, but is now reported to be in negotiations with FIA Sportscar Championship promoter Stephane Ratel.

■ A Cobra coupe comeback at Le Mans? South African company Super Performance, said to be the world's largest producer of Cobra replicas, is building a new version of the evocative 1960s racecar. The company is developing the car in collaboration with its original designer, Peter Brock, but cannot use the 'Cobra' name, which is owned by Shelby American. Brock says that the long-term intention is to homologate the 'Brock Super Performance Coupe' to race in the Le Mans 24 Hours. The new version will be available with a carbon body, and will be powered by a Ford V8 driving through a six-speed gearbox.

■ Riley & Scott, the American brand-name racecar manufacturer best known for its short series of successful sports-prototypes, has had to lay off the production staff at its HQ in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company has invested in Grand-Am's new Daytona Prototype class, but has yet to receive a first order for its chassis. R&S also has a deal to be the exclusive chassis supplier to the new TRAC stock car racing series, which was supposed to have launched last year, but is still on hold.

■ BARS has claimed its first major motorsports fixture. Japanese series promoter GT Association has confirmed the cancellation of the fourth round of the booming 2003 Autobacs Japanese GT Championship, scheduled for June 21 at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, due to the outbreak of the virus in the region. The decision was taken by GT-A and Sepang officials in a meeting during the second round of the series at Fuji (which, by the way, attracted an 80,000 crowd). GT-A is expected to replace the event with an extra race on home soil.

■ Lola Cars International in Huntingdon. UK. has formed a new subsidiary, called Lola Automotive, to offer a variety of engineering services to the automotive industry. Former McLaren Cars MD Andrew Walmsiey has been recruited to head the new venture.

- QUENTIN SPURRING 13

Caruso's Carrera Cup Chance

; sulton-imigt3.com

Audi, BMW now Opel Genman makers face off for 24 Hour at l\lurburgring

THE 2003 ADAC Nurburgring 24 Hours is shaping up as a three-way fight between major German automobile manufacturers.

Audi(with Abt Sportline) and BMW Motorsport have committed to contesting the race for the first time with works cars, and now Opel Motorsport director Volker Strycek has finally confirmed that it will field two 4-litre, SOObhp Astra V8 Coupes in the big race on 31 May.

OPC Team Phoenix will operate two purpose-modified DTM 'silhouette' racecars in the event. The 24-hour Astras weigh 1250kg (instead of 1080kg in DTM trim) and have been fitted with 120-litre fuel cells.

Strycek said:"The 24-hour race on the Nurburgring draws 150,000 spectators and is one of the major motorsport events in Germany."

-QUENTIN SPURRING

AUSTRALIAN Formula Three front-runner Michael Caruso appears set to swap his Dallara F301 for something altogether larger and heavier at Winton this weekend.

The Sydney-based driver is in the process of making arrangements to drive the RT Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in the third round of the Australian Carrera Cup Championship.

"I haven't driven the car yet, but we're doing a test at Wakefield Park this week,and if everything goes well then I think we'll go straight down to Winton," said Caruso.

"I couldn't say that iPs 100 percent that I'll be driving it... iPs probably more like 70 percent. The whole thing only happened last Friday,so I'm still not sure what's going to happen yet."

Caruso, who currently sits second in the Australian F3 Championship, has been earmarked to steer the car that was previously driven by Tim Pritchard at Eastern Creek, and by Mark Howard at Phillip Island.

- MARK GLENDENNING

And Ikiatty makes K three

V8 Supercar acejoins the Lamborghini pack for Wakefield Park

FOLLOWING the debut appearance of the second Holden Monaro at Symmons Plains earlier this month,the Nations Cup field is set for another boost in numbers foilowing confirmation that Team Lamborghini Australia will run three cars for the remainder of the year.

The team has re-acquired the older SVR model that they originally ran in 2000 and 2001,

and will bring the car back into action at Wakefield Park in two weeks. The car will contest Group Two with Sam Newman at the wheel, while the GTR that Newman has been driving so far this season will be taken over by V8 Supercar driver Anthony Tratt.

Tljie announcement marks the continuation of what has alre&dy been a successful relajionship between the team

SERVICES

14

and Tratt, which began when the Victorian co-drove to victory in last year's Sandown 500 with the team's lead driver Paul Stokell. Tratt's car will run in Toll Ipec livery, identical to that of his Supercar.

"The V8 category is extremely tough for everybody from first down to 31st, and getting exposure for sponsors is difficult," said Tratt.

"The main reason I'm doing this is to get more bang for our buck for the sponsors."

The move also suggests a renewed enthusiasm for the PROCAR series from the Lamborghini outfit, which sat out a round of last year's shampionship at the height of a disagreement with series ■epresentatives over parity.

"This year is a vast mprovement," commented ream Lamborghini boss IbiSEw Smith.

"They have a guy who deals with marketing, and a guy who deals with parity - and they're not the same guy. That is the biggest difference between PROCAR last year and PROCAR now."

Meanwhile, if you can't wait until Wakefield Park to get your fix of Lambos and you are going to be somewhere near Melbourne this Saturday, you might want to wander down to Team Lamborghini's HO for their special open day.

On display with be an extensive array of road-going Lamborghinis, as well as the Nations Cup cars. The drivers will be on hand to meet fans, and there will be lots of other activities including simulators and a BBQ. The team is based at 90 Market Street, South Melbourne, and festivities kick off at 10am.

- MARK GLENDENNING

motorsport oews

NEWS

Hands off Solberg!

PETTER Solberg will wear blue until at least the end of 2006, having signed a threeyear contract extension with the works Subaru outfit in the World Rally Championship.

"The first priority for us has to be to sign a driver who can win rallies and championships, and having worked with Petter for the last three years we're perhaps in the best position to make that judgement about his talent," said Subaru team principal David Lapworth.

"But almost as important is the way the driver interacts with

the people In the team and the way he helps motivate them as well as providing technical input. Petter has proven to be as much a team player as he is a fast driver.

"If you needed more, then I could add that Petter handles the media and the fans better than anybody. We're very happy to have him on board for the future."

Less certain, however, is who will help the Norwegian spearhead Subaru's campaign.

Question marks continue to remain over whstler or not '

Tommi Makinen will retire at th e end of this season, and while Makinen has hinted that he might continue, other drivers have also been linked with the seat.

"Tommi certainly remains an option as Petter's team-mate," confirmed Lapworth.

"He has built a strong relationship with him and the rest of the team. At this stage our strategy for next year is not confirmed. Once we have a clear idea of the objectives, then we'll look to get the remaining drivers in place.

■a ^ ■

xr:

F1 back to Mexico?

THE minister of tourism of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the Yucatan Peninsular, has ordered a feasibility study into the possibility of staging a Mexican Grand Prix at a purpose-built circuit near the city of Cancun, a famous resort on the Caribbean coast. j: s utton-images.com He recently visited the terrorist attacks in the USA. Spanish GP to meet with Bernie Ecclestone and discovered some of Flights between the US and Canada and Mexico have reduced the financial realities about an FI event. dramatically and tourism has suffered as a result despite the fact The government wants to use a that flight times to the major US race to bring the area to international cities are very reasonable (three and attention to a greater extent and half hours to New York, four and attract more people. The local tourist half hours to Los Angeles and one industry has suffered from the and a half hours from Miami). substantial decline of air travel that Even with the problems, the followed the 11 September, 2001

MEXICO f

21 May 2003

Yucatan Peninsular remains the most popular part of Mexico with its beaches, jungles, ruins, and colonial-style cities and development has continued to the south of Cancun, along the coastline which is known as the Riviera Maya. The apparent aim of the racing circuit is to ensure that growth is maintained.'

Mexico has not been on the FI calendar since 1992 when FI

departed the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City for the last time. The city was never a very popular FI venue with the FI circus but in recent years the autudromo has been rebuilt and is now hosting Champ Car races.

-JOE SAWARD

Jordan to get Goiightlyahead?

THE Jordan Grand Prix Formula 1 team could benefit from increased engineering support from engine supplier Ford in the future. Niel Golightly, Ford of Europe's director of public affairs, implied that the automobile manufacturer is likely to make technical resources available to Jordan for its chassis development.

He said: "There is a good possibility that we may see a bit more of that."

Jordan's former engine supplier, Honda, has collaborated with the BAR team on chassis design for several seasons.

■ BMW WilliamsFI driver Juan Pablo Montoya has had his road licence taken away by the French police for breaking the speed limit in his BMW X5 on the A8 motorway between Le Muy and Frejus. The 27year-old Colombian was on his way home to Monte Carlo after testing at the Paul Ricard circuit when the authorities clocked him at 204kmh in a 130kmh zone. Montoya could face a lengthy ban from the public roads in France but it will not affect his racing activities. These days Formula 1 drivers are required only to have the FIA 'Superlicence'. Montoya's team-mate, Ralf Schumacher has also had his licence suspended twice.

■ BorgWarner, the US automotive component supplier whose name has been on the BorgWarner Indianapolis 500 Trophy since 1936, will award a US$50,000 bonus ($76,000) to 2001-02 Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves if he wins the race for a third time in a row for Marlboro Penske Racing on 25 May. No driver in Indy 500 history has ever scored a hat-trick. Each year, the Indy 500 winner wins US$130,000 from BorgWarner, plus an additional US$20,000 if he or she wins two years in a row. This bonus increases

by US$20,000 each year there is no repeat victory. In 2002, Castroneves received an extra US$160,000 as the first back-to-back winner since BorgWarner established its bonus program in 1995.

■ McLaren Cars, part-owned by DaimlerChrysler, is evaluating its new Mercedes-Benz SLR 'supercar' for track racing, according to UK magazine Autosport. An SLR design team, headed by former Formula 1 designer Gordon Murray, has created a concept version of the frontengined coupe that could be eligible for the FIA GT Championship. The series is soon expected to feature factory teams from Lamborghini, Maserati and possibly Aston Martin.

The official line from Stuttgart is that there are "no motorsport plans" for the SLR. - QUENTIN SPURRING 15

Dollars and cents THE latest drafts of the plans for the Grand Prix World Championship(GPWC)are now being circulated amongst the F1 team bosses.

The series, which is due to kick off in 2008 as a rival to the FIAFormuia 1 Worid Championship, is claiming that it wiii be able to fund FI teams to the tune of US$20m (AUD $32m) a year at the outset and US$50m within five years.

Middle-ranking F1 teams are Stay or Split: Bernie, below, has much to consider in the near future currently getting around regarding Ft, banks and those famous red cars, above.

US$12m a year. The figures revenue streams - trackside Ecclestone and the banks being mentioned by the GPWC involved in Ft would have to advertising and ticket sales mean that revenues will have to while having to share just 47 have reached an agreement be more than US$500m a year with the teams over the future per cent of the gross income and'it is hard to see how that from TV rights.” of FI. If they have not done will be possible, particularly if Montezemoio said' that that, Montezeraolo said, the there are two competing series. without the automobile manufacturers involved in the It's a situation which would manufacturers, the Formula sport would commit themselves enable TV stations to play the One group can not run a to the GPWC. two series off against one ■^We would like a solution with championship. It is widely another and thus bring down Mr Ecclestone and the banks,” accepted In FI circles that the payments they would have whichever championship win s to make to secure the TV rights. Montezemoio told the Ferrari will win the game 'This would mean that both newspaper. “If not, it will be bad although everyone also agrees but it won’t be a tragedy. While championships would suffer Bernie Ecclestone was the that a split would be a disaster considerably. and the best solution; is for owner, everyone accepted most Last week,the Financial there to be a deal cut between of the arrangements but things Times reported that Ferrari boss Luca di Montezeraolo ha^ have phanopd. .tei no other sport the teams, the banks and Ecclestone. are the teams deprived of a set a deadline of 31 Decetp^er - JOE SAWA RD share of two of the three main 2003, by which time Berni|

tormy/a*

VAUXHALL ^

Muller den Yvan takes series lead

A CHAOTIC round of the British Touring Car Championship was held just over two weeks ago at Brands Hatch in England.

Matt Neal and Yvan Muller were the victors on the day, but Neal's win came in controversial circumstances.

Neal made a great start in the first heat, forcing Thompson into the pit wall on the approach to turn one. The ex-privateers champion established a good lead over the field until a jammed wheel in pitlane during his compulsary stop cost the Honda driver valuable time.

Paul O'Neill in another factory Vauxhall took the lead due to Neal's misfortune, but would be reeled in by the charging Honda.

The race climaxed at the last corner when Matt got stuck into the side of O'Neill, forcing liim into a half-spin.

Neal took the win, ahead of Muller and the recovering O'Neill.

In race two, Muller led the field from start to finish, untouched by any of his rivals.

Muller led home a Vauxhall 1-2-3, but only after Thompson and MG driver Colin Turkington got tangled up while disputing second spot.

Turkington was the loser though, finishing the race in the Graham Hill Bend tyre wall.

Points after four rounds; Muller 55, Thompson 53, O'Neill 29, Alan Morrison 24, Neal 22.

I

16

moiorsRort news

NEWS

Lew, have a TAG McLAREN-Mercedes Benz protege Lewis Hamilton has been named as one of the TAG Hewer ambassadors alongside the likes of David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen, Tiger Woods, Marion Jones, Sarah Fisher and, most recently, French CART driver Sebastien Bourdais. Hamilton, who is 18, is currently competing in the British Formula Renault series but has been earmarked by McLaren since 1998 as being a star in the making.

rv

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t

lonstrates after Brands bash-fest

DUTCH driver Christijan Albers, driving his Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM scored his maiden victory in the series at Adria International raceway in Italy.

Albers, a former German Formula Three champion, took the lead from round one winner Bernd Schneider when the German was forced back into pits for exceeding the speed limit.

Abt-Audi drivers Mattias Eksrrom and Laurent Aiello completed the podium after the pair made great progress during

the final stages if the race.

Poleman Marcel Fasslertook the lead in the early stages of the 47-lap event until a slow stop dropped him down the order. The Mercedes driver would eventually finish fourth.

Schneider finished fifth head of Paul Dumbreck, Jean Alesi (who also got caught speeding in pit lane), former BTCC champions Alain Menu and Joachim Winkelhock and German star Bernd Maylander.

Points after two rounds: Albers/Schneider 14, Fassler 13, Aiello 12, Ekstrom 9, Alesi 7, Dumbreck 6, Tlmo Scheider 2, Menu 1.

■ EM,TV, the German media company, which until recently owned part of the Formula One group of companies is still trying to recover from its disastrous involvement in the sport and has now decided to sell the Jim Hendon Company back to the Hendon Family for US$89m.

The Munich-based company paid US$680m when it bought the business in February 2000. The firm is to use the money to complete its purchase of Junior TV and consolidate its position in the German media markets. The deal sent EM.TV shares up 12 percent on the Frankfurts stock exchange. The company recently sold its remaining FI shares to the banks involved in the sport.

-JOE SAWARD

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17

will Austria be back?

by JOE SAWARD FORMULA 1 boss Bemie Ecclestone says that nothing is yet decided over the future of the Austrian Grand Prix but most observers feel that Ecclestone was simply being diplomatic during the weekend of the last planned Austrian GP. The contract was cancelled because of the Austrian government's support of the European Union's tobacco sponsorship ban although many feel this was an excuse to make a space on the FI calendar for the planned Grands Prix in Bahrain and Shanghai.

The organiser of the Austrian event Hans Geist is leaving the A1 Ring to take up the job as organiser of the new Bahrain Grand Prbc but one of Ecclestone's fixers Frenchman Philippe Gurdjian popped up in Austria, his task apparently being to find a way of keeping the Aushian event on the FI calendar in the future.

The big problem is the Austrian government's ban,but Gurdjian also has to deal with the fact that there are currently 16 races on the FI calendar

and to this must be added two new races in Bahrain and China.

The Formula 1 teams are only willing to do 17 races and while Austria might be able to sneak back on to the calendar at the expense of' the San Marino Grand Prix, there is also a big push going on to get the Belgium GP back in the World Championship. And both Turkey and St Petersburg are queuing up to make bids for 2005.

"We don't know what is going to happen," Ecclestone said, adding that teams may have to agree to more races.

This is not going to happen as under the current Concorde Agreement the maximum number of races will be 17 and the more races there are, the more it costs the teams and there is no financial incentive to have more races.

We hear that the authorities at Imola must decide within the next few days whether or not they wish to tear down the pit facilities at the Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari or face losing the San Marino GP.

Thexton has Dood, where's my cake? a cunning FF backup plan DAVID Thexton has submitted an entry for the Barbagallo round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship.

The V8 Supercar rookie, who managed to qualify his Thexton Motor Racing Falcon for roimd three of the series at Eastern Creek after failing to make the cut in his previous two attempts, has entered the support class as'insurance' against not being eligible to enter the main event. Only the top 32 cars in the Championship after this weekend's round at Winton will be eligible to make the trip across the Nullabor.

"We won't know until after Winton whether we're going across to do Barbagallo with the V8 or not," said Thexton.

"We've just leased this car(from Fastlane Racing)so that if we can't take the V8,it will still give me a chance to drive around a track that I've never seen before."

For the time being, however,the New Zealander is concentrating his efforts on making the field at Winton.

"I have already been down there and I know what it looks like," he said."I'm optimistic!"

- MARK GLENDENNING 18

IT'S not often we say something nice about writers for our opposition magazines- trust me, we never say anything nice about them - but we couldn't let this special occasion pass without some comment.

Long-time Formula 1 writer Mike Doodson joined the '500' club in Austria. Doodson, who was MNews's first FI reporter in 1993, celebrated the occasion courtesy of Toyota, which put on a kneesup at Zeltweg, attended by Doodson and his chums from the 'hard card' set.

'The Dood'joins fellow 500 race veteran journos Helmut ZwickI and Jeff Hutchinson, and famed artist Giorgio Piola.

Mike's first race as a scribbler was the 1969 French Grand Prix, won by Jackie Stewart. That was a long time ago; the day after Doodson's second race two weeks later, Neil Arrnstrong went for a walk on the moon. Doodson no doubt noted the fact prior to observing deadline and getting back to work.

Cheers, Mike. Here's to ... maybe not 500 more, but quite a few.

- PHIL BRANAGAN ; sutton-images.com -

Menard gets remains of TWR Group

sutton-images.com

11 j

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V

FOLLOWING its recent acquisition of the TWR racing division in ,Kidlington, US-owned Menard Engineering has acquired the residue of the UK automotive design, engineering and manufacturing group from the receivers.

TWR's businesses in Leafield, Oxfordshire and Worthing,Sussex will continue under the Menard Engineering name.

"The acquisition of the design and engineering group of TWR adds a significant building block to our UK

based engineering business," said Menard boss John Menard, left."

"The skills and experience of the TWR staff at the Leafield and Worthing facilities are impressive and we look forward to the continued growth of this world-class engineering organisation."

Menard is a high-profile sponsor in NASCAR,as well as owning a team in the IRL Indy Car Championship. He made his fortune with a chain of US-based home improvement stores.

- QUENTIN SPURRING motofsport news

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Bourdais Hatch: Sebastian took bis maiden CART win in England^ breaking Paul Tracy's winning streak.

Bourdais breaks through

SEBASTIAN Bourdais has finally lived up to the promising pace he showed in the early rounds of the CART Series by winning the London Champ Car Trophy at Brands Hatch a fortnight ago.

Bourdais, 24,led the field for 95 of the 165 laps around the tricky southeast England layout, beating home Newman/Hass team-mate Bnmo Junqueira and last year's Surfers Paradise winner, Mario Dominguez.

Series leader Paul Tracy was shooting for a record-equalling fourth consectutive win in the championship. but the Canadian fell out with transmission trouble on lap 118.

Bourdais said after the race that he's

glad the monkey is off his back.

I am very pleased about the win, Bourdais said."We should have won a couple earlier in the year and had troubles, so this is very satisfying for me and the team.

Tracy, who qualified on pole, led tire field into the first round of pit stops, but lost his spot to Bourdais after the Frenchman's team pulled off a brilliant stop. The pair then were involved in a great dice, running within 0.5s of each other for the next 24 laps.

A caution period bunched tire field up mid-race after Alex Yoong, who was impressive in his Dale Coyne Racing machine,slipped off the track

into a tyre wall at Druids Bend. The ex-Minardi FI driver was running just outside the top 10.

Alex Tagliani choose to pit while the safety car was on the track, but would have to return to the pits later as the rules mandate two pit stops under green flag racing. Tagliani led his first laps for the year before his second compulsary stop, which handed the top spot to Bourdais. It was a lead Sebastian would not relenquish. Tagliani finished in eighth place.

Oliver Servia finally scored a result, finishing fourth while Patrick Carpentier rounded out the top five -PHIL MORRIS

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molorsport news

3xn Wanted; Jack's toys THIEVES struck Jack Elsegood's garage last week, stealing $25,000 worth of equipment from his Northern Beaches home in Sydney, The ex-Rugby League player had a go-kart, dirt bike and scooter stolen.

The V8 Brutes driver is offering a personal reward for the retrieval of his equipment. r.ooDi

5

5

°

mjmDkm season ONE week ^fter liis maiden Win at Brands Match I Sebastian BdurdaiS scored his I first oval track victory at the German 500 last Sunday.

After securing pole and withstanding airace-long challenge by Mario Oominguez, i the 23-year-0ld rookie moves up !to fourth in the series.

The Mexican duo of rDominguez andi Michel Jourdain fJnr filled the minor place with the itop three separated by just over L0).2S at the finish. This made the i German:500 the clOSet CART i finish ihi three years. : Tet no-one could!stop the flying 'PrenOhman, who took his second win on the trot, “it was a perfect weekend and:ill i have tQ:thank the Newman/Maas I team!for giving me a great ear,” isaidiiBourdais. ' "VWe adjusted the ear a ibit after the first stop, and:after it was just perfect.

Bruno Junqueira, now equal ; first in the championship, gave an : early challenge for the lead, ! swapping positions wilh:teami mate iourdais three times in the

m

■ Former World Superbike rider and BTCC driver Aaron Slight will contest a round of Great Britain's Porsche Carrera Cup at Thruxton next week. Slight is aiming towards a new career in sports and GT racing, but has not made any firm plans yet.

■ Team Kiwi will test rising star Nick Ross this week. Ross, from Cambridge, is in contention for a seat in the 2003/04 New Zealand V8 Touring Car Championship. The youngster is hopeful of following in the same footsteps of other successful Team Kiwi graduates, like Jason Richards and John McIntyre.

^ $t's< no fluke this yean Bominguez, above, wants to squash ,pit talk that last year's CoM Coast win was a fluke. Two podiums-in-a^row have helped the Mexican's cause.

Dominguez continued his great first t9 laps, ©ut the Brazilian '03 form, advancing to fifth in the ■ would eventually fade to finish standings. The Mexican took the fourth, just ahead of Oriol Servia. lead on lap 35, but was penalised Darren Manning posted a for excessive blocking when career best finish, ending the Bourdais offered a counter race in: sixth. attack. Dominguez received:an j Series points leader Tracy was extra 5s in pit lane. i the big mover iin the opening Jourdain was also punished for| laps, advancing six places in two an incident with Patrick Lemarie ! laps. However, the ear would in pit lane. Jourdain served a tSs prove to be uncompetitive, and the Canadian came home in penalty but worked his way up the through the field to finish rig ht ; t2th, two laps off the front runners. amoungst the lead battle.

The race to the flag was intense, i Bourdais spent the last few tours hugging the inside line, while ; Dominguez pulled out alongside cil on several occasions. His best attempts though were fruitless, the rookie withstand a great duel.

The series visits Milwaukee for round 6on May 31,the fOOth anniversary of the event at the track. : -PHIL MORRIS

22 Even the racing in pits was close; Bourdais, Dominguez and Jourdain dice through pit lane.

21 May 2003

■ Kim Jane, nephew of Touring Car champion Bob, will contest the third round of the V8 Brute series at Wakefield Park next week. The multiple Australian Super Speedway champion has not raced since 2000, and is said to be looking forward to his return to driving duties.

Points: Tracy 66. Junqueira 66, Jourdain , Jnr. 56, Bourdais 49, Dominguez 40, Carpentier 34, Fernandez 29, Moreno 27.

Vasser 25, Servia 24.

■ Speaking of McIntyre, the New Zealander will not be re-signing for Team Kiwi. The two parties could not see eye-to-eye on some issues during the negotiations for a new two year contract, which leaves McIntyre out of the picture for an endurance drive.

■ if you consider yourself a tyre changing tyro and you live in Western Australia, VB has the perfect competition for you. To coincide with round six of the V8 Supercars at Barbagallo Raceway on June 8, the Perth VB Pitstop Challenge pits you against the clock to see who can change tyres the fastest. There are some great prizes on offer, so visit the V8 Supercar web site for all the details.

■ Indy Racing League teams can expect cost-cutting measures to be implemented soon. Following in the steps of Formula 1, IRL is looking at limiting teams to one engine per race at selected rounds. Also, they are hoping to eliminate private testing.

This year, teams are allocated seven private test days.

■ Martin Doxey has announced a new sponsor for his fledging Holden Astra team. Flamecrusher, New Zealand's leading race gear brand has jumped aboard as the team's official supplier of race gear.

21

i

NEIL Hodgson is still perfect in the 2003 World Superbike Championship - but only just.

The Briton won both races at Monza but held out Gregorio Lavilla's Suzuki by only 0.04s in the second race. In the first race, the Ducati factory rider won from Regis Laconi's Ducati, with Lavilla third.

"I'd like to say that it is not the Suzuki that's very good, instead I think thatiGregorio's riding the wheels off the thing," said a complimentary Hodgson later.

"He's so good on the brakes, has got good corner speed and he was speedway sliding out of every corner. So total respect to anyone that pushes a bike that hard. At the moment Gregorio looks at one with the bike. I think he's making the bike look fantastic."

Lavilla looked set to take second in the first race until held up by backmarkers. James Toseland was fourth from Frankie Chili, while Steve Martin took ninth, four spots up on Troy Corser.

Chili beat Laconi in Race 2 for third ahead of Toseland and Chris Walker, while Martin was a strong seventh. Corser was black-flagged for a burning muffler, a fate also stopping team-mate James Haydon.

Points: Hodgson,200, Xaus, 115, Lavilla, 111, Laconi, 96, Toseland,91, Walker,68, Chili, 59, Martin, 58, Borciani, 48, etc

FAIRYTALES rarely come true even if there are 130,000 screaming locals wanting one.

Hot from a win in the South

AUSSIE Chris Vermeuelen blasted his Honda into the lead right from the start of the Supersports race and was never headed.

Jurgen Van den Goorbergh (Yamaha) had a fairly lonely ride for second, but there was a tremendous fight for third between Katsuaki Fujiwara and Stefane Chambon.

Chambon managed to stay with the pack and was in third place until the last lap when Briton lain MacPherson went past and held on by less then three hundredths of a second.

Fujiwara eventually finished 10th.

with a trademark,feet-on-the-seat wheelstand.

"Racing at this track is always a dream for a rider to perform in front of so many people," said Rossi after the race.

"The big problem for everyone was traction and I.worked hard on race set-up that would allow me to control the spinning and I was able to do fast lap times even if I didn't have perfect traction."

Scoring Ducati's first podium was a battered Troy Bayliss. The Italian rockets starred in qualifying, Loris Capirossi taking pole from his team mate, but both riders raced in pain

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Points: Rossi 70, Biaggi 56, Bayliss 40, Gibemau 38, Barros 30, Ukawa 23, S. Nakano(Yamaha)20,N. Hayden (Honda)18,Capirossi 16,J. Hopkins (Suzuki)15.

Max Biaggi for another Honda 1-2.

Rossi celebrated his S2nd GP win

I

Orders

in 18th.

was carry a lot of Spanish passion at Jerez but, when the local lad pitched his Honda RCV211 down the road on

would have been a bit player in the race anyway. After dealing with such details ps a bad start and the stunning speed of the Ducatis, Valentino Rossi took control of the race to lead home

JET-HOTf" V-

African Grand Prix, Sete Gibemau

lap 6, the dream was over.

But,in all likeLihood, Gibernau

Points; Vermeulen 81,Fujiwara 52,vd Goorbergh 51,Kellner 46,Chambon 42.

nintli. Andrew Pitt scored Kawasaki's first point of the season with a 15th while team-mate Garry McCoy also finished, one lap down on the leaders

after they came together on the track in the warm-up. The Aussie had bruising to a left knee after it was struck by Capirossi's handlebar, while Loris had tendon damage to his arm.

After suffering tyre problems early in the race, Capirossi crashed on lap 12.

BayUss lecJ the race early, above, with a slow-starting Rossi back in the pack. The Doctor soon asserted himself to pick off the riders ahead, taking BayUss for the lead and dragging arch-rival Biaggi with him.

Toliru Ukawa was fourth from Alex Barros's Yamaha and the impressive Makato Tamada, while Nobuatsu Aoki put in one of the rides of tlie race, hauling the two-stroke Proton to

IF the MotoGP class didn't provide a local win,the 250cc GP did, with Toni Elias scoring a classic victory.

Despite racing with a broken thumb,Elias bumped his was past Roberto Rolfo to take his fourth career win, with Randy de Puniet and Manuel Poggiali fiUing the minor placings.

"I can't beUeve it," EUas said after the race.

"This weekend has been very hard because the pain in my hand was unbearable even with a pain killing injection. 1 wanted to make up for missing home wins two years in Barcelona and Valencia."

Anthony West was dazzUng on his privateer ApriUa,taking fifth ahead of Sebastian Porto(Honda)and Fonsi Nieto (ApriUa).

Points: Poggiali 63, Rolfo 40, De Puniet 36,Porto 36, Elias 33,F. Battaini (Aprilia)32, R Nieto (Aprilia) 28, N. Matsudo(Yamaha)22, West 21,H.Aoyama (Honda)20.

ITALIAN Lucio Cecchinello (Aprilia) upset the local contenders to take a hard-fought 125cc race.

Spanish heroes Dani Pedrosa (Honda)and Pablo Nieto (ApriUa) had both led the 23 lap race but Nieto retired with a mechanical problem.

CecchineUo sprinted over the final laps to win from Sfeve Jenkner(who was 11th on the opening lap) and Alex de AngeUs(AprUias). Pedrosa was fourth.

Casey Stoner was a strong fifth after holding out Hector Barbera on the final lap.

Points: Jenkner 52,Pedrosa 46, Cecchinello 46, A. Doviziozo(Honda)38, S. Perugini (Aprilia)36,Y. Ui (Aprilia)31, M.Giansanti (Aprilia)27,De Angelis 26, Nieto 20, Stoner 16.

molorsport news

BIKE NEWS

Proton GP rookie joins Sete RYUICHI Kiyonari is Telefonica MoviStar's new GP rider.

—nn-n

PROTON'S old two-stroke KR3 may still be fast enough for a top-10 finish (at Jerez, anyway) but the team's new V5 four-stroke is going to be a jet, according to works rider Jeremy McWilliams.

The Irishman had his first taste of the bike last Wednesday at the Turweston airstrip near the team's

Who needs The Matrix?

WE really, really hope this is not a replay of Driven ...

A new documentary titled Faster, filmed over two seasons by a Hollywood production company, has had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Several MotoGP stars attended the launch, some on their GP bikes. World Champ Valentino Rossi, Yamaha's Olivier Jacque, Ducati's Loris Capirossi, Suzuki's John Hopkins, Aprilia's Colin Edwards and Kawasaki's (iarry McCoy and Alex Hofmann all attended the event at the Riviera 8 Theatre.

Narrator Ewan McGregor also showed up, riding a bike alongside the MotoGP stars.

14 May 2003

base in England.

McWilliams did several high-speed passes getting familiar with the clutch and gear shift. The development team has been working day and night to get the Proton KR V5 ready for its circuit debut, which is hoped to be next weekend at Le Mans.

"I'm really impressed with the smoothness of the engine," said McWilliams after his familiarisation.

"It feels bloody quick. When I give it some throttle it just takes off.

"Since it was my first time on the bike I wanted to get acquainted with it, so Ijust ran it up and down to get a feel of the engine and systems. I can't wait to get it to the racetrack, because it feels like it's going to be everything it was designed to be."

The reigning Japanese Supersport Champion will join Sete Gibernau in the Honda outfit for the rest of the season,starting in France this weekend.

Kiyonari was at Jerez last weekend and was due to ride his new RCV in a private test at the track on Monday.

Gibernau will be moving up to the team's HRC factory RC211V while Kiyonari takes over Gibernau's role on the satellite customer bike.

The 20-year-old Japanese rider impressed the Honda team with his recent wildcard ride at the third round of the World Supersport championship in Sugo, where his Honda CBR600RR was just beaten to first place by Christian Kellner on a Yamaha R6.

23

Doohan/Gardner War of Words

RECENT comments by Mick Doohan directed at a number of his former rivals has sparked an angry response from one of those he accused of less than sporting tactics.

In a recent article, Doohan,right, nominated Wayne Gardner,Luca Cadalora and Max Biaggi as the three worst offenders when it came to a dubious passing moves and tactics.

Tlie five-time world champion, who admitted to lifting' rather than running riders off the track in his career, recalled the decisive passing move by Gardner on Doohan in tire 1990 Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, tliat saw the 1987 world SOOcc champ claim in his second straight local GP victory, in the article, Doohan claims that Gardner ran him wide after he drafted past him going into turn one on lap 28 of the 30 lap race, forcing the Queenslander to take Iris right left off the peg in a bid to swing his centre of the gravity to the inside of the comer at around 260kmh.

"That's just bullsliit," said Gardner, right, during*a long and revealing interview at the recent 2003 Sydney Motorcycle Show at Darling Harbour.

"I'm pretty upset by what was said by that rider, because I've never, ever

ridden dangerously in my life. Ever since I had that crash wilh (Franco) Uncini, I've realised just how dangerous this sport can be,and I've never done anything like that."

In Gardner's first-ever SOOcc GP at Assen in 1983, he accidentally stmck

then reigning world champ Franco Uncini, who had fallen in front of him on the first lap of the race. Hie impact tore Uncini's helmet off, and despite sustaining serious injuries, the Italian returned to racing in 1984.

Doohan and Gardner have had a

rocky relationship ever since they became Rothmans Honda team-mates in 1989,a relationship that has been reconciled several times over that period.

Delving back into the race reports of the 1990 Australian Grand Prix fails to shed much light on Doohan's claims of Gardner's alleged dangerous pass, and tends to suggest that the draft of Gardner's bike was to blame.

Commenting on the passing move in question after the race,Doohan was quoted as sa)dng:"As Wayne came by, the wind alrnost blew me off the track."

Clearly upset by the accusations, Gardner said,"If that rider has a problem with what happened,then that's his problem.

"I've kept my silence on this, but I have to defend myself."

Gardner said he intended to ride in selected bike and car events in 2003, and said he was a likely starter at this year's Goodwood Festival.

Gardner and the late Barry Sheene shared victories in the feature motorcycle races at last year's event.

"I won the first race and Barry came back and won the next day, which I'm very glad he did."

-DARRYL FLACK

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motorsport news

OPINION

Ming H/hnvay top a S0,Sgai,Sim!

I

'VE JUST spent six days piloting a Toyota Camry Sportivo in Targa Tasmania with Murray Walker.

It seems that Murray mentioned in his book that he wanted to do the event. I wasn't aware that he wanted to until Toyota mentioned it to me.

And then Toyota came up with__ a car and I had to do it! It was a really good experience.

For a car like a Camry, which is a family sedan and not a race car, I was pleasantly surprised.

I didn't get to drive the car until we had a run at Wakefield Park, in the spec we ran it in the event, but I was amazed how well it stopped and went around the corners. It has a 145kW engine so we lost time going up the hills and made it up going down.

Murray didn't have-^any experience in the event but I had been down there in the past in a Toyota MR2. I had done most of the stages and I have a pretty good memory and I knew my way around. That was a great help.

I have to say that Murray came to grips with it pretty well. He is a very bright bloke , but w&R^y^fhad.pace notes or

anything liki.tfcat'Mprray had ,

can pick up 2s a kilometre with 'notes' and that might be the case - but it was not what we were there for.

“The public was fantastic. They were_very,enthusiastic; that can be a little hard when you are lining up to start the event.

It's a little hard to do that with heads in the window!

And it was not just the members of the public who wanted to see Murray; all the officials, it seemed, had hats, programs, all sorts of things they wanted to get signed. As always, Murray always smiled and got on with it. would have no problem if Murray wanted to do the event again. But I think there's a limited chance: he will be 80 by the time we have the next Targa Tasmania. He said he wanted to do the event and now he has done it.

The Camry was great. We finished 44th outright and we were passing Porsches and fast

Formula 1 cars, after all. He sat there for us, and even did some TV commentary for some of the shorter stages. I unplugged my headset for that...

I knew where I was going, which was just as well!

We had cameras in the car all the time - one forward and one facing us. I am sure that the footage will be great once they cut it all together ... though one bit that will make it I am not that keen on. We had a wide!

We slid off the road, just onto the grass verge - it was the only time that we went off and we never went close to hitting anything.

Murray said, "That was nearly an off I" and I had to correct him; "Murray, that was not an off, that was just a wide ..."

M

urray is a character. I was not sure what he would be like travelling in the car at high speed but, once he got his head down, it was fine. He has done some rides in two-seater

Murray sat there for us, and even did some TV commentary(or sop of ^horp^pes.

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things in stages. We got past a GTS and a 911 in one stage and one of the drivers asked if we could get in front of them in the next stage so they would not be embarrassed by being passed by a Camry again!

But it was a lot of fun. Even in the rain! We were clever in the set-up: Neal Bates did the car in his Canberra workshop and put a rollcage in.

He also put a little negative camber on the front and it worked very well. You are only allowed one set of tyres, so with the front-wheel-drive doing most of the work, we ran 'dry' tyres on the front when it was dry and put 'wets' on the rear, which were just along for the ride. We swapped them around when it was wet and it worked fine.

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REDDY took out his bottle ofa^hnapps and (whglheTwe wanted it ^ or hot) poured us a glass of the stuff and we drank to the good times we had^ had at the little;guest house at the top Of the mountain. 'fO'the last race!"was the toast and we dawned the dodgy liquid in one hit It was a lot better than the stuff he served:when first we stayed:there same years ago, when Freddy was still learning !how to make g|iiod hooch.

And> fOA a moment,|began to think that4 would miss the Austrian Grand-Prix. Every ounce of logic says that the Formula circus will be better off in every way in Shanghai or Bahrain. But I thought (perhaps it was the hooch) that i would actually miss waking up to the amazing views across the valley, the -garlic soup,the never-ending supply of schnitzels,the shower that never works properly and the selection of :towels, which:the family have managed:to collect over the years. And ii-would miss the rong;drive down the valley of the sawmills past the cut-out wooden policeman, designed to slow down those who did not kfiO#of his twOdimens.ionaFqualities and' thought'that he was actually;a serious guardian:of the law.

And'then!thought about it lind it struck me thatjny memories,of the A4 Ring:are aboutthe motor racing but rather about the region

and the people I have known.

Andi'guess that said it all. in the paddock this year,that Itaik was ofi the lack of talk in FI. When you start discussing the effect that the SARS virus might have on the future of the Chinese Grand Prix in 2004,there is need of a moment to put things into perspective.

It was at that moment that I received an e-mail from an old friend purporting to be a press release from the World Health Organisation which warned of a new threat to mankind called Severe Loss of Perspective Syndrome (SLOPS) which "has led to mass panic among the media, thousands of ecstatic children being kept out of school by their credulous and moronic parents, and increased profits for Dl¥ stores as the idiot public rush to bulk-buy facemasks and boiler suits."

It went on to point out that you're about as likely to die frorn SARS as you are to “get kicked to death by a gang of zombie nun$."

The SARS virus has now claimed a staggering!500 lives

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in only six months, which apparently makes it considerably more deadly than,say, malaria, which kills around 3000 people every single day. Malaria, however. mainly effects only people who speak foreign languages. whereas SARS has made at least one English person feel a bit iffy for a couple of days. and is therefore considered much more serious. ;|V|ot long afterwards a B Vproper news story finally came along; Mario lllien may be On his way to Renault. On the Formula t seismograph, that produced a decent rumble.

Norbert Maug of MercedesBenz said (inevitably) that it was only a rumour. Mario lllien was saying nothing except "no comment"(which of course means "yes")and there were a lot of earnest people in grey rushing about looking very serious. When you take the IL out of llmor, it is a fairly major blow, particularly when one remembers that the people who work at Brixworth are not Mercedes-Benz corporate types. They are engine men: who worked for Mario and Paul: Morgan. If Mario walks, !how much of the llmor house willbe left standingrwhen the Storm:has passed?

Down:in:southern Germany, there is perhaps enough arrogance knocking about to think that this is not important and that Mario can

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jHirrsam nn» T5 —

formula one

SLOPS and Drinking ^ooch with Freddy

be replaced'by a bloke from Iiasked of the men at BMW. But that is a huge ’Jaguarone Racing if the team mistake,%r building good had learned anything at the L engines is^about having good recent Spanish Grand Prix, wipeople who understand that where there was such;a furore over the future of Antonio P' '-.jfcmpdernf1 engine-buildihg is Pizzonia.

- "isabout knowing how best to "Yes," he said."We have jconipromise.

-_' "You can spend as much as learned that we are engineers and that we do not know how ^ you like," saidi,one engine man,"but it does not mean to deal with the press." 'that youi will make a oetter When all! is said and done, engine. Everyone has a theory oldi-faehioned things like about how to make these honesty andyintegrity still .things go faster and the onlw .. _ count fOr much in!Por<pula 1.

1 SUIIOIh way you'know is to.|jnid Mark Webber mighthave , themond'see." *^ * thought that waiting:for a few Let's compare company cars: Even if Mario Mien, left with MercedesThusi, a bigpudget ' ^ monJ^sto sign a contract Benz's Morbert Haug and BMW's Dr MariO' Eheissen, does jamp ship, wili J operation is more ilikely to would’net him more money Renault, below, be competitive? And, if 'Eormula 7' never returns to Come’Up;with ^better result butme signed early and made Zeltweg, will anyone in Austria buy Benzes orMeemers? Andi wilt Freddy - .- but good oldPshioned a commitment to the team drink too much hooch to care? ^engineering can still beat the that sent a Clear message to ’ big budgets if the right ^ .^eY(eryonc.'And even ifMark compromises are made. ^mbde aJliof a mess obit on ■ ■:^rSo often we think that 1 / ^Saturday^^izzohia was still y '-^rm'ul^ is about poney and: there to'give’^the team spme - ^f^forget*that,^iaally, it is, r- hope f^ Sunday. He has ’aboutthii^ople^hd'use the weath’^edthe storm>end ^^J^^oneyJ v^o workbight and emerged' aS a stronger person. _ - “^^^yfo»fihd!%tenth^ofia second And: so, asl ponderedthe because!liMs airthat.matters fate of Austrian GRJ^'tOfthem remembered onccagain thal be-At^dlwhilO that may nj»t be FOrmjjIa -T> is about the people 2: horrpal apd may not beJpgical inv^ed andmotTabOut M iS vyhat has^adeygormuia 1 corporate muppets and : fthOjgreht ahi^ascinating sport budgets.

-that^iSi 'Gop4'^ense%0ften ” ' And then I felt sad that we ~imore .powe^otthanlofiSW will not be comlngback to h- ● fredd/s place again 't^kloa^ObgreenbaCks,^

Flue minutes with

aaa

Mcolas Minassian

The French driver had his first taste of a V8 Supercar when he auihtioned for a Team Dynamik enduro seatfast week.

"Fm greedy tor Ms car/'he teiis MARK GlBIDEMVaE MOTORSPORT NEWS; How did the test work out?

NICOLAS MINASSIAN: It was good fun! It was lots of fun. It was pretty difficult in the morning to wake up that early we never normally test that early. I had to wake up at 5:00am and then start to drive at 6:30am ...

But it was great fun. I enjoyed it very much.

MN: It's a steep learning curve obviously. They are hard cars to step into and go quickly straight away.

NM: Yeah, yeah. They are a speciality of Australial They are a special Australian car and they're great.

There was lots of power and they drive really well. I have never driven a car like that before and it was really great.

MN: Did you know much about V8s before you drove one?

NM: I have been following them a little bit for the last year or so, because Max Wilson has been doing it and I've raced with Max before in Formula 3000 and in CART as well.

That does make me look at it a little bit more. When you know somebody you look at the races a bit more, you know? And in France we've got a channel that shows all the races, so that's why I'm looking at it.

MN: How did the test come about?

NM: I'd been driving at Super Nova in F3000 and at Super Nova there are people who know lots of people in this team.

They used to work with them, and the contact came from there.

MN:So what were your impressions of the car? Was there anything that you found 28

difficult to get used to?

NM: They move around a lot.

That was the biggest thing for me. I'm used to single-seater cars, and this one kind of moved quite a lot. There's lots of roll, and they are a very soft car.

They are just like any car, I think you just have to get used to it, you know?

It's very different, but it's good, I love it. It's a brilliant car.

"It(Bathurst)looks like a killer sort of race, doesn't it!"

- Minassian

MN; When will there be a decision about whether you'll come out to do the races?

NM; 1 don't know yet. It's just the first approach right now and we're just taking one step at a time.

I'm testing and I think we all did a good job on the test, and now I'm going to go back to Europe in a about a week or so after the race next week.

I'm going to do Le Mans, and I'm going to think about it, and

they’re going to think about it, and we'll go from there.

MN; You are coming to Winton?

NM: Yes. At least I'll get a good idea, you know? It's good to come to see a race and see for myself the way the weekend goes.

MN: Have you heard much about Bathurst?

NM: Yes, I've heard about it. It does look like a killer of a race, doesn't it!

MN; Well, when international drivers see it for the first time, they do scare themselves sometimes ...

NM: It looks like iti (laughs). It's a pretty scary sort of track.

MN: Are there more tests coming up with Dynamik?

NM: I think we're going to try to 'see what we can do. All I can say at the moment is that we're just at the beginning of our relationship.

I've been testing now, and hopefully we'll do it again.

MN: Have you heard about the 24 Hour race at Bathurst in

November?

NM: I have heard about it. I was watching it on the TV, because they were showing it a few weeks ago in Europe. Is it new?

MN: Yeah, last year was the first year.

NM: It was quite a success, no?

There were some nice cars in it.

MN: Would you be interested in doing a race like that?

NM: Oh yeah, I would, yeah. If somebody asked me to come and it was in a good team, 1 would be really interested. I just love to race, you know? That's why I'm here.

MN; You've driven just about everything that there is to drive at some point in your career. Is there anything left that you'd like to have a go at?

NM:(laughs) Yeah, I'd like to have a go at the V8!

MN; But you did that yesterday!

NM: Yeah. Now I want a bit more. You take a little bit, and then you get a little bit greedy, you know? I think I'm getting greedy about this car now. I want some more. motorsport news

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INTERVIEW

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Five minutes with

Ryan Briscoe

With three wins irom tour starts In the super-comnetitlve F3Faro Series,lite on Planet Briscoe is gooU. MARK GLBVDEmiNG caught up with him MOTORSPORT NEWS; With a near-perfect start to the season, it must be safe to say that things are going to plan?

RYAN BRISCOE: Yeah. With an almost-perfect start, it looks good so far, It's a much better start than anything I could have hoped for at the beginning of the championship.

EMC'

MN: Wh^t were you expecting at the beginning of the year?

RB: Oh, I mean for sure my aim from the beginning has been to try and win the championship.

But three out of four is a pretty good achievement so far.

It's a tough championship, and we've just been working really well with the team and everything.

For sure I couldn't have expected to have had three wins out of four.

MN; You've had an involvement with Prema Powerteam for a couple of years now. Does that kind of stability help at this point of the season, given that you don't have to worry so much about trying to gel with the team?

RB: Well, having a good feeling with the team is really important.

I'm working with an engineer this year that I haven't even worked with before, so that's new, but the general feeling with the team is very comfortable and I know everyone very well. So for sure, that has to be a bit of a help.

MN; I imagine that your general frame of mind must be very different now compared with this time last year. You must be feeling a lot more positive.

RB: Yeah, This time last year was a pretty hard time for me in Formula 3000.

The results weren't coming in 30

very well. But that's behind me at the moment and I'm just hoping to do a good job in Formula 3 now.

championship, so lots of good drivers have come into it. It looks very competitive and very professional.

MN:So what do you learn from a year like last year?

RB: Urn .... What do you learn?

You learn that there are hard times in motorsport and so you've just got to make sure you get over them and not get yourself down too much.

You've just got to wait for the good times to come back again.

MN: Any plans in the near future to hop back into the FI car?

RB: Flopefully soon. At the moment there are no plans, but probably in the near future I might be just called up to do a couple of shakedowns or something.

No official tests are planned at the moment, but 1 hope that sometime during the year I can have a test or two.

MN: It's the first year for the new-look Euro Series. What are your early impressions?

RB: It's a very strong series.

We've got all the top teams from the German series and thd French series, and with the new championship a lot of other teams have upped their quality as well.

From the beginning it was known as a very good

MN: It's early days yet, but has there been any talk about what you might do next year?

RB: It's still a bit early for next year. I'm still not sure. I certainly haven't been thinking about it too much, I'm just thinking about getting my job done this year.

But I guess we'll know

something in the next... probably the next couple of months, for next year.

MN: What,in your mind, would be the next logical step?

RB: Well, it's difficult to say. because there are quite a few options at the moment. There are four different versions of Formula 3000, and ... I don't know. It's just too difficult to say at the moment.

MN: You're in the middle of a month-long gap between Euro F3 races. What are you doing to keep busy?

RB: Relaxing a little bit. Training.

And this week we've got a twoday test coming up. Then we've got another two day test during the week just before round three.

So apart from the tests I'll stay in Viareggio, my hometown, just training and keeping fit. motorsport news

Sensitive,f Nevi MOTORSPORT NEWS:Three rounds into the championship, are you happy with the progress of the BA Falcon even though you've only done one full test day?

RUSSELL INGALL: Yes. The car is basically good, there's no doubt about it, I'm glad I came into the Ford camp at this time I wouldn't want to have come in a couple of years ago. They've got the right tool to do the job now.

The 2003 V8 Supercar season heralded a new era for Russell Ingall- a new team, new manufacturer, even a new ‘home’state. Success has been swift to come for The Enforcer but now he wants more wins and that elusive championship.

CHRIS LAMBDEN spoke to him in his first major interview as a ‘Fordie’...

S2

MN:The BA seems to have overcome that AU problem of having good fresh tyre pace, but then going off badly.

Rl: Yes. But having said that, it's fair to say that the Stones were the only ones to get a handle on the AU, towards the end of last year. It's a pretty good car nowMark Winterbottom's proved that in the Konica series. Marcos drove it at the last test we had it's still a very good car. But probably just their one, because they did get a handle on what it needed.

There's no doubt that, on some fast circuits, it had a fair aero deficiency. The BA is a lot better in that area - it was pretty reasonable around Phillip Island.

It holds a lot of promise because, at the end of the day, it responds differently than the AU,from what they're telling me, and they're getting a better idea every meeting on what you can and can't do to fix any problems that you might have with any individual circuit.

You can't rush that. You have to play it by ear a bit because you're limited with test days and at some circuits you've only got two 20 minute sessions - not a hell of a lot of time to get it right!

You have to play a consistency game as well, so it's important not to lose our way wtien we get to a race meetjrig WTiiie the BA IS very responsive, you' cap lose your way very easily- So you

have to be very honest with the data.

MN: What is the car's deficiency; the area that needs more work?

Rl: Getting a good overall balance is always the issue. It hasn't got as much aero as I thought it would have, especially on the front. I still think it lacks just a little front-end grip. I thought it would have a lot more.

I think the Commodore still has more aero on the front that's pretty factual too, because they (Ford) physically couldn't get as much on the front as there is on the Commodore.

There was a submission to trim the undertray back on the Commodore, but that never got through - Flolden wouldn't do it.

So there's a slight deficiency on the front end, which does show up on slower corners. Fast corners aren't too bad, but it does still suffer a bit on the slow ones.

MN: Any other noticeable comparisons between what you are driving now and the Perkins VX from last year?

Rl: No - none at all! There's no doubt that the car is different, but it's more the way it is set up; from springs to shock absorbers, bars, to everything. It's absolutely the other side of the world to what I was driving and the feel is so much different as well. That's something it's taken me a few meetings to get my head around - and I'm still doing so.

MN: You commented at Phillip Island that you're having to reprogram yot» bead tKrt to be so aggressive,in style;that the BA has to be driven n>ore smoothly.

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INTERVIEW

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carry the car if the car is good enough.

It's just a matter of getting that into my head and actually slowing myself down a little bit, having the confidence that the car is going to get around the corner and do what I want it to.

The other thing is its consistency. I was probably a bit conservative up to Eastern Creek; that's the first place that we started to presS on from start to finish. Phillip Island, I was very conservative from the start, because I was worried about tyres - as were a lot of teams - and then pushed on at the end.

The tyres that came off the car at the end of the first stint were like new. So I've just got to push on a lot harder: I need to have confidence that the car will cop a hiding from start to finish.

"Ross and Jimmy are very 'hands on', as I suppose Larry was,but they've both got their individual fields - Ross running the show, Jimmy on the engineerbig shle of things and hiMBg the cars"

it's just a learning process.

The team itself operates a lot differently from what I've been used to over the years, so it's a matter of retraining the head again.

MN: That was the next question. After six months at SBR, what are the differences in approach to preparation and racing to LP's team?

Rl: There's a definitely different air of professionalism - when I say professionalism, I mean ... for example, you can flick back through the data and they've got every race, every test, every lap of every car, every driver since they've been in the business.

You can recall anything in a flash.

The structure of how they operate is different. Everyone knows their place, knows their job and what is expected of them. Not unlike you would run a corporate business - you know who you've got to answer to and

who pulls the strings - and noone argues about it.

Everyone just gets on with their job. No fuss, no mess. It just comes back to the whole professionalism package.

Ross and Jimmy are very 'hands on', as I suppose Larry was, but they've both got their individual fields - Ross running the show, Jimmy on the engineering side of things and building the cars, Campbell Little is brilliant; Ken Douglas on data you've just got guys there who specialise in their field.

That's so important now - the days of the driver getting a result just because he's either carried the car, manhandled a car, that may not have been the best around and got a result are well and truly over.

You've got to have the total package now; you've got to have the personnel tcehind you, you've got to have the car, and you've got to have a good driven

One of those things falls down and you won't win races absolutely won't.

A classic example is Craig Lowndes. If you went back three or four years he could have jumped in an average car and still got it around all right.

Couldn't do it the last couple of years ... You need a good car and a good team. Good personnel is more important than a good engine.

MN: By inference, you're saying that SBR has that package together.

Rl: That was the major factor in coming here. Some of the rumours being spread around by certain individuals as to why I changed teams; why i oicLed this team vvere amazing. The o'd .money thing always crops uo.

The fact of the matter is. I did a tot o: hcmewor- . This change was going to be c'jciai. I: wasn t eason oar done for any ot

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continued from page 33 what was going to give me the best opportunity to win races, ultimately the championship. I went through the teams I had t opportunities with and - this isn't to discredit other teams - at the end of the day, at SBR I knew the people that they had behind the scenes and I knew that they were probably the best in their field.

It was a huge factor in the decision.

Having raced overseas, you get the idea of assessing who's an idiot and who's not. There aren't any idiots at SBR; they're all good people. There are no weak links in their chain.

MN: Does it frustrate the team a bit that, despite consistently delivering Ford's best results for some time, another Ford team gets the bulk of Ford's backing?

Rl: There's probably more than one team with that thought, to be honest. Without making any woes with my new employer [Ingall is contracted dij-ectly to Fordl ... SBR are getting more help, both financially and technically, from Ford now, but looking at the 00 incident that went on these last few years, that money would have been better spent with SBR. No doubt.

Over that time, SBR has been a better prospect than the lead Ford team and I think Ford recognises that. It can get a lot better as well, SBR is a team capable of going further and producing faster cars with more financial support, no doubt. I've seen what they've got planned in the wings - again that was part of my decision about what team to go for. You can't plan just for this year; you've got to plan for next year. You've got to

34

be a year ahead of the game, otherwise you're going to get smoked.

I know what they want to do; but they need the financial backing to do it. And if they can do the things they want to do, they'll get the results. They've got a very good range of sponsors - Caltex, Pirtek - but Ford has to jump in a little bit harder as well. Because you need numbers.

That's a very important thing.

One of the reasons why Ford hasn't Won more in the past is because it has always relied on maybe one team to get them a result. With Holden, they've got numbers; numbers of good drivers capable of winning races and championships; and teams that are capable of doing the same. Ford has always been outnumbered three or four to one. Every time.

So Ford need numbers. They can't rely on one team. They need two or three teams up there. That will be the key to Ford's success.

MN: You've come into a team with an established team mate. How is that relationship working out? Is there pressure to get in there and go toe-totoe; match him -the old team mate syndrome?

Rl; There was a lot of innuendo when I first joined up. Both of us were probably a bit cautious out of the gate - we didn't really know each other that well. We were quite interested to see each other's capabilities in the same car, more to the point.

That was always going to be the decider.

As it's turned out, very pleasantly; it's been very easy between both of us. It's very competitive between us - that's what the team wants. They're not employing us to be best

sutton-images.com

"It'S very competitive between us - that's what the team wants.

They're not employing us to be best buddies they want both of us to win ft

-Ingall on team-mate Marcos Ambrose, right with Rusty and Craig Lowndes

motorsport news

INTERVIEW still hard to get used to ...

Ingall spent seven years in Castro! and Holden colours with Larry Perkins's team and the move to Ford and Caltex made a few people unhappy...

buddies - they want both of us to win; they don't care which one. As we get to know each other more, it's clear that our backgrounds are surprisingly similar in terms of the overseas stint; both rummaged around in average teams; both scrounging around the joint trying to keep things alive.

That's all helped. There's a mutual respect, Marcos is a quick driver. It's not like I treat him like an imbecile - he knows what he's doing. There are aspects of his driving that I can get hints and help from, to cure some of the problems I have.

And vice versa, I know the areas where I'm strong and where he is. Luckily they're in two different areas. If we combine the two - and we can only do that by working together - we're both going to gain.

MN: Speaking of which, is there any way that the commercial considerations could be resolved so that you two could run together in the long distance races? It'd be a strong pairing ...

Rl: It's still being talked about at the moment. We're down the road as far as getting driver line ups together and ... that is a consideration. No doubt about it.

Whether it will happen or not remains to be seen. It's definitely a consideration; an option, for sure.

Anything can be made to happen!

MN: Other than you two and, say, the defending Champion, who are the other realistic championship contenders?

Rl: You always have to keep an eye out for Skaifey; he's always going to be lurking around, Brighty's hanging in there.

He's driving to the game driving to get points. Whether that's enough I don't know. It comes down to the old 'if you won the championship without

\\

A lot of people thought I'd go into cruise mode when I got to Queensland, kick hack, get lazy; it's prohably had the opposite effecf' -‘Queensland’s Own’on his move north

winning a round would you feel satisfied with it?'

MN: Richo's been low-key but he's running second in the championship.

Rl: Yes, both of them. Richo and Brighty are driving to the game, picking up points.

MN: Will that be enough this year?

Rl: Up to half stage, it will be. At the end, it won't be. In the end, you still have to win races. That might bring that game plan unstuck for them.

I thought Murph would be in with a chance this year, but they seem to be struggling.

MN: They're all in the older Commodore at the momentRicho's debuting LP's new VY

this week,so that might shed some light on an unknown factor.

Rl: The VY seems to be a better car, faster for sure.

MIM; Do you like 300km races?

How do you think the public responds to them?

Rl; Seems to be a 50:50 split at the moment, depending upon who you talk to with the public.

Some like them. The public seems to like the pit stops; a big hit with them, it seems.

Personally, I think the races are a bit long - long at some circuits, SOOkms at some places isn't much of a problem, 90+ laps around Winton doesn't do much for me, to be honest, I think for value-for-money, people like to see a couple of races in a day as well. Some of the events should go back to two 150km races.

Personally, not a great fan of 300km races, I still like the sprint format myself; getting in amongst it. Racing in longer races is a bit restrained - the first real racing I've had this year, wheel-to-wheel racing, is probably that last 20 laps at Eastern Creek, Unfortunately, you take a lot of that fender-bending action out when you go to these longer races, because you just can't afford to go off, A lot of drivers are aware of that. The combination of the points system and the long races has 'dulled out' the wheel-to-wheel contest, I don't really like that.

MN: The switch to SBR has also meant a lifestyle change Melbourne to the Gold Coast.

Good thing?

Rl: The move has been fine. It's a great part of the world. A lot of people thought I'd go into cruise continued on page 36

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continued from page 35 '

sutton‘imagcs.com

This used to be my playground: Ingall has two round wins at Winton Motor Raceway under his belt. Will he be able to turn on that Old Black Magic this weekend and give Ford three round wins in a row?

● 'tis;

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til

mode when I got to Queensland, kick back, get lazy; it's probably had the opposite effect.

The weather is so much better, so you tend to train more, you're always outdoors, you do more. With new sponsors Caltex, Ford - I tend to spend a lot of time on planes during the week and it's nice to come back to somewhere warm - it's a bit like a holiday resort every time you come home.

Mentally there's no down-side.

Melbourne is the hub, the centre of motorsport, because the manufacturers are down there etc. Even when you go home, you're still in amongst it, you can't relax. At least when you come up here, you can have a couple of days off; you don't necessarily hear from anyone in motorsport, or know what's happening, or who's shafting who, who's bought who out!

I don't catch up with most of the news until I get to a race meeting.

MM:So what's a typical nontrace week? How many days are you away doing corporate stuff?

Rl: On a plane two to three times a week. Different states.

The rest of the time, out doing a fair bit of (motor) bike riding -1 was actually out with Marcos and a few of the SBR boys the other day. Marcos now has a bike - I'm converting them all.

SBR is only 20 minutes away, so I'm up there a couple of days a week as well. They always have a major debrief on the

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J motorspon news

INTERVIEW Tuesday after every meeting - two to three hours, fairly intense.

I've actually got to do homework now too! I have to write reports on activities and so on - like I'm back at school. First time I've had to do that for a while ...

Other than that it's divided between training and taking Sasha to the Laurie Lawrence Swimming School - that takes up an afternoon. Down there with all the mums, teaching Sasha how not to drown ...

show too. I think we're very wary of each other.

If Billy (Woods) didn't pull it up occasionally, it could get a bit ugly; no doubt before the end of the year it will! There has to be some diplomacy - depending on the time slot. If it's a late time slot, then I think we can go for it a bit harder.

MN: Winton this week. Marcos had pole last year; it was your test track; a reasonable level of confidence at SBR? Rl: They've had a fast car there in the past, so there's no reason why the thing shouldn't be near the mark, I know the track really well done hundreds of laps around there. Qualifying's going to be pretty important, so that's something I'm going to have to shine up a bit on.

If I qualify in the top five, then we're in with a damn good show, given the way the car has shown its consistency. 98 laps, or whatever round there means you're going to have to make sure the tyres stay on it.

We're going to be in good shape.

Passing will be a hassle - you'll probably lose half the field at the first corner, as you often do at Winton!

MN; You're a regular on Channel 10's Superstars. In fact Skaifey and you seem to have a Good Cop, Bad Cop routine going. Is that deliberate?

Rl: It's easier now I'm on the other side of the fence. Before, I had to be a little politically-correct.

When we do the show, we go in with the best intentions. There's an agenda of what issues we're going to talk about, but we quite often get off the track. We (Skaifey and I) rarely agree on anything. It starts off as a bit of fun banter, by mid-show it starts to get serious, and by the end of the show she's on! It happens every time.

Contrary to people thinking it's put on, it isn't. It gets fairly heated and usually carries on after the

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Enjoy the moment: This is the nearest Ambrose will ever get to Ingall buying a drink (unless there is a contra deal involved)...

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21 May 2003

35

My Lett Foot I

Lett on Bight? Bight on Wnong? Leit-ioot hnaking may he the way of the tutune-on not, depem/ing on who you ask. PBiL BBONAGAN typed with his iett and night hand atten he asked the night(and iett)peopie

M

OTOR racing is a simple business. All you have to do to get a racing car to go fast is to push a few levers, turn a wheel and make sure that it all happens in roughly the right order. There is also the matter of making sure that you have the right cap on your head at the right time and that you do not say bad words at the post-race media conference.

And putting together a motorsport magazine is just a matMr of waiting for the media releases to arrive and picking the right photo ...

Blame in-car cameras for the generalisation. Of course, making a car do what you want it to at warp speed is a lot more complicated than that. Looking at an accomplished driver at work,even at 300kmh,it all appears so straightforward. But, obviously, whether it is Michael Schumacher or Craig Lowndes on camera,the task is not as simple as they make it look.

One of the things that is absolutely critical in getting a car to go fast is its

brakes -not merely how much they slow the car down,but how the car's balance is maintained through a corner while doing so. And one of the things manifestly important in that process is what foot you have on the brake pedal.

Left-foot braking has been around for generations. It was once considered predominantly the domain of rally drivers, who used the techruques to balance their sliding cars on any surface from tarmac to ice, and everything m between.

With relatively recent breakthroughs in teclinology, you might think that left-foot braking was universally used in the World Rally Championship. Transmission design now means that the 'bad old days' of having to heel-and-toe downshifts with an H-pattern gearbox are gone; now,WRC cars have quick-shift mechanisms,either floor-mounted (Subam),column-mounted (Ford)or, in the case of Peugeot's 206 WRC, connected to the steering wheel.

However,there are exceptions.

Didier Auriol stUl uses his right foot

for braking as well as accelerating and he uses his left for nothing. Once he starts a stage, he changes up and down without the clutch, so his left boot is firmly stuck to the dead pedal until the car has to come to a stop.

Sounds weird - but it works well enough.The Frenchman did win the 1994 world championship ...

But most of the other drivers in the WRC have one foot on each pedalas do many in the Australian Rally Superseries.

"It gives you a quicker reaction time," says Subaru's Cody Crocker.

"It really helps to settle the car in high-speed comers; it sits the car down and makes the diffs work a little harder. It especially gives the car more grip in the rear; it's easier for the car to react.

"We don't use the clutch for downchanges. It's easier to match the revs on downchanges, with the Group N regulations giving you a relatively large gap between the gear ratios. I trained myself to do it on a road car, when I was starting out."

In road racing, the choice of left or

right is much less clear. In the open wheeler categories,left-foot braking is much more prevalent. Kids us leftfoot braking when learrung their craft in karting, with a relatively short path from there to Formula One (for example,it took Kimi Raikkonen only two years) they 'run what they brung'and stay with what they know.

In other categories, a lot depends on what technology is available. In V8 Supercars, righties rule but, even then, there are exceptions. One of Network Ten's most interesting in-car camera angles shows Greg Murphy's feet dancing on the pedals, right on the gas, left on the brake, nothing on the clutch - except when he flatchanges up through the gearbox. He never uses his right foot on the brakes.

"Not at all," says Murphy."WMle 1 am driving a car, my right foot never touches the brake pedal.

"I just started doing it that way about six years ago. It leads to better conhol on the brake pedal. When you brake right-foot and try to heel-and-

lAOOU sutton-imaics.com

Making it up as you go along: David Coulhard

won the 2002 Monaco Grand Prix after 'changing feet'just prior to qualifying.

motorsport news

It still locks up: Greg Murphy is V8 Supercar racing's most visible proponent of left-foot braking. His Kmart Racing Commodore VX has a wide brake pedal, right, to allow for either foot, allowing for a right-foot co-driver to share the car in endurance races. Murf, however, uses both feet-sometimes together, below right. toe, it's harder to regulate brake pressure.

It also means that I can use the brake and the throttle at the same time to balance the car. It can settle the can in the middle of the corner.'

While Murphy feels that his car is much better balanced if he uses his left foot to brake,Jason Bright feels

right. There are plenty having an each-way bet.

I am sure that left-foot braking would be a better way to go," says Garth Tander."I can see a lot of speed to be picked up going that way.

I have tried to do it. Once,I drove the car with left-foot braking in all the pre-season testing we did and I was

It leads to better control on the brake pedal. When you brake right-foot and try to heel-and-toe, it's harder to regulate brake pressure" - Greg Murphy the opposite is true -in a way.

I have used left-foot braking in the past," explains Bright,"especially when I was racing in open-wheelers.

But in a V8 Supercar, that is something I don't do.I have tried, but I just don't feel comfortable doing it.

The problem is, that a V8 Supercar has a lot of weight and a lot of movement,especially under brakes. compared to an open-wheeler. If I try to left-foot brake,I have my right foot on the accelerator and my left on the brake and you have to modulate your braking. I just find it really hard; or rather, it's a lot easier if you have your left foot braced (on the dead pedal). You just feel more balanced.

OK.So Murf(a right-hander)is committed to his left foot and Brighty (a left-hander) is in love with his 21 May 2003

feeling pretty good doing it. But when it came to the first race of the season. every time I said,'Brake now', my right foot went onto the brake pedal.

It was not'automatic' and,if you have to stop and think about it, it is not the way to go.

Tander's thoughts are echoed by David Coulthard. The long-time McLaren man is one of the very few GP drivers still to use his right foot for braking. Last season, throughout practice at Monaco,DC used his left foot and was happy with the results.

But as he started his qualifying run. he reverted to right-foot braking.

As a result, he kept using his 'conventional'foot- and won the

continued on page 40 39

continued from page 39 race, his and McLaren's only win of the season.

Okay,so left-foot braking is the way of the future, right? Maybe not; there are some downsides.

"You have no 'security'," says

depends on the car - or, even, history.

Wayne Gardner brakes with his right in a V8 Supercar but with his left in the Toyota Supras he raced until last year in the All-Japan GT Championship.

"I chop and change," he explains,

"I can't do it (left-foot brake)in a V8 Supercar because it has an H-pattem gearbox; it's too difficult. In Japan, when we had ABS,it was great. You would just rush up to a corner and stamp on the brakes as hard as you

Does being i

I went back to left-foot braking and it was faster

U

II

- Wayne Gardner Steven Johnson."If you brake with the right foot and use the clutch to downchange, you still get a second chance if you miss a shift. If you start to feel a wrong gear, or if you don't get a gear at all, the clutch lets you fix it quickly and get on with it.

"If you left-foot brake and don't use the clutch, if you miss a downshift you skate off the road - usually backwards, which is not that nice ...

"I spent a whole day at Queensland Raceway using my left foot to brake. It felt a little strange to start witli but I got used to it pretty quickly;By the end of the day,I could do a lap with my left foot that was only^ tenth or so slower that doing one with my right foot."

Sometimes, the clroice of foot

Sushi for lunch = left foot braking: Wayne Gardner, is a 'lefty'in a GT car, above, and a 'righty'in a V8 Supercar.

We choose to fly Air Skoda: Didier Auriol, below, attacks the WRC with one foot tied behind his

back.

5ufton-tmages.com

"Then they banned ABS for a season and I changed to right-foot braking. I started to have problems; because 1 had broken my right ankle a few times on the bikes,I wasn't stabbing the pedal as hard as my team-mate was when I was heelingand-toeing. I went back to left-foot braking and it was faster. It really helped having a sequential box."

John Bowe has the opportunity to brake with his left in the Prancing Horse Ferrari in Nations Cup but is firm on the view that right is right; "I have always braked with the right. In a car like a V8 Supercar, which is not that pitch-sensitive, there is no obvious advantage (in left-foot braking),in my opinion. And the downside is that you wear out your brakes faster.

"Anyone who says tliat left-foot braking is an advantage is kidding themselves."

So,there are a numbering of differing views. Left or right? Right or wrong? It's down to the individual -like most things in motor racing.

MIKE Weir is having a great year. Last month,the 32year-old became the first Canadian to win the US Masters.

He was also only the second left-handed golfer to win one of the sport's four 'majors'. But it took 40 years for history to repeat; it was 1963 when Bob Charles won the British Open.

In the 158 majors since, 'righties' ruled.

While looking at left-foot braking, left-handedness is a subject that bears examining.

Racing drivers are not materially different to any other group in society. In a recent survey conducted in Europe and the United States, a large sample (over one million) of the population was examined, with 11 percent of respondents being left-handed.

Broken down on gender lines, it showed a higher proportion of men than women with the trait, with 12.6 percent of males and 9.9 percent of females proving to be lefties.

'Handedness' is a cover-all expression that is used to describe dominant characteristics of behaviour. In fact, there are four traits in which humans usually display preference for one side or another; hands, feet, eyes and ears. Usually, one side is dominant in all four traits; in other words, if you throw righthanded, you usually kick right footed and see and hear better with that eye and ear.

But that is not universal.

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INSICHT

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If someone turns right, we're in trouble: NASCAR's left-only world may, potentially, favour right-handed drivers.

Cody Crocker is right-handed but kicks a ball with his left foot.

When it comes to sports that require a two-handed motion, like cricket or golf, Crocker plays left-handed.

'Handedness' is determined by which hemisphere of the brain is dominant. In most cases, it is the left hemisphere, which controls the right side of the body. In left handers, it is the right hemisphere.

So, why is a right or left-handed characteristic important in racing drivers? Most racing drivers (almost 90 percent) are righthanded and use their right foot for both throttle and braking.

Potentially, that gives them an

21 May 2003

advantage over a left-hander - but that is oversimplifying the case.

Like most activities, driving a race car is a repetitively acquired skill; in other words, practice makes, if not perfect, better.

In days past, left-handers were often forced to write, and do other actions, with their 'other' hand so to conform to society. It was considered too much of a disadvantage to be left-handed.

Using golf as an analogy again, David Graham was a good enough player to win two majors as a right-hander, despite Graham himself being lefthanded.

So what does it mean? Not much. Lefties and Righties are in

the same boat and, in pure terms, neither group has a measurable advantage over the other. In the 1990s, both the Holden Racing Team and Wayne Gardner Racing fielded the same all-lefty driving squads in the enduros (Gardner, Neil Crompton, Brad Jones and Win Percy). Unusual yes, but maybe the most exceptional thing about it was that Gardner never noted it as 'unusual' until we mentioned it for this story.

Advantages? There is some anecdotal evidence, about which there is some dispute, that groups find it easier to turn the 'wrong' way; in other words, right-handers feel more

comfortable turning left, and vice versa. It's is more of a 'ffeel' thing than anything else, and varies from individual to individual. Next time you ride a bike, cut a fast U-turn in one direction, then the other. You may feel 'better' going right or the left or you may not notice any difference.

At least left-handed racing drivers are in good company.

Michelangelo was left-handed: so were Leonardo da Vinci and Ludwig von Beethoven. All five members of the musical group Manhattan Transfer are lefties, as are Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The greatest tennis players of their respective genders. Rod Laver and Martina Navratilova, were southpaws.

But then again, so was Albert da Salvo (the Boston Strangler) and Jack the Ripper. There is a higher proportion of left-handed criminals than in most social groups but, then, there are more left-handed lawyers too ,,.

There continues to be societal bias against left-handers. The words s/n/sfer("suggesting or threatening evil") and gauche ("lacking social polish; tactless") are both derived from words meaning left-handed. Maybe those words also apply to some racing drivers. Maybe not.

And, despite having two righthanded parents, one of my two sons is left-handed. When it comes to supporting his poor ageing dad, I really hope that he is a tennis player or a golfer, and not a racing driver ...

- PHIL BRANAGAW

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The Sleeping w

HEN Mika Salo earned sixth places for Toyota in Australia and Brazil last year- only the first and third races of the Japanese company's FI adventure - everything seemed to be so easy for the new boys.

However,it took another 19 races for the team to make the points for a third time. Tlie drought ended when Cristiano da Matta picked up anotlier sbdli place at Barcelona two weeks ago.

The timing couldn't have been better,for the top management from Toyota Motor Corporation,including honorary chairman Dr Toyoda,were there to see it. When da Matta returned to the team motorhome from pare ferme, there was a polite round of applause, and much backslapping.

The sense of relief was obvious to all.

"It means a lot," smiled team principal Ove Andersson."Now the motivation comes back, and we know we are not working for nothing, wliich I think is very important for everybody. But it's only one race, and we have many races to come. I hope this wasn't a flash in tlie pan, and that we can follow it up with some more good results.

"I tliink I'm always realistic, and I realised that when we had these points last year. We could have had another point in Belgium,I think, and in Monza we were very close. I think we have the potential in the car now, and we should be able to get some points.

"Last year we didn't have a car really that was competitive enough. I am carefully optimistic that maybe this year when we get things a little bit more right than we have done at tlie moment, we should be in good shape."

What made the Barcelona result special was that it was achieved on merit, and it wasn't one of those oddball sevenths or eighths that we now have to consider as a worthwhile achievement. It's true that the McLarens were out of the picture, along with Jarno Trulli's Renault,but da Matta beat everyone else fair and square and was on the tail of Ralf Schumacher's Williams in the closing

laps.

What's more, team-mate Olivier Fanis had been well ahead of Cristiano on the grid,and had he not been delayed on tlie first lap, and then hit by transmission gremlins after his first stop, the Frenchman might have scored an even better result.

Toyota's pace tliroughout the 44

weekend made a lot of people take notice. On Friday, when all that counts is pure speed,da Matta was a sensational fourth fastest. He was . beaten only by tlie two Ferraris and by Jamo TruUi, who'd had the benefit of the two-hour morning test!"

"Friday really showed,somewhat, the potential of the car," says Andersson."I was a little bit surprised actually with the Friday result. I think we were quick with fuel, and we were quick without fuel. I've said all along that Cristiano is a fantastic driver, when we can get things right for him.

He's absolutely able to do the job, no doubt."

Meanwhile Fanis was incredibly consistent, earning fifth on Friday morning,sixth in first qualifying,fifth in Saturday practice and sixth in final qualifying. Of course his early stop showed that he was running a relatively light load in the latter, but there was no doubting the car's overall speed. Any engineer will tell you tlrat Barcelona is the ultimate test of aerodynamics and thus the TF103 seems to be pretty strong in that area.

ReliabEity is still a major concern, and tliere have been siUy problems that should have been solved earlier.

There has also been some sheer bad luck,such as when an innocent Fanis was assaulted by a tliree-wheeled Ralph Firman in Brazil, on a day when he might just have scored a very special result.

What the Spanish performance also reflected is the fact that the team had undertaken a great deal of testing at the Catalunya circuit and knew exactly what to do to make tire cai' at work. At tracks it hasn't visited since last year's Grand Prix, general inexperience and lack of a decent database is proving costly, as Ove admits.

"I would say so, yes. We are lacking experience. And as I've explained before, the fact of getting the team to pull in one direction and work and to react in a proper way, this is the problem, maybe much more than car set-up. I think we are coming aroimd, but this is a long process. It's nothing tliat happens overnight.

"I think the car is quite a lot better.

The whole package is quite a bit better,I think there's no doubt about it. We still have to learn a lot as a team, how to set tlie car up under different conditions, and all tliis kind of thing.

"We had some silly problems in Australia, and unfortunately we had the same tiling in Malaysia. In Imola

on Friday, we had big set-up problems. We managed to cure quite a bit of them overnight Considering fuel loads, I tliink the guys tried quite hard, and we were just a second off the pole position. And last year we were 3.2s, or something like that."

Toyota is making the most of testing opportunities between raceseven running at two different circuits simultaneously a few weeks ago -but the team could certainly make good use of the Friday testing that is clearly giving Renault and Jaguar such an advantage.

"I think the Friday morning two hours are helping the teams that are doing it a lot,just to set up specifically for the race. If you have two hours on Friday morning for sure you can do a lot of work. Maybe it would be a better solution for us if you look at individual race results. With a new driver as well maybe it would be useful. Why we didn't do it is because we felt that we needed as a team; to be able to test more,learn more, to develop more."

Fanis agrees that it's a question of the personnel learning and putting that knowledge into practice.

"I think we have some guys who are not as experienced,but they are still very efficient," says the Frencliman."I think they learn very quickly and they do the job properly.

We have some new people arriving now,particularly for the test team, people with experience. We're taking a good way and a good direction to improve the team and the car.

"Since I've joined (the team), they've definitely improved the car compared with last year, and I'm quite surprised by the big step we've done.

I'm quite happy about that. But definitely I want to stay really positive about the team and the new car. I tliink tlie base we have is really acceptable, and we have to continue to develop the car during the season and hy to be better."

While the race team has been learning, diere were also major changes to the structure of the organisation over the winter.

Andersson remains team principal, and its public face at races, but Englishman John Hewitt has taken over tire day-to-day rimning of the Cologne facility.

"Basically, what 1 do on a race weekend is notliing different from what I did last year," says Ove."At home.I'm not involved too much m

continued on page 46

i

"The whole package is quite a bit better, i think there's no doubt about it.

We stiii have te learn a lot as a team, how to set the - Ove Andersson, right

INTERUIEW

n Giant Stirs In its second year in Formula One, Toyota is makinggreat progress,showinggenuine speed and scoring points on merit ADAM COOPER spoke to team boss Ove Andersson about his sophomore season, the TF103 and his new-for-2003 drivers Kcdione Molorsporl images

Rcdzone Molorsport Images

IP Molorsport Images

da Boy from Brazil:-^] Before the start of the season, one of the most-asked questions was,'Can Cristiano da Matta cut it in Formula 1?'In Spain, the CART Champion chased the Williams of Ralf Schumacher all the way to the flag. It seems the answer is 'yes'... continued from page 44 the day-to-day problems of running tlie organisation. I'm more wheeling and dealing with FIA and Bernie (Ecclestone) and this kind of stuff.

"For me,it's OK.First of all it's company rules, and at TMCI can't maintain that kind of position. But besides that.I'm quite enjoying things.

The pressure is a little bit less, and I'm working well with John. On the technical side, we obviously have some struggles, but this is on another level."

While the decision to drop both drivers last year was by no means unanimously supported, da Matta has quickly won over everyone in the team. Andersson is a big fan:"He needs a couple more races to get used to FI,but he's been pretty impressive.

He's so determined,but at the same time,psychologically he's very strong."

Like his fellow rookies, da Matta has not found it easy to adjust to the new FI schedule of restricted practice and one-lap qualifying. But at Barcelona, his fourth place in Friday qualifying was hugely impressive and, after a wrong decision on set-up spoiled his run on Saturday,he made amends in the race.

I

46

He put in a charging performance on the way to sixth, and while he couldn't find a way past the struggling Ralf Schumacher at the end, the German wasn't exactly making it easy for him and made sure the door was firmly shut into Turn One.Aware that three points were a lot more desirable than a visit to the gravel trap, da Matta reined in his racer's instincts and settled for sixth place.

"Yeah,he always gave me the outside tine," smiled Cristiano after the race."And I had very, very hot brakes,so my pedal was very long, and that wasn't helping too.

"It was my first time scoring points, so there's a lot to lose if you try something and it doesn't work. You

look very stupid! There were a lot of things not in my favour there.

"I tried to make him make a mistake,but he didn't start racing yesterday..."

Cristiano certainly benefited from the hundreds of laps of testing he's done at Barcelona since joining Toyota,but he has already shown how quickly he can learn new tracks with strong Friday performances in Australia and Malaysia. As he concedes, what really helped in Spain was the team's knowledge of a circuit that can be so fickle when the temperature changes.

"I really feel the biggest difference isn't coming from me. Here we come and we know what works,but of course the team is only in the second

\afits.cotn

"When the guys started to worh with him, they were so impressed with the exactness of his feedhack - Andersson on Panis, right and below

season. We'll come to some tracks where we don't have much of a database.

"I remember last year in Champ Car, with a team that was old in the business; we'd go to some tracks where we could look at everytliing that we'd done for the last three or four years,and some things started to make sense. You see that when it's hot the track likes more this kind of setup,and you relate something. We don't have as much as that, and only time is going to bring that to us."

In other words,the team really has to make the most of races at venues it has tested at and therefore stashed away extra knowledge.

"Exactly. I think that's very important.I think we had some opportunities, but we let it skip out of our hands, and it's very important to pick up points."

Andersson has no doubt that da Matta is a great asset.

"When you have to deal with him, you can understand," says tire Swede.

"He has a great understanding of strategy and all of this kind of thing.

He has very good ideas on what should be done,because that's what they've been doing in CART quite a lot. He's good on general race strategies and how tyres work. He brings a lot of that, but obviously he needs to get used to FI cars and tire specific type of tyres and so on. I think he's progressing."

But perhaps the man to watch in the conring races will be Fanis, who surely deserves a decent run some time soon. Ov'e admits that we haven't seen the best of him yet.

"I don't tlrink so. Nevertheless, you can see how he works I know for instance when the guys started to work with him,they were so impressed with the exactness of Iris feedback. He felt things very quickly in tire car, and so on.I tlrink we are very pleased to work with him. He's very, very positive for the team." molorsport news

Patience is everything Toyota may be new to FI- but it has been in motor racing a i-o-n-g time

TOYOTA has made its mark ' in resulted in a class win (1300ccjust about every form of racing 1600cc) and ninth overall. Outright you’d care to name. But where victory came in the US a year later.

Later cars such as the Celica Twin do you think it made its post Cam Turbo went on to score war motorsport debut? Japan?

Nope,too obvious. The USA? several wins throughout the Europe? Thanks for trying, and 1980s, but things really hit their we have a lovely parting gift. stride when Carlos Sainz wop the The answer, remarkably, is right championship in 1992 in a Celica here in Australia.

GT Four. A furthfer two successive Most great achievei lents drivers championships followed. sprouted from modest beginnings, Things ended on a rather and in this case it was a solitary different note in 1995, however, Toyota Crown that joined the when the company was excluded lineup for the 1957 Australian from the WRC due to having fitted Rally. At the time, this was a an illegal air restrictor bypass to its world-class event with a reputation Celica ST205's engines.

The 70s marked another for extracting the maximum out of man and machine and it was thus milestone, which was the debut seen as a vital proving ground for of the Toyota engine in the any manufacturer seeking to show European F3 series in 1974-an their worth. 102 cars made the event that saw the company first stick its toe into the ocean of start, and when they reached the end of the event 10,560 miles open-wheel racing. But it would not be until the Macau GP in 1984 later, the Crown was in 47th place.

Not much, you might think, but that the engine would become a winner at the hands of John enough to get the ball rolling. The Nielsen.

Crown won the Around-Japan Yomiuri Rally the following year One year later came the before Toyota decided to invest company's first appearance at Le more effort into Sports Cars. The Mans, with the Toyota TOM's 85 C-L. It finished 12th. results were the Sport 800 and the 2000GT, the latter of which in As the 1990s passed, Toyota particular became a forced to be gradually began to increase its reckoned with throughout a good involvement in open-wheel racing. part of the 1960s.

After entering CART as an engine The car made its debut at Fuji in supplier in 1994, it powered Scott 1966 for the third Japanese Grand Pruett to pole for the first time in Prix, which at that time was a race 1999 and backed it up with a win at the hands of Juan Pablo for prototypes. The 2000GT finished third - a remarkable result Montoya in 2000. for a production car. It took a By this point, Toyota's plans to dominant win in the Fuji 24-Flour enter FI were well underway. race a year later and also broke Something had do give though, and after a decade of considerable three world long-distance speed records during one 78-hour stint. success the plug was pulled on the works WRC program The 1970s brought a renewed interest in rallying. The marque's although the company did take out the Constructors' title in their final WRC debut came with the entry of a 2T-G Turbo Celica at the Rally season as a parting shot.

- MARK GLENDENNING of Great Britain in 1972, which

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21 May 2003

n

Superman in R AIN cannot stop Michael Schumacher. That much, we knew. And,after the 2003 Austrian Grand Prix, neither, it seems,can fire.

Schumacher won his 67th Grand Prix and,as his race wins mount up, so too do the extraordinary circumstances which he overcomes to win. At the A1 Ring, Michael suffered a flash fire during his first pit stop when a small amount of fuel somehow leaked out of the refuelling nozzle and caught fire. Michael sat calmly in the cockpit as the Ferrari team dealt with the fire in impressive fashion and then he drove away, rejoined the race and went on to win.

You can call it luck (although Michael did not seem to think the term applied) but,somehow or other, Michael always seems to get away with it when others are not so lucky.

The story the Austrian Prix wasof always going toGrand one about tyre performance and the cycles through which the tyres go as they race.

The Bridgestones tend to degrade very quickly after the first lap and then they take four or five laps to clean up and then the performance comes back again. The Michelins tend to degrade less quickly for the first few laps but then they take longer to clean up and so the cycles offer the opportunity for one car to be quick at one point and another to be quicker a few laps later.

Much therefore depends on where the cars are in relation to the competition because, if you are quick when the man ahead is slow, your efforts will be wasted.

Or, to put it another way, the start of the Austrian Grand Prix was absolutely vital. The men who got down to the first corner in the lead were likely to stay there.

The starting procedure was disrupted twice by Cristiano da Matta, whose Toyota's launch control system was not working. He twice tried to get off the line with it and twice failed.

After the first failure he was sent to the back of the field and, while there are some who would argue that there was no need to stop the race a second time, there was a safety issue involved.

The Race Director did not know that the car was not stuck in gear and it was on the racing line at the exit pf a fast corner. The start was aborted 48

again and if you watched closely, you would see that da Matta started the third attempt at the race from the 22nd slot on the grid so that if the car failed again it would be offline. In fact Cristiano started manually and all went well.

Schumacher and Montoya made the best starts and Kimi Raikkonen had been swallowed up by the Williams by the time they got to the first corner. As the pack was jostling, the decision was taken to send out the Safety Car because Jos Verstappen(who had been using Minardi's launch control system for the first time) had suffered a launch control failure and had ground to halt next to the barrier on the main straight. The car needed to be moved because of the danger of it being hit by another car was judged to be too great and so the race was neutralised.

At the end of lap four, the race was on again and for the first few laps Schumacher was imable to make much of a gap over Montoya. The first lap was quick but then the rate of progress slowed to a few tenths and then suddenly back came the Bridgestone performance and off went the Ferrari, pulling away at a second a lap.

Between laps 10 and 13, Schumacher set four consecutive fastest laps and by lap 14 was nine seconds clear of Montoya.It would have been interesting to see how things would have gone as the Bridgestone performance cycle continued but the weather then jumped in and caused a bit of trouble. There were spots of rain at various corners and Schumacher was the first to arrive.

"I don't know whether the others behind had the opportunity to see the car in front," he said,"because if you can see that you have a reference and you know what to expect and can react a bit better. It was bit tricky to anticipate."

There were several wild moments and Michael's gap dropped from 10s to 7.1s and then to 3.8s. On lap 18 the gap was down to 3.1s but then the rain cleared away and Michael began to pull away again. As this was happening the pit stop sequence was beginning. Montoya disappeared into the pits and Michael was left with Raikkonen eight seconds behind. Another fastest lap took the gap to just under 10 seconds and then Michael, Kimi and third-placed

Jenson Button all came hurrying into the pits.

And that is where it nearly all went wrong. As the Ferrari refuellers were pumping the fuel into the car, there was a small fire. It was not an explosive one, but rather a blaze that lasted a few seconds.

The refueller saw what was happening and tried to get the hose off the car, but the system is such that this cannot be done until the various circuits have been closed.

When the hose finally came off, there

continued on page 52

This one was worth celebrating: He may have won almost 70 races but Mikey the Shoe still celebrates each GP win like it's his first. After a delayed pitstop caused by a refuelling fault, Schumacher was stunning in the middle part of the race, showing the full potential of Ferrari's stunning new F2003 GA. It's reliable, too...

■etmnttBMS

Weathen? No problem. Fire?

Ha!MichaelSchumacher uncorkeila mesmerising Hrlve to take a brilliant win at what Is likely to be the laiM Austrian GranUPrix. JOESAINARO reportsfrom Zeltweg

Heilzone Motorsport Imago:

Quiet Please - Hier Grand Prix ofe

Austriai May 17 2003 1 M Schumacher(D) 6 K Raikkdnen (FtN] 3JPMonloya(COl 9 N Htldfald(D) 2 R Barrichallo(BRA) TJTrulll (I)

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20 O Panls(F| 16JVilleneuve(CAN) 21 C Da Malta(BRA) 5 D Coulthard (GB) I 10 H H Frenteen(D) 12 R Finnan (IRL) 14 M Webber (AUS) 18 J Wilson(GB) 8 F Alonso(E) 19 J Verstappen(NL)

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The feeling was that the teams E knew going off to Austria that we would be split into those who wanted a good qualifying set-up might be facing a weekend of and will then hope to hold back renewed Ferrari domination. the other cars in the race, and those that who wanted an The new F2003 GA is a good advantage in the race and so car and in previous races at the were willing to run less wing.

A1 Ring, the team has shown That meant that we knew in itself to have a good advance that the grid would be understanding of the way the jumbled and strategies track works. The worrying thing was that this would be the first complicated.

On Friday, when the fuel was time that Bridgestone would pumped out of the cars, the have the new-tyres specifically Ferraris were fastest. It was a designed for the Ferraris. And in dominant performance despite theory, that had to give them an the fact that both Michael advantage.

Schumacher and Rubens But the issue was always going to involve one other factor: Barrichello made mistakes which cost them time: Schumacher the weather. Temperature is so having a major moment at the critical these days that a few degrees more or less in the track last corner and Barrichello making a bit of a mess of the and the whole picture can change. Generally, we have seen first corner.

What was surprising on Friday Michelins working better at was that Mark Webber was third higher temperatures and fastest in his Jaguar and then we Bridgestones working better had the two BAR-Hondas. This when the temperature drops. seemed to indicate that but one can rarely generalise Bridgestone had the advantage. these days because of the which was logical given the new complexities involved tyres available and the fact that You just have to wait and see . temperatures were low. But the what happens and even then surprising thing was that the you are not quite sure what you Jaguar was the fastest Michelin are seeing because one does runner and the team is not not know the strategy that is known for running with the cars being used Things were made all the more light on fuel. It was odd that there was no real impression complicated because being made by Williams,and traditionally, the A1 Ring has McLaren. been a place where there have Renault had been smart been two distinct set-ups: one enough to pre-empt the result by for qualifying and another for the telling the media in advance that race. As teams must now use they did not expect much. In the the same set-up for both they were faced with a choice of

days after Spain, everyone was writing that Fernando Alonso was 'the new Michael Schumacher' and that the clouds would soon open and Alonso would ride in glory to the World Championship. But everyone seemed to forget that to go up hills, cars need extra donkeys in the back and where Renault has been weak in recent times has been in the donkey department.

Renault, we suspected, would run the cars light in qualifying and hope to be able to hang on for a half-decent result.

B

ut where was Williams and where was McLaren?

Despite what people in BMW clothing will tell you, the Williams FW25 is still a good car.

It is not, perhaps, an FW07 or an FWT3B but it is a car that is capable of winning races if the drivers can stop making mistakes. They make mistakes, of course, because they are pushing so hard (or at least that is what they say) but one can argue that it is odd that when Michael Schumacher has a poor car, he often wins with it. Ralf and Juan Pablo Montoya do not.

At least, not at the moment.

Ralf's performance on Friday was not that of a $25m a year driver. He went rushing into what used to be called the Bosch Kurve and spun off. He was at the bottom of the timesheets. That meant he would run first on Saturday and we knew that with the track improving as the sessions go on that he would therefore start a long way down the grid.

FORMULA 1

a Master at Work

i I The things he'll do to get Foster's on telly: Webber made a meal of Turn 1 on bis qualifying lap and dropped to 17th. Schumacher, main pic, also got it wrong but then lit up the F2003 CA to score a hard-fought pole position.

On Saturday he managed to claw his way back to 10th, which was not a bad effort, but he should not have been there in the first place.

"In the circumstances I have to be happy with my grid position," he said.

Montoya was struggling with his set-up a little on Friday but reported that the car was good and that on Saturday he would be quick, and he duly was. The car was very consistent in race trim and the team did not want Juan to take too many risks so his qualifying lap was a conservative one. It was third fastest. The Colombian was more confident than he has been for a while.

McLaren was also quietly confident, at least for Kimi Raikkonen's chances. David Coulthard seemed unable to come to grips with the car and complained that it lacked stability going into the corners. As the A1 Ring is a place where carrying momentum through corners is very important, this was a big disadvantage and David ended up 14th on the grid, his qualifying lap having been spoiled by a couple of mistakes as he fought the car.

Kimi Raikkonen had no such troubles and for a while looked as though he was actually going to take the pole away from Ferrari with a clean, clinical lap.

Michael added to the theory when he did a mean impersonation of Valentino Rossi at Turn 2, backing the car into the

apex on full opposite lock.

"I almost lost the car in the second corner," Michael understated later. "I am still surprised that I did not spin."

What saved his day was sheer speed. The F2003 GA squatted down onto the road as Schumacher gave it everything over the final two sectors of the lap. The car was a red blur out of the final corner and Schumacher charged to the line with a margin of 0.04s to take a stunning pole.

For all the money the man makes, no-one in Formula One says that Michael Schumacher is overpaid. And this is why.

Barrichello was not having an easy time of it and found that his tyres were running out of steam before the end of the lap. And that meant he was fifth on the grid. The word on the street was that Ferrari had given up on the latest Bridgestones and were back using the 2002 rubber...

The Michelin men put it all down to Michael's talent (as you would). The Bridgestone men said they were confident for the race.

u

p until qualifying the Renaults were nowhere but, surprise surprise, Jarno Trulli managed to pop in the sixth best time. He would be stopping early in the race ...

Alonso's triumphant progress towards the World Championship ended a mistake which dumped him back to 19th on the grid. He would not be having an easy time on Sunday.

Neither would Mark Webber, because all his promise on Friday disappeared when he went scootling way off line up at the first corner. Mark blamed himself for not thinking about the dirt that was on the final corner after Jacques Villeneuve's qualifying attempt. JV had been his usual wild self and Webber reckoned that some of the dirt that was spreads around ended up on his tyres so that when he went screaming into the first corner it all went wrong.

One of the characteristics of the A1 Ring is that the pit exit feeds back onto the track around and inside the first corner, so that Webber's first look at the racing line was at full noise on his Q lap. Too little, too late.

"After that I was trying to make the best of a bad job," he said. "I had nothing to lose and so it was a bit wild. I have only myself to blame but there are a few light cars ahead of us and so I think we can pick up some points tomorrow."

Mark would start a depressing 17th.

His team-mate Antonio Pizzonia was eighth on the grid and looking like a man who is finally beginning to settle down at Jaguar Racing. One would have thought he would: be happy with the performance but he seemed a little down:in the mouth. "f made a mistake in Turn'6 and lost two or three tenths," he said. "I could have been fourth or fifth."

In the end, the honour of being fourth went to Nick Heidfeid’s Sauber, which was a surprise not least for Heidfeid. He had struggled with his racecar all weekend but in the end decided to go to the spare, which was, he said, "exactly the same" as his race car. It gave him an extra second! The paddock sages reckoned that the Sauber would not have had a lot of petrol in the tank...

Heinz-Harald Frentzen was way off that pace and back in 15th but this, he explained, was because he had opted for a conservative strategy.

BAR'S hopes for a good result evaporated when both drivers had what can best be described as scrappy laps. Button made a mistake at the final corner but had fought oversteer all round the lap, having been unable to get his car well-sorted after an electrical problem in the morning.

He was seventh quickest.

Villeneuve found his car was misbehaving on new tyres and ended up over-driving and raising a lot of dust.

"The car is very quick," he said, rather sadly. Starting 12th would not make it easy for him on Sunday.

There was a good solid performance (as one would expect)from Giancarlo Fisichella, who was ninth in the Jordan, while Ralph Firman's hopes of success were ruined on Friday when he shunted in first qualifying and so had to run early in the session on Saturday and as a result ended up 16th on the grid.

Toyota struggled throughout the qualifying days with an overall lack of grip and set-up changes seemed to make little difference (always a bad sign). This meant that Olivier Panis was 11th on the grid and Cristiano da Matta 13th.

Minardi had a day to forget.

Justin Wilson shunted in the closing minutes of the Saturday morning session and so had to go to the spare car. It was not handling well. Jos Verstappen's qualifying lap lasted until the first corner where the gearbox made a lot of unusual noises and transformed the gear ratios into metallic muesli. He would start from the back. Sort of...

51

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continued from page 48 was some fuel which had somehow been left behind and this caused a slightly bigger blaze.

The Ferrari mechanics go through fire training twice a year and were ready for it. In an instant,four fire extinguishers went onto the blaze from different angles. It was extinguished in a moment. Midrael stuck the car in gear and accelerated away. He had lost about 10 seconds.

It might have been enough to lose him the race because he found himself stuck behind Raikkonen with Montoya ahead on the road - but the Williams was not pulling away.

In fact, the Williams was in a fairly bad way. On around lap 10, Juan Pablo had been informed by the team that there was a problem with a valve on his engine which caused it to become over-pressurised.

Eventually something was going to blow. It was just a matter of when.

That happened on lap 32.

Ironically, at virtually the same moment,Schumacher popped out of Raikkonen's slipsheam and went sailing into second place. A few hundred mehes later he was back in the lead. And he left Raikkonen for dead.

In fact, Kimi was also in trouble because after qualifying, a crack had been found in one of the valves of his Mercedes VIO engine and the team had opted to do some on-the-spot repair work in pare ferme. The FIA took a look and agreed it was necessary. The engine could not be 52

s

3

revved fully but the option was better than changing engines and starting from the back.

And so Michael drove away, stopped again on lap 42 and for a while allowed Raikkonen back into the lead. But the Finn had to stop again on lap 49 and, when that had happened, Michael was back in the lead and was able to cruise home to another win.

Better on Sunday: Raif Schumacher, top, qualified badly and struggled with the car during the race. Things got worse for BMW when Juan Montoya's engine busted when leading, above, no doubt leading to an interesting conversation between Marios Ilien and Theissen, below.

K

aikkonen could do little about it _ _.ind had to keep an eye on his mirrors because Rubens Barrichello was closing iri fast. Rubens did try to get alread on lap 66 but Raikkonen gave the distinct impression that it

molorsporl news

I

FORMULA 1 for a while. On lap 35 he got ahead and then set off after Raikkonen. But catching the McLaren was one thing and passing quite another.

Button would end the day in fourth place,an indication of the growing strength of the BAR-Honda.

Qualifying had been a bit of a mess but the cars were quick. That was seen as Jacques Villeneuve worked his way up through the field, despite the fact that on the first lap his steering wheel electronics stopped working and he had none of the usual systems, had no idea which gear he was in and could not easily control his speed in the pitlane.

The team decided not to change the wheel at the first stop but at the second the car stalled and so the s wheel was changed. By the time that I had been done Villeneuve's hopes I were gone. He finished 12th. a "I have now had problems in four races out of six and it is obviously very frustrating," he said.

I Please disregard previous races: "Hopefully things will get better i. Renault crashed to earth in Austria. soon."

Jarno Trulli battled hard but spun in the damp, above, while This openedto the wayfifth, for David Fernando Alonso, left, ended bis Coulthard finish which finishing streak on the motorcycle was a good effort given that DC had started back in 14th. It was a hard after his engine seized. afternoon, battling through the field but the result was some points so was not a good idea and Barrichello Coulthard had nothing to complain did not try again. about.

"The best we could do today was to finish second," Raikkonen said, A lap down at the end was Ralf Schumacher, who had driven hard although he did not go into much all afternoon after starting far too far detail as to the problem with the back after his indiscretion on Friday. engine. "It was hurting our speed a Towards the end of the race he was little bit." running fifth but he was struggling Barrichello would probably have beaten him if it had not been for a with his tyres and ran wide on lap 57 and was jumped by Coulthard. lousy first pit stop. Rubens had not Williams again scored points but the been feeling well all weekend but result was hardly what the team had had kept that quiet. When he came in mind. into the pits early on, while running Still things were rather better at fourth, his refuelling machine failed and so the team switched to Williams than they were at Jaguar, where Mark Webber's day was Michael's rig. It was probably this somewhat fraught thanks to his that resulted in the extra fuel being in the end of the nozzle when disastrous qualifying lap.

The team decided that the best Michael came in a few laps later ...

Rubens rejoined in sixth and was continued on page 54 stuck behind Jenson Button's BAR

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21 May 2003

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continued from page 53 thing to do would be to start Mark from the pitlane and to fill him up with fuel and give him some tyres other than those on which had qualified. As soon the green light came on for the formation lap, the team went into action. It was risk because if the start was aborted, the team would have broken the rules.

And that is what happened.

The punishment for this was a 10second stop-go penalty, which seemed very harsh but the FIA wants to stop teams taking such risks and so Webber was being made an example of. The result was that he had to pit for his penalty and then get back out with a heavy fuel load imtil the middle of the race.

There was a quick stop and another 25 lap blast which took him up to seventh where he stayed after his final pit stop. He got some points but given that he set the third fastest lap of the race all he could do was rue the problem he had had in qualifying.

"I gave it plenty," Webber said. "It is a shame that we ended up where we did because we were in such good shape this weekend. If it had not been for the mistake in qualifying it would have been really good. The car is clearly very strong.

That's the game. You go hard or you go home!"

He did both - on the final lap, Webber decided he had had enough of cruising and stomped on the gas pedal just for fun. The result was his fastest lap of the race - and the third fastest of all, behind the two storming Ferraris. Clearly, the potential of man and machine is there, which must make his poor grid slot all the more frustrating. The R4 looked good enough to match, probably. Button.

Antonio Pizzonia had a very good first lap and was running fifth when he pitted on lap 14. That dropped him down the order to 15th and then when the rain came he had an off and found himself at the back of the field. He had a big tank of petrol at

; /iir

Buttoning down

§

●s

Jenson Button scored his best result ol the 2003 season, fourth, in Austria. Atterwaris, he spoke to AOAM COOPER MN: Is this your most pleasing performance so far?

JB: I've had a few fourth places, but still haven't got on the podium. I was hoping that Raikkonen and Barrichello would actually crash. A horrible thing to say! But fourth is good from where we started, and what I'm working with at the moment.

I think that everyone did a fantastic job in good circumstances, really. We had a very good car, and everything seemed to be working well. We were very reliable. But we need to do it again - you can't just do it in one race. We have to be consistent.

MN: You say you've had other fourths, but isn't this one more satisfying?

JB: It is very satisfying. We did it through speed rather than people falling off, for example in Malaysia last year. So it's very satisfying. The car's been working well all weekend, and it 54

was good for the mechanics to see what they can do when we're fighting the top teams, and they did a good job in the pit stops. It was nice to get out in front of a Ferrari after the first stop. I don't know how they did it!

MN: Did you enjoy that, having Rubens in your mirrors, right?

JB: Yes, but it was very tough.

At that point in the race I had quite a lot of oversteer, because I ran new tyres at the rear, and I think they were graining, so I had a big problem on braking with oversteer, so he was able to get past. He was so much quicker anyway.

MN: How was your car in the damp conditions?

JB: It was alright. I was a bit worried, because normally the Bridgestones don't work as well in the damp conditions as the Michelins, but they seemed to

work well.

I had a few moments, but I stayed on, and that's the main thing, and was actually catching the Ferrari in front. It was mostly wet in the two slow corners out the back, which of course is a problem on braking.

MN: What was going through your mind near the finish?

JB: Just keeping it on the road. I had a little bit of oversteer, so I was just being a little bit cautious, and I had lots of cars a lap behind in front. But it was a great feeling crossing the line.

MN: In what area did the car improve since the last race?

JB: We stayed on the circuit and we didn't crash. I think that's the biggest reason! We have been unlucky in races. We have had small improvements in the enginq every race, and aerodynamically, which is going to help, but more importantly we just got it all together this race.

MN: Was it a case of promise fulfilled this weekend?

JB: I was very excited to be seventh yesterday, but I couldn't really talk it up too much, because then everyone would have an idea of what our strategy was. It's fantastic. It's great to have a fourth position, and it's just a little bit annoying that we haven't had it beforehand, because we deserve it.

MN: What have you learned about where you stand against the opposition?

JB: We're not on the pace of Ferrari or McLaren, but this is the first place where we could show our pace in the race.

We've just got to keep it going and be consistent. I think we did it through merit, and that's the most exciting thing, it's difficult to know where we stand against other teams. In this race we looked like the third best team, after McLaren and Ferrari.

When we go to another circuit we've just got to wait and see.

MN: Is it a little frustrating that you're right up there on Fridays, but in race conditions other teams get ahead of you?

JB: It is a little bit disappointing.

But I think the reason McLaren is slower on Friday is they go out first. But everyone seems to motorsport news

I

FORMULA -I Pressing on: Antonio Pizzonia, left, looked smooth in qualifying and started the race well, settling into fifth place. From there he marched relentlessly to the rear of the field, finishing just outside the points.

i the time and stayed out all the way until the 47th lap, by which time he had moved up to eighth but that dropped him back to ninth which is where he ended the day. He did however set the eighth fastest lap of the race and so was happy. After his recent dramas, his confidence is rising.

Between the two Jaguars was Jarno Trulli's Renault, which ought, perhaps, to have done better given that it started sixth on the grid. Jamo lost a place early on and then when he pitted (early as expected) he fell back to 15th place, having lost time

also on his last lap with a wild off track moment when the track was a Uttle damp. He was stuck in the midfield after that until his second stop on lap 38 but that was enough to get him up to eighth to claim a single point. It was something.

Fernando Alonso's race was less rewarding. He started the race from the pitlane after it was decided that he would go to the spare car and try a long first stint. This took him up to fifth place by lap 37 but he then dropped back down the order to eighth. And there he stayed until the engine went on lap 45 and he went off at the first comer. It was his first non-finish of the year.

Of the rest, there was little to report.

Da Matta's adventures at the start meant that he was stuck amongst the backmarkers. He struggled on and ended the day 10th a lap behind. That was better than poor Olivier Fanis, who once again went out,this time with a suspension problem and a puncture after he hit something which was lying on the track.

Sauber's afternoon was grim.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen's race ended before it began with a clutch problem and then Heidfeld's hopes of a good result were ruined with an engine problem which sent him gradually backwards down through the field after running fifth in the early laps.

Jordan's day was pretty dull as weU with Fisichelia going out with a fuel system problem after 61 laps (when he was running 10th) and Firman getting home in 11th. The two ran in formation for much of the day, which puts rookie Firman in pretty good company.

Minardi had a worse day with Verstappen's retirement at the start.

Justin Wilson gave cause for a little hope for a while.

The team decided to bring him in when the Safety Car appeared and fin him fuU of fuel and that meant he rose to ninth before pitting on lap 24.

But it was not enough to make up ground and he dropped to the back and stayed there, finishing 13th two laps down.

to Work find a bit of pace when they put fuel in, compared to us, so it's something we need to look at.

MN: Do you think with the old rules, when all that counts on Saturday is pure speed, you might be further up the grid regularly - and therefore better off in races?

JB: I think we probably would. I don't like the way qualifying is, and I think we probably would be qualifying higher on Saturdays, so it's something we need to work on and try and find out what the problem is.

But it's the same for everybody.

MIM: You're now sixth - can you finish fifth in the championship?

JB: We need to. I think fifth is a definite possibility for this season. Fourth is very difficult with the Renaults scoring so many points at the start of the season. But we're going to try.

MIM: Is this going to be a good car at Monaco?

JB: I think we have to hope that the tyres are good in Monaco. We've been testing tyres, and they seem to be working well. But the car should be good everywhere.

This has been coming for a long time, but we've just been unlucky in races.

21 May 2003

c

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r

%-

2003 FIA Formula One World Championship

WORLD

2003 Austrian Grand Prlx > Overall Race aassificatlon after 69 laps - 298.494 kms - Provisional Pos. No.

Driver

Nat

Entrant

Time

1 rMichael Schumacher

GER Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

69

1:24:04.888

2

6

KIml Raikkfinen

RN

West McLaren Mercedes

69

1:24:08.250

03.362

Rubens Barrichello

3

2

4

17 Jenson Button

5

5

Kph

Best

213.003

1:08.337

41

212.861

1:09.423

45 44

Gap

1

Lap

BRA Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

69

1:24:08.839

03.951

00.589

212.836

1:08.913

69

1:24:47.131

42.243

38.292

211.234

1:09.828

22

David Coulthard

GBR Lucky Strike BAR Honda GBR West McLaren Mercedes

69

1:25:04.628

59.740

17.497

210.510

1:09.626

64 40

6

4

Ratf Schumacher

GER

BMW WitiiamsFl Team

68

1:24:12.754

1 LAP

1 LAP

209.589

1:10,246

7

14

Ma’rk Webber"

68

1:24:19.742

1 LAP

06.988

209.300

1:08.966

68

8

7

Jamo TruiH

AUS Jaguar Racing ITA Mild Seven Renault Fl Team

68

1:24:39.039

1 LAP

19.297

208.504

1:10.358

68 67

s'

9

15 Antonio Ptzzonia

10

21

11

12 Ralph Firman

12 13

BRA

Jaguar Racing

68

1:24:44.746

1 LAP

05.707

208.270

1:09.978

BRA

68

1:24:51.065

1 UP

06.319

208.012

1:10.466

67

IRL

Panasonic Toyota Racing Jordan Ford

68

1:24:55.148

1 UP

04.083

207.845

1:10.659

68

16 Jacques Villeneuve

CAN

Lucky Strike BAR Honda

68

1:24:55.846

1 UP

00.698

207.817

1:09.764

64

18 Justin Wilson

GBR European Minardi Cosworth

67

1:24:44.538

2 UPS

1 UP

205.216

1:11.267

67

11

Giancarlo Rsichella

ITA

Jordan Ford

60

1:15.24.379

DNF

206.529

1:11.019

60

9

Nick Heidfeld "

GER Sauber Petronas

46

0:59:05.348

DNF

202.063

1:10.516

12

8

Fernando Alonso

ESP

44

0:55:22.926

DNF

206.215

1:10.526

34

3

Juan Pablo Montoya

Cristiano Da Matta

Not Classified

Mild Seven Renault Fl Team

COL BMW WilliamsFl Team

32

0:40:44.351

DNF

203.880

1:10.112

28

20 Olivier Panls

FRA

6

0:09:18.631

DNF

167.268

1:13.097

6

19 Jos Verstappen

NED European Minardi Cosworth

0

DNF

10 Heinz Harald Frentzen

GER Sauber Petronas

0

DNS

Panasonic Toyota Racing

Fastest Lap ] 1 [Michael Schurnacher

} GER [Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

I 227.894

j 1:08.337 on lap 41

Drivers' Points; Raikkonen 40, M. Schumacher 38, Barrichello 26, Alonso 25, Coulthard 23, R. Schumacher 20, Montoya 15, Rsichella and Trulli 10, Button 8, Frentien 7,Webber 4, Villeneuve and da Matta 3, Heidfeld and Rrman 1.

Constructors’ Points: Ferrari 64, McLaren Mercedes 63, Renault 35, Williams BMW 35, Jordan Ford 11, BAR Honda 11, Sauber Petronas 8, Jaguar Cosworth 4,Toyota 3.

Grand Prix of Austria

FORMULA 1

May 18 2003 Grid Posidon/Driver

Nat

1 i Michael Schumacher

GER;Ferrari

2 {Kimi Raikkonen

FIN i McLaren :i jCOL iWilllams

4 (Nick Heidfeld

GERjSauber

:|

5 Rubens Barrichello

BRA I Ferrari

;

ITA i Renault

7 Jenson Button

i GBRiBAR

8 I Antonio Pizzonia

BRA jJaguar

9 iGlancarlo Fisichella 10‘Ralf Schumacher

12 j Jacques Villeneuve

CANiBAR

15IHeinz-HaraldFrentzen

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16iRalph Firman

IRL IJordan

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17lMarkVyebber

!aUS iJaguar

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19jFemando Alonso

ESP I Renault

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20! Jos Verstappen

NED i Minardi

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TT

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BRA Toyota

■GBR i Minardi

1

i

1

m

1

I

[

56

I I

I

GER!Sauber

18'Justin Vyilson

n

I ! ■

GERlWiiliams :It! I FRA Toyota

14 i David Coulthard 1

3^ Accident (J> Mechanical failure

]\

ITA i Jordan

11 iOlivier Panis

131 Cristiano Da Matta

CKiLMnOMSMIP

Car

3 iJuan Pablo Montoya

6 iJarno Truili

! WORLD

I Positions lap by lap

!

16 17 18 19 20

motorsport news

FORMULA 1

Mark Webber's Austrian Diary 0 ne of these days, everything will click for all the sessions and the race and we'll get the result the Jaguar R4 deserves. Although I did score points again, it was a case of 'what-if' at the Al-Ring thanks to a bad qualifying result and a stopgo penalty for "breaching Parc Ferme regulations."

In fact, it was the aborted starts that got us! But more on that later.

The fact that we opted to start from pit lane to start with was due to the worst Saturday qualifying run I've had, by a long way, this year. Coming after the high on Friday, where we were third (and a little surprised to be that well up), it was disappointing, but the circumstances are such that events like that are going to happen sometimes with the single lap format.

Given the and slippery nature Al-Ring the fact thatofitthe would change characteristics significantly as the weekend went on, we didn't do our usual tyre' comparison on Friday morning.

Instead, I worked on soime rear suspension testing, evaluating a new rear-end layout that my engineer Pete had been working on. It was a pleasant surprise, providing a little of the improved rear grip we've been seeking, so we decided then and there to run with it in the race.

Maybe that was part of it, but either way Friday qualifying was a real boost for the guys. We went with the softer of our two tyre options, i say softer, but in actual terms, our softer option was in fact a bit harder than the options the other Michelin teams had gone with, so we were actually on a harder tyre than the others. It worked well with our car, though, and the time was very encouraging,

w

ith that in mind, we made our tyre decision then and there and didn't go through the usual full-on back-to-back test on Saturday morning. Instead, we worked hard on race set-up as more rubber went down on the track and some reliability testing.

1 wasn't totally confident going into qualifying as the warm-up hadn't gone brilliantly - as in Barcelona, the car didn't seem quite right on 'green' rubber.

We'd made some changes that I think had overcome that concern - but I had other problems.

21 May 2003

!KeHrone M(

Let's give points for Friday: Webber was a brilliant third in the first qualifying session but didn't get big-headed over the result...

Redzane Motorsport /nw^j

changing the car for the first start, we had of course technically changed it before the parade lap for the third (and official) start. And that was deemed a breach of the Parc Ferme regs.

It's a tough call and, obviously, the possibility of an aborted start is well out of our control. The rule is there to stop mechanics racing out onto the grid with springs and things if there's a restart and making changes out on the track, but in this case, as we sat there, we were in trouble.

T Jacques Villeneuve had run before me and left a liberal spray of dirt all over the exit of the last corner and 1 could literally see my tyres pick it up as I came through to start the timed lap.

With that dirt on the tyres, you're not sure how much grip there's going to be at turn one, but it is qualifying, so you've got to have a go. In this case, there was nowhere near what I'd hoped fori The car slid very, very wide, and bang - there was over a second gone already. The rest of the lap wasn't too good either - I just tried a bit too hard to retrieve the situation and make the best of a bad job.

I was asked whether this sort of situation should call for a brief halt to qualifying while the track is swept: but no, that's the luck of the draw in single lap qualifying.

Charlie Whiting did however

say that he'd take a pretty dim view of drivers throwing dirt on the track on their slow-down lap!

We decided to quite soon qualifying start fromafter pit lane. By doing so, you can work on the car once the parade lap starts.

In our case that would enable us to put a scrubbed set of tyres on (thus avoiding a 'graining phase' that affects our tyres for a few laps when they are 'green') and add a bit more fuel, to give us more flexibility in our strategy.

Incidentally, by choosing to go with the T-car (which hadn't been used for qualifying and thus hadn't been in Parc Ferme), Fernando Alonso was able to make whatever changes he liked well before the race and thus line up on pit lane 'pole' as soon as pit lane closed, 15 minutes before the start.

As I said, it'was the aborted start(s) which did us in. By

he race actually went quite well. We'd had reasonable fuel in the car in qualifying and despite adding a little more, my times were quite respectable. The time lost due to the 10 second stop-go was never going to be recovered, unless there was a lucky Safety Car, so I just pressed on.

My car was terrific -1 didn't really want to stop. We had out-and-out car speed over a number of the cars that finished ahead of us and, having eased back (dropped a few revs etc) over the last 15 laps of the race, to ensure a second helping of points, 1 popped in a quickie on the very last lap. It was a 1:08.9 - third fastest car on the day.

The car really does have some pace now. One day, quite soon 1 hope, it'll all click when it matters and there'll be a result worth writing about. I'm looking forward to Monaco. I've always gone okay there and love the challenge of the place. Valencia testing is often a good guide and the R4 was good at Valencia...

57 £1

I

Close call: The Porsche ofJim Richards, top, just had the edge over Nissan driver Steve Glenney, above. If it had rained on the final day, the results may have been different ...

58

PORSCHE 911 driver Jim Richards won a record seventh Targa Tasmania crown last weekend.

The reigning Bathurst Champion, partnered by regular Targa co-pilot and Tassie local Barry Oliver, finished ImlOs clear of South Australian Steve Glenney and navigator Clayton Lang in their Nissan Skyline GTR. Richards was in fine touch all the way through the classic rally, which had a massive 259 entries.

The Nissan of Glenney was well suited to the wet conditions experienced on Saturday, narrowing Richards' lead to 15s for the final day of racing.

But the experience of 'Gentlemen Jim' shone through, and gave himself and Oliver another Targa triumph.

"It's always satisfying to win Targa and this year is no different. It's such a tough challenge - that's what makes it so good," said Richards.

Following the Glenney/Lang Nissan was a trio of Porshes.

Victorian Rex Broadbent came

home third ahead of Greg Garwood and Tony Quinn. Quinn had been looking good during the early stages of Targa, sitting in second on the first day of competition.

Motorsport icon Peter Brock was another to threaten Richards's stranglehold of the event. But the nine-times Bathurst champion, competing in Targa for the fourth time, struck troubles on leg two when his Monaro was left stranded at the rural township of Perth, south of Launceston. With the fuel tank dry. Brock fell to 27th and well out of contention. But a sixth place finish for 'Peter Perfect' and naviator Anne Gigney was an excellent comeback.

The first Subaru to finish was the local pairing of Lynn Rattray and Tony Jackson, who finished seventh. Kim Burke and Neil Botha in another Porsche came home eighth, followed by Carerra Cup driver Paul Blackie. The top 10 was rounded out by Ford Falcon BA driver Steve Floinville, navigated by Ruth Williams, motorsport news

TARGA TASMANIA Subaru steerer Tony Sullens was in the frame for a top five finish, but the New South Wales entrant suffered a number of problems with his WRX,'!including a broken exhaust and an overheating clutch. Local lad Jason White, who finished third in 2002 was another hard-luck story, ending the rally with engine problems I n his Nissan Skyline.

Former Formula One 'motor mouth' Murray Walker debuted at Targa Tasmania this year. navigating the Toyota Camry Sportivo driven by former Bathurst and Australian Rally champion, Colin Bond.

The pair finished 44th outright and second in their class. Murray was undeniably thrilled about fullilling his long-time ambition to compete in the event.

'Wowl What excitement. It was an absolute blast from beginning to end," said the exvoice of Formula One. I expected a lot from Targa Tasmania," said Walker. was looking forward to seeing Tasmania, but most of all I was looking forward to Targa. It was a five-day event of increasing severity and it has lived way, way beyond my wildest expectations.

Steven Richards, son of

Holden Hero: Cameron McConville cocks a wheel in the dark during Targa last week. The former CTP champion finished 13th outright. winner Jim and current V8 Supercar driver, had a difficult Targa. The Monaro driver finishing a disappointing 27th.

But it could have been much worse for Richards Jr. At one point in the rally the Victorian was a lowly 76th.

Another V8 Supercar driver, Cameron McConville, was well pleased with his finishing result.

The Lansvale driver bringing his factory Holden Astra SRi home

a

in 13th place, consistently beating the times of his opponents in faster machinery.

In the Classic competition, Queenslander Graham brought his Datsun H510 home in first place, ahead of Geoff Taylor.

The Historic class was dominated by John Lawson and Paul Lawson while Jaguar driver Brian Titheradge won the Touring Classic competition.

Well done Jim Richards on your 7th Targa Tasmania win QUADRANT from all the team SUSPENSIONS at Quadrant

biante^

High expectations; Big things were expected of nine-times Bathurst boy Brock, but the Motorola Holden Monaro ran out of fuel while in a strong second position. Could have the 05 machine taken the challenge up to Richo?

21 May 2003

62-64 Intrepid Street Berwick VIC 3806 Tel 03 9769 9666 59

From out of nowhore

!

Tearing a rear wheel off the car normally spells the end of any hopes a driver may have had of winning a rally. But in Argentina, somebody forgot to tell that to Marcus Gronholm.

JON THOMSON reports

I

T will go down as one of the Igreatest comebacks in World Rally Championship history as Marcus Gronholm fought back from a two-minute deficit to take victory in Rally Argentina two weeks ago.

It was a remarkable performance from the Finn, who was helped by problems for his competitors, but stiU serving to underline just how cool the reigning World Champion is under pressure.

An error on leg one saw Gronholm tear a rear wheel off his Peugeot,but he managed to drag liimself back to ser\'ice for a repair. From there he picked off car by car to take the lead on the Day 2 when Carlos Sainz's co driver Marc Marti made a check-in error and copped a one minute penalty.

Whether Gronholm could have won without Marti's mistake is a point; the h was he was tlrere to

take advantage when the opposition faltered.

Along the way,the failure of Marko Martin's Ford Focus also helped Gronholm's charge to victory.

The Ford driver started the final day in the lead, but a few stages later was sidelined with oil pressure failure.

Nevertheless, it is only a matter of time before the young Estoruan gives tire new Focus its first win. ..

Gronholm's team-mate Richard Bums was again in a position to challenge for the lead but a turbo problem on the final day saw him having to settle for third place, despite being in front of Sainz with two stages to go.

Hard Rovanpera was focused on getting a finish after a number of

crashes so far this year and proved a valuable back-up to Gronholm and Burns, giving Peugeot another massive points bovmty in the manufacturers title by coming home in fourth.

While there were plenty of machinations, the fact remains that Gronhom was the fastest driver out there. Tlie Firm blitzed the second day of the rally, consistently taking fastest time,and on the final test of day two ripped 10.7s off then-rally leader Martin to be second and well positioned for a final day challenge.

After the first stage of the day, Gronholm was in the lead and went to the line 26.6s ahead of Sainz.

"I am very happy to have come back and won this rally," said Gronholm.

"When we hit the rock on the first day I thought there was no chance uld get a result like this, ve absolutely flat-out this ing, but not taking any ;ks.

"The Fords have pushed us quite haid in some places, but this ^ is a good result for me and for Peugeot." ^ Team-mate Burns ^ was not so happy ft with another

■

\

S 2

t

^ podium,continuing B his record of no wins H w'ith Peugeot. * "The anti-lag system on the turbo stopped w'orking for all of the last three stages, but then w'e had some sort of turbo failure eight kilometres from the finish of the final stage," said Bums.

"1 was happy to have got aliead of Carlos on the penultimate stage,given that it was difficult to drive the car

M

without the ALS system. I was not happy at falling behind him on the last stage, but leading the championship is some small consolation."

Citroen's performance was equally remarkable on a rally with which the team had no experience, with Sainz proving a dominant force until his co-driver's indiscretion. There was confusion between Sainz and Marti at a service book-in after the fourth stage on Day 2.

Sainz had the weight of Citroen's hopes on his shoulders after Colin McRae's Xsara burnt to the ground on Friday. Tire Scot's car blew the engine and an oil fire broke out under the bonnet and quickly took hold, not only turning the car to ash, but also burning several acres of grassland in the process.

Sebastien Loeb crashed out of the rally on the final stage of day two wliile in fifth place and in a good position to add to Citroen's points haul.

Sainz was pleased with tlie points but not tlie result when another victor)' had appeared witliin his grasp.

"After the position we were in yesterday this is disappointing, but still we have good points tor the championship," said Sainz.

Subaru produced perhaps the most disappointing performance in Argentina, with both cars out of contention after early problems.

Tommi Makinen struck transmission problems on Da)' 1 and struggled ilirough part of da\- two before he retired. Fetter Solberg was as high as second early on day one before he hit a rock and lost 40s. Tire Norwegian eventually finished fifth in ivhat was a lacklustre performance from the blue team. matorspert pews

60

RALlYMGEIiTlilA I -

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suUon-imagcs.com

Gather round: Second place means more points in the bag for Sainz and Citroen, above.

On the up: Martin, left, was in the hot seat until oil pressure problems kicked in. The Estonian will soon make the Focus a winner, and if you didn't read that here first then at least pretend that you did.

But the events on the stages that took place were overshadowed by those that didn't. The first hvo stages of the day,SS14 and SS15, were cancelled due to spectators standing

in dangerous places, and SSI6 was nearly two hours late starting.

This caused further problems later in the day when it became clear that not all of tlie stages could be run in

daylight, something most of the drivers opposed.

Eventually, the decision was made to cancel the final two stages of the day,SS21 and 22. In order to ensure that the rally ran the minimum stage mileage required by the FIA, two extra stages were added to the Sunday's schedule.

While Martin again proved the pace of the Ford, his team-mate . Francois Duval battled gearbox and differential problems to come home in eighth place.

Skoda continues to be consistent and reliable ahead of its switch to what should be a more competitive package in the Fabia later this year.

Didier Auriol and Toni Gardermeister took sixtli and seventh, partly due to Armin Schwarz's retirement on the final day.

Schwarz was set for a pointBugger: Solberg's bumper falls foul of that tough Argentine water.

All of the works Subarus carried a reminder ofa departed friend, below.

\3J—

1 2 3 4 5 6

Marcus Gronholm/ Timo Rautianen Carlos Sainz/Marc Marti Richard Burns/Robert Reid Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen Patter Solberg/Phil Mills Didier Auriol/DenisGiraudet

Peugeot 206 WRC Citroen Xsara X4 Peugeot 206 WRC Peugeot 206 WRC Subaru Impreza WRC Skoda Octavia WRC

4hl4m45.0s +26.6S +lm l2.8s +2m19.3s +3m11.4s +7m58.5s

Drivers Championship points: Burns 32, Gronholm 30, Sainz 24, Loeb 17, C. McRae 17, Solberg 13, Marlin 13, Makinen 11 Manufacturers Championship points: Peugeot 65, Citroen 52, Ford 29, Subaru 27, Skoda 19, Hyundai 3.

WRC Round 6 Rally Argentina 21 May 2003

scoring position before the Hyundai engine failed on the penultimate stage of the rally. Team-mate Freddy Loix was sidelined on day one when a turbo boost sensor failed, delivering another demoralising result for the Korean manufacturer.

Toshi Arai dominated this third round of the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship in his Subaru Impreza. The Japanese driver enjoyed a trouble-free run through the final five stages to arrive back in Villa Carlos Paz with more than two minutes ad\'antage over Dani Sola, who had struggled with a puncture on the first day and then turbo trouble through the next leg.

British driver Niall McShea held second place, but his hopes of a big points score were wiped out on the final loop of stages when the intercooler broke. Karamjit Singh took third in his Proton Pert.

Tire Championship now heads back to Europe for the longestestablished and arguably the toughest round of the title - the Acropolis Rally in Greece in mid-June.

Jost the b . Skod;al(i:f

Did good SKODA’S Didier Aurioi’s sixth place in Argentina was made all the more notable after having damaged his wrist on the opening Super Special stage.

Auriol went over a jump, landed heavily, and the spokes in the steering wheel bashed into his wrist. Through the final corners of the stage, co-driver Denis Giraudet had to operate the gear shift.

Auriol had some treatment, but the wrist was stiff and painful throughout the three day event.

- JON THOMSON

Safari back?

Bums

PEUGEOT is planning to install air conditioning in Championship leader Richard , Burns's 206 WRC for the next

I two rounds of the series.

I The Acropolis and Cyprus rallies promise to be the hottest ""I of the season and cockpit temperatures could exceed 50 degrees Celsius, and Burns has in the past suffered on hot rallies. The possibility of heat exhaustion has been increased by the FIA's insistence that all crews wear tripie-layer fireproof V,: overalls.

KENYAN rally organisers are once Peugeot has experimented again working hard to improve the with air conditioning on the 206 chances of the Safari Rally returning before on the Safari, where it led to the WRC calendar. to overheating.

Support from the Kenyan The 2003 set-up costs four government and the establishment horsepower and adds eight or of a new organising team has given nine kilos. It will also be offered efforts to re-establish the classic to the British driver's teamevent as a WRC counter a boost. mates.

Kenya Motor Sports Ltd has put Meanwhile Burns reckons that together a new organisational he's in a good position to win structure and it says it has put a the World Rally Championship team of very experienced former despite the fact that he again drivers, navigators and organisers to failed to match team-mate work to bring the organisation up to Marcus Gronholm's pace on the highest standards.

Rally Argentina.

Reports also continue to suggest "I've scored 32 points from that the Kenyan government is five rallies so, overall, things are prepared to put forward long-term not too bad - it's only two fewer financial guarantees to assist the than I picked up in the whole of rally.

2002. If we continue like this.

- JON THOMSON 62

ri

ON the eve of the Rally Argentina, Ford's rally operations went through a major upheaval with the departure of long time Ford of Europe motorsport boss Martin Whittaker, who was replaced by Jost Capita in the newly titled role of director.

Ford Team RS. Capito takes charge of the recently-formed organisation within the company's Product Development group, which combined the resources of the previous Ford Racing and Ford Special Vehicle Engineering imits.

Whitaker, a staunch supporter of the firm's World Rally Championship program,had been suspended for over a week following disagreements on procedure in the decision-making process and Ford's motorsport policy.

"Jost has the qualities, experience and vision which we need to continue the progress we've been making across a broad front in the development of our motorsport and performance vehicle programs," said Derrik Kuzak,Ford of Europe's vice president for Product Development.

"The Ford Focus RS is still getting rave reviews, while over the past month we've introduced our new Focus RS WRC car in New Zealand and achieved our first Formula One Grand Prix win with Jordan Ford in Brazil.

"Jost is going to be a very busy guy, but he has a job that would be the envy of many thousands of people,from mature racing enthusiasts to the youngest of sports fans the world over."

- JON THOMSON

E

Auditic

But AUster's st

we'll be in a pretty good position," said Burns, above.

Winning is what Gronholm has done more of than anyone else this year, though two non-scores to add to his three wins means he's stiil behind the consistent Burns on points.

Burns is the only driver to have scored in every rally this year.

"I wouldn't like to win the title without any victories, but I don't think that's going to happen this year, to be honest."

- JON THOMSON

MITSUBISHI will hold a driver evaluation this week as part of its next step toward rejoining the World Championship.

Finn Jani Paasonen, Italian ace Gigi Galli, Finland's Kristian Sohiberg and Fetter Solberg's brother Henning are scheduled to take.part in the gravel test in the UK. The team released Francois Delecour from his contract earlier this year, while Alister McRae's current deal with Mitsubishi expires at the end of the year. However, it looks as though the Scot, above, has secured his seat following his strong performance in New Zealand recently. moiorsport news

Farewell to a mate

rjrAniO”* ;

r V

/WZDL

? BILL Woods called it'Possum's Prizegiving', I as 2000 people gathered in Sydney's Hordern r Pavilion to say their goodbyes to the much3 loved Kiwi rally ace.

Subaru Australia GM Nick Senior made an emotional and passionate address that encapsulated the feelings of many people in the hall.

"It is surreal," said Senior. "I still expect him to walk in the door."

The abiding feeling that came out of the memorial was of Possum's strong grip on the ordinary. He was a bloke who, despite his many amazing achievements and huge skill, never put himself above others.

"He always ran late," said co-driver Mark Stacey, adding, "He was late because he would never refuse an autograph, a photo or a chat."

Tears flowed freely, particularly when Bourne's young son Taylor took-the dais and delivered a heartrending plea for his Dad to come back.

While there was much sorrow, there was also :h joy as the memorial focused on the great river's sense of fun, his love of family and his power of positive thinking.

We may have said goodbye to Possum, but we will all remember him.

- JON THOMSON

●n time 'We're right,' said Fred at seems safe

“Alister’s talents are fairly well established. He won’t be taking part, but then again he doesn't need to take part,” said a team spokesperson.

It Is also unclear whether the team will run two or three cars next season.

That will depend on the progress of Mitsubishi's new Lancer World Rally Car that Is being designed this year, and the FIA’s regulations for third drivers, which is said to be under review.

One rumoured draftee is French tarmac specialist Gilles Panizzi, who doesn't currently have a contract with Peugeot for next year.

- JON THOMSON 21 May 2003

HYUNDAI'S Annin Schwarz and Freddy Loix are already looking to next month's Acropolis Rally after their double disappointment in Argentina.

Loix, right, retired with an engine problem on Day 1 of Argentina, while Schwarz suffered the heartbreak of retiring from sixth place on the penultimate stage of the rally.

"The disappointment was huge, but as a notoriously optimistic guy I find it good that we learnt so much during this very tough Argentina Rally for the upcoming Acropolis," Schwarz said.

Loix set some blistering stage

times on the first day of last year's Acropolis but retired on the final day.

The Belgian is hoping to show the same speed, but have more luck, in Greece this time round.

"I'm looking forward to Greece and last year was really good for us, even though we didn't get to the finish," said Loix. "By that 1 mean we had a fantastic drive setting a fastest, second and third fastest stage time and we ended the first day in second position.

Unfortunately the rocks got the better of us but running in second position felt fantastic. Let's hope we can do the same again this year but just get a better result!"

- JON THOMSON

Take my driver, please Jimmy sometimes," he remarked.

SILLY Season is officially "He's got three Cup teams up underway, with Jeff Green having been fired from his ride there that for the most part act as three, which is really not at Richard Childress Racing what team-mates are for. i two days after the Richmond blame it on the drivers - some race, where he made public statements about his team people don't see eye-to-eye.

Kevin turned me around. He mate Kevin Harvick and says he didn't mean to do it, but Richard Childress Racing. he hasn't called and apologised.

A day later, Steve Park was released from his ride at Dale "That's just the kind of man Earnhardt Inc and Green was Kevin Harvick is, I guess."

Green joined RCR at the AOLgiven the Pennzoil ride on an backed team's inception for interim basis. Amazingly, on eight races in 2001 before May 8, Park was then hired to fill Green's shoes at RCR. running the complete schedule in 2002, where he finished 17th The incident that spurred Green's departure occurred on lap in the standings. Exiting Richmond, he was 32nd.

268 of 393, when Green, below, While in the Busch Series, he who was running in the top five, had several heated on-track and was tagged by Harvick, who was off-track incidents with Harvick, in his tyre tracks, sending a frustrated Green into the wall. ■ and it was only a matter of time before the two came to blows.

Live TV witnessed Green going to Harvick's crew chiff Todd Berrier, arguing with Him “It seems like there's If and poking Berrier in the chest. only one car at RCR He was then approached by - Jeff Green finds an effective Childress before being way to get himseif fired inten/iewed by media, where he made his job-ending remarks.

Meanwhile, Park has been "Kevin spun me out," labeled as 'damaged goods' commented Green. "We're supposed to be team-mates, but around the racing community following his Busch Series it doesn't seem that way right wreck under caution in now. It's one thing to get spun September of 2001 at out; it's another to get spun out by your team-mate. It seems like Darlington. Park was in a pack of traffic coming around to take there's only one car at RCR." the green flag when the Childress made the following statement after Green's release. steering wheel came off the column and he veered to the "Jeff is a very good race car right into the path of Larry Foyt. driver, but sometimes change Park was hit at speed in the can be good for everyone driver's door and suffered head involved. Our relationship was injuries that have slurred his not where we had hoped it speech and affected his walking would be at this point so we decided to make the move now." to this day.

"It will always be an honour for Green, meanwhile, was me that I was the first Winston unrepentant.

Cup driver for owner Dale "I guess the truth came out, I Earnhardt," said Park, above. told the media what 1 thought "I want to let everyone know about the situation and Richard didn't like that, but the truth hurts there are no hard feelings

64

between myself and DEI. Decisions like this are made, it's the nature of the racing business."

Park was DEI's first driver in Cup, but started with the team in the Busch Series for a handful of events in 1996 before going full-time in 1997 and finishing third in points. His last two Cup results were a 40th at Fontana after winning pole and crashing on the first lap, and a 43rd at Richmond, again crashing out on lap 44.

"Steve is going to give the team a fresh start going into the summer months of the year," said Childress. "He's a proven winner and I know he has what it takes to get the program headed in the right direction."

He has two wins, his first coming on the Watkins Glen circuit in 2000, the second at Rockingham in 2001, the first race after the loss of his team owner Dale Earnhardt.

Rumor has it that Green has only been hired by DEI on an interim basis because it wants to hire either Dale Jr's buddy.

Matt Kenseth or Greg Biffle away from Roush.

The pair, like the other Roush drivers, are locked into long I contracts, with large financial I losses attached if they leave I the organisation.

I Next on the driver change list could be Mike Skinner at Morgan McClure Motorsports and Jeremy Mayfield at Evernham Motorsports. Both teams have tried all types of crew changes without improvement in on-track performance over the last two seasons, and the teams are becoming restless ...

- MARTIN D CLARK

JIMMY Johnson won the 19th running of The Winston last weekend.

Johnson,shoivn right and below in celebration mode, won the first two segments last year, but the fan vote inversion had him starting further back in the final segment and out of contention for the win.

"We got bit last year," said Johnson.

"We played our cards right and did what we needed to do this year, making sure we were kept up in the inversion in some way that would benefit us."

What he did was sandbag to finish seventh,so after the inversion he lined up fourth for tire 20-lap sprmt to US$1 million and passed Jeff Gordon for the win.

Tony Stewart won segment one after leading the final 19 laps over Johnson,

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Honest Bill

BILL Elliott won the pole for The Winston with its twisted qualifying that demands that cars must compiete three iaps with a four-tyre pit stop against the clock.

“The driver doesn’t contribute much in this deal,” said Elliott after his winning effort over Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Rusty Wallace looked to have the pole, but a loose wheel nut put him back in the pack along with Ricky Rudd, Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett who also incurred penalties.

- MARTIN D Clark

molorsport news

A

NASCAR

rules the hack-fest

Kevin Harvick, Bill EUiott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kurt Busch headed the final seven tours to beat Bobby Labonte, Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Michael Waltrlp to the finish line won

race two. Jeff Gordon tagged Ward Burton on the backstretch on lap 55, sending Burton crashing from the event, and then 10 laps on Ryan Newman apparently lost control exiting turn four. r'aM 3"I thought Tony (Stewart) hit me," said Newman,"but they say he didn't. I was just going down the ivn. r.-.. straightaway and it turned around on ■» me. I could have sworn Tony hit me."

Stewart was less than pleased with being blamed.

"There was about five or six feet between me and Ryan Newman," remarked Stewart."He had been trying to wreck himself for about four laps, so he can lay off me!"

Stewart and Terry Labonte made contact entering him one on the restart, which wiped the pair out along with Dale Jarrett, Mark Martm,

Open slather

PRIOR to The Winston, The Winston Open is held for all comers over 30 laps.

The event spilt into two segments of 20 and 10 laps, with teams pitting between segments if they choose. Only the winner of the Open advances to The Winston. Mike Skinner won the first 20-lap segment. Dave Blaney, Jeff Burton, Kenny Wallace and Jimmy Spencer (coming from the rear of the 27-car grid) took the top five spots.

The start of race was waved off when pole sitter Steve Park, jumped the green flag and was forced to the rear of the grid.

Mike Wallace, subbing for Jerry Nadeau, was then tagged

by Ken Schrader on lap one of the restart. Five laps in, Brett Bodine got together with Jeff Green, and while that was going on, leader Todd Bodine was forced into the wall by Tony Raines.

21 May 2Q03

During a relatively uneventful second segment Jeff Burton, above, took the chequers, his first win since Richmond in September 2000, elevating him to the back row of the main event.

- MARTIN D CLARK The Winston Open final result: J Burton (Ford), Blaney (Ford), Skinner (Chevy), Bodine (Ford), Biffle (Ford), Spencer (Dodge), Park (Chevy), Petty (Dodge), Sprauge (Chevy).

'Little E'and pole sitter Bill Elliott who broke three bones in his foot after a hard impact with the wall.

Stewart was not amused.

"Evidently his (Labonte's)spotter didn't tell him I was there. I hit him square in the rear end," commented Stewart."I think next year I'll take the weekend off and somebody else can drive this thing. It's starting to become not worth it.

"I want to be racing for a long time and I don't want to be wrecked in a non-points race that has turned out to be a hack-fest every year."

The top 10 finishers were inverted by fan vote, putting tenth-placed Sterhng Marlin on pole with Jeff Gordon alongside and Johnson lining up fourth. Only 12 cars made the grid for the final shoot-out- Stewart and Labonte finished in the 13th and 14th positions so were also eligible for the main event had tlieir cars not been so severely damaged.

On the start, Gordon romped away from Marlin, who had some nose damage from earlier skirmishes, but Johnson, the driver of the team ■ Gordon co-owns witli Rick Hendrick, passed his boss with 16 laps remaining. Although Kurt Busch muscled his way through from tenth to the runner-up slot, he kept a healthy distance from Johnson, who won by 0.888 seconds.

"It's a lot of fun to come out and throw the points away and do it for the cash," said Busch.

"There are moves you wouldn't pull if you were in a points event.

When you go to the back it's difficult to pass guys when everyone's scrambling."

All in all, it was a good night of entertainment, wrecking and racing, rated in that order. Stewart may be right in that it can be a hack fest, but that's what kept 160,000 inebriated fans on their feet on an unseasonably cold North Carolina evening.

The Winston Final Result: Johnson (Chevy), Busch (Ford), B Labonte(Chevy), Nemechek (Chevy), Waltrlp (Chevy), Kenseth (Ford), Harvick(Chevy),] Gordon (Chevy),J Burton (Ford), Craven (Pontiac).

On the mend JERRY Nadeau continues to improve after his practice wreck at Richmond on May 2 where he received head, rib and lung injuries. He has been moved from intensive care and upgraded to fair condition, and is ■ reportedly showing normal vital signs, Mike Wallace, middle of the brother trio of Rusty and Kenny, has been called upon to replace Nadeau until his return.

■ Shawn Parker has been named crew chief for Dale Jarrett at Robert Yates Racing. Parker will move over from the RYR Elliott Sadler team, where he has been co-crew chief.

He previously worked for Roush Racing as car chief for Mark Martin and later, Kurt Busch. Prior to that he was on the Rusty Wallace Penske team. He replaces Brad Parrott, who was fired in April.

■ Jason Burdett has left the Hendrick Motorsports Jimmie Johnson team, returning to Yates as car chief alongside Parker.

■ DeWalt, sponsor of points leader Matt Kenseth at Roush Racing, whose contract was to expire at the end of this year, has extended its agreement with the team in a multi-year deal.

■ Speedway Motorsports Inc. posted a 54 percent gain in profits during the first quarter of the year compared with the same quarter in 2002 against a net income of AUD$29.5m. The company owns six tracks including those at Charlotte, Atlanta, Bristol, Las Vegas, Sears Point and Texas.

- MARTIN D CLARK

The Winston: the format THE Winston is held over 90 laps split into segments of 40, 30 and 20 laps with 10 minute breaks for teams to adjust cars between each segment.

Only winners during the past 12 months and previous victors in the Winston are eligible for the non-points allstar show.

During the first 40 iapper, teams must make a green flag pit stop and only the top 20 finishers advance to race two.

Just the top 14 cars advance into the final 20 lap segment, with the winner taking home a hefty US one million bucks. Fans voted via internet on how many of the cars in race two are inverted for the start of race three.

- MARTIN D CLARK 65

360ci Sprintcar Nats in ’04 THE Australian 360ci Sprintcar racing scene received a huge boost when the Sprintcar Control Council of Australia recently gathered together for their annual conference in Adelaide.

It was decided that the ever growing 360ci Sprintcar class would be granted the right to hold a stand alone national title.

The Control Council has set in place strict guidelines for both cars and drivers to be eligible to run in the Australian title. Tlie cars must apply with the SCCA 360ci teclmical rule book and each driver must compete in a minimum of three 360ci Sprintcar meetings during the 2003/04 season in lead up to tlie title. Tliis rule has been designed to work as a double-

open drivers sweeping in and taking the honours. And should any high profiled open drivers decide to run in the class, this will give the promoters an opportunity to use the higher profiled driver as a drawcard,in turn creating a stronger following for the 360ci Sprintcar division.

The inaugural 2004 Australian 360ci Sprintcar Title has been tipped to go to the Timmis Speedway Club located in Mildura, Victoria.

However tlie Sprintcar Control Council of Australia has invited all ti'acks tliat are regular supporters of tlie division to send in proposals should tlrey be interested in staging the event.

One such venue tliat has already expressed interest in tire 360ci Sprintcar Title is Adelaide's Speedway City.

Jt will cut out high calibre ring-in

Busy Aui Brooke Tatnell has been the busiest Aussie Sprintcar racer abroad recently and has already posted some reasonable results, but the lack of a win so far has him less than impressed.

To date, Tatnell, below, has run purely with the Outlaws and has posted six top ten results from the 10 features run. His best finish was recently at Knoxville where he battled hard with Aussie #1 Kerry Madsen and finished 5th in the preliminary feature.

"We got it right for the dash and finished a strong third beliind Kerry Madsen and Donny Schatz." Tatnell reported on his website.

"We lined up third row inside next to Steve Kinser with Kerry on the pole and Danny Lasoski outside front row,not bad company to keep.

"Right from the start we were in the thick of things battling with Kerry,Tim Shaffer and Craig Dollansky with aU of us chopping, dicing and switching lines as on a prelim night the top four are locked into the Saturday night program and we were battling for the final spot plus Kerry and I were fighting for Aussie honour."

"With Kerry on the bottom and me on the high side we were swapping back and forth with a couple of close calls when we touched wheels going down the back straight away it was a great fun and show cased that we could run up front with the best. With a late caution with two laps to go I drove to the high side and drove around Kerry and slid DoUansky wliilst splitting lapped traffic to claim a

Sprintcar's night of nights

NEW South Wales Sprintcars held their annual presentations in front of a packed auditorium at Liverpool Catholic Club in Sydney recently.

Parramatta City Raceway's Dean Neal hosted the gala evening, which saw the PCR 2002/3 Titan Garages Sprintcar Premiership Series awards presented.

After a summer-long battle, South Australian sprintcar star Trevor Green scoped the pool, taking home $25,000 in cash and prizes for his win.

Queensland's Andrew Scheuerle grabbed second while the first local driver home in the Parramatta championship was 21-year-old Troy Little. Rounding 66

out the top five was Adrain Maher and young Marty Perovich.

Other awards presented on the night were the Battler's Awards which went to Edward Pouncher. The Encouragement Award was shared by Chris Crane and David Craft, and Most Improved shared by Gary Rooke and Jason Bates. Rookie of the Year was picked up by the impressive Mark Richards, Best Presented Car was again shared by rookie Martin Lawes and Kelly Linigen while the crew of Car #3(Denis Farr's team) picked up the Best Presented Crew Award.

Long time official Bob Lee took out Official of the Year while long serving club member

and PCR flag man Arthur Cowan received the Club Member of the Year. It was a night of shared awards with Gary Winterbottom and Peter Craft awarded the Presidents Award.

Vicki Kyle picked up the prestigious Life Membership to the Sprintcar Association of NSW. A new award was also presented, the Sid Hopping Award of Distinction. This award may not be presented every year and the inaugural winner was Bob Tunks.Dancing finished off a superb evening and an ^nd of one of the best seasons ever seen at the PCR and the Sprintcar Association of NSW. - GREG BOSCATO

Trevor Green: 2002/3 Champion, and now, $25,000 richer ... moiorsport news

ssie

SPEEDWAY

More cash at PCR

Dumesny to the Maxim

Max Dumesny powered to victory on Saturday night at Brisbane International Speedway in the last major Sprintcar event of the year, the XXXX Australian Sprintcar Open. Dumesny (Valvoline Maxim) qualified on the Pole after winning the Dash race and drove away from the strong field. . great 5th place," "As I sat waiting to go across the "The car was fantastic, we started on the front and just kept scales after the feature race my working on it," said Dumesny, "The lapped traffic seemed to thoughts went from being happy with move the right way. The lapped cars were really good, the my drive to disappointed that we best-behaved lapped cars I've seen. Just had a great race," missed being locked in by one spot," Second on the night was Robbie Farr, racing the car he'd The following night wasn't so chased ail year in World Series, the Daryn Pittman Titan good for Tatnell: - Garages Eagle, just ahead of top local Andrew Scheuerle in the "Due to my poor time trial we —^ - Lucas Oils Maxim, had to start the feature out of position 22 but from the time we pushed off I knew that we had missed the set up. From the drop of the green we were struggling just to keep the car out of the wall, I tried my preferred high line then the improving gutter rat position on the bottom, either way it didn't matter.

They just absolutely smoked us and eventually I parkeci it safely in the pits to save any more embarrassment by crashing the car," A top four position was on the cards earlier at.Texas Motor Speedway until a brake line was torn off by a rock and Tatnell struggled home in ninth. The following night, Brooke scfcred another ninth place finish but this time he'd worked his way forward from 15th, Closer to home after enduring the threat of tornado's, Tatnell hit it out in a NCRA/All Stars co-sanctioned show. Some minor problems concerned the team early but after Tatnell scored pole, he was sent to the rear for jumping the start. He worked his way back to fourth by features end.

Next night out it was a top three finish at Jetmore, TatneU was actually challenging for the lead witli four laps left to run w'hen the yellows aired. On the restart he jumped to the bottom just as Dean Jacobs did tlie same.

Tatnell was forced off the gas which allowed Jason Johnson to grab second.

The encouraging thing from Brooke's perspective, is that all of these results have been achieved against the Outlaws. Expect to see some more wins when Brooke kicks off his local American season.

-BRETT SWANSON

■ Sydney sprintcar ace Troy Little is gearing up for his US assualt with the purchase of an Eagle sprintcar from Knoxville star Terry McCarl plus a 410 cubic inch engine and another new Maxim chassis. The Eagle sprintcar is one that McCarl has been using this season, Troy will be flying out of Sydney on the July 1st and while running a limited race program, he will compete in the 2003 Knoxville Nationals in August,

In a race, which ran for 34 laps without stoppages Dumesny got clear of fellow front row starter Scheuerle and was able to move clear into a buffer that protected him from the field for the duration, Scheuerle held second place initially until he was boxed in and had Farr go by, Farr built up a small gap, but as the race wore on, Scheuerle was able to make the car he'd raced all season last and had closed the gap up when he ran out of laps.

The battle for fourth was the tale of the night. Third overnight was Stephen Bell driving Aceway Motorsports brand new Cheetah, however the car had been using oil and with oil pressure still presenting a problem on the second night the team reluctantly took the decision to sideline the car. The team was then offered Craig Stevenson's Maxim to complete the night. Bell's pace early on was impressive but the car faded as the race wore on and he fell to fifth, unable to resist the charge of Darrell Hodges, Garry Brazier was sixth driver a car damaged in the Dash race ahead of Cameron Gessner, having his first run in the Speedflow Eagle, - MARK JONES

■ The running of the 42nd annual Australian Sprintcar Championship for 2004 will be staged at Bunbury Regional Speedway in Bunbury, Western Australia under the direction of the governing Sprintcar Control Council of Australia and track promoter Des Farris from Wednesday 28th to Saturday the 31st of January.

Nicholls nails it THE Rosedale Speedway have been beaten by the clock to have their venue ready for the fifth and final round of the 2003 W & G Mower Services Formula Sprintcar Series.

In lead up to the event, the Rosedale club worked valiantly to have the venue up to scratch but just fell short due to a lack of time and money. Consequently, the Victorian Sprintcar Association had no choice but to cancel the final round of the series.

The high level of competition and the evenly matched cars produced close and exciting

Max Dumesny Motorsport Australian Distributors for

Xoo$ipr

^^ RACING TIRE

For more m^rmot/on on Hoosler Drag and Speedway Tyres call:

NSW:02 9679 1990 ● Fax 02 9679 1187 VIC:03 9331 6477 ● Fax 03 9331 7444 SA:08 8332 0800 ● Fax 08 8364 0296 21 May 2003

WHILE at the NSW Sprintcars presentation night, Parramatta City Raceway's Managing Director Steven Green was with co-owner of the Sydney track Brain Healey, They annouced that there would be a $1,000 increase in the weekly sprintcar prizemoney with a season points fund of $70,000,

racing with a different winner from each of the four rounds.

Victorian rookie Sprintcar driver Wayne Nicholls took the lead in points at the final round after series leader Tony Moule was forced from the feature when his car erupted in a spectacular fireball with just four laps remaining in the feature race at Mildura.

- PARIS CHARLES 2003 Formula Sprintcar Series: 1. Wayne Nicholls 1281pts, 2. Tony Moule 1225pts, 3. Bob Forbes 1212, 4.

Brett Mllburn 1184, 5. Ron Donaldson 1076, 6. Ian Smith 1026, 7. Col Beasley 954,8. Mark Smith 866, 9. Matt Bourke 752pts, 10. Michael Burford 721 pts.

■ Skip Jackson has got his Knoxville championship season off to the best start, winning the opening night of their track championship.

Jackson had to repel a last lap attempt by Blake Flees to take the win after assuming the lead on lap eight of the 20 lap feature.

Jackson had started out of position five and ran down early leader Mike Rienke on lap eight.

However numerous cautions over the closing laps kept the pack tightly bunched and allowed Flees to actually nose ahead on the back straight on the final lap. Jackson's momentum, however, got him to the line first to score the first Aussie victory in the USA this season.

■ Rodney Barraclough won the Steve Butcher Memorial race for Street Stocks at Waikerie's Sunline Speedway last weekend.

Barraclough successfully defended his title from 24 other competitors.

Sam Brumfield was a close second from Trevor Templer and Steve Field.

- BOSCATO/CHARLES/SWAIMSON

2003 WORLD OF OUTLAWS CHAMPIONSHIP DELAWARE INTERNATIONAL MAY 13 1. Steve Kinser

8. Fred Rahmer

15. Deric Parker 16. Todd Schaffer

2. Joey Saldana

9. Brian Pauius

3. Greg Hodnett

10. Paul McMahan

17. Jeff Busby

4. Danny Lasoski

11. Jason Sides

18. Lance DeWease

5. Daryn Pittman

12. Trevor Lewis

6. Donny Schatz

13. Bob Bennett

7. Craig Dollansky

14. Brian Brittingham

»

19. Greg Coverdaie 20. Curt Michael

1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

2003 STANDINGS Danny LasoskI ..

Steve Kinser Craig Dollansky .

Daryn Pittman ..

Joey Saldana ...

Mark Kinser ...

Jason Sides Jac Haudenschild Randy Hannagan Jeff Shepard ...

2522 2453 2367 2274 2261 2259 2144 ,2119 2077 2054

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Donny Schatz ..

Shane Stewart. .

Brian Pauius Tim Shaffer Jeremy Campbell.

Johnny Herrera . .

KraigKinser Brooke Tatnell...

Sammy Swindell Brian Brown ...

2008 1906 1550 1538 1435 1391 1265 1248 1218 1217

BJ

One man show Return ofthe King 4.52/330 and 4.54/321 wins over Rit Pustari and Darrell Russell In the opening two rounds.

GREG Anderson enjoyed a ! After taking runner-up honours dominant outing in which he two times earlier this season and estabiished new eiapsed time reaching the semi-finals of the and top speed records en last seven national events, Whit route to his third NHRA Pro Bazemore finally bagged his first Stock victory of the season at win of the season. Bazemore Engiishtown iast weekend. used a final round 4.86/306 to Anderson defeated Darrell stop Ron Capps, who lost Alderman in the Pro Stook final, traction early in the run. never leaving the win in doubt as After qualifying fifth at his Vegas General Construotion 4.83/322, the Mateo Tools Pontiac motored to a 6.72/205 to Dodge recorded 4.83/322, 6.74/205 victory.

4.81/324 and 4.82/321 victories Qualifying saw Anderson, below, over Cruz Pedregon, Del become the first driver to eclipse Worsham, and Tony Pedregon. the 6.7s barrier when he recorded Oakley driver and Bazemore a pass of 6.684s at 206.76 mph team-mate Gary Sceizi posted during the final qualifying session. the fastest Funny Car pass of Earlier in the day, Anderson all-time in round one when he reoorded the fastest Pro Stock powered through the timing speed in NFIRA history (207.08 traps at a top speed of mph).

326.95mph.

On Sunday, after a round one Capps, who has struggled in 6.69/206 win over Greg Stanfield, his Skoal Camaro since his win Anderson onoe again bettered the in Phoenix, stopped Johnny marks on a 6.670/207.18 round Gray, a red-lighting John Foroe, two victory over Terry Adams to re and team-mate Tommy Johnson set the reoords.

Jr. to reaoh the final round.

Alderman’s 6.734 qualified Shawn Gann defeated Craig him eleventh in the record quiok Treble in the Pro Stock Motorcycle field, which boasted an final round. unbelievable 6.741 bump spot.

In a battle of Tool Brands, He advanced into the final after Gann’s Mao Tools Suzuki used a disposing Mark Pawuk, Jim final round 7.10/188 to stop the Yates, and Jeg Coughlin.

Matoo Tools Suzuki of Treble, which broke at mid-track.

Doug Kalitta powered to his Gann dominated the event, second victory of the season, stopping point leader Larry Dixon qualifying on top of the recordin the final round, 4.49/328 to quiok show at 7.055s and taking 4.55/326. It was Kalitta’s second wins over Chris Reuter, Sean Conner, and Antron Brown.

4.4s pass of the day, as the Mac Mitch Stott bested the quickest Tools dragster had earlier posted a semi-final round 4.48/328 to AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod field in history, stopping Mike Ashley stop Paul Romine. in the final round, 6.13/230 to Qualifying in the top spot at 6.28/226.

4.51/327, Kalitta also recorded

by DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

RETIRED six-time NHRA champion Kenney Bernstein will get back behind the wheel of a Top Fueller after son Brandon was injured in an accident during the first round at last week's NHRA event at Englishtown.

Bernstein's car lost traction, went sideways,rolled over on its side and struck the left side retaining wall. The car righted itself, then climbed over the top of the wall and went over the top, sliding down a grass area before finally coming to a stop.

Bernstein was conscious,complaining of pain in liis lower back but had full movementin his extremities.

Kenny Bernstein later issued this statement from the Medical Center: "Brandon has a crushed vertebrae in the T3 to T4 area. He is stable. There is no paralysis. His spinal canal is good. He will be at the Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center for two to three days. The decision will be made today or tomorrow whether to reconstruct with surgery or a brace. His recovery is expected to take two to three mondis."

The team will assemble a new dragster for next weekend's event in Topeka, Kansas, and will test in Indy on Tuesday with team owner Kenny, right, climbing back behind the wheel of his Budweiser-backed dragster.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

5:

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i

Kurt gets the crown

roor/ffi.'viR? KURT Johnson claimed the USS5O,0OO King Demon Grown, a special event for the top-eight Pro Stock qualifiers based on qualifying points earned during the last 12 months at Englishtown iast weekend.

Johnson defeated an out-of-shape Greg Anderson in the final round to clai his third King Demon Crown title, tying his father, Warren, for the most wins in the special event.

After an even leave for both drivers, the two best racers in the Pro Stock class were locked together, but a few hundred feet down track, Anderson's car moved out of the groove forcing him to lift. Johnson posted a 6.753-second win.

Johnson started from the bottom half of the field and powered his AC Delco Chevrolet Cavalier past Jeg Coughlin Jr. and his father, Warren Johnson, before squaring off with Anderson, who set a new natio al elapsed time mark of 6.684s in the semifinals.

Starting from the No. 2 position, Anderson, a King Demon Crown .roo __kie, blew by Allen Johnson and Jim Yates to get his Vegas General Construction Pontiac Grand-Am to the money round.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI motorsDort news

DRAG RAGING

One hand on the trophy

by KEN FERGUSON

BEN Bray is on target to become the youngest driver to win the national championship in the Top Doorslammer class after another strong performance at the continuation of the postponed Tin Top Titles at Willowbank Raceway last Saturday night.

Bray Jnr, at the wheel of liis Castrol '57 Chev,won liis third event of the season, taking a gift win over defending national Champion Peter Kapiris in the final.

Bray, below, cannot be beaten for the championship should he qualify, and progress past the first round of eliminations at the season-ending Konica Wintemationals.

The Bray camp were to face each other in the first round of eliminations at this event Mowing completion of qualifying on the Anzac day weekend. When rain washed out day two of the event, Ben and Victor were in fourth and fifth positions respectively, but the forced withdrawal of Robin Judd from Saturday night's event due to prior business commitments saw each competitor elevated one position on the ladder.

The Castrol team now had the chance to go 1-2 both at the event and in the championship. Kym Petterwood moved into the field in his Lifestyle '63 Corvette at the expense of Rob Broadbent, who,Hke Judd, was also unable to return.

Petterwood, who suffered fuel system gremlins on the Anzac weekend,returned to his old form again, producing the upset of round one, by defeating the Jack Daniels

^ 1

Studebaker of top-qualifier Brett Stevens, who was experiencing magneto problems.

Ben Bray defeated Andrew Searle's Acme Fibreglass Ford Customline in the first round with the quickest pass of the weekend,a 6.19/232. Bray Jnr then defeated Petterwood in the second round with another consistent 6.20/226. Petterwood was forced to shut off early against Bray when a tiny clutcli adjustment, after his first round win, proved to be the wrong call.

Bray Snr suffered a scare in his first round encounter with Maurice Fabietti.

Bray needed all of liis 234mph top-end charge to get past Fabietti, who was in front all the way until a shower of sparks came from the clutcli area.

Fabietti immediately lifted and pulled the chutes, only to see Bray take the win by a mere 0.06s.

Kapiris defeated a red-lighting Bray in the next round and went on to produce his best pass of the weekend, a 6.22/225. Ben Bray took the easiest of wins against Kapiris in the final when Kapiris went into full stage with big revs. Bray held out a bit longer, and Kapiris left the start

line before the tree was activated.

No time was recorded in Kapiris's lane, but he would have easily defeated Bray who had a clutch malfunction, and shut off early.

Despite going down to a record setting Peter Ridgeway in the final on Saturday night,Jon Andriopoulos also has the chance to create lustory, this time in the Pro Stock class.

Andriopoulos,above, at the wheel of Matthew Sawyer's Dodge Daytona,can take the first-ever win by a Chrysler-powered vehicle in the class if he too can qualify and get past the first round of eliminations.

Ridgeway gained maximum points from tliis event taking the win, as well as points for low ET and top speed.

He reset the record with his 7.36/185 win over Andriopoulos in the final.

Winners in other brackets on Saturday night included Trevor Maas in Supercomp, Matthew Gihnour in Supercharged Outlaws, David Gauldie in Super Sedan, Graeme Frawley in Modified,Juan Kudnig in Super Street, Jolm Parker in Comp Bike, Mark Gordon in Modified Bike, and Garreth Butler in Junior Dragster.

Diary dates NEXT season's Australian Nationals event has been confirmed for November 21st to 23rd, 2003, at Queensland's Willowbank Raceway.

Because the Australian drag racing season kicks off in October, this will mean the sport's most important event will be held in the new season, even though it will only be ten months after the 2002/2003 race.

"Over three or four days, the January heat can be a challenge for the teams and the fans," said Willowbank General Manager Harry Rowsell.

"We wanted to place the Nationals into a milder weather period and we appreciate the co operation of ANDRA and the other tracks in making it happen."

The first major event at the new Western Sydney International Dragway is tentatively listed for one week earlier.

■ Troy Critchley and the AMS Staff Leasing Team has purchased a 1993 Corvette from Doc Perkins. The car has been painted in AMS red and Critchley had the drive train from his former 1957 Chevy installed and debuted the car at Bristol for the third stop on the AMS Pro Modified Challenge.

The car was Shannon Jenkins’s ride in the early part of the 1990s.

Critchley missed the field in Bristol, posting a 15th best 6.34/218, and improved to a 6.21/226 in Englishtown, but failed to make the tough 6.16 bump spot.

■ NHRA Pro Stock World Champion Bob Giidden has found a home in the Team Mopar camp as crew chief on Larry Morgan's two-car team.

On the heels of the Giidden addition, in Commerce there were five Team Mopars attempting to qualify. Tom Lee, a former IHRA mountain motor Pro Stock racer, was behind the wheel of a new Dodge Stratus intended for Darrell Alderman. Lee has been a long-time member of Allen Johnson's crew and has served as a test driver over the years pre-dating the Team Mopar sponsorship.

■ Brad Jeter has joined forces with the Team Jegs camp. The former Pro Mod racer-turned Pro Stock Truck standout-turned Pro Stock car journeyman was hired to replace Tommy Utt as crewchief.

■ lou Cavalieri, whose familyoriented Cavalieri Brothers Racing team fielded cars in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Alcohol Dragster and Alcohol Funny Car over the last decade, passed away of an apparent heart attack on May 12 at his home in Omaha, Nebraska. He was 41.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI/STAFF 69

Anothei , :4s ● ●

Targa-riffic THE Richards/Oliver juggernaut may have been dictating terms once again in the battle for outright honours, but bragging rights were just as keenly contested in the historic-based categories at the 2003 edition of Targa Tasmania.

The event has a reputation for consistently attracting fields of nnachinery from days gone by that are impressive in both quality and quantity, and 2003 kept that tradition going strong.

The Shannon's Historic Competition field included the event's ceremonial flag car, the 1926 AC Amilcar Grand Sport of John and Paul Lawson.

The Amilcar went on to win the category well ahead of the 1930 Oakland 8-101 of fellow Victorians John Felder and Craig Desomerville, to be followed home by another entry from the Garden State in the form of Michael Hipkins and Mark Burns's 1925 Vauxhall 30-98.

The Classic Competition boasted an exceptionally large and varied line-up. With everything from Type E Jaguars to Ferrari 365s, there was enough eye-candy to suit anyone's taste - and the racing wasn't bad, either.

In the end, it was the 1969 Datsun H510 1800 of Queenslanders Graham 10

THE 2003 Classic Adelaide Rally looks set to establish new records this year.

Based on entry applications received by the 'early bird' cut-off, the event is shaping up to be the biggest in seven years, with up to 220 participants expected in the timed competition and the untuned touring categories.

More special stages, a later date and a level playing field for those in the Heritage (handicap)competition have no doubt contributed to the added interest in the 2003 event.

Among the first to enter have been reigning 2002 Classic Adelaide Competition champion, Rex Broadbent(1974 Porsche RSR), second-placed David McDonough (1972 Ford Capri Perana V8)and the Porsche 911RS owned by Jenny Britten.

Broadbent is planning a full rebuild of his Porsche RSR to sUmmer and lighter 911RS configuration, with the additional prospect of a 1974 model Porsche RS entry from seven-times Targa Tasmania Champion Jim Richards.

Other notable entries to date include 2002 Targa Newfoundland wirmer Len Cattlin in his highlymodified 1967 Ford Mustang (as seen in story on the left side of this page!) and Garry Leeson in his potent 1969 Ford Falcon GTHO.

Easter mag Copeland and Jon Siddens that emerged triumphant, with the 1964 Porsche 911 Carrera of Geoff Taylor and Lee Harper.

Hot on their tails in third place was Brian and Linda Dermott's 1962 Austin Healey 3000 Mk II. Third may have been the best a British car could do in the Classic Competition, but in the Shannon's Touring Competition they scored a clean sweep.

Leading the field at the end of the event was the 1955 Jaguar XK140 FHC of Brian Titherage and John Shuttle from NSW. Second was Duncan and Bronwyn Matheson's 1964

The spice of life: Whether you were there to see something old and elegant, such as the 1926 AC Amilcar that acted as the flag car for the event, top, or something with a bit more muscle, like Gayle and Len Cattlin's 1967 Ford Mustang, above, the historic element of Targa had something worth seeing.

Morris Cooper, with the 1961 Vayxhall Cresta of Martin Utber and Nick Langford rounding out the podium.

THE Easter meeting at Mallala organised by the Sporting Car Club of SA was as popular as ever, with 150 competitors making the journey from as far away as Queensland and WA. After all, with five races for everyone and social activities second to none, it was well worth the trip.

The 38-event program provided plenty of close racing with John Virgo (Riley Spi.) and Andrew Willington (MG TF Spl.) keeping the crowd (and each other) on their toes.

The Group N touring cars provided the usual fireworks, especially amongst Rob Vanderkamp (Falcon XY GT), John Bryant(Falcon Sprint), Peter Burchell (Mustang) and Ian Gear (Torana XU-1), while further back the Cortina brigade engaged in its own private battle.

The Austin Healey events were also hotly contested, as Rob Rowlands will testify - he

moiorsport news

histobics n

Classic in the making

(

Dual Bathurst winner and inaugural Bathurst 24-hour race winner,Steven Richards has also enquired about entering a Ford Escort RS2000. .

Amongst the 'early bird' Tour entries are the 1939 Jaguar SS 100 of local Adelaide driver Rob Thompson, a 1971 Chrysler Charger RT E49 from Mackay, Queensland for Mark Burridge and several Porsches.

Clerk of Course Tom Snooks has earmarked 35 special stages for the 2003 rally -four more than in 2002with the total number of competitive

kilometres likely to top 250kms. This could include the return of the highly popular Paris Creek stage on the final Day Four, while several other stages have been lengthened.

While Classic Adelaide remains the only outright rally for cars manufactured up to 1982, the Potential Performance Indicators which determine the handicap times for the Heritage competition are also being fine-tuned to ensure that early classic sporting cars such as Austin Healeys and Mini Coopers can compete on an equal footing with

at MaliSS had the somewhat dubious honour of winning the Farmer of the Day trophy!

Paul Orr appeared in the same Austin Special his father used to drive, and Dave Armstrong was back behind the wheel of his old Cicada, having re-purchased it.

These two were pushed all weekend by Roger Oliver driving Tony Parkison’s Wedge Austin Special.

Some of the best racing occurred in the Group Q events with both Andrew Makin (March 73B) and Sean Whelan (Chevron) getting into the 1.09s and breaking the lap record.

Andrew Makin was rewarded with the Driver of the Meeting award.

Other drivers to impress were Max Brunninghausen (Chevron) in the Group O races, and Martin Naylor who dominated his class in Group Sb in his Datsun 2000.

- BRIAN REED 21 May 2003

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CAMS CEO Rob Nethercote is proving to be a man of many parts, with a genuine interest and involvement in motor sport.

Rob's son is now competing in Formula Vee, his brother, Andy, has recently moved up to Formula Ford after scoring an exciting F Vee win in the Victorian State Series, and Rob himself had a steer of Robert Harborow's famous Maybach Special in the regularity event at the Phillip Island Classic meeting in March.

He has just added another string to his bow - he was guest commentator at the Easter historic meeting at Mallala.

When it comes to PR, Rob scores full marks.

- BRIAN REED

later model Porsches and VSToranas.

Other incentives are soon to be announced to make the Historic category more attractive to owners of pre-1947 vehicles.

The new month-later date for the 2003 Classic Adelaide Rally has also received popular support from local and overseas entrants, as it bypasses the already crowded October motorsport calendar. This year's event will be from 19-23 November.

For further details, visit the event website at www.classicadelaide.com.au

Tracey’s revival THE Victorian Vintage and Classic Speedway Club recently held their reunion meeting in memory of Tracey's Speedway.

According to veteran racer Frank Nankiville, "Everything clicked so well and the spectators got their money's worth. It was just one of those days!"

For Frank, a highlight of the meeting was the appearance of one of the sidecar greats from yesteryear, 'Spudder' Redshaw and his wife.

Proceeds from the day went to the Royal Children's Hospital and Frank Nankiville said that although the threatening weather kept crowd numbers down, "the tins were filled up for the kids." He recalled how in the old days the competitors at Tracey's would pool their winnings from the Saturday night before the Good Friday Appeal, and Fred Tracey would match the amount for the hospital.

Next year the Victorian Vintage and Classic Speedway Club will commemorate the closing of Tracey's 40 years ago, and already plans are underway to obtain local council permission for a plaque to be placed identifying the famous speedway venue.

■ Round 3 of the AFJA Trophy Series will be held at Queensland's Willowbank Raceway on July 26-27.

Entry forms and supp.regs. will soon be available on www.hrcc.org.au

■ it's good to see younger family members taking up the mantle in historic racing. Graeme and Robin Snape have been successful competitors and great supporters of the sport over many years, Graeme being remembered for his many Lb victories driving his supercharged Cooper BMW before shifting to the ex-Eldred Norman Zephyr Special.

Their son Greg, who also raced the Cooper, is making a name for himself in England. Greg has rebuilt the Kieft Grand Prix car for Bill Morris and now has the opportunity of driving it.

This car was originally commissioned in 1953 to run with a 2.5-litre Coventry Climax Godiva engine but never saw light of day after the Kieft organisation was misled by false rumours of the power outputs of rivals Ferrari and Mercedes. Greg made his debut at Silverstone, and hopefully we'll hear more of his exploits in this very rare and interesting open wheeler.

■ Victorian driver Ron Townley was impressed not only with the number of runs everyone enjoyed at the recent Easter meeting at Mallala, but also with a novel idea adopted by the Sporting Car Club of SA. "They divide their regularities into two sections - closed and open top cars, and it seems to work well," said Townley on his return from Adelaide where he took part at Mallala and Collingrove in his MG TB Spl. Maybe it's an idea other States might like to trial.

- BRIAN REED

■ Barry Parson must surely have created some sort of a record at a recent GEAR meeting at Wakefield Park when he arrived with five cars from his stable to compete in five events. His smallest contribution was another of his wonderful collection of Australian 'specials', the diminutive Shrimp Spl. which apparently makes an Austin 7 look like a Kenworth truck. Total power of his five cars was estimated at around lOOObhp!

- BRIAN REED

FJ goes os

Australian Formula Junior Association is that expatriate Australian Philip Venables has bought the only rear-engined Nota FJ from George Veremeyev and plans to compete in Formula Junior events in Europe.

Venables, who now calls Taninges in the south of France home, gave the car a work out at Phillip Island before shipping it overseas.

71

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Rowley

Torque talked at THE 27th Annual 'Torque Trophy' was run and won three weeks ago at Barbagallo Raceway.

The Torque Trophy,sponsored for the second time by AutoTrader Magazine, was born from the famous Peter Wherrett TV show on the ABC in the 1970's.'Torque' gave rise to many imilJitors, but its impact remains indelibly etched in the Western Australian motorsport scene.

Spread over the afternoon of Saturday and aU day Sunday, the racing was up to the mark in relation to the status of the event. One Trophy race on Saturday and two on Sunday, with the top five winners from certain races contesting, made for some fantastic races.

Everything got off to an explosive start with the Supra of John Glasson lunching its engine in spectacular fashion. Tliis wasn't even in a race, it was in the last qualifying group.

Proceedings were held up while the powdered stuff was spread to absorb the mess.

The weekend also saw,for the first time, the Saloon Car class racing in their own right. Previous winner and regular pedaller, Malcolm Mali, showed the rest of the group just how it was done in their first race, collecting the win while V8 Supercar hopeful Clint Harvey bagged the next two. Brett Niall, driving Iris EA in a fashion not imlike brother Mai, reeled in two second places for the day, one of them in competition with the booming 5.0L BMW 635 Coupe of Simon Emmerling. The outright torque of Emmerling's beast is such 72

that it consistently bogs down on the line but is generally well ahead come a lap later.

Simon produced one of the fastest laps of the weekend with a lm03.1566s on the 2.7km circuit.

Peter Brown's HQ swept the field with clean wins in their three events after sparring partner Tony James car encountered a few problems. It was left to David Turner and relative newcomer Nathan Callaghan to pick up the minor placings. James Oh my god, it's a CAT Commodore! Brett Mali and Peter Thornell chase down though won out over Brown in the CAT car of Clint Harvey, top, while above, the Formula Vee action was the fastest HQ lap category, tight. Perhaps the action was too tight for this unfortunate chap, below ... picking it up two to one. in one race and collected the Formula Vee star Cameron of Steve Hooton taking out a closely prestigious Torque Trophy. Kerry, an finished Handicap event. The yellow Edwards didn't, for a change, have it Torana of Ron Moller also had a unassuming bloke, was gracious in his own way over the weekend. One his win, win, a second and third was Cam's reasonable day with a second and third. Frank Viskovich's XU-1 had an Barbagallo's next event is round results with hard charger Steve five of the VSSupercars in the first off day, with problems plaguing him Armfield making his presence felt. weekend of June. all weekend. Gary Martinovich also Armfield muscled Iris way to two -DAVECONOLE wins and a second, hauled in a best did resonably weU in his EH. The Marque Sports Car Class had lap time whilst charging his way up Michael Minshall,in his tidy the points table.

Formula Fords was a Dean Fiore Westfield, running first in their three fastest lap festival with a best time of 'events. Like most drivers, Mike lm03.0726s. Dean collected two wasn't satisfied with being merely first, fastest laps for all three were his second places in three events. Steve Baxter came out of a relative nowhere forte. Club President,John Hurny, after a blown engine in the to place first twice. Mark McNaUy and William Hall fixed up the gaps in Nightmasters series nearly retired him, came back with two strong the events for wins and thirds. second placings.

Histories made a good showing At the end of the weekend,it was with the General's four-wheeled Steven Johnson look-a-like, Kerry shark, tlie LJ Torana's, at the pointy Wade,in the Kim Ledger backed end. Leigh Turners red XU-1 had a Mazda RX7 that broke the lap record good day, with the giant E49 Charger motorsport news

SCENE

Lammers lands first blow

ANDREW Thompson capped off an extraordinary Ford KartStars debut to claim the opening round of the series.

Thompson, above, showed maturity well beyond his age, putting In one of the most Impressive performances since the Inception of the KartStars program four years ago.

Thomspon, 15, set the fastest qualifying time and greeted the chequered flag first in both heat races.

The Byron Bay boy got the jump into the first turn to open a slender lead over the field during the opening laps.

Meanwhile, during the opening lap Thompson’s main challenger throughout the weekend, Troy Woolsten was forced off the circuit, dropping outside the top 10 when he crossed the line for the first time.

With Woolsten down the order, it was Adrian Estasy who led the pack in an attempt to chase down the flying Thompson.

By mid race, Estasy had his hands full battling with a mysterious fuel surge problem allowing the Credex-supported Wesley May into second spot as Estasy dropped down the order.

As the laps wore down May began to put in some exceptionally quick laps, reeling in Thompson. With three laps remaining. May was within striking distance for the victory.

The two KartStars debutants raced nose-to-tail for the final few laps but May was unable to find a way past the dominant Thompson.

“I knew he (May) was coming but I also knew that there wasn’t long to go till the chequered as well,” said a delighted Thompson, “This is a great way to start the

series but there is still four tough rounds to go.’’

May was also focused on the series rather than just a round win.

“I could have had a lunge a couple of times on that last lap but would rather the points for the series rather than risk a DNF,” commented May on the podium.

“I have exceeded all of my expectations given that it was only

Wednesday that I confirmed I would fill the spot vacated by Brendon (May’s younger brother).

I can't thank the guys from DPE and also the other competitors for their assistance over the weekend."

After a ‘yo-yo’ weekend, Jason Varley manoeuvred his Phillips Foote Restaurant/Sik-FX machine into third place to record a career

first Ford KartStars podium finish.

“The competition is so tough out here, it just keeps getting tougher. It is so great to finally be standing on the podium,” said an elated Varley.

“After a disappointing year last year it gives me a huge amount of confidence for this year’s series.”

CC Racing/3D Network pilot Troy Woolsten recovered from his opening lap adventures to finish less than a kart-length behind Varley. In the process, he set the fastest lap of the race.

Rounding out the top 10 was Joshua Aarandt, Ben Guest, a much-improved John Martin, Estasy,' Peter McNiven and Tim Blanchard.

Victorian driver James Love claimed a well-deserved victory in the opening round of the Super Cheap Auto Junior Blitz Series, Love finished ahead of Kristian Lindbom and Jordie Linstrom.

The next round of the Ford KartStars Series will be held at the Corio Bay Raceway in Geelong on June 14 and 15.

Nice hat boys: From the left, Jason Varley, Andrew'Thompson and Wesley May celebrate on the Ford podium.

Dutchman Bas Lammers leads the European Formula A Championship after the opening round at Angerville in France a fortnight ago.

Lammers(Swiss Hutless/Vortex/ Bridgestone) took a win and a second and, with team-mate Pascal Westerhof grabbing a couple of thirds, puts Swiss Hutless International back on the map.

Tony Kart picked up the other Final, Belgian Bertrand Grooten steering his Marechel Motorsport entry to victory ahead of Lammers in the first final before falling to sixth in final two where the Tony Kart factory entry of Davide Forb (Tony Kart/Vortex/Bridgestone) took second.

Eighty-five drivers competed in Formula A, including Western Australian Michael Patrizi. Driving for the Italian factory Birel Motorsport team, Patrizi put in a solid performance on his European race debut, but was unfortunate not to make the final.

On Vega tyres (it appeared Bridgestone had the advantage in France, the top 15 qualifiers on the Japanese rubber) Michael qualified 49th, just 0,519s off Lammers' pole time (the top 80 were covered by less than one second!), and was looking at a start in the finals until a DNF in his fourth heat(engine)took him out of the running.

New Zealand's Wade Cunningham continues to improve with CRG, qualifying 27th and easily making the two finals before registering 21 st and 13th. He sits 15th in the championship points. A number of the more fancied Formula Super A drivers failed to qualify, including Carlo van Dam, Alessandro Manetti and Sauro Cesetti.

■ Andrew Karabatsakis triumphed at round two of the Victorian Super-8 Series at Puckapunyal on the weekend, taking a dominant win over a huge Formula Australia Light field.

Karabatsakis (Azzurro) took a back seat during the heats where Shane Price and Daniel Elliott took the wins, James Sera and Matt Wall also proving competitive.

The heavens opened for the pre final and the wet surface allowed Andrew to move up from grid seven to take the win before dominating the final from pole. Sera was second ahead of Wall and Andrew Mercuri.

In Sportsman Heavy, Danny Buzadzic won the final ahead of Aaron Rintoul, who was making a comeback after a short break, and Jason Pringle.

Other winners were Mark Hester ahead of Wail in Rotax Light, Brett Davidson (Rotax Heavy), Nicholas Johnstone (Junior National), Andrew Budge (Junior Performance), Brett Mullavey (Rookies) and Jesse Fenech (Midgets).

- MARK WICKS

21 May 2003

I

Mt Cotton Mayhem

THE second running of the Historic Racing Car Club's Mt Cotton Hillclimb last month produced a number of spectacular incidents, resulting in many damaged vehicles.

The new' track surface combined with recent rain

proved to be a tricky combination with competitors in all categories battling to find traction. First to come unstuck was Kevin Gray,loosing the rear of his Datsun 240Z on approach to the hairpin. The rear wheels of the Datsun dug in and sent the car into a barrel roll before it landed on its roof.

Officials and emergency workers were on the scene immediately and Kevin was able to climb from the car uninjured.

Tire action continued during the next run when Rod McMullin driving the 1931 Ford Indy Special got out of shape coming out of the second loop and nosed the always spectacular blue and red machine through the catch fencing. The accident caused front suspension damage which put an early end to his weekend.

Following the trend started by Gray's inverted

240Z,Laurie Longland lost control of his Datsun 260Z through the tricky dogleg approaching the finish line. He clipped the wall and ended the weekend upside down.

The consistency classes, basically regularity for hillclimbs, were hotly contested. Richard West proved budget motorsport is alive and well by beating home John Wagstaff and Matt Daly in the crowd pleasing 1968 Falcon GT to take out Group One. Group Two honors went to David Dixon in his MGB,who narrowly beat regular competitor Alan Don in his Triumph Spitfire. The spectacular E Type Jaguar of Peter Walsh had a very strong finish to capture first in Group Three ahead of Stuart Everett and Terry Hanly in the 1969 Nedelko.

Group Four, the Mini brigade, was taken out by Bill Westerman, driving his 1964 Cooper S with a best time of 49.64sec. His lap time was also good enough for fifth outright. Following the early exit of Kevin Gray, Group Five was reduced to four runners with Brian Falloon taking the win from

David Whitehouse.

John Kingcott used his experience in small Fords to win Group Six driving a Midi Cortina GT and holding out Ian Mcllwain in the Datsun 1600. Fans of the Datsun Z cars disappointed with the demise of two examples in rollovers, got some consolation from Jon Siddin's win in Group Seven. Jon drove to first in his class and second outright with a blistering 47.38s lap,just beating home fellow 240Z driver Greg Hilton who managed thud outright.

Christopher Fry's Elfin Formula Vee posted a 54.40s lap on his final run of the weekend to take out the honors in Group Eight, while Christopher Berry steered his Datsun 1600 to victory in Group Nine from Kerry.

Fastest time of the day was posted by Chris Lake who pushed his Axtell Suzuki hillclimb special to a 43.21s lap ahead of Pieter Boel.

The final class was a contest between the Lotus Sevens of John Barram and Alan Telfer with Barram coming home ahead with a time of 52.13s.

-GRANT PARKER

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Oh no: Cray perfected the 'one and a half' roll overs at Mt Cotton recently. But luckily, the driver walked away without any major injuries

nd spectators at the HRCCQ’s annual lo Frills meeting at Warwick’s Morgan ■ Apart from a misfire in the first race, fhich allowed Andrew Fellowes’s II STUNNING greeted „ irabham BT36day through for acompetitors win, Chris Tarrell dominated the racing car classes in his immaculate Halt RT4. Farrell gave the outright lap record set by Derek Pingel ■jin the ex-FI Lola a bit of a scare and will ibe worth watching at future outings. ® ^The sports car classes featured some ™teresting machinery including Roger sfialand’s Marcos GT which won its first ^ee of the weekend after the Anglia of ^aul Redding spun on the opening lap. agedding had his revenge however with |fenvincing wins in the following events.

The highlight of the weekend was a j capacity field for the Group N feature race.

Kevin Heffernan and his team worked hard between events to get the Monaro back on the grid following both a throttle cable and ball joint failure in a previous race. Heffernan didn’t let the crowd down, holding a door handle to door handle battle with Bruce Dummett in the XU1 Torana. Dummett eventually took the win after sun/iving challenges all the way to the last corner.

Josh Brown took third place after keeping the leaders honest in the early laps.

Best of the Mini brigade was Ken Nelson and Bill Westerman, HRCC, came out in front in the battle of the presidents, narrowly leading home Bill Campbell, WDSCC. i!

- GRANT PARKER

Hill

THE picturesque Collingrove in South Australia played host for the 2003 Australian Hill Climbing Championships.

Defending Australian and South Australian Hill CUmb Champion Peter Gitmley, right, from Wollongong, NSW proved to be the dominant force, capturing the outright honours. In the process, he set a new hack record up tire challenging steep and twisting hill with a time of 29.34 seconds in his last rim of tlie weekend's competition, aboard Iris immaculate Standox Paints-sponsored SCV macliine.

74

Alan McConnell saved his best run of tlie weekend for last to claim second from West Australian competitor Gary West who was relegated to third aboard his Buick powered 4-Iitre ex-Indy Lite Lola chassis.

A wide variety of old and new cars competed over the weekend. The drivers ranged from rookie sporting car club enthusiasts, race competitors on a national level, to Australian Motorsport icons such as Norm Beechy aboard his V8-powered Chevrolet Camaro.

-PARIS CHARLES

Pans QiBte

motorsport news

NATIONAI. SCEilE

Lakeside returns

by GRANT ROWLEY

RACING returns to Lakeside!

Well,,soon anyway. The Queensland circuit recently became the first motor racing facility in the world to be granted permanent heritage listing.

Three weeks ago,the Queensland Heritage Council voted to preserve Lakeside Raceway, located just north of Brisbane, before the track became the town’s newest housing estate or 18-hole goif course.

So when can we expect racing to return to the fast and fiowing 2.41km circuit?

Ian Milton, President of the Lakeside Motor Racing Enthustiasts says despite the good news, nothing is set in concrete yet.

“Pine Rivers Shire Council have the right to appeal the heritage listing as they are the owners of the track, however, no appeal has been lodged yet.”

Milton remains positive though that raciag will go ahead soon, at least by 2004.

“If all the licencing of the track

can be sorted, then there’s no reason why we can’t be racing in six months."

Motorsport in Australia has changed since a major V8 meeting was last held at Lakeside. The Council and the Lakeside enthustiasts are the first to recoginse this. But, there is more than one category of motorsport inthis country.

‘The council is adement that no V8 Supercars will race at Lakeside,” claimed Milton. “And we believe club-level motorsport is the direction the track should follow anyway. Those types of cars are well-suited to the track layout.”

But for now, the future of the track looks secure, especially with the help of some passionate locals.

“We’ve had pledges from individuals and corporations willing to donate time and money to help fix up the track,” Milton said.

“The track was built by volunteers 40-odd years ago and has always relied on local support for racing to happen.”

LANT1S

Kinky moments: Murphy,Jones and Morris, above, barely brushed panels in this daring move through Lakeside's notorious kink. But 26 years earlier, Chris Amon in his Ferarri won the 1969 AGP.

sutlon-iinjgef.com

21 May 2003

Who could forget?

THE 42-year-61d Lakeside circuit has seen its fair share of Australian motorsport history.

Lakeside hosted the Australian Grand Prix in 1966 and '69 and some of the entrants in those AGPs may ring a bell to the old folk in the audience. Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Frank Gardner,Jim Clark and Chris Amon are a handful of heroes that raced on the Lakeside bitumen.

But Lakeside Raceway has created many a local legend as well. Dick Johnson made his circuit racing debut at the track and proved very hard to beat on home turf. His incredible success at the track created a perfect launch-pad for an amazing career.

One of Johnson's finer moments at the track came in 1981, when he fended off Peter Brock to secure his first Touring Car aown.The feat made all the more memorable thanks to a broken sway bar on Dick's Tru-Blue Falcon.

Mick Doohan also was a local Lakeside lad,strutting his motorcycle stuff at the track before hitting the world bike scene in 1989.

And who could forget Greg Murphy,Brad Jones and Paul Morris producing, arguably, the best touring car race this country has seen. The trio exchanged places coimtless times, went three-wide tluough the kink yet remarkably - hardly a scratched panel.

15

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Sedans/Sports Cars

1986 Mazda RX7 Series 4, 13B, high HP motor, ceramic seals. Wolf 3D computer, Recaro seats, steel roll cage, large radiator, oil cooler, intercooler, FIA fuel tank, Koni shocks, Urethene suspension, FIA 5 point harness, spare wheels (5), spare gearbox, many more spares, road reg. $22,000 Neg. Danny 0418 353 681. 259 www.myl 05.com/20609

BMW E30 Series Production Car, 3251 6 cyl to full class specs. Double adjustable Koni dampeners, LSD, Rebuilt engine only 7 races old, Sparco Pro 2000 seat, huge spares package, 2nd in 2002 championship.

Check us out at puremotorsport.com.au. $18,000. Paul 0411 034 231. 259 www.myl05.eom/60323

Mazda RX2 Coupe, Improved production Sedan, RX2 Coupe, 13B bridgeport, 51mm Webber, air box, RevLimter, race clutch, 5 speed g-box, steel cage, foamfilled race tank, Volvo brakes, brake bias, watts-link rearend, adjustable Koni suspension, Willians harness, current CAMS Log Book, lots of spares, spare 13B Bridgeport race engine, two sets globe mags. $10,000.

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21 May 2003

Future Tourer, Future Tourer #53 Commodore come 2nd in 2002 series well sorted car has new engine, reconditioned T10 gearbox, detroit locker diff, and is ready to race in Master series this year in June may trade Siverado Extra Cab. $38,500 Neg. Mark 04 0 9 84 6 717 . 260 www.myl 05.com/60608

Porsche GTS FACTORY Cup CAR. Series 2 car with all 2001 upgrades plus carbon bonnet/ guards and boot lid and transmission cooler. 5hrs on fresh bottom end. PCA dyno sheet. Lots of spares and special goodies. Will be a front running car in prod/marque sports or group 2 nations cup. Very lightly raced and never crashed. $185,000 Neg. Wayne (02) 9524 1199. 258 www.myl05.com/98267

Commodore Cup, Commodore Cup #426 Ex Baxter/Papendell oar, good competitive car, ready to race, reconditioned motor and gearbox, 313, horsepower has not been raced in two years, commited to other category. $19,500 Neg. Mark 0409 846 717.

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m RX2 club car, Ex-SelectMaz club car, 13B race bridgeport, engine almost new, 51mm Webbers, cold air box, race clutch, turbo 5 speed g-box, steel cage, racing tank, Volvo brakes, front-to-rear brake bias, race seat, harness, too much to mention. Great for Club or Sprints. $8,500 ONO. Rodney 9767 5604 / 0409 776 671. 268 www.myl05.eom/69202

Mirage RS, This immaculate example won best presented for the majority of 2002 season also winning the last round it raced at Phillip Island, including various podiam finnishes throughout 2002. The car is fully equiped with fire bomb, sparco seat belts, pedals etc. With Full Log Book and only two owners. $20,000.00 Best Offer. James Dutton (03) 9428 4144 / 0438 777 776. 258 www.my105.com/12729

BMW E46 320I Super Prodution, Potential Bathurst 24hr winner all the best factory parts used to build supplied by BMW only competited for half a NZ series like new inside and out. Complete spares package incuding wheels, shocks and diffs must be seen, contact us for more photos and details, dont delay. POA. Kevin Beil +64-21- 845-102. 258www.my105.com/978 1

Honda Prelude Sports Sedan, Australia's Fastest 2Lt Sports Sedan, Full Space Frame Construction - 770Kg, Nissan SR20 Super Touring Engine, Hilux Rear LSD, Willwood Brakes, Motec, All Lap Records At Willowbank and Morgan Park, Willowbank National CCT 1-15-2, Spares Include Engine, G/Box's, Diffs, Moulds. $40,000 Includes Trailer. $35,000 may except trade ONO. David Waldon 0408 720 560. 259 www.myl05.eom/40279

IWGB, Excellent condition, chrome wires, new English Imported soft top, registered until 5/2/04 A very good car. $15200 Neg. Ben 0417 220 285 / 02 4572 1 471. 257 www.my105.com/44437 PORSCHE GT3, Perfectly maintained, Mechanically perfect. Many spares available. . $178,000 must sell. 0418 507 403.257 www.my105.com/53327

- .JA. X,

Production Sports Porsche 911/964, 3.6 litre 964 Engine Fully Blue printed / Balanced with Kevlar race Clutch / lightweight Flywheel / 5 Speed 915 close ratio gear box/ New s/s exhaust system / 300 BHP / Motronic Eng Mgt. with UNICHIP Module. 930 Turbo Brakes / Coil Over / Bilstein Shocks. Ready to race and road registered (Eastern Creek - 1:44.49 - 2002).

Extremely reliable. Sale b/c of upgrade. $65000. William (02) 9144 6747. 257 www.myl O5.com/16680

Mazda Rx3 Sports Sedan, Mazda Rx3 SportsSedan, has done minimum racing, Is in verygood condition,has potential 2B fast car with some work,13B PP and exhaust by T.A.S performance, 5Speed Supra box, SolidCentre 4PaddleClutch, 4.41 lockedDiff, Full Fibreglass lift-off Front, NewV8 supercar style frontspoiier.setof Wet tyres.will sell less engine/box. $15,000, $7000 less- eng/box Neg Simon 0409 875 381.257WWW.my105.com/52973

r ?

EA Falcon Saloon Car, 3 meetings old, Hinrich engine, car complete ready to race, with Dorian timer, spare gearbox and new 4 X rims. $22,000 ONO. Geoff Cook 0407 800 319. 257www.my105.com/11623

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Open Wheelers Formula Ford Totern Historic, 2 available, FF001 & FF002, Lots of spares including body and chassis. Ring Mark 0400 099 978. $17,000.00 ea. 258www.my10S.com/89818 Commodore Cup Race Car, new engine, gearbox and front rotor's, professionally built, ready to race. $23,000. Cameron 0418 318 866.257www.my105.com/7S696

ALFA ROMEO 1750 GTV, Re-built motor.

Tilton clutch, c/r gears. 4.56 LSD. Highly developed suspension with Bilsteins. Group Sb logbook . Spares; light weight panels, 4.1 LSD axle, three sets wheels with A032RS. Springs, roll bars for either track or road. Registered VJW 423. Ready to race.

Histories Sb or No, Targa orAlfa events. .

Doug Matley 0409 981 270.257 www.myl05.eom/92750 DATSUN 120Y, 2 dr with boot. Fully adj/rose jointed susp, adj bars fr & rear, 5 link rear end, big brakes, SR20, 124kw @ wheels, monis cams, vernier cam wheels, forged pist, tur rods, haltec injection, slide throttle, alum fly wheel, Dat/Holl gear box.

Rebuilt motor & gearbox. 1:52 at PI on old R-rated tyres. $12,500 ONO, Alan 0408 581 689 / (03) 9763 2960, 257 www.myl05.com/87776

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Torana, Fresh motor, webbers, reco gear box, various diff ratio's, 8 point cage, big brakes, mounted wets, indate harness, log book heaps of spares, registered trailer. $6,850 Neg. barren 0417 665 238 / (02)4272 1164.257wvvw.my105.com/54450

HOOPER 1300 SUPERSPORTS, Multiple National and State Title winner. Ultra reliable - lasts 50 starts gave 41 poles, 33 firsts, 12 seconds. Brilliant chassis & aero package Expertly engineered with a generous budget.

Just updated to 2C Supersports. Currently fitted with mild 1300 Suzuki - or will easily accept 1600 4AGE - Konis, Brembos, Pi “Lbggengear ratios & diffs, spare wheels.

Technical support for purchaser. $59,000 buys a very complete package inc. trailer, at a fraction of its development costs. $59,000 complete package. John Campbell 0412 699 986 /(07)5445 2694. 257 www.myl O5.com/19027

Formula Vee (Spectre), A well developed & maintained oar with reasonable horse power, near new tyres, new battery. All 1200 components, red in colour. Trailer included with registration $7,000 NEG. Ray 0425 305 887. 258 www.my105.com/6677 GROUP NC LJ TORANA, one of aussie's fastest NcTorana's red log book, LJ Torana, fresh high H/P engine, Koni shocks, alloy radiator, knig springs, reliable, too much to list, lap record, race winner, immaculate throughout, heaps of spares, for more information please call. $26,500 ONO. Adam 0438 541 972, 257 www.myl05.eom/30812

Ford Escort Mark 1, Full spare frame, fresh 13B PP, fresh Needham straight cut box, AP Brakes, wets, space rims, weighs approx 700kg, proven performer and reliability. $17,000 URGENT SALE. Matt (02) 6684 0409 / 0414 611 687 257 www.my105.com/377 r

sc 76 Datsun 240Z, 1973 Datsun 240Z. Total rebuild, 2000. Front mnning Group S car-Sc Log book. 2400CC, fully developed engine, Tilton twin disc clutch, Nismo limited slip diff with 4.375:1 ratio, high flow oil pump, Nismo extractors, virtually new HitachiSU carbies etc etc. Ready to race. Spares to allow road registration again. . $17,500 ONO. Peter Lang 0412 283 292 /(02)9975 1590. 257 www.myl05.com/94549 HQ winning car, brand new thunderdome car can supply circuit spec parts with new engine only raced once selling due to new interests. $3,800. Daniel (03) 5174 5666.

257 www.my105.com/81436

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ar V

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Datsun 1000, Datsun 1000 sports sedan injected CA18 engine 5 speed sunny hydraulic gearbox H165 diff 5 link rear suspension 10" brakes record holder King Edward Park and Ringwood hillclimbs. Very reliable and competitive club level car. $6500. Also avaiable at extra cost .Trailer and almost enough parts to build another car. Darrell Peattle 0410 263 380 / 257 4946 9310.

(02)

Rare Australian Sports Car, One owner, original Factory car driven by Paul Halstead M.D. Up-graded under the guidance of Barry Lock [Giocattolo Designer]. Engine 355ci, Motec M8, Harrop Crank, Perkins sump,over 500hp. Brakes-Alcon 4 spot with Bias bar. Susp.-A arm F&R, coil over, Adj. Shocks. Willans full-harness belts. $65,000 OBO. Brian 0438 552 688 /(07)552 6 8888 257 www.my105.com/90738 Commodore rolling chassis. Car comes with NEW OMP seat, Fuel tank. Hydraulic clutch kit and gauges. Spare panels, lights, exhaust system and various other parts.

Car would also be suitable for improved production. MUST SELL. $3500 Neg. Colin 0417 655 223 /(08)8671 2775. 257 www.my105.com/12996

FRASER CLUBMAN ROAD & RACE, Arguably the most developed road registered clubman in Australia. Stunning handling & performance. Fresh latest spec.

Yager 4AGE 20V Engine. Motec, Koni Dampers, Quaife LSD, Fully Re-Built Close Ratio Gearbox, Willwood Ventilated Disks & Magnesium Four Spot Calipers, 3 Sets of Mini Lites ( slicks, wets & road). 2b LogBook. Connelly Leather, Many spares. $45,000. Colin 0412 351 365. 257 www.myl05.com/78783

Formula Ford Historic Bowin P6F, car is well maintained, Ritter engine, spare ratios, log book and COD. Always a top performer, and in excellent condition. $25,000 ONO. Vince 0418 509 145.257 www.myl05.eom/54032

www.myl05.eom/28024

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From just$25* lustlog on '32ZZI? (*$25 applies to ads entered directly onto my105.com) Advertising can also be supplied using thisform online classifieds ($10/$15 surchage to text only/text + pic advertisements)

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Please use the lonti provided and print clearly. Please note NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS we ore unable to (etum photographs supplied for use In classified ads. Ads will appear as soon as possible allBr receipt. MN,'my106.cotii dassifleds are lor the sale of private goods and vehicles only, not business advertising Photos ntaiked "proor will not be used.

fflotorspori Raws

CLASSIFIEDS XF Street Stock, Good reliable car engine is very strong and hasnt done a lot of work.Panneis average nick.Comes with alloy seat, belts and spares including diffs , pannels , near new tyers , rims , suit and more.Roll cage slightly bent In on Echidna Clubman Sports 1300, 1984 model, one owner since 1989, very reliable with fresh motor, flowbenched worked head with stainless valves, well suited to hiliclimbs or circuit work with very respectable times all around, comes with many spares and semi enclosed trailer (unreg). $12,000 will consider offers. Trevor(02)4261 1060 /(02) 4261 1060.25swww.my105.com/55182

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® -.0.1 Elfin 600E F2, historic group Q log book, 1600 twin cam, Hewland Mk9, chassis number 7126. $38000 Neg. Ivan Clencie 03 97616622 / 03 9762 1732. 255 www.myl05.eom/62509

Speedway

Vintage Sprintcar, 1984 model Nance Sprintcar fully restored, full spec race engine 366ci, the ultimate toy, will separate car and engine. $24,000 Neg. Ian 0416 291 306. 258 www.my105.com/54238 2002 tallboy roller, Cool chassis 17 shows old, kse steering, winters internal diff, outlaw tank, internal top wing, weld wheels. $15,000. Call 0438 387 892. 258 www.my105.com/33794

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#METR0.

passenger side.Cheap price for a very competetive car. $2,500 Or Best Offer.

Michael (03)5251 3133. 257 www.myl05.eom/23071 Formula 500, kenser chassis,rotax 494 new pistons, rods, mains, keihen carby's, bewley 2 speed box,aluminium splined back axle,wilwood brakes,digitron plus lots of spares $11,000. 0418 334 442 / (02)4821 5116. 257www.my105,com/54935

WPA Transporter, Dualcab , turbo 6 speed, complete with generator, compressor, ellectric winch for car, winch for tailgate, 130000 kims, has separate front room, fitted out for super sedan. 45000+ GST ONO. miohael (07) 5437 7603.

2sa www.myl05.com/77696

Engines Ford Cleveland Clearout, 1 rod motor 500+hp, intake to sump, $8500. cieverland 4 bolt block 35 speedway shows since brand new, $1500. timing gears, roller lifters & much more POA. Ph 0438 387 892 or email thefordguy@bigpond,com. 258 www.myl05.com/73453 SPRINTCAR MOTOR, 366 oi steel block, billet crank, Brodix heads, Wiseco pistons, Corrillo rods, Hilbom injection, strong motor.

Changing class. $12,000 Ph. 0419 789 739 256 www.myl05.com/6482

Parts 1985 AF2 Kaditcha, Curently flat bottom AF2 but also ellgable Group R histioric (all ground effects bits available)A very quick car ifl either category. Complete and total rebuild tip to toe over 5 years - virtually a new car.

Judd Golf, FT200, mounted wets, ratios and spares. Very well presented. Offers considered. Richard Harward 0410 573684 / 02 9787 9735.254www.my105.com/31134

Transporters/Trailers

TRD LSD, Competition use only, used only once, VGC TRD stainless steel headers VGC. Mick (03) 5446 3117. 258 www.myl05.com/29197 Cosworth 16 Valve Head, Fully rebuilt, custom valves, dual springs, titanium retainers, ported, with cams, adjustable Cam gears and Cam cover off n/a engine.

Urgent sale. $3,000 no offers. Grant 0410 681 526.257www.my105.com/95627 Assorted Race Parts, SUPER T10 alloy case with complete with bellhousing, lightened flywheel.ciutch & shifter $2,500.00 TILTON 7" triple clutch plate as new 26 spline $ 900.00 V8 SUPERCAR hydraulic clutch bellhousing complete to suit holden or chev $1,200.00 HILBOURN mechanical fuel injection $1,000.00 ROLL CAGE alloy to suit Commodore VN to VS $600.00 Mustang 64 model brakes caliphers in good condition $600.00. Brian 0416 157 650. 257 www.myl05.com/92355 Alloy V8 / Assorted Race Parts, Quality parts inci Leyland block with full mains girdle, straps & studs. Bore torque plate.

Manley rods, custom pistons, full race head kit & gaskets, external oil feed timing cover, steel flywheel. ALL NEW. Any qty of standard parts incI compi engines. Sparco EV02 seat, pyrometer, electronic level, assorted plumbing & hardware, racewear.

Mick 0401-045719 / 02-6231-2964. 257 www.myl05.com/72498 MOTEC DASH, Full Motec dash, 2 MB log memory, 50 Inputs/Outputs, Pro-Logging, Lambda Upgrade, All sensors inci Diff/Gears. . Dean 0418 507 403. 257

FORD F250 1991 & 36ft Goosneck trailer, AlC, Powersteer, Low kms, CD, EFI, Trailer as 240V, Belly Lookers, Annex, Heaps of Storage. $33,000 ONO. Henry 0417 131 989. 258 www.my105.com/35479 Car Trailer, Excellent light weight aluminium dual wheel car trailer with tyre storage rack and large toolbox. Ideal for small race car such as Lotus or MX5.

Although presently unregistered it is in excellent condition. $2,200 Or Best Offer.

258 Bill (02) 9899 3366. www.my105.com/67487

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B.

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Enclosed Trailer, Tyre rack, fold up bench, storage rack, 240v lighting, aluminium floor and tailgate, electric brakes, 8 ply tyres, mags, side door, spring loaded rear door, fits Commodore or similar, tows great. $4,500. Anthony 0408 522 124 / (03) 5338 2999.258 www.myl05.com/90032

Modified Production Sedan, Justin Drew offers for sale race winning #7 Commodore, Series 2 Smith engine, triple plate, 5 speed, 9 inch diff floater, heaps of spares. Get yourself a winning car. 0412 599 103 / (03) 5241 4224.257WWw.my105.com/27794

21 May 2003

Super T10 gearbox / Holden 308, Comes with bellhousing to suit Holden V8, Group A style clutch and shifter. MUST SELL. Holden 308 with Harrop 355 stroker crank.

All new brand name parts used. Top HP engine still needs to be mn in $6500neg.

MUST SELL. $3000 Neg, Colin 0417 655 257 8671 2775.

223/08 www.my105.com/3073

Single Axle Car Trailer with Tyre Rack,*" Single Axle Open Trailer ”* Black Painted Frame with Tyre Rack *” Alloy Wheels plus New Tyres *” Will Suit Open Wheel Race Car Registered to Feb 2004 *”, $1100 ONO. GRAEME 041 2-141-315. 266 www.myl05.com/40015

Coilectable/Memorabiiia Biante Models - All Signed, 1 x Johnson XE Palmer Tube, 1 x Moffat Cobra Coupe 1977. 1 X Moffat Coupe 1978. 0415178 696 254 www.my105.com/92629

Driver/Crew Apparel Racing Suits/ Helmets, 2 Full suits RPM Racegear.Nomex Three, Blue & White size M Racesuits,gloves M,shoes size 8.Bell Helmet SR-PRO Size 7 1/4 or 58,with carry bags.These suits and helmets were used in 2 Targas and are very clean and well looked after, $975 each set.as I will sell seperately. $975 each set ONO. Tony 07 55321400 / 07 55773077. 254 www.myl05.com/22200

Wanted Historic FF for restoration. Wanted, pre 1984 Formula Ford in any condition for restoration. Also wanted, FF engine and Hewland Mk 8 or 9 gearbox and ratios. Ian 02 9477 1347. 257www.my105.com/45542 Improved Production Car Wanted, Roller or unfinished project, Toyota Corrolla or Sprinter pre 1986. Jeff 0418 277 902. 256 www.myl O5.com/18049

43FT 3 CAR TRAILER, Smooth aided professionally engineered for 3 cars on airbags.1 piece tailgate, kitchen, large full width belly lockers. Fully lined and wired with circuit breakers. Both axles recently serviced ready to travel anywhere. Rego till august, $50000 neg, Wayne (02) 9524 1199. 25B www.myl05. com/30161

Pradnettm^ Driver Sites Club Sites Join a growing motorsport network on the web.

www.myl05.com/92948 MProductlon sedan VK Commodore, Moe engines 202, Tilton clutch, Redline cage, adjustable suspension. Auto meter gauges, includes spares, Ex Aus 1-2 (2001-2002). $9500.00 ono Ph John 0412 687 563 or 03 5134 4812. $9,500.00 ONO,257 www.my105.com/81149

Coach Transporter, 38ft midmount, 250hp Turbo Volvo, 4 speed pre-select auto box, air brakes, exhaust brakes, tubless tyres, drop down back door, tow bar. Reluctant Sale. $18 000 ONO. Colin 0429 310 523.

257 www.myl05.com/83954

Transporter, Mitsubishi FK417, 1993 model, turbo, 28fl pan, flat/kitchenette, tail gate loader,240 lighting & air cond.tyre rack, workbench, many toolboxes, wing hangers, new tyres, insulated roof and walls, no expense spared, absolutely immaculate condition '-MUST SELL* CALL NOW!!!

0417 065 066. $40,000 ono Neg. Matthew 257 www.my105.com/5831

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For as little as $90.

Cali us on (02) 9648 4777

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81

OPINION

iOMROOrt EDITOniAl STAFF

Editor: Phil Branagan ● editor@mnews.com.aj Assistant Editor: Mark Glendenning ● mark@mnews.com.au Staff Journaiist: Grant Rowiey ● grant@mnews.com.au

PRODUCTION Adv & Graphics Co-ordinator: Viv Brumby ● viv0mnew5.com.au

ADVERTISING Brendon Sheridan - PR Driven Tel: 03 9550 0870 Fax: 03 9550 0816 mobile: 0407 007 286 ● ads@mnews.com.au

ADMINISTRATION Managing Director/Publisher: Chris Lambden ● publisher@mnew5.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

GONTRIRUTORS FI: Joe Saward, Adam Cooper, Paolo Filisetti 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, Mark Jones, Dave Conoie, Chris Jordan Photographers: Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, 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 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.

SUBSCRIPTIONS Australia (inci GST) Overseas (Air Mail): New Zealand, PNG, Malaysia, Indonesia, Phillippines, Hong Kong, Japan US, Canada, Europe

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Post your cheque/money order to the address above, fax your credit card details (Bankcard, VISA, Mastercard, or Amex) to 03 9596 5030 or email to mnews@mnews.com.au

82

Defending GT I would like to say how angered I was with what I read in Issue #256 of your magazine.

What disgusted me was John Bowe's claim that Garth Tander is the silliest and worst driver in V8 Supercars.

Why is it that the only time GT ever comes into contact with another driver it is generally old man Bowe? On tliree occasions I can remember,Bowe sither hirned into or crashed into the back of GT. He definitely isn't the only driver who has a problem with Bowe. I think Skaife and Ingall would come to GT's defence.

Someone should take a good look in the mirror because then he would find who the real problem is.

Shane Richard RICSA005@students.umsa.edu.au

Thexton in the Top 101

I would like to ask about David Thexton.

I think it's good that he's trying but would it be better to maybe run the Konica series? He would have qualifed just outside the top 10...

Peter Temby Peter.Temby@pioneer.biz

Sponsorship future ...

I write to you with a couple of questions regarding sponsorship on the cars.

The first one is regarding Renault; why is the top of their engine cowling dark blue with no signage present? Is it to do with some sort of no-name sponsorship???

Tire other question I have is two fold. Again referring to Renault and the sparse white ends they have on their rear wing endplates. This is a highly sought after sponsor area yet theirs are void of any signage except for a small Michelin logo at the very top. If there is such a problem currently with the economic side of racing and the high possibility that some teams may fold, I for one would rather see 20-plus different cars out there than seeing three Ferraris and three McLarens. Wliy doesn't Bernie allow teams to go out and search for multi-sponsorships in the form of allowing a team to run two cars in different colours, similar to CART and NASCAR etc?

I know Craig Pollock tried this back in '99 and was dammed for doing so but let us face the facts; teams are struggling and what is wrong with having different looks from two-team cars? The fans know who they are following and if you are a true fan, I feel you would rather see more cars racing from many teams and not from a few. It would be much easier for a team to go out and ask one company for part-amount of money than asking the full amount, wouldn't it? This could possibly

converter Send us your thoughts: mail: PO Box 7072, Gardenvale, VIC 3186 fax: 03 9596 5030 email: mnews@mnews.com.au

bring in many new names and large global companies,such as Coca Cola, Pepsi, Nokia and the other telecommunication companies. With the tobacco ban looming teams are going to be searching hard to find the replacement dollars, so surely this can only help with the search?

Guys,thank you for doing a wonderful job with tire magazine I enjoy each issue from cover to cover as it is my only link besides tlie internet, to what is happening back home in Australia within the racing scene.

Shaijne Hunter Renders, Denmark ED: Denmark, huh? Hminmm ...

Part 1:1 don't know exactly why Renault runs blue on the top of its airbox but I suspect that it is because, in the past, blue has been the national colour of French racing teams. It does not seem to me that the team lacks in the quids dept.

Part 2: Because Bernie says so - which is usually good enough for all the team owners. Don'tforget, almost all of them are already millionaires...

Let Mitsubishi IN! As an avid fan of, first, motorsport, and second,Holden and HRT,I read with some bemusement and disappointment at the response from Ross McKenzie (Holden's executive Director of Sales and Marketing) on the probability of Mitsubishi entering V8 Supercars.

He claims that Holden has built tire sport by contributing millions of

dollars and sees Mitsubishi as a freeloader.

I thought it was more the foresight and vision of Tony Cochrane,first with IMG,tlien with AVESCO,to pull the sport up the level it is today, along with all the smaller teams,sponsors and fans,(who are also the consumers of the Holden and Ford products) who don't get much help from eitlrer Holden or Ford.

I say, along with quite a few fans I know of; let Mitsubishi in.

The more competition, the better.

Us older guys remember the days of the Charger and the Hemis, why not a Chrysler V8?

Lets face it, both Holden and Ford use US-based power plants, purpose-built gearboxes and Ford diffs, and now Holden with Ford wishbone suspension! The only thing representative of either mark is the bodyshell!

Who knows,another V8 Aussiestyle performance car may hit the showroom floors courtesy of aU this, and that can only be a good thing.

Bring it on!

Rod & Louise Wright rlwright@ozemail.com.au

TV troubles Like Richard Ryan in issue 256,I'd rather see the race rather than the face/feet/roU cage. I wasn't impressed with the camera showing us Rossi's butt the other night either ... until those glorious shots of the sky through Iris legs on the slowdown lap.

I'd like to see more updates on the placrngs too. Preferably Americanstyle, contantly scrolling across tlie top of the screen. Just imagine actually knowing where a driver you are interested in is coming,instead of just the ones the TV production team think we're interested in.

As for Mick Davis'comments on FI,I seem to remember Channel Nine also giving us 15 minutes of pre-race dribble as well. They also cut to the overseas commentary at the last possible moment too. I remember a case last year where AJ & Daz were wondering why one of the cars was starting from pit lane. The ITV guys knew and were apparently talking about it, but we never got to hear it.

Phil Compagnoni junkmale@bikerider.com

OhaNJIn Bare Renault: A loyal MNews reader from Denmark is puzzled by the sparse spaces on this year's Renault ... motorsport news

18 hourslow cooked Prime Rib Steak crisis HegTailfries and ice cold beer..

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