Motorsport News Issue 259 - June 18-July 1, 2003

PARITY BOOST FOR FALCON BA?

I

cC

w ro to

I

</)

ECaiMO Vl/EniMESOy^ V

Australia $5.95 NZ $7.50 inci GST No. 259

June 18-July 1 2003

fir

{

I

\

0

♦ S/ft

I

-i V A

It’s LP & Richo for Bathurst

V

a>. .i!

\

I

tr ■

m-m

i

I

w

i

Full report from Barbagallo

%

riusfl driver foFBa

«●

i

■

f

I*

i

I

!fc^

s.

i #.

A

n

wi

i

:!»k.

■m lEXPI

?N

1 pikUk ».

V

MILLIGANS.CO.NZ

1

r

%

r

I 1

s-.:

'S!

Bentley’s 1-2 Michael stars at Le Mans

MAJOR PRIZ INC. HSV MALOO 8.7 LITRE UTE + WAVERUNNER ¤ TRAIL BIKE HUNDREDS OF SECONDARY PRIZES TO BE WON

www.perrnzoil.com.au PENNZgiL

i

PEHHDII

i .

JL

PENNZgiL

mms

mill PURPOSE nnaiiMiiTOi

|»r«Qsainpn

I

PENNZDIL

Purchase any Pennzoil 5 or 6 litre product to enter via phone or web.

Promotion open to Australian and New Zealand residents.

Retain proof of purchase l Pennzoil bottle, promotional handle tag or original store receipt. Visit your nearest Auto Products retailer or www.pennzoil.com.au for details and conditions of entry. Promotion closes 5pm AEST 30th June 2003.

The promotion commences on March 1st 2003 and finishes 5pm AEST 30th June 2003. The prize draw will take place at 10am at Informatel Pty Ltd, Level 15, Suite 1501, 500 Oxford Street Bondi Junction NSW on 18th July 2003. Major prize winner advertised in The Australian on 24th July 2003. The Promoter is Pennzoil Quaker State Australia Company,(ABN 98 007 510 045) of 20 Ponting Street Williamstown Victoria Australia 3016. The first valid entry drawn will win a new model manual HSV V8 Maloo Ute, valued at up to $AUD52,530; a Yamaha XLT 1200 Waverunner and trailer valued at $AUD19,470; and a Yamaha TT250R trail bike valued at $AUD8,600. The next 200 valid entries drawn will each win a pair of Pennzoil "Flame" sunglasses valued at $AUD13.90 each. The next 200 valid entries drawn will each win a "Pennzoil BOYS TOYS" Chamois valued at $AUD7 each. Authorised under NSW Permit No. TPL 02/12825 Vic Permit No. 02/3668 issued on 18/12/02 A.C.T. Permit No.TP02/5284 N.T. Permit No. 02/4877 S.A. Permit No. T02/5198

motorsport news

Issue 259

”

18 June -1 July 2003

news and opinion

Who’s the Boss? Richo gets LP for V8 enduros 6 Working for the man The Kelly patriarch buys Kmart Racing 8 Wanna buy a racing driver?

Davison open for Investment 12 Where FI and Bathurst meet Alex Yoong for 24 Hour race 25 Motor Mouth Christian Murchison goes head-tohead ViTith Monaco 5

26 Box Seat The Innocence of Youth (and Americans) 82 Talk Converter Don't be shy. We just lerve letters ...

foaturos 28 Five Minutes With Larry Perkins Bathurst wouldn’t be the same without him 30 When Keke Liled the earth I nnkinj? hark at Williams Monaco 1Q89

race coverage

^1^

liliS BWBI ■MimvMonFoinurmu?

ar gjiffl

lAI ir«LP&n«^

far Bafhiiral

and Marshall Cass.

Contents: Bob Potts. SuttonImages.

1-2 MichMl start alLcMan inCtn««U -

62 Rallying 70 Histories

reguiars

64 NASCAR

66 Speedway

72 National Scene

76 Marketplace

68 Drag Racing 3

I

4

>JII

But, even after 4 wins from 5 races, the breaks may go to the Barras ...

Perkins and

i

r ^■ocrjvx.oF

c>J MQgfELCAftS

% % EN£LES|.

How does it work?

The problem is, he's lonely: Despite Ambrose's dominant form, the BA may get a parity break. It all depends on what evolves at Darwin.

by PHIL BRANAGAN FORD may be on the verge of getting a parity adjustment for both of its V8 Supercar models.

Despite the BA's run of four wins in the last four rounds, under the Touring Car Entrants Group (TEGA's) parity system, the car is only just inside the 'trigger' point at which there would be a parity adjustment for the car.

There is also the possibility of another parity adjustment for the Falcon AU, which received a revised front splitter prior to the Winton round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series.

The TEGA system looks at the results of the cars over three rounds.

After the results were disseminated for the Eastern Creek, Winton and 4

Barbagallo rounds of the series, all of which were won by Stone Brothers Racing's Marcos Ambrose, the Barra sits just within the trigger point of 0.095s per 60s of racing lap time.

The fastest average time of the cars has been set by the Commodore VY, followed by the VX. The Falcon BA is within a tenth of both, while the AU is more than half a second off the pace.

The result has come about as a result of Ambrose's car being so much faster than the other BAs in race trim. While Ambrose won in Perth, the next eight cars in the round results were all Holden Commodores, either VXs or VYs. The only other Falcon in the top 10 in the west was Paul Radisich's Briggs Motorsport Falcon.

TEGA'S parity system breaks the rounds down into lots of three.

TEGA looks at the fastest 20 race laps set by a set number of cars of each of the four types of cars in the V8SCS, Holden's VY and VX and Ford's BA and AU. The set number of cars in each type is five but, should there be less than five cars of each type in the sample, 80 percent of the cars will be ● included.

This happened at Barbagallo, where five AUs started Race 1 but Jason Bargwanna's was a retirement and failed to start the final two races.

Once a parity adjustment is made, the mark is 'reset' for that type of car and no adjustment can be made until another three rounds are completed.

TEGA has the option of making an adjustment to aid one type of car or slow down others, depending on the financial cost to the competitors involved. The system operates independently: that is, any change will be implemented by TEGA without the need of a manufacturer requesting an adjustment.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

motorspon news

NEIAIS

Richo for enduros

LP hunts Bathurst win #7

I #

r

n

LARRY Perkins will return to the cockpit of a V8 Supercar in the endurance races - with Steven Richards.

The six-time Bathurst 1000 winner has confirmed that he will share his Castrol Perkins team’s lead Holden Commodore VY at Sandown and will hunt a seventh title on the Mountain.

Perkins tested the team’s new car, which will make its debut at Hidden Valley at the end of the month,at Winton recently and was pleased with the potential of the all-new car.

“I only did four laps,” he reported, “but that was enough to know that the car is better, not worse,than the older one. It felt different, more secure, in the handling.”

The 53-year-old says that he is confident that the team will have as good as chance as anyone in the race.

“I am confident, based on all the things that make a car. It’s a lot of new items to get right. We didn’t start the build of the car until we had the written regulations in late December

but that is the task at hand.

“Whenever we go to Bathurst, we have a good chance. We have some very good individuals here who are always able to rise to the occasion.”

Perkins quit full-time driving at the end of the 2002 season, stepping down to concentrate on running his team. In the endurance races last year, he shared a Commodore VX with new 2002 Konica V8 Series Champion Paul Dumbrell, finishing seventh in the Queensland 500 and fifth at Bathurst.

Richards, who currently sits second in the V8 Supercar Championship Series, says that he is champing at the bit to partner Perkins; “I am looking forward to reaming up with such a legend.

Obviously, his credentials around the Mountain are second to none and I really believe that we have the opportunity to do well.”

For more chat with Perkins, see 5 Minutes, page 28

PD needs to perform

PERKINS has confirmed that he is looking for an improvement from Paul Dumbrell.

The Castrol team boss has admitted that the 20-year-old, who has had a tough first season in the V8 Supercar Championship Series, had under-performed in the opening five rounds of the championship.

"He's got room for improvement in his concentration," said Perkins on Monday."He needs to find his rhythm. He has shown that he can do that in the past but he needs to get his act together."

Dumbrell currently sits 28th in the V8SCS points score and has been out-performed by his most obvious rival, Garry Rogers Motorsport rookie Jamie Whincup, in a number of races.

When the going gets tough: Dumbrell has had a hard baptism and Perkins is still behind him but he wants better results.

Marshall Cass

Stop press: Ritter to return?

I 'AS we closed for press, we heard ' chat of a delay in the franchise changes affecting 00 Motorsport.

Because of this delay, the team may be required to run both of its Level 1 entries - at Darwin at least. Greg . Ritter could get his drive back and the team may have conduct'on the road' repairs to the car that was damaged in Perth in the Rodney Forbes/Mark Skaife incident. Watch this space... n Speaking of new cars, expect to see a second Perkins VY at Oran ; Park. Larry Lads are hard at work on ' the second car, for Paul Dumbrell, while Steven Richards will debut LPVYl at Hidden Valley. n Absent from the V8 round at Barbagallo was AVESCO supremo Tony Cochrane, who was in New York to accept a - wait for it - Tony award (no, they didn't name it after him, probably much to TC's surprise) for the Broadway musical Hairspray.

SEL/GFO, of which Cochrane is a partner along with James Erskine, Tony Frost and Basil Scaffidi, i represented Australia's role in the production team for the show, which ended the night with an amazing eight awards, including Best Musical, SEL is the commercial arm, and onequarter shareholder, of AVESCO. n David Thexton's Falcon will have some new stickers on it when it next takes to the track. The fledgling team has signed a deal with Pepsi that will see the soft drink giant establish a presence on the car on an associate sponsor basis, as opposed to a fullythemed livery.

The team is currently awaiting ; delivery of its new BA from Beehag.

In the meantime, Thexton said that his AU, which is currently for sale, has attracted several expressions of interest and appears destined for the Konica series in 2004. n There were some incidents on the track in Perth but there were also some before the teams even completed the trek west. Larkham Motorsport had a problem with a , belly locker on its transporter, which ' meant that a crate fell out onto the ^ roadside. Fortunately, the package was spotted by the next truck that went past which, fortunately, was the Stone Brothers Racing transporter, which carried the unit for them. n While Paul Morris was lucky not to have his Sirromet Commodore VY ; tip onto its rook at Barbagallo, the team's fortunes took a turn for the worse on the trip home. The transporter had an axle fail at Kalgoorlie, stranding them until repairs could be made and forcing a later-than-usual return to the team's Gold Coast base.

s

Kmart's Red Spot NEW Kmart Racing owner John Kelly plans to be a 'hands-off' team owner.

The Mildura builder and his wife Margaret, left, were confirmed as , the new owners of KRT two weeks

ago,following Holden's purchase of the team from tine receivers of TWR Group last February. Tine change of ownership of the team is still subject to the approval of the Board ofTEGA.

Murf's Stayin'

GREG Murphy has put down recent speculation that he could be looking for another V8 Supercar team.

The two-time Bathurst winner has underlined his commitment to Kmart Racing, which has a new team owner in John and Margaret Kelly (see separate story).

"I am not going anywhere," said Murphy, right, last week.

"It's fantastic, I get on great with John and Margaret and I hope that I am an asset for the team and for Kmart. Anyway, even if I did want to go, where 6

would I go to? I cannot see any other team giving me as much chance of winning races at Kmart Racing."

There had been rumours in the V8 Supercar paddock that Murphy, who'won the first race in Perth last week, was shopping for another ride. The talk centred around the possibility of the Kellys wanting to move Todd into the Kmart fold to partner his brother, which John Kelly denied in an interview last week (see page 36).

- PHIL BRANAGAN

Kelly,father of Holden Racing ; Team driver Todd and KRT driver Rick,said last week that he wanted to make as few changes as possible to tine runmiing of the team. "(KRT team manager) Rob Crawford knows what he is doing and 1 am happy with that," said Kelly. "1 will be involved in. tine commercial side of the business; pay the bills and tine wages and stay close to things every day. Rob and the guys have been running the team on their own the whole time

anyvn'ay, with a bit of input from Jeff Grech. Not a lot will change."

Kelly also confirmed tlnat he did not necessarily nvant to see his two sons racing for the same team in the future.

"I don't tlnat thatwould be good for the sport. It would look bad, like we are trying to set up something for them. That is not the case. Tlnat is not what they want and they are wary of that. They don't like that; they almost wish 1 had never bought the team."

Todd and Rick were involved in a spirited battle on-track at Barbagallo Raceway, the first race John Kelly attended as a team owner.

For more on joint Kelli/, see pnge 36 moiorspon news

NEVUS

Cressey a G whiz AUSTRALIAN Formula 3 Championship front-runner James Cressey was back on track at Queensland Raceway last weekend following his massive shunt in qualifying at Wakefield Park earlier this month. The turn one accident, which was caused by a brake failure, registered 14G. n Presenter of Channel 31 program 'In Pit Lane' Brett Ramsay made a memorable entrance to a benefit night for Aussie rising star Will Davison last week. The function was held in a ritzy Melbourne bar that featured a large swimming pool immediately inside the door.

Apparently suffering from chronic understeer as he entered the room, Ramsay appeared to make no attempt to turn right towards the bar and went straight into the water.

While Ramsay retired to the bathroom to spend some quality time under the hand dryers, the rest of those present went on to have a good night.

ryrLast hurrah? Ritter tried hard at Winton without knowing it was his last - for now - fling in the 00 Falcon BA. GREG Ritter is out of a full-time V8 Supercar ride with 00 Motorsport.

The Dandenong-based Ford team has cut back its program from two cars to one,following the sale of owner Bob Forbes's two Level 1 licences to Kmart Racing boss John Kelly. Forbes will continue to run a single Falcon BA for his son Rodney for the remainder of the season.

Forbes will run the single entry under a single-car Level 2 licence which he bought from Team Brock principal, Kees Week The team has offered Ritter, 30, a seat in the endurance races with the team and he is still working full-time at the team's workshop.

"1 am kind of hanging around and waiting to see what happens," said Ritter iate iast week.

"I am not too fazed at the moment. I'li sit back and see what comes up but I reaiise that the likeiihood of getting a fuii-time drive is pretty siim."

Forbes Jr raced the #00 entry in Perth but that car was damaged in a ciash with round winner Marcos Ambrose.

OO's transporter headed for Darwin straight from Barbagailo, with both its racecars on board. The #00 car suffered rear-end damage in the incident and will have to be repaired in Melbourne,leaving Forbes with the #7 car to race at Hidden Valley at the end of the month.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

Hot Rodney over Ambrose's driving

ROONEYForbes has expressed his frustration at the lack of action from the stewards following an incident involving Marcos Ambrose in the final race at Barbagailo two weeks ago.

Forbes was sitting in second position through being out of sequence with the leaders on pitstops when Amrose's third-placed SBR Falcon made contact with back of the 00 Motorsport Ford at the Esses, spinning Forbes off the circuit. The incident was investigated after the race in a stewards hearing, where it was dismissed due to a lack of evidence.

"Two flag officials' reports said that he hit me - which he did," said Forbes.

"The data shows a sudden rise 18 June 2003

in revs, which was the rear of my car being lifted off the ground, and the stewards say that there was a lack of evidence? Figure that out. It seems that it's OK to do some things if you're leading the race, but not if you're Rodney Forbes, "We thought we had a good strategy in the last race, and our plan was ruined when Marcos pushed me off. It's very disappointing."

Ambrose was seemingly spared an on-the-spot penalty due to a preference towards post-race investigation of incidents following the controversial decision involving Greg Murphy at Winton late last month.

-MARKGLENDENNING

n Will Power is back in action. The reigning Gold Star Champion, who moved to the UK at the start of this year to further his racing career, will suit up with Fortec Motorsport for the remainder of the British F3 season.

The deal comes on the back of a test session with the team at the Pembry circuit two weeks ago, during which the Queenslander was reported to have set some noteworthy times.

Power started the season with the Diamond Racing, but left the team in early May after weathering a series of problems in tiying to singlehandedly develop the new Ralt chassis during his first season in the super-competitive series. n Michael Schumacher's win in the 2003 Canadian Grand Prix takes his all-time points total to 999 points.

Presumably, he will crack the thousand in the next Grand Prix in Germany. By the way, the Flungarian Grand Prix on August 24 will complete 10 years in Formula One racing for the five-time World Champion. n Ducati has scored its maiden MotoGP win. Loris Capirossi won the Barcelona round of the series from World Champ Valentino Rossi, with local hero Sete Gibernau third. Rossi now leads the championship by 47 points. n We hear that Honda has responded to Ducati's straightline speed edge with a new development version of its V5 GP engine. Rossi and Nicky Hayden were due to test the new unit at Barcelona last Monday.

7

Watch your speed ...

THERE has been a significant change in the policy on V8 Supercar pit lane speed limits.

Starting at the last round of the series in Perth, the stewards are allowing a 5kmh margin over the mandatory 40kmh limit, but only during practice and qualifying sessions and the raceday warm-up.

In those sessions, should any car exceed 45kmh in pit lane, the matter will be referred to the stewards for action. Once the race starts, the 40kmh limit will be strictly enforced and any breach will be dealt with in the usual manner, either with a drive-through penalty or, in the event of a late-race stop, a time penalty after the race.

The move comes after a record number of infringements were issued at the Winton round of the V8SCS. Most of those breaches occurred during practice and qualifying sessions, and well away from the pit lane proper.

- PHIL BRANAGAIM

Schuei

Dirk Klynsmilh

by JOE SAWARD MICHAEL Schumacher has re signed for Ferrari until the end of 2006, along with all the major players at Maranello.

The deals include Jean Todt, tlie man who runs the Ferrari sporting department; Ross Brawn, the Ferrari teclmical director; Paolo Martinelii, the boss of the engine department and his chief designer Gilles Simon; and the chief chassis designer Rory Byrne.

The only major member of the team who has not been re-signed is Rubens Barrichello and there is speculation that he will be moving on at the end of his current contract at the end of 2004, opening the door for Felipe Massa to take over as number h\'0 driver to Schumacher.

He will tlien be trained up to take over as the team's number one driver when Schumacher goes at the end of 2006.

Minassian signed

EXPERIENCED French driver Nicolas Minassian has been confirmed as a member of Team Dynamik's endurance race line-up.

Minassian, who last weekend joined Soheil Ayari and Eric Helary to finish ninth in the Le Mans 24 Hour at the wheel of the Pescarolo Sport Courage Peugeot, tested for the South Australian-based team at Mallala last month.

"We've done the deal," confirmed Team Dynamik boss Kieran Wills on Monday.

"We're really excited to have a driver of Nicolas's experience coming on board."

The hunt is still on for someone to fill the team's final

Noske/ICS split

available seat for the long distance races at Sandown and Bathurst.

Wills said that the team is still talking to a handful of overseas drivers, however admitted that this was not necessarily his preferred option.

"Being a first-year team, it is harder for us to attract top local drivers," Wills said.

"Searching overseas is not something we'd normally do. If you look at tradition, it never seems to work. Nicolas seems to be different. He's not coming here to drive around and then fly home. He's after making a name for himself here and getting into it on a full-time basis."

- MARK GLEIMDENNING

Tire news was not unexpected, despite some rumours that Schumacher was planning to retire.

These are believed to have come about because other drivers were

ugDS Cl

D.rk Ktynsmitl

\Name aiiio

IVATT

WILL Davison has launched a new investment program that he hopes will help smooth his path toward the top levels of motorsport.

Working along similar lines / to the public floatation of Minardi FI driver Justin Wilson ij' on the stock market late last year, the 20-year-old's management team have established Will Davison Pty Ltd with the aim of raising the funding for Davison's racing career through private investment in his future earnings.

Various levels t of investment are provided for, with entry-level plans starting from $5000.

The plan

[ k

weekend that he had initiated legal proceedings against Pacific Group Marketing and ICS following the failure of contracted sponsorship monies to materialise.

"We have been made promise after promise since last December and received none of the contracted

"ICS is $1.5 million in default of the sponsorship contract and our only recourse now is pursue that money through the courts, as regrettable as that is."

This is not the first time that a sponsorship agreement between ICS and a V8 team has ended acrimoniously. Mark Larkham had a similar deal turn sour early in 2001.

Mark Noske drove the Tony Noske Racing Falcon with Biante Model Cars signage for much of the weekend in WA,however the team said that it was a one-off

sponsorship money at all; we've simply run out of patience," Noske said.

arrangement and that it is looking for further backing.

TONY Noske Racing has parted ways with primary sponsor International Corporate Solutions (ICS).

The team's AU Falcon arrived at Barbagallo minus ICS signage, and Noske confirmed on the same

motorsport news

NEWS

I re-signs to 2006 s E

3

I'm not getting out of this car: There's still more records to be broken for five-time Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.

trying to use an opening at Ferrari to give them a better negotiation position for their contracts with other teams.

Williams will probably stay the saine next year but Ralf Schumacher is going to have to do a lot to justify his planned salary in 2004 of $18m and getting a new contract in 2005 will be impossible unless he agrees to renegotiate for next year.

The most likely solution is that Williams will offer him a longer contract at less money. This would be a good solution for Ralf, as driver salaries in FI are currently tumbling because of the recession.

Juan Pablo Montoya's hopes of a bigger pay cheque in the future are unlikely to be met but he is not likely to move elsewhere because the options available are not that good.

The most recent rumours suggest that Felipe Massa is likely to go back to Sauber next year as part of a deal to ease the burden of engine bills on the Swiss team.

This wiU enable Ferrari to ensure that Massa does more races and so is ready to move into a Ferrari race seat in 2005.

m launches program

9 baclceps to join Aussie's quest for FI grid

was officially launched at a function in Melbourne last week, which Davison :ended as guest of honour while on a fleeting trip home from his base in England, where he is competing in the British F3 Championship.

Also present for the evening 18 lune 2003

was cricketer Shane Warne, who is also making an investment in Davison's future in the capacity of mentor.

"Getting behind Wi IS something I'm very interested in doing," said Warne.

"Hopefully, pass on some useful tips that I have

learnt in my years as a professional sportsman that Will can adapt to motor racing.

"I'm sure that teaching him some leg spin won't quite translate into the art of driving a race car, but in terms of mental preparation, dealing with the media and all sorts of other areas, hopefully my experience can be relevant."

Davison said that he was happy with the way things were coming together with the cricket legend.

"It's very exciting to have someone of Shane's calibre on board," he said.

"I'm sure I'll be able to learn from all of his experience. I'm really looking forward to working with him in the future.

Hopefully his influence will help other people come on-board with our program as well."

- MARK GLENDEIMNING

This just in: Kiwi gets wet KIWI Fabian Coulthard collected a bunch of points toward his British Formula Renault campaign with a ninth place in a rain-shortened round at Silverstone two weeks ago. The Auckland driver also made his first appearance in the German FRenault Championship last weekend, however results were still yet to come through as MNews went to press. n We wish to clarify something for a keen-eyed reader of the last MNews; prospective FIRT owner Mark Skaife's purchase is of the team, its licences and franchise rights, hardware and business but not the merchandising rights to the team.

Those rights are held by Holden.

Skaifey has also asked us to clarify a misconception about his tenure as owner; he has a guarantee of 10 years' sponsorship of the team by Holden. But after that time, he will still retain ownership (subject to TEGA approval now, of course.) n According to British Newspaper 'The Sunday Times', The Jordan Grand Prix FI team is to sue telecommunications giant Vodafone for 213m Euros, claiming that the company reneged on a sponsorship l deal. Jordan asserts that Vodafone had reached an agreement before signing its contract with Scuderia Ferrari. A Vodafone spokesman confirmed that the company did have discussions with Jordan, but claimed that the lawsuit was "wholly without merit," n Ant West has become the first Australian motorcycle rider in 21 years to finish on the podium in a 250cc Grand Prix. The 21-year-old from the Gold Coast finished 2.641s behind the works Aprilia of race winner Randy De Puniet of France, who was followed

by Spaniard Fonsi Nieto on another Aprilia. The last Aussie to take a 250cc podium was Graeme McGregor, whose Rotax Waddon was second in the 1982 Belgian GPat SpaFrancorchamps. n Jeff Gordon's divorce has been finalised. The four-time Winston Cup champ and his ex, Brooke, have settled on what was described as an 'amicable' settlement, the former Mrs 24 getting the rights of sale to their Highland Beach house and another property in DelRay Beach, both in Florida. Value of the houses is approximately $25 million ... n Not the best way to follow that brief, but... congrats are due to MNews photographer John Morris, Mr Mpix put down the cameras long enough to welcome his new daughter, Tiffany, into the family this week. Little Morris and mother Katie are both doing well. And John, we do not need to see these photos ...

9

cen

Back

home of

motorsport] 2003 V8 Supercar Championship*

by JOE SAWARD

Jun 29 ... .Hidden Valley

.Rd6

Jul 20

.Rd7

OLD Raceway

Aug 17 .. .Oran Park

■Rd8

Sep 14 ...Sandown Oct 12 ....Bathurst

.Rd 10

Oct 26

.Rd9 .Rd 11

Surfers Paradise

Nov 9 ....Pukekohe

.Rd 12

Nov 30 .. .Eastern Creek

.Rd13

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

. Rd4

Aug 3 . . . .Wlnton . . . .

. RdS

Aug 30 . . .Mallala . . . .

Oct 11 Bathurst

.Non Championship

. Rd6

2003 FIA Formula One Championship*

Jun 29 .

Germany

.Rd9

Jul 6 . .

Jul 20 .

Magny Cours Silverstone

!R d 10 Rdll

Aug 3 .

Hockenheim

IR d12

Aug 24

Hungaroring M onza

Rd13

Sep 14

I Rd14

2003 CART Championship* Jun 22 . . . .Portland . .Rd 8 Jul 6

Cleveland

.Rd 9

2003 IRL Championship* Jun 28 Richmond Rd 7 J ul 6

Kansas

Rd 8

JuM9 . . . .Nashville

Rd S

Jul 27 . . . .Michigan

.RdI O

2003 MotoGP Championship* Jun 28 . . . .Assen .Rd 7 Jul 13

Donnington Park

Jul 27

Sachsenring . . .

Aug 17 . . .Brno

. Rd8 . RdS .R d 10

2003 World Rally Championship* Cyprus .

.Rd7

July 27 . . .Germany

.Rd8

jun 22

Jul 6

2003 Australian Rally Championship Sydney

.Rd3

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

.Rd4

Nov 16 . . .Tasmania

.Rd6

.Rd5

2003 Procar Championship .Rd 4

Jun 13 . . . .OLD Raceway Jul 11 . . . .Oran Park . . .

.Rd 5

Aug 8 . . . .Phillip Island .

.Rd 6

Sep 19 . . .Wlnton

.Rd 7

r

1 ten J

home of

motorsport I

All event dales in this calendar were correct at the \■

and/or for date changes. time ofassociations printing: Please consul! any individual tracks Series or events telecast on Network Ten are marked with an asterisk. Check your local guides for screening details.

Watson calls for forum

FORMULA 4000 team owner Graham Watson has proposed an open-wheel racing forum to discuss the future of the sport.

The Ralt Australia team boss was

responding to the Motor Mouth column in the last issue of Motorsport News in which Chris Lambden questioned to relevance of the category.

"The question should be, 'what is the state of open-wheel racing in Australia?', and the answer is, 'not good'," said Watson.

"A number of years ago, we had good fields in FHolden and FFord and this seemed to blend in well with the V8 Ford/Holden battle.

Unfortunately, FHolden, and to a lesser extent FFord, did not keep up with the marketing and let the world know that we were producing top drivers through our categories. New Classes were introduced, such as Konica (V8 Supercars), Formula 3, Porsche Cup and Aussie Racing Cars."

Watson points to a potential cost blow-out in F3 when new-generation

cars become eligible for Australian racing and suggests that a single make engine may be the way for that category to go in the future.

He also says that Holden's new four-cam V6 Commodore engine is a potential unit to update F4000.

"I would like the new Holden engine fitted to our 94 - 98 cars but with an upgraded body kit to make them look like FI cars," he says.

"Cars are still available from Japan (FNippon). As our chassis are faster than any other overseas category (ie, Renault V6 Nissan V6, F3000 or Infinity Pro) and the spares are easily available (a lot being manufactured in Australia), I see no good reason to change."

"Perhaps the only way to sort this out is to have a round-table discussion with (the) Ford Motor Company, Holden Engine Company, FFord Australia, F4000 representatives, F3 representatives, CAMS and AVESCO - as they seem to control every thing - and invite other manufacturers."

- PHIL BRANAGAN

Life behind BARs? THE ongoing dispute between British American Racing and Partnership Production Group International (PPGI) is headed for the courts.

There is talk of the cars being seized at the French Grand Prix, and we have even heard suggestions that the team may be in legal trouble for failing to hand over the machinery after an attempt was made by a bailiff to take control of the cars after the Monaco Grand Prix.

The dispute centres on dealings between BAR and PPGI that date back to 1998 when France Corbeil, a Canadian television producer, negotiated a deal on behalf of PPGI with Bernie Ecclestone to acquire all inactive F1 TV rights in Asia. Corbeil then went to British American Tobacco and agreed a long-term sponsorship deal for the programming. As an extension of that deal, PPGI agreed to help BAR find sponsorship and negotiated a five-year deal with Teleglobe.

There seems to be considerable circumstancial evidence to suggest that a deal was done but no actual contract was ever signed.

This placed PPGI in a difficult situation, as it wanted BAT to continue to back its TV programming but at the same time wanted the commission on the Teleglobe deal. In 2002, BAT suddenly decided that it no longer wanted to fund the Asian TV coverage and withdrew from the deal.

BERNIE Ecclestone has bought a shareholding in the Minardi team.

The details of the deal have not been revealed, but it is believed that Ecclestone may have acquired the shares in the team using his own personal money. Team boss Paul Stoddart remains in charge of the team.

There are various rumours about the money involved but our spies say that Ecclestone has agreed to pay around $7.5m immediately to keep the team running in a proper fashion until the end of the year and will work to find new sponsors for the operation.

Minardi has been in increasing difficulties in recent weeks, and the issue blew up in Canada where Stoddart issued a press release saying that the team had withdrawn its support for the proposed changes to the 2003 Formula 1 technical regulations and approval for the new rules due in 2004 because the manufacturer-backed teams had failed to establish a 'fighting fund' to help the small teams.

Stoddart seemed to have the

Cowin cal

AUSTRALIAN Top Fuel drag racer Andrew Cowin has delayed his return to racing until the beginning of the 2004 American season.

Cowin has elected to skip the remainder of the 2003 NHRA

POWERade Drag Racing Series in the United States in preference to ensuring he fully recovers from head and shoulder injuries sustained in a fall in late March, despite having already received a medical clearance to return to racing.

"This has been a hard decision, but having considered all options and potential outcomes I believe it is the right decision," said the 23-year-old.

"I wake up each day thinking how lucky I am to be alive and I don't want to get too greedy too early.

These cars just don't warn you before they bite and when they do bite, they're totally unforgiving."

By then BAR had a completely new management, largely unaware Cowin, from Chiswick in Sydney, of the original arrangements. Corbeil claims that BAR and BAT have said he had informed Mark and both refused to discuss the issue of the Teleglobe commission and it g Andy Carrier, owners of the was this that forced him to take legal action.

I Tennessee-based Carrier Boyz Racing The issue is due to be settled in a court hearing in Monaco on I Top Fuel team for which he was June 26, at which the various issues will have to be addressed.

- JOE SAWARD I driving for in the US this season, of i his decision. moiorspori news

.1

NEVUS

in (the) black

Merc hits a snag In the UK

ns-

§ 3‘

5

7,

W \

O'

NTrusf!

support of Eddie Jordan, who has also struggled a lot in recent weeks, but when push came to shove in the FIA Press Conference on Friday in Montreal Jordan seemed less than enthusiastic about supporting Stoddart.

The Minardi boss was clearly upset by this and said at one point that Jordan had clearly been 'nobbled' by the other team owners.

"Eddie Jordan has shown his true colours," said Stoddart the following day. "Yellow!"

Stoddart was still upset with some of his fellow team owners on Saturday but was delighted

713^

W/ITS

when Ecclestone decided to come to his aid.

"Having Bernie as a shareholder in the team came completely out of the blue," Paul said. "I hope that now I can get on with making this team what I always wanted it to be."

Ecclestone, who the day before had told pressmen that Stoddart had no place in FI, said that "it is time to get on with the sport and go racing."

The arrival of Ecclestone as a shareholder in Minardi is interesting on a number of different levels. He did not come to the rescue of Prost or Arrows but it seems that the potential

loss of Minardi was an important moment for him.

He may have been considering the move for some time because there are many benefits for him. It gives him the chance to influence decisions relating to the Concorde Agreement.

Minardi is a team signatory to that agreement and must agree if short-term changes are to be adopted.

It is worth noting that despite the deal, Stoddart says he will continue to oppose the changes in the rules which he believes are not for the good of the sport and will cost the small teams huge sums of money.

s time-out EJ in the clear

"It was hard telling the Carriers that I wouldn't be continuing this year - they've been so good to me and cared more about my health than what I did. But I didn't want to hold up their racing program any more and I had to make a decision."

18 June 2003

THE leading Formula 1 team owners have come up with a solution to the dispute over the FI ‘fighting fund’, with Paul Stoddart going into business with Bernie Ecclestone and the teams agreeing to provide money to keep Eddie Jordan’s team secure.

It is anticipated that Jordan wi also get an engine deal for next year, almost certainly from Mercedes-Benz.

The details of the arrangement have not been made public.

Jordan has been In a very difficult situation in recent months, not wishing to admit to being in financial difficulties and yet at the same time desperately needing more money.

This has become increasingly obvious with small new sponsors popping up on the car and other money-raising schemes such as the sale of old parts and chassis.

It remains to be seen whether or not Jordan decides to stay on as team owner or whether he will eventually sell out to Red Bull

boss Dietrich Mateschitz, who is still looking to invest in a Formula 1 team. It is anticipated’ that in exchange for the deal, Jordan will agree to drop a legal action he had embarked upon Vodafone.

Jordan had claimed US$225m in lost sponsorship revenue following talks in 2001 prior to the announcement that Vodafone would be a Ferrari sponsor. Jordan was claiming that he had a deal. Vodafone dismissed the case, saying that it is ‘‘wholly without merit.”

- JOE SAWARD

McLaren may have considerable experience in how to deal with local planners but sister company Mercedes-Benz UK is not having such an easy time.

The firm applied to build a Heritage and Technology Centre at Brooklands in Surrey, complete with a small test track on which to run cars but the plan has met with objections from Runnymede Borough Council, one of the authorities involved. The most important planning authority is Elmbridge Council which will decide on the scheme at the end of this month. n Word from Italy suggests that Dallara and Fondmetal Technologies are to join forces to build a state-ofthe-art windtunnel In order to update their existing facilities. Both companies, which are based around ' 160km apart, currently use half scale windtunnel facilities but want to upgrade in order to keep up with the technology now being introduced on new tunnels at Sauber and Williams. n Jacques Villeneuve tested for a day last week at Monza but the BAR driver then decided to stop running because he did not want to aggravate a recurrent back injury in the run up to his home race in n Montreal. With Jenson Button also out of action, the testing was done by the team's 'third driver' Takuma Sato and test driver Anthony Davidson. n Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix marked the 10th anniversary of the death of former world champion, James Hunt. The Englishman has completed calling the 1993 Canadian Grand Prix from the BBC HQ in London when he returned home to relax. After playing pool for some time, he went to bed, where he was discovered the next morning by a shocked friend. Hunt, who started in 92 GPs, won the title for Marlboro McLaren in 1976 after a season-long with Niki Lauda's Ferrari, and secured the title after finishing the deluge-ridden Japanese GP at Mt Fuji. A the time of his passing from a heart attack, he was 45 years old. n Being so close to the US border, the Canadian Grand Prix always attracts its fair share of American celebrity types and this year's race was no exception. High on the list of notables being seen at the lie Notre Dame was veteran rocker Ozzie Osbourne, who has become famous for his family's reality TV program.

The Osbournes. We wonder if Ozzie remembers being at the race ... ?

- JOE SAWARD 11

Ferrari, then Army, then Renault FERRARI'S chief aerodynamicist Nick Tombazis is on the move and although some reports are that he will move to Toyota Motorsport next year, we hear that it is more likely that he will go to Renault.

Tombazis worked for the team when it was still Benetton back in the early 1990s before being lured away to Ferrari by Ross Brawn. Renault is trying to strengthen its design team as some of the crew are believed to be on their way to Toyota, following technical director Mike Gascoyne. No-one is yet admitting that Gascoyne is moving on and there is no word on how Renault will be restructured but the hiring of Tombazis would be a good step.

The Greek has already left Maranello and is now having six months of 'gardening leave' before starting a new job. It is believed that in that period he will complete his long-delayed Greek military service.

- JOE SAWARD

Trnmwm wmm^misimmagna set MITSUBISHI may be about to confirm an assault on the Bathurst 24 Hour race.

MNews has been told that the Adelaide manufacturer intends to field three cars in the November twice-around-the-clock race, a Magna VR-X and two Lancer Evo Vllls.

The Magna, above, looks to be a competitive prospect, with its 3.5-litre V6 engine producing

180kW with a five-speed manual gearbox.

The effort is likely to be run by the Sydneybased Ralliart team, which oversees Mitsubishi's two-car assault on the Australian Rally Superseries. No drivers.have been named yet, but expect some with Production Car racing experience to be among the squad of, perhaps, a dozen drivers.

East meets West Alex Yoong Joins SAE BMW team

ALEX Yoong will drive in the Bathurst 24 Hour.

The former Minardi Formula One and CART driver will suit up for David Searle's SAE Racing team, and share a BMW 3201 with Luke Searle, Alan Gurr and another driver to be named.

"I have always wanted to race at Bathurst since I was a little boy," said Yoong this week,"and I believe it is one of the greatest circuits in the world. So when the

wV

chance came up to race there I was immediately interested."

"When weighing up our options, SAE seemed to be approaching the race with a professional attitude and BMW is always a good bet for an endurance event. I know we are not going to be the race favourites but I think we may well surprise a few people."

The team will have the assistance of noted BMW engine builder Ernst Schlaepfer, who will make the trip to Bathurst to assist with the car's preparation.

12

I wonder if European flies to Bathurst: Alex Yoong is heading our way for the November bunfight at Bathurst. Hey... he could bring Stoddy too ...

for 20 I BERNIE Ecclestone has been suggesting that the F1 calendar may be extended to 20 races in the future.

In the Concorde Agreement, it is clearly stated that the maximum number of races in a year will be 17 and Ecclestone is now admitting to the German newsagency DPA that "we found out some time ago that 16 is a good number, maybe one more. That is the kind of limit we want."

Ecclestone, who is very much against the European Union, said that he believes that within a few years Europe "will have a Third World economy" and so it may not be a case of having to cut European races but rather ^ than some of the races will I disappear because they simply cannot afford to pay the fees necessary for an event.

The going rate for an annual FI race is US$40m ($60m)a year with payments increasing moiorsDon news

1t*ailin' Paint

by JOE SAWARD

AMERICA'S biggest racing star Jeff Gordon,the four-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion,switched cars with Juan Pablo Montoya at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week,as part of a promotion for FI in the United States which was organised by BMW. Montoya drove Gordon's NASCAR Chevrolet while Gordon got behind the w'heel of a 2002 WiUiams-BMW FW24. Both drivers really enjoyed the experience but the impressive thing was Gordon's immediate speed, lapping within a second a half of Montoya's best time after just a few laps.

Team members said that usually it takes new drivers a wMle to get used to FI and in normal first tests it is not unusual for them to be tliree or four seconds off the pace.

"Give him a proper four day test and he would be on the pace," said Williams team manager Dickie Stanford.

Gordon enjoyed the experience.

"1 really cannot describe the great feeling I had," he said."The comers

come up so fast and the car brakes so well and turns so well, and at the exit of the comers it grabs it up and just goes. It is unreal,like slot car racing. I drove full throttle on the straight and got pressed into the seat much more titan I would have imagined. My neck is sore after only a few laps."

Formula 1 would love to have

NASCAR to make him an option in FI. The reports I have received from those present were that he is a really, really good driver and that he was unafraid in the car," said Williams.

"We were truly very, very impressed. That is the good news.The bad news is that we cannot afford him.

Gordon to help promote the sport in the United States but Sir Frank Williams made the point that Gordon earns far too much money in

He is a winning NASCAR driver and Ms earnings I am told are out of sight.

"We would aU love to have a worldclass US driver in a Grand Prix."

18 lune 2003

SEVEN gears? Jeff Cordon was right on the pace in the WiUiams.BMW while Juan Montoya lost out in the sunglass wars, below.

niTojuoms j

miSHES

It’s as easy as 1,2,3 nnn

FIA president Max Mosley is widely reported to have remarked that he would ultimately like to see Formula 2 (as the FIA Formula 3000 International series will be known from next season) structured with Formula 1 in a 'league' system - with promotion and relegation at the end of each season between the two series, as in many other sports. n Jenson Button had to undergo a full physical examination by FIA medical delegate Prof Sid Watkins in Montreal before being given the allclear to compete in the Canadian Grand Prix at the weekend.

Unlike the previous race, where no reserve driver was available, the BAR team took the precaution of having Takuma Sato on standby.

Button (23) was concussed in an accident during practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, kept in hospital overnight and missed a test session while recuperating.

rnie go 10 percent each year, which means that after five years fees go up to over US$60m a year.

The country which is most likely to be the next to join the Formula 1 circus is Turkey where Mumtaz 'Mike' Tahincioglu, the chairman of the Turkish Automobile and Motorsports Federation (TOMSFED) will be joined by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bernie Ecclestone and almost certainly i Max Mosley at a grand breaking ceremony for a new FI standard race track at Kurtnoy, near Istanbul on July 9.

The new track should be ready by the end of 2004 and is expected to bid for an event in 2005. Bahrain and China are both bidding for races in 2004 and Belgium is keen to get back on the calendar after being dropped this year.

- JOE SAWARD

NEWS

s

3

n Word is that Kimi Raikkonen and his team-mate David Coulthard might not have the use of the new .

McLaren-Mercedes MP4-18 until the British Grand Prix at Silverstone (July 20), after an unsatisfactory private test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain last week.

The new car was expected to be . ready for its race debut in the Grand Prix of Europe later this month but there are teething troubles to be overcome.

"Pace and reliability have to be the deciding factors," technical director Adrian Newey commented.

"We have said since we released the car that the Nurburgring was the earliest we thought we could race it. I think we will probably take the prudent view that this is a little early.

But we have not made that decision yet." n Preparations for the inaugural Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix are being made in expectation of an early 2004 date, within weeks of the scheduled completion of the US$150m venue on March 7.

"Fixing a date is important for us and so is its continuation," said Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed AlKhalifa, president of the Gulf nation's General Organisation for Youth & Sports. "in the middle of the FI season, it's too hot, so we will be at the beginning or the end. In April, we have almost zero humidity..."

Designed by FIA-approved German circuit architect Hermann Tilke, the brand new, 5,475km facility to the south of the capital, Manama, will have a main grandstand area landscaped like a desert oasis.

- QUENTIN SPURRING 13

A >

i i'

1,1 « 2

I

I

n

ilSi

O

* /

'j

Want to buy in on

>ii| V

4

by JOE SAWARD

&

JUSTIN Wilson pic has successfully raised the maximum subscription of US$2m and was oversubscribed by the time it closed at the end of May. It is the first time that a members of the public have been able to buy shares in a Grand Prix driver and there are over 900 investors,the majority of whom have invested the minimum of US$750.

The share issues aims to double the money for investors based on what Wilson will earn and he has limited his own income to US$75,000 in 2003, US$112,000 in 2004, US$150,000 in 2005.

Once the investors have doubled

j-

●if

' p -’T

L

»c=

i

.J--" * CARRERA Cup front-runner 71m Leahey will be forced to miss the next two rounds of the Porsche series.

A lack of budget has forced him to sit on the sidelines for round four at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin in a fortnight's time, " It's a real shame, but just the simple fact is that we have to skip Darwin and probably Queensland Raceway's fifth round because the money isn't there. There's no use in crying poor.

There may be a miracle that happens this week

so we'll keep our fingers crossed.

"At this stage, we'll be back in action for the Sandown and Bathurst rounds of the Carrera Cup. I'll be racing in both the Porsche and the V8, so I'll be getting plenty of race miles, which can't be a bad thing at all."

Greg Murphy Racing will run two cars in the Carrera Cup round at Hidden Valley, with Peter Hill and Roger Oakeshott continuing to handle the driwng duties of the #66 and #44 Porsches respectively.

urne

McColl eyes Carrera Cup debut

STEWART McColl is the latest young racer to be working on joining the Carrera Cup field, after testing a Porsche GT3 Cup car at Queensland Raceway.

McColl, 23, originally from Newcastle but now a Sydney resident, tested the Fuzion Internet-backed machine of David Scaysbrook at Queensland Raceway, with an eye on making his debut in the series at round four in Darwin.

“I’m trying to put something together. David and I are talking about it but we’ll wait and see,” said McColl.

McColl is continuing to search for the budget to make his Carrera Cup debut, with the fourth round of the series at Hidden Valley Raceway on June 27-29, “It all comes down to coming up with a budget to get there, which I hope I can do for Danwin.”

14

their money,there is the additional pay-out of 10 percent of Wilson's income until 2012.

"It was quite impossible to judge how successful the share issue was going to be," said Justin Wilson pic's managing director, Jonathan Palmer.

"1 am thrilled with the result.

Clearly there has been a huge appetite, as we hoped,from members ■o

5.

Psst, wa

Tasman Series set

Aussies ready to travel to NZ for summer showdown THE Australian Carrera Cup series looks set to spread its wings with an announcement of a proposed TransTasman series in late 2003 and early 2004.

The six-round series would see local New Zealand drivers from the NZ GTS Cuppitted against a line-up of contenders from the Australian Championship.

It's is anticipated that the series would kick off at Pukekohe as a support to the Boost Mobile V8 event in early November, after which competitors in the Australian series would go back across the Tasman for the final round of the Championship at Eastern Creek.

From there, the Trans-Tasman series would go back to NZ for the remaining rounds at Timam (January

11), Teretonga (January 18), Ruapuna (January 25), Manfeild (February 1) and Puicekohe (February 15).

According to Cup Car Australia CEO Jamey Blaikie, the proposed schedule has received a good initial response from Australian competitors.

"The proposed schedule was put to our competitors at the recent Winton round of the Carrera Cup and there's certainly plenty of interested parties," said Blaikie.

"New Zealand is an important market to take our category, especially considering the strong Kiwi flavour to this year's Carrera Cup in Australia.

"We'll wait and see how the final

» .J ■>

'^GUaR

deal comes together but it's all looking very positive at the moment. We'll announce things as they are locked m. moiorspoit news

●i

n Is sold on FI

the Brit’s career? Too late, it’s oversubscribed...

II of the public and Formula 1 I, enthusiasts to take up the opportunity I of owning a bit of an FI driver. §5 "I believe there have been two key I ^ elements that have contributed to the 0 success of the issue.

I "Firstly Justin has earned I. confidence in his potential by putting in some great performances in his Minardi, proving his pace with some blistering opening laps.

"Secondly all the press, and particularly the national newspapers, have provided huge support with recognition and promotion of a new British Formula 1 talent."

Minardi boss Paul Stoddart was a great supporter of the scheme.

"I thought it to be the best idea Formula 1 had seen in many a long year," he said.

"With a driver of Justin's impeccable pedigree and imdoubted talent, I felt the Invest in Wilson scheme could be nothing but a runaway success. 1 am therefore so very pleased it has been just that, and that the share offering is now fully subscribed."

'"vest Wilson i Ik He does more than just hold the lap board: Don't bother about pitting next lap to 'Invest in Wilson'. Everybody else already has!

nna cheap old TWR car? m;.

-I*' rr

18 June 2003

I SOME of the assets of the !. TWR empire have already I been sold off but in recent i days the remaining equipment ^ has been offered for sale.

Apart from the recent sale of the Holden Racing Team and Kmart Racing, back in England it has been announced that the remaining assets of Arrows Grand Prix International Limited are to be sold off at auction on June 18-19 at Leafield.

The sale has been ordered by B J Hamblin and P J Long, Joint Administrative Receivers of the company and; by various financial companies involved.

The sale will include an Arrows A23 race car plus the team's AX3 three-seater FI car, which never ran properly. The sale includes a Jaguar XJ220 sportcar.

The TWR car collection is also going to go under the hammer.

The auction will take place on July 5 at Brands Hatch with the a

selection of Jaguar XJR sportscars including the XJR-12, left, which won both the Le Mans and Daytona 24 Hour races, an XJR-9 which won Daytona, the original XJR-6 prototype. The sale also includes a Ligier JS41, a former Michael Schumacher Benetton from 1993 and an Arrows A18 all up for grabs.

There is also a Dallara IRL chassis which was used for development work and a trio of Lotus (Sortinas including one which was raced by Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and others and a second which was used by Clark as his personal road car.

There are a variety of other touring cars including a Cologne Capri from 1973, a 1978 BMW 530, a Bastos Rover, a Jaguar XJS, a BMW CSL, a Mazda RX7 which won the Spa 24 Hours, a BMW Ml, a Hillman Imp and a Jaguar XJR-15 sportscar which was built for Tom Walkinshaw.

- JOE SAWARD

NEWS

Bernie happy with German FI races n : FORMULA One Management CEO ; Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that, : although new venues are being lined up, Germany is likely to continue to host two Formula 1 races (the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim and the Grand Prix of Europe at the Nurburgring).

The Flockenheimring has I undergone radical redevelopment, l including a fierce reroute in order to I satisfy FIA demands, and its FOM I contract does not come up for n renewal until 2008. The 'new' n version of the Nurburgring, which ; returned to the calendar in 1984, has two years left on its deal.

"They're doing a very good job," n Ecclestone said.

"The facilities are good, the tracks as : i well, so at the moment we're happy with them. The organisers have also been very cooperative over the tobacco ban. We'll talk about an extension." n The historic French street circuit in the city of Pau could host a round ; of the Champ Car World Series.

"It could happen," said the venue's president, Jean-Paul Pasquet. "We have had dialogue with (CART'S CEO) Chris Pook and a Champ Car race in Pau would be very good. We're making a lot of improvements to the track to take us forward all the time."

The management is also looking at the DTM and FIA GT and ETCC packages. n Centrix Financial, the US automobile financial services firm, has reached agreement with Dover n Motorsports to sponsor the 2003 Grand Prix of Denver Champ Car World Series street race, and the ' Toyota Atlantic support race. '

^ . ,

!

: . ; i n

n British automotive and motorsport engineering firm Ricardo has designed a 5,5-litre turbo-diesel VI0 race engine specifically for use in a sports-prototype capable of competing for victory at Le Mans, reports UK weekly 'Autosport'.

Ricardo, which developed the purpose-designed gearbox for the ultra-successful Audi R8 LMP900 prototype, expects the new V10 to produce BOObhp. n The Automobile Club de rOuest, the organiser of the Le Mans 24 Flours, presented its 2003 'Spirit of Le Mans' awards to Porsche factory team race engineer Norbert Singer, triple race winner Phil Flill and Flerb Fishel, the outgoing executive director of GM Racing, Each received a watch from AGO president Michel Cosson as a reward for their services to the French event.

- QUENTIN SPURRING 15

If

Like a blur AUSTRALIAN Ryan Briscoe has continued his scintilating run in the inaugural Formula 3 Euroseries.

Briscoe won the first race at Pau

Street drive: Briscoe has taken a large Euro F3 series lead after four rounds

in France by a comfortable 7.1s over Olivier Pla and Timo Glock two weeks ago. Initially, the Aussie struggled on the wet track, but once the circuit began to dry, Briscoe came into his own.

Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre qualified his Dallara-Sodemo on pole and challenged Briscose for the lead. A small collision between the pair brought Lapierre charge to a halt. The Aussie continued without any problems to record his fourth win for the season.

"The race started in wet conditions and the other cars were faster than me," said Briscoe after Race 1. "Then there was a safety car and after it I had a good chance to attack."

The second race was jampacked with incidents, including an altercation between Briscoe and Alexandre Premat. Briscoe dropped to fifth place, and

despite an ill-handling car due to bent rear suspension, fought back to finish second. Fabio Carbone took his first win of the year, ahead of Briscoe and guest driver, Brit Jamie Green.

James Manderson, the other Australian in the European F3 field, qualified 26th but fought through the carnage to finished both races on the lead lap in 16th and 15th respectively. It was Manderson's best result to date.

"This was a tough meeting mentally," said the Melbourne lad.

"The circuit demands total concentration all the way and just a small mistake will have you in the wall. In fact in one place it would have you in someone's living room."

Briscoe's fine display at the famous French street circuit extended his already comfortable championship lead heading into round four of 10 at Norisring in Germany.

Points: Briscoe 54, Fla 24, Carbone 23, Clock 21, Christian Klien 18, Nico Rosberg 15.

Nations Cup points: Australia 52, France 45, Germany 36, Brazil 28, Netherlands 18.

Ismpso I ^

RACE PRODUCTS

J

HELMETS l SUITS l BOOTS l GLOVES l HARNESSES AND ALL OTHER QUALITY MOTORSPORT ACCESSORIES FOR RACE, RALLY, SPEEDWAY, DRAG, KART, OFFROAD & AAARINE

NEW LOCATION Unit n,62 Newton Road V\^etherill Park NSW 2164 (5 Minutes from Eastern Creek Raceway)

Phone (02) 9756 0202 Fox (02) 9756 0203 Email: sales@simpsonraceproducts.com.au Website: www.simpsonraceproducts.com.au NBW LINES INCLUDE....

fKUPP4N.~), WILLANS

LIQHTWEIOHT ALLOY RACE JACKS(AUSTRALIAN STD APPROVED) FIA ROLL BAR PADDING IMPORTERS & DISTRIBUTORS OF QUALITY...

ISIMPSON/I Shurtape STICK WITH THE PROS

(

HILU6T VEMTILATTOH a COOLERS

i@y(g

STOPWATCHES & TIMERS

KIRKEYsiXI

THAJLEn LOCKS

MARTIN HOLMES

WORLD RALLY BOOKS

TEH/iATIUP \re/tfiAPHONE\

QUALITY PRICE SERVICE 16

Courtney^ campaign on track SYDNEY-BORN James Courtney finished second in both races of the Japanese Formula 3 championship at Motegi two weeks ago.

The Australian, above, driving a 2002 Dallara/Toyota, extended his series to a comfortable 41 points.

Courtney started each event on the front row next to pole-sitter, Italian Paolo Montin.

Montin, in the latest model Dallara chassis, got the jump in both races and raced away

to snare two wins from two starts. Courtney could do little else but consolidate and pick up vital championship points.

The Aussie's Toyota F3 was not completely suited to the Motegi layout, the powerplant geared toward the top end of the rev-range. The circuit suits engines that work best in a lower rev-range.

Shinya Hosokawa and Tatsuya Kataoka picked up a third place each, but both still sit well off Courtney in the points chase.

motorsport news

A Worldwide Revolution!

RPM RACEGEAR ENJOYS A WEEKEND OF GLOBAL SUCCESS.

ON ONE WEEKEND IN MA Y, RPM RACEGEAR ATTAINED AMAZING SUCCESS IN FOUR DIFFERENT EVENTS,IN FOUR DIFERENT COUNTRIES

Will Davison Winner Rd. 5 British F3 Championship Croft, UK

JML Team Panoz Le Mans pre-qualifying Le Mans, France

Skip Jackson Winner Sprintcar Feature Knoxville, USA

Marcos Ambrose Winner Rd. 3 V8 Supercars Sydney, Australia

RPM Racegear - Australian designed & manufactured.

Exclusively available from Revolution Racegear.

Freecall 1800 804 778 to reach your nearest store.

I I

Mercedes magic

BERND Schneider became the most successful DTM driver earlier this month at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, claiming his 37th career win.

The Mercedes driver, below, dominated the fourth round of the championship, cruising to a 6.813s win over Opei man Peter Dumbreck. Audi steerer Mattias Ekstrom finished third, giving each manufacture in the series a place on the podium.

Schnider said after the race that he couid not have done this without his team.

“My car was perfect, thanks to the team,” said Schneider.

“Winning makes one feei really good.”

Timo Scheider crossed the line in fourth piace, while former Grand Prix winner Jean Aiesi was the second-best finishing

Mercedes driver, taking fifth piace.

Coming into this round of the DTM, Christijan Albers was on a hat-trick of wins, but could only muster seventh in the hot conditions.

Alain Menu had a fraught weekend. The Swiss slid off the track out of fourth place early in the event. He later collided with Marcel Fassler on lap 21, but would eventually fight back to finish in sixth. Fassler was given a stop-go penalty for the shunt with Menu.

Schneider now retakes the lead in the series, just three points clear of Albers.

The next round of the DTM is at Norisring this weekend.

Points: Schneider 29, Albers 26, Fassler 21, Aiello 19, Dumbreck 18, Ekstrom 17, Ales! 11.

1

Can anyone beatthe red and4M FACTORY Vauxhall drivers James Thompson and Yvan Muller shared the race wins in rounds seven and eight of the British Touring Car Championship at Silverstone two weeks ago.

Pole-sitter Thompson collected the Race 1 win after Matt Neal's Honda

ground to a halt due to an disastrous engine failure two laps from the flag.

MG got its first podium finish for the year when Colin Turkington finished third behind Muller.

In the second race, Vauxhall claimed another one-two finish, but this time championship leader

Muller, above, was able to pull away to a 2.6s win over Thompson.

MG duo Anthony Reid and Warren Hughes produced a great race for thii'd place, witli Hughes able to get by Reid in the dying stages of tlie race.

Neal was again out of luck. The Brit made a great start from the back of tlie grid, moving up to third place in the early stages but retired again with more mechanical glitches.

The BTCC heads to Rockingham for roimds 9 and 10 of the series this weekend.

Points: Muller 116, Thompson 97, Paul O'Neill 61, Alan Morrison 50, Neal 40.

ETCC for BTCC

Gow muscles in on manufactures

Outstanding Opportunity A distributorship is now available in all states and New Zealand. Will suit a person or established distributor with automotive knowledge and

AFTER less than three weeks i at the helm of the BTCC, new I series administrator Alan Gow ! has announced that cars currently contesting the i European Touring Car ; Championship will be eligible I for the British series in 2004.

The rule changes are clearly designed to increase the manufacture involvement in the series, which is one of Gow’s main priorities. Currently, BMW, ^ Alfa Romeo, Volvo and SEAT are ^competing in the ETCC. between the different P

types of cars is (subject to approval) to be altered by using a ballast system.

Only four manufactures are involved in the BTCC now, and this is a situation Gow wishes to change.

“The first day I was appointed as Administrator, I was in contact with the manufacturers and the reaction has been extremely positive,” said the ex-pat Aussie.

“I will be holding further talks with them in the near future.”

Gow also indicated that there would be more changes to come in the coming weeks. _. _

understanding of the wholesale/retail environment. The product is well established and has become a leader in its field with international recognition. A high volume product with unlimited growth potential in both the retail and trade markets, with limited competition in the marketplace.

Full training and support will be provided, with minimal initial investment required.

For further information call 0417 181 920,fax 08 9248 9555 or email wizz@iinet.net.au 18

motorsDorl news

n

%

HURRY - SALE MUST END 1:00PM JUNE 27 From 9:00 am Saturday 31 May you can save $$$ on great productsfrom all ourfamous brands.

Hundreds ofitemsfrom brands like Momo,Sparco,Sabelt Racing and RPM Racegearareall reduced.Helmets,racegear,seats, harnesses,steering wheels and many more products for road,race,rally,speedway and drag racing.

KUmL CLEARANCE OBRA TROPHY SEATS UPERSBEDED MODEL

mw$3so SAVE $99

SELEaED SPECIALS ACROSS ALL DEPARTMENTS l SPARCO ULTRA SEAT-FIA APPROVED NOW $599 - SAVE $176 l RPM 3" SPTLATCH LINK HARNESSES NOW $199 SAVE $60 l COBRA DAYTONA RECLINER $100 OFF l 25% OFF ALL STOCK OF SPARCO AIR FILTERS l NO FEAR BOOTS - FINAL CLEARANCE - $150

SPARCO RING STEERING WHEEL $299 SPARCO GEAR KNOBS FROM $69

●DAYTONA KART GLOVES - $25 PER PAIR ● LLC VISORS SUIT ARA! GP2I3I4 - $179

. \

● C-FORCE HELMETS - FIA APR. $599 (M. ONLY)

ULTRA*SHIELD

RACE PRODUCTS BOX 200 TEAR OFFS - $49

● RPM 3 POINT HARNESS - FINAL CLEARANCE SAVE $56- NOW $99 EACH ● STEEL SLIDE GUIDE BONNET PINS - $25 PAIR * ^0% OFF OUR ENTIRE RANGE OF VIDEOS

I \

10% OFF L ALL AUTOMETEf fAf cmrif »W 31 Utfi

n^8 9,J "G 'STrpr' -5

V

^4

3

k"'

I

«

PLUS MANY OTHER SPECIALS AVAILABLE IN STO^I NB: Not ail items available at all stores. Please check with your local Revolution for availability of Sale items. Sale applies to retail sales only - No trade or account customers are subject to any further discounts. Prices are reduced from our normal RRP - goods already on sale are not subject to any further discount.

Adelaide ● Ballarat ● Brisbane ● Cairns ● Canberra ● Central Coast ● Darwin ● Gold Coast ● Hobart Mackay ● Melbourne ● Newcastle ● Perth ● Sunshine Coast ● Sydney ● Townsville ● Wollongong

FREECALL 1800 804 778 TO REACH YOUR NEAREST STORE

Who wants a WRC drive?

CAMS announces find-a-driver program A NEW initiative with the aim of unearthing Australia's next young WRC prospect will swing into action in Canberra this week.

The 2003 CAMS National Rally Academy will see a young driver/co-driver pairing from each state taken to a three-day camp at the Australian Institute of Sport, where they will be instructed in everything from psychology and physiology to dealing with the media and cooking. (Great rally drivers do not live on toasted sandwiches alone).

The camp is planned along similar lines to the Camp of Champions program that is already in place.

Candidates are selected by representatives from CAMS and ARCOM in each state, and must meet a series of criteria in order

to be deemed eligible. Only one team is permitted from each state, and the driver must be 28 or less on June 30, 2003(as per the FIA Junior WRC regulations).

The team must be currently competing in a CAMS-sanctioned rally category at a minimum of state level, and must exhibit the ‘potential and means to take the next step in their chosen form of rally competition’.

Present at the inaugural camp will be Ben Barker and Lyndal Drake from NSW, Will Orders and Matthew McAdam from Victoria, Brad Markovic and Jon Mortimer from WA, Matthew Van Tuinen and Ryan Parker from Queensland, Jack Monkhouse and Michael Dale from SA, and Jamie and Simon vandenberg from Tasmania.

- MARK GLENDENNING

Just how despei

GENERAL Motors is now admitting that it may go for an "extraordinary response" to solve the problem of the Chevrolet Indy Racing League engine. . The current unit, designed and developed in-house at GM Racing,is a brand new engine produced by a team of engineers led by Roger Allen.

Although the engine produces much more power than last year's Chevrolet V8,it is no match for die new Honda and Toyota engines which have dominated the season to date.

The rev-limited 3.5-litre V8, which runs on methanol, is estimated to produce around 670 horsepower but this obviously not enough and GM Racing has been looking at ways to rapidly improve the situation.

"This is an extraordinary situation and it requires an extraordinary response," said Chevrolet's Rick Voegelin at the Texas Motor Speedway."We are committed to

fixing the problem and well take exceptional steps to help our teams be competitive."

Chevrolet IRL program manager Joe Negri was in Europe this week for meetings and it is believed that one of these was with Ford's racing engine department Cosworth Racing.

Another company with the potential to do something about the problem is believed to be Menard Cheever Technologies, which as TWR Engines built the powerful Infiniti V8 engines last year.

However, that partnership has disolved and Cheever and Menard have parted ways.

A collaboration between Ford and General Motors does not seem likely (particularly given that Ford is allied to CART and GM to FRL)but such deals are not impossible. Mercedes-benz offshoot Umor Engineering is currently building the Honda IRL engines.

-JOE SAWARD

FI and CART:Closer til

No details yet- but Eccelestone and Poo

Business for Sale u-Drive Performance Cars (Vic) “An opportunity ofa lifetime to realise a dream.

This high profile national motor sports school allows ordinary people to experience the thrill and excitement of driving genuine racing cars on a real race circuit. The school offers a variety of products ranging from fun drive days for novices, advance driving courses for the more experienced through to car leasing packages for competition.

This new business is only 18 months old and is offered for sale due to personal reasons. In this short time, U-drive (Victoria) has established a strong customer base in the corporate, domestic and racing enthusiast sector.

Located at Calder Park Raceway, U-Drive Victoria is a well equipped business with six single seat Formula Ford race cars, dual seat pace car, workshop (leasehold), spare parts, race suits, helmets and all the necessary spare parts, tools and equipment.

The business is priced for a quick sale at only $ 275,000.

For further information please contact Gary Lay on 03 9888 6488 or 0407 526 431 WOLLERMANN & ASSOCIATES SPECIALIST BUSINESS BROKER & ADVISORS 20

Future talks; It may not be long before we see Formula 1, above, and CART, above right, join forces to create a happier and healthier openwheel category...

molorsDort news

■ate is General Meters?

su«on-ifnagesxom

t BOSCH

Who would have thought: Cosworth may give General Motors a hand with their struggling Chevy engines. So why didn't the Stone Brothers go to HRT for a hand a few years back?

an we think

V 4

k- are talking turkey...

by JOE SAWARD

♦\% MlCROCHIPi^

nominee, accountant Robert Biggs, formerly of 18 June 2003

Mad Max gets a seat again in Champ Cars DASHING Italian Max Papis will return to the Champ Car World Series from the next round at Portland.

The former Team Rahal driver who has been without a regular ride since the Sigma team folded early last season, will join Craig Pollock's PK Racing outfit for the remainder of the season.

Bryan Herta drove the team's Lola/Ford-Cosworth on the weekend at Laguna Seca in place of original driver Patrick Lemarie, though Papis will take over from the American.

■ The stillborn Reynard 02S sports-prototype could still go into production. Kieron Salter, who oversaw the project prior to the demise of Reynard Motorsport last year, is talking to potential investors about buying the rights to the design from International Racing Management.

IRM has already licensed RN Motorsport to use the design as the basis of its successful, Zytek powered DBA LMP675 racecar, "I still believe the car has enormous potential and that it can be competitive next year (despite the new rules)," Salter said.

"There's a market for this car as ' an LMP675oran LMP900."

■ David Richards, the CEO of World Rally Championship TV rights holder International SportsWorld Communicators, wants to see the series increased to 16 or 18 rounds to make it more appealing to TV audiences.

"Bernie Ecclestone has got it right," he said. "Every two weeks, at two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon, the audience know Formula 1 is on.

That's what we've got to do."

I

CHRIS Pook, the chief executive of the CART series, has confirmed to the Indianapolis Star newspaper that he is involved in negotiation with Bemie Ecclestone about possible links between CART and Formula 1.

But Pook stopped short of giving any detaOs until the full details of arrangements are settled.

"He's got some troubles, we've had some problems, and we want to work with him. We're trying to develop a strategic relationship, and when the time is right, we'U talk about it," said Pook. "All I can say is there's a lot going on in this company. But since I can't tell you straight up what it is. I'm not going to say anything."

CART is due to hold its annual general meeting on July 17 and it is possible that sometJiing will emerge from this although the only items currently mentioned are the election of a new board and the confirmation of the accounts. It has emerged that neither Mario Andretti nor Pat Patrick (the first CART President back in 1978) will seek re-election to the board and that there is one new

NEWS

PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The recent CART filings reveal that control of the firm is in the hands of a small group of investors led by Gerry Forsythe (22.95 percent). The other major shareholders are an organisation called the FMR Corporation, owned

by Edward and Abigail Johnson, which controls 9.99 percent of the shares; Jon Vannini who owns 8.53 percent; and a company called Fuller and Thaler Asset Management which has 7.78 percent.

The filings reveal a couple of other interesting facts: CART spent only US$4m ($6m) to acquire 100 engines from Cosworth and leases these to the teams at US$100,000 per team per year. Cosworth is paid US$1.5m

for track support related to tliis programme.

The papers also reveal that Pook was paid US$375,000 in salary last year, with bonus of US$169,000 and stock options worth nearly US$600,000.

It will be interesting to see whether or not CART and Ecclestone do reach some kind of agreement.

CART is currently in the process of spending the US$100m that it had in the bank, the money being used to help existing teams to survive and new teams to become established and to buy TV coverage.

Tlie TV deals which are now in place call for CART to go on paying until viewing figures reach a certain level at which point the TV companies will start to pay CART.

■ The base model of the new Maserati racecar for the 2004 FIA GT Championship, which is under build in a new, on-site, purpose-built factory unit in Modena, Italy, is expected to have its production raised.

The new car is based on the advanced composites monocoque of the Ferrari Enzo 'supercar' and shares its 600bhp 6.0-litre VI2.

Initially it was planned to build 25 cars to meet FIA homologation requirements, but this number could now be doubled.

■ Britain's 'Financial Times' newspaper is to be an associate sponsor of Champ Car team Mi-Jack Conquest Racing. The deal, which will include the FT.com website, will be employed in the FT's new 'Read to Lead' advertising campaign.

- QUENTIN SPURRING 21

Scony too Hotty

IT may have been the Honda Indy 225 at Pikes Peak International Raceway,but that didn't stop Toyotapowered Scott Dixon from becoming the first two-time winner in the IRL Indycar Series this season.

The Kiwi won under caution after Roger Yasukawa crashed on a laterace restart, adding to his win in round one at Homestead in March.

"It's great to finally be back. We've had so many bad races just recently.

Tm just having a lot of fun."

Dkon had to fight the fact that his weight jacker wasn't working,so he was unable to tune out imdersteer through the turns as the race progressed. Nevertlreless, he held on to win.

Series points leader Tony Kanaan expanded his lead with a secondplace finish, the result his fifth topfour finish in six starts.

"Championship points, staying in the lead, that's all we need," Kanaan I Retail versus slurpies: Dixon and Kanaan are the top two men in the IRL said. ?. IndyCar Series, and that's what they were at Pikes Peak as well, albeit in Indianapolis 500 winner Gil de I reverse order to the championship points. £ Ferran finished third ,while Dario Franchitti finished fourth in his first race since suffering a back injury in a motorcycle accident in early April.

Two-time defending series Ak eniD Mjoiiis n Champion Sam Hornish Jr. finished fifth despite running out of fuel early in the race. The result is his best of the season as Chevrolet continue to get belted by the Japanese engine manufacturers.

Points; Kanaan 217, Dixon 168, Unser Jr/de Ferran/Castroneves 167, Brack 161.

Little Al fights back at Texas

VICTORY is sweet, especially when you lose by 0.01s at the same circuit 12 months beforehand.

Al Unser Jr. made amends for his close Texas defeat in 2002 by winning the Bombardier 500 in Texas two weeks ago.

The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner held off a determined Tony Kanaan, right, to capture his first win for the season, and bounce into second in the points.

Kanaan pressured 'Little AT in a last lap shootout after a late race caution, but held on for an emphatic win, just 0.0810s clear in front of 92,000 fans.

"Any victory is very, very sweet," siad Unser Jr, "We've been trying very hard at all the IRL races the last couple of years and Texas is one of the racetracks that we came up short of victory."

It was also a personal victory for Unser, battling and overcoming an alcohol problem 22

- I

just 10 months ago. Tora Takagi finished third, despite a collision while dicing for third place with only a handful of laps remaining.

Takagi, Scott Sharp and Felipe Giaffone went three wide through turn three, but only one of them would make it out of the corner.

Takagi clipped the sidepod of Scott Sharp at 220mph, who got tangled with Giaffone

and ended the race in the concrete wall.

Both drivers were uninjured. Takagi was allowed to keep his third-place, but was docked 23 points by the League for the incident.

Kenny Brack and veteran Bryan Herta (filling in for the still-injured Dario Franchitti) rounded out the top five finshers, while Indy 500 winner Gil de Ferran finished a lowly eighth.

motorsport news

IRL/CART

It's a Pat Attack!

Carpentier becomes fifth winner for ’03

—

Sports THINGS are tight as they come at the top of the Champ Car World Series leaderboard after round seven of the series at Laguna Seca on the weekend.

Patrick Carpentier, above, became the fifth different winner for the season,leading home Bruno Junqueira and team-mate Paul Tracy to the chequered flag.

Carpentier, who resisted pressure from Tracy in the race's early stages, took his fourth career victory in Champ Car racing and helped close the championship chase right up.

"For me,it was felt like 1 stole a car and I had a bunch of policemen running after me and 1 was looking in the mirrors and these guys were really, really close," said the Canadian.

"Paul gave me a lot of pressure, but we knew that tyres would be the issue. But the car was fantastic, and we're going to enjoy tliis one."

The first half of the race was a battle between the Team Player's team-mates Carpentier and Tracy.

However at the second round of fuel

stops, Tracy caught one of Adrian Fernandez's tyres exiting the pits and then locked his front tyres in a race to turn two. This caused flat spots that ruined his second stint and cost him nearly 20 seconds.

I knew my pit stop was better than Patrick's, and I thought I was going to get him," said Tracy.

'Then 1 locked up and flat spotted both front tyres. I had a really bad vibration after that, I couldn't see. stop or turn -1 had to settle for third place.'

Fourth was Michel Jourdain Jr, who had qualified on pole but was relegated to 13th due to an underweight car. The Mexican retains his series lead, with a six point advantage over Junqueira.

The top Reynard driver was fifthplaced Mario Haberfeld, clear of Oriol Servia, Fernandez,Jimmy Vasser, Tiago Monteiro and Mario Dominguez, with the next round at Portland this weekend.

Points: Jourdain Jr 89,Junqueira 83,Tracy 81, Carpentier 70, Bourdais 53.

Team Brock Driving Life

DEFENCE DAYS

Includes road safety, reponsible driving suitable for all road users. l Calder Park VIC 26/6/03, 16/7/03 & 20/8/03

PUBLIC ADVANCE DAYS

BROCK MASTER CLASS

Includes Exploring the art of driving, performance driving techniques, CAMS Licence preperation and optional on-track experience l Barbagello \A/A 1/7/03 l Calder Park Vic 4/8/03

The Ultimate Motorsport Academy - includes 2 days of on-traok tuition.

driving life

www.teambrock.com.au - ph 03 9636 0330 18 June 2003

n

Personnel driving instruction by Peter Brook l 8 & 9 Sept 2003

JET-HOT

mOutM

Evening lecture by Peter Brock.

South CItg

HOLDEN

WHY SENM r THEM A

JET-HOT Hi-Lustre: l Reduced Engine Bay Temp l Corrosion Protection l Improved Performance l Looks that don’t compare l When aniy the best will do

f Because a $20 paint job doesn’t compare!

JET-HOT Heat Management Ceramic Coating JET-HOT DIRECT Pre-Coated headers

1800 700 468 l www.jet-hot.com.au 23

Australian Safari descends on New South Wales

Round 4 FIM Cross Country Rallies Motorcycle World Championship 23-30 August

4WDs,2WDs a Buggies Motorcycles a Quads 5000 kms across the New South Wales Outback Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8

Bathurst to Narromine - Proiogue/Offidai start August 23 Narromine to Bourke August 24 Bourke to White Cliffs August 25 White Cliffs to Broken Hill August 26 Broken Hill to Balranald August 27 Balranald to Condobolin August 28 Condobolin to Mudgee August 29 Mudgee to Bathurst - official fmish/Awards Function/After Party August 30

ENTRIES NOW OPEN Tourism New South Wales

[M]

MOTOROLA

HOLDEN

octagon

Event/Competitor Enquiries: ph 03 9685 3500 fax03 9686 6660 emailjulie.maher@octagon.com Media Enquiries: Gerald McDornan ph 03 9699 3244

WWW.aUStraliansafari.com.au

Bathurst l Narromine l Bourke l White Cliffs l Broken Hill l Balranald l Condobolin l Mudgee l Bathurst

OPINION

Hie Hinnel of Love THINGS have been going up and down for me a little in the Formula Renault V6 Series but the highlight of the year so far would have to be racing at Monaco.

You see the Formula One races on television and think that it's all this and all that but then you get there and see the track with your own eyes and it's pretty impressive! The track is a real eye-opener and the boats on the harbour - and the people who are on them!- gets your attention too.

Practice went fairly well but, unfortunately, I had a bit of a moment and hit the wall after only a few laps and that put us back in 11th for the race.

The first corner at Monte Carlo is always pretty tight but everyone pretty well made their way through the first lap without any incidents. I made a good start and passed one car and took up station behind Ivan Bellarosa.

Then some other good things happened; a couple of the drivers got given drive-through penalties for short-cutting the track, so that moved me up to seventh.

And that is where I finished. As the raced went on, I picked up

speed but there was no way I was going to get past Bellarosa without a desperate lunge, so seventh it was. Not terrible, but not an accurate indication of the speed we had on the weekend.

0

ne thing that people always ask about racing at Monaco is, "Flow was it going through the tunnel?"

As a corner, the tunnel is nothing special; it is 'easy flat' in a Formula Renault V6, or in an F3000 or a Formula One, for that matter. But as an experience, it's really something; the light disappears, you turn in and 'whoosh' ...

The track is really narrow at that point so the fences rush past very close to the car and really quickly, and the noise is something that you never forget.

The exhaust sounds bounce off the walls and back into the car and it seems like you are dragging the sound behind you. Reaily something ...

I also wondered what it would be like in the dull light but you adjust to it pretty quickly. It was not a problem; once you do it once, it all happens and you can see where you are going fairly

well. But the tunnel is one of my favourite parts of the track.

am driving this season for the DAMS team and it has been a really interesting experience.

DAMS is like a graduation school for French motor racing and the list of drivers who have been with the team, mostly in Formula 3000, reads like a Who's Who. From the 1980s, when it seemed like every other driver on the grid in GP racing was French, to recent times, with Sebastian Bourdais, the place is littered with memories of great drivers.

I do not speak that much French - though I am getting better all the time - but the team members all seem to speak English fairly well, so we do not have too many problems. One thing that we are looking at is changing the way we do things; up until now, there have been a few little niggles that we did not need, mainly because the cars are new this season, so we are working to make sure that we deal with those things better.

It's so competitive that we do not need to make things any harder for ourselves than we need to.

Motor Mouth

With Christian Murchison

T

he next race of the series is at Donington at the end of the month and I think that we are capable of getting a result there.

The track will suit me because it is open and flowing and the team has had a record of success there in the past. With everyone starting the season with new cars and a blank sheet, experience will tell and DAMS certainly has that.

It will also be nice to hear English spoken by the people in the paddock. I will keep an ear out for some Aussie accents ...

0

u F

RID AY the 13th was a creepy movie back in the 1980s in which a deranged psychopath in an ice hockey mask went around murdering people in a summer camp in the United States.

The plot, 1 read somewhere, was as thin as Calista Flockhart but it was a big hit and there

u M.

followed something like 10 remakes as Jason the psycho murdered people in increasingly gruesome and unpleasant ways.

Friday the 13th is always believed to be an unlucky day and there is no doubt that on Friday, with the rain pouring down on a very miserable Montreal, there were not many

people on the lie de Notre Dame who were feeling very happy about life. The track action had been a bit of a waste of time because of the weather conditions which were so bad that at times it was difficult to tell whether a driver was on his qualifying lap or whether he was just warming up for his one lap

wonder. In some cases, the sector times were faster on the warming-up lap!

But for the Formula 1 community, Friday the 13th became a nightmare when Paul Stoddart went into the FIA Press Conference and began to talk about his discontent. This was not a psycho murderer in action but rather a very measured and obviously very well-prepared justification for his actions. After a while other FI team bosses trooped in to be grilled by the press. The blue touchpaper was lit and we waited for the fireworks ... ~or those who do not have an intricate understanding of the politics of FI - the entire American press corps - this was all very entertaining but rather difficult to understand. For the rest of us it was pretty much business as usual, except that the team bosses looked as though they would all have been more comfortable if they had been shouting at one another.

Formula 1 problems are always complex and the team bosses under attack used the defence that the issue was much more complicated than Stoddart made it appear but because of Formula motorsport news

Kvdfono MolorsiHtrt muRCS.com

1 's in-bred creed of secrecy they would not give details. It was. they said, not the right forum.

Or to put it another way - it was none of our business.

And yet they were gradually drawn into it because Stoddart had an argument for every argument.

When Ron Dennis said that no team had ever been given charity in Formula 1, Stoddart smoothly rolled off a list of five or six examples that proved without a question of a doubt that what Dennis had said was not correct.

Dennis did not respond.

It was a strange thing to watch, for I could not help but wonder what on earth they were all doing there, sitting in a darkened room throwing dirt at each other. These were a group of 'shareholders' in the Formula 1 business. Their real interest was not to slaughter one another but to create a product that can compete and beat other leisure activities for prime-time TV. Why is it so hard for the team bosses to understand that their real enemies are not Paul Stoddarts or German bankers or men in FIA blazers, but actually other sporting organisations such as the National Football League in the United States, NASCAR and the PGA Tour?

It iHSe 2063

When the Major Baseball teamsLeague in the United States were in crisis because of the financial and economic domination of the New York Yankees, a revenue sharing deal was organised to keep the smaller teams alive, to provide the Yankees with opposition.

But could that be organised in Formula 1 ? No; everyone is too busy saying that no-one ever helped them and it is not fair that 'anoraks' like Stoddart should be given handouts.

Sometimes it is good for those outside the inner sanctum to look in and make their comments and sometimes it is wise for the sport to listen.

We may be ignorant and innocent, but we are trying to understand and to explain the sport to the world and it is not easy. Dennis likes to take pot shots at journalists who ask difficult questions, but over the years we have learned to live with this.

We think that sometimes it is better just to tell it as it is.

Afew I took very years small ago son to the my then Monaco FI paddock on the day

before the noise started. We happened upon Frank Williams sitting in his wheelchair behind the trucks and we said hello.

A five-year old is a dangerous thing and I could see that young William Saward was carefully studying Frank's wheelchai r. For a moment I considered clamping my hand across the little chap's mouth before he said something. 'But w'here wou d we be without the purity of youth?', I thought, and let Fate la-ke its hand.

‘What h appened to your legs?' said the small boy.

Frank barely blinked.

"I had an accident," he said.

"And now they don't work any more."

"OK," said the little boy, while his father wished that, if nothing else, he would say "Thank you".

Every so often it is good to have total innocence and an inquiring mind thrown into Formula 1,just to give us seasoned hacks an untainted vievr of the world.

In the tiny press room in Montreal, one gets to know one's neig hbours very quickly because it is like living in a shanty to/vn, and so it was not

The Box Seat With Joe Saward long before we got to know the people next door who were a pair of reporters who usually frequent the NASCAR circuit.

Jenna was there representing a major international news agency and Chris was writing for a huge US newspaper. They knew nothing about FI and were happy to admit it.

When on Friday Minardi put out a press release about withdrawing its support for the rule changes, Jenna looked at it and said: "What does this mean?"

And so we tried to explain the internecine world of Formula 1 politics with its twisted relationships, petty squabbles and rivalries and some of the characters of those involved.

After reading all the available information she asked an interesting question.

"Why does Ron Dennis not like Paul Stoddart?"

Out of the mouths of babes...

27

Five minutes with

mma

Larry Perkins

Out of the Univing seat since Decemher fast year,LP is making a return -not a comebacki- to Samiown amiBathurst with Steven Bicharns. PHtL BBANAEANJousteit with the Castroi Bacing Boss MOTORSPORT NEWS: Is this a comeback?

LARRY PERKINS: Don't know about a 'comeback' ... I always left the door open to drive at Bathurst and any other time I wanted to drive.

MN: What have you been doing to keep race fit?

LP: Well, I chose my parents carefully ...

I have been going to the gym.

I will not disgrace myself against the Queensland-suntanned younger drivers!

I go every day. I am not taking this lightly. I do not have a timer running but I get to watch all the news in the morning so it must be a while.

MN: Do you miss driving?

LP: Not really. I have heaps of other things to do but I have to have a co-driver.

What I would like to see is that this race is no longer a part of the championship. The second driver can have a big influence in the deciding the championship and, in my view, that is not appropriate.

We do not need a string of these races in the championship and the powers-that-be should think these things through for themselves.

I used to be a supporter of having Bathurst and Sandown included in the championship but because of the reasons I have stated I do not think that is the way to go any more.

MN: Tell us about your new car, the Commodore VY. LP: It is worthy of Richo driving it.

It is the first clean sheet car we have done for a very long time. This car has no drawing from my lead pencil; it has been 2S

I have been going to the gym. I will not disgrace myself n against the Queensland-suntanned younger drivers!

11

-LP discusses his race fitness

done from scratch on the computer. It has been done properly by one of the young designers we have here and all the parts are computer modelled and made just so.

I have not been involved on that side of it; we have a lot of people here who know about these things: I am too old to learn about these sorts of things now ...

I am an overseer, in one sense. I have the experience but it is working out a very worthwhile experience.

Six or eight guys are responsible for that work in the car. The fabrication is being done from scratch, all the engineers and team guys have their input and they have worked very hard on bringing it all together.

MN:Tell us how many parts are interchangeable between the new car and the VX. LP: Very few. The VY has brand new front suspension, a new engine ... the front brake calliper may be interchangeable but that is about it. Even the radiator is new.

MN: How many parts in a V8 Supercar now?

LP: A bloody lot.

MN: How expensive is a new car these days?

LP: Very expensive.

To run two cars properly, it is approaching 10 times dearer that is was in only, say, 1996/97. There can be a lot done about it but nothing will be done unless the powers-that-be realise it. Rules are coming along now that force

people to spend more money, after a decade where there were no rules to force you to spend more.

Items that are free currently can influence the speed of the car and they need to have their specification frozen, so that the car's speed will not increase and the money gets out of hand. My worry is that the teams that do not have money to spend being left behind by the next guy.

The savings we have made in the last decade, in things like 120 litre fuel tanks, 17 inch wheels, have all been good for the sport but we have a way to go before we get to the logical conclusion.

MN:So how much testing will you do between now and the races to get up to speed?

LP: None. I don't need time to learn how to drive; we have plenty of time at Bathurst on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, We are winners and some may put it down to testing, but I notice that Brighty is going pretty well and he is not testing at all ... motorsport news

INTERUIEUir

The ZO-yean It may have tMea WiUimas twe decahes to win a second Menace Grand Prix - hut the team's first one was an ahsolute classic.

PHIL BftAiVAGAlU Ieohs hack at Keke Rosherg's stunning 1983 victory

I

T seemed hard -no,it seemed impossible - to believe. Not only did Juan Montoya's Monaco win two weeks ago end an 18-month winless drought for the mercurial Colombian,it brought to an end a 20year losing streak at the Principality for the Williams team.

In two decades of racing since. despite the efforts of drivers such as Alain Prost, Jacques Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell and Damon HUl,Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head had not seen a chequered flag for one of their cars.

To see the last pre-Montoya win for the Grove team,one has to wind the clock back to 1983. The world was a different place and Formula One,in particular, was a much different world to the one we watch today.

And the winner of the race walked in the same fooqsrints that Montoya does today. Keke Rosberg did not win a lot of Grands Prix; in 114 starts, he greeted the flag first only five times.

But bare statistics do no justice to FI's first Flying Finn; every time he stepped aboard an FI car (or any racecar,for that matter) Rosberg gave

30

it everything he had.

So it was in 1983. Rosberg,then 34, had spent the year defending the title he had narrowly won the preceding year, his first in a competitive team.

Actually,'defending'is possibly the wrong word;in Ford/Cosworthpowered Williams FWOSDs,Rosberg and team-mate Jacques Laffite were defenceless and spent the season chasing the masses of turbocharged cars around them. On fast circuits, the near-200 horsepower deficit their normally-aspirated,3-litre cars carried meant that they were as much as five seconds a lap off the pace.

But there was a glimmer of hope Monaco.Around the ridiculously tight confines of the street course, Rosberg and Laffite had a slight chance of doing well. So it went in qualifying; Rosberg hurled his little white car around to fifth on the grid and the Frenchman was but three spots behind.

It did not go well for others.

Michelin's tyres,in use by such as Renault, were primarily designed to withstand the massive horsepower and violent delivery of turbo cars. On a normally-aspirated car, they never

really got working properly at Monaco.That gave rise to one of the most unusual statistics in the history of GP racing; Niki Lauda and John Watson could not get their McLaren MP4s balanced during Thursday qualifying and, when it rained during the one-hour session on Saturday,both drivers missed the cut. For the first and only time, McLaren failed to qualify a car for a Formula One race.

"Quite brilliant. Slippery track, slicks... I don't think anyone improvises like he does. Made the rest look flat-footed" - Frank Williams also a first for Lauda in his career.

Then,on Sunday,it rained again.

Steady drizzle fell on the 3km track between the warm-up and the race but,by the time the cars headed out for their formation laps,it had stopped. The track was still wet in parts, most notably on the grid,and of

motorsport news

the 20 cars Imed up for the start,12 picked wet tyres, including Frost and Rene Amoux,who shared the front row.

But Rosberg and Laffite pumped for Goodyear slicks. Rosberg's decision in particular was justified at the start; before the formation lap, he had noticed that his grid slot was partially protected by an overhanging tree, leaving it drier than the surrounding grid slots. When he took his place for the start, he ensured that the car was pointed at an angle that would maximise his traction when the lights turned green.

It worked -brilliantly. While the peaky turbos lurched between horsepower and trachon, Rosberg roared away like he alone had launch control. At Sainte Devote, the Williams was right under the wing of Frost's RE40 and chased the French car up the hill to the Casino in second place. When Frost scrambled out of La Rascasse a minute later, Rosberg speared onto the straight, pulled alongside the yellow car and took the lead.

As far as the race for the win was 18 June 2003

concerned, that was that. After seven laps, the drivers who had chosen wets had begun to surrender to the elements and headed in for slicks. As the cars between him and the leader filed in, Laffite took station behind Rosberg and,for quite a while, the unlikeliest of 1-2 seemed to be inevitable. Unfortunately for the Parisian, his transmission packed up and he was forced to retire after 53 laps.

That meant that the battle for second was between the turbo cars.

Nelson Piquet was challenging Frost for the position when gearbox gremlins stmck the Frenchman, forcing him to back off to ensure a podium finish. Rosberg too cruised the final laps and was just under 20s to the good at the end of tine 76-lap race.

Well,it was one of the great drives. wasn't it?" said Williams about his driver's performance.

Quite brilliant. Slippery track. slicks ... 1 don't think anyone improvises like he does. Made the rest look flat-footed.

It was to be Rosberg's only win of the season but it stiU augured well for

Number 1, all right: Rosberg, right, was clear of Frost by lap 3, above, and shared the podium with him, opposite page. after a dazzling performance.

the competitive nature FI was enjoying at the time. He was the fifth different winner in five races but,in tlie end,it would be his only win of the season,in which he would finish fifth in the Drivers' Championship.

Rosberg's next win,in Williams's Honda turbo-powered FW09, would come in tire heat of Dallas almost 14 months later.

And, how far has FI technology progressed in 20 years? Consider this; while recent changes to the Monaco track make it impossible to finitely compare lap times from the two eras. there is still a gulf between 1983 and 2003. Piquet's fastest lap of the '83 race of lm27.283s was almost 12 seconds slower than the fastest lap this year.

And that was set by Kimi Raikkonen - another Fimi.

Fitting, really...

»>

1^'

I

-

4.

/

11

i

P ■’ P'

the componentry is different.

-

i

"We have different hardware

anyway. They have different shocks, different brakes - they have Alcon, we

I

have AP - same for clutches. The list

xV % -5^

3-

Usually, sons follow parents into the family business. But the Kelly Gang has done It the other way around, John and Margaret Kelly following sons Todd and Rick into V8 Supercar racing and taking the reigns of Kmart Racing. John Kelly told PHIL BRANAGAN how and why r

I

1HIS just in; Rolf Schumacher is the new owner of the BMW.Williams Formula One

team.

Rolf, the father of Michael and Ralf, took control of the team last week. His older son will continue to race in red

for Ferrari and his yoimger son will stay in the white and blue colours of

every day. Rob and the guys have been running the team on their own the whole time anyway, with a bit of *' input from Jeff Grech. Not a lot will change. , _ -

"It was not reaUy'a hard decision

(to buy the team). If you owned it, would you sell it to an 'outsider'? I want to maintain the stability with the

Williams.

team. I know how tire team is rim; I

The move has been caused by the collapse earlier this season of the TWR Group. He will...

Hang on, we got tliat wrong. It

have been there six years and I know how it all works. If you started to change things around, there is a big

should read;

Jolm Kelly is tire new owner of tlie Kmart Racing V8 Supercar team.

John, the father of Todd and Rick, took control of the team last week. His older son will continue to race in red

for the Holden Racing team and his younger son will stay in the white and blue colours of KRT.

Sorry about tliat. It happens.

cars. It is no secret that, largely, there has been a 'pool' of mechanical items, with HRT's engine shop having a roster last season of 17 engines shared between HE.T and KRT And cars are

'passed on'; this season. Team Brock's Jason Bright is racing the very same Commodore VX that he raced in the

second half of 2002, when he was an HRT driver. The VX that he raced

until he stepped into a new car at Winton last August was driven in the second half of the season at KRT by ToddKeUy. So, under the new arrangement, how will KRT produce its new cars and engines?

"The (new) cars are currently under

"They have never been run together. Even at a test, they are at opposite ends of tire pits.

"People have a misconception that all these teams are run together but they never, ever have, right from the start. The cars are entirely different

construction. The three teams have an

now, the red cars and the blue cars.

their team, (but) I know a little about

exclusive deal with Dencar; Dencar

will not do cars for anyone else. Kmart has their spec, HRT has their spec. I do not know what is going on at WeeTs; I have never met Kees Week I

don't know what is going on with

chance that tire wheels will start

"We've sat do\\m with Kmart and

his wife Margaret have been in the background of V8 Supercar racing for some years, always supporting first Todd and now Rick, who stepped up from the Holden Yoimg Lions team last year to KRT tliis season.

But now - subject to the approval process of the tlie Touring Car Entrants Group (TEGA) - as the owners of tlie team, the Kellys have a slightly different role. And that role will be a largely be a hands-off one. "(Team manager) Rob Crawford knows what he is doing and I am happy with tliat," says John Kelly. "I

we have not organised a long-term contract with Kmart yet," says Kelly.

"Our only long-term contract is with

Murf and, naturally, we want to honour tliat. Rick's contract expires at the end of this year."

On the face of it, Kelly's move looks likely to satisfy the request of TEGA that the tliree team comiected to

TWRA - HRT, KRT and Team Brock -

established clearly identifiable separate ownership. According to Kelly, that is now largely done.

"I think that we have a bit of work

side of the business; pay the bUls and

to do (to prove) tliat none of these teams are connected. They (TEGA) find that hard. But they have never

the wages and stay close to things

been connected; Skaife has never told

32

information?

Skaife's.

Then there is the matter of the new

falling off. Things can go wrong if the team does not gel and that is the way that they (Holden) wanted it."

Diuing the transition, from ownership by TWR Racing, then Holden, and now the Kellys, there is much to be settled, especially ensuring that the team's commercial and contractual arrangements stay in place.

The Mildura, Victoria builder and

will be involved in the commercial

Murf what he is going to do to win a race; they are both trying to win it; why would they ever want to share

goes on. Our new VYs will be different. It has always been the same.

Murf's car was built to his spec, not to

Who would YOU support? The Kellys son Todd leads their team's driver Greg Mui moiorsport news

INTERUIEUlf

art Shoppers him a good car of late. Everything has been a bit up in the air about what is going to happen and that is settled down now."

And,how did it feel in Perth to see the two lads going at it on the racetrack?

f i

If they had their choice, they would probably prefer to drive with somebody else. They are there on their merits; if they are not good enough, they will not be there"

"You should come up home; you would see them do that all the time!

It's not a big deal; ideally, when they went through the comers,they should not be rubbing panels. I know that they give each other respect. We see that every day,in cars,on motor bikes.

-John Kelly

HRT because of Todd's involvement.

"We are in a different situation.

With the engine building program, HRT ... I don't know how many they have got. We will be leasing their engine. They might have built a couple for the red car. I know that we will be running our current-spec engine until the end of this year.

"There are not the resources to do that(build engines at KRT)at the moment. If we lease engines from them we will have to wait until engines come on-stream and become commercially available. I think that there are a couple of other Holden teams that might do a deal with them to lease engines."

Kelly is most definite that his purchase of the team is not a move to ensure that his two sons have a certain future in the sport.

"It's only outside the team that people might get the impression that we will try and protect them in the sport. That is not the case. If they had their choice, they would probably prefer to drive with somebody else.

They are there on their merits; if they are not good enough,they will not be there. Holden naturally has some input into who they want to drive for Holden,and Rob Crawford as well. I want to keep things as they are; Murf is one of the best drivers in the

"They are there on their own,we never bought the team for a career situation. We talk to both the boys no matter where they are and I can't say where they are going to be in years to come. They might want to drive for someone else. They have their own mind and control their own destiny."

Does he want to see Todd and Rick, one day,in the same team?

"Not necessarily,1 don't think that

d -

f

L

%

T /

I

a; €

ihy at Barbagallo Raceway last week.

18 June 2003

Kmart car by a car's length vmtil they go side-by-side into the Chase. Who is John Kelly barracking for?

"I barrack for them both, no matter what happens. You know what motorsport is like. Look at last year; Todd was leading by a coimtry mile and they were robbed. That was wrong. The call that was made (at Waimeroo,between Ambrose and Forbes) was wrong. The call that was made at Wmton, with Murf, was wrong. You know that.

"It's hard to sit down and wonder what is going to happen next.

Anything can happen."

business but it has been hard giving

IV

I

would be good for the sport. It would look bad,like we are trying to set up something for them. That is not the case. That is not what they want and they are wary of that. They don't like that; they almost wish I had never bought*e team."

And,a hypothetical question. It's the final lap of the 2003 Bathurst 1000.

Todd's HRT Commodore leads Rick's

Your kVictorian specialist

Helmets, Racesuits, Gloves, Raceboots, Harnesses, Seats and Accessories available for Karting, Circuit, Rally or Speedway Factory 9,19-25 Grange Rd Cheltenham VIC Ph 03 9585 5340 Fax 03 9585 5320

33

Making Hay while the Si Complete and utter domination has been the norm at Le Mans in recent years, but this time it was green, not silver, cars that were doing the damage.

DAVID ADDISON was on hand to witness a Bentley whitewash

Y

OU knew - you just knew - when the threeyear Audi program came to an end,that Bentley's finest hour was around the corner.

Well, rather a lot of corners were covered in the 71st 24 Heures du Mans, but the Volkswagen Audi Group marketing men got their wish.

Eighty years after its first win, Bentley won again.

In truth, this was not the greatest race in the event's long history and even the jingoistic Bentley flag-wavers would admit as much as they dozed in the sweltering French heat. But they had reason to cheer, for the two Bentleys dominated the event, from qualifying through to the race, Tom Kristensen did his usual star-turn in qualifying to put the number 7 Bentley on pole, shared with Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith, with the David

Brabham/Mark Blundell/Johnny Herbert car alongside.

At the green light, Capello and Herbert fled from the rest and that was pretty much it. The cars ran like clockwork, but with their lap times so evenly-matched, it would be the minimum time spent in the pits that would decide the race - and that was the advantage that number 7 had. The Brabham car lost out with an early stop to fix a bit of internal flapping bodywork, and its catch-up was spoilt by a safety car period.

That, plus’two battery changes late-race, allowed the Kristensen/Capello/Smith car a trouble-free run.

So Bentley one-two. End of story? No, not quite, because in a race that Bentley could only lose, rather than the opposition win, the opposition seemed to self-destruct.

Take the Audi UK-run Audi R8,

driven early on by Frank Biela, a man hunting a fourth straight win. With the tools for the job, astonishment was the adjective when the car ran dry within the first 90 minutes.

Biela received the call to head for the pits but, as he did so, he found a Panoz alongside that he couldn't pull across. So, he had to a whole lap to get to the pits he achieved half of it before a coughing engine became silent.

A mortified Biela was unimpressed. So, unsurprisingly, was the team, the car's demise denying Mika Salo a Le Mans debut.

It wasn't the only Audi in trouble, though. The dark horse of the race, the Emanuele Pirro/JJ Lehto/Stefan Johansson Audi, which knew it couldn't match the Bentley lap times, was running smoothly, waiting to capitalise on any Bentley dramas, when it needed a new

t ROLEX nn uu

battery on Sunday morning.

Lehto and Pirro particularly were' stars in the outdated car, but third was their ultimate reward.

Fourth fell to the Audi Sport Japan Team Goh Audi R8 of Seiji Ara/Jan Magnussen/Marco Werner, in which Magnussen was certainly the star turn. Freed . from his life offront-engined Panoz punishment, Jan wqs' i driving a car that he found much easier to handle and it showed, l ,as the former single-seater ace became a threat to the Champion Racing car of Pirro/Lehto/Johansson.

However, the Japanese car seemed to have more of the problems, beginning with a stop for new front bodywork after Ara hit something lying in the road. A later stop for new spark plugs added to the woes, and even when Lehto had an off on Sunday morning, the Team Goh car was too far back to challenge.

Fifth was the Panoz of Olivier Beretta/Max Papis/Gunnar Jeanette, the V8 cars seeming

the Audi was untouchable at Le S Changing times: Not so long ago ^„ Mans, but in 2003 it bad to settle T I for being best of the rest. IJ Lehto, P i left, shared the car with Emanuele i en-route thirdJohansson place.

1' I Pirro andto Stefan

LE MANS

m- and Stars- Shine

n

SS3

to run better no that the pressure of being considered race-winning cars had been lifted. A spin by Beretta and a puncture aside, the car ran trouble-free. Just not quickly enough ...

The top six was completed by the Dome-Judd of Jan Lammers/Andy Wallace/John Bosch that even ran third on the opening lap of the race.

A lengthy off cost the car time on Sunday morning, but Lammers was content with its finish.

The classes also suffered from reliability problems. The GTS class was won by the Ferrari 550 Maranello of Peter Kox/Thomas Enge/Jamie Davies after Anthony Davidson crashed its sister car into retirement and the once-complacent, all-conquering Chevrolet Corvettes were given

I

We've got success where it counts: The Hondo Racing outfit.may not u;, have been causing the Bentleys any undue concern, but they still had plenty ofsupport. a stark wake-up call when one car pitted after just four laps with a lack of top end power and the other had a broken alternator belt. When both then needed a gearbox change, the Americans realised the fight was lost to the Prodrive-run Italian car.

The GT class was a Porsche victory, as the Alex Job Racing car of Lucas Luhr/Sascha Maassen/Emmanuel Collard triumphed, despite a smashed radiator on Saturday night.

A stone had damaged the grill installed to prevent such items finding a way into the radiator, Sadly, though, the greedy radiator ingested the grill as well.

Twelve minutes were lost fixing the problem and the American team battled back to win.

But Le Mans 2003 was Bentley through and through. It had to win, and it rose to the

occasion, with Guy Smith taking his biggest career win, Rinaldo Capello deservedly taking a maiden win after two second places, and the Great Dane Tom

Kristensen taking his fifth, and a n fourth straight, win.

But Bentley's three-year plan has been completed. Where does Sportscar raping go from here?

A

I

siiUon-inuges.<-

35

Ford s Li The Holdens out-sped the Fords at Barhagallo - hut Marcos Ambrose still found a way to win his third straight MS Supercar round in Perth. MARK GLENDENIMiNG reports

P

Blues with da Brothers: Ambrose has momentum. For the first time this season, he managed to win a round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series without having the fastest car in the field - but he still won ...

Dirk Klynsmith

UT it down to luck,the alignment of the planets or whatever you like, but the fact remains that Marcos Ambrose is on a roll after dishing up his third-straight win at Barbagallo Raceway two weeks ago.

Hie Pirtek Stone Brothers Falcon gave away a little to the fastest of the Holdens in terms of outright speed, but in every other the department things went off without a hitch to deliver the first hat-trick to a Ford driver in a decade.

"You couldn't ask for a better run than what we've had," said Marcos.

"We've pretty much unlocked the code of the BA,I guess you could say, and we've just got to get it right on the day, with the conditions and stuff.

We haven't tested for a long time and we're actually developing on the go, and we're getting a grip on the car, for sure."

For Ambrose,it was just one of those weekends where things fell into place and some of the Tasmanian's good fortune came at the expense of Mark Skaife. Things were looking

good for the #1 car from the red cave, which almost won the first race and did win the second race before being battered out of contention in the final heat.

Second outright was Greg Murphy, who wasted no time putting the disappointments of Winton behind him by taking out the Kmart Racing VX to victory in Race 1 despite admitting that team were never able to get the car working properly. And third went to Steve Richards, who seems to be spending an ominous amount of time hanging around podiums these days.

Once you got past Ambrose in tlie final washup, you had to look an awfully long way down the results sheet to find another Ford. Marcos aside, this weekend belonged very much to the General. Todd Kelly had a consistent weekend to score fourth outright and take home a bag of points that no doubt helped marginally ease the pain of being excluded from the results at Winton, and he was followed by Garth Tander and Rick Kelly.

iAtOfSPOft PMI

U8 SUPERCARS

me Star £ Ifltest

■j

In fact only one other Ford scraped into the outright top 10 and remarkably it was none other than Paul Radisich, who spent much of the weekend quietly looking after the Briggs Falcon and keeping his fingers crossed.

Elsewhere though, just about everyone was telling stories that ranged somewhere between 'less than ideal' and 'disastrous'.

Paul Weel bounced back from qualifying dramas to end the weekend seventh overall, two spots ahead of Team Brock stablemate Jason Bright, who simply could not get his mount to treat its tyres with the appropriate respect. Team Dynamik had another potentially encouraging weekend fall short of the mark after weathering a season's worth of bad luck - most of which seemed to find Richards - in one weekend. FPR also had an outing that they'll be happy to put behind them, with a combination of no grip and a shunt at the hands of Craig Lowndes relegating the team to the status of also-rans.

On the other hand, Cameron McConvUle was unfortunate to miss out on a top 10 finish after a good performance at the wheel of the Lansvale Racing VX Commodore, OzEmail Racing had its best weekend 18 June 2003

in a long time to finish with Brad Jones 12th and John Bowe 15th, and Steve Ellery had, well, a bit of everything.

At various stages over the weekend this was a round that looked like it could have fallen any one of a number of different ways, but when it came to the crunch it was Marcos who was in the best position to put up his hand. Life is good in the blue comer of the Stone garage at the moment, but despite the various maladies that afflicted his rivals, Barbagallo showed more than a hint of the fight that still lies ahead.

Practice and Qualifying Barbagallo's levels - or lack thereof - aregrip almost legendary. and for proof you needn't look any further than Friday's practice session, where car after car after car sailed effortlessly off the circuit and into the gravel-of-no-return.

The kitty litter here is extraordinarily deep to compensate for the miniscule run-off, so once an unfortunate Supercar finds its way there, it is unlikely to get back out continued on page 38

Fighting it out: Greg Murphy and Mark Skaife shared the first two wins of the weekend but both had their dramas on Sunday.

So long old timer: Steven Richards took his Commodore VX to another, and final, podium before the arrival of the Castrol/Perkins VY in Darwin.

fQualifying^

TIME

POSNO DRIVER

CAR

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

K-Mart Racing Commodore VX Holden Racing Team Commodore VY Betta Team Brock Commodore VX

51 1 50 6 34 4 44 23 5 11 2 15 10 21 00 9 20 17 18 16 19

23 45 24 25 31 26 75 27 021 28 65 23 29

57.6298s 57.6842s 57.9195s Jason Bright 58.0868s Ford Performance Racing Falcon BA Craig Lowndes 58.1673s Garth Tander Repco/Vaivoline/Cummins Commodore VY 58.1826s Marcos Ambrose Pirtek Stone Brothers Racing Falcon BA 58.2282s Simon Wills Team Dynamik Commodore VY 58.2504s ICS Team Ford Falcon AU Mark Noske 58.2863s Glenn Seton Ford Performance Racing Falcon BA 58.3002s Steven Richards Castrol Perkins Racing Commodore VX 58.3165s Holden Racing Team Commodore VY Todd Kelly 58.3384s K-Mart Racing Commodore VX Rick Kelly 58.3555s Mark Larkham Orrcon Racing Falcon AU 58.3715s Brad Jones O^marl Racing Falcort BA l I 58.3929s Rodney Forbes 00 R/lotorsportFalcorT^A” ^’ Caitex Havoline Stone Brothers Racing Falcon BA 58.3968s Bussell Ingall 58.4448s Orrcon Racing Falcon AU Jason Bargwanna 58.4713s Shell Helix DJR Falcon BA Steven Johnson 58.5086s Max Wilson'* Shelfhelix DJr Falcon'BA “'' - * 58.5445s Betta Team Brock Commodore VX Paul Weel 58.6276s David Besnard Ford Performance Racing Falcon AU 58.6488s John Bowe '■'OzEmail Racing Falc"bn BA 58.6635s re^Oynamik Commocfore . .MWJafeoTyWc^ards 58.77384 Paul Dumbrell Castrol Perkins Racing Commodore VX 58.8338s Suirer Cheap Auto Falcon BA Steve Ellery 58.8752s Anthony Tratt 68.87676 Craig Baird -JeafflJCiwiRadjaflXojJifTiodore VX 58.925^s Paul RSdisich Betta Briggs Motorsport Falcon 6A' 58.9721s Paul Morris' .*_,.Sktomet Commodore VY Cameron McConville Lansvale Smash Repairs Commodore VX. - ^ _ 59.0555s 60.0231s Dean Canto Betta-Briggs Falcon BA —■" 60.1985s Jamie Whincup RepcoA/alvoline/Cummins Commodore VX Greg Murphy Mark Skaife

30 31’ 32

3 66 33

1 2 3 4

Murphy Skaife Ambrose Richards

5

Bright

■

>

Top 10 Shoot-out 26.1038s 26.1245s 26.0410s 26.1888s 26.1752s

44.5772s 44.7350s 44.7208s 44.8345s 44.9164s

58.2022s 58.2630s 58.3595s 58.4512s 58.5710s

6 Wills 7 Lowndes 8 Tander 9 Seton 10 Noske

26.3518s 26.5941s 26.6899s 25.8386s 26.7778s

45.1436s 58.7211s 45.4092s 59.0811s 45.7232s 59.4291s 45.9878s 59.7203s 45.8710s 59.7307s

VSSCSRoundS UB 300

continued from page 37 again without the help of a tow-truck (aided by an enthusiastic little gaggle of Suzuki 4WDs).

What this means, of course, is that every time somebody speared off, the session had to be stopped while the stricken car was retrieved. And the man with the red flag was kept very busy indeed - in fact, by the time the decision was made to pull the pin on the session with five minutes still on the clock, the red flag count had made it to double figures.

'As a result, opportimities to start getting the car dialed in were limited at best, which placed more emphasis on the second practice session on Saturday morning. This time around everyone was considerably better behaved, and after the odd foray into the dirt the session ended with Skaife fastest ahead of McConviUe, followed

by Ambrose, Paul Morris, and Friday's times leader Steve Richards.

And so to qualifying. Bright's track time early in the weekend had been compromised by an engine misfire that kept him in the garage for much of the opening session, but by the time qualifying rolled around, the 2002 event winner was getting back on track. Tire current points leader was on relatively unfamiliar turf among the slower half of the field, but established himself to the top of the timesheets early in the piece and

was still there when time ran out 20 minutes later.

Lowndes bolted on some new rubber and lobbed from ninth to second in the dying minutes, displacing Tander who settled for third ahead of, remarkably, Mark Noske.

Rick Kelly was disappointed to be only sixth-quickest amongst the slower group after again battling to get the #15 Kmart Racing Commodore VX handling properly, but it's a safe bet that Jason Richards would have gladly swapped places with him.

The New Zealander was on a flying lap that looked set to put the Dynamik Commodore VY comfortably amongst the top handful when tire gearbox broke within sight of the start/fiirish line, leaving Richards to coast to a despondent halt at the side of the circuit. There were a lot of long faces in the Dynamik part of the world, and yet it was not until the events of the faster session were played out that it became apparent just how costly this particular gremlin would be.

The 'faster' group took their turn, with Murph the first to stick his beak into tire top 10 by takiirg P3 on his opening lap. Skaife rocketed straight to the top with his first flyer, only to be displaced on the very next lap by

continued on page 40

1C a Falcon AU in the Shootout

LOSING your major sponsor is not usually the way to kick off a V8 Supercar weekend, but it seems that nobody told Mark Noske that.

There were a lot of knowing smiles when the Noske AU arrived in Perth without ICS signage - this was, after all, the ' same ICS whose partnership with Mark Larkham came to a similaTly unhappy ending in the past.

Nosike's subsequent

I, s?

I 36

appearance in the Top 10 Shootout thus came as something as a surprise, even to the team. While the car had arguably been running better in the opening stages of the weekend than it has all year, there's no denying that the result owed an awful lot to good, old-fashioned luck. The Victorian posted a reasonably good time in the slower group

of cards in qualifying, and was still sitting high in the order when Paul Weeks sick engine dumped fuel onto the circuit early in the 'faster' session, effectively ruling out any chance of anyone improving their times.

But Noske, whose previous best qualifying position was 14th back in 1999, couldn't have cared less how he got into

the Shootout.

"I said to the boys I reckon" the car's quicker now without all the stickers on it!" he grinned (while quickly pointing out that he's happy to carry the extra sticker ballast if another sponsor wants to get on board).

"As soon as we realised we were in, we started running around looking for a set of tyres."

From his former sponsor's perspective, the timing could not have been worse. All of a sudden, Noske had a full minute of guaranteed, uninterrupted TV time - and nobody to take advantage of it.

Well almost.

As luck would have it, that same weekend had seen Noske strike a deal with Biante model cars to produce a miniature edition of the team's AU. As a token of the Noske outfit's appreciation, the car ran with one-off Biante signage on the side of the ear for the remainder of the weekends -MARK GLENDENNING motorsport news

i: a

mi - If

i'

Sf

9 ur ●E

*W/^

o^«.

F* f

r 3uco.corn.au 3

/

A T

WAKEFIELO PARK

CUPSAL 500

{^ndaj

.liiil .-^ttililltttU^'iiiUiii^:i<|(ttl..:.<!rf....: .

EASTERN CREEK - ^ILLIP ISLAND

WINTON

m

-- in;3mui= itHiiHu.

MALLALA

J .

.y^liiiliijjtilltit.

BATHURST

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit July 4 - 6, 2003 Ph: (03) 5952 2710 www.phillipislandcircuit.com.au

continued from page 38 Murphy. Ambrose began his road to the Shootout by going sixth quickest and was fallowed by Todd, who took P9 and left his younger sibling teetering oin the bump.

Six minutes into the session, Murphy was still on top ahead of Skaife,followed by Bright, Lowndes, Pander, Ambrose,Simon Wills, Noske, Glenn Seton and Steve Richards. Exactly half of the top 10 was made up of cars from the slower half of the field, a situation that is not uncommon at this stage in qualifying. The normal state of affairs in such cases is that over the ensuing 14 minutes, a whole bunch of the quicker guys go progressively faster until they have asserted their dominance of the top end of the timesheets, witli perhaps one or two refugees from the slower group clinging on to their Shootout slots.

But Weel sent the normal state of affairs straight out fhe window when his Brock car blew an engine, dumping oil all over turns five and six. If you hadn't psit a blinder in yet, you weren'tt going to.

Not surprisingly then, the final qualifying sheets made for interesting reading. Several drivers who had been up amongst it in practice,such as .Vlcirris and McConville, were nowhere. Even worse off vvas Jamie Whincup, who found himself starting from dead last.

"We wai-ted at th>e start of the session and were going to go out and run all our new sets at the end," said Whincup tlnrough gritted teeth.

"Then Weel dumped all the oil and I didn't even get a flyer. We put on some tyres and tried, but with the oil there was no hope. The car's quite quick - we were actually looking for a top 10 again. But there are three races, so we'll just have to try to move up."

Conversely, there were one or two names in the top tem for which the peak of the timesheet has lately been unfamiliar territory-. Seton was

pleased to have made the Shootout in the second outing for FPR's newest BA,but his achievement was overshadowed by the fact that Noske was one spot above him. Given that the personable Victorian had earlier that day announced the loss of his major sponsor, his weekend was already shaping up into one to tell the grandkids about.

In comparison withthe what had already unfolded, Shootout itself was relatively tame. Richo opened proceedings with a 58.4512s tour that would prove good enough to make the leading Castrol Perkins Commodore the Shootout's biggest beneficiary.

Seton followed, and after the mild embarrassment of spinning on his out-lap, posted a time 1.2s short of the mark set by Richards. Indeed, his time also withstood the best efforts of Noske and Wills, but then Marcos came out and shot to the top of the sheets with a time just 0.09s better than Richo had managed. Pander, Lowndes and Bright all fell short of Ambrose's mark,but then came Skaife. His Redness appeared to have gotten away with a small lockup at turn one when he assumed his spot on provisional pole, but Murphy was waiting in the wings and delivered the Kmart crew the first notch for the weekend by bettering Skaife's time by a scant 0.0408s.

Race 1(42 laps)

H

RT headed west with a new clutch, and this proved to have a decisive effect on the outcome of the race - although not in the way that Skaife may have hoped.

"It was a shocking start," he said.

"We changed the clutch-spec for this weekend, wanting to actually try to make better starts on this low-grip surface. And that didn't happen."

Indeed it didn't, and while the #1 HRT VY tried furiously to recover from wheelspin, Murph made a perfect start from pole and was away.

Richards also managed to get

OLD

SA

City Discount Qld Raceway Tyres Reynella Champion's Way Willowbank Qld 4306 147 Sherriffs Rd Tel 07 54619100 Reynella SA5I6I Tel 08 83873522 Fax 07 546191 1 1 Fax 08 83874036

lames Smith

through before Skaife finally found traction and negotiated turn one in third place.

Murphy and Skaife both pitted for fresh Dunlops on lap six, rejoining in 19th and 20th respectively. New race leaders Richo and Ambrose followed suit on the next lap and a lightnmgfast stop from the Stones boys sent Marcos back down the pit exit ahead of his Castrol-liveried rival. Scarcely had the SBR crew started to congratulate themselves when it became apparent that Ambrose was also going to nose ahead of Skaife at turn one to take second place as he rejoined.

It was as slick as it was short-lived.

Skaife was on the attack immediately, and got the upper hand over Ambrose at the Esses on lap 10. At this stage, Murphy had a 2.7s advantage over his pursuers, but staying power over lOOkms was not a strong point of the Kmart VX. By half distance, Skaife was routinely knocking tenths out of Murphy's lead and by lap 31 he was within striking

NSW

WA

Gary's Motorsport Tyres Unit 2/10 Carnegie PI Blacktown NSW 2148 Tel 02 967686S5 Fax 02 96765300

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

TAS

distance. But just as the reigning Champion began to plan his attack, Ambrose swept into the equation, triggering a three-way battle for the win with 10 laps remaining.

Murphy's grip on the lead seemed to be growing more tenuous with each lap, and this was highlighted when Skaife had a big go at the last corner on lap 40. But Murphy survived and went on to take his first victory since Pukekohe last year, with Skaife, Ambrose and Mchards(whose car seemed to maintain its pace exceptionally well) all following him across the line inside 1.0s.

"It really comes down to how fast the car was going to be at the finish, and it was really dropping speed fairly quickly," said the relieved

Kiwi.

"It dropped off considerably, and if it had dropped off much more, Mark would have been able to get me in a position where he was going to be able to get past me. So I was glad we didn't have any more laps left."

The finish may have been as much

VIC

Fulton Enterprises Stuckey Tyre Service 31-33 Tamar St 828 Sydney Rd Launceston TAS 7250 Brunswick VIC 3056 Tel 03 93865331 Tel 03 63341739 Fax 03 93869153 Fax 03 63318252

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

HEW SP Supersport Race from Europe. NOWAVAfLABLE! ► © MOTORSPORT DEALERS ^ 40

A:

V

j. t

motorsport nows

U8 SUPERCARS

obtlll

a nailbiter as any we have seen in Supercars over the past year or so, but there was just as much going on behind the top four. Most impressive of all was Russell Ingall, who started 16th, made it up to ninth by the end of the first lap (!) and pressed on to eventually come home in fifth place, just over 5s shy of the lead quartet.

Todd Kelly drove exceptionally well to turn a starting spot of 11th into seventh place in a performance that included a cracking battle with younger sibling Rick, but the other big mover of the race was the Super Cheap BA Falcon pilot Steve Ellery.

Starting from 25th, Ellery elected to stop a little later than the frontrurmers. The payoff came when he found that,in the closing stages of the race, Ms tyres were better than just about everyone else in the field.

"We could have pitted early but we wouldn't have achieved anything," Ellery said.

"We were looking at coming in before the halfway point of the race

Go to your rooms!

Todd and Rick Kelly have a brotherly scrap, western-style

IF you were to go through John and Margaret Kelly's family album, you'd probably find the usual assortment of snapshots from a greataunt's 90th birthday, a second-cousin's wedding,and the kids taking their first steps.

After Barbagallo, they can now add some shots of their kids having their first serious on-track battle. Awwwwwww.

Rick Kelly had the upper hand in the #15 Kmart car over eider brother Todd's #2 HRT Commdore, but Todd was making good progress through the pack and found his way onto Rick's tail at half distance in race one.

The ensuing fight was one of the highlights of the race, with both driving the wheels of their respective machinery for twelve laps in an effort to get the advantage. They kept it clean, but neither gave each other any more room than was absolutely necessary.

Todd eventually found a way past, but was full of

suiton-images.com

praise for his brother.

"That's the first time I've raced against Rick like that and I think that he did a fantastic job," he said.

"It's really good that we can race and trust each other the whole time. We were doing stuff out there that I'd never do against any of the other drivers."

Rick was equally enthusiastic.

"It was really good. I'd been looking forward to having a dice with Todd since I started, but we've never been close enough on the track," he remarked.

"Things like when we were going side by side into turn one - normally you wouldn't want to be on the outside through there with just anyone. And it pays off - I think it's the sort of racing the category.needs.

"It wili'bd good if we get to do it again in Darwin, but hopefully I'll beat him this time!"

-MARKGLENDENNIISIG

thinking that there'd be at least one Safety Car that could help us make up track position. In the end there were no Safety Cars but we came in on lap 23, which was later than planned,simply because the tyres were in good mck. It then dawned on us that while everyone else were protecting tlieir tyres towards the end of the race we were able to attack, because our tyres were fresh. So 1 put some fast laps together and was able to pass quite a few drivers. It worked beautifully."

So beautifully, in fact, that Ellery claimed his last 10 scalps over the final 17 tours of the circuit. Not a bad effort at all.

Unsurprisingly,some of Ellery's victims were looking rather less happy after the race, and some of the longest faces could be spotted in the vicinity of Team Brock.

"The car was reasonable in qualifying," said a grim-looking Bright, who fimshed one spot ahead of Weel for a Team Brock 12-13,"then we changed a few tMngs and it turned to junk. So we've got a bit of work ahead of us."

Team Dynamik's pleasure at seeing Wills fmish eighth was tempered somewhat by another setback to Jason Richards, tMs time in the form of a lost wheel during the pitstop.

The team was later fined $5000 for the indiscretion.

Unluckiest of all, however, was Jason Bargwarma, who was the race's only retiree when Ms Orrcon Racing Falcon's engine died just after mid distance. The team replaced the engine overMght,oMy to find that their one spare powerplant also had a problem. The unfortunate Bargs was thus relegated to spectator staMs for the remainder of the weekend.

Race 2(42 laps) Barbagallo is quite the other stops onunlike the V8any of Supercar tour. Motorsport News elected to play it smart on Sunday morning by leaving the hotel under the cover of darkness with the intention of arriving at the track at around 7:00am. Ordinarily, tMs should guarantee a head-start over the race day crowds. For that matter, if you arrived at some circuits that early, you'd probably still find the gate locked.

Not here. Wlien the first light of dawn washed over Wanneroo on Sunday morning,it revealed a spectator mound and paddock absolutely teeming with people.

AVESCO claimed a three-day crowd of over 75,000, with 40,000 on Sunday. By about 7:45am,it looked like at least 38,500 excited (and in some cases already inebriated) Westralians were already there. You just don't see that at Oran Park.

continued on page 44 18 June 2003

41

fluid transfer solutions n *

SITIEGIBAR VLP BOSCH Spmrk Plugs

r A ^

CALTEX

®w«tecii.com.aii

(S/^[^IL[E(ST^[B[L[ES

V8SCS Round 5 Ba mag alio Race 1 ~ 42 laps 42m44.5643s 59.0864s 2 S 1 Murphy 42m44.7702s *59.0161s 2 C/) 2 Skaife 42m45.1532s 59.0631s 3 3 Ambrose 4 S. Richards 42m45.6053s 59.0645s 2 42m50.9886s 59.6739s 6 5 Ingall 43m02.6845s 59.6853s 3 6 Lowndes 43m10.1602s 59.5639s 10 7 T. Kelly 43ml 1.6069s 59.7028s 3 8 Wills 43ml2.3727s 59.9336s 3 9 Tander 43m14.9194s 59.9391s 8 10 R. Kelly 43m21.4728s 59.8860s 26 11 Ellery 43m24.6360s 59.7517s 2 12 Bright 43m25.0295s 59.6768s 6 13 Weel 43m25.1256s 60.2923s 5 14 Seton 43m25.7718s 60.1447s 12 15 Jones 43m26.0933s 60.1512s 6 16 Radisich 43m26.9744s 60.0487s 6 17 Noske 43m27.5450s 59.7684s 24 18 Morris 43m29.5164s 60.3605s 12 19 Dumbrell 43m32.2890s 60.2946s 20 20 Besnard 21 McConville 43m32.7427s 59.7799s 7 43m33.5119s 60.1694s 11 22 Whincup 43m33.7827s 60.4490s 5 23 Forbes 43m39.1741s 60.0931s 8 24 Wilson 43m39.9240s 60.4135s 24 25 Baird 43m44.7854s 60.1314s 9 26 Larkham 43m45.5523s 60.3542s 7 27 Canto 28 J. Richards 41 laps 60.0727s 16 29 Johnson 41 laps 60.2576s 6 30 Bowe 40 laps 59.9420s 6 31 Tratt 40 laps 60.7201s 10 28 laps 60.0690s 4 DNF Bargwanna Race 2-42 laps 5Dm46.6743s *58.3547s 3 1 Skaife 50m48.2816s 58.7239s 5 2 Ambrose 3 S. Richards 50m49.4415s 59.2577s 2 50m50.1871s 59.3580s 6 4 Murphy 50m50.8351s 59.9773s 23 5 Tander 50m52.9528s 59.8726s 24 6 Wee! 50m53.4383s 59.6777s 9 7 T. Kelly 8 McConville 50m54.0245s 60.1938s 7 50m54.5779s 60.3410s 21 9 R. Kelly 50m56.6910s 59.7570s 3 10 Bright 50m56.9265s 60.1805s 20 11 Bowe 12 J. Richards 50m57.3920s 59.7372s 6 50m57.6248s 60.3027s 24 13 Radisich 50m57.8965s 60.2973s 21 14 Jones 15 Seton 50m58.3641s 60.1708s 21 50m59.4134s 60.4116s 22 16 Ellery 51m00.4781s 59.9660s 7 17 Wilson 51m00.7247s 60.2284s 8 18 Johnson 51 mOI.0297s 60.1407s 8 19 Noske 51 mOl.2868s 60.3991s 22 20 Besnard 51m01.5213s 60.5352s 23 21 Tratt 51m02.1666s 60.5844s 23 22 Canto 51m02.5846s 60.2938s 15 23 Larkham 51m04.2507s 60.7147s 15 24 Baird 51m05.8555s 61.1518s 27 25 Forbes 26 Dumbrell 37 laps 61.0144s 4 34 laps 59.2641s 2 27 Ingall DNF Wilis 39 laps 59.6296s 10 DNF Lowndes 39 laps 59.6946s 2 DNF Whincup 36 laps 60.1728s 6 DNF Morris 34 laps 60.1337s 23 DNF Bargwanna Race 3-42 laps 48ml8.6105s 59.3317s 9 1 Ambrose 48ml9.0176s 59.0186*s 6 2 T. Kelly 48ml9.6766s 59.1981s 7 3 Murphy 48m20.5464s 59.8005s 7 4 R. Kelly 48m21.5724s 59.9781s 10 5 Tander 48m21.9777s 59.7793s 13 6 Radisich 48m22.7093s 59.8307s 11 7 Weel 8 S. Richards 48m23.0727s 60.0343s 11 9 McConville 48m23.2208s 60.0968s 12 48m25.6462s 59.8611s 9 10 Bright 48m26.2905s 60.3479s 14 11 Bowe 48m26.6249s 60.2052s 5 12 Johnson 48m27.2160s 60.3014s 9 13 Wilson 48m27.7105s 59.8515s 7 14 Ingall 48m28.7559s 60.5817s 13 15 Jones 48m29.1363s 59.9159s 9 16 Wilts 48m29.3629s 59.6817s 7 17 Lowndes 48m29.8132s 59.8450s 8 18 Seton 48m30.9179s 59.7715s 7 19 Noske 48m31.3520s 60.4596s 12 20 Morris 48m31.7055s 60.1913s 10 21 Whincup 48m31.9879s 60.3747s 13 22 Baird 48m32.7843s 59.6310s 13 23 Skaife 48m33.0640s 60.5251s 8 24 Tratt 25 J. Richards 48m42.7966s 60.0723s 11 26 Canto 41 laps 60.0267s 8 27 Larkham 41 laps 60.4856s 9 28 Forbes 40 laps 60.2495s 14 DNF Ellery 38 laps 59.8847s 11 DNF Besnard 37 laps 60.2695s 9 DNF Dumbrell 30 laps 60.3182s 12

44

continued from page 41 Those that were there buying HRT merchandise got sometliing for their money immediately, when Skaife made amends for his poor start in race one with a near-perfect departure from the line. Murphy was again quick away and retained his lead into turn one, but by lap four Skaife was past. The race didn't fall into Skaife's hands easily - some more slick pitwork from SBR again almost gave Ambrose the upper hand, and three spells imder the Safety Car prevented the red car from ever building a serious advantage.

But nevertheless, he retained control and went on to take the win by 1.5s.

Ambrose and Richards had relatively uneventful races to finish second and third after dispensing with Murphy early in the race, but their job was made a little easier by the dramatic departure of the man who perhaps posed the biggest tlrreat to the top of the order.

Starting from fifth, Ingall was going like a blur in the SBR Caltex car until fate intervened in the form of a momentarily stuck throttle. Rears locked, the Falcon speared into tlie gravel at turn one, bringing out the Safety Car for the second time.(The Audi had earlier been deployed while the beached Commodore of Paul Dumbrell was rescued from the last corner).

There was plenty more drama to come. Morris brought out the last of the Safety Cars with a sideways foray into the gravel that very nearly left the Sirromet Commodore on its lid, and Jamie Whincup was sidelined just moments later courtesy of a

broken fuel pump relay.

The race restarted on lap 38 with four laps remaining. Or one lap, if you were Lowndes or Wills.

Scrapping it out for eighth, Lowndes made a bit of a hash of his braking for the final corner, produced the lock-up to end all lock-ups, and skated elegantly straight into the rear of the Dynamik car, putting both out on the spot.

Amid all that, Tander got everything right to come home fifth after a vigorous scrap witli Weel and Wills earlier in the piece, with the #16 Brock car chasing him across tine line.

And McConville finally produced the kind of result that his pace had promised earlier in the weekend to finish eighth,sandwiched betw'een the red Kelly and the red, white and blue KeUy.

Race 3(42 laps)

T

he final heat for tire weekend promised much - Skaife and Ambrose sharing the front row,Ingall and Lowndes at the rear of the grid and straining at the leash. The potential for drama was fairly significant, yet it materialised in a rather unexpected way.

Ambrose was leading from Skaife, having benefited from another poor start from the HRT car and then retained the advantage during the pitstops, when he closed up on the 00 Motorsport Falcon of Rodney Forbes.

Sitting in second place (although out of sequence on pitstops), Forbes was on his in lap when Ambrose closed in at too great a rate of knots and punted Forbes into the infield.

"He was backing off,I think, to let

US go," said Ambrose."You can't get off the gas when everyone's that close to you. I think he was pulling over, and I just couldn't miss him. It was nothing, really. He was silly for being in that position anyway."

Forbes saw things rather differently.

"Two flag marshall reports said that he hit me,the data shows that he hit me,and the stewards threw it out because of lack of evidence? Figure that out," said an exasperated Forbes.

"I think we had a pretty good strategy, and it was ruined by Marcos punting me off."

The stewards, disinclined to impose an immediate penalty in the wake of the Winton controversy, nominated to investigate the incident after the race and decided that there was not enough evidence to enable a conclusive decision.

More Rodney-related dramas were in store a few laps later. Havmg rejoined a lap down after the Ambrose incident, Forbes found himself being rapidly reeled in by Skaife.

"I was pushing too hard after being punted off," Forbes admitted.

"I was trying to get out of his (Skaife's) way and I spun it."

In the process, the rear of Forbes's car swimg around and collected Skaife,forcing some bodjnvork back onto a tyre and causing a puncture that sent the Commodore into the pits on lap 34 for repairs as the SC l board was hung out courtesy of a spinning Dumbrell.

Compared with Ellery however, Skaife's dramas were a walk in the park. The Super Cheap Falcon was locked in battle with Besnard when a

We may need to borrow some bits from Bob Thorne: Ellery inverted the Super Cheap Falcon at Turn 1 and prompted a Safety Car. The subsequent Race 3 restart led to a one-lap sprint, which Ambrose won. molorsDort news

i

SUPERGARS

Sand, glorious sand: Craig Lowndes had a bad moment in Race 3, locking up the CAT Falcon and carting Simon Wills's Team Dynamik VY off the road and into the sand at the final corner, left. It would have been an interesting conversation between the two, below...

A little red, some white ...

Paul Morris also found the bunker in the Sirromet Commodore, below left, though the black car managed to land wheelsside-down.

clang between the pair caused brake damage to Ellery's car,sending the Queenslander sideways into the gravel,sparking a textbook Barbagallo rollover. The Super Cheap car was left with its wheels pointing skyward and its driver trying to tunnel his way out through the window as the field again bunched up behind the Safety Car with just a handful of laps remaining.

As the field circulated behind the Audi,one car was going slower than the others. Again, the hapless Jason Richards, whose car crawled, stopped, and then crawled again, reducing what would have been a richly deserved seventh place to 25th in the blink of an eye. The team blamed the "implementation of a new fuel measuring system."

The French have a proverb which basically says that an unlucky person is one who falls on his back and breaks his nose. Richards had that kind of weekend.

Amid all this, Ambrose won,and did so in the most spectacular 18 June 2003

Points: Bright 851, S. Richards 834, Ambrose 783, Murphy 779, Skaife and Weel 743,1mgall 739, Lowndes 688, Radisich 668, R. Kelly 659, Tander 646, Seton 530, T. Kelly =502, Wilson 468, Johnson 455, Wills 439, McConville 431, Morris 375, Bargwvanna 374, Bowe 367, Larkham 343, Jones 338, Ritter 315, J. Richards 293, Elle:y';2S{l, Noske 289, Baird 287, Dumbrell 277, Besnard 256, Tratt 256, Canto 246, Whirisup 211, Forbes 190, Wakefield 72, Thexton 24.

Points with worst round dropped: Bright 717, Ambrose 687, S. Richards 684, Murp'hy 665, Skaife 659, Ingall 633, Weel 611, Lowndes and Tander 610, Radisich and R. Kelly 560,1 Kelly 502, Seton 488, Wills 439, Wilson 438, McConville 431, Johnson 425, Morris 375, Bargwanna 372, Bowe 349, Jones 332, Larkham 297, BairiJ 287, Ritter 285, J. Richards and Ellery 278, Dumbrell 277, Noske 271, Besnard 256, Tratt 244, Canto 222, Whincup 211, Forbes 190, Wakefield 72, The*ton 24. fashiom.After Ellery's Ford was tended to, the green flag for the restart was given at the end of lap 41, prompting a single-lap charge to the flag. Acmbrose nailed the restart perfectly and 60.9485s later, his missiotnwas accomplished.

Tod;id Kelly followed him across the linue to cap off a pretty good weekemd. He owed some of his success to some good HRT pitwork, but a sharper effort again from SBR ensured that Marcos retained track

position - he rejoined ahead of Todd by a whisker - and it was here that the race was won.

Nevertheless, Toddler just missed out on an outright podium when Jason Richards's retirement gave Steve Richards enough points to secure third. Richo wound up eighth after going into turn one slightly deep on lap five while in third place, finding a lot of debris, and spearing off. He was able to rejoin, but was well back in the pack.

Murphy and Rick followed HRT #2 to each take home a hard-fought bag of points, with Tander finishing sixth from Radisich, who had clawed his way up from 13th.

And so, with the blue oval's hattrick in the bag, the circus broke camp and prepared to reassemble in Darwin. Marcos is fast. HRT is starting to get on top of its VYs. But the most significant factor as we approach the middle of the championship could be sitting under a tarp at the Perkins workshop. After another hiccup with the availability of spares, Richards will definitely, absolutely, positively debut his VY at Hidden Valley. The VX has served him well - well enough to have positioned him well and truly among the title contenders. And the word is that the new car is very, very fast.

One gets the feeling that Richo's World may not be such a bad place to be at the moment.

Perth turned on some great weather, a huge crowd,plenty of drama and a few surprises. Your turn. Top End. 45

JOHN Bowe said proceedings gotbefore under way at Queensland Raceway that his Ferrari would not be able to produce its Wakefield Park style domination.

And he was right.

Paul Stokell's Lamborghini ruled the roost in round four of the Nation's Cup Championship at Queensland Raceway last weekend, taking two wins and slicing Bowe's championship led to a mere 34 points.

The event looked set to be a cracker right from the word go.

Bowe was quick in practice but the vibes around pitlane gave you the feeling that Stokell's Lamborghini would find its true form come race time.

The weekend climaxed with one lap and one corner to go.

Bowe had held Stokell out for all of the 23 laps, until the pair got involved in a major braking duel.

The exotic Italian cars came to blows at turn 6, forcing Bowe wide as Stokell stuck the black Lamborghini into the Ferrari's door. It sort of reminded you of the race one, turn one Wakefield war Stokell and Bowe fought, but this time, Stokell came out on top.

"It was as hard as I've even raced with John," said a happy Stokell. "I had the pressure on him all the time."

That pressure paid off. With Bowe's tyres going away from him at the end of the race, Stokell pounced with the race winning move.

"I'm obviously trying to peg back John's championship lead, but he's a force to be reckoned with and it's making it really hard for me to peg him back. But this result will help us no end."

Nathan Pretty had a tidy Queensland meeting in his Holden Monaro, taking the Race 2 win along with a third and fourth.

Understanding that this championship will reward the consistent. Pretty was more than pleased to take home a swag of valuable points.

"I honestly didn't think we had the speed this weekend," Pretty said. "We certainly weren't an outright winner but it's great to pick up some good points."

Pretty's Race 2 win came courtesy of the on-going Bowe/Stokell war. Through the first turn, Bowe got stuck into the rear quarter of Stokell, causing the Ferrari to lose ground. It also caused the Lamborghini to visit the pits after four laps with a punctured tyre.

Pretty and Peter Brock took advantage of this and recorded the Monaros' first 1-2 in the 46

I

The Blue Sky Lamborghini miner: Paul Stokell, above, closed the points lead to Bowe, while The Man, otherwise known as Peter Brock, continues to build up to a win in the Monaro.

Hang on, what are you doing here? Nations Cup leader John Bowe closes on the Croup Two-winning Porsche of Tony Quinn, who these days is full-time in Carrera Cup. Nations Cup this year.

"You've got to take those wins however you can get them," said Pretty after the win.

Race 2 was a bit weird. With Stokell out of the picture, Bowe was left to place pressure on the Monaros, that simply weren't as fast. The Ferrari's brakes were awesome, taking metres out of Brock at each of Queensland's six corners.

But Bowe's charge came to an end soon after. Qn lap 12, Bowe got too close to the rear of the red Monaro, tapping Brock into a spin. Brock quickly recovered, and Bowe (in all his wisdom) re addressed his indiscretion.

Bowe caught Brock again but did not make a move on the Bathurst legend. Brock also had a solid event, finishing the final two races on the podium.

In true Brock-fashion, the bi¬

year-old held position behind his young team-mate, possibly to consolidate the yellow Monaro's championship position. But race three was a different story.

Brock's tyres on his Monaro were in a lot better condition than Pretty's, and Peter pounced to record a fine podium finish.

Greg Crick and Anthony Tratt enjoyed a healthy dice for the final top five place, the former struggling with an engine that hasn't been touched in eight meetings.

"It wasn't our weekend," said Crick. "We're down about 70hp at the moment. We're hoping for a better run at Oran Park" Tratt pushed really hard to stay with Crick's (not-so) powerful Dodge Viper. The pair kept the racing close without touching panels, however Tratt endured a couple of mild spins, still getting

ased to his Lamborghini.

Group Two honours went to Carrera Cup campaigner Tony Quinn. The VIP Pet Foods stalwart took three welldeserved wins ahead of John Teulan and Jonathon Webb.

So, halfway through the series and there are three outright contenders, two drivers at each other's throats and a fascinating Qran Park on the horizon.

Bowe leads the series by 34 points over Stokell, with Pretty another 50 behind Paul. There is not one Nations Cup crown on any of these drivers mantlepieces, so expect no one to lay down without a fight.

The south-western Sydney circuit is in fora treat...

Outright Points: Bowe 289, Stokell 255, Pretty 205, Brock 129, Crick 121.

Group 2: Koundouris 196, Quinn/ Simonsen 93. motorsgorl news

I

Oiik hlyn-iiiulh

The Italian Stallions While there may have been three different winners in the Donut King Nations Cup at Queensland Raceway, it was Paul Stokeli’s Lamborghini Diablo GTR that closed the gap to points-leader John Bowe. Oh, and the Monaro lads chimed in for a 1-2 finish to round out the day GRANT ROWLEY reports from ‘The Paperclip'

;yYOKOHAMA MOTORSPORT From circuit to tarmac, gravel and dirt, Yokohama develop Motorsport tyres to suit your race car.

For professional service and expert advice contact: SA North Terrace Tyres NSW/ACT Gordon Leven MotosportTryes 02 4735 4500 03 9764 281 1 VIC/TAS Traction Tyres NT Darwin Tyre Service 07 3262 7833 WA Victoria Park Tyre & Brake QLD TyreTech Australia A032R

18 June 2003

A005

^27 A006

08 8362 4417 08 8981 831 1 08 9361 2044

A033

47

Springing away with GTP King and his Evo VII stamp claim to 2003 trophy

MARK King has stamped his claim on the 2003 GT Performance trophy.

The Queenslander's Evo VII Lancer proved horsepower is not the be-all and end-all at Queensland Raceway last weekend.

King drove three impressive races, finishing the weekend with a race win and two second-place finishes.

Although his expectations were low, King extended his championship lead and that . gives him great confidence for n the remainder of the year.

"We didn't think we'd do this well here but it's worked out well," said King.

"The, rest of the year now is all about collecting points, remaining consistent and developing the car."

Steve Cramp proved size 'counts for little at Queensland Raceway. The South Australian ●manrhandled his tiny BMW M Coupe to a third in race one, second in race two and, you ^ guessed it, first in the final 'heat.

■ , Needless to say. Cramp was ' ' ecstatic with his progress. " It's a credit to the team," said Cramp after taking second overall.

"We've been a bit off the pace at the start of the year so it's rewarding for our hard team.

It's a fitting tribute to them. We are on the money."

Ford Falcon driver John Falk gave the blue oval its first ever pole position and race win in the GT Performance category. Flis success in the FRP Pools entry also coincided with Ford's 100th Birthday celebrations.

"I didn't realise I'd go that well," said the three-times truck racing champion.

"But it's great to see another type of car at the front of the field."

Race one started and

by GRANT ROWLEY

BARTON Mawer and Michael Caruso shared the wins at round four of the Australian Formula 3 at Queensland Raceway last weekend.

The young F3 tyros produced two excellent races, including new lap records. Mawer had a successful weekend, scorching to pole position by 0.25s and taking a classic race two win over Caruso.

And no-one was happier than Bart.

"This is just great," said the New South Welshman.

"They were tough races, but we got out front and I've consolidated second in the series. I've just gotta keep my head down from here."

Caruso gave everything he had to Mawer; "Yeah we had a bad start and

* Xtrst/Fwrf,

Don’t cramp my style: Steve Cramp, above, took the BMW M Coupe’s first GTP win, while Aaron McGill, below, ended up out in the boonies after a clash at the start of race one.

finished within the first 100 metres of racing. Qn the approach to turn one, Gary Deane, Aaron McGill and Justin Hemmes got tangled in what could have been a ugly clash.

Luckily, no major damage was sustained, however, McGill and Hemmes were forced to retire.

McGill's Nissan 200SX would suffer for the rest of the meeting due to the incident.

His very fast but very fragile machine overheated thanks to the mild panel damage at the front of the vehicle.

The race was red-flagged to clear the strandard Subaru of Hemmes and immediately after the restart, Deane was given a drive-through penalty, effectively ending any chance of a podium finish.

Qualifying also produced some dramas, with a handful of the leading competitors fined

for boost inregularities.

Garry Flolt Bob Hughes and Ian Box were all sent to the back of the grid for running too much boost. Holt and Hughes also received a fine of $1000, with half of that suspended for six months.

Commodore competitor Peter Floyd had a difficult weekend, despite showing excellent pace in his HSV GTS VY. Engine gremlins in race one forced him to retire, and also to miss race two. Floyd made the rear of the field for the final and sliced his way through the pack, eventually finishing fourth.

Subaru driver Wayne Boatwright did not figure in the results throughout the event, his Subaru just not in the game.

Points: King 260, Boatwright 185, Cramp 130, Morcom 108, Hemmes 101, Falk 99.

- GRANT ROWLEY A

€

D€1

■

4t-

48

Maw you've really got to stay up the front in these races to stay up front in the championship."

At the start of both races, Caruso launched off the line a little better than Mawer, but would bog the car down immediately after.

Although he was able to catch and pass Mawer in race one, Caruso could not quite take a clean-sweep.

But his championship chase is now looking quite strong.

"We knew we had the race pace all day," said Caruso.

"It was just a matter of collecting points for the championship and keeping out of trouble."

Caruso's series points tally has him in a good position at the halfw'ay point of the year. He sits 20 points in front of Mawer.

Kiwi contender James Cressey had a disastrous qualifying session, which put him well down in ninth.

But it only took a handful of laps into the first race for the green and gold Opel Speiss-powered machine to challenge the top five.

The New Zealander would finish the two races in third place. Cressey didn't quite have the pace to challenge Caruso or Mawer, but did enjoy a number of healthy dices with the 2001 champion, Peter Hackett.

Race two was easily the highlight of the weekend. Leading the charge was Mawer, who benefited from a slow start by Caruso. Cressey followed Mawer, just in front of a recovering Caruso.

The order would remain the same for the first 15 laps of the race, but the gap between the trio was oh-so 3 small.

J Caruso found a way past Cressey witli three laps remaining, puUing off a I brave move under brakes at turn six. molorsport news

GTP/F3

BP and Mick in QID o

Hackett joined the front-running f pack late in the race and even moved I ahead of Cressey, albeit only briefly.

"I battled past Cressey, got great drive out of turn three and tried to go around the outside of Caruso at turn four," said Hackett.

"I was pushing really hard and as I picked up the throttle, I dropped a wheel on the dirt."

Hackett finished both races just off the podium.

Although not able to get a podium result on the weekend,Karl Reindler showed impressive form. Driving for the Bronte Rundle team, Reindler qualified fifth and launched off the line in race one to be challenging for the lead in tlie early stages.

Reindler would eventually fifth after being passed by both Hackett and Cressey on lap four.

Christian Jones was disappointing in his Mugen-powered car. Jones suffered from engine mapping problems in qualifying and never really challenged the front-runners. ' Blue, green and red: Barton Mawer took a Formula 3 win at Queensland Raceway in another cracker of a round. James Cressey (#50) and Michael Caruso (#2) follow down the back straight.

Points; Caruso 130, Mawer 110, Cressey 98, Jones 81, Hackett 61, Gurr 49.

4

^PEEPyONE

...THE PHEFERED SEHT OF mRRV UJORLD EHRmpianSHIP lUmnina TiEHmS!

SEarco

I

a k Sprint »

<3

r

K

Euo-2 >>

^Q Corsa »

Lv

ProZOOO »

APPR

4

I

d >

Team a Sparco Seat with Sparco race or road Harness..."Cash-Back Applies!

Warning. Check Compliance.

All current production of Sparco CompetiUon Seats comply with tJio latest RA Homologation 8855-1999 l Some other brands do notl

'3D

PLUS ADR APPROVAL ...ON SELECTED MODELS

33

Experience Sparco at “Speedzone ...you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

APPROVED

If ●Cash-Back ^ oftef until 3C 6.03

18 June 2003

tPEEDXONE ^() DEALER NETWORK

nacesnmr-SPEEnzailE

NATKHAL RACBiG PRODUCTS

SYDNEY

TOOWOOMBA

HOBART

02.9709.4655

SYDNEY

02.9545.4431

07.4632.5850

03.6234.1044

MELBOURNE

PHILUP ISLAND

03.9703.1119

03.5956.6011

SUPER-PLUS

ISLtRD PeRFORMARCB

BANDfT MOWRGEAR

BALLARAT

BmjUUT IHBORR KARTS

03.5332.8022

GOLD COAST

/urrocRAfT

BRYCe RAOMB DBVEWPHERT

PERTH

ADELAIDE

08.9344.4444

08.8332.8811

cBwrsRAcccmnp

07.5574.6811 AUnSPORT

49

Man O' Michael Schumacher did not have the host car or tyres In Canada - hut he won his 68th Grand Prix with a cool and calculated drive. JOE SAWARD reports from Circuit Gilles VHIonouve, Montreal

w

ILLIAMS should have won the Canadian Grand Prix because the cars were faster than Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. But as Michael knows,having the fastest car is not always a guarantee of victory.

And so it proved on Sunday on the He de Notre Dame,where Michael managed to scramble ahead of his brother Ralf at the first pit stops. It would probably have been a different story if Juan Pablo Montoya had not spun on the second lap. That allowed Michael to get right up behind Ralf and once ahead, although the Ferrari was clearly not as quick, there was nothing that Ralf could do about it.

Ralf never looked like overtaking his brother and so Montoya and Fernando Alonso were able to close right up and would have finished covered by just over a second if Alonso had not lifted off at the last corner and made the gap a little bigger.

It had been close but in Canada, close is not enough.

Montreal much better On Sunday,was the weather in after a couple of days of misery and as the crowds began to gather on the He de Notre Dame,it looked like Michelin weather.

When the grid began to line up for the race Kimi Raikkonen stayed in the pitlane. McLaren had decided to go for a one stop race and so waited ready to refuel the car and change the tyres. The Jordan team obviously had a similar idea because, as the cars came round on to the grid, Ralph Firman came into pitlane for similar treatment.

At the start Alonso was

simon-iniiiiics.t

so

fractionally faster away than the three cars in front of him but there was no way he could make up any places and so the order as tlrey came out of the first corner was Ralf

Schumacher, Montoya, Michael Schumacher and Alonso. There was a small gap back to Rubens Barrichello, which had been caused because Rubens had just tagged the back of Alonso at the first corner.

The damage was done but it would take a lap to become obvious.

In the run to the back chicane Barrichello had to keep Webber at bay while Fanis, Trulli and the rest quibbled behind them. Coulthard had made a very good start and had jumped ahead of Frentzen and in the course of the first lap he also managed to scramble past Trulli.

Jamo would get into further trouble later in the lap when he had a brush with Pizzoiria, which left the Jaguar driver stopped at the hairpin.

He pitted at the end of the lap for a new nose. Tliis helped some of those further back; Villeneuve went from 14th on the grid to 11th while Justin Wilson had a massive first lap and went from 18th to 13th.

Things looked to have settled down quickly but halfway around the second lap Barrichello's front wing began to fall apart and he headed for the pits. Trulli followed him in for repairs.

At the same time down at the final chicane Montoya made a mistake and spun. It was not a clever thing to have done and Juan was kicking himself after the race. The Williams did not hit the wall but in a flash, Montoya had been overtaken by Michael Schumacher Alonso and Mark Webber.

As the two Schumacher Brothers began to duel, Montoya embarked on some damage limitation but 10 seconds had been lost and would not be made up. On the fourth lap he was able to blow past Webber, who was losing time on the straight. On lap 10 Montoya was up behind Alonso and was able to pass the Spaniard at the hairpin. There was some question as to whether this was done when a

moiorsporl news

FORMULA ONE

ver Machine n

§

a yellow flag was out but it looked as though Montoya was committed before the flags (caused by TruUi having a spin at the exit of the hairpin) were shown. The move was not in any way dangerous and a penalty would have been grossly unfair.

But from then on, Montoj'a's progress slowed. He could match the times being set by the Brothers Schumacher but he could not beat them and so the order and the position on the track remained much as it was imtil the first pits stops began. Michael was able to go one lap further than Ralf and it was quick enough to get him ahead when he reemerged from pit lane. Michael was ahead. Ralf was faster but there was nothing he could do. He would sit behind Michael for the whole of the second stint.

The second stops were a similar story and in the third stint Michael was so slow that Ralf was clearly bottled up behind him. So slow were the two Schumachers that Montoya was able to close right up in the closing laps and even Alonso was able to get within striking distance.

But while it looked good to see the cars running one behind the other there was never much chance of any overtaking.

And so Michael won an impressive and well-judged victory on a day 18 June 2003

when he should not have done, "That was an incredible race," said Jean Todt."Michael delivered a perfect performance despite suffering from brake problems for much of the race."

The team made much of the brake issue, which can be a big problem in Montreal,but there was no major mention of the tyres. The Bridgestones may have been pretty good but to the casual observer they were not as good as the Michelins.

"This is one of the best races I have ever seen," said Ross Brawn.

"Michael did a really good job controlling the race despite brake wear problems from the early stages.

We breathed a sigh of relief when we got to the chequered flag. The strategy worked well but the deciding factor was the way Michael drove."

A great race.

For Williams, there was disappointment and the feeling that if Montoya had not spun he would have stopped Michael getting close enough to Ralf to get ahead and then it would have been a straight fight between the two Williams-BMWs. "There was no way that I could overtake Michael," Ralf said.

Montoya complained that he had brake problems throughout the race and both Williams drivers were bothered by wing mirrors which

Picture Perfect: RaH Schumacher won the start, above, and controlled the race until the first round of stops. From then on. Big Brother was watching, all the way to the podium, opposite page.

Mac time. Not: Kimi Raikkonen started from the pit lane and rode a onestop strategy all the way to fifth. He lost the championship lead, though.

a broke and were flapping around.

Whatever the case, Williams was beaten when it was not expected that they would be and the team must look at the reasons it happened and figure out how to change that in the future. was a very Alonso's positivefourth result place for the tl team. One can argue that Alonso would not have been there in the leading group

if Michael had not slowed the pace and so the result flattered Renault but Alonso was there, as he so often is, and that was impressive.

Jarno Trulli's race was horrible.

The collision with Pizzonia on the first lap meant that Jarno had to pit for a new tyre. The car was behaving oddly and after a couple of laps the tyre came apart and Jarno had to

continued on page 54 51

QuaUrying

Bibeiwim Rules

T

HE miserable weather conditions in Montreal highlighted just how important is the issue of tyres this year in Formula 1.

On Friday in damp conditions Ferrari was embarrassingly dominant. The Bridgestone wet tyres were far better than those of Michelin and the session was a Bridgestone massacre, with the top four cars all running on the Japanese tyres. The session was a complex one with the intensity of the rain changing minute by minute and so there was little that could be read into it.

Rubens Barrichello was a second faster than Michael Schumacher and that just about said it all. Michael was nearly a second ahead of Nick Heidfeld in the Ferrari-engined Sauber and Ralph Firman was an impressive fourth in his Jordan, Williams was in big trouble, with Juan Pablo Montoya 12th and Ralf Schumacher 15th.

The rain persisted into Saturday morning but then it became clear that the circuit would be dry for qualifying and everything we had seen up to that point became basically irrelevant. The Michelin dry weather tyres were much better than what Bridgestone had to offer and as a result the whole grid turned upside-down.

Williams came to the top, with Ralf Schumacher taking pole position by four-tenths of a second after a neat and tidy qualifying run which no-one suspected would end up as the fastest lap. Juan Pablo Montoya decided to change his strategy at the very last minute and so went for different tyres in qualifying and as a result he made a few small mistakes on his run. But it was good enough for second place.

"It is a fantastic day for us," said senior operations engineer Sam Michael. "It was a super job, both from the drivers and from the engineers, particularly as it was effectively the first time that we had done any real dry weather running. We are very confident for the race."

After its recent victory at Monaco, the Williams team was indeed buzzing as it used to in the old days. Talk of BMW being unhappy has disappeared and

although the drivers have been very inconsistent and have perhaps not always earned their huge salaries this year, the team is suddenly looking like a force to be reckoned with. McLaren was thought to be the force to fight Ferrari this year but all too often the grey cars have not been as competitive in qualifying as perhaps they ought to have been.

M

ichael Schumacher and Barrichello were the last to run on Saturday, having been so dominant on Friday and it was almost expected that the Ferraris would sweep to pole position.

When it became obvious that once again the red cars were struggling, there was an almost audible gasp of surprise up in the Press Office. Ferrari was being blown away again.

It was not a fluke.

The Ferrari team continued to be as polite as possible about the Bridgestones but it is clear that the tyres were not in the same league as the Michelins.

Schumacher was his usual brilliant self but admitted that he nearly went off at the first corner.

But he did not and kept going to finish the lap half a second slower than his brother.

"At the moment it looks like Michelin has an advantage," Michael admitted.

Barrichello ended the session but he could do no better than fifth place after locking up his tyres and flat-spotting one as he went down to the first corner.

"The vibration was so bad that I could hardly see the track," Rubens complained. In the circumstances, fifth was not so bad.

If there was reason for the Ferrari men to be a bit depressed there was also good reason to be happy because the World Championship leader Kimi Raikkonen made a complete mess of his final qualifying run and crashed at the first corner.

He was at the back of the grid behind assorted Minardis and Jordans. And with David Coulthard 11 th on the grid McLaren was out of the picture, a shocking result when one considers that the cars are running on Michelins which were supposed to have the advantage

on Saturday.

Team boss Ron Dennis made a mammoth understatement when he said that on Sunday the team would need to use a "creative strategy". Other team members were talking about conjuring and pulling rabbits out of hats. n Coulthard was pretty depressed because he reckoned that the car was capable of lapping in the low 1m16s, which would have been good enough for fifth or sixth place on the grid.

"The car just stepped out in the final corner," David said.

"There is nothing I can do about that now and we will have to see what happens in the race but its is going to be pretty difficult from back there on the grid."

If David's position looked bad, Raikkonen's was even worse.

Overtaking in Canada is never easy and being behind the Minardis and Jordans opened up the possibility that Kimi might be held up or worse involved in an incident while trying to get through the field.

"Anything is possible," said Raikkonen rather unconvincingly.

The biggest was of probably thesurprise performance Fernando Alonso in the Renault because this is not a track at which the Renaults were expecting to achieve anything.

"In theory the track does not suit us," said Renault's Pat Symonds, "but we were able to do the dry weather testing on Friday morning and that has helped us."

Alonso had no real complaints but Jarno Trulli was four places further back in eighth, having crashed in the warm-up before qualifying. This was very bad timing because it gave the team little time to do anything. Trulli was put into the spare car which had been set up for Alonso. The qualifying lap would be Jarno's first flying lap in the car. Thus to be eighth on the grid was a pretty good job. If Jarno had not crashed the team would have been even stronger. Whether the performance could be matched in the race was another issue because Renaults have rarely raced as well as they have qualified this year.

The good performance of the Michelin men on Friday was good

news for Jaguar and Mark Webber drove a solid qualifying lap to take sixth on the grid which was a bit of a surprise for him.

"We didn't expect to be that quick," he admitted. "I am pretty happy about it. It would have been nice to have beaten one of the Ferraris but it is not bad to be disappointed when you get beaten by a Ferrari I The team has come a very long way in a very short space of time and we are very well-placed for a points finish tomorrow."

Fie was being diplomatic.

Webber's superb lap came despite the fact that the Jaguar recorded the slowest main straight top speed of all - nearly 20kph down on the Williamses and Ferraris.

J The big issue for Webber and the team remains one of ' / h; reliability. Getting FI cars to be . , reliable is not an easy thing to do particularly when testing is ‘ restricted but the team has been- j J working hard and hopes to soon i be able to get some more points '' on the board.

Antonio Pizzonia was 13th on the grid which he felt was a very good effort on a track he did'hot know. He admitted to having made a mistake,and terminal speed was only marginally better 1? than Webber's, Jeaving the Jpg ,( engineers with something of" a puzzle to consider oyernight.

V:

■I

■

%

M >

J

Mftirr

FORMULA ONE

Uw Canada Dry he Michelin domination of the qualifying continued with Olivier Panis seventh for Toyota and Cristiano de Matta ninth.

This was remarkable given that both men crashed and damaged their cars in the morning sessions. The cars were repaired and were going well. Da Matta felt that the gap to Panis was because he had lost more track time that Olivier in the morning but he was happy to have recorded his best qualifying position in his short FI career to date. Both men were keen to go for points on Sunday.

With seven of the top 10 cars on Michelins there was not much hope for the Bridgestone men other than Ferrari. The fastest of these was FleinzFlarald Frentzen and this too was a remarkable achievement as Fleinz had crashed and suffered an engine failure in the morning session. To qualify 10th after all of that was impressive.

"I am very happy with my performance," said Fleinz.

Fleidfeld too was happy as he was 12th on the grid.

"We compare pretty well to the other Bridgestone runners," he said. "I hope it rains tomorrow!"

“1“he biggest disappointment (again) was the performance of the BAR-Flondas. The cars have been gradually and rather quietly improving and the Honda engine is now right up there with the best. Reliability has been an issue and the tyres have not helped but the drivers have also not been without blame. Despite this the team still looks like an operation on the verge of a decent result.

The problem is, the same

can be said for most of the midfield these days. On their day they can almost all be dynamite. Not enough to beat the big teams but good enough to be right up there in the top five or six. It was not to be this weekend. Jacques Villeneuve was 14th having made a mistake (in both qualifying sessions) while Jenson Button made a mess of his lap and ended up 17th. It was a disappointing result.

Minardi on the other hand was having a great weekend (on the race track) although the efforts of the team were somewhat overshadowed by all the politicking in the paddock.

The cars looked good and despite not having the best Bridgestones available Jos

Verstappen was 15th and Justin Wilson was 18th. A great effort.

Jordan had looked very good in the wet on Friday with Ralf Firman fourth fastest but on Saturday in the dry both he and Giancarlo Fisichella got it wrong at the first corner and so ended up 16th and 19th on the grid.

For Eddie Jordan, who was having bad weekend because of the politicking in the paddock, it was not a good moment.

The practice,days had been a bit hit and miss because of the weather but the resulting grid was full of potential for a good race ...

And the weather forecast sounded good for S,unday.

■ -.-A

y i

Grand Prix of-k

A [Canada fJuno 14 2003

/ want a dry race: Juan Montoya and the rest of the Michelin runneits struggled in the wet on Friday but came good on Saturday, JPM backings— up Raff Schumacher for a BM\W, WiUiams t^2 ^

■L

'ii

|4 R Schumacher (D)

SJPMontoya (CO) 1 M Schi

ichor (D)

|8FAtonso{E)

I:

m cIS [ml

|2RBarrichello (BRA)

14 M Wobbor (AUS)

20 0 Panis (F)

|7JTrulli(l)

|21 C Da Malta (BRA)

10 H H Frontzon (0)

5 D Coulthard (GB) I 1;17.024 + 1.495 N Holdfoid iSauber Pelronas 1.557 i 1:17.086 ilSAPizzonli

3

m

KTO M

JayuarRaclng_ 1 1:17^37 + 1.808 ;16J Vlllonouvo (CAN) lU^y Stnke BAR Honda 1:17.347 + 1.818 Mmardi Cosworih ; 1:18.014 I- 2.465 11 G Fisichella [Jordan Ford 1:18.036 ■>●2.507 17 J Button (GB) iLy^ Strike BAR Honda ; 1:18.205 + 2.676 18 J Wilson (GB) ; Minardi Cosworth 1 1:18.^0 + 3.031 ijordan Ford + 3163 : 1:18.692 jeKRaikkonon (FIN) West McLaren Mercodes I No time

C-

m

continued from page 51 bmp back to the pits for more rubber.

The Renault men said this was caused by a broken wheel, Michelin because of a damaged valve. By then Jamo was so far back that it was all really irrelevant and then he had a spin when his traction-control went wild and in the end Jamo called it a day because the car was stiU behaving badly.

Barrichello came home in fifth place, having fought back from his early problem. He was able to outnm Raikkonen in the McLaren despite a gearbox problem,trouble with his brakes and a barge board that went

flying off halfway through the race.

Raikkonen's sixth place was the best that McLaren had to offer. Kimi was lucky in that when he had a puncture after running over debris the tyre fell apart just as he was arriving at the pitlane entry. This enabled Barrichello to get ahead of him but Raikkonen was never going to do much more. The one-stop strategy had worked to some extent.

Coulthard's race was promising early on when he made good progress but then a gearbox problem intervened and he gradually lost fourth and fifth gears. Then seventh went and it became impossible to continue.

"The pace of the car was enough to win the race," said Ron Dennis.

Perhaps, but not from the back of the grid.

retired with a couple of laps to go when he had no brakes left at all.

Olivier Panis was eighth and collected his first World

ebber came home seventh, which was a good effort given that the aerodynamic settings of the car were not good and the car was slow on the straight. However some reliability and some points was good news for Webber.

Championship point of the year.

Toyota was however less than happy as da Matta went out in the closing laps with a broken suspension.

"It has been a very encouraging weekend for us," said team boss Ove Andersson."One point may not seem much but it means a lot to us."

w

Pizzonia's race was spoiled on the first-lap when Pizzonia and Tmlli collided.

"Jarno braked very suddenly," Pizzonia said.

He had a duU race after that and

Minardi managed toinget Jos Verstappen home ninth position and with the team now apparently on the way back up this was good. Wilson was the star of the

Brakes,lyres andShod Tech Ed Paolo Filisetti details FI’s latest aero tweaks-and reveals Ferrari’s suspension

THE Montreal circuit is well-known to be the most demanding on brakes of the entire season.

The teams struggle to reduce disk consumption and overheating by using bigger air ducts and calipers, similar to Europe's hardest track on brakes, Imola.

Brembo supplied a combination of heavier brakes and pads. The first one in CCR material while the second in CDR,'D' standing for an increased density of the material that allows high friction with relatively small consumption.

Aerodynamics doesn't play a relevant role, being a circuit of medium downforce configuration. Ferrari changed its barge boards in front of the sidepods anyway, in detail reducing the surface of the outermost shield by cutting it about 1cm above the red strip placed on it. This solution, opposite top, was tested last week at Monza, as Montreal's long straight makes any drag reduction very attractive. The 2003 GA also sported slight changes to the exhausts chimneys.

Even if the changes introduced by the Italian team were little, we can see for the first time the Sachs rotating dampers used exclusively by Ferrari, right These devices sport a reduced weight of about 300 grams each, and also provide a wider range of adjustments in comparison to the previous version. Furthermore, they are placed with a slight inclination inside the gearbox, which still sports the old housing for dampers previously placed vertically inside the gearbox case.

BAR introduced small changes to the front wing keeping the wide chord flap and adding a small horizontal fin to the endplates, opposite middie.

Contact your state’s karting office for details

You're invited to be part of Australia's fastest growing motor sport

Why not see what it's all about for yourself? Attend a race meeting at your local club and talkto the drivers and crew. There are classes to suit almost everyone from 7 years to 77 -r.

Midgets 7-11 years Rookies 10-12 years r Juniors* 12-16 years in TWO weight divisions Seniors* Over 10 classes of varying power & driver weights to choose from. * Other more powerful classes available for experienced racers.

r

54

Sauber sported a low downforce configuration featuring a new front wing sporting a narrow flap with reduced surface at its extremities, opposite bottom.

fr.

\ The Australian Karting Association Inc

.'e

mt / * w

For information about karting & how to gel started call

I

■«

> »“

f

J-

7 4

J

m, austkmtmmcmn^au

NSW

02 9623 4351

VIC

03 9362 1144 www.vka.asn.au

QLD

07 3844 8507 www.akaqld.asn.au

TAS

03 6272 6848

SA

08 8242 3513

WA

08 9409 4441

http;//wwwjrach.nflJw'i»efVabwaTin(k5(.htm

NT

08 8945 2244

molorsporl news

early laps but retired after 60 laps.

British American Racing,Sauber and Jordan all failed to get a car home.

Jacques Villeneuve started well but had brake problems and when he pitted the team tried to cool things down by spraying the brakes with carbon dioxide fire extinguishers!

Jacques set off again but the brakes did not work any more and that was that. Jenson Button went out with gearbox trouble after 51 laps.

Sauber did not have a good day.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen disappeared early on after an electronic failure buzzed the Ferrari engine and the gearbox, while Heidfeld went out

with an engine failure.

"In my opinion we have had too many engine failures this season already," Heidfeld said.

Jordan's whole weekend is probably best forgotten because the political fall-out was hardly flattering and the race was a disaster. Both drivers went out on lap 21 Fisichella with a gearbox failure and Ralph Firman with an engine problem.

It had been a great race, but as Ferrari headed off in the lead in both World Championships the other teams could only ponder that they had only themselves to blame. And you cannot give away things like that to teams like Ferrari.

GLOBAL MACHIIMERY COMRAIMY

PresEnts **madel af the month 99

t Absorbers Claire

I have been modelling now for three years. Swimwear modelling for photographic and catwalk are my main source of income. I also love doing promotional work at the race tracks as I really love fast cars andfeel am lucky being able to work doing something I love. Myfavourite driver is Craig Lowndes, however I am still a Holden girl at heart. I am about to complete an Advanced Driving Course.

I am currently studying a Bachelor of Education and would like to, one-day work as a kindergarten to primary school teacher. I would love to get into television and acting and I am about to took into completing an acting course.

I have travelled all over the world starting in Asia across to London, Paris, Germany and Czechoslovakia, and have travelled to America a few times. This has all been holidays so far but my main focus is to become a full time photographic model and use this job to see the rest of the world.

Asforfitness I was a champion swimmer at the age of 15.1 became the Victorian Champion for 100m freestyle. I also enjoy the gym and running, and generally spending time outdoors.

My philosophy on life is to live each day like it is your last.

>

A

For more pictures of Claire visit www.sppromotions.com.au

Promotions!

PO Box 4052 Patterson VIC 3204 Phone/Fax 03 9557 7750

Call the GMC Help Line for the location of your nearest GMC Power Tool stockist, or to order the latest GMC catalogue GMC Help Line 1300 BOO 001 55

2003 FIA Formula One World Championship

I S

FORMU1.A1

WORLD

3

2003 Canadian Grand Prix - Ovarall Race aaMiflcatlon after 70 lapa - 305.270 kma - Provlalonal Poe. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Driver

Nat

Time Lapa 70 1:31:13.591 70 1:31:14.375 70 1:31:14.946 70 1:31:18.072 70 1:32:17.852 70 1:32:24.093 69 1:31:45.330 Jaguar Racing 69 1:31:59.794 Panasonic Toyota Racing 68 1:31:54.700 European Minardi Cosworth 66 1:30:02.795 Jaguar Racing 64 1:25:12.721 Panasonic Toyota Racing Not Oassified GBR European Minardi Cosworth 60 1:21:03.275 51 GBR Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1:08:24.317 GBR West McLaren Mercedes 47 1:02:33.732 GER Sauber Petronas 47 1:03:09.347 ITA 'Mild Seven Renault FI Team 22 0:33:16.893 ITA Jordan Ford 20 0:26:46.535 IRL Jordan Ford 20 0:27:11.641 CAN Lucky Strike BAR Honda 14 0:19:42.804 GER Sauber Petronas 6 0:08:23.838 GER GER COL ESP BRA HN AUS FRA NED BRA BRA

1 Michael Schumacher 4 Ralf Schumacher 3 Juan Pabio Montoya Fernando Alonso 2 Rubens Barrichello 6 KimI RSIkkdnen 14 Mark Webber 20 Olivier Panis 19 Jos Verstappen 15 Antonio Pizzonla 21 Cristiano Da Matta 18 Justin Wilson 17 Jenson Button 5 David Coulthard 9 Nick Heidfeld 7 Jamo Trulli 11 iGlancarlo Rslcbella 12 'Ralph Rrman 16 Jacques Villeneuve 10 Heinz Harald Frentzen

Entrant

Gap

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro BMW WllllamsFl Team BMW WililatroFl Team Mild Seven Renault FI Team Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro West McLaren Mercedes

00.784 01.355 04.481 64.261 70.502 1 LAP ILAP 2 LAPS DNF DNF

00.571 03.126 59.780 06.241 1 LAP 14.464 1 LAP

DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF

W

Beat

200.777 200.748 200.727 200.612 198.447 198.223 196.767 196.252 193.586 191.784 196.524

1:16.378 1:16.599 1:16.349 1:16.040 1:16.368 1:16.699 1:17.592 1:17.904 1:18.521 1:17.324 1:17.787

46 48 39 53 35 67 45 40 38 54 38

193.691 195.082 196.572 194.725 172.964 195.446 192.439 185.824 186.960

1:18.039 1:17.562 1:17.088 1:17.769 1:18.696 1:17.186 1:19.453 1:19.780 1:20.043

42 22 23 44 16 20 18 6 3

Fastest Lap [ 8 I Fernando ^~on^

I ESP [ Mild Seven RenaulTFl t^m' ] 1:16.040 on jap 53

I 206.465~

Drivers' Points: M. Schumacher 54, Raikkonen 51, Alonso 34, R. Schumacher 33, Barrichello and Montoya 31, Coulthard 25, Trulli 13, Fisichella 10, Button 8, Frentzen 7, Webber 6, Da Matta and Villeneuve 3, Firman, Heidfeld and Panis 1.

Constructors' Points: Ferrari 85, McLaren/Mercedes Benz 76, Williams.BMW 64, Renault 47, BAR/Honda and Jordan/Ford 11, Sauber/Petronas 8, Jaguar Cosworth 6, Toyota 4.

Grand Prix of Canada

WORLD

Positions lap by lap

June 15 2003 Grid Position/Driver

Nat Car

1

Raif Schumacher

GER iWilliams

2 Juan Pablo Montoya

COL Williams

3 Michael Schumacher

GER I Ferrari

4 Fernando Alonso

ESP j Renault BRA I Ferrari

6 Mark Webber

AUS 'Jaguar

7 Olivier Panis

FRA jToyota

9 Cristiano Da Malta 10 Helnz-Harakj Frentzen 11 David Coulthard

!gER iSauber I ! iGBR [McLaren jGER iSauber

13 Antonio Pizzonla

iJaguar i[BRA i I

15 Jos Verstappen 16 Glancarlo Fisichella

T i i-

r A

I ITA 'Renault I BRA iToyota

12 Nick Heidfeld

14jjaoques Villeneuve

iW

j

5 Rubens Barrichello

Jarno Trulli

M

I

[CAN I BAR

1 INED iMInardi I

i ITA iJordan

I

I7

HOni

7i

*■ i/j

I

h

/

!

t ;

1

I

I

1

!

;

T

j™

1

V l®1

)

i!

I

7

I

7

I

f

i

T I

1

m

I

Q PH stop Q Lapped

|5^ i —i w n ]60L_@1 i /T^ , 1 I

1

i'

I

failure

[3^ , n f45l I Vr'fi H I l H

f

I rw I

JM

I

i

'

'

i

& /

i

J

/

r

■®/ i

J

I

9 10 11 12 13

/

14 15 16

17 Jenson Button

GBR BAR

17

18 Justin Wilson

GBR Minardi

18

19 Ralph Firman

IRL

Jordan

19

20 Kimi Raikkonen

FIN

McLaren

20 motorspon news

1

FORMULA ONE

Mark Webber's Canadian Diary A

SOLID result was what we needed after going home with our tails between our legs at Monaco and that's what we got although it was in some ways a difficult day.

We have a very good car in qualifying/fresh tyre trim, but still a way to go in terms of converting that into a more competitive race package.

Canada was typical from that viewpoint, but to finish 'best of the rest' and grab some more points was a satisfying end to the weekend.

The race itself kept me busy in the cockpit, although I was rarely in close company with other cars, managing a number of issues as we went along - rear tyre and braking degradation in particular. “riday morning's two-hour session had allowed us to make an early tyre choice. The track in Montreal is very, very green and we opted quite quickly for the softer of our two options. With rain coming just a few laps into the first official session, most of the other teams had to make a choice based upon existing information.

We had a car that was wellbalanced on fresh rubber at this point, although it seemed as though rear tyre life might be a problem.

In the meantime, though, the rain came and stayed for Friday's qualifying session. Although we

had carried out a bit of a comparison between the shallow wets and the full wets late in the earlier session, there was no doubt about choice for qualifying - it was pouring. And on this occasion the Michelins played second fiddle. In the end, ninth was almost a surprise.

W

e did some further wet weather work on Saturday morning, but the Montreal weather made it all academic as a dry line emerged well before final qualifying. This time, the tyre balance swung completely the other way, with the Michelin very much the better option in the green track conditions.

My lap was pretty clean, including a very strong first sector and P6 was a big boost for the team - I'd thought we might struggle to keep ninth. Of concern, though, were the

terminal speed figures for the long straight in the final sector, where we were the slowest car.

We had a reasonable amount of aero on the car, but even so, this wasn't quite what our pre-race simulations back in the factory had suggested would be the case.

Anyway, given that there are virtually no adjustments that can be made between qualifying and the race, we were going to have to live with it.

was pleased with my reaction time at the start and the car launched very well. Olivier Panis also got away well, but was boxed behind Rubens Barrichello. I had a look inside the Ferrari at turn two, but it wasn't really on, so we emerged in grid order, Rubens contacted the rear end of Fernando Alonso's Renault at the hairpin

"Montreal is very tough on brakes and we were one of many to struggle a little in that area in the second half of the race it

- Webber(below with Jaguar Racing engineer Nick Harris) Redjonr' Motor\port

and had to stop for a front wing anyway - the team switching him to a one-stop strategy at the same time.

I pushed on as much as possible, but the rears did become an issue - illustrated after the first stop when, despite a fuel load, there was a string of fastest laps, due solely to the fresh rear rubber. The fronts were fine - in fact we didn't change them for the entire race.

Montreal is very tough on brakes and we were one of many to struggle a little in that area in the second half of the race. I backed off quite a bit over the late laps to make sure of finishing, but was able to maintain a gap back to Panis's Toyota.

Still, as I said, overall reliability £ was an important thing for us here and it was a very, very instructive day for the team in many areas. We learned heaps which is what it's all about at present. Given how far we've come in a short time. I'm happy with the result, but will keep pushing for gains.

We get an opportunity to do that and undertake more valuable testing this week, with three days at Silverstone.

Antonio is scheduled to do the first two days and I take over for the third. There's plenty to do. but the morale and enthusiasm for the task is high at Jaguar Racing these days and there's plenty to come from us in the second half of the season.

Carrying tin

Not everything may have gone to plan for Cody Crocker in Queensland, but the Subaru driver dug in and delivered a win for a team still coming to terms with the loss oftheir spearhead.

JON THOMSON reports

Auagy, , /

T

HERE was a look of enormous relief on Cody Crocker's face as he climbed from his Subaru Impreza on the victory ramp at Caloundra's Kings Beach at the end of Rally Queensland.

Crocker and the Subaru team had gone through enormous pain in the weeks since the passing of Possum Bourne and the win in Queensland did not come easily, with some niggling problems and concerted attacks from the opposition.

Victory did come however,and it was a sweet one for the 31-year-old Melbourne driver along with co driver Greg Foletta, the pair taking both heats after some torrid driving in the rollercoaster forests around Imbil in tlie Sunshine Coast hinterland.

"It is great after all the team has been tlarough in the last few weeks to come here and win," said Cody on the podium.

"There were plenty of attacks and a few gear selection problems, but we had less problems than the others in the end and that has given us the win.

"We are pretty rapt with the car, it's gone almost perfectly. It's a tribute to the guys because they do such a good job preparing the car and then we don't have failures.

"That's why we are up there and why it's so good to do the work that they do. It's full credit to them."

It was a rally marked by carnage, as many competitors succumbed to mechanical failure or crashes as the hot pace took its toll.

Crocker came under intense pressure in Heat 1 from Simon Evans, who led for the opening five stages on Day 1 before a gear selection problem gave Crocker the opening he needed.

On Sunday, Scott Pedder led for five stages until a badly-noted dip saw him spear off into a tree and handing the lead to Ed Ordynski, only to have Crocker catch and pass him in the final three stages to finish 10.3s in front on Heat 2.

The fact that Crocker withstood the pressure and focussed on the task of completing the difficult stages unscathed underlined his enormous ability and proved how difficult he 58

it - .

will be to beat in this year's title.

However it is still early days, with plenty more battles ahead in the title and a rapidl- improving opposition to contend with.

Evans again showed enormous speed, but mechanical failures were his Achilles Heel. The privateer Subaru nmner was only 5.5s behind Crocker going into the final forestry stage on Saturday and in a position to take the fight to Crocker in the final two tests on the tarmac at the Noosa

hillclimb.

The fire of battle was doused in the final forest test when Evans discovered the selector had not been fitted properly, creating more headaches and a time loss of over a minute.

Evans was in a position to win early on Sunday as well until similar problems struck, eventually delivermg an early shower after the penultimate stage.

"Anotl'ier bloody 20 cent part," Evans said showing a nylon lock washer in his hand."When it all comes together and we don't have any problems we wUl win one of these."

The Ralliart factory team showed the benefits of its intense development program, with Ordynski and Spencer Lowndes both putting in strong performances.

Ordynski finished a close second to Crocker on Sunday and was only seconds behind Herridge to take fourth on Sahirday, giving him second overall for the round.

Keeping it in the family: Crocker is congratulated by ex-Possum Bourne co-driver Mark Stacey after the Queensland win.

The Lancers looked more settled and within themselves on the demanding Queensland forestry tracks, and had it not been for a dousing in a troublesome creek crossing on Saturday, they may have been even more competitive.

"We've been competitive here, especially on Sunday - and that's very pleasing," Ordynski said.

"This is a very demanding event with little margin for error, there were lots of rocks being exposed on the road with the many passes over the same stages.".

"You'd come over a five crest with the nose in the air and you couldn't see the road, only to land with big rocks on the road. It is amazing that the car stood up to it so well, but we are much closer to the pace than we were and that will only get better."

Lowndes was thwarted by a number of problems including getting caught in the dust behind Neal Bates's Corolla that was struggling in two-wheel drive.

Lowndes was in the top three until the delay but couldn't recover the time lost in the dust.

A crash late in the day after a misheard pace note call saw him fail to finish.

On Sunday,a drowning in a ford saw him drop three minutes after having to stop and wring the foam air

cleaner out and dry the plugs to get the car going again before fighting on to take fifth behind Kangas.

Pedder brothers Scott and Mark took out fifth and sixth respectively on Saturday, Scott battling rear differential and vicious coupling problems in his Group N Evo VI. Mark,on the other hand,had a relatively smooth run as he continues to gain pace in his Evo VI. Sunday was more pleasing for Scott as he grabbed the early lead before his pace note mishap,while Mark was eighth, taking fifth overall for the weekend and top privateer for the rally.

Toyota came away from Queensland with little joy, with a myriad of problems illustrating how far the Bates team has to go to gain competitiveness and reliability from the Group N prototype Corolla.

It was a character-building rally for Toyota, with Neal struggling to eighth on Day 1 and Rick getting an early shower after both suffered numerous power steering problems.

Rick did not restart on Sunday and Neal retired early, leaving the team with plenty to do aheacd of Sydney.

Driveshaft problems meant Neal spent much of Saturday in tw'o-wheel drive before the same problem put him out on Sunday.

"I think we've made some big molorsport news

RALLYING

9 iight

i

Fighting back: The factory Ralliart cars are showing signs of recovery with both Ordynski, above, and Lowndes performing well. And the privately-entered EVOs were just as dangerous, particularly at the hands of Scott Redder, below.

14Pmm

9s II jettfCiOH

on Thomson

improvements and without the drive shaft failure we could have finished

brake line off and sidelined him on

sixth behind Ed," explained Neal.

"Looking at the split times we were as quick as Cody on the faster stages, but we lost out on the twisty stuff and there is a lot of that here.

Saturday. On Sunday,the Finn came home in fourth behind Dean Herridge.

Herridge quietly toiled away, overcoming a few niggling problems to take a second and third to give him third for the weekend and ensure he

"I'd love to be doing better but it's going to be a very big job to get the Corolla onto an even level with the

is second in the title heading to the Sydney rotmd.

F16 was a non-event as a class at

Lancer and Impreza,so I'm not at all disappointed with the current results."

The Toyota team had not fitted all of the allowances made to them

this event, with not nearly enough starters or finishers as the category looks to be struggling for critical mass. Mark Neary's local Suzuki Baleno took the class for the weekend.

before this event with a waste gate actuator still to come,and there will be a lot of hard work ahead.

Juha Kangas did not come to grips with the forest tracks around Imbil and a puncture on stage three ripped a

The Championship now heads to the Central Coast north of Sydney in three weeks Hme for the Premier State Rally, where the battle will resume in the Watagan Forests.

I

!

HEAT1 1, Crocker/Foletta 2. Evans/Evans 3. Herridge/Macneal 4. Ordynski/Stewarl 5. S. Pedder/Humm 6. M. Pedder/Feaver

y / ®iKr > n

-

Subaru 1:26.17.4 Subaru +1.02.0 +6.2 Subaru Mitsubishi +3.8 Mitsubishi +1.08.7 Mitsubishi +1.23.9

!

X-SUBARU

i

HEAT 2 1. Crocker/Foletta 2. Ordynski/Stewart 3. Herridge/Macneal 4. Kangas/Rabbett 5. Lowndes/Randall 6. Thompson/Thompson

1:11.56.3 +10.3 +28.7 +21.5 +33.0 +1.05.6

Points: Crocker 82. Herridge 44, Evans 42, Ordynski 38, Lowndes 38, Kangas 32, S Pedder 24 Manufacturers: Subaru 206, Mitsubishi 154, Toyota 58

ARC Round 2 Rally Queensland 18 lune 2003

Round 3- Austialian Rally Championships Super Series Come and see...

SUBARU, MtTSUBISHI & TDYOTA

Battle for Rally Supremacy Includes: ^ Ceremonial Start w Two Super Special Stages -1 Gravel /1 Tarmac W Australian Rally Championships Service Park w Rally Action Under Lights w Rally Info; www.rally.com.au

j omr& <m/mmc high speed \ HALLY hAcnoN p

Eastern Creek International Raceway Friday 4th July 2003from 6.00pm Corporate Hospitality Suites available Email: phil@ardc.com.au or kdm@ozemail.com.au

More Rally Action - Wyong, Watagan State Forest Saturday 5th July and Sunday 6th July 2003 from 8.00am 59

After some near-misses Markka Martin scored his maiden WRC victory with a devastating win in Greece. JON THOMSON reports

A

COMBINATION of speed, newly-found reliability and pure determination has delivered Marko Martin his first World Rally Championship victory on the toughest and roughest round in this year's World title.

The quietly-spoken Estonian has had his foot in the door of WRC success for the last few months,taking the revolutionary Ford Focus to a challenging position on its first two events in New Zealand and Argentina. Now he has finally shoved the door open in Greece witli an allthe-way win.

The win was the first for any Estonian in a WRC round and is a strong reward for the faith Ford rally

boss Malcolm Wilson placed in young talent.

Ironically, it was one of the Veterans that Wilson had spurned in favour of his youth team that chased him home. Carlos Sainz again proved to be the leading light for Citroen, finishing one step down from the hard-charging Martin.

Until part-way through the first day the Fords, with their new BP/Castrol sponsor livery, were first and second and young Belgian Francois Duval looked to be capable of delivering a 1-2 for Ford. But that wasn't,to be.

Martin was pursued by first Marcus Gronholm and then Harri Rovanpera but withstood everything Peugeot could throw at him and

My Fav

finally showed that the new Focus is both fast and reliable. ' Martin maintained a relentless pace over tlie final day,extending his lead while Sainz and Fetter Solberg squabbled over the podium positions before mechanical problems and the dusty terrain took a hand to resolve the fight on the last stage.

"I'm happy it's finally happened. It took a while," said the ecstatic Martin at the finish.

He revealed that he had nearly thrown tlie rally away on the first stage of the final loop of three stages when he mis-heard a pace note. If that wasn't enough,he also had the bomiet fly open on the longest stage of the rally on Day 1 but managed to recover in the best possible way.

taking the lead on SS2 and leading to the finish.

"I thought maybe we weren't going to win this event when the bormet flew up,I just tliought,'Oh no, here we go again'. But we managed to minimise the time loss and here we are, winners.

Wilson said he knew the team had a good car up its sleeve and was sure Martin was capable of delivering the win.

"I think Markko has been more composed here. Day 2 was crucial, tliat's when he won it," said Wilson.

Going into the final loop of three stages,Solberg looked to be bestplaced to take second. He had shown better pace on the first run than Sainz; after the first of the three stages, he New look, new result; Markko Martin delivered on his recent promising form to score his breakthrough WRC win in Ford's stunning new Focus. Wonder what Colin and Carlos are thinking now?

nn 5

ACROPOLIS WRC

upite Martin was almost five seconds ahead of the Spaniard.

However,fate intervened in the form of Sainz's team-mate,Colin McRae who was running immediately ahead of Solberg on the road.

On the penultimate stage the Citroen's electronic throttle started to misbehave,causing the car's engine to badly misfire, costing tlie Scot 2m32s. With the slow Citroen alread, Solberg had to contend with blinding dust.

●s Young gun: Fetter Solberg, above, ended the rally "pissed off" with Colin McRae after being caught in the Citroen's dust on the penultimate stage.

Mr Burns: Championship leader Richard Burns, below, salvaged more points but is yet to win a WRC event in two seasons with Peugeot.

In the Clio Lane: Brice Tiirabassi, bottom, took Junior WRC honours.

In the process he spun twice, going off the road at one point and damaging the front right corner of the car. If that wasn't enough,Solberg "gained McRae's attention" by hitting the back of the Citroen. It enabled Solberg to get past but by then second place was lost to Sainz.

Just seven seconds separated Sainz from Solberg at the end of the rally, a gap that made the young Norwegian

livid.

"I tried my best. I'm happy but disappointed at tlie same time," said Solberg.

"I'm pissed off about Colin; that's when we lost second. From my point of view, you try so hard the whole rally and then it evaporates."

For Citroen, it was anotlier critical points-gathering mission by Sainz, who continues to show a revitalised approach to rallying since joining the French manufacturer.

"It was a good result for us and the team. I'm quite pleased. The first day we stmggled a bit with the road position and personally I struggled a bit with tyre choice, but I don't think we could have done better, Marko was very fast here," said Sainz.

Behind the fight for third, Tommi Makinen had a major battle on his hands as he attempted to keep Richard Burns at bay. In the end Makinen failed by almost six seconds.

It was an extraordinary effort by Bums as he kept the Peugeot running at a strong pace for the whole of the

final leg witliout second gear. Burns may not have won a rally for Peugeot yet, but this spirit and commihnent is winning favour with the team's management.

"I'm very happy; to get to the finish with the problems we had is better than I expected. It's great to get five points out of this after disastrous start," said Burns.

Hard Rovanpera mounted tlie strongest diallenge on Martin, chipping away at Iris lead on Day 2 only to be delayed by similar gearbox problems to those experienced by Bums. Rovenpera dropped down the order and would finish in sixth after a strong final day charge.

Closing out the points scoring positions, McRae got scant reward for his efforts.

"I'm disappointed," said the Acropolis winner for the last three years.

"It was a heU of an effort for just one point,specially when there was a problem on the first day. Markko deserved it though."

Didier Auriol brought the Skoda Octavia home behind McRae. Skoda has now scored points on every round of tliis year's Championship, albeit with a car whicli is receiving no development pending the introduction of the Fabia.

Tl-ie 1600 class was won by Frencliman Simon Jean-Joseph's Renault but the former Ford pilot was not entered for the Junior series so Brice Trrabassi in another Renault took tlie JWRC points.

The result has again showed the interesting aspects of the new points system, with Burns increasing his Championship lead to five points over Sainz. Gronholm is a couple of points adrift in third with Martin fourth seven points further back.

Peugeot has an 11 point lead over Citroen in the makes series with Ford 23 points behind as the title moves to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus next week.

Ford Focus RS Evo III 1 Marko Martin/Martin Park Est/GB Citroen Xsara X4 2 Carlos Sainz/Marc Marti E/E Nor/GB 3 Patter Soiberg/Phillip Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 4 Richard Burns/Robert Reid GB/GB Peugeot 206 WRC Fin/Fin 5 Toirrmi Makinen/Kaj Lindstrom Subaru ImprezaWRC Rn/Fin 6 Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen Peugeot 206 WRC 7 Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi F/F Peugeot 206 WRC Citroen Xsara X4 GB/GB 8 Colin McRae/Derek Ringer Drivers Championship points: Burns 37, Sainz 32, Gronholm 30, Martin 23, Solberg 19, C McRae 18, Duval 9.

Manufacturers Championship points: Peugeot 73, Citroen 62, Ford 39, Subaru 37, Skoda 20, Hyundai 3,

4h53m40,5s 4h54m26.5s 4h54m33.2s 4h55m47.1s 4h55m52.8s 4h57m25.2s 4h57m34.8s 4h57m55.5s

Results WRC Round I Acropolis Rally 18 June 2003

61

Hooroo to the Ji

HOLDEN will run three Rodeos in the 2003 Australian Safari.

Tlie Holden Rally team will retire its Jackaroos, which have done such sterling service in the event in the past, in favour of rumiing the Japanese-built Space Cab pickups in

Ijaa/o/

Ford WRC gets BP FORD has signed a deal with petroleum giant BP. Its Focus WRC Evos will carry new livery for the remaining rounds of the championship, with BP on the car of Frangois Duval and Stephane Prevot and its premium oil brand, Castrol, on the Acropolis-winning entry of Markko Martin/Michael Park.

The team's third entry, the privately-funded car of Mikko Flirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen, will retain its existing 'Ford' livery.

"Our radically new Focus RS World Rally Car captured the

the event, which will start and finish in Bathurst on August 23-30.

Bruce Garland, who will prepare the cars in his workshop, will drive

imagination of the public on its first two rallies, both with its looks and its speed," said dost Capito, Director of Ford Team RS. "We have three of the brightest young drivers in the sport in our line-up and I believe that Ford and BP can confidently look ahead to successful times together."

Coincidently, Castrol last partnered Ford in 1979 when Bjorn Waldegard's Ford Escort RSI 800 carried the company's colours to victory in the Acropolis rally.

Skoda goes Absolutely Fabla

SKODA is going to park its refrigerator and debut the new Fabia WRC,left, on the Rally Deutschland at the end of next month.

Tlie Czech Republic-based manufacturer had plamied to run new car, which replaces the slab-sided Octavia,for the final four rounds of the season but will now fast-track development for a July tarmac debut.

"Tlie development of this car is not over yet at all but the testing in real rally conditions will generate even greater progress," said Skoda Auto Chairman, Vratislav Kulhanek, at the Brno International Motorshow.

"This is a very special day for Skoda Auto and Skoda Motorsport. The new Fabia WRC is a key part of our strategic plan for tlie next three years. As already confirmed during our initial testing, the car holds a great potential.

"We do not expect nairades immediately but I am sure that within the next three years the team, the Skoda brand and our many enthusiastic fans will benefit from this global project."

Because of the earlier than expected debut of the car, the team has scrapped plans to run Didier Auriol and Toni Gardemeister on the Rallye Bohemia,Skoda's home round of the European Rally Championship.

S ■4.

;* >4 S V

EARIS

NOBODY PLUMBS

pmm/iAHcs tmaoucTs

Hose - Braided Rubber, Braided Teflon Rubber, Hose Ends, Adaptors, Oil Coolers, Separators 'P' Clamps, In-line Filters, Quick Discannects, Radiatar Necks, Lockwire, Tape and much more. Earl's has Australia's biggest range.

WINNERS WORLDWIDE RELy ON EARL'S

Distributed throughout Australia by EARL'S PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD 12 Stanley Street, Silverwater, NSW 2128 Australia Phone: (02) 9748 6011 Fax: (02) 9748 6241 Email: earls@ozemail.com.au Call in on our website at www.earls.com 62

: 9 C3CS

Teflon is a trade ma rk of dupun.

ciP cw li'.

Oil »* motorsport news

RALLY NEWS

ackaroo DR plays down one of the cars, while Peter Brock is likely to drive another with a third driver yet-to-be-named.

The cars are likely to be mechanically similar to the Jackaroos, ensuring reliabUty.

RODEO

WRC 'crisis'

DAVID Richards has denied that ISC,the company that he controls and which holds the commercial rights to World Rallying, is in financial strife.

This is despite the heavy staff cuts and a likely reduction in services the company provides, a factor that could mean ISC would breach agreements with the WRC teams and organisers.

ISC has signalled that it will cease to provide tracking of rally cars to organisers and teams later this year. Richards maintains that this service exceeded the requirements of contracts with organisers and the Manufacturers' marketing agreement. There have been

rumours that organisers are contemplating legal action.

Richards admits that the investment climate is currently much harsher than when he bought the company from Bernie Ecclestone and that the company needed to concentrate on its principal aim of improving and selling the WRC TV package.

"We're going to show you that we're the only sport expanding," said Richards. "It's a slow burn. Three years ago, it was very, very easy. If you look at all the TV sports, they're all cutting. You've got to cut your coat according to your cloth."

-JON THOMSON

How I spent my Wonder

Ford's IS-year-old WRC SuperFinn ONE of the standout performances in the Acropolis Rally was from an 18-year-old Fiimish schoolboy who took his one-year-old Ford Focus to 10th outright in a stirring drive.

Finland's newest rallying sensation Jari-Matti Latvala earned himself an extra drive in a Focus WRC in preparation for his first appearance on his home WRC round,the Neste Rally Finland.

Latvala not only became the youngest-ever works-supported driver at World Championship level on the Acropolis, but was in only his second rally in a Focus WRC.He had another crack in last

weekend's Scottish Rally and will get a better idea of what rallying in Finland is like in summer something he hasn't experienced when he contests the Exide Rally less than a month before the Rally Finland.

His next WRC appearance will be on tarmac,on the Deutschland Rally.

-JON THOMSON

CARLOS Sainz says he will retire at the end of the season if he is not successful in gaining a drive with Citroen, Peugeot, Ford or Subaru tor next year.

The 41-year-old has a one-year contract with Citroen for this year and negotiations with at least two of the top teams concerning a contract for next season are currently underway.

Sainz is currently second in the championship but maintains nothing has been sorted for 2004.

FIA acts to limit JWRC costs IT is no surprise to many that the World Rally Championship's burgeoning Junior Championship is coming under intense pressure from spiralling costs and the FIA wants to take action to halt it.

The FIA is set to introduce new regulations to regulate the costs.

JWRC Co-ordinator Ninni Russo admits that the real cost of a new Super 1600 car is around $300,000 Australian, not the intended $200,000.

Russo supports more limits on the number of tyres. Flowever he is wary of a Ford proposal to seal engines so that they would have to be used for two or three rallies because it would also pose problems for teams renting out cars to different drivers for different championships.

When 80 tyres is just enough

He looks younger than Rick Kelly!

Jari-Matti Latvala is obviously a young man to keep an eye on. sutton-imnges.com

18 June 2003

Carlos wants top spot in 2004

TFIE FIA is looking to limit tyres for the WRC proper from next year in an effort to drive down costs.

Discussions have been held with Michelin and Pirelli that could see works drivers limited to 80 tyres per rally, or 80 multiplied by the number of drivers per manufacturer. Pirelli favours the first option, Michelin the second.

In more sweeping changes, there is a chance that drivers will be allowed just one tread pattern for each loose-surface rally in 2005 rather than the current two. As well, the minimum tread area for tarmac rallies could be increased from 17 percent to 25 percent, making dryweather tyres more effective in the wet.

The Monte Carlo is likely to be excluded from this rule because of the potential mix of snow and dry tarmac.

Pirelli is keen to ban ATS and EMI, the foam inserts that keep tyres inflated despite punctures.

-JON THOMSON 63

Clashing bloi Next week on Judge Judy

FOLLOWING its withdrawal of factory support to Bill Davis Racing, Dodge Motorsports has filed a lawsuit against Davis for breach of contract.

The action was triggered after Davis took a NASCAR Toyota Truck fitted with a Dodge engineto the Lockheed windtunnel and accepted a retainer from Toyota for chassis and body development of the anticipated 2004 Tundra racing truck.

“Bill Davis Racing firmly

believes that it has not breached the DaimilerChrysler agreement and there is no justifiable reason for DaiinlerChrysler asserting a claim,” commented Davis.

Davis will continue to run the Dodge marque for the remainder of 2003 while assisting Toyota.

Whether Davis will run a Toyota Truck in 2003 has not been determined, although it looks likely.

Ganassi Racing has also been linked to the Toyota program.

- MARTIN D CLARK

te

IT sounds like driver trading in Champ Car or the IRL,but Christian Fittipaldi has replaced John Andretti at the wheel of the Petty Dodge.

Andretti was released from Petty Enterprises on June 10, ending a fiveyear tenure in a surprise move a day after he tested at a Virgmia circuit with Petty.

Andretti, along with Dale Earnhardt Jr, was one of the last to sign contracts for 2003, Andretti's deal hinging on whether he could run the 2003 Indy 500 - which Petty eventually agreed to, but John couldn't find a ride for.

Andretti sat 33rd in points exiting Pocono. The highest he's finished in the standings is 11th in 1999, with one win and seven top fives during the span of 200 races with Petty.

"We feel like where we are right now it's time for a change," said seven-time champ Richard Petty.

Fittipaldi was hired by the Pettys last year to run a third team,but a lack of sponsorship dampened tlieir efforts, although he did run 41st at Phoenix last year after wrecking,38th at Texas in March,agam crashing wliile subbing for tlie injured Kyle

Petty, and 35th at Daytona in an Andy Petree-entered Chevy.

"Speed and Fittipaldi go together," continued King Richard."He knows how to run fast and we look forward to seeing what Christian can do week in and week out."

The nephew of Emerson started his fourth Cup race on Smrday at Michigan, qualifying 36tli and coming home 35tli. Fitti, right, will rmi the remaining events of 2003 in the famous 43 Dodge, but will drive the number 44 in four races at tlie end of the season as a deal had already been inked with a sponsor for those events in a third Petty entry.

- MARTIN D CLARK

Busch

ja Martin D Clark

Back in circulation DEFENDING Winston Cup Champ Tony Stewart visited victory lane for the first time in 2003 with a win at Pocono on June 8.

Stewart's Joe Gibbs crew had him off pit road first during a caution on lap 153 of 200 and held off Mark Martin for the win under the fifth and final caution.

Pole sitter Jimmie Johnson headed the first 30 tours, which were eventful as Jeff Gordon had a tyre roll off the left front wheel on lap two, possibly due to low air pressure. He pitted without losing a lap.

Just six laps later Ken Schrader hit the wall in turn one in a dramatic accident from which he emerged unscathed.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the lead from Johnson,and Elliott Sadler and Sterling Marlin then took turns up front tlirough pit stops and the second yellow flag for Dale Jarrett, 84

who slamimed the wall backwards.

Caution flag three uncoUed on lap 153 when Ricky Rudd broke a transmission in his Wood Bros Ford.

Stewart's Monte Carlo emerged ahead of then-leader Marlin off pitroad and held off Martin's Roush through a .caution flag for Kurt Busch,who blew a tyre and littered the track with debris, leaving a four lap shoot-out to the chequers.

On the final restart Stewart had the field covered, with Kenseth running third and looking like the only possible change in the top five.

However Terry Labonte tagged Jeff Green on the backstretch, sending the DElChev into the inside wall hard uncoiling a yellow flag that would end the race under caution.

- MARTIN D CLARK Final result Stewart(Chevy), Martin (Ford), Kenseth (Eoird),Earnhardt Jr.(Chevy), Newman(Diodge), Marlin (Dodge),T Labonte(Chevy), W Burton(Dodge),Sadler (Ford), Qaven(Pontiac).

motorsport news

NASCAR

idlines

Rusty goes Busch RUSTY Wallace is in the throes of putting together a Busch Series team for 2004, possibly for his son Stephen who made his Late Model Stock debut on June 14 at Hickory Speedway in North Carolina.

Rusty is hinting at retiring at the end of 2005, so it's possible that if Stephen is up to speed he could replace his father at the wheel of Penske Dodge or maybe even Toyota at the start of 2006.

\

Dude, there’s your car JOE Gibbs Racing has collected the chassis and engine from the Tony Stewart car that NASCAR impounded at the Texas Speedway in March when it discovered that the body did not conform to their templates during post race scrutiny. The body, however, has been retained by NASCAR. Apparently ,the car was not shown to Toyota officials as had been previously rumoured, and has been kept under lock and key in NASCAR’s Research and Development Center, but underwent a full body digital scan.

“We have been In possession of the car for 10 weeks" said Winston Cup director John Darby.

“I think that pulling the car from their inventory and the cost of one of these bodies, at the end of the day the penalty is pretty severe.”

- MARTIN D CLARK

Vanishing Hooters KURT Busch became the first driver to win three races this year with a victory over pole-sitter Bobby Labonte on Sunday at the two mile Michigan speedway.

"This was a one-in-a-million shot at giving Ford its 100th anniversary victory today," said Busch,who took the lead from Jeff Gordon with 24 laps remaining."We'd been adjusting the car for the short runs and the compromise you have to make here,and that allowed us to stay out front."

A rash of cautions kept the first half and the end of the 200 lap race competitive. It was deja-vu for Ken Schrader, who was the first car eliminated from the field when he was nudged in the side by Steve Park on lap two, sending him into Ricky Rudd and wiping the pair out.

The early racing was intense. Tony Stewart led Sterling Marlin, Ryan Newman,Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who all took turns up front. But then Newman hit trouble.

"We popped a motor and it was one heck of a fire," said Newman,who blew a Penske Dodge engine in a big way while running third on lap 37 in what has been a win-or-bust year thus far for him.

"1 had trouble breathing when I let off the fire extinguisher and the fire was really hairy."

Marlin stretched out to an almost seven second advantage through green flag pit stops around three quarter distance, the field becoming strung out before the sixth yeUow flag for debris on lap 158. Marlin came off pit road in second,sandwiched between Jeff Gordon and Ricky Craven, but he slipped to 14th as the pack came up to speed on the restart and never gained the momentum to become a factor in winning.

Stewart crowded Greg Biffle into the wall to bring out another caution that involved a luckless Craven, who rear-ended the stressed Biffle, then a tenthplaced Todd Bodine whacked the wall to leave a five-lap shoot.

- MARTIN D CLARK Final result; Busch (Ford), B Labonte (Chevy),J Gordon (Chevy), Kenseth (Ford), Waltrip (Chevy), Marlin (Dodge), Earnhardt Jr.(Chevy), Stewart(Chevy), Martin (Ford),T Labonte (Chevy).

Points standings; Kenseth 2775, Earnhardt Jr. 2090,J Gordon 2052, B Labonte 1998, Busch 1933, Waltrip 1900,Johnson 1853, R Wallace 1798, Marlin 1783, Martin 1740,

18 lune 2003

HOOTERS has pulled the plug on its sponsorship with Brett Bodine Racing.

"We are clearly disappointed in the performance of the team, both this season and last," said a Hooters representative.

"We respect and like Brett and want to see him succeed, but it does not make business sense to pour money into a marketing venture that is not getting exposure on race days."

Bodine, below, is the sole remaining owner/driver in Cup. He cut back to a part-time schedule this year, citing a low-dollar sponsorship program with Hooters.

Bodine is expected to attempt the Brickyard 400 in August, but other races will depend on future backing for the team.

- MARTIN D CLARK

n After qualifying a respectable 27th and posting the 14th fastest time during practice, Brett Bodine crashed hard in final practice after a cutting a tyre and impounding the outside and inside retaining walls at Michigan. His older brother Geoffrey subbed for Brett ,who has a suspected broken shoulder blade. n Casey Mears, nephew of Rick Mears, won his first stock car race at Michigan on June 14th, collecting the spoils for winning the ARCA race from the pole, although he and 16 other drivers were sent to the rear of the field at the start due to pre-race scrutiny violations. n For the first time it was an all-Joe Gibbs Racing front row at Michigan, with Bobby Labonte's 190.365mph eclipsing the speed of his team-mate Tony Stewart for the pole, with Earnhardt Jr. qualifying third before being sent to rear of grid due to an engine change after practice.

Mike Skinner and Larry Foyt had used all their allocated provisional starting slots after both failed to make the field on speed. The seven provisionals were used by Ricky Craven, Dave Blaney, Jamie McMurray, Jimmy Spencer, Todd Bodine, Kyle Petty and Tony Raines. n Jimmie Johnson won the pole at Pocono with a 170.645mph lap.

Morgan Shepherd and Derrike Cope failed to qualify, while Larry Foyt, Robby Gordon, Kenny Wallace, Ken Schrader, Kyle Petty, Mike Skinner and Tony Raines took the seven provisional slots. n Jerry Nadeau continues to make progress from his May 2 practice wreck at Richmond, where he sustained head, shoulder, rib and lung injuries. He was released from a Charlotte rehab hospital on June 6 and will undergo speech, occupational and physical therapy five days a week in an outpatients program. n Jeff Green fractured his tailbone after taking a vicious lick into the inside wall at Pocono. Green is suffering a sore neck along with the lower back injury, but that did not keep him from driving the DEI Pennzoil Chev at Michigan.

- MARTIN D CLARK 65

THE Swedish Grand Prix, moved to a League racing circuit in Avesta when a public workers strike stopped the use of the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm,proved a personal triumph for Melbourne bom Ryan Sullivan.

The 28-year-old raced to his third individual Grand Prix victory and was accompanied on tlie rostrum by the seven-times Australian Champion Leigh Adams from Mildura who finished third.

The two Aussies were split by the young Czecli Lukas Drytril while five times World Champion Tony Rickardsson was eliminated at the semi-final stage.

Despite breaking Iris collarbone two weeks ago,Sullivan, right, was disappointed not to have done better in the first GP and had set about getting himself right mentally if not physically.

Sullivan proved to himself that he has what it takes to become World

Champion, "I was in considerable pain," said Sullivan."And obviously my collarbone is not healed but ll had to put that to the back of my mind."

The Aussie had to make two starts in the final. Tire first attempt to run the race was stopped when Lukas Dryml and Lei^ Adams piled into the safety fence.The decision of officials to exclude Greg Hancock as being the cause of the stoppage outraged the American's camp.The final was re-run with only three riders.

Sullivan made another fine start off gate tliree and tliough Dryml chased him all the way he never looked like losing. Adams,still hurting from his crash,came home third but was pleased with his night's work.

The man arguably rated as the top Aussie,Jason Crump from the Gold Coast, had a disappointing night and was eliminated when finishing last in heat 17 and gained just 5 GP points.

Mildura's Jason Lyons started

y

badly with a third place but he won his 'elimination' heat and continued with another victory in heat 12 to win through to the main event. A busy night saw him last again in heat 15 and he finally bowed out with third place in heat 18.

Sydney's Todd Wiltshire was eliminated in the same heat in which

he came last. Earlier he s tmished last in heat 13 having avoided elimination a reace earlie when coming second behind Lyons.

Witli Rickardsson failing to make tlie final, after a fabulous semi-final battle with Dryml, the 2003 championship is wide open.

-TONY MILLARD

Pederson's British dream DENMARK'S Nicki Pedersen won an incident-packed Speedway Grand Prix in Britain last weekend.

Pedersen took a fantastic win from Australia's Jason Crump and defending World Champion Tony Rickardsson.

Crump had his best Grand Prix of the season and though happy with that, his competitive nature means there will be no backing off for the rest of the season.

"There is still a long way to go and I made up some ground tonight."

The other Aussies had mixed fortunes at Millenium Stadium.

Leigh Adams finished a fine fifth, while Todd Wiltshire and round two winner Ryan Sullivan both finished outside the top 10.

Points: Tony Rickardsson 56, Pedersen 53, Dryml 46, Adams 42, Greg Hancock 40, Sullivan 38, Crump 36.

Terry Dale

1

Take a picture: The Millenium Stadium was the perfect venue for the third round of the SCP. Denmark's Nicki Pedersen grabbed the win from Aussie gun Jason Crump.

Max Dumesny Motorsport Australian Distributors for

Xcosiff

^^ RACING TIRE

For more informatJon on Hoosler Drag and SpcedwayTyres call:

NSW;02 9679 1990 l Fax 02 9679 1187 VIO03 9331 6477 l Fax 03 9331 7444 SA:08 8332 0800 l Fax 08 8364 0296 66

18-YEAR-OLD Sprintcar sensation Danny Reidy wil contest the entire 2003/04 World Series Sprintcar season.

The Alice Springs gun has purchased the ex-Daryn Pittman Eagle, above, and will announce a major national sponsor in the near future.

Mentor and crew chief Dave McFadden will lead the young charger into battle and predicts Reidy to be the next Sprintcar superstar.

“We’re really looking towards developing Danny as a racer and a personality this year.”

2003 WORLD OF OUTLAWS CHAMPIONSHIP DAKOTAS SPEEDWAY JUNE 14 1.

2.

3.

4.

Danny Lasoski Donny Schatz Tim Shaffer Mark Kinser

5. Kraig Kinser 6. Sammy Swindell 7. Jason Meyers 8. Joey Saldana

9. Daryn Pittman 10. Paul McMahan 11. Blake Feese

17. Willie Hernandez 18. Chris Shirek

12. Jason Sides 13. Brian Paulus 14. Brooke Tatnell

19. John Bridgeford 20. Bob Bennett

15. Jeremy Campbell 16. Mark Dobmeier

1

2003 STANDINGS JUNE 3.6

1 Danny Lasoski .

2 Steve Kinser ..

3 Joey Saldana.. .

4 Daryn Pittman .

5 Jason Sides ...

6 Donny Schatz 7 Mark Kinser, . .

8 Brian Paulus ..

9 Craig Dolfansky.

10 Tim Shaffer .. .

4295 4228 3971 3921 3680 3677 3509 2960 2785 2739

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Jac Haudenschild Randy Hannagan Paul McMahon..

Sammy Swindell.

Jeremy Campbell . johnny Herrera ..

Jeff Shepard KraigKinser Shane Stewart ..

Bob Bennett

2715 2516 2280 2161 2141 2109 2054 1918 1906 1904

motorsport news

}

Congratulation’s to Jim Read for winning this years Winter Nationals, this brings his record to 13 sensational Winter Nationals.

For over 25 years Australia’s number 1 drag racer Jim Read has been using and recommending Wynn's products.

Wynn's Race Formula octane Boost is “the" premium high performance fuel additive for petrol engines. Developed to effectively boost engine power, lift octane rating, stop engine pinging and prevent valve seat wear. Simply add to your fuel tank.

^ men ifs

mmm

...a M0fks!

Victor won the battle, Ben won the war and KEN FERGUSON was at the 2003 Winternationals at Willowbank to see it happen

T

HE Castrol camp celebrated in style at the 2003 Willowbank Winternationals when father and son Victor and Ben Bray went 12 and 2-1 in the event and Championship respectively.

Ben Brav came to the event virtually assured of winning the Top Doorslammer championship provided he qualified and was victorious in the first round of eliminations. He struggled in the first round of qualifying, suffering tyre shake in the Castrol '57 Chev and was on the outside of the field with a shut-off 10s pass.

His best qualih'ing effort, a 6.26s/224 mph, put him in number six position behind five Studebakers and the only Holden Monaro in the field.

Victor Bray failed to qualify his Castrol car, but was elevated into the bump spot at the expense of Maurice Fabietti, who crashed his immaculate Monaro into the concrete wall when he got very loose during the burnout on his third and final qualifying effort.

Brett Stevens slotted his Jack Daniel's Studebaker into the top spot with his quickest-ever pass at Willowbank Raceway, a 6.10s/231mph. Gary Phillips also produced his best numbers ever in his Lucas Oil Products Studebaker to move into the number two spot with a 6.11s/234mph. Peter Kapiris made it a Shidebaker hat-trick at the top of the field with his 6.13s/229 mph pass.

Grant O'Rourke rounded out the top half of the field in his Hitachi-backed HK Monaro with a 6.14s/221 mph.

Robin Judd was qualified in the number five position, but withdrew shortly before the start of eliminations due to rear-end damage, resulting in Kvm Petterwood's Lifestyle '63 Corvette filling his position in the field. Andrew Searle filled the other position in the field in his Acme Fibreglass Ford Customline, going 6.34s/215mph for seventh.

Petterwood provided the up.set in round one of eliminations, defeating the highly-fancied O'Rourke with a holeshot 6.85s win to O'Rourke's 6.79s/211mph. Ben Bray secured the title when he received the easiest of wins in his first round encounter with Peter Kapiris, who left a big red light on the tree, recording a 0.330 68

reaction. Phillips recorded the quickest pass of the event and his first in the 6.0s, a 6.09s/234mph to d efeat Andrew Searle's 6.27s/218mph.

Victor Bray took out Stevens in the final race of round one to move to the next round. Brav Snr received a hve in the next round when Petterwood didn't show and soloed for a 6.33s/221mph win.

This set up a maiden Bray vs Bray Doorslammer final when Ben defeated Phillips in a hard-fought battle in the other semi. Bray Jnr got the jump in the final but was beaten to the finish line by a mere hundredth of a second by his old man, recording a 6.30s/224mph to Ben's 6.33s/224mph.

Ben Bray has naw become the youngest driver to win a professional category in the sport.

Steve Read rodeatout spectacular top end crash theahelm of Santo Rapisarda'.s, Santo's Cranes Top Fuel dragster during qualifying. Read had just completed a 5..36s/261mph pass against Johnny Cowin when it appeared the rear wing assembly collapsed, taking out a rear tyre, and sending him crashing heavily into the concrete barrier in a shower of sparks and flame.

Read escaped injury and at this point the team plan to rebuild the car and return to racing as soon as possible. Cowin shut off early in the other lane and incurred minor damage after hitting wreckage from the Rapisarda car.

He later produced the country's second only pass in the 4.7s zone pass in the Cowin family 'Rocketship' on his compulsory qualifier on Sunday, going 4.78s/297mph. Twin brother Andrew recorded the first and still the quickest yet, a 4.75s/314mph at this event 12 months ago.

Jim Read was next quickest with his 5.01s/283mph, while Bob Shephard surprised many with his 5.23s/269mph qualifying effort.

Cowin fell to Terry Sainty in the first round of eliminations when his dragster shook the tyres hard, as well as throwing the blower belt.

Jim Read defeated Shephard in the other race with the only other four

second pass of the event, a 4.91s/299mph. The final was a solo win to Jim Read after Sainty was shut down on the start line after his burnout. Read also claimed another national champion.ship in the class.

Jon Andriopoulos and Matthew Sawyer claimed a historic first-ever win for Dodge in the Pro Stock class, but at a very high price.

Andriopoulos cro.ssed the finish line on the roof of his Dodge Daytona to claim the national championship.

Andriopouolos's opponent,Jason Grima,got loo.se at ?nid-track in his stunning Ford Probe,and it appeared Andriopoulos moved wide to avoid contact, only to lose control, hit the concrete wall, and slide to the fini.sh line upside down.

He was awarded the win when Grima was judged to ha\'e crossed the centre line first, giving him enough points to wrap up the title.

Tony Wedlock and Peter Ridgeway were fighting for supremacy throughout the event. Ridgeway reset both ends of the records in his Oldsmobile, going 7.32s/187.42mph and later backing it up with another 7.32s/186.96mph.

Wedlock recorded his first 7.3s pass in qualifying, a 7.38s/185mph, but bettered that mark with a 7.34s in the semi final solo pass, and again in the final, going a few thousandths quicker, again a 7.34s/184mph to defeat Ridgeway.

Ridgeway headed straight towards the concrete wall from the launch, showed amazing driving skills to keep it off the wall and slnit down immediately.

The problem was later identified as a blown head gasket, which in turn saw water forced out through the exhaust and straight under the left slick.

Gary Phillips reclaimed the , r' .

-4 National Championship in Top ' .

Alcohol in his Lucas Oils dragster. It-'. ■’ was like a trip down memory lane ' when Phillips took on Steve Reed iiT' the final. In a class that has been dominated by dragsters of late, it was ’ Reed who has found the horsepo\yer in his Oldsmobile Funny Car to , match it with the longer wheelba.se counterparts.

Wayne Newby had earlier top- : qualified his dragster with a .

5.75s/239mph, followed by Reed's ●D 5.90s/240mph, the.only other five second performer in qualifying.

4 Phillips survived a close race agqinst Dean McClennan in the firstTOuhd of . eliminations, taking the win by a myre .046s. , He improved remarkably in the second round, recording a 5.87s/220mph to defeat Wayne Newby and set up the confrontation with Reed in the final. Reed turned the tyres almost immediately at the hit of the throttle, and Phillips accelerated away, only to suffer engine problems at mid-track.

Reed pedalled theOldSmbbileand tried in vain to run down the slowing dragster of Phillips, only to fall short by half a .second at the finish line.

Jay Upton fell at the last hurdle in his quest for the National Championship in Top Bike. He had earlier top-qualified with low ET and top speed for the class with his 6.72s/200mph.

■

T

he huge crowd was expecting to see even quicker performances from the bike, after he pedalled the nitro-burning two-wheeled monster on that run at least three times.

Only needing to win his first round encounter, his championship hopes took a turn for the worse when he

.

2003 WINTERNATIONALS

broke a ciri\’e belt at the hit of the throttle. Defending National Champion Ian Ashelford now only had to win the final to retain the crown, and his onlv resistance came in the form of his first round opponent, Dave Boreham on his turbo Suzuki.

He defeated Boreham bv nearly half a second, and then receix'ed two bye runs to win the final.

His second round opponent, Stex-ens, was unable to front after defeating his oxvn team-mate, Troy McLean, in the first round.

Craig Bonwick xvas then shut doxvn on the start line in the final after a fuel leak was discox ered. .Maurice Allen took a fairly easy win in the Pro Bike class. His closest race was against Phil Howard in the first round, winning by just two hundredths of a second. He received a bye in the second round, and was handed the easiest of xvins in the final, xvhen Daniel Peatey red-lit on the start line.

Willowbank fans xvitnessed the first small block-powered Altered in the 5.0s first-hand when Mark Sheehan toxx'ed his record-setting car from the xvest. Sheehan's first pass down the strip saw a severe tyre shaking mid-6.0s pass. His next pass saw him record a top qualifying effort, a 5.99s/225mph. Sheehan was defeated in the first round of eliminations by eventual semi finalist, Anthony Seix'a. Jon Sting was the ex entual winner of the event in his A/dragster, defeating Shane Baxter's CC/dragster.

Nick Xerakias in his Ford Probe was the outstanding performer in Super Stock, going a massix-e .688 under his B/SK index, recording a 7.76s/175mph on his .second qualifier to take the top spot. Hot on

his heels was Bruno Cavallo, also in the B/SK class in his Pontiac, going .543 under as well.

Xerakias was pipped at the post in his second roimd encoimter with Ian Brown. Drix’ing his B/SK Chev Camaro,Brown holeshot Xerakias, and took the win with an 8.20s/171mph to Xerakias's quicker 7.88s/169s.

Jason Simpson was a big improver in his G/SK Ford Capri, recording his best numbers ex’er when he dipped well into the 8.60's, going 8.64 in the second and third rounds of racing.

He fell to his quicker G/SK ri\-al, Trevor Maas in the semi final. Maas, in his Celica defeated Simpson with an 8.60s/155mph and then took final over Les Heintz's Camaro with an 8.59s/155mph.

A-

-» Marshall Cast

All in the family; Victor Bray, above, missed out on the Championship but took the event title instead, whiter John Andriopoulis, below, claimed the first Dodge Pro Stock win in bizarre circumstances.

o

ther winners at the event included John Parker on his P/CB Harley Davidson and Chris Porter in Modified Bike, also on a Harley. Michael Adams recorded the most perfect win of the night in Modified, recording a perfect .400 light on the start line, and going 7.82s/160mph on his 7.82s dial-in.

Local drix ers Darren Doeblien and Tony Wliyatt took the xvin in Super Street and Super Sedan respectix ely, while Dax’id Gauldie took the honours

in the Super Gas class. Michael Adams' younger brother Robert scored a quinella for the family, taking the win in Junior Dragster.

Chris Loy took an easy win in the Supercharged Outlaws bracket on Saturday night, in his VL Commodore when opponent Debbie O'Rourke simply staged her Monaro and idled down the track to take the runners-up spot.

The O'Rourke camp put safety first after sex-eral other high-horsepoxver

. :M

Marshall Cd

cars had come to grief throughout the night on the tricky surface.

Apart from the fiery crash of 'Pommie'Steve Read, Ricky Monseratt's effort in his blown bigblock Chex’-poxvered Altered was another frightening crash to be witnessed by the record crowd.

Monseratt produced a huge xvheelstand off the start line and crashed doxvn heax'ily, knocking him unconscious. The Altered continued down the entire length of the track before crashing through trees and demolishing the car.

Monseratt spent the night in hospital under observation, but xvas released the folloxving day, a little

battered and bruised. '' ' Other drix-ers to come to grief at the ex’ent included Paul Shackelton in Top Alcohol, who blew a tyre clean off the rim at about the hundred foot mark, which sent his brand nexv dragster crashing into the wall at the half-track mark.

Top Doorslammer driver Rob Broadbent also smashed into the xvall in his Sainty-powered Statesman at about three quarter track after getting loose and over-correcting the car.

Super Sedan racer Andrexv Gay xvas the first to crash at the extent, putting his Gemini into the wall as xvell, before turning ox'er and careering to a halt on his lid.

69

A litfle bit of ev

by BRIAN REED

H

ISTORIC Winton's

reputation for changeable weather was again evident

for the 27th running of the Austin 7 Club's annual meeting - Saturday

was perfect and Sunday, well, let's just say it degenerated.

Not to be deterred, the club (with

the assistance of the Historic

Motorcycle Racing Association of Victoria) put on a top 44-event

program catering for 270 cars and 110 bikes, and big crowds were on hand to take in two days of excellent motor sport.

Nice and mysterious: Winton has a reputation for variety, and with machinery as nice as this zooming around you'd have been hard-pressed not to find something of interest.

Butler drove the car to a win in the

Groups J and K handicap. He also shared the drives with Event Director

Grant Campbell, a fitting reward for a tireless worker of the Historic

Winton meeting.

Three wins from three starts for the

Graham Raper/Barry Batagol 1948 Ford Monoskate included success in

There were many star attractions at the meeting, but the stand-out car was undoubtedly the 1932 MiEer 4WD belonging to American visitor Dean

the Lou Molina Trophy race for Groups J and K cars, with John Payne

Butler. This was the first successful

Col. Arthur Waite Trophy, prized

four-wheel drive racing car that

amongst the Austin 7 fraternity, was

competed at Indianapolis between 1932 and 1937, the creation of Harry Miller who has been described as

'America's forgotten Bugatti.'

Like Ettore Bugatti, Miller looked upon his cars as works of art. His creations won the Indianapolis 500 nine times and on three other

occasions his engines powered other chassis to victory. Between 1923 and 1928, Miller cars accounted for 83

percent of the field at the famous Brickyard yet today, sadly, his name is virtually forgotten.

The Great Depression of 1930s effectively ended his amazing career.

(MG J2 Spl.) and Jim Russell (Ford V8) sharing the minor places. The won for the third time since 1997 by

He turned the tables in the eight-

Formula Junior home in his 1962 Brabham BT2 and the PhU Irving

Ballarat's Graeme Clark in the ex-

lap inaugural Mark Dymond Trophy

Tony Johns Special.

Race on Sunday.

Richard Townley was a clear winner of the Coad Memorial Trophy

Trophy went to NSW visitor David Major (1966 Elfin Mono).

handicap in his 1948 MG TC Spl. Keith Simpson demolished the Groups M and O Racing lap record with a blistering lm03.16s lap in practice at the wheel of John Dymond's 1966 Brabham BT16.

Simpson dominated the weekend winning all three scratch races, and finally leaving the record at lm03.22s.

Nick McDonald drove brilliantly (especially in the wet) to be the first

Ian Ross (1970 Elfin 360) lowering the Group Q Sports record to lm02.22s on his way to victory in Saturday's

Grant Gibson sent a buzz through the crowd when he undercut the Lb

Sports and Racing record m practice on Saturday behind the wheel of his very famous 1958 Lotus 15, the works car driven by Graham Hill and Derek Jolly in the 1959 Le Mans 24-hour race. Gibson went even quicker in the first race, his time of lm07.71s taking almost 1.0s off the existing sports car

lap record, but lost out to David Reid's Crowfoot Holden at the

chequered flag.

It was a weekend of records, with

five lapper for M, O and Q Sports and Sc.

Graham Smith capably handled the fearsome ex-Stan Jones Allard J2

to win the handicap in slippery conditions, and for the smaU field of

stalwarts who lined up for the final eight-lapper late in the Sunday Memorable for different reasons:

Dean Butler's 1932 Miller 4WD,

right, was a highlight from the weekend.

Also popular was Ian Ross's Shelby GT350, below, which

unfortunately crashed just after this shot was taken ...

LBR

moiorsport news

HISTORIC WINTON

BPything

program, South Australia's Blake Miller was rewarded with a win in his Adelaide-built ASP Clubman.

The Group N touring cars were out in force, requiring the organisers to plan for two divisions, Tire fastest 25 cars were dominated by John Mann, making a welcome return to racing after being indisposed for some weeks.

Two wheels and as many passengers as you can fit: Both the bikes and the sidecars put on a sensational show, although a few of the sidecar passengers must have been wondering what they had let themselves in for...

Honours in the second division

eventually he had to yield to Mann, Talbot and the XU-1 of Alastair MacLean.

Andrew Tickner cleared out to w'in

were shared amongst Brian Deveson (1963 Ford Cortina GT), Harry Bargwanna(1965 Holden) and Peter Burchell(1965 Ford Mustang). Late in the day Burchell just managed to hold off the flying Mini of SAs Jaan Fox, who just managed to hold out another Ford Mustang driven by Jerv'is Ward in one of the best races on the program.

Although he managed to get under the Group Sb lap record in practice in his impressive 1963 Marcos GT, NSW driver Roger Ealand couldn't emulate his performance come race time.

However,he won both scratch races

the handicap in his 1964 Ford Cortina GT.

from a hard-trying Paul Sabine in his Chevrolet Corvette.

The familiar white and green 1968 Ford Mustang led home Trevor Talbot's Torana X(J-1 in both scratch races, although Rodger Howard (Morris Cooper S)looked like he might steal the second-last race on the program in the gloom when he stormed off the line and into the lead.

The crowd cheered him on, but

A popular win in the handicap went to Group Sa driver Alan Wilson.

Tlie head of his 1959 MG A was off the car twice during the weekend before his problems were overcome and ho won from Max Pegram (Austin Healey Sprite) and Ian Ross (Shelby GT350). Ross was later to crash his Shelby in spectacular fashion.

After stepping up from Formula Ford ranks, Melbourne's Andrew Makin has continued his rapid rise in the Group Q open-wheelers. He dominated the Group Qs in his 1973 March 73B, winning from Peter Whelan's Chevron B29.

John Goddard drove brilliantly to steal a second outright in his 1977 s Royale RP24 Formula Ford when 18 lane 2003

conditions deteriorated. Makin capped off a great weekend taking the last race on the program from Hugh Gartley's Cheetah Mk4- his third win from three starts.

As we've come to expect, there was a magnificent lineup of delectable cars in the Regularity events including the Miller 4WD,a number of Bugattis, Warren Bonning's Gipsy Special, the 1938 Offy Special of Francis Robinson, Neil Murdoch's 1928 Lombard and Pat Phillips' 1927 Salmson to name just a few - the icing on the cake.

Then there were the bikes. The two main events were the Bill Luke Trophy Race which was won in fine style by Keith Campbell aboard his 500cc 1956 AJS 18 and in spite of carrying No. 13, Frank Howard took the Ken Lucas Trophy aboard his 1960 Eston.

In the four-lap race for All Powers Post Classic and 750cc Pushrod machines,Stuart Loly scattered the field on his potent 1980 Suzuki, lapping the tailenders in just two laps and setting the fastest time for the motorcycles with an impressive lm06s lap.

There was a big spill in the All Powers Cla.ssic & Post Classic Sidecars four-lapper on Sunday when Frank and Ashley Cuttell lost control of their 900cc 1971 Honda going through the sweeper and speared off into the infield. Fortunately both rider and passenger escaped injury.

Other results Classic Sidecars (Leg 1) Peter Large/Peter Summers (1954 Triumph) (Leg 2) Peter Large/Peter Summers (1954 Triumph) Post-Ciassic Sidecars (Leg 1) Geoff Grant/Craig Lawson (1972 Kawasaki) (Leg 2) Peter Turner/Michael Turner (1972 Honda) 650cc Sidecars Michael Large/Geoff Neal (1956 Triton) Up to 250CC Classic (Leg 1) Clive Harrop (1970 Suzuki) (Leg 2) Des Heaney (1972 Suzuki) 251-350CC Post-Classic (Legl) Clive Warner (1972 Yamaha) (Leg 2) Keith Campbell (1972 Honda) 351-500CC Post-Classic (Legl) Denis Brown (1968 Suzuki) (Leg 2) Denis Brown (1968 Suzuki) Unlimited Post-Classic (Legl) Peter Turner (1972 Honda) (Leg 2) Peter Turner (1972 Honda) Up to 350CC Classic (Legl) Terry Morris (1961 Montessa) (Leg 2) Calvin Merlo (1948 BSA) 351-SOOcc Classic (Legl) Keith Campbell (1956 AJS 18) (Leg 2) Frank Howard (1960 Eston) Unlimited Classic (Legl) Russell Craddock (1956 Trial) (Leg 2) Russell Craddock (1956Triel) Pre-War (Leg 1) Bryce Davies (1937 Rudge) (Leg 2) Keith Campbell (1956 AJS 18)

I in71

naOonal The momentum builds scene

/.7/nes Smith

J.

GLEN Hastings scored his second round win in-a-row at Barbagallo Raceway two weeks ago.

The impressive 25-year-oId took pole position and both race wins on the difficult WA circuit. The Victorian now holds a slender one point lead over championship rival and Sonic Motorsports team-mate, Tony Pugliese.

After the event, Hastings said that despite winning the last four races, the series is only going to get tougher from here.

"We've got some good momentum now after a disappointing start to the year," said Hastings."Hopefully we can continue it on for the rest of the year but I know the competition will be stiff.

For the first time in the history of the national Formula Ford Championship, three brothers lined up against each other in the category.

Fiore's Dean,Paul and Todd were ready to take the challenge to the best Formula Fordsters in the country.

Dean Fiore started the weekend off in very good touch, qualifying in second spot ahead of title-contenders Pugliese and the consistent NeU McFayden.

Race 1 had Fiore get away well but some aggressive driving from Hastings had Dean out of sorts at Kolb Corner,leading into the long back straight. Dean rejoined the gaggle of cars in ninth position.

It didn't take long for Hastings to build a comfortable lead for himself, which helped his cause on the

Graet Bowiey

abrasive circuit. He eventually finshed just over Is in front of Pugliese. McFadyen and Brett Francis followed the Sonic duo across the line after a fraught battle.

Dean Fiore clawed his way back to fifth in the Fastlane Van Diemen Stealth entry, a great effort given his earlier off-road excursion.

In Race 2, Hastings got away to a great start with Pugliese and Francis arguing over second spot. This was to continue through half of the race with all three drivers sharing the placings at some stage.

Continued pressure from Francis and McFadyen caused Pugliese to run wide onto the main straight at the beginning of the eighth lap, which pushed him back to fourth.

This gave Francis a chance to move away and allowed Dean Fiore to make a challenge for the top spots.

McFadyen and Fiore enjoyed a spirited battle in the closing stages of te race. McFayden eventually out gunned Fiore in the final lap at the tricky, sweeping Kolb right hander.

The race for the minors let Hastings run away with the show at the front of the field. It also gave him the series lead and a supeame amount of confidence heading into the second half of the season.

Francis had a typically consistent weekend, making up for his Winton woes. McFayden joined him on the Race 2 podium. Fiore eventually powered into fourth past an unlucky Pugliese.

-DAVE CONOLE/STAFF

Dirk Klynswith

Wild West: Top, Hastings leads Fiore and the rest of the FFord pack down Barbagallo's back straight. Fiore, above, had a great weekend on home soil, but not as good as Hastings, right.

72

moiorsport news

KARTING

Vanishing Varley

by MARK WICKS

JASON Varley was the master of the wet at the second round of Ford KartStars at Geelong on the weekend, splashing his way to a seven seconds victory over round one winner Andrew Thompson.

A heavy shower five minutes before the final saw teams scurrying for wets before Varley, right, drew away on a drenched track, only briefly challenged by Ben Savage in the early laps.

Qualifying sprung a few surprises, John Martin putting the Pirtek kart on pole ahead of Adrian Estasy, Luke Wood and National Champion Josh Arandt.

Martin then went on to win the opening heat before Thompson picked up heat two, Estasy second on both occasions. Varley worked his way forward (having qualified tenth) to win heat three.

An indication to Varley’s wet form came in the pre-final when, while having a dice for the lead with Thompson and Taz Douglas on a dry track, JV skipped away to an easy win when drizzle started coming down.

Flaving led into turn one of the final, Jason came under challenge and lost the lead to Savage on lap two before gaining it back shortly after. From there Varley controlled the race and apart from some lurid slides under brakes, never looked like losing. Savage’s effort was commendable, a sticking accelerator necessitating him to drive one handed for most of the race, operating the throttle with the other. Ben held second all the way to the final corner where Thompson nipped up the inside.

Flaving bent an axle in heat three, Estasy fought back to fourth.

Next was Nick Parker who was confident he would have been second if not for lapped traffic, the

X

Melbourne driver T-boning a lapped kart along the way. Flaving had a great pre-final, Tim Blanchard fell to sixth ahead of Josh Arandt (from grid 321), Martin, Blake Mills and Troy Woolston.

Wes May, who placed third at round one. had a disaster of a meeting never able to trace an engine problem and frustrated to be running down the back. Also out of luck in the final was Taz -*r

Podium people: The boys in the middle finished 1-2-3, but we don't tbink the girls finished 4-5 ...

18 June 2003

Douglas, second in the pre-final ooming to nothing when he had to pit mid race for a new spark plug.

Flaving competed in KartStars in 2000 as well as last year, it was Varley’s first win in the series, backing up his first podium from round one, and he now sits second on points to Thompson.

In Junior Blitz, Jordie Lindstrom picked up the win in Junior Sportsman, however it was James Love who crossed the line first. In the slippery conditions. Love fell off the track and re-slotted into his position, however officials deemed this not to have happened according to the rules and subsequently excluded the opening round winner.

James Small had been heading the results up to the final but he, David Sera, Trent James, Justin Schneider, Ashley Walsh and Nick Percat all slipped off the track together when a sudden shower wet the track. Aaron Flindle was second ahead of Kristian Lindbom.

The other Junior Blitz classes were won by John Condemi (Junior National Light), David Sera (Junior National Fleavy), Max Carter (Rookies) and Ben Lincoln (Midgets).

The next round of Ford KartStars is at Ipswich on July 18-19.

Neck cramp takes Patrizi out WA's Michael Patrizi was not able to take a start In the second round of the European Formula A Championship after injuring his neck in a practice crash.

On a half-wet half-dry Mika Sale Circuit in Finland, Patrizi (Birel/TMA/ega) slid off the track into the tyre barriers, apparently without injury. Fie then competed in the opening qualifying session (clocking a time 0.9s off pole but such is the closeness of International kart racing, that meant 65th position...) However just one lap in to session two, his neck cramped and he was unable to continue. "We made a change to the chassis (for session one) but it wasn't as good. Then in qualifying two my neck just cramped up and I couldn't drive," he said. n With Michael out, the only Anzac interest was NZ’s Wade Cunningham, however he, like the rest of the CRG team, was not as competitive as at the opening round.

Wade qualified 36th and grabbed an 11th in one heat, but a 19th and two DNFs placed him 59th and non qualified for the finals. n In the 125cc gearbox classes, Alessandro Manetti (CRG/Pavesi/Dunlop) and Ennio Gandolfi (Birel/TM/Vega) split the Super ICC wins while Manuel Cozzaglio (Birel/PavesiAfega) scored the double in ICC. n Kiel Johnston has extended his lead in the NSW Biland series with a win in Biland Light at Newcastle earlier this month. Johnston (Azzurro) top scored ahead of Danny Ferry (CRG) and Darren Foley (Azzurro). Lee Franks (Azzurro) made the best possible debut in the category, taking first in Biland Heavy from Lee Harkness (Biesse) and Heavy points leader Greg Martin (Arrow). n 2002 'Over-35' Rotax World Champion Darrell Smith has left Australia and taken up a position with Bombardier Rotax. Smith impressed the Rotax brass with his development driving and feedback on the new RM1 kart while he was competing at the World Titles and joins the company as their new Project Development Engineer. n Fast female Fiona Hamilton has won back-to-back New Zealand Rotax Light National Championships.

Hamilton overcame a tangle and trip across the grass in the first turn of the final heat to recover and earn enough points to claim victory. Mark Russ won the Junior ICA title while Ryan Urban won Senior Open.

- MARK WICKS

Ricci roasting in Power Surge WEST Australian Tony Ricciardello was in scintillating form at round three of the Australian Sports Sedan Championship at South Australia's Mallala circuit two weeks ago.

The D]R endurance driver took maximum points after scoring pole with a lap almost 2s under his own Sports Sedan lap record. He followed it up with three hard fought victories in the Chevpovvered Alfa. The domination elevated him to equal second in the series standings, hut still forty points behind fellow' four-time series

champ Kerry Baily.

Another driver to make large inroads in the series points was Darren Hossack who,like Ricciardello, came into the round with a large points deficit to make up. Hossack's Saab Chev was forced to settle for third in race one,after yielding second to Baily in the latter stages as a result of overheating problems, and took a close second to Ricciardello in the second race.

But the heartbreaking moment of the weekend came on lap three of the third race when Hossadk,\vhile

tetdireg Ricciardello, ploughed into tile ■.wall exiting the final turn, as a rcsmll'of a sticking throttle.

E3ut it was Kerry BaUy who left the nnjjiid' in tlie same position he entered iiibinlding a healthy points lead. His ClievBOOZX was a picture of cai’fc.siitency over the w'eekend, fini-diing with a second and two third pisniions. On debut, local driver David lire;-resell was another who showed Ilia't consistency pays off, finLshing llibcrdoverall for the weekend in his 0t«er-powered VN Commodore.

-CHRIS JORDAN

IT has been a while since we've seen the Brock Crush in operation, but it was James Brock who applied it on the BRutes field at Queensland Raceway, winning three from three races.

Grant Denyer progressed steadily through the field to finish second for the day.

Glen Barnes led the field away but was soon passed by Gary Baxter as Barnes and Allan Grice settled to fight over second. As Barnes dived underneath Grice on turn six, Brock thought he'd 'try something different' and passed both around the outside to take second, before picking Baxter off with a lap to go.

The Nations best racers in the world’s fastest sprintkarts

Round 3 of the Dunlop Australian CIK Karting Championship Series at Toowoomba’s 850 metre Greer Park Raceway.

June 21-22 with pre-final racing from 11am Sunday. Finals from 12.30pim POINT SCORE AFTER 2 ROUNDS

FORMULA A Jason Hryniuk Matthew Wall Barclay Holden

123 100 100

INTERCONTINENTAL A Nick Lowe 115 Glenn Powles 103 Troy Woodger 85

INTERCONTINENTAL C Justin Ruggier 108 Tyson Pearce 108 Matthew Sofi 107

JUNIOR ICA Paul Laskazeski 116 Kristian Lindbom 108 Ben McCashney 106

TIC

For more information visit

jazTivUtCiF-

www.auscikchampionship.com SSStHfiUIlN cm CHSMPKDNSBIPS 2603 74

Crick still Truckin f

ttHE Super Trucks made their Icotig awaited return at Mallala, aind while Inky Tulloch was one of a handful of oompetitors not in attendance, tthose present put on a firstErate racing spectacle.

Rodney Crick was the overall wictor on the weekend, with a wvin in the first race, followed up toy a second and a third. Frank AAmoroso won a shortened race after Barry Butwell brought out the red flags when he spun and evacuated his Scania at the KNIorthern Hairpin.

Amoroso was running second ir nthe Super Prix when he blew

a top turbo. The ensuing Safety Car bunched the field for a final sprint to the flag, which saw Crick and Luke Sieders drive each other off the track on the final lap.

This allowed Bob Middleton, who had been in close pursuit of the lead two, to take a popular victory on home soil.

Luke Sieders accumulated enough points for second overall, and although he went without a race victory, his MAN truck did not, with father Bill taking out the co-drivers category. Steve Coulter took the light truck honours, from Greg Andrews.

- CHRIS JORDAN moiorsport news

NATIONAL SCENE

Oh what a feeling!

-jjf.

In the reverse grid race. Brock jumped to second at the start and chased Grant Denyer for most of the race before passing at turn 3 for a lead he held to the end, despite the rear brakes failing with two laps left.

Denyer held second while Warren Luff took third.

In the final race, front-runner Charlie Kovacs didn't finish the warm-up lap, but Brock was untouchable from pole, winning from Darren McDonald and Denyer.

The Brute Strength Utes of Gavin

Harvey and Gary Young,both heavily damaged at Wakefield Park, were still being repaired on Saturday at the circuit, and while both eventually did find their way into races they did not figure in the results.

Defending champ Luff has held onto the series lead but Brock and Denyer have both recovered lost ground in the standings.

-MARK JONES Points; Luff 163, Brock 139.5, Baxter 137, Denyer 133.5, Kovacs 125

Hunting down the pack

AFTER qualifying second, Troy Hunt took all three race wins in the Mirage Cup at Queensland Raceway on the weekend.

Race two's reverse grid saw Hunt blast through the field. After

a small battle with Richard Gartner, he took a comfortable win. The treble gave Hunt the round victory and extended his championship iead.

- JOSH EVANS

DAVID Ratcliff surprised most with the form of the Toyota Celica on noted power circuit Queensland Raceway, taking two wins from two starts.

In both races he had the leading Class D Protons chased down just after half distance and ran away to win ahead of Sydney teenager Chris Alajajian.

In the first race Ratcliff, above, quickly moved through the Class D cars and took the lead with three laps to go, ahead of Steve GrocI who held second until Alajajian chased him down. Len Cave (Celica) was fourth ahead of an overheating Scott Leadsman and David Russell.

Ratcliff was up to the lead just after half distance in the second race, while GrocI had an off on

the penultimate lap to hand Alajajian second.

Leadsman rewired his fans to assist cooling in the big Holden to take third from GrocI and Colin Osborne.

Mark Westbrook had a dramatic debut in the Honda S2000 with two lurid spins keeping him from figuring in the results.

In Class D, lady drivers Carol Jackson and Leanne Perrier (guest driving Rick Bates' Daihatsu Sirion) had to give best to the Protons of David Russell and father Geoff until electrical problems struck David Russell in both races leaving Geoff to win the day.

-MARK JONES Points: Loadsman 182, Groc1144, Ratcliff 131, Russell 108, Alajajian 89.

Grant Rowley

Winners are grinners

THE support categories for the V8 Supercars at Barbagallo Raceway gave the fans plenty of on-track action.

Local lad Paul Stubber had a wow of a weekend in the Biante Models Historic Touring Cars Series.

Stubber thrilled the crowd with his tyre smoking antics, taking the race wins.

Round and round and round WOLLONGONG'S Kembla Grange circuit hosted the annual 24-hour Prokart event on the tight coastal layout two weeks ago.

A mix of experienced drivers and wanna-be kart-stars, young and old took the challenge of the gruelling race, which started at noon on Saturday and would finish 1440 minutes later.

At the end of the 'twice around the clock' race, the 18 June 2003

'Civic Avengers', consisting of Tony Pullen, Glen Evans, Andrew Bloom, Paul Turner and Rob and Scott Bowley took the win from the 'LJ Hooker' team from Menai in Sydney.

The Holden Young Lions finished third. The team, utilising experienced V8 Supercar driver Dale Brede and fast new-comer Tony D'Alberto, grabbed the final podium place.

- GRANT ROWLEY

Old hand Jolui Harvey, in a classic HQ Monaro 350, had a so-so weekend, his HQ experiencing a few problems. Leo Jameson also had a

rollover in his Studebaker Lark Daytona.

Local knowledge paid off for Clint Harvey, who dominated the CSA Saloon Car Cup. Harvey, below, beat the eastern state challengers with convincing wins.

SA's Kevin Weeks was the only one to give Harvey any reasonable challenge.

Peter Brown and Tony James showed the rest of the HQ drivers the way around the sandy Barbagallo.

75

mrace shop

news

RACE SHOP gives you the opportunity to promote your produrts and services to the widest possible range of motorsport competitors and enthusiasts. Advertising in RACESHOP costs as little as $60 per issue! Call Brendon Sheridan on 03 9550 0870 now!

Hdlra

Discover...

www.holley.com

RAD!ATORS, INTERCOOLERS & OIL COOLERS l Offroad cars l Motorbikes l Boats l Hot Rods l Street Cars l Circuit Cars Contact or 55 981 499 or Fax drawings to 07 55 984 398

HANDBUI LT

&

AL

l l posters n business cards

IkW Holley Performance System Distributors |__Call_08_8132^1888jo^youimeares^di£ribi£o^J r

Australia's Mast Wanted Performance Gauges

Trade enquiries welcome

Where sealing Is a science

Telephone:(03)9544 2011 Facsimile:(03)9544 2911

Ferrea

Phone 073808 1986 or visit our website for your nearest (listrlbittor: AUSTHAL I A \ph. 02 9758 1966

Fax.02 9758 1155

WWW.perfonmncewholesale.com.au

SuperFlow Corporation

7‘;n?COMPOMOT/V£

r ' UOTORSPOHT wueets VIC 03 9386 5331 NSW 02 9676 8655 SA 08 8387 3522 WA 08 9293 3500 TAS 03 6273 7555 NT 08 8941 5388 QLD 07 3217 1188 ilULttT PYRE SERNflCE www.stuckey.com.au

Performance \ Plumbing ^ Made Easy Rocket Industries is the Manufacturer's Appointed Distributor for Russeii in Australia, All trade enquiries should be directed to: Ph 02 6625 1900 Fax 02 6625 1911 Email sales@irocketind.com

Warld^s Best Air, Oil S. Fuel ^Filters

Washable & Re-usable l 10 year/1.6 million km warranty Rocket Industries is the Manufacturer's

V Y PERFORMANCE FILTERS

Appointed Distributor fcrlstSiN Filters In Australia. Trade enquiries to: Ph 0266251900 Fax 0266251911 Email sales@irocketind.com

l Increase horsepower l Increase torque n Increase engine life l Reduce fuel consumption * Provide better wear

Senaus Pratectran 76

-A

r

WKitmmMmmomm

trade enc^uiries should be directed to: Ph 02 a&251900 Fax 02 66251911 Email sales6>rocketind.com

T;//

n larQB murals . websrtes

i:

Logo are trademarks of Rocket Industries P/L in Australia. All V

n horo cards

www.thecreativeones.com.au

\7/lL\7BS

AUTO METER and the Auto Meter

Y

£>IMPLV AW&&OM& R&SUL.T& n motorsport

protection at start-up Rocket industries is the Manufactui^r's Appointed Distributor for Torco Automotive Racing Oils in Australia. All trade enquiries should be directed to: Ph 02 S6251900 Fax 0286251911 or Email sales@>rocketind,com

PLASTICS l Full range of industrial plastic materials Nylon, Acetal, Teflon, Polythenes, PVC etc l Racecar windows “cut to size” & moulded l Perspex & polycarbonate sheet ex-stock l Polyurethane & Delrin for suspension bushes

PLASTICS FOR INDUSTRY DANDENONG VIC 03 9706 381 1

mimmsism

Phone 07 3808 1986 or visit our website for your nearest aistrlbutor.

WWW.performancewholesale.com.au

KB^fPajSsmfinssCSrimQanB Easy to fit Extra Power Max Englna Protection Used by the Mitsubishi Ralllart WRC team.

Trade enquiries welcome

sMia AUSTRAL IA Ph. 02 9758 f966

Fax.02 9758 1155

FIA HARNESSES 2008 expiry, lightweight buckle, 3" webbing, clip in ends Black, Red, Blue 5 point - $539 l 6 point - $579 FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY Aust Standard 4 point belts fr $145 Ph 02 9756 0202 Fax 02 9756 0203 RACE PRODUCTS

sales@simpsonraceproducts.com.au

RACE PRODUCTS World's leaders in Motorsport Safety Technology Helmets l Suits l Boots l Gloves l Harnesses l Crew Gear l and all accessories for all motorsporls Quality l Price l Service Simpson Safety Equipment Australia 11/62 Newton Road Wetherill Park NSW 2164 Ph 02 9756 0202 Fax 02 9756 0203 AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTORS

motorsport oews

MARKET PLAGE

Hi Flow Alloy Heads

/ ^Hi PERFOHMAMCE EHQIWE PARTS ,

Formula Foras@ uaiaer ram Open Praclce 30 laps (S795» Fun Onv« Days (liom $495) Formula Fords@Queensland Raceway Ome Days (trom $495) GUI Vouchers Available

CROWCAHHS

l Fast profile design service to your requirements l Custom ground roller, solid and hydraulic profiles using unique computer controlled

The ultimate power fix for your Holden

machines for unrivalled accuracy

l Available for early and VN Style V8 l Super flow potential compared to ported iron heads l Greater thermal efficiency and half the weight of iron

DRIVE

Dream it. Drive it.

Formula Ford Race School

www.udrive.com.au

Rjrther Information and Bookings: 03 9217 8866 Of 07 3396 3666

a huge range of one piece super duty ^ pushrods

Ph 03 9S5S 5522 Fax 03 9555 4X52

Ph 0393570469 or Fax 03 9357 0001

www.yellaterra.coni.au

Visit our website: www,crowcams.com.au

Ihe USA's first choice In race valve springs new available in Australia

^^^The True Performance Alternative

Cnr Mountain Hwy & Stud Rd Bayswater vic 3153 Tel 03 9720 aaan Fax 03 9720 8278

AmmmQimimo.R

Wsm r

y

1= \

F-l‘U-l‘D

JRWMP

mmm Phone 073808 1986

OF visit our website for your nearest distributor.

mvw.perfo nnancewholesale.com.au

ISInTum I

MCIOO Ifloumilll m ITO Pe/ tormQDQO ports

Custom Pistons for any ●ngino eomblnatloi V8. G and 4 cylintlor Oulckoat Colli ●nr idi :ry All CNC machining centres Highest quality pistons in the Industry

h:

fOT; 32S3 591^

l As used by top US teams including Hendricks Motorsport (NASCAR),John Force(Funny Car), Warren Johnson (FTo Stock)

‘"]l Extremely durable bonded dampening i material l Easy to read computer etched timing

[v

I***)!

Munsons BwBRacing Tyres [

l Specific super duty spring design for endurance (circuit, speedway and marine)or Drag Race applications deiiver

r,| marks I l Available in economical cast iron Street, i all steel SFi approved Race and new Serpentine for Chev, LSI, LTl etc Ph 02 6937 888B Fax 026921 7636 Visit out website www.preclsionparts.com.au

consistent pressures and longer spring Me. Avallablo from the exclusive Australian distributor

eRmHCAMS Ph 03 9357 0469 Fax 03 9357 0001

m n SIPEbDFLOW b K Premium Motorsport Hose & Fittings! »

ISKY

Tr.

RACING CAMS

iRAOEvCAMS.^

Contact your state distributor...

Hardiman Auto Supplies (02) 9771 5877 Motorsport Connections (02) 9838 7272 (03) 9794 Victorian Speed Pro " ‘ 5177 Performance Wholesale (07) 3808 1986 (08) 8363 5566 Crane Technologies Gogear Racing Services (08) 9443 4400

Phone 073808 1986 or visit our website for your nearest distributor.

www.perfonnancewholesale.com.au

fTTTBSJ

CAMS racing and rally licence courses @ Oran Park monthly $605 in your car.

Includes lecture and OLT. Formula Ford Test Drives - $654.50 in our cars. No pre-requisites. 40 laps at Oran Park. tf

International Racing Drivers School For more info ph 02 9873 1773, fax 02 9871 1018 or email peter@finlays.com.au www.finlay5.cam.au

MAT LAEDDN

dvssMMk

Engine building Vehicle & engine development & machining service

● Mocal ● Aircraft Bolts ● Girling ● Goldine ● Silverline

ilUUBJLlf

Ph/Fax 02 9526 6666

Phone 07 3808 1986

Ph Byran Miller ● Mob 0417 274 507 ● Ph 02 9524 3389 ● 1 Tamba Place Lilli Pilli NSW 2229 ● Email easternraceparts@hotmail.com

or visit our website for your nearest distributor.

^fww.perfonnancewholesale.com.au WsSsmfpM^ tsscDsaias on Coolers i

m Phone 07 3808 1986

or visit our website for your nearest distributor.

WWW. performance wholesale, com. an 18 Juno 2003

For your engine tuning and development needs

Eastern Raceparts

MOTQRSPaRT TYBEB

www.garysmotorsporttyres.com.au

CXA.VilS 2 PVNAMOMETCKS

Email KDOLKAR5@bigpond.i:om.au

MOTORSPORT

10 Carnegie Place Blacktown NSW 2148 p 02 9676 8655 f 02 96765300 » e garydunlop@ozemail.com.au

g

Postal Address PD Box SI Gisborne VIC 3437 Tel/Fax D3 54S8 11S3 Mobile D4DB 834 SE5

nUNLOF

AiDDiinium Campetitian Wheel Nets 0-6D TyrePressoreGaeges i

m¥!

CAMS

including PSi(USA) valve springs and

¤ RACING TIRE

anmuBsnnE

£

l Matching race valve train components"

3MM

AUSTRAL I A SO BOSTfijJgJ 0Sdl (WXztS!’(JlkSSSUASb Ph. 02 9758 1966 Fax. 02 9768 1165

i

Crankshails^__^^j;^

mmmwmMimmmmMSi CBSJSPCSlSlSiMSSSSlSXSaUBJ

Phone 07 3808 1986

or visit our website for your nearest distributor.

WWW. performance wholesa le. com. au 77

m race Shop

5«»

n

R0WS

com^h

'MANLEYHifosos

BMISI AUSTRA

L

Ph. 02 9758 1966

I

STHAlflANlDlSTR'IBUTORl

Remarkable Windows of Opportunity for Engine Experts l Acturole, Repeotable, Versatile l Take manual coniral ar hands-free l Local design, support, development, inslallolion and on-site training l Top names demand top equipment(users inc NIZPRO, HSV, HRI & John Sidney Racing)

WWW.performancewholesale.com.au

SHADESPECTRUM SHADE

m&m

n

1

AREX Computing PO Box 151 Montrose Vit3765 Ph039751 II« Fox03 9751 2173 Mob 0408 055541 *

Email ailder@melbp(.oig.i

MCm PISTONS £iPim

Now available in 3 sizes 2.4m X 2.4m 3m X 3m 4.5m X 3m to cover all situations.

Maintenance free.

The 60 second shade structure.

e-JI

For mort infomation and dtmonttration tontacts

JP^DynoLog Dynamometer

57 Taunlon Dr Chellentiam VIC 3192 Ph 03 9584 4499 Fax 03 9584 4008 Email avo@bigpond.com

or visit our website for your nearest distributor.

Fax. 02 9758 1155

l Engine, chassis, go-kart or molorhike

Specialists tn l luroocnargers ball bearing and non ball bearings l Kils & overhauls available l High (low intercoolers and kils l Link engine Tianagemenl systems l Oil coolers and oil coolers kits* Silicon hoses and bends l Tein suspension kits

Phone 073808 1986

Ttado enquiries welcome

A

i

PERFORMANCE CAMS ^ lVALVEJRAINXOMPMENTS.

memand the best!

High performance engine components for over 30 years.

Race, strip or street.

[)]

g^RAlME W^ams

Ti 1

■mt.

F^gt-

1800 089 089

$363

, ^ www.ipeclnainshiili.coiii.iu

Steel Main Caps to suit most V8 applications Manufactured in USA by Pro-Gram Engineering

state Distributors

'I 9'^^

i

Phone 07 3808 1986

or visit our website for your nearest distributor.

www.performancewholesale.com.au Queensland 07 3341 9911 Sydney 02 9609 1101 Melbourne 03 9326 6088

I'-l

race^ brakes

Competition disc pads ● Race brakes ● Pagid ● Hawk ● Endless ● Performance Friction

Over 10 years experience of brake modifications and upgrades for road and race. Caliper conversion 1, 2, 4 & 6 piston. Custom made disc rotors,

Manufacturers ft distributors of <

races High performance ft racing disc brakes

Books, Videos, DVD's Motorsport from FI to Drive Days Workshop Manuals for cars and bikes How To’s for just about everything }'s

-iUThU&ti

t-J

NSW: (02) 9678 9977 OLD: (07) 3808 1986 VIC: (03) 9794 5177 WA: (08) 9353 1155 Australian importer and distributor:

CRANE

Ph: 08 8363 5566 Fax: 08 8363 5633 ^a TECHNOLOGIES www.cranecams.com.au ^PTY. LTD.

TRACr/OA/ mr

:F^yokohama AV#N

The world’s leading dry brake connector, available for every wet line on a racer. As used by F1,WRCand Touring Cars.

^

Contact RussbU at EEC Brakes far a brochure an 03 34ES 3B1E 18

Now based at Morgan Raceway Warwick Leo will personally instruct small classes (6) on technique and vehicle set up l^oyrse?^ Jr specia l * ' available an cost only $200 per day rates fo r

L Wakefield 1

Your high performance tyre and suspension specialists

r d

«

6,U

roduas

mg the ulliinate predskHi component Oimhing ^7/

Staubil CannEctars

RACING TYRES

WWW gurumotors pons com

GuOJ Racing -

wsm

(03)ma5^^

Race logistics RACE l^istIcs interstate transport

Enjoy your Toy! ^c/ub daysj-J

p 07 5578 6656 m 0438 172 134 f 07 5578 6657

2 DRYSUMP I OIL PUMPS

'T Australian Made

U

Engineered isotropic finishes for carbon & alloy steels, stainless steels & titanium components.

Increase component efficiency and life span, reduce vibration, friction, noise & operating temperature. This is not polishing, but refining machined surfaces to a polished condition, removing machining peaks ● the cause of miaopitting which leads to component feilure.

Ph 03 5339 5/59 Fax 03 5339 2144

by

Leo Geoghegan Performance Driving School

Distributors for Victoria and Tasmania

SlIVtMFARIN

Pk 02 9909 liq/1 Fax 02 9909 1566

1 21 Kellets Rd Rowville 3178 Ph 03 9764 281 1 Fax 03 9764 8740

Sold Au;

u ●ft

^

●r Best Quality Y Lower Price V Local Spares & Support V From 1 to 5 Stages Y Bracket Mount or Flange Mount V Complete Systems ^ Call for a FREE brochure

CUSTOM PAirrs

\

)

P (0 8) 9258 7700^

OIL DRAHM TRAY

ALL ROUNDS ALL CLASSES Fully enclosed custom built race car transporters Professional race car logistic and event specialists Security for car and equipment Contact Neil Griffiths on 0418 474 816

race@tnt.com.au

m

^ -

7 ^

● One man operation ● Easy to use ● 16 litre capacity ● Quick 8 dean A range of environmentally friendly products to keep your work place clean.

Ph Brett Youlden 0402 456 281 or email byoalden@oiemail.com.au

TUB aHt\/IIMG FUnCE

CLASSIFIEDS

Classifieds online classifieds 7

news

22ZZ7

Find hundreds more race vehicles and parts for saie at www.my105.com

SEU

frim list $25

your motorsport vehicle, parts, memorabilia with our all-new combined magazine/internet classified service.

Courtesy of an agreement between Motorsport News and internet classified service my105.com, your advertising will appear in both for as little as $25.

Yes 6 months on my105.com AND one insertion in Motorsport News for just $25! HOW?

Just log on to www.my105.com and follow the prompts!

Alternately, you can still use the classified form on these pages (surcharge applies for the service of entering the ad onto my105.com)

LOG ON NOW — IT’S THE SMART WAY TO SELL YOUR EQUIPMENT!

Championship Winning GTS

Quickest GT3 in country, proven track record. Complete with ohiin shocks, 3 sets of wheels, nations cup computer, r PI data logger, upgraded ECU and ish many spares. This has car has had no exspense spared and is ready to race/rally in 2003. New paint and all www.my105.com/75661 original parts inch $180,000 Neg, Matthew 0412 553 455.

I

Commodore Cup Race Car, new engine, gearbox and front rotor's, professionally built, ready to race. $23,000. Cameron 0418 318 866 26owww.my105.com/75696

Sedans/Sports Cars

r II

sr,.

Mazda RX7 1993, Vielside kit, roll cage, alloy rear wing, 13b Peripheral port, massive Trust T88 turbo, fat Trust inter cooler, giant waste gate and custom exhaust, greddy race BOV, metal clutch, Apexi digital meter, race style suspension, purchased only as a race car as cannot be complied. $thousands spent on it. $34,000 will take trade in. Kerry 0418 835 727. 262 www.myl05.com/76349

Porsche 930, Genuine turbo, all steel, LHD, FAI app full roll cage and harnesses, fresh and standard 3.3, K29 turbo, Kokein intercooler. New 17" Simmons, good Bridgestone 540s, alum, oil cooler, Padig pads, Pyro, MSD ign, adj boost (330 400hp), RSR 3.8 wing, make an ideal Targa or club car, Why knock the good one around? $45,000 ONO. Kerry 0417 518 660 /(03)6331 0466.260www.my105.com/99536

If

ki Python SR 302, Championship winning car, 1998, 2000 3rd 2001, 302 Windsor 500 and hp John Sidney buiit engine, 4 speed to loader and more, ready to race with 2B log book, eligible for Prod Sport NSW and Sport Car Class VIC. $65,000. George (03) 9696 0646/0402 053 116.259 www.myl05.com/86492

18 June 2003

BMW E30 Series Production Car, 325i 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 034 231.259www.my105.com/60323

Westfield Sierra Cosworth, Specialist high performance vehicle. 245 BHP, Flat Slide Injection, Dry Sump, Button Clutch, Motec M4, 4 Vented Disks, 5 Link Rear 2.5" AVO Shocks, 3” 6pt Harness, Quaife Sierra 5 speed, LSD, Rose jointed, 13” Wheels with Yokohama 032 Tyres. Professional engine rebuild just completed. This is an excellent track car but don't have time to use. $36,500 Or Best Offer. Brett(02)6285 3644.

261 www.myl05.com/91004

Toyota Corolla IMP Production Car,4AGE 20 valve engine, autronic engine management, TRD, C/R, g/box, 4.3 LSD, Sparco seat and harness, log book, on tandem axle, braked trailer. $12,500. John (07)3207 8559.260www.my105.com/43891

Nascar Pontiac Grand Prix, 2nd last race, 650 HP engine, well sorted and reliable, with spares ready for next Nascar race 216-03, must sell. $30,000. Daryl 0410 640 644.260 www.my105.com/6409 2000 Porsche GT3, SWAP OR TRADE open to suggestion. Preferably like to swap for BMW 5 series or equivalent, up to 120K. . Dean 0418 507 403. 260 www.myl05.com/68155

Ford Cortina Mkl GT, Group N Historic Historic Touring Car, with current CAMS log book. Very well presented original GT two door, excellent interior, with straight exterior, & in very good condition overall, ISOOcc Push rod engine, "Lamer" cam, engine has been rebuilt ready to be run in, twin 45mm webers, intermediate gt 'box, locked diff, koni dampers, rebuilt Capri calipers, new rear brakes, crack tested stubs & axles with stiffners, numerous spares included Genuine reason for sale. $12,500. Leon (03)9574 5345 / 0412 140 730, 260 www.myl05.com/5762

Ford Escort Mark 1 Ex Pedders Suspension Jamie Miller Mk1 Escort, No expense spared. Full space frame, fresh 13B PP, fresh Needham straight cut box, AP Brakes, wets, spare rims, weighs approx 700kg, proven performer and reliability.

PRICE REDUCED. $15,000 URGENT SALE AUD Matt (02) 6684 0409 or 0414 611 687 260www.my105.com/377

Toyota Supra Sports Sedan, Toyota Supra 2001 Old State Sports Sedan Championship Winner, midmount 6Ltr Chev, ford loploader, Independant nine inch diff, too much to list, comes complete with spares and fully enclosed trailer, PDA - call either 0418 729 732 or 0417 607 084. PDA. Wayne26iwww.my105.com/33119

m

}:

.prttoi',*?

8

Mirage RS, This immaculate example won best presented for the majority of 2002 season also winning the last round it raced at Phiilip island, including various podiam ftnnisiiss throughout 2002. The car is fully equiped wilti fire bomb, sparco seat bells, pedals ertc. With Full Log Book and only two crwners.520,000,00 Best Offer. James Dutton (03) 9428 4144 / 0438 777 776.258 www.myl O5.com;i2729

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 h»eo, Danny 0418 353 681.259 www.my105.eom/20609

Commodore Cup, Commodore Cup #426 Ex Baxter/Papendell car, 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 0409846 717.

258 www.my105.com/67764

i»9

Open Wheelers

jLjAJL i

m

1

T

. .

V■T*

■|

Porsche GT3 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 mnning 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

BMW E46 3201 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 Bell +64-21- 845-102. 258 www.my105.com/978

Mazda RX2 Coupe, Improved production Sedan, RX2 Coupe, 13B bridgeport, 51mm Webber, air box, RevLimter, race clutch, 5 speed g-box, steei cage, foamfilied 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.

Benjamin (or John) (03) 9888 8298. 259 www.myl05.com/28856

Honda Prelude Sports Sedan, Australia's Fastest 2Lt Sports Sedan, Full Space Frame Construction - 770Kg, Nissan SF!20 Super Touring Engine, Hilux Rear LSD, Willwood Brakes, Motec, All Lap Records At Willowbank and Morgan Park, Wiliowbank 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

r

MGB, 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 1471. 257 www.my105.com/44437

I

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 BMP / Motronic Eng Mgt. with UNICHIP Module. 930 Turbo Brakes / Coil Over /

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 0409 846 717.

280 www.myl 05.CO m/60608

PORSCHE GT3, Perfectly maintained.

Mechanically perfect, Many spares available. . $178,000 must sell. 0418 507 403.257www.my105.com/53327

Mugen in field. Easy to drive, valid for AF2. 1 have all log books if you wanted to run in historic Gp R. Comes with spares. A proven race winner. Won Rookie of the year 2002.

Engineer: Tom (02) 9588 9443. Owner: Brendon 0409 952 905. $27,500 Neg. 26i www.myl05.com/24886 Formula Ford Reynard 90F, Good competitive car, spherical bearings and rodends renewed, 2 engines, 2 sets of wheels, 3 spare ratios, 2 sets of bodywork, spare corners, parts, must sell due to business commitments. $15,500 Neg. Shane 0412 043 805. 261 www.my105.com/34131

I

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

Mk 6 Cheetah F2, Fully restored. 1600 cc Celica engine dyno time only. Webber 45 carburettors. Hewiand gearbox. Brand new chrome exhaust system. Fire system fitted.

Eligible AF2 or Histories. Spares including head and mounted wheels. Also included

il 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. 258 www.my105.com/69202

1981 Cheetah Mk 7, In tip top condition.

Pole at Oran Park Nov '02 with Dallara 395

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

purpose built, fully enclosed refurbished trailer with 12 months registration and full length side and rear annex. Excellent car. $39,500 ONO. Alan 02 6367 3030 / 02 6367 3222.261 www.my105.com/69423

GWG 1967 Group 0, Log book and Cams certificate of description, motor fully rebuilt, four speed Hollinger Box, $24,000. Bob (03) 5428 2563. 259Www.my105.com/971Q1

TiMFwav to sell your gearl From fust $25* lust log on

C^$25 applies to ads entered directly onto my105.com) Advertising can also be supplied usingthisform ($10/$15 surchage to text only/text + pic advertisements) Advertisements will appearin nextpossible issue of i.lotorsport - PLUS the niyi 05.com website for six months.

Please read & cross the desired services and calcuiate the total.

SJ Standard ad and one inlusion into Motorsport News = $25 □ Additional issues $25 per issue □ Sedans □ Open Wheelers □ Speedway □ Drag □ Jobs □ Feature ad on My105.com homepage □ Parts □ Engines □ Trailers □ Wanted □ Photographs □ Other and MNews for $75 per issue Please keep adsto no more than 50 words, plus up to 6 photos if desired. □ Words only $10 □ Words and images $15

online classifieds

Category:

IldWO Description:

TOTAL = $

I enclose a cheque/money order/credit card details for the payment ol the total amount above.

□ Amex □ Bankcard □ Visa or □ Mastercard for the amount of Card no

Name _ Address Email Ph( 80

)

Signature _ Card Name

Exp_/_

Forward your classified to: fax 02 96471177 email mnews(gmy105.com postal address My105,105 Carnarvon Street Silverwater NSW 2128.

NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS Please use the form provided and print clearly. Please note

we are unable to return photographs supplied for use In classified ads. Ads will appear as soon as possible after receipt. MN/my105.com classifieds are for the sale of private goods and vehicles only, not business advertising Photos marked "proof" will not be used.

motorsport newt

Bikes

Speedway Sprintcar High Bar Rolling Chassis, Lightning Chassis, new tank, almost complete. $4750 2 Maxim Chassis $1200/$750 Also a range of Sprintcar parts including Quick change diffs, shockers with dyno sheets, bars with test sheets, complete front axle, bare front axles, front and top wings, tyres, rims, bonnets, side bars. Quad with push Bar $1100. Dennis 08 8269 2928 / 0408 844 841. 260 www.my105.com/25409

r '

Engines

1988 Ducati 750 FI, 20,000 Km excellent condition. Two owners. Second elderly owner purchased in 1990 at 9,000 Km and never reved over 5,000 RPM. This rare FI is for the Ducati collector. $18,000. Lindsay (03)5243 4884 260 www.my105.com/71344 n

1

372 Alloy Sprintcar Engines, 372 Sprintcar Engine Maxwill Built, Just freshened with new special stroke scat crank, Kinsler F.I.J and Mallory Super Mag III, Just dynoed and set to go. $28000 also a 372 Sprintcar engine,Maxwill built as raced in 02/03 season, $25000 2 3/16 Hilbourn Fuel Injection complete with latest 1 peice air filter$1800 Aluminium Radiator $200 Roller Camshaft $150 Pro Iron Lightning Steel Cylinder Heads - Complete, Ported, Good HP $2500 , Dennis 08 8269 2928 / 0408 844 841, 260 www.my105.com/1589

Transporters/Trailers FIDO 1975, long wheel base with canopy, reco V8 4spd, resprayed, alloy wheels, Hayman Reece tow bar, vacuum brakes, new front tyres and shocks, electric bucket seats, fold up centre seat, 10 months reg, not used on daily basis, ideal for race car transport. $8,000 ONO. Daryl 03 9435 6447.260www.my105.com/7718

Production 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. 260 www.myl05.com/81149 Predator Dirt Drag Bike, GS 750 Wisco’d to 850cc, too many extras & spares to list, professionally built motor & frame running nitro's with imported rear tyres, only 4 passes since top end rebuilid, looks & goes great, spent over $15,000. Refer to www.my105.com/63226 for other Predator, both bikes for $7,000 GS75020160, (JB0422617). Darren 0427 839 691. 259 www.mylO5.com/17841 2002 AU Super Sedan, John Brown Chassis, all the best equipment used, open axle diff, Burt Box, 363 Cleveland engine 700HP, no expense spared on building of this car, only raced one meeting. Plus ail spares. $35,000 or will separate. 0419 989 010 / (02) 4730 3440.

259 www.myl05.com/4465

ari

Porsche Parts, 1 set fully adjustable bilstein suspension (currently on PorscheGT3) excellent condition, fully refreshed in 2002. Spare spring, 1 spare shock, Neg $3,750. 1 set OZ racing 18" rims (PorscheGT3) $4,200 or original GT3 rims $4,500. Lightweight door and floor inners, to suit PorscheGT3 $2,100. Race exhaust GT3 $2,200. Cobra evolution race seat $500. Detachable steering wheel $250.

Separate or sell lot for $8,500. . Dean 0418 507 403. 259www.my105.com/88971

Predator Dirt Drag Bike Kid's, Kid’s Deltex drag bike, comes with original frame very good goer & promo bike. Refer to www.my105.cm/17841, 150 Deltex (JB0422616). $1,500 ONO. Darren 0427 839 691. 259www.my105.com/63226

Parts

* * * PHONE NUMBER CORRECTION * * * 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. Please ring this number 0410 681 562 ... the number in MNews is incomect. $3,000 no offers. Grant 0410 681 562.260Www.my105.com/95627 Super Sedan Parts, Bert transmission $2100, MSD Ign (billet dist, 6T Box, 2 x lead sets, 3 x Coils) $900, Vertex Mag (ext coil, new cap, leads, rotor) $900, Willwood W5 hubs (inci rotors, bearings, drive flanges) $300ea, 3 x Willwood Dynalite Calipers (pads and 2 diff clamps) $360, Willwood Drive flanges $50ea, 73/4 Top Arms $60ea, 81/4 top Arms $60ea.81/4 to Arms $60ea, 165/8 Lower Arms $60ea, 175/8 Lower Arms $60ea, Afeo 1079-1 Diff Shock $90, Afeo threaded Body 9700 shock $200, Sweet Power Steer pump $375. Bradley (03)6424 4544. 259www.my105.com/17952 Super Sedan Parts, Afeo RH Spindle $195, Afeo 400 & 350 psd Springs $60ea, 7 x American Racer Tyres 60% - 90% from $75, coilover kits $60ea, 8 x alloy Pro Shocks $110ea. New Alloy Fuel Filter housing #10 ends and stainless filter $140ea, New 7 pc AN Alloy Spanners #3 #20 $165. New 9500 Carrera Shock $145, New Steel Afeo 1 x 96 & 2 X 75 shocks $145ea, Bradley (03)6424 4544.259www.my105.com/52951

18 June 2003

Custom Built Suzuki GSXR 1100, fully polished with immaculate paintwork, complete Kevin Schwantz race replica, full service history, with new Michelin tyres, chain & sprockets, only 11,000 kms since built, No 750,(JB0522957). Craig (02)9825 9723.259www.my105.com/18430

Collectable/Memorabiiia Blante Models - All Signed, 1 x Johnson XE Palmer Tube, 1 x Moffat Cobra Coupe 1977, 1 X Moffat Coupe 1978. 0415 178 696 254 www.my105.com/92629

Driver/Crew Apparel

Trailer Car / Boat, 6m x 2.5m, with totally enclosed 6m x 5m x 2m high annex. Fitted tool box on draw bar and ramps. $6,500.

0408 369 070. 26Owww.my105.com/737S TRAILER, New 2.98 long x 1.82 m wide.

Professionally built. Uncovered, single drop axle, jockey wheel, hinged ramps. 12 months registration (June). In Sydney. $2,200 inc GST. Peter 02 9873 1773. 259 www.my105.com/2735

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 dean 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 Wheel or rim, Mawer wheel or rim only ok suit LJ Torana XU1 9" x 13" rear . Type required has edge of rim "rolled down fiat".

Noel McLaughlin 0408 102 412. 259 www.myl05.eom/36701

Coach Transporter, 38ft midmount, B58 Volvo 275HP, four speed pre select gearbox, air brakes. Maxi brakes exhaust, tubless tyres, aluminium chequered plate drop back rear door, electric winch, new carpet in front section. Pontoon lounge fridge. $20,000 ONO.0419 989 010 / (02)4730 3440.259www.my105.com/14138

.wrBvr

Dual Cab Car Transporter, Dual cab Misublshi 515 Pantech. 6 cylinder turbo diesel only 284000km. Long range fuel tanks able to carry 2 race cars. Lots of storage space, checkerplate floor, tyre racks, internal lighting with 240 volt power, air compressor, electric winch & ramps.

Interstate del neg. Ready to go nothing to spend. $46,500. Ph: Leanne 0438 370 793. $46,500 Neg. Leanne 0438 370 793. 259 www.my105.com/47670 i

♦METROi.

Kawasaki ZX9R 1999, reg. till 6/03, 11800 kms, 1st regd 2000, comes w/ all riding gears; 2 helmets,2 jackets, 3 gloves, boots, bike lock, bike cover.AK 244. . $10,000 ONO. Edwin 0417 320 135 / (03) 9364 5369. 259Www.my105.com/78965

43FT 3 CAR TRAILER, Smooth sided 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, 258www.my105. com/30161

^

■

I

More refined searches Browse the ‘motorsport catalogue' of new parts and accessories

I

Coming Soon ...The Motorsport directory and membership areas

WPA Transporter, Dualcab , turbo 6 speed, complete with generator, compressor, ellectric winch for car, winch for tailgate, 130000 kirns, has separate front room, fitted out for super sedan. 45000+ GST ONO. michael (07) 5437 7 6 03 .

258 www.myl05.com/77696

Get it seen Get it sold!

81

OPINION

motorsport EDITORIRl STRFF Editor: Phil Branagan “ editor@mnews.com.au Assistant Editor: IVlark Glendenning » mark@mnews.com.au Staff Journalist: Grant Rowley » grant@mnews.com.au

PRODUCTION Adv & Graphics Co-ordinator: Viv Brumby l viv@mnews.com.au

ADVERTISING Brendon Sheridan - PR Driven Tel; 03 9550 0870 Fax: 03 9550 0816 mobile: 0407 007 286 « ads@mnews.com.au

DDMINISTRATION

Gives us Ten

Thankfully, Channel Seven give us PROCAR and SBS broadcast Speedweek. If Ten's coverage is a bit average,send it up here, we'll take it anyway!

I have written to our local

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

CONTRIBUTORS

Can Skaife do it?

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 Conole, 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

I think Mark Skaife is taking on too much responsiblity by purchasing HRT. It was obvious he was going to buy it but why did it take six months for the deal to get finalised? I think there is something suss going on ...

Mr. Skaife is now a very powerful person in the V8 Supercar field. He's nearly the David Beckham of Supercars(although not quite as good looking).

The big question is though, will he remain a Champion? Only time will tell...

Michelle Chivers Brisbane, Qld

CONTACTS

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.

I was watching the bikes on the weekend and was appalled at the commentary Bill Woods and Daryll Beattie produced.

Why do we have to listen to their dribble? They wouldn't know anything more than what we know.

motorsport coverage.

Up here in the top end, we don't get Channel 10. We get V8 coverage on Channel Nine. It usually gets aired around midnight on Sunday. We don't get RPM and we don't get V8 Superstars. Formula 1? What's that?

newspapers trying to get people to lobby Channel Ten to start broadcasting up here and maybe put pressure on Nine to lift their game,or even go away!

T.Hansen Noonmnah, NT

Managing Director/Publisher: Chris Lambden " publisher@mnews.com.au

Ten good - Ten bad

I just had to respond after reading MNews Issue's #256 and 257 with people whinging about Channel lO's efforts at

Enduro answers With the endurance races approadiing, when are we going to get to know all of the combinations for 'The Great Race'?

I've been making a list at home and there are still a good 15 seats available. And half of those are with decent teams.

Surely some of the outfits have

What myself and my mates did was turn down those clowns and called the race ourselves! It

Send us your thoughts: mail: PO Box 7072, Gardenvale, VIC 3186 fax: 03 9596 5030 email: mnews@mnews.com.au have decided their combos,but they're holding the deals back from the media.

Come on Motorsport News,find out who's driving where so I can start placing my bets for the biggest race of the year!

Anthony Crest Frankston, VIC

Stoney good idea After reading your last magazine, I thought I should right in straight away.

I think a deal between Stone Brothers Racing and Mitshibishi would be fantastic. The cars would be immediately competitive, they'd have plenty of grunt and they already have all the infrastructure in place to create a race winning package. It's the perfect relationship.

I'm not sure how good your sources are, but I hope they are right.

I sure hope the Mitshibishi join the V8 Series,just to spice up the action a bit more.

Vote One for Stones and Mitisubisihi!

PS-Just one final word on the Murphy/Lowndes incident. That was pathetic!!

Greg Stanmore East Hills, NSW

2 years $275

A$195 AS250

$370 $480

Queensland Raceway last weekend and was pleasantly surprised.

There was plenty of room to move around (but the crowd was still big enough to make a mess), the racing was exceptional and tlie cars are a treat to look at.

I was also fortimate to have my photo taken with Peter Brock.

It was a good day. The only tiling I didn't like was the Ute commentary.

To be honest, it was a bit embarrassing...

Francis Delplwno .

Logan, Qld

The Larry Medal?

In the AFL Wizard Cup final, the player that is considered the best performer is awarded the Michael Tuck Medal.

For future Sandown 500s, why not do something similar?

The Larry Perkins Medal could be awarded to the driver who is considered the best performer of the race, and it doesn't have to go to the winning driver/team.

This would make the Sandown 500 an even more interesting event and I'm sure that most of the drivers would be honoured to receive such a prestigious award.

Malcolm Webster Croydon South, Vic

Teams sorted

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

Do you think Steven Richards be a front-runner for the Larry Perkins Medal?

82

PROCAR fan

I'm glad the HRT/Kmart/Team Brock thing is sorted out now. It really was a big anti-climax.

Who really cares about who own the teams? I just want to see the boys go racing.

There's enough politics in this world,let's leave the Supercars out of it and just rub panels,jump kerbs and abuse officials. Because that's what

SUBSORiPTIONS 1 year $143

Bill Emery Coorparoo, Qld I visited the PROCAR round at

‘Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

Australia find GST) Overseas (Air Mail): New Zealand, PNG, Malaysia, Indonesia, Phillippines, Hong Kong, Japan US, Canada, Europe

actually didn't work out too bad!

But I have to thank Network 10 for their excellent FI coverage.

It certainly makes up for the bike fiasco.

Supercar racing should be about!

Love the magazine boys, keep up the fine work...

Wayne Smithson address withheld by request motorsport oews

leciiiin Irule Sfireiiigii Hoy©ii ¥U SS Brute I^Sceile iPiiGdit Mediel Fully detailed chassis & interior Worldivwiide ywiited:idiiion of 2500

For more details of this model contact Classic Carlectables on 1800 088 564 or visit our website www.classiccarlectables.connvciu

Why do champion motorsport drivers choose Yokohama tyres?

a

J# r

That’s

/

8|

mM i

Available from Yokohama key dealer 131 509 Bob Jane T-Mart 13 26 25

;yYOKOHAMA