Motorsport News Issue 279 - March 24-April 6, 2004

■■■■■ SHOCK EXCLUSIVE: PERKINS TO SELL? THE IMEW. BEHMlVia THE IMEVl/i Ta CO CO CO CO

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Australia $5.95 NZ $7.50 incl GST No. 279 March 24- April 6 2004

MARCOS MAULS’EM AT CLIPSAL, niT

Webber'S EXCLUSIVE diary

^ What grid, Mark?

How he got on the front ^ row - and why it went ^ wrong on race day

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Issue 279

24 March — 6 April 2004

news and opinion 4

A Price for Perkins IP’s licences are on the market?

6

is GRM, is damaged Two big repair jobs ahead before Eastern Creek

8

A Frank Kiwi? Dixon gets a foot in the FI door

12 About time Marshaii finally sorts out his Supercup deal 25 Motor Mouth MN’s Publisher plays couch potato 26 Box Seat Michael is still the boss. Here is why 82 Taik Converter Mark Webber vs Homer Simpson and the cast of Amercian Idol

features 28 Five Minutes With Adrian Fernandez Preparing for life on the ‘other side’ 30 Five Minutes With Jenson Button Hey Dad, did you see me on the podium?

32 El Presidents Tony Cochrane has a lot on his plate - and he's still hungry 34 Analysis Bathurst needs bucks, but the federal government isn’t in a hurry to hand them over. Here’s why

race coverage

MARCOS MAULS’EM ATCLIPSALBUT

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3

Rumour Rile Where we air all those intriguing, but to date unconfirmed, rumours dug out by our imperious spies - in this edition, we cover everting from SBR’s enduro iineups to some Formula One geography Don't bet large sums of dough on this ... but we hear that Stone Brothers Racing is not going to follow last year's example with its 2004 endurance line-ups. The story goes that Marcos will be in the Pirtek car and that Rusty will be in Havoline hues. Co-drivers are still up in the air but, damn it, that name Ritter keeps on coming up ...

The whole Ralf Schumacher/Renault thing from last week has been pretty well debunked by the expert FI media, who largely predict that Schuey Two has Toyota as his most likely destination.

But... we have heard from the oddest source that where there is smoke, there is fire. Our man on the inside insists that the deal IS done and that it is all part of a swap to get some Renault-contracted bloke in Williams blue next season. And no, not any of the ones with the funny accents.

Smoke signals 'States-side say that there will be a big announcement regarding Champ Cars in the next week. What could it be? Well, it seems that the promoters of the three Canadian events are standing firmly behind the series because they believe that one of their countrymen will be getting a ride this season. So, make yourself a list of Canuck racing drivers and, if you feel lucky, strike out the names of all the drivers who don't wear glasses - or baggy race suits.

Remote control? Heard the one about the motorsport mag whose AGP coverage was attributed to long-time GP reporter Mike Doodson? The experienced and popular FI journo (one of only three in the '500 Club') must have been skulking in the darkest of pit lane bunkers, 'cause noone actually bumped into The Dood in Melbourne. Indeed, our UK spies report that a figure of alarmingly similar proportions was seen shopping near his East Sussex home that very weekend, muttering about slashed budgets ...

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And talking AGP, how about equally famous international FI scribbler Alan Henry who wandered about as far as it's possible to get from the homely comfort of the media centre, to the Minardi pit, to interview Zsolt Baumgartner. It was only after a handful of questions and a number of confused answers that the learned scribe realised he was chatting to Gianmaria Bruni ...

4

IP'S Licences en the market Testing restriction prompts dramatic action LARRY Perkins has put his two Level 1 V8 Supercar licences on the market.

The six-time Bathurst winner notified the Touring Car Entrants' Group TEGA of his intention to sell the licences, under which Steven Richards and Paul Dumbrell race the Castrol Perkins Racing Commodores.

"I have notified TEGA of my intention, as I am required to do by the rules," said LP on Monday.

"I have to go through the steps and I have done that. My next step is to proceed with intended buyers and make the sale or not make the sale."

Perkins has made the decision because of the fact that the TEGA Board has deemed that his team, and those of Rod Nash Racing and Toll Racing, have been 'grouped'.

Because of that fact, none of the cars will be allocated more than two days' testing this seasons, as Kmart Racing and Team Brock were restricted to that amount last season because they were grouped with Holden Racing Team.

"The way that the Board is interpreting grouping is too big a burden for Perkins Engineering," continued Perkins.

"My business is racecar engineering and I intend that to continue. But (the testing restriction) is too severe a penalty. The Board's decision is most disappointing."

IP's move is not likely to affect the Castrol Racing program for this season. While Perkins declined to comment on what might happen, or what the duration of his deal with the oil company and his other sponsors were, it is improbable that he would accept an offer from a 'hostile' party (ie, another V8 Supercar team) but would look favourably on an offer from a person or entity that would allow Richards and Dumbrell to continue racing their Holdens.

Of course, any such sale would be subject to approval by the TEGA Board. It is also likely that, as it did with the Holden ownership matter last year, the Board would grant Perkins a period of grace to sort the matter out, during which he could continue to run the racing team.

Ironically, the move comes on the day that Richo gave the team its best start to a season in memory, with two second ■places in the Clipsal 500.

- PHIL BRANAGAIM

Dumbrell fined at 500

CASTROL Perkins Racing's Paul Dumbrell has been handed a $10,000 fine and a 75-point penalty for his involvement in the four-car pile-up in Race 2 of last weekend's Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.

The team has appealed the decision and a hearing is due to be held in relation to the matter, which severely damaged the four cars. The appeal is likely to be held tomorrow night (Thursday) in the V8 Supercar Court of Appeal at CAMS headquarters in Melbourne.

Dumbrell keeps his race results though drops from finishing seventh for the round to equal 19th.

The 21-year-old, who finished

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by PHIL BRANAGAN i HOLDEN Racing Team leader j I j j

Mark Skaife has vowed to return to form at the second round of the - ’■ 2004 V8 Supercar Championship ■S.-.

Series at Eastern Creek, despite suffering "one of the worst weekends I have ever - experienced" at the Qipsal 500.

Skaife and the team had a series 3 I of disasters in Adelaide, leaving I him equal ninth in the points and 1 team-mate Todd Kelly in equal 17th

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after the two 250km races. Worse for the team, neither Commodore VY showed any speed over the weekend, both Skaife and Kelly missing the top 10 shoot-out.

Worse, HRT was

strongly in the top 10 the day before and was looking strong to equal the feat on Sunday, tapped Cameron McConville's Valvoline Holden into a spin at the high speed turn eight.

The resultant carnage saw Mark Winterbottom, Steven Johnson and Brad Jones all suffer severe damage to their Falcons with Eastern Creek less than a fortnight away.

Dumbrell was fined $5000 for careless driving at the Clipsal 500 last year after an incident with Dean Canto.

The former Konica Series champion was unavailable to make comment on the incident on Monday.

-AARON NOONAN notortport pews

n Look for a new Stone Brothers Racing Falcon to hit the track after Pukekohe. There's a new shell ready and waiting in the workshop for running gear at the team's Yatala workshop.

Not that there's much wrong with the two current cars though! n No more pooch food at the Creek. Telstra BigPond will be the naming rights sponsor of the final round of the 2004 V8 Supercar Championship at Eastern Creek in December. The meeting may or may not continue to use the 'Main Event' title used in 2003, and will continue to be promoted by AVESCO Events.

The race wiii be held on the shorter version of the Creek, which was last used for V8 Supercars in 1996.

'last year at tte Creek, we aet-iiMified the tteU by Mf a secoNl,so left net be too aiaraied" - Skaife Is not getting too carried away by a bad Adelaide 500 comprehensively out-sped by its 'sister' Clayton-based team,PWR Racing and Kmart Racing. KRT's Greg Murphy qualified on pole position and finished fourth overall while PWR's Paul Weel and Jason Bright were third and fifth overall respectively in their VYs. "We were disappointed with our car speed," admitted Skaife after Sunday's race."We did make it better on Sunday morning but we were still nowhere near it. But it was

Adding to Skaife's mechardcal woes was an old injury, which flared up and compromised his driving, "I had no feeling in my right foot.

In 1999, when I crashed out of this race, I had a prolapsed disc(in my back) and that makes my foot go numb.I have not had a drama with it, we do a lot of work with seat posture and control it with medication and so on.

"Yesterday (Saturday), my foot went numb half-way through the race. I missed the brake pedal once altogether and I could physically not drive it any faster."

Skaife did nof say that there were any specific areas in which the team's Commodores were deficient.

an improvement.

Apart from detail changes,like brands of brakes, the main difference between the HRT cars and their 'cousins' is the fact that HRT uses the HMS engine in both cars, while PWR and KRT use Chevrolets.

Skaife said fhat his team would bounce back in Sydney; "It is the same pool of guys that

:>i_oEisi

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It started badly and went downhill from there: Kelly hit the wall early in Race 1, adding to the team's woes. Skaife has pledged a reversal of form in

Sydney.

24 mrcl 2004

- ®

have made HRT the number one

racing team in the country. We have the same faces in the team; nothing has changed.

"I could have been worse.

Everyone will have bad days. We just have to be sensible and correctly do the things that we can do correctly."

Despite the fact that Marcos Ambrose became the first Ford driver - in fact, the first non-HRT driver - to win in Adelaide on Sunday, Skaife vowed that the car would be competitive at Eastern Creek, where Ambrose won twice in 2003.

"We have to wheel the car out at Eastern Creek and show the speed that we have shown there previously. Let's not get too carried away; last year at the Creek, we outqualified the field by half a second, so let's not be too alarmed."

n Hitting a concrete barrier at just under 240 kph does not generally leave one feeling as fresh as a daisy.

Alan Gurr did just that during the first Konica Minolta race in Adelaide on Friday, and the slightly groggy Qidbased Sydneysider was taken to hospital for a once-over afterwards.

The driver was rushed through the doors into the emergency department ("just like in Hollywood," he reflected later), where he was immediately surrounded by a swarm of doctors and nurses jabbering away in medical jargon.

The news of the nature of Gurr's accident, however, apparently took even these seasoned road crash professionals by surprise.

"We have a car accident victim here, male, age 22."

"What was the impact speed in the accident?"

"238kmh," "Oh, *●**!"

Someone musn't have told them that the cars on Adelaide's streets last weekend were a bit faster than normal traffic...

■ Adelaide's Clipsal 500 sure packs 'em in. On Thursday 33,600 people attended, there were 51,300 at the track on Friday, 71,800 on Saturday and 80,700 Sunday, giving a four-day total of 237,000.

5

Don’t book those tickets to China just yet ...

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by AARON NOONAN

CAMS launches DDP Four youngsters selected for development EXCLUSIVE

by AARON NOONAN

THE proposed V8 Supercar race in Shanghai may not happen this year.

AVESCO Chairman Tony Cochrane, above, announced at the recent 2004 V8 Supercar Championship launch that the November 12-14 race \weekend may be postponed and replaced with an Australian event.

“I am extremely confident that this race will go ahead as scheduled,” said Cochrane.

“Certainly we have contingencies in place if there are problems in getting the track ready and some operational matters finalised.

“Should the race not proceed in November, we will move the Shanghai event to the front end of the 2005 season. If this is the case we will still race on the same weekend in November at a circuit to be determined.”

The race has been in doubt for some time, following reports that the construction of the circuit is running behind.

“I can't go to these drivers and teams and say,‘No problem. It’s fine’, unless I am convinced it’s fine,” said Cochrane.

“If I have a problem, I would rather have a problem now than six weeks out (from the race). Six weeks out, to have a change in the schedule, is really hard. If we have a problem in September, we are in diabolical straights.”

Cochrane said that, should he be forced to announce a postponement of the Shanghai event, he would announce a new event on the same weekend at the same time.

Rumours suggest that the race would be held at Phillip Island.

- PHIL BRANAGAN 6

AS part of its steps in finding Australia's next overseas racing talent,CAMS has launched a new Driver Development Program (DDP).

Four youngsters are fighting for two spots to race in this year's Victorian Formula Ford State Series in a Spectrum and have already undergone three days of training at the Australian Institute of Sport as well as an on-track evaluation day at Sandown.

The four drivers selected are James Love,Paul Laskazeski, Brett Hobson and Asher Johnstone,above.

The DDP is supported by the Australian Sports Commission, with support coming from high profile figures including Mark Webber,Peter Brock and AGPC CEO Steven Wright.

Love (16), Laskazeski (15), Hobson (18) and Johnstone (18) all sampled Formula Ford power at Sandown last week.

"The program aims to support these talented drivers from an early age and guide them through CAMS' motor sport pathways all the way to the international arena," CAMS CEO Dr Rob Nethercote said.

"The key objective of the program is to enable Australian drivers to rise

to the top of international competition in Formula 1, the World Rally Championship and other International categories."

The program rvill dovetail with the activities of the Australian Motor Sport Foundation(AMSF)which will be responsible for assisting the selected DDP drivers with their international careers.

"The work that CAMS is doing for driver development will fit in nicely with what we are trying to achieve with the Foundation. It's really great to see us unite together to back these kids," said AMSF director Peter Brock.

2004 will be a pilot year and will focus on drcuit racing only. The continuation of the program into 2005 and beyond will be determined by obtaining additional funds throu^ sponsorship,the ASC and other sources.

During 2004,one of the DDP participants will be provided with financial support to nm in state level Formula Ford with Borland Racing Developments.

Two others will be provided with a testing program with the opportunity to race later in the year. All four drivers will continue to participate in an Australian Institute of Sport(AIS) program as well as receiving support from a high-profile motorsport mentor.

GARRY Rogers Motorsport have two severely damaged VY Commodores to hastily repair before round two of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Eastern Creek on April 3-4.

Both of its VY Commodores were involved in incidents on Sunday, with Garth Tander's . car coming to grief in turn 8 during the warm-up and team-mate Cameron McConville's mount being cleaned up in a multi-car collision after being spun by Lj^iiDywbpell.

Bargs locked in Place y< A.

JASON Bargwanna has secured his future in V8 Supercars.

The lead Larkham Motorsport driver recently signed with the Orrcon-backed team, which could see him with the team for up to five years.

"Mark Larkham goes racing the way I like to go racing and he has built the team on these very

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principles," said Bargwanna, who is now in his seventh season of Supercars.

Bargwanna,the 2000 Bathurst wiriner, had an encouraging weekend at Clipsal,finishing fifth in leg 2.

Also,LMS displayed a one-off sponsorship boost from Hills Industries at the Adelaide street race on the bonnet of the Falcons.

THREE bidders for a V8 Supercar round in New Zeaiand wili present their credentiais to AVESCO next month.

The three consortia, from Auckland, Wellington and Manfeild, will meet with the Board at the Gold Coast base of the V8 Supercar category manager, which will then decide on the promoter to hold a race across the Tasman when the current contract to race at Pukekohe expires next year.

The Wellington and Auckland events will be street races, while the Manfeild track at Manuatu will undergo an NZ$10.5 million

motorsport news

counts the cost Dumbrell was penalised for the incident but has appealed (see separate story), while McConville came out of the 200km/h accident with only bruising.

"It was one of the biggest impacts I've ever felt," said Cam from the GRM workshop on Monday.

"I hit the side of my head against the seat fairly hard, but otherwise I'm OK. "It's (turn 8) not the place you'd expect someone to throw the nose in. It's a single file corner and no one passed (anyone else) there over the weekend without grief.

"It's not where you'd expect someone to unload you.

"I haven't chatted to Paul, was too angry Sunday night. mainly for the guys on our team.

"I've got nothing against the guy (Dumbrell) personally, but it's ruined a race car the guys worked pretty hard on over Christmas to make upgrades to and they don't deserve to be fixing two bent cars."

McConville's #33 car was on the jig on Monday afternoon and had two bent rails as wel as a decent hit in the B-pillar, with the expectation of being off the jig today (Wednesday).

Tender's #34 car, which took e bigger hit in his warm-up crash. will go on after McConville's VY comes off.

McConville had a decent championship debut with GRM. In the first race he broke his splitter after running over a spring from Todd Kelly's wrecked HRT Commodore and lost a lap pitting to have it replaced, and was running for a top 10 result in race 2 before the accident.

GRM had planned to test prior to Eastern Creek, though that would seem doubtful given the major repairs requirec before the Sydney round

ur buds Changes for V8s in ’04 upgrade should it be the successful bidder.

Apart from upgrades to the track, which was severely damaged in last month’s floods, the track will get new grandstands and corporate facilities.

The Auckland track Is based around the harbour precinct which hosted the America’s Cup prior to the victory by the Swiss Alinghi syndicate in 2003.

Representatives of the Auckland bid were in Adelaide last weekend, while the Wellington group paid a visit to Albert Park earlier this month to view V8 Supercar racing first hand.

24 March 2004

1800 804 778 for further information.

Minimum weight for cars increases 5kg to 1355kg, to allow for the new TEGA in-car cameras, while there will be an allocation of 80kg for driver weights, meaning that smaller drivers (like Max Wilson) may have to add ballast to their cars.

n Melbourne motorsport fans should tune into the new SEN 1116 AM this Friday night from 6pm to 8pm.'Panel Beaters' is the newest motorsport radio show around which will give listeners plenty of chances for talkback with the stars of the sport.

Network Ten talking heads Neil Crompton, Matty White and Greg Rust are all involved as will be V8 stars Craig Lowndes and Brad Jones. The show will be weekly for the rest of the year.

New engine rules, designed to prevent teams developing qualifying engines, mean that cars are restricted to one motor per weekend,except for the Bathurst 1000 and Sandown 500. Teams may be exempted from the rule twice during the season without penalty.

Joint naming rights sponsors Carlton & United Breweries(VB)and Telstra BigPond remain, while new sponsors are Bartercard, which will promote a V8 Supergirl competition,fast-food restaurants KFC and Wright Patton Shakespeare, which will sponsor the Audi Safety Car program.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

n Former karting star Luke May has joined the V8 Brute brigade. The 18-year-old made his debut for the Cooper's team in Adelaide on the weekend alongside team owner Ian McAlister. May sat out racing last year to complete his schooling and Adelaide was his debut car race.

THERE are some significant changes to the V8 Supercar Championship Series this season.

All rounds will now count for the championship,as opposed to last year when drivers got to drop their worst score, and drivers must complete 75 percent of race distance to earn points. Until now, DNFs have received points, down to 32 places. The changes has been generally well-received by the drivers and their teams.

7

Jag boss determined to keei Front row spot

MARK Webber really had no thoughts of snatching a front row grid as he set off on his one lap screamer at Sepang on Saturday.

But following a sensational lap, the Australian snatched the number two grid spot for Sunday's GP, earning accolades from all quarters including his own team boss, whose resolve to retain his star driver increases by the day.

Webber's goal had been sixth but on Saturday morning that looked like a forlorn hope.

He was 10th.

"Everyone was going

surprise"says Mark

gangbusters," he reflected.

"So going into qualifying I thought that a top eight position would be pretty good. The target was sixth but it didn't look very likely, although the car's been good all weekend and the team has done an amazing job. The first run went well and I didn't touch the car."

That run gave Webber the fifth-to-last run in the final qualifying and as he set off on his lap team boss Tony Purnell was apprehensive; "After the first sector time came up I thought 'Great, we will be fifth or sixth'," said

Kon confirmed for Willy test

the April test will be to see how quick he is. At the moment neither Dixon nor his manager Stefan Johansson is making any comment.

Dixon is 23 and has always wanted to be an FI driver. He is the youngest man ever to win a CART races(at 20)and won the > 1 IRL title List year at his first

IUf

Dixon currently drives for Chip Ganassi, w'ho has'dose links with Williams thanks to a number of driver deals between the two organisations in ! previous attempt. years.

- JOE SAWARD

Dennis to stay on

McLaren boss Ron Dennis has told the international media that he has recently signed a new contract with McLaren.

Dennis, right, seeking to stop speculation about his position at McLaren and rumours of a sel l out of his shares, said that he remains passionate about the McLaren brand and has been trying to build up an effective management beneath him.

- JOE SAWARD 8

^ 5ulton-imaRes.com_

AS we reported exclusively a few weeks ago, Williams is to test the IRL IndyCar Series Champion Scott Dixon.

The test will take place this week a t Pa uI Rica rd w ith a furtiier session planned for April. The first test will be to

■0

sutton-

Purnell. "It was not a perfect lap but I think the last sector was as near to perfect as you could get. He did a fabulous job.

There was no hiding Purnell's excitement and it was clear that there was no questions about a light fuel load. There was simply a rather sweaty and very un cool sense of achievement.

There was no need to pretend.

In the morning Webber had shown that the Jaguar could do fast lap times on a consistent basis. Mark had done 15 laps without any obvious tail-off in

performance.

"I am most pleased with the pace of the car over that long run," admitted Purnell. "Last year that was our weakness but this year we worked a lot on that. We haven't got any superstar names here. We have some very stable and sensible individuals and everyone worked together.

"Mark is at the centre of the team. He has gelled with the engineers. I am not sure it would be like that with another team. I have no intention of losing him but it is good to have something that people covert.

"I have always thought that the best measure of a driver is not when the car is fantastic

SUGGESTIONS of a deal that would see Ralf Schumacher driving for Renauit next year appear to be off the mark.

In the days after the Australian Grand Prix, a German newspaper quoted Willi Weber, Schumacher’s manager, as saying that Ralf is close to siging a deal to join Renault in 2005.

A day later, Renault FI boss Flavio Briatore felt the need to issue a statement denying any talks and saying that “at no time did we discuss, or have we discussed, a possible future for Ralf Schumacher in a Renauit car.”

Clearly, someone is not telling the truth!

There are, however, a number of conclusions that could be drawn from all of this. Although Williams Ft continues to say that Ralf is still a possible driver in 2005, it is clear that the relationship is not healthy.

If Ralf and Weber felt that a rumour linking Ralf to Renault would somehow impress Williams, they were wrong.

It is possible that the idea of Ralf going to Renault was designed to pressure Toyota into signing a deal with Ralf but the fact that Renault does not want to know must come as a big blow to Ralf’s ambitions.

And it is quite possible that Toyota will now realise the situation and push down its offer to the German.

Renault, on the other hand, might have been talking to Ralf and may have been embarrassed by the revelation. Renault is expected to ditch Jarno Trulli at the end of the year and one option is to replace him with Mark Webber. The Australian, however, is at the top of the Williams list and there are suggestions that a deal may have been brokered releasing Webber to Williams in exchange for Schumacher.

The only problem with this theory is that it is not entirely clear why Renault would want such an expensive driver who, frankly, has yet to prove that he has what it takes to mount a serious World Championship challenge.

There have been signs in recent months that Renault might prefer to put France’s Franck Montagny into the second car next year in order to try to drum up more support (and money) for the FI programme from within Renault and in French industrial circles.

- JOE SAWARD motorsport news

Webber

Berger to demo ex-Senna Lotus

but when things have been tough. I think that Mark and Michael Schumacher are very similar characters and I think that he will be a World Champion one day ..."

Purnell is not one of the FI team bosses who has been gagged by media training. He realised immediately that he had left himself open ... "... with us," he added.

In contrast, Sunday's race could hardly have been worse, but as ITV and Network 10 commentator Martin Brundle quipped,"what has happened today hardly matters. For Mark Webber this has been career defining weekend. Splitting the Ferraris in qualifying has got a lot of people's attention ..."

GERHARD Berger is to demonstrate an ex-Senna Lotus Formula 1 car at the forthcoming San Marino Grand Prix as part of the activities to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of the Grand Prix star.

It is not clear what other cars may be running at Imola although we hear it is unlikely that there will be any Williams or McLaren cars in action.

No change to F1 qualifying, yet...

WHILE there was no change in the FI qualifying procedure in Malaysia, the subject is far from dead.

The FIA announced before Malaysia that Bernie Ecclestone has requested a change in the qualifying structure, citing pressure from broadcasters.

The FIA has proposed a system in which the two qualifying sessions are run back-to-back but with a bigger gap between them and TV coverage of only the second part of the session.

In Malaysia, however, this would have made no difference at all because the first part of the session ran for 59 minutes. The whole process took two hours and four minutes, of which only the last 15 were really thrilling.

The whole of the FI fraternity is now supporting a change.

"Maybe it was better as it was in the past," said Ferrari's Jean Todt.

"They were complaining that for half an hour nothing was happening.

Everyone thought by having one single lap it would make this thing more unpredictable and it is more unpredictable. But now it is more unpredictable and people are not

happy -so let's make it more predictable."

Frank WiDiams agreed: "I would love to go back to four sets of tyres or three sets of tyres and a shorter period of time than 60 minutes," he said."I prefer 40 minutes with the four sets. But the push came from the need for the smaller teams who were receiving zero share of exposure. They needed something and they were given something that they could sell to their sponsors.

"At least both cars on the Friday and both cars on the Saturday have a total of, I think, 12 laps of exposure -

an important concession for them."

Ron Dennis said that he too would also hke to go back to the old days.

"If I had my way I would revert all the way back," he said,"put two engines into the race weekend with one engine going in for the Sunday and go right back to the 12 laps and a combination of practice as it was.

"It did mean the fastest people were at the front of the grid. I am a purist when it comes to Formula 1 and I would prefer to revert to that.

"You have to experiment but if you experiment and get it wrong then reverse out again."

Tony Purnell of Jaguar however, says that he prefers qualifying as it was in 2003- with one lap runs on both Friday and Saturday.

"I didn't see a chorus of disapproval in the press or the media, the way it worked out," he said. "I thought it had a nice focus on the Friday and some intrigue with the fuel on the Saturday."

The teams are due to have genuine discussions sometime in the next few days. There is some hope that change may be implemented in time for next week's Bahrain GP. -JOESAWARD

Mecachrome FI Comeback?

THERE are a number of question being asked in FI circies about the activities of the Mecachrome company.

In recent months, the company has acquired Heini Mader's headquarters in Gland, Switzerland and is investing heavily in the facility.

24 March 2004

The man who was in charge of all Mecachrome's dealings in FI with Renault has since moved to Mader's factory in Switze’riand and Mecachrome has recently hired a number of engine designers from Cosworth. This is curious as the company does not have any obvious need for designers.

Mecachrome will be supplying revamped version of the oid Supertec V10s to the new GP2 series in 2005 but perhaps there are other pians for Mader's factory in Switzerland.

A new F1 engine program perhaps?

- JOE SAWARD

n At the same time, the Ayrton Senna Institute in Brazil has marked the anniversary with a concert last Saturday, the day before what would have been his 44th birthday. The Senna in Concert event was held in the Pacaembu Stadium in Sao Paulo and about 30,000 people were expected to attend the event which will celebrate the Brazilian's legacy to the Brazilian people. The concert featured many of Brazil's top artists and among those expected to attend were former FI world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, soccer star Ronaidinho and TV presenter Xuxa, a former girlfriend of Senna. n There are suggestions that MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi may get to test a Toyota FI car.

The two-wheel star has expressed an interest in trying an FI car for some time, and commercial links between Yamaha and Toyota have paved the way for a try-out, most likely at the end of this season. The next John Surtees? Wait and see ... n FI team bosses have dismissed a suggestion from Ford's motorsport boss Richard ParryJones that one way to cut costs in Formula 1 would be to introduce a system of budget-capping.

"It's unrealistic," said Jean Todt.

"Impossible to police," said Ron Dennis. "I just totally and utterly disagree with it. It's an absolutely unpoliceable proposal. And not only that, it puts more and more control in somebody eise's hands which isn't what Formula 1 is about," n Sad news. Back in 1978, Bernie Ecclestone moved the Brabham Formula 1 team to new premises in Chessington.

The team was based there until 1989 and was then sold to Yamaha and became Active. It was staffed by many of the old Brabham team and headed by former team director Herbie Blash.

Recently, the amount of work has reduced and Yamaha has now decided to close the business down, laying off the remaining 19 employees, Blash is currently considering his options for the future but is expected to remain as the FIA's Deputy Race Director.

-JOE SAWARD 9

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home of

motorsport] 2004 V8 Supercar Championship* Apr 4

n Rd2

Eastern Creek

,Rd3

May 2 ... .Pukekohe May 23 .. .Hidden Valley

.Rd4

Jun13

Barbagallo

.Rd5

Jul 4

Old Raceway

Rd6

Jul 25 ... .Winton

,Rd7

Ug 15

,Rd8

Oran Park

felGP^ND

2004 FIA Formula One Apr 4

Championship* Bahrain

●Rd3

Apr 25

San Marino ,

.Rd4

May 9

Spain

,Rd5

May 23 . . .Monte Carlo

,Rd6

May 30 . . .Nurburgring

.Rd7

2004 World Rally Championship*

Apr 16-18 . . . .New Zealand

.Rd4

May 14-16 . . . .Cyprus Jun 4-6 .Acropolis Rally

.Rd5

June 25-27

Turkey

,Rd7

Jul 16-18

.Argentine .Finland .

,Rd8

Aug 6-8

,Rd6

●Rd9

2004 Australian Rally Mar 27-28

Championship* . . . .Perth

.Rd.1

Jun 5-6

.Queen sland

.Rd2

Jun 26

.Tasmania. .

,Rd3

July31-Aug1

. .Rally SA . .

.Rd4

2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Championship* .R d3 Apr 11 . . . .Winton ,R d4

May 30 . . .Eastern Creek Jul 4 .Old Raceway Aug 22 . . .Mallala Oct 10 Bathurst

.R d5 Rd 6 .Non Championship

2004 Procar Series Apr 18 . , . .Oran Park May 16 . . .Sandown

,Rd 2 ,Rd 3

2004 SBK World Superbike Championship Mar 28 . . .Phillip Island

.Rd 2

Apr 18 . . . .Misano . . . .

.Rd 3

May 16 . . .Monza . . . .

,Rd 4

2004 Moto GP Apr 18 May2 .

May 16 Jun 6 .

Jun 13

Championship * South Africa . . . .

,Rd.1

. , . .Spain France

.Rd2

.Italy

,Rd4

.Spain

,Rd5

.Rd3

r

1 ten k J

home of

motorsport

■

AH event dates in this calendar were correct at the time of printing. Please consult any individual tracks

. ^

anddr associations for date changes.

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

rK

Oup New Home -‘tiS

THIS is V8 Supercar's new mobile media facility.

The unit, which provides facilities for 21 print media journalists, will attend all V8 Supercar events in Australia and New Zealand, and was revealed last Thursday in Adelaide by AVESCO Chairman Tony Cochrane and Justin Milne, Managing Director of V8 Supercar Championship Series presenting sponsor, Tesitra BigPond.

"It was Cocho's idea," said Milne. "When we first discussed the sponsorship, he put it on the table. I recognised it as a great idea and I think that we were both right," The unitwill provide high-speed' internet access via satellite connection, as well as Network 10's race vision and live timing via plasma screen televisions.

When the centre is not attending races, it will travel around the country to rural areas, promoting both the V8 Supercar Championship Series and BigPond's broadband internet service. It wil l also be

Otrk Klynsmilh

//

Where's my lobster thermidor?" MNews Ed Phil Branagan enjoys the rather swish new Telstra BigPond/V8 Supercar mobile media facility in Adelaide. MNews Deputy Ed Mark Clendenning looks on suspiciously. made available for emergency situations; "In bushfires and floods, and other emergencies, one of the priorities is communications," explained Milne. "We can put this there and have instant bandwidth."

den PSST! Wanna get broadband? No? Yes, you do. After what Telstra BIgPond unveiled in Adelaide, any V8 Supercar fan worth his proverbials is going to be signing up for BigPond’s high-speed internet service.

The telco unveiled its updated web service last weekend in Adelaide. Apart from vision and live timing from the events, the new site has an array of features, including real-time technical Information (like telemetry, including In-car temperatures) and the usual array of profiles, pictures and results.

But, with broadband providing connection speed at up to 100 times faster than a dial-up service,

The unit is the first to provide satellite internet technology on a wide-scale basis and will be updated as newer and better technology becomes avai lable.

"We will commit to make sure that this has the latest technology available," said Milne.

things get really interesting. The website has an archive of some of the great moments in the sport, all of which are available at a click. Wanna see Murph’s 2m06.8s at Bathurst? It’s there. Ingall and Skalfe at the Creek? Go for It. The services available on the website will be continually updated through the course of the season, with new features being added. There will also be a ‘chat’ function which will allow viewers to discuss the races among themselves in real time.

For more Information, you can get a preview on an existing dial-up Internet connection at www.bigpond.com/sports/content/v8_bb.html. motorsport newt

NEWS

Underwear War! THE issue of V8 Supercar drivers wearing full-length fireproof underwear arose again in Adelaide, with a number of drivers considering the repercussions of not abiding to the new rules.

Following the meeting between AVESCO CEO Wayne Cattach and FIA Medical Delegate Prof Sid Watkins in Melbourne earlier this month, drivers were instructed that they would have to comply with the FIA directive for all drivers to wear the underwear.

A meeting was held by the drivers in Adelaide on Friday morning to discuss the matter, though a number of drivers rather suspiciously chorused that the subject discussed was the "drivers' end of year BBQ".

"The problem is that we do not know what the outcome of the situation will be," said one driver who wished not to be identified.

‘Poida’ goes racing

"If we aU stand around on

Saturday before the race and say,'we are not racing until this is sorted out', what will happen? The teams all have agreements in place with AVESCO and the last thing we want to happen is that our owners get slapped with a huge fine.

"The other problem,if that is the right word,is that not aU the drivers are of the same mind. If someone does not feel that it is a problem, because he thinks that his car is cooler than the others, he has airconditioning or he just happens to feel the heat less than some of us might, we cannot force him not to wear underwear.

"Look; I do not want to be standing on the podium after the race and have the team that finished fourth say,'we followed the rules and he didn't'. We would look like amateurs."

Fireproof underwear: Required for drivers, presumably not required for grid girls.

We Have Winners More 2003 Australian MotorSport Award winners have recieved their silverware. Clockwise from left are Marcos Ambrose(MotorSport National Achiever of the Year), Simon Evans(MotorSport Rally Driver ofthe Year), Neil McFadyen (MotorSport Young Achiever of the Year)and Jim Richards(MotorSport Circuit Racer ofthe Year).

We're sure you’llJoin us in extended our congratulations to all four recepients.

neier Bury

AUSTRALIA'S own Hollywood hero, Eric Bana, will contest selected rounds of the 2004 Aporscheapart 944 Challenge, which starts during the Victorian State Circuit Racing Championship at Mallala this weekend.

Bana, star of the box-office hit The Hulk', has driven numerous Targa Tasmanias in his Falcon XC, will find time in his busy film-making schedule be part of a two-car 944 team with Geoff Pickling. The cars are currently being prepared at Jacaro Motors shop in Breaside, Melbourne. The pair will also contest a handful of Australian Porsche Driver's Challenge rounds which support the PROGAR Champ Series.

"It will obviously be great for the Victorian Series," said Pickling.

"And there's the chance we.;ppuld move into a bigger category, likb QtPerformance if this year goes well." n 18-year-old Konica Minolta driver Tony D'Alberto will take part in a 520km bike ride to raise funds to upgrade hospital facilities in Kyabram this weekend. D'Alberto, who regularly pedals the Wynn's Commodore, will join a small team to travel from Echuca on the Murray River to Port Fairy on the south coast. Already over $1500 has been raised for the bike trek this weekend, so if you would like to support the cause for Kyabram Hospital, email your interest to tony@tonyd.com.au. n Konica Minolta V8 racer Tony Evangelou took the wraps off his new challenger on the weekend at Adelaide. The Victorian, who has campaigned an elderly Commodore in the series over the past few seasons, has picked up the backing of commercial and industrial warehouse storage system company Dexion Australia. His ANT Racing team will campaign an ex-Tratt/Toll AU Falcon for the remaining rounds in the series. n Robby Gordon will again attempt the Indy 500/Charlotte 600 IndyCar/NASCAR double this year.

The American, who races for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Nextel Cup, will drive a Dallara/Chevrolet entered by his own team in his attempt at winning the '500.

He will be re-united with engineer Thomas Knapp, with whom he worked at Team Menard in 1999 when he came within a lap of winning the race.

"I thought if we were going to do a 2004 program, we need to try to align all the same stars we had back in '99 when we came so close to winning the Indianapolis 500," said Gordon.

11

Aussies fly in F3 Marsha Davison up front in official test; Mawer strong in class car

THE Aussie attack on this year's British Formula 3 Championship has begun strongly in official testing at Croft last week.

Menu Motorsport's Will Davison, right, was the best of the Aussies, posting the fourth fastest time overall on the second of two days at the test, only a matter of tenths off the top.

Davison's best of 1 ml 3.537s compared to Will Power's best of 1m13.757s in the Alan Docking Racing machine.

Power, below right, struggled on the first day, hovering outside the top 10 before finding some more pace and moving inside the top 10 on day two.

"We're at that critical stage just before the season starts so you don't quite know what everybody else is up to, so you have to stay focused on what you're doing," said Davison.

"It's really critical that we continue to learn and develop because there's a new type of Avon tyre in the championship this year and they're a bit different to last year."

Scholarship racer Barton Mawer, middle right, has been strong as well, second fastest in the class for two-year-old cars. The runner-up in last year's Aussie series is running a Dallara/Opel-Spiess for Performance Racing and has only been shaded for the fastest time in the class by three-tenths of a second.

MARCUS Marshall has confirmed his deal for the 2004 Porsche Supercup.

Last year's Australian Carrera Cup Runner-Up and Rookie of the Year will join the Kadach Tuning outfit and will have his first test at Monza on March 30/31.

"I've been working on this deal for a long time," said Marshall in Adelaide on the weekend, where he made a oneoff start in Formula 3.

"I'm pumped that I get to drive on all of these great Grands Prix tracks and with such a great team will make it all the better."

Marshall will likely be team mates with former F3000 star David Saelens and his overall final sponsorship package and livery is still to 100 percent be finalised.

The 26-year-old Gold Coaster will be based in Germany and flies out this Friday with the first round of the Supercup as a

<?> n

Focus I

Rahal leaves CART for IRLI

HOT on the heels of the news that Adrian Fernandez is leaving the Champ Car World Series(see page 15), iong-time team owner Bobby Rahal is foilowing suit.

After running one car in both Champ Car and the IRL IndyCar Series last year, the former champ and CART CEO announced late last week that he and partner David Letterman will not field a Champ Car outfit and instead run two IndyCars.

“While this was a very difficult decision emotionally for many of us, this is a business that we run.

12

and this decision was based on those kinds of considerations,” said Rahal.

“I think it’s a hundred percent driven on business reasons, and of course finances are certainly a part of that. As I’ve made clear on a number of occasions this year, I truly believe for open-wheel racing to regain the popularity that it had, there really needs to be, you know, one series, the focus on one series.

“1 also look at it that for us, having a car in each camp was very difficult from a team standpoint last year. I think it hurt

our IndyCar team, I think it hurt our CART team. It was driven by sporting reasons. It was driven by business reasons.”

Team Rahal currently runs Buddy Rice in its #15 machine, the American filling in for injured Swede Kenny Brack. The team is working through a list of candidates for the second car, which will debut in round three of the series at Motegi on April 17.

It will run three cars at Motegi and the Indianapolis 500, with Roger Yasukawa running a third car.

Mexican Michel Jourdain Jr and

his sponsor Gigante will not be a part of the IRL move, instead electing to stay in the Champ Car World Series.

That’s a boost for Champ Car, with the Mexican now able to shop his sponsorship money around a variety of teams, all in need of funding to run.

“Whiie we certainly wanted Michel to join us, he has decided to remain in the Champ Car Series,” Rahal added.

“That’s a disappointment certainly to us because we've built a strong partnership over the last two years. While moiorspon news

NEWS

II signs Supercup deal nnlimif.rnm

Heading back overseas: Marshall made his Supercup debut last year at Indianapolis for Farnbacher Racing and will join Kadach for a full assault on the 2004 series. support to the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola on April 25.

"There's high expectations fronn my side of the fence," said Marshall.

"I hope that I can win races. I know that's a high expectation but that's the reason I'm going there.

"You've just got to go and have a crack at it.

"I feel comfortable in the cars after a full season in Australia.

The tyres in 2004 are going to be a bit different so we'll do some testing and get some good information on them and we'll be off and running.

"Learning the tracks will be the biggest thing, but it should be a good year."

Kadach won last year's title with Wolf Henzier, only to have it taken away and awarded to Farnbacher's Frank Stippler after the championship had concluded at Indianapolis in September.

Dn GT for Courtney 11 JAMES Courtney will concentrate on i i' the Japanese GT Championship this I year after a deal to race in Formula I Nippon fell over at the last hurdle.

However, there's still a chance he may appear in Nippon, though not j until after the series begins.

I "We're still trying to scrape something together to do the championship,"said j Courtney on Monday.

"We'll probably have to miss the ! first round which is coming up fast i because we're a bit short of hme."

ndyCar personally I’m disappointed with his decision, I fully understand it, given the fact that there’s not an IRL IndyCar race in Mexico yet.”

Rahal said he expected to announce a sponsorship for his second IndyCar entry shortly, though will continue to have some form of involvement in Champ Car weekends by running his two-car Toyota Atlantic squad for Danica Patrick and Chris Festa and a Formula BMW entry for son Graham.

- PHIL MORRIS 24 March 2004

The Aussie had been negotiating with the Le Mans team to race in the

open-wheeler series but instead the seat went to the team-mate he thrashed last year in Japanese F3, Tatsuya Kataoka. Ironically, Courtney will team up with Kataoka in a Toyota Supra in the Japanese GT series, which starts at Aida on April 4.

The former Jaguar FI test driver will commute from his Sunshine Coast base for the series.

-AARON NOONAN

Coyne confirms two Champ Cars DALE Coyne has confirmed that he will field two cars in the Champ Car World Series. The veteran team owner is yet to name drivers for the entries, though Irishman Michael Keohane recently tested and has been working on putting together a budget. n Canadian Marty Roth will debut at the Indy 500 this year. The Infiniti Pro Series driver will run a Dallara/ Toyota in the one-off IndyCar start.

The 45-year-old hasn't finished on the podium in 13 career starts in the IPS. n Dale Earnhardt Jr will again sample a Chevrolet Corvette C5-R in this year's American Le Mans Series event at Sears Point in July. 'Little E', who finished fourth with his late father in the 2001 Daytona 24 Hour for the works Corvette squad, will join road racer expert Boris Said in a third team car carrying the #8 plate. n Lamborghini is joining the American Le Mans Series. The newly-created Krohn-Barbour Racing team will campaign a pair of Murcielago R-GTs and will debut at Mid-Ohio on June 27.

Though a privateer team, the team (a combination of Texas businessman Tracy Krohn and racing legend Dick Barbour) will be affiliated with the factory. Drivers for the squad are yet to be announced, though Krohn, who raced a PK Sport Porsche at Sebring on the weekend, will be one of the drivers. n The Ford-backed Young Guns junior karting team in Britain has been disbanded by its creator, Martin Hines, due to an ongoing legal dispute with Ford.

The program had been instrumental in the career development of several drivers such as Anthony Davidson, Gary Paffett and Lewis Hamilton. The dispute is based around the non-payment of sponsorship monies. Hope that nothing similar ever happens here... n Four-time Trans-Am champ Tommy Kendall is returning to the series in a bid to surpass the win record of the late Mark Donohue, Kendell, who most recently has worked as a Champ Car TV commentator in the US, needs four more wins to eclipse Donohue's mark of 26. Kendall, who ran at Bathurst for Dick Johnson Racing in 1996, will drive a Jaguar XKR for Rocketsports Racing.

13

Vasser buys into PK

by PHIL MORRIS I FORMER Champ Car champion 5 Jimmy Vasser has become the only I owner/driver in the series following D his recent buy-in to PK Racing.

I Now known as PKV Racing, ® Vasser and high tech industrialist Dan Pettit have become partners with Kevin Kalkhoven in the outfit, which will rim two Lola/Ford-Cosworths for Vasser and Mexican rookie Roberto Gonzalez.

n

Backing comes from Nil Holdings (formerly Nextel International) for the team, wliich expands to two cars after running a single car last year for drivers including Mika Salo and Bryan Herta.

Vasser, 38, drove for the defunct American Spirit Team Johansson outfit last year alongside Ryan Hunter-Reay and is the oldest driver in the field.

It's red and it's number 12 ... When Jimmy Vasser won the 1996 Champ Car crown, he had a red car and #12.

Could history repeat eight years later?

Show us your Seoul

THE Champ Car World Series has also announced its full 2004 schedule, with two TBAs among the list.

The series will begin at Long Beach on April 18 before heading to Monterrey, Mexico on May 23.

Milwaukee wUl be the only oval event, again under lights on June 5, while the rest of the calendar includes Portland (June 20), Cleveland Quly 3), Toronto Quly 11), Vancouver (July 25), Road America (August 8), Denver (August 15), Montreal(August 29), Laguna Seca(September 12), Seoul, South Korea (October 17), Surfer's Paradise (October 24) and Mexico City(November 7).

There are also two TBAs,one in September and one in November. The rumoured venues are Mid-Ohio and Las Vegas.

14

McNewmanHaas

WOULD you like fries with your Champ Car? McDonalds has announced its return to Champ Car racing for 2004 as primary backer of Sebastien Bourdais’ NewmanHaas entry.

After backing the #2 machine for three races in 2003, the burger giant has upped the ante for the new season.

In their debut with the team in Cleveland last year, winner

Bourdais put McDonald’s in Winner’s Circle (or should that be ‘under the Golden Arches’?).

Brazilian Bruno Junqueira will return for his second season with the team with backing again from consumer health organisation PacifiCare.

The team will again campaign Lola chassis. 2004 will be the team’s 22nd season in Champ Car competition.

- PHIL MORRIS

f’liolo amrlf^y Cluinm C. Warlil Sorics

"It was a pleasant surprise and a great opportunity, and I'm ready to go racing because we've got Lolas and good people," said Vasser, who replaces Salo in the team.

"I'm still bullish on Champ Car, because it's still the most challenging form of racing in this country and I think the new owners have it headed in the right direction."

The 1996 series winner will drive with the familiar #12 plate, the same one he carried during his tenure at Cliip Ganassi/Target Racing.

He has won 10 Champ Car races in Iris career and taken eight poles from 186 starts. He has been winless since defeating Michael Andretti in a lastlap duel in the 500-miler at California Speedway in late-2002.

Mexican Gonzalez competed in three Champ Car events last year, two for Dale Coyne Racing and one for Herdez Competition at Mexico City.

Two I ROCKETSPORTS Racing will expand to two cars in its second year of competition in the Champ Car World Series.

Regular driver Alex Tagliani (who will wear the #8 plate this year), will be joined by 17year-old Frenchman Nelson Philippe in the team's Lolas.

Philippe, who will become the youngest-ever driver to race in Champ Car, brings backing from Leaseplan for the seat.

moiorspori news

NEWS

Three into two doesn’t go...

Testing Times: As recently as early January, Fernandez Racing was out testing for its 2004 Champ Car campaign.

But Adrian didn't see the way clear for his team to prosper, so moved it to the all-oval IRL IndyCar Series.

Fernandez jumps Mexican owner/driver surprises with turn-around to indyCar Series

b,r<'iL(CC: /

VS

11 ADRIAN Fernandez,one of the I stalwarts of the Champ Car World I Series, has made a dramatic 8 aboutface and switched to the IRL I ^ IndyCar Series, starting last I weekend at Phoenix.

I After attending the Champ Car series launch at Long Beach nearly a I fortnight ago, the Mexican owner/ driver made his decision to expand to a h\'o-car G Force/Honda IRL operation alongside his team's existing driver, Kosuke Matsuura.

"1 made my decision on the facts that we had presented to us m Long Beach five weeks before the first race," said Fernandez.

"What we got presented and what we saw there, it didn't give us the confidence that this will happen. And what other teams, what other drivers

may think or not, that's up to them.

We had to make our decision.

"I'm very sad what happened in open-wheel racing in the last few years. It's time to get united. It's time to look forward to the future."

Fernandez has been a mainstay of the Champ Car category since entering it in 1993 with Rick Gabes' team after finishing third and Rookie of the Year in the 1992Indy Lights Series.

He drove for Tasman Motorsport and Patrick Racing before setting up Fernandez Racing in partnership with Tom Anderson in 2001.

The 38-year-old has eight career Champ Car race wins and finished second in the 2000 title chase, including victory on the Gold Coast in the Honda Indy 300.

- PHIL MORRIS

Sockets for Paul Philippe competed in the Barber Dodge Pro Series last season and has been testing with several Champ Car teams since September of last year.

"We have been in talks with several teams, but Rocketsports with team owner Paul Gentilozzi was the most appealing," explained Philippe.

Tagliani's machine will again be backed by Johnson Controls.

- PHIL MORRIS 24 March 2004

FORSYTHE Racing will definitely run two cars in the Champ Car World Series, but Patrick Carpentier's participation is unlikely.

Team owner Gerry Forsythe will bankroll Champ Paul Tracy's #1 indeck-backed car until he can find a sponsor in addition to running a Corona-sponsored car for Rodolfo Lavin, leaving Carpentier out in the cold.

He remains under contract to Forsythe and will be paid as such, though should be available to drive for any other team, as was the case with his former team-mate Alex Tagliani last year.

Carpentier could end up with Eric Bachelart's Mi-Jack team in Forsythe-provided Lolas. n Although not formally announced, expect American Ryan Hunter-Reay to be confirmed as Mario Dominguez’s team-mate at Herdez Competition shortly.

By MNews' count, that leaves the Champ Car grid at 11 with two cars from Newman/Haas, Herdez, Forsythe. Rocketsports, PKV and a single from RuSport.

Dale Coyne is working on running two cars and Emerson Fittipaldi on a single car, with plenty of equipment available, particularly given the recent defection of Fernandez Racing and Team Rahal. n Champ Car drivers will get an extra boost this year in their races in fact a full minute's worthi There will be a 'boost button' at the disposal of all drivers, which raises turbo boost from 41,5 inches of mercury to 45 if they find themselves needing to pass a car quickly.

The button will last for a total of 60 seconds per race, the equivalent of five applications on the average main straight of a Champ Car venue.

- PHIL MORRIS 15

Speed Reid KIWI flyer Jonny Reid is taking his career to Europe.

The Formula 4000 race winner, who drove for Ralt Australia last year, wUl join John Village Motorsports for this year's Euro F3000 Championship, the same series dominated by current Sauber star Felipe Massa in 2001.

The 19-year-oId Aucklander finished a close second in last year's Gold Star to countryman Daniel Gaunt and made his V8 Supercar debut for the Smith's Trucli team at Bathurst alongside Alan Gurr.

Ralt boss Graham Watson has been instrumental in helping Reid put the deal together and thinks the IGwi is following in the footsteps of Scott Dixon.

"I'm sure he will turn more than a few heads when he hits the track for this year's F3000 Championship," he said.

The Euro F3000 series begins at Donington on May 2.

- AARON NOONAN

No Charlie MARK Webber may have had a disastrous day at Sepang in the Malaysian Grand Prix, but another young Aussie stood on the podium in the 35 degree heat last Sunday.

Charlie Charles, an 18-year-old kart racer from the Gold Coast, convincingly won the opening round of Formula Malaysia, a new development class making its debut at Sepang.

Charles, who has been living in Singapore for the past two years, was the standout performer in the 1.3 litre open wheel race cars, which are powered by Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engines.

Charles is hoping to do the Malaysian series after winning a Formula BMW Asia scholarship last year.

-JON THOMSON

WAYNE Wakefield is back in V8 Supercars.

The popular Queenslander raced the Greenfield Mowers Falcon AU at Adelaide last weekend following the decision by Brett Peters to retire from racing. Wakefield will drive the car for the remainder of the Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series.

"The last three years have been an

absolute blast," said Peters, the 2001 GTP champion.

"I have had fun and loved the results, however I am fully focused on the success of our expanding business (referring to his new Peters Camera House store north of Brisbane)."

Wakefield qualified the #40 car ninth in Adelaide and was sixth and

21st in the two races after a mechanical problem in Race 2.

"Rod (Dawson)has invested in some great equipment this year," said 'WW',"and together with the support of Greenfield Mowers and Century Batteries, I'm sure I can deliver results equal to what they have been enjoying over the last three years."

THIS Bad Boy is Pontiac's new Monaro-based GTO, which made its motor racing debut in the World Challenge GT race at Sebring, Florida last weekend.

"We came here hoping the race would provide a faster shakedown than we'd get by going out testing and it did. It was a successful weekend."

The GTO, which was built in just six weeks, was built with assistance from Holden's Motorsport department.

The team is due to test extensively prior to the next round of the World Challenge GT series at Lime Rock in late May.

the GTO is going to be built with a large amount of local engineering input.

Far from feeling like Holden Special Vehicles' stillborn HSV427 was a huge loss, there is chat that a GTO with a supercharged version of the Gen II I V8 is on the drawing boards and that the local racing concern involved with the program is none other than PWR Racing.

Sounds like a Monaro version of the car would be just the thing to break some hearts on the track here ...

More Morgan FORTEC Motorsport will bring the Morgan Aero 8 back to the Mountain this year for the Bathurst 24 Hour.

The team, which ran the Aero 8 in last year's event, will run a sister car complete with six-speed sequential gearbox and uprated BMW V8 engine. It will compete in the British GT Championship before heading to Australia for the November race.

Car owner Keith Ahlers is due to be joined by Aussies Graham Lusty and NeU Casewell.

"We are discussing if we will run three of four drivers at this stage," said Fortec boss Darrell Dixon.

"We think we will have a better chance at a class win with three consistent drivers, but there is the fatigue factor to consider."

16

The independently-built and untested GTO, driven by Stu Hayner for the GMAC Commercial Finance/Trenton Forging team, qualified in 25th position and was progressing through the field when a half shaft, damaged when contact occurred while racing in traffic, broke 16 laps into the race.

"I'm pleased," Flayner said.

ON another Pontiac note, we hear that a stove-hot version of

motorsport news

NEWS

Shaken, not stirred m

X :

¥

Looking for a good Creek: Coleman says that his damaged Porsche could be ready to race again in a week.

IVIATTHEW Coleman is looking forward to being at the next round of the Carrera Cup at Eastern Creek on April 3-5.

Coleman tangled with Tony Quinn at Adelaide's notorious Turn 8 in Race 1 and staggered from the car.

His injuries were limited to a jarred right wrist and some bruising from the high-speed impact.

"But I am better than the car," said Coleman on Monday.

"It stood up remarkably well.

It needs a new front clip and the chassis rails broke, which they are designed to do. But some of the expensive stuff is intact; the anti-lock braking system is fine.

the fuel cell is creased but intact and the exhaust broke away from the back but the engine and shockers are fine.

"That is what the car is supposed to do in a crash like I had. I was blessed a bit in that regard."

Coleman said that the cost of the crash, which comes six months after his major shunt at Sandown, is between $30,000 and $50,000.

"Fifty is the worst-case scenario," he said.

"The Porsche guys looked at it and were confident that it was not that bad. When you see it on TV, you think that it is just a major thing but, when you pull

the car apart, it usually is n ot as bad as it first looked.

"At the moment, we are working on the car with an aim to get to Sydney. I am not certain we will make it but we're going to try ...

- PHIL BRAIMAGAN

Enge back in F3000 TOMAS Enge is to return to Formula 3000 this season with the new MaCon team. The former Prost Formula 1 driver is trying to rebuild his singleseater career having lost out when he tested positive to a drugs test in Hungary in 2002. As a result of that he lost the Formula 3000 title to Sebastien Bourdais. It will be Enge's sixth Formula 3000 team. n Last week was a difficult one for Minardi boss Paul Stoddart as he was forced to lay off 560 of his staff at European Airlines. The Australian agreed a deal to sell the company back in late 2002 but the buyers were unable to complete on the deal and that meant that in January Stoddart got the company back.

There was a deal to lease two of his five Boeing 747s to Malaysian Airlines but when that ended last month he was faced with no choice but to rationalise. n The China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) has signed a long-term agreement to be sponsor of the Chinese GP in Shanghai.

- JOE SAWARD

Positions Vacant Tasman Motorsport has 2 jab vacancies at its Sydney based: l Boakkeeper/Secretopial EKperience in operating occounts with MYOB or similar is essential. Other duties will include organising Team travel lagistics, parts ardering, general typing and telephane management. l Truck driver

Vacant TECHNICAL DIRECTOR One of Australia’s leading V8 Supercar Teams has a position available as TECHNICAL DIRECTOR. The successful applicant will head our Engineering team, overseeing the Race Department & Design office.

If you have experience, the commitment to perfection and the desire to work with this dedicated team,

Enperience in the VB Supercar categary preferred but not essential. Other duties in the team will include race tyre management, team equipment presentation, spare parts pick up and general assistance in the workshap.

Interested applicants shauld forward resume ta; General Manager Tasman Matarspart 10 Wetherill Street Sauth Lidcomfae NSW 2141

please forward a comprehensive CV to: Team Manager, 17 Northern Avenue, Mentone Vic 3194 Or email: admin@perkinsengineering.com.au All applications in strictest confidence.

24 March 2004

ar fan to 02 974B 79S7

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Rpplications close Fridoy 2Eth March 2004 17

NEWS

What a gas!

COVER your nose if you are near a BTCC race this year.

The whiffy aroma of LPG will be in the air after the decision of Mardi Gras Motorsport to run a Honda Civic on Liquid Petroleum Gas. The move mirrors Vauxhall's efforts with an LPG-powered Vectra in its one-make series in 1999, but the Honda project is running late and is expected to have a tough start to the season. John George will graduate from Renault Clios to drive the car.

n Uwe Alzen, who starred in the Bathurst 24 Hour last year, has announced a return to sports car racing with a Saleen S7-R, above. He will team up with Bathurst co-driver and new business partner Michael Bartels in the AB Racing Performance-run car. n Sports car racer Ian Khan is planning to run his Porsche on bio ethanol fuel in this year's Le Mans 24 Hours and LMES events. Khan is investigating running the car on green fuel, having been inspired in the project by co-driver Thierry Perrier, who ran his Porsches on ethanol and petrol in 1980/81. n Danish driver Ronnie Bremer is looking at continuing his singleseater career in America. After two seasons of British F3, the Toyota Atlantic series looks likely to be his new home driving for Brooks Associates Racing. n Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen has signed for an Opel DTM seat again. Opel has confirmed him as the pilot of its year-old spec car. He will be the only driver for Euroteam; Holzer Motorsport will run cars for Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Manuel Reuter and Tmo Scheider, whilst Peter Dumbreck joins Laurent Aiello and Marcel Fassler in the Phoenix team. n The Lola-Dome F3 car stunned the Dallara drivers at the recent Oulton Park F3 test when Danny Watts took the car to the fastest time of the day. Some team owners have questioned the legality of the car but Lola's Adam Airey is adamant that all was well.

Lola is now working hard to put Watts and Promatecme into the remaining gaps in the jigsaw and make the project come together. As yet, it is not certain the car will even race.

- DAVID ADDISON 18

Murfs Vanilla Sky

GREG Murphy has unveiled the Holden VY Utility he will campaign in this year's'Race to the Sky'in New Zealand.

The event, which will be held in Queenstown, also marks the firstyear anniversary of Possum Bourne's untimely death. The VY,owned by Holden Motorsport, was launched at Braeside, Victoria, yesterday and was built by Dave Schneider's The Event Zone team, with critical body shell f"’ and roll cage preparation from Fabraications.

The build of the ute took just four weeks to complete and It will have its first track run today(Wednesday)at the Autocross circuit in Geelong.

There is also the possiblity that the VY could compete in selected rounds of the Australian Rally Championship with another V8 Supercar star.

- GRANT ROWLEY

Fireworks ready!

F;

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BRITISH Touring Car Champions Jason Plato and Yvan Muller proved that their simmering feud

is not over when they met at the Donington BTCC Media Day recently.

The two, now driving for SEAT and Vauxhall respectively, collided during tracking photography laps for the media!

The duo grew to despise one another when they clashed in the fight for the 2001 British Touring Car Championship that was resolved in favour of Plato, above right in his new stead.

- DAVID ADDISON

Jordan shoots for 3, er, F3

KIWI teenager Nic Jordan has been confirmed to run alongside Karl Reindler, right, at Team BRM in the Australian Formula 3 Championship.

Jordan, who turned 16 last week, received special dispensation to run under-age at the Lady Wigram Trophy meeting in Christchurch in January, where he raised eyebrows by qualifying fourth.

The youngster will compete in the Trophy Class using the team's Dallara F398 with a view to stepping up to the Championship class m 2005. He will make his debut at round two,scheduled for April 18-20 at Oran Park.

"Tm really excited and can't wait to go over and meet the team again and start racing the car," enthused Jordan.

"1 really appreciate all the hard work everyone has done fund-raising.

There's still more to do yet, but we're on our way."

moiorspon news

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JIMMIE Johnson captured his seventh career win at Darlington last Sunday, holding off a spirited charge from Bobby Labonte.

Labonte grabbed the lead from Kurt Busch late in the race, but a caution after Kasey Kahne spun induced a final round of pit stops.

Johnson,above and right, grabbed the lead in pit-lane and beat Labonte in the final four lap shoot-out.

This is the Mghlight of my career to win here at Darlington," remarked Johnson.

This is the toughest place we go to and to be able to win here is the ultimate for me.'

Ryan Newman battled back from a

lap down after a pit road penalty to pass Robby Gordon for third in the waning laps.

Rookie polesitter Kahne was in contention all race, even after two spins. He rallied to finish 13th.

Jeff Gordon crashed out on lap 27 and took a hit in the standings. plunging from fifth to 13th when he T-boned Andy Hillenburg's stricken Chevy, I'm pretty sore, I took a heck of a hit," said Gordon.

T haven't taken a hit like that possibly ever. My spotter told me to go low, but I was already committed to the outside and when the smoke cleared I hit him.'

After receiving a one lap penalty for a pit blunder, series Champion Matt Kenseth was involved in a midrace skirmish and suffered left front damage,he finished the race 31st, but still holds a 21 point advantage over Dale Earnhardt Jr. who like Tony Stewart was strong early in the race. imtil falling off tire pace.

A week earlier. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta. It was his second win for the year. Mayfield is second, Kahne third, Johnson fourth and Newman fifth.

- MARTIN D CLARK Point standings after five rounds: Kenseth 743, Earnhardt Jr. 722, Stewart 708, Busch 687, Kahne 679,Johnson 665, Mayfietd 652, B Labonte 644.

Biela and Audi smash Sabring records THE opening race of the 2004 American Le Mans Series series has fallen to Frank Biela, Pierre Kaffer and Allan McNish during the 52nd annual Mobil 1 12 Hours at Sebring.

It was a successful return to Sportscar racing for McNish, who has spent three years in Formula 1. And a record-equalling performance from Biela saw him become only the fifth driver to win the outright class three times. In the process, he became the most winningest prototype driver in ALMS

history. It was his 15th career win.

And while the records were being broken, the winning Audi R8 became the first car to win five-straight at Sebring.

JJ Lehto, Marco Werner and Emanuele Pirro in the ADT Champion Racing Audi R8 finished second, despite mid-race contact with a back marker.

The other Audi UK entry of Johnny Herbert, Jamie Davies and Guy Smith finished in third place, 12 laps down after it was forced into pits for repairs to a

malfunctioning rear end.

Johnny O'Connell became the first driver to score six class wins in the legendary event. He drove a Corvette Corvette C5-R with Ron Fellows and Max Papis to a commanding GTS class win, 22 laps in front of their nearest rivals.

Sascha Maassen, Lucas Luhrand Bob Holbert took victory in the GT class.

Mike Borkowski, John Macaluso and Ian James drove a Lola B2K/40-Nissan to victory in the LMP2 class.

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one-mile Phoenix oval.

Dixon closed on Kanaan in the

by PHIL MORRIS

I THERE'S dominating performances I and then there are absolute buttwhippings.

That's what Tony Kanaan did to the opposition in the Copper World Indy 200 at Phoenix on Sunday, leading 191 laps of the 200 to claim the victory and the points lead in the IRL IndyCar Series.

Defending IRL Champ Scott Dixon finished second, clear of pole-sitter (and the second Andretti Green Racing car in the top three) Dan Wheldon.

"I think the team did a great job; it's not just me," said Kanaan.

"I just drove the car around,but the team made great pit stops. Honda has been working hard. That's the best thing that we can give to the guys that work hard in the shop. The win is the perfect thing. After 21 years racing, sometimes I know what J Tm doing.

The win puts the Brazilian six points in front of countryman Helio Castroneves, who finished six on the

I

closing stages but couldn't do anything about tlie 7-Eleven DaUara/Honda.

"It's just sort of hard to pass here," said the Kiwi.

"I think sometimes I had a better car than Tony (Kanaan). On new tyres, it looked like he was a little better. It's good points."

And it was a good day for his new team-mate, Darren Manning. The Brit took fifth spot, behind Red Bull/Cheever racer Alex Barron.

The top 10 was completed by Bryan Herta in seventh,Tora Takagi, Buddy Rice and Greg Ray. It was a difficult day for Penske, with Sam Hornish Jr finishing 15th and six laps down following a spin and subsequent stops to replace a damaged rear wing.

Tomas Scheckter(Pennzoil Panther) and Dario Franchitti(AGR)were eliminated in a lap 184 incident. Robbie Buhl had spun in turn 4 and the following Scheckter backed off, only for Franchitti to ram him from behind when the South African's application

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T-. motorsport news

INDYCARS

Patrick returns to Indy 500

Green with victory: Kanaan scored back-to-back wins at Phoenix, left, while Dixon, above, opened his point-scoring account for 2004. Hornish Jr finished six laps back after this stop, below, for a new rear wing.

of brakes caught him unawares.

First out of the fray was Adrian Fernandez, making his first Indy Racing League start after joining the series less than two weeks ago.

Gearbox problems stopped the #5 Tecate car from even taking the start.

Round three is at the Twin Ring Motegi on April 17.

Points: Kanaan 11, Castroneves 71, Wheldon 70, Homish Jr 65, Manning 58, Takagi 56.

Go Motor Racing with a dynamic, young team.

Friendty racing with greatguys!

Under 18's and temates welcomed!"

MORE recently a Champ Car team owner, Pat Patrick announced his new IRL IndyCar Series team on the weekend in Phoenix.

The team, which will debut at the Indy 500 in May, will campaign a #20 Dallara/ Chevrolet for Al Unser Jr. Patrick sold all of his Champ Car during the off-season and closed his shop, releasing all employees. The new Patrick organization will be based in part of the Walker Racing shops and many of the personnel currently employed by Walker will be part of the new outfit.

Patrick, a founding member of CART in 1979, cites a return to the '500 as his motivation for the move to the IndyCar Series.

Patrick’s team last ran at Indy in 1995 with Scott Pruett as driver.

- PHIL MORRIS

Muperams BUILD YOUR OWN FUTURERACER! Futureracers Kits are now available for only

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Join the Formula Green Futureracers Series in support ofthe PROCAR Champ Series l Australia's fastest growing racing category, and take pride in the car you built yourself. Kits include all control components for the cars, apart from the Yamaha FJ1200 engine, which can be purchased directly from an authorised Futureracers engine builder and the Bridgestone RE540S Tyres, that can be purchased from any Bridgestone outlet.

If you don't want to build it yourself, let our team put your package together for you. For only $38,950(*GST), you can be on the grid for Australia's best entry-level Motor Racing Category.

All purchases include full driver training from Team Brock Driving Life. Enquire about Finance Packages for all cars, along with Special

Packages for Female and Under 18 drivers. pHONE 1800 445 437 Or email lnfo@futureracers.eom 24 March 2004

23

Motor Mouth With Chris Lambden

E

VERY now and then it's nice to play couch potato, stay away from the ritz and glitz of race circuit media rooms and take in a big weekend of motorsport as most fans do - in front of the box. Such was last weekend at the Lambden domicile.

And, by and large, Channel 10 served up a good show, both in terms of its Clipsal 500 coverage and, late on Sunday night, the Malaysian FI Grand Prix.

The V8s first. Sure, Ten has a habit of throwing in disarmingly long commercial breaks (and sods law says they come at just the wrong moment) and there are occasional commentary blunders (you try and sound lucid and informative for that length of time and under that sort of pressure) but fundamentally, it's a good show.

I've always been a fan of ex racers (in this case Crompton, and, in FI, Brundle) as commentators and in both cases they provide a solid and informed baseline.

24 March 2004

If you disagree, pull out some old tapes and remind yourself how it once used to be ...

There's plenty going on and most of it gets noticed. In this case it's helped by the very nature of the Adelaide street circuit - there's always going to be someone chewing concrete at Turn 8, isn't there?

But for me, as an enthusiast, there's plenty to be excited about and plenty of gaps for MNews to fil l in - like how could HRT drop the ball like that? And FPR? And when will Craig actually stop smiling when he must be absolutely seething inside?

C'mon Craig, let it all out!

M

uch as I actually enjoyed the GP coverage itself, I have to side with all the FI fans who are kicking and screaming about the network's scheduling of the coverage at 10,40pm, when it could so easily have been live, at 6pm.

There'll be reasons why, I guess, and we FI fans can be a bit blinkered, but it's not like the 5pm news would have been compromised. No, the GP clashed with the Simpsons and, wait for it, American Idol ...

And with Mark Webber on the front row too. Whatever

happened to thinking on your feet? Could the schedule have been changed overnight? It could ’ have been promoted all day on the Clipsal broadcast...

“The FI race itself and that jawdropping moment when Mark Webber's Jaguar failed to move and the reasons why (see Mark's Diary, page 55) - started me thinking: how is it that the FIA just can't draft rules to achieve what it clearly is trying to achieve?

I must admit to being a bit naive. When they said drivercontrolled, manual starts, for 2004 I got excited. I had images of smoke-shrouded rear wheels; drivers struggling to get 800-ihorsepower onto the ground; the FI grid snaking off the line ...

But no. Despite pages of definitions and regulation, an FI start 2004-style is basically no different to 2003 - other than there's a clutch lever rather than a button! The rest is down to technology and, when it goes wrong, as it did for both Jaguars, it goes wrong big-time.

Why is it that FI rule-makers simply can't get it right. Are they that dumb? Are the FI teams simply too smart?

Either way, I'm disappointed.

Could you try again, boys - and this time, get it right?

■yony Cochrane and the AVESCO crew must have allowed themselves a smile last week when, twice within three days, one more OWRS (nee CART) team pulled out of the 2004 series (see news pages).

At latest count that means that just 13 or 14 cars, mostly driven by no-name pay drivers, will line up for the season-opener in a couple of weeks. There are many who believe that the series won't happen at all in 2004; that this is the end of the CART/IRL war (victory to that 'sacred site' Indianapolis?).

Would this be a disaster for the Gold Coast Indy? Probably not.

The Queensland Government underwrites the Indy weekend and, while they must be starting to have grave doubts about what lies ahead, the crowd-pulling success of Adelaide's Clipsal 500 will provide them with an easy escape.

If the open-wheelers do fall over, they'll save themselves ... is it around $6m in cost? Gosh, Tony and the AVESCO boys will step up to the plate and upgrade the V8 content of the weekend for half that! Stop smiling, Tony ...

25

T

he 1-ormula 1 circus arrived in Malaysia from wherever its members had been, hoping that the Ferrari domination seen in Melbourne had been just a one-off thing and which would not be repeated in the high temperatures of Kuala Lumpur.

There were no real clues as to how things would pan out, because the cars had not run in any hot weather at all. There were a lot of theories about what would happen - but no one knew for sure.

What people did not want to see was more Ferrari domination. Michael Schumacher has been so

sulUin-imagcs.con}

FORMULA ONE

oppy and the finger oftruth successful in recent times that the sport has suffered. It has been too predictable.

There is no argument that will convince Schumacher and Ferrari that the winning streak should end and nor should there be. Schumacher makes occasional mistakes when under pressure but the truth is that the bulk of the current generation of drivers just have not got what it takes - even if the machinery to win has existed. One thinks of last year, when both Williams and McLaren should have won but Michael steered once more to success as his rivals fell over one another.

To hear Ralf Schumacher talking about "taking off" Juan Pablo Montoya on Friday summed it up perfectly.

Michael is still the tallest poppy in the field and the rest of them are scrabbling around in the dirt. Kimi Raikkonen has some potential but he does not have the car: a rev-llmted McLaren is not going to beat Michael ... Fernando Alonso has potential but (as we saw on Saturday afternoon) he makes mistakes. Montoya is fast becoming a very disappointing driver. The list goes on ...

B

H

efore qualifying began I sat with one of the team bosses(and I am not saying who) and he ran a finger down the list of drivers with all the ruithilessness that his job entails and gave a one-to-three word opinion on ail of them.

"Dim","over-rated" and "had enough chances" were ail offered on a regular basis.

On several occasions he added the word "massively" . for emphasis. To this was ^ added "no-hoper" on » occasion, r He stopped only three times to say something positive. The first, logically, was Michael Schumacher. The second stop was when his finger reached the name Alonso and the third was when 24 March 2004

suffon-»

- J

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He could get used to these: Mark Webber, left, sits beside Michael Schumacher at the post-qualifying press conference at Malaysia.

\\

There is no point trying to beat with people n wru have (aL'rl in the past for they wiS faH in the future

he reached the name Webber.

He wasn't sure about Christian Klein - "a bit early to judge him fairly."

No-one else escaped the savaging ...

I did not necessarily agree with all of our team boss's assessments but I agreed with a lot of them. We journalists have these days to be a little more diplomatic than once was the case because Formula 1 has become a world of power freaks and PRs and being too honest results in the refusal to cooperate.

They do not like the truth being told and so you will rarely read anything that has such bite. But you hear it all the time when people are chatting, off the record, in the paddock...

The great thing for Webber fans (of which I am one) is that finally people in the paddock are beginning to say things like "You know I think you might be right about him" and "Did you see Webber and Michael together. You can see

that Michael respects him" and all manner of things that are now suddenly obvious.

There are still a handful who fail to see the obvious: "The car may be sensational," they say. Or "Jaguar isn't able to run an equal second car" or "Anthony Davidson gave him a wake up call when they were at Minardi for a couple of races" and so on.

Sure, Davidson looked reasonable but there is no argument when you point out that Webber is now a top drawer FI driver in demand while Davidson is still test driving BARS...

Now you regularly hear people beginning to say openly that Mark is "the full package" and "a World Champion in the making" and it is not just hype like so many others we have heard over the years.

Beating Michael Schumacher is not just about being blindingly quick. It takes work. It takes discipline.

The with BoxJobSeat Sawarfl It is not going to be achieved by someonp vyhp likes to get a little tubby in the winter months; it is not going to be achieved by someone who is out partying with wicked ' women; it is not going to be achieved by someone who spends his time worried about his team mate being faster; or who believes that he is worth unrealistic money. It takes intelligence.

The smart money in the Formula 1 paddock at the moment is that next year Frank Williams will take "Webber plus one" and it is worthy of note that Williams is now looking outside the bounds of FI for someone to help Webber take on Schurnacher.

This is why he is trying out Scott Dixon; why he has been letting youngsters try out his FI cars. There is no point trying to beat Schumacher with people who have failed in the past for they will fail in the future.

The thing that we should be enjoying about the sport right now is that on the one hand we have one man at his absolute best, but in the wings we have a new generation climbing the mountain behind him. The day will come when either Michael will be caught or he will give it away and go off to play on the shores of Lake Geneva. We should not wish for the latter; wish for him to go. All the better if he is beaten fair and square.

27

Five minutes with

amm

Adrian Fernandez

in a shock move, Uie popuiar Mexican has taken his team from Champ Car to the ML imiyCar Series. Just a few liays iater, Bohhy ftahaijumpeU as weft. We asked Fernandez whatit ait means...

MOTORSPORT NEWS; It must have been an emotional decision to leave the Champ Car series. Tell us about your reasons for heading to the IRL IndyCar Series.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Well, the decision came down to practically more than the wire. We needed some confidence, we needed some assurance of what the new group of owners of Open Wheel Racing (Series) were going to do, and those things were not happening.

When you have four, five weeks before the first race, you have to make serious decisions.

You can't just go by trust when you have sponsors that have been with you for many years and the situation doesn't look good.

At some stage, we had to make our decision. We consulted with our sponsors. That's what we did.

We've been in the IndyCar Series before with Matsuura and with Roger (Yasukawa) last year, with our sponsor Panasonic. This really will put the team together again. It really makes a more efficient team. It makes a lot of things a lot better for us also. I think that will make us more competitive.

Even though I haven't been in the car before, we're not going to start from zero because the team has been testing. It has been racing. I think it will be a good opportunity for Matsuura to learn and work with us. I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking toward to go back to Indy, Motegi, and see a lot of my old friends that I haven't seen in a while.

MN: And it all means that you get to race at Indy again for the first time since 1995. That's got to be exciting ...

AF; It's going to be exciting because when I took part in the race in '94 and '95, it was very, very - it was a very short opportunity in terms of in the race.

28

From Champ Car to IndyCar: Fernandez made his IRL debut at Phoenix's one-mile oval on the weekend, qualifying back in 13th spot.

The first year, I had a flat tyre, and I could never make it to the pits-.

The second year, I had a blown engine. So I really never finished the race. I also wasn't in the team - the right team - at that time. It was just the beginning of my career.

MN: What assurances were you looking for from the new ownership group that you didn't see?

AF; Well, drivers, drivers they were going to compete on the year, the schedule, the TV package, internationally and Mexico, a business plan. Just the normal things.

1 made my decision on the facts that we had presented to us in Long Beach five weeks before the first race. To be honest, I hope they have 25 cars in Long Beach, and the Mexican races will be a success.

I mean, for me it's a big hit, and I feel very sad for not being able to race in Mexico. 1 will do

anything to race those races.

What we got presented and what we saw there, it didn't give us the confidence that this will happen. And what other teams, what other drivers may think or not, that's up to them. We had to make our decision.

When we spoke with our sponsor, we presented the facts of the situation. We saw it was very critical, and we just couldn't go by the word 'trust.'

When you have the owners of the series taking drivers with funding away from other private teams, you see Patrick Carpentier with no drive and you see the champion of the series with no sponsorship - when he's from Canada and there are three events which are important to the series in Canada - how in the world can you not get sponsorship from Canada to support the champion when you have been supported from Players for so many years?

It just doesn't make sense.

None of the things were m aking sense. As much as I have been a supporter of the series, I was a big part of the support for Mexican races to make them happen, how long can you be hanging on there waiting for this will happen?

Unfortunately, there is not US$100 million as there was last year to support the series. You have to go by trust. It's a difficult thing to do when you don't see the facts happening.

There are other things that have happened through the years to get where we are.

Unfortunately, the old Champ Car that we know is all gone.

Just look at the teams that there are now. Look at the teams that were there. Look at the drivers that were there and are there now.

You have to look at the facts of the real situation and the facts that has been happening in the last few days to really make a good judgment.

u

Unfortunately, the old Champ Car that we know Is all gone" - Fernandez on the state of play in American open-wheeler racing motorsport news

Five minutes with

amm

Jenson Button

The Pommy press wiiihave to getoftJB's back now that he has scored his First podium with BAR-Honda. ABRMGBBPER spoke to him after his strong thirdin the Maiaysian GP

MOTORSPORT NEWS: Having seen you celebrating with the team, what's it going to be like when you get a win?

JENSON BUTTON: This really is a win for us at the moment.

We've made such a good step forward over the winter, and to get a third, and a third where we're very competitive, is a great feeling. There were so many of the top drivers who were still there at the end. But there's 20 seconds to gain over a race distance. Michael finished quite a way in front.

MN: Is this going to raise the team's expectations, and yours as well?

JB: We expected these results at the start of the season, looking at the testing and how much work we put in over the winter. Now it's actually happened, it's a great feeling.

MN: You've come so close to the podium on several occasions and always been thwarted. Now you've finally got there, is it like a weight off your shoulders?

JB: Not at all. I'm not thinking about that at the moment. All I'm thinking about is having a great time with the mechanics, because they've worked so hard for this. It's great to see them all so happy, and we deserve it.

MN: You had a few battles out there, didn't you?

JB: I did, and mostly with Jarno (Trulli) actually. I collided with Jarno at the start on the straight, which was a little bit worrying. I thought we might have got a puncture or something, because we hit pretty hard. After that we were changing places every lap, Jarno and myself. Then I had Rubens (Barrichello) catching me towards the end. It was a very enjoyable race as well as obviously finishing third.

30

I behind, and saw '3' and thought, I 'That's alright, I'm happy with

I thatl'

"Now to actually get past a Ferpari throughout the race, and n a McLaren and a Renault, I think we've done very well -Button just loves his BAR-Honda 006 MN: Were you quite confident that you could keep Rubens behind?

JB: At the pace that I was going, I wasn't pushing too hard. I had to conserve everything. We were very close, we were on the limit whether we'd get to the end of the race or not. So it was a relief when I came across the line with one lap to go and I was still three or four seconds ahead of Rubens.

MN: On the limit in what way?

JB: It's a very hot race, it's very tough in every area. Every lap I had someone on the radio telling me to push some button on the steering wheel, to do with the engine, the gearbox. But it made it in the end, and I think the team did a great job on the reliability of the car.

MN: There were a few technical issues going on. Was that a worry for you?

JB: It always Is, especially here, because it's happened to me

twice before when I've been running very well. I was worried, but it's all over now. We were third, and I'm ecstatic.

MN: Is it nice that it happened in Malaysia, because you should have had a podium in the Renault...

JB: Yeah. I love it here, I love driving here. It is a great feeling to do it here, but this time we were competitive enough to be third.

When I had the suspension failure and finished fourth, we didn't really deserve to be third, because we weren't quick enough. But now to actually get past a Ferrari throughout the race, and a McLaren and a Renault, I think we've done very well.

MN: What were you thinking towards the end of the race?

JB: I don't really look at my pit board too much. But I looked at the pit board in the last stint to see how much the gap was

8 I was just waiting for ^ something bad to happen, because it always does here to me. Having a Ferrari catch me in the last few laps has happened in the last two years, and it's got past me both times. To keep it behind was a fantastic feeling.

When Jarno came across and we hit wheels at the start I was ven/ worried that there would be something wrong, but there wasn't. The car worked very well throughout the race.

It's such a nice feeling to have a car that's so competitive throughout the race distance, to be quicker than the McLarens, and quicker than the Renaults.

MN: Are you relieved that we can't ask you about not being on the podium any more?

JB: Yes, that's more a relief than me personally not being on the podium. All the questions I get asked about,'How does it feel not being on the podium?'

MN: What did Michael say on the podium?

JB: Nice job!

MN: Was it nice to be up there with Schumacher and Montoya,two great drivers?

JB: As a driver. I've never thought that I'm not (great). It's just having the right equipment and being in the right place at the right time. Now we've got a car that's competitive. We've all worked so hard over the winter for this. We're so determined as a team, we've really deserved this.

But it's also what should happen. It's not a shock to us.

MN: Are you expecting this regularly now?

JB: That's what we're hoping for.

There's no reason why it shouldn't happen. moiorsoort news

Some people love Tony Cochrane.

Some hate him. But no-one igores him. The AVESCO Chaiman has a lot going on in his life. Here are some of the issues currently on TC’s mind...

A busy

T

There will be a yes or no on Shanghai.

We will announce the alternative venue at the same time."

And, with a signed contract, would the Chinese promoter face a financial penalty?

"I don't believe so. I believe that he is doing the best job that he can under the circumstances. Some of the issues

some of his thoughts. The first subject was his announcement earlier in the day that the proposed Shanghai round of the 2004 series may be postponed and that another venue might be required to step in and fill the November race date.

''There is no such thing as 'no' in my vocahulary. I do not understand the word

"As we get bigger, it is an inevitable fact of life that we have to live with some of these compromises," he said.

"We are now relying on so many people influencing our decisions and governments - and the Chinese government is a pretty big one. You learn to be slightly more patient and slightly more circumspect than perhaps I was five years ago.

"I can't go to these drivers and teams and say,'No problem. It's fine', unless I am convinced it's fine. I am not that stupid. We are not arguing over money, we are not arguing over transport, we are not arguing over any of those issues, they are all purely operational issues."

Cochrane said that he was not in a position to comment on what those operational issues were but there have been suggestions that the construction of the Shanghai track is running behind schedule. Despite the fact that there is a six-week gap between the respective FI and V8 events, it is likely that the promoters would be prepared to 'cover' any temporary shortfall in the preparation of facilities or staff for the FI race on a 'one-off' basis that would not be repeated for the V8 race.

In other words, with a budget far larger for the FI race than for the V8s, the promoters might consider 32

spending extra money to ensure that everything went smoothly when the world is watching in September.

Cochrane has good reason for taking 'the hit' now; "The organisers are so focused on getting everything right for Formula One that then they have to get us right six weeks later. If I have problem,I would rather have a problem now than six weeks out(from the race). Six weeks out, to have a change in the schedule, is really hard. If we have a problem in September, we are in diabolical straights." "(It was) my decision, the Board have backed me on that decision.

ONY Cochrane is a busy man.

Apart from the day-to-day job of overseeing the V8 Supercar Championship Series and Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series, there is the small matter of figuring out what is going to happen at Bathurst, and in China.

Oh,and there is also SEL's 'other' business to deal with, with the premier of the Australian production of The Producers in Melbourne next month, artist management, yada, yada, yada.

If the strain shows,TC does not let it go public. The man seems to strive on pressure and obviously believes in sharing. At the recent launch of the 2004 V8 Supercar Championship season, Cochrane once again turned the heat on the federal government to come to the party and contribute to the plaimed upgrades for the Mount Panorama track to the tune of $10 million.

Cochrane took the time to sit down with the media at the launch and share

It

- TC does not lack confidence

that he has to deal with are not his issues. In light of that, I do not believe that there would be a penalty applied."

So, if not China, where? AVESCO has solid contracts with, among others.

Network 10,for a 13-round championship so there is no option of simply dropping a race. Cochrane says that there will be another round,in Australia.

"Yes, they are all Australian-based.

Phillip Island is one of those options. I have not had any discussions (with PI management)but some of the other directors have. My understanding is that Lindsay Fox was keen but I was not present.

"The other venues? One would be a 'track' race and there is a potential street circuit. Do I believe that they could get it up for this year? No I don't but, once again, I am a great believer in giving people every opportunity. It would be a new street circuit.

"There will be 13 rounds and it will be on that same November date. If- if - China does not go ahead this year, it will be on that same weekend. There could be another 'repeat' venue,that is

motorsport news

V8 SUPERGARS

TC

a possibility, but no track would have more than two rounds." "(Phillip Island) has a new owner,a new owner that, we are told, is very committed to safety upgrades,and what have you. We said last year - and everybody thought that we were joking - that Phillip Island dropped off the calendar but it wasn't a permanent drop-off. We will review it when certain things come into play.

"There is a new owner at the Island, the Victorian government has spoken to us about their long-term plans for Phillip Island so yes, irrespective of 2004,Philhp Island is very much on our horizon for 2005 and beyond."

The street circuit reference if believed to be AVESCO's long-held ambition to take the circus to northern Queensland, probably to Townsville.

There is also the possibility that a new race may be promoted by AVESCO Events, the wholly-owned subsidiary that promotes the Main Event finale at Eastern Creek.

Bathurst is another Cochrane's heart. topic close to The Mount Panorama track is currently in the midst of a substantial upgrade, with funding of $4 million from the Bathurst City Council and $10 million from the New South Wales state government. Cochrane repeated his call for the federal government to come to the party and match the contribution by the state government.

"I think it's a disgrace," he said frankly.

'No wonder Mark Latham is making groimd on these guys,1 think that they have lost the plot. They have dUlied and dallied on this now for two years. They are happy to send federal ministers there every year to make sure that they get photographed in front of the biggest TV audience in sport, nearly,for the year. But quite frankly, I wUl remind them that Bathurst this year will occur only a matter of weeks before an election.

"We have to go to Bathurst this year, come heU or high water. There is no such thing as 'no' in my vocabulary. I do not understand the word.

"1 would sincerely hope that there are smarter people around that would prevail, and join with us and the Bathurst City Council. The New South Wales government have done the right thing; they are putting in $10 million.

"Forget about V8 Supercars -1 would prefer that you didn't, but for the moment,forget about it. Bathurst, by the government's own study, is responsible for 600 jobs in that region 24 March 2004

with the Melbourne Cup and the AFL Grand Final.

'I would prefer if, by now,they would have had the guts and the balls to say to the Australian motorsport fan,'We don't give n a shit about you, we are not giving you anything'.

- Cochrane on the federal government’s lack of response so far of New South Wales. Can we just walk away from 600 jobs? I would not have thought so,in the bush. We continually have federal minister stand up and talk about how important rural Australia is, to keep jobs out there. Here is a prime example.

"They (the BCC)need the extra $10 (million), there is no question about that. They are committed to the program but it is running behind.

How much we can do, particularly in terms of fan facilities, is very limited without that $10 million."

So, with only $14 million in the kitty for a $24 million job, what will happen this year?

"We have not had that meeting yet.

We are meeting with them today and in about a month's time to see what progress has been made by then and come up with some contingency plans.

We have to go to Bathurst this year; we have got so many things dependent on it.(The pits could be) of a temporary nature, I was thinking something like Auckland.

"We have to find a way for this year.

It is unfair that we,and the Bathurst City Council, have been put in this position. Can you imagine them doing it to any other Australian sport? No. They just found another $110 million, federally, to complete facilities for the Commonwealth Games. That is on top of the $200 million that they have already given them. They just sit on their hands.

"I would prefer if, by now,they would have had the guts and the balls to say to the Australian motorsport fan,'We don't give a shit about you, we are not giving you anything'. But they vacillate; we don't get a no but we don't get a yes. Eighteen months on,I think that is an appalling effort.

"They keep leading us on to believe that they are going to do something.

To be fair, it is not us, it's the Bathurst City Council.

"I sympathise with them (the BCC).

They are a small country, rural council trying to battle the bureaucracy in Canberra. They got $10 million out of the New South Wales government.

What is 10 milhon bucks in the budget of the Australian government?

Particularly when motorsport has never been to them? Fair enough,if they had given motorsport $104 over the last 10 years, another 10 million ...

"They found $15 million for soccer and that is a disorganised rabble. Is it not? We are a very well organised sport, watched on free-to-air TV and they can't give us an answer. Soccer goes in there and,$15 million tomorrow. Then they pay their chief executive $5 million for the first three years. Come on."

The jewel in the V8 Supercar crown in, as ever, the Bathurst 1000. The teams and drivers can salvage a bad year with a win on the mountain and the media gives it more attention than any other event. In terms of a TV audience, the classic is right up there

One thing that the race has lacked is the security of formal tenure, wMch is something that Cochrane wants to set right; "Under our new arrangement with the Bathurst City Council, which is basically a 10 (years) plus 10 deal, it will be the Bathurst City Council and AVESCO Events that promotes Bathurst. We will not have a promoter, as such, after this year. It(AVESCO Events)is owned 100 percent by AVESCO;it is one and the same."

So,with AVESCO putting on the promotor's cap, would it invest in the faciUty? "How can I? I don't own the land.

AVESCO operates as a trust, on behalf of the teams. We can't invest in something where we do not own the real estate. It is against our corporate structure.

"And,can I say, we are very focused on Bathurst for V8 Supercars. Bathurst is a circuit and a facility that is used for others forms of motorsport, it is not just used for V8 Supercars. Once again, it is a facility for all. It is like the MCG; it is not just used for Aussie Rules football, other sports us it."

PROCAR also conducts an event at the mountain, the Bathurst 24-Hour.

Have discussions been held with Ross Palmer about contributing to the upgrdes?

"I would assume that he would have the same issue; why should he tip money into something that is there for everybody?"

So, what if the feds do not come up with any money?

"The fan facilities(would suffer) for sure, absolutely. The same fans are taxpayers. And most of them come from middle Australia, which are marginal seats.

It is a thorny issue, and one which is not simple to rmderstand. The government is now known for its generosity in contributing to motorsport(see over page) and it would take a major mind shift for the tide to change now.

But, Tony Cochrane has changed minds before. He has done what he has said he would do; drive V8 Supercars to the forefront of sport Australia in Australia. As he moved from one meeting to another in Adelaide last weekend, you could also see the fire in the eyes. It's still there, burning as brightly as ever.

Mr Howard, you might get a phone call soon. Maybe you should pick it up33

;»

A Matter of Dollars So far, the calls for Canberra to contribute $10 million for upgrades to Bathurst have gone unanswered. PHIL BRANAGAN looks at the issues involved and what might- or might not- happen

T

HE question of whether or not the federal govenunent will come to the party and contribute to the costs of rebuilding Bathurst is a bit like the sport itself- complicated and ongoing.

As has already been widely stated, the New South Wales government has contributed $10 million and the Bathurst City Council $4 million to the redevelopment. The lobbying process for $10 niiUion from Canberra has usually been publicly 'fronted'by AVESCO Chairman Tony Cochrane, with Bathurst Mayor CoimciBor Ian Macintosh handMng the political end of negotiations.

Bathurst is the oldest inland settlement in NSW,having been proclaimed a tovra in 1815. The first motor racing event at Mount Panorama took place in 1938,in front of an estimated crowd of 35,000(a record).

The track was paved a year later and hosted the Australian GP in 1947,'52 and '58. The Bathurst 500 first took place in 1963 and,10 years later, was lengthened to lOOOkms.

In 1987, the track imderwent a substantial upgrade, with new pit buildings, concrete barriers around the track and the building of The Chase.

The cor\sortium responsible for The Great Race (the BCC,the Australian Racing Drivers' Club and host broadcaster, the Seven Network) funded the upgrades. Caltex contributed with a long-term sponsorship deal of the Caltex Chase.

Economically, the Bathurst 1000 is a

Big Deal; "It generates at least 1200 jobs and contributes around $100 mMon annually to the Australian economy," Cr Macintosh in a recent statement

Those statistics come from a Western

entered into tenancy deals running until 2026.

Research Institute study in 2000,'The Economic Impact of Mount Panorama' and relate to a national picture.

So, win it happen?

In Queensland,Suncorp Stadium and The Gabba are both being upgraded courtesy of the Queensland Treasury, repaid in The Gabba's case through a levy on future poker machine takings. Of course, part of the funding has also come from sponsorship; Simcorp Stadium used to be known as Lang Park. Whether that is a good thing or not is debatable; do we really want the Bathurst 1000 to be held at Mount Franklin Mineral Water Panorama?

First, some stated clarifications. week, Cochrane that theLast federal government"found $15 million for soccer and that is a disorganised rabble."

Actually, the government made a grant of $9 million and a loan of $6 million to fund,in part, the recommendations of the governmentinstigated Crawford Report into soccer in Australia, which was tabled in April 2003. These include the replacement of Soccer Australia with the Australian Soccer Association, which is responsible for the administration of aU aspects of the game from juniors to World Cup level-from kids to Kewell.

But will the feds contribute to Bathurst?

It is not that common for the federal

In light of the upgrades in Brissy, one thing that the government wanted was tenure - and they got it.

Queensland's Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Sport Terry Mackenroth has announced that the Reds and the Broncos will both play their home games at the ground,the NRL team for the next 30 years.

Coincidentally, a few days later, Cochrane announced V8 Supercars' potential 20-year tenancy at Bathurstif the feds come to the party.

Motor racing is, m federal terms,a poor relation. Eastern Creek was funded largely by the New South Wales taxpayer as was, more recently. Western Sydney International Dragway. Western Australia's Quit Motorplex at Kwinana Beach, which caters for both Speedway and Drag Racing, was a major beneficiary of the WA government.

Albert Park was redeveloped largely by the Kennett Victorian Government and Melbourne Parks and Water.

So, history indicates that Canberra does not have a good record when it comes to dipping into the pocket for either motor racing or other sporting venues. Not a good start.

government to contribute to the upgrading of sporting facilities of any genre. For example,the nation's most . pronainent sporting venue,the Melbourne Cricket Ground,is currently imdergoing a $430 million upgrade without any input from Canberra at aU. In 2002,$90 million was made available to the project but thenWorkplace Relations Minister, Tony Abbott,said that he would only hand it over if workers played by federal industrial rules. Victorian Premier Steve Bracks told him,basically, to jam it.

So now,the entire project is being funded by a Victorian government grant of $77 million and by the venue's two main tenants,the AFL and the Melbourne Cricket Club, which have

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34

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moiorspon news

INSIGHT

ind Sense

OShejJ Hfjl

It Panorama pit lane looked terriftc in November's Bathurst 24-Hour race, above, an eerie third-world feel to it, below. The entire row of pits and suites above <ehind the pits are gone, except for DJR's shed, which is out of picture.

So, whatstays will happen if the $10 million in Canberra?

Is there a 'Plan B'based on the currently available funding of $14 million?

"Plan B is that only the first stage of the development will get built without further fimds which wUl include a new pit building,control tower and some paddock works," said BCC spokesperson Victoria Jackson.

That means that the rest of the project will remain unfunded,for the time being at least, and will have to wait before being completed.

But that assumes that there will only be public sector funding for the upgrades. Has the Council sought private funding for the job?

"Investigations have been made into private funding but at this stage nothing has presented itself," says Jackson.

"Having said that, a Business Plan for Mt Panorama(as a multi-purpose tourism and recreational facility) does include an option for private investors to build on the infrastructure provided through the Govenunent funding."

That would appear to help alleviate any potential concerns a government might have about the fact that Mt Panorama is currently used so little in comparison with other high-profile venues. A spokesman for the MCG states that the ground will be used on about 90 days(and nights) during 2004. In the last two years, the Bathurst track has been used for racing for about 10 percent of that time,spht between the 1000 and the 24-Hour.

There have been some concerns aired about the fact that the old pit buildings have been demolished before the funding was secured for their replacements.

"The project has always been a staged plan," replies Jackson."Given the expectation that Federal funds would arrive,some of the old buildings have been retained so they (may)be of use during this year's V8 event and until they are no longer needed."

The construction of the '1987' pits and other upgrades took about eight months though a spokesman for the

ARDC points out that"we had eight months to work with,so I do not know whether they could have been completed more quickly."

And, with less than seven months before the 2004 Bathurst 1000, you have to start work sometime ...

After that, the big question. What willall happen?

Cr Macintosh said in his media statement that he holds fears of the race being lost to Bathurst and, perhaps,Australia.

"With new circuits being developed in China,Malaysia and Bahrain capable of hosting events like the ones that Bathurst is famous for, we have to everything possible to ensure the future of Australia's greatest circuit of all," he said.

Given that Cochrane recently stated that AVESCO Events would take over as race promoter when IMG's deal to do so ends this year, it seems pretty unlikely that such a thing could happen. Cr Macintosh is a politician, after aU,so his comments should, perhaps,be viewed in that context.

In an election year, a lot can change.

Federally, Bathurst is within the seat of Calare, which is held by the Independent Member Peter Andren,a high-profile local with strong support.

Either the Liberals or the National Party, and Labor, wiU field a candidate against him in the next federal election but neither side can be entirely confident of unseating him.

As recently as March 12, Mr Andren stated his support for federal funding.

"The federal government needs to be put on the record whether it believes Mount Panorama is a national sporting icon deserving of support and if not, why not?" he stated.

"I hope to receive an answer from the PM in the near future."

So far, John Howard and the government have resisted saying either yes or no. If they were to say yes,'Plan A'could go ahead. And if they say no ... well, as he has already stated, Tony Cochrane does not take no for an answer.

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Nothing but Ami

Ford has claimed first blood in the 2004 V8 wars. Marcos Ambrose and SBR were simply brilliant on the streets ofAdelaide and PHIL BRANAGAN was there to witness the perfect start to the Tasmanian's title defence

V SJ ,J

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This sums it up: The weekend Skaife should have spent in bed...

Y

OU know the score at the Adelaide 500. Do what you want on Saturday - hell, other teams, even Ford teams,can win on Saturday - but Sunday belongs to the Holden Racing Team.

Not any more. Marcos Ambrose did not deliver his expected pole position but he did pretty much everything else perfectly, taking both races and maximum points on a torrid weekend in the City of Churches.

Ambrose was an untouchable and deserving winner, leading Steven Richards home in both races. Russell Ingall backed up his team-mate with third on Saturday before losing an engine on Sunday while Jason Bright and Paul Weel announced that PWR Racing is the real deal with solid results right behind.

Sunday's race was interrupted by a huge pileup at the infamous Turn 8, leaving four cars with heavy damage.

One of the cars was Cameron McConvUle's which, with Garth Tander bending his Commodore in the Sunday warm-up,leaves Garry Rogers Motorsport with a lot of work to do before leaving for Eastern Creek next week.

It is hard to say if GRM had a 36

better weekend than HRT.The red cars were never a factor over the course of the weekend, Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly missing the top 10 in qualifying and struggling in the races. Kelly bent his car on Saturday while Skaife had all manner of problems with his car(and back), the five-time champion salvaging a top 10 finish in the meeting points.

The weather was great, the crowds massive and, as an opening round of a championship,the CUpsal 500 sets up a fascinating 2004 season.

Consistently Castrol: Steven Richards bagged second for the round and looked every inch as Holden's number one man, above, while the fearsome turn eight, below, again claimed its share of victims.

Race 1(78 laps) Raceday warm-ups can bearise. pretty dull, unless some issues Murphy had an issue - a Turn 8 issue. On his out lap, he clipped the wall at turn 4 and, when he arrived at 8 at around 200kmh,the car didn't want to turn in.

The result was a tankslapper, almost a wallslapper. He missed kissing the concrete by about 15cm and,after some oaths, the team exhaled and prepared to fix the minor damage to the steering. He had had his first slice of luck for the day. He would have more.

Let's see now; anthem blah, blah.

motorsport news

>rose's OKU

U8 SUPERCARS

elaide

F CUPSM n

Here, the drinks are on me. Well actually they're on you now ...

Marcos Ambrose may have clinched the title in 2003 but be broke Ford's hoodoo on the streets of Adelaide with two wins from two starts.

While Ambrose picked up the points, Paul Weel, below right, starred in the PWR #16 VY.

r .^

ten L 1

ceremony blah, blah, race. The race was settled by strategy and car speed, as most races should be,but it could have turned out much differently.

Ambrose, Richards and IngaU all chose the same strategy - or, rather, the same strategy chose them.

Because of what happened on lap 20, when Dale Brede walled the Dynamik VY, all three pitted for tyres, along with Bowe,Skaife, Lowndes, Morris, Dumbrell, Weel and Tratt. That meant that Ingall had to wait for Ambrose to clear the SBR pit bay.

"It was the right thing to do," Rusty said later. "Marcos had track position. It may have cost us second but, strategy-wise, it was the right thing to do."

The trio that finished 1-2-3 were in the middle part of the strategy wars.

Murphy was in the 'late' group; he stayed out when the cars behind 24 March 2004

tv

> mostly pitted (which was probably . being too conservative) while Morris and Luff did their first stops early and back-to-back, which left them 1-2 on the road by lap 23.

It was pretty heady stuff, particularly for Luff, who was making his maiden start as a fuU-timer.

DJR team manager Dean Orr told him to take it easy on the radio and run his own race but, when Morris slid wide twice on the first lap of the continued on page 40 37

BIG

T«

Bue pole, red pole Shootout star misses the mark; HRT misses aitogether Practice and Qualifying

Y

OU gotta love Adelaide.

Apart from the fact that there is plenty to see in the former home of the Grand Prix, that the weather is usually fine in March and that the locals and their eateries are world-class, Adelaide's Clipsal 500 signifies the start of the new season and new cars, new drivers, new colours and new hopes for the coming season.

But, as ever, controversy was never far away. The issue of driver safety was again high on the minds of many, some of the stars (and others) of the sport voicing concerns about wearing fireproof underwear while, ironically close, the local lovelies clearly were not that worried about whether anyone had undies, fireproof or otherwise.

But then the engines fired up and, under a perfect sky, the Boys were Back in Town. Practice usually proves little, as different teams run differing strategies.

Some throw new (or new-ish) rubber at the cars, some do not.

So when the second practice session came out Ambrose, Ellery, Johnson, Wilson, Ingall and then Skaife, there seemed to be no need to panic for the Sons of the Red Empire.

But then came qualifying. The battle for provisional pole lasted only a few minutes, Ambrose knocking the ball out of the park by setting a time a quartersecond quicker than anyone else. When the opposition got closer, he bolted on a second set of tyres and moved the goal posts further away than ever.

Ambrose did the fastest three laps of the session. Does anything else need to be said?

Before the season started, some people said that Triple 8 was going to be the closest challenger to the Big Teams.

And people were right; Max Wilson lined up second and Radisich was also in the shoot out, but only after some dramas.

The Rat cut the chicane too tightly on his first lap on his 38

Come fly with me: Murphy put the Kmart Commodore on pole, above, while home-towner Simon Wills bounced the Dynamik car up the order, below. Max Wilson flew to second in provisional qualifying, below.

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second set of tyres and, at the end of the session, had the lap disallowed. But the team had data that showed that Radisich had abandoned that lap; the wrong lap had been booted.

They also had information that the correct procedure had not been followed by the stewards and that their car belonged back in the top 10. A few minutes before the single-car session started, Radisich was reinstated, at the cost of Rick Kelly, who was strapped into the KRT VY, ready to rock.

So, bad blood? Nope; "I think it was a mistake by Race Control," said Rick.

"They took the wrong lap off

(Radisich) and it would have been silly to take it (the time) off him. But I must say that I was disappointed to miss the shootout.

Commendable sportsmanship, from one so young. Even more so, following the 'disrepute', affair in Melbourne, If drivers can be criticised, even fined, for what they might say, it seems just that they should be praised when they get it right. Well done, young Mr Kelly, Simon Wills was third. The TDs always seem to go well on home turf, such as it is when one driver is an NZer and one is a Canberra lad. The cars clearly has some speed over a lap but

now the challenge is to translate the pace to the races.

Next came Steven Ellery. As he ended the 2003 season, the Super Cheap driver hit the ground running this season, adding a new physio to the squad to aid with a long-running injury to his left shoulder.

The news from the team was all good; yes, they went the wrong way on some changes for the second practice session but that was righted quickly. Ellery made no mistakes worthy of the name and did the business. The small single-car team is turning iDotorsport news

V8 SUPERCARS

Shootout Shock I

But I really love you ... Murphy and Bowe share an, urn, er, intimate moment at the press conference ...

Qualifying r

vases Round l Pds/Nd I 1

Adelaide, SA

Dr i ver| Car/team | t i me Marcos Ambrose

PIrtek Slone Brothers Falcon BA

tm21.9363s

2

t 888

Max Wilson

Betta Electrical Triple 8 Falcon BA

3

44

Simon Wills

Team Dynamik Commodore VY

1m22.1849s tm22.2522s

4

88

Paul Radislch

Betta Electrical Triple 8 Falcon BA

tm22.3407s

5

12

John Bowe

1m22.3951s

6

31

Steve Ellery

7

9

Russell Ingall

OzEmall Racing Falcon BA Supercheap Auto Racing Falcon BA Caltex Stone Brothers Falcon BA

51

Greg Murphy

50

10

34

Jason Bright Garth Tander

Kmart Racing Commodore VY PWR Commodore VY

1m22.4403s

9

Repco Valvoline Commodore VY

lm22.5756s 1m22.5822s

1rn22.4183s Im22.4188s 1m22.5114s

11

15

12

11

Rick Kelly Steven Richards

Kmart Racing Commodore VY Castrol Perkins Commodore VY

13

2

Mark Skaife

HRT Commodore VY

1m22.6996s

14

22 17

Todd Kelly Steven Johnson

HRT Commodore VY

15

Shell Helix Racing DJR Falcon BA

1m22.70J5s 1m22.7445s

16

10

Jason Bargwanna

17

6

Craig Lowndes Paul Morris

Orreon Racing Falcon BA CAT FPR Falcon BA

1m22.8889s

Slrromet Commodore VY

1m23.0031s

Brad Jones Glenn Seton

OzEmall Racing Falcon BA Ford Credit FPR Falcon BA

1m23.1066s

Paul Dumbrell

Castrol Perkins Commodore VX

1m23.1770s

Cameron McConville Jason Richards Warren Luff

Repco Valvoline Commodore VY

1m23.1886s

Tasman Motorsport Commodore VX

1m23.2441s

Shell Helix Racing DJR Falcon BA

1m23,3066s

Craig Baird David Besnard

Team Kiwi Racing Commodore VY WPS Financial Solutions Falcon BA

1m23.6259s

Anthony Tratt Dale Brede

Toll Racing Perkins Commodore VY

1m24.3065s

Team Dynamik Commodore VY

1m24.6625s

Romano Racing Commodore VX Jim Beam IMS Commodore VX PWR Commodore VX

1m25.7257s

1m27.7251s

29 19 20

21 5

21 22

33

23

3

24

18

25

021

26

23

27

75

28

45

29

24

Phillip Scifleet

30

14

31

43

Terry Wyhoon David Krause

32

99

David Thexton

33

16

Paul Weel

Thexton Motor Racing Falcon BA PWR Commodore VY

34

20

Mark Winterbottom

Orreon Racing Falcon BA

1m22.6738s

1m22.8081s

1m23.1401s

1m23.7854s

1m27.4730s 1m27.4856s No time No time

TOP TEN SHDDTDUT RESULTS 1

Murphy

28.9529s

49.2039s

1m22.4672s

2 3

Bright Ambrose

29.4797s

49.8092s

1m22.9629s

29.2726s

49.6175s

1m23.0463s

4

Bowe

No time

No time

tm23.0659s

5

Tander

29.1210s

49.5312s

1m23.1914s

6

Wilson

29.3552s

49.9397s

1m23.5284s

7

Ingall

29.6242s

49.8193s

1m23.6547s

8 9

Ellery Radislch

29.4101s

1m23.73e0s

29.7344s

49.9652s 50.2710s

10

Wills

29.30798

49.5861s

1m28.3956s

BIG 24 March 2004

D™

1m24.0422s

www.bigpond.com.au

MARK Skaife is never one to shirk an issue. Worse things have happened to the Holden Racing Team owner/driver than missing a shoot-out.

After all, in the V8 Supercar era, there have been 46 shootouts and Skaifey has made 42 of them. So missing out in Adelaide was shock; nope, it was a ' stunning development. The HRT cars had been at the shiny end of practice but, when it came time to do it For Real, they languished in 13th and 14th.

“We are going to go through a bit of the stuff (data) now," said Skaife after the session.

“We have done a fair bit of running in longer (ie. race) trim.

It is important to make it a good racecar. The car feels good but we are not getting the new tyre improvement, like Ambrose is.

We do not want to be that far off.

“Let’s not bullshit about it, we would love to be further up.”

The problem was that there was no ‘problem’. Both Skaife and Todd Kelly, separated by 0.002s, reported that the cars felt fine, they were just not fast enough.

“That is as good a lap as I can do in the place and there’s nothing left," Skaife continued.

“The car does not feel bad, it’s not hard to drive. You probably need to have it twitchy and more nervous (to be fast in qualifying).

The car is very similar to how I started lat year.”

And, to add insult to injury, other Ford teams stepped up in

qualifying, with the Triple 8 team in particular showing qualifying speed.

“They are doing a grand job, no doubt. SBR were the leading cars last year and the other guys have obviously found something," said Skaife.

It was not a disaster, so much as a setback and HRT has overcome setbacks in the past.

But, for the first time in almost three years, Skaife had the afternoon off.

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39

DifL kliTtanith

Have a lean on the way: Ingall ivas strong in the SBR machine, above, but Tony Longhurst didn't even make it to the races, above right. And surprise, surprise, David Thexton, below, was a DNQ ... into the threat.

Greg Murphy and Jason Bright were eighth and ninth, which was important, given where they would end up after the shoot-out.

Murph did not have any serious issues,(no-one has 'problems' anymore readers, they have 'issues',) but Bright did, his PWR car and that of team-mate Paul Weel both having braking worries.

The team worked hard on both, only to have Weel have his front suspension collapse on him before he got in any qualifying laps.

Garth Tander was 10th, a lot happier with the car than he had been last year. The team has clearly made strides in the right direction in qualifying trim and Garth has reacted positively to the arrival of Cam McConville, having both more information to work with and a higher level of fitness.

Perhaps the driver whose starting spot was not a reflection of his car speed was Steven Richards. The Castrol car was going strongly on used tyres and looked the goods on new but Richo never got a lap in.

"The car is awesome," he said.

"We just got majorly held up in qualifying. Massive traffic. The car is capable of being on the front row but we are about half a session behind. Up until Turn 11, I was on for a low-22 but Paul Morris had a slide in front of me and ended the lap."

Richo had the look of a man who thought he could win the race. His fellow Perkins men had their problems, with Tony Longhurst walling his VY and putting himself out for the weekend while Paul Dumbrell did well to be the fastest Commodore 40

Aljfs/u// Cjss

in the slower session, only to have his fastest lap kicked out. The team thought that justice had been denied and successfully sought redress overnight.

Of the rest, Jason Bargwanna topped the 'slow' session to be 16th while team-mate Mark Winterbottom missed qualifying after walling the car at Turn 4 in the second practice session.

Craig Lowndes and Glenn Seton were 16th and 20th respectively, despite picking up a second from practice and qualifying (which shows how bad they must have been in the untimed session).

David Besnard was 25th, after having set-up problems in practice, while Terry Wyhoon, David Krause and David Thexton were in for an early exit after failing to make the 105 percent cut-off, though Krause's best sectors would have made a good lap had he performed them all at the same time.

Like Weel, Frosty was allowed in at the discretion of the promoters.

“THE top 10 shoot-out was less about who excelled but rather, who stuffed up the least.

Wills was the one who stuffed

up the most, missing the corner at Turn 9 and losing about four seconds to grab 10th. The rest of the drivers, mostly, fell short of what they were aiming at, with the track getting away from the teams and their set-ups.

But Murphy and Bright vaulted up the order to grab the front row of the grid.

"I am a little surprised," admitted Murph.

"I didn't expect it would be quick enough. It felt pretty good."

Bright went further, describing the lap as "one of the worst shoot-out laps I've done. I wasn't happy and I radioed the boys and apologised."

Everyone was waiting for Ambrose to do his voodoo single-lap effort, as has become so familiar, but the series Champ admitted that "it goes to show that you can't take anything for granted in a shoot-out. We are a little disappointed."

Even the Holden men were surprised, one surmising before Ambrose's run that he expected his to put it on pole "by a mile."

As Ambrose said, you cannot take anything for granted in this business ...

- PHIL BRAIMAGAN

continued from page 37 second restart, Luff found himself leading the race.

That was the good news. The lessthan-good news was that Ambrose was right behind him. The SBR car slid past, built a 5s gap in a lap, eked it out to between 9s and 9.5s for the rest of the race and cruised home to win.

"I was pretty cautious for the first part of the race behind Murph," he said later.

"We would have done a similar strategy to Morris but we were just a little bit too marginal on fuel."

He was right. Despite radio problems, which left him with about two seconds of clear reception per lap, Morris was told to short-shift early and conserve gas. He was moiorsport news

SLOBJKL MACUmERY EOMPAMY

Presents

Emily

There goes the boom: Craig Lowndes and FPR had a shocker. His Saturday engine failure started like this ... warned that he had, at best, a lap left before the car coughed onto reserve.

The team was spot-on; on the last lap, it coughed at Turn 1; The Dude flicked reserve and it started to cut out at Turn 11. At the final corner, it picked up again and Morris managed to hold out Skaife by 0.02s Richo's charge from 12th to second was a testament to a car that had

involved with. RusseU and I had a

great brakes, no vices and a driver willing to lose a battle to win a war. A couple of times,he lost spots, notably to Ingall, but Steven kept at it, relied on his car and fought back to finish 9s behind the Pirtek Ford.

Murphy recovered to fourth after losing the rear of the KRT car at Turn 4 when some errant oil (from Bargwanna's diff)found his rear tyres, followed in fast order by Glenn Seton.

"You just have to use your head a bit, starting 12th," he said."That was one of the best races I have ever been 24 March 2004

good one. It was really good fun."

Ingall's cause had been aided by one of the best starts of recent times; "I said to the guys, if I crash on the next lap,I don't care! I was carrying a chubby for a few laps!"

R. Ingall is hereby nominated for the 2004 award for providing too much information to the media ...

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continued on page 42 41

V

PWRing on into the pack: Jason Bright had the PWR VY honking over the weekend. A Sunday fightback resulted in a podium finish.

The Air In There

MARCOS Ambrose said that he started to feel very hot as early as lap 2 on Saturday.

According to the Binford 6100 laptop of Kmart Racing's Erik Pender, Greg Murphy drove the same race in an interior as hot as 63 degrees.

Paul Morris, right, had no such problems. His new Cepicool in-car air conditioner worked perfectly in Adelaide and he stepped out of the Sirromet Commodore in much the same physical condition in which he stepped into it. All the other cars in the race were what automobile dealers might refer to as Tassie Pack, or Povo (poverty) Packs. That is, they come with no aircon.

"The first half of the race was good but then it seemed to heat up, so I opened the windows a little," he said later.

"But the coolsuit and the helmet (connected to the aircon unit) worked well and I stepped out brand new."

The question of in-car heat is a controversial one and, according to Morris, there are already a number of enquiries from other teams asking if they can get some fresh air in the future too.

MOTORSPORT DZ02G

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continued from page 41 "He had already cleared me when I saw him," said Murph,"but I was waiting for the next one to arrive. If there had been an oil flag out, we could have been on the podium."

Still, three problems in one day and fourth on the road. Not too shabby.

Skaife was seventh, which was an indication of how the HRT VYs were working - or not working. Skaife looked pretty much defenceless as he got picked off and, after the race, the team started to look at the data to

"No names," smiled Morris when asked to name the teams. "But a couple of them have won championships."

Look for less Povo Packs in pit lane in coming races ...

- PHIL BRANAGAN

>

figure out what happened. The only certain thing was that there were going to be changes overnight to see if it could be a better Sunday car.

And it was not aU car, Skaife having an old injury rear its head and leaving him with a numb right foot. Once he missed the brake pedal altogether; the rest of the time, he had a lack of feeling. Injury added to insult.

The other red, Kelly, was never a factor after walling the car at the notorious Turn 8. Before he had a look at the car data, he was unsure

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motorsport news

Time for the compulsory Clipsal 500 grid girl pic: Yep, OK, now it's out of the system. Steven Johnson, left, had a shocker, while Glenn Seton, below, flew the flag for FPR. whether the cause was man or machine, though he reported that the car felt a little off before the hit.

For example,Paul Dumbrell spent the second half of the race all over the #2 car, tile last of the X-Men,showing plenty of form to come home eighth.

A good race for the Perkins team.

Not so good for the Shells. Luff's hopes of a good first-up result went west with a punt from Bright, which resulted in the PWR car pitting for a new tyre and resuming last man on the lead lap.

Johnson picked up some debris from the Kelly shunt which caused a front wheel to stick during his stop. losing 17 laps. Bargs had a diff changed in 27 minutes,leaving him with just enough laps left to be classified as a finisher, while Seton's 10th was the only good news for FPR, Lowndes losing an engine while just hanging onto that position.

The other Ford that looked a threat was Max Wilson's. After pitting for a new tyre early and JUST staying on the lead lap. Max charged through the pack at the same pace as the leaders and, when the Safety Car

intervened,looked a threat. But a biff with the wall ended the day and set him up for a Sunday repeat.

Race 2(78 laps) The was cooler butstarting the action on day the track was hot,

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with the warmup.

Bright tagged tlie inside of Turn 8 and rode the wall on the way down to nine, rubbing the front suspension. A few corners later, he found that the steering was crooked and he punched the cars into the tyres. It was a fixer and he made it into the race easily.

But Tander did not. Garth comprehensively waUed the car at 8, spitting debris all over the track. The team described it as, well, bad, one estimate of the damage being $80,000.

continued on page 44

4

For more information contact Delphi Product & Service Solutions on 03 9551 8700 or visit www.delphi.com/am 43

BIG

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continued from page 43 2 i!£!:ai

Worse was to come. Sometimes, one circumstance leads to another.

Winterbottom had a tag from Dumbrell early on, pushing him down the field into a pack of cars.

That would come to a head on lap 67 when, predictably at Turn 8, aU heck broke loose.

McConvOle was challenging Todd Kelly for position but did not make it stick. Dumbrell tried to foUow him

ikiss

33

through and touched the Valvoline car, sending it sUding across the road.

In a flash,Jones, Winterbottom and Johnson had major accidents; David Besnard had to weave his way through the chaos. The Safety Car came out(for the third time), the race resumed with seven laps to go and Ambrose won again.

He was running a solo effort.

IngaU had his engine drop a valve early while running third,leaving Richards a lonely second imtil Bright weaved his way through(and past a helpful Weel) to start chaUenging.

The rival VYs got close a few times but, with no need to put it all on the line, Brighty kept third at the flag.

Strategy-wise, the race was a lot more straightforward that Saturday's.

The leaders all played safe while the chasers,led by Todd and Wilson, made their tyre stops early. One man who was not making ground was Skaife, who clashed with Seton and later, with Besnard.

This set up the second Safety Car wrongly,in the opinion of many.

Officials explained that, even though both cars drove away, the SC boards were already on display (unusually quickly)so they went ahead with the yellows. No,it was not a 'NASCAR', yellow, either...

So,Ambrose became the first Ford man - in fact, the first non-HRT man

- to win the Adelaide 500.

"The rear tyres were pretty much shot," he said later."When it(the throttle) did work,it was like a light switch. It fried the tyres pretty early on.

Luckily for Ambrose,Richards was also using his rears heavily and was in no position to challenge. That, and

m

Watching and waiting: Tripie 8, above ieft, iooked pensive as their speed faded to transiate into resuits. CRM had dramas with Cam McConviiie's car but nothing compared to what wouid trash it, ieft, even despite a twiri with Rick Keiiy's Kmart car, top.

The Castroi team had a great weekend, above, with Richards second and youngster Paui Dumbreii shining through in the top 10. Weii, untii the iate stages of Sunday's race...

a couple of dragster-like restarts, and Marcos was home and (Pirtek) hosed.

Bright and Weel were very strong in third and fourth, respectively, comprehensively taking bragging rights down Clayton way. After Frosty had Iris earlier problem, continued on page 46

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motorsport news

V8 SUPERCARS L

\UrSnf — mn Hou

And then we all held our breath and waited for something to happen: Ingall and Skaife on the road together. No problems in 2004. Boring one might say? Well, there's still 12 rounds to go ...

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s

45

'results VBSCS ROUN

Adelaide, SA RACE

VS

1

Pas 1 Driver i Race Time j Fastest|Lap 33 1:57:38.7153 1:24.0374 1 Ambrose 13 2 S.Richards 1:57:47.4247 1:24.4134 3

Ingall

1:57:52.6585

1:24.0388

4 5

Murphy Weel

1:58:01.0413

1:24.2259

5 11

1:58:08.8473

1:24.0550

26

6

Morris

1:58:12.2270

1:24.5102

31

7

Skaife

1:58:12.2497

1:24.3013

10

Dumbrell

1:58:13.5814

1:24.4977

26

9

Bowe

1:58:22.6789

1:23.9239

5

10 11

Seton Luff

1:58:25.9984

1:24.2173

36

1:58:33.1461

1:25.0648

33

12 13

R.Keliy Jones

1:58:36.7751

1:24.5796

12

1:58:37.5012

1:24.5096

28

14 15

1:58:42.3647 Bright Winterbottom 77 laps

1:23.9116

5

1:24.6316

16

Baird

77 laps

1:24.8760

48 47

17

McConville

76 laps

1:24.7167

5

18 19

Besnard Tander

75 laps

1:24.6036

29 51

Johnson

73 laps 61 laps

1:24.3239

20

1:24.1330

15

21

59 laps

1:24.2881

36

DNF

Bargwanna Lowndes

65 laps

1:24.6864

10

DNF

Wilson

48 laps

1:23.7902*

12

DNF DNF

J.Richards Wills

42 laps

1:25.0815

4

39 laps

1:24.7786

11

DNF

Radisich

38 laps

1:24.2936

9

DNF

Tratt

DNF DNF

Ellery Brede

32 laps 27 laps

1:24.7714 1:24.3286

29 22

IB laps

DNF

Scifleet

2 laps

1:25.4240 1:30.5975

7 2

DNF

T.Kelly

1 lap

1:38.4627

1

VS

laps

Race

Z

|

Pos I DRIVER 1 Race Time | Fastest ] Lap 1 Ambrose 2:00:31.4199 1:23.3754* 6 2

S.Richards

3 4

Bright Weel

5 6 7

Bargwanna R.Keliy Radisich

2:00:33.1236 2:00:33.6608

1:23.5092 1:23.4498

26 14

2:00:37.9011

1:24.0169

27

2:00:38.5262 2:00:39.6540 2:00:40.2817

1:24.5284 1:24.4925 1:24.2261

28 5 15

J.Richards

2:00:40.5772

1:24.3506

27

9

Murphy

10 11

T.Kelly Dumbrell

2:00:41.4277 2:00:41.7357

1:24.0357 1:23.9987

4 33

12

Baird

2:00:42.7350 2:00:58.1128

13

Tratt

77 laps

1:24.1109 1:24.6117 1:24.7667

6 5 15

77 laps

1:24.5075

27

14

Besnard

15

Bowe

77 laps

1:24.0 525

28

16

Morris

75 laps

1:24.0166

5

17

Skaife

71 laps

1:24.2175

DNF

McConville

DNF DNF

Winterbottom Jones

66 laps 66 laps

1:24.3199 1:24.5013

31 4

66 laps

1:24.2984

6

DNF DNF

Johnson Wilson

D_NF DNF

65 laps

1:24.6158

51 laps

Wills_ Lowndes

1:23.8341 1:24.1206

32

29 laps

1:24.7343

9

DNF

Luff

16 laps

1:24.9613

9

DNF DNF

Ingall Seton

10 laps

1:23.9312

5

10 laps

DNF

Ellery

1:24.3374 30.4225

6 2

BIG

D

www.bigpond.com.au

46

And then there were two: Tasman Motorsport is one ofjust two teams left with VXs, but Jason Richards put the #3 car into the top 10 in race two. continued from page 44 Bargwanna picked up the Orreon baton and charged sensibly to fifth.

"I thought about having a crack a couple of times on the way but I thought, 'Nup'," he said later.

"We had some speed but not the speed to get us on the podium."

Rick Kelly was sixth, driying smart after team leader Murphy lost track position with a final corner spin on lap 10 before mounting another face and points-saving fightback to ninth.

Filling out the top 10 were Radisich (who had the odd engine and brake problem on the way), Jason Richards (clean driving) and Todd Kelly.

Skaife? We had the unusual sight

of the HRT leader spinning - twice and having clashes with Seton and Besnard.

"He came up later and said sorry," said Besnard."He didn't think it was my fault."

The officials did, handing out a drive-through penalty for the WPS driver. It seemed pretty harsh.

For the rest of the Fords, disaster.

Both Shell cars wore the Turn 10 tyres in quick succession,both FPR cars had engine issues(Lowndes fan belt/overheating, Seton throttle jamming) and Wilson smote the wall.

New engines are coming for the ●Triple 8s, which can be of little comfort for their fellow Englishmen.

There was much carnage and a lot of hurt cars at the end of the opening race of the season. But the teams to

beat, at least, got to take home healthy cars.

Oh,and Ambrose had an throttle position sensor issue, meaning that he could not downchange cleanly.

Did it slow him? Probably. Did it stop him winning? No way. Of such things are championship-winning seasons made.

Early days. But get ready Holden fans, Marcos might just break your hearts again.

VSSCS

POINTS

Ambrose 192, S.Richards 186, Weel 171, Murphy 159, Bright 147, R.Keliy 144, Morris 132, Bowe/Skaife 126, Bargwanna 120, Baird 114, Besnard 102, Ingall 90. Radisich 78, J.Richards 75, T.Kelly/Seton 69, Dumbrell 66*, Luff 66, Jones/Trait 60, Winterbottom 54, McConville 48, Tander 42. Johnson 39, Brede/Ellery/ Lowndes/Wills/Wilson 0. * - Dumbrell penalised 75 points for race 2 incident.

Ttie Weel keeps Rollin ONE of the injustices in the history of the Ciipsai 500 is that Paui Weel did not get to stand on the podium last year.

In Race 1, such a thing looked unlikely. Starting at the back, it looked like a huge ask to make it into the top three. He didn't make it but it was close.

“I got three cars before the first corner and nine on the first lap,” said a happy Queenslander later.

“After we struggled in practice, we put the car back to what we tested at Winton. But then we missed qualifying so I did not get to drive it like it was until the warm-up.”

In the Saturday race, the car looked like it was working and Weel stayed patient, picked his moments and rode it all the way to fifth.

The following day, it got even better; fourth on the road, third overall for the weekend. But still no step on the podium.

If this keeps up, don’t bet against him next year.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

^ A// 4

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T may have looked easy but Michael Schumacher's victory in Malaysia - the 72nd in his long and remarkable career - was a lot closer than it looked.

You can say "Oh God,another Michael Schumacher victory. The World Championship is over" but that is not the real story. Ferrari looked serene but Michael had to work for it.

The first clue to the problems had come in practice when other drivers remarked just how hard Michael was driving the Ferrari. The time sheets did not reflect the fact tliat Michael was putting it right to the edge.

Sure, he took pole by a large margin but early in the race we saw why Micliael headed for the pits after just nine laps of the race. Juan Pablo Montoya did 12 which meant that the Ferrari had qualified with aroimd 25 percent less fuel than had the Williams. The strategy had been to qualify relatively light and go for a short fast first stint and try to get an advantage.

Michael then took on around the same amount of fuel for each of the final three stints(15 laps, 14 laps and 16 laps). The key element in the

f-

.SOiUCG Henkel

0 And it's go! The Ferraris led into T1, while Webber bogged, below.

motorsport news

FORMULA

I

NE

su»on-»m.iL>es.con:

in thing

Michael grabs win number 72Montoya threatens - Webber fails.

JOE SAWARD saw the Malaysian Grand Prbc unfold

strategy therefore was to get a good start and build a good lead in the vital first few laps. The plan was almost spoiled in those early laps when there were spots of rain and suddenly the Michehn users had an advantage and used it.

Rubens BarricheUo, who effectively blew his chances when he chose the harder Bridgestone option, ran wide early on,so Montoya was able to close right up on Michael. But then Michael opened up with a series of important laps.

On lap four he clocked a lm36.894s. Montoya managed only a lm37.141s; the next time around Michael did a lm35.022s and Monty could manage oirly a lm36.361s. The sixth lap was a similar story; Michael did a lm34.819s and Montoya stopped the clocks at lm35.884s. It

was in this period that the race was lost - and won.

After that, Montoya was able to match Michael's pace,but it was too late.

Those precious tenths added up, and when Montoya pitted he simply had not done enough to be in a position to claw back at Michael.

Once he was back on the road after his first stop Montoya closed up quickly, cutting a 6.4s gap back to 3.3s in a handful of laps and then the Bridgestone tyre consistency came to Michael's aid and he was able to puU away again. The pattern was repeated in the third stint(when Juan Pablo got to within 3.7s of Michael).

After their third stops Montoya

continued on page 52

Two Starts - Two DNFs: Kimi's championship has got off to a poor start, above.

But not all hope is lost for MW...

MARK Webber's Malaysian Grand Prix was a pretty hideous affair but for a very spectacular recovery after his Jaguar'bogged down'at the start of the race.

After the race there seemed a lot of vagueness about the problem-which interestingly had afflicted both green cars.

"It was not a driver problem," said the team PR. No-one wanted to say much more.

Mark himself explained it in somewhat misty terms.

"We have to analyse the risk factors against the performance," he said t mysteriously. "But we can make good starts."

What did that mean? Mark just smiled.

Was the team trying something a little different, perhaps in an effort to emulate the starts seen from Renault in Melbourne? There is no doubt that all the teams are using what technology they can to get off the line, and a clutch start isn't the simple operation the layman might think.

But what was impressive was that once Mark got the Jaguar going (he was by then 14th or 15th) he then drove a

startling lap, passing a swag of cars to finish up ninth at the end of the lap.

"I did a bunch of them in the first corner," he said. "I cannot remember who it was.

Then in Turn 4 I passed Nick Heidfeld and both thfe Toyotas. And then I went round the outside of Ralf at Turn 5. He got me back in Turn 6. But then a couple of laps later I got him once and for all at Turn 8. He went off the road!

"After that, Alonso got me going down the pit straight and so I had Ralf behind me again and then he ran into the back of me in Turn 1 and that was the end of it.

"I had to drive almost a whole lap with a puncture and that damaged the diffuser and so after that the car had oversteer and in the end the right rear blistered and I lost control of it."

And the drive through penalty he was given after speeding back onto the track after repairs had been made?

"My fault," said Webber.

"That's motor racing ..."

- JOE SAWARD For more, see Mark Webber's Malaysian Grand Prix Diary, page 55

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o, would the Michelin boys be back on the pace in the heat of KL? The speculation (and hope) was about to be answered. The problem was that no-one in FI had done any testing with track temperatures higher than 25-degrees C. In Malaysia track temperatures were expected to be double that.

"We do not know what will happen," said Michelin boss Pierre Dupasquier.

"We think we have better tyres than we did last year," said a Bridgestone source.

"But we don't know for sure if they will work. They should do but at the moment the improvement is only theoretical."

On Friday, therefore, no-one was quite sure what to make of Kimi Raikkonen setting the fastest time, just under three-

tenths of a second faster than Ralf Schumacher. Mark Webber was third fastest in his Jaguar.

Michael Schumacher was seven-tenths off the pace. It looked like a Michelin day. But whispers coming out of Ferrari suggested that the red cars had been running with heavy fuel loads.

Several teams had spent the last weeks poring over every little bit of data that came out of Melbourne and the worrying thing was that the numbers seemed to indicate one thing: it was not just about tyres.

"Our data shows that Ferrari has made a huge step forward in aerodynamic efficiency," one engineer said. "The tyres were worth a bit but the car is simply better than the others. Having Michael Schumacher at the wheel helps but it is the car that is the big difference."

A

surfon-imji'es.coni

fter the rather slow qualifying session in Melbourne, there was a huge amount of criticism in Formula 1 circles about the format of the show (if indeed that is a word that could be applied in this case). Some of the wailing and gnashing of teeth was even heard in the ivory towers where the bosses of Formula 1 hang out. The broadcasters were not happy.

But the teams and Bernie Ecclestone could not agree on a change. It was too early. Knee-jerk reactions should be avoided. It would not be that bad in Malaysia.

Alas, unless you were an Australian, it was.

It took two hours and four minutes to discover that Michael Schumacher was on top of the world again - and the temperature did not seem to make any difference.

What was uncertain - and

COP THAT: Webber, right, delighted his team (and fans) with a brilliant lap - the first front row for an Aussie since A) in 1981. Alonso, above, speared off late in bis lap, trying to snatch Mark's spot ...

50

andM could have played a crucial part in the outcome of the first rows of the grid - was race strategy.

There was a suggestion that some had carried a fraction more fuel, to allow for a two-stop rather than three-stop race strategy. As Sunday would show, this wasn't the case.

The final session should build up to a last-minute frenzy of excitement and for a while it looked quite good. Juan Pablo Montoya was on pole after his run and Ralf Schumacher {his team mate and obvious enemy) could only get within two-tenths of the Colombian.

Ralf was then pushed back to third place by Jenson Button in his BAR-Honda. There were seven cars still to run. David Coulthard was first to go and his best was six-tenths down on Montoya. The cynics nodded.

McLaren had beer) playing games on Friday. With six cars to run David would probably be back in ninth or 10th - more or less where McLaren was expected to be after Melbourne.

Rubens Barrichello was next to run and after the first split time things looked close but by the end of the second sector Rubens had squeezed four-tenths out over Montoya's Williams-BMW. Oh dear. He dropped a little in the final sector but he was still

m

FORMULA ONE

larvellous Mark on pole by three-tenths.

Webber was next to go. In the first sector he was a tenth down on the Ferrari, but he matched the Brazilian in the second sector. Hey, this was getting good. And as he streaked through the final sector there was an obvious chance that Mark was going to beat a Ferrari.

We rubbed our eyes and shook our heads.

When the name Webber leap frogged to the top of the timesheets there was a huge cheer in the Media Centre. He was fastest by the smallest of margins but, on provisional pole, he was ahead of a Ferrari.

And yet we knew that it was not likely to last, for out now came the Ferrari - Michael Schumacher, full-time international Grand Prix legend and car juggler of repute. Surely he would put the Australian hero into his place ...

It did not take long to confirm that Michael meant business. He was three-tenths up in the first sector - but he was working for it. He added another two-tenths to the gap in the second sector but in the final sector he only managed to match Webber.

The overall lap time told the story: he was more than sixtenths of a second quicker.

"It was a mind-blowing lap," Michael admitted afterwards.

"Everything was spot-on and perfect. We were looking in difficulty a bit yesterday but we managed to work very well and get the car back on the road."

"Tomorrow," he told the media, "the car will not be affected much by the heat. With the high temperatures the tyre grip goes down. Inside the cockpit it will be very hard work for us. We put pressure on the opposition but tomorrow will be a battle."

Hopes that the Ferrari would be beaten in Malaysia seemed far fetched indeed on Saturday evening. Yes, there was a question about fuel loads and tyre durability but the Ferrari seemed to be quick no matter what.

And even if the car did struggle towards the end of a stint, it was clear from Jaguar Racing that there was no expectation that Webber might be able to keep up with the Ferrari in race trim. No thought at all.

But Webber might be a block for faster cars that had qualified behind him.(We thought back to Hungary last year where Webber’s efforts had held up the challengers while Fernando Alonso had streaked away to victory).

Jaguar's performance was a

big surprise, even for the team, The rest of the field was much but in some respects it was as one would expect except that Takuma Sato was down the enhanced by others not making the most of their runs. back because he spun away his Renault screwed it up big time. hopes of a good position.

Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso "The laws of physics are the were the last cars out after laws of physics," said a BAR Schumacher's triumphant run engineer curtly, "and there is no amount of driver talent that can and a decent try by Raikkonen (which netted him fifth on the change that reality ..." grid). Trulli's lap was never convincing and he later 3 Grand Prix of admitted to having made "a number of mistakes" which March 20 2004 meant that he was a disappointing eighth on the 1 M Schumacher(D; grid. jScuderia Ferrari Marlboro Last to go was Alonso I 1:33.074 (who had been fastest in the 14 M Webber (AU: Jaguar Racing_ first part of the session). He 1:33.715" +0.641 was quicker than Webber in 2 R Barrichello(BRA) the first sector but dropped Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro back in the second. And 1:33.756 + 0.682 3 J P Montoya(CO) then, as he pushed harder to ■nt I B_MW WilliamsFI Team try to grab second place on i'l :34.Q54 0.980 the grid, he dropped the ball 6 K Raikkonen (FIN) jWest McLaren Mercedes and spun. This was the 1 1:34.164 +1.090 ultimate disaster for the 9 J Button (GB) Renault team.

I Lucky Strike BAR Honda ' ! 1:34.221 After such promising pace ■^47 U R Schumacher to start the weekend with, BMW WilliamsFI Team n the team was left simply 1:34.235 + 1.161 hoping to pick up a few |7J Trulli Mild Seven Renault FI Team ■ points on Sunday.

"1:34.413 + 1.339 If one discounts Michael 5 0 Coulthard Schumacher, the gaps [West McLaren Mercedes ; between the drivers on the 1:34.602 + 1.528 16 C Da Matta (BRA) grid were all quite close. jPanasonlc Toyota Racing Between second-placed 1 1:34.917 +1.843 | Webber and ninth-placed 2 F Massa.(BR) Sauber Petronas Coulthard there was only a 1:35.039 + 1.965 second, in which were II G Fisichella (I) crammed the Jaguar, the jSauber Petronas second Ferrari, the two +1.987 i 1:35.061 ISCKIIen(A) Williams-BMWs split by Jaguar Racing Raikkonen and Button's BAR1:35.158 "'+2,084 Honda, and then Trulli and 17 0Panls(l Coulthard.

1 Panasonic Toyota Racing ' I + 2.543 i 1:35.617 The best of the rest was 13 N Heldfeld (D) Cristiano da Matta, who was jjordan Ford just ahead of Felipe Massa i 1:36.569 +3.495 20 G Bruni (although both men spent a Minardi Cosworth lot of time off the circuit in ! 1:38.577 ” + 5.503 practice).

21 Z Baumgartner (HUN) Further back was a [Minardi Cosworth 1 1:39.272 +6.198 disappointed Giancarlo 19 G Pantano Fisichella (outrun by Massa Jordan Ford for the second consecutive ') 1:39.902 +6.828 race) and young Christian [8 F Alonso (E; [Mild Seven Renault F1 Team Klien. One had to feel a little j No time sympathy for the Austrian 10 T Sato (J without Webber, his 13th on [Lucky Strike BAR Honda ' j No tlma i the grid would have looked quite respectable for a youngster in only his second race ...

Malaysia

m

51

continued from page 49 came out behind Rubens Barrichello.

"1 went to pass him straight away," Montoya said,"but he blocked me.

As soon as 1 moved he closed the door straight away and his pace backed off. So I lost a bit of time.

i

There was no point in even trying to pass. There were 12 laps to go so I just backed off and cruised."

But overall the Michelin tyres had seemed better ... well at least a match over a stint... than the Bridgestones.

"1 think today we had a very good pace," said Montoya."It is a shame that the first stint wasn't as good as it could have been."

Montoya set the fastest lap.

In the end, however, it was probably not the tyres which won the race but rather the big leap forward

that Ferrari has made over the winter in terms of aerodynamic efficiency.

“You know," said one driver after the race,"I reckon if you had the BMW engine in the back of the Renault chassis you would have a car that is as good as the Ferrari."

And so it is now down to developmental progress and industrial competence to decide who will win the World Championship.

That and good driving.

Montoya carmot afford to make any mistakes but then again, nor can Michael.

And,judging by the pace of some of the other challengers, there wiU be others winning races in 2004 and 2005.

Renault made a mess of qualifying and,if the truth be told, things did not go well in the race either. The

\

We think he's happy: You can be forgiven if you thought Jenson Button won the race, above with Montoya and Schumacher. Montoya, top, was strong during the race, and was able to race with Michael.

Thumbs down: After contact with Mark Webber early in the race, Ralf Schumacher soldiered on until engine problems stopped his run, above.

Compromise Techinca!Editor Paulo FiHsetti looks at the key techno factors of the Malaysian Grand Prix

THE second race of the season is one of the toughest of the Formula One calendar as the Sepang circuit is a mix of the Hungaroring track and a fast circuit such as Monza.

Driveability is the most important element that can make the difference in terms of a good result. Aerodynamics becomes the fundamental point to setting up the cars in an efficient way. The downforce load, in fact, is as high as in Monaco. In fact, many teams change the aerodynamics of the car both both under the car as well as the sidepods quite significantly, putting new winglets and various profiles to increase the downforce.

There is a compromise between aero efficiency and the need to retain good cooling due to high temperatures typical of this circuit.

This track is also interesting from the engine point of view top speed is an important issue, as is the acceleration at the exit of the corners, because the circuit isn't flat but undulates a little. There are some downhill corners, very tricky for brake balance, and uphill ones where traction is the most important feature for the cars to be competitive, Temperature is a big issue motorsport news

FORMULA ONE Renault drivers suffered tyre graining in each of their stints. This meant that they had understeer until the tyres cleaned themselves up.

Alonso drove a great first stint to go from the back of the grid to eighth,further progress being blocked by David Coulthard's McLaren. In his second stint it was a similar story but the team then took the bizarre decision to fill Fernando with half a ton of fuel and sent him off to go right through to the chequered flag, a mammoth stint of 32 laps. It did not work at aU. The track was clear but the car was a handful and Alonso's lap times were not great.

With Webber out of the way early, Ralf Schumacher wasting what chances he had and the McLarens still not being good enough in qualifying(and thus struggling in the race) Michael and Montoya had no other challengers.

This meant that BAR-Honda was able to step into the breach and Jenson Button drove a very good race to move up the reckoning.. He overtook TruUi in combative fashion in the early tussles and then jumped ahead of BarricheUo and Raikkonen as the race developed. It was his first podium and a great moment for the team.

"This is the start of exciting times ahead," said team boss David Richards.

Indeed so.

WHILE his fellow countryman Jenson Button was being sprayed with champagne and enjoying his third-piaced finish, David Coulthard was mulling over his current situation.

Never one to be negative, David knows that he has a few races to prove that he is worth a team signing him for 2005. He cannot stay at McLaren because Juan Pablo Montoya is coming in to join Kimi Raikkonen.

Coulthard had just finished sixth - which in a McLaren was about all he could have hoped to have achieved.

on up

"We were a little better than we were in Melbourne," he said.

"We find it difficult to extract performance from the car for just one lap. But in the race our performance is as good as anyone else.

The thing is that you need to get is clean air.

The brakes are very good and the car has a lot of traction. A new front wing has helped."

What he did not say was that the car's biggest problem is that the chassis lacks aerodynamic downforce and the engine lacks horsepower...

- JOE SAWARD

iMarlkor*^

here for engine reliabilty, as well as brakes. In fact, most of the teams encountered overheating problems during practice, so various solution were adopted to avoid excessive wear of the discs.

The Ferrari F2004 raced in a similar overall aerodynamic configuration to Melbourne, featuring the mid wing placed right behind the on-board camera over the engine air 24 March 2004

intake. To assist with heat dissipation, it sported the largest version of the 'shark' hot air vents {total of five) on the top of both the sidepods.

McLaren, trying to correct the chronic lack of downforce at the front, introduced a new front wing featuring a deep spoon profile and a double flap.

At the rear, as with most of the other cars, the MP4/19 ran with additional air vents.

Sauber didn't offer any major changes to the car we saw in Melbourne, but there was an opportunity to look at the sidepods which, when removed from the car, reveal an asymmetrical cooling system, with the right sidepod housing the water radiator that has a strange horizontal vee shape, to reduce the sidpod section. This configurations seems to be very efficient.

Life after JV is sweet: BAR boss Dave Richards, above was delighted with Jenson Button's third place at Malaysia.

S3

P08. Nq.; Driver/Entrant

Laps Timo

j Oap

'i

[Michael Schumacher(GER) Scuderia Ferrari Meribofo

'3

luan Montoya(COL) 3MWWilliamsF1 Team

'M

i:3l:'li2.5li!

'9

lenson Button (GBR) Lucky Strike BAR Honda

56

L3i?I5W

'2

Ruhena Bartichello (BRA) Scuderia Ferrari Mariboro

■f

tamo Traill (ITA) Mild Seven Renault FI Team

T

56

lavid Coullhaid (GBR) Vest McLaren Mercedes

'8

Fernando Alonso (ESP) Mild Seven Renault FI Team

12

Felipe Massa (BRA) Sauber Petronas

16

Cristlano Da Malta (BRA) ^nasonic Toyota Racing Christian Kllen (AUT) Jaguar Racing Glancario Fisichella (ITA) Sauber Petronas

16 11 17

vodn?

10

■ r

Drivers' Championship: M.Schuchmacher 20, Barrichello 13, Montoya 12, Button 9, Alonso 8, Trulli 6, R.Schumacher 5, Coultharij 4, Massa 1.

55

r

Contractors' Championship: Ferrari 33, BMW.Williams 17, Renault 14, BAR-Hon(da 9, McLaren-Mercedes 4, SauberPetronas 1.

14

r

D535r

i Kph

Best

‘ Lap

'204,384

1:34.619

3

■ 204.196' i:5i.-SS" 28 l)6.iS'46“ 20i^2

1:34.96^

SF

1:35.630

iy

(sS"

1:31:21.106

53316" 02,048 ■ 2B07F'

'sr

1:31:44.886

!?5g5"23.y44

'56

ii32:6o.88r'53:o98 55758-202.4l8 1:38.862 Sr

'56

i:32:i6.367"" S43n

14.779

'sT

1:3i:2Y:i55“ iW~ i llAO'

■55

1:31:33.804

55 55

565W

■ 201.877" I:38.6e0

T

266:613“ (':36.S?6 ' r

1LAP

06.309

lOO.yOO 'i:'38.S44'

27

1:32:07.028

1LAP

S434

■ 198.572

1:37.031

12

1:32:24.626

1 LAP

17.^98

197.941

1:36.676

^ 23

55

1:32:38.018

1 LAP

13.392

197.464

1:35.861

54

1:32:23.137

LAP

194.395

mm' 41

‘Gianmarla Bruni (ITA) 5dinardi CoswcHih

53

■1:31:29.590

rakuma Sato (JPN) .ucky Strike BAR Honda Zsoil Baumgartner (HUN) Minardi Cosworlh

52

1:25:54.251

2 LAPS 3 LAPS DNF

52

1:31:11.143

■4

iKtmi RSikkOnen (FIN) /Vest McLaren Mercedes

■40

No Classified 1:05:20.117

Vick Heldteld (GER) Iordan Ford

34

6:58:5'6,o65

Half Schumacher (GER) 3MWWilliamsF1 Team

'27

6:44:23.259" W

'202.300

1:35.607

10

i4ark Webber (AUS) Jaguar Racing

■ 23

5:39:32.640

193.438

1:36.922

9

■ Juan Montoya (COL) BMWWilllamsFI Team

1:34.223 on lap 28

Olivier Paris (FRA) Panasonic Toyota Racing Giorgio Pantano (ITA) Iordan Ford

■.7,'

W~ 192.65T" JMm

1

201.319

1:36:679

13

189.658

i:40.1»' " 12

(DNF

'mm

ii^.ise ● h2

BiT

197155“ 5537453“ ir

'316.892

LAPS

DNF

211.782

Grarifd Prix of Malaysia March 21 2004

M

10

3

20

25

30

S

I>

m

i

IT

5 6

JB

7

RS □

8

JT

9

DC

45

,1

"i

)'

50

H

%

#■ tf I'/

/

10 CM 11

m

35

IJ

4

f/jd ^arjaif/aJ

Position s lap by lap

10

:/

fmG

11

Qi

12 GF

8

12

u

13 CK 14 OP

If

13 14

15 NH

15

16 GB

16

7

17 ZB 18 GP

17 18 19

19 FA 20 TS Key 54

izn

nn

Accident

20 (J) Mechanical failure

© Pit stop

Lapped

©Black Flagged moiorsport news

4 :X.

I

GUESS that's what they call an anti-climax. But it just shows how complex and demanding FI can be. One minute you're on top of the world,the next it's turning to mud - and then it gets muddier!

There's no more visible place to make a bad start from than the front row and, boy, that was a bad one. Both Jags suffered off the line but, being further back, Christian's (Klien) was less obvious.

I guess it's no secret that, despite starts now being described as 'manual', there's still a fair bit of technical input into getting a Grand Prix car off the line. It is quite complex, but to simplify it a bit, clutch position and slip is controlled and is based on data obtained form a number of practice starts during Friday and Saturday.

In our case, there was simply a tiny bit more grip than we'd expected. The anti-stall system (which stops you actually stalling the engine) kicked in and you have to start over again. Not pretty. Our system is a bit complex and it's an area we have to really get to grips with and soon - because the price of getting it wrong is high, as you saw.

My systems guy was pretty down after the race, but by way of cheering him up, I reminded him that the margins are so 24 M»Ct 2004

small and that our data showed that, actually, we were so, so close to a really spot-on start.

I was pleased that I didn't panic when it all went pearshaped - the guys said I'd done everything I could - but it did kind of ruin the day ...

I was 13th or 14th at the first corner, alongside Alonso'lwho'd started from the back - now

fault), going a lap down, moving off line to let the leaders through, getting pick-up on the tyres and finally overdoing it at the last hairpin, it wasn't a glorious race.

But as usual, we learned a lot and we have to be adult about it.

We're doing an awful lot with modest resources, so we just absorb the lessons and move on

"Despite being described as'manuai',there's stili a fair bit of technicai input into getting a Grand Prix car off the iine. that's a start!), but passed a few cars to be ninth at the end of the lap. It was the best first lap I've put together in FI - I guess I was a bit keen to recover ...

You didn't see it on TV, but I managed to drive around the outside of Ralf on the long sweeper, which was a buzz, but he re-passed me later in the lap, on the straight. I got him again into the esses and he must have been a bit peeved, because he had another go into Turn 1, which ended up with his front wing cutting my right rear tyre.

We did speak later and he did apologise. Something about being "a bit too optimistic" ...

Anyway, between the in-lap with the shredded tyre and a pitlane speeding drive-through (my

to the next race. Our time will come.

B

y contrast, Saturday was quite a day. Practice had gone very well for us. We did everything we needed to - I did .the tyre comparison and opted for the softer of the two choices.

We didn't change a spring, just stiffening the front roll-bar a bit and moving the mechanical balance forward a fraction to help look after the rear tyres.

It's funny, but we still tend to 'beat ourselves up' a bit on strategy - unnecessarily as it turns out. We had decided to aim for a relatively early first stop, thus running light-ish on fuel for qualifying.

We didn't change the car at all between the first and second qualifying runs and I really concentrated on not dropping a tenth or three over the first sector, which I've tended to do sometimes.

It was good and the second half of the lap was as good as I could possibly expect- through the fast left-right the car was superb.

That it was good enough for the front row, splitting Michael and Rubens, was a terrific boost although, typically, I had this nagging doubt that maybe the others around me were on more fuel and would go a lot further than I would before the first stop.

As it happened, other than the Williamses, I needn't have worried - they started pitting as early as lap eight! It tells us that we should be a little more confident and positive about those decisions - but I guess that's partly just me. I like to keep everyone's feet on the ground and don't like raising expectations too much ...

It was, however, a great feeling to drive the car onto the front row of the grid. A number of people came over to say nice things and wish me well, including Michael's engineer, Aussie Chris Dyer.

DIARY NOTE: Must get on front row again - great feeling.

But try to make better start...

55

King of the C K While a lot of Konica Minolta competitors left Adelaide with a large repair bill, Owen Kelly went home with a large trophy MARK GLENDENNING was there

X -j

a

iil

75

ONICA Minolta V8 Supercar races and the concrete walls of Adelaide are both capable of producing their fair share of mayhem.

Put them together and you can expect to see just about every variety of drama imaginable, as was amply demonstrated by the second round of the championship in the City of Churches last weekend.

But Owen Kelly dodged all the arrows to end the weekend with two wins from two races, and earned a handy points haul to get his championship challenge back on track after a scrappy opening round at Wakefield Park last month.

The Queensland-based Tasmanian had a win within his sights in Adelaide last year until a clutch problem forced him to retire from the lead, and KeUy said that the gremlins had almost brought him down again this time around.

"We thought it was deja vu," he reported after the second race.

"With about 15 laps to go, the car seemed to drop a cylinder, and we thought'oh no,it's all over again'.

But once we'd realised that that Matty (White) had torched his rear tyres and that he wasn't really catching me anymore, we just sort of tried to nurse it around. It literally shat itself on the line ..."

Second for the weekend was the Gulf Western/Jayco Falcon AU of White, who will now go into the next round of the series as the

championship leader.

"That's what this year's all about," he said later.

"I said to the sponsors at the start of the year that we've got to give it everything we can, because we've got the package. You've just got to keep sensible, keep your head about you and keep your car reliabile."

Third outright after a pretty consistent weekend was Cameron McLean in the Howard Racing AU. "It's a while since I've been on a

O0O●-r 1

podium," grinned the Queenslander.

"It's really good for our racing team, too - they've never had a podium before, so I'm sure they're pretty happy about it."

>> .

TE5

Race 1 (28 laps) A last-lap flyer insteal qualifying helped 'White pole from under Kelly's nose, and the GWR Falcon made the most of its advantage to lead the field through the first corner ahead of Kelly, McLean, Luke Youlden and Andy

L

C '

Jones, who had made a rough getaway from his grid 3 starting slot.

A little further back though, the field was already thinning itself out.

Kevin Mimdy's Actron Air Falcon AU had tagged another car at turn three, spinning both into the barriers ("My side mirror was knocked in at the start," explained Mundy), where they were met moments later by Tony D'Alberto.

"At that part of the track the sun shines straight into your eyes," D'Alberto pointed out. "I couldn't see anything - all of a sudden there were these cars in front of me. I hit them at about lOOkph ..."

Both cars were out on the spot, and moments later Lee Holdsworth joined them on the DNF Ust. Contact at the start had caused a deflating tyre on the Smiths Trucks VX Commodore, which pitched the car into the wall at turn 8 and prompted race control to summon the Safety Car. By lap six, the crunched machinery had been swept up and the race was allowed to resume,and half a lap later the Smiths Trucks team's misery was complete. Wakefield Park round wirmer Alan Gurr was approaching turn 8 when he throttle stuck open, sending his VX into the wall at a shade under 240kph.

Gurr was taken to hospital for tests before being given the all-clear, and he was released a short while later stiff and sore, but otherwise moiorsport news

KONICA MINOLTA U8

anyons

Fg UALIFYINE^r KMVBSCG Round 2 Pds/ND

1:23.7746

2

71 Owen Kelly 19 Andrew Jones 27 Cameron McLean

Team Fujitsu/DJR Falcon AU BOC Gases/BJR Falcon AU

1:23.8662

Howard Racing Falcon AU Smiths Trucks Commodore VX

1:24.0320

3 4 5

70 Alan Gurr 56 Kevin Mundy 111 Mark Porter

Actron Air/PCR Falcon AU

1:24.3432

Hydraulink/TKR Commodore VX

1:24.3505

30 Luke Youlden

Super Cheap Falcon AU Greenfield Mowers Falcon AU

1:24.5205

40 Wayne Wakefield 81 Jose Fernandez

1:24.2400

1:24.4720

Team Fujitsu/DJR Falcon AU

1:24.8566

Wynn’s/IRC Commodore VX

1:24.9383

Rupprecht Falcon AU Smiths Trucks Commodore VX

1:25.4671

12

64 Tony D’Alberto 90 Phil Scifleet

13

72 Lee Holdsworth

14

65 Marcus Zukanovic

15

Actron Air/PCR Falcon AU Dexion Falcon AU

1:26.0427

16 17

300 Tony Evangelou 46 Michael Caruso

Young Lions Commodore VX

1:26.0821

98 Grant Elliott

Sydney Star Commodore VX

1:26.1902

18

96 Kurt Wimmer

Young Lions Commodore VX

1:26.5947

1:25.2317 1:25.5914

19

37 Mark Howard

Howard Racing Falcon AU

1:26.8109

20

60 Brad Tilley 89 Adam Wallis

Decina/Speed FX Falcon AU Rupprecht Falcon AU

1:26.8238

66 Gary MacDonald 83 Tim Gordon

Kanga Loader Falcon AU First State/Howard Falcon AU Hi-Trans Commodore VX

21 22 23 24

continued on page 58

1:23.9310

6

11

24 March 2004

me

Gulf Western Falcon AU

10

Kelly had taken advantage of the fighting between his pursuers to pull out a lead of 7.1s with just six laps left to run. More than enough, right?

T i

28 Matthew White

9

unharmed. The car, on the other hand, will need a lot of attention before it turns a wheel again.

Meanwhile,a battle royal was unfolding amongst the front-runners.

White was still in front but Kelly was keen to do something about it. And on lap eight he did,slipping past to take the lead and leaving White to worry about McLean,Youlden and Jones, all of whom were closing in.

The ensuring four-way scrap (which became a five-way one when Wayne Wakefield, driving Brett Peters' Greenfield Mowers AU, joined the fight) was a just reward for the hardy fans that remained in the stands as the sun set on Friday, with plenty of ducking, diving and passing as everyone tried to gain an advantage without either hitting the wall or grUling their Dunlops.

Jones picked this point of the race to really hit his stride, and on lap 17 he clocked the fastest lap of a race (relieving Mark Winterbottom of the lap record in the process with a lm24.4558s). The BOC Gases Falcon had scrapped through to third on lap 13, and improved to second courtesy of a neat move on White.

Car/team

1

7

j rn

Dr i ver

Adelaide

25

32 Jay Verdnik 80 Michael Olsen

26

55 Ross Halliday

27 28

110 Jamie Cartwright 68 Phill Foster

29

76 Dean Wanless

Peters Motorsport Falcon AU Rupprecht Falcon AU Chance of Lifetime Falcon AU Dieseltech Falcon AU Wastecoro Commodore VX

1:27.0539 1:27.8899 1:28.0236 1:28.0997 1:29.1512 1:29.4184 1:29.7398 1:29.9171 1:30.2942

AF1 Images

You can't touch this; Kelly, above, won, collapsed from dehydration and then won again. White, below. and McLean, right, also left Adelaide with some extra silverare in their carry-on luggage.

:

continued from page 57

wouldn't have known it from the

Ordinarily, yes. But on tliis occasion, all was not well inside the #71 Team Fujitsu/DJR Ford. Kelly had been battling the flu for the past week, and his discomfort was compoimded when Iris drink bottle hose went AWOL at the start of the race.

"I didn't realise how much the flu

1 j

saps the energy out of you," Kelly reflected.

"With 12 laps to go I was absolutely knackered. Luckily I had a bit of a gap because if someone had have been behind me I couldn't have

Oirk Klynsmirn

Street-fighting men: White and McLean get physical, above, while Kelly opts for the 'clean air'approach and leaves the field behind, below.

put up one bit of a fight."

Kelly's struggle was reflected in his lap times over the closing stages of the race, and Jones was able to shave sizeable chunks out of the gap with every tour. But Kelly's luck held out, and he took the win by a shade under 2.0s, with White taking third 3.3s behind Jones.

Fourth went to McLean ahead of Youlden, who picked up a few extra points at the last gasp when Wakefield locked up in front of him and went off at the last comer, allowing the Super Cheap machine to slip past and pinch fifth.

Race 2(24 laps) He maythe have felt second-hand after opening race, but you

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minor placings. The GWR Falcon came out on top of a robust battle with Wakefield to take third, and went one better with a move inside

1

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Ji

fram $140

Fully FIA oproved] Momex from $33

right down to try to get some more air in, and that was about it really."

Judging from his race, it worked.

Kelly started from pole, won the start, and other than some lost time while lapping traffic, he was never under serious threat again. At the end of the 24th and final lap, he had a 2.1s lead and took what appeared to be a relatively effortless win.

There was a bit going on behind him though. Jones was again unable to make a clean start and allowed both McLean and White to get past on the opening lap. Five laps later, the Albury driver's misery was complete;a diff failure forced the BOC Gases/BJR car into the pits and out of the race.

It was a disappointing end to the weekend for the team, which had set the standards early in the weekend by topping the sheets in both of Thursday's practise times.

While BJR was rolling down the garage doors, White was getting down to busmess in the race for the

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"I got some rest, tried to drink a lot of water, and tried to get a good night's sleep," Kelly explained."We also put some more ducting into the car and wound botli of the windows

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KONICA MINOLTA U8 McLean at the hairpin on lap 8. And with that, the fight for the podium was settled, and 16 processional laps later White crossed the line to secure second, with McLean completing the podium a further 3.2s in arrears.

Mark Porter, Fernandez and Youlden followed,each several seconds behind the other, but just behind them were a couple of minor success stories.

Tony Evangelou was a superb seventh after a strong outing in the Dexion Racing Falcon AU,while a late-race charge through the midfield from Phil Scifleet's Rupprecht Motorsport Falcon AU was rewarded with eighth place and a few points.

Just behind him was Michael Caruso, who did a good job in a HYL Commodore that was down on

power to finish ninth, although the Sydney driver later said that he could have finished a few spots higher had the car not been suffering from a slipping clutch that kept popping the Commodore into neutral. His efforts brought some joy in an otherwise bad weekend for the team, which saw the other HYL car of Kurt Wimmer sustain serious damage in a huge accident during Race 1.

Round three at Winton beckons, and when the series reconvenes in central Victoria in four weeks there win be plenty to play for. Can White retain his championship lead? How will Jones, Kelly, McLean and the rest take up the fight? And can the Smith's Trucks team get Gurr's trashed Commodore back onto the track?

We can't wait to find out.

KMVBSCS Round 2 Adelaide Race 1

2S

Race 2

LAPS

PDS I Driver| Race Time | Fastest

24 LAPS

Pcs I Driver [

Race Time | Fastest

Kelly

45:42.6729

1:24.4895

1

Kelly

34:12.6358

2

Jones

45:44.5932

1:24.4558*

2

White

34:14.7749

1:24.5810

3

White

45:47.8704

1:24.7160

3

McLean

34:17.9355

1:24.7531

1:24.4629*

4

McLean

45:57.3932

1:25.0226

4

Porter

34:34.4209

1:25.0814

5

Youlden

45:58.7080

1:25.1176

5

Fernandez

34:38.1498

1:24.9433

6

Wakefield

46:04.2755

1:25.2017

6

Youlden

34:42.3051

1:25.1843

7

Porter

46:07.5673

1:25.1847

7

Evangelou

34:50.3407

1:25.6256

Fernandez

46:17.6334

1:25.4576

8

Scifleet

34:59.1614

1:25.6682

9

Evangelou

46:20.2738

1:26.0790

9

Caruso

35:02.9527

1:25.9369

10

Zukanovic

46:36.6535

1:26.5237

10

Elliott

35:03.8376

1:25.9732

11

Caruso

46:38.1921

1:26.2946

11

MacDonald

35:12.4142

1:26.5472

12

Elliott

46:39.8820

1:26.5634

12

Wallis

35:15.1716

1:26.8843

13

MacDonald

46:53.9731

1:27.0586

13

D’Alberto

35:15.4350

1:25.3180

14

Verdnik

47:00.6850

1:27.2608

14

Howard

23 laps

1:27.3949

15

Wallis

27 laps

1:27.1323

15

Gordon

23 laps

1:28.2692 1:27.6236

16

Halliday

27 laps

1:28.7878

16

Tilley

23 laps

17

Foster

27 laps

1:29.7554

17

Wanless

23 laps

1:29.0417

18

Cartwright

26 laps

1:27.9778

18

Verdnik

23 laps

1:27.4658 1:29.4788

19

Gordon

25 laps

1:28.9457

19

Foster

23 laps

20

Howard

25 laps

1:28.1459

20

Cartwright

20 laps

1:28.1794

21

Scifleet

22 laps

1:25.8500

21

Wakefield

19 laps

1:24.9348

DNF

Tilley

20 laps

1:26.9954

DNF

Mundy

10 laps

1:25.5794

DNF

Wimmer

1:27.5656

DNF

Jones

Slaps

1:25.3703

DNF

Wanless

12 laps

1:30.0156

DNF

Halliday

2 laps

1:30.0602

DNF

Gurr

5 laps

1:48.1049

DNF

Zukanovic

I lap

1:48.1799

DNF

D’Alberto

0 laps

Championship Points After Round 2: White 343, Youlden

DNF

Mundy

0 laps

331, Porter 303, McLean 299. Fernandez 293, Kelly 270,

DNF

Holdsworth

0 laps

Caruso 256, Wallis 253, EllioU/MacDonald 218, Scifleet

DNS

Olsen

0 laps

217, Jones 215, Verdnik 208, D'Alberto 206.

Not for the faint of heart: Wakefield, driving Brett Peters'Century Batteries Falcon, puts some heat on Mark Porter. But the Kiwi had the last laugh, keeping the Hydraulink Commodore out of trouble throughout the weekend and scoring a bag of points as a result.

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For more information visit www.aimrace.com.au email aimsportsystems@iinet.net.au or call 02 4283 1855 or 0418 424 560 10 March 2004

59

DaVO Delivers Alex 'street cleaner' Davison was in top form at Adelaide, but some of his rivals left the City of Churches with hefty damage. CHRIS JORDAN reports

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handling to "driving a pogo stick" around the bumpy Adelaide street circuit, but clearly came to grips with the track best, out-qualifying and beating veteran Jim Richards and the up-and-coming Fabian Coulthard in all three races.

FUCHS TTS

Davison was pleased with his weekend's work.

"It's exactly what we hoped for. I couldn't be happier." said Davison.

In Race 1, Davison had made a great getaway, but in the closing laps Richards monstered the back of Davison,forcing Alex to vehemently block the defending Champion right to the line.

After Richards got the jump in Race 2,Davison was able to squeeze between the concrete wall and Richards' OAMPS Porsche on the run to turn

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mid all the carnage,Alex ^ Davison showed a clean pair of heels in performing a clean sweep of round one of the Australian Carrera Cup Championship.

Davison likened the stiff Porsche's

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CARRERA CUP four. While the lead two ran wide,on the outside an unfortunate Coulthard was forced to take evasive action, dropping four spots before regaining third by the race's end.

Davison maintained his lead all race, with Richards able to gather the car to reclaim second.

As opposed to their heated discussions at the Grand Prix, Davison and Richards showed great respect for each other on and off the track. Davison was philosophical about the move.

"I had a good rim out of the chicane, and he broke pretty early." said Davison.

"He left a space. I filled the space.

He was fine about it when we shook hands after the race."

Davison had the better start for Race 3, and was able to hold out Richards in the early stages before Richards made a rare and crucial mistake.

"I just got up on the ripple strip (out of turn six) a touch too much and the car came off it, explained Gentleman Jim. "I had a bit of opposite lock on,and the car took a bounce and bounced into the wall, and bent the rear suspension.

I was lucky to hold on to second."

Coulthard continued to grow in stature as a Carrera Cup contender, with his lap times getting closer to the leading duo.

He was pushed all the way by Peter Fitzgerald most of the weekend,until

the veteran had to pit during Race 3 due to a pimcture from debris.

James Cressey was another to show vast improvement with fourth overall after missing qualifying when his clutch burnt out on the dummy grid.

His VIP Petfoods teammate Klark Quinn also had dramas,stripped of his fifith in Race 1 after a touch on Peter Hill. The younger Quirm was able to resurrect his weekend with fifth in Race 3 behind Cressey.

But unfortunately, the weekend's proceedings will be remembered for the two appalling impacts suffered by drivers at the ultra-tough turn eight sweeper.In Race 1, Matthew Coleman experienced his second awful crash in six months,spearing head-on into the concrete after an attempted pass on Tony Quinn turned sour.

"He started to turn across me.I started to get off it, but it was too late.

He just shut the door and put me into the inside armco,"said Coleman, who was lucky to escape with only a sore wrist and ribs.

Tony Quirm reflected: "I saw Matt behind me,but didn't realise that he was trying to get in next to me. If he was going to pass, that was not the place to do it."

Rodney Jane also fell victim to turn eight, losing the rear end during Race 2. Once the rear slammed the wall, the car slid along the concrete.

Points: Davison 180, Richards 162, Coulthard 144, Cressey 105, Fitzgerald 90.

The young and restless: Above, Richards had to take an uncustomary back-seat to Davison.

Fabian Coulthard, left, continued to improve and impress.

CARRERA CUP PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

!

Oiri KlYnsnuth

Presented by lYlolorsport News Vote for your favourite driver at www.cupcar.com.au after each round and go into the draw to win some great prizes each time!

The People’s Choice winner will be announced at the Carrera Cup Awards Night on Monday October 25.

MOTORSPORT VIDEOS Murray Walker’s FI greats

Michael & Co. The Dream Team

lit

Go Go Go!

f? -

This is bound to cause some arguments. Murray Walker commentated on FI racing for almost 40 years so he should know UCBEBC* what he is talking about.

A Walker ranks his top three drivers and gives us seven others to think I/-E about in chronological hi order.

There are some great moments in this DVD. from Jackie Stewart winning the gvptiaffli 1968 German GP by four W >»»* minutes to Ayrton Senna's famous pole lap at Monaco - from the Murray Walkers all-time top ten PI drivers, includes; Michael Schumathec Niget Maiueq Ayrton Senna. Wtki Lauda and me cockpit. We also get to Running Time: 93 minutes see Murray strap into a McLaren twoseater and drive a WWII tank. And don't miss the Walker/Damon Hill Pizza Hut commercial!

R

■a 1.1

.

The official review of the 2003 FIA Formula 1 World Championship If you missed any of the action from the 2003 FI season, do not miss this.

Michael Schumacher saw off fire, rain and the opposition to grab his sixth title in a thrilling season.

The new generation of FI stars made the great German work hard, with Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso taking their first GP wins and our own Mark Webber stamping his name on the Jaguar Racing team. Eight different drivers won races and we even get to see Michael getting lapped at Hungary. Ferrari's comeback over the final races of the season is the stuff of legends.

M ICHAEL & CO.

THE DREAM TEAM Running Time: 145 minutes

Freecal l 1800 815 834 or order on-line www.motorsport.net.au 24 March 2004

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Nations Cuip eairtipaign in the PAUL Stokell started his 2004 manner befitting ai Gjianrpion

by taking the outright win in Adelaide last weekend.

It was a mixed curtain-raiser for the series, with a highlight being tire debut of Mark Coffey Racing's sweetsounding Ferrari 550 Maranello offset against the disappointingly small number of entries for te weekend.

Right from the outset, tire weekend was only about two cars - Stokei's Lamborghini, and tire new Ferrari.

Despite an apparent jump-start from Allan Simonsen, Stokell lead the field into tire first corner of the first race, however the Ferrari was not giviirg Stokell any breatiring space.

Lacking a rear-view mirror, the Lambo is fitted with a tear camera that provides rear wsion to a screen mounted in the centre of tire car's dash, and over the first eight laps there was nothing in tlrait screen but the aggressive shape of a green 550.

Time and time again Sinronsen darted around belrind the Lamborghini looking for an drance to get past, but nothing presented itself.

Final ly, on lap 8, Simonsen decided to create his own

opportunity and took a big lunge at tire sweeper. It didn't work, and the Ferrari was unspeakably lucky to get away with merely brushing the walls before resuming its chase. The cause was lost though, and Stokell pressed on to take his first win of the weekend, "1 learned how to do that when I was a stunt driver in England," said Simonsen of his near-miss...

The Dame went on to finish second, well ahead of Na than Pretty in a #427 Monaro that was ranning on tyres left over from Bathurst!

The script changed for Race 2 when Sinnonsen again crept too far forward during the rolling start. This time it was noticed by race control, and the Ferrari was invited in for a

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■It was a rejuvenated yellow Monaro that took to the track for die final race on Sunday, and Pretty used it to great effect by coming out on. tpp of a heated battle with Simonsen through the opening couple of corners'to take-second behind Stokell.

Simonsen wasnT hanging arbrlfttli* i tltough, and a big move under braking on lap 4 allowed the Ferrari'to reclaim P2. The Ferrari quickly closed upon Stokell, but this tirhe; Pretty was going along with him. Simonsav took the lead from Stokell a lap later, but both the Lamborghini and the yellow Monaro stayed in touch.

dri ve-teough penalty.

Simonsen copped his punislmrent on lap tliree, and it is a measure of the performance gap. between those at the front of the NC field and those at the rear that the Ferrari resumed tlie race having dropped just two spots. Fourth place became third when Simonsen dusted past tire red Monaro of James Brock at the end of the lap, whereupon he immediately started trying to do something about

Hemmes Home

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Injured: Wayne Boatwright endured a nasty stake at the Adelaide track.

62

the 5.1s gap to secend-placed Pretty.

Catching the Monaro was not a huge problem; getting past was another matter altogether. Tire pair duelled’for several laps before Simonsen finally got inside Pretty on lap 11. But by this point, the horse had more or less bolted. Stokell had a lead of about 6.1s in his pocket, and altliiough a lot of this was whittled a way as the leaders negotiated lapped traffic, he was never seriously threatened. Tire Lamborghini backed off a li ttle in lire final tour, and still took tire win by 1.6s. Pretty was again third, 12.4s dowm the road.

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The likely challenger: Dane Allan Simonsen looked sharp in the green Ferrari, snatching a win off Stokell in the final race.

ROUND one of the Australian GT Performance Championship saw Sydney’s Justin Hemmes claim a fantastic overall victory, but he was in no mood to ceiebrate. His team-mate Wayne Boatwright was involved in an enormous accident that destroyed the front of the ProTecnica Subaru WRX STi. Once removed from the car, Boatwright was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for x-rays and examination regarding possible neck and chest injuries.

“This is not as satisfying as it should be. It was shocking to see my team mate like that,’’ stated Hemmes, who had not even tested before Adelaide.

Race 1 proved to be a battle of

the teams, as Mark King and Steve Knight’s factory-backed Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Vllls battied it out with the two ProTecnica cars. In the end, King won out from the two Subarus of Hemmes and Boatwright, followed

by Knight.

The second race saw the raw power of Peter Floyd’s Kawasakibacked HSV GTS Commodore take the win. Having qualified fifth, Floyd was relegated to the rear due to a ride height discrepancy.

Floyd drove well to finish Race 1 ninth, before powering to victory in Race 2.

In Race 3, King had the better of the start from polesitter Floyd, with Hemmes rubbing against Floyd on his way past going into moiorsport news

CLIPSAL SUPPORTS

As Good as it Gets Dyk and Reindler take it to the streets

Tlie order remained:undaanged j Mnrough to the end of the race, biut : die fact dnat the top tliree were : covered by 2.2s when tliey crossed: the line suggested that we could see \ a tight diainpioiwliip battle unfold | over d\e coming months, "tn the engine wamn-up dnis 1 morning we found a'couple of fouled plugs,so 1 dare say diat was | the problem yesterday, when we : struggled a fair bit for pace," explained Pretty.

"Ajrd we also ba ttled through : yesterday and today on one set of tyres,so the result was encouraguag." ' Simcinsen, mean while, was | reasonably pleased with the performance of dre Fenari first time out, pardcularly in light of die i team's short lead-in time.

"I was happy with the win i today," he said."X was really happy with the team, drey worked really hard to get the car up and running. They've only had it for X0 days,so they've really done a fantastic job."

I Meanwhile,John Teulam took out ; the Group 2 win in his Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge.

- MARK GLENiDBNiNIING

IT'S official: the 2004 Australian Formula 3 series is going to be a cracker.

The field at last weekend's opening round in Adelaide may not have had the same number of serious outright contenders as last year's championship, but the heat of the title fight will be just as intense courtesy of some supurb upand-coming talent spearheaded by Ian Dyk and Karl Reindler.

Dyk returned home to Sydney with the round win in his second-ever F3 outing, and in the process gave Astuti Racing victory in the team's first race in the Championship class.

"This is really great result," said a delighted Dyk afterwards.

"This is what we came here hoping to do."

The Sydney driver started the weekend on the right note by taking pole for the opening race, only to make life hard for himself by fluffing the start and handing the advantage to Chris Gilmour.

Gilmour pulled out a buffer of around 1 .Os over the first lap, but by the next tour Dyk had reeled him in, shot past at the hairpin, and the race was over. On a day when his nearest rivals were routinely circulating in the mid-1m20s range, Dyk whipped out five successive laps in the 1 ml 9s with the best, a 1 ml 9.4959s, enough to reset the outright lap record.

With Dyk having vanished into the distance, Gilmour was left to deal with another threat in the shape of Reindler's BRM car. Reindler had the car speed (and was the only driver other than Dyk to dip into the 1 ml 9s range), but Gilmour had the track position and the pair finished the race in that order.

Fourth was Marcus Marshall, who had lost track time earlier in the weekend to some niggling mechanical problems, ahead of Daniel Pappas.

Race 2 got off to an unusual start when Sevan Carrick walled the Cooltemp car - on the warmup lap. Fie was almost joined by Pappas, who also spun on the warm-up lap but managed to avoid

the wall and keep going.

Up at the front, Dyk again made a bad start and :n dropped briefly to fourth before recovering to second behind Gilmour in the opening couple of corners.

Repeating his effort in the first race, Dyk passed Gilmour at the hairpin on lap 2, just moments before three cars stopped on the circuit and brought out the Safety Car. Aaron Caratti had bounced off the wall and collected Marshall, putting both cars out of the race, while Peter Flackett had ground to a halt with an engine problem for the second time in two races, ending a weekend that the PSC team will be happy to forget.

Green flags signalled the restart on lap 5, and on the next tour Reindler blew the race wide open by streaking past Gilmour in a hair-raising move at the sweeper. Within two laps he had hunted Dyk down and passed him for the lead, and the chase was on.

The pair were never separated by more than a few tenths for the remainder of the race, and put in the sort of display of driving that makes you forget just how young they are.

Dyk had a couple of dips at Reindler but never found the door open, and then turned a potential distaster into an opportunity when he ran wide at the third-last corner, only to find himself side-byside with Reindler on the run to the final turn. He had a go around the outside, but Reindler held fast and took a thrilling win by just over 0.2s.

"It was a fantastic race," Reindler grinned afterwards.

"I was so nervous at the end there I When he came up alongside me at the third last corner, I accidently changed from second to fourth instead of third, and I never do thatl It was just nerves."

Gilmour crossed the line a further 6,0s in arrears to secure third in the race, and third outright for the weekend.

- MARK GLENDENNIIMG

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the chicane. This contact caused Floyd’s tyre to go down, and as he slowed, the ensuing congestion saw cars spearing off everywhere, none worse than Boatwright on the run down to the final hairpin.

In the two laps before the red flag, Hemmes had taken the lead with a beautiful pass on King going into Turn 9, and as King attempted to get a run back at him, the EVO spun making heavy contact with the wall exiting the chicane. This left Paul Stokell in the VW Golf R32 to take second, from yet another two-car team of Barry Morcom and Ross Almond.

-CHRIS JORDAN POINTS: Hemmes 74, Stokell 57, King 54, Pilkinglon 49, Floyd 43.

24 March 2004

Pt-TC ‘

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Street stouch: Ian Dyk came out on top at Adelaide, but not after a brilliant dice with Karl Reindler in Race 2.

63

Not such a flex! idea...

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FLEXI-service, introduced in Mexico for the first time on a WRC event, posed so many problems that the idea is set to be scrapped for 2005.

The introduction of the new flexi-

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servicing system that aimed to reduce personnel needs by staggering the serc'icing of cars so that they don't arrive at the same time was deemed an abject failure.

The feeling is that the system has had so few benefits and poses so many problems for organisers that it may lead to the elimination of mid leg service in 2005.

The teams still took the same staff

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levels with ordy minor changes here and there. Ford,for instance, still had 40 people in Mexico as opposed to 46 in Sweden last month. Citroen had

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exactly the same number of staff and Subaru saved just four staff.

It has been calculated that

Mexico draws praise

ensuring no overlap between two cars would require a service/re group inten'al of 71 minutes and accommodating the necessary re groups has extended 20-minute serv'ice intervals to one hour.

RALLY Mexico garnered plenty of praise from teams drivers and media for a great effort first time out.

Ford boss Malcolm Wilson led a chorus of praise saying the rally-set new standards.

"I think it has to be the perfect template, the investment they've made and the facilities they've laid on, they've done an incredible job," Wilson said.

The hard-to-please Peugeot chief Corrado

The belief amongst the team managers was that it was too risky to cut mechanics if there was a possibility that both rally cars needed major repairs at the same time.

-JON THOMSON

Provera was also impressed.

"It is much, much better than Turkey and that was a standard setter. They did a very professional job. Everything was perfect," he said.

Faced with a range of new and untried regulations the organisers did a fantastic job and in recognition of their efforts they were awarded the Inmarsat Star of the Rally.

-JON THOMSON

\

I I I I

WHILE Ford is yet to make a decision on its World Rally program beyond 2005, the team's win in Mexico must have bolstered hopes that the US giant would continue in the sport.

The Mexican win came as Malcolm Wilson's M-Sport celebrated its 100th rally as Ford's works team,its first 1-2 victory since the Cyprus Rally in 2000.

Ford was close to canning its WRC program despite the promise and speed of the latest Focus and it still yet to commit to a program based on the new version due later this year.

"This has to be a big plus and from our point of view, 1 hope it encourages Ford to continue," said Wilson,left celebrating with Martin.

"There's no decision on 2005. And beyond but there should be by the end of April."

An updated Focus WRC is due to appear on the Rally of New Zealand next month.

-JON THOMSON

The Pug goej OUTSPOKEN Peugeot boss Corrado Provera has been highly critical of his own team after yet another disappointing result.

In Mexico, mechanical problems afflicted Marcus Gronholm for the third rally running and cost him a chance at victory.

Gronholm was also frustrated and annoyed by the problems with the cars' ongoing hydraulic problems despite the fact that he has finished all three rallies he has contested in the new 307 WRC. Fie was scathing when the power steering failed in the second leg.

“For a big team like ours, it is

molorsport news

RALLY NEWS

2004 ARC is go

Carlos slams rules Spaniard wants discussion before any further changes

CARLOS Sainz has come out as one of the most vocal critics of new rules introduced in Mexico.

The double world champ has condeiimed the succession of new rules imposed on the WRC and pleaded for more tliought and discussion before any more major changes.

"It seems to me that the fashion now in rally is to change everything and it is just plain crazy," said Sainz "1 was speaking with some Michelin people and 1 wondered how

putt

almost unacceptable and what is really annoying is that we have had the hydraulic problem since 2000. It has happened three times," said the Finn.

“This is the second rally in a row Marcus could have won," said Provera.

“Let us not forget that the 206 withdrew from six rallies in 2000, but with our experience, it should^ be better. It is unacceptable, a shame on us.”

Gronholm expressed more confidence in the team's prospects after the new hydraulic centre differential was reprogrammed during the last leg and proved to be a more competitive package.

- JON THOMSON 24 March 2004

much money was saved. They stiU have the same number of people and they stUl ship the same number of tyres, we just can't use them all."

"We have to make a decision on a certain type its just we then can't change,so you still have to bring the options and then ship them home agam.

"It has made it so boring. We do four stages per day. Before, we had 20 minutes' service, now it is one hour.

Every change is less driving, more hanging around and more difficult

for people to understand.

"1 think before there are more changes in the championship, we should think that we have a championship with a format that is not so stupid.

"For sure we have to improve it some of the ideas are good - but before we do something new then let's talk, not only the FIA or the teams, but also the drivers. I think we are an important part, which is never consulted."

-JON THOMSON

THE Australian Rally Championship has officially welcomed new series sponsor Globalstar in a dual launch of the 2004 Championship in Sydney and Melbourne last week.

The category also declared its intention to revamp its national profile across the coming seasons, with an aim of building upon the arc's existing popularity and raising awareness levels to that currently enjoyed by V8 Supercars.

Joining the ARC'S top drivers at the launch were representatives from key supporters such as Globalstar, Whereis and Elf, along with new sponsors Exide and Clarion.

"IMG's involvement in the marketing of the championship has been pivotal in enabling our naming right association with Globalstar," Australian Rally Commission Chairman Garry Connelly explained.

"In the past three years, we have developed the championship from being simply an outstanding and exciting sport, into a truly cohesive and marketable product.

"Australian rallying is already one of the most exciting action sports in Australia and we have a specific marketing vision over the next few years to grow not only the profile of the sport but also the brand equity of the Globalstar ARC. The Globalstar deal will see the ARC appear under a naming rights banner for the first time in 12 years. n Kenneth Eriksson will drive Possum Bourne's WRC Subaru at the 2004 Silverstone Race to the Sky. Eriksson was a rival to Possum in the 1990s when the pair contested the Group A Division of the World Championship, Eriksson driving for VW and Possum for Subaru.

Eriksson has six wins to his name on individual rounds of the World Rally Championships, and won the World Group A Champion title in 1986. He was third in the overall World Championship in 1995.

The two drivers were on centre stage at the Asia Pacific Championships in 1994 when Possum edged Eriksson, who was driving a Mitsubishi, out of the title. In 1995 the roles were reversed and Eriksson took top place on the podium Later, Eriksson moved to Subaru and both he and Possum drove Imprezas on the Australian and New Zealand rounds of the WRC. In New Zealand, Eriksson became a popular motor racing personality, winning Rally New Zealand in 1997 in a Subaru, after being runner-up the previous year. He also won the 1996 and 1997 APRC for Subaru. . The 2004 Silverstone Race to the Sky is scheduled for Easter Weekend, April 10 and 11 at The Snow Farm in the Cardrona Valley, close to Queenstown and Wanaka.

65

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I Back down to earth: After scoring maximum points in the opening two rounds of the championship, Loeb's fortunes finally took a turn for the worse when his Citroen was parked due to an engine problem.

ARKKO Martin and his Ford were surprise winners when the World

The early battle was played out between Loeb and reigning Champ Fetter Solberg, with the Norwegian driver taking the upper hand in his Rally Championship visited Mexico new car during the first leg of the for the first time last week, giving rally. the Estonian joint leadership in the The new Subaru was the first car World title despite predictions of a built from the ground-up to suit Citroen whitewash.

Solberg and he made the bold Martin and co-driver Martin Park prediction that he could win Mexico led home a Ford 1-2, with team-mate in the new machine. And that is Francois Duval bringing the other Mexactly what it looked like he would Sport machine home in second after do, winning two of the four stages on Sebastien Loeb's Citroen retired early Day 1 to lead by 5.6s. on the second leg in the slicklyHowever the sting came when he organised and highly-praised debut could not start the car before final event. check-in on Friday evening and It was a tough addition to the was forced to push the Suferu into world title, taking its toll on pare feme. Initially the penalty was machinery, but one that earned the 40s, but after a stewards hearing plaudits of teams and the media, that night it was upped to five delivering the rally organisers the minutes, pushing the Norwegian Star of the Rally Title - a bouquet down to 13th. normally reserved for drivers or team Ironically it was Solberg's members. misfortune that caused the demise of "It's been a tremendous weekend Loeb, who started Day 2 as first car for us and Ford," said Martin. on the road. The Alsatian's Citroen "We've all worked hard as a team hit a rock after a jump on the second and we deserve this result. It has stage, breaking the car's sump and been a difficult event and hard for the bringing his rally to a rapid halt. cars, but that makes victory all the Solberg drove like a man better. possessed, winning a string of stages to make up seven places on Day 2 but "My only mistake was a spin on that was about as far as he would get, the first day. Apart from that, we've with the frontrunners simply too far stayed to our plan and kept out of ‘ in front for him to make a dent. trouble."

For Martin, Day 2 had an almost Third place went to Carlos Sainz in surreal feel to it. The Estonian had yet another dogged drive to finished Day 1 in fifth and started overcome problems in his Citroen.

moiorsport news

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Good day for some, but not for others: Reigning Champion Fetter Solberg can do many things well but on this occasion, getting his Subaru to start was not one of them, above.

Which was bad news for him, and the local Subaru Supporters Club, left.

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Day 2in fourth, only to find himself leading two stages later.

While the Fords had a dream run, the same could not be said for the Peugeots, with yet another disappointing performance from the once-dominant French cars. Marcus Gronholm broke yet another power steering pump,causing the fiery Firm to vent his spleen on camera.

"I am sick of this thing breaking all the time," said the Finn of the new 307 CC. "It was very frustrating to have all these problems as I am sure that we could have been challenging for the lead. We've all got to work hard to make siue that none of these failures happen again."

The problem dropped Gronholm from second to sixth at about the same time as team-mate Harri Rovanpera broke the front right suspension arm on his 307,limping out of the stage on three wheels and losing almost 16 minutes. Gronholm eventually took a disappointing sixth place and Rovanpera 10th for a team that was dominating the sport just 15 months ago.

There were a fair share of tactical errors, not the least of which was Citroen's major blunder on tyres during Day 2 when a team nomination mistake forced Sainz to complete over 150 kms of stages on a single set of tyres.

The Spaniard was particularly annoyed at the end of the second leg, 24 March 2004

with the error costing him a real chance to challenge Martin for the lead.

"It wasn't easy," he said. "That last stage we had to start with a puncture and two left tyres on the right side."

Sainz has an impeccable record when it comes to debut events in the WRC,but this time around it wasn't to be. He was pushing hard to overcome the Saturday tyre problems until his chances ended mid-way though the third stage on the final day when his brakes failed and the Citroen rolled. It took more than a minute to push his car back onto its wheels and he had to settle for third.

Perhaps the biggest fightback of the rally was that of Solberg, who moved ahead of team-mate Mikko Hirvonen on the penultimate stage to take fourth and a few valuable points for the clearly competitive Subaru update. Without that five minute penalty, Solberg would have won by almost two minutes.

If Mitsubishi thought it could benefit from Mexico's tough conditions and the high attrition rate, they were fooling themselves.

Italian Gigi GaUi went out on the same stage that claimed Loeb, with the Mitsubishi driver breaking his suspension on a rock, while Gilles Panizzi again struggled to come home in eighth after yet more gearbox problems.

A team insider told MNews that the only thing that would fix the errant gearbox would be a totally new and differently designed one.

"It is all wrong and needs some major changes if it is going to work properly," said the team member.

While the WRC outright battle wasn't much joy for Mitsubishi, the production car class was, with Spaniard Dani Sola leading from the second stage to the finish in his Lancer. Peruvian Ramon Ferreyros in a Subaru was second, two minutes behind the winner, with Toshi Arai third in a Subaru.

The stage looks set for a battle royal in New Zealand in mid-April, when the fast and open Kiwi stages will provide the perfect stage for Martin to take on Loeb and Solberg in another fight between the WRC's new generation.

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[4HI8mji6.8^ Drivers' Points: Loeb and Martin 20, Gronholm 16, Duval 14, Solberg 13, Sainz 10, Tuohino 5, Manufacturers' Points: Ford 40, Citroen 30, Peugeot 21, Subaru 19, Mitsubishi 5.

WRC 3 MEXICO 67

Graham i AFTER last week's PCR Speedcar meeting victory, Sydney's Steven Graham is flying out to the USA to continue his racing there.

Graham missed out on going to the US last winter but will more than

A'DAM!Clanke, driving the Richard Patty Driving Experience Maxin», took a: great victory in the NSW 4T'0< Sprintcar championship at Parramatta City Raceway on March 13.

"It was good," said Clairke of his win.

"We struggiled a bit early in qualifying, but the car was great, no problems, my Old man gave me a great set-iuip."

Craig: BTady looked:to have the race ailili but won after taki'ng charge of the 35 lap event on lap eight, but power steerimg troubles late in the race saw second-placed Clarke forge into the lead^ with jiust six laps to g:o. Iih doing so, Clarke scored his second PCR victory of the surnimer and the NSW Chaimpionshiiip, Brady took second,while Troy i'ittle picked up thiird' after passiing Trevor Green's

Atrad .R adiiators/BC Motorspo rts iMaxiim ©n'th e

j

fi nail laip. j A fast finishiiing iBrnuce White I and Brett Loadsnnan made up the top six fiinishers.

A healthy 46 cars were on hand for the Championship meeting. 22-year-old Little ! was sensational in.the Dash race and broke the PCR six lap track record formerly held by „ Robbie Farr. ,

-CREG^DSCAl.^

likely spend the entire Aussie off season Stateside racing the Richard Petty Driving Experience Sprintcar.

He will also work at RPDE. At this stage, Graham will not return until the start of the new speedway season in October in preparation for his local racing program down under.

Graham,racing his Richard Petty Driving Experience Gaerte-powered Stealth speedcar just beat a fast

Jensei QUEENSLAND'S Darren Jensen scored his second Warrnambool feature win,and arguably the biggest win of his Sprintcar career, when he defeated Luke Dillon and American Jason Johnson in the ANZ $10,000 shootout recently.

Allan Barlee and Jason Dawkins both suffered injuries from big wrecks at the meeting. Dawkins was knocked unconscious and Barlee suffered vision and memory problems in separate incidents.

High points man Jensen started from the outside front in the A main and immediately hit the lead from Dillon, Phil March,Darryl Wright and Phil Murcott. Johnson, by virtue of his third heat flip was charging from 13th place, and by lap 10 was up to fifth.

On lap 13, March almost hit the turn one wall but when he arrowed the car down the banking, he collided

CURRENT WSS Champion Max Dumesny claimed the annual Krikke Boys Sprintcar Memorial race at Bunbury City Speedway on March 13^ After stairtiing from pole position, Dumesny scored victory with ease,former Krikke Memorial winner Robbie Farr was Dumesny's main threat but retired with dramas on lap 12, Runner uip to Dumesny was Miike Figliomeni,followed by third placed Ken Sartori.

Outside the podium finishes were Queenslander Andrew Scheuerle, Jamiie Maiolo and Veronica McCann, who came an impressive sixth after starting from 15th position.

- DANIEL POWIELLm^

Ghent takes Back-to-Back SA Titles SECOND generation Victorian Speedcar racer Peter Ghent Jr. made a triumphant venture back to Murray Bridge's Riverview Speedway to defend his South Australian Speedcar Title recently.

Ghent's experience proved invaluable as he won the 20-lap final in record time. However Ghent, left, didn't have it all his own way.

South Australian young gun Jamie Crouch took command from the start and jumped out to lead. Kim Cottrell soon slotted into third as a disappointed Colin Patterson 68

^

retired with an ailing engine due to a broken spark plug.

Crouch looked comfortable out in front where he sat for more than half race distance until Ghent made his claim for the title to pass Crouch as the lead bunch worked their way through the slower traffic.

Cottrell soon had his hands full fending off Paul 'Flash' Jordan and Mark Cooper as the trio slugged it out for the minors. Jordan and Cooper eventually made their way forward to claim third and fourth respectively, relegating Cottrell to round out the top five.

- PARIS CHARLES motorsport news

SPEEDWAY

wins and heads Offshore finishing Adam Clarke in the Smith & Woods machine at Parramatta last weekend.

Reed considers 410 Victorian SRA Champ Matthew Reed I I

The margin at the end of the titanic race was no more than half a wheel.

Graham took out the Pole Shuffle

1-

and was almost a flag-to-flag winner, but Clarke was the star of the race. Clarke had to qualify from the B Main and came from position 18 in the Main to challenge his brother-in-law Graham to a thrilling finish.

Third home was heat one winner Dave Lambert. Brett Morris,Jason Gates and Brent Jameson made up the top sb( finishers.

- GREG BOSCATO

mJohn Monis/Mpix

Born for the USA: Steven Graham, above, will head to the States to work for Richard Petty Driving Experience.

1 Banks the Cash with Magilton before he, Murcott, Lewis and others all spim in the melee. March was then sent rear of field, elevating Johnson to third. A few laps later, March and Dawkins made contact. Both cars flipped at turn one; B main wirmer Dawkins went end-for-end,knocking him unconscious.

The race resumed with Jensen still leading from DiUon,Johnson, Murcott and Wright.

With 10 to go Johnson was up to second spot but a lap later, he hit the mid-track berm in turn one and

[Bntt 5wanson

broke a rear stop. His challenge for the lead was over, as he battled to maintain second with the car dragging its bum on the ground.

Murcott slapped the waU and flattened his right rear, which brought out the cautions.

This caused further drama as they were switched back to green just as Dillon slowed. To rectify this, they put the yellows on again so those who slowed were not disadvantaged.

This set-up a four lap sprint to the finish and gave Dillon the chance to grab back second as Jensen took a comfortable win. Jolmson held on to third ahead of Phil Johnson, Wright, Shiells, John Vogels, Adrian Redpath, Mike Van Bremen,Lewis,Ian Thomsen,Ken Veal, Adrian Parr and Rod Matthews.

- BRETT SWANSON

On the flip side: Jensen, top, took his second feature win at Warrnabool, while Allan Barlee flies through the air after clipping Ian Lewis, above.

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turned up to the recent PCR meeting with his 372 sprintcar to check out the local Parramatta scene.

After winning his fourth SRA title, Reed is looking for something different and is seriously thinking about buying a 410 engine and leaving his sprintcar in Sydney next season and compete in the PCR Sprintcar Series. Reed told MNews that after winning title number four, he needs to move up and do something other than the SRA championship. He added that he is trying to learn more and to improve his race skills. Maybe doing a season or so at Parramatta with a 410 may just be the answer... n Defending and 18 times World of Outlaws Champion Steve Kinser will this weekend try and claim his 500th WoO main event.

Kinser recently claimed his 499th win and his third victory of the year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by scoring a commanding win after starting from pole position. He lead the entire 30-lap journey.

Craig Dollansky was runner-up ahead of Donny Schatz in third.

The next round will be at Thunder Valley Speedway, Union Hill, LA on March 26. n A red-hot Darrell Hodges scored an emphatic Queensland Sprintcar title victory last weekend at Brisbane international Speedway.

Hodges suffered a huge crash on the first night preliminary feature, and was forced to switch to his back up car the following night.

Former four-time Australian champion Garry Brazier started the 35-lap final from pole position, but preliminary feature winner Cameron Gessner bolted to the front at the start. Brazier grabbed the lead soon after and looked strong.

Hodges though was cutting his way through the field at a rapid rate.

In the closing stages, he moved past current Aussie champion Robbie Farr for second.

With four laps remaining, Hodges grabbed the lead and went on to score a breathtaking win ahead of Brazier and Farr, - GREG BOSCATO/ DANIEL POWELL

2004 PENNZOIL WORLD OF OUTLAWS CURRENT 2004 STANDINGS AS OF 22/03/04 1 Steve Kinser 547

6 Donny Schatz 517

11 Daryn Pittman 484

16 Jonathan Allard 397 17 Brian Brown 394

2 Tyler Walker 523

7 Craig Dollansky 494

12 lason Meyers 457

3 Tim Shaffer 523

8 Brian Paulus 487

13 Jason Solwold 422

18 Sammy Swindell 381

4 Paul McMahan 522

9 Jason Sides 486

14 Randy Hannagan 415

19 Joey Saldana 373

5 Danny Lasoski 519

10 Kraig Kinser 486

15 Dean Jacobs 400

20 Erin Crocker 373

69

WSI Oavid

Join The Army TONY Schumacher, Del Worsham, and Greg Anderson notched their second NHRA POWERade wins of the season, as all three point leaders were victorious in their respective professional classes at the 35th running of the MAC Tools NHRA Gatomationals last weekend.

Schumacher drove his Alan Johnson tuned, U.S. Army dragster to a final round win over Darrell Russell.

In the final, Russell left first, but the Goodyears on the rear of the Joe Amato dragster were billowing tyre smoke by 300 feet, allowing Schumacher to drive past for a 4.61/312 to 4.98/271 victory.

After qualifying third with a 4.63/307 pass, Schumacher used a 4.68s at 312mph to stop John Smith in the opening frame,a 4.62/312 to take out Tim CuUinan,and a 4.61/316 to stop Scott Weis.

RusseU, the fourth qualifier at 4.63/317, used a 4.59/314 to get past first time qualifier, Marshall Topping, who was driving Paul Smith's car.

Russell then stopped two-thirds of

the potent Kalitta Motorsports team with a 4.65/312 win over Doug Kalitta, and a 4.67/305 win over lowqualifier David Grubnic.

Worsham also extended his early lead in Funny Car with a holeshotaided,final round victory over 12time champion John Force. In the final, Worsham took a 0.02s advantage at the start, and held that distance down the entire Gainesville Raceway quartermile to take a 4.97/296 to 4.97/304 victory.

Worsham's Checker,Schuck's, and Kragen Pontiac crawled out from the 10th qualifying spot to rack up round victories over Gary Densham,Pomona winner,Jerry Toliver, and Cory Lee, who was driving for Dale Creasy Sr. Force,in his first final round of the year, piloted his Castrol High Mileage Mustang to wins over Ron Capps,Tony Bartone, and lowqualifier Tim Wilkerson.

Anderson defeated Jeg Coughlin in the Pro Stock final round,6.74/204 to 6.79/204. Anderson once again dominated the Pro Stock action.

CANADIAN Al Billes, in a supercharged 526 cubic inch Hemi-powered ‘53 Corvette, took the opening race of the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge at the NHRA Mac Tools Gatomationals at Gainesville Raceway. It was Bilies' first victory at a NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge event.

In the final round. Billes. right. recorded a winning 6.20/229 to stop Ed Hoover in Paul Trussell's blown ‘63 Corvette.

Billes had earlier defeated two of Pro Mod's best as he stopped Von Smith in the opening round with a 6.24/230 and then used a 6.21/230 to defeat Mike Ashley and his new ‘67 Mustang in the semifinals.

Hoover had defeated Zack Barklage, and low qualifier 70

qualifying low at 6.76/204, and in eliminations recorded the quickest elapsed time of every round.

The final round was well-deserved

for both teams as they were the only two cars on the groimds to dip into the 6.7s during Sunday's final eliminations.

Andrew Hines scored the first Pro Stock Bike win of his brief career, and did it by writing a page in the history books as he rode a Harley-Davidson to the brand's first win in the history of the class.

Hines rode his Screamin' Eagle, Vance & Hines Harley V-rod to a 7.07/189 to 7.16/182 victory over teammate GT Tonglet as the pair gave drag racing fans their first look at an all-Harley final round.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI Points: Top Fuel: Schumacher 310, Kalitta 244, Bernstein 225, Grubnic 210, Russell 206.

Funny Can Worsham 298, Force 188, Densham 185, Wilkerson 167, Scelzi 164.

Pro Stock: Anderson 314, K.Johnson 244, W.Johnson 201,Coughlin 185, Morgan 185.

Pro Stock Bike: Hines 118, Tonglet 96,Scali 77.

Wor-ia o (6.157s) Mike Janis.

Such luminaries as Scotty Cannon, Fred Hahn, Mike Castellana, Shannon Jenkins, Thomas Patterson, and Troy Critchley all (ailed to make the quick 6.225s bump spot.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

GARY Phillips has added a new piece of silverware to his collection after taking his first Top Doorslammer win at WSID two weeks ago.

Phillips was in excellent form right from the outset, having come within a whisker of top-qualifying.

But his road was made all the easier when Victor Bray, who had topped the times in qualifying and set both the top speed and e.t. for the event brought his own run to a halt with a red-light in his semi-final showdown with Phillips.

But that still left Phillips with the daunting task of facing off against Brett Stevens in the final. A slower reaction from Phillips initially gave Stevens the upper-hand, but Phillips recovered to win a great side-by-side race 6.311s/227.68mph to 6.455s/221.78mph.

The evening was hardly a disaster for Stevens though, who has been ' making a habit of appearing in final rounds lately and has the points lead to prove it.

Phillips defeated Steve Stanic and Maurice Fabietti en route to the final, while Stevens booked his slot by getting past Peter Kapiris (who crossed the centreline) and a redlighting Bray. Capping off a frustrating weekend for the Bray camp, reigning Champ Ben was sent packing when his Super Cheap Racing machine suffered an engine failure during his quarter-final

1 "1

D lights up His 4.623s, 311.74mph effort not only earned him $4,000 from Budweiser but it also sent the teams sponsor, Mac Tools, and their guests into celebration mode at the MAC Tools-sponsored event.

Grubnic was running a special paint scheme at this event honoring Mac Tools distributors and customers. Grubnic was able to score round wins over Cory McClenathan, and David Baca, but lost a close semi-final round match with Darrell Russell.

Grubnic currently sits fourth in the POWERade point standings.

showdown against Fabietti.

Tony Wedlock made it back-to-back Pro Stock wins at WSIO by takiing a holeshot win over Peter Ridgeway, 7.419s/183mph to 7.399s/185.59mph.

Wedlock brought down Gavin Handley and Denis Whiting en route to the final, while Ridgeway had to contend with Peter Pelekis and Jason Grima.

Meanwhile,the Pro Stock Bike trophy went home with Caium Godeassi after a bizarre final against Sam Scerri in which both competitors earned a redlight. Scerri was quicker to jump the guin than Godeassi, who consequently made his first trip into the Winners' Circle. Godeassi beat Andrew Badcock in the opening round and then enjoyed a bye in the semis, while Scerri secured his place in the finals by beating INlevil Langley and Daniel Peaty, who broke o)in the lauinch pad

I

6.311s from victory: Cary Phillips, above, has a lot of Top Alcohol trophies. Now he has a Top Doorslammer one as well.

n Brisbane's Steve Marker made his first U.S. appearance of the season in Gainesville, qualifying for the Alcohol Funny Car show.

Marker put his Marker Transportation Dodge Avenger into the field eighth at 5.738s and 251.67mph. Unfortunately for Marker, he drew eventual winner and current Alcohol Funny Car record holder, Cy Chesterman in the opening round, which Chesterman won, 5.62/256 to 5.82/245. n Tim Wilkerson put his new Levi, Ray, & Shoup Chevrolet Monte Carlo bodied flopper on the top of the qualifying ladder, posting a 4.906s lap at 300.00mph.

Capping off the racing was another visit from the popular Jet Cars, and yet again American Chuck Haynes went home with bragging rights.

Haynes redlighted in his opening faee-o# against Gary Miosevich, but recovered to take out the final two races with a best time of 5.034s/312mph iiifl round two.

Two happy blokes: Phillips, above left, and Stevens look justifiably stoked with the way things worked out for them at the Wizard.

Flamer: Miosevich in the Gravity Storm jet car, below.

Wilkerson took the top spot from Whit Bazemore in the final session on Saturday. On Sunday, Wilkerson defeated Bob Gilbertson in the opening frame, before taking out Cruz Pedregon in a second round traction battle.

In the semis, he was left on slightly by John Force, and lost a side-by-side 5.00/294 to 5.00/295 drag race.

A-

'i 2

n After winning the Phoenix event, Brandon Bernstein, was eliminated from action in the opening round in Gainesville.

The Budweiser dragster qualified second at 4.63/310, but Bernstein lit the red bulb in the opening frame, throwing away the third best e.t., and fastest speed of the round at 4.61/317, to hand Scott Weis an easy victory.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI 71

nmonal Holden with the Lot scene

'Schmako'streets ahead in Adelaide ^

"

-

etftedby

Brant Rowley

DAVE'Schmako'Griffin emerged from the streets of Adelaide as a

was diving up the inside, sending all three wide.

genuine title threat for this year's Poolrite V8 Brutes title.

After a 2003 littered with carnage, Griffin kept his Holden ute neat and tidy on a weekend where most cars were left with damage.

Griffin was gifted Race 1 when with two laps remaining,former AUSCAR champion Darren McDonald had a fuel line break.

McDonald's misfortune also benefited

The move effectively ended all three drivers' chances, Baxter backing out from the tyre wall to recover to finish a magnificant eighth, whilst Barnes and Wilson's race ended following a supplementary incident the following corner.

Barnes, the nmaway winner of Race 2, may have raced his final event. Having run without sponsorship for the weekend, the damage appears to have proved the final straw for the likeable Victorian.

Paul Leaver, whose fourth-place finish in Race 1 earned him a $10,000 bonus from major backer RentCo. The final race saw local rivals Gary Baxter and Charlie Kovacs occupy the front row, but for Baxter, who dominated the Adelaide round last year, his luck n was about to turn. After Kovacs got the jump, Baxter was challenged on the outside by Glen Barnes on the approach to Turn 4, just as new Team Brock signing Benn Wilson

In a meeting dominated by Holdens,Jack Elsegood was the shining light for the blue oval, taking out Race 3 after a late braking manoeuvre to get by Charlie Kovacs two laps from home. A consistent weekend sees Elsegood sitting second in the points standings.

-CHRIS JORDAN POINTS; Griffin 63, Elsegood 61, Kovacs 59, Baxter 58, White 46.

Edwards edges in front Estasy Fast At Euro

THE Aussie Racing Cars season got underway on the streets of Adelaide, with huge fields, and an influx of competitive new drivers.

Young karting graduates seemed to take to the streets of Adelaide well, with Travis Edwards in the VIP Petfoods Falcon taking three race wins.

James Harrigan ran Edwards all the way to the line in the first two encounters, but contact with Edwards at the start of Race 3 sent him into the wall, luckily walking away from a horrendous impact, below.

Colin Sieders broke Edwards’s

72

run with victory in the fourth race on Sunday morning,from the Falcons of James Ward, Edwards and, on his debut, Australian karting champion William Yarwood.

Some of the categories usual front-runners had a weekend they would rather forget. Paul Kemal walled his Falcon at the fast turn eight in practice, and Tim Monte rolled his car in qualifying, only moments after setting what was the fastest time.

- CHRIS JORDAN POINTS: Edwards 251, James Ward 246, Sieders 243, Yarwood 238, Phil Ward 226.

MAX Championships

ATROCIOUS weather and a shunt on the opening lap prevented Adrian Estasy from taking a podium position at the opening round of the inaugural European Rotax MAX Championships in Italy earlier this month.

After topping his qualifying group, the Sydneysider started off P2 for the heats, winning one and placing fifth in the other.

Fellow Arrow driver Takao Matsuya (Japan) also won a heat, the duo making up row two for the pre-final and impressing the Europeans with the speed of their Australian karts.

Heavy rain resulted in organisers cancelling the finals and cutting the pre-final back to 10 laps, the minimum required to call an official result.

Despite a tap from behind and rejoining the field last, he was able to claw his way back to 14th. Tristram Oman (UK, Trulli Kart) took the win. France's Gaetan Loncle (Trulli) won

Juniors and Dane Rasmus Hansen (Swiss Hutless) took out the expanding RM1 class.

Having joined forces with DPE to tackle the championship, Estasy will return to Europe in May for round two in Holland.

- MARK WICKS molorspori news

ADAM Graham won Clubman Light at the Victorian Open Championships at Oakleigh on March 14 after a dramatic last lap pass on Kyle Clews.

Graham (Arrow)started from grid three and was quickly into the lead.

However,Clews(Monaco)showed plenty of pace and charged from grid seven to hit the front mid-race.

Graham,however, was having none of it and pressed Clews before pulling off one of his trademark last lap efforts. Previously, Ben Small had been the pacesetter, qualifying fastest

and winning a heat, however he ended his race in the dirt.

David Sera made a clean sweep of the Junior Clubman results, winning the final after going cross-country on the final lap. Kristian Lindbom took second.

Sera couldn't repeat the feat in Junior National Heavy,Lindbom taking a deserving win over Jonathon Taylor.

Having topped the sheets for every race,DB Souter-Dawson looked set to win Formula Australia until he and Matt Wall aashed out on the first comer. Tim Blanchard came through the field to win.

Despite coming under pressure

Loadsman Leads, Alajajian Stars

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from Jason Pringle every inch of the way,Remo Luciani made a clean sweep of Clubman Heavy, with Pringle and Mark Cowley aU nose to tail across the line.

Pringle had an easy win in Senior National Heavy while a multi-kart crash on the warm-up lap for Junior National Light didn't diminish the driver's enthusiasm. Robert Munnerley won from Leigh Nicolaou and Lucas Boucher.

Damien Meyer got stronger as the meeting progressed, edging out fastest qualifier Michael Pereira for

SCOTT Loadsman was again the main man at the opening round of the Austraiian Production Car Championship at the Ciipsai 500.

Unperturbed by the handicap starts, Leadsman’s Commodore cut through the field's smaller participants to leave the streets of Adelaide with the overall points lead.

Leadsman's weekend was not without its pains. He managed to haul in the gap to the smaller cars to win Race 1, but while in second place in Race 2, incurred some electrical gremlins that stripped his Commodore of horsepower, leading him to drop to fifth.

Class B pacesetter Ian Luff took his Honda Integra Type R to the lead of Race 2 with a bold move around the outside of David Russeil’s Proton going into the Turn 8 sweeper, oniy to be overhauled by Loadsman on the final lap when the Integra lost out in a braking dual at the Turn 9 hairpin.

the Rotax Heavy Title.

Rotax Light saw Ashley Aurora qualify fastest but he injured his shoulder in an opening heat crash.

Troy Woolston (Gillard) won an eventful final ahead of Wall and Luke Skinner (both Arrow).

Alan Parkinson(CRG)won Clubman Super Heavy class while Warren White Jnr continues to show his potential, winning Midgets with a classy performance. Daniel Westcott took Senior National Light while Peter Gooch won Over 40s.

-MARK WICKS

Luff's Race 2 also went pear shaped, with his Race 2 win taken from him when he incurred a post race 30 second penalty. Luff had passed 17-year-old Lauren Gray's Satria before the Start/Finish line on the restart, after the safety car was needed to aid the retrievai of Richard Ring's FTO, which he implanted into the Turn 2 wall at the Senna Chicane.

David Russell was the polesitter for both races, and was only caught by the higher-powered cars of Luff and Loadsman on the penuitimate lap in Race 1 and held on for third in Race 2.

But one man who Loadsman may have to watch out for in 2004 is seventeen year old Cris Alajajian, left.

The Sydney schooiboy stalied off the line of Race 1, but took a great win in Race 2, after Luff’s penalty was imposed.

-CHRIS JORDAN POINTS; Loadsman 50, David Russell 48, Alajajian 46, Ratcliffe 35, Luff/G.Russell/Sheppard 34.

Celebrating Baskerville

T

HE picturesque Baskerville circuit, nestled in the hills on the outskirts of Hobart, celebrated its 50th anniversary on March 13-14 with some spirited racing, lots of'good old days' stories and even a splendid display of memorabilia,including photographs, trophies, programs and posters from yesteryear.

When it comes to watching, Baskerville is imsurpassed spectators get an unimpeded view of the track and,like watching country footy, can even take in the action from the comfort of their cars.

Apart from the combined events some of the fields were a bit thin, but the racing was close and exciting. One record fell during the weekend when national Formula Vee champion, Tasmania's Noel Clark, set a new lap record of 61.18s in his Elfin FV. He won two races, while Richard Gray also took two in his Trowbridge Vee. There was a similar result in the HQ events. Damien Wickham and Kim Read shared two wins each.

Along with the Sports Sedans, the Group N Historic cars turned on some great racing. Minis, Mustangs and XU-ls scrapped furiously

Juggling Duties 17-YEAR-OLD Dane Rudolph will juggle his final year of high school with racing cars after securing a drive in Anglo Motorsport's Sime Tyres team, which contests the NSW Formula Ford Championship.

The former Junior karting champion and national Rotax and CIK driver will also make his Bathurst debut in the support FFord race later in the year.

At Round 1 of the series last week, Rudolph finished both races in the top five.

- GRANT ROWLEY 74

including front runners John Douglas(Torana) and Andrew Cannon (Mustang). Douglas finished the day with two wins to Cannon's one. Michael Cross(XU-1) was consistent, scoring two second placings and a third.

Stephen BeU (Capri) and Michael Elliott(RX-7) battled all weekend with honours just about even.

Groups C and A were combined and were great crowd favourites.

After qualifying fastest, John Douglas(RX-7) completed only one race before retiring from the competition. This left the door open for Willie Van Wersch who won all four races in his Commodore VH. Best of the Formula Libre competitors was Kevin Miller who scored a winning double in his Elfin 623 F3.

The Baskerville program also catered for 3J Club cars and Targa Tasmania cars, one of the most spectacular drivers being 'Dazzling' Darryl Wilcox in his HT Monaro. Of the 3J drivers, the most successful were Andrew Webster (Torana) and Leigh Forrest(Toyota Celica).

Regularity events and demonstration laps capped off an excellent 37-event program in front

of the biggest crowd seen at Baskerville in a long time.

A special guest amongst the demonstration drivers was 71-yearold Alderman Lyn Archer, above running second,from Hobart, who competed at the opening meeting at Baskerville 50 years ago.

Lyn drove his 'bobtail' Cooper to victory in the sports car race in 1954 and was seen walking around the pits last weekend carrying the steering wheel of his Elfin Catalina, wanting to replace it with "a quicker one!"

The enthusiastic Archer also carried a perpetual grin for the weekend and headed home towing his Elfin in its decrepit trailer

behind his MG B.

The Baskerville celebrations also attracted a number of Bathurst identities from today and yesteryear including Todd Kelly, John Bowe, Garth Wigston and Garry Rogers.'Bowie' spoke in glowing terms about Baskerville, and as he should - he is the fastest man ever to go arormd the 2.01km circuit in 50.16s - a record that has stood for 22 years. Bowe had his first race at Baskerville driving a Formula Vee. - BRIAN REED

Opening Blow Small but Loyal grids at Winton

ROUND 1 of the Victorian Motor Racing Championships was held at Winton two weeks ago, and a small but enthusiastic number of competitors fought out the opening round.

John Wise took the overall spoils in the HQ class, while Brendan Niclasen grabbed two race wins.

Rod Smith proved far too strong in the Sedan/Improved Production class. Smith’s Ford Falcon out-paced a pair of Datsun 1600s driven

by Peter Ruyg and Tony Skinner.

Only a handful of Openwheel cars entered. Lee Partridge, driving his Formula Vee Spectre was consistently fast and took a pair of wins.

The Porsche/Marque Sports saw Brett Bedggood completely dominate, snaring all four victories.

Winnir A GROUP of loyal well-wishers have began a fund-raising campaign for racing legend Win Percy, who is paraylised from the waist down.

The limited edition prints for sale depict Percy's success at the'Le Mans Classic' in 2002, driving the famous exMike Hawthorn Jaguar D-Type XKD505.

The painting, above, is a limited edition (500 prints), all signed by Win and countersigned by Norman Dewis, who was a Jaguar test driver and head

Stillwell^s CHRIS Stillwell stormed to two wins in the Cleanevent Historic Touring Cars during the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park recently.

Stillwell finished third in Race 1, coming home behind Cameron Tilley's giant-killing GTHO Falcon and Les Walmsiey.

But in Race 2, Tilley ran into coil troubles, leaving Stillwell to take command of the rest of the weekend.

Walmsiey picked up another second place finish, while John Mann and Trevor Talbot scored impressive podium places.

Peter Brock was a notable entrant, and the Aussie icon grabbed two fourth places.

Dirk Klynsmi

motorspon news

iV

£

NATIONAL SCENE

NSW Gets Game On

Spychala, Mork and Rush score opening round wins at Wakefield

of R&D for 32 years. Norman was with Jaguar when Hawthorn and Bueb famously won the Le Mans 24 Hours with the car in 1955.

Percy won the 1990 Tooheys 1000 with Allan Grice in the Holden Racing Team's VL Commodore.He contested 11 'Great Races'at Bathurst and led HRT in the early 90s during their formative years.

Percy suffered a serious accident at his home in the UK in August last year. For all the details on how you can support Win by buying a print, contact Andrew Ktson at mfo@andrewkitson.com -GRANT ROWLEY

Clean Event

Marshall Cass

Slip, slip, sliding: The boys got busy on the grass at the AGP, above. While Stillwell got the winning feeling in his Mustang, below.

24 March 2004

THE New South Wales State Championship series got off to a flying start with record entries and record crowds at Wakefield Park recently.

Joel Spychala in the Mid Coast Ford Van Diemen RF94 made Formula Ford his.own with wins in both races. The 21-year-old topped the timesheets in every session and goes into the rest of the season full of confidence.

"It's good to know that I have that slight points buffer and I have high hopes of duplicating that performance at the next round," Spychala said.

Running the car that Glen blastings drove to victory in the Victorian title in 2002, Spychala is keen to upgrade to a competitive machine for the national series next year.

Greg Woodrow came in second in both races in his Mygale SJ04. Third over the weekend was Blake Smith driving a Spectrum 06B. The Formula Vee trophy race provided the most incident packed event of the weekend when not one but two Vees finished with wheels in the scenery.

John Curby rolled his Nimbus on Lap 2.

After a full restart, Adam Proctor jumped the field but was hunted down and passed on the grass by Michael Kinsella.

The second red flag incident occurred when Simon Pace, in his own battle for position, became the victim of someone else's spin and rolled his Make. The red flag meant the results were taken back to the penultimate la and Kisella was declared the winner by just 0.02s.

There was plenty of action among the tintops aswell. The FIQ trophy race developed into a two-horse-race. Mathew Flaly and Leigh Lovering went head-to-head in a racelong battle. Flaly held out the ever-attacking Lovering to win by less than one second.

The familiar Chickadee Foods Nissan 300 ZX of Derek Bailey was at the head of the Sports Sedan field. Bill Martin, carrying sponsorship from the local Goulburn Workers Club, finished a fine second in his RX7.

Mazda RX7s seemed to be the weapon of choice in Over 2-litre Improved Production.

Warren Rush showed class to lead home

Round 1 - Fight: Joel Spychala, above, dominated Formula Ford.

Mazda honours: Below, Rush got the better of Ferrier.

Holden spotted: Richard Mork took his aging Commodore for a spin (and a win)at Wakefield.

Leanne Ferrier, also in an RX7.

In Under 2-litre, Gavin Wilkinson in the CamwiI Palms Ford Escort took out the feature race. . ^-4 l The Combined Touring Cars trophy race was also shortened. At the completion of 7 of 10 scheduled laps, Doug Moss led in his Nissan Skyline GT-R from the Commodore pair of Michael Barbara and Barry Sternbeck.

In the final race of the weekend for AF2/Supersports, Peter Saunderson beat Ian Paxton's Cheetah Mk 8 AF2 over the line.

The meeting also featured the opening round of the Touring Challenge. Richard Mork found the unique handicapping system to his liking to take the win in his Commodore Supercar from Andy Cantrell's Falcon Supercar.

Paul Shacklady won the final race for Clubman cars and Bill Pye took out Production Sports.

- MARTIN VAN REE

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VC Commodore, NSW Improved Prodution Car. 3rd in Class 2003 NSW State Championship. Log Booked. Alloy Cage.

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280 www.my105.com/29053

1977 Holden Torana SS, 500hp 350Chev, Top Loader 9" rear. 6 time state class HilldimbChamp, Aust class title winner twice.

Trailer Included. Records held everywhere.

Too many spares to list. Proven winner Genuine Buyers Only. $18,000. Dennis 0421 991 133. 280www.my105.com/50452 HONDA INTEGRA TYPE R, Chromoly cage, seam welded, Penske shocks, Autronic, Willwoods, Cobra seat, spare engine, wets, intermediates. NZ$25,000.

CRAIG 006442370345 / 006442322828.

280 www.my105.com/58191

24 March 2004

Mitsubishi Mirage, 4th outright 2003, quick and tidy car, very reliable, podium finishes, ready to race, some spares, may deliver. $18,000 ONO. Adam 0438 541 972, www.myl05.com/26642

HQ Race Car, 2003 OLD State Championship winning car, consistant top 3 finisher, fresh engine/gearbox, heaps of ’ spares, setup info. $7,500 neg.

280 Brett 0402 472 951. www.myl05.com/48210

Lotus 7 Clubman, Professionally built by ex FI constructor. Fully registered as a Lotus [but is a Replica], $20,500 Neg. 280 Malcolm 0418 835 206 www.myl05.com/63599 Mitsubishi Evo 6 Race car. Improved Model National Late Production Championship winning oar. Big horse power engine, autronic ECU and CDI, brembo 8 pot brakes, cusco diffs, proflex suspension.

Brand new brakes.clutch, driveshafts, turbo and exhaust manifold. Holds lap record at Barbagallo, heaps of spares. Can be raced in GT Performance/ Improved Production. $45,000 Or Best Offer. Aaron 0409 298 108.

283 www.my105.com/74684

Group SA, Including: Spare Parts, Spare Wheels, Various Diff Ratios NEW SHOCKER & SPRINGS MOTOR REBUILT (2 MEETINGS) Good history, winner (7 times) Alan Jones Trophy at Winton, numerous wins Phillip Island and Malala . $30,000 Neg. Winston 0418 314 111.

281 www.my105.com/44487

2002 Tanzam Corvette DTM, ready to race and win again. DTM -Carbon/Kevlar body.

Chrome moly chassis, 3 x way Penske shocks fully fabricated in chrome moly rear with 9inch Ford, 5 speed Wiseman. TC gear box. BBS 3y pease wheels AP 6 pot brakes, 6 litre Hendrick 700 hp engine, dry sumped, 180 degree exhaust system. Only the very best has gone into this car. (No duty to pay car of new Zealand orgin). $135,000 with spares. Peter 0064 3963 1381 / fax 0084 3366 0133.

262 www.my105.com/1026

Race Winning Saloon Car, 4 years development, many race wins, pole positions and lap records. New engine and gearbox, spares including 2 sets of wheels, one of the best In the country. $22,000 Or Best Offer.

280 ■Kurt (07) 3368 1188 / 0419 705 531 www.myl05.com/62825

Torana XU1 Tarmack Rally Car, IMS, has great history, classic Adelaide top 10 outright comes complete less engine - this car is fully sorted and ready to go - engine available if required. $25,000, John 0412 8234 442.

280 www.my105.com/40932

Aussie Racing Car FOR SALE, Team KiLLA.com.au offers for sale, ARC Ford '40 Coupe, Many spares available. Consistent Top 10 Car. Must sell ASAP, changed to Future Racers Category, 2 new cars have arrived, need It out of the garage. Pics & Vids aviail @ www.KiLLA.com.au MAKE ME AN OFFER!. $28,000 Neg. Mike 0418 753 256.

280 www.my105.com/12502

»i Lancer Evo 5 RS, EX Mark King Australian GTP Title Car. All ralliart bits, LSD's, Motec, OZ Mags (12), new steel cap, $4000 exhaust, new paintwork and interior. As new condition. $46,000 ONO. Ray 0412 644 780.

280 www.my105.com/16327

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SuperSports 1300, Suzuki G13B Engine, Corolla C/R 4 speed G/Box (Nedham Gears),Pushrod suspension, Konis, Alloy 3 piece wheels, 1 season new, includes single axle trailer. Phone (02)6288 8179. $28,000.

280 www.my105.com/2241

Open Wheelers

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280 Michael 0411 676 429. www.my105.com/52281

Cheap Wings & Slicks, Full C of D & historic log book. Beaut little car, ideal entry level. Well built with all the right gear.

Recent rebuild of all mechanicals and ready to race. Complete with excellent trailer and spares. $23,000 Neg, 280 Paul Scott 0413 057 097. www.my105.com/67439

Hillclimb Car, 2003 Victorian hiliciimb Championship winning car, 1996 Swift Formula Ford, converted to Libre, 1700cc pushrod Ford engine with Motec engine management features, launch, traction controi, quad throttle body injection and ignition, ceramic coated exhaust, produces in excess of 170 BHP, Acer Laptop included, LD200 Hewland, Powerflow LSD centre, new crown wheel and pinion, spare ratios, new fire extinguisher system, new battery and new spare,jump starter battery, new Willans 6 point harness, new aluminium radiators, 3 sets of light weight wheels with Avon Hillclimb tyres, 2 sets dry, 1 set wets, one set of over sized Formula Ford wheels with new Avon circuit slicks, plus one set of spare wheels same configuration, 1 set of Formula Ford wheels and tyres, 1 set of traveller wheels, car cover, lifter, spare front panel, front and rear wings. Ready to use, very competitive, under 2 litre track record Morweil. $39,500 ONO. Andrew (03) 5443 0810 / 0418 510 462.

280 www.my105.com/28418

For Sale and/or Lease Drive, Dailara 301 update, the winner of the Australian F3 2003 Championship driven by Michael Caruso. Ready to race. Spares/Transporter available. Call Mick Caruso (02) 9905 5814 or 0418 481 122 or e-mail 280 bms@optusnet.com.au. www.myl05.com/63986

HILL CLIMB / FORMULA LIBRA, Fast competitive hill climb special, link ecu, 4wheel disk breaks, new omp harness & steering wheel, 4 new tyres, turbo, intercooled, on unrego trailer. Ready to race in 2004 hill climb series. $8,900 or best 280 offer. Kym 0402 144 828. www.myl05.com/37151

I

Formula Chassis/engine for sale/lease. Maintained by Troy Dunstan Racing, Speedlech engine. 4x3 way Penske shocks, MoTec Dash, large inventory of spares. Package can be adjusted to meet your budget, lincludes delivery to lOOOkIms. Great opportunity to get a FF with all the ‘bits' that makes a front running car.

279 $47,500 Neg. 0419 777 977. www.my105.com/79793

Oallara F396 Mugen/Honda, Aircon Racing offers for sale this immaculately presented F396 Dailara complete with fresh Neil Brown MF204B Honda engine. Also includes spare wisbones, set of wheels, spare nose, wings, etc. Also spare MF204B Honda available at extra cost. $55,000 Neg. Patrick Cahill (03) 9786 6600. www.myl O5.comffl6727

Open wheeler, Westfield Clubman, Booth prepared, Toyota3SGE, Motec, Hollinger 5Spd with Loveday remote Quickshift, Ford Motorsport LSD + more. Spare race wheels & gearbox components. Giant killer which is ready for 2004 Sportscar Championship.

C/W enclosed trailer. $35,000 Neg. Adrian 279 0417 327 988. www.myl05.com/77394

Formula 4000 / Reynard 95D, Ex Birrana Racing Equal 2nd in the 2003 Gold Star Championship 100% Podium Finishing Record in 2003 Maintained to a very high standard Complete with Birrana Setup Data Includes Spare Wheels and Tyres P.O.A. .

Paul 0412 567 440 / (08) 8327 0564 (H).

280 www.my105.com/88067

1987 Indy 500, Ex Emerson Fittipaldi 1987 Indy 500. Marlboro Penske Team. Rebuild current engine 'Chevy A' 2.65 turbo 850+ HP. or fit Cosworth DFX. Potentially the fastest race car in Australia. Suit historic or collector worth over AUD$100,000 or US$75,000 restored, sacrifice due to ^ business commitments. $59,500.

279 (07) 5574 6811. www.myl05.eom/98067

Formula 3, 398 Dailara TOMS Toyota Very competitive car, full Motec dash and ecu, professionally maintained, set-up data supplied, large spares package included including dozens of ratios. Ideal for either class in Australian F3. $69,000 ONO. 278 Mike 0403 046 403. www.myl05.com/54874

TiMFwayto sell your gear! From lust$25* lustlog on

(*$25 applies to ads entered directly onto my1 OS.com) Advertising can aiso be supplied using thisform ($10/$15 surchage to text only/text -f pic advertisements) Advertisements will appear in next possible issue of .'.totorsport ;jev/£ PLUS them .05.comwebsitetorthreemonths.

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K Standard ad and one inlusion into Motorsport News = $35 □ Plus Photo Processing tee $5 CStBOOry: □ Sedans □ Open Wheelers □ Speedway □ Drag DJobs ADDITIONAL OPTiONS:□ Parts □ Engines □ Trailers □ Wanted □ Photographs □ Other □ Extra issues X $25 per issue Please keep ads to no more than 50 words, plus up to 6 photos if desired. □ Feature ad on Motorsport News and my105.com homepage for $75 per issue

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NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS Please use the form provided and print dearly. Please note we are unable to return photographs supplied for use in dassrfied ads. Ads will appear as soon as possible after receipt. MM/my105.com classifieds are for the sale of private goods and vehicles only, not business advertising Photos marked 'proof' wiil not be used.

motorsport nows

CLASSIFIEDS Engines Ford V8 Supercar engine, 619hp Mark McLaughlin, Run only 150km. Headers, SS exhaust, carbon clutch Rattle guns and hoses etc. Garry 0413 879 879 / (02) 9688 3003. 280 www.myl05.com/58255 Cosworth Turbo, Cosworth turbo enginge and borg womer T5 gear box suit escort Cortina box just had re build will split. $9,000 ONO. Steve 0404 194 911.

280 www.myl05.eom/55707 Escort twin cam engine, lotus twin cam engine plus 2000e gearbox engine has not been run since re build re bored + 30 thou new pistos & rings this is a complete engine apart from cluch plate & housing suite escort, anglia, cortina. $6,995 ONO. Steve 0404 194 911.

280 www.myl05.com/16647 Engine, 18° Bowtie heads (new), CNC ported by CFE. Titanium valves/ retainers & PSI springs. T&D (light weight) rockers. 4 barrel manifold to suit - (ported by CFE) Roller lifters (off-set) - Crane Camshaft & roller cam bearings Tappet covers - CNC engraved with Patterson Racing. Will make 850 - 900 hp. Call for details & prices.

Michael 0418 228 438.

280 www.myl05.eom/32590 ROTARY 13B PP, Kim Ledger built 13B P/P. Brand NEW, still in boxi Perfect for circuit/drags racing. Complete engine needs carb/injection/water pump. Dry sump operation. Brilliant motor built by the "Master of Rotary". $10,000 Not Neg. Richard 0412 320 940.

279 www.my105.com/4088 Lotus Twim Cam, 1650cc, totally rebuilt, all machining operations, new Cosworth pistons, new LI Cams, Vandervell bearings, LTW cam buckets, head full rebuild, big valves, balanced, rods and crank shotpeened, 45mm side draft Webers excellent and new. Lotus twin cam escort, rolling body with id plates, has been fully stripped and needs rebuild, $7500 OR $15,000 for the car and engine. $12,000.

0417 319 948 /(03)9585 5270 (h).

279 www.myl05.com/52984

Parts Race Wheels, Race Wheels, BBS Snake Tongue Rims centre lock Super Touring 1 piece light weight 19*8s good condition.

283 $900 ONO, John (02) 6569 5781. www.my105.com/34580 48mm Downdraft Webber, 48mm downdraft Webber Carby Holly fuel regulator, 2 x electronic coils, 1 x electronic distributor, air box and K&N filter all to suit 13B Rotary. $1200 Not Neg. Luke 0419 388 829.

281 www.myl05.com/98596 Pit Flooring, Approximately 90 sq metres of ex Williams FI flooring tiles. Colour blue. Price $3000 AUD. Contact Bronte Rundle 0412 846 997 or (08) 8254 8444, 280 www.myl05.com/43718 Avon Hillclimb Tyres, 2 sets, one set are A45 fronts A40 rears in full cut wets, used for one run. Size 2 x 9 x 21 x 13 fronts and 2 X 12 X 23 X 13 Price $1,200. Second set are A15 fronts A15 rears in slicks used for one meeting. Size 2 x 9 x 21 x 12 fronts and 2 X 12 X 23 X 13 rears. Price $1,000.

280 Andrew (03) 5443 0810. www.myl O5.com/17516 Alloy Wheels, Toyota Supra Factory 2x16x9, 2x16x8 with bridgestone 540 50%.PCD 114 offset 50. $400.00. Also 4x16x7 Toyota Supra factory turbo $200.00.

Jeff 0418 277 902.

279 www.myl05.com/39953

24 March 2004

Parts for sale (new), Battery box - Suit Oddesy Aerospace CNC - billet 230,00 Carby: Tool tray Moroso 710-65800 160.00 Carby - Gold Claw - 825 Barry Grant 7423010 1450,00 Dip stick - Billet (suit Chev) Billet Specialties 120.00 Distributor plug Pro billet MSD 8513 190.00 Distributor hold-down clamp CSI 870R 55.00 Flywheel - Aluminium & 11" clutch (suit Chev)800.00 Fluidampner 7 1/4" for internal balance 712430-002 620.00 Fuel Pressure regulator - 2 port Aerospace CNC - billet 200.00 Gauge - Fuel tank level Autometer Pro Comp 5417 230.00 Gauge - Fuel pressure Autometer Pro Comp 5461 360,00 Gauge Speedo Autometer Pro Comp 5154 280.00 Gauge - Tacho Autometer Pro Comp 6851 700.00 Gauge - Trans temp Autometer Pro Comp 5451 180.00 Gauge - Vacuum Autometer Pro Comp 5484 140.00 Mounts (engine) - Eurathane TCI Suit Chev 355-31114R pair 200.00 Mount (trans) Eurathane TCI T-350 355-3-1108R 60.00 Oil filler cap - Billet Stefs 69500E 50.00 Oil filter: re-usable Systems-1 180.00 Oil filter Adapter Barnes 8909 100.00 Oil pump Blueprinted (SBC) Moroso 22112 270.00 Pedals - Brake & Clutch Aerospace CNC billet pair 550.00 Shifter - Quarter Stick Hurst Suit 350+400 316-0006 350.00 Shifter Solenoid - 1-2 shift Hurst Suit above 226-0020 250.00 Shifter cover - Hurst Hurst Suit above 130-0055 120.00 Shifter knob Hurst Hurst Suit above 163-2006 70.00 Sway bar kit - for rear Jerry Bickel JBRC1038 820.00 Telescopic fuel log - billet DaVinci Suit 950 Carb 330.00 Thermo Switch Moroso 63760 60.00 Trans Shield Kevlar CSI Turbo 350 833 680.00 Trans Sump - Aluminium Stefs Turbo 350 4003 360.00 Trans Cooler +10" fan Perma-Cool 12311 380.00 Trans Dip stick - chrome Turbo 350 80,00 Trans Dip stick - Billet Turbo 350 160.00 Water filler neck - for AN hose Aerospace + radiator cap CNC billet 165.00. Michael 0418 228 438, 279 www.myl05.eom/29920 Parts for Sale, Escort competiion struts with externally adjustable Koni's 2.5" ID threaded adjusters 2501b King Springs concentric tops in Capri legs $1000, Brembo 4 spot calipers $900, 4 13x7 Rebel wheels, 2 sets of custom rear leaves by King’s 1901b and 220lb's brand new $250,Escort RS 4 spoke wheels 13x6 $450.

279 Danny 0409 470 055. www.my105.com/62619 Coswoth, cosworth cylinder head 2wd with valves & cams verniers fitted, red top cam cover, coswoth crank and fly wheel, cosworth con rods x 4. cosworth block, cosworth exhaust manifold new. cosworth inlet manifold new. offers please must sell change of plans, offers. Steve 0404194911.

278 www.myl05.com/83429

Transporters/Trailers

Race Transporter, International T2670, 1982, 28ft pan, 2000kg Tlenen lifter, 14Lt Cummins, 9sp road ranger, 28 x 15ft marquee, compressor, generator, electricity, storage boxes, and much more. $35,000.

Druggan Family Racing 0416 104 582 /(02) 9636 4432.

282 www.my105.com/26017

36ft Gooseneck and 93 Chev dually, 36ft Gooseneck, tri axel 12v/240v, free standing annexe, elec winch, frop axels, beaver tail, skylights, $20,000. 93 Chev Dually, crewcab, ac, 12 stack CD, new tyres, new carpet, seats 6, gas, fuel, lowered 4in/6ln, pwer vision mirrors, GM Tonnea, $50,000.

Bruce 0417 790 944 /(07)5496 9066. 281 www.my105.com/4912

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v8 Trader & Goosetreck trailer, TRUCK 351 Windsor 5 speed + splitter 180lt fuel .3 bunks, stove, water tank. sink, storage, stainless esky. 12v lights, insulated walls.

TRAILER elec tail gate, warn winch for car.'wafer & hose, generator, wired, fit sprinter/super/saloon or 2 x small cars, elec brakes, tyre rack, need car licence only. $38,000.00 ONO. Jamie 0409 017 684.

280 www.myl05.eom/74031

Collectable/Memorabilia Home Movies Motorsport, Wanted home movies on 8 mill, Super 8 (or other format) of motor racing from 1960 to 1980 (Tasman Series, Gold Star, National Sports & Touring Cars). Transfer from film to video/dvd free of charge to owner upcoming video project. Contact steve@capricommedia.com.au 280 -r or (02) 9659 0665. www.myl05.com/44486

For Lease Drive Available - Formula Ford, Old Championship, Bathurst and Indy Championship winning Team. Greq (07) 5446 7611 / 0411 052 944.

281 www.myl05.eom/60813

Wanted Dual Cab Transporter, 6 cylinder Isuzu, checked plate floor, internal lighting, 240volt powered, electric winch, side tool boxes, plenty storage, fits sprintcar, 4wd motorbike and plenty of spares. n«c. $30,000 Neg. Wayne (03) 5940 1884. www.myl05.com/26568

Super Tourer wanted to buy, 2 Lt. Super tourer wanted to buy. Any make considered.

CRAIG 006442370345 / 006442322828.

281 www.myl05.com/35893

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2 Car Transporter, 2 stage Hydrolio tailgate, Bench's, tyre racks, suit open wheelers, CD, tow bar, stored Inside workshop. $38,500 ONO. Peter (03) 9761 4510. 280 www.myl05.com/86618

© O ©

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o Speedway

Maxim Sprintcar, 1999 Maxim Sprintcar.

Complete rolling chassis. Currently run as 360 car, with very little use. Straight car, with near new Winters rear end and all good running gear. 25 Gal. Outlaw Fuel Cell, wings and Sander wheels. Phone 0418 502 277 498. $16,500, 0418 502 498. www.myl O5.com/12329

o o HIND 86 TRANSPORTER 20FT PAN, ITonne T/Gate, Winch, Ramps, Fits Commodore, Belly Boxes, Int O/head lockers, Tyre Rack,Water Tank, CB, Stereo,/y|oy B/Bar, Big Headlights, C/Skin Tyres, Tow Bar, AUG 04 Reg, RWC. $22,000 Neg. ANDREW 0418 546 318.

280 www.myl05.eom/48920

Race Car Transporter, can fit three open wheelers and/or one sedan, includes generator, fridge, shower, too many extras to list, no expense spared. John 0418 577 ’ 710. 278 www.my105.com/53371

.tr The buyer rang from the ad „ on the my105 website.

The service I received from all the staff at my105 was exceptional. It truly was several notches above any advertising organisation I have ever dealt with. -M.Mulquin.

Get it seen Get it sold!

81

OPINION

niotorsport EDITORIAL STAFF Editor: Phil Branagan »editor@mnews.com.au Deputy Editor: Mark Glendenning »mark@mnews.com.au News Editor: Aaron Noonan » noonzSmnews.com.au National Editor: Grant Rowley »grant@mnews.com.au

Adv & Graphics Co-ordinator: Viv Brumby “ viv@mnews.com.au

ADVERTISINB Brendon Sheridan - PR Driven Tel: 03 9550 0870 Fax: 03 9550 0816 mobile: 0407 007 286 l ads@mnews.com.au

ADMINISTRATION Managing Director/Publisher: Chris Lambden ® publisher@mnews.com.au

CONTACTS 357 Nepean Highway, Brighton East Vic 3187 (PO Box 7072, Gardenvale, VIC 3186) Ph: 03 9596 5555 Fax: 03 9596 5030 Email: mnews@mnews.com.au

CONTRIBUTORS 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, AFl Images, Nell Hammond, Slipstream Photographic, Allsport, John Morris/Mplx, Frank Midgley, Peter Bury, Mike Patrick (UK), Chris Carter, James Smith, Paris Charles, Bob Potts Motorsport News is published by Australasian Motorsport News - ABN 55 125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Printed by: Offset Alpine Printing Pty Ltd, Lidcombe, NSW. Distributed by: NDD Ltd Material published by MOTORSPORT NEWS is copyright and may not be reproduced in full or in part without the written permission of the publisher. Freelance contributions are welcome, and while all care will be taken, Australasian Motorsport News does not accept responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted.

‘Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

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82

Rule change?

Shame on the programmer at Charmel 10 for not having the Malaysian FI Grand Prix on until late in the evening.

We now must endure news

Stone Brothers Racing obviously know their V8 Supercar rules.

It cost Greg Murphy a fair chance to win the first leg of the Clipsal 500 by bringing in two cars together under yellow flag conditions. They would have been well aware that the second

bulletins naming the winner before the race is actually seen long after the teams have finished partying. Why did viewers have to endure the Simpsons and American Idol as Mark Webber

PRODUCTION

,*

Shame

was gridding up on the front row with Schumacher (the first Aussie to be on the front row since Alan Jones). This should have guaranteed as many viewers as the V8s from Adelaide, if it was scheduled straight after.

Channel 10 has hit a new low.

Shame,shame,shame!!!

Carl Kalman carl.kalman@telstra.com

converter Send us your thoughts: mail: PO Box 7072, Gardenvale, VIC 3186 fax: 03 9596 5030 email: mnews@mnews.com.au

Deja vu?

Meat Market?

I thought the bad old days of Channel 9 were long gone,but, oh no.

Ten joins the Who-cares-about-Fl Club.

What has happened to motorsport? It doesn't revolve around cars and the

According to the ratings, the AGP was the second-most watched show in Melbourne that week,so what do they do? Capitalising on the interest, they delay the Malaysian GP to 10.30pm.

In real time, it started at 6pm AEST. Why not nm it live? Oh yes, couldn't possibly disrupt The Simpsons and American Idol... what a joke.

Ten, you are a disgrace. You are pathetic. Webber on the front row and we're watching the Simpsons.

Please, please, please Foxtel, do an FI deal for us. I promise we'll drop Ten like a hot cake.

Potential Foxtel subscriber (name supplied) Warrandyte, VIC

Lucky Bugger I'm the lucky bugger that won your Grand Prix competition, had the lap with Murph,and the tour of the Jag pit etc etc.

Tliis is just a note to say thank

race anymore. It's all about the grid girls and what they are not wearing, or the promo girls waltzing around showing boobs and other body parts.

Can you give me one good reason why females should be subjected to this crap?

Why don't you put in a 'male model of the month' or perhaps a good looking driver? What about some pics of studly males with pics of their groins in tight clothing?

Here's a fact- there are thousands of women out there who really enjoy the actual racing but don't want to go because of the meat-market display, especially with their partners.

Something has to be done or has the male species sunk to an aU time low?

G.Schrapel Clearview SA you to the MNews team for providing such a great opportunity.

It really was the stuff of dreamsparticularly the lap with Murph. It's the sort of thing you really can't work toward achieving - you can

car,was stopped in the Kmart pit bay, stopping Greg Murphy or Rick Kelly from making a stop. Apparently legal, this is no doubt a very unsporting tactic.

A change of rule, to one car per pit bay at any time during a race, unless a recognisable safety issue arises, should be instigated.

There should be a waiting bay at the beginning of pit lane for a second car if it must be brought in at the same time.

My apologies to anyone finding that my comments bring the sport into disrepute, Stephen Barnes tiffntel@bigpond.com ED: Sorry Stephen. The commentary team got it wrong. Murphy was leading when the pit stops were being taken, and the Kmart machine didn't pull in. If he had,it might have been a different story ...

The Numbers Game I'd just like to respond to a few letters posted about car numbers and in particular those who have criticised Mark Skaife for 'taking' Toddlers number.

As the editor said, it is the teams who own the numbers, not the drivers. With Skaife owning HRT,he can pick and chose whatever number he wants,end of story.

Wizzby iuwiu.skaifey.com only dream it happens-and it was everything I hoped it would be. I'm sure there would be half a million people in Melbourne who would have given their left testicle to do what I did. And those who don't have any would have given someone else’s!

The folks from the Australian Grand Prix Corporation really looked after us beautifully.

Once again, thanks to you and your team for a sensational four days. They'll stay with us for a long. long time.

Pete Neioling FJtlinni Vic

Dreams: MNews competition winner Pete Newling, above right - with his Uncle Greg - check out the faguar pit while Greg Murphy later took Pete out for a spin around the Albert Park circuit, right.

motorsport news

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