Motorsport News Issue 286 - June 23-July 6, 2004

THE NEW'!i BEHIND THE NEW!i

Australia $5.95 NZ $7.50 incl GST

No. 286

June 23 - July 6 2004

ANSWERS 111£ £Bl1ICS

How HRT plans to . turn it-all around

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news

Issue 286

23 June - & Julv 2004

6

Cost concerns V8 drivers speak on TEGA's program

8

Truly staying Renault keeps Jarno so Webber goes to ...

12 PR0TEAMS A new name and · a future for Nations Cup etc 15 Dallara Beater Lola wins in F3 and Dyk goes testing 25 Motor Mouth Peter Boylan commits to PROTEAMS 26 Box Seat Kangaroos in Indiana? Joe says 'Cri key! ' 82 Talk Converter At last, a pro-NASCAR coverage letter

Bright Light in the West Jason Bright smacks them down hard with a strong win at Barbagallo. And Marcos and Richo swap the points lead again

46 Back in the US of A Rubens wins on Saturday. But that was only Saturday 54 Meanwhile in Canada Michael wins again, Williams and Toyota get booted 58 More 24s for Audi Tom Kristensen adds another chapter to his brilliant CV 60 C-Cups and Formula Fiore Porsches and FFords turn it on in Perth Pretty Damn Cold! Nathan rules at chilly Winton

Pholos: Cover: AF1 Images, sutton•images.com Contents: sutton-images.com, redzoneimages.com , Chris Carter

65 Rallying

66 Speedway

70

National Scene

75

Marketplace

a

Teams hit testing trail

VB SUPERCAR testing kicks into high gear this week, with a number of teams planning to bum up their allocation of test days. , The Castro] Perkins team was due to have a two-day test at Winton yesterday and today with endurance drivers Jim Richards and Alex Davison having their first seat time in the team's VYs. In Queensland, the action started a little earlier with an all-out Ford assault prior to the first round of the 2004 series to take place on a 'test' circuit. Stone Brothers Racing tested on Monday, with Greg Ritter and Cameron McLean joining Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall, the team issuing press pies with both codrivers in both Pirtek and Caltex outfits. Oh come on, guys...

Later this week, Dick Johnson

I

Racing, WPS, Orrcon Racing and Triple 8 are all due to take to The Paperclip before the Queensland 300, with some of the teams also looking at running their endurance drivers.

The odd team out of the testing equation is Ford Performance Racing. The beleaguered team was due to have two days at Winton, its first testing miles of the season, but the engine disasters of Barbagallo have forced the team to postpone the test for four weeks due to a lack of serviceable engines.

Alain Menu, who was due to test a VS Supercar with the team for the first time, did not make the trip to Australia and will now join Craig Lowndes and Glenn Seton at Winton on July 12-13, providing that the team's current engine maladies can be overcome.

It's New

•

And yo:1r head goes here: Revolution's Dale Rodgers, right, shows the HANS unit to, left to right, Steve Richards, Mark Skaife and Craig Baird.

HANS everywhere

HOLDEN has issued its VS Supercar pilots with new HANS devices.

All of the Lion's full-time drivers will wear the units and matching 2004-spec helmets in future rounds of the VS Supercar Championship Series.

The device is a collar and yoke system that is worn by the driver on the upper body and held in place by the race car's harness system. Connected to the helmet by two flexible tethers, the device allows normal head movement, but limits extended movements and neck loads.

HANS devices are not mandatory in VS Supercar racing but are in a number of other categories, including Formula One .

"The HANS Device is the biggest advance in head and neck protection ever for race drivers and we applaud Holden Motorsport and Revolution Racegear for making this move to improve driver safety," said Mark Skaife.

4

Holden has undertaken the program in conjunction with national racewear manufacturer Revolution Racegear.

A new weapon for

TASMAN Motorsport was due to test its first purpose-built Commodore VY yesterday (Tuesday).

The car, which has been built over the last six months at the team's Sydney base, was driven for the first time by Jason .

Richards in a corporate drive day on Monday prior to a proper shakedown yesterday.

Team manager Jon Matthews said that, while it was not possible to draw any logical conclusions from such a short outing, the team was delighted with their new toy. " We had a ride day on Monday at Oran Park and not a thing went wrong," said a

satisfied Matthews. " Considering it was not a serious hit-out, the performance of the car was great "The team did an excellent job.

They finished the thing at 0230 on Monday morning and the · whole team is looking forwa rd to getting their teeth into it."

Team technical chief Wally Storey said that the Holden Motor Sport-engined car was straightforward, but not easy, to build.

"There were no real problems," said Storey, "apart from the fact that there is a lot of work in building a car if you are already racing one. There are a lot of things that are different in

the car and you cannot afford to be too adventurous with a brand new car. Most of the other teams have taken a while to get to grips w ith the new VYs but the indications are that it is a good car."

While Richards was coming to grips w ith the new car, Jamie Whincup and Fabian Coulthard w ere also due to have some seat time in the car. Coulthard, currently third in the Carrera Cup series, has tested a Va Supercar before, with the Castro! Perkins team in 2002 w hile form er GRM pilot Whincup has not raced anything since the final round of the 2003 vases at Eastern Creek.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

motorspon news

NEWS

Mcconkey gets McConked

new VY to get Skaife's season back on track

by PHIL BRANAGAN

A NEW car could hold the key to getting Mark Skaife's VB Supercar Championship campaign back on track.

Skaife, currently sitting in 12th position in the VSSCS points, will have a new Commodore VY available to him following the next round of the series at Queensland Raceway on July 2-4.

In an interview with MNews (see pages 32-35) the Holden Racing Team owner I dri'-(er reveals that the problems that the team has experienced this season with its current Commodores are less to do with the performance of the cars' Holden Motor Sport engines than the manner in which the engines are behaving on the track.

"The biggest issue that we have going with the new engine is the dyno performance had not correlated to the racetrack performance," says Skaife.

"What has happened this year is that its 'installed' performance has not been as good as we would like."

This season, Skaife and team-mate Todd Kelly have said on numerous occasions that the red VYs have suffered a lack of straightline speed compared to the other leading Commodores in the championship.

The problem has been highlighted by the fact that the other contending Holdens in the series have used

•

n1acs

23 June 2004

CAMERON Mcconville has been st rip~ed of the 72 points he earned at Pukekohe afte, the crankshaft in his eng ine was fo und to have been below t:he permitted weight.

The crankshaft, which was used durin@ he opening practice session at iclden Valley as well as in NZ, was fo und to weigh 16.090kg, just below th•e lega'I weight of 16.5kg. The team admliite.d to unintentionally breaching the rules by using an engine from 2Gl03, w hen the minimum crankshaft we igh s did not apply, Ford Performance Racing is dLre t© w heel out a new Falcon BA for Glercn Seton at the next round ol the sarie s at Queensland Raceway.

Ill Ho lden Motorsport manager Craig Fletcher has departed the posi ·on pre-Barhlagallo. A f rep lacem ent for the former Octagon i / lv1o torsp ort man has yet to be na med s:,A by the General. Another resignation is t hat of VB Supercar racing's different engines, with Barbagallo T echnical Director, Paul Taylor. Taylor winner Jason Bright and Kmart's has eyes on moving ove rseas and Rick Kelly and Greg Murphy packing expaniilirng his klilowledge in racing an 18-degree Chevrolet in their VYs aw ayfro m our shores. while Steven Richards has HMS

power in his Castro! car. .

Skaife points to the major changes that a team must make to a Commodore to accommodate an HMS engine.

"You put it in the car in a different position so that it is lower and further back in the car," he says.

"The downstream affect is that all the things are different; the bellhousings, exhausts, airboxes, cross members, engine mounts, tailshafts, the drive shaft angles are different, you name it.

"If you think that there is a bit of an installation drama and you want to change something, there is a big flow-on effect. A little change becomes a large change. That has kept us busy. , While Skaife's Race 1 win in Perth and Kelly's round win at Hidden Valley are two of the team's few highlights of the season, he says that his team continues to burn the midnight oil - and with higher morale - than it ever has.

"We are working harder, probably, than we have ever worked," he says "I have been saying for the first part of this year that the a tmosphere in the team is the best that we have had it. The aura in and around the joint is really good. The vibe is really good."

Skaife also details his thoughts on TEGA's cost containment proposals, how he is coping with his extreme workload and whether he thinks that the team can get back to its 2002-level of dominance.

Among the gaggle of sponsors and VIPs lucky enough to be strapped into a1/8 Supercar for a ride at Ba-baga lo was Australian cricketer JustinLanger. You'd think that anybody who earns their living by sta ring d own the world's best fast bovvlefs w ould find being a li)assenger to Steve Joh nson to be a breeze, but apparemtly Langer begs to differ.

Team sources report that a wobblylegged Langer emerged saying that he'd rathe r go nose-to-nose with Sho aib Akhtar any day. Also among the Saturday's onlookers was Adam Gilchns , who attended the race as a guest , Castrol Perkins Racing.

.dlarification to a story from last issl!le:: The Holden VB Utes that are ibe1mg prepped for the Australian Safa ri are actually being pieced toge tmer at Kelly Racing imMildura, rather tha n at the Kmart Racing VB Supercar s hop owned t;iy John Kelly. ff h ere are any Konica Minolta VB S upercar teams making their pla ns 0r 2005, you might want to cons ider n ew hardware. With Commmd ore VYs and Falcon BAs eligilble fo r the series next season (at the rnoment despite the protests of som e tea m s), Toll Racing's Anthony Tratt r8Ji!li1nds us that the team's 2003 BA is awaiting a new home.

The ll'ace-.ready Falcon comes with a large i~ve,ntory of spares and your first point of contact for an '05 KMViBSS assault might want to be anth.ony_t ratt@tollracing.com

5

The

by PHIL BRANAGAN

OPINION continues to be varied among the VB Supercar teams and drivers over TEGA's proposed costcontainment program, which was announced in Darwin last month.

The T-Shirt War

THE departure of Fred Gibson from the VS Supercar team which bore his name late in 2001 is currently the subject of a Supreme Court sequel in Melbourne.

Gibson and Noel Watson, his partner in the merchandising company formed alongside the race team, are suing Bob Forbes over the split and the subsequent merchandising rights.

The case is fundamentally about who in fact owned the merchandising company, especially after Gibson left the team late in 2001.

When Lowndes was lured from Ford in December 2000, a deal was brokered whereby Gibson would repurchase his team from Garry Dumbrell in order to set up a Ford 6

team to run the young star.

What wasn't apparent at the time, and didn't become so until the two began to disagree over management issues later in the year, was that Forbes had agreed to fund the majority of the re-purchase and was thus the major stakeholder and silfnt partner in the team.

At the same time, Gibson and Watson formed Gibson Motorsport Merchandise Pty Ltd, to look after the expected merchandising bonanza from the new Lowndes / Ford union.

The court case is about the settlement offered to Gibson when he departed and the ownership of the ongoing merchandising rights.

A number of high-profile witnesses, including Lowndes and

Mark Skaile, were due to take the stand as the case continues this week.

WIN!

A hot lap with Allan Moffat or Peter Brock in an exquisite Historic Falcon or Monaro!

See page 71 for details

BIANTE MODEL CARS

While there has been vocal support of the program in the early stages, there is now some talk in the paddock that the status quo should either be preserved in the interests of maintaining the current level of competition or that some of the changes, but not all, should be implemented in the short-term.

One of the drivers supporting the latter idea is Anthony Tratt, right; "I certainly think that (cost containment) is a good idea, but the competition is so good now, I do not know why you would want to change things," he said.

"Cost containment is one thing but change costs money. It has some merit to it but how far do we want to go with it? People will still spend money in the areas of the car where it can still be spent.

"We already have a number of controlled components in the engines and that has shown a level of cost containment. Before we extend that to other items like clutches, brakes and so on, there needs to be a discussion of what those items will cost and how much be saved."

As one of the few people who has

Great Divide

raced both the Commodore VY and Falcon BA, Tratt also pointed to the fact that the cars' current aero packages provide not only a level of security for the cars at high speed but allow any parity tuning to be easily, and inexpensively, implemented.

Jason Bargwanna takes the other view, offering strong support for the TEGA package; "Australian motors port is fighting hard against the other mainstream sports for a budget to run a race team; there is only so many dollars than can go round in our economy," said Bargwanna.

"It is vital that we ensure that teams survive and are here for the long haul by containing the costs of

the sport and 20 teams are here in 10 years time, not just four-to-six of the bigger budget teams.

"I believe it (the proposed changes) will create more braking duels with drivers trying to out-brake each other rather than relying on whoever actually has the better brake calliper or pads for a pass," he continued.

"The crowd is there to see good racing and passing. It doesn't matter if we do a lmlOs lap or a lm12s lap, they simply want to see a good race with lots of passing and action.

"By implementing a controlled brake it will bring back the true racer to the sport, sure the technical challenge is making the car go fast by technical development is part of the

team building process but in the end, racing shouldn' t be about how much money is spent on development."

In the meantime, teams are in the process of making their responses to the TEGA proposal and their input into the ongoing program is expected to continue.

WHILE on the subject of Tratt, Toll Racing has advised that the team intends to continue its program in

2005.

Tratt said that he and the team and its sponsors are scheduled to discuss the program at the end of the season but, contrary to a report in the previous edition of MNews, he would continue as the team's driver.

n's Big Break BP, LP for

NEIL McFadyen will make his VB Supercar debut at Queensland Raceway next month.

The re igning Australian Formula Ford Champion has finalised a deal to drive the # 14 car entered by Imrie Motor Sport as part of its obligations under the franchise agreement. " I've picked up a drive in the main game with Mike Imrie, wh ich is quite good, " said McFadyen, who has previously racked up some VS miles during testing with Team Dynamik.

"At this stage, th e plan is that I'll be driving Mike's car, although there are some mechanical problems with it at the moment.

"So if wo rst comes to worst, we w ill leas e a car. It's been a bit of a rush, putting it al l together, but either way it's

23 lune 2004

going to run so I'm going to be in somet hing ."

While 2004 has seen a number of cars arrive at circuits to ful fi ll their franchise obligat ions onl y to pack up after qualifying, McFadyen, left, was adamant that he wo uld be th ere to race . " If we' re going to go there, we' re not going to turn up and then go stra igh t home," he confirmed. ''I'm going into the most competitive touring car ser ies in the world with almost no experience, so it's going to be a big ask.

"The plan for the weekend wil l rea ll y be to drive around , get some laps, try to keep the car clean and off the wal l - and off o th er cars - and just try to build up experience".

- MARK GLENDENNING

PD or AD?

INDUSTRY whispers suggest that there could be a BP-liveried car lurking among the Castro! Perkins line-up next year.

Whi le we believe that the re would be no change in livery for Steve Richards, it is possible that either Paul Dumbrell or Alex Davison could run in the re-branded car. Anthony Tratt, as mentioned in the above story, wou ld remain in t he Toll car.

The move would tie in with current arrangements, as B P is Castrol's parent company, and would serve to highl ight both brands as we ll as creating a distinction between the Castro! Perkins team cars and the Perkins-prepared customer cars.

-

NEWS

James-san in GT top five again JAMES Courtney has finished fifth in the latest round of the All-Japan GT Championship at Sepang in Malaysia on the weekend.

The Aussie, driving for the TOM's Toyota team, fi nished third in the previous round and now sits fifth in the championship alongside co-d river Tatsuya Kataoka.

Barton Mawer was forced to sit out last weekend's British Formula 3 Scholarship Class round due to a funding shortfall. The NSW driver scored podiums in nine of the fi rst 10 rounds of the season, however his efforts were curtailed by a large - and expensive - shunt at Snetterton recently. Mawer is working on putting together a limited program for the remainder of the season, which he hopes will include some races in the outright c~ss ahead of a full crack at the ,series next year.

Work on the new $30 million international motor racing circu it at Sunbury is set to go after the project was given environmental approval by the Western Australian State Government last week.

A delegation from Perth International Motorsport Management (PIMM) left Perth last week to secure a round of the Japanese GT Series for the new track. The date for the GT event has been set at April next year. PIMM said earlier this year that there are no plans to hold a VB Supercar race at the circuit.

Officialdom had a busy weekend at Barbagallo two weeks ago, with a number of teams and drivers having their wallets lightened for an assbrtment of transgressions.

Triple 8 was relieved of $2000 after an errant spring from Max Wilson's car found its way into the fast lane during a pitstop in the second practice session.

John Bowe and Todd Kelly were fi ned $400 and $300 respectively for speeding in pitlane during warm-up, and Paul Morris was docked 50 points for his part in the Race 2 clang with Jason Bargwanna .

There were a few Carrera Cup drivers who copped slaps over the wrists for some dramas during the meeting ride sessions. Both David Thexton and Tony Quinn copped $7000 ($4000 of which has been suspended) for having spins during the session at Barbagallo.

Look for potentially another Lamborghini in Nations Cup at the next round at Eastern Creek. Peter Hackett, who drove for the team at Indy and the Bathurst 24 Hour last year, is being slated to drive the team's second Diablo GTR.

1

Trulli Ren;

Willia111s near1

I disagree!

F1 team bosses meet at Indy and get nowhere

by JOE $AWARD

FIA President Max Mosley is expected to step in at the forthcoming Formula 1 Commission meeting and insisting that 1his regulation package for 2008 be adopted with immediate effect on the grounds of safety.

This follows the inability of Fl team owners to agree on much at all during a major meeting during last weekend's US Grand Prix.

Mosley's argument is that the lap times have decreased sufficiently to create fears about safety.

Before any regs are agreed, the teams first want a resolution to the commercial arrangements between themsleves and Fl's shareholders.

"There are no regulations going to change in 2006, unless it's by way of unanimous agreement between the parties that are signatories to the Concorde Agreement," said McLaren boss Ron Dennis, above with Ecclestone, at the weekend.

"That means the teams, the governing body, and the commercial rights holder. It's a simple fact. And for once I think we're in harmony as

teams. We want'to make things better. We want to make it better spectacle, we want to reduce cost.

We're all committed to that. But it's never achieved in a public forum."

The team bosses say that they have not had any properly-structured offers for a commercial settlement.

They met for a total of three and a half hours on Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis at the US GP but nothing concrete came out of the meeting.

BAR boss David Richards has now reached the conclusion that the sport is going about its regulationmanagement in the wrong way.

"I think we've consistently proven as teams that we should not be setting the agenda," Richards said.

"I think that in most businesses you consult the customer and you actually do a bit of market research and say here are the options.

"I think the way to have gone about it would have been to come up with three, four options, whatever it might be, and go out there and see what the TV audience and the TV production teams want themselves to make the job work for them."

New F1 qual, -again •••

TWO 25 minute sessions, with best times from each added together, is the latest proposal for F1 qualifying, to be aired at the next F1 Commission meeting.

If a§reed, it col'.lld be implemented for the British Grancl Prix.

The proposal would signal a return to low-fuel qualifying, with teams able to fuel their cars for the rnce immediately after qualifying .

While the teams themselves appear to be in basic agreement on the proposal, there is also a push from a number of F1 promoters to return to the traditional two qualitying sessions, one eaclii on ii=ri<llay, amd SatL:J~@ay, to give some meaning to Friday's programme and avoid the complexit¥ and potential publ ie confusion over an aggregate system .. .

- JOE SAWARD 8

Sick of it! Could the fans get complete fed up and simply leave the grandstands for qualifying in future rather than try and follow the ever-changing format?

USGPr

BERNIE Ecclestone and Indianapolis Motor Speedway boss Tony George have agreed to extend their original five year deal for the United States Grand Prix.

The original contract, signed in 1998, allowed for an option for two more years and this appears to have been taken up.

The deal was originally for around US$10m a year but any future deal would be for much more money as the price of F1 races has gone up dramatically.

We hear from the United States that George is under pressure from his sisters (and fellow Indianapolis Motor Speedway directors) Kathi , Josie afld Nancy not to continue

mororspon news

NEWS

ult deal closer r-

for Aussie we.b ber?

AFTER some time-consuming discussions and difficulties, Jarno Trulli is, we hear, close to agreeing terms to stay on at Renault for 2005 and beyond.

A number of scenarios had come in to play in recent w ee ks, w ith reported interest in ifrulli from Toyota .

Follow ing his recent form spiral and Monaco w in, the Italian was seeking a longer term contract w ith Renault than had initially been offered, but it seems the French have reconsidered and lengthened their offer.

If negotiations are completed in time, an announcement can be expected at the French Grand Prix, next w eek.

That w ould be good news for the Williams team w hich, it is no longer denying, is keen to sign Mark Webber to lead its 2005 attack.

W ith both Renault seats ta ken, Toyota remains as the only other viable contender for Webber's signature as it seeks a team-mate for Ralf Schumacher.

MNew s F1 correspondent Joe Saw ard reports that there are lot of rumours surrounding Toyota 's second seat, but suggests that the team may w ell decide to keep Olivier Panis for one more year (to ensure continuity) and then go for Fernando Alonso in 2006 or 2007.

The team wants an experienced race driver to pair w ith Schumacher, w hich w ould seem to rule out second test driver Ryan Briscoe . Lead test driver Ricardo Zonta is so highly thought of as a test driver that he w ill remain in that role.

~-signed

with the F1 deal because it is costing the company too much money. There has even been talk that there might be legal actions if George insists on going ahead.

Ecclestone says that the race is guaranteed at the Brickyard in 2006 and 2007.

"I just said to Tony : 'We're happy if you're happy,"' said Ecclestone.

"If you don't want me to pick up the option I won't. If you want to extefld the contract beyond the two years I will. " Ecclestone said that moving the race from September to June was a backward step but added that he would like F1 to grow in the United 23 June 2004

sutton-i~com

Petrobras sticks with Williams BMW Williams Fl has announced that it is extending its commercial agreement with the Brazilian oil company Petrooras. It will be the seventh consecutive season that the two parties have worked together.

Sources at BAR say that the team is close to sponsorslilip 0eals with three or four major companies but it is anticipated that BAT will continue to be the title sponsor of the team in 2005 and 2006 with the Lucky Strike brand.

Mika Hakkinen has c0nfirmed that he is happy in his retirement and does not wish to change. The World Champion of 1998 and 1999 is quoted in various Finnish newspapers saying that he is not planning to make a comeback to Formula 1 in 2005. We wflderstand that BMW Williams did have a chat with Hakkinen just to see if he was available but he has decided that he does not want to go back to the life of a Formula 1 driver.

Whaddya mean your Editor is getting the Williams drive? Webber is looking good to head to Grove in 2005. And don't look so damn shocked Mark ...

Meanwhile, Williams' search for a team-mate for Webber (assuming a deal w ith the Au ssie is finalised) continues.

We hear that Jacques Villeneuve and the team have been unable to agree terms for a deal for the Canadian to test the car and that Jacques is now out of the picture.

Names being bandied around include Giancarlo Fisichella and impressive BAR third driver Anthony Davidson .

- STAFF/SAWARD

States. Ecclestone has finally confirmed that he has had preliminary talks with the New York authorities about a race in Manhattan and has also discussed reviving the event in Long Beach for F1 .

"We've got to get out to the rest of America," Bernie said.

"The other way to do that is with a strong television coverage on one of the networks, which we don't currently have." . - JOE SAWARD

There are whispers that James Allison, one of Ferrari's top aerodynamic engineers, is to lea11e Maranel10 and will be joining the Renault team. Allison was hired by the Benetton team (which later became Renault) back in 1991 when he graduated from Cambridge University. After a couple of seasons at Benetton he moved to Larrousse and did the aerodynamic development them in 1994. When the team closed down, Allison returned to Benetton where he was involved in the planning, design and construction of the team's windtunnel at Enstone before he moved to Ferrari in 2000.

I

Honda has already tested its 2005 V10 engine on the dynos at the comr;iany's R&Q headquarters in Tochigi, Japan. The new engine will be used to power next year's BAR. The V10 will be lower, lighter and more powerful than tlile existing unit, which is now widely regarded as being the best engine in F1 at the moment.

Mark Webber used a slightly uprated Cosworth V10 at Indianapolis, which somewhat upset Eddie Jordan who is suppose to have the same engines as the Jaguar Racing team. €)n Friday, Jordan was spotted in anirnated discussions with Jaguar Racing boss Tony Purnell and Cosworth 's Bernard Ferguson and we hear that the dispute flared up again during the Fq team bosses meeting on Saturday afternoon .

Purnell said that both teams will both have upgraded engines at the French GP but added that Webber alone had a different engine at the US GP, as it was considered to be a risk.

- JOESAWARD

9

-

Massa banged up but OK alter head-on accident in Montreal

SAUBER driver Felipe Massa was cleared to race on the eve of the US Grand Prix after a precautionary X-ray on his injured left elbow.

The Brazilian was fortunate to emerge unscathed from the Canadian Grand Prix when his car went out of control on the approach to the hairpin and slammed into the barriers five laps from the finish.

There were later reports that a wheel had flown

but a tyre did end up in the grandstand, although it was not travelling at any great speed by the time it got there, inset.

The incident was the result of a rear suspension failure on the Sauber as Massa p ut on the brakes for the hairpin. The left rear was torn off the car with such force that the wheel tethers, designed to withstand five tons o_f force, snapped.

The errant wheel hi t the tyre barrier and a great

made of tyre stacks held together by conveyor belt rubber. The impact deflected the wheel upwards and it cleared the debris fencing, although the angle of its flight was such that when it came down again it landed between the debris fence and the grandstand.

The wheel did rebound into the firs t row of the grandstand but by then it was not travelling fast enough to cause any serious damage or injury.

m p;~;:~~he,~~~; ~'~d~"i~s,bsocWii'iial11sJOESAWaARDl1NdTmSPUioG JORDAN driver Giorgio Pantano was forced to miss the Canadian Grand Prix because of a financial dispute between his backers and the Jordan team.

Pantano landed the Jordan drive this year thanks to sponsorship from a consortium of backers which includes not only Pantano's fam ily but also his management, which is done

by Denmark's Lars-Christian Brask.

These two groups now appear to be in conflict over who actually controls the Italian racer.

Th is meant that the due instalment of money was not paid to Jordan , although the money does exist and was in an account ·which belongs to Jordan.

Until this money was released , the team decided not to allow Pantano to go on qriving.

No immediate deal was possible between the people involved and so it was decided 10

on Friday night that Pantano would be replaced by the team 's test driver Timo Glock, who brings sponsorship to the team from Deutsche Post's Speed Academy.

Pantano returned to action in Indianapolis but it is expected that there will be legal action between the various parties involved to solve the problem .

-JOE SAWARD

NEWS

BAT increases its share in BAR MIGHT the BAR Formula 1 team pass into Chinese ownership?

British American Tobacco has increased its shareholding in the company in Brackley, UK, from 50 percent to 94 percent, according to ITV. The broadcaster, which televises F1 racing in the UK, says that BAT appears to be preparing the team for sale to a new owner by convertii;ig BAR 's debt into equity, diluting the stakes originally held by Adrian Reynard, Gerald Forsytt.ie and Craig Pollock in the process.

ITV links Chinese petrochemical giant Sinopec, the title sponsor of the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix in September, to a possible deal.

JACQUES Villeneuve has a Formula 1 drive booked next weekend - at Goodwood.

The 1997 World Champion has been invited by Festival of Speed organiser Lord March, who hopes to place him in the actual Ferrari 312 T3 in wh ich his father, Gilles, achieved his first Formula 1 w in, in the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix.

It wi ll be the first visit to the UK's annual Festiva l for Jacques, who will line up alongside numerous motorsports names in a two-day celebration of the sport, the highlight of which is the high-speed demonstration runs of racing cars

past and present.

While in England, will he visit to the Grove HO of BMW WilliamsF1 . Sir Frank Williams said that Villeneuve might test for his team later this year, but that no offer had yet been made: " We're not ready for that . We' re in no hurry. We'll look at the drivers on our list and decide which we want to test. After that we'll make our d~cision ."

It's sounding more and more li ke his Goodwood Ferrari drive might be the only F1-like one he'll be getting .. .

- QUENTIN SPURRING

ota tulfed from Canada

by JOE SAWARD

BMW Williams and Panasonic Toyota were disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix for using illegal brake air ducts.

The rules give very specific limits on the location of the air ducts to avoid teams turning them into exotic aerodynamic devices. The two teams seem to have positioned their air ducts in such a way as to minimise aerodynamic drag and in doing so fell foul of the rules.

Williams' technical director Sam Michael, above right, said that the problem was caused by a mistake and that they offered "no performance gain and no gain for brake cooling because the inlet area was not bigger."

The two teams lost all the points collected in Montreal, not least Ralf Schumacher's second place, which had a very dramatic effect on the team's Constructors' Championship.

The biggest winner in all of this, was McLaren which gained an

additional five points, increasing its total from seven points to 12 while Jordan gained three points to jump ahead of Jaguar Racing and Toyota.

The up-side for Williams was that, going into last weekend's USGP, the points needed by Jaguar (which dropped to ninth) to get into sixth place, and thus to exercise Mark Webber's option, required the green team to win the race!

The DNFs by both Webber and Klien at Indianapolis mean that Webber will be a free agent as 2005 contractual talks reach their conclusion.

Toyota's Olivier Panis made his 150th Formula 1 start in the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis. The 37/ year-old Frenchman. who has but one Formula 1 win to his name (in the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, for Ligier). scored points in his 150th outing.

The race debut of the McLarenMercedes MP4/19B hinges 0 1:1 a successful test in Spain next week.

McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh said that the decision to take it to the French Grand Prix, at Magny-Cours on July 4. would be driven by its performance at the Jerez circuit.

"We're cautiously optimistic," Whitmarsh commented. " But we have to make sure that, rather than knee-jerk into bringing a car to the circuit before it is properly developed, we do the right amount of work on the test track."

Now into his fourth year at the helm. Minardi principal Paul Stoddart says that he sometimes questions his involvement and does not think he can improve the team 's performance. Speaking to Reuters.

Stoddart explained that Minardi was less competitive than ever.

"We've improved the car on average by two seconds (per lap), which for us with our budget is pretty good.

"But unfortunately others have just got better and it's got further and further away. I have some lovely sponsors but you can't attract more sponsors when you 're last. When you're last. you're last.

"It's a Catch 22 - you need the money to not be last. and how do you get the money? You need the performance. The real ity of the situation is that there's only one thing that's going to help the Jordans and the Minardis and maybe some 0thers. which is equality. Otherwise it's not going to happen ."

- QUENTIN SPURRING

11

Boyla1

Interim boss tal

llold the pattern

KONICA Minolta V8 Supercar team owner Marty Brant has called for the technical rules and regulations in the junior V8 category to remain unchanged for next year's series.

Brant has issued an open letter to all KM teams, stating w hy he thinks the VY Commodores and BA Falcons should not be eligible for their series in 2005. And he isn't alone in his views . " The changes in the main seri es is a good chance for us to slow down and be put a year be hind," he said .

"It's the ideal time to do it."

Brant claims there will be limited opportunities to buy new

spec cars, which will force the value of cars up. He says at the end of 2005 though, there will be more of the new cars available.

Some teams have been talking about updating the bodywork of current Konica Minolta cars to reflect the new model shapes, but Brant strongly opposes this .

"We've got to keep the rules as they are, " Brant said .

"There are people who won't be happy with what I'm saying but I've had seven replies from other teams and they've all been enthusiastic.

"There's going to be a fair bit of learning with the new rules and we don't really want to be involved in that cost."

With the recent news that AVESCO has limited the entries into the endurance races to Level 1 and 2 licence holders only, Konica Minolta teams have no need to run current spec cars.

Brant, owner of Independent Race Cars Australia which runs Tony D'Alberto in the series, will be the Level 3 team's representitive at a TEGA board meeting, due to held after the Queensland Raceway round in two weeks time, Brant will have the opportunity to express his and his rivals concerns with next year's rules changes in the main series and how it wi ll affect the KMVB Series.

- GRANT ROWLEY

by GRANT ROWLEY

PETER Boylan has secured the immediate future of the PROCAR Champ Series.

Boylan, the current interim boss of the fledging series, has taken over the intellectual rights of PROCAR from former CEO Ross Palmer and the contract will see him at the helm for five years starting from 2005, with an option for a further five years.

The series is likely to run under the name PROTEAMS Australia from next year onwards.

Boylan agreed in prinicple w ith CAMS boss Rob Nethercote last Friday that the contract would be

A Wild Ride in the Wilt FORMULA Ford racer Bryce Washington has spoken about his escape from a massive accident in the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Barbagallo Raceway.

The Sonic driver had been hit off the road as the field slowed for Safety Car conditions in Race 2 and collected the wall.

Just as he'd come to rest, local veteran John McCowan lost control and ploughed into the South Australian at what is estimated to be more than 170 km/h, left.

"It was an unbelievable crash," said Washington, who was just about to unbuckle from his Van Diemen RF04 when the Western Australian started heading for his stricken machine.

"I'm so lucky. I've got a few bumps on my jaw and my pelvis has been killing me from where I was belted in but otherwise I'm OK.

12

"I was a bit dazed after I'd initially hit the wall and when I realised what was happening, I saw him straight away and ducked my head and waited for it to hit. That's all I could do.

'Tm not really thinking about the championship now. I've just been thinking about how I'm lucky to be walking away kom it."

Sonic team boss Michael Ritter said that the car was the most extensively damaged Formula Ford he'd seen in a long time.

"It's probably the most amount of

mororspon news

's live year deal

1s over intellectual rights to PROCAR Series

.

NEWS

Trengove back for Oran Pk F4000 PAUL Trengove will step back into a Formula 4000 machine at Oran Park next weekend with Ralt Australia.

The South Australian finished second in the first round of the series but could not come up with a budget for Round 2.

Josh Hunt continued his steady progress at the recent round of the Toyota Atlantic series. Last weekend, the Gold Coaster raced in two 35-lap races at Portland. Hunt suffered his first DNF in the series when he made contact with Andy Garcia while dicing inside the top 10 in Race 1 and finished 11th in the second race after encountering handling problems.

approved. The only detail left to formalise is with the AMSC, which Boylan will do in the near future.

Boylan ensured that, unlike the Palmer regime, each category would be free to explore other series and / or events to compete in, as long as they meet the PROTEAMS requirements.

Boylan hinted that the series may not necessarily be an eight round championship in 2005.

As far as the 2004 championship is concerned, the fifth round of the championship at Eastern Creek is confirmed on July 17 /18, while Wakefield Park (August 7/ 8) is also odds-on to go ahead. However, round seven in Symmons Plains

West

chassis damage I've seen in the one area," he said.

"Bryce was very lucky not to have damaged his legs or even worse. The car has stood up incredibly well."

With the next round at Queensland Raceway only a week and a half away, the team will roll out a 2004 Van Diemen it had been preparing as a customer car.

Washington will use it at QR and then decide his plans for the rest of the year once the round has been run.

- AARON NOONAN

23 June 2004

remains in the balance.

"Ideally we'd like to have all eight rounds," said Boylan at Winton.

"We are negotiating to see if we can get more support from the entrants."

Replacement circuits that have been mooted for one of the final two rounds are Mallala, Barbagallo and Oran Park.

Meanwhile, changes for the embattled Nations Cup class have also been high on the agenda.

In 2005, the GT class cars are set to be slowed, in an effort to bring them closer to the performance of the Trophy Class machines in what was formerly known as Group Two.

Volkswagen may enter a Diesel Van in the Bathurst 24 Hour. The 1/W Caddy, which is basically a w.,orkman's Golf, is currently being developed in the UK and the Australian-arm of the German manufacturer have expressed interest in having the car compete on Australian shores. Cool idea or what ?

"We don't want to start changing the rules all over the place," Boylan stated.

"We have to make it attractive for others to come in."

Two-day meetings are the most logical choice for the series and they are likely to be implemented for next year.

For the remainder of 2004, races will only be conducted on Sunday, reducing the television bill by up to $12,000 per round.

Oh no, more Joneses! No, not that mob of internet-crazed Ford drivers from Albury but Tyler Jones, son of former FF steerer Garry. The 12-year-old had his first run last week in the same kart that Ian Dyk drove to a national title in 2000. The unit wears the sarrne livery as Dyk runs in Formula 3 and will soon be seen at Eastern Creek along with Dyk's Dallara.

John Large has been recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honou rs List, awarded an Order of Australia Mode for his service to Australian motor racing over the last 35 years. A CAMS president for 12 of those years, Large began his involvement in the sport as a co-driver in rallies in the early 1970s.

He was an inaugural member of the Board of the Australian F1 Grand Prix and elected to the FIA Senate in 2001 . He is an advisor to the CAMS Board, was the founder of Targa Tasmania, and sits on the Board of Rally Australia.

Vauxhall BTCC star James Thompson will make an appearance in the European Touring Car Championship this weekend. The Brit will join the regular works Alfa Romeo drivers in an extra 156.

RATHER than take it easy on a weekend away from the VB Supercar circus, Jason Bargwanna was behind the wheel at the Rob Roy Hillclimb in Victoria on the weekend. And what a machine to be in, his 1-ery first Formula Vee racing car! As we reported a while back, Bargs' wife Deb bought the car back for his birthday and the little man ga1-e the Nova chassis its 'first' run.

Mo Nunn Racing is expanding its operations into the IRL lnfiniti Pro Series team. World of Outlaws veteran P.J. Chesson will drive for the team, which will be run under the direction of Mo's wife, Kathryn.

Chesson, 25, has raced in WoO since 1998 and won 'The Big One' at Eldora in 2001 in addition to more than 50 top-10 finishes. He will debut on July 3 at Kansas Speedway.

13

.

_

Lola bl

1

Power and Mars

Dyk tests

for Menu

AUSTRALIAN Formula 3 Championship contender Ian Dyk has returned to Australia following a successful test with British F3 Championship team Menu Motorsport.

The 18-year-old completed 220 laps during the two-day test at Pembrey in Wales two weeks ago . He impressed the team w ith both his feedback and lap . t imes, particularly when he managed to lap inside the top 10 on a day when no less than 19 of the series' regular racing competitors were also out testing .

For an interview with Oyk, turn to page 30.

- MARK GLENDENNING

BRutiful Bathurst

~05 model V8s to join 24 Hour grid

1

Ti :E Ford versus Holden VB B ,ute hostilities are set to be

I au1gued over 24 Hours!

Four, and possibly six VB

Ba lilutes could enter this year's

B1athurst 24 Hour endurance ra ce in November. ifhe cars are intended to be 2ID05-spec Falcons/ Commodores vwith an upgraded suspension p;ackage and more power.

JAi Winton , interest among the B3F.!ute drivers and teams was h- gh, although none were totally

committal.

The VB BRutes are expected to have their own support races over the course of the Bathurst 24 Hour weekend , as they have had for the past two years the event has been held.

The last time a Utility raced on the Mountain in- an enduro was in 1992 when Allan Grice, Neil Crompton and Brad Jones steered a Commodore VP Ute in the 12 Hour.

- GRANT ROWLEY

No more show for Goben

Former bike star

ONE-TIME GP star Anthony Gobert has checked himself into a rehabilitation centre in Sydney after admitting his problems with alcohol and drugs has all but destroyed his racing career.

In an open letter sent to American weekly Cycle News, Gobert has offered his apologies to his all of his fans and teams he has let down over his behaviour through the years.

The 29-year-old was sacked recently by the Erion Honda R,11cing team after being arrested for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in California.

Erion Racing boss Kevin Erion issued a press release on April 13 announcing Gobert's immediate departure from the team.

In his open letter, a clearly contrite Gobert said: "I realise after this latest incident that I do have a problem, which over the years I have refused • to admit having.

14

into rehab

" 'Ilhave watched all the gooq thirngs disappear in my life due to my dri.rn'king, drug taking and p artying lifestyle. " 'lmow face the realisation that I ma:i _lhave even lost the one thing that is rm ywhole reason for living- my uaci:mgcareer." oouted as a future multiple world ciha qion when he burst onto the inte:mational road race scene in 1994 at tme World Superbike rounds in Jap8![1 and later Phillip Island, Gobeiit's career has been m arred by a rntllliJ\ber of positive drug tests and off-m ack indiscretions. ":B: ,aan' t have back the time, but I :make changes to my lifestyle to maik.e sure it doesn't happen again," he &.aid.

"-JI ,aan only hope that someone will give me another chance in the future, realising that my attitude and ~pp:Jr0ach will be much different. ".And if I d on't get anoth(¥" chance,

On track at one time: Gobert heads Troy Corser on his way to an SBK win at Phillip Island in 2000.

I can only hope the younger generation can read this and learn from me that drugs and drinking is not the way to go about racing, or life in general."

"It can be looked upon as being cool in the early stages, but eventually things will start to change and unfortunately for me, it has taken this loss and low to make me

realise I have a problem that needs to be addressed.

"I am so sorry to everyone I h ave hurt. I had no intention o f doing this or hurting anyone.

"Off I go to make a major change and one whid1 I know will make a better person and in return a better rider, which is w hat I want most. " - DARRYL FLACK

mororspon news

•eakthrough in F3

1all only Aussies left to fly the Southern Cross

Yeah baby!

Danny Watts, above, greets the chequered flag at Castle Combe to score a breakthrough for the Lola Dome chassis in British F3.

Will Power, left with Alan Docking, didn't have the best of weekends but still sits fourth in the championship.

THIS new Van Diemen RF04 will soon be seen in the Australian Formula Ford Championship.

The car, which is fitted witn a Ritter engine, is currently being prepared at the workshops of Wodonga TAFE's ~otorsport Enginee~ing school. When completed, the car will be overseen by students at the school in testing prior to its debut at, probably, the Winton round of series on July 24-25.

The car will be driven by someone named JoAes - in fact, it says hefe that it will be Kim Jones. Obviowsly, it is not realistic to expect that will be the same Kim Jones who is the team manager for OzEmail Racing's VS Supercar tearrn.

We have just been told that it is the same Kim Jones and that the slightly dazed and very much older-look!ng s)udent on the right is_the same Kim Jones who raced FFs alongside his (much) better-looking brother Brad more than 20 years ago ...

- PHIL BRANAGAN

23 June 2004

LOLA-DOME has finally brokenthe strangehold of Dallara on the British Formula 3 Championship, afte~ Brit Danny Watts took a win in the series on the weekend at Castle Combe.

The chassis, which is run by the Promatecme team based at Silverstone and has been forced to miss some rounds due to a lack of budget, came up with the goods at the same venue where Watts threw away a, certain win last year.

He led from pole to win and became the .first non-Dallam driver to win a British F3 race since Kelvin Burt won in a Reynard over 11 years ago!

For the two Australians in the field, Will Power and Marcus Marshall, it was a difficult weekend with no too many results to show despite promise.

Power finished sixth in the first race before the heavens opened in Race 2. He was running seventh until a clash with Carlin's Danilo Dirani at the start of the last lap. Dirani was out with broken suspension while Power hobbled on to finish 13th and out of the championship points.

He now sits fourth in the series on 86 points. elson Piquet Jr leads on 123 from Adam Carroll on 118 and James Rossiter on 110.

Marshall had a promising weekend but was blighted by the lack of a Friday test session, as is usually the case at British F3 rounds.

"Both James (Rossiter, team-mate) and I struggied in qualifying and the rubber down on the track really affected us," said Marshall.

"That left me 15th and 16th for the races and in the first race the car was really good."

Marshall managed to work his way through the field to make it up to 10th and be within reach of his first championship points finish. But a Scholarship car re-joining the track from the pits helped put paid to that.

"He came out of the pits and kept swerving in front. I had nearly two seconds on Andrew Thompson but he caught me and lunged me on the last lap to take away my point!"

Marshall decided to gamble on a dry set-up and older wets for the wet second race but it rained halfway through the race.

"I was going nowhere fast! It was a struggle to stay on the track - I could have been a hero but ended up a zero."

He finished 13th, with the British F3 teams to reconvene at Donington this weekend in support of the European Touring Car Championship.

.

NEWS

BMW 1-2 at the Ring 24 BMW has crl!lshed its opposition to take a one-two in the Nurburgring 24 Hour. Armed with a pair of GTR VB monsters, the winning car of ETCC pilots Dirk and Jorg Muller and Hans Stuck completed 143 laps of the 24kilornetre venue in appalling weather conditions. A lap behind was the team car of Pedro Lamy, Duncan Huisman af;ld Boris Said.

The cars used by the outfit are the same 500-horsepower machines used by the German marque t©win the GTS class in the 2001 American Le Mans Series. There were 208 cars in the race, held in front of 200,000 fans.

Tony Stewart is stepping back into a Sportscar. The NASCAR ace is re-joining the Howard-Boss Motorsports team for which he cirove at the Daytona 24 hlour earlier in the year, and will campaign the team's Pontiac Crawford at the ,,Daytona and Watkins Glen rouncds of the Grand-Am Series. Stewart will team up with Andy Wallace. The duo paired with Dale Earnhardt Jr to lead 355 of 526 laps in the Daytona 24 Hour only to have a mechanical failure while leading within 20 minutes of the race's end.

GT entrant Frederic Dor is looking at a new GT championship.

The Frenchman is suggesting a concept whereby one organisation builds five cars for the championship.

The aim is to drive down costs and provide parity of cars. His idea seems to involve manufacturers providing cars and paying to promote the series.

Former BTCC racer David Leslie will return to international competition at Donington Park this weekend in the FIA GT Clilampionship. Leslie, 50, will share a Saleen S7-R with Paulo Ruberti and Paul Whight. Leslie, a regular commentator on the series for television channel Eurosport, was a Group C2 regular but hasn't raced modern sports cars for a few years.

Honda is set to return to the BTCC in style. The Japanese car giant is gearing up to conquer the BTCC but is yet unclear whether it will take a sabbatical in 2005. The comli)any reduced its support for the Arena Motorsport team this year but is planning to come back with all guns blazing with a new car in 2006.

British F3 championship leader Nelson Piquet is 1umoured to be switching to Hitech Racing before the end of the season. Nelsinho tested for the team recently and lapped half a second quicker than in his regular car. He raced for Hitech at Macau and Korea last year, but team boss David Hayle is playing down the speculation.

- DAVID ADDISON/STAFF 15

-

I

by MARTIN D CLARK

GT bunfight begins THE new, all-carbon Maserati MC12 racecar has been a main topic of discussion this week at meetings intended to establish common technical regulations for the G,;s track racing category, which could then be used both in the FIA GT Championship and at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Delegates from the FIA, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest and manufacturers including Fordowned Aston Martin (which is building a GTS contender for 2005), Chevrolet , Ferrari , Maserati, Porsche and Saleen have been involved.

Ahead of the meetings David Poissenot, the ACO's Le Mans sporting director, said : "A GTS

car should be a road car first and a racecar second. " Maserati's V12-engined MC 12 complies with FIA regulations but not the ACO's Le Mans rules, due to its excessive bodywork overhang of the front and rear axle lines, and its full-width rear wing.

Poissenot added : "We will not change our rules just for one car."

Meanwhile there is new doubt over the car's participation in the FIA GT series, in which it is due to debut in September. The independently-owned teams have firmly declined to agree to a rule change to allow factory teams to take part in the championship.

- QUENTIN SPURRING

NASCAR President Mike Helton made an apology to the fans on at Pocono, who endured an almost fivehour marathon at Dover on May 6.

He said that the 24-lap caution period was 'unacceptable' while they checked and re-checked scoring information to ensure cars were restarted in the correct position.

In future, NASCAR will not rely on videotape and manual scoring backup during cautions and will depend totally on the electronic scoring loops that were installed in multiple points under the track's surface over the offseason. The only exception will be if a race ends under caution.

Also, the driver that gets a free pass for being one lap down at the time of a caution will move into position at the beginning of the caution and not wait an extra lap for that to happen.

Pit road will now open the second time the leader passes the pit road entrance, not the second time the pace car passes the entrance.

The new ruling-didn't take long to

show fault, when at Pocono, the official that waves the flag entering pitlane showed the green flag (and not red) by mistake.

This left all the lead lap cars pitting too early, except for leader Jimmie Johnson and three other cars.

NASCAR realised their mistake and put it down to human error, but left the field set.

"The green flag was out when

Not the breast ol lriends

Former DlM racer attacks Ralf's gal

BTCC All Stars!

FORMER racing driver Ellen Lohr has advised Ralf Schumacher's wife, Cora, that her enhanced bust will not help her in motorsport.

Cora came 13th and 18th in two Mini Cooper races in Germany, prompting Lohr to say: "No real professional driver wou ld take along in the ca r· an 16

additional twice 400 grammes of extra weight.

"If she gets into a crash, her breasts might burst. I don't know if that's what she wants ... " Nice to know that cat fights extend into motorsport. We'd like to know what round two holds ...

- QUENTIN SPl,JRRING

THE British Touring Car champions of the last 15 years are squaring up to each other at Donington at the end of the season on September 25/26.

The BTCC Masters race has been launched, with invited drivers racing identical SEAT Leon Cupra Rs. They are the turbo-charged cars built for SEAT's one-make championship that ends in August.

The likes of Jolm Cleland, Ala.in Menu, above, and Jo Winkelhock are all planning to do battle, but Vauxhall has put a stop to Yvan Muller and James Thompson taking part. The race runs on the same day as the last BTCC round and the company doesn't want the pair to drive for another manufacturer.

"Every driver I have spoken to about it has been wildly enthusiastic for the concept and has put it in their diaries already," said TOCA boss Alan Gow. "In addition to inviting all our champions since 1990, I will also be inviting a number of 'wild card' drivers. These will be drivers who starred in the BTCC, in that same era, but who didn't win the title. I suppose on that 'hit list' would be drivers such as Nigel Mansell, Steve Soper, Andy Rouse, Patrick Watts, Paul Radisich, Jeff Allam, Derek Warwick, David Brabham etc."

- DAVID ADDISON

mo1orspon news

IS 8

Jimmie went by (pit road)," said Helton, ''but unfortunately it was out at the wrong ti.me. As soon as we realised there had been a mistake we opened it up a second ti.me for the lead cars, but we realized quickly there was no fix for a mistake on out part."

Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus were livid at the issue, but thankfully Johnson raced back to win the event after dominating anyway.

roun

"Fortunately we didn't lose the race over it," quipped Johnson.

"I'd be absolutely furious if we hadn't won, but I was very upset at the ti.me that things weren't corrected to give us track position back."

The Pocono race also ended under caution, not a popular move with the race fans and many think the ruling from the Truck Series should be adopted where the race has to end

-

under green flag conditions.

NASCAR, however, says it would be too dangerous to implement.

Again some 'fans' showed their disapproval at Pocono, pelting the track with debris.

One was ejected after being pointed out by other supporters for throwing hls ·cooler with beer inside at the flag stand and hitting the back-up · flagman!

}'van and Jase Round234!

THE BTCC's annual visit to Mondello Park gave wins to Vvan Muller, Jason Plato and Colin Turkington, but the main talking point was a renewal of hostilities between Muller and Plato.

Muller, right, won Race 1 in a car that was welldriven, even if it didn't have the speed of the chasing Anthony Reid MG. Muller kept Reid at bay race-long despite the maximum ballast, while Colin Turkington took third.

In Race 2, the heavier Astra took fourth with Plato coming out on top, but the pair tangled in Race 3, putting Jase out on the spot.

"With Plato nothing is fair," said Muller.

Jason, right, was less than impressed as well, claiming the French ace squeezed him, but the incident allowed Turkington through for a win, the first time he has raced a BTCC car at Mondello.

Muller now heads the championship by just four points from Thompson with Reid third.

Meanwhile, Reid and Honda driver Matt Neal have entered into a public slanging match after again colliding during the round.

A furious Neal said : "It's been a couple of races since he hit me, but I can only think that what Reid did this time was deliberate.

"He just keeps driving into people and one day someone's going to decide it's payback time and he'll know about it."

Reid, meanwhile, thought his car was good enough to win.

"I could have won that race . Matt had gone off

23 June 2004

NEWS

DEi signs

another young'un

ACCORDING to inside team sources, Paul Menard has signed a five-year contract with Dale Earnhardt Inc with help from his father John's companies.

Menards, a home improvement store chain, Turtle Wax and Energizer batteries (of which Menard Snr is a part owner). are reportedly backing t-he venture. Paul will drive for three years in the Busch Series and follow that with two years in Nextel Cup. The move will also fund the former Pennzoil-sponsored #1 DEi Chev that has only made brief appearances with John Andretti at the wheel. That car should return to full-time competition in July with Andretti as pilot.

Joe Gibbs Racing has announced it has a signed letter of intent from FedEx to be the primary sponsor of a third Gibbs Nextel Cup team in 2005. No driver has been named at this point, but Greg Biffle is a strong possibility if he gets a release from his Roush contract. J.J. Yeley, hired to drive a limited schedule of Busoh events for Gibbs before moving to Cup, is a slim possibility, but will possibly not be ready to make the move up in 2005.

Roush Racing is apparently still waiting on a decision from NASCAR on whether they will allow hard liquor sponsors within the 'family' sport. This subject has been taboo with NASCAR in the past, but with the American dollar tight all around and sponsorship hard to come by, a change could be possible within the coming weeks. If liquor is allowed, look for the Jeff Burton Ford to be sponsoree by one of several brands owned by Diaego, very possibly Crown Royal or Captain Morgan.

the track ahead of me after he got tangled up with one of the Vauxhalls and as he came back decided to drive straight into the side of my car."

Who said the BTCC had grown boring ...

- DAVID ADDISON

For the first time in NASCAR history, three cars from the same team took the first three qualifying positions for a race on the weekend.

Hendrick Motorsports drivers Jeff Gordon, rookie Brian Vickers and Jimmie Johnson achieved the feat at Michigan.

- MARTIN D CLARK 11

Fries with your victory?

Fresh from Le Mans, Bourdais out-points team-mate for Portland win '

by PHIL MORRIS NEWMAN/HAAS Racing duo Sebastian Bourdais and Bruno Junqueira completed a one-two finish at the Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland, in an event dominated by the pair.

Frenchman Bourdais claimed hls second win of the season to consolidate third place in the championshlp, while team-mate Junqueira has pushed to a six point lead in the title chase.

Bourdais took pole position and went on to lead 85 of 94 laps in scoring his second Champ Car victory of the season.

"I knew that Bruno wquld have a shot to catch me at the end when he put on a set of the alternate tyres because those tyres were so fast, and I had the primary tyres on because I used up my alterna te tyres. However, we were able to pull it off," he said.

His Brazilian team-mate nearly ran hlm down but just failed.

"We were just following Sebastien

most of the race," said Junqueira. " I got caught up in traffic, and Sebastien got a big gap from that.

After our last pit stop, we put on a new set of the alternate tyres. I thought I would catch hlm in the · end, however, I ran into more traffic and ran out of time."

The Forsythe Racing duo of Paul Tracy and Patrick Carpentier came home third and fourth, clear of top rookies Justin Wilson, above, and A.J. Allmendinger, above right.

"I had a long battle with A.J. and were able to hold hlm off until the

finish," said Wilson.

"The pace of our car was not what we had hoped for, but my crew gave me excellent stops."

Alex Tagliani, Jimmy Vasser, Mario Haberfeld and Roberto Gonzalez rounded out the top 10 finishers.

The Herdez team had a difficult weekend. Ryan Hunter-Reay, who won last time out at Milwaukee in dominant fashion, struggled with a badly handling car and could only manage 12th, while Mario Dominguez was eliminated in a collision with Rodolfo Lavin.

"That was the most difficult two hours of my racing career," said the young American.

"We have been working all weekend trying to settle the rear of the car. After each stop the car was great, but after five laps or so, the

rear-end would become extremely unstable."

Michel Jourdain Jr was another in the wars. He was involved in a first corner collision and was forced to plod along and finish outside the top 10.

"I saw Mario (Dominguez) brake very, very early," he said of the incident, below.

"I went on the outside and made the corner. Then, I got hit from behind so I don't know exactly what happened. From there, we continued to struggle. I had to run full fuel, had long runs on the tyres, I got stuck behind slow cars coming out of the pit~. Everything went wrong."

Points: Junqueira 105, Carpentier 99, Bourdais 98, Tracy 79, Hunter-Reay 75, Wilson 71.

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18

Whoompakasha! Jourdain Jr gets tipped up after contact with Dominguez at the first corner of the Portland race. mororspon news

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Rossi again in Spain - and 3 Yamahas in top 4 ...

IF you were ever going to bet that Honda would beat Yamaha - okay then, beat Vale11ti110 Rossi - you would pick Mugello and Barcelona as the two tracks where you would spend your dough.

Well, The Doctor came up trumps in Spain, adding another layer to Honda's heartache with a thrilling win over Sete Gibemau. The local led the first half of the race before Rossi took over to win by a bare tenth of second.

"Sete and I went at a very hard pace at the front and we were more than 10 seconds ahead of the others," Rossi said. "To have won three races at this stage of the championship is fantastic but the wins here and in Mugello are very important for me."

So, it was a one-off example of man over machinery, yes? No; Marco Melandri scored his first podium finish with third on his Yamaha and Carlos Checa was fourth. Colin

Edwards took fifth ahead of Duca ti ace Ruben Xaus, while Shinya Nakano shook off the effects of his high-speed crash in Italy with a strong seventh for Kawasaki, a fine · ride after qualifying 13th.

"Last week I crashed at Mugello and thought I was dead," Nakano said with remarkable calm after the race. "Then today I score my best result of the season. That's racing and that's why I enjoy it so much."

The major crash this time befell Troy Bayliss. The Aussie was engaged in a battle with Edwards, Xaus and Nakano when he was flung off his Ducati and rag-dolled down the road.

The 34-year-old touched the back of the Spaniard's bike and somersaulted into a gravel trap. He was X-rayed at the track but no broken bones were found .

Ducati team-mate Loris Capirossi was little better off, finishing 10th after running wide at the first comer.

Points: Gibemau 106, Rossi 101, Max Biaggi 80, Checa 49, Alex Banos 48, Edwards 44, Melandri 38, Capirossi 34, Norick Abe 28, Nicky Hayden 27. ·

THOUSANDS of paella-fuelled locals could not get their man Dani Pedrosa home in the 250cc GP.

French Aprilia rider Randy De Puniet won his first race of the season after a race-long battle with the Honda man, De Puniet winning a braking duel four comers from the flag to take a narrow victory. Toni Elias (Honda) was nine seconds back in third, with Sebastian Porto (Aprilia) a further Us in arrears.

Ant West was out-gunned on his privateer Aprilia, holding out the Honda of Alex Debon for eighth.

Points: De Puniet 98, Pedrosa 90, Porto 63,

Nieto 56, Elias 54, Roberto Rolfo 41, Alex De

Angelis 40, Debon 37, West 36, Hiroshi

Aoyama35.

EVEN ending the second lap in 23rd position could not stop Hector Barbera winning the 125cc GP. ·

The 17-year-old Spaniard surged into a seven-bike pack fighting for the lead and emerged to hold out Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) and Pablo Nieto.

Aussie Casey Stoner started the final lap in third place but his KTM was out-horsepowered and he fell one position at the flag.

Points: Dovizioso 96, Barbera 74, Roberto Locatelli 73, Stoner 68, Nieto 55, Steve Jenkner 47, Mirko Giansanti 45, Marco Simoncelli 34, Jorge Lorenzo 33, Alvaro

Bautista 24.

No local winners on the big bikes: Rossi, top, and De Puniet, #7 left, spoiled the parties in Barcelona by beating the Spanish heroes.

20

CHRIS Vermeulen has given Honda's CBR1000RR its first World Superbike Championship win at Donington.

The young Aussie sealed his first SBK victory with a cool performance on a sunny day that saw the works Ducatis out-run by Ten Kate's semi-factory bike and the Renegade Ducati of Noriyuki Haga. The Samurai of Slide just beat the Aussie in the opening race but Vermeulen turned the tables in Race 2, the 400th SBK race and an early birthday present for the Queenslander, who turned 22 six days after the race.

"I made a small mistake in Race 1 and that was enough to give Nori the chance to pass me and take the win," grinned Vermeulen after the race.

"I wasn't going to make the same mistake in Race 2. Whatever happened I wasn't going to let this one go. On the last lap I just made sure I blocked on the corners and kept my pace high. I hope everybody enjoyed it as much as I did."

Pierfrancesco Chili was third in the opening race on his private Ducati 998, works Ducati riders Regis Laconi and James Toseland both tumbling. In the second race, Chili crashed out after colliding with Toseland, allowing Laconi to take the position and the series lead.

Garry McCoy started strongly with fourth in Race 1 but dropped to eighth in Race 2, while Steve Martin took two sixths on the DFX Ducati. Troy Corser came back to earth with seventh and ninth on the Foggy-Petronas, while the other notable performance came from Brit James Ellison, who split Martin and McCoy for seventh on his Yamaha R1.

Points: Laconi 171, Toseland 168, Haga 139, Vermeulen 137, Chili 129, McCoy 128, Leon Haslam 113, Corser 95, Martin 93, Chris Walker 82.

FRENCHMAN Fabien Foret has held out an Aussie SuperSport assault to take the win at Donington.

The Yamaha Italia R6 was too fast for the Ten Kate Hondas of Karl Muggeridge and Broe Parkes to win a thriller, with the Ducati of Lorenzo Lanzi riding a strong start to take fourth.

Yamaha riders Kevin Curtain and Jurgen van den Goorbergh completed the top six.

Points: Muggeridge 107, van den Goorbergh 92, Parkes 69, Curtain 58, Foret 55, Lanzi 50, Charpentier 48, etc.

mo1orspon news

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D'oh!, not Dough for McGuiness in Senior TT BRITISH road racing ace John McGuinness has had to settle for 'only' three wins at the Isle of Man TT after his Yamaha retired while dominating the Senior

IT~

McGuinness, who had been sho0ting for a record five TT wilils in one year, was surging away kom the tield when he struck clutch trouble mid-race, leaving the Suzuki of Irishman Adrian Archibald fighting with Ian Louger and Bruce Anstey.

But when Louger's Holilda packed up, Archibald led home Anstey anci Gary Carswell, with Mark Parrett, Martin Finnegan and Chris Heath next.

With Fmmula One winner McGuinness we ll and truly out, Archibald was in the right place to pick up the Joey Dunlop Tr@phy and a £10,000 ($26,500) bonus for the best aggregate time over both main events, the Formula One and Senior TTs .

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Kanaan extends TONY Kanaan has extended his IRL lndyCar Series points advantage over team-mate Dan Wheldon in the Bombardier 500k at Texas Motor Speedway.

The Andretti Green Racing outfit dominated proceedings at the 1.5mile oval, with team-mate (and polesitter) Dario Franchitti taking second.

"You have to lead the last lap," Kanaan said.

"I made sure I saved everything for the last lap. Every time this year an AGR car started on the pole, we ended up winning the race and finishing second as well."

Behind the Honda-powered Dallaras came a breakthrough performance from Red Bull Cheever's Alex Barron, whose third place was the best finish by a Chevrolet all year so far.

Sam Hornish Jr was fourth for Team Penske, while Indy 500 Champ Buddy Rice was among the leaders until suffering a broken driveshaft on lap 181.

"We were running near the front late in the race when Rice and Manning got into it." said Hornish Jr. "I tried to keep from running into the back of Rice, and I ended up hitting the wall. We bent the right-

Crack a can: Alex Barron had his, and Chev's, best result of the season, above, but nothing could stop the Brazilian Kanaan, right. Sam Hornish Jr, below, was the best of the Penske boys in fourth spot. rear suspension, but the car ran almost as well after the incident."

Adrian Fernandez was fifth, clear of Vitor Meira, Greg Ray, Darren Manning, Felipe Giaffone and Tora Takagi. Hello Castroneves was classified 12th after running out of fuel late in the piece, while title rival Scott Dixon was a retirement with bent suspension from a pitlane clash with Fernandez.

Points: Kanaan 210, Wheldon 175, Castroneves 146, Rice 144, Manning 124, Dixon 122.

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mororspon news

Hello, Newman •••

STATESIDE

by MARTIN D CLARK

THERE was no drama in NASCAR's officiating of the Michigan race on Sunday and Ryan Newman (Penske Dodge) came out victorious, although the race did end under caution for the third straight week.

Newman, right, fought back from a lap down for his first win of the year when he pitted off sequence on lap 22.

"I had some paper on the grille" , said Newman, "it started to get pretty hot and we felt it was better to be safe than sorry. .

"We were lucky we were,' but we fought hard for it and Dale Jarrett raced me clean when we had the opportunity to get by."

For the fourth time in his rookie season, Kasey Kahne finished in the runner-up slot, passing Jarrett on the final lap.

Pole-sitter Jeff Gordon dominated the first half of the race through lap 89 when he

23 June 2004

brought out the caution with a detonated engine. The same fate would befall third-running Joe Nemechek (also with Hendrick power) later in the race .

Jimmie Johnson lost third gear early in the race and the final rash of cautions hurt his chances of a win.

"On every restart I had to go from second to fourth and second gear wasn't wanting to stay inside the transmission,"

he said.

But when Dale Earnhardt Jrr cut a tyre before the final yellow flag, Johnson picked up the points lead with his fourth placing over 'Little E's' 21st result.

A week earlier at Poccrno, Johnson, above right, took his third win of the year and second in three events at Pocono, holding off Jeremy Mayfield to the 11th caution flag of the day

for a wrecked Newman that ended the race.

Bobby Labonte recovered well to finish third after losing a lap earlier in the race when he ground-through his oil filter, which had come loose from its mounting.

Point: Johnson 2220, Earnhardt Jr. 2213, Kenseth 2040, B Labonte 1954, Stewart 1945, J Gordon 1933.

23

24

motorspon news

OPINION

T

HE PROCAR Champ . that I'm going to do .different throw F3 out and put us in. I'm not into throwing people out.

Series is here t~. while I'm at the helm. Firstly, stay! · . we have to getsQrnebody What we want to do is try and strengthen each and every Starting as from· 2005, I'll bE\; professional to find a series category and that's what I'm sponsor. The way to do that is starting what will. be a 10 year trying to focus on. to go out there.and°fin'd · term at the head of'P~OCAR · someone·outside ofthe'Sport.

Australia.

I think Ross Palmer's The next part of my job will next round of the series PROCAR was ·a great be to get full fields ..The YB . has been confirmed at BRutes are full, .GT · Eastern Creek and Wakefield company, and I'm going.to build on those foundations.

Performance ls fun, Prod.uctiqn Park should go ahead. cars,have gone from 14 to 24 • ·As far as the future is Ross and I came to cars recently, we do eventually concerned, I'd like the series to agreement last week. We had spoken abo~t a three--year want them to have 30 cars but visit"as many states as I can. the category is healthy.

But there are a couple of things contract but most of the about that. It can't become too people in this business are Nations Cup needs a bit of work, but things are expensive for our competitors here f9~ the long-term so I progressing daily. and It also depends on who the thought we should talk for·five to 10 years.

I think it really is going to be sponsors are. upward and forward from here.

If we've got a national Ross is committed for it to contin4e and cou!dn't. see any It was interesting that one or sponsor, that could dictate reason why it shouldn't be for two other categories hpve · where we go. That could well 10 years. We've agreed on·a ·. asked if they cao joio the mean we go to every state. It's PROCAR series, which was a a little early to say, and it's far number of th1ngs that is going -to work for everybody. . little bit interesting. We just too early to say where we are ·1 had a ·chat with Rob have to'l'ook and see if we can going to go next year.

Nethercote from CAMS at accommodate them.

Next year, it's hard to tell . Of course they want whether we will do two day Winton on Saturday and he television, but they want to be meetings or remain at three didn't have any issue with the part of a national · · days. People's opinions are five-year deal or the fiye-v,ear championship and my criteria divided on this case so at the option and he thought it was · is to see t,hat you've got to . ·moment that is something that much better than three years.

He said it shows stability and · have 30 cars. One guy has to be sorted. We have a the only thing that we'll have .: reminded me that Formtila'3 situc1tion where the production to do now is go througli the .,.rt O!lly.had 12 cars, so can you .cars only turn up on Saturday AMSC, which will on·ly be a· · · · · morning, so we might end up formality. ,.

-= •------::----""""l!::::::-~~~O...Ci}- · ·with a combination of the There are a qifferent groups. fewthings There has been a bit of pressure

The

Motor Mouth wn Peter 101111

on me to be involved in the 24 Hour. I'm not involved directly in the 24 Hour, but we need someone to co-ordinate the groups. Who that's going to be I don't know. Somebody has been interviewed, and that might work. But if some of yo u readers want the job then you should apply!

I was recently at the Nurburgring 24 Hour race and there was a lot of interest over. there for our even . I was the first to announce that the 24 Hour would go ahead and I must say there was interest around. Most of the Europeans were delighted ...

Who's going to come? It's a bit early to say. But there was a lot of interest. People were looking for me in the paddock to talk about it. I dropped off a lo of brochures. But a fam iliar question was 'where is Bathurst?' Do we 9et off at Melbourne, or Sydney or Brisbane?'

Kangaroos, H theS

•

•

OPINION

toters and enJoy1ng 1opping Experience

I

•

II w h e r e is it?" said

the waitress at our favourite little diner, around the corner from the hotel in Indianapolis.

W e looked at her blankly.

"Where is it? " she said again. And then she paused . " You don't remember me, do you? " Li ke a pa ir of guilty schoolboys we admitted that she did I00k vaguely familiar but no, we had no memory,at all of wraatever it was she · wanted us to bring her. " Last year," she said. "You guys promised to bring me a kangaroo. " Some Formula 1 journalists may make outrageous promises to young lad ies in foreign countries but importing a kangaroo into the United States was not a task we would have agreed to without a great deal of thought or a cilarned good reasoR to uri dertake such a crazy scheme.

Seizing the opportunity, I quickly explained that the Un ited States Immigration Service (or whatever they call it these days) is difficult enough for human beings, let alone kangaroos and that the waitress's kangaroo had in fact been kidnapped !Dy customs officers at lmdianapolis Airport. She did not look very convinced.

"Do you have any idea how ha rd it is to get int o t he United States these days," I added.

"You have to create a massive dossier and spend a pile of money.

You have to get letters and then you have to list all t he countries that you have visited in the last 10 years (not the w ork of a moment for the average F1 journalist) and then af.ter an interview you finally get two visas (one is not enough if you wish to visit the US professionally and privately).

23 Jone 2004

"After that y0u have to be fingerprinted and photographed and told that you should "Have a nice day ! " which is obviously not what you are doing when you have stood in the immigration queue for nigh on two hours.

If we Europeans did to US citizens what the US is doing to them, war would be declared on "the cmeese-eating surrender monkeys!" amd the Green Berets woulcl omce again be landing on the eoasts of Normandy to ensure the liberty of the free world .

"Besides," I added, for effect, "haw do you firagerprint a kangaroo?"

W

e suggested that she take a trip to Indianapolis Zoo. I guess that she had already been because there really isn't much else to do in Indianapolis. It may be the crossroads of America but, if

"For Fl rans who want to see more than Melbourne, Indianapolis is the place to go"

•

you are not a race fan, tf:1e~e really isn't much in the way of tourism.

There are a few monuments, an art gallery that boasts a brace o1i Monets, a mansion wh'ere President Benjamin Harrison used to live (although he came from Ohio) but after that, thi mgs go quickly downhill to shopping malls, steak houses and sports facilities, tme m est notat>le being t me RCA Dome, w mich dormimates the Indianapolis skyline like a very larg~ f1mgus-like growth.

Things got so bad in the days between the Canadian and US Grands Prix that we found ourselves visiting Victo ria's Secret Lingerie store because there wasn 't much else to do (Ed: That sounds very convincing Joe ... ).

The local newspaper, known as the Indianapolis Star, decided as part of its Grand Prix coverage to do an amusin@ piece comparing the habits of the three different kinds of race fan who come to the city: F1, NASCAR and the Indy Racing League.

The F1 fans eat in the best steakhouses, wear designer gear and drink coffee.

The visitors, the Star recko ms, complain that lnclianapolis is not cultured enough but t hat it is better tha m Brazil.

The Indy 500 erowd eat in some 0f Nae same restamamts, but after that t he divisiolils begim.

Tlaey wear either lmdy 500 T-shirts or "as little as possible " amd they drink "whatever Tme Speedway sells".

The NASCAR fams, on the other hand, eat in junk food joints, particularly Hooters where the waitresses appear to be chosen !Dy the size of thei r breasts.

The NASCAR fans wear T-shirts, T-shirts amd Tshirts. They drink Bl!ld and their only complaint is tmat lndianapGJlis is a town with too much culture.

The Box Seat with Joa Siward

E

veryene likes to rm ake fwn 01i hadianapolis b wt the truth is t hat we love visiting the self-styled 'Auto Rac in g Capital of the World ' .

It is hard t© argue that it isn't the case as t f.l e Speedway is the wo rld's oldest surviving permanent racing facility; it hosts three of th~ biggest events in the world each year: The Indy 500, the Brickyard 400 and the United States Grand Prix. The Indianapol is Motor Speedway Museum is a wonderful place (and even better if you are lucky enough to visit the basement). The tickets are cheap and there is no shortage of seats.

The crowd is huge by F1 standards, even if t he antiIndianapolis lobby says t hat things ain't what they used to be.

B1~t best of all , this is a place where people want t o help you and want to be nice, to make F1 welcome. The Speedway does an amazing job fer the teams and for the media. ;rhey put the other Grands Prix to shame. What y e u want is w mat yo l!J @et except when it comes to a crowd 1iigure - but that really is the only complaint.

For F1 fans who want to see more than Melbourne, this is the place to go. Be niee to the immigration men (don't try importing kangaroos) and d0n't expect Paris. "&>id y0u enjoy your expe rience here today sir, " saie the apprnximately-15year-old bag-packer in the g1r0eery store.

Well, a Sl!J !l)ermarket is a supermarket, bwt when it comes to t me race traGk, yes, I did .

21

Five minutes witll ...

Steven Richards

It could have Ileen " sweep tor Richo in Perth - but it could have been a zero toa. PHIL BRANAGAN asked the Castro/ man about his first pole and what might have been at Barbagallo MOTORSPORT NEWS: The best thing to say about Perth was that it could have been a whole lot worse but it could have been a whole lot better.

STEVEN RICHARDS : I guess that the best thing to say is that we mounted the best recovery we cou ld, under the circumstances.

Forgetting about the thing in Saturday's race, sometimes you get on a roll when a few things start going wrong. We had the engine problem in the warm-up, right, and the guys were under pressure for the best part of 24 hours. It's easy under those circumstances to go a bit askew.

So after everything that happened, to end up second in Race 3 was sensational.

MN: With the car speed you had,exceptforwhat happened, it could have been the mother of all whuppings.

SR: There 's absolutely no doubt in my mind that, except for what happened in Race 1, it was going to be pretty matter-of-fact. When we did get past Skaifey on the second lap, in a half-lap we pulled four or five car-lengths - until we· got to Dale Brede.

It could have been a reasonablry successful race for us.

MN: Did it take much work to get on top of the new track surface?

SR : No, it didn 't. We pulled the car out of the truck and, straight away, it was very good.

We did make some changes from Friday to Saturday and that made it better again . But, if you can get it right, right out of the truck, we were as close to that as anyone.

MN: Another thing was that yol,I had excellent car speed atr the end of the races. You were, obviously looking after the tyres pretty well.

SR: They were helped by the

28

n ew surface over there. Most of the guys were still able to run q uickly towards the end of the race .

There were still the guys who w ere struggling with their cars a nd they were slipping back. I c annot honestly remember w hether Todd Kelly or John B owe had dramas; they were running well and Todd got in front o f us at the pitstop. He was quick

with and that helps your speed.

MN: We have just had three 3race formats over recent rounds. Even if you are not leading the championship, you are still handily placed. Did the sprint format suit you?

SR : I am sure that, if you had have asked the same question 12 months ago, most people would have said that I am more of an

MN: What about your first pole? Did you ever think about never having one in seven seasons?

SR: No, not at all. It generally comes down to the guy who is driving well and has the best car on the day. I think that you can be competitive from the first three rows of the grid; you can still win from there. To me, that is my goal at every meeting; to get onto the front three rows. The closer you get to the front, the bigger the bonus.

MN: And you get $5000 for pole.

SR: I don't know if I get that ! I think LP gets that; we have not sorted that yet - but I will ask the question!

fo r a while but then he faded cq uite badly. Brighty had a sevens econd lead and we had a nines econd or so break back to fourth.

My best lap of the race was t hree laps from the end.

M N: Does that sound a w arning with the longer racing e oming up now?

S R: I hope so! When your car is w orking well, you then start to cconcentrate on all the small areas t o make it better. That is s omething that we have been a ble to do in the last couple of liace meetings.

We go with a bit of a game p lan and we hope that will work.

It has in the last two (ace m eetings and now we can c oncentrate on the niggly areas; n ow you are seated in the car, t he little insta llation things on a p articular component. That m akes it a little easier 10 deal

endurance driver.

I do not care what the format is; at the end of the day, a driver or a team is only as good as his car. I have always said that I could get a pole position, · providing that the car is good enough. There are 32 cars and only one person can get pole . I have never been disappointed with my form in qualifying.

Sometimes, you do make blues, but otherwise ...

I like the sprint format - I like the endurance format too. It is just a case of how well the car is suited. Now, we have been to every type of circuit and surface that we have in Australia and the car has been competitive everywhere we have gone. I am hopeful that we can go to Queensland with our base set-up and we should be able to perform there.

Whatever the format, bring it on! We will try to adapt to it.

MN: Is this the position you wanted to be in, going into the second half of the season, to be close and have a shot at the championship7 SR: Definitely. We knew that the best part of our season wou ld be in the second half, because of where we were at the start of the year - expanding the team to cope with the extra customer cars.

We knew that we would be a lot better under control with knowing what the performance of the VY meant. I always thought that the second half [of the season] would be a lot better.

The first half has worked out fantastically. No complaints.

But by the same token, we are 52-odd points behind. That is a hell of a gap to chase back. But anything can happen, as we saw in Perth . Now, with single-race formats and 192 points, it is even more critical to finish races . I don 't think that it is as big a drama as it might have been at the start of the year but, if you do not do everything right from here on, you can definitely suffer the consequences.

mororspon news

Fiue minutes with ...

lanDyk

Alter just six months of racing in Formula a, Ian Dyk's talents are already being noticed beyond our shores.

MARK GLENDENNING spoke to the Sydney-based teenager MOTORSPORT NEWS: Starting with what's going on here at home, you've just put yourself back into the title chase with a good round at Winton. It must have been good to get a result after a couple of tough rounds?

IAN DYK: Yes, we did have a couple of tough rounds. At every race meeting, we'd had the outright speed that we needed, but due to a few little things sometimes they were my fault; we had some issues with other cars on the circuit and things like that, w e weren't getting the results that w ould get us the points.

It was getting a bit frustrating, and questions were being asked, because the outright speed was there at every circuit, so it was a bit difficult to then justify why we weren't leading the Championship.

But now I've done a lot of work from my end, on techniques and fitness and stuff, so I'm on track. And the car has never been in question, that has just been fantastic from the word go, and Sam Astuti has done a fantastic job to prepare a car that is fast and doesn't fail. So I can't ask for more there .

MN: As well as you being a rookie driver, it's easy to forget that this is Astuti's first tilt at the Championship, and that the team is running a new car..

Are a lot of these issues just teething problems?

ID : Certainly, that's always a difficult thing when you are a new driver or a new team . You always have to iron out some issues before you can really go out there and attack things. So there was that to start with, and just a few things, as you say, teething problems, that we had to sort· out.

It's good to ... not get over them, because you never really know when you are over them, but it's good to sort out some big 30

see where we really fitted in within the world-class status.

It also gave me a real opportunity to look at myself and see where I was w eak compared to them, so I can work for the rest of this year at developing my weak points, so that if and when I get over there I can really be at my best.

issues and we can now go into the second half of the season with the confidence that we can just fight it out.

MN: You've also recently tested for British F3 team Menu Motorsport at Pembrey.

ID: Yes, that was an amazing experience . It was so vast. It was exactly like everyone had told me it would be, but unt il you experience it for yourself you never quite understand.

MN: It's a massive gap between they way they go racing and the way we go racing in Australia, isn't there?

ID : Yes, it was just huge. You are out on the circuit with four or five drivers who are testing F1 ca ts at the moment, and you can really see why they are so close to F1 over there.

It's bigger and better in every way. It's so professional, the track time is just amazing, the competitiveness is like nothing else, and the infrastructure is huge. There is nothing to describe it. Everything over there is just big, big, big .

MN: What did the test involve?

ID: It was a two-day test\ but I was fortunate enough to be involved with the team from the other side as well. I got to spend three-and-a-half weeks with the team, and they really gave me a great perspective because I got to see things from the inside.

They didn't just give me the raw two-day test, they really involved me w ith the team and showed me the runnings of it.

They weren't pulling the wool over my eyes at any stage.

They just gave me the black and white of it all, and it was just fantastic because it meant that I had no presumptions or anything.

MN: Was it hard to adapt? It was your first time with a sequential box, and you probably did as many laps in those two days as you've done in your whole career ...

ID: It was a very different car. I was surprised at how different it was.

But I was fortunate enough to do a two-day test, and they really did work with me very well. They gave me a lot of time to lead up to it, and learn the car, and learn the circuit, and learn how to work with their team.

They involved me, and they made it an easier job for me because they were so strong with their data and feedback. It made it easy to develop the car and develop my driving, so it was fantastic.

MN: Do you feel better prepared now to make the step over there on a full-time basis?

ID: It just so happened that on the second day of my test, every car in the field bar two actually turned up, so it gave us a great chance to

MN: You say 'if and when', but I presume that Menu is the target for 2005?

ID: No doubt about it. Menu has said that they'd like to have us back, and we'd love to go back there, so 2005 would be the season when we'd really like to make it happen .

But everyone knows that there are boxes that you have to tick · before you can get over there, so we really have to make sure that we finish the season strongly over here. I've got to develop within my areas, and w e've got to put the package together.

MN: How was the neck after the te~t?

ID: Not fantastic! (laughs). It was more laps than I had ever done in two days. I'd never done a twoday test two days in a row, and we did 220 laps. So I was pretty sore!

And they made sure they worked me pretty hard. They didn't spare anything as far as tyres and things w ere concerned.

They gave me a really good chance to prove myself and it meant that we w ere just out on the track all day, both days.

And it was an amazing experience to see how the other drivers that were out there at the same time responded to it, and how physically fit and prepared they were, just because they are doing that every w eek.

In Australia we are only allowed to do one test per race meeting, and I'd never had an opportunity like that. It was a massive experience, and it taught me a huge amount.

mororspon news

INTERVIEW

the Tough gets c; ••• By their lofty standards, Mark Skaife and his Holden Racing Team are having a hard 2004 season. PHIL BRANAGAN sat down the team's owner/driver to discuss what has happened so far this year - and why there is no panic at Clayton

MOTORSPORT NEWS: Let's start with an 'easy' one. You have already said this year that you are not driving well. Why not?

MARK SKAIFE: By my own admission, I have made too many mistakes. I have felt that my speed has been as good as it has been over the years and over one lap, [ have probably quaHfied as well as I have ever quaHfied.

But, in terms of race performance, I have genuinely been a bit desperate to get a result. Too many times this year, I have been driving the car at 11 tenths. The propensity to make a mistake is certainly much higher when you are in that frame of mind.

MN: Does Mark Skaife, team owner, analyse the performance of Mark Skaife, driver, or is the process of what you have done in the past • ? ongoing.

MS: Mark Skaife just assesses his performance as he has always done.

You would know that I have been critical of how the thing is going as well as how I am going, so my race performances have been analysed in a self-critical way, the same as I have always done it.

MN: Do you reflect on the number of roles you have now - that some of the things you have on board in your life might be affecting you as a driver?

MS: I do. That is principally the main reason for Craig Kelly being installed as the CEO and for, in a commercial and administrative way, boosting our resources with Andrew McKenzie now full-time, where he was halfHRT and half-HSV. He is now fulltime as General Manager of Marketing.

We have, through ESP [Ed: Elite Sports Properties, Craig Kelly's company] a full-time account mru,ager, Clare Thompson, who is an athlete herself so she has an understanding of sport herself. I have tried very hard, though with wearing more hats than ever - am I a driver today, or the owner, or the TEGA board member or the AVESCO board

32

member, or the Holden representative, the HSV product group man - we have made a conscious effort to have me associated with those roles but to try and deHneate me from certain parts of those. I do not have to get involved with the day-to-day stuff.

MN: Is delegating something that comes easily to you?

MS: In some ways, not. Those halffunny ads about being a control freak are probably reasonably accurate. I like to have as much input as I can have in terms of making sure that things are done as well as they can be done.

But I have had to genuinely approach that delegation in a more professional and sound way. I feel very comfortable with the team itself, with Jeff Grech, with Rob Starr, with Richard Hollway and Dave Swenson, Matty Crawford, it is going along well. Those guys are in very responsible positions and have the same roles and responsibilities that they have always had. So I am able to not get involved with that part of it.

I also have had no problem with handing a huge amount of stuff to Craig Kelly and Andrew McKenzie and I feel comfortable with that. That is a hard thing for me to do but I do feel comfortable with it.

was a pretty stark reminder that we need to try to get number one back.

MN: It is taking us a while to get used to as well!

MS: It is a hard gig. But, having said that, we all know that Marcos [Ambrose] did a great job last year and we have to step up to the next level.

One of the things that I think people do not really understand is that, as a consequence as where we were with VY and where we are now, in the infancy of car development with big items within the fold - the aero change, Project Blueprint, the new front suspension and the new engine - has collectively been the biggest engineering project that we have ever been involved with.

What actually happens is ... you cannot just turn the tap on or off. You cannot go from having a VX with Macpherson strut [front suspension] and an 18-degree engine ru1d immediately roll out the perfect car in the next phase. We were so encouraged by the [2003] Clipsal 500 win when we rolled the car out. But that 'hybrid' car is now three or four evolutions from where were are [now].

It has been technically a real challenge and, in a business sense, if you are an AFL coad, and Leigh

'1 have ll8IIRIY been alit desperate to get aresmt. Too 111a1y times 1lis year, I have been lnVQI the 13' at 11 ·tenths'' You know as much as I do that motor racing is probably, more so than any other business or sport, is a people's game. I reckon that we are very sound in that part of our business now.

MN: You came into this season with different circumstances; there is no number one on the car. Did that modify your approach to 2004?

MS: It didn't. But as soon as J saw the car roll out with number two on it, it

Matthews takes Brisbane to a record win in the league this year, you would not want to front as the next Brisbane coach! When we had such a fantastic run, dominating in the period from 1998 to 2003, we have basically had to get our brain around the next phase of HRT dominance.

That is what we are working on daily, with 100 percent commitment.

MN: A two-part question; is HRT ever going to gel back to that level

of dominance - is anybody capable of getting to that level now, given the competition in the category?

MS: That is a really good question. To me, one of the things that has happened is that there has been a serious landscape change in the industry. The motorsport environment in VS Supercars, in terms of professionalism ru,d competitiveness, has certainly improved. So whether that ever happens again ...

In Rugby League, St George won 11 premierships in a row in the '50s and that is certainly never achievable again in the NRL. Whether any one team will ever win five championships in a row in V8 Supercar racing is very questionable.

However, I think that for us to get back to, number one, winning and number two, winning regularly- in championship-land, back to being the sort of contenders that we should be - that is definitely achievable.

Does that mean that we can win a couple in a row, or can Mark Skaife win his sixth championship? That is certainly our goal.

MN: But, having mentioned the landscape, now teams and drivers are likely to win a championship at the last round of the season - maybe the last race. In 2002, you went on a tear and kicked everybody's arse for six months. Is it even realistic to aim at that level again?

MS: I think that it is. Ambrose did a good job of dominating the first part of 2003. 1 think it's achievable.

In sport, you have to have all the things in place but you also have to have a little luck. I thought that in 2003, l said in the presentations to

•

-

101ng

ii :k]lj '14 ;Jfl:i ;f-j

''Whether any one team will ever Win live

championships in a row in VB Supercar racing is

very questionable"

- Skaife on the future

our sponsors and especially to Holden, that at seven of the 13 rounds, we had a bad run. Whether it was Rodney Forbes spinning in front of us, or me coming in for wet tyres when it was dry, or speeding in pit lane, an engine failure, doors opening at Bathurst ... you name it, we had it going.

When you are slightly off the bounce of the ball, those things happen. Sport, especially modem sport, is a lot about momentum. Look at St Kilda tllis year; who would have tl1ought tl1at they would win all those games in a row? There is a lot of atmosphere and a lot of team confidence fuat comes from that sort of success.

That was why I thought that our Darwin result was fantastic; I have been saying for the first part of this year that the atmosphere in t11e team is the best that we have had it. The aura in and around the joint is really good. If you want to blaze up to the team and ask anyone independently, that is how it is. The vibe is really good.

So to go and have a win at a place that we did not tllink that we were going to go any good at, with both cars at the front of the grid, was great. We have been on the front row of the grid at five of t11e six race meetings tllis year and I have only won one race! You have to say, at some stage, you are going to go better. That is clearly the objective.

MN: Has the change in the engine regulations, going to a number of minimum weight components, affected you more than some of the other teams?

MS: I do not think tl1at it has affected us more but it has probably affected our immediate development. When we had t11ose engines running at the end of last year, they were in a different specification than they are now. We have not just had to develop a new engine, we have had to

develop a new engine in two steps in a spec that we could run at the end of last year and one now. That has knocked us around a little bit.

The biggest issue that we have going with the new engine is the dyno performance has not correlated to the racetrack performance.

MN: So you had no warning from the pre-season dyno testing that you had a glimmer of a problem?

MS: Not really. At the end of last year, when we were running one car with an 18-degree engine and the other with the HMS engine, we were in development phase and what we knew that the engine was almost as strong [as the Chevrolet].

MN: You made the comment on Thursday at Bathurst, after testing both engines back-to-back, that there was nothing to choose

tI

between them.

MS: That's definitely right. At tl1at stage, we went to Bafuurst with an 18-degree engine that was pretty conservative, so the 18-degree versus the HMS engine was pretty sound.

In tl1e off-season, we had to convert the cars across to running the HMS engines and, as the factory team, we would be expected to be running the latest engines. That was a sort of self-imposed change that we had to get our brain around.

What has happened this year is that it's 'installed' performance has not been as good as we would like.

There are a couple of issues in regard to that; you don't change those things easily. In the new engine, there is not [Ed: Skaife bangs the table here] one single component in common with the old engine. That's number one.

continued on page 34

continued from page 33

Then you put it in the car in a different position so that it is lower and further back in the car. The downstream effect is that all the things are different; the bellhousings, exhausts, airboxes, cross members, engine mounts, tailshafts, the drive shaft angles. You name it and it is different.

If you think that there is a bit of an installation drama and you want to change something, there is a big flowon effect. A little change becomes a large change. That has kept us busy.

We are working harder, probably, than we have ever worked.

MN: When Kmart Racing came here to Clayton three years ago, you made the comment that you didn't want to see the effort put into HRT diluted. Now, HRT, Kmart and PWR are here. Has it been diluted?

MS: I would be lying if I said I think that it hasn't been diluted. If McLaren was going to run six cars tomorrow, it would be harder. The engineering resource and the manufacturing ability and the way that the workload is applied across a la rger demand.

When the separate ownership thing happened through last year, that probably did help the situation a bit because each of the team owners had to 'resource-up' to get the

appropriate service of how each of the places run. In some,ways, as an overall demand, clearly it's larger and, when you run more cars, it is clearly more difficult.

In HRT-land itself, we have attributed personnel that would be of a similar size to any of the other top two-car teams and that is how we have tried to ·resource-up to ensure that it has had minimal effect.

MN: But Kmart and PWR are not your concern - you are the owner of HRT. Do you now move to reinforce or protect HRT's position as a team?

MS: Quite simply, and I do not mean this to sound bad, I only have my 'red team hat' on. That is how it is. I recognise from Holden's perspective we have to have strong Holden teams as part of Holden's motorsport commitment and policy. Whatever

"There are areas of my life that I really treasure that I have noi been able to spend enough time on"

- Skaife on his large - and growing - list of commitments

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34

\o'o\l

YOU COULD BE AT THE 2004 GOODWOOD REVIVAL HISTORIC RACES SEPT. 3-5

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For a detailed itinerary please contact Mae-Lin Hendry at Silverstone Events Pty Ltd Phone 08 8227 0666 Email:- goodwood@silverstoneevents.com SILVERST O N ~ mororspon news

_ we have to do to have the red cars winning, you would do.

MN: What can you do in the shortterm?

MS: What we are doing at the moment is chucking stuff at the cars like it is going out of fashion! We are building a new car, as we speak, and that will be [ready] just after Queensland. We have only used two of our six test days so we are busy getting as much of our test program in place as we can.

We are d oing a lot of work in engine-land . 0 1assis-wise, I think that we have actually come along a fair way this year and, in almost every area of the car, we have a more comprehensive development program than we ever have.

We are 100 percent into it. When you consider the big races coming up at the end of the year, they are the target.

MN: Recently, the media has aired suggestions from you and the team about the cost containment program TEGA has got in place.

MS: I do not think it would matter what team owner you went to, all owners will have a slightly different view in terms of cost containmen t.

My view of cost containment is iliat, clearly, as a business, we would be derelict if we did not approacl1 it properly. Cost containment has been an agenda item on ilie TEGA board from when I was originally on tl1e TEGA board. It is something that we must continue to look at. It's a nobrainer. We all want this to be

approached ilie right way.

There are certain areas in whim I argue iliat change costs money. I am very critical of dumbing the series down too much. The level of technology, in some areas, needs to be preserved so that we maintain the industry link via ilie manufacturers for instan ce, ilie linkage from Holden, to HSY, to HRT. You have to be able to demonstrate the racing technology downstreaming into mass vehicle manufac ture.

If you don't, ilie perception wi iliin our fan base and wiiliin ilie wider comm unity, in terms of what motor racing does, will be incorrect. To me, iliat is very important.

So, iliere are areas - probably 50 to 60 percent of ilie cost control stuff iliat I would put my hand up to say, "no problem". There are ones iliat would have a significant impact on our 1)verall cost base; iliere is no doubt iliat iliere are lots of really good iliings in iliere. But iliere are other things iliat I don't think would serve us well.

MN: Is it fair then to say Mark that your letter to the other teams was less about being a counter-proposal about cost containment measures than it was input into the current proposals?

MS: Exactly right. Probably, my letter to the teams was really about ilie meiliodology, about ilie way we should process iliese changes and how they should be implemented.

There are basically fo ur boxes; control parts, control specifica tion, control configuration, which is an

homologa ted item, and iliere's the status quo. Witlu n that status quo, you could probably rewrite some of the rules to save ourselves from ourselves. My iliing is, hit ilie big ticket items firs t an d hit the nonperformance items firs t.

For instance, if we all have ilie same clu ech tomorrow and we know iliat, instead of having a $12,000 clutch, we can bring ilie cost of a cl utch back to $7000-$8000. That's a no-brai.ner; of course iliat would be good for us. A fan doesn' t know what clutch we use - and what impact does it have? It doesn't change the look of the car, it doesn't do anything that is adverse to the technology point iliat I mentioned before.

If you can go ilirough tl1e process an d say, "Here is tl1e methodology and this in the box you fit in", that was my intention - to communicate iliat to the guys.

MN: Different subject; HRT has been conspicuously early in naming its endurance drivers in the past.

This year, you are conspicuously not. Sorted?

MS: Sorted - but we are conspicuously late because ilie two guys fua t did a great job fo r us are in an oilier team - for ilieir own individua l reasons. I would love to have Richo Uim Richards] drive for us and I would love to have Tony [Longhurst] drive for us. But iliey went off and did ilieir own iliing, and for all ilie right reasons.

To find suitable replacements; number one, it's hard and number two, it's almost about policy, about

Colours of the rainbow: The form of PWR Racing this season has made Skaife determined to get back to the top.

23 June 2004

U4;JFl:i ;{fl what you are trying to achieve with ilia t car in that year. That can be, are you lookin g for a pair of supers tars or a pair of young blokes; a mix of youth and experience? A pair of Euros wiili w hom you might receive a fa ir amount of publicity when you wheel iliem out? What are you trying to achieve?

We h·ave gone tluough that in a detailed fashion and we will make an announcement soon.

MN: Feel free to share ...

MS: Nope!

MN: All the hats; the owner's hat, the board member's hat, the driver's hat, the media hat. Plus all the commitments 'normal' people have in our lives. Are you enjoying it all?

MS: [Pauses] I haven't got the balance back yet. I am no t enjoying it enough yet because I haven't go t myself organised enough to get me back to where I need to be.

I am enjoying tl1e challenge the race weekends especially, because I go iliere and it's exactly ilie same as it has always been. Silly iliings; I was writing our Club 1 team members' team talk today and I wrote about qualifying in New Zealand in the rain. That was one of the highlights of ilie year for me; jum p in a car and go and have a bit of fun . I have lost a little bit of iliat this year because of all ilie iliings I have been doing.

There are areas of m y life tl1a t I really treasure that I have not been able to spend enough time on.

Wheilier that is Mi tch [Ed: Skaife's son], or time on the boa t or having a hit of a golf ball, I am not quite back to that yet. As we speak I am trying to get myself as well-organised as I can possibly be; w hen iliat happens, I will feel better about it.

MN: We have almost gone the whole interview without mentioning Eastern Creek last year!

I have had the comment made to me that what happened there was a rare display of your passion. The fire is still burning pretty hot, isn't it?

MS: Absolutely. Sometimes ... you have a bad run, you fly home and, when you pu t your head on the pillow, ycm think about why you rea lly do it.

I absolutely know why I do it; I love dri ving racecars. And I love the industry; this is a great sp ort. The iliing at Eas tern Creek last year definitely demonstrated my passion for fu e game and ilie day iliat I lose that passion will be the day iliat I do stop. That will be evident in the way iliat I drive fu e car.

I iliink that even ilie way we have qualified fuis season still demonstrates how determined and committed I am to try to be ilie fas test all the time. That is ilie part of what we d o iliat I really love.

35

T

Dirk Klynsmith

36

ALK about a return on your investment. Perth throws a bundle of money at upgrading the most notorious track surface in the country, and is immediately rewarded with the most intriguing round of the VS Supercar Championship so far this season.

Jason Bright flew home from WA with the round winner's trophy stowed safely in the overhead compartment, underlining the . impression that PWR is not doing an awful lot wrong at the moment.

"We certainly had a good car from qualifying onwards," Bright grinned.

"We've improved each time we've been out."

His success also said something about the nature of this year's championship in that it took five rounds before somebody was able to take the overall honours twice - a situation that was unheard of as recently as last year, and proof, if any was needed, of how congested things are getting at the peak of the field.

For further evidence, you need look no further than the minor places on the podium, which were occupied

by Marcos Ambrose (after an outstanding recovery from what could have been a disastrous qualifying session) and Rick Kelly.

The pair ended the weekend equal on points, with Ambrose being given the second place on the grounds that

he finished ahead of Rickler in the final race.

"Jason was too quick here," Ambrose admitted. "He had a fast car for all three races and we knew that. But we went as fast as we could, arid probably got the best result that we could."

'Tm not sure that we had the car speed.to finish on the podium," confessed Kelly.

"The only reason that we finished on the podium was the three pitstops. Each time we pitted, we came out in front of everyone. So it shows that the team has really got that sort of thing nailed."

But there was far more to the weekend than the simple matter of who scored some silverware. Along with a trophy, Ambrose returned to Queensland with the kind of warm, fuzzy feeling that can only come from having retaken the championship lead; a bonus that was inadvertently - and controversiallydropped in his lap by Holden.

Coupled with a few season-best performances on one hand, some 'we've hit rock bottom and now we're going to start digging' efforts on the other, more overtaking moves than we'll probably see in the remaining rounds combined, and capped off with an ardent swarm of locals in the grandstands, Perth offered a display of VS Supercar racing at somewhere close to its best.

mororspon news

VB SUPERCARS

Dark horse: Rick Kelly kept his nose among the action all weekend, above, and earned the right to dump a motherload of champagne down round-winner Jason Bright's neck, left.

The incident (you know which one): Richards is sandwiched between Bright and Skaife, who is veering left but applying full opposite lock, below. But it's too late for Richo who pinballs off Skaife, Bright a~d the wall before finally coming to a halt, bottom.

Race 1 (42 laps)

W

here do you start? A lot of different stories were played out over the first 42-lapper on Saturday afternoon, but one of the most dramatic was short and sharp.

Richo failed to make the most of his first start from pole and was beaten off the line by Skaife, but rec~ed the _situation for himself by holding Skaife to the outside on the final corner. This gave Richards' the ideal line for turn one, and he made the most of it to slip back into the lead on the second lap.

All well and good - until the leaders encountered the lapped Dynarnik car of Dale Brede (who had started from pitlane after stalling on the dummy grid) at the top of the hill on lap three.

"The whole crux of it was Brede " Richards reflected later. "He thous'ht he was doing the right thing by moving to the inside, but his (idea of) ~ov~g to the inside was moving nght into the middle of the track."

This baulked Richards enough to allow Skaife and Bright to get a run in him as the cars charged d own the hill. Skaife moved to the inside and muscled Richards aside, enough to put him slightly out-of-shape - and straight into the path of the innocent Bright, who gave him enough of a clip to finish him off.

Richards nosed hard into the wall and looped furiou sly into the gravel

23 June 2004

and out of the race.

Penalties have been served for less, but on this occasion the stewards opted to let it go. Nevertheless, it was an inelegant move by the HRT driver - and a costly one too, for it dropped the Championship lead straight back into the lap of Ambrose and Ford.

"We go t caught with a lapped car and tl1at basically bunched us all up," explained Skaife, who later apologised to Richo for the clang.

"I pulled alongside Steven and was coming past him, and I could see that Jason was righ t behind us. I was on the extreme inside and Steve was right alongside, and we were almost touching all the way down the hill.

"When we got to the braking area I pu t my foot on the brake and sort of slithered down the hill. The two cars made contact, and when they made contact my car sort of went sideways.

I looked in the mirror and I couldn' t find Steve, and I didn't know where he'd gone.

"It was sort of on for young and old. It was pretty serious stuff at the fastest spot on the track. I certainly wasn't trying to make contact. Those things happen in the game we're in.

But there was no malice in it at all. " "If I was Skaife I would have looked in my mirrors," said a disappointed Richards.

"But it's one of those things that continued on page 40

31

I

I

BIG P~D™ Qualifying

T

he gap between the top guys and the rest of the field was narrowed somewhat as the teams prepared for their first venture onto the track on Friday, because the new bitumen is so vastly different to the old stuff that older data was not going to be much of a help in determining a baseline set-up.

At least, that w as the theory.

History shows that not only are really good teams effective when they are working within a known quantity; they also tend to be spookily adept at guesswork. And this was the case almost to the letter, with Greg Murphy making the most of his reunion with his Bathurst-winning VY by topping the sheets in the first session .

One tends not to read much into practice times, but Murph's efforts had made one thing abundantly clear - the new surface was much, much quicker than the old one, and substantially faster than anybody had been expecting. The Kmart car's 55.6847s carved a whopping 2.1 s out of Paul Radisich's previous practice record of 57.2542s set back in 2001 - a mark that 24 cars managed to beat in the opening session .

The upper regions of the timesheets were more or less

occupied by the usual suspects with one notably exception.

Ambrose was wallowing down in 21st place after first practice and 28th after the second session, which made for the rather odd spectacle of the reigning Champion heading out to qualify with the slower half of the fiel d.

Even more bizarrely, when

qualifying came to an end, he was still down there.

Despite a light mist of rain, the slower half of the field set a reasonably solid benchmark for the quicker cars that were to follow. A last-moment flyer of 56.1565s secured the top spot for Paul Radisich, just ahead of Cameron Mcconville, Rick Kelly,

Jason Richards (who spun and beached himself just after setting his lap) and the twin FPR machines of Glenn Seton and Craig Lowndes.

Then came the fast guys.

Ordinarily, this is the signal for lap times from the slower session to be instantly relegated to somewhere back down south, but this time, the speedy end of the field had some work to do.

Mark Skaife and Bright made early incursions into the top 10, followed soon after by John

It took SEVEN YEARS!

Yes it did but Richards, top, scored a strong pole position in the shootout. Bright, left, gave an insight into what was about to happen with third while Ambrose, right, found that the radical changes to the SBR Falcons made for hard work. The defending Champ failed to make it into the top 20 in any practice or qualifying session.

38

mororspon news

VB SUPERCARS

QUALIFYING

VBSCS ROUND 5

I

Pas/ Na

D

R

I

v

E

R

I c

BARBAGALLO, WA A

R /

T

E

50 Jason Brighi 2 2 Mark Skaife 88 Paul Radisich 4 33 Cameron Mcconville -5 - 11 -I Sleven Richards

Team Bella Electrical/Triple 8 Falcon BA

6

Kmarl Racing Team Commodore VY

8

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

15 12 3 5

Rick Kelly

A

55.8539 56.0931 56.1565 56.2595

Repco Valvoline Cummins/Garry Rogers Molorsporl Commodore VY Castrol Perkins Motorsporl Commodore VY

John Bowe

OzEmail Racing Team/Brad Jones Racing Falcon BA

Jason Richards

Tasman Motorsport Commodore VX

Glenn Seton

Ford Performance Racing/Ford Credil Falcon BA

Craig Lowndes

Ford Performance Racing/CAT Falcon BA

22 29 8 51

Todd Kelly

Holden Racing Team Commodore VY

Paul Morris

Sirromel - life, Style, Wine Commodore VY

20 21 22 44 23 24 02 1 25 20 26 23 27 888 28 18 29 45 16 30 31 ~75 14 32

IT I M E

Holden Racing Team Commodore VY

6

21 31 9 34 10 17

M

PWR Performance Products Commodore VY

Paul Dumbrell

Castrol Perkins Motorsport Commodore VY

Greg Murphy

Kmart Racing Team Commodore VY

56.2622 56.2854 56.3696 56.3702 56.3790 56.3930 56.3991 56.4516 56.4610 56.4751 56.5075

_ Brad_ Jones _ _ _ _ _o_zE_m_ai_ l R_ac~ing Team/Brad Jones Racing Falcon BA Steve Ellery

Super Cheap Auto Racing Falcon BA

Warren Luff

56.5605 56.5772 Repco Vaivoline Cummins/Garry Rogers Molorsporl Commodore VY 56.5864 Larl:ham Orrcon Racing Falcon BA 56.6665 Shell Helix/Dick Johnson Racing Falcon BA 56.6897 Pirlek/Slone Brothers Racing Falcon BA 56.7018 Castrol Perkins Motorsporl Commodore VX 56.7483 Roadships/Alphawesl/World Industries/Team Dynamik Commodore VY 56.7506 Team Kiwi Racing Commodore VY 56.7670 Larkham Orrcon Racing Falcon BA 56.7809 WPS Falcon BA 56.9282 Team Bella Electrical/Triple 8 Falcon BA 57.0160 Shell Helix/Dick Johnson Racing Falcon BA 57.02 15

Dale Brede

Roadships/Alphawesl/World Industries/Team Dynamik Commodore VY 57.1383

Russell lngall Garth Tander Jason Bargwanna Steven Johnson Marcos Ambrose

Tony Longhurst Simon Wills

Craig Baird Mark Winterbottom

David Besnard Max Wilson

Callex Havoline Race Team/Slone Brothers Racing Falcon BA

PaulWeel

PWR Performance Products Commodore VY

Anthony Trail

Toll Racing Commodore VY

Mark Noske

WPS Falcon BA

57.1392 57.1465 57.1790

TOP TEN SHOOTOUT RESULTS I 2

Richards S

3

Brighi

6 7

McConville

8 9 ·10

Bowe

Skaife

____IS:ily R Radisich

Bowe and Todd Kelly. Bright improved soon afterwards to take top spot (with a 55 .8539s), but it was almost eight minutes before anybody else made a serious dent in the timesheets .

That somebody was Steve Richards, who banged his way into fifth place, and from his perspective it was not a moment

too soon . Just one minute later, Steve Johnson w as on what looked set to be a se riously quick lap until a small error sent the DJR machine into Barbagallo's notorious quicksand . The red f lags came to allow the stranded Falcon to be retrieved - and then it started raining . Game over.

It was bad news for any of the

Seton Lowndes

Richards !

42.8914 42.8674 42.9 111 43.1202 43.2702 43.1202 43.4483 43.6012 43.6952 43.9222

55.921 6 56.0431 56.1923 56.4674 56.4728 56.6436 56.7836 56.9285 57.1126 57.1 530

#DO due to infringement

#DO due to infringement #DO due to infringement

BIG P~D™ www.bi gpon d. com.au quicker guys who had failed to get a lap time in the bank early in the session, and a pleasant shock fo r the likes of FPR, who sudden ly found themselves having to prepare both cars for the Shootout. In fact, it was FP R's first visit to the Shootout all season, along with Jason Richard s (in what will presumably be the last Shootout appearance by a VX, with the Tasman team aiming to debut their VY in Queensland), and McCoriville.

After such a bizarre build-up, the Shootout itself was something of an anti-climax - unless you happen to answer to 'Richo'. ;fhe #11 Castrol g: Perkins machine set the ; standard at 55.9216s, comfortably saw off Mcconville and Radisich,

l

f.

23 June 2004

24.7339 24.8795 24.6872 24.9147 24.9507 25.0283 25.1013 25.3181 25.1965 25.5567

got a bit of a fright when Skaife managed a 56.0431 s, even more of a fright when Bright posted the fastest first sector, and then switched into celebration mode when the PWR machine's time fe ll away over the remainder of the lap .

Richards has done an awfu l lot in his ca reer, but until Perth two weeks ago, pole position in a VB round was missing from the list.

But w it h the first race scheduled to start just over an hour later, there was not much time to celebrate.

Elsewhere, there were some less-happy faces in the Tasman and FPR camps after Jason Richards, Seton and Lowndes al l had their times wiped from the board for changing their 'race' tyres for 'trave llers' in pitlane after the session . With Lowndes and Richards already ninth and 10th respectively, only Seton dropped a spot, to eighth .

- MARK GLENDENNING 39

-

----

VBSCS ROUND 5

Hometown hero: Not content with naming a road in the paddock after one G. Tander, the Barbagellans have given him a grandstand as well. Wonder what they'll do when he retires ... ? continued from page 3 7 happen, and at the end of the day it was a racing incident."

The incident prompted a Safety Car, which was the cue for half the field to immediately swoop into the pits. The other half, mostly from the front of the fi eld, had less time to react and had to wait until the following lap, but when the sequence was completed the order at the front was roughly as it had been.

There were a few notable exceptions though - a good stop by Kmart Racing had helped to vault Rick into the lead, with the exception of Craig Baird, who rolled the dice ru1d stayed out until lap 18.

And some even slicker work by the SBR crew vaulted Ambrose all the way up to 13th.

Rick had reasonable car speed, but after several laps where the lead string of cars were nmning nose-totail it was clearly not a question of whether or not Skaife and Bright were going to get through, but when.

The answer came when Skaife displaced Kelly on lap 12, and Bright followed him through at tum one two laps later.

From there, the race for the lead was relatively simple. Bright had car speed to spare, but Skaife had the

RACE

j

42

LAPS

44:46.1217 56.2878#38 - - -44:47.0505 56-596326 - c ' - - - -4'4:47.3155 56.6075 37 44:47.6720 56.5607--30 ~ - ~ 56.8236~ 6 S. Richards 44:53.5340 56.558238 7 • Bowe 44:53.7244 56.4537 31 ~T.Kell 44:55.0276 56.720610 9- Elle 44:57.115556.691026 i5 Johnson 44:58.9064 56.9119 ft 11 Morris 45:04.0368 56.8934 33 12 J. Richards 45:05.5947 ~6064 33 13 Jones 45:06.5690 56.6949 36 14 Weel 4 5:08.8661 - 5 ~6964 29 15 Skaife - - -45:09.3863 56.6713 29 16Winterbottom 45:11.8193 ~ 1 37 17 In all 45:14.~56.8038- 29 18 Noske 45: 16.8902 - 57.3368 6 19 Lon hurst 45:22.6035 57.258130 20 Dum-bre_ll_ _ 45:27.4633 56.5529 27 21 Seton 45:2W03 56.971913 22Tralt - - -45:34.1229 57.4767 30 23 Wilson 45:40.6742 56.7746 29 24 Brede - - 41 la s 57.7845 29 Qf:! F RacllSich 32 lapS~389 ~£ Besnard 21 laps 57.4406 11 DNF Bargwanna 20 la s · 57.4324 18 ~ d- - - - - __=-2 ~ __ 57.1628 _1!

DNF Lowndes 17 la s 57.2038 12 i5NFLuff 14 laps 57.3405 7 DNF Wills ·- - 10 la s 57.4297 9 Qt:!'::- McConviife_.? ~s 57.49 1~_ 6 ~ -

situation covered and kept his former team-mate in meek for the remainder of the race and survived a solid bump from Bright under brakes in the d ying laps to take the win.

"The car 's been pretty strong all

l

40

2

weekend," Skaife said after his first win for 2004.

"I don' t think it looked after the tyres as well as Jason's did, so we need to do a bit of work tonight. But it was certainly great to get a win."

"We've had a reasonable package since qualifying," remarked Bright.

"We made a little bit of a mess of the Shootout, but since the start of qualifying the car's been great. But unfortunately, the car is strong in all ilie wrong areas for trying to pass.

We're strong under brakes, but we're not strong out of the previous corners." .

Ambrose's Lazarus-like recovery from 21st to third was one of the highlights of the race. Helped into the midfield by a good pitstop, Ambrose blitzed through the traffic, making the most of what looked like a very happy car under braking to pick others off virtually at will. The fact that he finished just 5.Ss down on Skaile offered further proof that whatever malady had afflicted ilie car earlier in the weekend, it was now well and truly cured.

"We goofed up in our preparation for this race," said Ambrose.

"We weren't ready for it. But a strength in our team is that we have depth in talent, and we put it together for the race. We've transformed the car in one stint.

Basically it was 'pin the tail on the donkey' stuff; you know, just close

continued on page 44

J:

RACE

3

I 4 2 LAPS

1 2 3 4 5 6

Bri ht 40: 13.2662 55.9440# 35 S. Richards 40:22.2239 5 ~ 35 Ambrose 40:22.91 66 56.3068 33 R. Kell 40:32.6275 56.6307 8 Weel 40:33.0519 56.4601 21 Tander _ _ _ 40:3 4.4108 56.54Cis7f 7 Bowe 40:34.573456.5656 8 ~ - - 4 0:35.0781 56.3912 15 9 Skaife - 40:35.250656.4941 · 16 ID T. Kell 40:36.4612 56.2047 6 ii Johnson - - 40:38.5236 56M41 33 12 Jones - - 4 0:38.9125 56.6549 26 13 In all 40:39.3761- 56.5537 41 14 J. Ric ~ 40:45.0212 56.700532 islvTiiterbotiom- - 40:45.6665 56.6517 t3 1 6 ~ -h 40:53.0754 56.7352 6 17 Wilson - - -40:56.0194 - 56.7728- 31 18 McConville_ _ _4_0:57.~ 56.8324'72 19 Bar anna 40:57.2692 56.9090 32 20 ~iiis-_ t - 40:57.6684 - 56°l2i3 31 21 Wills 40:57.9318 56.3388 34 22~nard 41:00.8137 56.831713 2:f7:ii'tt - 41:01.lfii - 56.634334 24 Tratt 41:10.8972 56.9522 16 25Noske 41: 11.2962 57.0441 20 26 Morns 41laps 56. 5034 32 27Dumbrell 4t laps - 56M93 17 2S: Bredf 41 laps - 56.9355 32 29 Radisich 41 laps 56.9209 40 DNFSeton 251aps 56.7783- 13

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continued from page 40

your eyes and have a go. And ,it's worked out."

Even more remarkable was the fact that Ambrose was not the only one to resurrect his weekend in a single swing.

Paul Wee! bounced back from starting 30th (after goofing with the setup in qualifying) to finish 10th, and Tander recovered from starting 18th to harass Rick all the way to the chequer and finish fifth, one spot ahead of McConville for what w~s easily GRM's

best race of the year to date.

Elsewhere, OzEmail Racing also had an encouraging outing, with Bowe finishing eighth and Brad Jones in 12th.

Race_2 ( 42 laps)

B deep sand traps, and those that find themselves buried there do not arbagallo Raceway has deep,

get out again without help.

Paul Radisich found this out the hard way when he was caught on the

D'oh: Murph's good weeke,;d-turned-bad-turned-good turns bad again with a spin - on the pitlane entry road.

made by

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ou tside at turn one and speared off, prompting another appearance from the Safety Car - and a lot of frustration for The Rat, whose efforts in Race 1 had been curtailed by an engine failure.

Predictably, most the field again swept into the pits, and the resultant congestion caused a bit of a shake-up amongst the order.

Rick again came up trumps and emerged as the leader of the 'stoppers', behind solitary 'nonstopper' David Besnard, with Ambrose, Skaife and Tander breathing down his neck. Bright, however, went the other way, and slipped from second down to sixth.

Besnard was shuffled out of the lead shortly after the restart and dropped to eighth, freeing up the leaders for the mother of all scraps.

Ambrose jiggled around behind Rick until the Kmart car was nailed under braking for the last corner of lap eight, with Skaife rubbing some salt in Rick's wounds by camping on Marcos's tail and following him past.

Uncorked, the lead pair swiftly opened a gap over Kelly, only to have it erased when Luff found the gravel and prompted another Safety Car. The restart came on lap 18, and with it some bad news for HRT - car #2 was under investigation for speeding in pitlane. Minutes later, the black flag was hung over the start-finish line - just after Skaife had taken advantage of a lock-up by Ambrose to take the lead. The red car burbled unhappily into pitlane not long after, and rejoined in 23rd place with a lot of work to do.

Radisich's miserable weekend was compounded when he was pinged for the same crime shortly afterwards.

Skaife's misfortune had handed the lead back to Kelly, who had squeezed past Ambrose at the same time as Skaife. And with Bright having played himself back into the picture, there would be no opportunity for any of the leaders to relax. The PWR car took a few swings at Ambrose and missed before finally edging the SBR car to the outside and taking second place. Murphy, who was sitting in fourth, also whipped past to take third.

There was no letting up amongst the top order as the race ticked closer towards its conclusion, but no-one seemed able to make a move. Noone, that is, except Bright, who waited until the penultimate lap to put Rick in his place and assume Pl, taking the win before Kelly had an opportunity to respond. Kelly survived the attentions of his teammate to finish second, while Murphy secured third despite tl1e best efforts of Ambrose.

Fifth was Tander, which was a mighty effort that suggested that GRM is making some good steps, but one that was still overshadowed by

the fact that the guy behind himright behind him - was Richo. The team had been up until 2am repairing the damage caused in the first race, and then had an extra load of work thrust into their laps when the car chewed up an engine during the warm-up earlier that morning.

The result (coupled with the fact that Richards had started way, way back in 31st!), was quite an acluevement.

"The car is basically strong in every area. It's just very good," Richo understated. "The tyres didn't go off at all - my biggest problem was traffic."

There was a fair amount of mayhem elsewhere in ilie field, though. Jason Bargwarma was clouted by Paul Morris mid-way · through the race, which pitched the Orrcon Falcon straight into the path of Craig Baird. The two cars found each other wiili superb precision, and both were out on ilie spot. Russell Ingall and Glenn Seton boili lost huge amounts of time after spinning seperately (and hitting the same sign) into ilie infield at the last corner.

And Wee! and Paul Dumbrell capped things off when they had a moment in the final corner of the race. Both cars were able to cross the line, but Dumbrell in particular lost a lot of time - and positions - while recovering.

Race 3 ( 42 laps)

y earlier standards, the final race Bwas relatively tame. Bright won

the start ahead of Kelly and Murphy, and Kelly showed his hand early by again pitting on lap three (along with Richo, Todd Kelly, Tander and Steve Ellery, among others).

Murphy was leading a queue into the pits a lap later, but appeared to come in too hot, got out of shape, and spun to an embarrassed halt across tl1e pit entry.

"He cost me a bit of time, but not as much as he would have done if he'd blocked the whole pitlane entry/' said Ambrose, who was right

molorspon news

-

behind Murphy at the time.

"I was full y committed, and I would have had to hit him to m ove him on! " After being momentarily blockaded by the Kmart car, mos t of the cars behind found their way past and into the pits. Once he got himself sorted out, Murphy joined them - but he had lost enough time to play himseli out of contention for the remainder of the race. One of those days .. .

Out at the front, Bright circulated patiently in the lead before pitting on lap seven. PWR's plan was to get him back out ahead of Rick, but some quick tours by Kelly were enough for Bright to be greeted by the rear end of the Kmart car as he motored back out of the pi ts.

Nevertheless, he wasted little time in ha ving a go, but Kelly was n ot making it easy. As the last few latepitting stragglers made their s tops and fell down the field, Kelly was shuffled into the lead - with a six-car train consisting of Bright, Todd, Richo, Ambrose, Bowe and Tander squaring up in his mirrors.

Bright's efforts finall y paid off when he found a way past Kelly on lap 16, and with a clear track ahead he immediately began establishing an ad vantage. Nobody would be in any position to offer him a serious

It's like this: Barbagallo, 2004-style was not~worthy for two things - close racing for the lead, above left, and the discovery that VB Supercar front splitters are perfectly designed for scooping up tons of sand. While incidents like this, above right, hampered DJR's efforts, signs are that the team could be about to turn the corner. challenge from that point onward, and he went on to take a commanding 9s win.

"The only scary moment I had was when I got my foot hooked in the brake pedal," Bright recalled .

"I wen t into the corner way too deep and still managed to pull it up.

It's a credit to the guys, we've made the right c.!'1anges and ended up with a really comfortable car to drive."

Behind him, Rick's efforts to hold on to second finally cracked when Richo forced the door open on lap 25 and h e, Todd and Ambrose all dashed through.

The top order stabilised over the remaining laps - unless your name was Wee!. After spending most of the weekend frustrated at not having squeezed the most out of a rather handy package, Wee! attempted to make up for it in the space of a few laps and carved a swathe through the field on his way to fifth behind Ambrose.

Tander completed a good weekend by finishing sixth after surviving a last-gasp attack from Bowe. And eighth was Ellery, who drove quietly and cleanly all weekend, and was rewarded with 10th overall for the round d espite losing his alternator at

the start of the final race. It was Super Cheap Racing's best result of the season so far, and a good confidence boost for the team as the endures start to loom in the distance.

Elsewhere in the field, OJR was ruing what they considered to be a lost opportunity. After a p roductive test a week prior to the even t, the team were pleased to have unleashed a car that was fast straight out of the box, but disappointed that fate, and a few small errors, had seen the potential for a real result slip th.rough their fingers.

"To finish equal 10th was really good," said Johnson. "We had some brake problems in Race 1, but by Race 3 it was great. We've made some gains in rear end grip, which had given it more drive out of the corners, and hopefully we've set a baseline for the car that we can work from. But we still need to gain 0.2s or 0.3s."

HRT dropped ·o ut of the picture in the dying stages of the final race,

with both cars reported huge brake fa de. It was a minor disaster by HRT's standards, but it's a fair bet that FPR would gladly have traded places with them.

Seton and Lowndes ate their way th.rough tluee engines during tl1e weekend, with Seton's car lunclling one powerplant in practice, and another during the final race.

Lowndes's motor let go in Race 2, and eventually led to tl1e team making the difficult call not to send the car out for the final race. It's no secret that FPR has a lot of work to d o at tl1e moment, but even they must surely have been expecting more than a total of 48 points out of the weekend.

The show now moves from one end of the country to the other, and will reconvene at the Paperclip at the start of July. If Barbagallo told us anything, it is that this is still very much anyone's game. We wai t with interest.

POINTS: Ambrose 872, R. Kelly 822 , S. Richards 820. Murphy 8 11 . Bright 783, Bowe 638, lngall 634. Tander 600, T. Kelly 597, Weel 569. Joh nson 543. Skaife 540, Bargwanna 496, Baird 448, Winterbottom 442, Lowndes 41 4, Radisich 400, Jones 396, Morris 394, Wilson 390, Seton 365, Dumbrell 347, J. Richards 343, Longhurst 314, Besnard 314, Luff 306, W ills 304, Tran 266, Ellery 260. Mcconville 242 , Noske 118, Brede 11 8, Porter 58.

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45

Not Re , M

Ferrari's F2004 was the class of the field at Indianapolis with another 1-2 for Maranello. JOE SAWARD viewed the dominance, the wreckage and the mechanical carnage that was the 2004 United States Grand Prix 1

ICHAEL Schumacher scored his eighth win in nine races at Indianapolis in a race filled with drama and controversy.

Michael was beaten away at the start by the pole man Rubens Banichello but a Safety Car almost immediately gave him a second chance and as the Safety Car peeled into the pitlane the two cars headed down towards the start-finish line side-by-side. This was the crucial moment of the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. And something very odd happened.

There is confusion sometimes at Indianapolis about what constitutes the start line, and so the wise were watching not the race track but rather the timing sheets and the strangest thing happened. For hall a second Schumacher's name was at the top of the timesheet. And then it disappeared - and Barrichello was on the top again.

Later the timing data showed that Rubens had been 0.013s ahead as they crossed the line. The change of the timing screen was never explained. Several people saw it and no-one could explain why it had

happened. But it had happened .

This was the important moment in the race because the move by Schumacher meant that he was ahead at the first comer. And that was deeply significant a few laps later when the Safety Car came out again after Ralf Schumacher had a highspeed puncture and went into the wall. Ralf had been running in sixth place, about 10 seconds behind Michael and so the Ferrari team had about a minute to decide what to do.

"They were telling me, 'Come in, don' t come in, come in, don't come in'," said Barrichello later.

In the end, Rubens came in behind Michael and had to wait while the team finished with Michael. Those who did not stop slowed to such an extent getting through the wreckage on the road that Michael came out still in the lead, despite the fact that he had had a pit stop and had changed tyres and taken on fuel.

That one had us scratching our heads for a while.

That pit stop completely screwed Barrichello's race. The data shows that Rubens lost 5.1s in the pitlane waiting for Michael, but the lap times reveal that Rubens had lost another

FORMULA ONE

lue. ust

10s before the decision to come is was taken.

The result was that Rubens came out further back in the queue behind the Safety Car than he might have done and so fo und himself in seventh when the race restarted and that meant that he was in traffic until those w ho had not stopped were out of the way. And that did not happen until lap 35, by which time Barrichello was 10s behind Michael.

For a while later in the race, he was right behind Michael and looked threatening but the World Champion carved across his nose on lap 51 and the message was clear. Rubens sa t behind him for 10 laps and then began to fall back.

Michael had it won. Rubens had the fas ter car. It is amazing how such things happen.

T

here was further drama and controversy later because Juan

Pablo Montoya, who had had a quite extraordinary race, was black-flagged 93 minutes after the infringement.

Montoya was on the grid when it became clear that the Williams could not be fired up. Montoya came out of the car and ran across the track and into the Williams pit where he jumped into the spare car and started from there.

The timing was crucial because the rules state that everyone must be clear of the grid 15 seconds before the start of the parade lap. It must have been very close but obviously Montoya had broken the rule and the FIA stewards felt that they must uphold the regulation.

That is fair enough- but perhaps it would have been wise if a decision had not taken 93-minutes in a 100minute race.

Montoya would have finished fifth had it not been for the black flag and that was a good effort.

"The only comfort," he said, "is that the car was quick today and that allowed me to ca tch up with the frontrunners from the back of the field."

With Ralf going into the wall and being dragged off to hospital in a ambulance, it was ano ther poor day for Williams, which is now 30 points behind Renault in the Constructor.s' title and 22 points behind BARHonda.

R~nault had a disappointing day after a great start from Alonso, who made a spectacular start to go from ninth on the grid to be third in the first corner, having gone around the outside of Takuma Sato. His race would be short and spectacular because at the start of the ninth lap his right rear Michelin tyre came off the rim. His Renault crashed heavily into the wall in Turn One. Michelin later investiga ted the failure (and that of Ralf Schumacher) and concluded that both had been caused by debris on the track afte r the first corner shunt. Trulli finished fourth having been passed by Sato w ith a few laps to go.

"I was really on the limit," said Trulli, "and the lap before he got me I went off. Then there were fla gs on the track beca use of oil on the road and I lifted and he passed me into the first corner."

Sato was one of the stars of the day but his hopes of glory were ruined by the first Safety Car as BAR decided to keep botl1 cars out on the track. The second Safety Car destroyed that stra tegy and both

All for nothing, really: Montoya's efforts were wasted when the officials took a leisurely 93 minutes to black-flag him for starting infringement.

BARs wended up in tl1e midfield in t1·9ffic after they pitted on laps 24 ,,and 25. By the time he had worked his way back up the order Sato was too far behind the Ferraris to make any realistic challenge. Button never got out of the traffic because he retired with a gearbox problem.

The rest of the points scorers were survivors but Olivier Panis had done a good job to be fifth . The two McLarens were a lap down but picked up points while the only other finisher was Zsolt Baumgarmer, who was three laps down at the end.

Red Formation: It was yet another Ferrari 1-2, opposite left, once Michael got ahead during the first pit cycle. It was Schumacher's 78th GP win.

Thelebration: Don't you reckon that Sato was happy with third, left.

More points! Baumgartner scored Minardi's first points since 2002.

23 June 2004

,,

Qualifying

en Number H

alfway through the World Championship and Ferrari was still dominant as it has been at most of the races this year but in Indianapolis, it was Rubens Barrichello who set the fastest time in qualifying, beating Michael Schumacher, the winner of seven of the eight races this year.

If that seemed to be a little odd, it was at least in keeping with the tenor of the weekend because Rubens had been quick from the start of the action on Friday rn orning. He was fastest all day and in the first session on Saturday as well. In the final practice session, Jenson Button wound up his BAR-Honda to top the timesheets with a lap that was just a hint short of the first 1m09s lap of The Brickyard.

The Indianapolis track is an odd one because the front

Luck S1/ike BAR Honda 1:10.820 +0.597

BMW WilllamsF1 Team 1 :11.062 + 0.839 BMW WilllamsF1 Team 1:11.106 + 0.883

West McLaren Mercedes 1 :11 .137 + 0.914 Panasonic To ta Racln 1 :11.167 + 0.944 Mild Seven Renautt F1 Te"11

1 :11 .185

+ 0.962

1:13.357

+ 3. 152

MlnariJI Cosworth 1 :14.010 + 3.787 Minaroi Cosworth 1:14.812 + 4.589

straight is all about sheer horsepower - but there is then the decision as to whether drivers trade off their top speed to get more downforce in the infield. It is really a matter of opinion because while having speed in the infield might be good fo r qualifying, it is of more value to have stra ightline speed in the race, so as to be able to overtake.

The fact that Barrichello was on top in qualifying was interesting but no more than that. But these are just two of the variables in F1 today.

The biggest question was who was running which strategy. The computer simulations said that a twostop strategy was about the same as a three-stop race but that does not take into account the traffic situation and the chances that a three-stop runner could get stuck behind

the two-stoppers and lose a lot of time.

Thus trying to analyse what we saw in qualifying was virtually impossible. One can argue that Rubens had a better car in the infield but was slower in the fast sectors but when you looked at the top speeds Michael was slower than his team mate. The BARHondas were both good in the infield and not so good on the straights but the logic of this was not clear. Surely it was better to use the Honda horsepower to mave the abi1li~y to overtake on Sunday?

The important thing in F1 is overtaking and so there was at the end of qualifying a suspicion that Michael may well have decided to give away some speed in qualifying in order to have a more raceable car.

Rubens put down his newfound speed to the fact that he had changed his style of

I

FORMULA ONE

eans Number One

driving and it was now beginning to work.

"I am happy with the car and the engine," he said. "I am just driving the car in a different way. " Michael said that the time "went away" in the second sector.

"I just slid around and I couldn't keep it ora the line," Michael explained. "Rubens found a better way to use the car."

But Schumacher did not seem too downhearted.

"We are on the front row," he said. "It will be an interesting fight between us tomorrow."

Rubens also said, "I hope he (Michael) doesn't get as close as I got to him in Canada. It is always a nice fight. I am proud to race against Michael."

Interesting, since he did not feel he needed to add just yvhen that might happen .

T

he two BARs shared the second row of the grid, Sato and Button separated by two-tenths of a second .

The third row belonged to Williams with Montoya beating Ralf Schumacher by a tiny margin.

The only team to have a major problem was Renault with Jarno Trulli unable to set

a lap time because of what seemed to be a steering wheel problem which meant that Jarno could not select first gear. He was push-started away by the Renault mechanics but the problem persisted and Jarno headed into pitlane at the end of the lap. He would start from the back.

Back, in the USA: Giorgio Pantano, above, got back into the Jordan after a week off in Canada and he qualified close to team-mate Nick Heidfeld.

But no-one had any answer for Rubens Barrichello, below.

lhe Unforgiving Concrete

INDIANAPOLIS lived up to its reputation as a track that punishes errors, Ralf Schumacher and Fernando Alonso finding out the hard way.

The German lost a tyre in the final corner, spearing his Williams BMW into the outside · 'Turn 1' w all, above. Schumacher was taken to hospital w as w as not badly injured.

Alonso's Renault was maxed out at at the end of the straight, below, when it spanned into the concrete . After piling through some advertising signs, right, he came to. a rest safely.

The start of the race was eventful, with an accident at the second corner when the midfield tried to get through without drama .

Olivier Panis went into the corner in front of his team-mate Cristiano da Matta, who decided at the last minute that he was not going to get through w ithout hitting Panis and

braked . This meant that he was hit from behind by Christian Klien in the second Jaguar.

"I had nowhere to go, " said Kl ien .

The Austrian w as then collected by Felipe Massa's Sauber and as cars went everywhere, Giorgio Pantano and Gianmaria Bruni w ere both involved in the cha in reaction . It was a bad moment for Sauber because Giancarlo Fisichella also had to go off track to avoid·the incident and so ended up at the back.

Da Matta went into the pits and w as sent on his w ay again but the impact had damaged his gearbox and that resulted in a failure after a few laps.

It was Klein's second lap 1 crash in a row and third of the season .

-JOE SAWARD 50

mo1orspon news

COMING just a few days after the teams left Montral, the USGP did not allow an huge step into the cars' development but the Speedway represents a very particular challenge to accommodate both the banking of the last corner and the long straight as well as a twisty infield section.

The nature of the track means that lap times do not vary much between running a low downforce configuration (which increases top speed at the end of the long straight) or a highdownforce configuration that costs time on the straight but gives it back on the infield .

Ferrari kept part of the aerodynamic package introduced in Canada, sporting a front wing with a single flap, but this one added a Gurney flap

Made -ilt for the USA

PAOLO FIL/SEIT/ plots the latest F1 tweaks at Indianapolis with a 'saw tooth' profile, below.

This provided a slight gain in downforce wh ile the single flap kept drag low.

The rear of the flap allowed the airflow to run closer to the endplates, speeding its flow and lowering drag . In moist air, one could see the vortices of air at the extremities of the flap, which were sharply angled.

Renault adopted a similar package to the one Ferrari ran in Canada . In particular, the front wing introduced at Montreal featuring a flap, below, with a reduced width in its central section (as shown by the red

interrupi ed line showing the older version of the flap). This is also designed to aid top speed.

On the other hand, Williams adopted a medium downforce configuration but added a fullwidth profile above the rear axle, bottom. The team's engineers said that this did not affect downforce as much as clean the

airflow i,round the exhaust chimneys, which were enlarged due to the expected hotter temperatures and increased humidity in Indianapolis.

McLaren had revised sidepods in America, w hich were shrunk in their middle section, and a revised engine cover that looked similar to Renault's.

Points go begging

MARK Webber was hoping for great things on Sunday at Indianapolis but his race was ruined by incidents and Safety Car interventions.

Webber had planned for a twostop race and the team decided not to call him in when the second Safety Car came out. That meant that Mark was fourth behind the Safety Car although his car had been damaged by debris from the Ralf Schumacher accident. Webber was hoping that the caution period would be short and he would gain 23 June 2004

an advantage but as it took a long time to get Schumacher out of his car and to get the wreckage cleared up Webber had to pit while the Safety Car was still out and that was a disaster.

He was at the back of the field but a long middle stint helped him to climb to seventh place. he lost only one place and was bound for points when the Jaguar had to retire with an oil leak.

"We deserved points today," Webber said .

-JOESAWARD 51

Po a. No. I Dnver / Enlrant 1

1

2

2

3

10

4

7

5

17

6

6

I

:,

8

21

9

11

r,,lchael Schumacner {ut RJ lsruderla Ferrll!1 Marlboro t<ul>ens oan,c,,eHo (8=1 IScuderla Femvt Marlboro II ekuma Sato (JPN) ud<y Strike BAR Honda µamo Trull (ITA) Mild Seven Renaci1 F1 Team utlvier Panis (FRAJ Panasonic Toyota Racing Kimi r,anumnen (FIN) West Mclaren Mercedes uavlO Couilham (GBRJ Wes1 Mel.Bren Mercedes lsoll Baumgartner (HUN) Minardi Cosworth u1ancar1o t-isichella ~TAJ Sauber Petronas

14

Mark Wobbor (AUS) Jag.,ar Racing 18 Nick Hci<lfeld (GER) Jordan Ford 0 Jonson Button (GBR) ucky Strike BAR Honda 16 Grlsllano Oa Matta (BRA)

4

Drivers' Championship: M. Schumacher 80, Barrichello 62, Button 44, Trulli 41, Alonso 25, Montoya 25, Sato 14, R. Schumacher 12, Fisichella 10, Coulthard 9, Raikkonen 8, Massa and Panis 5, da Matta, Webber and Heidfeld 3, Glock 2, Baumgartner 1.

Constructors' Championship: Ferrari 142, Renault 66, BAR-Honda 58, Williams- · BMW 36, McLaren-Mercedes 17, Sauber-Petronas 15, Toyota 8, Jordan-Ford 5, Jaguar 3, Minardi 1.

B

Panasonic Toyota Racing

Relf Schumachor (GER) BMW WRliams F1 Team ornondo Alonso (ESP)

Mild Seve n Renaijl F1 Teem

11..apa

,,

02.950

73

1:40:51.950

22.036

73

1:41:04.•oo

34.5<14

73

1:41:07.448

37.534

72

1:40::,7.710

11.AP

~ bens BarrlcheHo (BRA) delia Ferrari Mnr1boro

Lap

182.698

1:10.412

182.609

1:10.399

8

,

19.086

182.033

1:10.727

47

12.008

181.658

1:11.1B/

45

02.990

181.568

1:10.933

46

11.AP

119.369

1:11.248

:,9

1:41 :24.532

1LAP

26.822

178.578

1:1,.1:,:,

44

1:40:44.850

J

174.7:,r

1:14.097

J9

f,:,

1:34:00.119

2 LAPS

173.919

1:12.129

44

ONF

175.266

1:12.140

46

164.570

1:13.095

37

ONF

147.098

1:11 .025

22

134.670

1:12.872

B

153.768

1:11.982

8

149.584

1:11 .238

8

Nol Classnied 60 1:26:06.270 43

1:05:42.005

26

0:44 :11 .102

17

0:31:45.019

9

0:14:43.278

B

0:13:27.097

0

2

,._

,2

10 Giorgio Pantano (IT/\) Jordan Ford Gianmaria Bruri (ITA) Minardi Cosworth

20

Kph

70

0

Sauber Petronas

1:4U:Zll.914 1:40:32.864

rJ

hristia n Klien (/\UT) Jag.,ar Racing cUpo Massa (BRA)

15 12

-

Gap

I

LAPS

ONF

ONF

0

0 Fastest La p 1:10.399 on lap 7

214.366

2 3

4 5 6

7

:<:} Accident 52

® Mechanical failure

4) Pit stop

D Lapped

€) Black Flagged mororspon news

23 llllt 21114

53

The Hard Way

It was a day of sevens in Montreal, Michael Schumacher's 77th GP win his seventh in Canada - and seventh of 2004.

JOE SAWARD reports from Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

T

HE Canadian Grand Prix in 2004 had everything: suspense, drama, controversy and a magnificent performance from Michael Schumacher.

But, to the casual observer, it was the same old story. Schumacher won his seventh victory in eight races and his seventh win in Canada, the first time in the history of the World Championship that a driver has won the same Grand Prix on seven separate occasions. It was his 77th Grand Prix victory.

But it was a great victory if only because it seemed unlikely that Michael could work his way up from sixth on the grid. It is easy to say that Ferrari has the best car and that it was an easy win for Michael but really, that is not fair at all. Schumacher is driving brilliantly at the moment.

Barrichello never looked even vaguely likely to challenge.

"People say I am happy to sit behind Michael," said Rubens. "Today showed this is not the case."

Admirable words - except that Rubens did exactly that after jiggling around a little behind Michael for a few laps.

In the end, Rubens went into the

Seven, the Olympic Network: Michael Schumacher, right, drove perfectly in Canada, cementing his place at the top of the Drivers' Championship. It was a hard day for Williams, with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Montoya, below, both excluded for illegal brake ducts on their FW27s.

pits and re-emerged to try and beat Michael but within a couple of laps was off on the grass, the victim of brakes which had got too hot while running behind Michael. Rubens later reckoned that the incident cost him second place but tl1e nwnbers do not really bear that out. Rubens lost 2.Ss in the incident but then went straight back to doing ilie same sort @flap times he had been doing beforehand.

Before ilie incident, he was 3.4s behind Jenson Button but they also had Juan Pablo Montoya between them. Rubens was going to be third,

no matter what.

Schumacher was aided by the departure at the start of the race of Jarno Trulli, who suffered a transmission failure as he accelerated off the grid. Later, Fernando Alonso would suffer an identical failure, aliliough the team insisted that the parts were not new. A double failure in such circumstances is very odd indeed.

Actually, Alonso might have won tl1e race because, as the pit stops began, he and Schumacher went much farther than the opposition.

I

n the early laps of the race, Michael and Rubens Barrichello were running with big fuel loads but the question that people could not answer was whether or not they would go for a three-stop strategy with a long first stint or whether they would go for a two-stop race.

The truth is probably that the team had a flexible strategy that could go either way depending on the circumstances. The decision to go with the two-stop strategy did not become obvious until half-distance.

Up to that point it had seemed that Ralf Schumacher was in a position to win for BMW Williams. He was racing around 12 seconds ahead of his brother but when Ralf peeled off into the pitlane on lap 33, we waited for Michael to follow him - but the Ferraris went round and round and each time the two cars passed the pitlane entry hopes sank a little further.

One might be optimistic (or naive) and say that Michael was tmder attack from Rubens in this period but

54

Alonso stopped on lap 17 but lost almost 10 seconds because of a fuel nozzle problem. This meant iliat Fernando was sixth when he rejoined.

He ought to have been ahead of Button in tl1ird place, although it would have been a close-rw1 thing.

The Renault did not stop again before retiring on lap 44 so it was obviously on a two-stop strategy and that would have been very interesting, because Alonso would have been in ilie lead after Ralf and Jenson pitted for the second time in the middle of the race and then it would have been a

mo1orspon news

Dammit!

Fernando Alonso, below left, might have lost a podium finish (or a win?) when his Renault packed up.

New kid in yellow: Timo Glock, above, 'Did a Webber' by scoring 2 points on ,,, debut with Jordan.

Another podium: Jenson Button, bottom left, just keeps racking up the points ...

•....::..-,.--- .

straight fight to the flag, with Alonso having the advantage.

With Alonso out of the way and Button struggling with handling, the way was left open for Schumacher to get ahead of them both and go after Ralf, and he duly took the lead when the Williams stopped in mid-race. He stayed ahead at the second stop and that was the end of the story - except that hours later the scrutineers found that Williams and Toyota had been running with illegal air ducts on the brakes and both teams were excluded.

The rules state that there are very

23 June 2004

specific limits on the location of the air ducts to avoid teams turning these into exotic aerodynamic devices. The two teams seem to have positioned their air ducts in such a way as to increase aerodynamic drag but maximise cooling and in doing so, have fallen foul of the rules.

Williams's technical director Sam Michael said that the problem was caused by a mistake and that they offered "no performance gain and no gain for brake cooling because the inlet area was not bigger."

This was 1true as far as it went but the inlet was in the wrong place. The exclusions - which were not challenged by the teams - had a very · "' dramatic effect on the Williams team's Constructors' Championship, which 8. had improved considerably lifting the team from a solid fourth in the title up '<_I· to within striking distance of Lucky • Strike BAR-Honda.

The disqualification means that Williams drops to 36 points while BAR-Honda increases its total to 52.

Prior to the change Williams had 48 points and BAR Honda 51.

Drivers' Championship: M. Sc/111111acher 70, Barrichello 54, Button 44, Trulli 36, Alonso 25, Montoya 24, R. Schumacher 12, Fisic/1el/a 10, Sato 8, Coulthard 7, Raikkonen and Massa 5, da Matta, Webberand Heidfeld 3, Glock 2, Panis 1.

t Renault 61, BAR-Honda 55, BMW. Williams 36, Sauber-Petronas 15,

, Constructors' Championship: Ferrari 122,

f. Mcl.Jlren-Mercedes 12, Jordan-Ford 5, Toyota 4, Jaguar Racing 3.

55

Flexing more than their muscles

AS usual, the Montreal circuit is one of the most severe on brakes so all the teams had to use the strongest package in this respect, adopting the maximum thinkness allowed for the discs and the heaviest and stiffest calipers.

Apart that, the usual development of the cars was related to the aerodynamic configurations, w ith th e track re quiring medium downforce. So new parts have been adopted by some teams .

McLaren sported a new rear wing. Thi s element was similar to one Ferrari tested the week before the race at Monza, featuring a new shape of its elements. In detail the flap and the main profile feature a deep spoon profile, wh ich is able to provide an increased downforce load and at the same time producing less drag than the previous version. This solution is li kely to be used also on th e B version of the MP4/19, which we already have looked at in the last technical ana lysis. · Like McLa ren, Toyota adopted a new rear wing on its TF1 04, featuring a new profile with upwardly-curved edges, which is not exaclty a new solution, but one not used so far this season.

Both solutions provide higher downforce, but above all less drag, which is very important on the long straight at Montreal.

BAR's rear w ing caused some comment after video feed from the European GP showed clearly that it was flexing at high-speed.

The elements appear to 'deform' at high speed, potentially reducing drag, w hile it returned in normal position at slower speeds. Severa l teams requested a clarification from the FIA, w hich stated that the rules forbid fl exi ng of the wing support but, strictly speaking, not of the wing elements.

Low

Speed

High

Speed

- PAOLO FILISETTI

Sometimes, a DNF is not all Bad Nevvs

AT the start the Canadian GP, Jaguar's Christian Klien ran into the back of David Coulthard's McLaren and knocked it into a spin.

When the wheels hit, Klien found himself a metre off the ground before he landed on team-mate Mark Webber.

Webber who had been planning for a two-stop race and so had qualified behind Klien.

The incident gave Webber a puncture and damaged the Poe. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF

I No. I Driver Time

a-•

Kimi Raikkonen (FIN} 1:14.752 69 LAPS 5 David Coulthard (GBR) 1:15.478 69 LAPS 19 Timo Glock (D) 1:16.300 68 LAPS 6

44 55 42

Nick Heidfeld (GER) 18 1:15.890 68 LAPS 15 ~ hristla n Klien (AUT) 45 1:15.731 67 LAPS 21 zsolt Baumgartner (H UN ) 64 1 :17.516 67 LAPS Not Classified 12 Felipe Massa (BRA) 25 1:15.560 62 LAPS 18

that Jaguar Racing is now ninth in the Constructors' title.

The team needs to be sixth on July 1 and the fact that McLaren gained an additional five points means that to get to sixth place Jaguar must score 12 points. The team currently has three and so Jaguar must score a very solid result with two cars (or win with one) if Webber's performance clause is to be avoided.

-JOESAWARD

Grand Prix of Canada

Lap

Michael Schumacher (GER) 18 1:28:24.803 1:13.630 2 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) 68 1:28:29 .911 1:13.622 9 Jenson Button (GBR) 68 1:28:45.212 1:14.246 11 Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) 47 1:15.078 69 LAPS 1

rear suspension which would lead.to Mark's retirement on the grounds of safety some laps later. Klien's car was damaged too and he had to have three pit stop to try and sort out problems. This lost him any hope of a good result.

For Webber however, there must have been mixed emotions when the Williams and Toyota teams had been clisqualified. This meant that Jordan gained three points and vaulted ahead of Jaguar and Toyota, which means

i.-il~ ~.;,....;.....+.1:r~

4 5

FA

1P."' I +-+ 11-+l +-+-!o+.-+.;,tl,l'll,+,II .,.,,'+...,;.........,,..;,-;-;,\

6

MS

1111

7

RB

1111

8 9

10 [Takuma Sato (JPN) 25 1:15.076 48 LAPS 8 Fernando Alonso (ESP) 41 1:14.179 44 LAPS 20 ~lanmaria Bruni (ITA) 25 1:18.025 30LAPS 14 Mark Webber (AUS) 6 1:16.739 6 LAPS 7 µamo Trulli (ITA) 0 LAPS Fastest Lap 2 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) 1: 13.622 on lap 68 213.246

23 June 2004

51

Tom Kristensen has placed himself among Le Mans roya claiming his fifth 24 Hour crown in a row and sixth overall.

DAVID ADDISON was there to witness another Audi demolition THIS looked like the race that no-one wanted to w in.

The 72nd running of the fabled Le Mans 24 Hours was a fascinating race that produced problems for every significant car, and a genuine battle to the chequered flag .

Jamie Davies grabbed the lead in the pole-sitting Audi Sport UK car (qualified by Johnny Herbert) and fended off team-mate Allan McNish for the first few laps.

Behind them, JJ Lehto (Champion Racing Audi) was losing a bit of ground, but the fi rst significant casualty was Rinaldo Capello (Audi Sport Japan Team Goh Audi} who spun into the gravel at the Dunlop Curve.

He ca rried on , down in 24th . In the past, you may have thought t hat his chances w ere over - but not this year .. .

As Davies shook off McNish, t he little Scot w as caught by Lehto, but drama struck at the Porsche Curves when oil was dropped on the road . M cNish hit it and skated into the tyre wall, thumping it hard, only to be hit

by Lehto who had done the same thing . Marshals dragged the cars out

Lehto's car looking second hand, McNish's car looking scrap.

Most observers reckoned that the two cars were history, but Audi mechanics don 't give up.

They set to work rebuilding the cars, the Champion car rejoining 41 st, the Veloqx car 47th . In the past, you may have thought that their chances were over - but not this year ...

This leh Davies (soon to hand over to Guy Smith} ahead of the flying Capello, a lap between them . This was the situation in LM P1 for the next few hours, the pace of the two cars similar enough to prevent the Goh car from making a significant gain.

The gap was flattered on occasions by the pit stops, but there was seemingly nothing that Capello/Tom Kristensen/Seiji Ara could do. In the past, you may have thought that their chances were over - but not this year ...

The first chink in the armour of the Davies/Herbert/Smith car came when at 1am . Davies tripped over Jan Magnussen's Corvette at the F-ord Chicane. This delayed the Dane, although Davies (seemed} to get away unscathed.

Wrong! A stop-go penalty was looming for overtaking under yellow flags before that incident, which allowed the

Kristensen Audi to close the gap.

TK wasn't out of the woods, though, as the Team Goh had a misfire. The team elected to cure this at the halfway mark.

After that, the gap was a realistic one and it was about to get better for Team Goh. Davies had a problem with understeer. A seven-minute stop put the Goh car ahead and gave it a one-lap cushion .

Even that wasn't plain sailing as Capello was delayed leaving the pits when a small fire erupted after fuel spillage ignited the bodywork.

That was the way it stayed unt il the end of the race, but only just, as Seij i Ara led Herbert by a reducing margin. Only when Herbert made a mistake on the penultimate lap did he rela x his pace, having been closing on Ara, whose Mich elin tyres w ere more worn that Herbert's.

Just 41 seconds adrift were Davies/Herbert/Smith in the leading Audi Sport UK car, but third - a remarkable third - came the Lehto/Pirro/ Werner Audi, pulled form the gravel early on, rebuilt and surviving an off with Pirro at the helm and an eightminute disc change.

Fourth fell to the surviving Pescarolo of Soheil Ayari/Erik Comas/Benoit Treluyer which never came within sniffing distance of the Audis, but soldiered on whilst fifth, incredibly, was the second Veloqx Audi .

After McNish .

was advised not to get back into the car, Frank Biela and Pierre Kaffer drove the lion's share together.

Running fourth had been the Rollcentre Dallara of Martin Short but he was punted into the grave l by an impetuous Sebastien Bourdais (Pescarolo} .

Short rejoined but the left rear suspension gave w ay a few laps later and at over 230 kmh, Martin charged the wall .

A wishbone pierced his leg, his car w as a wreck, the dream w as over. Bourda1s wa s unrepentant.

Auss ie David Brabham w as fast w hile the Zyte k lasted, a major blow-out prompting repairs that put them back to 43rd. He and Andy Wallace moved up to seventh just before ha lfway only for the engine to fail with lack of oil pressure.

The GTS

-~ Audi Sport Japan Team Goh Audi RB

379 laps

Davies/Smith/Herbert

Audi Sport UK Velocqx Audi RB

379 laps

Lehto/Werner/Pirro

Champion Racing Audi RB

368 laps

Kristensen/Ara/Capello

ox/Alain lost the lead at stop when the Pratt & team turned the Corvette around much quicker.

Magnussen's clash with the Davies Audi, coupled with Oliver Gavin plungin

AyarVComas/Treluyer

Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Judd

361 laps

McNish/Biela/Kaffer

Audi Sport UK Velocqx Audi RB

350 laps

Gavin/Berena/Magnussen Corvene C5-R (GTS)

345 laps

Lammers/Dyson/Kaneishi Racing For Holland Dome S101 Judd

341 laps

Fellows/O'Connell/Papis Corvette C5-R (GTS)

334 laps

Rydell/Turner/McRae

Prodrive Ferrari 500 Maranello (GTS)

329 laps

,(\

ZE512

I

T'S a sad story for racing punters who like to see lots of overtaking, but Alex Davison is throttling the Carrera Cup field into submission in 2004.

The Glenfords/Greg Murphy Racing driver took his fourth round win from as many starts at Barbagallo, but didn't score the clean sweep.

While Davison scored pole and the first two race wins, defending Champion Jim Richards chimed in with a brilliant passing move in the final 30-lapper to at least claim back one chequered flag and keep his rival with.in championship reach.

"We are very happy with the result, especially considering Alex has been blowing us off in recent times," said Richards, who trails the 24-year-old by 57 points.

"Alex really threw up a challenge on the final lap, but we held on and it certainly is good to be back in the winner's circle."

Davison took pole by two-tenths over an impressive Peter Fitzgerald, with Fabian Coulthard and Richards not far behind.

'The Davo' led the other three in a four-car freight train for the first race until the last lap, when Richards nailed Fitzy at Kolb Comer and allow ·Kiwi Coulthard through to relegate the Victorian veteran back to fourth.

It was a repeated dose in the second 12-lapper, Davison heading home Richards and Coulthard, while the former again did the leading in the last race.

However, Richards was up to the challenge and carved his way past on lap 20 at Kolb to take the lead and sprint away to win over the title leader.

Coulthard was his usual I.turd after getting back in front of Fitzgerald due to the latter missing a shift that saw the former bump into rnthe Abc01· machine. The Braun driver had to re-dress the situation and then 80

do it all again.

"I was struggling with the brake pedal going to the floor from after the Safety Car," said the Aucklander.

"Two laps from the end the ABS light was coming on like crazy and we found that the left rear bearing had collapsed."

Behind the 'regular four', Klark Quinn was consistent and took fifth for the VIP Petfoods mob, while teammate James Cressey had a shocker.

The Kiwi bashed a kerb in qualifying which cracked the crankcase, prompting an engine change. A left rear tyre that let go in the final race was a downer to end the weekend for him after showing some improved pace earlier in the weekend.

Countryman Paul Pedersen worked his way through to tal:<e sixth overall for the round and push Cressey back a spot in the title points, as the small 16 car field made for a quieter weekend than usual in Carrera Cup-land.

Debutante Paul Freestone, Rodney Jane and Stephen Barness were all among the 'sand castle club', with a larger field of more than 20 cars expected for the next round at , Queensland Raceway. '.'. The aim is to always get the round win, and it's great to make it six in a row in Carrera Cup competition," said Davison, referring to his win in the non-title races at the Australian Grand Prix in March and win at Eastern Creek in last year's final round of the Carrera Cup. "Although Jim and his team outdid us in the final 30-lap race, it was great racing all weekend, and shows how you have to be on yo1.,1r guard all of the time out there."

Points: Davison 684, Richards 627, Coulthard 528, Fitzgerald 408, Pedersen 279, Cressey 255.

- AARON NOONAN

He's a lumberjack and he's OK, he sleeps all night and he works all day: Paul Pedersen was his usual charging self and ended up sixth for the weekend in his International Motorsport _NZ-run machine.

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motorspon news

•

•

CA RRERA CUP/FFORD

F1ore's Triple Banger •

•

Fastlane Racing back in the winner's circle as action is ttle ordeff of the weekend

by AARON NOONAN

AN entire season's quota of action was used up in round three of the Ford Racing Australian Formula Ford Championship at Barbagallo and, while the massive Bryce Washington/J ohn Mccowan crash grabbed the headlines, it was Dean Fiore who was victorious.

The West Aussie took Fastlane to its first national round win in ages, sealing three from three as his rivals all found ways of not winning. ''I'm thrilled," beamed Fiore.

"The whole team's been working so hard and to do it a t home is very special."

Sonic duo Bryce Washington and James Small took the front row after qualifying but Fiore worked his way into the lead before the Safety Car was called for.

Fiore bunched them up on the restart (for which he copped a severe rap over the knuckles) and in the resultant ripple effect, Steve Owen launched over the rear of Small, putting the duo out.

Owen would go on to have a shocking weekend. An engine change on Saturday night didn' t halt the problems as his car completely cut out for Race 2, prompting the start to be delayed as the Spectrum was removed.

Small charged in Race 2 to go from 26th to eighth, but was bounced off a kerb and had a spin in the opening stage of Race 3. He came back through into the top 10 but had contact wi.th Andrew Thompson on

the last comer and ended in the sand.

Fiore got the Race 1 win clear of Washington and points leader Brett Francis but drama was to follow in Race 2 on Sunday.

Fiore led after Washington bounced off the road on the exit of Kolb, with Tim Macrow, an improving David Reynolds and Francis in pursuit when the Safety Car came out.

Sonic driver Michael Trimble (having a shocker of a weekend after qualifying 16th) was in the sand at turn 1 with local Michael Henderson but some drivers didn't notice the SC boards and yellow flags.

Washington was fired off the road and into the wall and was about to unbuckle when local veteran Mccowan ploughed into the Adrad car at a frightening pace.

Both s tepped out of their cars under their own steam.

In the two-lap dash to the chequer, Reynolds picked off Macrow with a big move around the outside of the

Fiore in the Fastlane: The lo c al youngst eft'l,ma nched himself into championship contention, al/Jove, wh ile MtIC?owan launched off the stricken Washington car, bel ow, in Rao e 2!..

last comer on the penultimate lap, with Francis, Mark Douglas and Jason Leifting behind.

Race 3 was a bit more subdllled, with Fiore holding off a chargmg Reynolds (who was second foir th.e weekend), Francis (third for th :e weekend), Macrow, Todd Fior e (Dean's brother mounting a fightback after a Rl spin while running fourth) and Leifting.

1lh~ .Enal wash-up sees Francis iPushi:ing clear, while the cool and consi• t ent driving of Macrow has JII\Ol'EQ:i the Spectrum squad in to sel!on<l::J spot, 22 points off the VIP driver-_ Reynolds has become the top Sonic- river in third and Fiore has lbounci::ed his way into title contention 1WiUt1 • 'sPerth dean-sweep. !Points: rands 120, Macrow 98, Reynolds 88, !fiore&.!;l, Small 80, Washington 64.

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23 June 2004

""

61

N

ATHAN Pretty confirmed his stance as a serious championship challenger in the fourth round of the Nations Cup series at Winton Motor Raceway last weekend.

Series leader Paul Stokell and title rival Pretty were head and shoulders faster than the healthy-sized pack; and the pair shared the tl1ree race wins. However, Pretty scored two of the victories and took home his second round win-in-a-row at his home rural circuit.

"We are showing some encouraging speed after Sandown," said Pretty.

"I had a lot of fun in the third race.

It's nice to win. We are slowly heading in the right direction and the hard work is paying off."

Pretty" picked up the Race 3 win in wet conditions - it was his first drive of the Monaro in the rain!

"I had actually never driven it in the rain before," said Pretty, who has been driving the seven-litre Holden since late 2002.

Pretty later acknowledged that the win could be attributed to a stroke of genius by GRM VS team member Garth Tander. Tander advised the team to go for a wet set-up before the rain had started to fall. It worked a treat, as Pretty d ominated the shortened race by over 15 seconds.

Race 1 saw pole-sitter Stokell lead from the outset and claim the win, but Pretty shadowed his every move.

Both drivers broke the lap record and the gap between them throughout the race was never more than one second.

Twin-turbo Porsche 911 GT2 driver David Stevens stayed out of trouble to score third place while Peter Brock, debuting the new Team Brock Monaro CVS, charged through the pack after a number of teething problems with the car in qualifying.

Encouragingly, the car showed good pace, even though the final touches were only applied hours before first practice.

Allan Simonsen, back in a Trophy Class Ferrari 360 Modena after the 550 Maranello was sidelined by engine problems, finished fifth, just ahead of tl1e third (ex-Brock) Monaro of Ian Palmer.

Nations Cup debutant Perry Spiridis qualified seventh but endured a spin at the first comer. He finished 10th in his Porsche GT3 Cup Car.

Spiridis's ADAMCO team-mate Marc Cini also spun and became stranded on the back straight and did not finish.

Stokell stormed to another strong start to Race 2, but on lap three Pretty picked him off at tum four and took a lead he would not surrender.

Stokell initially dropped behind Brock, who was taking advantage of no success ballast. But Stokell stormed past the 'Mountain Master' at the Motorsport News Esses on lap four, and closed back onto the tail of Pretty. Stokell failed to make a threatening move on him, but a solid tap at tum 10 on the final lap gave a clear indication that the championship leader still wants race wins.

Stevens finished behind Brock and ahead of Palmer, who this time beat

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mororsporr news

NATIONS CUP/F3

Noise Restrictions

Better Field: The Nations Cup grid was at its best and busiest, above, for the start of Race 1.

TB's CVB: Brock's Monaro debuted at Win ton below and showed good pace. When they sort it, look out ... ' '

Trophy Class winner Simonsen to fifth place. Mark Eddy was seventh.

The rain started to fall only moments before the start of the last race. Brock was the only front-runner to opt for slick tyres, hoping that the dark Victorian clouds would pass quickly. It was the wrong option. The master struggled for grip and avoided a couple of 'near-misses' to cross the line fifth.

Tander's inspired set-up gave Pretty a dominating race and round victory, which has kept the Just Cars/Monaro in the championship hunt.

Stokell predictably finished second, wrapped up second overall for the day and maintained a healthy, but shrinking series lead.

23 June 2004

The rain really spread out the field across the 3km circuit, and the main race interest involved a terrific 'David and Goliath' scrap between Simonsen and Palmer ,where the Danish star somehow held off the Monaro rookie. Simonsen easily took the overall Trophy Class win.

Rod Wilson finished sixth in the last race, his best result for the round.

The series moves to Eastern Creek next month where the black Lamborghini and yellow Monaro will continue their title battle.

Poi nts: GT Class: Stokell 332, Pretty 298, P.Brock 156, Stevens 134, Simonsen 119, Eddy 66.

Trophy class: Theo Koundouris 216, James Koundouris 176, Joh n TeuJan 162.

IAN Dyk got his Formula 3 Championship chase back on course with a decisive round win at Winton Motor Raceway last weekend.

The Sydneysider finished second in Race 1 behind series leader Chris Gilmour, and held out a cdete rrrnimed Karl Reii:idler in the second to wrap up the round .

But Dyk escaped disaster in the first event when he stalled at the start and fell to the back. A Safety Car and a number of misfortunes helped him recover and save his championship hopes.

Reindler though , was one of the misfortunate. The BRM driver was comfortably leading Race 1 until the authorities penalised him for excessive noise. The F3 brigade were warned all weekend about their noise, and at one stage there were suggestions that the whole field would be black-flagged . But only Reindler copped the wrath of the officials and the team and driver were shattered .

"We did everything humanly possible to avoid exceeding the noise limit," said a disappointed Reindler.

"I even backed off as I passed the point where they measure it.

I'm disappointed because the ear was spot on . I wanted this so badly. The amount of effort that's gone in ... to get something like

this is devastating."

Gilmour picked up his fourth race win for the year in Race 1 but admitted that he wasn't the fastest in the race though and was fighting "major understeer".

He maintained his 100 percent podium finishing record in Race 2 when he stole third place from Daniel Pappas on the final lap when he snuck past in a daring move.

The ever-improving Pappas finished third in the first race, just holding out an assertive charge from John Pettit. Pettit again crossed the line behind Pappas in fifth place in Race 2.

Nie Jordan was the cream of the Trophy Class, snatching fifth outright in Race 1 ahead of Bevan Carrick and sixth in the second .

Carrick was lucky to finish Race 2 when New South Welshman Michael Navybox braked too late at the opening corner and launched over the back of Carrick. Both finished the race.

Aaron Caratti threatened the front runflers in Race 1. The Western Australian was running second until a blown gearbox two laps from home robbed him of a certain podium . His team tried to replace it but ran out of time.

- GRANT ROWLEY Points: Gilmour 134, Dy!< 115, Relndlei 103, Pettit 77, Pappas 64.

63

life in Ric Shaws old girl. reports from Winton Racewa¥_

ntEV d

they used to.

RicShaw gave his ageing azda RX-7 another roand in at chilly Winton last eekend.

Shaw's impressive tjualifying record stayed intact after he scored his.fourth pole position in a row and backed it up with a solid win in Race 1.

Second place in Race 2 and seventh in the final gave him :the round win by one point over Paul Stokell. Shaw has

.

know

es.

reigni.~IM!! w ShQ)V amp was no stouch over the weekend, which culminated in him leading the first five laps of Race 3. Second in Race 3 and fourth overall was no mean feat.

And w.hjle Hemmes and Stokell have now skipped away in the points race, Garry Holt's championship challenge came to an abrupt halt. Two engine detonations over the weekend equalled zero points.

Tfie revelation of the rounct was Berte Lynton jn his BMW M3. The Queenslander, l:ielow right, fresh from business commitments in Denmarlc, claimed three top-five finishes; inclucling two podiums-. 1t,was. easily his best showing Qfthe year.

As is now standard in GT Performance, the Lancer battle in the bottom half of the top 12 was intense, to say the least.

Race 3 saw defending Champ Mark King and Graham lM!Hlder ~lan_g doors four at turn nine, Y4lif&Bob ='Huglies, Barry Morcom, uf ~qc;nr,d Ge~

eri1il~~tfia

Hughes.'.

Mitsubishi Ev

finished' tjixtb: c

:me~~ofthe

ra and

1FPV

enge

den bait in Race

3. tt ctorian~nged with'. yigourtn th ~ning two races,.but~«tt.aaov in RaceJ. with a bro.kert .drive

Peter Floyd's brand-new HSV VY qualified third but struggled with a misfire in Race 1. He fought back to finish 13th, and was as high as seventh in Race 2 until he ran wide, losing time. He blew a tyre soon after and signaled an unjust debut for the new car.

Peints: Httmma Zll2. Stokel! 232. Shaw 177, Floyd UO. Knight 142. lynton 141.

RALLYING sutton-images.com

Peugeot boss in hot water with RA over Cyprus DSQ remarks CONTROVERSIAL Peugeot boss Corrado Provera could face disciplinary action for the remarks he made over the FIA's disqualification of the French team from the Cyprus Rally.

Provera fired a broadside at the FIA during a press conference just before the start of the recent Acropolis Rally in Greece, saying that the governing body's a,ct ions brought shame on his team .

President of the FIA, Max Mosley, has apparently been angered by the outburst and is studying video evidence of the press conference before deciding what act ion to take against Provera.

The FIA has made it clear that statements such as those made by Provera will not be tolerated and has said that the French team will know ifs fate in the next few days.

A source inside the FI A has been quoted as saying that " t his is not someth ing that the FIA's not going to let go. In the past there has been the odd instance of a team producing a press release making a statement which is clearly untrue, but this is something we are not going to overlook."

There has been evidence presented in the last week that the water pump Peugeot claimed was from another version oii the XU7 engine was in fact from a different engine and had been machined to fit t he WRC engine block.

"Tl:ie pump in qwestion was from a different. engine and had been deliberately machined down from 69 mm to 60 mm in order fof it to be fitted to the car's engine. If it had not been specially modified, t hen it would not have been able to fit the pump."

Provera ' response to the FIAs possible act ion was succinct.

"Listen, listen, this is t he version the FIA may give," he said .

"They know the truth. I said at the end of my statement that I woul dn't go back on my position . I stand by that, I gave them all the documents showing that the pump conformed ."

Provera said that he was not going to comment any further, reiterating his statemen t at the end of the Greek press conference .

- JON THOMSON

Rally GB to be fastest: Sainz

MOVING the Rally of Great Britain to September this year could make it the fastest rally in the World Championship, according to leading competitors.

Twice winner of the British round of the WRC, Spaniard Carlos Sainz, believes that the rally will be dramatically quicker w hen it is held in September for the first time.

"I think if it is dry it will become the fastest rally in the cham pion ship," said Sainz, his statem ent coming after the firs t day of a two-d ay Citroen test in Wales.

The 42-year-old evaluated suspension settings and tyre choice in preparation for the British event and for Japan, w hich will also be held in September.

The British event has never been held in the early autumn.

Traditionally it has been run in November as the final ro und of the WRC or in March.

It was run in March for many years prior to the WRC kicking off in 1979.

Bad weather m akes the forest roads muddy and significan tly slower than they are likely to be in early au~ , the time of the year the event will be run in 2004.

- JON THOMSON 23 June 2004

1 Tuohino

j"

t

i home in a

Ford Focus

AS predicted in the last issue of MNews, Swede Daniel Carlsson is the favourite to get the nod for a third works

.

The team is likely to run an extra team car on the Neste Rally Finland. Peugeot Sport is apparently close to finalising plans to run three cars on several WRC events in the second half of the year and it is understood the hard-charging Swede is first in line.

Carlsson won the Junior class in Finland last year with Suzuki and has made a strong impression on Peugeot bosses, particularly with his fifth place on the Acropolis.

Discarded Belgian Freddy Loix, who was benched by the team after disappointing performances in Monte Carlo and Sweden, above, has been given a reprieve with the promise of three tarmac rallies with the team before the end of the year.

Loi x hasn't driven a WRC round since Sweden in February and hasn 't tested since April. But he is set to be back behind the wheel as the second nominated pointscorer for Peugeot in Germany, Corsica and Spain, where his task will be to assist Marcus Granholm in his bid to win the World title.

- JON THOMSON

FORD has confirmed that Janne Tuohino -ivill return to the works team for his home round of the World Championship in Finland.

The 29-year-old Finn, above, is likely to stand in for Francois Duval due to the specialised nature of the Finnish event coupled with Duval's patchy record this year.

Duval will take part in the rally in a third works Focus to gain experience but will not be nominated for points. However, the Belgian will drive the second official car on all other rallies this season.

BP Ford team boss Malcolm Wilson said that Tuohino was unlikely to drive a works car again this year, although he could get a current car if he wins the Focus Challenge and chooses the concluding round, Rally Australia, as his prize drive.

- JON THOMSON

65

Tectaloy Treat

THE South Australian 360ci Sprintcar fraternity recently gathered to celebrate the inaugural Tectaloy Coolants 360ci Sprintcar Series.

Veteran racer Dennis Burford was crowned the series Champion after a tight points battle that went down to the wire. Damien Eve was a close runner up while second generation young gun Michael Burford rounded out the top three.

Simon McKean showed steady improvement over _the series to claim

the 'Rookie of the Year' award, while at the other end of the scale, Craig Vanderstelt collected the 'Upside Down' prize after a frustrating season of crashes and bashes.

Victorian Col Beasley collected the 'Encouragement' award for the amount of miles travelled to compete in the series and Broken Hill's Darryl Guerin walked pway with the 'Hard Luck' award after a series of consecutive mishaps.

- PARIS CHARLES

Tracy's Reunion

MEMORIES came flooding back recently at the old Tracey's Speedway at Maribyrnong Road, Melbourne with the unveiling of a plaque acknowledging 40 years since the last race.

First opened on October 26, 1946, the-then Maribyrnong Speedway (later Kirjon Speedway before Fred Tracey's era) attracted all the leading names of the day, and because of its central location, it was popular with competitors and spectators alike - a factor that would eventually lead to its undoing.

The recent reunion saw the apperance of the evergreen Frank Nankiville, below, who had the distinction of competing at the venue throughout the entire history of the circuit. Nankiville was a founder of the Victorian Classic and Vintage Speedway Club and is a life member. His nicely restored Speedca,r which he still drives · at historic meetings, was one of several on display.

Amongst the bike fraternity, Harry Down had his J.A.P. Harry raced from 1964 until 1969 at Tracey's and captained the Australian team against England. He was the winner of two silver gauntlet trophies, and named his son 'Douglas' - after the bike!

Ray Woods was there with his outfit which took five years to restore. It features a MSS Velocette frame with Vincent front forks, a Norton Commando gearbox and a 1937 motor.

Also enjoying the day was Jimmy Carter who was passenger on Bob McKimmie's J.A.P. outfit from 1959 to '64.

The official ceremony was conducted by Ken Izzard, Frank Nankiville, Ken Thomas, and track manager from 1954-64, Jack Walker, and the 'Remember the Champions' plaque was then unveiled as " ... a reminder to all those with memories of this bygone era ."

Today, all that remains of the speedway are the bluestone steps up to a sports oval with a raised section around the perimeter where the fans once stood behind a mesh fence . Population buildup and the urban sprawl eventually brought about its demise, and the dust settled for the final time on Tracey's Speedway on April 11, 1964.

-BRIAN REED

Kwinana gets Speedcar Title

THE management of Quit Motorplex recently announced they will host the 64th Australian Speedcar Championship in 2004/05.

This national event is expected to attract between 40 and 50 of Australia's best Speedcar competitors. Current titleholder Tony Elliot from the United States has indicated that he will return to Australia to defend his title and race at the renowned Kwinana Beach facility.

"We are extremely proud to be hosting the Championship," said Quit Motorplex Speedway Manager, Gavin Migro.

"With drivers expected from America, New Zealand and all over Australia, I have no doubt that this will be one of the best shows seen in the nation next season."

"I am confident that our local Speedcar pilots will take it right up to the visiting drivers and I would just love to see the coveted number one won by a local."

Qualifying for the prestigious event will commence on Friday, February 25 with the finals held on the following day. A practice session for the National Title will be held on Wednesday, February 23.

- DARREN SUTTON

motorspon news

SPEEDWAY

Maher and Loudoun spare nothing l'HE Bevelite Glass team of Adrian Maher and Ian Loudoun are planning a big 2004/05.

Both Sydney drivers will utilise a spare Maxim chassis and Loudoun will also have the use of a 410 engine next summer aher having many impressive drives last season in the smaller 372 motor.

Newcastle-based engine whiz Steve Smith has joined Wayne Smith (no relation) to spread the load in the team's engine building department.

Parramatta City Raceway promotion are in the final stages of next summer's racing program.

At this stage it looks like the season will start in late September and run until the end of April. They are looking at having up to five top American Sprintcar drivers racing at the venue in the Christmas/New Year sprintcar meetings, leading up to the Outlaws Downunder event.

~Hancoc

~ k t below left, has

alfdured a-slow-start1his yea

but his on-and-off track efforts came to fruition on Saturday when he won a great final, inches ahead of Adams and 25-year-old local Lee Richardson, who was competing in his first-ever GP final.

"We have worked so hard for this," said Hancock.

"I wouldn't still be racing if I didn't believe that I could win the World Championship and this just proves the point."

Hancock became the fourth winner a_Grand

n.

-Crump-quar

-final in 2004-'I 53 GPs -with a suppr final victory.

However, the 28-year-old was hampered by a difficult gate position in the final and was unable to add to his two previous British GP victories in 1996 and 1998.

"I scored a bit of a bum gate in the ballot, and I had to take a chance off the start,"

Sjam Prota

The North Queensland Sprintcar Title held on the Queen's Birthday weekend in Cairns was t-;llax Dumesny's final meeting of the season - and he didn't win!

After finishing third in the NO Title, his Valvoline Maxim is now up for sale and Dumesny will build a new car. Duniesny will soon fly out of Australia in late July and stay in the US until after the Knoxville Nationals.

At this stage, Dumesny doesn't have a ride, but he is looking around for a good car for this year's meeting.

Before Max jetted off, he was awarded with his (belated) 2003 Speedway Motor Sport Award, above.

- GREG BOSCATO

Max Dumesny Motorsport Australian Distributors for

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23 June 2004

1 ... .. .... . ... Danny L.asoski 2. ...• • •. •.. . ... Steve Kinser 3 . ...... .. ..... Brooke Tatnall 4. . . .• .......... Mark Kinser 5.... .. •.•..... .. Tlm Shaffer 6...... . . .•. ... Donny Schatz 7....•.•...... . Joey Saldana 8. . . . .• . • .. . ...Jason Meyers 9. . ... ... . ....Jason Sides [4] 10. . .Craig Dollansky

11. . .. . •• .. . . Sammy Swindell 12. . ....• ..... Paul McMahan 13.. . ... . . .. . . Jonathan Allard 14 .. .' . . .. , . .. .. Daryn Pittman 15 . . . . .. • ....... Brian Paulus 16. . ... . ....... . Erin Crocker 17.. ..... .. . . Brandon Wimme 18.... . • • .. . ....... Bill Rose 19. . . . . ..... .. . . Kraig Kinser 20 .....•..•.. . .. Mike Boston

1. Steve Kinser .......... ... 3762 2. Danny Lasoskl . . .. • .•.....3638 3. Donny Schatz ... .. ... . . .. 3586 4. Jason Meyers . . ..... .. ... 3556 5. Craig Dollansky ... .. .. .... 3540 6. Paul McMahan ....... . . • .3522 7. Joey Saldana . .. ..... . .. .3408 8. Kraig Kinser .............. 3403 9. Tim Sha//er ..... .. ... . ... 3402 10.Daryn Pittman ........... 3389

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61

DRAG RACING

Larry's Back·

REIGNING NHRA Top Fuel Champion Larry Dixon has broken his 2004 drought with a win at the 34th Annual K&N Filters Supernationals in Englishtown, New Jersey last weekend.

Dixon , right, took the win after posting 4.65s/318mph against rival Cory McClenathan.

Joining Dixon in the Winner's Circle were Gary Densham (Funny Car), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Bike).

For the complete lowdown, please see the next issue of MNews.

I

A Tough Lesson A CONTROVERSIAL decision by ANDl3A stewards saw four competitors disqualified in the unofficial Supercharged Outlaws bracket on day two of the Winternats.

All were pulled up for safety infringements after their final qualifying passes, deemed to not have been wearing the appropriate fire retardant underwear under their racing suits.

The hardest hit by this decision was Russell Schafer, who would have had a big chance of taking the · track championship after points leader Daniel Reed was defeated in the first round of eliminations.

Absent from the Winternationals was NZ racer Jon Bates in the Competition Eliminator bracket.

Bates recorded the first-ever 6.0s pass in the country for the Ndragster class at the Winternats warmup event the previous week after piloting his 388ci naturally-aspirated Ford powered dragster to a 6.98 at 192 mph, but was unable to attend the Winternationals after damaging the potent small-block engine.

Clay Millican and Mark Thomas remain perfect for the year on the IHRA Hooters Drag Racing Series, as both drivers scored their fourth wins in Top Fuel and Alcohol Funny Car respectively. The two were flan ked in the Winners' Circle by Pro Mod winner Quain Stott and Elijah Morton, who took Pro Stock honours at the Mopar Canadian Nationals at the Grand Bend Motorplex, in Canallfa two weeks ago.

Millican defeated Rick Cooper and Todd Paton before defeating finalist, Tim Cullinan, 4.74/299 to a redlighting 4.83/293.

Stott scored his second career Pro Mod victory in a blown car, defeating Harold Martin in the final, 6.34/225 to 6.38/222.

Morton defeated Richmond winner Brian Gahm in the Pro Stock final.

6.55/210 to 6.61/209.

And in a battle between the two top Alcohol Funny Cars in the series, Mark Thomas recorded a winning 5.91/238 to stop Rob Atchison, who red-lighted.

o

6mph . Army dragster. · st a

derson drove the egas eneral ·n over Dave Connolly in the fi e lead quickly evaporated as A .

1 mph to Connolly's 6.93/201.

Andrew Hines gave Hai'ley-Davrdson its second NHRA victory by defeating Steve Johnson in the final round, 7.13/185 to 7.44/180.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

After being released from Don Prudhomme's team following the Joliet event, crew chief John Stewart has landed with the two-car Top Fuel effort of Hartman Enterprises.

Stewart began his tenure with the two-car team at the 40th Annual Pontiac Excitement NHRA Nationals in Columbus, where both Rhonda Harman-Smith and John Smith qualified for the program.

- KEN FERGUSON /DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

69

nalionalscene Holden Heavy oes mall edled bV

Rowlev

GRM to invest junior talent in Aussie Racing Car series

by GRANT ROWLEY

GARRY Rogers Motorsport will enter a VY Commodore in the Aussie Racing Car series, possibly from round four at Oran Park onwards.

And Rogers might not be the only V8 team owner to join the popular, pint-sized Supercar series.

Series creator and competitor Phil Ward has spoken to a number of leading teams with the view of preparing and maintaining the cars in ,his Sydney workshop, while the Supercar teams source the budget and select a young driver to fill the seat.

Rogers said that his sponsors and the driver would receive valuable and priceless exposure.

"I see it as a good commercial opportunity," said Rogers.

"I think it will be a good thing to have a car painted in our colours out there. They are exciting cars producing exciting racing and the fans love them."

Rogers stated that no driver has been selected as yet, although both he and Ward will have inp ut into who will drive the Valvoline-liveried car, Ward also indicated that a second GRM-coloured car may be available for 2005, further opening the opportunities for young drivers to prove their worth.

"I'm enthusiastic to see the young guns come through," Ward said.

"It would be a young guy who gets picked for the drive, probably one who has just stepped out of karting.

It's a great stepping-stone category because if they can drive these cars fast, they'll be able to drive anything."

And if the driver is good enough, there's a suggestion that a V8 test might be the reward for the youngster ...

The idea of placing a young gun in the category is logical for any Supercar team. The driver would get valuable mileage on Australian race tracks in a capacity grid in front of healthy crowd. And not only that, but the marketing, promotional and awareness factors would easily justify the investment, which Rogers said was the main reason for his involvement.

Although there have already are look-alike paint schemes, Rogers will be the firs t team owner to pay Ward to prepare a car under the team banner.

Dick Johnson Racing have an ARC machine competing in the Sh~ll Helix colours for Tim Monte, although Monte prepares the car himself.

Monte is part of DJR's Junior Driver Development squad.

The Aussie Racing Cars is in its fourth year of competition, and the category has grown considerably since its inception, becoming one of the most popular support ca tegories fo llowing the V8 circus.

Is this the next best thing to Supercar racing? Our artists impression of a Valvoline VY, above, will join the Shell Helix AU VB look-alike.

Symmons Suppons Settled Soon

Curb hopping to Tasmania: The RDA Rotors Commodore Cup is set to be the major support category on the return venture of the VB Supercars to Symmons Plains in November.

10

COMMODORE Cup and the Lotus Challenge are likely to be confirmed as the main suppart categories for the return of VS Supercar racing to Tasmania's Symmons Plains in November later this year.

Although the final details are currently being worked through , the Commodores and Elises should line up on the Apple Isle with healthy-sized fields . Commodore Cup have indicate that up to 30 cars could make the trek south .

Historic Touring Cars will

also be on the the support card in a race which will not be part of their regular championship.

Significant interest has been shown by the Tassie competitors, however, the locals use slightly different regulations . The Historic club will accommodate the local contingent by invitation only.

AVESCO's Operations Manager Tony Manson said that all support categories will be finalised for the Symmons Plains round within the next fortnight.

- GRANT ROWLEY

mororspon news

8 Smokefree WA 8 a clream ride UJith

Camaro City

THE Chev Camaros of Ste ve, Mason and Paul Stubber dominated :mund -two of the Biante Model Cars Historic Touring Car Series at Barbagallo Raceway.

Local star Stubber narrowlly !beat Mason in Race 1 before br;ake problems allowed Mason thro&gh to take the win on the final lap 0f lboth Race 2 and 3.

Victorian Garry Treloar p ut his '68 Camara on pole but jumped th.e start in Race 1 and the ensuing ,drivethrough. penalty ended his chances.

A fantas tic battle for third pla ce raged between Peter Brock iru hls Torana XU-1 and the '68 M ustang of round one winner Drew Marget.

Brock eventually beat him hom e.

Mason led early in Race 2, b u t Stubber gained the lead aften M ason began to struggle with an incor rect gear ratio. An exciting final lap saw Stubber suffer locking br~ es, w hich pitched him into the sand on. the final comer and Mason sw ept through for the win. Stubb er rejoined just in front of Brock t o

secure second.

Treloar stormed back to fourth before an excursion resulted in lost track position. Local Mini aces Ross Bennett and Lance Stannard were engaged in a great Nb (pre ' 64) battle with the Compact Fairlane of Max Ulrich. Greg Toepfer parked his Kingswood with a broken shock mount.

Jeremy Man tella stunned the huge crowd with a fan tastic start in Race 3 and slotted his big HG Monaro into third. Brock retired with a broken conrod (and ventilated block) in the XU-1.

On the final lap, glowing red front discs signa!Jed the return of Stubber's dramas and Mason took advantage to bag the win.

After blowing a diff in Race 1, Trevor Talbot just beat Treloar for third wi th Marget fifth.

Mason won the round from Stubber and Marget, while in Nb(pre ' 64), Ross Bennett took the silverware from Lance Stannard and Max Ulrich.

- DARREN KNIGHT

Old boys play with old toys

BIANTE MODEL CARS

1 111rs11r1 Australia's number 1 fortnightly motorsport magazine

Two lucky enthusiasts are going ta have a pretty fantastic::: end ta the 2CJCJLt matarspart season!

How's this for a prize: a high-speed ride around the Eastern Creek circuit in a 1971 racing Falcon XY GTHO, driven by Allan Moffat, or a 1972 Holden Torana XU 1 with Peter Brock at the wheel at the final BIANTE Model Cars Touring Car Series round of the season (at the December 4/5 VB Supercar finale) .

Overnight accommodation is included, plus air travel for non-NSW winners.

Enter NOW, and as many times as you like, because there is a valuable interim prize after each round of the series - a full set of 2004 BIANTE Model Cars Touring Car Series apparel (value $250) . All entries in hand at the interim closing dates are eligible and all entries go back into the draw for the two fina l, magnificent prizes.

There are two ways to enter this great competition: 1.

Mail the BIANTE Model Cars logo in this entry form (below), along with your details (name, address, phone, email) to: Motorsport News B!ANTE Competition PO Box 7072 Gardenvale VIC 3186; OR

2. Mail us one of the promotional leaflets distributed at any one of the

BIANTE Models Touring Car Series rounds (listed below).

WHILE the V8 Supercar circus and support categories entertained the large ,c ro.w d at Barbagallo Raceway reeently, there was another, sloghfly different race going o n.

Mark Skaife and John Bo,.v.e jumped into a time-machine in Western Australia and co mpeted in a handful of demonstration e\tents

in two classic cars from yesteryear.

Bowe, driving a classic XY GT Falcon took on Skaife in a GTR XU-1 Torana that Peter Brock raced that weekend in the Historic events.

Who won ? After some small problems and delays, Skaife won the only race after Bowe cooked the brakes on the Falcon.

Bowe new openwheeler patron

OZEMAIL Racing's John IBovve will patron the newly-formed Historic Atlantic and European Fo rml.lla Two Association

Bowe was an obvious ch oice for the job, having won the Gold Star twice in these types of cars .

"I grew up loving these cars a nd they ultimately allowed me to establish my credentials in racing,' said' Stowe.

"I am honoured to be the pat:Jron in this exciting series ."

The new group are inten ding 1to run a series over a minim um of fou r race meetings. The inaugural eve nt w ill be at Sandown's historic meeting, held on November 5-7 .

23 June 2004

Race date/venue

Interim prize closing date

April 2-4 Eastern Creek, NSW

Thursday June 3

June 11-13 Barbagallo, WA

Thursday July 15

July 23-25 Winton, VIC

Thursday August 12

August 13-15 Oran Park, NSW

Thursday September 2

September 10-12 Sandown, VIC

Thursday September 30

October 7-10 Bathurst, NSW

Thursday November 4

Closing date for main prize draw: Thursday 4 November 2004 First draw winner: Robert Brawn, Taree, NSW - a Ford fan!

Name:

Address:

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I am a

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For more information about Historic Touring Car Racing, check out the website:

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(Full competition terms & conditions avaltablc by email at mnewsCmncws.com au. Winners will bo notined by phone/mait/cmall)

11

QR turns Five Jack I

QUEENSLAND Raceway celebrated its fifth birthday with a state championship meeting last weekend. Over 180 cars m ade the meeting the largest seen a t state level in some time.

West Australian Dean Ffore (Van Diemen RF04) stole a marclt on his Formula Ford rivals, arriving at QR two weeks ahead of the national round and dominated proceedings ·amongst the Racing Cars, t aking all three-second places to the F0rm ula 4000 Lola of Derek Pingel. Shannon O'Brien and Trent Usher £filled the minors in both championship ra ces.

In Sports Sedans, Bob McLaughlin's re-bodied VS Commodore took the point s in b oth races. Chris Donnelly (FalcomEB) took a second and a third w i,th Colin Smith (Rover-Chev) completing the podiums.

1

Several NSW cars enlivened Formula Vee. Bruce Colbey Oacer) snared a pair of wins with Grant Bromley Oacer) and Shane Hart Oabiru) sharing the minors. Hart took away the points as the leading 1200 Vee (the 1600s did not count for championship position).

Mazdas showed the way in a huge Improved Production field.

Justin Keys (RX3) and Adam Uebergang (RX7) shared the victories after great battles with Scott Duncan (808), Stephen Thompson (RX7) and David Skillender (RX7).

Drive of the weekend was undoubtedly Nick Rangeley in the Geminis. The reigning Champ jumped the final start, but climbed back to fifth and fought his way through a snarling pack of Jim Faneco, Trevor Brown and Michael

Prince of Lotus: Malaysian Tengku Djan Ley took two top-three finishes in WA and currently runs second in the series behind James Moffat.

72

Dawes. He eventually finished second behind John Eddy, who won the first Championship race from Rangeley and Faneco.

Carlo Chermaz took the Superkart wins from Steven Cloake and Mark Maczek in both races.

Jake Camilleri was on top of both Saloon Cars races ahead of Kris Walton, Troy Hoey and Troy Norris.

Simon Phillips (Torana XUl) won both Historic Touring Car races with Grant Wilson (Camaro) and John Attard (Torana XUl) sharing the remaining podiums.

The HQ order in both points races was Paul McCahon, Dion Cidoni and Justin van Twest, and in Sports Cars, Peter Saunderson swept proceedings from David Barrarn and the battling pair of Steve Morcombe and Ash Lowe.

ROUND two of the Kumho Tyres Latus Challenge fell to local racer and former VS Supercaf driver Grant Johnson at Barbagallo Raceway in Western Australia two weeks ago.

The former Chance of a Lifetime winner was fast and consistent in the 18-car pack, finishing the final two races in second and first position respectively.

Malaysian Tengku Djan Ley claimed second overall in his Proton Cars Australia entry, followed by another local and experienced sedan racer, Tony Ricciardello.

Richard Buttrose took an impressive pole and led the opening stanza of Race 1 until he was overhauled by David Sieders, Djan Ley and Damien French .

After suffering a spin in Race 1, James Moffat collected the second race spoils and later took third in the last heat. Moffat maintains a slender lead in the championship chase over Djan Ley and French .

The third round of the inaugural series heads to Queensland Raceway on July 2-4.

Points: Moffat 415, Djan Ley 407, French 35 1, Buttrose 278, Chris Templer 276, Sieders 266.

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reaks back ~~~~--'!'"'------------~-...--...

NATIONAL SCENE

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Three wheels on Charlie's wagon: Kovacs, above, lost a wheel on his Holden VY, which carted a brake disc directly at a bunch of happysnappers. But Kovacs couldn't match Jack Elsegood for pace at Winton.

Right on Russell

PROTON Satria driver David Russell won round four of the Australian Production Car Championship at Winton last weekend.

Russell's Proton, right, was well-suited to the Winton layout and used the handicap system to b est effect to take both race wins.

Series lead er Chris Alajajian finished second in both races. The young Sydney star only needed another 50 metres and he would have snatched Race 2 from Russell, but it wasn ' t to be.

Qualifying was held in wet conditions and Alajajian topped the session, but the big surprise was VW Beetle steerer Steve Grocl, who qualifyed second. Grocl was rewarded with a fourth and third place finish.

Martin Doxey scored an outright podium place in Race 1, while Leanne Ferrier, Geoff Russell and Scott Loadsman fought over the minors.

- GRANT ROWLEY

i

JACK Elsegood tamed the Poolrite V88Rute runners at Winton Motor Raceway last weekend.

The former Rugby League player took two race wins and :.. bagged a boat load of points that puts, him within striking distance of series leader Damien White.

White won the first race after qualifying on pole, but could only manage fourth and third in the remain ing heats.

The large pack of BRutes were generally well -behaved on the tight Winton layout, where carnage was predicted. Only one incident soureq an otherwise fair display.

Charlie Kovacs had a wheel depart at the Motorsport News

Esses. The wheel and brake disc flew off and luckily missed a group of unsuspecting photographers.

Queenslander Matthew O'Grady was the most fortunate in the 'chook lotto' and started Race 1 from the front row. He took advantage of this, finishing second, seventh and fourth across the day.

Holden pilots Darren McDonald and Glen Barnes finished consitently in the top 10. Barnes meeting was highlighted by a solid second in Race 2.

- GRANT ROWLEY Points: White 284, Elsegood 232, Griffin 195, WIison 168, Kovacs 165, Chris Smerdon 155.

Alice to Finke

Buggies and Bikes bashed to bits

Tell me t'm going the right way: Ian Kegg's lotus, above, looked a little second-hand a fter a stouch with Richard Buttrose and Andrew Fisher, top.

23 June 2004

THE Alice Springs team of David Fellows and navigator Tony Pinto made the most of their home ground knowledge to take the Class 1 and outright honours in this year's gruelling Tattersall's Finke Desert Race.

The Alice to Finke event was run over two days and is the world largest desert race. This year's endurance event proved to be a machine-breaking affair as just 45 cars from the 86 starters made it to the halfway mark. The retiree list included defending Champion Mark Burrows, who succumbed to mechanical woes just 20 kilometres into the first leg.

Finishing,12 minutes behind Fellows was the team of Shannon and Ian Rentsch, while Peter Kittle and Adam Ryan inherited third. Jeff Quinn and Kevin Hood salvaged fourth a~er blowing a tyre just kilometres from the finish.

On two wheels, Stephen Greenfield proved to be t\'le quickest of the throttle · jockeys aboard his Honda CRF 450 to claim the outright honours over Gavin Chapman and Jamie Cunningham.

- PARIS CHARLES 13

KARTING

Adults, Kids and Karts Karting is not just for kids, Part 1: An interesting stat came out of the opening round ot the CIK-FIA European Superkart Championship at Magny-Cours recently where the average age of competitors was 42.

At 61, Swedish legemd Bobo Westman, a regular top 10 competitor, was the veteran of the field. Local driver and defending champion IJlamiem Payart (PVP/FPE) won both Finals.

Karting is not just for kids, Part 2: The C0ffs Harbour Over 40s titles was held earlier this month. It was the 10th annual running of the titles which has established itself as a major event on the mature-age karter's racing (and social!) calendar.

220 drivers competed in 15 different classes with the larger categories further split into age divisions. A special Historic 'demonstration' class was run for karts from the past. Merv Savins 'won' the race aboard his Massie kart which featured a methanolburning triple-carburettor McCulloch engine.

Superkarts are set to return to the Broadford circuit in Victoria. After an absence of 10 years, the Victorian Superkart Club is hoping to conduct races at the undulating Reg Hunt Park next year.

"It's not set in concrete just yet" said club President Rod Clarke.

"It's just a matter of time."

-MARK WICKS

CIK remains same

IT was a case of more of the same al

the third round of the Sparco CIK Australian Championships at Toowoomba on the weekend.

Daniel Elliot, Ashley Walsh and Bart Price remain unbeaten in their respective senior classes, while Junior ICA threw up its third different winner in three rounds.

Trailing Elliott by a single point entering the round, Queensland's• Barclay Holden (Trulli/Parilla) qualified fastest and remained up front all weekend, never finishing worse than second. Despite taking home the winners trophy, Elliott (Birel/TM) lost the championship lead. Super-quick in the final, a DNF in the heats and third in the pre-final (won by Holden) cost the West Australian dearly.

Jason Burns (Redspeed/Vortex) led part of the early running before retiring with an engine problem.

Matthew Muller (PCR) recovered from some mid-field heat results to take a well earned third ahead of · Jason Hryniuk (CRG).

Despite a relatively poor qualifying run (fifth), Ashley Walsh (Trulli/Parilla) dominated Intercontinental A. John Martin (Trulli) was the only driver to beat Walsh, taking out the first heat.

Fastest qualifier Paul Laskazeski (Top Kart/Comer) was second ahead of TlID Ball (Trulli).

Amrit Kandola kept his pe:fect

qualifying record intact with another pole position in Junior lCA, but yet again he wasn't able to convert this to victory. Kandola shared the front row with his brother and fellow Top Kart/Comer driver Deepal.

Deepal than s':ared the heat wins with the consistent Kristian Lindbom (Top Kart). Then, Jake Williams, above, took control. Having switched from Redspeed to Trulli between rounds, Williams won both the prefinal and final for maximum points ahead of Lindbom who was never out of the top three all weekend.

Daniel Ricciardo (Birel/TM) made his first CIK podium with third.

Round one winner, Joshua Scott (BRM), could only manage seventh having lost a tyre in the pre-final.

Bart Price and JT Team Arrow kept

marching towards the Intercontinental C championship with a near perfect score. Price (Arrow / TM) had to work his way through the pack and overtake teammate Scott Harrison for the lead after a mechanical problem in the pre-final dropped him to the rear of the field.

Kiwi Karl Wilson (Arrow) picked up second after Harrison's engine failed late in the race. Joshua Pontello (Parolin) was third, despite damaging his kart when he and Kyle Wood (BRM) made contact on the last lap.

Brooke Topp dominated the Rookies support class, winning every race.

Round four of the series is at Dubbo on August 22 with the final at Todd Rd, Melbourne, on October 31.

-MARK WICKS

Island turns on the Chill PHILLIP Island produced typical Phillip Island weather for the third round of the Victorian Stale Circuit Racing Championships recently.

Vic State freeze: Simonsen, above, won a race in Sports Cars.

Whitwell, below, won all of his events in the MG class.

:Sunshine, clouds, rain and bitterly cold winds dampened the spirits of the large attendance.

Ian Rice suffered a huge accident at Siberia in his his Ford Capri on Saturday and was airlifted to hospital and sustained a fractured jaw and a broken bone in his foot.

In another amazing incident, Russell Butler was involved in a three-car collision that saw him spin wildly down the main straight before coming to rest. The sheer speed of the collision saw his helmet cannonball 30 metres into the air and he was also airlifted to hospital. Apart from neck ligament damage, Butler was okay.

The cold weather failed to stop Shane Price on Sunday though in the Formula Ford class. Price overcame Saturday winner Cade Southall to claim two race wins, while Troy Woolsten picked up a deserved second place in the final.

In Formula Vee, Tony Bocquet took a clean sweep, including pole position, while Martin Risely and Nicolas Jones

picked up the minors.

Improved Production saw a real mixedbag of results. Adam Macrow, Tony Skinner and Cameron van den Dungen all claimed victories.

Historic Touring Cars and the Under 2 litre Sport Sedans combined to form a large grid, and there were also multiple winners.

Rupert Rodrigues, David Skilton and Lee Uhlhorn took home the silverware.

Nations Cup entrant Allan Simonsen ran one of Tony Rafftis' Maserati Tropheos in the Sports Cars class, but could only muster one win. Lyndon Punshon in his Robnell 302 SCR scored the other two wins.

Kane and Brent Rose had the Porsche 944 class under control in their Melbourne's Cheapest Cars entries until the ever-present Brendon Morter spoilt the party.

Dean Camm's Honda Prelude and Rod Smith's Ford Falcon EL shared the spoils in Sports Sedans, but Milton Sereris in his Commodore VS threatened Smith in the final heat.

Rob Whitwell crushed the MG class while Gavin Ross was the class act in HQs. Adrian Brown also took a win.

mororsuon news

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CLASSIFIEDS

onhne classifieccls

Find hundreds more race vehicles and parts for sale at www.my105.com

your motorsport vehicle, parts, memorabilia with our all-new combined magazine/ internet classified service. Courtesy of an agreement between Motorsport News and internet classified service my105.com , your advertising will appear in both for as little as $25 . Yes 3 months on my105.com AND one insertion im Motorsport News for just $25!

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Sunday Drivers Winter .Clearance Sale

For Sale Commodore cup car for sale as raced by Daniel Richert front running car, Fresh engine , Long shifter, two Exhaust systems.,logger&dash, ten wheels.plenty of spares. $40, 000. Daniel 0404096598 I (03) 287 52 755988. www.my105.com/97777

LJ XU1 Holden Torana

Group NC #90, Ex Jackson/Heffernan, immaculately prepared, numerous race wins, fastest laps and lap records . Race winning top HP 202 engine, koni/proflex shocks. Ready to win $40,000. Various spares available including, engines, gearboxes, diffs, panels, suspension components etc. $40,000. Kevin Heffernan 0413 733 407.

Sedans/Sports Cars

www.my105.com/85246

HQ GTS Holden Monaro

--:Cjii.lji"-'!e=::.:::===- Group NC #28, Ex Jackson car, no expense

spared, numerous race wins, fastest laps and lap records. Tyre smoking Mega HP 350 chev, proflex shocks. Scare yourself for $60,000.Various spares available including, engines, gearboxes, diffs, panels, suspension components etc. $60,000. Kevin Heffernan 0413 733 407.

www.my105.com/89543

Group in Push Rod Cortina, This is the fastest Cortina in Australia ,. fastest at Sandown Histories 03, fastest at Phillip Island Histories 04, very good HP, all the good bits, straight cut close ratio gearbox, LSD diff, this car has all the right bits in all the right places, heaps of spares, car in Hobart will deliver to Melb. $20,000. Darren 0417 035 379 .

287 www.my105.com/54567

1989 Ford Saloon Car, No expense spared. Lots of spares, no damage, top hp engine, custom exhaust with Mctee data logger. $24,500 Neg. Vince (02) 9636 5411 / 0425 255 493 .

288 www.my105.com/29068

.......--

LJ XU 1 Holden Toran a

Group NC #74, Sister car to #90, Immaculately prepared, numerous race wins, fastest laps. Race winning top HP 202, koni shocks. Ready to race $38,000. Various spares available including, engines, gearboxes, diffs, panels, suspension components etc. $38,000. Kevin Heffernan 0413 733 407.

www.my105.com/29225

Saleen Mustang S351 s spares , panels, Heffernan

23 June 2004

Porsche 911 RSR Replica, log book, timer 3.4c 330hp 1/wt 975kg big brakes c.r. box autronic etc. May trade standard 911 . $55 ,000. Peter 0402 029 100.

288 www.my105.com129146

Honda Civic SI , Featured in FF&R. Professionally built by fueltronics Outright winner 1994 Australian Hillclimb championship. AP 4 spot calipers, brake bias adjustment, integra 1600 engine with extensive modifications. Fueltronics engine management, with throttle body injection with digital active display unit. Mugen LSD, 2 spare engines and gearbox, & MANY other spares. $9900 Or Best Offer. Luke 0882436317 / 0408840708.

287 www.my105.com/93205 3J VC Commodore Roller, Big 4 spot calipers on 'front, V8 fronts on rear, balance bar, Bias valve, hydraulic h/brake, approved roll cage, adjustable front suspension, 5 good AO32s on rims, Velo race seats, Simpson harness, Cams log book, locked diff. $6,000. Glenn (02) 4353 7888 / 0414 288 522 576 . www.my105.com/59255

ELFIN MS7, Quite simply the best historic sportscar in the country. Unique can-am style car track ready with spares. Eastern Creek 1:33, Oran Park 42, Oran G.P. 1:09, Winton 1:24 . Genuine enquiries only.

287 $125,000. Aaron 0414801699. www.my105.com/59191

1; 'I

I•, ' r.r.t:f.l;;:.ll;;;;.~ ,..; VB Supercar, Ex-Kmart Greg Murphy.The last Gibson-built car.Only 6 races from new.Complete less engine.Includes spares package with 4 sets of wheels. $110,000.

Eddie Abelnica 0418 360 058.

2~9 www.my105.com/41985

79

RX7 Improved Prod Club Car, Fresh 13B, RX7 Turbo 5 spd, series 5 brakes, new envy wheels, 51mm Webber, Hilux diff, Aaj Watts, Cams log book, Ohlins and Koni shocks. $14,700 ONO. Matthew (07) 3846 6560.

289 www.my105.com/53136

FORD FALCON NC XV GT, Strong 530 HP Steel Crank Motor. Close ratio gear box. 31 spline gold track diff. Mustang 4 spot front.

HO Rear etc.e,tc. Most parts new o near new. Very fast car in excellent condition. $50,000 Col Higgins 0401 213 808 or 02 9875 3500 ah. Colin Higgins 0401 213 808 / 3500 .

287 02 9875 www.my105.com/49645

Saloon Car and trailer, VN eng, g/box, diff sealed, tig welded cage, timer, spare g/box, log book, very little needed to finish and excellent trailer with 12mths reg . $25,000 287 the lot. Ganry (02) 6383 3341 . www.my105.com/67520

Mirage Rally Car, 2003 F16 Championship winner, currenlly tarmac specs, 50 mm DMS, all Ralliart engine and suspension bits, also Modena close ratio dog box available and gravel kit (sump, underbody, heaps wheels, etc). 20,000 Not Neg. Lee 288 0 4 18141762 . www.my105.com/86498

GROUP C HISTORIC XO FALCON, A FORD MOTOR COMPANY BUILT LIGHTWEIGHT/STRENGTHENED SHELL DELIVERED TO JIM KEOGH/JOHN SANDS RACING & BUILT FOR THE TOURING CAR BATH RUST CHAMPIONSHIP. DRY STORED SINCE 1982 AND SUBJECT TO A COMPLETE FRESHEN UP IN 2004 & NOT USED SINCE. NEVER HAD AN ACCIDENT, TOTALLY ORIGINAL & IMMACULATE. SERIOUS OFFERS INVITED. stave 0397101444 / 0417564524.

287 www.my105.com/38521

2002 Tanzam Corvelte DTM, Tready 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 0064 3366 www.my105.com/1026 0133. 287

Escort RS1600 (Repltca), Tarmac Rally Car, Twin Cam Shell, 21tr Alloy block BDA, Motec Injection, Dry sump, Quaife 5 speed SCCR Sierra Box, TIiton Twin plate clutch, Tranx LSD, Quaife Floating Axles, Willwood 4 Piston front Ford Motorsport rear discs, Alloy Tank, Alloy radiator, Bilsteins, 2 ¼ • Adjustable front, single leaf rear springs, compression struts, anti-dive, too many extras to list, replacement cost well in excess of $120,000. 1 Event old, everything new or rebuilt. $58,000 ONO . Colin 0438

«1

4M.

www.my105.comm953

Sports Sedan C:eltca 2Itr Twin Cam, complete ready to race, new fully adjustable suspension, new harness, adj brake bias. spares inc wheels, tyres, moulds, and spare race heads. Well presented quick and very reliable. Please call for photos and laptimes. $10,000. Brad (02) 4577 8111 - 0415 975 289 www.my105.com/60856 713.

Malleck Mark 31, Brand new roller (factory car), knock on hubs, mumford link, 8 x magnesium F2 wheels, aluminium body panels, Fuel cell\foam, steering, disc brakes with wilwood callipers, diff centre,suzuki 5 speed gearbox, suzuki cylinder liead with new valves, ported & polished, new ca mshaft and suzuki bottom end (unassembled) .. $12,000. Greg 0419 645 287 www.my105.com/39778 770.

Race Winning Saloon Car, 4 years development, many race wins, pole positions and lap records, all offers considered, also available, brand new gearbox $2500, 2 sets of rims with tyres $800 per set, car trailer with tyre rack $3500. $1 8,000 Or Best Offer. Kurt 07 3368 1188 / 0419 705531 .

288 www.my105.com/62825

-~--~

VS Commodore - Wakefield winner?, Looking for the most cost effective , competitive entry in the new Wakefield Park Series for combined Touring Cars? Great sports sedan, club car, champagne rally or basis for Commodore Cup car. Built entirely from new components this gem has a proven competitive pedigree even though it is only 5 meetings old . 400 HP, super T-10, Harrop pedal box, callipers, hats rotors and hubs, immaculate build quality, sold with comprehensive spares package incl, diff ratios, 4 rims and numerous tyres. Brett 0402 456 281 .

287 www.my105.com/25578

Open Wheelers

m

orana 55, op np ev, Top Loader 9" rear . 6 time state class HillclimbChamp, Aust class title winner twice. 6x2.5.mtr Trailer included. 6 pallets of spares. Proven winner Genuine Buyers Only. NO DREAMERS . $25,000 ONO .

Dennis 0421 99 11 33.

287 www.my105.com/50452

MYGALE SJ95 FORMULA FORD, Our Factory SJ95 Mygale is available for immediate sale. Join the G-Force Junior Development Program. No expense spared on the full factory rebuild of this car. Mygale factory assistance. Optional spare parts 'Package. Full spec Ritter Race Engine - at $26,995 plus GST. Call Greg on 03 9580 289 7047 . www.my105.com/38457

THEwavtosellvouruearl FromJustS25* Justlouon (*$25 applies to ads entered directly onto my105.com)

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mororspo,r news

CLASSIFIEDS

Rover/ Tvr Motor, 5LT Tvr Motor complete with hang en's - very litte usage. Also have 15 gbox with ( dog box ) from Glebe UK ( poa ). call 0419 524 752 . 5000 Or Best 287 Offer. KOS! 0419 524 752 . www.my105.com/58287 Monoskate Historic Racing Car, Famous George Reed car raced successfully at Bathurst, AGP Narrogin 1951, etc. Side valve Ford V8 , Offenhauser heads, twin Stromberg 97, Scintilla magneto , Needham cir gearbox, aluminium hand formed body with all the patina of decades of racing . This car is probably the fastest most original prewar ' Ka" car in Australia CAMS logbook, COD ready to race and win, nothing to spend. $60 ,000 with all the spares. Barry 03 9670 8299 (BH) .

287 www.my105.com/19021

Rall RT4 1982 no 344, Chassis is slider without gearbox and engine, all suspension arms, uprights, panels, wings, radiator, coolers, etc. Logbooks. Phone John or Tony. $8,000. Tony 0418 736 869 / 07 3359 www.my105.com/15820 4222. 29u

Trailer Fully Enclosed,brand new, alum clad, internal size, L3600 h1900 w1950 electric brakes 240v sink, water tank, fridge, lighting, alum ramps, storage box, 1/t truck, tyres, removable winch fitting suit formular or sports car. $6,000 ONO. Brian 03 9726 6749 / 0417 501 814 .

286 www.my105.com/52165 Porsche 3.4 Litre Boxster Engine Complete NEW, Built by Chellingworth Porsche Perth . Includes flowed heads, Porsche Sport cams and Pfitzner flywheel.

2ss $25,000 ONO. Kim 0417 917 189. www.my105.com/88381 372 Steel Block Sprintcar Engine, Edelebrock shaver heads -11, 2 3/16 Hilbourne injection, crane cam, KSE front cover, Waterman fuel pump, Barnes dry sump oil pump, ext air cleaners included.

Finish on podium against 410 at PCR. 286 $15,000 ONO. Danny 0417 810 856. www.my105.comn4227

Karts

1983 Ralt RT4 Roller, Ex American Pro Atlantic History. Suspension 06/box rebuilt in '03', Penske shocks and spares . Phone John or Tony. $28,000 . Tony 0418 736 869 / 4222 .

290 07 3359 www.my105.com/2673

Formula Ford Spectrum 06, Great 1st car, competitive in all state and National events, great history with many poles, fastest laps and wins, finished 4th Bathurst 02, 5th AGP 04, Penske shockers all round , dash and logger, set up equip, full set ratios, 3 sets wheels and tyres, ready to race. $29,000.

Daniel (03) 9725 5366 / 0411 029 561 . 287 www.my105.com/18142

Rotax Motor Serles 2, complete with exhaust eel. tralee 0427 450 442 . www.my105.com/17833

blue printed $2,500 ONO. 285

Speedway

Engines VS SUPERCAR ENGINE, URGENT SALE Perkins Holden V8 Engine Just completely rebuilt and run in. 550 hp plus. Complete engine with pumps, extractors, alternator, starter motor etc. Autronic engine management and upgraded software suitable for attachment to Mctee Data Logger if required. $14,995.00 plus GST. $14995.00 plus GST. Greg 03 9580 7047.

289 www.my105.com/65967

23 June 2004

Parts Competition tyres, 205x60x15 Yoko A32R ex Targa. Call Bradley or Steve 03 9583 44§3. $80 each . 0419 381 270 .

281 www.my105.com/30425

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FOR SALE, Leftovers from projects and excess spares Tilton 71/4 inch clutch near new $850 Tilton pedal with balance bar new $200 Tilton brake bias remote adjuster new $120 SBC wide style Drysump pan $250 .

286 www.my105.com/3203

national $60 exposure for 3 months

Toyota Dog Box, As new dogbox suit clubman or Toyota . Never used since rebuild. 4500 Neg. Gerry 0419 439 615.

286 www.my105.com/3203

Jobs

Race ready Super Sedan, Super Sedan Pontiac Firblrd REDUCED for Quick Sale complete car, race ready, engine very strong , a-Change wide fives, new spare chassis to go with car.easy to set-up.

Consider swap for LHD AMCA with cash difference Bargin at $15.000.00 ono 283 REDUCED Ph 0413 226 771 www.my105.com/27300

Transporters/Trailers

1981 Cheetah Mk 7, 1981 Cheetah Mk7, spares & log books come with car. Running in AF2 . Pole at Oran Park Nov'02 with Dallara 395 Mugen in field. Brian Shead built car. Very good history. Urgent sale due to class change .Engineer: Tom 02 9588 9443 . $23,000 Or Best Offer. Brendon 0409 952 905 .

287 www.my105.com/57004

Fully Enclosed Trailer, Tandem Wheel Fully Lined Suit Formula or Sports Car. $2200 Or Best Offer. dennis 0359688777.

287 www.my105.com/49387

Wanted - a Job with a Top Racing Team, am a European born Australian stuntman, car designer, rally driver, manager, seeking a job for a top racing team (pits) plus RCPO Randwlck 2031 . Contact Roy Cooper on 0413 130 448 2B6 www.my105.com/.65949 Competitive Experienced Drivers, Positions are available in a first-class team for national/state series in F/Ford. Highly competitive vehicles with excellent infrastructure. Compete at all Australian tracks. Professional attitude and budget to achieve objectives essential. Please contact cated@clockwork.com.au or 0419 777 977.

2es www.my105.com/99385

Wanted Log Book for Camel Rover, 1971 onwards, plus any related matter for owner last twenty years. Rob (02) 9448 4108 / fax (02) 9939 2799.

286 www.my105.com/70778, 4 KART TRAILER, Easy side loading, lots of storage space, tyre rack, pipe rack, gas botlle storage, single axle for easy moving, and tows well. Works well as pit workshop with under door cover. Near new tyres (3).

Has everything you need for karting .$5000 ONO. John 0419 105 637 / AH 03 9808 4414. 286 www.my105.com/40698 Fully Enclosed Trailer, 21' I x 8'w x 5'7" h.

Four wheel electric brakes, light truck tyres, mag wheels, 240v wiring, built in floor toolbox, benches & tyre rack, left side access door, tows well. $9,500 .00 ONO. 0408 577161 .

286 www.my105.com/25408

Collectable/Memorabilia

I am very happy with the service I received. All three of the enquiries you forwarded were firm buyers and it was sold on a first come first served basis.

Again thanks. /. Hills

Gokart Replica of 1st Gold Coast Indy in excellent condition In car Winner, garage since 1992 never driven. $7,500 ONO. Brett 0412 495 467.

283 www.my105.com/52231

81

OPINION

motorsport news

EDITDRIAl STAFF

Editor: Phil Branagan • editor@mnews.com.au Deputy Editor: Mark Glendenning • mark@mnews.com.au News Editor: Aaron Noonan • noonz@mnews.com.au National Editor: Grant Rowley • grant@mnews.com.au

PRODUCTION

Adv & Graphics Co-ordinator: Viv Brumby • viv@mnews.com.au

°ADVERTISING

Brendon Sheridan - PR Driven Tel: 03 9550 0870 Fax: 03 9550 0816 mobile: 0407 007 286 • ads@mnews.com.au

VB Supercar Brakes In reference to the proposed rule

changes, I think that the best one is the change to a smaller control braking system.

From a spectator point of view, I think the most common theme from watching a race that has a lot of passing, is when the cars have lesser brakes, such as the VS BRutes, His tories etc. At the other end of the scale, where the brakes are very good, we witness processional racing.

Cars with more power than brakes are fun to wa tch. Plus, it brings in new stra tegies to manage the brakes through the race. I think this rule is a good move.

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

F1: 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, AF l Images, Neil Hammond, Slipstream Photographic, Allsport, John Morris/Mpix, Frank Midgley, Peter Bury, Mike Patrick (UK), Chris Carter, James Smith, Paris Charles, Bob Potts

Motorsport News is published by Australasian Motorsport News - ABN 55 125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Printed by: Offset Alpine Printing Pty Ltd, Lidcombe, NSW. Distributed by: NDD Ltd Material published by MOTORSPORT lifEWS 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.

Stuart Sinclair crashedbarina@rock.com

NASCAR v Supercars

Tim Walmsley BOG.com.au

ADMINISTRATION

Managing Director/Publisher: Chris Lambden • publisher@mnews.com.au

Also, the points score system leaves a lot to be desired, particularly for the Konica Minolta teams who only have six point scoring rounds. It's a flawed system tha t must change in both the Konicas and the main game for 2005.

Final NASCAR comment

Firstly, great magazine to everyone at MNews.

The reason for the letter is to ask ail the NASCAR supporters to stop complaining about the coverage of there beloved NASCARs in this magazine. The coverage is fine and, as oppossed to some people, we like reading past the VS pages to read about the different categories and happenings in motorsport in general.

If they don't like the coverage of NASCARs, don't buy the magazine.

Go and pay $10-plus for a NASCAR mag. Funny that you don't see VS coverage in NASCAR mags .. .

So now I've had my say, could yo u please give us more coverage_on the Sport Sedans. '

Mocco mocobla@dodo.com.all ED: /list when I was enjoying a lette,~ there is an advert at the end. Jeeeeez ...

Proposal Panic

I am totally against the idea of the VSs going to sequential gearboxes.

The articles that I have been reading on the matter suggest tll.a t the new proposed changes will lean towards the better driver winning, not the teams with the bigger budget.

To me, unless you can race a car with a H-pattern shift box, then you are

not a top-grade driver.

I would also like to throw this one in for thought, and that would be to have the teams work on some sort of salary cap instead of implementing the new changes. This should help out the teams with the lower budgets be more competitive without making more changes within a short amount of time.

The game is promoted as the Holden verses Ford but when you analyse the whole deal, there is very little difference currently between manufacturers. The new changes will make even less ...

Frank Figliomeni pancho@dodo.com.au

Changes, Changes

I have mixed feelings about the proposed rule changes to VS Supercar.

Things like aero reductions, sequential gearboxs and common suppliers are a good idea, but if they change tl1e shape of ail the cars to be aerodynamically equal, then I might just give up on the game! NASCAR is a grea t series, but for the life of me, I can't tell the difference between a Ford and a Chev. Please TEGA, keep the cars individual. There has to be other ways of achieving parity.

I think the best way to make the VS racing a bit more interesting is to do the same as the Nations Cup. The winner should get a 75S0kg weight in the passenger side of the car, but still leave them at pole and if the should loose the weight is removed, Something else that would be great for the series is if all the tracks had lighting and we could have night races, like the one in in 1996 at Eastern Creek.

The question about seqeuntial gearbox in the VSs I think it would be a good move, as Peter Brock said in an interview that there is less risk to do engine damage with that type of gearbox.

Also, our series should have rolling starts, reverse grids and ovals (we would ha ve in a clockw ise direction). If the yanks can race on ovals, street and circuits, why can't we and show it is done with our VSs. A good way to find out which is the best VS racing car series in the world is for our VSs to race against the NASCARs at Watkins Glen in the USA and the NASCARs race against the VSs at Bathurst. Our VSs would have to increase the revs up to 10,000rpm, also give the NASCARs a six-speed box.

I would like to here your view and the readers view on this.

Graeme Bavister bavister@powerup.com.a11 ED: Apart from the obvious costs of transporting our cars there and their cars here, I cannot imagine who is going to pay to redevelop the cars for different 'boxes and rev ranges. There goes all the money saved by cost containment,Jolks ...

* Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

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82

Parity's good, the racing's good, the car's look great - why change a thing? That's the question some of our readers have put forward this issue. mo1orsport news

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