Motorsport News Issue 301 - January 26-February 8, 2005

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motorsport news

Issue 301 26 January-9 February 2005

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www.mnews.com.au

28 Five Minutes with Greg Murphy From Kmart to Super Cheap 30 Five Minutes with Denny Schatz The Man is Red Hot on the black track 32 Rick Relates One V8 Supercar: $450,000. Running it for the season: $2,000,000. Having a doubie Bathurst winner teii it like it is: Priceiess 38 Looking for Mister Good BAR Jenson Button speaks on that eiusive'first win, Mark Webber and what he reai/y thinks of Michael Schumacher 42 Livin’ the Vida Loca Behind the scenes at a typical Formula One launch 46 Run, Jump, Type We go to the AIS with some of motor racing’s young stars SO Home is where the microphone is Leigh Diffey is looking forward to 2005 56 And we thought Rick was young Kevin Swindell, Speedway’s next star

52 Groundhog Day WRC kicks off in Monte, and danged if Loeb didn’t win again, 58 The Greatest Show on Earth Donny Schatz weaves his WoO magic in the Parramatta mud

That Glorious Sydney Weather Rain halts the nitro ggoioreiigM 66 action at WSID

2005 GRI COMPtETE^

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Photos Cover; Dirk Klynsmith Contents: John Morris/Mpix, sutton-images.com

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54 Rallying 64 Speedway 68 Drag Racing 70 National Scene 75 Marketplace 3

23

LP gets his

Licences

Awaiting TEGA approvai for two LZs

by PHIL BRANAGAN LARRY Perkins has his entries sorted for the 2005 V8 Supercar Championship - subject to TEGA approval.

The Bathurst legend confirmed on Monday that he and team co-owner Rod Nash had secured the licences to field Steven Richards and Paul Dumbrell in the Castrol Commodores this season. They have arranged to buy the spare '43' Level 2 licence previously used by PWR Racing and a two-year lease of the '24' L2 owned

by Bap Romano,Providing TEGA approves the transfers, both cars will run in the series.

But Perkins, below, would not jump the gun and comment on the deal until it was signed off by TEGA, "I do not have any licences at the moment," said LP on Monday,"I am a Joe Blow citizen just like yourself.

We are waiting for approval," One question that remains is whether both cars will be able to enter the races that are restricted to 32 entries. In those events, which include the off-shore races in New Zealand and China, the top 30 finishing licences from 2004 are

automatically 'seeded' onto the grid, while AVESCO CEO Wayne Cattach is charged with the selection of two of the remaining four licences to take part in those races.

Both Perkins' proposed licences finished outside the 30, while the other two licences in a similar

and the second Britek entry, which could be either Steve Owen or

position are the second Team Dynamik licence (which would be the entry driven by Will Davison)

precedence over a Level 2, Four into two? In the short-term, there is much still to be determined ,,,

Matthew White (see separate story).

It would seem utterly inconceivable that Richards would not be granted a start, particularly at Pukekohe, though Dynamik could potentially argue that a Level 1 licence should take

ENTRIES 2005 V8 SCS : No 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 I 12 I 25* 15 16 17 18 20 21 021 22 23 24* 29 31 33 34 43* I 44 45* 50 51 :75

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Driver Marcos Ambrose Mark Skaife Jason Richards Greg Ritter Jason Bright Alex Davison Craig Baird Russell Ingall Jason Bargwanna David Besnard John Bowe Matthew White Rick Kelly Garth Tander Steven Johnson Glenn Seton Mark Winterbottom Brad Jones Paul Radisich Todd Kelly Jamie Whincup Paul Dumbrell Paul Morris Steve Owen Cameron McConville Andy Jones Steven Richards Simon Wills Will Davison Paul Weel Greg Murphy Anthony Tratt Steven Ellery Craig Lowndes

Team Stone Brothers Racing Holden Racing Team Tasman Motorsport Ford Performance Racing Ford Performance Racing Rod Nash Racing WPS Racing Stone Brothers Racing Larkham Motorsport WPS Racing Brad Jones Racing Britek Motorsport Fujitsu TBA Kelly Racing Team TBA Kelly Racing Team Dick Johnson Racing Westpoint Dick Johnson Racing Westpoint Orrcon Larkham Motorsport BOC Gases Brad Jones Racing TBA Team Kiwi Racing Holden Holden Racing Team Inner Circle Rum Tasman Motorsport Castrol Team Perkins Racing Sirromet Paul Morris Motorsport Britek Motorsport Fujitsu GRM Repco Valvoline Cummins GRM Repco Valvoline Cummins Castrol Team Perkins Racing Dodo Team Dynamik Dodo : Team Dynamik PWR Racing Super Cheap Auto PWR Racing Super Cheap Auto Paul Little Racing Toll/lpec Betta Electrical Triples Race Engineering Betta Electrical Triple 8 Race Engineering

Sponsor Pirtek Holden Inner Circle Rum FPV CAT Autobarn ■WPS Caltex Havoline Orrcon WPS BOC Gases

*Entry at 32-car grid races subject to two of four AVESCO-selected wildcards

Playing WITH the likely lineup of the cars entered in the V8 Supercar Championship Series now settled, there is still one an important aspect of the cars to be finalised -the numbers.

With cross-team negotiations still to be completed, several of the cars are yet to finalise their numbers, particularly the Castrol Commodore entries of Steven Richards and Paul Dumbrell.

Having sold his Level 1 licences to WPS Racing in the off-season, Larry Perkins has found that he will not, it seems, be able to run his familiar numbers, 11 and 8 this season (indeed, a recent WPS media release stated that Craig Baird would wear #8 and David Besnard #11).

As per AVESCO guidelines, those numbers were 'attached' to the licences at the time of the sale. Should WPS boss Craig Gore have decided to waive his right to those numbers, they would have gone 'on the market' and been available to a pool of competitors who have registered interest in securing the numbers.

MNews believes that a team had registered interest in the motorsport news

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Frying Pan, Fire Interface WHILE Nick Fry is now 'only' CEO of BAR-Honda (that is, he has relinquished his other previous roles) the Englishman is due to pay a visit to Melbourne soon, along with Prodrive chief David Richards.

We understand that official line is that the trip is part of Fry's planned 'hand over' strategy for Ford Performance Racing. Unofficially, we hear that the new FPR Falcon is running well behind build schedule and a hurry-up is being planned.

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Richo - in car #43? Right now, unless AVESCO and WPS boss Craig Gore come to some understanding with Perkins, it's bye-bye to LP's traditional #11

the Numbers Game numbers, particularly #8, and that it would have sought to acquire the number had Gore declined to keep them.

However, Perkins still maintains that he may be able to regain his traditional digits on his VYs this season, "AVESCO rules give the CEO the power to alter numbers for the benefit of the category," he said on Monday. "We will apply, should the need arise, for the CEO to exercise that rule."

Perkins also confirmed that he would not be pleased should he be forced to run different numbers on his cars: "I would be disappointed if he [Gore] did retain 'our' numbers. A lot of things, like merchandising, not to mention 20 years of history, are tied up in them."

We also believe that there are a number of other changes in the wind. Britek has sought the use of #25 (to replace the original #14 which came with the Imrie licence) and, should Perkins not run #24, it may seek to acquire it in order to run consecutive numbers on its two Fords.

Britek goes Large Second entry for White:2cars from Thexton!

BRITEK Motorsport is gearing up for a four-car assault on three different series in 2005.

The new Jason Bright-owned team will now run two Ford Falcon BAs in the V8SCS and an AU in the Development Series, as well as an entry for Bryce Washington in the Carrera Cup. Bright could not confirm the news when contacted by MNews: "There are a few things going on and a lot of work, which 1 will be able to detail later," he said this week.

It was thought that Britek would run two BAs built by FPR (for which Bright will race in CAT colours this season). But MNews understands that the team's build of two new BAs for Bright and Greg Ritter has been delayed and that only one of the cars will be available in time for the AGP. To get around this, we understand that Britek has acquired two Falcons

from David Thexton. The privateer raced an AU in 2003 and unsuccessfully attempted to qualify a new BA at several races last season before withdrawing from the series and moving to the Carrera Cup. As has already been reported, Jose Fernandez will drive for Bright in the Development series and Steve Owen will race one BA in the main series. The second driver in n the main series will be Matthew White, who joined Bright in PWR's endurance assault last year. White finished sixth in the 2004 Konica Minolta Series in an ex-Briggs Motorsport AU. To accommodate the team's program. Bright has arranged to buy the '34' Level 2 licence previously used by Steve Ellery Racing (subject to TEGA approval).

He has already purchased the '14' L2 licence of Mike Imrie.

-PHIL BRANAGAN

News updates: www.mnews.com.au 26 January 2005

n Former Australian F3 driver Darren Palmer is returning to the track - in the USA. Palmer is working on a deal to compete in the Hooter's Pro Cup, a NASCAR feeder-series featuring machinery similar to the real deal, but with a smaller wheelbase and track and around 550 horsepower on tap. The series runs primarily on half-mile tracks, and has a prize pool of US$2 million. Palmer told MNews that he is still talking to a number of teams, but plans to be in a car around mid-year to run a limited program ahead of a full season in 2006. n Veteran V8 Supercar engine guru Alan Draper has found a new home at Paul Morris Motorsport.

Draper helped DJR win three championships during a 12-year stint with the team before spending time with CAT Racing, Briggs Motorsport and, most recently, Team Dynamik.

He has already started work at Morris's Queensland workshop, where he is supervising engine development for the new VZ Commodore currently under construction for the 2005 season.

"Alan is one of the best and most experienced engine builders around, and his record speaks for itself in terms of winning championships and Bathurst," said Morris. "The timing for Alan joining us is perfect because our team will have a much bigger workload this year, especially with the Team Kiwi situation. We could have as many as seven engines on the go either in the race cars, in the truck, on the dyno, or being rebuilt." n Antipodeans seem to be in demand on the other side of the Pacific at the moment. Following on from Ryan Briscoe's deal to join Scott Dixon and Darren Manning at Chip Ganassi Racing and Marcus Marshall's impressive Champ Car test last year comes the news that Matt Halliday is set to test a Champ Car next month.

The 25-year-old Kiwi will test for Conquest Mi-Jack Racing at Sebring on February 4-5 as the team looks to fill their second car alongside lead driver Nelson Philippe. Halliday has some prior form with the team, having made nine Indy Light starts with the team in 2001.

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Reversing fortunes

BRAD Jones Racing is taking a new look into the 2005, with long-time backer BOC Gases taking a naming rights deal with the team.

The BJR Fords of Jones and John Bowe will run in the colours of the

gases provider in a multi-year deal.

As they did with former sponsor OzEmail, the cars will run m 'opposite' liveries, both cars using combinations of red, while and blue.

BOC Gases previously backed tlie Albury-based team as an associate sponsor and was behind the successful assault on the Konica Minolta Series

by Andy Jones last season. It is also a former sponsor of the Australian Super Touring Championship.

Team co-owner Kim Jones said that he was "delighted" to have the company's backing; "We have had a long association witlr BOC, all the way back to the

Audi days," said Jones."After Andrew won the championship for them last season, we are very pleased to have them as a partner in the main game."

Jones said that the team was setting high goals for 2005.

"We want to move forward once again, as we have done in the last two years. We are aiming to finish in the top five in the championship."

Brad Jones and Bowe will race the same Falcon BAs in which they raced last season, though the cars have been updated prior to the start of the season next month at Albert Park.

"We were very happy with the results that both V8 Supercars and BJR achieved for us last year in the Development Series and when the opportunity arose to have two BOC cars in the main V8 Supercar championship, we quickly snapped it

up," said BOC's Director of Marketing, Mr Bruce Currie.

"The fit of V8 Supercars with our industrial and welding markets is exceptional and BJR have proven they have the on and off track expertise to produce the types of results that BOC demands."

Bowe said that the support of BOC Gases gave him fresh incentive to attack 2005.

"I'm really looking forward to 2005 and having a fresh naming rights partner just adds that extra spice to it all," said Bowe."After driving competitively for over 20 years, I don't think that I have ever been as excited as I am about this year and I really think it will be successful."

As well, the team has picked up new backing from Infomedia, which provides software for various motor manufacturers.

Murph's deep SCAR Two Bappas in Bpuce's Backyapd

Super Cheap Auto is to mount a two-'barrelled assault on the V8 Supercar Championship Series, by backing both the Bathurst tOOO and PWR Racing.

The 2005 Super Cheap Auto 1000 will be the first of three races to be backed by the national auto parts retailer, which recently opened its 200th store.

Defending race winner Greg Murphy and Paul Weel will race two Commodore VYs for PWR Racing, which will now be known as Super Cheap Auto Racing.

SCA has a decade-long involvement with motor racing, firstly in Super Touring and more recently backing a single Ford V8 Supercar for Steve Ellery Racing.

“After the 2004 season finished, we decided we needed to be involved with a two-car team, and PWR Racing provides us with that opportunity,” said Super Cheap Auto Managing Director, Bob Thorn.

'The two drivers, Greg Murphy and Paul Weel, are outstanding and gited drivers. We will start the 2005 V8 Supercar Series with the best chance we’ve ever had to win races and become a dominant force on the track.”

Super Cheap has been known to be keen for some time on backing the Mount Panorama classic, which had been backed

by Bob Jane T Marts until last year. The company will also become a major advertiser during Network 10’s V8 Supercar broadcasts in a deal that will see it become the only parts and accessories retailer involved in the TV package.

Thorn, a former racer himself, was particularly pleased with the company’s Bathurst deal.

“Bathurst is an icon race, the biggest event on the V8 Supercar calendar, and one which the nation almost stops to watch like the Melbourne Cup. Our strong involvement will put the Super Cheap Auto brand in front of audiences around the world.

STEVE Ellery Racing will run a two-car assault on the V8 Supercar Development Series - and may run a third car.

SER will field two Ford Falcon BAs, with Gary Macdonald (running in Kanga Loaders colours in the ex-Steve Ellery car) and Mark Porter driving a new car forlong-time sponsor Hydraulink.

There could also be a third SER entry, the team negotiating with a driver to run the ex-Luke Youlden AU, which finished second in the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Championship Series.

"Everyone is busy," said team principal Bruce Ellery. "The team is still the same as it was in 2004 and, until we finalise if we are going to run two or three cars, we are going along as riormal. It is quite exciting."

Ellery said that he would attend the V8SCS "as a spectator", with son Steve racing for Triple 8's Betta Electrical Racing alongside Craig Lowndes.

RYAN Briscoe has started his IRL career in fine style, topping the timesheets at Homestead-Miami Speedway in testing just 48 hours after announcing his deal with Chip Ganassi Racing.

Briscoe ended his first official test with a 112.944mph (1 ml04423s) lap of the 2.21mile road course. He set the time on his final lap of the day after throwing a new set of Firestones at the car.

"I had a good day," said the 23-year-old.

"With the team, we got through our full program. We tested a lot of stuff on the car.

You know, it was really going quite well. It's a great way to be here. It's a great way to start the season. It doesn't really mean much. But it means we are looking good to start with."

Earlier in the week, Briscoe spoke for the first time about his new IRL career, which was first flagged by MNews back in November.

"It's definitely a new direction in my career for the moment, but definitely a step forward," said Briscoe.

"And it's going to be a bit different doing a lot of ovals, living in America, lots of new things to pick up, but I'm really excited and can't wait to get started."

Despite his enthusiasm for his new gig, Briscoe, who will motorsportnews

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Walden turns to Sprintcars

relocate to Indianapolis, said that the move by no means meant the end of his Formula One ambitions.

"My long-term ambition is to race in Formula One, being contracted to Toyota on a long term deal," he reiterated.

"My ultimate ambition is to race for Toyota in Formula One some time in the future. I think I’ve definitely proved that I've got the pace to be up front, to be competitive in Formula One. "I was always at the pointy end in the Friday sessions I did this last year (as Toyota's third driver at the last six rounds of the FI world championship) and, just because opportunities weren't ideal for me to step up into Formula One this year, I had a better offer with Ganassi and that's the reason I came here, "I just think this is a fantastic opportunity and I only think I'm going to get benefits out of my driving by coming here. It's a new experience, I will be picking up new skills and just becoming more complete, I hope."

Briscoe also revealed that he had two serious options on the table that could have seen him on the grid at Albert Park in March, but decided that the Ganassi route was a better long term plan.

"We were strongly looking at an FI team, with Jordan or Minardi," he confirmed.

"We were in talks with both teams. As time progressed we

26lanuary2005

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leaned more towards Jordan because of the Toyota engine deal, mostly. By November we were really getting down to business with it all and getting close, and had organised a test with Jordan and everything. We were rounding up money and pretty confident that I was going to have the seat the next year.

Definitely, if I had pursued that avenue, I'm almost 100 percent sure that I would have been on the grid with Jordan this year.

"The fact is that we got the opportunity from Chip Ganassi to come to America and have a test with his team, and to me with Jordan there were a lot of doubts - it was only one year, didn't really give me a very secure future, and the way Ganassi were really pushing and wanted me to race for them with more than a one-year deal, and the situation that Toyota had with Jarno Trulii and Ralf

Schumacher {contracted as race drivers).

"They wanted them for two years, they're both Grand Prix winners in Formula One, I needed to establish, myself, some sort of stable platform for the next couple of years before I knew I was going to be able to race for Toyota. The way I was seeing the Jordan deal was ' (that) it could have been great racing in Formula One, but I'm sure at the end of 2005 I would have been in a very similar position, trying to round up money to find another FI seat again with a team that's not running at the pointy end of the field.

"Certainly with Ganassi, a front-running team in one of the most important categories in the world, still with very strong ' Toyota connections, I was going to be able to come over and race competitively, race to win races, and still have a very good connection with Toyota - and basically establish a more secure platform to have a long term career in Formula One." Briscoe has just over a month to get accustomed to his new team and team-mates Scott Dixon and Darren Manning before his IRL race debut at Flomestead on March 6. In the meantime, he will join the Ganassi team's assault on the Daytona 24 Flour race at the wheel of a Daytona Prototype on February 3-6.

- MARK GLENDEIMNING

AFTER being denied the opportunity to lease a licence in the V8 Supercar Championship, Walden Motorsport has declared its intentions to race Sprintcars.

The Sydney-based team will purchase the appropriate chassis, engines and hardware from an American source before starting a full attack on the Parramatta scene next year.

But before this happens, team driver Garth Walden will get his very first taste of Sprintcar action within the next two weeks at Parramatta City Raceway.

Walden began his racing career in karting before switching early to two wheel Speedway racing. Sedan racing followed, yet the team was left on the outer last week when the Touring car Entrants Group (TEGA) voted against the Walden's leasing the Bap Romano-owned V8 licence.

Romano and Walden had agreed mid-year on a deal before TEGA stepped in to ensure Larry Perkins had the right amount of licences (see story page 4-5).

Meanwhile, Walden Motorsport will run a two-car V8 Development program.

The ex-FPR Falcon AU Garth used this year is now available for lease while the team is also going to run Shane McGregor in the ex-BJR/Jose Fernandez Falcon AU. n James Davison will compete in the Formula BMW USA series this year.

The 18-year-old Victorian has confirmed he will drive for Austrian team HBR Motorsport.

Davison, though, couldn't help but feel short-changed after missing out on the $40,000 scholarship bonus that went with the Junior program run by BMW, Davo III, the son of Sandown President Jon, was the second quickest at the two-day Valencia test, but the five scholars picked were all North American racers. This has only fired young Davison up who is now keen to square the ledger where it counts - on the race track.

"It definetly wasn't through lack of speed," rued Davison.

"This has given me a lot of motivation to get out there, beat them and win the series."

Davison will head Stateside after the Australian Grand Prix where he'll test briefly before the first round at Laguna Seca in late April. The category has a very impressive seven round schedule, which includes visits to Mid-Ohio supporting Sportscars, then visits Circuit Gilles Villenueve and Indianapolis supporting the Formula 1 Grand Prix followed by more meetings at Champ Car and IRL IndyCar meetings.

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AS IVlotorsport News literally closed for press. the first on-track pictures of the very curvy WicLaren MP4/20 were being snapped at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.

Kimi Raikonnen had the honour of piloting the new car on its first laps at the Spanish track, while new signing Juan Pablo Montoya was also on hand to get a taste of his new weapon.

The car, featuring Formula 1's now-standard large rear wing end plates and the rule-

enforced revised aero package, is the machine that will carry the hopes of the West McLarenMercedes team after a forgetable 2004. The Woking-based team finished fifth in the Constructors' championship last year.

The curvy MP4/20 appears to feature a predominantly wider front nose assembly, plus a highly-sculpted bodywork shape around the rear of the sidepods. More in our next issue.

(Instant images courtesy sutton-images.com)

The 70 Percent Rule Button’s BAR future is pure mathematics!

QUALIFYING procedure is likely to share top billing on the agenda when Bernie Ecclestone imeets the FI team owners late this week.

The concept of 'split' qualifying, with the second of two single lap runs on Sunday morning, and an aggregated time to make up the grid, has met with a massively negative response from broadcasters and media around the world.

While the force majeure weather conditions at last year's Japanese Grand Prix saw qualifying run on Sunday morning, permanent Sunday morning qualifying has been given the thumbs down sufficiently to suggest that alternative options will be discussed - despite the start of the season being just six weeks away.

8

WHILE the contest for the second spot in the BMW.Williams driver line-up is going down to the wire, the deal offered to the successful candidate is likely to be,for now,for just one year.

BAR has inadvertently revealed that retaining Jenson Button beyond 2005 depends upon a performance clause option, which stipulates that the British driver must score a certain percentage of the total of points accumulated by July 31 by the World Championship leader.

If that target is met. Button will stay at BAR in 2006. If not he wUI go to Williams.

The big question is what the percentage figure is. MNews understands the figure is 70 percent.

That means,for example, that if Michael Schumacher has another year of runaway success. Button will be off to Williams to join Mark Webber in 2006.

Under these circumstances, Williams cannot sign a multi-year race deal with Antonio Pizzonia or Nick Heidfeld. Indeed, they may be

fighting for a seat worth only 19 races. After that, no matter how well they do, they may be out of work at Williams.

Intriguingly, this is the very circumstance Button found himself in when, after just a year with Williams, he was forced to move to Renault as Williams took up its option to employ Juan Pablo Montoya.

All of this helps to explain why BAR was so unwilling to release Anthony Davidson for a Williams test at the end of last year. The team knows that if Button does depart at the end of 2005,it is going to need someone who knows the team and the cars very well for 2006.

-JOESAWARD

moiorsport news

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Ferrari turns back on GPWC FERRARI has angered its FI colleagues by appearing to dump the manufacturer-based GPWC group and joining with Bemie Ecclestone's FOM and the FIA in announcing an extension of the infamous Concorde agreement until the end of 2012.

1.

The news was designed to make it appear that a new Concorde Agreement is a foregone conclusion for all the other teams - although this might not prove to be the case.

Ferrari is widely regarded as being an important element in giving a championship credibility, but the recent fights between the Italian team and the other FI operations has undermined Ferrari's power as its intransigence has been displayed to the world in very clear terms by its opposition to the'Cost Saving taitiative' in Brazil last October, and its unwillingness to compromise on testing restrictions.

Ferrari had said that it was 100 percent behind the GPWC with the aim of ensuring the long-term stability of the sport, improving the economic benefits for all teams and operating the sport and the business around it in a fully transparent manner. The deal with FOM makes it clear that Ferrari has thrown away these ideals in exchange for hard cash, the rumoured one-off payment for Ferrari's signature being USSlOOm. The other teams and the car manufacturers must now decide

whether they wish to continue and accept whatever terms Ecclestone is willing to give them or unite and go against Ferrari, FOM and the FIA. Meanwhile,former Mercedes-Benz boss Jurgen Fiubbert, the boss of tire GPWC,is urging the other Formula 1 teams not to sign any deal with Bemie Ecclestone until they have heard what the GPWC is intending to offer.

A meeting is planned for the end of February to show the teams the figures that the GPWC is going to be offering, and Hubbert says it will be a better deal than that on offer from Bemie.

"Ferrari's wish to extend the agreement until 2012 has no impact on the current commercial arrangements," Hubbert said.

"1 am confident that GPWC can demonstrate that it can create an environment of fairness for our sport, different from that which appears to result from Ferrari's unilateral decision to enter into a private agreement with the commercial rights holder and the FIA." The other option for the GPWC is a deal with the banks which are currently fighting for control of Ecclestone's FOM.If the banks and the GPWC could agree a deal between them, the fact that Ferrari and the FIA have agreed something with FOM becomes largely irrelevant.

-JOE SAWARD

Counting down the days A COUPLE of days ahead of the launch of the FW27, Mark Webber is optimistic that BMW.Williams will have a competitive package going into the FI season.

Substantial changes to the aero and tyre regulations for 2005 have seen the cars launched to date bearing a striking physical resemblance to each other, and Webber suggests that there will be little visually radical about the FW27, which is to be unveiled in Barcelona at the end of the week.

"The regulations, especially including stuff like side-impact specifications, mean that you aren't going to see anything too way out," he told MNews on Monday.

"The performance gains are in the detail, the little things particularly the management of the air-flow across the front wing.

26 January 2005

through the vanes and under and around the car. How those areas 'talk' to each other. The little differences here and there make all the difference.

"I'm looking forward to getting into the FW27 for the first time, on the 30th, I'm pretty optimistic about the work that's been done by the aero guys at Williams, but you never really know until you have the finished car on the track."

Since New Year, testing with interim FW26C cars has concentrated on tyre testing and durability work on the mechanical elements of the car.

"As well as a lot of tyre work, we've paid attention to cooling systems - be it water, oil, brakes etc - all simulating how things will be on the new car."

The team's testing did hit a glitch early last week when a suspension

failure on Webber's car curtailed running for a day or so.

"That really came out of left field," Webber told us.

"It affected my car, but we stopped running altogether until the team knew what had happened. Within 24 hours they had flown bits out to us and, along with some instruments to monitor things, they got on top of it pretty quickly. It cost us a day of valuable running, but on the other hand it was preferable that this sort of thing happened now, in testing.

"To be honest, I think we've now got a car that's going to be pretty strong over two races," Following the launch of the FW27, Webber will embark on a gruelling stretch of testing for three weeks before heading to Australia for the opening race of the season.

Walden turns to Sprintcars AFTER being denied the opportunity to lease a licence in the V8 Supercar Championship, Walden Motorsport has declared its intentions to race Sprintcars.

The Sydney-based team will purchase the appropriate chassis, engines and hardware from an American source before starting a full attack on the Parramatta scene next year.

But before this happens, team driver Garth Walden will get his very first taste of Sprintcar action within the next two weeks at Parramatta City Raceway, Walden began his racing career in karting before switching early to two wheel Speedway racing. Sedan racing followed, yet the team was left on the outer last week when the Touring car Entrants Group (TEGA) voted against the Walden's leasing the Bap Romano-owned V8 licence.

Romano and Walden had agreed mid-year on a deal before TEGA stepped in to ensure Larry Perkins had the right amount of licences (see story page 4-5).

Meanwhile, Walden Motorsport will run a two-car V8 Development program.

The ex-FPR Falcon AU Garth used this year is now available for lease while the team is also going to run Shane McGregor in the ex-BJR/Jose Fernandez Falcon AU. H James Davison will compete in the Formula BMW USA series this year.

The 18-year-old Victorian has confirmed he will drive for Austrian team HBR Motorsport, Davison, though, couldn't help but feel short-changed after missing out on the $40,000 scholarship bonus that went with the Junior program run by BMW, Davo ill, the son of Sandown President Jon, was the second quickest at the two-day Valencia test, but the five scholars picked were all North American racers. This has only fired young Davison up who is now keen to square the ledger where it counts - on the race track.

"It definetly wasn't through lack of speed," rued Davison.

"This has given me a lot of motivation to get out there, beat them and win the series."

Davison will head Stateside after the Australian Grand Prix where he'll test briefly before the first round at Laguna Seca in late April. The category has a very impressive seven round schedule, which includes visits to Mid-Ohio supporting Sportscars, then visits Circuit Gilles Villenueve and Indianapolis supporting the Formula 1 Grand Prix followed by more meetings at Champ Car and IRL indyCar meetings.

9

It's lime to BAR, Button pledge all-out attack

by PHIL BRANAGAN In BARCELONA NO-ONE at BAR and Honda are saying that 2005 is a win-or-bust season - but wins are definitely what the team has in mind.

After a successful 2004, when tire team finished second in the Constmctors' World Championship and Jenson Button finished tliird in the Drivers' race, BAR-Honda is targeting chequered flags this season, even if it means that the team may fall in the overall ratings.

"We're here to challenge Ferrari for race wins and to do that we need to give everytlring," said Button in Spain last week."When we arrive m Melbourne we will be ready."

As if to emphasise tire point, die team's new 007 had its maiden test session cut short when test driver Anthony Davidson dramatically blew an engine at Valencia. Button, Takuma Sato and test driver Enrique Bemoldi look set for much work prior to Albert Park's season opening race in six weeks.

The 007 is much different to tire 006.

Teclrnical Director Geoff Willis said that the only parts carried over from the old car are tire throttle and brake pedals and the steering wheel.

"It is a logical next step for tire team, being both a refinement of last year's car concept as well as having a number of significant new developments," explained Willis.

"With the stability of the technical team and the increasingly close relationship with Honda, we have been able to build a muclr better integrated installation of engine, chassis and transmission."

Willis said that the development of the car started last March and that it really only hit its stride during the latter montlis of 2004. The dianges in the aerodynamic rules initially cost the team as much as 40 percent of the downforce of tlie 006 though, while Willis did admit tliat significant gains were made in the wind tunnel from September; he stopped short of saying how much downforce has been regained.

The car features a new VIO, the Honda RA005E, which has been built to meet the new'two race' regulations. The unit is smaller and lighter than the RA004E it replaces, though Honda would not detail by how much. ."This year we have concentrated on tliree areas," explained Takeo Kiuchi, Honda's Formula One Project Leader.

"We have made the engine more compact and lowered the centre of gravity to improve the performance of the overall package. We have increased mid-to-low-speed torque to improve acceleration at the start and exiting corners. Finally - this is our biggest challenge - we are aiming to maintain top power despite the new regulations."

Maximum power and revs are detailed at "over 900ps at 18,500rpm", while the 2004 unit is believed to have peaked at 960 horsepower at more than 19,000rpm.

The packaging of the engine, particularly its lower centre of gravity, has allowed Honda's 25-strong chassis engineering team to assist BAR engineers in completely revamping

4 tire packaging and aero desigir of tire car. Most visibly, the car has much smaller air intakes than tire 006 and its bodywork is lower and narrower, despite the more strenuous 2005 structural and crash test requirements.

As an example of the team's efforts, the 006's gearbox, whiclr won an award for its all-carbon fibre casing's design, has been relegated to the museum by the team's latest effort.

The new seven-speed uirit is not only lighter and narrower than its predecessor, it has been manufactured more quickly and cheaply, BAR deputy tedmical director Gary Savage confirming that the costs had dropped by 20 percent.

The Professor calls it a Day

PROFESSOR Sid Watkins,the man who has been chiefly responsible for the improvement of safety in Formula 1 in the course of the last 25 years, is to step down this year from his role as the FIA Formula 1 Medical Delegate.

Watkins, left, will be replaced by Dr Gary Hartstein, who has been his assistant since 1996.

Watkins's contribution to FI cannot be understated, as he has not only pioneered a huge number of changes but has also turned motor racing safety into an international issue with regular meetings between the FIA safety executives and the top men in the United States. This has enabled new ideas to be adopted on both sides of the Atlantic.

Watkins has been involved in motor racing since the „ 1950s when he developed an interest while studying I neurosurgery under the legendary surgeon Joe i’ Pennybacker at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, which 3 was the centre of the neurosurgery world at the time. In I 1978 he was asked by Bernie Ecclestone to try to help 10

improve FI safety and began the long and tortuous process of changing attitudes and instituting new rules.

Working with France's Dr Jean-Jacques Isserman he was responsible for the improvement of circuit medical facilities and also making sure that the receiving hospitals had all the facilities and staff needed.

After a long period without any fatal accidents in the 1980s FI was hit in 1994 by the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger on the same weekend at Imola.

After that Watkins was a central figure in the push towards more safety requirements, revolutionizing not only circuit and car safety but also looking at systems such as the FIANS head and neck support, tyre barrier design, the dynamics of gravel traps, wheel tethers and many other ideas. These reforms have saved lives throughout the sport.

Watkins (72) will continue to be associated with the sport as president of the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety.

-JOE SAWARD

moiorsportnews

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100 percent?

Honda indicates is may take all ofBAR

5

Bonding: Button, left with Honda's Shoichi Tanaka, gets to know the 007 in Spain last week, above.

"This time last season, we had three completed units," he said in Barcelona."Now, we have 10."

The 007 is also BAR's first car to be completely designed around Michelin tyres, to which the team switched at the end of 2003.

"Following a very successful first year with Michelin, we have been able to design the 007 specifically around their tyre characteristics as well as being able to drive the development programme for the demands of the new regulations," commented Willis.

The team, now jointly owned by British American'Tobacco and Honda, also unveiled some new sponsorship in Spain. Ray Ban, which joined the team last season, has much greater prominence than before, while the team has also has gained support from NTN bearings,Showa suspension, Seiko watches and software and communications provider Avaya.

But most important is the arrival of Ho°20 mineral water; while it may seem unimportant which brand of water Button and Sato slurp before races, the brand is owned by the soft drinks division of Japanese brewing giant Asahi. That could be the strongest indication of the team's sponsorship if, and when, BAT either decide or are forced to sell its share of the team - probably to Honda.

26 January 2005

HONDA gave out the clearest signal yet that it might take a 100 percent stake in BAR in the near future.

At the launch of the team's 2005 racer in Barcelona last week, both BAR CEO Nick Fry and the President of Honda Racing Development Shoichi Tanaka alluded to the possibility that the maker could increase its shareholding, which is currently 45 percent(BAT owns the other 55 percent).

The ownership of the team ' may be complicated by the European Union's ban on tobacco branding, which comes into force in August. But even stricter is new legislation in Britain, where both BAR and BAT are based, that may expose the team to prosecution if the tobacco branding on their cars is broadcast back into the country, even from non-EU races.

"On tobacco branding on the car, that is a complicated subject," said Fry at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.

"Clearly for races in the EU, we cannot advertise on the car beyond July of this year.

"The complexity is with the British government interpretation of the rules and one interpretation might be that for races outside the European Union, if pictures of the car are transmitted back to the UK, then that wouldn't be allowed.

"We do not believe that the British government ever intended that. As a consequence of that, at the moment it is our intention and our belief that we can continue to advertise (outside the EU) on

the car beyond July and through to the end of 2006."

Fry said that the team had asked the British government for clarification of the local legislation but that none had been forthcoming. He also was quick to underline that the team's commercial and financial structure is secure, at least in the short-term.

"British American Tobacco's commitment to this team is absolute and so we expect continuity," he said.

"The funding that comes through tobacco sponsorship and British American Tobacco's equity and funding of the team as a company are two totally separate things.

"Our funding is assured so there is no risk whatsoever to the team and the amount it takes to run."

Tanaka was less clear. He told MNews that Honda was satisfied with its "significant minority" shareholding in the team but, an hour later at an open media conference, agreed that the notion of total ownership was possible. One thing he did confirm that its ownership in the team meant that Honda was in FI for the long haul.

"The message that we want to deliver is that Honda will stay in Formula One and win the world championship, whatever form of construction of the shareholding," he said.

"We will stay and achieve the objective and if there is no other solution than that we take 100 percent, that is quite feasible."

- PHIL BRANAGAN

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Brands to host A1GP opener THE first-ever race in the new-for2005 A1 Grand Prix series will be held at Brands Hatch in England on September 18, The race was announced at the UK's Autosport International show by series founder Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum al Maktoum and MotorSport Vision CEO Jonathan Palmer.

"MSV is totally committed to revitalising its circuits and returning Brands Hatch to the past glory days Isa priority," Palmer said.

"It's a fabulous drivers' circuit, steeped in history and it has a fantastic atmosphere, with the best viewing in Britain," MSV has secured a three-year agreement to host Al Grand Prix there. One of the AIGP Lola-Zytek test cars was run in the 'Live Action Arena' at the show, and this car will be run again over 26-27 January at the Dubai Autodrome, In a programme organised by Sheikh Maktoum and sponsored by IMGG (Ilyas Mustafa Galadari Group), the test will be open to the public at a ticket price of approximately US$8.00, and all the proceeds will go to the International Tsunami Relief Fund. n Rio de Janeiro's Jacarepagua racing circuit, which played host to Formula 1 in the 1980s and Champ Cars in the 1990s, is to be partially demolished as part of the plan to build a sports complex for the 2007 Pan-American Games. Rio de Janeiro is also looking at making a bid for the Olympic Games in 2016, having been turned down for 2012. The circuit, which is now named after Nelson Piquet, is to be reduced in size from its current 4.8km length to just 2.7km, which means that it will no longer be able to host major international events without a special dispensation. n Arden International, the standout team in recent FIA Formula 3000 seasons, has confirmed that it will run Heikki Kovalainen and Nicolas Lapierre in the new-for-2005 GP2 race series, Kovalainen won the 2004 World Series by Nissan championship, while Lapierre was third in the Formula 3 EuroSeries. n Luke Hines, who won two races in the 2004 British Touring Car Championship for VX Racing, has been signed to join Jason Plato and James Pickford in a three-car SEAT Sport UK team in the 2005 series, it was announced at the UK's Autosport International show last week, SEAT, which ran two cars in its debut BTCC season in 2004 and won nine times, is building new versions of its 2004 car, based on the Toledo Cupra.

-SPURRING/SAWARD 11

Macrow off the bench WARREN Luff, look out!

Adam Macrow will compete in the V8 Development Series with Howard Racing.

The 1998 Formula Ford Champion will drive one of the team's BA Falcons in the junior V8 series. Fie will partner team owner Mark Howard, who will take the duties behind the wheel of the other ex-Triple 888 /Briggs Motorsport Barra, below.

Macrow is currently relocating to Howard's Gold Coast base, where he will work as a mechanic with the team while maintaining a strict fitness regime. Macrow is also confirmed as Triple 8's endurance driver alongside Craig Lowndes, Steven Ellery and Yvan Muller.

This is the first full-time V8 drive Macrow has ever

secured after many starts in the endurance races, including the last two years with Ford Performance Racing.

"I've been battling since '98 to get a ride," he said.

"I have to say I'm more relieved than anything. It should be a really good thing and can't wait to get into it especially Adelaide - 1 love that place."

Macrow wasn't bold enough, though, to predict where he'd mix into the V8 development pack.

"When I race, I always go out to win - as everyone does - and they'd be lying otherwise.

"I've just going to put my head down and bum up and aim to win."

- GRANT ROWLEY

DJR'S nil Dick Johnson Racing to confirm Canto and Denyer in new V8 Development program

by CHRIS JORDAN DICK Johnson Racing is going ahead with a program in the V8 Supercar Development Series in 2005 and has two high profile drivers in Dean Canto and Grant Denyer to both run in BA Falcons for the Queensland-based team.

Denyer, winner of the Kanga Loaders V8 Ute Summer Series and weatherman on Channel Seven's Sunrise breakfast program, is in the final stages of negotiating a deal that will see him drive one of the DJR Barras in the V8 feeder category.

"It is all heading in the right direction," Grant's father Craig told MNews.

"There's just a couple of things to tidy up and then we'll announce a formal launch date.

"At this stage we are just a tad away from getting everything into place."

Denyer has made no secret of his

V8 Supercar ambitions in the past.

"I've had a taste and I'd give my left testicle to do it to be honest," he told MNews last December.

"That's my dream at that's my focus at the moment and if I could make that happen I'd be an exceptional happy weatherman/race car driver."

Denyer will be joined at DJR by Dean Canto, who was close to a deal with Howard Racing, but will instead run for DJR with the intention of joining the team for the endurances races later in the year.

The deal would see Denyer bring his current sponsorship portfolio from his V8 Utes car to DJR. The most prominent of these sponsors.

Summit Fleet Leasing, would be the car's primary backer and could well appear on both cars.

The deal secures the future of DJR's second V8 Supercar team, after Fujitsu-backed driver Jose Fernandez departed the team for 2005 to link up with the newly-formed Britek Motorsport.

lohn Morris/Mpix

Helping whene they can AUSTRALIAN Motorsport will do its bit for the South-East Asia tsunami victims with a charity go kart race meeting at Gladstone Karting Club in Queensland this weekend.

V8 drivers Garth Tander, Steven Ellery, Paul Weel, Will Davison and Jamie Whincup will race in four heats to raise funds for the horrific Boxing Day disaster cause.

"I haven't raced a kart competitively in about six years so it will be something a little different to what we are used to," said Tander, right.

"Taking a day of our time is nothing when you compare it to the devastation in Asia, so whatever we can do to raise some money, we'll do it."

AVESCO is donating V8 Supercar memorabilia, which will be auctioned off to raise more funds.

12

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Cam’s Carrera Change CAMERON McLean has purchased a Carrera Cup Porsche GT3 with the intention of contesting the 2005 Austraiian season.

McLean, 37, has bought the 2003-model Scott Shearman machine, but has yet to lock down a budget to contest the season. He is expected to confirm all details in the coming weeks.

McLean is also on the verge of signing a deai with a leading Ford team for the V8 Supercar endurance races later this season. McLean was overlooked by 2004 employees Stone Brothers Racing in favour of youngsters Warren Luff and Luke Youlden. McLean finished second at the Sandown 500 last year and sixth at Bathurst.

- GRANT ROWLEY

JOIN MNEWS IN SHANGHA

motorsport news

ew Juniors

GREG Murphy Racing will run up to four cars in the 2005 Carrera Cup Championship.

Fabian Coulthard is likely to lead the Championship winning squad, which will field three Glenfords Tool Centres cars, and an additional car to be shared between 2004 drivers .

Roger Oakeshott and Peter Hill. n V8 Development team Dexion Racing has changed its racing number.

Formally #300, the Tony Evangelou-driven car will lose a digit in 2005 and run under the #30. The team will use the ex Anthony Tratt BA Falcon in the junior V8 category.

The #30 is prominently remembered in Australian motor racing circles as the number Glenn Seton used to great effect in his time with Peter Jackson backing. Seton won both his touring car titles with : #30 on his doors.

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IF Warren Luff wasn't the favourite for the V8 Development series before, then he is now.

Luff will drive Russell Ingall's ex-Stone Brothers Racing Falcon BA this year in the junior V8 league after the Paul Cruickshank Racing team confirmed the purchase of the Championship-winning team's car.

Originally, the Cruickshank operation was meant to take delivery of the Barra later in the year, but a change of thought means Luff will start the year in the car that Ingall used to^^^ finish second in last year's V8 Super^^lipP championship.

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n Expect Australian Formula Ford runner-up Tm Macrow to compete in the first round of the Formula 3 championship at Wakefield Park in late February.

Although the finer details of the drive were yet to be inked, Macrow is keen to contest the first round to get a feel for the cars and competition.

Macrow recently returned from the UK where he spent a couple of weeks on holidays. The Victorian visited the Autosport show, where he spoke with ex-pat Aussie Alan Docking about a possible test with his British F3 team towards the end of this year.

n

Jim Morton's ex-Mark Winterbottom car is for sale and would be a handy Development weapon in the right hands.

Besides the endurance drive with SBR plus the V8 development gig. Luff will keep his eye in during the year steering SBR's new threeseater, which will regularly wheel sponsors and supporters around Queensland Raceway during the year.

- GRANT ROWLEY

n Mike Imrie is on the hunt for a potential V8 Supercar driver to pilot his #14 Jim Beam Racing Commodore VX. Imrie has entered the Commodore, which is just six meetings old, in the V8 development series but is yet to lock down a driver to compete in the full seven round series.

I

n Matthew White Racing will continue its involvment in the V8 Development meetings after he confirmed that team driver Dean Wanless will steer the Ford Falcon AU that he campaigned in last year's Konica Minolta championship. Wanless will enjoy sponsorship from Skipsmart.

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Murph’s Carrera Cup team plans

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n James Brock will contest the V8 Utes series this year.

Team Brock will field two cars, one for Brock himself and the other for young Queenslander Ryal Harris, who switches from Ford to Holden after contesting 2004 in the Grove Juices Falcon. Expect to see Brock and Harris in identical Holden Utes at the Australian Grand Prix, however, the team is still in negotiations with potential major backers.

Plans for Brock to contest the V8 Development series fell over recently due to the inability to secure funds.

13

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Eddie's not Russian to Sell... or is he? Sauber passes on third car option EDDIE Jordan and Russian businessman Alex Schnaider have shaken hands on a deal that will see the Jordan Grand Prix team being handed over to Shnaider's Midland FI organisation - but that does not yet mean that the deal will go ahead.

The two parties are now going through the due diligence necessary and, we hear, are negotiating on a number of points, including the future role that Jordan will play in the team and the shareholdings both parties will hold in the team.

even if the facilities involved need to be upgraded. The biggest advantage in the deal is the fact that by buying Jordan, Shnaider will avoid being the 11th FI team. He will not have to make a US$45m ($58.3m) deposit to the FIA nor wait three years before getting financial benefits from the Formula One group. These are worth at least US$50m over the next three years.

Jordan also has one or two sponsors that might help to fund the team while Shnaider convinces Russian companies to enter FI. -JOE SAWARD

Buying Jordan certainly makes sense for Midland,

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Minimal racing miles with only three main-game events and no major accidents.

As raced at Bathurst. Has recorded main-game times at most tracks and fast enough to win in 2005. Engine always maintained by SBR. Includes spares PDA Also Available with above, or separately: 96 Iveco Mt3500 Prime Mover. 830km with just 30km since full dealer engine rebuild. Full aero kit, alloy steers and chrome drives + Three Car Transporter. New white paint. $140k.

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SPEED FX RACING

SAUBER Petronas will not run a third car on Fridays at each Grand Prix unless it can find some more sponsorship.

The team did not run a third car in 2004 and things have got even tighter because of the departure of longtime backer Red Bull. At the moment,there is no word as to any possible replacement.

The team has been running its all-new C24 in recent days.

This is the first car to have been designed using the team's super-impressive windtunnel at HinwiI and the team's engineers are saying that the new car is a "considerable improvement" over the C23. In 2004, the team struggled before the tunnel came on-line mid-season, leading to a late rally in results from the team.

There is also expected to be an improvement thanks to the team's switch to Michelin.

Sauber has concluded that the switch from Bridgestone to Michelin helped turn BAR into a competitive operation and expects a similar gain for his team.

Confused? You're not the only one ...

V8 SUPERCAR

Jim Morton

by JOE SAWARD

0412 052489

IF you are like us, and have been trying to make sense of the pages of changed rules in Grand Prix racing, at least we are all in good company.

Here is an example of how confusing it can be. At a recent launch, a member of the media was discussing the changes with a prominent FI team member, a man of significant standing in the sport. The conversation moved to what would happen should a car suffer a tyre problem and is forced to pit for fresh tyres.

The question was, what would be the penalty?

The man thought for a moment, rubbed his chin and

muttered something like, "Well, I should know that, shouldn't I?" After more musing, he pulled out the batphone and rang HQ and presented the question to one of his lieutenants. When that was met with umming and aahing, he suggested that someone get off their date and find the heck out.

And, for those of you playing at home, the correct answer? A car can pit for tyres without further penalty, so long as no other work (refuelling, adjustments etc) is performed at the time. If you guessed that correctly, advance to 'Go' and collect $200 ...

- PHIL BRANAGAIM

moiorsportnews

lift like Fridays

Red Bull confirms Steiner

GUNTHER Steiner, right, has been confirmed as the new technical director of Red Bull Racing.

It is expected that he and the new sporting director Christian Horner will spend the next few weeks evaluating the need for changes at the Milton Keynes team and will then put together the squad they think will move the team forward.

For the moment their focus is on the race management, which needs to be considered as Dr Mark Gillan is departing to become a professor at the University of Surrey. Gillan has agreed to stay on for a couple more months to get the team through until a replacement can be found.

The team's new car will be

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1

running for the first time at the Jerez test in the first week of

Mawer confirms GP F3 plans EXPERIENCED Formula 3 campaigner Barton Mawer will be on the grid at Albert Park in March in a one-off deal with 2004 Championship-winning team BRM. Mawer, 24, who competed in Australian Formula 3 before heading over to contest the British F3 Scholarship class last year, will drive one of the team's '01 Dallaras.

"For me,the Grand Prix is the perfect way to get the year started," Mawer said.

"I have raced at the track before in a Formula Ford and finished on the podium, so I am really looking forward to having a go in a Formula 3 car."

Mawer's car will carry backing from Wakefield Park's 'No Speed Limit' drive days.

"It's great to have them on board," Mawer enthused."

No Speed Limit is a great way to get kids off the streets, and get them to come to Wakefield Park where they can improve their driving skills.

Speed is for the race track, not the public road".

Mawer's longer-term plans for the season are still up in the air.

However he said that his priority is to return to the UK. Nic Jordan will run BRM's title winning '01 chassis to begin the year after its sale to Bob Johns fell through at the last minute. n The Durango team is expected to name Monaco's Clivio Piccione and Italian Ferdinando Monfardini as its drivers in GP2 this season. Both will come with sponsorship. Piccione started the 2004 season as one of the favourites to win the British Formula 3 Championship, having landed a deal with Carlin Motorsport but he won only two races and finished fourth in the series.

February and David Coulthard had a seat fitting in the new car last week.

There remains no decision as to the identity of the second driver but it is looking more and more likely tliat pressure from Austria will mean that Christian Klien vyill start the season as Coulthard's team mate. He will need to make a good impression, as Vitantonio Liuzzi will be with the team as its third driver and if IQien fails to do a good enough job he will set aside and Liuzzi will take over.

-JOESAWARD

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n South Australian 17-year-old Samantha Reid is preparing for a shot at the Australian Formula Ford National Championship this year.

Reid has bought an '03 model Van Diemen from the UK, which is currently on the water somewhere between England and Adelaide. She will compete at the first round in an '01 model if the new car has not been readied.

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Dark Dakar Two bikes deaths mar 2005 version of desert ciassic

STEPHANE Peterhansel has etched his name into the annals of off-road racing by taking his second successive car title in the 2005 Dakar.

The Frenchman, who won the event six times on two wheels before switching to four, headed a 1-2 for Mitsubishi by leading coimtryman and former champion downhill skier Luc Alphand by 27ml4s. Germany's Jutta Kleinschmidt was in third in her VW Touraeg.

Cyril Despres made it a French treble by winning the motorbike section that was marred by the deaths of two competitors. A minute's silence was held before the final stage for Italy's Fabrizio Meoni and Jose Manuel Perez of Spain.

"This second victory is a confirmation of my new status as a car driver," Peterhansel grinned after the event.

Rally veteran Bruno Saby won the final stage of the event in Dakar. Of the 465 cars, trucks and motorcycles that started this year's raid, only 216 finished.

Meoni succumbed to a fatal heart attack after he fell from his KTM on the 11th stage of the event. The Italian, who was a two-time winner of the raid, was treated for 45 minutes before doctors declared him deceased. The 47-year-old, who was a team-mate and mentor to Depres, had told friends before the 2005 event

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that it was to be his last.

"In December we made a promise that at least one of our bikes would be on the podium," Depres said.

"When I crossed the finish line, 1 didn't know whether I would be sad or happy. But I can tell you that it's a mixture of those two feelings."

The previous week,Perez fell during a stage in Mauritania and was transferred to a Spanish hospital where he passed away.

Two-wheel veteran Peterhansel also acknowledged the race's dangers; "Before entering the race you know there are a lot of risks," he said.

"And every rider accepts the risks."

Desert Stormer: Peterhansel, right, was a deserving but heavy-hearted winner.

Monster makes a Pledge Suzuki may confirm WRC program - if FIA freezes the rules WHILE it is yet to officially commit to a WRC program, Japanese small car maker Suzuki has hinted that the announcement may come toward the end of 2005.

Suzuki Sport chief Monster Tajima has confirmed that a World Rally Car is definitely under consideration, but says a lot hinges on this year, with the team tackling its first full season in the Junior WRC and the stability of the World

Rally Championship rules.

"If the FIA decide no change in the rules for three years to five years, OK, but if things change, we cannot come," Tajima said.

"We want to participate, but we must be prepared, we must have more experience in the drivers and the team and the design department, so we will see."

-JOIM THOMSON

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motorsport news

Atkinson Chills Aussie WRC star completes Monte recce. Now for some testing

CHRIS Atkinson and co-driver Glenn Macneall may not have been entered in the Monte Carlo Rally but the pair were in the principality and did a recce for the WRC opener in Sweden in mid-February.

"Our main focus was to settle into the team during an event and get acquainted with everyone," said Atkinson.

"Completing the recce gave us a good idea of some of the conditions that we can expect in the coming months on a variety of surfaces because this event is such a lottery having both ice and tarmac in different sections."

Atkinson will get his first test aboard a WRC-spec Impreza WRC in the next week.

"It is a big step from a Group N to a WRC car, there is a lot more technical knowledge that comes into play when you drive a WRC car. 1 have always had a good understanding on the technical side of fhe sport but with a WRC car it is a case of taking that technical knowledge to a whole new level."

Smile mate, it'll warm you up: Macneall and Atkinson are in for worse ...

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Le Departures THE imminent departure of the two PSA teams Peugeot and Citroen will almost certainly see a migration of experienced personnel over the next 10 months ahead of the pullout in November.

Citroen will lose one of its most valuable assets when chief engineer Jean-Claude Vaucard departs at the end of February to set up his own engineering consultancy.

Vaucard worked with Peugeot in the mid-1980s, playing a key role in the development of the highly successful 205 T16 Group B car.

Xavier Mestelen, the chassis engineer for the Xsara over the past three years and a Citroen man for nine, is set to replace Vaucard. n Ford rally team boss Malcolm Wilson reckons the current Focus is a championship contender, despite its planned replacement in 2006. Wilson expects his M-Sport Focuses to remain competitive throughout the season, even though his team is concentrating on design of the 2006 Focus World Rally Car. "You could say it's an interim year, but I think it's a great opportunity for two drivers to prove themselves. We have shown that we can challenge for podium results and we will be able to takes some wins," Wilson said.

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NASCAR's decision to relax its rules on liquor sponsorship has claimed its first victim, with Richard Childress Racing's team manager and pit crew coach David Smith announcing that he is leaving the team because his religious beliefs are incompatible with the team's new Jack Daniel's deal.

"The absolute hardest part of this deal was to tell Richard that I was leaving after 25 years," Smith,former crew chief to Dale Earnhardt, told an Atlanta newspaper.

"I went to work for Richard in 1979 and told him when I went there that I'd

THE long in the tooth NASCAR engines could be a thing of the past, as discussions are underway with Ford, GM,Dodge and no doubt Toyota about a new design engine for the 2007 season, and word from the Chevy teams is they may allow a new GM engine before taking a path of progression.

Although the cars and chassis have changed since the sport's inception in the 1950s, the engines and rear axles have done anything but, and the powerplants are still based on the smallblock V8s of the time.

Manufacturer pressure is probably behind the change for engines that will run on unleaded fuel and very possibly have fuel injection, either mechanical or electrical, - MARTIN D CLARK

work for him as long as he didn't have an alcohol or dirty magazine or gambling sponsorship on his car. And he was OK with that.

"I had a great job, the best anybody could ask for. I may never have a job as great as that again, but I'll have piece of mind from knowing that what I did was the right thing to do."

RCR was one of the first teams to take advantage of the new sponsorship rules, signing Jack Daniel's to back the Chevrolet of Dave Blaney, above, following the departure of AOL.

Back to the drawing board

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AS predicted, NASCAR has made changes to qualifying for the 2005 season, with the top 35 in car owners’ points guaranteed to make the field as long as their entry form was sent on time and they make a qualifying attempt.

Beyond that, the next seven starting slots will go to the fastest cars c'that are not among the top 35 in points, while the 43rd spot can be '■/taken by a prevWus champion or, if not assigned, it will go to the / next eligible qualifier. The new ruling will not affect the 150-mile qualifying races at Daytona.

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Ducati aims High Evolution, not Revolution fbi’^OS THE worst-kept secret in MotoGP - that Oucati's 2004 racer was a pig - is out with the unveiling of the Italian's marque's 2005 GP5.

The new weapon, below, was shown to the world at Madonna di Campiglio in Italy's Dolomite Mountains last week and will carry high expectations into the season.

"The bike that Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa will race this season is the result of an evolution, not a revolution of the GP4," explained Ducati Corse CEO Claudio Domenicali.

"We learnt from the mistakes we made last year, when we arrived at the first Sepang tests with a completely different bike from the previous version and with no chance of turning back."

The bike differs very little from the one that was seen in the final GP of the year at Valencia except for the chassis, swing-arm and ECU innovations that will be fitted to the Desmosedici GP5. The chassis is now also attached to the swing-arm pivot, unlike the GP4. This

has already been tested at Phillip Island but it will be tested again by Checa and Capirossi in Malaysia to see how it works with the team's new Bridgestone tyres.

Other innovations currently being developed by Ducati are a new 'step' engine, which is already running on the

dyno, and which may be used in the second half of the season.

The team is due to test the bike at Phillip Island this week,followed by two sessions at Sepang, a return engagement at PI in February and a four-day test at Losail in Qatar.

ON Get YAMAHA has been announced as the title sponsor of the second round of the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island.

The Japanese marque, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, will become the first manufacturer to sponsor a round of the series. Eight Aussies will take part in the event; Troy Corser for the Alstare Corona Suzuki Extra team; Chris Vermeulen and Karl

Muggeridge with Ten Kate Honda; Andrew Pitt, above with team-mate Norhjuki Haga, with Yamaha Italia; and Foggy Petronas Racing's Garry McCoy and Steve Martin.

Broc Parkes and Kevin Curtain will also compete in the World Supersport Championship for Yamaha Germany.

Six manufacturers will be

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BIKE NEWS

A red test team just like Mike’s

Buy Max, get Erv free

DUCATI has announced that it has set up a Tyre Test Team in collaboration with Bridgestone.

The project, which mirrors Ferrari's testing arrangement with the Japanese tyre giant, means that Shinichi Itoh becomes official testrider and will involve a group of dedicated technicians, including a Ducati Corse engineer.

HONDA has finally confirmed that Max Biaggi will race for the HRC/Repsol team this season.

But the team could contain a surprise, with rumours that famed technician Erv Kanemoto has been drafted into the squad. Kanemoto, who guided Freddie Spencer to two world 500 titles in 1983 and 1985, including the unique 250-500 double in 1985, is expected to take a central role in the team, working with Biaggi and team-mate Nicky Hayden.

Kanemoto also won world titles with Eddie Lawson in 500s in 1989, back-to-back 250 titles with Luca Cadalora in 1990 and 1991 and a

Off Our Track!

Yamaha sponsors Island SBK

represented on the grid - Yamaha, Ducati, Honda,Suzuki, Kawasaki and Petronas.

This is the 15th time Australia has

world superbike races in Australia, 16 have been won by Australians; legendary names such as Troy Bayliss, Kevin Magee,Anthony Gobert, Robbie Phillis and Peter Goddard among them.

hosted a world championship round and of the previous 29 individual

n How much money does it take to run a MotoGP team and an SBK assault? Well, Ducati Motor Holding SpA has reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that its race team sponsorship revenue grew from 9.1 m Euros ($15.4m)for World Superbike in 2002 to 21.2 million Euros for World Superbike and MotoGP combined in 2003, an increase of 12.1 million Euros.

world 250 title witli Biaggi in 1997.

Kanemoto worked as a consultant with Suzuki last season and left the team on good terms. Honda is unlikely to announce Kanemoto's return in a separate press release, but he is expected to be working with the team when pre-season testing gets underway in Sepang, Malaysia this week.

Kanemoto has declined to

n After a tough time in MotoGP, Kurtis Roberts is returning to the USA. Kenny's younger racer son will compete aboard an Erion Racingprepped Honda CBR1000RR Superbike during the 2005 AMA season. Additionally, Roberts will compete in the Daytona 200 on an Erion Racing-prepped Honda CBR600RR Formula Xtreme bike.

comment on his status, but Biaggi told Italian and Spanish journalists as early as Qatar, 2004, that "Erv will be with us next season."

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Fernandez to miss IRL season Mexican IndyCar star looks to 2005 on the sidelines due to lack ofsponsorship NORTH American open-wheeler stalwart Adrian Fernadez will almost certainly miss the 2005 IRL IndyCar season.

Fernandez has failed to raise sufficient funding to keep his own drive in his team viable, and the popular Mexican is now resigned to the fact that despite three wins and fifth place overall in his first IRL season, he will spend this year on the sidelines.

Mexican companies and long-time backers Telmex, a telecommunications concern, and Tecate, a brewery, had drastically reduced their funding to Fernandez's own entry for 2005,forcing the decision to take only a role as team owner for this year. Fernandez will still field two cars, for Scott Sharp and Kosuke Matsuura. Sharp has come to the team from Kelley Racing, bringing sponsor Delphi with him.

"As we enter a new season, I am faced with the hard fact that I do not have the necessary budget to compete in 2005," said Fernandez.

"Given our current situation with the start of the new season just over two months away and as necessary to keep the team intact and functioning at maximum levels, the team will focus its attention on Scott Sharp and Kosuke Matsuura."

"I enjoyed one of the best seasons of my career in 2004. As a driver, I feel I have a lot left to offer. I am working hard to be able to race again as soon as possible."

Fernandez was the find of the 2004 IRL season after defecting from Champ Car just days before that series's opening round.

Despite the late and frantic start to the season, Fernandez was a regular front-runner, taking wins at Kentucky, Chicagoland and California Speedways campaigning a Honda-powered Panoz.

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Its Panoz- no G What, no Gs? The G-Force chassis, which has long been a staple of the IndyCar Series, is no more after it has been renamed for 2005. it is now known as the Panoz in deference to the parent company. n Fonsi Nieto will move from GP racing to World Superbikes this season. The 27-year-old will race a Ducati 999RS for Team CaracchiNCR and will start testing at Jerez this week.

Enge inks Panther deal

n British magazine Motor Sport recently ran one of its regular top driver features, this time choosing the top 20 touring car drivers.

Argument-inducing as ever, the magazine put Steve Soper as the best with Peter Brock at number 2

... then goes fastest 48 hours later at Homestead-Miami

CZECH driver Tomas Enge has signed to drive alongside Tomas Scheckter for Panther Racing in the 2005 IRL IndyCar Series.

Enge, pictured above testing in road coursespec for Panther at Homestead-Miami, drove the latter part of the 2004 IRL season for Patrick Racing after driving to third place in the 2004 FIA Formula 3000 Championship.

Enge had barely been a Panther driver 48 hours when he set fastest time in the morning session of testing at the Homestead-Miami road course.

“It's just testing, but the feelings are great,” said Enge. “It’s not because the car is fast, it’s because of how the people welcomed me and took me into the team.

‘There were a few things that were important today - getting into the rhythm of the car, finding out how to drive this kind of car on the road course

ahead of Andy Rouse. Frank Gardner was sixth in the poll of journalists with some bloke called Cleland 10th.

and getting used to working with my engineer.”

Panther will battle on in 2005 with the unloved

n Luke Flines, who won two races in the 2004 British Touring Car Championship for VX Racing, has been signed to join Jason Plato and James Pickford in a three-car SEAT

Chevrolet powerplants coupled with Dallara chassis. In a year when road courses will be included for the first time in IRL competition.

Panther have a potent road course driver line-up, with both drivers being former F1 testers.

Enge also has race experience in Formula One, having driven briefly for Prost F1 in 2001. He was also embroiled in controversy in 2002 when he was dethroned as F3000 champion after testing positive to cannabis.

Sport UK team in the 2005 series.

SEAT, which ran two cars in its debut BTCC season in 2004 and won nine times, is building new versions of its 2004 car, based on the Toledo Cupra.

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Australia's opening Test batsmen has a soft spot for motor sport... and the skill required

E

VEN though we are right fast but it was nothing in the middle of compared with what they did. I Australia's cricket season. was blown away.

I'm never too busy to think about one of the most grew up in Western Australia interesting experiences of my and my family has been in the car business life, my ride with Steven Johnson in a V8 Supercar. all my life so To be honest, i found it an I've always been around exciting experience, but quite cars. I. didn't a daunting experience as well.

I wasn't really sure what to ever get to go to-*I a race at expect, and when I got out of the car, my legs were a bit Barbagallo, but heavy and I felt a bit seasick. my first taste of But it was fantastic. racing was the old Adelaide I was particularly pumped to meet Dick Johnson. He's been Grand Prix. y Back then, it a legend of motorsport for a long time so I was particularly happy to meet him and Steven. But like I say, as much as it was a thrill and exciting, it ^ was quite a scary thing. /M I was telling Steven Johnson 1 how scary it was being in the | car, but they thought it would be a lot scarier facing a fast bowler! I guess it's what you get used to.

I can certainly appreciate what those guys do behind the wheel. When I got out of the car, I was sweating - it was hard work - and I was only in the passenger's seat!

I really can admire the best in the business, the guys like Michael Schumacher, who have an extraordinary fitness regime. They are very fit and are 100 percent sportsmen.

We actually drove some laps at Brands Hatch in BMWs a few years ago.

We had a couple of laps ourselves before the professionals jumped in and I was absolutely blown away by their skill. I though I was going

I

A

was just awesome. I know the race has changed since then but that was a great experience.

The Australian team and I met Mark Webber a couple of years ago while we were in England.

I always keep a close eye on how he's going and I admire him as an Australian sportsman. But I'd rather see him in his racing car than on a camel like I saw him on TV the other day...

But can he win a race this year? \ Well, why not? \ The fact is, \ while he's \ racing, he's \ always a \ chance.

MotorMouth iMlihliBiliilaigw

I don't quite understand all the technical side of the sport, . but he's driving for a great team this year and, if the car is up to scratch, there's no reason why not. He'll be amongst it and I'd love to see him get a win or three.

I

I :

n terms of myself playing cricket, it's been a great summer but the question of how long I'll keep playing has come up a lot recently. I think once you get past 30 people start asking ...

Basically, I think as long as I keep physically in shape. I'll keep playing. I love the game and in terms of batting. I'm actually hitting them as well as I ever have in my entire ^reer.

Again, my inspiration''co'mes from guys like Michael Schumacher and other sports people who remain at the peak of their powers. I've stayed in shape my whole life but you do start to get a few more niggles as time goes on. It's just about managing it a bit better. And who knows, I might be the first player in modern times to play until I'm 40 ...

One bounce, into the fence: If Justin Langer bears that, he's happy. If Steven Johnson hears that, he's in all sorts ...

25

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Iniphies, Recipes and t T RAVELLING to a V8 Supercar race is not that hard. I know where the airports are,the hotels always look the same and, to the best of my knowledge,the race tracks are pretty much where I expect them to be.

After 15 years playing Chase the Championship, I can prepare for a trip to a track in less than an hour; this many socks, that many unmentionables, something to keep me warm and/or cool, personal bits and pieces to keep the body together and presentable. A laptop, a digital recorder and a camera, pads, pens, a hat, sunnies and glasses.

No need for a passport, an English to Hindustani phrase book, or lots of foreign currency.

That changes a little for Auckland and it will definitely change for Shanghai but, pretty well, I can cover most of what I need without thinking too hard.

As usual, anything associated with Formula One is different.

Saward, Cooper and company have more to organise than I do but, for half the season at least. they are belting around Europe and, since they live in Europe, that is not too hard a chore. The drivers all speak English, even if they do not want to sometimes. and, these days, even flying over oceans and so on is pretty straightforward.

I, on the other hand, find all that a bit challenging. I speak English and enough French to get whoever is on the other end of the conversation totally confused. But that does not matter - in FI terms.

I am not a full-time player. I get what basketball coaches might refer to as 'limited court time.

H

onda does not have that problem. In recent times, Honda has formally become an owner of BAR, taking a 45 percent stake in the team (BAT owns the other 55 percent).

In the eyes of the fans, that may not mean much. The cars still look similar and the personnel is much the same.

Jenson Button, Takuma Sato and tester Anthony Davidson still steer the cars and Shoichi Tanaka still steers Honda's end of the program. David Richards has gone to his other commitments, leaving former Prodrive Lieutenant Nick Fry as CEO, which means that we will not see him involved in Ford Performance Racing's V8 program again.

So, is this a big deal? This is a huge deal. It has been almost four decades since Honda last owned any part of an FI team. It pulled its own team out of GP racing in 1968 and returned to the sport in 1983, when I was lucky enough to see Stefan Johansson debut a converted Spirit F2 car at Silverstone. A year later, Keke Rosberg won in Dallas; within two years, Honda was untouchable in , GP racing, powering Williams and then McLaren to a string of titles before, once again, taking the exit.

But Honda did not win.those races and titles; the tearhs did.

Patrick Head and Ron Dennis and his Marlboro-clad engineers got to stand on the podiums with the drivers. No-one from Honda ever did.

I talked to Tanaka-san at the start of the 2004 season and he surprised me with a question.

Do you know how many trophies we have from FI ?" he

Everything remote control: look closely and you can see a remote-control chopper just centimetres above Ant Davidson's head 26

"During the course of a race weekend, more than 500 meals can emerge from a kitchen that seems barely large enough for two people to stand in" -Branagan gets excited about eating. Nothing unusuai there...

BSisftida Racing

said, smiling. "None. We have photos of the cars winning races but no trophies. There is no prize for the winning (engine) manufacturer; there is a prize only for the winning constructor."

Saying that, he seemed neither upset nor jealous. But, as the man who said "racing is in Honda's DNA", Tanaka sure wanted a trophy.

Last year, BAR-Honda exceeded everyone's expectations by scoring 11 podium finishes and 119 points to be runner-up behind Ferrari in

FORMULA 1

he mniatupe HeHcoiitep the Constructors' Championship.

The team did everything but win a race. In all probability, that will change in 2005. If and when it does, it might be Fry who accepts the Constructors' trophy. But, with all due respect to the Englishman, perhaps a smiling Tanaka might be the one who deserves it first.

“There is little left to chance in Honda's Formula One program.

The team's mobile catering facility is extraordinarily impressive. During the course of a race weekend, more than 500 meals can emerge from a kitchen that seems barely large enough for two people to stand in. As you might expect from a team whose owners are from Europe and Asia, the meals vary, with three-course options in either continental or Japanese cuisine.

As a long-term fan of Japanese food and a recent and fortunate taster of BAR'S fare, I can only admire the standard of the tucker; it is utterly sensational. No surprise, since the chef trained at a hotel in Swindon, close to BAR'S Brackley HQ - which Honda owns. Honda Australia's Mark Higgins was so impressed that he was swift to grill the staff about what went into a beef curry and enthusiastically jotted down the recipe to ensure that similar fare will soon emerge from 'Chez Higgo' in Melbourne.

We were yacking about this later from the top storey of Circuit de Catalunya's pit complex when we witnessed an extraordindary sight. Davidson chugged down pit lane in an 007 followed by a Range Rover, through the sunroof of which sat a technician. He was harnessed onto the car and held in his hand a remote control unit, with which he flew a one-metre high helicopter. The mini chopper had mounted on its nose a TV ^ camera. ;; The helo and Rangey followed the cruising 007 j for about a kilometre, after which The Ant gave the car some curry and blasted away. After a

quick lap he pulled in front of the RR again and cruised for another kay, before belting off and then repeating the process twice more until he had a complete lap in front of the helicopter under his belt.

What was going on? The chopper, owned and operated by a French company, had no chance of keeping up with an angry 007. The car could not cool the engine sufficiently at low speed, so Ant had to give it the berries after about 30 seconds of cruise.

The only thing that could derail the project would be if the chopper broke down. As a contingency, in the pits sat another mini huey, ready to fly, complete with Lucky Strike signwriting.

Typical. Honda is back in the game and leaving no stone unturned. By buying into the team, it has guaranteed that it will not walk away from FI any time in the foreseeable future. It may not be a question of if they get chequered flags this season but how many - and for how long it may rule GP racing.

Again.

ThewithBox Seat Phil Branagan in Barceiona

Honda through the ages; Below, the 1968 Honda RA301 of John Surtees, middle, Stefan Johansson's Spirit Honda 201C from 1983 and, bottom, the allconquering 1988 McLaren MP4/4 of Ayrton Senna.

fi

LUCKY STRSK

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27

Five minutes with

mmm

Greg Murphy

Greg Murphy switcheU teams for a reason - he wants a V8 Supercar championship. The Super Cheap neai ensimes Oie hunget is there. Can he do it? tie spoke to CHtiS LAMBDBV MOTORSPORT NEWS: You haven't tested yet, but what has PWR got that is going to help Greg IVIurphy win the V8 Supercar championship?

GREG MURPHY: There's not really a lot required over what we did have (at Kmart Racing). There were a couple of areas we struggled with last year, funding being the one that slowed everything down.

MN: You can't compete regularly without a reasonable budget...

GM: You've got to have a decent budget. But you can still have a decent budget and stuff it up.

You've got a decent budget, spend it cleverly, and have the right people controlling it and putting it in the right areas.

The PWR team is expanding they've had a huge re-shuffle and grown by quite a few people.

Kees (Weel) and Mark Roworth have got a big plan and it's a good plan as far as I am concerned.

They have a very good benchmark from last year that we can start off with this year.

Their car was very good last year - for a lot of the season it was very fast and pretty reliable and it proved it could win races.

So we're starting off with a pretty good platform. If we can make a few small gains from there and I can be consistent and stay out of trouble, then that's what you're looking for.

MN: There have been a few personnel changes at PWR indeed Bright's engineer went with him. Are they on top of the technical staff situation?

GM: We replaced Phil Keed pretty much immediately with Steve Henderson, who I've worked with briefly before and who was at Larry Perkins' for quite some time.

He was responsible for 28

penning the current shells that they use at Perkins Engineering, so he's a pretty clued-up guy and has got some great ideas. He's already fitting in very well.

Phil's departure was a bit of a shock. He had indicated he was staying and looking forward to the new year, only to resign soon after. That was a surprise!

So there have been a couple of small spanners in the works, but Kees has got on with the job very quickly and fixed a lot of the issues that were there. Things are flowing along nicely, now.

MN: There's been a lot of team-switching this year. As a driver, how do you make that change process work?

GM: It takes a bit of time, . getting used to all the new staff, new guys working on your car.

Obviously, you get very comfortable after four years with the same people on your car who are pretty easy to work with.

There are all those things to iron out, new engineering staffso much to put in place, but everyone's got a job to do. But the environment down at PWR is a very good one. There doesn't seem to be too much stress everyone knows their job and they're getting on with it. It's falling into place.

I'm looking forward to getting into the car for the first time and feeling the differences from what I've had and what we've got now and then starting to work on that. It's a good base to start with and, fortunately, with n the Grand Prix first-up, we get a free run at a race meeting, without points at stake. It's a great chance for the team to gel and learn together.

MN: Do you have any testing scheduled in prior to that?

GM: We hope so. It's yet to be confirmed, but we do hope to get a day in before the GP. Most

teams want to get a day in but, in our case, there's a bit of work to do before that - chassis to be sorted and finished.

There's a lot of work to do based around the fact that at some point we'll be using Perkins engines and bits and pieces. All that has got to be put into place.

MN; While PWR has been part of the Holden Motor Sport umbrella,the Perkins engine deal suggests a team working hard to establish itself as an independent force.

GM: There were a few decisions made before the announcement that Tom (Walkinshaw) was coming back into Holden Motor Sport, which I think is going to make a big difference. Decisions had to be made, and Kees and Mark have made some calls looking towards the future.

I'm certainly excited about that fact that Richo's car last year always looked to have good . horsepower, so it's a positive move for the team. They wanted to make sure that the team was going to have the best it possibly could and not get left behind in any area.

At the time, this was the right decision to make and I think it still is.

MN:There's been a lot of off season movement and you haven't seen much of what the opposition has, but who do you perceive as being the people to beat if you're to win this championship.

GM: It's a long and distinguished list...

MN:They all say that. But let's keep it to two or three real, genuine contenders.

GM: Obviously Stone Brothers, and Marcos Ambrose, deserve to be at the top of the list, by far.

He and the team have the runs

on the board and have proven they can put it together and do the job. They should have a lot of confidence. And deservedly so and I guess you have to include Russell Ingall in there somewhere.

After that... it's hard to separate the likes of Skaifey, Todd, Rick, Garth, Richo ...

MN: Hang on - you've got the Holden hat on again ...

GM: Hang on! There are a few question marks over the likes of Lowndesy and Triple 8 yet. That's an unproven one - some people will say that about the Super Cheap team and myself! Same for Brighty and FPR. There are some Ford teams that will show more speed - but just how consistent they are remains the big question.

There are so many actual contenders and it's not such a smart thing to try and list them.

But the one everyone has to beat if they want to win the championship is the Stone Brothers team. Russell will be fast again this year and will have a bit more confidence under his belt, but there is genuinely a heap of guys out there that, on any day, are up with the play.

MN: You made this move for one reason. How badly do you want it and how realistic is the concept of you going out and winning it?

GM: Realistically, we're a very good chance of being at the pointy end at the end of the season. That's the goal! If you can win races and win rounds and be consistently in the top five, you're in with a chance.

If I was concerned that that wasn't going to be the case, then I wouldn't have made the move. From what I've seen on paper and down at the workshop, without a doubt, we're an absolute contender.

There's no doubt about it!

motorsportnews

9

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Five minutes with

imyScIwtz

Winning Outiaws Down Under wasjust the start to the new Worid of Outiaws Sprintcar season that Denny Schatz was iooking for. He spoke to CHRIS JORDAN about the win and his plans tor the future MOTORSPORT NEWS: You look exhausted. You have been racing here for a couple of weeks. Has it taken its toll?

DONNY SCHATZ: Three days are long races for us. The heat has been hard, there's been rain; there has been a little bit of everything. I'm glad it's all over.

MN: You have done this all in the spare car.

DS: We struggled ... I wouldn't say we struggled, but we weren't as good as we wanted to be. We started further back than we wanted to but we learnt a lot about this race car.

We've been running this race car since the $50,000 to win.

The 50 was our first night out with it and it worked good. After that, we have been chasing it and chasing it, but tonight was the first time we have been changing things drastically on it.

We made a lot of changes tonight before the feature and here we are.

It can bite you, it can help you; it could have been a lot better, but it definitely could have been a lot worse.

We are just happy that we did all the right things and we ended up going in the right direction.

MN: When the track was so slick for the final, you were one of the few guys that could run on the middle of the race track, as opposed to the guys who were struggling with the high and low lines.

DS: Well, that was what was going to win the race. I knew that the track was going to go away. I was a little sceptical when it started raining but once you're out there, there is nothing you can do.

We had the right tyres on and we had the car good. The top went away and the bottom went away and the middle of the race track was where we had to 30

make our race car work and it was awful good there.

We just hope we can learn from it and understand why it did what it did and make sure we can do it again soon.

MN: Despite the fatigue, you are obviously extremely happy with this start to your season?

DS: This is definitely an unbelievable situation. In my eyes, this is like the Dream Team. I've been in a lot of good situations here in Australia and to be involved with Garry Rush, who is a multi-time national champion as a racer of his own and now a car owner and overseer of this whole program, is quite an achievement to be a part of it.

I also have one of my righthand guys from the States here and we've been giving him some responsibility for taking care of things.

This team is a compilation of a bunch of great people. Nobody has to work 'overhard' because everyone has responsibilities to do things. Everyone lends a hand and we've pulled all the resources together and it's been a successful thing.

MN: Do you think that your example will lead more Americans to come over here and run for a local team, rather than bring their own team and equipment?

DS: Oh, I don't know. I mean, a lot of these guys don't want to be here. This is a tough deal.

Most guys believe that to come just for this weekend it's a tough deal.

I've been coming here for years. I love it here and actually last year I had my own stuff here and it was a lot tougher than I expected it to be or wanted it to be. So to be involved with Garry Rush is quite an achievement and helps me out physically and

1 mean,a lot of ffiese guys don't want to be here. This is a tK.iu deal... I bvo it h^.

tr

-Schatz on the thoughts ofsome of his rivals

could ask for. When we ran on the first night, I think we got this race car running the way we wanted and hopefully we can keep going that way.

I mean, it's racing and anything can happen. You're going to wreck a few here and there. But yeah, we will work as hard at it as anybody else and we will just see what happens and shoot for the 2005 championship.

MN: This year, you will be mixing your World of Outlaws commitments with some bitumen oval racing.

DS: I do a little bit of pavement racing here and there with the Sprintcars and the Silver Crown (series). You know, its just something a little different, to get away from it a little bit. We'll see what happens.

It's fun to get a little bit of pavement time. It takes your mind away from this a little bit and you can figure what you can do on pavement. I need the pavement laps and it helps me on this a lot and it's fun as well.

mentally, and in the car, I could not have done that without a guy like Garry, and I appreciate that.

MN: It would also help that you can have crew stay behind back home to work on the 2005 cars.

DS: Oh, I don't have a choice on that. We race two weekends from now and we've been here for a while, so I've got to have somebody back home building and when I get home I'll get straight into it.

I'm glad we've got a real good guy back at home putting things together, and he'll be excited when I get home.

MN: A good start to the season, picking up where you left off after a strong 2004.

DS: It is, it's as good as you

MN: So do you see it as fun or a future career direction?

DS: It's a bit of a break and it helps me with this a little bit in helping me to understand the cars and the shocks a little better.

But it is also kind of the direction I want to head in my career, the pavement.

I like the dirt, but I want to see if we can figure the pavement out like we've got the dirt figured out. I think we are doing the best we can on the dirt and hey, I just want to try different things. That's all I want to do, just be a little diverse.

MN:So the NASCAR route is something you want to pursue?

DS: Yeah, certainly, that's the direction, yes.

molorsportnews

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MOTORSPORT NEWS: Have you thought about racing much during the off-season?

RICK KELLY: A little bit. It's really good to get away from it all - it has obviously been a pretty hectic year.

Last year, we had our ups and downs, and it's good to just focus on improving things over the break. It's a good time to sort of recuperate and have a think about what happened last year and how we can improve it.

I think, over the first three years, I have improved a little it] bit each year, which is good. I just need to take another big chunk out of it this year and^ see how we go. j

r. .

MN:So given that it was an up-and-down year last year, what's the first thing that comes to mind when you look back at the 2004 season?

RK:(pause). Nothing in particular. (ED: When was the last time you heard a reigning Bathurst champion say that?).

Obviously we had three or four bumps throughout the year, and probably three or four highs.

I proved a little bit more last year that I have got what it takes to win a lot of races, and I think I also proved that I have got a lot of areas that I need to improve on.

Which is good, as well, because this year is a year in which I can definitely do that.

I just need to pluck all the good bits out of what I did last year, and turn this year into a season where I do that all year.

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and have a lot of wins and not make too many mistakes.

MN; You seem to have made a real step forward in the past 12-18 months. Was winning Bathurst in 2003 a turning point?

RK: Oh ... a little bit. That was good, because it gave me a little bit of a taste of winning and how good it is, and how good a feeling it is to win a race, and how you go home satisfied with the job that you've done and what you've achieved until the next round.

So I think that made me a little bit more hungry heading into all of the races since.

There are a lot of people out there who I am hell-bent on beating, and that makes me a little bit more hungry as well.

In doing that, I have obviously touched on a few areas that weren't positive, trying a little bit too hard and causing grief for myself and others at various times.

I just need to refine those things, and I should be in a good position to win ... as good a position as almost anyone.

MN; When you talk about trying a bit too hard, there is obviously one weekend that stands out. Amongst some of the public, it seems that what happened at Indy has overshadowed what was otherwise a pretty good year.

What's your take on it?

RK: Yeah. I don't care, to be honest, what people think. I am out there trying to win, and in doing that I have made a

Rick Kelly is the first to admit that he has a lot to learn after an eventful 2004 season - and given how quick he already Is, that’s bad news for the rest of the field.

MARK GLENDENNING sat down with him for a debrief few mistakes. If you look over everyone else's career, so has everyone else.

Unfortunately, mine was one of the biggest ones of the year, as far as our category goes, and that's something that I am not too impressed with myself about at all. But there's not a lot I can do about it now, apart from not making the same mistake twice.

And like you say, I had a reasonable year last year. I need to pick up the points that I did well, and refine the others.

So I'm not too concerned. I don't care. I've had people from the general public say 'don't worry about it', and also people coming up to me and abusing me. But that's part of life.

There are people that like you and people that don't, and that's not something that I am worried about.

I am worried about doing the job that I get paid to do, and hopefully doing it well.

MN:There were a few other things that, on paper, look like negatives, but might actually be positives in terms of what you might learn from them.

Was Winton perhaps one of those?

IPARL’S I

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^

Tve had people from the public say, d worry about ir, and also people coming up ^ and abusing me. But that's part of life" - Kelly on the post-Indy fallout RK: Yeah ... I mean, it is and it isn't.

A lot of people think that at Winton I just fell asleep, which isn't true at all. I have always been a driver that doesn't normally get worried on the last lap; I focus until it is over.

I honestly thought, as we've been over time and time again, that (the flag) was yellow, and it obviously wasn't.

I think it is just a little thing of knowing exactly where the flag points are, because as we all learnt then - a lot of the other drivers were very

surprised as well - it comes down to a couple of metres.

There was actually overlap between the cars at the flag point, and it surprises me a little bit that they let that off, because in other words, you can be side-by-side past an accident so long as you are not in front of the other car.

So that was a bit of a surprise from that point of view, but nevertheless it was a mistake that I made and again, one I've got to learn from. continued on page 34

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26 January 2005

Tefton is a trade marlr.of dupont

33

continued from page 33 But at the end of the day,the thing that made it bigger than what it actually was, was probably the way that 1 reacted. 1 was obviously very passionate about what had happened, and I let that take over a bit instead of controlling myself.

But at the end of the day, second still isn't a bad result (laughs). It's just one of those things.

MIM: What has been the biggest change in you and the way that you go racing over the past couple of years?

RK: I have probably had a lot more to do with things other than driving over the past two years, especially with set-up.

I am a bit more hands-on now, and probably have a better understanding of the set-up of the car, which helps a lot. I have a bit more of an input into everything from tyre pressure to strategy.

I'm still not where I need to be there, but I have been trying to help out and improve my knowledge of the car which has helped out a little bit.

The guys have done a fantastic job, but it becomes difficult for them to fix the car when they don't fully understand what's going on.

So me knowing a bit more about the car and the way it operates, and putting my twobobs worth in, certainly has helped.

And they are definitely not easy cars to drive, and is has taken a couple of years to settle in.

This will be my fourth full year, and it will probably take all of this year before 1 really fine-tune myself into driving the car to be able to win races again and again.

11

At the end of the day, the thing that made it higger than it prohahly was, was the way I reacted rr -Rick on Winton

MN:Speaking of set-up, your engineer. Matt Nilsson, is a young guy as well, and given that there is not a tremendous amount of experience between the pair of you, it was amazing how well you managed to get on top of the car during 2004. There were times when you seemed to have the thing nailed before Murph did.

RK: Yeah ... you know, Murph is a driver with an amazing amount of talent, and 1 am definitely not at his standard of driving yet.

I have sort of had to work a lot harder at getting the set-up a little bit better, and using that as a bit of leverage to get myself up there, running with guys like Murph.

So Matty and I have spent an absolute shitload of time doing that and it has really paid off, because when something goes wrong at another round, we've had an opportunity to work ourselves out of a bad result.

The experience that we've gained from working hard on set-ups at other tracks has really helped us. It's just a matter of chipping away at it, and the more you know,the better off you are.

MN: Does technical stuff come naturally to you? You are always fiddling with mechanical stuff when you are at home in Mildura.

RK: Fiddling with different cars and stuff, yeah. It helps a little bit, because the more you know about engineering, and different cars and tractors and all that stuff, it helps you understand new things more quickly.

I definitely think it has helped. It is probably more the interest I've got in the engineering side of it that helps, because I am interested in getting underneath the car and finding out how it all works. And that helps me more than if I treated the engineering side as a bit of a bore and something that I am not interested in.

That definitely helps a little bit, that's for sure.

MN: What's the strongest part of your game?

RK:(pause) Hard to say ...

MN: Apart from your good looks and charisma and all that stuff.

RK: That's something I definitely don't bring! I don't know. Probably the hunger to get out there and win,to be honest.

It's hard to judge. I don't know what all the other drivers are doing. I guess everyone is pretty keen to win, but I don't know whether they are all as hungry as I am or not.

But I think that is

definitely one good thing. 1 am giving it my best shot, my best possible shot, and trying to keep improving each year, and keep trying to get a little bit better.

Trying not to make mistakes, and if I do make mistakes then trying to learn from them. Just plugging away. I think we're going in the right direction, and hopefully I improve enough to be up at the top all the time.

MN: Is it easier to win once you've done it a couple of times?

RK: Not really, to be honest! It depends. Like, Bathurst was one that,for me, was probably easier to win than anything else, because you've got the knowledge of a team that's been there all the time, has won it, and has nearly won it in the past a couple of other times.

And then you turn up with a driver like Greg Murphy, who has already won four and is more than capable of winning more, and he does two-thirds of the driving. So all I had to do was back Greg up, and we were there.

Last year, I think I did a bit more compared with the year before, but it's one that was definitely easier to win.

MN: But it wasn't like you Just fluked it in the rain at Eastern Creek ...

RK: Not at all. I definitely think that the set-up that we had was probably better than most of the other guys, and I have always been reasonably quick in the wet.

motorsportnews

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So if you put a quick car and a reasonably quick driver together you should have a good package, and fortunately we were better off with our package than a lot of the other drivers and we were able to get there.

I mean, going through the field and that sort of thing has always been something I have enjoyed. I'd prefer... not results-wise, obviously, but enjoyment-wise, I like starting off 25th rather than first, because if you've got a good car you get to fight your way through. And I love going through traffic. But you get more nervous, definitely, starting from first.

I think ... it's not winning the race. I'm not used to winning the races, but you need to be used to qualifying at the front and learning how to start the race up the front. I think you need to be used to that more than actually winning itself, because that's the start of the race.

You need to have your head right, the car right, and your grid position right at the start.

MN: Last year, you talked about how you'd been working especially hard on the mental side of racing, particularly in terms of dealing with the heat in the cabin. Are you still concentrating on that?

RK: I've been back training for a while now, and when I was running yesterday I was thinking that the benefit of running is that a quarter of it is actual physical fitness, and 26 January 2005

the other three-quarters of it is mental fitness.

Being able to push yourself to run home in the same time as last time, or beat my last time, and push the body that much, and concentrate the whole time. That's where you get the benefit. Three-quarters of it is your mental fitness.

That's why I like tennis your heart-rate is right up, but you've got to concentrate the whole time, and when you've got a tennis partner that is going to push you, it really helps.

When you are on the racetrack, and it's a damn hot day, and you are on the last lap and everyone else is buggered, you've still got that little bit of concentration.

And one day,that is really going to help you out, when you dive underneath someone that has lost concentration because they can't deal with the heat.

It's a huge thing, so that's why I like to do different things to keep my mind on the job.

It makes you a bit more selfdisciplined, as well. You go out there and train all the time, and you are used to putting yourself through hard stuff, and it makes you feel like you are ready to go out there and race.

Whereas if you are a bit unfit and worried about whether you are going to make it through, you are already half-way to losing.

tM.

I S

Lenka

i

/ was born in Slovakia and moved when I was 18 years of age to London. Starting work as a nanny I continued with this for two years. I then started photographic, modelling and promotional work. The photographic side of the work took up most of my time.

I have since moved to Australia, which I love and have been here around twoyears. I am studying Business Finance and Marketing as well as doing some modelling and promotional work too.

When I finish studying I would love to follow my career in Europe and get a job in business development and eventually settle there.

For 10 years I have been Latin American and ballroom dancing and appeared in Tina Arena’s video clip. I have also worked at quite a few car races in Australia and really enjoy the racing. I will definitely go and see some Formula One Races when I move to Europe.

To keep fit i go enjoy going to the gym and also swimming.

I 'i

V.

i

For more pictures of Lenka visit www.sppromotions.com.au

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continued on page 36 35

The View From The Inside Nobody knows a driver better than their team-mate. With that in mind, we asked former Kmart Racing sidekick Greg Murphy for his thoughts ...

... on Rick’s development over the past couple of seasons.

“I reckon Bathurst in 2003 was a turning point for him. He found another gear at Bathurst, and basically from there on he started kicking goals.

“And after that, he’s just come on leaps and bounds. I shouldn’t say that because it sounds like he was sort of learning ... well, I suppose he was sort of learning, but last year, right from the beginning, it was like he’d been a long-time campaigner in the sport. It’s quite amazing.” ... on Rick’s technical ability “He has always been very good in the workshop and stuff. I personally think that he, with his engineers, did a really good job with his car last year. They managed to extract a lot out of the car when it has sometimes not been very good.

“So I think he has done a good continued from page 35 MN; Would you be out training if it wasn't part of being a racing driver?

RK: Probably not, no. I make myself do it because I want to give myself the best chance of winning all year, so it's going to help.

I don't want to get to the end of the year and think,'if I had just trained more, or if I had done this or that a little bit better, I would have won'.

I want to give myself as much as I can, and am doing everything as much as I can, so that I have no excuses not to hopefully do well.

MN: What do you need to work on the most?

RK; Well, everything needs to be in A1 condition. When I get back to Melbourne, I need to go in and pour a new seat, and make sure all of that side of it is right so that when we go to the Grand Prix we are in good shape. Go over some data ...

I'll probably do a little bit more preparation on car set up before we get to the event, because normally I just see what's in the car when I get there, and go from there.

So I need to put a little bit 36

job there, no doubt about it. And in some cases, he did a far better job than I managed to do last year, for sure.” ... on dealing with the public “I give him a bit of grief about it.

He’s certainly got a lot of the right ideas. There’s no doubt that he wants to do a lot of things and he wants to be successful, but he is still so young and sometimes he just struggles to communicate the way he needs to communicate.

“But he'll get there. No doubt about it. He’ll learn. He’ll have to learn. If he Is going to achieve what he wants to achieve.” ... on areas where Rick could improve “He just needs to work in the area of being with the pubiic, taik to the public more, mingle with them, and respect that the reason that he is where he is.

and where he is going to be in the future, is going to have a lot to do with the way that the public respect him or think about him.

“I mean, the fact is that we can’t do what we do without the public. They are the number one most important thing, and you’ve got to give them some time.

“Sometimes it’s very hard, because the fans are very demanding and they expect you to basically stand and deliver.

“But sometimes you can’t, because you’ve got other things to do and you’re in a hurry.

“And the problem is that you can’t just do one autograph. If you do one, then someone else is going to say,‘what about us?’

“So you’ve got to give periods of time where you can do eve’ryOhd that is standing therg,-"M _ r all the time, or be prepared to stand there until you’ve done all the autographs or whatever.

“That Is something tha't Rick is going to have to become more fluent with, and understand more, as he comes on.”

- as told to MARK GLENDENNING

more preparation into going to the workshop and seeing how , the engineers are going with the set-up, and start from there.

Last year, I was quite busy with sponsor obligations and

MN:So what is 2005 all about for you? Half of the drivers in the field are changing teams, whereas your situation is relatively stable. Will that help?

got a lot of changes in our team. Murph has gone, a few people might get changed around here and there, as happens at the end of every year, and Garth is coming on board.

So we've still got a few changes to worry about.

Especially with the sponsor and stuff like that, as well which people can treat as a negative or a positive.

With a lot of it. I'm sad that there is change, but as long as we treat the changes as an opportunity to improve, we should be alright.

'Mupph is a driver with an amazing amount of talent and I am definitely not at his standard of driving yet. I have had to work a lot harder at getting the set-up better, and using that as leverage to get myself up theren - Rick on finding ways to ievei the piaying fieid

that sort of thing, and probably didn't spend as much time in the workshop as I should have.

So I probably need to lift my game there, and just in everything in general, I guess.

RK: I want to win this thing, so that's why I have been doing everything I can, starting from the end of last year, to give myself every opportunity to do it.

I don't know ... we have still

MN:Speaking of sponsorship, how likely is it that there'll be something on the car for the Grand Prix?

RK: I really don't know. The sponsor stuff... I have had a chat to the people above and asked how we're looking, and everyone tells me that we are going to be in the same, if not better, shape as we were at the end of last year.

For me, I think that is all I think I should be worrying about. As long as the car is on the grid, I will do the best job I can.

Hopefully it's with a nice, colourful sponsor! motorsportnews

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FORMULA 1

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Button

Jenson Button /f

He's English. He has an 007 huUfe is not Janies Bond and not licensed to hill. Jenson ^ton Is shoo||tfg for his first Grand Prix win in 2005 and wants to heat Uichwl Schumacher hefore the German retires BRANA^ spoke to BA#-Honda's number one in Barcelona

J

ENSON Button looks tired. Not tired ais In 'I have been partying all night'; not tired like 'it has been a long season apd I am worn out.' He can't be - it's only January.

But the Man Most Likely is yet to win a race, let alone a championship and the media wants to know how he feels about racing the mighty Michael Schumacher. They want to know how he will feel when he wins his first Grand Prix.

They want to hear him talk about the seven time World Champion.And that part appears to make him weary.

The 25-year-old had a stellar season in 2004.

Before the season started, he had no podium finishes since he came into the sport, aged 20, in 2000. He finished the season with 10 visits to the podium, third place in the Drivers' Championship and was instrumental in BAR'S transformation from a black hole into which much tobacco money disappeared to a match for anything that could emerge from traditional powerhouses Williams and McLaren. Scrub Ferrari from the 2004 championship results and Button and BAR were world champs.

But before that actually happens, there is much to do. JB has yet to register his first trip to the top step of the podium; Honda is still to score its first win as a constructor, as opposed to an engine supplier and BAR is not quite - yet -the Real Deal.

And all that has to be accomplished against a man and a team dominant like few in history. If any part of the task ahead fazes Button, he does a good job of hiding it. In fact, he is raririg to get his choppers into the 2005 season.

"I am very excited but I think that every driver is going to say that," he says."We have been away from racing for a little while now so we are looking forward to getting back into the racing season. I can't wait to get to Melbourne."

Like the other 19 drivers on the grid. Button faces a wide range of changes this season.

Drivers will be asked to do much the same as they have in recent years but will have to perform with much less aero grip, on a single continued on page 40 39

continued from page 39 set of tyres and with an engine that will have to last for two races.

"I think that the new regulations have really opened the door for teams like McLaren, Williams and BARHonda," he states frankly.

"When you are set in your ways, like Ferrari has been over the last few years, it is always easy to progress. When you have to change so dramatically -●with the car, that is going to help us. Plus, we have really moved forward with the car."

They sure have. BAR's 007 is a smaller, neater 006, with three parts carried over - the steering wheel and the brake and accelerator pedals.

Everything else is new, largely prompted by the new rules but also made possible (or necessary) by the fact that Honda now has a much bigger role in the development of the car's chassis.

Button accepts the need for change in FI but that does not mean that he is thrilled with all the changes.

"I am not happy about it. The pitstops are a big part of Formula One and now, the car is so difficult to drive. People say, 'that is so good for Formula One' but it isn't because the car is pretty undriveable. We are still early in the season and there is a lot of work still to be done.

Michelin do a great job but it will be a difficult situation to run one set of tyres throughout the race.

"We have less downforce on the car so the car is more prone to sliding at the rear. That will overheat the tyres earlier.

"I have always worked on trying to be as smooth as possible and it always helps, with tyres, brakes and the engine. I seem to be more relaxed and that will help."

Alongside all that, 2005 will be different in other ways. BAR used to be an underdog; now, it is a middleweight, at worst. Button, who signed his first FI deal while still in his teens, is now an experienced driver. And he, and team-mate Takuma Sato, will not have the comfort of having Anthony Davidson blazing around on Friday mornings, gathering data for qualifying and the race.

They will have to go it alone.

"There is a lot of expectation" he admits, "but, under pressure, we work very well as a team. We work very closely together and team morale is very high. You always see [how good a team is] when things are tough, and BAR has had it tough in the past. When we are under pressure, we do a good job.

40

He is regarded as the best driver in the worid. if he ieaves, winning the worid championship is stiii an amazing feat. But it is better to do it whiie he is stiii aroundrr

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- Championship or not, Button thinks the feat of heating Schumacher wiii he sweet indeed

"There were races during the [2004] year where we had a problem with Anthony's car or spun off the circuit and we did not get as much information as we wanted. I still managed to perform well in those races. I am not too worried."

Of course, it might have all been so different. Six months ago it appeared that Jenson was out the door and on his way back to Williams, having signed a deal with his alma mater. But the Contracts Recognition Board stepped in and determined that BAR's deal was valid, so he stays put.

Surely, that must have an affect on his relationship with the rest of the team?

"I think that a lot of people outside the team think that it has. The team are very strong and we have been working together all winter very well. If anybrtfe talks about it, it is just in ‘^ ■im. a jokey sense. It mostly . happened at the Christmas party..."

All very well. For a time, Davidson looked to be in contention for the Williams seat and, indeed, had agreed to test for the team. But a stipulation that should he be offered a gig at Grove, he would,have to commit for two years led BAR to veto his test.

Clearly, the team wants to hav'e options should Button decide to move.

So, when will we have a clearer idea?

"Not for a while," he says.

"As long as I am performing well this season, which I will be, there is no reason to start thinking until the end of the year. You don't want to take anything away from focusing on this season,though it is a little bit of a different situation for me. I also don't think that the championship will be won by then. We need to stay focused and stick to our plan and then we will see what happens at the end of the season. There are some very important decisions to be made about then.

"If we won the world championship in 2005, 1 would be very happy to ... well, I want to be driving the best car, don't I? Everybody does. If Ferrari won the world championship by a country mile, everybody would want to be driving there."

Not quite a commitment. The Button/Williams/BAR Saga may have a few more chapters to go.

Of course, Williams will have Mark Webber to battle Button this season. Button sees a number of rivals for the title but is hardly glowing in his assessment of the Aussie.

"It's difficult to know. He was the test driver at Benetton when I was there and I

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think he works very hard. But it is difficuilt to know how quick he is. Is Mark going to challenge for the championship? His best finish was in a Minardi three years ago, which was fifth. It is difficult to know what to think.

"I think that there will be a few [contenders]. I have always rated Kimi [Raikkonen] since we were in karts, but he is actually quicker than I thought he was. He has done a great job. Apart from those, Mark is a good driver and [Fernando] Alonso is naturally talented but I don't think that he works hard enough at it. That is just from outside, from what people say. I think that Formula One at the moment is very competitive."

And, the 'M' question; what does he think of Michael? What is the German like under pressure?

"I think that anyone who has been on top for so long and is suddenly being hounded, or not as quick as they have been in previous races, I think that it can be quite tough mentally. I think that it is the same for Michael; he made a few mistakes towards the end of the [2004] season. When he made one mistake, there seemed to be a second one that followed in the race or in qualifying. It is going to help everyone if Michael is making mistakes.

"He is human; he makes mistakes and he has been beaten on many occasions.

Nobody's perfect."

Of course, much depends on the car that Ferrari will race this season. Maranello has taken the opposite approach to BAR and will race uprated F2004s until its definitive

\\

I would not be sitting here - you wouid not be interviewing me - if i did not see myseit as a world n champion

- Button sounds pretty sure that he can get to the top of Formula One

car appears in Barcelona in May. I haven't got a clue how quick the Ferrari is going to be. All we can do is the best job we can with the new regulations. Aerodynamifcally, the car is ■m very strong, considering how much of a step back we have had to make with the wings.

One thing of which he seems sure is the desire to beat Schumacher before the man in red ups and leaves FI for new challenges.

It is important," he says. "He is regarded by most as the best driver in the world. You have to say he is, if you look at his results, but I think that there are a lot of people, if they had the right team around them, who would be able to do the same. If he leaves, winning the world championship is still an amazing feat. But it is better to do it while he is still around.

And, finally, the $64,000 question; can Jenson Button win the world championship? And can he do it this season?

I would not be sitting here - you would not be interviewing me - if I did not see myself as a world champion. In 2005? I think that I can be world champion in 2005. Whether the package can be right to do it? We have to wait and see for that."

Clearly, he does not underestimate the task ahead. He is smart enough to recognise that BAR and Honda are deadly serious about making their team the best in the business. Whetherthe BAR/Button partnership is ultimately successful - or long-lasting - is still to be determined.

Launch Control T

HERE are lots of things to like about being involved with Formula One.

There is the speed -cars going fast.

There is the technology - cars getting better. There is the glamour - girls being faster or better, or just being girls. And there is the launch.

1 love a good launch. Launches are fun. There is lots to see, lots to do, lots of people to talk to. Unusually for a motor racing environment, the people are usually happy. This is because of the fact that, at the time of the launch, they have not yet had the opportunity to watch the Ferrari of Michael

Schumacher grinding the latest labour of their love into the ground for three months. It is pre-season and hopes are yet to be dashed.

Everyone has the same number of points -zero. Nothing has been lost yet. Of course, nothing has been won either but, at a launch, that appears to matter less than it might at any other time. Last year, at Toyota's launch in Cologne, there was talk from the team of points at every race and a podium, maybe a win, at the end of the year.

No-one laughed when that was said (well, not out loud, anyway)but, as soon as we saw the TF104 in Melbourne,the prediction did start to look slightly ... optimistic.

We get invited to lots of launches and usually only attend one Minardi's, which is always in Melbourne. The rest of the launches happen in places that have winter when we have summer so we usually just wait for the pics and the words to arrive from Europe. But Honda had good reason to want to make a splash this year, with the trophy for runnerup in the 2004 Constructors' Championship safely tucked in the cabinet and the news that BAT and Honda were now co-owners of the team.

Having just inked a deal to be the presenting sponsor of Network lO's

42

\

Grand Prix telecast, Honda Australia was likewise feeling good about 2005 and wanted to expand on the local coverage it might otherwise get for the launch of the BAR-Honda 007. PR man Mark Higgins wanted to take a half-dozen or so local media types to the launch and asked if MNews wanted a berth. Higgo being a good egg with a heart of gold, the least we could do for him was to minimise his disappointment, so we said yes.

Launches are not what they used to be. In ancient times, a laimch would' involve a team finishing the first of its latest weapons, doing a rapid ringaround of the local press, wheeling said weapon out of the factory (which, by today's standards, might more accurately be described as a shed) and smiling for the camera, pausing only to ensure that the ciggies that would otherwise be perched in the corner of the mouth were removed. That done, brief comments were made about wings and widgets, alleged wonder car was wheeled back into the factory and work continued prior to the opening shakedown of the season.

Then came sponsorship and with it, all manner of add-ons. When Brabham was sponsored by Olivetti during the 1980s, a number of media gave the new car all kinds of coverage, much of which was bashed out on the new Olivetti laptops with which they departed the shindig.

Money poured into FI and the launches got grander as showbiz and racing mixed. Cars appeared from smoke-filled and laser-lit hideaways; 'personalities' began to get gigs at launclies, leading to one memorable McLaren debut in London at which The Spice Girls performed (if that is the right word). Notably, David Coulthard appeared at a rehearsal and was introduced to one of the

Look Left, then cross: Takuma Sato takes a break from yacking to the media to getjiggy with the new BAR-Honda 007 in Barcelona. Note the livery; the car was run in both 'smoking'and 'non-smoking'versions for different markets.

What I really, really want is to get the Spice out of here: Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard look about as comfortable talking to the Spice Girls as ... well, any music lover would. The scene is from McLaren's 1997season launch at Alexandra Palace in London.

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FORMULA ONE

The Good Old Days of wheeling a new FI car ont of a shed are history. PHIL BRANAGAni attended BAR-Honda's 007 launch in Barceiona to see what reaiiy happens behind the scenes

We dun it all ourselves: This is more low-key - Lord Alexander Hesketh and James Hunt, in car, launch the Hesketh 308C in July 1975.

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26 January 2005

point, before motoring off to Spain for immediate testing.

The same weekend, Mark Webber s smiled nicely for the cameras, I climbed into the Jaguar R5 and drove I down a carpeted ramp, straight onto I the track at Barcelona. The process of '- sorting out the weapon, and MW he drove them to their hotel ... sorting out Christian Klien, started The days of glitz and glam appear straight away. Launching is one thing, numbered. The'Hollywood factor' racing is another. has been replaced by a desire to After launching at HQ last season, Toyota chose the main train station at maximise the 'racing' amount of the Barcelona for its TF105 debut while launch. When Toyota showed the BAR-Honda did its at the Circuit de world the TF104, we ooohed and Catalunya, Other launches are aaahed and were rapidly pointed in scheduled tor either racetracks or the direction of the catering (never a factories, though sometimes problem for a journalist). Those crafty circumstances can intervene. This Panasonic-clad lads snuck off behind year's kick-off of the Sauber-Petronas, our backs and packed up the car, the only pukka 04 completed to that scheduled for Kuala Lumpur, has been reorganised in light of the recent events in Malaysia and other Lousy car, great laptop: countries, and will, presumably, be The media at least got to use a much more low-key than originally computer to write what a shocking planned. thing the Brabham-BMW BT55, "This is the third year on the trot left at Paul Ricard in 1986, was. we have done this," explained BAR's

Philip Kassapian. "[Technical Director] Geoff[Willis] likes to get the cars finished early so we can test and this date was locked in about six months ago. Circuit launches are functional; we are here about the engineering and the racing."

Once track availability was confirmed, the circuit was booked for two days (at around 10,000 Euros [$17,000] a day)and, three months out, work started in earnest. On a budget of about one-fifth of a glitzy showbiz launch in London(BAR did one of those in 2002)arrangements were made for the drivers and the principals to be available, along with the guests and media.

And the days of getting on the blower and inviting a few journo mates around are well and truly gone.

For BAR-Honda,320 people attended the launch; 211 media, broken down to 128 print and 48 broadcast journalists and 35 photographers, and 109 sponsor and 'technical partner' continued on page 45

43

p continued from page 43 guests. With a few exceptions, all had to be fed, accommodated and transported to the event from as close as Madrid to as far as ... well, Melbourne, with AAP's Robert Grant topping yours truly for die informal most-kilometres-from-Barca gong by a few kays.

Back in the real world, the first new '05 car was finished on the Wednesday preceding the launch and shaken down at Silverstone (with Takuma Sato at the wheel) the next day. That night, it was stripped and cleaned, ready for a late-night photo shoot prior to be loaded in a transported for the 24-hour journey to Barcelona.

Waiting for it there was BAR'S test team, which had been hard at work with 006s updated with 007 mechanicals and revised aerodynamics tire preceding week at Jerez. Sunday would be the big kick off but on Saturday, BAR had four TV crews present to arrange 'free' video footage (ie, unrestrained by FOM's restrictions and payment, which would apply if there was another team or teams present). Also present was some Japanese media. Network lO's Neil Crompton and Scott Young (who had both been in Europe on FI duty, along with Leigh Diffey some of the time, for two weeks)and a scruffy bunch of jet-lagged Aussie scribblers.

One assumes that, in FI, money is no object but the truth is far from that. Fliggins had a budget to fit into and worked hard for three months himself to ensure that Honda got maximum bang for its buck. As Austrian Airlines provides Business Class travel at much lower rates than some other carriers, we flew with what was (until relatively recently) Niki Lauda's airline, wliich meant that we were going to camp overnight in Vienna on the way home.

It also meant that most of us would be away from our desks for only six days, half of which was spent travelling or waiting to travel.

Jetting from one side of the planet to the other to attend an FI gig sounds like fun (and, to some extent, it is) but 24-hour flights twice within a week is a pain in the rear. For the blokes who do Albert Park from places like England, you have our sympathies.

Being a flyaway race, the Australian CP does not attract some of the impressive roadware associated with Euro races. Joining BAR'S transporter at the track were two Honda pantechs, complete with impressive telemetry booms, a Michelin truck packed with rockhard 2005 rubber, Jenson Button's motorhome (which makes anything you may have seen in a V8 Supercar paddock look like a cubby house on wheels) and three catering trucks.

44

.

If I could be like Cromley: BAR'S host Jeremy Heart does a TV standup for the world's media, above.

Do you know you have the same initials as John Bowe and Bargs? Jenson Button gets a grilling from, left to right, Trevor Grant of the Herald-Sun, Branners and The Age's Michael Lynch.

Those vehicles and their crews virtually live in Spain during the winter testing season, commuting between Barcelona, Valencia and Jerez and can provide more than 200 meals a day, with both continental and Japanese menus, as befits the makeup of the team. When the season starts in Melbourne, KL and Bahrain, the catering crew will take a holiday before the European season begins in earnest and,judging by the flawless meals and service they provided, they have earned it.

Being Aussies, we were on site a day early and used the Saturday to have sit-down chats with all the players in the BAR-Honda arena, including drivers Button and Sato, CEO Nick Fry, design head Geoff Willis and Honda's Shoichi Tanaka and Takeo Kuichi. The following day, it was the turn of the rest of the world to have a yack and a peek at the 007 while we swanned around.

One of the sights to see was watching Ferrari's highly regimented

test team unpack its three transporters - and then repack them immediately after Sato and Button found that the resurfaced track proved to be too slippery to get any meaningful work done. They quickly moved south to Valencia; it was almost comforting to realise that, even in the world according to FI, things to not always run strictly to plan.

In between, there was a dinner at the plush Grand Marina Hotel on Saturday night-followed by an invitation to party all night at The Elephant nightclub. Being weary and old,I passed on the latter but the former was a hoot, starting with Tanaka-san pleading for anyone from MotoGP-mad Spain to kindly knock over that man Valentino Rossi ...

So, what is the point of all this?

Launches are important; they set the tone for the coming season and put a team's goals in perspective, even if BAR-Honda's aim at breaking through for a win in 2005 is more believable than Toyota's points-and-

podium target of 2004. They also allow the media to get to The Players in the sport before the heat of battle starts getting in the way of the process. Access is easier, articles get written, the sport gets coverage at a time when it might not otherwise.

And that is the name of the game.

Tobacco-backed teams, in particular, will find it harder and harder to expose their sponsors in the coming butt-out times. As the sport moves into new markets, like China and Turkey, every little bit helps.

On the way home, we flew over three GP tracks; Monaco, the Al-Ring in Austria and KL in Malaysia. It was a long way to go and an even longer way to come home.

The next launch on the MNews schedule will be that for V8 Supercars, at Oran Park next month.

Attention Mr Cattach; if it is all the same to you, we will have the fish ...

Phil Brnnagan travelled to Barcelona courtesy of BAR-Honda.

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The Webber Fac Mark Webber carved his own path to Formula One, but with the help of a new program involving CAMS and the Australian Institute ofSport, the road for our next FI driver might be a little clearer By MARK GLENDENNING

H

OW the hell did Australia manage to end up with a Mark Webber?

Pretty much every sport in this country that you'd care to name has some Idnd of long-established program aimed at identifying young talent and nurturing it into something capable of performing on the world stage. Every sport, that is, except motor racing.

In the sporting realm, motor racing is something of an anomaly. Nobody quite knows where it slots in. Fitness professionals sometimes struggle to adapt their time-honoured techniques to a discipline that offers entirely different demands, while the drivers themselves often fail to see what they are doing as an athletic pursuit.

Aside from a vague notion that they might need to strengthen their necks or forearms, few young drivers give much serious thought to conditioning- and those that do have generally done it by their own initiative, rather than through the guidance of a structured program.

Which is why Webber is a bit of a freak. Had he been a tennis player, cricketer or cyclist, he would have spent his formative years with some sort of academy learning about all the physical and mental aspects of his sport, enabling him to unlock every grain of his potential. As it was, he had to do a lot of it on his own steam, working out where he could get the information that he needed and how to apply it.

That attention to detail, that completeness,is a small part of the reason why he is where is he today when a lot of other guys aren't. And

it is the reason that he has become the example for all young drivers to follow.

"I think that Webber is making people more aware of fitness in Australia," said Barton Mawer, who competed in the British F3 Scholarship Class last year.

"When you are in Europe, it's just common knowledge. In British F3, you are racing against guys who are contracted by Renault, and get a wage, and their job is to be a professional racing driver. So what does he do? He's working on his fitness, his mind, everything. It's just normal over there, and if you don't have a personal trainer then you're almost the odd one out." to But theand landscape isthe starting shift, muda of current push is coming through an association between CAMS and the Australian Institute of Sport(AIS).

CAMS has been running driver camps,in pilot form, at the AIS for a few years now,including the Rising Star, Camp of Champions and Women's programs.

Buf at the start of January the big green button was pressed, and the AIS hosted the first official, full blown CAMS motorsport camp.In fact, it hosted three, as the new Elite Drivers Program was run alongside the Women's Development Program and the National Rally Academy, marking the first time that any of the camps had been run concurrently.

But more on that later.

The official launch of the camps was certainly a first for Australia, and would not be far off being the first of its kind in the world. Similar

programs exist overseas, but tend to be run on a manufacturer rather than national basis. Renault,for example, has its Renault Drivers Program in England, while most young Toyotacontracted drivers (including Ryan Briscoe) serve time at the Italianbased Formula Medicine under Dr. Riccardo Ceccarelli.

"We thought that we needed to focus more on the drivers who were coming through and will be our next champions, and get them while they're young," said Cameron van den Dungen,Senior Sports Development Officer at CAMS. "The younger we can get them in, the less chance there is of them forming bad habits. They can actually learn from a young age and understand why they are doing things, and they can start applying it.

So when they get to potentially going to Europe or whatever else, they are going to give themselves the best opportunity to be as competitive as possible."

The plan, in other words, is to try to give the next Webber-in-waiting the sort of information and support that their equivalents in other sports have been getting for years.

Spearheading the camp was the Elite Drivers Program, a new initiative born out of the earlier Rising Star Program and Camp of Champions. Along with Mawer,the Elites were represented on this occasion by 2004 Australian F3 Champion Karl Reindler, his Australian F3 rival Ian Dyk,Andrew Thompson, who is gearing up for a tilt at the 2005 Australian Formula Ford Championship, and two-time CIK national Champion Kristian

Lindbom. Oh, and yours truly, who was presumably included to give the others a little comic relief when the going started to get tough.

During their three-day stint at the AIS, the group engaged in a mixture of theory-based lectures and practical classes, covering all aspects of the sport that they could think of, and quite a few that they hadn't.

Probably the biggest shock to the system for these guys was the nutritional component, which was introduced to them by way of an anecdote about a certain Australian driver (we'll be nice and not name him)who once phoned home from Europe to ask what he could put into a toasted sandwich apart from cheese and tomato.

As well as being delivered a lecture on the role and importance of nutrition, the drivers were unleashed in the kitchen to prepare a meal.

Despite Mawer's best attempts to kill his colleagues with a series of traps hidden around the food preparation area, they managed to produce some beef fajitas and cookies. Not bad, given that most of them barely knew how to use a can opener before they arrived.

The group also sat through

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Three big happy families: The Elite Drivers, Rally Academy and Women's Program strike the football team pose outside the AIS, above.

Iron men: Mawer and Thompson try the swiss ball squats (while Dyk gets the giggles), above.

Thompson saves his strength for the towel-grip pull-up, right, leaving Reindler and Dyk to battle it out in the beep test, far right. sessions teaching them how to work with the media (easy,just give us presents), the basics of physiotherapy and avoiding injury, and a lecture on doping from the Australian Sports Drug Agency.

There was a strong psychological component to the camp.

This had been included in the pilots, but was given a major facelift this time around, culminating with each driver being sent off for a 45-minute one-onone session with an AIS psychologist.

For most of the Elites, this was a definite highlight.

"Previously, we were always in a group," explained Mawer who,like Reindler and Dyk, had attended at least one of the pilot programs.

"And it's one thing to say,'I do 100 push-ups, and I eat thus', and whatever. But when it comes to, 'yeah, before a race I have to put my

lucky red undies on and I only hop into the car from the left-hmd side' ... all of that stuff gets pretty personal, and when you're in a group, especially with people that you're racing against, naturally you don't open up fully.

"So having the one-on-one ... I had a few points prepared, so it was straight in there and,'look, this is what happens, give me some help on how I can do better'."

"In the group psychology sessions, you are sitting there with guys that you compete against and you don't want to give too much away," agreed Reindler.

"But you want to leave it open for discussion, as well. Plus, there are some things that you are not comfortable saying around the others."

And it wasn't just the drivers that found the revamped psychological sessions helpful. CAMS and the AIS

have developed a fascination with the mental aspect of motorsport, and used the sessions as the beginning of a study into the psychological profile of top racing drivers.

"It's basically to work out whether there are any common factors between drivers," explained van den Dungen.

"We haven't done research like this before, so this is just a starting process to see whether there is anything. There may be, there may not be, so we've got to do testing to find out. It will probably take two or three years to be able to draw any good results from it, but we need to start somewhere.

"The AIS has become intrigued with what makes a motorsport ; competitor tick. The psychologists that we've had at the AIS have all been blown away by dealing with motorsport competitors, and the

ability that they've got to deal with so many factors happening at such a rate, and being able to make splitsecond decisions. That's why they want to do as much testing as possible, because they want to find out what makes the elite driver stand out from the average driver."

All of this theory stuff is cool, but there is no point going to the AIS unless you are going to get some sweat happening. Luckily, tliere was plenty of opportunity to do that.

After an hour of self-massage demonstration (one of several things that drivers who had been on previous camps said that they had already put into practice), it was off to the Physiology Lab for some poking and prodding. And if you thought that something as simple as continued on page 48

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47

'RECOVERY

continued from page 47

RELAXATION RECOVERY" 1

l Mdi. u-12 mtn spa ti «om shcmei (^lydfale) l H^draio l 6*10 min sUeicKng n«i thv*«\c) l 3-4 min lloal-tftlaulian

being weighed could not be competitive, you have never done it with a bunch of racing drivers, a couple of whom took it so seriously that diey nipped off to the men's room in the hope of shedding that last bit of excess ballast before they liit the scales. Hope it worked, Karl.

Weight taken, height measured, skin-fold (a measure of body fat) calculated, and it's time for the camp's 'highlight'. The beep test.

It's a simple concept. You sprint 20m laps up and down a basketball half-court in time to prerecorded beeps. The beeps come in quicker and quicker succession, forcing you to run faster and faster to keep up with them. And you keep doing it until you either fall behind the beeps, or you keel over, collapse, and wonder whether to head towards the light in the tunnel that has suddenly appeared before you.

Some of the drivers liked it so much tliat they actually bought the CD with the beeps on it afterwards. I prefer something a little funkier, myself.

As painful as it is, the beep test fun. And like everything else on the camp, it's competitive. Reindler and Dyk were the last men standing, with Reindler finally taking tlie honours by reaching level 12.7. Pretty good except that he was convinced that he made it to 12.9. Last we saw him, he was asking the way to the steward's room so that he could lodge a protest.

If you're going to train properly, you have to recover properly. The good thing about recovery was that it involved spending a few minutes in a gloriously hot spa. The downside was that you were required to periodically leap out of the spa and into an Antarctica-spec plunge pool for 30 seconds.

It is nothing short of hypothermia in liquid form.

The shock of going from hot to cold is said to help circulation and the nervous system, and refresh an athlete's muscles enough to allow them to train or compete again the

next day. It hurts, but it works.

The troops were later ushered into the gym for a weights session, which provided the closest thing that the camp could manage to a lowlight.

It wasn't bad, and for some of the drivers it was their first exposure to the importance of working on core stability, but the session wasn't as well-prepared as the rest of the camp had been, and demonstrated just how far mainstream sports science has to go in understanding the needs of motorsport.

In fairness to the AIS, complaints about this sort of thing are still being made in Formula One.

them and heard their side of the story. That side of it was good."

Armed with new knowledge, an AIS cookbook, an assortment of AIS souveniers, and an insistence that they were not feeling any pain at all, the Elites packed up at the end of the final day and returned home to the real world - which, at this time of the

Chicks on i FOUR drivers participated in the Women's Program at the AIS, which followed on from a similar pilot program last year.

The program was similar to that followed by the Elite drivers, but with more emphasis on the fundamentals. Like the Rally Academy, the girls will return to Canberra for a second, more advanced camp In June.

Taking part were Danielle Argiro, Samantha Reid, Emma Cugley and Glenna Walters.

"The psych stuff helped me the most," said Reid, left.

"That made the whole camp worth attending, really. And the psychologist can talk to CAMS about exemptions with uni and

The packs awful lot intoprogram three days, butan even those who had attended previously said that they had benefited. Particularly popular was the decision to run the three camps together, which allowed drivers to interact with other racers that they may never otherwise cross paths with.

"I spoke to the women once or twice, but it would have been really good to have a lot more interaction with them," reflected Reindler.

"But I spoke to the rally guys a lot.

I really lack a lot of knowledge as far as rallying is concerned, but when we were all together, I sat down with

occomniqditipn pockoges qndadvonced.tralning courses, j

CAN BE A RALLY DRIVER jv prepared Peugeot 206 Gli 180 ^ bnOiont fejstnKQsfirst togo One Desigii Closs irT ^iteen easier - a $49,150.00 turn key j^chthotbemtheMBongtarBuckSwinnetilt's

year, mostly involves trying to find a budget.

All were bubbling about the past three days, but the real test of the program's success lies in how effectively they put what tliey were taught into practice - and, over the next couple of years, how much the AIS can learn about racing.

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48

■iilliii

^mr.targqoneilesign.coEDu'Don M motorsport news

INSIGHT

How to kill a journalist Where smiles and grimaces meet: Reindler puts on a brave face in the plunge pool, above.

Meanwhile, Dyk tries not to collapse under the weight of a pair of four kilo dumbells, above left, and Reindler and Thompson put their balance to tbe test, far left.

>peed

helping me to balance my racing commitments with study. That was what I was going to struggle with most this year."

Reid, who will compete in the national Formula Ford series this year, had previously attended the pilot camp.

"There were a few things that I took out of it," she said.

"Nutrition, and race preparation ... that hot/cold recovery, I found that so useful after gym training - being able to go to the gym the next day, and being refreshed again. So there was definitely stuff that I took out of the camp."

- MARK GLENDENNING

wm

Why not see what it's ail about for yourself? Attend a race meeting at your locai ciub and talk to the drivers and crew. There are

varying power & driver weights to choose from. * Other more powerful classes available for experienced racers.

26 January 2005

Make room tn the medical centre: Glendenning loving life after tbe beep test, right, and preparing to blow Reindler into the weeds on the basketball court, above.

test was never going to be my forte, considering that the iast time i ran any kind of distance was when I was 15, and even then it was only because I was being chased by a dog.

So there were no surprises when I was the first to keel over in the beeps, other than the fact that I lasted a lot longer than I expected to, and that the first of the drivers followed very shortly afterwards.

Ditto for all of the physiological testing. The real highlight that came out of all of that was the fact that I am now officially on the records at the AIS as an ‘athlete’.

And I can guarantee you that my Year 7 sport teacher would never have seen that coming.

Aside from hosing the drivers when it came to nutritional

knowledge, and holding my own during the core stability stuff (which, to be fair, I had done before), the one area in which I really flew the media flag was three-on-three basketball, where, somehow, I managed to be the game-high scorer.

Let’s just not mention the soccer game. OK? - MARK GLENDENNING

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I DON’T care what anyone says. All men are not created equal. If they were, it wouldn’t have taken me three days to be able to move my legs painlessly after returning home from the AIS. I should put this into perspective, just so that you understand what you are dealing with here.

Provided that i am not spending haif a week away at a race somewhere, i manage to remain reasonably active, i cycle between 250-350km a week on MTB and road bikes. I go indoor rock climbing whenever i can convince someone to come aiong with me. I attend the gym sporadicaily to throw some weights around. I don’t drive somewhere if it is in walking (or riding) distance. Very occasionaliy, I’li go for a swim.

By the standards of an ordinary guy of my age, I reckon that i’d be around an average level of fitness. But by the standards of your garden-variety motorsport journaiist, a regime like that makes me a freakin’ Oiympian.(Take a peek inside any media centre, and you’ii see what I mean.)

Measured against the Elite Drivers, however, I am a 182cm, 77kg weakiing. Which is teiiing in itseif, given that most of those waifs clock in around the mid-iow 60kg mark.

Put simpiy, the drivers had the wood on me in most of the physicai activities. I had been expecting as much - the beep

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49

Ax es and Diffs

MOTORSPORT NEWS:In racing speak, was coming back to Australia 'Plan A'?

LEIGH DIFFEY: Umm,it wasn't'Plan A'. I originally came back for personal reasons, but now that I'm back. I'm definitely glad to be back.

MN: Besides the V8 commentary, you will also host Sports Tonight.

How regularly will we see you on the box?

LD: Two nights a week. It's a bit mixed, but I'll do both weekdays and weekends. The rosters vary from month to month.

MN: Will you solely work on Supercar commentary or are there other projects on the cards throughout the year?

LD: The other thing that I'm working on at the moment is V8 Superstars, I'll be hosting that.

The main three for me at the

moment are Sports Tonight, V8 Supercars and V8 Superstars. I also just got back from an FI trip overseas. We are doing two half-hour pre-season previews, one on Williams and one on Toyota. (Neil) Crompton and I were over in Bahrain and Barcelona working on those.

MN: You join Crompton in the commentary booth this year potentially a pretty strong caller

line-up! Are you excited about that?

LD: Yeah, yeah,I think so. It's kind of come full circle actually. My first job in television was actually working with Neil. He and I called the 1996 Super Touring Championship, so we've kinda gone full circle and we've been trying, and the folks here at Ten have been trying, to get us back together for some time. To date it just hasn't happened because he was overseas and getting back into racing while I was still calling here.

Then I went overseas and he got into calling so we always missed each other, but now we're back and it's good.

And we also get along well as mates, not just as colleagues.

MN: How do you use Crompton's 'analytical' strength with your 'blow-by-blow' calling?

LD: To be perfectly honest, we don't work out a strategy. Sure, we discuss pre-meetings with our producer and stuff. We never really say 'okay, Neil, this is the line and don't step over it.'

We don't do that. We've got enough professionalism and respect for each other that we never, even right back in Day 1, we never did that. He lets me do what I do and I let him do what he does best. And that's why it works.

y

MN;For the past five years, you've been all over the world covering all types of racing. Do you have a highlight?

LD: Wow. Umm,definitely Le Mans.

I've done four Le Mans 24 Hours now.

only ever seen on TV. Then to move on to the States for the last three years and combine those tracks witli the ones I've

I called some FI races for Speed Channel, which was certainly a highlight. They broadcast from Charlotte, North Carolina and employ Peter Windsor at the track and he helps out. That was definitely a highlight.

Also, working for the BBC and travelling to all the World i

-■l

Superbike tracks was certainly special because finally, I got to see tracks that I'd

Network lO's returnee has seen the best - and worst - motor sport venues during his globetrotting...

IVIonz^^aM I Hatch

"Personally, I love Monza. Brands is fantastic as well. Both have an incredible atmosphere."

50

^Ssaw#freWfacnity, Crap weather in a shitty part of the world!

huge track, great press facilities." motorsporl news

nnmnmi After five years calling the Euro and American racing scenes, cemmentator Leigh Diffey has returned to Ten to join Neil Crompton,forming a quality commentary douhle-act.

He spoke to GRANT ROWLEY |Br seen in Europe was /f unbelievable, really / special. i And,sorry, 2002 Champ Car was a j terrific year. It was I' kind of the last year with all of

the big names. Michael Andretti was still there and Dario Franchetti was still there. Paul Tracy, Jimmy Vasser... and it was the year Cristiano da Matta won.

Over the past five years, there's probably been no shortage of highlights. It's been just a marvellous time.

MN:You've spent time commentating both four and two wheels. Do you have a preference?

LD: Personally, my first love is motor bikes. It's what I grew up on,but in saying that. I've actually called cars a lot longer than I've called bikes.

I don't care what I call, as long as it makes for good racing, and that's honest. If there's an awesome Champ Car race and they're dicing, or if it's El or even Formula Ford, who cares? I don't care ■ what I call so long as it's good. exciting racing.

MN:Is there anything that our local scene could learn from the way other countries go about their racing?

LD: Good question. It's always difficult in Australia because we simply don't have the numbers. I mean, America has 280 million people, and we have 20 (million).

It's just different, and it's different for a number of reasons and I think in some ways they can learn from what we do.

And they love the V8s by the way.

The V8s have got a very good profile in America and in Europe.

It's winning a lot of people over.

That made me feel proud and patriotic.

MN;Mark Webber is Australia's current number one export. How much did his reputation soar globally in your time overseas?

LD; It all happened while I was overseas. I'm so proud of him.

1 did an interview with him back in 1997 - he was basically this shy. skinny little kid and now, I just had dinner with him in Bahrain and we are all just so proud of him.

He's just taken every opportunity

We've been trying, anil the folks at Ten have been trying, to get us back together for some time. To date it just ir -4 hasnlltaifened ■^ Diffey speaks about being reunited with Heii Ctomptoa

with both hands. He doesn't talk any crap, he says what he thinks. delivers in the car, delivers out of the car. He's so media savvy now. and I can't wait until he wins his first race.

4.

■■4s.

Impressing the pants off everybody too soon for Ten's iatesf^mike man.

26 January 2005

"The track is on the side of a mountain and you can see quite a bit, depending upon where you position yourself."

even Diffey; Mark Webber's first win can't come

"Long Beach, above ieft, or Miami - and Trois Rivieres in Canada, above right, had an unbelievable atmosphere."

51

Rock Star Y

.>0■3

Ah, Monte Carlo. The nnountain, the sea, the Casino and Sebastian Loeb winning the WRC round.

JON THOMSON reports on another familiar chapter from the unusually dry streets of The Principality

OU could have forgiven Sebastien Loeb for getting a very French case of dejd votis in Monte Carlo this year but, then again, he probably had the same feeling last year.

The Monte has become Loeb's very own Groundhog Day, with the Citroen driver taking a stranglehold on the challenging WRC opener and posting his third straight win with another dominant drive through the Alpes Maratime to outpace the opposition once more.

If it hadn't been for a minor rule infraction in 2002 Loeb would have been celebrating his fourth consecutive win, further underlining his mastery on the tricky mountain tarmac.

However, to view Loeb's performance in isolation would deliver a distorted view of the WRC's very different complexion this year.

Citroen held a strong one-two until late on Day 2, when new recruit Francois Duval went out after hitting a telegraph pole. The Belgian's demise made for a tight battle on Day 3, with Marcus Gronholm, Fetter Solberg and Toni Gardermeister fighting for second spot until two of the trio went off.

While many questioned Ford's prudence in hiring Gardermeister, he silenced the critics, keeping his Focus on the road and outpacing his more experienced opponents to take second, his best-ever WRC finish.

In the biggest surprise of the rally, Gilles Panizzi gave Mitsubishi something to smile about for the first time in more than a year, bringing his Lancer home third and capturing a stage win in the process. The Frenchman struggled on the first day but after abandoning the Lancer's new semi-automatic paddle shift for a conventional gearstick, he stormed through Days 2 and 3 to give the Japanese maker a swag of points.

It was not just a consolation third placing for Mitsubishi. Although Panizzi did benefit from the troubles of others, he was genuinely fast, posting that fastest time and taking seconds off Gardermeister during the final rnorning.

52

Loeb's performance, however, was masterful and on another level to the others, taking him to a 2m58.3s victory after leading from the start and, apart from a spin on Day 1, barely put a foot wrong.

"I feel very happy, it's always good to win here, I felt very comfortable with the car and tyre," said the victorious Frenchman.

"Everybody was going hard on the first day and Gronholm was in a good rhythm as well. You had to be very careful at the tricky places, it was icy in patches and the spectators were not making it any easier.

"It is a very big advantage to start the year with maximum points, it gives you some breathing space and means you don't have to play catch up.

Remarkably mild temperatures may have made this year's event a little less fearsome than normal, but the occasional patches of ice and snow were hard to pick and caught plenty out. The conditions made tyre selection a little easier and studded tyres were not used because it was so dry.

Peugeot started with promise but it would soon turn into a tough test for the once all-powerful team entering its final WRC season. New recruit Markko Martin struggled with tyre choice through the first two days and was never at ease with the 307. He had trouble placing the car on the road and the team's switch to Pirelli rubber presented a steep learning curve for all involved.

However the Estonian persevered and fourth place on the final day, thanks partly to Gronholm and Solberg's troubles, was at least better than his more experienced team mate.

"I've learnt a lot about the car on this event, and there are some things that I am going to change, which will help me in the future. It's been quite difficult to get used to the dimensions of the 307," Martin admitted.

Gronholm was fifth and if the twice world champ had hoped for a more competitive package, then he would surely have been

-■ A-

disappointed. He was near the pace but not close enough to ever challenge Loeb, while a small off on some snow near the top of the Col de Turini on the final day meant a podium was out of the question.

Gronholm nursed the car out of the stage and down the liaison stage to service on three wheels and while losing any chance at the podium, he did at least deliver manufacturer's points for Peugeot.

In fairness to both Gronholm and Solberg, the problems were not all of their own or their team's making.

Both were victims of snow thrown on the road by spectators hoping to spice up the action, the pair crashing at the exact same spot.

"1 know it happens every year and we always look for it but it wasn't there this morning on the first run through so it caught us out on the second pass. It is tough, but that is Monte Carlo," said Gronholm.

Solberg also tore a wheel off his Subaru after taking fastest times on the opening tests of Day 3. However his crew ordered him to park the Subaru, fearing a long limp to service might cause damage to the car's engine or transmission. With new rules this year, teams have to use the same engine across two rallies and a forced engine change before Sweden next month would have resulted in a time penalty heading into the Nordic event.

The Norwegian had a fraught opening day in his Subaru, with brake problems costing him time with one minor crash and plenty of worrying moments. The brake problem was sorted on Day 2 and Solberg was in the fight until his last day misfortune.

Subaru's new tarmac recruit Stephane Sarrazin may have impressed on the dry tarmac events last year but the hard-to-pick ice patches caught the ex-Fl pilot out.

Sarrazin understeered into a barrier near the end of the last stage of Day 2 and opted to retire. Under the new rules, he took the five minute penalty and restarted Day 3, making up 10 spots to finish 14th in what he called "a learning experience".

The rules that allow competitors to rejoin the rally on the next leg after a retirement seemed to work well and certainly benefited both Ford and Skoda in terms of point scoring.

Roman Kresta's signing with Ford raised a few eyebrows when announced, and he may be paying for the drive but he performed well.

On Day 2, he climbed from 10th to seventh before a seized gearbox on the last stage of the day forced his retirement. He returned, took the five-minute penalty and captured a fastest stage time the Col de Turini on his way to eighth outright and some valuable points. Without the gearbox problem, Kresta would have been fourth.

motorsportnews

>

WORLD RALLY

Daniel'Elenai wloh 4:13:05.6s 2 T. Gardemeister Fin Ford Focus RS WRC Jakke Honkanen Fin 4:16:q3.?s 3 G. Panizzi F Mitsubishi Lancer WRC Herve Panizzi F 4:16:45,7s 4 M. Martin Est Michael Park GB 5 M. Gronholm Fin Tlmo Rautianen Fin 6 M. Stohl Aut Ilka Minor Aut

Peugeot 307 WRC 4:18:33.3s Peugeot 307 WRC 4:20:39.4s Citroen Xsara X4 4:21:14.5s

7 H. Rovanpera FinMitsubishi Lancer WRC 4:21:34:9s Ristd Pietilainen Fin J R. Kresta Cze Ford Focus RS WRC Jan Tomanek Cze 4:22:23.7s Drivers' Points; Loeb 10, Gardemeister 8, Panizzi 6, Martin 5, Gronholm 4, Stohl 3, Rovanpera 2, Kresta 1.

Manufacturers' Points: Citroen and Ford 10, Mitsubishi and Peugeot 9, Skoda 1.

WRC 1 MONTE CARLO If this is a hat-trick, where's the hat? Loeb was dazzling, as usual, on the French roads and never looked like making an error, above.

Ouch! Francois Duval's career at Peugeot got off to a rough start, left.

Remember moi? Gilles Panizzi, below, reminded us of his tarmac talent.

Skoda also had reason to be optimistic, not least because of the performance of its new young French signing Alex Bengue, who showed great speed to snare three fastest stage times and seven top 10 stage times. His run wasn't without its problems, with the uprated Fabia suffering hydraulic problems, which affected the launch control and cost valuable time on Day 1.

Bengue finished the first day 12th and climbed into the points on Day 2, only to break a wheel on the last stage of the day.

Skoda used the new rules tactically and retired the young Frenchman, the five-minute penalty costing the team less time than a limp to the finish. Bengue's final day speed was a major morale booster for the Czech outfit.

Gardermeister was full of praise for his young Czech mate and the performance of the Focus.

"Roman has done a super job and for both cars to score points on the first rally is a great start for the team," Gardermeister said.

"My confidence with the Focus has increased with every kilometre and this result has been achieved without making a single mistake," said the elated Firm, whose best previous WRC result was third with Seat in New Zealand in 1999 Panizzi's third place wasn't the only performance giving the troubled Japanese maker heart. Ralliart's new signing Harri Rovanpera powered his Lancer to seventh, a result that

26 January 2005

g 11 I 3 would probably seem disappointing for some but, given the Firm's lack of tarmac miles in recent times, it was much more than anyone had expected. Rovanpera had not competed on Monte for three years and had not fired a shot in anger on tarmac since October 2002.

Mitsubishi is now only one point off the lead in the manufacturer's title and the result was sweetened by Japanese rival Subaru's failure to

register a point.

"I said before that it was important for my team; they needed this success1 and now they and everyone else can see that Mitsubishi is back," said Panizzi.

"Today we have arrived! This result is very important for everyone's confidence and I feel good that the mechanics and engineers have something to be very proud about."

The performance of team-mate Armin Schwarz was not quite so uplifting. The German crashed out on day two after another disappointing performance from the WRC's long time journeyman.

Colin McRae's young British protege Kris Meeke won the JWRC class in his Citroen C2 ahead of the Suzuki of Kosti Katajamaki, the result boosting the Brit's hopes of a WRC drive in 2006.

The Championship moves to the snowy roads of Sweden in midFebruary where Aussie Chris Atkinson will make his debut with the Subaru WRC team in what is sure to be an icy baptism. From the Gold Coast to the snowy banks ...

S3

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sullaiuimaj^cs.

Not ARC, but close: A mock-up of Ford's 2006 Focus WRC was displayed at the Autosport Show in Birmingham.

Ford? What Ford? Oh,

MICHAEL Guest says he knows nothing about Ford's muchanticipated return to Australian rallying, despite the fact that he has been linked to the program.

Guest is widely mmoured to be making a comeback to the ARC this year after a two-year layoff. The Newcastle floor covering contractor has been linked with Ford and its

probable ARC re-entry, however Guest would not be drawn to comment on the Blue Oval's rally program.

"I don't know, you're asking the wrong person and I just can't comment," said Guest.

Despite Guest's lack of knowledge or unwillingness to speak about tire Focus rally program, plenty of other insiders have been prepared to reveal information about the company's return to the ARC. One hint that Guest will be involved is the fact that he spent the second half of last season attending ARC rounds completing

reconnaissance in a Ford Motor Company-owned Territory with co driver Mark Stacey.

The company is rumoured to be preparing a mock-up of the Focus as it will be seen in the ARC,and that it will unveil it on its stand at the Melbourne Motor Show next month.

It is believed it has already signed contracts with ARCom and agreed to pay its share of the costs for TV coverage, as all manufacturers are required to pay in the ARC. The Focus is also mmoured to be configured as a class contender and not an outright car, and is said to feature a normally-aspirated engine with rear-wheel drive. It is apparently being constructed by Steve Hoinville and his team at Ford

Ford...

the speed and maturity to be a toplevel contender in the WRC.

"Chris has really matured in the last year and will adapt quickly to the demands of the WRC.It's a bloody fantastic opportunity," said Guest.

"It is great that he has the cash to back him for a strong campaign, and he is in the right car. It's on the pace, and capable of winning. It's not like the overweight Hyundai that I had to drive.

Racing in Melbourne.

"I am rapt for him, there are no sour grapes at all. I had the opportunity, but my program ended because the tobacco money dried up.

Chris shouldn't have that problem because his Dad appears to have done a fantastic job at raising the money to make sure this campaign works.

"I don't think he will have trouble

MEANWHILE,as the last Australian to have works drive in the WRC,Guest reckons that new Subaru signing Chris Atkinson has

adapting after driving a Junior WRC car and top level Group N machines, but it will still be a steep learning curve in a World Rally Car." -JON THOMSON

DESPITE some optimistic statements before Christmas and a declaration that Mitsubishi will be in Australian rallying in 2005, the prospects of a full works team being fielded by the company this year have dwindled to a little better than a 50-50 chance.

The Ralliart team, under the control of Alan Heaphy, has been seeking sponsorship but is apparently still short of the mark at this stage, and the shortfall will not be topped up by Mitsubishi.

Heaphy's team has one of the new Evo VIII Lancers ready and,,has tested the but it cannot progress with the program until a budget is found.

The former V8 Supercar team manager and engineer told MNews that the team had feelers out for sponsorship, and was hopeful that something might be signed this month.

"The prospects are a little better than 50-50 and are heading in the right ’i

finished?

AUSTRALIAN rider Andy Caldecott was tired and elated after taking sixth place and two stage wins in this years gruelling Dakar Rally, but says he probably won't do it again as a privateer.

Speaking from Barcelona while waiting for a flight home, Caldecott said he had achieved his goal of taking a top 10 finish on his semi-privateer KTM, and made the works riders sit up and take notice with his stage wins in the desolate wasteland of North Africa. He very nearly took three stage victories but for a tyre mousse disintegrating while leading two-thirds of the way through the stage.

Caldecott returned to the Dakar after retiring from the 2004 event when he broke his foot on a camel grass clump.

He admitted that one of the stage wins came as much through intuition and good judgement as it did from speed.

"I was riding with the leading group and had the feeling that they were headed the wrong way, and looked at things on the GPS then turned right and headed the way I believed was right," said Caldecott.

"I was a bit worried for a while, but when I 04

reached the stage finish and realised I was the first one there, it was a very exciting time."

The attack on the Dakar with one bike cost around $100,000, and that, plus the time away from his business interests in Keith in the south east of SA, will probably factor against Caldecott planning another foray to the world's toughest rally.

"You don't have the resources the works teams have and it is impossible to win as a privateer, so I don't think I will be going back."

Caldecott's performance, however, certainly roused the attention of Austrian maker KTM, which supplied some support for the multiAustralian Safari winner, but while some works rides may be opening up, the prospects are limited.

"The Repsol KTM team will only hire Spaniards, the Red Bull KTM team will only hire Americans, so that precludes those two," said Caldercott.

"There will be two slots opening at Gauloises with Alfie Cox and de Brucy retiring, but those guys go and camp in the desert and train for a month at time to prepare for the Dakar, which is a tough ask."

- JON THOMSON motorsportnews

/l

RALIYINC

Bring on the brink direction," said Heaphy.

"We put feelers out for sponsorship from outside Mitsubishi and it is hard to pull all that together in the space of a month, but we are hopeful something may eventuate.

"All of us in the team are realistic and know that you have to take it as it comes, and that from time to time manufacturers have a change of priority. We've got the cars, the equipment and the commitment - all we need is the go-ahead."

Mitsubishi lead driver Ed Ordynski has been told nothing officially, however when MNews spoke to him, he did not seem confident of having a factory drive this year.

"Alan is desperately trying to pull the funds together, and at this stage I think if he does he will need to have paying drivers in the cars to make it all happen," said Ordynski.

"I think it is tough for Mitsubishi given its financial situation at the moment, and motorsport is always going to

NeillBhcUiiuni

be a tough ask. I am not surprised that Mitsubishi has not spoken with me.

"I have a contract for this year, and when contracts are involved, a company wouldn't start discussing breaking the contract unless you are totally sure of what will play out."

Ordynski said it was disappointing for Mitsubishi to

find itself in this situation after going through the process of moving the team from Sydney and setting up at a showcase facility in Melbourne.

"It would have been much cleaner and easier to have shut things down when they closed the Sydney operation, and it doesn't come at a good time for the company given it's

current situation," he admitted.

Mitsubishi's almost certain withdrawal from the ARC means that only Subaru and Toyota will be left to fight out the title, while the longrumoured entry of Ford with a one-car team will add another manufacturer but not a strong contender; .

- JON THOMSON

ou in 2006

n’ sUttonrinugeSifpm ,'

26 January 2005

MITSUBISHI is focusing its attention on season 2006 and the new rules that will reduce dependency on active differentials.

With one eye on budget and the other on the proposed active diff bans, the company's new Lancer WRC05 will get an active centre diff in Mexico, buf will nof receive active front and rear diffs.

"We have designed 'Prototype' versions of a fully active system.

However, with the change in rules coming next year that will ban active front and rear differentials, I don't think they will ever make them on to the car," said Mitsubishi's chief engineer Mario Fornaris.

Wide-track suspension was the biggest improvement to the Lancer WRC05 which debuted in Monte last weekend. The car featuring all-new suspension parts apart from the tarmac uprights. Other improvements included a new hydraulicallyactivated semi-automatic gearchange, a new turbo, wastegate and anti-lag system and lightweight body panels.

-JONTHOMSON

SIl^’^Mitsu the nifhey

THE current thinking is that if Alan Heaphy pulls enough funds together to put his new Lancer Evo Vllls in the forest this year, they will be piloted by drivers who bring some funding.

Those close to the situation believe that if that is the case, the two most likely to fill the gaps and the coffers will be Scott Redder, above, and young SA tearaway Jack Monkhouse.

Monkhouse has apparently pulled together some strong funding from SA corporate interests and would be an exciting prospect for the team after performing well above expectations in an ageing Galant over the past two seasons.

Redder has shown his speed in his privateer Lancer, and while his family team pulled out partly due to the cost of going rallying, paying for a car that is prepared by a works or semi-works team represents better value than the vast amounts it takes to run your own show.

The other factor for Redder was the time away from the family suspension and shock absorber business when the company ran its own cars. This will be greatly reduced if he joins the Heaphy-run Mitsubishi outfit.

JON THOMSON

55

The Whplil Befop Big things await young Kevin Swindeil.

CHRIS JORDAN spoke to him about Sprintcars, his father and dreams of cracking Formuia One

s

BEING a future star at the peak of his powers,in full flight, is always a moment to

While here in Australia, he showed

why.

behold.

It's the kind of moment that in years to come will be a nostalgic reflection of a bygone race experience. The sort of thing grandparents love to annoy their grandchildren with.

At Parramatta City Raceway, 13 to 16 January 2005, the assembled crowd saw 15-year-old Kevin Swindell take to the racetrack in his debut event on the most gruelling racing series in the world, the 97night World of Outlaws Sprintcar Championship. I made sure I stowed the memory safely within my mind.

Kevin,son of three-time World of Outlaws champion and Speedway legend Sammy Swindell, is a man, sorry, boy going places. He has obviously been blessed with a gift and he is starting to be talked about with glowing terms in US racing circles.

Istand talking toCity Kevin about life, the Parramatta Raceway track, the weather,just general things, before the night's racing begins. Our conversation is interrupted by the pit public announcement system, bellowing in the background.

"Coulcl all persons under tlie age of 16 please leave the pit area, as we are approaching race time and juveniles under 16 are not permitted in the pit area under New South Wales law."

I look at Kevin with a smile and he looks back at me, also smiling, with a quizzical look on his young, usually ultra-focused face.

But we say nothing.

You see, the dynamic Kevin is only 15. He is coy about admitting it and is well used to racing under a false D.O.B. Kevin will be 16 on February 21.

He would only admit his age after

the event had passed, wanting to be sure his amazing results would remain intact.

But once on the race track, no quarter is given to his youth by his rivals, nor does he expect any.

Before he came to PCR for the second running of Outlaws Down Under, Kevin had raced a Sprintcar only eight times. He had only raced a 410 cubic inch-powered car twice, and never at a World of Outlaws event. His experience was mainly in karting, bitumen and dirt, which he began racing at age four, and Minisprints (like our Formula 500s).

So you could understand if he was daunted by the Outlaws task. But such is this boy's skill and determination that he took to embarrassing some of the biggest names in world Sprintcar racing over his two-week stay in Australia.

After starting the event 15th, Kevin finished sixth in his first-ever Outlaws feature A-Main. His car was less than perfect, after quick overnight repairs were needed when he nosed it hard into the front straight wall as a result of clipping another car.

lohn Morns/Mpix

se

n But arguably a better testament to his talent was his qualifying performance on night two, when with a favourable but by no means perfect qualifying draw, Kevin qualified second out of the 66 cars t lat took to the track.

On his first lap, he tried the mid track line through turns three and four, searching for turn-in grip and traction. With none to be found, he soared around the top of the cushion on his second lap with his right foot firmly planted. P2- 0.005s behind full-time Outlaw Jason Meyers, who had qualified earlier and so, when the track was faster.

To grow up infather the shadow great racing is oftenofa a frustrating topic to bring up with a young son-of-gun. But in the 'States, it is a much more common thing for families to churn out generationafter-generation of drivers.

Kevin, though, has found an unusual affliction attached to his surname; everyone expects him to be a World of Outlaws champion.

"People automatically believe that I'm like a done or something and that's how I'm going to be. A lot of people go for that.

"That's why 1 really wanted to get onto the pavement and the road course stuff and really the only reason we are running a Sprintcar is just... to race, to get laps, to get experience.

"It's been a lot harder for me, because I think that I've been put over as a speedway,oval and dirt driver so I'm trying to put it out there that that's not where I want to be and that I want to be in an IndyCar on a road course.

"Formula One is the ultimate,

motorsponnews

e Him

John Morris/Mpix

That's the goal but it's tough."

Kevin looks pensive, maybe just a trademark passed down from his father, who is famous for his stoic poses. I remind him that Mark Webber was 24, nine years older than he is now, when he put pen on his first FI race contract. It brings the youthful smile back.

"I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not even old enough to get into anything right now. I want to see a contract for something already, but I just will hopefully get something come along in the next few years."

Indeed, Kevin admits that he has had to knock back offers to drive in

The task of junior open wheel formulae does not daunt Kevin.

Everything new that he has jumped into so far he has adapted to immediately. He is ready for the challenges that await.

"When I first drove a kart on a road course, I went out and drove the thing within two, three hundredths l of a second of what the team had ever run there and that was in about 15 laps and I'd never ran a road course in my life. .

"From all the things my dad's run, and he's run NASCARs and IndyCars, he said these are the

hardest things to drive. So I guess if I can run good in one of these, I can drive anything." '^he general consensus at X Parramatta for tlie Outlaws was that Kevin had outstripped even the wildest speculations of his talent.

Parallels are hard to find, but Jeff Gordon's early speedway career was similarly impressive, before he left to become one of the powers of NASCAR. This time around, America has a talent that is clear in his goal of Formula One. While he sensibly

realises that NASCAR and its seven figure salaries will always be an option, it is FI that he thirsts for.

Time is on his side and the talent is obviously in his pedigree. FI needs an American star, so could Kevin be their great hope?

So a big year awaits young Kevin.

Approximately 80 nights of racing, 50 of those on the World of Outlaws schedule, and life now as a full-time racing driver. Mother Amy will take care of the education, home schooling Kevin on the road.

Oh,and he'll be able to get his driver's licence soon.

certain series, such as the non-wing USAC Silver Crown Sprintcar Series that will field Erin Crocker and Kraig Kinser this year, for he is not allowed to run on ovals of a one-mile length or more until he is 18.

So he sticks to Sprintcars for now, keeping one eye firmly on road course opportunities in the meantime.

Amazingly, when that opportunity comes, it could see not one but both the Swindells leave the Outlaws circus.

"Dad's been a huge help. He's said that if I got something that was enough, he would give up and just go along to help.

"This is his living and it's how he makes his money. But he's willing to do whatever it takes to get me up through everything."

26 January 2005

Make way for the new kid: Only 15 years old, Kevin Swindell is not afraid to mix it with the best of the Outlaws.

57

HEN 'winning time' came at the second running of Outlaws Down Under, Donny Schatz was the man.

Despite the hurdles that he and Garry Rush's team had to overcome, when the prize was there to be won, it was Schatz who made all the right moves.

Schatz, who started the feature A-Main from third, had his car set-up to perfection, while his rivals visibly struggled with the slick track conditions.

Schatz, below, has vast experience at Parramatta City Raceway, having been a

regular visitor to our shores for many years now, and set his car up to run the middle line through the slick corners in the expectation that the track would go hard the way it did.

While his rivals tried to find grip in any place they could some running right on the infield and others running the gauntlet by driving hard against the unforgiving cushion at the top of the racetrack - Schatz was one of the few with sufficient traction.

"Well,that waswhat was going to win the race," said a relieved Schatz. "I knew that the track was going to go away."

"We had the right tyres on and we had the car good.

"The top went away and the bottom went away. The middle of the race track was where we had to make our race car work and it was awful good there."

In second was reigning Knoxville Nationals Champion Danny Lasoski.'The Dude' was making his first visit to Parramatta and Outlaws Down Under after Chili Bowl commitments meant he was absent last year.

But with the later date and World of Outlaws points on the line, Lasoski was at his peak and showed why he and’

his Mopar-powered Eagle are about as good as they come in Sprintcar racing.

Lasoski was the winner of the preliminary feature on Night 2, when the low line that he had been running for a good portion of the weekend was where the track was clearly at its fastest. But come the final event, Lasoski's grass-hugging style just wasn't the place to be.

"Donny was good and I was seeing some of the things that he was doing and he just had a better car," said Lasoski.

"Everything was set-up better for him and he ,did a good jobj|.and that's what it..,,,, takes to win these races. But I'm very, very happy and I hope we get to come back.

Third and Night 1 winner was Kerry Madsen. The Knoxville based Sydneysider had the crowd on his side and was consistently in the top three for the duration of the weekend.

Despite searching low and high for speed, in the final Madsen'spent the race largely in third, unable to pass Laso'skf in a last-ditch effort.

The team is pretty happy with third and it's a great result for the team," said the popular Madsen.

Donny definitely had the better car tonight but I think given the right opportunity we could have had a go at Danny, but it never worked out so that's alright,third's good. ‘/I

1ghrrb§ionged to Kladseii to the roarihg approval of the partisan crowd.

But the win was not as easy as iyi3a\( have seemed.

/ _.

SPEEDWAY

Battling with Lasoski while slicing through lapped traffic, Madsen clipped a backmarker, slightly bending his rear end.

Madsen, however, was able to continue, and after making a decisive move on Lasoski for the lead late in the race, was able to claim the victory, later admitting to being "pleasantly surprised" at his pace.

While one local was celebrating, another was in hospital. Adrian Maher had a frightening accident at turn 3 during the C-Main. Maher was clipped from behind by Randy Hannagan as the American tried to slip through on the inside. The sickening series of end-over-end flips resulted in the hospitaiisation of Maher until 1.30pm the next day, and while sigmificantly sore, he was uninjured.

Night 2 was originally scheduled for Friday night, but mother nature clearly had other plans.

Upon their arrival, the drivers and teams were quick to criticise the dry, hard state of the track. As officials began to put water into the PCR surface, black storm clouds brewed, hitting the track shortly before the proceedings were to get underway.

Once the storms had passed, a proionged; wheeli packing session saw the cars able to make some resemiblance of a race track out of the top line, but not the quagmire that was the bottom. Foolhardy attempts by the grader to clear the mess were useless and so the decision was made to extend the program by one night to

Donny Schatz proved too good when the World of Outlaws gang assennbled at Parramatta. CHRIS JORDAN was there to soak up We Greatest Show on Dirf Sunday to allow Saturday to run as the second night. People scurried to change flights and make arrangements.

The second attempt at the second night proved more successful, and also allowed Maher to rejoin the action with a new chassis. The night was short lived, however, as Maher blew an oil pump in Hot Laps.

Also an early casualty was Outlaws star Craig Dollansky, in the distinctive Hawaiian Tropic car, who blew an engine early on Night 2. It was an untimely blow that saw him struggling to recover for the rest of the event.

Jason Meyers topped qualifying in a session where many where hampered by poor qualifying draws. With over 70 cars present the track was markedly slower for the late runners.

Kevin Swindell, who had already suitably impressed with his form over the PCR Speedweek period, was second, ahead of Lasoski in third.

The younger Swindell's night, however, was not to be a good one, as he was hit from behind whie lining up on the front row of his heat. The resulting puncture was able to be fixed, but it meant that Kevin would start the heat from the rear, erasing his advantage.

The first Dash of the night went to Tim Schaffer after a

bold outside move around Madsen, and the second to South Australian Trevor Green.

The crowd went wild with approval as Green first went

by Lasoski, and then an outrageous move down the inside of Paul McMahon,to take the win and a front row start for the A-Main.

It was a testament to the local talent that of the 12 drivers in' the dashes,five were Australian.

The B-Main was a race dominated by the sons-ofguns, with Kraig Kinser beating home Kevin Swindell. Veteran Fred Rahmer was third, with Joey Saldana, who had won the C-Main, storming through the field to edge out Wayne Skipper for the final transfer spot in the final moments.

Schaffer was able to get the jump at the start of the A-Main, but within a lap of so it looked as though the Americans were about to be taught a lesson, as first Madsen,then Green, passed Schaffer to occupy the first two spots.

The racing was then halted when Swindell made hard, head-on contact with the outside wall on the front straight. "(Jason) Sides got in front of me coming off the turn and just parked it right in front of me," said Swindell. "I had no where to go, rode his right rear and got spat straight into the wall."

Soon after the restart, another of the Americans hit trouble, when Tim Kaeding in the Beef Packers car hit the cushion at Turn 1. The high line was rough and Kaeding's car approached at just the wrong angle, launching skywards into a sickening barrel roll.

Kaeding was sore, but returned the next day with the help Of'3fist full of painkillefstri When the race resumed, Lasoski showed his hand, switching to the lowest of low lines, running half his Eagle on the grass infield to quickly get to the lead and pull a substantial gap.

As others switched between low and high on the two lane race track, Lasoski carved thrqugh the lap traffic to take a comfortable victory on his. second-ever night at PCR, his torquey Mopar motor provirig a handy tool on the slick track.

Schatz clawed his way up to third late race, his car clearly happiest later in the night when the track was slick. He was able to close on Madsen, but settled for third.

Green on the other hand, was having real troubles and slowly drifted back to finish 15th. Local: racer Br-uce White was the only other Austraijan to join Madsen in the top'wat race's end, his consistent' _ continued on page 6Q

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continued from page 59 speed amongst the world's best turning heads all around the race track and earning him underdog status with the fans. way.

Asstorm Nightactivity 3 got under was t1 he topic of discussion. As suburb after suburb near the racetrack reported rain, the organisers did their best to hurry the proceedings.

The flag carrying laps, however, were spared of the ceremonial cull and to the crowd's delight White joined Madsen and Green as the flag bearing cars for the 'home team'.

Without intending disrespect, this was soon overlooked as the three biggest names in World of Outlaws, Sammy Swindell, Lasoski and Steve Kinser, all appeared with the Stars and Stripes. The crowd was in awe - this was the first time that Australia had seen all three at the same venue. It was one of those moments-you didn't know what to do!

The great triumvirate was

m

soon disbanded, when in Heat 1 Sammy Swindell had a piston detonate late in the race. His weekend was over, but as a proud father, off came the race suit and he was soon at the fence to watch Kevin.

The first three heats went by fairly uneventfully, with Paul McMahon claiming the first, Shane Stewart (driving for his Outlaws team) the second and Schaffer the third.

Heat 4 warmed the crowd up.

With the top four places assured of an A-Main start, Brooke Tatnell, Jason Sides, Jason Statler, Kevin Swindell, Mark Wells (down on power, using only a 372ci engine) and Robbie Farr all drove hard for a transfer.

Tatnell swung around the outside of Sides to take the win, but behind them, the rest were all bashing each other senseless. Swindell and Farr especially, and when Brian Paulus span and a yellow was brought out, the hand.gestures each offered the other said more than words could ever offer.

Americans Statler and Swindell won through, leaving Wells and Farr to continue

their battle to make the most competitive A-Main feature event ever to be held in Australia.

The C-Main was taken out by Dollansky, still recovering from a huge lack of points after the Night 2 engine woes.

Hannagan, Luch Monte and Brett Leadsman were the other graduates to the B-Main, with Farr challenging for the final transfer before spinning with a lap to run.

Only one Dash was run on Night 3 and after an initially fierce battle with Lasoski that saw the two run side-by-side for multiple laps, Madsen came up trumps. Schatz, Steve Kinser, McMahon and Stewart followed, but these wise heads knew that this was not where the night would be won.

White cleared out to win the B-Main from Paulus and Wells, with Brandon Wimmer passing Erin Crocker for the final transfer spot when the latter ran wide at the final corner on the final lap.

Crocker was still able to grid up for the A-Main, as she joined Dollansky and Peter Murphy in using one of two B

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4^

Class acts: Madsen, above left, and Pittman, above, beat some very tough competition to be third and fourth. provisional starts that ,'Mean 15' cars (top 15 in points in 2004) are"able to use in the-finsthalf of the 2005 Championship..

So, 27 cars, eight of those driven by Australians, were pushed out for the A-Main as the skies began to offer the first spots of rain.

Madsen led lap after lap, but unfortunately, these were merely roll-arounds as organisers waited for the rain to clear,.During this time, McMahon left his P5 startipa, spot for the pits with the aid of a push car when his power steering pump failed.

After the prolonged formation laps the crowd Goosebumps: That was the general occurrence at PCR when the three biggest names in Sprintcar racing were together in Australia for the first time.

Below from left, Sammy Swindell, Steve Kinser and Danny Lasoski.

\

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1

Urn Morris/Mpix

made the decision to start the race with their voices, to which *- the organisers agreed. Madsen lead the early laps as Lasoski experimented with the rough high line to try to find a way past him.

The first caution period closed the field back up after Sides spun, leaving Weils nothing to do but to spin in sympathy.

After another restart was needed when Wimmer spun, Schatz joined the battle for the lead, which Lasoski had now grabbed from Madsen. Within a few laps Schatz was by both, by virtue of his far superior traction. As Lasoski persevered with the lawn-mowing line that had paid off the night before, Schatz simply drove the middle of the slick corners to blast past.

Schatz lead was quickly brought back to nothing when Kraig Kinser stalled at turn 3.

After contact with Swindell had pushed him wide, he saw restarting at the rear a more feasible means of regaining spots.

Ten laps later the yellow lights again came on, when Wells and Green spun at turn 2. At the

restart. Green rolled at the same spot("a soft roll", as his team put it), and an 'open red' situation ensued, leaving teams to ponder just how to match Schatz's speed, as they were able to adjust their cars. Green was able to fit a new top wing to his car and rejoin at the rear.

From this final restart, the race ran green to the finish 19 laps later. Schatz cut through the lap traffic to maintain his 3s lead over Lasoski, who in turn managed to keep Madsen behind, despite a late charge from the Bikebiz Cool car.

Steve Kinser was bravely driving the high line in a car that was not working the way 'the King' wanted, and was momentarily up to third before the car turned ugly, bucking and bicycling around the turns.

"We were just awful the whole time," said Kinser. "I just didn't get it right. I messed around and let it get away from me."

Kinser's problems allowed Daryn Pittman, who started 14th, into fourth.

It was a great run for Pittman, as it was the debut event for the new-for-2005 Titan Outlaws

team. After some slow early form over the weekend,Pittman was one of the few cars in the feature that showed the sort of speed Schatz was offering.

"Luckily I got going in the feature on the night when it mattered and was in the right place when the carnage hit," ' said Pittman, who finally put a smile on team owner Reeve Kruck's face with the good result. "Any time you can come from 15th to fourth is a good night."

Fifth was Fred Rahmer, who like Pittman, started well back, in 21st, but took to the slick track in the final.

Sixth was 15-year-old Swindell, below, who battled a hastily repaired car to round off a remarkable World of Outlaws debut, all in only his ninth 410ci Sprintcar event.

"We could have used another red," said Swindell.

"We changed a bunch of things on the car during that open red period.

I ran out of stuff to change in the car during those first laps. The car is not right. It's still beat up from last night's

crash and it's sort of sitting on the ground like a banana.

"We had to put the spare wing on after the crash and it's a flat wing with no 'dish' in it.

So we had the wing down so far it was in front of my face."

So, Schatz made off virith yet another trophy from PCR, and having won the final round of the 2004 World of Outlaws season, is on something of a roll.

Lasoski impressed all on and off the track as a thoroughly good representative of the sport, and at his first visit to the Parramatta track, took to it immediately.

Yet,again Madsen was close but not quite, but from the crowd's response, it matterea little to them. He again held the flag high for the Aussie contingent and never for a second did he look out of place racing against the world's very best, all right here in Australia.

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WoO R1 PARRAMATTA 61

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TRAVIS Rilat, Bill Roberts and Ray Solomon, as driver, crew chief and car owner, are fast becoming the trick trio in Sprintcar racing, as this combination has produced a podium position in every feature the car has completed this season.

Rilat once again showed the strength of the combination with his history-making win at Heartland Raceway’s debut night last Wednesday, Round 14 of World Series Sprintcars.

While both of his previous feature victories have been relatively easy, winning by half a lap each time, this time it was much tougher as he fought a significantly handicapped car and a determined Daryn Pittman to take a narrow and nail-biting win, with West Australian Mark Weils working hard in the nearstifling heat to take the final podium position.

“That was no fun at all,” explained Rilat. “I had the wheels turned in half way down the straight. But I’ll tell you what, this is a great facility and I hope the crowd enjoyed the racing.”

Rilat knew just how close Pittman was behind him on the closing laps.

“I could see how close Daryn was from looking at the giant TV screen,” said Rilat. “At one stage I nearly blew right through the middle of the turn and up to the wall because it wouldn’t turn and I thought Daryn was going to get under me.”

Only 32 Sprintcars were on hand, howeve, a huge crowd turned up to the virgin facility. On an extremely hot day with a hot wind it was always going to be tough to keep the track under the cars.

In time trials it was perceived to be an advantage to run early, and this looked to be true until about mid-way through when

by PARIS CHARLES AFTER 16 hard-fought rounds throughout four states run over an explosive eight-week period,17 contracted teams ran the entire gauntlet against numerous local and international competitors - and at the end only one man stood tall.

Max Dumesny rose to the challenge, as the seasoned veteran claimed back-to-back World Series

Brett Swanson

Danny Reidy set the first sub15s lap. Running off second last, Rilat stunned the crowd with a pair of 14s laps, being the only driver to achieve this, with the first lap being fastest time.

After time trials, the drivers discussed the track, and it was decided to drop the dashes and to rework the track prior to the heats.

Heat wins were recorded by Ian Thomsen, Ben Atkinson, Adrian Parr, Rilat, Tony Moule and Mike Van Bremen. The heats were relatively uneventful except for Rilat, who cut a right rear tyre and failed to finish his first heat, and Ian Lewis who rode a wheel and hit the wall but was then able to continue.

Rilat still lined up on pole despite dropping a heat with Wells, Max Dumesny, Shane Stewart, Pittman and Brooke Tatnell behind.

Rilat beat Wells off the line, but as they thundered through turn three Dumesny’s car spun, and as he tried to recover he collided with Atkinson. Both were out.

Pittman moved up a row for the restart and took advantage as Rilat again led away, the BRD Group Eagle getting the power down beautifully. Wells was second from Pittman, Stewart and Tatnell until a spin by Parr halted things.

About one third of the way through, the night’s biggest

casualty occurred when Darrell Hodges tried a move under Tatnell and flipped high and hard, pictured bottom.

A couple of laps later two cars spun and Terry Bracken and Shore came together, with Shore bending his Caltex Eagle against the fence. Parr was struggling with odd steering, and as he slowed to pull in, Anderson ran over his inside wheels and both retired.

About this time, Rilat’s front wing collapsed and the car’s handling changed dramatically.

Pittman mounted a huge challenge as Rilat fought hard to hold on. Pittman, though, wasn’t in much better shape. With his top wing pushed back as far as it could go, he was unable to extract any more speed from the Titan Maxim. The two Americans ran close, hard and clean, with Rilat just holding on by a car length across the line in a thrilling battle.

- BRETT SWANSON

Sprintcar Championship crowns and also racked up his sixth crown in the 18-year history of the event, when the series came to a climactic end in front of a massive crowd at Adelaide's Speedway City.

Despite claiming the series by 370 points, it was a close call for tire Valvoline pilot, who only just scraped into the feature race by claiming the final transfer position in the B-Main.

With Max on the bubble and a hard-charging Luke Dillon looking to make his way past tire Valvoline Maxim, the crowd were on the edge of tlieir seats as Max narrowly held out the local driver. If Dumesny had missed the cut, the series crown could have slipped through his fingers.

The intensity of the racing from the 34-car field also meant that series runner-up Robbie Farr, third overall Shane Stewart and PCR World of Outlaws star Kerry Madsen (driving Darryl Downing's car) also had to come through the B-Main.

While the series points leaders did it the hard way,in-form American Travis Rilat showed liis class to find

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Points: Dumesny 11889, Farr 11456, Stewart 10773, Tatnell 9819, Wells 8398, Hodges 8396, Johnson 8371, van Bremen 7299, Shore 6092.

WSS R14M0AMA 62

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Final Points: Dumesny 13042, Farr 12672, Stewart 12338, Tatnell 11776, Johnson 9907, Hodges 9833, Wells 9334, van Bremen 8168, Reidy 7236, Shore 6956, Moule 6447, Bracken 6313, Atkinson 6191, Lewis 5951, Rilat 4779.

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the quickest way around the 430metre clay-way to claim fastest qualifying time. Other pace setters early on included Trevor Green, Jason Johnson and impressive rookie Dylan Jenkin. But at the end of the night's racing, Brooke Tatnell dominated the 30-lap action-packed feature race to lead from start to finish aboard his Shell Helix Maxim.

Rilat showed comfortable speed, holding down second until shredding a right rear wheel on lap 10, forcing the Texan out of the event.

Fellow American Johnson inherited second and Green advanced to third at the restart. With

Danny Reidy rounding out the top five.

Phil March impressed, moving from 12th to sixth. Behind him were

a clear track ahead, Tatnell once again cleared out to a comfortable lead as the rest of the field knuckled down to business.

Tony Moule and Farr, who was trying hard to advance through the field to steal the championship victory.

World Series Sprintcars Rookie of the Year Darrell Hodges was next and rounding out the top 10 was John Shore. Beyond that was Jenkin, Stewart, Dumesny, Ken Veal, Mike Van Bremen, Madsen and West

As the finish drew closer, so did

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Johnson to Tatnell; as the chequered flags flew there was only half a car's length between the two.

Daryn Pittman charged from ninth to claim the final position on the podium over Green, with the much-improved

Australian Ken Sartori rounding out

the field.

Despite finishing down the order in 13th position. Max Dumesny had done just enough to claim the 2004/05 title by 370 points over the reigning Australian Champion Farr.

Stewart proved to be the pick of the visiting Americans, taking third with Tatnell and Johnson rounding out the top five.

A very relieved Max gratefully accepted his trophy and dedicated the series Championship to his team and sponsors, who have all worked tirelessly.

rart pips Rilat AUSTRALIA'S premier Sprintcar series returned to Mildura's Timmis

Speedway for the first time in over a decade last Friday night.

The long-awaited return brought a capacity crowd to the Sunraysia venue, and the fans were treated to a sensational night's racing that went down to the wire in the penultimate round of the 2004/05 Proton World

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26 January 2005

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the race honours. Stewart worked his

Speedflow Maxim to the lead, as the cars raced out of turn 3 with just two circulations remaining. One spot further back was Queensland rookie Darryl Hodges who had more than his hands full holding out the hard charging Maxim of Brooke Tatnell.

Series points leader Max Dumesny claimed fifth, just in front of his challenger Robbie Farr. Mark Wells kept his Rookie of the Year chances alive, claiming seventh ahead of Tony Moule and Jason Johnson.

Series Sprintcars Championship.

Texan gun Travis Rilat held sway as he led the charge of the field for almost the entire 30-lap distance. As the laps began to whittle away,fellow American ace Shane Stewart began to turn up the intensity as he closed in on the back of the #00 car.

"My hat's off to my guys, they really gave me a great car tonight," said Stewart."I feel sorry for Travis because I've lost a ton of races like that too, but

Before too long, the two yellow cars were locked in a thrilling dog fight for

we're certainly going to take this win."

-PARIS CHARLES

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Points: Dumesny 12631, Farr 12128, Stewart 11905, Tatnell 10656, Hodges 9320, Wells 9010, Johnson 8893, van Bremen 7781, Reidy 6496.

WSS R15 MILDURA 63

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by DARREN SUTTON

Late Mocl title THE Australian Late Model Sedan Championship was run and won at the Kwinana Motorplex on Saturday night.

Western Australia's own Bruce Trenaman took out the t'tle, which was a nail-biter all the way to the end with no less than seven leaders.

Trenaman took the lead with five laps to go, only to have a front left suspension failure on the final lap, allowing east coaster Mick Hebditch to take advantage and power past. But in the final corner, Trenaman ducked back underneath and won the drag to the line by half a car.

On the same night, Scott

Glazebrook took out the spectacular 33rd running of the New Year's Speedcar Derby, Glazebrook started out of position nine in the 25-lap AMain and quickly moved his way forward. Neville Lance was the closest rival Glazebrook had throughout the night.

Jim Fleming finished third behind Lance. The night was full of spectacular crashes and rolls, with no fewer than five cars rolling through the night. Glazebrook is hitting his straps as we get ready for the Australia Speedcar Title in February.

- DARREN SUTTON

TEXAN Travis Rilat continued his good start to the new year with his second Australian win and what a win it was as he dominated the 25lap round of the Eureka Garages and Sheds SRA Super Sprint Series at Avalon on January 15.

Rilat simply drove away, despite dramas with the hydrauUc wing ram, to win by half a lap from Ian 'The Fly' Lewis and Mike 'The flying Dutchman' Van Bremen. Both drivers

Greg Wickham bounced back from last week's B-Main disaster to win this week ahead of Simon Amato, Frank Ramsdale and Allan Barlee, who'd brought his excavator down to Geelong during the week to do a bit of re-profiling of some of the tracks trouble spots.

At the drop of the green in the AMain, Rilat simply drove into the lead and was never headed as Van Bremen made a slight mistake that allowed Lewis to grab second place with Milburn and Sweet next. The

FLYIN' Ryan Farrell secured his second West Australian Sprintcar Tide at the picturesque Esperance Speedway recently.

Farrell was in great form winning the event from Jamie Maiolo and third was the queen of speed Veronica McCann.

Farrell started the night brilliantly as the only diver to drop into the 11s bracket during time trials.

From the green light in the A-Main Farrell stamped his authority on the race and shot away to a good lead this left Maiolo, McCann and Mick Goode to fight it out for the minor positions. Only a short distance into the event and Farrell was already lapping cars, which he did with ease, in contrast to his rivals on the one lane race track.

A late-race caution closed the field up for the run to the flag but Farrell was too strong for Maiolo and went on to greet the chequers first. Maiolo aossed in second with McCann and Goode slogging it out, firushing third and fourth respectively.

The AAA Racing team manager

Mope wins fop Rilat were having a night off from World Series and were using the event to fine tune their mounts before resuming the WSS battle on Wednesday at Moama.

Rilat was quick from his first heat when he scorched around the Avalon clay in a time just shy of Max Dumesny's 10-lap track record, and this was despite the car running on only seven cylinders, thanks to a lump of mud knocking a plug lead off.

A fighting second place from ninth on the grid in his second heat was enough to earn him pole for the 25lap feature.

Travis Mills, Van Bremen, Brad Sweet, Brent Hough and Adrian Parr won the other heats.

64

only caution occurred on lap 3 when Parr spun in turn four. On the restart Mollenoyux was already up to seventh and would climb even higher by races end.

With 10 laps down Rilat was already into the lapped traffic and had a near miss when Hough got out of shape just as Rilat lapped underneath the out of shape Hough.

"Whenever you get behind a lapped car and they get hard to pass you start to get a little nervous thinking somebody is going to come right on around you," Rilat conceded later.

With 14 laps down Sweet was now up to fourth but was struggling with

and father of Ryan, John Farrell was ecstatic. "This was a great win for us, it was made even better as our regular crew cliief Sean Curren is currently working on Danny Lasoski's car over east."

Farrell and his AAA racing Team are not sitting back basking in glory.

They have already purchased Steve Kinser's Maxim chassis, used last week at the Outlaws show at Parramatta.

a throttle problem.

"The team changed magnetos and the ignition box was bigger, meaning the throttle linkage was jamming against it," explained Sweet.

This meant that the young American had to lift the throttle off

using the toe strap and, for anyone who's ever had to do this, they'll know how difficult it is to be smooth and precise with the accelerator in these conditions.

Eventually this complication allowed Mollenoyux to grab fourth place and he then closed up on the tail of Van Bremen as they completed the final laps to the chequered flag.

Vogels finished sixth followed by Milburn, Bell, Mills, Barlee, Wickham and the lapped cars of Parr, Amato, Ramsdale, Hough and Hunter.

Rilats run had looked easy but was actually not so easy, the top wing hydraulic adjuster having broken off early on in the race.

"Early in the race 1 had the hydraulic wing cylinder break and my wing was just going forward and backwards on its on own and it made it real tough to get through the corners as it loosened the car up but all in all it wasn't bad," stated a

naturally happy winner.

"I tell you what the; BRD, Formula Management Eagle was working really good tonight. The track was pretty good tonight and she was prepared pretty well, a lot better than the last time when it was a little rough but I tell you what hopefully we will get a few more (wins) in the next week or two when we work our way up to the Classic.

-BRETT SWANSON motorsportnews

SPEEDWAY

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JEFF Leisk, the quiet achiever, took out Round 9 of the AHG Sprintcar Series at Kwinana Motorplex on Saturday night.

Leisk really didn't look good early but come the A-Main, he was on his game and stormed his way forward in a crash-marred,shortened 25-lapper.

"That was a great result for me and the team I was trying to keep out of those ruts and everytlaing worked out," said Leisk.

THE physics and principles of aerodynamics are well documented and speedway, like most other categories of motorsport, seeks to exploit the advantges of downforce to its fullest.

But for the 2005 World of Outlaws Sprintcar Championship, organisers have sought to reduce the possible gains through downforce to try to decrease grip and therefore, increase passing. All intended to improve ‘the show’.

The means by which ) organisers have chosen to strip an aerodynamic advantage from the teams is to ban the use of the Gurney flap, or wicker bill. The Gurney flap runs along the back of the rear, main wing, sitting above the main plane of the wing.

The effect of having this strip sitting up in the clean air, just above the wing surface, is that it slows the air passing over the top surface of the wing.

Therefore, the air moving along the bottom surface of the wing (which is longer) moves faster than that moving along the top, thus creating downforce, helping stick the 850 horsepower

Sprintcars to the ground.

But with the ban on the Gurney flap, we saw some interesting initiatives taken by some teams at Parramatta.

Some teams had taken to putting unusually-placed braces from one side of the wing to the other, mysteriously and conveniently along the rear of the wing, just where the Gurney flaps used to be situated. They were kindly asked to remove them, organisers sighting that Sprintcar wings have maintained their structural integrity for many years now, without these new ‘braces'.

So, how do the teams slow the air running along the top of these enormous wings?

Well, some teams, like Tim Schaffer’s Kasey’s General Stores team, seen below, have taken to sticking adhesive sandpaper to the top of their wing, along the top end where the flap used to slow the air.

These Outiaws boys ... what will they think of next?

- CHRIS JORDAN

Donny to Classic THIS year's Grand Annual Classic at Sungold Stadium, Warrnambool, will be one of the best yet.

With the inclusion of Outlaws Down under winner Donny Schatz in the starting line-up, the 53K:ar field now includes nine Americans, Schatz will be joined by countryman Daryn Pittman, Travis Rilat, Shane Stewart, Tim Kaeding, Randy Hannagan, Jason Johnson, Brett Antill and young gun Brad Sweet at the Classic.

Notable Australian entrants include Garry Brazier, Brooke Tatnell, Kerry Madsen, Max Dumesny, Mark!''Wells, Robbie Farr, Trevor Green, SRA points leader John Vogels and PCR points leader Troy Little. n About 20 young speedway riders left the Mildura Speedway with huge smiles on their faces and a new set of goggles after spending the evening with World 500cc Solo Speedway Champion Jason Crump, Crump spent the afternoon observing the youngsters going through their paces on their junior machines. Crump then gave the young riders some instruction on how to improve their riding techniques and boost their confidence.

Crump also competed at the Mildura Speedway track on the Saturday night in front of a large crowd of supporters who had come to cheer the first local World 500cc Solo Champion. n When was the last time your boss gave you a present?

Darrell 'Mouse' Green, well reknowned crew chief to Max Dumesny, has been given the Proton Jumbuck that Dumesny won for winning his second consecutive Proton World Series Sprintcars Jumbuck Speedweek title.

Dumesny secured his fourth Proton prize in two years, a Proton Waja,for winning his second consecutive World Series Sprintcar Championship on the weekend. Wonder who has 'shotgun' on that one? n Dennis Burford has won Round 3 of the hotly contested SASA 360ci Sprintcar Action Series at Riverview Speedway, Murray Bridge.

The inform Burford took the feature race over David Argus, who was the meat in the Burford sandwich with Dennis's son Michael rounding off the podium.

-MILNE/CHARLES/STAFF

Hoosier Tire Australia 2004 WORLD OF OUTLAWS CHAMPIONSHIP Australian Distributors for

Xoosirr

^^ RACING TIRE

For more information on Hoosier Dmg and SpeedwayTyres call:

NSW:02 9679 1990 l Fax 02 9679 1187 VIC:03 9331 6477 l Fax 03 9331 7444 SA-08 8332 0800 l Fax 08 8364 0296

26 January 2005

SPEEDWAY CITY 22 JANUARY 2005 1 2.

3.

4.

5.

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9.

. Brooke Tatnell .Jason Johnson . . . .Mark Wells .Daryn Pittman . . Trevor Green . .Danny Reidy .. Phillip March ... Tony Moule . .. Robbie Farr . Darrel Hodges

10.

11 12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17, 18.

John Shore . ...Dylan Jenkin .. Shane Stewart . . . Max Dumesny Ken Veal Mike Van Bremen , .. .Kerry Madsen Ken Sartori Travis Rilat

2004/05 STANDINGS TO 22 JAN 2005 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10.

...Max Dumesny Robbie Farr .. .Shane Stewart . . .Brooke Tatnell ...Jason Johnson .. .Darrell Hodges Mark Wells .Mike Van Bremen ....Danny Reidy John Shore

11.

12.

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...Tony Moule .Terry Bracken .Ben Atkinson . ... Ian Lewis . . .Travis Rilat .. Luke Dylan Ken Veal . .Dylan Jenkin . Phillip March . .Mark Reuter

65

WSID cops delay i

lohn Bosher

WEATHER again robbed drag racing fans of a result at the third round of both the Top Fuel and Top Alcohol Championships at Western Sydney International Dragway two weeks ago.

The stage was set for the final rounds before organisers controversially called the meeting off before the inclement weather had even arrived. The finals will be run during the qualifying rounds of the Summernationals at WSID on February 18-20. No rain actually fell at the track until after 9.30pm.

Darren Morgan and Steve Read, above, the Top Fuel finalists at the recent Wiilowbank Nationals, were again set to duel

in the final after both set sub-5 second passes in their semi-final wins.

Reed defeated Terry Sainty in Round 1 with an impressive 4.920s/281.13mph. Fie went even better in his next duel when he downed Luke Shepherd with a career-best 4.865s/ 297.16mph.

Morgan quickly defeated fastest qualifier Bob Shepherd with a 300mph pass in Round 1 before belting out a semi-final solo of 4.942s/296.83mph.

The Top Alcohol final is also bound to be an evenly-matched contest. Gary Phillips and Ben Bray, who also met each other in the Top Doorslammer Wiilowbank final, will take each other on next

month after both claimed convincing wins in their preliminary races.

The event was Bray’s first in the Top Alcohol category and the first in his all-black 1999 Pontiac Firebird Funny Car. Bray started his Top Alcohol career with a sub record 5.8s win against the current best in the business, top qualifier Dean Oakey. Bray then defeated Wayne Newby (who red lighted) en route to his TA final debut.

Bray has not been beaten in his last 17 races.

11-times Top Alcohol champ Phillips out-gunned Debbie Reed and Brett Stevens, despite Stevens running a 5.814s in the _ first round.

Bob Polls

Bob Potts

Waiting for a winner: Above, Australian Champion Darren Morgan will meet'Pommie'Steve Reed, top, in the Top Fuel final, while Gary Phillips, left, is set to take on Top Alcohol debutant Ben Bray. The finals will be run in February.

lb 4 -IHa.vin'g;.w0nked 'Cfn thetwft^T?^' c. for5theiBetter part of his r .Jrliiildlii^oodi the hard-workj|ig^ t^20j,vga^ld Queenslander iis7 nostraffg^ to tinkefio.gi.vyjLhF n his or his famous fathef's^^ i quarter-mile toys. I n hisj^id^ teens, he started to build'his. . own Top Doorslammer while l holding down the role of crew chief on Victor's car. It didn't take long for Ben to get onto the track competitively himself, and when he did, the sport on the local front transformed from an old man's game to child's play.

Now, after national records, titles and tributes in the TD class, Ben debuted in Top Alcohol at Eastern Creek. Unsurprisingly, he was on the money immediately.

"We've had it for a while and its been sitting here and everyone has been waiting for it to get out there," Bray said.

"With the Doorslammers not running at Eastern Creek, we decided to drag it out and have a bit of fun with it."

Bray's fun soon turned into a finals berth on debut.

Still, he is aware that he has much to learn before competing in both classes at

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the same meeting.

"I've got to prove I can drive properly first. The old Funny Car is a little bit more than what I first thought it was so I want to do more laps in that before I can run both at the same event.

"I'm not perfect at driving the Doorslammer and it's pretty easy to stuff up so to drive two of them at once

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Doorsl^nnh^ej?is a whole t the different thing. It's a''li'ttle bit

would be pretty hard. I'd like to concentrate on one at the moment."

Bray was also quick to note the varying disciplines required to get the most out of the different machines.

"They require a whole different driving style," he confirmed.

"The way you drop the clutch and you do burnouts in

funny. You wou|dh'''t think that there wbuld' be much ' diffenenceiEut there was."^ With 1i,7 wi;ns.(Qn. th.e tript, § national championship and a natipnail <ti$l'S(iin: the ‘bag,'Ben is also very close to Victor's Australian record of 21 wins in a row.

"I'm going to try and beat it.

I've just got to work at 1 one round'at a time."

And if Ben breaks his dad's record, it will almost certainly come before he dips under the elusive six-second mark in Top Doorslammer.

"We'll have to wait for winter to come back for that to happen," said Ben, who holds the current Australian record at 6.02s.

"We had it going good at Kwinana in December but it was a bit hot so that was as much as we could get out of it.

We couldn't get that little bit more that we needed."

Meanwhile, the world waits for the debut of the almostcompleted Holden Monaro, which will be his Top Doorslammer steed soon.

"We are doing a lot of new things on it and trying to make it perfect. We are hoping to have it at the Winternationals but we don't want to rush it."

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DON Schumacher Racing has announced the addition of Richie Stevens Jr. to his factory-backed Mopar Pro Stock team for the 2005 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

Stevens will join Jeg Coughlin as the second Pro Stock driver for Schumacher Racing in the Team Mopar Hemi-powered Pro Stock Dodge Stratus R/T, tuned by Bob Glidden.

Glidden, a 10-time Pro Stock champion with 85 national event wins and numerous

class and NHRA records to his credit, will act as crew chief on both the Jeg's Mail Order Dodge Stratus piloted

by Coughlin and the Team Mopar Dodge driven by Stevens.

Before joining the Schumacher camp, Stevens raced to four national event wins and three top-10 finishes.

The team tested in Bradenton, Florida this past week, with Coughlin recording a best of 6.70s/206mph, while Stevens posted a 6.71s/205mph. ^ - DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

Anderson sets

The reigning Pro Stock Champion fires ea

by DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

GREG Anderson recorded both the quickest and fastest pass ever for an NHRA Pro Stock during testing at Gainesville Raceway recently.

Anderson's brand-new Jerry Bickel-built Summit Racing Equipment Grand Am scorched down the quarter mile in 6.608 seconds at 208.23 mph.

He then backed up the amazing run with three other low-6.6s runs, including a pair of 6.62s at 207 mph, and a 6.63s at 208mph.

Anderson, right, heads into the new season now with a great package to defend his Pro Stock crown which he claimed with such ease in 2004.

Erica Enders also showed consistency in her unsponsored Cagnazzi Racing Cavalier. The 21year-old posted four 6.63s passes for the day, all in the 207mph range.

. While testing continues

Lucas Oil tabs Manzo

LUCAS Oil will become the major sponsor of Frank Manzo's Top Alcohol Funny Car during the 2005 drag Lnacing; season.

Man-z© .Wiillll comipete on the , N!HIRi%Q\®«iR'ade Drag l^^g ^a'tiSiiiahevents trail Ur-

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along with the Northeast Division of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.

Since 1981, Manzo has collected nine Top Alcohol National Funny Car NHRA championships and 15 Division 1 Northeast regional titles. He finished third in the inational Lucas Oil Alcohol Funny Car category in 2004

^,after clinching the ^Bhaiinpjonship for seven Byon^ecutive years (1997DAVID OSTASZEWSKI e- -

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JOHN Force picked up right where he left off at the close of the 2004 season when he recorded threeconsecutive 4.7 second passes in his Castrol Start-Up Ford Mustang as pre-season testing got underway in Las Vegas on Friday.

After opening Friday with 4.80s/319mph and 4.77s/326mph passes. Force soon stormed to a 4.74s; at 325mph. On Saturday, he continued his championship-form with a 4.77s/324mph.

After posting a 4.83s/325mph on Friday, Force's new driver, Robert Right, made one of the quickest Fuimy Car passes with a 4.765s/327mph in the AAA Auto Club Ford.

Whit Bazemore made the quickest run of the day with a 4.759s/325mph in the Schumacher Racing/Mateo Tools Dodge Stratus. The new purple Dodge is all new car featuring a brand-new Murf McKinney chassis.

Gary Scelzi put Schumacher's Mopar/Oakley Stratus through its paces with a pair of 4.76s runs at more than 326mph. Scelzi's Mike Neff-tuned entry is sporting a unique white camouflage paint scheme this year. Ron Capps, the third member of the Schumacher team, posted a best of 4.78s / 315mph in his new Brut Stratus and backed it up on Saturday with a 4.81s/317mph.

Eric Medlen, in the Castrol Syntec Mustang, recorded a quick

4.77s/326mph. Checker Schuck's Kragen team-mates Del Worsham and Phil Burkart were also in Las Vegas preparing for the Pomona season opener next month with respective runs of 4.89s / 315mph and 4.87s / 313mph.

After a couple of early shut-off runs, Tommy Johnson Jr., right, put together a 4.81s/319mph in Don Prudhomme's Skoal Monte Carlo.

Johnson was driving the chassis in which former team-mate Ron Capps finished the 2004 season.

In Top Fuel, Morgan Lucas, above, posted low E.T. of the event when he drove Joe Amato's Lucas Oil Top Fueler to an early shut-off 4.57s at just 282.54mph. Lucas ran over 276mph at the half-track on a run that had 4.4s potential.

Other Top Fuel drivers who tested, but did not make full runs, included David Baca, Mike Strasburg, Gary Ormsby Jr., and Brady Kalivoda.

Testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway continued through Sunday.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

motorsportnews

DRAG RACING

new Pro Stock record

r/y warning to rivals - while testing is the flavour of the month

D8MSO f.O0O;^£Aa 0rtACie\jr5

m-y

100^^

Cowins to stay OS ... for now THE Cowin family is expected to contest a limited NHRA and IHRA program in 2005.

As MNews went to press, Grahame Cowin had touched down Stateside to close the Australian team's deals for the new year.

It is expected that only a limited program will be undertaken by them in America's two drag racing championships. It seems the likelyhood of them competing on home soil in 2005 is very slim. n Top Fuel dragster driver Bruce Litton will return in '05 with Lucas Oil, but will also boast a major associate deal with Torco Race Fuels, The 2005 campaign will mark Litton's seventh with Lucas Oil and an increased presence with Torco Race Fuels, Litton will test in the final Las Vegas testing weekend, and will make his '05 debut in Pomona.

n But Patrick is the 6.3s man!

ROBERT Patrick ripped off the quickest and fastest pass in the history of IHRA-trimmed Pro Stock racing with a 6.386s/218.39mph during testing at Bradenton,Florida.

The incremental times on the historic run were: 0.977s/60-foot mark; 2.729s/330-foot; 4.145s/174.14mph at the half-track and a 5.362s to the 1000 foot point.

When the rain began to fall at Bradenton, Patrick travelled to Gainesville to continue his testing. where he established another 'world's quickest' lap, a 6.383 at 218.23mph.

Patrick gaves credit to the new rules which will allow three-disc clutches for 2005.

'I think by the first race, almost

everyone will have this combination in their car," he said.

"I think it will make the class tighter and help on the marginal tracks. It has all the makings for the quickest season ever."

Steve Spiess was the second quickest Pro Stock car in Bradenton with a 6.42s/216mph.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

Pedregon returns?

FRANK Pedregon,the eldest of the three Funny Car-driving brothers from Southern California, is rumored to be starting his own team.

The Underdog Racing deal he unveiled last season never resulted in any sizeable sponsorships and was dissolved. Pedregon has since purchased John Lawson's entire operation, while Lawson is reportedly working on several deals,that would put him in a seat as a driver but not as a team owner.

Mark Oswald is expected to oversee the operation, which will bring in Scott Graham as crew chief. Graham was Melanie Troxel's crew chief with the Western Rock Top Fuel Dragster several seasons back.

26 January 2005

n Top Fuel driver Clay Millican won the coveted 'Sportsman of the Year' award at the 34th Annual Hooters/IHRA Championship Awards Banquet at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center on January 15.

It's the first time Millican has won the 'Sportsman of the Year', which is considered to be the IHRA's most prestigious award.

Millican, above, the four-time IHRA Top Fuel Champion and winningest professional driver in the league's history, was also honored with a Second Team All-America designation in December by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association, a motorsports press organisation. This was the second time in his career that he was named in the second team. Additionally, Millican has been nominated for the Eastern Motorsports Press Association's Al Holbert Memorial Driver of the Year Award.

Millican and Team Werner/Lehman Racing had a stellar 2004 season, winning seven of the 12 IHRA events that took place throughout the year, bringing their career win total to 37, which is higher than any other professional team in IHRA history.

The team has won the IHRA Top Fuel Championship four years in a row, a feat that has not been matched by any other Top Fuel team in the league's history.

- STAFF/DAVID OSTASZEWSKI 69

nantna

scene =■*#-'*■11

r.

3-

JIM Richards andSarry Oliver I stitched: itp #:e lietd; in the second I running: ot the iiyiount Buller Sprint last- weekend; I The estatellSsh edi pafriingi inishedi 4® seconds m front of teigningi I Porsche Carrera Cup Champion and' V8 Supercar dirwer Alex Davison. !

Richards, driving'his Porsche Gf2set the fastest lap ti me of the hill ciimb, posting a'8m'45.fs pass j on their filh"run.

I In third place was the : Queensland-based performance : driving; instructor team of Alistair Bye and Michael Sherrin. Fourth went to the VIP Petfoods entry of road rally reguiiars Tony Quinn and Keith Wenn, with Kevin Weeks and Jammeiii Taylor in fifth. All of the top five finishers were in current model Porsches (it is no coincidence that the event is sponsored by Porsche...)

Rex Broadbent and Chris Randell were the first non¬

Porsehe entry to ffiWshi Their ©aytonaiC'O'upe jiust edged^oufthe Skelta 'G^Po ree apecia 1 of Ray Vandersee and' dphh Allen.

J el ©eauiiteont an drJen ny €®re placed: their tSM'^modei Mitsubishi''ivo VI in eighth place in front Of S:irn:on' Praude and' Geol Floyd's Porsche GT3.

V8 Supercar d'riwer Cameron 'McConwiie tea med with Gerry 1 ashfordiin the Elfin Clubman's race debut and the pair scored an encouraging top 10 finish in front of some other high-class entries.

The Mount Buller Sprint is contested on a closed road in the Victorian high country, covering some 16 kilometres, rising through over 1000 metres in altitude along the Mt Buller Tourist Road to the Alpine Village atop Mount Buller.

The event is fast becoming a 'must-do' for motorsport enthusiasts.

Effort plus: The race debut of the Elfin Clubman went well in the hands of Holden V8 driver Cam McConville, above. Fellow Commodore driver Alex Davison, below, finished second in his Mt Buller title defence.

Jtiwcs Smith

Trials and tribulations: The Mount Buller course offers not only a scenic view, above left, but it delivers a challenging new year hill climb to the

keen entrants. But for some contenders, including the Tierney and Brocks entries, above middle and right, it was an expensive exercise.

70

motorsport news

NATIOilAI. SCEilE

South Af's five-peat

by MARK WICKS A SOUTH African driver has won the World Rotax Finals for a record fifth time in succession.

Wesleigh Orr, 16, went wheelto-wheel with defending Champion Christiano Morgado on the weekend at the Canary Island's to score a one-two for South Africa in the senior RM1 class. The UK's Tristam Oman was third.

Australia's entrant, Cameron Thorpe, left, had a solid run in the heat races, including a seventh place, and was inside the top 10 for the pre-final.

However, an unfortunate DNF put him off the rear of the grid for the final. He recovered to finish in a respectable 20th.

Jordie Lindstrom, the first Australian to compete in the Junior MAX class at a World Final, grabbed a well earned ADAM Proctor wJH drive a Nissan Primera Super Tourer in the 2005 Australian Touring Car Challenge.

Proctor, below, has secured a Two-year sponsorship deal with Caltex and will steer the Mumbo Racing Primera throughout the entire seven round series, which starts at Wakefield Park on February 27.

‘The guys at Caltex Havoline have been fully supportive of my move into the ATCC for this ^ear.* Proctor said. *We outlaid our plan to them they were more than happy to come on board. They see this series as a great way for me to move into the V8 Supercar ranks in the coming years."

Penrith-based Proctor finished Aigpnd in last season’s NSW Formula Vee Championship and heaaiready had a taste of the ATC

Havoltiw 26lanuary2005

Australian representatives: Thorpe, left, and Lindstrom. ninth against some tough opposition.

Having started 13th, Lindstrom was in the middle of the action all race. Jordie originally qualified 14th but dropped to 25th In the very first race due to a collision.

French driver Benjamin Salvatore won the race ahead of Adam Christodoulou (UK) and impresive New Zealander Earl Bamber.

starte in the Eastern Creek and Wakefield Park last year.

The Mumbo team, run by Australian Motor Racing Series co-founder Rod Dale, will test prior to the season opener and is aiming at taking the challenge up to the inaugural ATCC Champion, Luke Searle.

Another interesting entry in the ATCC is 66-year-old Rod Markland, who willl drive an exMark Skaife Nissan Skyline : complete in Peter Jackson livery, above. ^F0^RMifii-j^prihf karti Ntdk Sifhfiidns haslaridedrT, [.the plum Garry il^ogerS: ~.

I’Metorspert Jhe.^ _ Ji^ussie Racing Gar series Sirofhons, a apt karter andi I’former national Gharapion,, i-vttiilTma'ke his road'racing. ' debut at Adelaide's'C'lipsdl HiOQTnith# fi rst ro.ii'nd of the 20^)5 Aussie Racing series.

Ihe brand-new car tiSaitbe I wii use is.curnently rnaking |the trek to Rogers's 'IMelbourne wtockshop, wheTe 0ri's; abqk0^ri^M ^v\?i 11^ '● - it will' be launGhedia CoAl^ete a-coupleipifi testS.at ’conjunctiori with the teanf'a .,^-&an>'l’ark!be#oreihisji:ebJ!it;.' , !V8 Supercars.

71

Getting tti 1

1

mmrsport family is one thing. Continuing its proud history of success is another. MARK WICKS spoke to Team Price

i I

still want to be faster than Bant onra; n test day =The;eomp^ifibii between the Mce biiotbeislie like amsibliaas.

B

ART and Shane Price hail from the famous Price karting dynasty; sons of Drew Price, multiple Australian karting champion,touring car racer and director of one of the world's leading kart manufacturing companies.

They are both multiple Australian karting champions and both have a bright future in the sport. But their careers have moved in different directions.

Bart and Shane learnt the trade in the junior karting formulas and tinkering in the workshops of the old man's business. Shane, the younger of the two at 18, is hungry to make a living behind the wheel while Bart, 22, almost believes competitive racing is a chore.

Unlike his dad and brother, Bart has never gone the car racing route.

Instead, he works in the family business doing product development.

But as a kid, he had the usual dreams of Formula One. "But it wasn't long before the realisation settled in," he said.

"It got to a point where I thought Shane had more ability. I was better at developing a package and getting more out of it, whereas Shane was a bit oblivious to what was happening in the pits.

fl .corn.flU

Pans Charles

The Long and the Short Classic Tasmanian track to be honoured

ONE of Australia's bygone race tracks, Longford,is set to be celebrated this March.

The Spirit of Longford Historic Motor Racing Festival will be held between March 11-14, where Formula 1 legends Sir Jack Brabham and Chris Amon will headline a starstudded field of drivers and cars.

The festival will be base around the Tasmanian town of Longford, near Launceston, and will include races for pre-1969 cars at Symmons Plains.

Leap of faith: Stan Jones gets some air under his Masarati at Longford's famous railroad crossing.

72

Longford's clockwise layout comprised sharp corners linked by long straights that were simply country roads lined with thorny hedges. There was a Flying Mile, a high-speed jump over a railway crossing, a hairy kink beneath an unforgiving brick viaduct, two rickety wooden bridges and a righthand turn around a pub in the

middle of the town.

The one-off reunion meeting will recall a 15-year golden era in motor racing at the 7.24 km public road circuit which saw the fastest speeds in the southern hemisphere set during two Australian Grands Prix and rounds of the Tasman Series.

Amon's lap speed of 195 kmh in a factory Ferrari P4 sports car in 1968 stood as an Australian record until the Australian Grand Prix moved to Melbourne in 1996.

Spirit of Longford Director John Hamilton says visitors will have plenty of things to see and do.

"There will be historic car and motorcycle events including a fabulous'back to the 60s' family day, displays, demos and parades of old Longford racing machines, a classic car tour through country lanes and,in the great Longford tradition, lots of parties," he said.

motorsportnews

NATIOHAL SCENE

le Pnce nght He was just hungry (on the track) all the time.

"These days, the racing itself doesn't do much for me.I get a lot of enjoyment out of developing a kart and getting better performance from it and the feedback from people when they like it."

While Bart underestimates his ability, there is no doubt that, on his day, Bart is damn fast. For example, he comprehensively blew the competition away in the final of last year's Rotax Nationals.

Meanwhile, Shane is a racer, and that's how it's always been from day one.

i

I

If

IK Learning the ropes: Despite this off, Shane Price was safe in his V8 Supercar debut at Bathurst, above.

Bart, though, prefers the tools, right. more battles with my father in the pits than with the competitors on the track! But now I am older it's a result

"Ever since 1 started racing, I wanted to do it as a career," Shane said.

for the product rather than me."

Shane will compete in this years' National Formula Ford series with

"There was some pressure to a certain extent, but I put pressure on myself. I've always had good equipment so the pressure was on me to better myself."

For Bart, the type of pressure changed as he got older.

"When I was younger I wanted to win piurely for myself and was a bit oblivious to what effect that had on sales," he recalled."And I think 1 had

Borland. It will be a busy season with Year 12 schooling also on the agenda.

He made his V8 Supercar debut in the Konica Minolta race at Bathurst

Oran Park Historic meet postponed BBHXl

The planned all-touring car historic meeting at Sydney's Oran Park has been postponed due to a shortage of entries.

The meeting was scheduled for January 22-23 (last weekend) but organiser Rohan Harmon has confirmed that it was "not the right time of year" to run a historic program.

All drivers who contested the Australian Touring Car Championship between 1960 and 1992 were invited to attend and compete.

It is expected that the meeting will be staged latter in the year when a non-clashing date can be found.

22 December 2004

ip.

last year.

"We only did that on the basis of learning. Formula Ford (at Bathurst) was an option, but they only got something like 14 laps whereas I did 46 laps in the V8 and learnt about that as well as the track."

He hopes to get back behind the wheel of a V8 during the year but has nothing confirmed.

While he's pretty much retired from racing karts, Shane still gets some seat time when DPE are testing and is usually the designated track sweeper.

"1 get in the Clubman and (literally) lay rubber.(But even when testing)I still want to be faster than Bart on a test day."

A typical work week for Bart might see him at the race track for days on end.

"It depends on where we are in the development cycle of a kart" he said.

"If we're in the middle of developing a new kart, we'll be at the track three days a week and most weekends. These days, we have to test for so many different track conditions. Unfortunately, that means we also have to test in race conditions. If I could stop racing to do development,I would tomorrow."

2005 will see Bart compete in the Intercontinental C Australian CIK Championship. He'll also cover thousands of kilometres in testing.

But don't get the impression that this will dull his focus on race day. If there's a Price in the motor race, you know they will be a factor.

Great Wall Karting Briefs of Kiwi MATTHEW Wall overcame scorching temperatures and a track surface that was breaking up to win the CIK Trophy of New Zealand last weekend.

Wall(Arrow)and NSW's Jason Hryniuk(CRG)were the Formula A draw cards going up against the best New Zealand had to offer.

While Wall, below, won every race except the third heat, Hryniuk had a shocker, retiring from heat races with mechanical problems and DNFing the final after throwing a chain. A win in heat three at least proved he was on the pace.

Local driver Caine Lobb (Arrow) was second ahead of Mitch Cumiingham (CRG).

-MARK WICKS

THE prize pool for the Sparco Australian CIK Championship continues to grow.

On top of overseas drives for the senior and junior ICA winners comes news that the Intercontinental C champion will receive a sponsored drive to compete at an ICC event in America.

The prize includes the use of an Arrow chassis, engines, tyres, return airfare and accommodation. As in ICA, if the winning driver decides not to compete at their 'sponsored event', they can choose to accept $5000 instead.

An announcement regarding the Formula A prize, plus other winnings on offer across several classes in the series, is expected in the coming weeks.

n The Junior Top Guns doubleheader concluded at Oakleigh last Friday night.

Leigh Nicolaou won the mini-series in Junior Clubman and Junior National Light. Luke Ellery entered the nights racing with the points lead courtesy of a double-win the weekend prior. Despite Jono Taylor winning the race, Ellery was on course to pick up the series until he threw a chain. It was a similar deal in

<1

i

Midgets, Liam Morey dominating round one but engine trouble putting him out of contention in round two. The ever improving Ricky Capo took a big win.

Jesse Fenech won the Rookies race but Jordan Ford clinched the series, while David Schulz won Junior National Fleavy. n The winner of the NSW ICC series will pocket $5000 this year.

The series will run over six rounds commencing at Eastern Creek on February 19. Drivers need to register for the series prior to this meeting.

The final round is at Oran Park and, in addition to being held in conjunction with the City of Sydney Titles, serves as the series' Grand Finale to decide just who will get the money.

Second place will be worth $3000 with $1500 for third.

- MARK WICKS 73

Battery Town series is nearly signed, sealed and delivered for Bairdb CRAIG Baird convincingly reclaimed the top spot in the 2004/05 Battery Town Porsche GTS Cup series at Christchurch's Powerbuilt Raceway at Ruapuna Park last Sunday.

The Ford V8 Supercar driver scored pole position and claimed all three race victories after archchampionship rival Matthew Halliday succumb to dramas.

Halliday qualified second and hounded Baird for most of the first race until a misfire, relating to a fuel problem, caused him to score a DNF. Former championship leader and local lad Ross Rutherford finished in second place ahead of Hong Kongbased Canadian Darryl O'Young.

Race 2 was another Baird benefit. but the excitement came from

Halliday, who stormed from the back of the grid. Luck was again not on his side though, when he was judged to have passed a competitor under yellow condition. He eventually finished 10th.

away with it.

The meeting also marked the final round of the Trans-Tasman GTS Cup Challenge, in which New Zealand snatched the trophy back off Australia.

Australian youngster Bryce Washington finished third ahead of Dean Cockerton and Rick Armstrong.

Race 3 saw Halliday storm through to trail Baird home. Baird seemed to

Teretonga Park saw Baird score more wins.

The former New Zealand Grand Prix

have a big enough gap with a few laps to go, but by the end, they were nose to tail. The reason?

1 missed a gear," admitted Baird.

Coming up the straight to the start finish line, looking at the chequered flag and not really concentrating, I missed a gear. Matty said he heard it but got so excited by it he missed one as well so 1 got

A week earlier, the fourth round at

winner grabbed pole before Halliday snatched the 50 minute twilight race win. Baird, right, reversed the order on Sunday with two impressive wins.

The next round of the series is at Feilding's Manfeild Autocourse over the Feb 19-20 weekend.

Points after round five: Baird 927, Rutherford 850, Halliday 790,Dean Fidford 696, Armstrong 660, Paul Kelly 507,Graeme Cameron 457,O'Young 454,Mike Weeks 423,Angus McFarlane 404.

.s-

. V a

[ AFTiR qualiwinSi second, young Christchurch I driver lUlaitfhew Hamilton sGOredtihiS ifir^ ! round'wihriih'lhe;i‘l|rip&o^ I Racimg Series af iRuapunaMRsrk last weekend.

I Hamilton'snatched^ the Race 1' win firom ipole; sitter i'en''Harford!amdi aiso'took another wiih'ih' ; the second race. Hamilton placed runner-up in the final, which was enough to secure him the round : victory and'settle into second in the series.

"We're pretty happy with it," he said post-race.

"We qualified reasonably well yesterday could have hoped for a little bit better but we had two wins so I can't really complain, can I?" Championship leader Brent Collins took the Race 3 win ahead of Hamilton and Daniel Gaunt.

74

Gaunt finished the weekend with'two lood’ results after teattlingtin the'first race.

FofftPier karting world champion Wade Cunningham clairTiedi thiPd’ dwerall after finishing each race in the top five.

Ruapuna'Park was preceded iby the meeting a week earlier at a wet Teretonga Park.

Kiwi Chris Pither took a great round win over Collins and Auckland's Gaunt.

The next round is at Manfeild Autocourse in February.

Points after round three: Collins 578, Hamilton 506, Gaunt 478, Brendon Hartley 431, Cunningham 424, Andy Knight 377, Pither 354, Hartford 334,James Cressey 320, Kim Crocker 311.

AT Invercargill's Teretonga Park, Kayne Scott blitzed the field to take his first round win of the year in the New Zealnd Touring Car Championship.

Scott, above, scored pole position plus victory in Race 1 and 2. Mark Pedersen won the final ahead of Wayne Huxford who just edged out Shane Drake.

Christchurch driver Wade Henshaw continues to lead the points standings from fellow Holden men Andy Booth and Scott.

Points after round three: Henshaw 792, Booth 642, Scott 590.

motorsportnews

INDUSTRY NEWS

CDRIVE

msoo'' A

msoo

"A MARGIN of safety" was the buzz phrase at the recent launch of the C.drive tyre from Yokohama. The margin of safety was explained as the difference between a tyre doing the 'every day'job and a tyre 'saving you in an emergency situation'.

To demonstrate the point of difference between original equipment tyres and the C.drive tyre, Yokohama simulated three scenarios in controlled conditions and

sV,

Seminar Dates

MoTeC has just announced the proposed dates for the 2005 Australian training seminars for Engine Management and ADL Data Acquisition Systems.

These one-day courses are aimed at those with no previous in-depth exposure to MoTeC systems, and those who would benefit from a refresher course. The presentations are easy to follow for all knowledge levels and are delivered with practical examples and explanatory diagrams. They are highly recommended for anyone who has recently purchased, or plans to purchase, a MoTeC system.

There are plenty of opportunities for questions and feedback throughout the day and each participant receives a MoTeC Resource Disc and comprehensive notes for easy reference following the course.

2005 will see the first MoTeC Drag-specific seminar, designed to address the unique challenges that can be encountered in this extreme environment when it comes to engine management and data acquisition.

For further details visit www.motec.com.au / seminars.htm. MoTeC is taking bookings for all seminars now and participant numbers are strictly limited. Email tratning@motec.com.au or phone 03 9761 5050 to secure your place.

^

26 January 2005

conducted around 280 tests. Tyre dealers and key members of the tyre industry took part in the test days, held across Australia.

The response from the dealers was overwhelmingly positive. The tests have provided the dealers with credible information and hands-on experience, which they can pass on to the customer. n The C.drive is the successor to the highly awarded A539. The C.drive has the performance capabilities of the A539 heritage, while benefiting from the latest tread designs and tyre composition teclmology, usually only found in premium performance tyres. The advanced new tread compound utilises a micro-flex polymer to allow the tyres to absorb minute undulations in the road surface, increasing contact area and ensuring the tyre remains in contact with the road surface, maintaining control and grip.

The revolutionary tread pattern of the C.drive incorporates four wide straight grooves, which provide stronger wet weather performance and anti-aquaplaning properties. A clever variation in tread block stiffness and design provides the perfect balance between cornering and braking performance. A staggered block design and 5pitch variation theme, which was developed on the high-performance V550 range, greatly reduces road noise levels in both new and worn tyre conditions. These irmovations, combined with the latest Silica technology and micro-flex polymers, produce a very quiet ride throughout the life of the tyre. Improved handling, comfort and noise levels are achieved with the C.drive without

The C.drive will provide a quiet and smooth ride in normal driving conditions and, due to the technological advances, provide an excellent "margin of safety" when required.

The C.drive is available to suit 14 to 17 inch

compromising performance or drivability.

Yokohama extensively tested the C.drive worldwide,in varied conditions, to ensure the new

rims with 45 to 65 series profiles.

For info on the new C.drive visit your local Yokohama dealer or www.yokohama.com.au.

tyre performed to the high standards required.

Yokohama Tyre Australia performed further extensive testing of the C.drive in Australia, which included 20,000 kms on Australian roads, with 280 test-drives in five states. This testing has confirmed the results from Yokohama's testing internationally and ensured the C.drive was suitable for Australian road conditions.

Puei Pumps

^ BG Fuel Systems,offers two high-performance. continuous-duty electric fuel pumps designed especially for electronic fuel-injected engines in street or race track applications.

Producing in excess of 75psi, the King and Mighty Sumo pumps are suitable for applications of up to 750 and 2000 horsepower respectively. Both use continuous-duty motors and feature built-in, cleanable, pleated, stainless steel fuel filters with a unique dry-break arrangement that prevents fuel from leaking during inspection or while servicing the filter.

Additionally, the precision-machined, billetaluminum pump contains no pump shaft or housing seals, eliminating fuel-leakage problems.

The pumps are ideal for high-performance, late-model street/strip cars, light trucks, marine and towing vehicles, plus street machines and street rods using EFI technology.

Its continuous-duty design uses the fuel to cool the electric motor, delivering hour-after hour of constant use without overheating. Hardanodised Teflon coatings are applied to all wear surfaces to ensure maximum efficiency and longevity, Both the King and Mighty Sumo pumps are quiet in operation and can be mounted in any position without sacrificing performance, For more information on these or any other BG Fuel System products contact VPW Australia on 1300 659 904 or visit www.vpw.com.au

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ENGINE Bl

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Specific spring design to suit endurance circuit racing, peedway, Drag Racing & Marine applications.

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RACE SHOP

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RRERARAljlON IS;BViRV1IHlMG l Homologation to CAMS/FIA specificiations l Tube bending/tube sales l Seam welding/bodyshell preparation

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> Klotacsifort R^purce Roll Cages

To FIA/CAMS specifications ^ CDW/CDS 350Mpa Tube ●^Chrome Moly 4130,650 MpaTube ^ Weid-in or Bolt*in ●>AII cages TIG Welded to highest standards 4 Spaceframe design and labrication Design, certification and cage homologation available -> Car canstruclion and assembly FACTORY 7/1-7 FRIARS ROAD, MOORABBIN VIC 3189 ● PHONE 03 9553 4200 ● FAX 03 9553 4270 ● MOBILE 0412 988 824 ● EMAIL sales@m-msportcom.au * WEBSITE: www.m-msportcom.au

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Racing Gar Jack Uiahtwolgl-it/Mumunlcim/Mloy

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78

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2009 expiry, lightweight buckle, 3" webbing, clip in ends Black, Red, Blue 5 point - $539 l 6 point - $579 FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY Aust Standard 4 point belts fr $145 Ph 02 9756 0202 Fax 02 9756 0203 sales@simpsonracepmducts.com.au

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CLASSIFIEDS

Classifieds /24S2S^2Z27 news online classifieds from just $25

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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 in Motorsport News for just $25!

HOW? Just log on to www.my105.com and follow the prompts!

Alternately, you can still use the classified form on these pages (surcharge applies for the service of entering the ad onto my105.com)

LOG ON NOW — IT’S THE SMART WAY TO SELL YOUR EQUIPMENT!

Formula 3

'2.^]

TRANSPORTER PANTEC

I The best F3 available!, Fresh Renault engine, I gearbox, diff and brakes. New driveshafts, I mastercyclinders and belts. No more money to : spend. Spares available. POA Neg. Aaron I 0409 298 108.

I) PANTEC BODY ONLY FOR SALE. SET UP FOR n SPRINTCAR AT THIS STAGE SEATS-TV-FRIDGE 1 NOT INCL. 35000.00 ONO. ALLAN WOODS B 0412731608.

www.myl05.com/41948

www.myl05.com/5771 GRP Nc LJ Torana, Good straight body, new 202 motor high H.P. Close ratio gearbox.New Detroit Locker. Adj. Koni shocks. Watts linkage rear end. Volvo 4 spot callipers Lots More. Lightweight trailer, 4 wheel brakes, winch. $37,000. Per, John. $37,000. John 0266218185 / 0266285984. www.myl05.com/52544

Sedans/Sports Cars

l' B6S7A*JftANl

SALOON CAR, Complete ready to race, log book, stinger computer, dyno sheets, lap timer, lap top, spare gearbox, doors, rotors, tyres,etc. includes trailer with tyre rack-Dec Rego. $16,500 Neg. John 0412069534.

302 www.myl05.eom/54480

Mitsubishi Mirvac Mirage, Ready to race in Under 2lt Production or Rally. Great condition. $15,000. Greg 02 9327 6561 / 0414 705 353 302 www.myl05.com/21439 BMW E36 M3, BMW M3 Coupe in Estrol blue with Black leather interior and all BMW original options. Orginal condition thoughout, no modifications, near new brake rotors, pads & tyres. Always garaged since new. Rego to 6/05. -111,000 KM, Great condition. $60,000 ONO. David 0401 304 718 762. www.myl05.eom/4480 MORRIS COOPER S 1966, BMC build No 995, NSW registered January 2006, BRG with black interior. Rebuilt 1275 engine with hepolite pistons. 400 miles only. Twin 1 1/2" SU's, Eight spoke alloy wheels, Spare alloy wheels and original Cooper S steel wheels.

Steel 6 point cage (removed). . $13,500.

Les 0408 100 065.

302 www.myl05.eom/93906

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5

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Mazda RX7, Motor was recently rebuilt with SOOhp.Car consistantly in top 8 in Queensland.Car has always been maintained by Qualified mechanic.Volvo front brakes,mazda rear end.konies all round. $10,500 ONO. ANTHONY DUNN 302 0732100244 / 0738486489. www.myl05.eom/72209

26Januani2005

GRP Nc Torana, Good straight body. New 202 motor. High H.P. Close ratio gearbox.

Button clutch. New Detroit locker. Adjustable Koni shocks. Watts Link rear end, Volvo 4 spot callipers Lots more. Lightweight trailer. 4 wheel elect, brakes, winch. $37,000. John 0266218185 / 0266285984.

302 www.my105.com/31180 iV

; W L

-V Studebaker Supercharged, CAMS log book Nb Road Registered Paxton supercharged Studebaker V8 . Roller cam,big H.P.with all the best gear.TIO 4sp.Dana diff W/-28 spline ford axles & locker.Tilton bias/master cyl.setup with 4 spot calipers.Road Registered.Ready for Rally or Race . $20000.00 Neg. 08 302 96411218 / 0407958433. www.myl05.com/99367

u

Suzuki Swift GTI Club Car 91, High twincam 16v engine, locked diff, Koni Shocks, new seat and harness, VGC paint and body kit, very quick, suit improved production, sprints, hill climb, QLD TPT Mod plate for easy road registration. Car in QLD. 302 $8,500. David 0402 351 678. www.myl05.eom/95208

Porsche 73 RSR (replica), Reg.M2 class Winner lightweight panels, HUGE brakes, Motec, Individual Throttle bodies 3.0 Carrera engine recent full rebuild of engine, g'box, diff no expense spared.($45K).

Extensive chrome moly cage . Too many extras to mention. Very consistent performer. 3 sets of wheels /tyres.Excellent Marque sports car. log book. $68,000 Not Neg. michaet 97426928 / 0412542910.

302 www.my105.com/17232

LOTUS MOTORSPORT 200 ELISE, Imported in knock downform , Lotus Motorsport Australia has assembled this Motosport 200 Elise to factory specifications. The car has never raced in the UK or here and has new everything! Big brakes, blueprinted standard motor, roller barrel! throttle bodies, Motec, Safety Devices cage, Corbeau seats, and much more.

Great reliable car for Production/Marque Sports or could be a potent Sports Sedan with an upgraded motor. A similar car won the 2001 Production Sports car championship in 2001 beating Porsche GT3's, Due to the closure of Lotus Motosport Australia, this car is being sacrificed at $100,000. Normal new price would be $170,000. Call Peter Landan on 0418 207 600. $100,000, Peter 0418 207 302 600. www.my105.com/38796

79

Open Wheelers

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#■

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●●cooira*'

r

/ tVtorris Cooper S, Original Mkl S, it raced from 1967 as a series production touring car, and improved production from the early 70s, interior trim is original, car has period mods including genuine minilites. Car is has some very special history, is immaculate, road legal, and is ready to race and enjoy. $22900.00. 0438170099 / 07 55641502. www.myl05.eom/72720

Improved Production Mazda RX7, immaculately built car, only 6 races old.

Chrome moly cage, 1:1, 5 speed box with quick change, custom manifold and alloy radiator, electric water pump, thermo, Haitec, factory LSD with spare ratios, 2 piece tailshaft, cambered rear with adj watts linkage, adjustable brake balance bar and much more. Includes large range of spares and trailer. Complete ready to race package. $25,000. Phil (02) 9835 1230.

301 www.my105.com/89211

www.my 105.eom/90633

www.myl05.com/54959

not*

A—1

SI 5 200SX, suitable for GTP, Tarmac Rally, Marque Sports, Drifting & Sprint events.

300 $28,000. Greg 0419 361 908. www.myl05.com/32128

Spectrum 09c, as new 1 race old, latest factory updates, motec data logging, low km engine. $44,000 obo, 03 9521 0888 / 0417 000099.

Toyota Drift/Race/Ratly Car, Originally built as a rally car but has been used at autocross and sprints in Warwick for the last 10 years. All Levin GT parts, LSD, Quick rack, Billsteins etc. $3500 Neg. Terry 07 3201 8866.

301

Dallara F397/8, F397 with F398 updates.

Fresh Tom's Toyota engine. Second in 2002 Championship ( Will Power ) , second in Trophy Ciass 2004. This car has been meticulously maintained & comes with a comprehensive spares package including Data Logger & setup information for most tracks. $60,000 Neg. Sevan 0733755566 302 www.my 105.eom/56609

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f ♦ ♦'

»

: FA/ee 1600 Elfln NG90, with all 04 updates.

Recent 3rd place at Eastern Creek NSW state championship meeting 02/05/04.

Fresh engine, gearbox, full bare chassis rebuild only 6 meetings old. /Ml receipts, Dyno figures, photos etc.

Always immaculately presented, only teh best parts, comprehensive spares package, etc. $19,000 Neg. Russell 0404 804 859 (after 305 4pm). www.myl 05.CO m/75340

VL Group A ex-HDT, brand new rolling chassis, full-floating cambered HARROP 9in diff, AP-Brakes all round, Doug Nash 5speed, Bilstein coil-overs, 17in wheels, 350 Chev needs assembling, features SCAT Crank/Rods, 18deg Alloy-heads, HRT 8 throttle-body intake manifold, setup for dry sump, V8-Supercar exhaust, all brand-new parts used, suit Improved-Production or Sports-Sedan, P.O.A. Marty 0417289169. www.myl05.com/5965

Historic Formula Ford S-African, pretty South African formula ford .inboard suspension, elligble historic series, ready to race- D.A.W. cument producer of race cars in SouthAfrica-must sell-possibly trade road car or ?. $ 19,500.00 Or Best Offer, miles 0419335670 / 03-9808 9241.

302 www.myl05.com/69431

^. vodafon©* :96j

1976 Ford Escort Club Car, Cams log book, full roll cage, brake bias, near new Yokohama Advan tyres on 7” Rebel wheels, ' 12mths since full ground up rebuild. Heaps of spares including motor, diff, gearboxes, body panels etc. Includes single axle trailer with hydraulic override disc brakes. This vehicle is in excellent condition; $12,000 ONO. Darryl (07) 4630 8210 (home) / 0409 301 615 255. www.myl05.com/25493

G-FORCE / MYGALE FACTORY CAR, SJ97 WITH ALL LATEST FACTORY UPDATES EXCELLENT COND FULL DATA LOGGING SYSTEM KONI ADJUSTABLE SHOCKS RITTER BLUE PRINTED ENGINE STEPPED HEADERS FULLY MAINTAINED AND NOTHING TO SPEND SET-UP INFORMATION FOR TRACKS IN VIC AND NSW PERFECT FIRST, VERY COMPETITIVE AND RELIABLE TRACK ASSISTANCE & SPARES AVAILABLE adamk@dpeng.com.au . $27000 Adam 03 85584000 / 0408388879.

Neg.

302

www.myl05.eom/80357

96 Van Diemen Formula Ford, This car is very neat and is ready to race. Well maintained and very reliable car. Great for a State series competitor. An extensive spares package is also available. $20 500 ONO. Ben or Brian 02 4954 7560 / 0409 301 467 136. www.myl05.com/23364 Formula Holden Reynard 93D, Ex Dumbreli. Sequaential updated to 96 suspension, wingsetc. Complete rebuild groud up including $5000 paint, complete with spares minus engine, Motec dash. $55,000 firm. ksmith$titan.co.nz. $55,000.

301 Ken 64 9 274 8646. www.my105.com/17579

7]fifiFwaytosellyourgear! From lust $25* lust log on

(*$25 applies to ads entered directly onto my105.com) Advertising can also be supplied using this form ($10/815 surchage to text only/text 4- pic advertisements) Advertisements will appear in next possible issue of Lfotorsporl News PLUS the. .rjl 05.com website forthree months.

Please read & cross the desired services and calculate the total.

online classifieds Category: □ Sedans □ Open Wheelers

news Description:

□ Parts □ Engines □ Trailers

□ Speedway

□ Wanted □ Photographs

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□ Jobs

□ Other

Please keep ads to no more than 50 words, plus up to 6 photos if desired.

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motorsport news

.V,

Engines

For Lease

formula holden/f4000 engine, formula holden/ f4000 engine v6 buick,330hp lOOOks since rebuild,scat crank argo rods aries pistons roller cam roller rockers ect Shane Wilson spec cam heads and manifold complete with ecu. suit road or race , speedway. $12,000 ONO. mak 0418531797.

302 www.myl05.eom/3504

Parts

2C Supersports 4 Hire/Lease, These superquick 2C Supersports lap quicker than an Aussie Race Car and not far off Carrera Cup times. Well maintained & easy to drive.

Avail for drive days, local sprints, club races up to OLD & NSW State Championship events, www.killa.com.au for more details.

Mike 0418753256.

304 www.my105.com/69986

92 CHEV "GMC" SUBURBAN, RARE 4WD, 454 Big Bloc(Economical) AUTO, ELEX, A/C, CAPTAINS CHAIRS, 7 IN COMFORT AND REAR SEATS FOLD FLAT FOR LUGGAGE OR SLEEPS 2 PEOPLE. 12 MTHS REG. BLUE/BLACK COLOR, FULL SERVICE HISTORY, VERY GOOD CONDITION AND VERY RELIABLE. EXCELLENT TOW VEHICLE $32,500 ONO 0438 405 558. William 0413244244.

301 www.myl05.com/93947

Motorsport Jobs Supra 1 to 1 5th gearbox. Close ratio gearbox, syncro mesh. Full slide on gear set, Albins cut gears. 1 to 1 5th gear, this box was used in winning under 2 litre improved production car for further information piease call. 3990.00 Neg. Justin 303 0416 00 88 98. www.myl05.com/86931

Rally Mechanics, small Melbourne based team requires rally mechanics with specific experience in build, preparation and running cars at national championship level.

Commencing early 2005 and beyond.

Applications in writing by Jan 31 to: The Manager, CM&E, PO Box 1216 Blackburn North VIC 3130.

301 www.tnyl05.com/69715 Marketing & Media, Formula Ford seeks a person to dynamically manage its media/marketing. Includes off/on track, driver, media pre and post race activities.

Requires strong marketing, media and communication skills.

Contract fee/expenses will be negotiated. Send cv, references to experience, cated@escalate.com.au. or P O Box 117, Albion 4010 300 www.myl05.com/98386

Karts for sale

Transporters/Trailers

HIGH PCRTORMAHCE DYNO TUNING NANmOUR

Parts and Tires, Brakes Tilton floor mount olutch/brake pedal assembly new $570 Tilton masters 7 to choose from $50 each Sparco steering wheel new $220 Longacre memory tire/brake pyrometer $400 Wilwood superlite 4 piston calipers and 4 sets of hawk blue pads $450 discs 330/30 with bells to suit HQ/Jag pattern $350 Wilwood prop valve $30. Tires Dunlop slicks 265/630 R16 all 4mm rubber x 6 $100 each, tires Hoosier radial 255 / 50 ZR16 all 4mm rubber x 4 $75 each, and 245/45 ZR 16 all 4/3mm rubber $50 each. Peter 03 9578 302 1964 / 0409 578 196. www.myl05.com/26479

STOLEfl GEAR PLEASE CALL UUITH lAFO stolen 20 Gear Ratio Sets, suit Hewland, FT200 FGB etc. Anonymous phone call identifying person selling such gears greatly appreciated. Chas 03 9752 7639 (b - ah), 303 www.myl05.com/86582

Yokohama A032Rs + VX SS rims, 4 x Holden VX SS 17 x 8 rims, fitted with 235/40R17 Yokohama A032R tyres. Tyres have only done 6 laps of Winton. Tyres retail new at $540ea. $2200,00 ONO. Delian 301 0418 221 353, www.myl05.com/97432

26 January 2005

2 kart trailer. Brand new 2 kart trailer finished In 2 pak white acrylic. Plenty of storage area under bottom kart ramp. Two tyre racks above top kart ramps. Aluminium tread plate is used as a drawbar infill and as a stone guard and trim. 3 new tyres.

Staineiss steel drop tee handles. $4300 Or 302 Best Offer. Garry 0417330116. www.my105.com/92258

Live and Work on the Sunshine Coast, Motor Mechanic Wanted. Above Award wages apply. Contractor acceptable. Trade Qualification not required but experience in tuning and maintaining high performance vehicles. Chassis Dyno and Fabrication an advantage. Must be reliable and able to work unsupervised. Jeff 07 54417700 / 302 0418 712 654. www.myl05.com/75922

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82

Chad Reed deserves mention Hey guys, well done on the 300th issue. I'm one of those tragics that have got every one. I love the mag and always get it over the 'others'. I always read Saward - he tells it like it is!

could imagine and only opened due to outraged customers. Only one refund outlet opened (office only).

Why couldn't they have opened three or four windows to allow customers a little less heartache?

,

(They are quite happy to open the eight windows to get you in).

It's been three to five years since I have been to the speedway. I think that it will be another three to

I enjoy many types of motorsport and love seeing the Aussies take it to the world, so your recent piece on the 30 five years before I return.

'Aussies to watch' was great, I didn't go on Saturday or get a except one thing... major refund. So I spent $49.50 to watch a oversight on one top Australian tractor go around.

Send us your thoughts: no Chad Reed, what the ...?

Wa\jne Everett mail: PO Box 7072, How can this be? BRW recently Wa\jne.Everett@ojfsetnlpine.com.au came out with a list of the highest Gardenvale, VIC 3186 Quiz answer wrong. D’oh! paid Australian sports stars and fax: 03 9596 5030 of all the motorsports stars, C'mon guys. former Australian Supercross and Not wanting to be a complete www.mnews.com.au Motorcross champ and current I smart arse (but I do know my FI, US Supercross Champion Chad tliey were about the only answers I Reed tops the lot at over US$6m got right) the answer to Question 55 (A$7.8m), with Mark Webber FI of your Annual Quiz is not Ricardo ED: Thanks. Our website is simply Zunino, but Mexican driver Hector next at only US$4m (A$5.2m). there to supplement the magazine, by providing some between-issue What Reed has done is simply Rebaque, who replaced Zunino from the British GP onwards in 1980. It's an incredible; no one has ever done it updates on key news. Added value, I think they call it. (it's like Brooke Tattnell winning the easy enough mistake to make, as they both wore black helmets.

Knoxville Nationals)and he doesn't Rain spoils Outlaws for even get a mention - are you kidding?

After France 1980, Zunino only drove three more FI races, 1 in the Wayne Some one help, the guy is a Just a short note to let MNews know non-championship South African GP superstar and has achieved much for Brabham in 1981 and the two what a balls-up Friday night was at more than many in your top 30 list.

All the best for 2005.

South American (Brazil and Parramatta City Raceway two weeks Paul Alexander ago.

Argentina) Grand Prix for Tyrrell, also in 1981.

Firstly, I can't blame them for the blazey@netexpress.com.au downpour prior to the event, but Rebaque finished the 1980 season and did the whole 1981 season for ED: We have had a few comments taking almost two hours to chew up Brabham and then had only one more the track with a grader I think we can about Chad and it is good to see that blame them for. Then, for announcing FI race, the Race of Champions at he is going so well. But, since we do that the night is to be called off...

Brands Hatch in 1983, again in a not cover motocross or supercross, it Brabham. would have been a bit odd to list Ticket holders for Friday could Sam Snape keep their tickets for the next night, him. Maybe we should have added that Porsche 944 racer Eric Bana ... samsnape2@bigpond.com being Saturday. That's OK if you could make the Saturday night.

Refunds weren't available at the time Love the mag and website ED; Quite right. While we are on the event was called off. the subject of our erroneous ways, it Congratulations on your website. It's was Alex Davison who won the . Half an hour later, as we were so good to see the result of street go-kart race in Adelaide Australia's number one motorsport leaving, we overheard security saying that refunds were available. The (Q60). We sincerely hope Hector and publication, for I now have managed Alex forgive us. refunding queue was longer than you to obtain a copy of my first issue for 2005-Issue #300.

What an achievement - shame here in New Zealand your magazine does not appear to gain the distribution it should be getting. I had to shop around to get my latest copy.

Unlike other Australian bi-monthly publications - that are not value for money anyway - Australasian Motorsport News is not as common on the retailer's shelves - but it damn well should be.

As an active V8 Supercar fan, my discovery of your publication more than a year ago was like a dream come true. Not only could it beat its bi-monthly competition hands down (out of two publications alternating in month of issue), MNews overtakes another that is published weekly, which appears out of date before it Big air: Reader Wayne Everett left Outlaws Down Under disheartened goes on sale in New Zealand. after rain postponed Night 2, never to return. Unfortunately for Wayne, Christopher W Herbert it meant he missed action like this, from American Dennis Moore Jr. Taranaki, Neio Zealand

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