Motorsport News Issue 313 - July 6-19, 2005 by V8 Sleuth

FORMULA 1 IS THERE A CRISIS AT WILLIAMS? THE IXIEWS BEHM/MO THE IMEWS CO CO CO CO CO

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No. 313 July 6-19 2005 Australia $5.95 NZ $7.50 inci GST

Double win makes HRT future “far more likely

Is this Holden's ‘Plan B'for Richo? z K

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GARTH TANDER BROCK ON GOODWOOD AND THE VKa

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Issue 313 6-19 July 2005

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30 Five Minutes With Nick Fry Finally, some reward for a tough season at BAR 32 A Siice of Paradise The Editor loses his balls with Bargs and The Simonator 36 When 160mph is barely enough 20 years later, Keke downplays that lap 38 But wait! There’s Mawer Bart’s views on his season so far in British F3 40 Jordan Rates ’em Eddie J has a word about how the FI drivers are going 42 My other 200 cars are priceless A peek inside Bonington’s cave of treasure 46 My Brilliant Carrera Porsche s latest one-make weapon of mass destruction

race coverage

48 HeaRT of Darwin After 5 different V8 winners, Todd repeats at Hidden Valley. Garth and Rick make progress, SBR has its dramas. All the news from Darwin cyir-'h'i '■ 56 Le Team du Home Kimi stars but Fernando Alonso and IHOtOfSPOft the Renault make it five wins at the Frenchest GP of the year

Todd 'in red'

Photos; Cover: Dirk Klynsmith Contents: sutton-images.com. Dirk Klynsmith, Phil Branagan

Is this ●Plan B’for Richo?{P' —

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Gore Plan to Keep Richo Red? 'r-

WHILE Steven Richards remains the 'people's choice' for the vacant 2006 seat at Stone Brothers Racing, we hear of an intriguing plan to keep the experienced Holden campaigner on the red side of the fence. Other than keeping a wary eye on the obvious potential candidates, SBR boss Ross Stone tells us the team hasn't yet gone too far down the path of Am b rosereplacement 'job interviews' - but he would say that, wouldn't he? For his patfRtehards is contracted to Larry Perkins for next year. If, however, LP's situation changes(and there has been much recent discussion about whether he'll continue to run a team in 2006),'then Richo Jnr could be a prime SBR target. And so the interesting pitlane rumour that came our way over the weekend starts to make sense. The story remains totally unconfirmed (but from a reasonable source) as MNews closes for press, but the suggestion is that ebullient WPS boss Craig Gore may have made Richo the mother and father of all offers to drive for him - in one of a pair of Paul Morris Motorsport-built Commodores. While Holden does not, officially anyway, get into driver contracts in the same way Ford has - Messrs Lowndes, Ambrose, Bright and Ingall are all contracted directly to Ford as well as their individual teams - the powerbrokers at Fishermans 4

TODD Kelly has indicated that his recent run of success with HRT may act as an incentive to remain with the team beyond the end of his current contract. Kelly is due to sit down with the team in the next couple of weeks to discuss extending his current deal beyond this year, and said that his back-to-back wins at Shanghai and Darwin will play a part in his decision."It helps, for sure," said Kelly, right. "That chat's not too far away now. It's not what I want to concentrate on now, 1 want to concentrate on doing the same thing at the next round. But certainly, the success that we've had over the last two rounds is what it's all about, and I think it will make a big difference." Kelly also confessed that there had been times when he had felt unsure about his prospects with the team, but said that the recent run of luck demonstrated that HRT had turned the corner. "It was a little bit tougher

earlier on, and you know what it's like when you have a bit of a bad run for a few races," he explained. "But the way we've gone the past two races, the cars are good and we've definitely had everyone's measure at the past two rounds. The engines are good. "All 1 want to do is be with the most competitive team, that's the number one priority, and from the last few races, HRT is that team. So I am pretty keen on being with the best team, and we'll see how the rest of the year goes. "I think the year before 1 moved to HRT, they were still one of the most dominant teams around, and the three or four years before that were just awesome for the team. It all turned around when I went there unfortunately, for one reason or another - a lot of things. So to finally get back on top, we've worked really hard since then and I think it's well

Don Bend might well find the concept of an offer like Gore's an attractive way of ensuring they retain one of their star performers. An added bonus is the enticement of a blue team across the great divide. For his part. Gore has struggled to get meaningful support from Ford for his fledgling team. In a lot of ways, then, the idea makes sense. As the 'Who's going to get the SBR gig' story starts to hot up, it certainly provides an eyebrow-raising option ...

THERE is no panic at Super Cheap Autos Racing,in spite of a tough weekend at Darwin. In his first meeting with the Holden Motor Sport engine, Greg Murphy was shocked to find that the balance of his PWR Racing Commodore VZ had vanished and could not be quickly restored. The four-time Bathurst wirmer had been looking forward to getting his hands on an HMS engine after being the last man on the grid with a Chevrolet 18-degree engine at Eastern Creek and Shanghai. But Murph was disappointed with the set-up of the SCAR VZ at Hidden Valley and he, and the team, appear to be at a loss to understand why. "We never saw this coming,that is for sure," admitted Murphy,right, on Monday. "There is a lot to do to try and work this out. We have forced this upon ourselves, which is not ideal. We need to sit down in the workshop and figure out what to do." One thing that sits in the team's favour is the fact that is has four of its six test days available for the second half of the year. Murphy and team-mate Paul Weel are due to test their cars at Phillip Island next week, prior to the QR round of the series. Murphy had been looking forward to having an HMS engine, which the team sources from Perkins Engineering, at his disposal, citing its superior horsepower numbers when compared to the older Chev. Both PWR cars suffered set-up dramas in Darwin, though Murphy says that "only one thing is induced because of the fact that I left-foot brake." In the meantime Murphy, his engineer Steve Henderson and PWR technical boss Dave Ward can be expected to have some long hours at the team's Dandenong HQ before the next round in two weeks' time. -PHIL BRAN AG AN

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Place Like Home deserved for all the guys there. They've put in, and they've kept their chins up." Kelly also suggested that the option of switching to Ford, which he flagged as a last resort option in our last issue {MN#312), was now effectively off the cards. "It would be one of the hardest things to ever do, to swap manufacturer," he said. "I've been with Holden since the Young Lions programme, so that would be a pretty serious decision to make after all that time. And Rick has sort of come through the same process. "So it would be pretty hard, and there would have to be something fairly wrong to swap. A few of the other drivers have done it, but I don't reckon you'd want to do it more than once. You're either one or the other." - MARK GLENDEIMNING

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WPS to confirm Tag and M&M EXPECT an announcement from V8 Supercar team WPS Racing within the next two weeks, confirming that two international open-wheel drivers are to be the team's endurance drivers. Both have close links with WPS's owner Craig Gore, both love the colours green and gold and one is even married to an Australian woman ... Yes, yes, sorry - Alex Tagliani and Marcus Marshall are the men in question. n Paul Radisich has raised concerns about the scheduling of the two races last Sunday at Hidden Valley, suggesting that the 110 minutes between the end of race two and the start of race three did not offer teams or drivers enough recovery time. "I don't know whether it is TVrelated, but the races are very close together and there is not much time to recuperate," he said. "Between the long, hot races and any problems that you might have with the car, there is not a lot of time to get ready for the last race. You need more time to rehydrate properly in those kinds of conditions - it's not just a matter of drinking a lot of water; it takes time for your system to absorb it properly." Sunday's races were held in ambient temperatures of 31 deg C, with cabin temperatures inside the car climbing into the high-50deg range. n Marcos Ambrose's wallet is $5000 lighter after he was fined by the Stewards for a breach of Rules B6.5.10, B6.8.2 and E2.1.5. at Shanghai. Ambrose was found guilty of failing to obey the directions of an Official, and failing to attend media and promotional activities away from the track. n One for the stat-heads: last weekend's round of the V8 Supercar series was the 350th round of the Australian Touring Car Championship since it commenced in 1960.

6 July 2005

n If you think of Australia's great wine regions, Queensland is not usually the first place that springs to mind. The Morris clan are doing their bit to change that though, with Sirromet's 2002 Seven Scenes Cabernet Sauvignon winning a gold medal in the Red Table Wine class at the recent San Francisco International Wine Competition. Sirromet took a total of three medals home from San Francisco, with their 2002 Seven Scenes Merlot picking up a silver and the 2002 Seven Scenes Chardonnay taking a bronze. 5

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Scot back for Joneses

Cleland returns to partner Brede at Team BOC

GET out your Scottish phrase book, John Cleland is coming back to Australia. The two-time BTCC winner will return to our shores to race in the Sandown 500 and Super Cheap Autos 1000 at Bathurst. Once again, he will race for Brad Jones Racing, sharing a BOC Gases Falcon with Dale Brede. Confirmation of the pairings is expected later this month. "We are very happy with what John has done in the

past," said BJR team manager Kim Jones in Darwin last weekend, "that is the way it may be in the future." This will be the 11th Bathurst start for Cleland, 53. He has shared cars with Peter Brock, Mark Skaife and won the Privateers title at the Mountain when he shared a sixth-paced Commodore with Tony Scott in 1995. He has driven for BJR since 2001, when he and Brad Jones finished a brilliant second after starting the race in 23rd position.

Ford Grip

AUSTRALIAN Champ Car outfit Team Australia will expand its efforts to feeder categories of the Champ Car World Series in the near future. Team Australia, jointly owned by WPS boss Craig Gore, fellow Gold Coast businessman John Fish and long-time Champ Car team owner Derrick Walker, intends to establish 'junior teams' in both the Formula BMW USA and revamped Atlantics series in 2006.

Is four-wheel drive the Focus for Ford's ARC attack?

WORK is continuing on Ford Focus ARC car at the Ford factory in Broadmeadows, however MIMews sources suggest that the widely-held assumption that the Blue Oval will compete with a rear-wheel-drive car may be premature. MNews believes that while the prototype currrentiy under construction will be rear-wheel-drive in order to assist with powertrain development, the competition version of the car could well be a four-wheel-drive. As well as avoiding putting the Focus ARC at an immediate disadvantage against its 4WD rivals at Subaru, Toyota and Mitsubishi, the move also makes sense when viewed in light of the recent VOs (Variant Options) granted to Toyota Team Racing. Like Toyota, Ford's car will be built to Group N (P) specifications due to the lack of road-going equivalent, and such concessions enable the cars to compete with the Group N cars on an equal footing.

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TONY Longhurst will be a team owner in the V8 Supercar Championship Series for the next three years. No announcement is expected to be made for a month but MNews believes that the two-time Bathurst winner has a three-year deal with his major sponsors. However, with the deal covering a 2006-2008, there is no guarantee that WOW Sight and Sound, the team's current sponsor, will continue with the car past the end of this season. Longhurst was not able to shed any light on the subject on Monday. "I am really happy with the way things are going," he said cr yptically. "Maybe something will

come out soon.' While we believe that Longhurst still harbours ambitions to gain the second Team Dynamik Level 1 licence, in the short-term at least, he will continue to split his Commodore entry with the TD car of Simon Wills and both cars will continue to be prepared at TD's Adelaide base. Similarly, Longhurst would not elaborate on who would share the driving duties in his car with Max Wilson. A number of drivers may be on the short-list but a reliable source had told MNews that Longhurst has been in training recently and that he is not certain that he will not be driving the car himself ... - PHIL BRANAGAN

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Patrizi poised to be first driver for Team Austraiia’s Stateside ‘feeder’ squads The arrangement is most likely to be announced at the Lexmark Indy 300 on the Gold Coast this October. The first step in this process was taken some weeks ago, when Formula BMW USA team PoleVision

rounds of the series. Summerton's deal with the team is for the entire season, but Rees, who is a regular in the British Formula BMW Championship, only ran with the team for the two Fl-

Racing was bought by Team Australia. The team's two cars, run by American Jonathon Summerton, pictured above, and Britain's Paul Rees, have been repainted in Team Australia's green and gold livery, but were entered under the Walker

supporting events at Montreal and Indianapolis. It now appears that Team Australia has found its first 'junior' in the form of West Australian Michael Patrizi, who currently races on a BMW Motorsport scholarship in the Formula BMW Asia Championship.

Racing banner at the last two

Patrizi, pictured above, is likely to appear in the second car, rebranded as Team Australia, at the Denver street circuit round on August 14, where Formula BMW USA is supporting Champ Cars. The greater plan for season 2006 is likely to see the two Team Australia FBMWs filled by two young Australian drivers, with at least one further Team Australia car to be fielded in the revamped, Cosworth-powered Atlantics series. nirlc Klvmmlth

; THE man to beat in the V8 Supercar ; Championship Series is still Marcos Ambrose, despite a fairly tough weekend in Darwin. The two-time Champion scored a seasonlow 116 points at Hidden Valley to finish ninth overall after some ill-fortune affected his first „ two races. Ambrose had a pinched exhaust knock his horsepower in Race 1 and had a flat tyre in Race 2, leaving him trundling around for points a lap behind the leaders. i. Ambrose leads Steven Richards by 87 " points, with Russell Ingall (who also has his , worst round of the year after electrical problems stopped him from taking part in Race 3) a further 16 points back in third. 6 July 2005

However, double winner Todd Kelly was the big mover - particularly once drivers' worst rounds are dropped from their points tally. Fourth overall on uncorrected points, Kelly jumps to second on corrected points and becomes Holden’s lead driver in the series. Ingall drops to fourth on corrected points, though he remains 43 points clear of arch rival Mark Skaife. All of that means that Queensland Raceway’s round of the series in two weeks’ time becomes even more crucial for the teams. Most of the Queensland-based teams will test at the track at the end of next week though, when the Holden Racing Team was the team to beat, it was also very competitive at The Paperclip ...

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Scifleet firms for GRM enduro seat EXPECT to see Phillip Scifleet in the colours of Garry Rogers Motorsport for the V8 Supercar endurance races later this year, Scifleet had brokered a deal to drive for Team Perkins Racing in the #24 Castrol Commodore, but has since looked to Garry Rogers after the Perkins squad requested funding be brought to secure a drive for Sandown and Bathurst. "We had a deal with Perkins, but Phil was asked to bring money to the deal. I advised him against that, as I feel he is past the stage of having to bring money," said Scifleet's HPDC Development Series team owner and mentor Paul Cruickshank. n Expect Paul Cruickshank Racing to field three new Porsche 911s in the 2006 Carrera Cup Championship. "We are keen to keep the two i guys we have got this year (Jonathon Webb and James Cressey) and add one car to that," team owner Paul Cruickshank told MNews. Byron Bay teenager and former KartStars champion Andrew Thompson is one driver eyeing off the new drive with the team, which won the last round of the WPS Carrera Cup at Eastern Creek with Webb. Thompson was a guest of PCR at its test day on Monday at Queensland Raceway. "We have had meetings with Andrew and his father at Eastern Creek and then he came up to see our workshop," said Cruickshank, "But we are talking to as many as 10 guys at the moment about the drive next year." n Did you hear the one about the team member that was done for 'entering a prohibited area' at Round 6 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Hidden Valley last weekend? The diligent Ford Performance Racing employee was nabbed for standing somewhere near the braking area for Turn 1. Not so bad, we've all done it. But this chap was reportedly sporting a radar gun, analysing the top speeds of the cars during practice. The fine - $2500. Tip: Next time, wear civilian clothing I n Garth Tander's Race 3 result from Shanghai was increased by 35 seconds after a hearing in Darwin adjudged him guilty in an incident with John Bowe. And from Darwin: WPS Racing fined $750 for missing the Team Manager's meeting: GRM and BJR fined $2000 for letting cars leave pit lane too early in qualifying; Steven Ellery and Paul Weel being fined $5000 and $2500 respectively for taking out... each other; and Craig Lowndes being demoted one spot, behind Paul Dumbrell, for passing under yellow. 7

Power IS Coming Willi Crisi!

Sir Frank says he will have engine deal by end ofJuly

FRANK Williams says that he wants to have his teams engine supply for 2006 and beyond secured within the next month. "I would like an answer by week 30," he said. "It is now week 26." BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen said that discussions had begun between his company and Williams about the possibility of continuing to supply engines to the team for next year, but that no decision have been made yet. However, he also said that if the team decided to source its engines from elsewhere, then BMW would be unlikely to supply any other teams. Speculation suggests that Williams is likely to have a supply from Toyota next season though there is also talk that Honda, with which the team had an association in the 1980s, could supply motors.

Aero changes make FW27 worse as BMW and team fall out Well, I have followed a few: Will Webber, top, pack a Toyota V8 in 2006? MERCEDES BENZ says that it has no intention of following BMW's lead and running its own team in Formula One. "There is no need for us to change our thinking," Mercedes Motorsport Director Norbert Haug told Reuters. "We have been working with McLaren since 1995, we were the second most successful team since 1998. Nobody won more. We were at least runnerup three times and it was not good enough for us. "Good enough will only be wins and world championship wins. We will come back, and we are going to make it. "I know what the engine means. I know that it is much more difficult to build a chassis than to build an engine, with all due respect to the engine guys. It does not mean this is an easy task, but we need to be balanced and realistic. You will find four or five engines in pitlane right now that are very comparable, but you obviously do not find five top chassis at the moment."

Silver Arrbws? IVein!

by JOE SAWARD INTERNAL blood-letting is likely as the Williams FI team analyses its horror weekend at the French Grand Prix. Having gone into the weekend with an all-new and much-anticipated aero package - claimed by the team to provide a four-tenths of a second gain per lap - the team found itself well off the pace rather than challenging for a podium result, as expected. As In January, when the team launched the FW27, there appears to be a marked difference between the predictions of the Williams aero department and the actual on-track performance of the car. Both drivers reported a well-balanced car, but with a lack of grip. In Fl-speak that's a lack of downforce. The galling thing was that nobody quite seemed to know why. As Mark Webber told MNews: "That's the really tough thing. At the moment, we just don't know what has happened. Sam and the engineers are heading straight back to the factory to start work immediately on finding out what's happened. It's not ideal ..."

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Renault FI Team safe, for now...

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CARLOS Ghosn, the new boss of Automobiles Renault, was at the French Grand Prix and said that the company's involvement in Formula 1 is completely safe in the foreseeable future, as he views a successful FI programme as an investment. An unsuccessful FI programme, he said, would be an unnecessary cost. Ghosn, however, added that the most important thing at the moment is not to question the programme, but rather to make sure that Renault is making the most of exploiting its on-track success to sell more cars. Ghosn said that the company will be producing some new vehicles in the near future that will have much more direct links with FI technology. n Triple world champion Niki Lauda is recovering after a kidney transplant. The former triple World Champion and ex-boss of Jaguar Racing received the organ from his girlfriend, Birgit Wetzinger. Lauda's brother donated a kidney to him in 1997, but that had stopped v functioning correctly. -

The team's low-point comes just over a week after BMW announced it had agreed to buy the Sauber team. At this stage, Williams has not announced its plans for 2006 the options being a continuing, but less-focussed, arrangement with BMW,or a deal with another manufacturer. MNews understands that Williams has had discussions with both Toyota and Honda, with the former being the likely option. As if the aero problem was not enough, in Sunday's race, Webber suffered hip burns in a carbon-copy manner to those acquired at last year's Japanese GP, when he drove for Jaguar (a heat seal, at the point that engine wiring passes through the wall of the monocoque, failed, allowing high temperatures to build up under the driver's seat). For more, see Focus on Webber - p 60 6 July 2005

n The Grand Prix de France was supposed to boost the economy of the Nievre departement but this year campaigner Francois Schneider led a protest calling for the event to be cancelled on the grounds that it is 'the ultimate expression of consumer society.' Schneider intended to disrupt the event by walking an ass (and his supporters) on the roads leading to Magny-Cours on Sunday morning. No major disruption was reported.

Theissen brands Williams as "weak

BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen has publicly criticised the performance of the Williamses at last weekend's French Grand Prix, branding their results as "weak". Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld finished the race in 12th and 14th places respectively, despite the introduction of drastic and longanticipated aerodynamic revisions to theFW27. "The race was as weak as the qualifying," Theissen, right with Frank Williams, said. "Neither of our drivers had a chance to improve. Towards the end of the race, both cars suffered mechanical problems, which need to be analysed. The engines ran without problem. "Before the Grand Prix in Silverstone we need to analyse the data of this weekend in order to find the reason for our weak performance

here. Testing would be helpful in this situation, but is impossible due to the calendar." Webber's race was compromised by burns to his hip caused by the failure of a seal in the cockpit, while Heidfeld spent the afternoon battling serious mechanical problems. Theissen's comments come just two weeks after BMW announced that it was purchasing Sauber in order to run its own team next year.

n The Formula One Management accounts reveal that Williams and McLaren are taking law firms Linklaters and Baker & McKenzie to court, alleging that they acted negligently in negotiating and preparing contracts in 1998 in which they each believed they had secured rights to receive a US$35m windfall from a flotation or sale of the company. After the flotation was abandoned, Ecclestone sold the business but did not have to pay the two teams because of contractual details. n Last weekend's successfuMOhour L/Ve Sconced in London's Hyde Park underlines the fact that the park is quite capable of hosting a Grand Prix if the right money can be found. The infrastructure and the noise will not be an issue. n There has been a reshuffle of the race engineering team at Red Bull Racing with Gerry Hughes, the chief race engineer, moving to other duties and the job being given to Paul Moynihan, who was an engineer at Renault last year. There have been rumours of some disagreements in recent months. -JOE SAWARD 9

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20 dates, 1 not 20 races THE FIA has issued a calendar of 20 blocked dates for Formula 1 next year, but almost immediately Bernie Ecclestone let it be known that there will not be 20 races in 2006. The FI teams are committed to 16 races plus one in extraordinary circumstances (although 17 races became the norm some time ago). This year wheeling and dealing took the total up to 19 races, although some teams have complained that they are losing money on the extra races. Bernie Ecclestone is not. Ecclestone, however, has some problems in 2006 because of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March and the soccer World Cup in Germany in June. Ecclestone says that the dates are provisional and may yet change. The 'most likely' provisional dates, below, confirm that Melbourne's race will be on April 2.

Likely Calendar 2006

Bahrain March 12 March 19 Malaysia Australia April 2 San Marino April 16 Spain or France April 30 France or Spain May 14 Monaco May 28 June 4 Nurburgring Canada June 18 June 25 Indianapolis no indication July 2 Britain July 16 Germany , July 30 Hungary ; August 6 Turkey August 27 Belgium September 10 Italy September 17 Brazil October 1 October 15 Japan China October 22 -JOE SAWARD

FIA finds 2 of 5 charges proved: no sentence yet by JOE SAWARD WHILE the FIA World Council found the seven Michelin FI teams guilty of two (of five) charges last week,the question of penalties has been postponed until a special general meeting of the council, in September. The Council found the seven Michelin teams guilty of two of the five charges brought, namely "failing to ensure that they were in possession of suitable tyres for the United States Grand Prix" and "wrongfully refusing to allow their cars to start the race, having regard to their right to use the pitlane on each

lap".

The ruling was an obvious attempt at compromise, but the teams remain angry and are appealing the decision at the International Court of Appeal as the charges,in effect, mean that they have been found guilty of "acts prejudicial to the interests of a competition." The most bizarre element of the decision is that the teams were not actually charged with the second offence but rather with having "wrongfully refused to allow your cars to race, subject to a speed restriction in one corner which was safe for such tyres as you had available". Thus they have been found guilty of something different to the charge they were facing. This has simply served to undermine the credibility of the

Drivers angry at FIA threat

GPDA statement canned: was DC threatened? ALTHOUGH it declined, in the end, to issue a prepared statement at the weekend,the Grand Prix Drivers Association and virtually all of its members are incensed at threats apparently made to GPDA Board member David Coulthard. (iloulthard reportedly received an animated phone call from FIA President Max Mosley after 19 drivers signed a statement in support of the teams which failed to start the US race. When Coulthard passed on Mosley's remarks to his fellow drivers, it seems that some of them became rather upset. In the end, however, no-one was willing to discuss publicly what it was that was causing so much stress and strain. The matter is likely to be revisited when a scheduled meeting between Mosley and the drivers takes place at Silverstone, later this week. - JOE SAWARD 10

"Over the last days, you have repeatedly blamed us in the press, directly or indirectly. Will you at least recognize publicly that we have taken a courageous, honest and transparent stance for the safety of the pilots? I hope you will be fair enough to acknowledge that Michelin, with its seven partner teams, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Formula One Management and two other teams, did the maximum to preserve a true and safe race by proposing a very serious and pragmatic alternative. This is all the opposite of a boycottI" EDOUARD MICHELIN to MAX MOSLEY "We cannot agree with your claim that Michelin did 'the maximum to preserve a true and safe race.' "You failed to bring a safe back-up tyre to the event and your representatives apparently refused to countenance any solution other than a chicane. Anyone with knowledge of the International Sporting Code or an appreciation of the legal climate in the United States would know that a chicane was never an option. "The banking on Turn 13 has been there for nearly 100 years and Michelin have raced on it many times. Did Michelin really not know the loads or failing that, not have the means to calculate or simulate them?"

MAX MOSLEY to EDOUARD MICHELIN

decision and while the team's legal counsel are now pushing hard for the teams to openly attack the FIA, the teams remain cautious - at least for the moment. But there is no question that pressure is building. Tire World Council was obviously trying to find some compromise without being seen to give way but the problem with this is that the decision solved nothing and the underlying tensions in the sport remain. "I wouldn't exclude a ban or tv\'o," Mosley had said in the days before the World Council. "If it emerges that the guilt of certain teams is of a certain level, then a ban will be justified. There are various other possibilities - points being deducted, a fine or reprimand. I don't know what will happen until we hear from the teams." But the teams also have a lot of supporters, including the majority of the fans. Sir Jackie Stewart, president

of the British Racing Drivers' Club, has also come out against Mosley. "The infrastructure failed," Stewart told BBC Radio. "The FIA communication system failed totally. In all the years. I've never seen such damage done, and I think it was avoidable." Stewart warned tlrat a serious punishment would be "scandalous". "I think the sport, if it's allowed to be dealt with in that fashion, can't go on with the leadership it has, if that is the case," he said. "We've got to have a w'orkable organisation because those teams are being supported financially by multi national corporations around tire world. In the normal business sector, where corporate life has a very dim view of that kind of situation being allowed to occur, the management of the whole structure is put into question. I think the people at the top are vulnerable." The fact that the council decided to

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Michelin man reduced to tears

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dodge the issue of penalty until September 14 means that the teams feel threatened, despite Mosley contention that,in his opinion, the punishment for not racing in Indianapolis should not be World Championship points. The justification for delaying the aimouncement of a penalty was rather limp, given that Michelin had announced the previous day, with brilliant timing, that it is going to refund tickets for this year's race and purchase 20,000 tickets for next year's race and will give them to spectators who were present in 2005. Mosley continued to attack Michelin, blaming the French tyre company for the whole business and one remark in his press conference made it very clear just how bad the relationship now is between the FLA and Michelin.

The FIA, Mosley said, wants to "make sure that Michelin does what it says it is going to do". Mosley said that the FIA will still be pushing ahead with its investigation into Michelin tyre failures in the last two years to see whether or not the tyres are dangerous. This followed a bitter exchange of letters between Mosley and Edouard Michelin. At Magny-Cours,it was significant that the seven team principals involved,plus Bemie Ecclestone who continues to try to be on both sides at the same time - appeared for a press briefing in front of the Michelin motorhome in the FI paddock, giving a very clear message that they are all in support of Michelin. The message given out at this briefing was that no matter what the FIA rules on the matter, the teams were not in a position to race at Indianapolis. "The simple fact is that the teams put safety before any commercial consideration," said Ron Dermis, going on to explain that the laws in Indiana are such that the teams could have been prosecuted for reckless endangerment if they had raced knowing that there was a problem with the tyres, even if there had not been an accident. The team's case was backed up by a letter signed by 19 FI drivers, which argued, very convincingly, that the FIA's proposal to have Michelin cars running at a speed limit through the corner was completely unworkable. The drivers argued that a chicane would have been the correct thing in the circumstances. 6 July 2005

MICHELIN motorsport boss Pierre Depasquier has said that he was in tears when the seven teams that use his tyres were forced to withdraw from the US Grand Prix. "The start of the race was unbearable," he told Reuters. "I went to a corner and cried for 15 minutes." Depasquier also reiterated his disappointment with the FIA after the governing body rejected all of Michelin's proposed solutions, and its subsequent determination to hold Michelin responsible for the six-car disaster. "When a friend of-yours is hurt, you try to help him," Depasquier said. "You do not take a rifle to shoot him."

Michelin's $13m refund

EDOUARD Michelin, the man in charge of the giant Michelin tyre company, has announced that the company he runs will refund the tickets for the estimated 130,000 people who bought tickets for the United States Grand Prix. With tickets averaging around US$100,the cost will be in excess of US$13m. In addition,the company has announced that it will purchase 20,000 tickets for 2006 and will provide these to spectators at the 2005 race free of charge. This will cost an additional US$2m.

"This is an important decision, since Michelin is not at all legally bound to do this," the company said in a statement. "Michelin deeply regrets that the public was deprived of an exciting race and therefore wishes to be the first, among the different groups involved in the Indianapolis race,to make a strong gesture towards the spectators. Michelin also offers to buy 20,000 tickets for the 2006 US Grand Prix to be given to spectators who were present atthe Indianapolis race in 2005. "We are offering this to promote further Formula 1 interest in the United States. We would also like to take this opportunity to underline the fact that it is unacceptable that our partner teams have been accused by the FIA of having boycotted the Indianapolis Grand Prix." The statement went on to say that Michelin and its partners did "everything possible to assure that the race could take place in total safety".

"We are extremely disappointed that the proposals made with all our teams were not accepted," Michelin went on. "These proposals, including a chicane, were technically viable and totally met all safety requirements. On Sunday morning, June 19,the sporting authority had all the means necessary to preserve the interest of the race. "And yet, the sporting authority rejected the proposed solutions. Why? In our view this is totally incomprehensible and reflects a lack of respect for the spectators. It is the spirit of respect for the spectators that brought us, with our partners, to propose solutions to allow the race to take place in total safety. It is this same spirit that leads us today to make this gesture." The statement shows the sorry state of the relationship between the two parties, which was also highlighted in a series of letters which were leaked to

n If you happen to find a chihuahua puppy in your backyard that answers to the name of 'Scoopy', give the Toyota FI team a call. Ralf Schumacher's miniature dog has gone missing while Ralf and family were holidaying in St. Tropez in the south of France just prior to last weekend's Grand Prix. According to Schumacher, the creature was most likely dognapped. "It was stolen, I didn't lose it," he said. "I went out and usually it runs around me always, and suddenly it was gone. It seems to be frequent that they nick dogs and try to sell them back, but we haven't heard anything from anybody yet. It's a lovely dog. We hope we get it back." n The Jordan FI team had a less than ideal start to their French GP weekend when they were forced to abandon their hotel due to a Legionnaire's Disease scare. "The information I have is that they found Legionnaire's bacteria in the hotel at a very high rate," said team boss Colin Kolles. "There are regulations that say they have to repeat the test, which takes about 48 hours, so we decided to move hotels because it's too dangerous."

of 10 turbulent days," Nick Shorrock, director of Michelin's FI activities said. "And it confirmed what we have

n The book has been closed on the weight irregularities detected in the Subarus of Petter Solberg, Chris Atkinson and Stephane Sarrazin and the Mitsubishi of Gigi Galli at the Acropolis Rally two weeks ago. Both teams were fined after their cars were found to be underweight by between four and 12 kilograms, however the penalty was thrown into question when problems were found with the calibration of the scales. After analysis of the scales this week however, it has been decided that the penalties will stand, and that no further action will be taken.

always known: Michelin produces racing tyres that unite speed, durability and safety," -JOESAWARD

n Robbie Kerr and Alex Lloyd have been selected as the two drivers for the John Surtees-led A1 GP Team Great Britain.

the press last week (see breakout). After Fernando Alonso's dominant victory at Magny-Cours, Michelin issued a press release giving a very clear picture of its views on recent events: "This was a brilliant result atthe end

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MOTORING giant Toyota last week confirmed the long standing rumours that the it will withdraw from North American open-wheel racing at the end of 2006. The most drastic effect of this decision will be felt in the Indy Racing League, where the Marlboro Team Penske, Target Chip Ganassi and Red Bull Cheever Racing squads are all powered by Toyota, as well as several lesser entries. "This was simply a decision to move in a different direction after having our major US

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motorsports emphasis on openwheel racing since 1994," said J. Davis Illingworth, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, senior vice president. "Just as our participation in IMSA Sportscar racing ran its course after 12 years of participation, so has our US open-wheel racing program after 12 years in the IRL and CART." The decision now leaves no doubt that Toyota will focus its Stateside motor racing involvement on NASCAR, extending its involvement beyond the current Craftsman Truck Series into the Busch Series and Nextel Cup divisions. With Chevrolet withdrawing its engine supply to the series at the end of this year, the Indy Racing League now finds itself in somewhat of a bind, with Honda said to be reluctant to remain involved in the series without competition from its

long-held Japanese rival. A statement from the IRL stated "the IndyCar Series will head into the 2006 season with Toyota and Honda as its engine suppliers and is in the process of finalising guidelines for 2007 and beyond with current and potential engine suppliers that will ensure cost-effectiveness and a ready supply for participants." Another effect of the decision will be the withdrawal of Toyota support for the fledgling Toyota Atlantic Series, the feeder series for the Champ Car World Series. The Atlantics series is to be relaunched later this year, with Cosworth to be the new engine supplier and new chassis also used. Australian driver Ryan Briscoe, below, entered the IRL this year through his links with Toyota. His contract to race with the Toyota-engined Ganassi team expires at the end of 2006,

and it is not yet known whether Briscoe will depart the series when Toyota does, although this is likely, as Briscoe's intention has always been to attain a competitive drive in Formula 1. Toyota entered Champ Car as an engine supplier in 1996, winning that title with Juan Pablo Montoya and the Ganassi team in 1999, below. Toyota then switched with Honda to the rival IRL Series in 2003, winning the title with Scott Dixon in 2003, again with Ganassi. - PHIL MORRIS

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Creek A1 GP Set

PREPARATIONS for Australia's round of the new A1 Grand Prix series to be held at Eastern Creek in Sydney have moved a step closer, with FIA International Track

Inspector Pat Higgins examining the circuit and handing his findings to CAMS and the FIA. Eastern Creek currently holds an FIA Level 3 circuit licence, but requires a Level 2 licence for the A1 GP round. Improvements recommended by Higgins, right with A1 GP Team 12

Australia head Alan Jones, apparently include the construction of debris fencing and improvement of run-off areas.

Once the changes are implemented. Eastern Creek will be Australia's highest-graded permanent racing circuit. Jones is expected to soon announce the A1 Team Australia's driver line up, with Will Power, Will Davison, Christian Jones and Karl Reindler still in the frame. - CHRIS JORDAN

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NEWS

Ronaldo scores for A1 Team Brazil

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Will Honda go Sporty? ... with these two homhres(plus one)? WITH Toyota's plans for racing in the USA now clear - even if the company is actually still to announce its Busch Series program - the spotlight now falls on Honda. The two companies are known to have a preference for racing each other, rather than just racing. While this now appears almost impossible, there are signs that Honda may remain in the USA,even if it does follow Toyota out of IndyCar racing and into NASCAR. Our sources in the States say that California-based Honda Performance Development has a plan to enter the LMP2 division of the 2007 American Le Mans Series. If that were to be the case, Honda would face off against

Penske Motorsport's Porsche, above (see last issue). The other question to be addressed would be how the Honda project would be run. It is likely that the program would closely follow that of the Penske/Porsche example, with HPD developing the cars, possibly in partnership with external chassis experts, and leave it to an established team to race the cars in the series. Honda has deals in place with a number of successful outfits, including Rahal Letterman Racing and Fernandez Racing but there are good reasons to think that the team to run the program would be Andretti Green Racing. The team has built an outstanding record as

F Atlantic Changes

TOYOTA'S withdrawal from North American open-wheel motorsport will have another significant effect on motorsport, with the Toyota Atlantic series to take on a new look for 2006. Champ Car World Series owners Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerry Forsythe are said to be well-prepared for the withdrawal'of series engine supplier and supporter Toyota, rebranding the series and having their Cosworth Engineering company supply new engines for the cars. New chassis are also likely, as well as a relaunched series, with rebranding, a structured system of prizemoney and increased profile for the series, which started as Formula Atlantic in 1974 and whose champions included Gilles Villeneuve, Michael Andretti, Patrick Carpentier and AJ Allmendinger.

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Honda's lead outfit in the IRL and there appears little to say that success could not be transferred to Sportscar racing. But the kicker is this; as recently as last month,American racing legend Mario Andretti repeated his oftstated ambition to race in a 24 Hour race with son Michael and grandson Marco before he formally retires. Andretti Sr,65, above, has raced in Sportscar events before with AGR co owner Michael,43, but the chance to include his 18-year-old grandson in the event would almost surely prove irresistible to Andretti - and to Honda. With Daytona's 24 Hour race firmly in the camp of ALMS's lowtech rival, the Rolex Sports Car Series, the most likely event for the three-generation assault on an endurance classic would be Le Mans, in 2007. With household names involved,like Andretti and Penske, two American-based teams and Honda and Porsche facing off in the world's most famous endurance race, the headlines would be huge. With Peugeot planning a return to the race in the same year and Audi musing on I a diesel version of its awesome R8, I 2007 may just be the greatest Le 'I Mans of them all ... = - MORRIS/SPURRING

A1 TEAM Brazil was launched in Sao Paulo last week by Ronaldo, the three-times FIFA World Footballer of the Year, and Emerson Fittipaldi, the two-times Formula 1 World Champion. : "Like soccer, A1 Grand Prix will be a team sport," said Ronaldo. "In soccer, we've already won the World Cup five times and it would be wonderful to win the first 'World Cup of Motorsport' as well. The participation of Emerson, who has two World titles and two Indy 500 victories to his name, is justified by our common goal to bring technological innovation and highdose adrenaline to Brazil." Fittipaldi added: "The concept of A1 Grand Prix is fantastic. This category gives the edge to the driver because all the cars are identical. Brazilian fans will be able to support our team in the same way they support the national soccer team." n Ferrari raised more than 10 million in an unprecedented auction of cars at its Fiorano test track in Maranbello, Italy, this week, some of which will be going to Asian tsunami charities. A 2004 World Championship winning F2004 Formula 1 racecar was sold for a record 2.7 million (US$3.3 million). n Still smarting from its defeat at the hands of GM Motorsoort's Corvettes at Le Mans, Aston Martin Racing has confirmed that it will compete in next month's Spa 24 Flours in Belgium, It will be the new team's first event in the FIA GT Championship. Team principal George Howard-Chappell noted: 'We've always said that 2005 is a test and development year for us and, while we've enjoyed encouraging results in our opening three races, we recognise that there's still much to do to make the DBR9 a car capable of consistently winning races. Spa will give us an ideal opportunity to build on our promising start.' -QUENTIN SPURRING

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Motor Sport Foundation ^ves Brit F3ieader a ieg up \ BARTON Mawer has secured funding from the Australian Motor Sport Foundation for his British Formula 3 campaign. The backing from the AMSF couldn't have come at a better time for Mawer, who currently leads the National Class in the coveted series. The backing should see him complete the championship. He said last week that he was rapt to have secured not only the vital cash, but the Foundation's endorsement. "It has got to be the best news I've had in months," Bart told MNews^-'"The AMSF decided to help out a bit financially. It won't get us to the end of the year but it will keep us there for a couple of meetings and

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allows us time to | source the rest of the ! funds, which I'm i by PHIL MORRIS sure we can do." i "The money ; they're suppling isn't SEBASTIEN Bourdais is working hard to be the next French Formula the full budget, but I \ it's the endorsement i One driver. The Champ Car star, who was at of the AMSF that I j can use to sell i Magny Cours last weekend, told 3n reporters that he was seeking a seat myself to get more j backers - and for in GP racing next year - but only is he could be a frontrunner. next year as well. I'm "France needs a Formula One trying to build a profile and driver and Formula One needs a get a bit of weight behind us for next year and the future. Their support is really priceless." Mawer recently won both of the National class races at Castle Combe. The next three rounds of the series takes the British series to three Grand Prix circuits - Monza, Silverstone and Nurburgring. - GRANT ROWLEY

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For more on the Mawer Man, see

French driver," he said. "Obviously everybody in the paddock knows what I can do and where I am." Bourdais has experience in FI testing and was looking for a full time role with Renault after he won the European Formula 3000 title three years ago. But nothing was available at the time and he joined Newman Haas Racing in the USA. "It was quite difficult in 2002 when I was in Formula 3000 but my status has changed," he continued. "If something came up I would be ready to take it. "A lot of people took it the wrong way when I said I wanted to make it to Formula One only if I had the chance to win races. "That is my motivation and why I am driving. If you don't feel you can do something you might as well

be at the office and do something else. It is obviously reducing the options quite a lot. "To be a test driver might have been something interesting in 2002 when I was 23 years old but now I am 26 years old and in a professional series. I guess if I make the jump it has to be in a team that would allow me to perform properly. "If not I would not last very long. You don't get a lot of chances - you get one and if you don't do well, you don't stay." Bourdais pointed at current FI drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve, both of whom raced in CART in the United States

before joining Williams. "Jacques, when he came over, won the championship and Montoya was a sensation. "A good driver is a good driver and he will do well. I hope I can be considered a good driver who deserves his chance in Formula One." France is now without an FI driver after Olivier Fanis took a role as test driver with Toyota. Bourdais says that he is now banking on making the grade from Champ Cars. "I hope so because if not, I am really screwed," he concluded.

Even Playstation users need to crawl before they walk...

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EVER wanted to be a Steven Ellery Racing V8 Supercar driver? Think that you need time in the Development Series before you step up" into the major league? As reported in MNews after the Clipsal 500, Playstation’s new V8 Supercar game will also feature HPDC V8 Supercars. Pictured here are the Kanga Loaders and Hydraulink Falcons, campaigned this season by SER.

HANDS up if you have struggled to tell the difference between the Holden Racing Team and the HSV Dealer Team on the track in 2005? Right. Then you'll all be pleased to know that the

motorsBon news

NEWS

I want FI drive

French Champ Car star wants a start at his home Grand Prix next year...

Some Insight for Australian F3 DAVID Borg and his crew have finally got around to naming their Australian Formula 3 team, after Borg split with Sam Astuti to form his own F3 outfit. Insight F3 is the name, and we will probably be seeing plenty of it this year, with Aaron Caratti leading championship after dominating the latest round at Queensland Raceway last weekend. Aaron's brother Nathan will pilot the team's second Dallara F304, which will soon be repainted in the silver and red that Aaron debuted on the weekend. Insight's third car, an F301, is for sale, leaving Borg on the sidelines to concentrate on team management duties. n Another movement in the Formula 3 paddack regards Chris Alajajian's car being run by its third team in three rounds. After starting the year under the Astuti Competition banner, Alajajian and his Dallara F304 went the Astuti way of the amicable split after Mallala, with the car then run by the newly-formed Astuti Motorsport squad. At the weekend the Sydney driver's car was run by Scott Anderson's ProTechnica operation, the team that has previously entered 'the Chris' in Production and Performance cars, in a Subaru Liberty and Impreza WRX STi respectively.

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n Team Dynamik was sporting a new major sponsor at Hidden Valley last weekend, with Darwin-based regional airline Air North lending its support to the Adelaide team, pictured below. The airline will remain on the car as an associate sponsor for the remainder of the season. "It's great to have them on board," said Simon Wills. "We've been running into a few budget problems this year, so they have really helped us out."

some claniy similarities are about to change. Having just claimed its first podium finish, HSVDT will undergo a facelift to both of their cars before the endurance races. The Holden's will be predominantly red and black, with flashes of silver, which is

6 July 2005

said to be reminiscent of the Young Lions days of 2002. HSVDT regular drivers Tander and Rick Kelly will be joined by experienced Bathurst drivers Mark Noske and Tim Leahey in the endurance races. - GRANT ROWLEY

n Highlights from Willowbank Raceway's 2005 Winternationals drag racing spectacular will be taken shown in prime-time half hour allocations on Channel Nine's hugelypopular Speedmachine program. The Winternats will be aired during a successive three-week campaign starting on Saturday July 16.

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Mitsubishi gets Lancerer EXPECT Mitsubishi to run three cars in the upcoming tarmac rounds of the WRC in Germany, France and Spain as it looks for a way to keep rising Italian star Gigi Galli in its driver line-up for the remainder of the season. Galli had been slated to share the second Lancer WRC05 with veteran tarmac guru Gilles Panizzi, however Gain's good results in the first half of the year look like being enough to convince the team that he is worth keeping in the car full-time so that they can evaluate his potential as a full-time driver for next season. "The plan was always to run two cars and that's still the case," said Mitsubishi motorsport's Isao Torii. "When we get to the asphalt rounds, however, we have a good possibility to run three cars, as we did last year, thanks to help from local importers." Galli said that if such an opportunity arose, he would grab it with both hands.

Look Mama, no 'ands! Mitsubishi's third car in Argentina gives us an ideal excuse to run this shot of our favourite 11/Wths rally loony, Gigi Galli.

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IF you were ever looking for a reason to go to Norisring, you've now got one. DTM organisers are in the process of trying to arrange a one-off 'legends' race for charity at the circuit next month for a host of Formula One world champions. Four-time champion Alain Prost, below, has signalled his intention to participate, and has already got some DTM miles under his belt after testing cars from all three manufacturers at Oschersleben last week. "I enjoyed the day very much," he told Autosport. "The cars are good fun to drive. I'm looking forward to the event at Norisring." Organisers are also targeting such luminaries as Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet, Niki Lauda, Keke Rosberg, Jody Schecker and Nigel Mansell. Damon Hill was also approached, but has declined.

Hie Return of Recar ROBERT Jones will make a return to the HPDC V8 Supercar ranks this weekend at Eastern Creek Raceway for the third round of the Development series. The New South Welshman has been sidetracked in the early part of this season after the Jones family bought

YESSIR,that relieved pollie sitting next to Russell Ingall is Alexander Downer. The Foreign Minister, and noted petrol-head, went for a gallop in the Caltex Havoline Ford last Friday at 16

the RECAR transport repair company from long-time owner and former Bathurst nmner-up Allan Browne. Jones's black Commodore VX has undergone a complete rebuild since the end of last year and will contest the remainder of the championship. -GRANT ROWLEY

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Hidden Valley and described the experience as "absolutely exhilerating, unbelievable." Ingall had his worst weekend of the year but we are certain that it had nothing to do with Mr Downer ...

motorsgortnews

NEWS

Formula 5000s to rock Brands THE Historic Sports Car Club Superprix over 22-24 July, on the full-length Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit, will include the largest field of Formula 5000 single-seaters assembled in the UK since the 1970s in a re-enactment of the popular FI vs F5000 Race of Champions event. At least 25 are expected of the stockblock 5-litre V8 single-seaters, nine of them from New Zealand. n Seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher and his Scuderia Ferrari team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, will call into the UK's Rockingham Motor Speedway next week on their way to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. They will watch some of the track action in this year's Shell EcoMarathon UK, which challenges t entrants to design, build and drive *■ the world's most fuel-efficient vehicle. The current record, set last year, is held by a Japanese team called 'Fancy Carol', which achieved the astonishing consumption figure of n, 195mpg using a special Shell fuel similar to 'Optimax', produced using the same techniques as the company's Formula 1 fuel.

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FORD WRC boss Malcolm Wilson has^ . confirmedLhis interest flS the services of reigning Champion Sebastien Loeb for next year. Loeb is one of several highly-rated drivers who could be on the market for 2006 following the impending withdrawal of Citroen and Peugeot from the World Rally Championship. Along with Loeb, two-time champion Marcus Gronholm and rally winner Markko Martin will all be out of drives, along with the mercurial Francois Duval. Loeb has admitted that he considers Ford to be one of his major options, however it there are strong rumours that the Frenchman could spend next year with 6 July 2005

a privafeer Citroen team ahead of a possible return by the manufacturer in 2007. What Loeb has done is sensational. said Wilson. I don't see any rally - apart from maybe Finland - that he can't win this season. Everybody knows that we are targeting 2007 and 2008 as crucial years for Ford in the WRC. That's when we need to deliver. Sebastien is the driver of the moment - o* course we're interested in talking to him. just like we're talking to Gronholm and Martin. At the same time though. Ford is in a strong position. We're really one of only two squads with space and a long-term commitment."

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■ Citroen Xsara WRC driver Sebastien Loeb's victory on the Acropolis made him the second man to win five World Rally Championship events in succession, equalling the record set in 1992 by his French compatriot, Didier Auriol with a Lancia Delta Integrate. His success in Greece, ahead of Toni Gardemiester's Ford and his own accomplished stand-in team mate at Citroen Sport, Carlos Sainz, followed four wins in Turkey, Cyprus, Italy and New Zealand. Loeb is considering his options in view of Citroen's withdrawal from the WRC at the end of this season. The French manufacturer might announce a return in 2007 if the FIA reduces the costs of competing. If not, then Loeb may drive a Citroenbacked 'privateer' Xsara for the Team Kronos Racing team, for which Manfred Stohl currently competes. ■ The word in Italy is that Alfa Romeo's ongoing programme in the World Touring Car Championship in 2006 will be based not on the new 159 model, but on the smaller 147. The existing Super 2000 racecar will be redundant at the end of this season when the 156 passenger car range is replaced by the 159, but motorsport reportedly does not feature in the company's promotional plans for the new model. -QUENTIN SPURRING 17

by PHIL MORRIS BOUNCING back from his first DNF in 19 months, defending IRL Champion Tony Kanaan has narrowly-won the Argent 300 at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway from team-mate Dan Wheldon last weekend. his first win for 2005. 'Kanaan's victory margin of 0.012 seconds marked the 50th time an IRL race has been decided by a margin of less than one second, and was also the sixth-closest finish in the series' 10-year history. "Losing by that much is very, very difficult," said Wheldon, who continues to dominate the points standings. "But that's Kansas for you." Vitor Meira was third, the

second year in a row that the young Brazilian has lost out in a close finish at Kansas. Last year, it was Meira's team-mate Buddy Rice that was fractionally ahead of him at the line, as opposed to the two Andretti-Green cars this year. I have lost the last two races (at Kansas) by about four feet and under threehundredths of a second," said Meira. "Man,that is pretty close. I would like to win one of these races pretty soon. Meira's Rahal-Letterman Racing team-mate Danica Patrick, below, became the second female (after Sarah Fisher) to secure an Indy Racing League pole position on the Saturday. "It felt good to lead on that first lap but I think our fifth wtron-trTurrs.com .

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gear wasn't quite fast enough," said Patrick. The race was not as kind for Patrick, finishing ninth. Dario Franchitti trailed home the leading trio, who were spread three-wide across the finish line, pictured above, in fourth. Tomas Scheckter continued his and Chevrolet's resurgence with fifth while the highest-placed Toyota was

Darren Manning in seventh. It was a terrible day for Australian Ryan Briscoe, and in reality all things Toyotapowered; the Toyota cars now outpowered by the Panther Racing Chevrolet-engined cars. Briscoe's race ended on lap 113 after clutch failure. Points: Wheldon 335, Kanaan 259, Castroneves 230, Franchitti 219, Hornish Jr 216, Meira 205, Herta 198. lnd\ Radni; I cjfuc

'3.

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taking to the flagman's Stewart took four tyres on up front, cut his right rear tyre TONY Stewart blitzed the rostrum in delight at finally his final stop, restarting fifth and gave the wall a hard field at Daytona last weekend, ma king it to Daytona's Victory behind Kasey Kahne, Jimmie knock, rebounding into leading 151 of the 160 laps to Lane. Johnson, Dave Blaney and Championship leader Greg take his second win in "I'm too damn fat to be succession. Matt Kenseth. He took the Biffle's Ford climbing fences," said "I finally got a Daytona lead with a four-wide move Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Stewart. trophy" said Stewart. "I don't entering turn one around the Gordon, both of whom have - MARTIN D CLAR K think Lyone will really outside of Kenseth with 15 had horrible results of late, understand how good this car laps to run and was finally got the monkeys off realiv was This was a night unchallenged thereafter. their backs. Jr. started 39th in Rnai result: Stewart(Chevy^ thalwl'thappen againfor a There wire several 'minor' the race and finished third . really, really long time. I'm incidents, but the closest thing with Gordon seventh after {Ford)!johnson (Chevy), Gordon very adamant about taking this to the obligatory restrictor starting 15th but fighting a - ,chevy), wi Wallace(Chevy), Kenseth car back to the shop and _ plate'big one'came about loose race car^during the first (Fordi,Schrader(Dodge). _saving it for February (Daytona when Jeff Gordon and Jamie _ point standings; Johnson 2378, Biffie - _ -●500)." ■- ■ -McMurray pitted. A drafting After th^ race Stewart went gaos, Stewart 2242, Sadier2i78,R ' Con'Stant rain saw the race ~ Scott Rjggs-apparently failed .one better than Helio -Wallace 2173, Newman 2115, _ ' delaved-bv two-and-a-halT tO see-their signals'and wiped _ .Castroneves, climbing the ^ McMurray 2093, Martin 2068, Kurt ^ *bunVlaTk Martifi-, ''frontstretch c^tch fence and JT Busch 2030, Jarreo 2030. _ - ..Thoursrand wi^h the "help of a _ _Kurt Bosch, _ :r -few yellow flags, the clock had- Bobby-Labonte ajid Ca^y SteWart'ffnalVgteetld^ffil" chequered flag.

Not long after thaT Michael Waltrip. who'd Been running

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Truex Grit MARTIN Truex Jr. the currerrt Busch Series

Champ and points leader won the Busch race at Daytona on July 1 and celebrated by making it known he has extended his contract with DEI to run the number one Chevy with Bass Pro Shops sponsorship in 2006. Tire news could mean the possible closure of the DEI 15 team driven by Michael Waltrip, whose contract is up at season's end,but it's also possible DEI could field a tliird team with or without Waltrip and sponsor NAPA. Adding fuel to this, an inside source revealed that

GM has ended its backing for Waltrip's self-owned Busch team due to

speculation he will run a Toyota Busch operation in 2006 to run alongside his Toyota truck team fielded by 'Darrell Waltrip Motorsports'. - MARTIN D CLARK

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Triple Threat AS speculated in the last issue, Evernham Motorsports will run a third Cup team in 2006 alongside Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield. The sponsor will be Valvoline. although a driver has yet to be announced. However Scott

Riggs, above, the current driver of the Valvoline-sponsored car at MBV Motorsports, is apparently under consideration. The current number on the Riggs car will also transfer over with the sponsorship to Evernham, while MBV are also attempting to re-sign Riggs for next year. - MARTIN D CLARK

6 July 2005

DALE Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon featured in Sports lllustrated's 50 highest paid American athletes. Junior, above, was listed 10th with a salary of US$7,210,380 (AUD$9.6m) and US$20 million (AUD$26.7m) in endorsements, while Jeff Gordon came in 19th with earnings of US$6,437,660 (AUD$8.6m) and US$15 million (AUD$20m) in endorsements. - MARTIN D CLARK

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PONTIAC'S GTO.R made its debut in the GT class of the Grand Am Series race at Daytona on June 30. The factory-backed effort of the two Monarobred cars built by Pratt & Miller Engineering are fielded by The Racers Group. Unfortunately, one car failed make the grid after an out-of-balance pro-shaft broke the belljjt^using, and without spares,the team was unable to make repairs. The second car was wiped out by Scott Pruett in a faster Ganassi Daytona Prototype. Pruett turned into the GTO of Marc Bunting while attempting to pass, sending it into the wall with major front end damage and earning Pruett a penalty. - MARTIN D CLARK

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NEWS

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Sharing

the Love

HEIKKI Kovalainen and Nico Rosberg shared the wins when the GP2 series descended upon Magny Cours last weekend. Starting from fourth on the grid, Kovalainen jumped into the lead of the first race in the opening laps, and danced away from his rivals to take a comfortable victory, his third in the series. "The start was the key," said the Finn, above. "I managed to get a really good start and it was close with (Alex) Premat, butM was on the inside and I thought 'I don't need to give him any room' - and actually, he wasn't giving me any room!" Jose Maria Lopez and Nicolas Lapierre completed the podium on a day that saw a number of the title protagonists strike problems. Nelson Piquet Jr's strong run was brought to an end by electrical problems late in the race, while Red Bull driver Scott Speed spun his way back to 18th. But in the second race, it was all about Rosberg. Nico was almost a second faster than any of his rivals and won the race easily, giving himself some consolation after a mistimed pitstop put him out of contention in the first outing. Second went to Hiroki Yoshimoto, marking the first visit to the podium for the Japanese driver. 'Yoshi' actually spent much of his childhood in Queensland, which surely means that Australians are free to claim him as one of our own, Russell Crowe-style. Kovalainen was third, giving him a healthy swag of points and further consolidating his spot at the top of the championship table. POINTS: Kovalainen 52, Carroll 34, Bruni 29, Rosberg 29, Speed 29, Lopez 25, Piquet Jr 20, Jani 20.

6 July 2005

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OPINION

Hie Good Oil on Goodwood I

HAVE just come back home after attending the Goodwood Festival of Speed for the first time and I must say that I was pretty impressed. I had only vaguely heard of the event before I got the invitation to go and it was great to get the chance to drive the 1984 Bathurstwihning Commodore VK at the event. You might recall that I drove the Car at Sandown some years ago and I always had a ball driving it. But taking the car to England was something else. It would be fair to say that the car was one of about 20 out of the hundreds that were there to be 'feature' cars over the course of the weekend. That means that the Commodore will be among some of the cars that feature in the video and DVD that come of the event this season, and that the car will get a fair bit of attention in the specialist media. But it was still a surprise and a pleasant surprise - to find that even the people who were not that familiar with the car were pretty excited by it. They are keen on seeing cars like these and we could see more cars like the Commodore, with pedigrees in this part of th^fjj

world, making the same trip in the future. The whole experience of going to the Festival for the first time is awesome. There are rows of cars, one after the other, and each one seems more impressive than the last. Formula One cars from different eras, Sportscars, Indy Cars, motorcycles. It is a little bit like going to the Sistine Chapel - a treasure trove of great cars. But like being in the Vatican, just when you think that you have seen the best work of art there, you come along something even more amazing and forget about what you have just seen! To be in that sort of company was quite an experience. It was very gratifying to have people come up and tell me that they remember seeing the Commodore from the Bathurst 1000 broadcasts more than 20 years ago. Some of the people were enthusiasts but even some of the people that were at Goodwood with the Formula One teams came up and said that they remembered the car from watching it at Bathurst! Unfortunately, it seems that the race is not shown on British television any more. Fifty people must have told

me that over the course of the weekend,so maybe AVESCO can get onto that and sort it out.

t was a little bit strange to drive the car because, despite that the fact that Peter Champion and the boys prepared the car, it was not what you would call 'race ready'. I had some odd springs in it and through one of the corners, it was a bit tippy toe. It would go,'BOING'- but I kept my boot into it, because there were only two runs on Sunday that were captured on vision and I wanted to give everyone a bit of a show. They loved it. As I said,there were so many cars there, it is hard to pick one as being special|^ must say the Aston Martin, which had come straight from the Le Mans 24 Hour race, looked sensational and made all the right noises. We also tried to get a picture of the Commodore and the exAyrton Senna McLaren, which was also in Marlboro colours and driven by his nephew, together, but I am not sure if anyone got the photo.' The number of people who were there knew the car, or knew of me was quite iS.urprising. I caught up with Johnny Rutherford wf^,|^ou

IHoiofL

With Peter Brock

,t“. might recall, raced at Bathurst some years ago, and my daughter Alexandra was sittinajiext to Bobby Unser, so we managed to have a long chat. l He was telling me how the. , Audi Hillclimb car was developed for the Pikes Peak ‘ event he raced in some years' back. He was impressed by the German engineers and, after running the car up and down the roads, it got to the point where they wanted to test the car at Pikes Peak. "We cariVhire'Pikes Peak," they said dismissively. "No?" Bobby said, picking up the phone. "It's easy when vV.you have won it 14 times! ..."

The shape of things to come? o \

MCE upon a time, a long time ago, I was a lazy student of history. I cannot say I did that much work but I did get a degree in the end, and I did learn that the world works in cycles. What goes up must come down. The average cycle of modern history is around 15 years. A new structure emerges, is tried and tested and then is challenged. I can go into detail but anyone who knows about European history will know that aker the French Revolution, the world has run on this cyclical pattern, which continues to this day. The defeat of Napoleon in 1815 was followed by revolutionary years in 1830, 1848 and 1870. There was more trouble in 1885 and then the collapse of the old world in 1914. And so it goes on. Since the world was divided up in 1945, there have been similar stories. The world . trembled when Hungary rose up „ in 1956 and then in 1968, i revolution was everywhere. Things changed dramatically in 1980 and then the Berlin Wall came down in 1991.

“The motor racing world is not very different. Formula 1 began in 1950 as an all-Italian sport. By 1965, the British teams were winning everything and in 1980 were strong enough to rise

The With BoxJoeSeat Sawaiil up against the federation. A deal was cut and things remained stable until 1991, when the rebels began to become the establishment. And now, 14 years later, new rebels are besieging the FIA. Thus far, it has been like a medieval siege. The two sides have pelted one another with boiling oil and dead animals. In medieval times, sieges were rarely lifted unless a relief army arrived and, frankly, I do not see there being anyone to come to the rescue of the FIA. What do I feel is that the events in Indianapolis will eventually be seen as a turning

point in the sport. When history is written, they will say that this was a pivotal moment. Time will tell. The structure of the sport is not really the big question. What is more important to me is the philosophy of the sport. Max

Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn, above on left, finalises the Ferrari's set-up - they just can't stop testing! Meanwhile, FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting, right, initiates the 'starting procedure'. 26

Mosley thinks that FI should be completely different in the future. I think he is wrong. So do a lot of others but as long as he has the power, he can make things happen. What has been missing in FI in recent times has been the fun of competition and it was a real pleasure on Friday night to find myself really enjoying myself at the French Grand Prix's Pinewood Derby. This competition was created 50 years ago by a Boy Scout leader in California to promote good clean fun with fathers and their Boy Scout sons building small wooden cars from a very basic kit which consists of a pinewood block of wood, four plastic wheels and four nails, which act as axles. On Friday night Ferrari, Red mstwsvortnews

'iUllon'inuBn.com

Bull Racing, Toyota and Minardi turned up to compete against the best Derby cars built by Pack 112 of the Boy Scouts of America, which is based in Paris. The FI teams were pretty cocky, Ferrari arriving with a briefcase in which they had not only two high technology cars but also a spare. The cars were designed using Ferrari's CAD-CAM systems and featured composite fins and heavy-metal ballast. Red Bull produced three cars with different aerodynamic treatments, while Minardi had a pair of identical cars in team colours. Toyota had a single prototype. The opposition did not look impressive, with the cars built by the scouts looking 6 July 2005

There was a sharp intake of decidedly amateur by breath amongst all the engineers comparison, with ballast present. Later Ferrari's number provided by coins glued to the one car did finally manage to chassis and fishing weights. The big shock came in the first 'edge out Faro's car by a tiny heat when the first Ferrari bolide margin, but another Cub Scout car, designed and built by was defeated by a truck Christopher Kulmayer, snuck in designed and built by a 10-yearold cub scout named Travis Faro. under the radar to emerge in the

"the first Ferrari boiide was defeated hy a truck designed and buRt by a 10-year-oid cub scour

finals, unbeaten in its heats. 'Ferrari 1' went up against Kulmayer, and the red car won by a tiny margin, thanks probably to a good dose of graphite in its wheels and incredible care from the Ferrari men present. By Saturday morning the word had spread in the FI Paddock about the event and the word on the street was that Bernie Ecclestone was already talking about the commercial rights with the Boy Scout leaders. And with no FIA rules Pinewood Derby cars are powered only by gravity - the federation has no control. And costs can be reduced as well because there are no driver salaries. 27

Five minutes with

mma

Barth Tander

The HSV heater Team bounceii hack with a Uouhte potiium at HiMen Vaiiey. MARK GLBVDmiiNB spoke with Garth Tamier about the return to form of his new team difference to what I have been used to over previous years.

MOTORSPORT NEWS: Has achieving a result like you did in Darwin pulled a few cobwebs out? GARTH TANDER; No, not really. You're always trying. Just because you're up the front regularly, you don't stop trying. But it's great for the guys, because we've shown plenty of pronnise all year with qualifying speed, and to finally get a result to capitalise and prove that we know how to do the job is great for them. MN: Is this the kind of performance that you were initially expecting when you first switched over from GRM? GT: Oh, definitely not in the first place, because like any change, it takes time to get used to how " everything works. I would have f hoped that we could have started winning races at the mid part of the season, so in reality, we're on target. It's just that we haven't got results early in the year, based on things that were out of our control. Everything is on target. We've never been concerned about not having speed, because we've always had speed. We just haven't had the opportunity to show it. Here, we had that opportunity to show it. MN: One of the things that the team appears to have struggled with during the year is getting a baseline set-up; having the car half-way sorted when it rolls out of the truck at every track. Is that accurate? GT: That's a very fair assessment. Basically, it comes down to the fact that these cars are very, very different to what the team had last year, so all of our data that has been accumulated over the past couple of years has not proven to be relevant for these cars. It 28

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^ fGU neva* lose fai your own « fr

liS<

- Garth Tander

took three or four races to really quantify that and measure the differences, and now we're only just getting an opportunity to put those differences into play. Our cars weren't too bad out of the box here in Darwin. They weren't great, but every session we have actually improved the car considerably this weekend. So regardless of where start, we've improved the car at nearly every session at every race. We probably need to be a little bit closer at the start, but that will come. No doubt about that. MN: When you try to deal with last year's data, is there a regular, measurable difference that corresponds to the car now? GT: Not really, because everywhere you go, the grip levels are different from year to year. Like, the grip levels this weekend weren't what we were expecting from last year, so everybody had to change their set-ups pretty drastically in the first 10 minutes of the practice session on Friday. There is not a quantifiable difference, you know, you don't

move it 'x' amount based on last year's data when you go to a different track. You've got to combine what we've learned so far this year with what they've learned last year and try to come up with the numbers. MN: How different is the car to a GRM car,just in its basic characteristics on the track? GT: It's a little bit different. It is probably most different in its response - it is far more responsive to changes. That probably took me a little while to get used to at the start of the year; how much to change things based on the feel of the car. But now I've got a handle on that, I know pretty much what to adjust and how much to adjust it, and that's basically what we did between Race 2 and Race 3 here. We just adjusted a little bit here and a little bit there, and the car was considerably better in the places we needed it to be. Just understanding what difference making changes to the car makes, and relating that to set-up. So that's probably the biggest

MN: Are there any inherent things in the car that you guys are still trying to dial out of it? GT: Not really. Just more speed I This weekend we were very close to HRT, but realistically at most circuits, we are probably two or three, maybe four-tenths a lap away in terms of race pace. So we need to look at our race pace, and that just comes with generating more grip on the car. It's as simple as that. MN: And consistency as well, getting the car to do the times lap after lap? GT: Yeah, that's right. If the car's good in the race then it's going to look after it's tyres, and then the tyres will last longer in the race because you're not sliding around. It's a snowballing effect, and this weekend we had a great car and it looked after its tyres. I think we were the only car that pitted on lap six in both races, and it paid off. So we are getting there with tyre life and race pace. MN; Your last win was at Bathurst five years ago. As a driver, does the confidence take a bit of a knock after a dry spell like that? GT; No. You forget where to go for press conferences and things like that, but you never lose faith in your own ability. If you weren't any good, then teams wouldn't be interested in hiring you. And that was the reassuring factor last year; that I had a few options available. So teams obviously realised that I could do the job, and that was very reassuring for me. You never lose faith. You are always trying 100 percent, and when you see an opportunity, you take it. And that's what we did this weekend. moiorsQortnews

k Dirk Kl

Flue minutes with

aam

nek Fry

The team principai at BAR Hernia is guUing iast year's hig improuers through one ofits toughest patehes yet. JOE SAWARD spoke to him about how he’s going to turn it ait around MOTORSPORT NEWS: Nick, all the fall-out of Imola - how much did that interrupt your programme? NICK FRY: Probably more than we anticipated, although not racing for a couple of races certainly gave us time to do some testing that the others didn't have. We also lost the ability to compare ourselves to others for a couple of races. We were on a good momentum after a difficult start and Imola was good for us, and the Nurburgring put us back to where we were in Bahrain, I guess. MN: Your comeback in Germany was less impressive than you planned, wasn't it? NF: We thought we had done some things that were very positive, and unfortunately when we got into competition again , they turned out to be very : negative. MN: Really, it couldn't have been a worse season for you so far, could it? NF: Unfortunately It's all been a bit stop-start as we've had to pick up momentum again. MN: Are you satisfied that you have managed to do that since Nurburgring? NF: Well, in Canada, being on pole position was great but unfortunately Jenson crashed. In Indianapolis we were third on the grid, which was really second because the Toyota only had two laps of fuel. We had good possibilities, but of course we didn't race, so now we are kind of starting all over again. MN: Last year was a fantastic season for the team and you were on a roll, Ferrari was probably the only team stronger than you. So why didn't that momentum carry 30

that we had done anything wrong. Subsequently the regulations have been clarified so now we know where we are, but in our view, we were never guilty.

We thought we had done some things that were very positive, and unfortunateiy when we got back into n competition again they turned out to be very negative. - Nick Fry, on left with Gil de Ferran

forward into 2005? What went wrong, or rather, what didn't go right? NF: What didn't go right was our reaction to the big aerodynamic change in the regulations. Or we didn't get it as right as the others. One thing that has influenced us is that we only have a 50 percent scale wind tunnel, whereas all the other big teams have full-size wind tunnels that take the real car. So all the time we have to try and correlate between the half-scale model and the real car on the track, and it didn't work at all. And with the new technical regulations, we had to relearn about the correlation between the two and we didn't get that right. We have got better bit by bit. MN: How far are you away from having your own full-size wind tunnel? NF: It will be the middle of next year. It'll be next summer before It's running. MN: So it won't help the design of 008, and will only be ready for 009?

NF: Yeah. We can design the 009 using the new wind tunnel In its entirety, but it will help us towards the back of next year on 008 too. MN: Who carries the ultimate responsibility within the team for disasters such as Imola? Is your head on the chopping block? NF: It's not really like that. We are all In this together. Flonda is part of the decision-making. No one really carries the can. Modern teams don't really work like that. MN: What was Honda's reaction? NF: Flonda is very aware of the construction of the car. It's not just engine supply, it helps us on the chassis and the suspension, so it is not the sort of relationship where we are just buying an engine. So when the team was attacked, then that was an attack on Flonda as well as the team. Now clearly the person in charge of the technical side Is Geoff (Willis), but we were all 100 percent supportive of Geoff and at the time we did not think

MN: Is it true that your legal department have been going through the regulations with a fine-tooth comb,seeking further rule clarifications from the FIA? NF: Yes we have. We've been asking lots of questions about all sorts of aspects that aren't clear in the regulations. MN: What is the truth behind your suspended sentence? There were fears in Paris recently after Indianapolis that BAR might be excluded for the season ... NF: Our suspension will only come to play if the FIA decrees we transgressed in the same we they said we did at Imola. Clearly it is at the discretion of the FIA, so it's difficult for us to say. We asked the FIA for clarification of this and they said it would have to be for a similar offence. We didn't think it would come into play. MN: Nobody could ever have envisaged getting half-way through the year and BAR Honda being the only team without any points. How much pressure has that created? NF: You're absolutely right. I think clearly there is pressure, but the pressure for us really is to win a race. If we had 10 or 20 or 30 points and were still nowhere in the championship, really that's not much of a consolation. The only thing that would save this season from being a disaster would be to get the first win. And that's what we are focused on, and we are still in the game, do or die. That's the phrase. motorsportnews

6 July 2005

stilh

Trr^of

|! 7

DOUBLE TALK

Play

The golf was ugly- and the golfers were not much better. What happens when a V8 Supercar driver and an Australian Rally Championship contender meet on the golf course? Jason Bargwanna and Simon Evans combined to give PHIL BRANAGAN the answer- and a beating

T was one of the more brilliant Editorial ideas, even if I do say so myself. Let's take drivers from two

different arenas of the sport, let's say, V8 Supercars and the Australian Rally Championship, out of their comfort zones - maybe to a golf course - let them loose, have a chat, shoot some piccies and bingo! Instant masterpiece of automotive journalism. Picking candidates was difficult but it would have been made easier if we collected two dice and rolled a 10. Jason Bargwanna and Simon Evans both carry that number,they live near each other on the fringes of Melbourne and they both play golf. Getting either the Orrcon Racing team leader of Toyota Team Racing's fast man to chat is usually not a problem. So, once we synchronised our calendars, it was a matter of showing up at the appointed time and waiting for a Falcon Ute and Toyota Corolla to show up in the carpark. And it was about that time that I started to wish I had actually brought my putter with me. Both drivers are yet to break through for a big result so far in the 2005 season but the signs are good. Bargwanna broke in a new race engineer, Greg Wheeler,last weekend in Darwin, and is becoming more and more confident in the Larkham Motor Sport Barra. Evans has been the point man at TTR for the last two seasons and the team will be looking for a win in Tasmania this week, boosted by the news that the Corollas can run a hydraulic centre diff, similar to those already in play on the Subarus and Mitsubishis. They will not run the units until they are ready but it is a clear indicator that TTR is heading in the right direction. "The series is going great," says the always-enthusiastic Evans."We are having a few little problems with the car but things look good. The series is very popular and I am enjoying it. The events are picking 6 July 2005

fi i'i'

Working on the short game: Bargwanna keeps his head down while Evan offers, urn, encouragement on the course. We usually get to see them in their respective number 10s, opposite.

I want to have a goi Get me a carl" -Bargs on rallying

I would not mind having a shot at that one day" -Evans on V8 Supercars Hang on lads, I have a brilliant idea ... up on their game,they are run a lot more professionally now than they used to be. Television coverage has been fantastic this year." "1 agree," Bargs chimes in. "The TV looks fantastic and 1 watch it every time it is on. 1 want to have a go! Get me a car!" "1 watch the V8s and say the same thing," Evans counters. "I would not mind having a shot at that one day."

Bargs in an ARC Corolla? Evans in the Orrcon Falcon? Apart from getting two manufacturers to sign off on it, sounds like a lot of fun to us ... Both men are among the more popular competitors in their respective series. Bargwanna is almost always surrounded by people at the race while Evans is clearly a man of the people - and along with Cody Crocker, is looked on as one

the fast guys in the Globalstarbacked series. "I remember Alan Bradshaw from Yokohama saying to me in 2003;'It's pretty simple'." Evans says. "Ed [Ordysnski] will fade away, the rest will find their own space and leave you and Cody to be the stars of the future'. Until he said that, I had never thought about it in those terms. I took notice of that and set out to achieve my goals, one of which is to be number one in Australia. Cody and I have raced our whole lives,from Autocross, to club rallies, to the VRC and now in the ARC. I hope history repeats itself; 1 always managed to beat him in all

continued on page 34 33

continued from page 33 the other stuff. If we can continue that in the ARC,that would be fantastic." Indeed, the most recent Queensland round came down to a fight between Crocker and Evans and Network lO's coverage of the event reflected that. While Evans has gone from being a privateer underdog to a factory driver in the last two years, Bargwanna has crossed what was once considered the 'Great Divide' between Holden and Ford and, while results have hardly flowed, he is happy with his present situation. "I feel like I have been at Ford forever," he says. "It was great to join Larko's team and we have moved forward on the grid but there is still a long way to go. Look; the sport is a lot different to what it was when we were at GRM.There is no doubt that it is much more competitive. Guys used to aim at being in the top 10; that has expanded now and guys look at being in the top 15. "From last year, we had some great results and we have moved forward - but the rest of the grid has taken TWO steps forward. We have to try to find those two steps now so that we can move back into the top 10.' For all that, Bargwanna is an experienced driver, a Bathurst winner with a hungry youngster, Mark Winterbottom, in the other car. "I don't see myself as a senior

Days gone by: Evans established himself as a frontrunner in Croup N when his own Raceworx team prepared his Subaru Imreza, above. Lion on the Line: Bargwanna got his V8 Supercar break as part of the Holden Young Lions program, right. He made his mark on the category, and became a round winner, in a long stint with Carry Rogers Motorsport, below.

People used to ask, 'How can you afford to do that?' and I always replied,'We will worry about it iater! til

mu:

privateer Evans, right, '^ad an understanding wife -and l "T. ^ank manager... -*C: ■:

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driver," he counters. "Frosty and I get the same equipment and when someone did call me a 'senior driver', I almost fell over! I still feel like I did when I was 21, even if some of the hair does fall out. "But this happens; I am driving

better that I have ever driven. Now I have the knowledge, the experience and the patience to go along with the speed that I have always had." "I am not quite in that position," Evans says. "We have the young tearaway in the team, Ben [Barker]

and the ... not old dog, but 'experienced dog'! They call me The Rabbit because I am the one who is going out there chasing and pushing fast. That is my role - do the stage times and try to win events. Neal's role is to back me up and bring the

motorsiionnews

DOUBLE TALK car home straight and in a position to get points. So we have differing roles.

Australia, in rallying. Good on Chris; he is over there doing what many people dream of. A lot of people ask me,'do you wish you were doing what he is doing?' Sometimes I do but I really enjoy doing what I am doing here. There is plenty of time left for Simon Evans to do rallying in Australia."

"It is not a completely different approach. It is exactly the same. When I was running my own team, the Raceworx team,I drove it like a factory driver. We threw caution to the wind and worried about the outcome at the end of the race. People used to ask,'How can you afford to do that?' and I always replied,'We will worry about it later!' The important part was getting results and going fast, so that we would be noticed and get a factory drive. That worked; we got to where we wanted to be." And it was not the work of a minute. Ever since he was a kid, driving paddock bombs around the outskirts of Melbourne's sprawl, Evans knew he wanted to be a rally driver. When he turned 18 and got a driver's licence, his first task was to drive himself to football training and advise the coach that, despite the fact that he was one of the best players in the team and being paid to play, he was quitting the game,then and there, to be a rally driver. Up until the turn of the century, with a small number of WRC cars freezing privateers out of the outright battle, it looked like a dodgy decision. Then ARCom changed the series to Group N and it was on for young and old. Evans was not slow to recognise his chance had arrived; "All the talk before we brought Group N in was about one thing; the championship was on the decline. It needed not just change, it needed a big change. When the rumours started that we were headed for Group N,I said to the boys,'We are in prime position to capitalise on this'. We were one of the top three competitors in the class and suddenly we were going to be outright contenders. We jumped at it and threw everything we had into it. Then,in 2003, ARCom brought in the Group N (P)rule to encourage

Bargwanna faced that decision almost a decade ago. "I had the opportunity to go and look at what motor racing overseas is all about, when I raced in the Nations Cup with Marcos[Ambrose] in 1996. It is just unbelievably expensive. I looked at that, figured out quickly that I had worked hard to build a name in this country and that that counted for nothing over there. So from that, I was committed to becoming a V8 Supercar driver. "At that stage, the category was still in its formative stages, it was v still a bit new. But you could see then that it was going to be bigger and more popular." So while the ARC grows,and the international expansion of V8 Supercars has started, things look great - but Bargwanna sounds a cautious note' "The health of the sport is going really well. But we all have to be careful because all the cars can get very expensive to run. We are a small country, on the world scale, and the [ARCom] move to go to Group N a few years ago has been very successful. V8s can look at that, and learn from that, as well." A final putt, in some cases three, and the round is over. "Who won?" I asked, surprising since I was the one keeping the scorecard. "Not me," admits Evans. "I think it was the V8 driver, which shows how much time he has on his hands." Thereafter, the 19th hole beckoned. Two professional drivers and one journo may have their moments in their respective arenas but Tiger Woods - and even Karrie Webb - can

The game was the winner Bargwanna took the title on the day while Evans and the editor are still arguing about the podium positions. manufacturers into the sport without the expense of international homologation, "Another opportunity," Evans affirms."We Imew that Toyota would be lookirig for top-of-the-line drivers and we.had to perform. I was always one of the guys putting my hand up and venturing over to the Toyota camp in the service park, saying 'Maybe you should build a car for me boys!' It was a little bit arrogant but it worked! "I think that the Group N people did the right thing. It brought another manufacturer into the sport and now Ford is coming in. "I was not manufacturer-backed before I joined Toyota. We never had

an option before; we had to run a Subaru. Mitsubishis were just too expensive to run at the time. I had no choice; I needed something that I could afford that would get me to the top end of the sport, and quickly." That was great but it meant that any ideas Evans may have had about following Chris Atkinson onto the world stage were gone. "When Toyota joined the championship and offered me a drive, I knew then that I was not going to be going into the World Championship, even though when 1 started rallying, my aspirations were to go as far in the sport as I could. One thing that I realised was that -there was going to be a future here in

continue to sleep easy ...

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Another Day, anothe T WENTY years ago

It is 20 years this week since Keke Rosberg stunned Formula 1 was in its usual state of political everyone - except himself- with GP racing's first upset with Ferrari threatening to withdraw from FI and IGOmph lap, at Silverstone. switch to IndyCar racing, because of the instability of JOESAWARD found out that the original flying Finn rule-making in FI. To push the point Enzo holds few special memories of his historic lap Ferrari sent Marco Piccinini to

There is no smoking on this flight; Rosberg climbs aboard the Williams-Honda to have a shot at 160 in July, 1983. The impressive part of bis effort for many was that he was already assured ofpole ahead of Nelson Piquet's BrabhamBMW and Rosberg accepted the challenge to go for the time, which would stand for 17 years.

visit the IndyCar race at Michigan. The FIA President Jean-Marie Balestre said that he would not be swayed by Ferrari threats and would cut both costs and speeds in FI. Elsewhere, there was a frightening Sportscar race at Hockenheim with three separate pitlane fires, the most serious of which left six people injured. The Michigan 500 was postponed because of a dangerous series of tyre failures after Goodyear introduced a new radial tyre in CART. There were rumours

FORMULA ONE

I* 160 miles an houp

that Renault's new chairman Georges Besse was planning to pull the company out of Grand Prix racing. There were rumours that Renault Sport would have to find external sponsorship if it wants to continue racing in 1986. And at Silverstone Keke Rosberg wound up his turbocharged Williams-Honda and went for the fastest lap ever around Silverstone, aiming to beat the 160mph mark. Amid much excitement, the Williams set off with the turbo wound up to the maximum, a haze of black

smoke behind the car as it swept through the corners. In those days the track was much more flowing, before they created the slow section between Stowe and Club and before the Abbey chicane and the Luffield-Brooklands complex were built. The excitement built up as the Williams came down into the Woodcote chicane. Would it break 160 or not? The clocks stopped at 160.925mph to create a record that would stand for 17 years, protected by rules changes and track modifications.

Rosberg's record remained a Holy Grail until 2002 when Juan Pablo Montoya took his Williams-BMW around Monza at an average of 161.170mph. Today, Rosberg is perfectly sanguine on the subject. Does the record mean anything to him? "No, not at all," he says. "After Montoya broke the record, someone gave me a painting of my lap at Silverstone. But you know, records are there to be broken. Life goes on. I have been in Formula 1 as a driver, and as a manager and now 1 am seeing

my son racing in GP2 and testing in Formula 1 and I am enjoying Formula 1 again. I don't know if Michael Schumacher's record of World Championship will ever be broken but that is what records are there for. "What 1 do remember is that it was a special moment for Williams. It was a really tense because of political problems and things had not been going very well and so that pole position was a really important moment although by then I had already decided that I was going to be moving on to McLaren." For Rosberg it was just another day and another dollar. But in the minds of the fans it was a day to remember.

Mawer Than Expi

OTORSPORT NEWS: Generally speaking, how is life in England? BARTON MAWER:It's been going really well. We've won a couple of races and coming back for the second year. I've been more comfortable with the environment and knowing what I've got to do. I'm just loving it.

"We have not had a DNF, only finished off the podium twice and we've won more rr races than anyone else.

- Barton Mawer

Basically, the money they're supplying isn't the full budget,but it's the endorsement of the AMSF that I can use to sell myself to get more backers. It will also help my cause for next year as well. My team (T-Sport) has been great. We've been in an awkward position .. where we haven't had the finances. < I've been stringing along,just ■’ getting by each meeting and having to miss test days. Since we've started winning races, there have been other drivers who have been knocking on the door with bags of money. T-Sport has said 'look Bart, we want to run you because we.think we can win the championship but we've got a business to run and we've got other drivers ready to go'. It's been tough.

than anyone else. We've got the speed and the consistency, and that's what you need to win championships. MN:The British Formula 3 Championship has a great history but in the past couple of years, the numbers and the quality just haven't been there as much as years gone by. Why is this? BM: We'll you can't get away from the fact that the Euro F3 series has taken a bit of the shine away from the British series. The main reason for that is that

MN:The Australian Motor Sport Foundation has ensured that you will be at the next few rounds. This must take some weight off your shoulders? BM:Oh defirutely, and it's the best news I've had in months. The AMSF decided last week to help out a bit financially. It won't get us to the end of the year but it will keep us there for a couple of meetings and allows us time to source the rest of the funds, which I'm sure we can do.

DNF,only finished off the podium twice and we've won more races

MN:You're dominating the National class but you haven't dominated every race or every qualifying session. Is the opposition tough, but just not consistent? BM:I think tliat's pretty much it. It's quite a good little championship. There's over 10 cars and we only

have to be a little bit off the pace and we are not on the front row. At Castle Combe last week in qualifying, we were less than 0.2s off pole and I was fifth. You've really got to be on top of your game all the time. Yes, consistency has been our biggest strength. We have not had a

they've got the manufacturers involved, mainly Mercedes and Opel. Is that a long-term thing? I don't know. Is it a good thing? I don't think so. For me,F3 is about developing racing skills and working with the team and tlie engineering. Having a manufacturer involved indicates that unless you are with that works team, you pretty much don't have a chance. The good thing with the British series is that you can win with any of the top teams. Carlin, Hi-Tech and lots of teams are all up there. And I really think that if a good driver and a good engineer get together, they can win races. It's lost a little bit of it's 'ultimate' reputation that it once had, but. I'm pretty confident that British F3 will be here in five years. where the Euro Series has already shown signs of weaknesses. At this stage of my career, British

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Barton Mawer is notJust leading the National class in the British Formula 3championship - he is dominating it. GRANT ROWLEY grabbed the happy-go-lucky ^ New South Welshman for a chat

F3 is the place to be. MN:The next round of the series is at Monza. There can't be anything bad about that!

can relate to the team, not just in terms of car set-up, but I understand what the team members go through, and I can talk on their level.

BM:(laughs). No,except it could be very hot, which will be good for me an)Tway. It's supposed to be 35 degrees. We've get three races, because we are making up for one of the cancelled Spa races, so Monza going to be pretty cool.

It's not something I wish to fall back on though,because in my head it's not an option. Anything other than driving is a compromise.

Engineering in Sydney,said to me that I'd have to do most of the work

MN:You are just past the half-way mark in the season, but how are plans for 2006 coming along? BM: My ideal situation would be to run in the outright championship next year. Now that I've got a little bit of stability for this year, we are looking at next year and I'm trying to get things in place. The biggest hurdle is money, and that will take time. To be honest, I don't know how we are going to do it, but I don't know how we got this far!

myself. In an ideal world,I would have just been racing,but for it to happen I had to work on the cars and sometimes engineer them alongside my father. I think, now that I'm at a high level of driving, it has helped me. I understand the cars very well, and I

If I can't get the support, I really don't know what step I'll make. I've been talking to a number of Sportscar teams over here, as well as the touring car guys and even the touring cars back home. It's that difficult balance where I want to continue forging a career in

MN:You've studied mechanical engineering, which gives you something to fall back on if driving yourself doesn't work out. Do you consider this a last resort? BM:It was a skill that I had to learn to go motor racing. My father, who runs his business Mawer

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Occupational Health and Safety-friendly helmet: Bart Mawer, above, in his T-Sport Dallara 301. open-wheelers, but 1 don't want to back myself into a corner and knock back other drives. MN:What's been 2005's highlight? BM:There has been so many great moments,it's hard to pick a highlight. I'd say Thruxton. It was my first time there, it's a very high speed circuit, quite daunting and we won both races. MN:What's your favourite track over there? BM:I think it's yet to come. We've

got Monza this weekend, Silverstone the following, which I've never raced on, and Nurburgring after that. Tliey are all Grand Prix circuits so maybe 1 have to hold fire on that question. In England though, Oulton Park is a really good, traditonal, big commitment British circuit. MN:OK,dream time. You have unlimited funds and you can do any championship in the world other than Formula 1 next year. Where would you go? BM: Umm,1 would say GP2.1 think it's gone through a tough time this year, but the cars are awesome, you run on the Grand Prix support bill and there are some very good drivers,including some ex-Formula 1 drivers. 1 reckon that would be an excellent championship to be in, but you would almost need an unlimited budget to be involved. It is very expensive.

iatlon-imj%es.u>m

39 6 July 2005

The Thoughts o Michael Schumacher

IT was a two-horse race, but another person has joined the fray. Michael doesn't look as though he's got the potential to win the championship in a fair and square fight, but you never know. I would never rule out Michael until the last possible moment. No doubt Ferrari will believe that they can and should, in better circumstances, win more races. I'm disappointed in Michael this year, because I always felt that he has the potential to draw more out of the team than any other driver. And it's still the same people - Rory Byrne, Ross Brawn, Jean Todt. Michael did a great move on Jenson in Imola, but he had no answer whatsoever to Alonso, whereas in the past that would have been relative easy pickings. My concern is that it's not the Michael Schumacher I remember. But maybe he had to put points in the bag, and just look where he is now.

Jenson Button <

THE highest quality drivers don't generally go off overnight. It's somethmg that you're bred with, and Jenson does have the speed. I thought one of Jenson's best races was Hockenlieim last year, when he was beside us on the grid in 13th, and he finished up second. Could he be a World Champion in the future? Without any doubt. Jenson lifted the team to a completely new level last year. But what happened in Imola affects the team, the sponsors, the drivers. He has to question himself, did 1 have those results last year because we had the same fuel system? I don't know the answer to that. Somebody has to look in the mirror and answer it, but I think it's best left unsaid. As each race passes by there's a bigger question mark looming over BAR. For the money they have, and the quality of the people, the team hasn't performed as well as it should do.

Fernando Alonso RENAULT'S form is not really a surprise, although there were doubts about the engine last year. 1 still believe it's not in the top three 40

;

% '1 quickest engines, but the car is good, and has great aero performance and efficiency. Alonso looks odds-on favourite for the championship. He's been impressive for a couple of years, and what I like about him is that he's unfazed. Keeping Michael beliind for such a long time in Imola was a big, big credit to him,and has helped him very definitely in terms of the mind games. It was a very powerful performance. The mistake in Canada was uncharacteristic, because he is not a crasher. He doesn't throw things away, and we saw in earlier seasons that he's very consistent. But Canada is an incredibly difficult circuit. We also saw what happened to Jenson there, and he's not a crasher either.

Mark Webber YOU have to ask yourself, why is it when Williams is such a good team that the drivers don't want to stay there? People like Mansell, Frost and Senna were queuing up at the door. BMW is not the engine force that they once were. You'd have to say that Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld are not exactly the kind of starting line-up that you would expect, although as it happens I think Nick is doing a brilliant job. I'm a huge fan of Mark as an individual, but I am concerned about what has happened this season, and I don't think he's reached the potential that he's able to reach. He's a lot better than what he's showing at the moment,or what he's been able to show. He has an ability to bring the car home in a good place.

He's kind to the car, he doesn't crucify it, and he'd probably make one of the best Sportscar drivers.

Nick Heidfeld THE people who have impressed me most this year are Alonso, Trulli, Coulthard and Heidfeld. I think most people underestimate how quick Nick is. He is a very smart driver. His record at bringing the car home is second to none. He knows how to nurse engines, tyres, gearboxes, and he is strategically aware of what's happening around him. Drivers who are not as talented as him are just flat out everywhere and just hope they can get it to the end. Nick is not that kind of driver. I knew he would never let Frank or Williams down,although they strung him along before they chose him over Pizzonia. For all the money and kerfuffle that it cost to get Mark there from Jaguar, Nick missed most of the pre-season testing, arrived at the first race just about secure as a driver inside Williams, and he was right there.

Kimi Raikkonen WHAT'S nice is that there are two young chargers fighting for the title. McLaren probably came into the season as one of the favourites, but the problem for me is that they didn't realise their potential in the early races. Fisichella wimting the first race, followed by those wins for Alonso,it really has been a great demonstration by Renault. Kimi can be unbelievable. He was

miles in the lead at Imola, and everyone thought he was light. That was the first real signal that there was a lot of performance there. Tliere's still half a season to go, but I think it will be a big, big problem for Kimi that there was no race in Indianapolis. He probably was the favourite to win it. We know that Trulli was light, we know where Kimi was on the grid, and I think after a few laps he would have been in the lead.

Juan Pablo Montoya WHAT can you say? Montoya has been a massive disappointment, because without any doubt you're talking about World Championship material. He has the flair, he's able to pass people, he does crazy things, and he is adorable. He is such a nice person. I don't know what went wrong with the strategy in Canada, but it led him into a state of total frustration from leading the race to coming out of a pit stop and going through a red light. But I don't think there's the slightest doubt that he can win races this year. He's brave, and he's probably the leading exponent of passing. That's a great talent, and a talent that I like. But you can't possibly believe that he did his shoulder falling over playing tennis -1 find that just bizarre! I don't know what happened, but the speculation rightly or wrongly is that he fell off a motorcycle, which makes much more sense...

motorsportnedfs

FORMULA ONE

Prof Eddie Eddie Jordan always had plenty to say when he was an FI team owner. Now he’s not, he’s free - and willing- to give his independent view on who’s kicking the goals so far in 2005. ADAM COOPER checked out ‘The Thoughts ofProf Eddie’... future, his life, was away from there.

Jacques Villeneuve I THINK Jacques in the right environment and the right set of circumstances is beyond doubt a fantastic racer. You have to be something vein' special to be a World Champion,and Damon Hill win tell you how good Jacques can be. You don't lose it overnight, for sure. But something has changed, and it doesn't seem to have been for the good. The motivation seems to be down,and he openly criticises the management,something he did in particular at BAR, when there was a dispute between Craig Pollock and David Richards. I think that has had a lasting effect and disrupted him, and it's been brought forward to Sauber. It was probably a mistake to make the comeback,because I want to remember Jacques as being an awesomely tough driver who came over from America and nearly won the championship in his first year.

David Coulthard DAVID'S timing at Williams aU those years ago was bad.I think he could possibly have gone on to win the championship had he stayed. He was right to allow himself to be dropped by McLaren because his

You're invited to be part of Australia's fastest growing motor sport

In my opinion he had outstayed his welcome, and I think his management,if they'd been really astute, would have seen that ages ago. It was a stale relationship, and whether it's friendship, marriage, business or whatever, you can only work so hard to make things happen. If they don't happen, you have to look for an alternative. It was his obligation to get the best out of the circumstances, and there's some blame on all parties if the relationship can't work. I blame the comfort factor a little bit in his case. He now feels he has a point to prove, and overall he has been quite impressive this season.

Jarno Trulli IF you were to stand back and ask what are the real surprises this year, you'd have to say Toyota have made good strides. They have made a significant push forward,and done a similar kind of job to what BAR did last year. I had conversations with them last year about the Toyota engine, and I made it absolutely clear what I thought about Jarno, and that they should sign him immediately. For me he was so perfectly suited to this team. He's a quality individual, with a good basic moral code and a very high level of talent. He's

though it has some difficulty over a race distance, but that's not just Jamo.

Ralf Schumacher I REMEMBER Ralf and Fisichella fighting in Buenos Aires in 1997.1 was very upset when they ran into each other, but that was the risk we took by taking two rookies! Ralf should stop talking about his brother and when he should stop or not stop, and think about his own situation. He has been unlucky. He had a big shunt in Indy last year, a big shunt in Monza,and two big shunts this year. His body must be feeling some element of pain. He hasn't broken anything, but he has seriously pushed the boundaries. He's should be saying why do I keep suggesting to Michael to stop when maybe I should be thinking about myself? We've yet to see the remainder of the season. I'm quite certain that Ralf will show big spirit, and 1 hope he's able to come back very quickly from Indianapolis shunt. Certainly last year it disjointed his whole season.

Contact your state's karting office for details The Australian Karting Association Inc

Why not see what it's all about for yourself? Attend a race meeting at your local club and talk to the pgaggaSBi*'Ml drivers and crew. There are ■(s classes to suit almost everyone from 7 years to 77 +. Midgets 7-11 years Rookies 10-12 years Juniors* 12-16 years in TWO weight divisions Seniors* Over 10 classes of varying power & driver I weights to choose from. * Other more powerful classes available for experienced racers.

’llmmiar

6 July 2005

destined to go a long way with Toyota. People say that he's not tough enough,or he's not astute, but for me he was the perfect choice. And now they must be delighted with him. I tMnk the car does look as

For informnlion about karting and how to get started in your State or Territory call

1300 30 5270 (1300 30 KtOI) N«w South Wain www.olujniw.lcartingauslfalia.cofn Ju ViclofU QunmUnd WWW. a kai) 1(1. a i n. a u Taimanu South AuJiralU Wnttm Auilralia www.karlingwa.f.om.a Nonhtm Territorln South AuilralU Tawnanla

The Ultimate Car There are motor racing museums all over the globe - but there is nothing that compares with the Donington Collection. MARK GLENDENNING tried to get his head around the world's biggest assortment of GP cars

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OM Wheatcroft deserves a knighthood. Mostly for his contributions to world motorsport, but also for giving me something to do on a cold, wet day in northern England that otherwise offered very few incentives for getting out of bed. As a team owner, Wheatcroft was just one of a flock of privateers running painfully talented drivers in sometimes precariously-funded open wheeler outfits in England. Some operators, like Frank Williams, went on to bigger and better things, but most of them eventually ran out of money, inspiration or both, and were relegated to history. In Wheatcroft's case, he had bought a Brabham BT30 to run in Formula 2 during the early 1970s for Derek Bell - a partnership that culminated in Bell finishing second in the European F2 championship. Wheatcroft also had a BT26 at his disposal with a view to making a few strategic assaults on Formula One, but the plans amounted to little. In 1972 he took another rising star under his wing, Roger Williamson. Wheatcroft ran Williamson in British F3 and the

odd European F2 race in the first year, before ramping things up with a full European F2 assault coupled with selected FI races in a works March. Williamson's first FI outing was at the British Grand Prix, where he was involved in an accident on the first lap. At his second Grand Prix, the Dutch GP at Zandvoort, he was killed. Wheatcroft continued to support drivers after that, with Brian Henton among his proteges, but he did have something else to fall back on. As a child, he had grown up watching the Auto Unions and Mercedes-Benz teams demolish the locals around Donington Park in the 1930s, and thanks to a fortune made through his construction business, he returned to the circuit at the start of the 1970s - and bought it. While cars and bikes of all shapes and sizes have hammered around the Nottingham circuit since, Wheatcroft had always dreamed of seeing a FI Grand Prix at the track, and this came to fruition when it was allocated the 1993 European Grand Prix. It was a weekend that would ultimately be remembered for two things motorsportnews

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appalling weather, and the sight of Ayrton Senna doing some of the most remarkable things that anybody has ever done in a Formula One car. The race remains an enormous source of pride to Wheatcroft himself, despite the fact that he reportedly lost a fortune on it. For every person that was actually there on the day, there are at least another 20 who like to say they were ... But that wasn't all that came out of Wheatcroft's ownership of Britain's oldest surviving circuit. Prior to buying the facility, Wheatcroft had already started to amass a collection of old racing cars. Now, he had somewhere to put them. Going along and checking out the fruits of his efforts was the least I could do in return. Fley, it would have been rude not to. “The 'oh-my-God' factor started the instant I walked into the foyer. Sitting right next to the strategically-located gift shop were two McLarens. One was a Coulthard car of reasonably late vintage - nice, but I had just been to two Grands Prix in two weeks and the novelty of continued on page 44 61uty2005

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modern Formula One cars had worn off a bit. The other was also a late-ish McLaren-a Hakkinen MP4/13 from 1998 - but this one had me captivated for a good five minutes. Prior to unveiling that year's silver West livery, the team had gone back to its roots and sent the car out for pre season testing in its traditional orange. I remember thinking that the thing looked fantastic when I saw photos at the time, and it ● was even foxier in the flesh. This is without doubt one of the best looking FI cars of the past 10 years, and it never even saw a race. I was spellbound, and 1 hadn't handed over my seven quid and walked into the museum yet. David Addison, MN's UK correspondent and my tour guide for the day, was already looking slightly nervous. It was going to be a long, long afternoon. “ormula One carries connotations of glamour. By extension, when you try to imagine the museum holding the world's biggest collection of Grand Prix cars, you probably conjure up something pretty special - an architectural masterpiece involving lots of

expensive steel and glass and lakes and cleverly-designed lighting. Scale it back a bit to something more akin to a few long sheds, joined together by slightly smaller sheds, and lit with lamps that have been put pretty much wherever someone could find a power point, and you'd be closer to the mark. You are very aware that you are looking at someone's private collection, but the lack of pretension does not detract from the experience one bit. It's what inside that counts, and in this case, what's inside just about sent this particular journo into sensory overload. There is a real sense of eccentricity around the Collection, and this is immediately apparent when you walk into the first hall. Off to the right is an old firetruck, and to the left are a swarm of even older motorbikes. But in the middle is one of the most extravagant cars in the history of the internal combustion engine a Bugatti Royale. Only six (or maybe seven, or eight - nobody is really sure) of these behemoths were ever built, and they are now pretty much the most expensive cars in existence. The last one to be sold, in 1990, went for a walletmashing £9.4 million ($22.3m). This particular car is a replica that moioisportnews

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Wheatcroft commissioned himself, and was built entirely in the UK to the exact specifications of the original drawings. Seven years, 100,000 man hours and over £2 million ($4.7 million) later, the project was complete. And like most of the cars in the collection, it is maintained in running order and gets to feel the sunshine on it's windscreen every once in a while. There are very few permanently static displays here, which is one of the things that sets the Donington Collection apart from most other racing museums. With the Royale as the hall's centrepiece, some of the other exhibits seem a little incongruous, and none more so than the 'memorabilia' collection in a few glass cases on one of the walls. Filled with signed caps, photos, models and other assorted junk that originated at souvenir stands, it is essentially a monument to two British FI fans who appear to have spent the 1990s locked in a war to become the world's biggest racing nerds. I'm not sure when a signed Eddie Irvine photo from the Jordan era, or a Johnny Herbert fanclub membership card ever became museum pieces, but if that's the sort of thing that rocks your boat, then you know where to go next time 6 July 2005

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you are in the UK. I'm not going to say too much about the actual Grand Prix collection, simply because it is so big that it's hard to know where to begin, where to end, and what to leave out. Think of a lot of Grand Prix cars. Now, think of a lot more. Multiply it by five and you'll probably still fall short. As someone who can easily spend several minutes staring at just one car if it is historically significant enough, the Donington Collection was almost too much. Walking into a hall to be faced by a couple of dozen Williamses, and then walking into the next hall to be greeted by another couple of dozen McLarens - and knowing that there are three other halls that you haven't even been to yet can seriously do your head in.

As large as it is,Anglo-centric the Collection has a distinct bend to it. There are very few Italian cars, and even fewer French ones. But what is there more than makes up for it. A complete set of Vanwalls, for example -the only full collection in the world. Tazio Nuvolari's 1934 Maseratl 8CM. The McLaren MP4/8 that Senna used to such devastating effect just a few hundred metres away in 1993 (one of several Senna McLarens, and part of the largest collection of McLarens in the world). An army of Lotuses, Including several ex-Clark cars and the Lotus 18 that Stirling Moss used to defeat the Ferraris at Monaco in 1961. And it goes on. Senna's Toleman. An ex-James Hunt Hesketh. A gaggle of BRMs. An Eagle. A handful of 1960s Indy

cars. It hurts just thinking about it. There are also relics of the Tom Wheatcroft Racing days, the most evident being a vivid tribute to Williamson. Several of the Brit's cars (and even a kart) are on display, along with a slightly spooky collection of his personal effects. There is something decidedly eerie about looking at a 35-year-old racing license issued to a driver just weeks before he was killed. The Donington Collection is not the easiest place to get to if you are in London, unless you have a car. But by God, it's worth it. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world. If you do make the effort. It will repay you many times over - and If you get hungry afterwards, I can point you towards a brilliant little pub not 10 minutes away ... 45

Building on Australian Carrera Cup's current success, the new Porsche GT3 hits our local race tracks in 2006. GRANT ROWLEY explains

ORSCHE prides itself on making fast and highly desirable road cars that are compatible for combat on the race circuits. Since the German manufacturer introduced Carrera Cup racing in 1990,the opportunity to compete in Porsche's 911 racing road cars against opponents in equal machinery has gathered positive momentum. For Australia, that momentum accumulated into our version of the popular category in 2003. But after more than five years with the current shape car, Porsche will put its trust in a new machine that is contesting the 2005 Porsche Michelin Supercup, which supports various European rounds of the Formula 1 World Championship. The new 911 GT3 2005 car is the sole car eligible to enter this year's Supercup, and in 2006, Australia will be blessed with the new and very racy 911, which is based on the 997 , model. Twenty five units are expected to be shipped 'down under' in the early weeks of January 2006, where they will become the new benchmark for Carrera Cup teams and drivers in Australia. The new Porsche itself to is the significantly different unit that is racing in Australia this year - both on the outside

Welcome to the new office: Sequential shift, more grunt, higher downforce and sleaker styling. The new Porsche 911 CT3 packs punch and performance, as Fabian Coulthard found out recently, above. The six-speed dog-type 'box features a power shift system with ignition cut for super quick upshifting at full throttle. This will help see the cars top over 280km/h down Conrod Straight at Bathurst. But the cars won't only be quicker up and down the mountain. The larger and adjustable carbon fibre rear wing will offer considerably increased downforce. The wing is 60 millimetres wider and 35 millimetres higher than the current model. and the inside - but the classic improved camshafts. And while the rear of the car and timeless Porsche styling : Complementing the extra remains. is now more likely to stick to grunt will be a new and the track through Caltex improved powertrain. The One of the few things that Chase,the front spoiler has sequential gearboxes will will stay unchanged is the sixdramatically decrease the year-old 3.6 litre six cylinder been aerodynamicallychance of costly clutch blow optimised to minimise the risk boxer engine. The hard-revving of 'concrete-burn' across the outs, which for some time unit develops 294kW (400bhp), but expect another lObhp to be have been the enemy of many top of the mountain. The teams and drivers. squeezed out, thanks to bumper comes with two

OU could be forgiven for thinking that you had gone back in time. Not because we were in Darwin.

Although small and isolated, Darwin is a modern little city from pure neccessity, given how much of it had to be rebuilt after the whole place was nailed by Cylone Tracy back in 1974. Nope, it was just like 2001 or 2002 all over again. Red cars as far as the eye could see, and all sorts of disasters befalling the blue ones. Looking at the three cars that finished on the podium was like warping back to the era of HRT's dominance. It was only upon closer inspection that you realised that there was actually only one HRT car there. and two clones. Todd Kelly backed up his Shanghai success with a cruisy round win at Hidden Valley, giving himself back-to-back wins in the Top End. For Todd, it was one of those weekends where everything fell into

place. "Everything has really come together now," said Todd. "It's sort of going along alright so far, and the main thing is that we're still right up in the championship hunt. As well as that, a few of the guys in front of me 48

in the Championship had bad weekends,so it has all panned out well.

terms tliis weekend has been fantastic. For most of the main

Second outright was Garth Tander, who produced his best result since Bathurst 2000 and his first podium for HSVDT. It's been a long time betvs'een drinks," he smiled."The car was pretty good all weekend. We were probably a little bit out of the window on Friday, but the car was great in qualifying. The guys were fantastic in the pits, and the car was looking after its tyres, so we knew that if we pitted early and got a couple of good outlaps, we could jump a few spots. And completing the podium was Rick Kelly, capping off a great weekend for the HSVDT clan after a

championship protagonists, though. it was a weekend better left forgotten. Mark Skaife, Marcos Ambrose, Russell Ingall and Steve Richards all had good cars underneath them,and all of them encountered dramas at

couple of false starts earlier in the season. 'To be honest 1 was just about in tears on the cool-down lap," said Rick. "It has been quite a while. We've tried harder this year than ever, and unfortunately the results haven't quite been there. "To be honest 1 wasn't really expecting to be on the podium. This weekend was meant to be about getting some good feedback from the car, and we've done that, so in car

one stage or another. But to paraphrase Paul Keating it was,from the championship's point of view, the weekend we had to have. The game is wiiiiiide open...

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Race 1(17 laps) ith a third of the weekend's

points on offer for just 20-odd minutes of racing, the weekend's opening race rewarded those who kept a cool head. The wm was more or less decided on the start line, where Todd Kelly made a better getaway than Mark Skaife, and the Reds ticked around happily for the next 17 laps to take a one-two. Or a 22-2, if you are a bit more lateral minded. The battle for third was more dramatic, but not much. Marcos Ambrose had been hanging on to the final podium spot for the first half of the race, but his mirrors were full of

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Yfar in Jhe V8 paddock on Friday to find reminders ^that the last time everyone <had been together was in , -China. > *« ; - =' Just aboutieverybody was Blinged up. People who had previously struggled to turn up wearing matching shoes were suddenly packing Rolexes, TAG Heuers and an array of other Equality' timepieces, ; freshltronri the markets in Shanghai. It was Formula One wristwear at Formula Ford prices.-The only people who ’ didn't look happy-mwere the ones who were wearing the real deal, and there was more than one person over the course of the weekend taking great pains to point out that the price tag on their Breitling ended with a-few zeroes more than everyone else's. Out on the track, Todd Kelly was still in Shanghai mode, poking the HRT car up to the top of the timesheets after a largely uneventful opening two-hour session on Friday. Kelly joined a sizeable clump of the field in opting not to throw new tyres at his car for the last part of the session after a large streak of oil was dumped between turns four and eight. One of those who did give the greens a run was Paul Morris, who was rewarded with the secondfastest time. "We went through a lot of changes during that session, and now we've got the car where we want it," said The Dude. m not too worried about all of these other guys saying that they didn't use their greens. They always say that..." 50

Just behind Morns at the end of the session were Steven Richards and Craig Lowndes, both of whom declared themselves reasonably satisfied with their progress, and it was a similar story through much of the top end of the grid. One standout,though, was Simon Wills, who treated new sponsor Air North to a fifthfastest time on the first day. "We had a problem with the driveshaft at the start, but then things got better," he said. "We used a set of green tyres to do the time, and this is about the" b'est result that we could have hoped for." As routine as the session was,there were still one or two anomalies on the timesheets. SBR ended the day in sixth (Russell Ingall) and 13th (Marcos Ambrose) but least both of them were in the top half of the field for qualifying, which was more than could be said for FPR's Jason Bright and HSV's Rick Kelly, who were stuck down in 27th and 28th. Predictably, both Bright and Kelly were amongst the leaders in Saturday's qualifying session for the slower half of the field, with Bright opting for a bit of theatre by firing his car off the road towards the end of the session, improving from third to second on the following lap, and then taking PI with a margin of 0.2s on the lap after that. But there were a couple of other guys trying their best to keep him honest. Steve Ellery was doing his bit for the Team Betta Electrical cause, going second quickest behind Bright

after throwing new rubber at ' his Fajcon for the first time, while Paul Dumbrell was also squeezing some speed out of the Team Perkins Commodore to take third place, just ahead of Kelly. Predictably, the faster half of the field bulldozed its way through the top of the timesheets within the first few flying laps, and with 15 minutes remaining only Bright, Ellery and Dumbrell were left representing the slower guys in the top 10. The order shuffled itself quietly for the next five minutes before, out of nowhere, Mark Winterbottom threw his Orrcon Falcon squarely into the mix by banging out the fifth-quickest time. For a few fleeting seconds, IMS actually had both cars in the Shootout when Jason Bargwanna pulled off a similar trick shortly afterwards (knocking Ellery out of the 10 in the process), and he was halfway through an even better lap when the gods struck. "I was on a ripper lap," he mourned. "It was equal to Frosty's - and then the gearbox jammed and it stuck in second." Morris made him pay for it a couple of minutes later, posting the eighth-fastest time and sending Bargs out of the 10. Lowndes had held the upper hand since setting the fastest time of the afternoon mid-way through the session, but both of the HRT cars overhauled him with five minutes remaining. There was still six minutes left on the clock when Mark Skaife pulled something

out of his hat to go quickest by 0.2s, and after the traditional scramble in the final couple of minutes, there was nobody who managed to get anywhere near him. Lowndes kept Todd at bay to hold on to second, with Richards, Winterbottom, Morris, Garth Tander, Ambrose, Bright and Ingall completing the top 10. Well, almost. A number of drivers were called in randomly to have their cars weighed when they returned to the pits

SOMETIMES the journey is as important as the destination. Mark Winterbottom's Shootout lap won't go down as one of the sport's all-time great qualifying efforts, but the fact that he was there in the first place was a good indicator that things are heading in the right direction. "We were quick in practice," Frosty said. "It is probably the first time 1 have ever had a car that I really like. It suits my style. So I wasn't really all that surprised to get into the

V8 SUPERCARS

e Pole Master

While the teams got over their Chinese holiday, Mark Skaife got one over everyone in qualifying. MARK GLENDENNING reports from the Top End

during the session, however when the light came on to signal Ingall over to the scales, his attention was elsewhere. Result? Russell suddenly found himself at the back of the grid, and llth-fastest Paul Radisich had a spot in the Shootout drop into his lap. "It's a bit dicky, right there at the S-bend," grimaced Ingall. "I was probably too busy talking on the radio and I just missed it (the signal). You only get one shot at it, so that's it."

Top 10 Shootout

hen someone's rear end steps out as much as Mark Skaife's did early in his

Shootout. It is the first time in a year and a half that I've ever been confident that I'd make it into a Shootout! "On the lap itself, I was a little bit nervous. There were a couple of mistakes, and it was a pretty average lap, but that's still better than spinning. I had already used all of my tyres, so I was on older tyres and I wasn't sure how much grip I had." - MARK GLENDENNING 6fq!y2005

Shootout lap, it tends to lower one's expectations for their grid spot. But on this occasion, Skaife had other ideas. It was a big moment, an even bigger save - and a stupidly fast lap time. Go figure. "It was just one of those corners," shrugged Skaife. "I got a little wide, I didn't want to get out of the throttle, we caught the kerb, and there was a burst of wheelspin that got it violently sideways. But we made it out of there OK, and for the rest of the lap the car was quite good." Even if Skaife had failed to catch the Commodore, HRT already had pole position booked, because the man to beat at that point was Todd Kelly. There was very little to fault about Todd's lap, which is why it was so disconcerting when Skaife found another 0.3s - despite making a mistake - a couple of minutes later. Lowndes looked to be in contention after a good opening split but he threw a bit away over the final sector, and it was a similar scenario in the Team Perkins garage. Richo had rolled out a superb first split, backed it up with a great second sector, but got out of shape just enough in the last part of the lap to send his time down the tubes. He was fifth at the end. Prior to the HRT cars rolling out, the early pacesetter had been Ambrose, whose 1m09.2677s was enough to withstand the efforts of Tander, Morris, Richo and Winterbottom,the latter making what he admitted was a fairly average debut in Shootout-land. Bright's run was tidy but never looked a threat to the frontrunners, while the Rat's hopes went out the window early when he missed the apex at the first corner.

Betta in singles: Lowndes was again amongst the front-runners in qualifying. ^UALIPYING n |i

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Lets do this together It's never unusual to see V8 Supercars spearing into the greenery. But it isn't normal when three of them come do it on the same corner, within one lap ofeach other.

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continued from page 43

"I only just barely missed him -it was more arse than class. I had no

Morris himself. "We had no dramas at all," said a satisfied Rat."A wheel bearing started to give way there, and the brake pedal was very long, but we were OK. Where.we finished is about where the car is at the moment."

warning at all; I jumped on the brake and the thing just took off." Jason Richards also fell victim to the oil.

The battle over the podium may have been a bit subdued, but there was a bit going on elsewhere in the field. The fun started with a carnage of the highest order on the opening lap, when Jason Bright, the Orrcon pair of Jason Bargw'anna and Mark Winterbottom and Simon Wills found themselves all using the same piece of road at the same time, with predictable results. All of those involved had different takes on what had caused the accident, but the wash-up was that Bargs and Bright were out on the spot, and Wills and Winterbottom joined the DNF roll shortly afterwards. The dual retirement of the two LMS Falcons set the tone for the remainder of the afternoon. Both of

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the WPS Racing Falcons had unhappy races, with David Besnard parking on lap six with a broken crank sensor and Craig Baird being black-flagged for a loose rear bumper. And Team Perkins Racing also closed the shutters early when Paul DumbreU's car broke its steering rack, squirting just enough oil onto his wheels to fire him off the track so suddenly that he thought that the trailing car of Jason Richards had hit him. Then, a lap later, Steve Richards found the same tiny patch of oil and also sailed off, narrowly avoiding plowing into the stricken car of his team-mate. "I saw that I was going to spear into Paul's car, so I jumped off the brakes and pulled the car out of the way," said a crestfallen Richo.

"The only time that I knew anything was there was when I saw Paul going sideways," reported Jason. "I went in and saw he was going sideways,so I tried to slow up but I lost the rear straight away. We're fortunate that we didn't run into each other. I was just lucky to have those extra couple of car lengths to react." Elsewhere,Steve Ellery's efforts were hampered when he took a hit from Paul Weel, the latter serving penance with a drive-through penalty. WeeTs indiscretion was just the tip of a generally tough day for Super Cheap Racing, which was struggling to adapt to its new engine. While the new powerplant is producing all the right numbers on the dyno,its installation has required the repositioning of other peripherals in the car, leading to substantial changes in the weight distribution. "We're completely lost," said Greg Murphy."We had a great car in China,and now it's a piece of crap." While all of this was going on, Russell Ingall was enjoying himself. Despite the short race. Ingall recovered from last on the grid to finish 14th, positioning himself nicely for a foray into the top part of the field for the second outing on Sunday.

Race 2(48 laps) Ifdoesn't you ever needed proof a race neccessarily needthat to be interesting in order to have potentially far-reaching ramifications, then watching the cars take to the track on Sunday would have done the trick.

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somewhere out near East Timor, Jason Bright figured that there was little to lose by rolling the dice with his pitstop strategy, and delayed his appearance in pitlane until lap 28. It worked a treat - when the FPR Falcon returned to the circuit, it was 14th, and by the end of the race. Bright was ninth. A round of applause, please. The same trick worked even better in Dodo-land, where Jason Richards held on until lap 30 before pitting, and re-emerged in eighth before going on to cross the line in sixth. It was a good result for the team, and looked even more impressive when you took into account that both of the Tasman cars were battling a misfire throughout the weekend. The misfire was still there during that race, but luckily it w'as only gentle," grinned Richards."The car was really good. There were also some happy faces in HSV Dealer Team's piece of pitlane real estate, with Tander and Rick Kelly delivering a third and fifth respectively. Afterw'ards, Rick was keen to point out that the result was no fluke.

Todd once again got off the line better than Skaife, who dropped a further place at the first comer to a flying Ambrose. It took just two laps for Kelly to open a small gap over Marcos, and unless something went awry during the pitstops, it was hard to see how anyone was going to pose a threat. When Todd's time for a set of new rears came on lap 11, everything went like clockwork and he went on to take another assertive win for Team Red. Job done. Skaife was second, but he had a rather more eventful run. A locked wheel early in the race had seen Skaife lose touch with Ambrose slightly, and almost fall into the reach of the pursuing Lowndes. He recovered though and was shadowing Ambrose again when the pair swung into pitlane together on lap 10. HRT came out on top of SBR after the pitstop duel, allowing Skaife to resume racing ahead of Ambrose, and the pendulum swmng further aw'ay from Marcos when a fist-sized hole appeared in his front right Dunlop on his out lap. Ambrose shot off the circuit, recovered, and made the painfully long and slow journey back to the pits for some TLC. The Pirtek car returned to the circuit a

We've got the car in the window for the first time since Adelaide," he said. We.tried two different things so far, and both had their positives. So now we have to find something in between that works for us. Glenn Seton did not have the fastest car on the circuit, but it what it lacked in outright pace, it made up for in sheer consistency. Seventh place was a good result for the Westpoint Racing crew, who fell just short of having both cars in the top 10 after Steve Johnson crossed the line in 11th.

couple of minutes later, but it had fallen off the lead lap and was out of contention. Ambrose duly went into salvage mode and coasted around looking after his tyres to be classified among the finishers. He wasn't alone amongst the Ford frontrunners to have a frustrating run, with Lowndes dumping a ton of time in his garage having broken watts linkage mounting bolts attended to - damage caused by contact with Ingall a few laps earlier. For some of the other Blue Ovals

Radisich delivered another good

though, things were going swimmingly. Having started the race

continued on page 48

The bad and the downright ugly: Race 1 started with the usual door-todoor mayhem. Jason Bright came out worse, top, but finished the weekend strong. Above, David Besnard's horror season continued.

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6 July 2005

And now for some Turn 1 antics: Both Steven Ellery and Paul Weel got dealt penalties for their Race 1 incident, left, while Craig Lowndes and Russell Ingall, above, were in the wrong place at the wrong time. 53

Don't let the sun

continued from page 47 result for Team Kiwi with an eighth place, while John Bowe repeated his 10th place from the first race to keep Team BOC at the business end of the field. Only one driver failed to make it to the finish, and the guy who drew the short straw was Andrew Jones. A broken oil fitting sent the GRM Commodore off the circuit, where it started a cheerful little grass fire before a cluster of enthusiastic

06ALgt team

Darwinians with hydrants got busy with the retardant foam.

Ahh, pretty pictures: John Morris got out of bed before any journalist had even got home from the pub to get this HSV/sunrise pic, above. Klynsmith caught this beauty at Mindil Beach on Thursday night, below.

And Ingall? Having taken care of the rear and midfield in the first race of the weekend,the Caltex Falcon again did more passing than most of the field combined to end the race in fourth. Russell clearly had a fast car underneath him, and he now he was with striking range of the leaders. The final race was going to be a doozy...

Race 3(48 laps)

... or at least, that's what we thought. It is always a bit disconcerting when you see a team working on a car just before the start of a race. It's even more disconcerting when the car in question fails to leave the dummy grid.

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SETON and Johnson,tearing it up at the top of the field. Just like the old days, right? Well, not really. It's a different Johnson,for one thing. And in a way, it's a different Seton, too, not least because after finishing fifth in race three he looked happier than he has in eons. "I'm rapt," he beamed. "I'm really happy with my driving, and Tarn really happy with the car and it's consistency in the race. We need to find more qualifying speed, but we've made some great steps. We've made some changes that have really made the car suit me. It's great for the team, because they have been working really hard. but it's great for me,too. After

you have a couple of tough years, you do start to wonder a little bit in the back of your mind. So it's a good result for me." Westpoint Racing is going testing next week ahead of the next round at Queensland Raceway, and Seton believes that what the team achieved in Darwin will stand them in good stead. "We're making progress, but the test will determine what we've got," he said. "What we have improved and learned this weekend will help us in Queensland as well." - MARK GLENDEIMNIIMG

All was not well in the #9 Falcon. A push start got Ingall going, but he now had to return to pit lane, shut the car off, and fire it up again to prove that it could start under its own power before being allowed to go racing. In a stroke, all of IngalTs work in the previous two races had come undone. Ingall tried to fast-track the process by swerving straight into pitlane, but was sent out to complete the installation lap first. When he came back around, he drove straight into the garage. The starter motor was dead. Game over. This was a god-send for Jason Richards, who suddenly had an empty slot on the grid in front of him, and he capitalised on it by launching up to fourth at the start. Out in front, it was Skaife who was quicker off the line of the h\'o HRT cars, but Kelly had track position and again assumed the lead going into the first corner, with Garth Tander hovering behind the HRT pair in third. Tander was the first of the leaders to pit, hauling the HSVDT in for some new shoes as soon as the pit window opened on lap six. The team serviced him in record time, he rejoined and immediately cranked out a couple of quick laps, which proved extremely useful when Todd rejoined right in front of him after making his own stop two laps later. Garth drove around the HRT car, took the lead and left the ball in Todd's court. If Todd was weighing up the risks of having a crack at Garth,he decision was made easier when Skaife was delayed during his pitstop by a nut escaping from the wheel. With his biggest rival for the round win having suddenly been winged, Todd could now afford to relax a little. The issue was settled once and for all when Skaife's fightback was curtailed by a whack from Simon Wills, which sent the #2 HRT car back into pitlane for some attention. Thinking that the problem was worse than it actually was,Skaife drove into the garage, but the team had the car sorted out relatively quickly and

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SUPERCARS VBSCS Round & Hidden Vauuey, Race

1 | 1 "7

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Pas I Driver|Race Time|Fastest 'f Lap

1 2 3

T. Kelly Skaife ‘ Lowndes

20:08.1710 '20:08.8656 20:69.2385

1:09,8544 _ 3 1:09.9886 _ 4 1:10.1042 4

4 5 6 7

Ambr^2 Tander Radisich Morris Seion''

9 10 ir 12

R: Kelly Bowe Ritter Johnson

26:'10.5154 20:19.1818 20:20.1685 20:21.6836 20:22.7822 20:26.8877 20:30.7146 20:32.0643 20:33.7587

1:10.0150 _'4 1:10.5192’ “5 1:10.5302 6 1:10.6923 "3 1:10.7322” 3 1:10.8244 5 1:11.1696 3 1:11.2321 3 1:10.9857 5

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Bush watch: The Darwin crowd was again large and vocal, left, while Rick Kelly finally did the business in 2005, above.

The Air in There

THE cockpit of a V8 Supercar is a hot place at the best of times, so when the circus is in Darwin the mercury just about bursts the thermometer. It was fitting, them, that Hidden Valley saw the unveiling of the new roof vents on all of the cars, an earlier version of which was revealed in MNews at the start of the year. Brilliant idea - but how well did it work? "The cabin vent is supposed to take about 10 degrees out of the car, but when you're behind another car you get more heat soak," said Skaife. "I haven't looked at the numbers yet. It has obviously got to be better than not having it." "There is a little more high pressure flow," agreed Paul Radisich, "It's not Skaife was soon back in the fray. As far as outright results went though, his weekend was over. "Wills came from way back and smacked into the back of me," said an irritated Skaife. "I thought it was the Watts linkage, which is why I drove into the garage, but it was just the tyre." Skaife wasn't the only frontrunner to have his efforts thwarted. Another good run from Radisich was ruined by mechanical problems that delayed him in the pits just long enough to completely screw his race, while Jason Richards lost a swag of time after firing the car deep into the runoff area while running strongly in the top six. The rruddle section of the race saw a cracking battle shaping up on the fringes of the top 10, with Murphy, Ambrose and Lowndes all squabbling over ninth, but it fell apart just as things were getting interesting when Murph's car started smoking. After spending a couple of laps marinating Ambrose's windscreen, the #51 Commodore was finally gave up the ghost and sidelined by an oil leak. There was one final twist in the race when Andew Jones was thwacked by Morris and was stranded off the circuit, prompting an appearance from the Safety Car, but it 6IUIV2005

massive, but there is a bit more flow inside the cockpit. But it's still bloody hot." "It doesn't seem to make a huge difference," shrugged Steve Richards. "I put my hand up there, and I couldn't feel much air coming in." "It's still hot in the car, but we are in Darwin," said Jason Bargwanna. "We measured 57 degrees in the car during practice - and we don't have cool suits ..." Incidentally, our spies tell us that although the intial design that was tested on HRT's ride car earlier this year was more effective in forcing air into the cabin, it was canned because it created too much interference with the rear wing. -MARKGLENDENNING

had little impact on the final result. Rick Kelly followed Todd across the line for a Kelly brothers twothree, and after withstanding some intense pressure from a frustrated Steve Richards, he earned it. If you think Rick was happy to have finished third, you should have spoken to the guy who finished fifth. After a couple of frustrating years, Seton was delighted to have picked up a good result for his new employers at DJR/Westpoint Racing, and it was made all the sweeter by team-mate Johnson coming home in seventh. // It's a good result, but It's so bloody frustrating when you can't qualify well," said Junior. "Tlie car just hasn't got the speed on green tyres, if we could qualify it in sixth or eighth, this car is good enough for podiums." On the strength of Sunday afternoon, it was hard not to believe

him.

Sandwiched between the two blue cars was ... another blue car. After some promising signs early in the weekend, Ellery had endured some bad luck in the opening two races. Sixth place in the final outing was a good finish, and it was capped off for the team with a 10th for Lowndes, which represented a good recovery after the earlier dramas.

Fading tyres made life difficult for Bright in the later stages of the final race but he still hung on to finish eighth, with Ambrose putting a few points in his pocket for ninth place after a tough day. On the points table, SBR still occupies the high ground, but the events of the last couple of rounds have started to shift the momentum. The Stones will be delighted to be heading to their home track for the next round, where virtually all of the Queensland teams have scheduled a pre-race test day, but will it be enough to hold off the assorted Holden teams that are starting to get their act together? If you want to find out, you'll just have to join us at The Paperclip in three weeks.

VS scs Points

Points: Ambrose 980, S. Richards 893, Ingall 877, T. Kelly 870, Skaife 828, Lowndes 718, Johnson 705, Bowe 699, Radisich 699, Tander 10, Murphy 11, Seton 653, Whincup 641, Bright 624, McConville 609, Weel 606, Morris 588, R. Kelly 565, J. Richards 503, Ellery 484, B. Jones 450, Wilson 420, Baird 418, Dumbrell 399, Bargwanna 368, White 356, Ritter 323, Wills 28, Winterbottom 292, A. Jones 292, Tratt 291, Besnard 255, Owen 237, Davison 124.

13 Murphy '1' ”20:35.4999 1:11.2288” 6 14 tngall 20:3'S59M" 1:10.7843 3 1:11.3794 6 15 nn Whincu’p 20:38.7040 16 Wilson 20:41.5451 1:10.7420 4 "■ 20:41.7980 ' i:11.366l' ' 3 17 B. Jones ” 18 McCon^lIe ” 20:44.3134 _1:1C2'655' ‘ ‘4‘ 19 A. Jones "' ' 26:45.033'4_ 1:11.6022' " 5' 20 Owen' 20:45.9633 '”l:’il4423 ' ”2' 21 White 20:46.9649 1:11.6758 ”‘7' 22 S. Richards' 20:48.'4'678 1:10.3513 6 23 Davison '20:48.8656'" 1:li;5728 5 24”wrnie‘rbot'tom 20:50.1966” 1:11.6578 5 25 ” j. Richards' ‘ '■ ”20':56'.4464 " i':i0.7024" ' 5 26 ■ Weel 16 laps 1:11.2108 6 27 Baird '16 laps 1:10.6731 ‘ 6 15 laps ■ l:i0.'8269 14 28 "Eilery DNF Tratt 15 laps 1:11.4041 4 DNF bumbfeU' ' 10 laps 1:10.8376 _ 5 r:l'l.5684' 4 DNF Besnard 1:12.8864 3 DNF'Wills' DNF Bar^anna DNF'Bright'

Olaps 0 laps

Race 1:00:27.6924 1:10.24 08 6 1:00:28:4147 1:10.4058 6 i:0‘0:30.5639' 1:10.4246 8 l':0'0':3i.2'593 1:10.8679 13 4 Ingall 1:00:32.5621 f:i0.9161 ' 'l5 5 R. Kelly' 1:10.6048 '33 6 ■ jiRichaVds " ■"l:00:'32.8892 1:00:34.7750 1:10.9744 6 7' Seto’ii' i:66:36‘.'0‘215 1:10.9625 6 8 R'adisl^ 1:00:36.8438 1:10.8859 30 9 ^Bright ^ iO ^ 1:06':37:78'4'5' ' r:l6.'64l'2 ' '8 1:66:39.1980 1:11.1531 10 i'l ” j'ohn^n " 1:11.2639 12 12' S.'Richards ' 1:00:39.9993 1:00:40.9801 l:'l0'.9850 "'12 13 Ellery 'i':66;41.3557 i:'ll'.0360 l6 14 Whincup” 1:00:42.0260 ' 1:11.0190 22 15_purn^l(

1 2 3

T. Kelly Skaife Tander'

16 _ Mur^ 17 Dawson 18 Morris 19 ^bwen 20 ’ Bairt” '21 " Wilis ” 22" White’ 23” Ritter ' 24 25 26 27 28 29

Bargwanna Trail Weei Winte’rboltom Ambrose Besnard

30 " B.lonw ___ 3i McC'onwIle 32 Lowndes 33 Wilson DNF A. Jones" ' RACE 1

Tander

2 3 4 5

T. Kelly ' R. Kelly" S. Richards " Selon

6 7

Ellery Johnson’"

^1:00:42:_5572_ 1;06:43.4851 ' ll00:43.'96l2 1:00:46.1962 1':66:4'6!6562

1:11.2555 4 1:11.2142 6 1:11.2917 " 31 1:11.3205 5 1 :li.4178 24

”l'i:00:47.2853 1:00:47.6414 l':00':'49;2344 "1:06:50.2441 1:00:58.9460 l:6i:2'7.6518

1:1L4962 17 1:10.9257 16 1:11.1999 15 1:11.2522 18 1:11.2806 10 1:11.2422 ’48

47laps 1:10.9274 10 47laps 1:10.4006 6 47 laps 1:11.9581 20 471aps 1:11.0395 10 '47 laps' ' 1:11.4174 6 «lapr 1 :i6.4201 '__5 1:11.4169 5 41 laps 1:1i:565b' 26 -4S

i_AF»s

1:01:10.5109 1:10.4658 9 I:6'r:l6i8504 "1:10.8180 'll 1:01:14.2439 1:11.0419 13 1:01:14.7845 1:10.9420 15 1:01:17.1151" 1:11.0615' 5 1:01:19.1816 1:110187 13 i:01:20.'6'634 1:10.9727 13 1:01:23.4493 1:10.8628 6 '1:01:23.9741 ' 1:10.7420 'l'6 1:01:24.1984 1:10.7363 1:01:24.5520 1:11.4440 4

8 Bright 9 ' Ambrose 10 Lowfides 11 Dumbrell 12 Bowe 1:01:25.0263 __i:n.3440 10 1:01:26.8978 ‘i:ll.l'54i ' ”8 13 Wilson i:6i':27.2096 1:11.3457 29 14 Weel 1:01:27.5276 1:10.9458 4 15 J. Richards i:01:28.2986 1:11.6304 ' 4 16 "Baird’ 17 Whincup 1:01:28.9947 _jMi.3705 30 1:01:35.0617 1:11.5217 10 18 Morris _ '1:11.6510 26 19 Bargwanna 1:01:35.8562 1:01:36.4041 l:l1.B176 "30 20 Winlerboltom "l':6r:367605' 1:11.4710 13 21 Ow^ 1:01:37.6813 _Ji11.7261 13 22 McCo^lle__ '23 While r:6l:37;9l'33' l:li.766'4 _ 29 ' 1:01:52.8222 1:11.1072 4 24 Ritter 25 26' 27 DNF DNF DNF

Besnard^ Skaife Radisich ' Davison Wills AiJones

DNF Murphy DNF Trait DNF B. Jones DNS Ingall

47 laps 46laps ' 43'lap's 36

' 1:11.6300 _ 5 V:107462" 46 " '1:11.1631 ' 25 1:11.7963 27

35taps 1:11.1508 31 lapr’ 1:11.7459 30 laps 1:11.4082 _ "I4laps l':l'i;4473

9 23 13 10 5

Olaps

V-

The Empipe Strikes F

ERNANDO Alonso may have stuffed his Renault into the barrier in Canada and then pulled out of the United States Grand Prix on the grounds of safety, but he showed his opposition on Sunday at Magny-Cours that the Renault is still a very good car. Michael Schumacher may have picked up maximum points at Indianapolis but it was back to business as usual in France. The Ferraris were not on the pace. Fernando never put a wheel wrong and led from start to finish. It was his

fifth win of the year. And,it is fair to say, he was pretty darned lucky. The key moment of the French GP weekend was not in the race - a fairly uneventful affair, if the truth be told but rather on Friday afternoon when Kimi Raikkonen's Mercedes-Benz VIO engine began to trail oil smoke and then expired. Tlrat meant that the Finnish driver, the man who is reallly the major force against Alonso, would have to drop 10 places on the grid because of the current FI regulations. That was all that Alonso needed. His advantage on Sunday was enough to hold off what looked like being a faster car. The question rvas really one of strategy. There were those who would three-stop and those who would go for two stops and who was foing what would only become apparent after about 20 laps.

lonso took off from the start, with Jarno Trulli in his wake and Michael Schumacher third, and that ■basically was how it stayed for the I first stint. By the time it was realised that Alonso was on a three-stop strategy, he was so far ahead of the others that he was still in the lead when he came out of the pits. And that was that. Raikkonen did come through to second, using a two-stop strategy his first stint being impressively long and putting his qualifying performance into a really good light but he was never in a position to challenge for victory. Alonso had plenty in hand and did not set a faster lap after his fifth passage. That was a measure of this victory. "I am very proud to win here today, for the team for Renault, for Michelin who have had a difficult time in the last two weeks, and for all the fans who came to support us," the Spaniard said. "The race was 56

quite easy; I pushed until the first pit stops, and then controlled the gap, only making small adjustments to the car. This was a totally dominant show. A textbook victory. The only thing missing was the fastest lap - and, inevitably, that went to Kimi. What was the fastest car overall? Well, it was obvious. It was the McLaren. Raikkonen really needed to beat Alonso if he is to close the 24-point' gap between them but Kimi could do no more than he did. It was basically a question of damage limitation from Friday onwards.

n 'n a perfect world, Juan Pablo ..Montoya would have joined Raikkonen on the podium, but this is not a perfect world and Monty fought off a challenge from Michael Schumacher, only to go out with a hydraulic problem after 42 laps. "I was really enjoying this race," he said miserably."We were on the right strategy and the car is simply unbelievable, which makes it even harder to retire. I was on a different

race of the season, but it gave the local crowd exactly what they came to see and it gave Michelin a little more weaponry in its fight with the FIA.

f9»

But enough of that... going racing is more interesting than arguing in the paddock.

t)'re to Kimi so it took a bit longer to get them warm, but I think that could have paid off towards the end of the race." As a result of that, Schumacher swept gratefully by to inherit a very distant third place. Michael takes his points wherever he can get them and was happy. "I think that was the best I could have done today," he said. "I lost a lot of time stuck behind Trulli for 18

HANIJ

laps and that meant that Montoya got past me. Without that delay, our strategy might have put me ahead of Kimi. In fact, tliis race was all about different drivers on different strategies." Jenson Button had a relatively quiet race, always running in the thick of the midfield battle without standing out, but was delighted to score his and BAR-Honda's first official points of the season. "It's great finally to get some on board after such a difficult first half of the season," he admitted. "This is a great result for the team and things can only get better for us during the rest of the year. It's also a real boost as we prepare for our home Grand Prix at Silverstone."

For Alonso it was a perfect day, his 10 point haul extending his championship lead to 24 over Raikkonen, and 29 over Schumacher. This was probably the least dramatic i^inpOrtlKWS

FORMULA ONE

Back

After all the dramas of Indianapolis, Formula One got back to business in France, with a thrashing from home team Renault, a great comeback by Kimi Raikkonen and some crumbs for Michael Schumacher. JOESAWARD reports

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■

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The Blues and The Rest: Alonso was in a class of his own in France and is getting plenty of practice at the champagne thing, above. Jenson Button finally delivered some 'real'points for BAR-Honda, centre, while Jacques Villeneuve was only to keen to point out to Rubens Barrichello which Ferrari-powered driver finished in the points, left.

«e\'AUtT

Qualifylno

The Most Pc THE French fans were a lot happier at Magny-Cours than they were in Indianapolis two weeks ago, after Fernando Alonso gave the locals something to cheer about by planting his Renault on pole position for the French Grand Prix.

Boom boom boom: Kimi Raikkonen had a short practice session and copped a 10spot penalty for his trouble. Pana Maniac: Trulli, left, is turning into a Saturday ace and the Toyota is showing consistent speed.

The local team (apart from the fact it is based in Britain) was ahead. And France is very keen on all things French, even if they have been adopted. Although the ambient temperature steadfastly remained five degrees below the expected high of 27 degrees Celsius, Michelin's tyres still had an edge over Bridgestone's as the Spaniard pushed his way round in 1m14.412s. Making this even sweeter was the fact that this was faster than Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher, both of whom were also displaced by Jarno Trulli in a Toyota. But was Toyota running light again? It was an academic argument for Raikkonen, as his

F®CUS ON WEBBER M

ding Injuiy to Insult

MARK Webber is unlikely to use the word, but the French Grand Prix heralded a crisis within the Williams team. Having arrived at Magny Cours in an upbeat frame of mind, with an all-new aero package that the team's press release reckoned was worth four-tenths of a second, it soon became painfully obvious that someone had got something wrong somewhere. Webber and team-mate Nick Heidfeld struggled all weekend with what was described as a car "that was well-balanced, but struggling for grip". That means downforce, guys. So what happened? The awkward thing is that no-one seems to know. "That's the really tough thing," Webber told MNews a short while after the race. "At the moment, we just don't know what has happened. Sam and the engineers are heading straight back to the factory to start work immediately on finding out what's happened. It's not ideal ..." he concluded, with some degree of understatement. That investigation will clearly centre on the aero department. This is the second major failure for the team following the initial launch of the car in January, when it was found to have acquired a rear downforce deficiency between wind tunnel and track. A similar discrepancy appears to have hit the team again.

That aside, Webber's race was destroyed by a bizarre repeat of the crippling monocoque heat-seal failure that resulted in a burned hip during last year's Japanese Grand Prix, when he drove for Jaguar. "It was exactly the same! They tipped some water into the seat at the first stop (lap 19) to try and help, but that only helped for a little while," a sore Webber reported. He pitted again, early, 11 laps later for more water, and fuel, and was able to get to the end of the race - albeit with a burn to his hip that required immediate post-race attention. "If it wasn't for the qualifying system - which means we have to finish if at all possible - I'd have retired. In the end it was just a matter of getting to the finish as best we could." He now faces a few days of treatment to his burnt hip in the lead-up to this weekend's British GP. "Silverstone could be a bit of a struggle, but that's the least of the problems at the moment," he said. Qualifying was the first public indication that all was not well, with Webber and Heidfeld 12th and 13th fastest.

An all-new aero package failed to deliver for Williams in France. Things also got too hot In a weekend Webber, and Williams, will want to forget. Mark spoke to CHRIS LAMBDEN

VillianlTsaoj

fijjj pgjnt

AWaxtii; So how is life elsewhere? Webber swaps notes with BAR-Honda boss Nick Fry and McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa before a tough race, below. albeit on a moderate fuel load, Webber his usual three or four-tenths up on the German, though fuelled for one additional lap. But this wasn't what the team had hoped for, openly talking podium in the lead-up to the weekend. "There's no doubt this was a very tough weekend for the team," Webber concluded.

"We went there with high hopes to challenge for podiums and, as became very apparent on Friday, we struggled for pace at the track all weekend. It was very distracting to have the pain 1 had on my hips virtually all race. It literally rubbed salt in the wounds, and proved a painful remainder of where we're at..."

FORMULA ONE

A Little Bit of Everything

Magny Cours is the perfect place to evaluate aero packages - and several teams did just that, as F1 Technical Editor PAOLO FILISETTI explains

THE return to Europe, and particularly Magny Cours, heralds the introduction of a great number of 'second-half' developments from the major teams. Magny Cours is a particularly good place to assess aero efficiency, with its flat, smooth and fast comers,so a number of teams debuted a range of changes. Biggest among them was Williams - with 21 changes in its allnew aero package - but our analysis of it, and indeed the questionable outcome - which saw the Williams cars fall back from the immediate competition- will wait for another day. Renault introduced a further development of its rear aero, with an evolution of the small wing atop of the rear crushable structure, right above. It differs from the previous one in respect of its height and the vertical side-pillars, in a move clearly inspired by the similar item introduced by Ferrari at the European GR McLaren continued its refinement of the MP4/20, top, with yet another take on the rear bodywork immediately in front of the rear wheels - which now changes on a race-by-race basis. In particular, the vertical fin placed under the big 6 July 2005

cun'ed ones now sports a slightly sinuous shape, to improve the efficiency of this area by speeding up the airflow through it and thus increasing the speed of extraction of air from the diffuser. Ferrari, too, unveiled a number of aero developments to aid the balance of the car. To this end, additional fins have been placed on the side of the nose cone at the level of the upper wishbone, right. These fins work together with the wing profile-shaped wishbone, effectively increasing its width. The fins add a small degree of downforce at the level of the front axle, while increasing the efficiency of the airflow to the rear of the car. The sidepods and bargeboards also feature additional fins on their front, top sections,/rtr right above. These are rounded and slightly inclined downwards, producing additional downforce around the centre of the car, much as with the similar approach adopted by Toyota and BAR, and are likely to see use in several other races this season. 61

Faster than a 1st Serve IT'S a good thing that Richard Gasquet is not a better player on grass. France's number one tennis player was treated to a blast in a Formula One car at Magny Cours, courtesy of the FFSA and Sebastien Bourdais. The French Champ Car ace was in town sniffing around for an FI drive (see news pages).

Of course, had Gasquet been a grass court expert, he would have still been involved in the Wimbledon tournament and missed the chance for the ride. No doubt some of the keen eyed readers among you will have noticed that the car is a converted Tyrrell FI from the Paul Stoddart stable - and out, they are Michelin tyres ...

The House of Blues ONE interesting thing about the 2005 French Grand Prix was the size of the crowd. The organisers were "delighted" with the sale of tickets in the final days which took the three-day crowd total to 160,000 paying customers, in addition to several thousand VIP guests. The race attracted 30,000 people on Friday, 50,000 on Saturday and 80,000 on Sunday. With ticket prices lower this year, the organisers needed to increased the number of spectators and the policy appears to have paid off. One of the problems for the race in previous years has been that the track is I in the remote Nevers region of France There has been talk that the race would move south to Paul Ricard, near Nice, in the near future but it the promoters s can maintain this level of interest in the race where it is, it may well stay put... -JOESAWARD

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Some Finger Trouble

SOMETIMES, media releases tell the story of the race from a definite point of view but often, you have to dig a little deeper to get to the good stuff. Takes Bridgestone's view of the French GP, frinstance. Yup, there was the usual love for all things Ferrari and, yes.

Grid

we supply those yellow things (Russian, aren't they?) and then we get to Minardi. Here is what the Japanese tyre maker said: Minardi's Patrick Friesacher and Christijan Albers, however, had a disappointing end to their weekend with neither finishing the race."

GrancJ Prix of France July 3 2005

10l

Pos itions lap by lap [401

Damn shame, that. Obviously something happened. Wonder what it was? Step to the foul line Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth: 1/ It's disappointing that both cars retired today as the result of the valve caps not being

Ma,

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[60

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2 JT ■

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3 MS

4 TS S RB

1 2 3 4 5

6 GF 3 JM

9 FM 10 JV 11 RS

12 MW 13 KR

13 14

14 NH ■

15 DCB

In 17 NK 16 CK

18 PF 19 TM CA

16 17

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Black Flagged 5) Mechanical failure Q Pit stop | Lapped TM = T Monteiro B KR = K Raikkonen B DC = D Coulthard ■ MS = M Schumacher B FA = FAIonco CK = C Klien B NK = N Karthikeyan JM = J Montoya GF = G Fisiche lla Bl RB = R Sarrichello B PF = P Friesacher BJT=J Trulli B JV = -J Villeneuve B JB = J Button _ B MWf = M Webber B RS = RSchumacher B GA= CAlbers B FM = F Massa BnH = N Heidfeld BTS=TSato Key

6luly2005

refitted to the left rear tyres after the drivers' second pit stops. In co-operation with our tyre partner, Bridgestone, we will be investigating the issue further, to understand why it happened and to ensure there is no repeat of the problem." Oops. All those mechanics, above, and no caps. In these days of tyre change-less races, it is rare to see some screw up in the pits stop a car. Maybe Bridgestone will be a little more ... transparent next time?

Accident

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

French

Grand Prix 70 laps ■

RACE RESULT Alonso 1:31:22.233 1:i6.502 1:31:34.038 1:16.423 Raikkonen M. Schumacher 1:32:44.147 1:17.714 Button 69 laps 1:17.408 Trulli 69 laps 1:17.792 Flsichella 69 laps 1:17.511 R. Schumacher 69 laps 1:18.103 Villeneuve 69 laps 1:17.841 Barrlchello 69 laps 1:17.960 Coulthard 69 laps 1:17.611 Sato 69 laps 1:17.929 Webber 68 laps 1:18.395 Monteiro 67 laps 1:20.004 Heidfeld 66 laps 1:18.102 66 laps 1:20.156 Karthikeyan

DNF Montoya 46 laps/hydraulics DNF Albers 37 laps/tyres DNF Friesacher 33 laps/lyres DNF Massa 30 laps/hydraulics 1 lap/luel pressure mi Klien

5 25 22 18 : 67 18 36 17 4 39 17 32 36 9

1:16.656 24 1:21.077 8 1:21.451 1:17.805

Fastest lap Raikkonen on lap 25 1:16.423

Drivers' Points: Alonso 69, Raikkonen 45, M. Schumacher 40, Trulli 31, Barrlchello 29, Heidfeld 25, Webber and R. Schumacher 22, Flsichella 20, Coulthard 17, Montoya 16, Massa 7, Monteiro, Wurz and Villeneuve 6, Button and Karthikeyan 5, Albers, Klien and de la Rosa 4, Friesacher 3, Uuzii 1. Constructors' Points:, Renault 87, McLarenMercedes 71, Ferrari 69. Toyota 53, Williams*BMW 47, Red Bull-Cosworth 22, Sauber-Peironas 13. Jordan-Toyota 11, Minardi-Cosworth 7, BARHonda 5.

TTR gets Its

hydraulic diff

Bates conservative: debut in Adeiaide? by PHIL BRANAGAN

TEAM Toyota Racing has got its hydraulic diff for the Globalstar Australian Rally Championship but the units will not be run in Tasmania next week. The team tested the units in Victoria last week and while team boss Neal Bates, right, is encouraged by the results, he is not willing to risk running the changes until they are ready. "We tested the new diff last Tuesday near Bendigo," Bates said last week."At the moment, there are still issues to sort out. The last thing want to do it jump into something like this until it is 100 percent sorted and reliable." Early last week,ARCom announced that it had approved three Variant Options(VOs) requested by Toyota for the Group N (P) Corolla Rally Car. Apart from the hydraulic centre diff, similar to the units already in use in the Group N Subarus and Mitsubishis, tlie TTR cars will now be permitted to run reinforced lower front suspension mounting points and a brake servo spacer. Tlie approvals mean that the parts can be used with immediate effect.

Jr Bates said that the team would continue to test the changes after the Tasmanian round but that it was likely that at the following round in Adelaide, his car and that of team mate Ben Barker would run the new diff but that championship contender Simon Evans would stay with the tried and proven viscous unit. Apart from the potential for increasing the competitiveness of the TTR cars. Bates also welcomed the approval of the Variant Options from a team owner's point of view. "The system is working. I am sure that the other manufacturers are not happy about the changes, nor should they be, but this shows that the system does work. Ford is coming into the series and I am sure that other manufacturers will be watching this with interest."

Commitment Issues Skoda gets FIA concession but will it be back? SKODA is yet to confirm its participation in the 2006 World Rally Championship - despite a concession for the FIA. Along with Mitsubishi, the Czech maker has had its request to compete in only 13 rounds of the series accepted, while other makers will be required to race in all 16 events. "At the request of Mitsubishi and Skoda, exceptionally for 2006, the two manufacturers may benefit from a waiver to be absent from a maximum of three events in the World Rally Championship, two in Europe and one overseas. They cannot both be absent from the same event," the FIA's World Motor Sport Council announced. But while Skoda team manager Joan Sureda is optimistic about the future, he stopped short of a commitment to next season. "Today the championship is too expensive for manufacturers," he said. "At the end of the season Peugeot and Citroen will finish, [so] I think something is wrong. I think the first step is the budget. We must to do something to allow more and more manufacturers to join us." One concession the FIA did demand was that, with Ford and Subaru the only confirmed 'full-time' works team for next season, Skoda and Mitsubishi will not be able to 'miss' the same event.

Dodo GaGa over Evo AUSTRALIAN telecommunications company Dodo has expanded its motor racing association with a major sponsorship of Team Mitsubishi Ralliart. The team's Evolution VIII Lancer will be adorned with Dodo livery, including the company's wellknown bird emblem,from the next 64

round of the Globalstar Australian Rally Championship,Tasmania's Safari, on July 8-10. Dodo is already involved in Australian motorsport as the major sponsor of the Tasman Motorsport V8 Supercar team, which fields drivers Jamie Whincup and Jason Richards.

motorsport nsws

RALLY

Simon says: Snow! Evans wants to see rallying on ice in the ARC

SNOW should be on the menu of the

Australian Rally Championship, according to Simon Evans. Toyota's lead driver says that the series. would receive a boost if a snow-based event was added to future ARC calendars. "I am keen for it," he said last week. "Driving our cars on snow would be a great challenge. I think that it would be pretty easy to do. Looking at somewhere like the Victorian or New South Wales snowfields, there are

already the people there in the winter months, so there would be ready spectators. I am sure that the media would grab the event and it would be a boost for the series." Evans also says that the addition of a snow event would bring the Australian series in line with other international series. "We drive on gravel, on mud and on tarmac and we have proven that our drivers can compete with the best going around." - PHIL BRANAGAN

Tanaka Takeover MITSUBISHI has announced a replacement for Technical Director Mario Fornaris, who resigned two months ago. The role has been filled by Yasuo Tanaka, who steps into the position immediately. Tanaka's appointment is a step towards trying to get more out of the team's research and development resources in Japan, with the initial aim being to improve the reliability and tarmac specification of the temperamental Lancer WRC05. "The appointment of Mr R Tanaka as Technical Director as MMSP is a n further step toward stronger integration and co-operation with Mitsubishi's R&D division in Okazaki," said team boss Isao Torii. "His role will include the further development of the current Lancer WRC05, as well as the future design of our new rally car." n Amid all the crossfire in the postIndy Formula One wash-up, the FIA actually did some other work at its recent World Council meeting. Apart from granting concessions to Mitsubishi and Skoda for next season, the FIA announced that this year's French and Spanish WRC rounds will be 'paired', meaning engines and chassis will be sealed for both events. This will allow teams to build a single asphalt car for the two rallies. The 'pairing' concept is likely to be expanded in the WRC calendar in the future.

n The final word from Ithe now retired] Carlos Sainz at the postAcropolis conference: "I will check from time to time to see what is happening in the sport and the championship. I will see if Martin Holmes has the same trousers or how is my hair, but not with the helmet."

3 3

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The New Frontier

World Series Sprintcars confirms two Tasmanian rounds, as season 2005/06shapes as the best ever

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The town ofSimpson is home to one of Australia’s best Sprintcar pilots in John Vogels. BRETT SWANSON explains THE tiny town of Simpson in Victoria's southwest dairy belt is just a spec on the map nestled between the Princess Highway and the Great Ocean Road.In the big picture of things it is an insignificant town, but in terms of Victorian Speedway,its history is as rich as the surrounding soil. Simpson Speedway, which is about to kick off its 31st season of racing, has been tlie home of some of

Victoria's best speedway drivers, including Rob and Mai Rankin,Jeff Judd and Murray and Phil Lock. The latest local speedster to etch his name into Victorian Sprintcar history is local mechanic John Vogels, who like Judd, was a state Super Rod champion before stepping up to Sprintcars. Vogels is a typical country boy; casual, polite and seemingly laid back. But beneath the surface is an

utterly talented, modest and fair but absolutely competitive racer. It was no real surprise to anyone when Vogels finally made his Speedway debut in the Super Rod class back in 1990.

making his debut on 1 January 1990, supporting a round of World Series Sprintcars at Warrnambool's Premier Speedway. For the next nine years, Vogels would be one of the category's best.

"Mai Rankin was responsible for me going racing," explains Vogels. "I used to work at Simpson Motors and Mai would bring his cars in for serrdce and I'd always be asking liim questions about his race cars. I ended up buying an engine from Mai and the car off Jeff Clifford and that was that." With the dawning of a new year, Vogels embarked on a racing career

Vogels was able to win most of the Super Rod races around,including tlie 94/95 Victorian Title at Swan HUl, where he beat Judd to the crown,and the equally prestigious Super Rod Cup (93 and 97)and the Podger Memorial. Like most things about Vogels, even his Rod was different, with a Niki body on it as opposed to the Charade body most were running. "I made the mould for the Niki

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Both directions; Vogels at Simpson Speedway in his Sprintcar, left, and where it all started, in Super Rods, right. 66

myself,just to be different I suppose. We went looking for a small-bodied car and found one at a wreckers in Melbourne. The car had been rolled so I beat it out and then learned how to fibreglass and made the mould. Eventually we made some for some of the other guys as well." Once again it was Rankin who

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SPEEDWAY THE Proton World Series Sprintcars Championship has confirmed it will hold two rounds in Tasmania for the first time this season. World Series General Manager Wade Aunger made the announcement today (July 6) in Tasmania in conjunction with the Tasmanian Tourism Board Chairman John Carr and Tasmanian Minister for Sport Jim Cox, a former Speedway Sedan driver himself. As exclusively reported by Motorsport News in April, the two rounds will be held at Mountain Dew Ice International Speedway, in Latrobe, Tasmania. Chickenfeed Variety Stores has secured naming rights sponsorship for the two-night extravanganza, which is expected to be a sell-out. World Series Sprintcars will race the previous round on Saturday December 3 at Avalon Raceway, before transporters will be loaded aboard a ship to arrive in Tasmania the following Wednesday. influenced his career change. "We were going OK in the Rods and Mai said, 'why don't you have a go at Sprintcars?' so we had a think about it and decided to do it," explains Vogels. Vogels bought a Jenkins chassis and continued to run the Rod and then at the end of the 98/99 season he sold the Rod and bought a Sprintcar engine. Since then he's run a Maxim and a couple of Cool Chassis, making a good impression straight away. "The hardest thing to get used to wasn't the change of direction (Super Rods run clockwise) but rather getting used to not backing the car into the turns," Vogels explains. Over the next six seasons, Vogels has refined his skill to the point that he has notched a number of significant Sprintcar victories along the way, culminating in his Victorian SRA Series Championship last season. It was a relatively consistent season in which he rarely finished outside the top five, finally netting Vogels the coveted SRA crown after finishing in the top three in the previous two championships. One highlight was a superb victory at home at Simpson against tough opposition, including Americans Travis Rilat and Brad Sweet. Simpson is Vogels's favourite track when racing the Rod, but reckons Mt Gambier is the best in the Sprintcar. "Mount is a real adrenalin track. It's great to watch races there too. It's fast and hookey and you lift the

"I'm absolutely thrilled that we can include Latrobe in this year's schedule," said Aunger. "John Carr and his board have worked overtime on covering the sizeable logistics involved in this project and I'm very happy for them that they have come through with the goods. I can't wait to bring down the big guns of World Series Sprintcars to race against the Apple Isle's best." "All of our teams are excited about this," continued Aunger. "Many of our guys have wanted to race in Tasmania for some time and others like Max Dumesny, who raced here recently, are very pleased to be returning." Local drivers Robin Dawkins, Tim Hutchins, Jason Dawkins and Adrian Redpath will head a local attack on the rounds, determined to upstage the World Series Sprintcar-contracted stars and other mainland drivers that will make the trip. With Rockhampton also joining the schedule, this WSS looks to be the best yet.

wheels and unlike Warrnambool, where it used to be just flat out follow the leader racing, there is always some passing at the Mount." Self-proclaimed highlights of Vogels's Sprintcar career to date include liis stunning second place behind his Sprintcar hero Max Dumesny at Warrnambool in a recent

prepared to, as so many things were going through my head at the time." "That race was fantastic. To have

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- Vegels oa Us seeaa4 place la Pferfd Series at Wmeaabeol round of WSS, where Vogels was actually challenging for the lead (and in fact stuck the nose under Dumesny) just as the yellow flags flew. "It was great to be racing so hard and challenging Max, but 1 was probably never going to pass Max. He's just way too smart, he was never going to give me a second opportunity. I needed to go around the outside but wasn't

guys like Robbie Farr and Brooke Tatnell behind you and to lap Shane Stewart, it just doesn't happen." says a still somewhat bewildered Vogels. While Vogels is clearly capable of rurming with the big guns, as his brilliant seventh place finish in the 2005 Grand Armual Classic proved, finding the money to go racing is still a huge problem. "We have some great local sponsors, but in reality it is a selfsponsored effort and after one big wreck, your whole year's sponsorship is gone. "I'd love to do the full World Series but I just can't afford it. Just doing the Classic hurts us. We spend a bit of money on tyres for the classic because we want to give it a really good shot, but that then hurts us for the next few weeks financially. I'm lucky I've got a really good crew who pay a lot of their own way." So what's next for the 36-year-old father of two? "Defending our SRA Series crown will be our goal for this season as World Series is out of the question," says Vogels. With three-year-old Amy and fourmonth-old Zoe now around, the purse strings are being tugged tighter than usual. But when World Series visits the fast banks of Warrnambool next, keep an eye out for Vogels - Max will be.

Tatnell second in Outlaws feature AUSTRALIAN Brooke Tatnell has finished second in the World of Outlaws Duel in the Dakotas, held last weekend at the half-mile Red River Valley Speedway. The North Dakotan fans were cheering strong for local favourite Donny Schatz, and the 2005 Outlaws Downunder Champion did not let them down, leading the early stages of the A-Main last Saturday night, ahead of Jason Meyers and Tatnell. But it was not to be for Schatz, as his car lost power on the front straight with three laps to go, leaving Meyers to hold off Tatnell's Rush , Racing car for the win. Kraig Kinser >■ continued his recent run of strong form with third, ahead of Terry McCarl and winner of the Friday night preliminary feature Brian Paulus. Meyers's win lifts him closer in the championship standings to points leader and defending Champ Steve Kinser, who only lasted one corner in the A-Main. Kinser made hard impact with the Turn 1 wall, sending his Maxim into a wild series of flips before being collected by Brandon Wimmer. Tatnell is making huge impressions in the US at the moment, having not finished outside of the top 10 since May 27 with the newly-established Rush Racing, which now lies sixth in the Team Owner’s points. "It's a chemistry," said Tatnell. "This is a marriage. These guys spend more time with me than they do with their wives so they better love me. Our car owners have given us everything capable of winning. "We're having good runs, top-1 Os, top-fives ... we’re right there but it's really becoming a pain that we can't pull off a win. A second-place finish is something to be proud of, but it's a thorn in my side right now." Ttan's Daryn Pittman was eighth. ■ Warrnambool driver Ken Veal has been confirmed as the latest driver for World Series Sprintcars, but we could see a two-car attack from Veal at selected rounds. Veal, who last year was forced out of two rounds of the series with a broken shoulder, will again drive his Precision Race Components car, but could also enter son and Formula 500 driver Jamie at some rounds.

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. . Steve Kinser 4980 . Jason Meyers 4720 Craig Dollansky 4664 . . . Kraig Kinser 4656 . Danny Lasoski 4512 . Donny Schatz 4388 . Paul McMahan 4338 . Daryn Pittman 4252 . . . Tim Shaffer 4233 . Shane Stewart 4225

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. . . . Brian Paulus 4187 . . . . Tim Kaeding 4179 . . . . Terry McCarl 4121 . . . . Jason Sides 4020 . . . Joey Saldana 3988 . . Jason Solwold 3780 Brandon Wimmer 3541 . Sammy Swindell 3376 . . Kevin Swindell 2610

Schumacher adds second Top Fueller TEAM owner Don Schumacher has added a second Top Fuel dragster to his drag racing stable. The car will be tuned by Richard Hogan, who has left David Powers Racing to join Schumacher. During his tenure with David Powers

Motorsports, Hogan guided Rod Fuller's car to two national event final rounds, in Chicago and Bristol. Primary sponsorship will come from Torco Gear, which has signed a multi-year agreement with the team.

Although a driver has not yet been named,Schumacher says he's only considering pilots with a current license and lots of experience. Schumacher, who now has nine pro-level entries at each national event, hopes to have the car on the track for Denver in two weeks. In an interesting note, Don Prudhomme Racing has released NHRA top fuel driver Melanie Troxel from the development contract which both parties agreed

to at the start of the 2005 season. By the release of Troxel from the agreement,Don Prudhomme Racing relinquishes its exclusive rights to Troxel as a driver, making her available to any other teams that wish to pursue her driving services. Troxel stepped into the Exidebacked dragster for Schumacher during the 2000 season when Tony Schumacher debuted the U.S. Army sponsorship at Indy. - DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

Bud Bites Back

BRAiMDOIM Bernstein ended a 26-race Top Fuel win drought last week when he defeated Morgan Lucas in the final round of the Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals at Gateway Raceway, near St. Louis, Missouri. In the backyard of his St. Louis-based sponsor Budweiser, Bernstein, right, streaked to a winning 4.55s/324nnph to hold off the tyre-hazing Lucas, who followed him to the stripe at 4.79s/314mph. The win was Bernstein’s first since Topeka in 2004. Bernstein qualified fifth at 4.60s/326mph and advanced through eliminations with 4.82s/308mph, 4.62s/323mph, and 4.60s/326mph wins over Tony Zizzo Jr., Scott Weis and Doug Herbert. The win enabled Bernstein to move into sixth in the points standings. Doug Kalitta remains on top, 43 points in front of second place Tony Schumacher. Lucas and the Joe Amato ^' team made a heartfelt return to ; the track where Darrell Russell was killed just one year ago. The Lucas Oil dragster, with new tuner John Stewart, stopped Mitch King, Rod Fuller and David Grubnic to reach the final round. Ron Capps defeated Tim Wilkerson in tine Funny Car final, posting a 4.86s pass at 321 mph to stop Wilkerson's tyre-smoking 7.80s at 112mph. Racing in his second-straight final round, Capps's victory was his first since the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals in February of 2003. Capps defeated points leader John Force with a 5.03s/297mph in the opening round, then took out Tony Bartone with a 4.90s/318mph. Capps headed

Newby

TOP Alcohol driver Wayne Newby has secured Gatorz Australia as his major sponsor for the 2005/2006 Australian Drag Racing season. The New South Welshman, who finished third in this year's Top Alcohol championship,said he can see the link between Gatorz and the drag racing industry. "We couldn't have asked for a better sponsor than Gatorz," he said."They are high performance eyewear for extreme sportspeople, and that's what drag racing is all about!" Newby's team will now be known as the Gatorz Racing Team. Gatorz Precision Tuned Eyewear arrived in Australia earlier this year

Bric for the final after taking a narrow 4.95s/295mph to 4.95s/312mph holeshot win in the semis against Tony Pedregon. With the win, Capps moved into fourth in the series standings. Force maintained his lead over Gary Sceizi by 55 points, when Sceizi was also defeated in the first round. Wilkerson kept his Illinois fans happy by reaching the finals. Wilkerson defeated Tommy Johnson Jr. in the first round, a broken Terry Haddock in the second frame and Gary Densham in the semis. It was a tough weekend for Wilkerson, as his mother had passed away on Saturday during the event. Kurt Johnson recorded his first win of the 2005 season, defeating Greg Anderson in the Pro Stock final when Anderson fouled at the start. Johnson posted a winning 6.72s/205mph, while Anderson threw away a 6.73s/204mph. Starting from the number one qualifying position, Johnson posted the quickest elapsed time in each of the four elimination rounds. Angelle Sampey's Pro Stock Motorcycle win over U.S. Army team-mate Antron Brown was

David Ostaszewski

her first since the 2004 season ending Auto Club NHRA Finals. The win moved Sampey, above, all the way to third in the POWERade Series Pro Stock Motorcycle standings. Her final round 7.23s/186mph defeated Brown's close 7.24s/182mph. Along the way to her third win at Gateway International, Sampey defeated Matt Smith, Michael Phillips, and Andrew Hines. The next event on the NHRA POWERade Series is the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Denver, Colorado, July 15-17. - DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

THREE-TIME Australian Super Sedan Champion Graeme Cooper and his infamous Bricklayer EH Holden Premier station wagon this month celebrated their 30th anniversary together. As a 17-year-old apprentice bricklayer, Cooper purchased the car as a pristine, one-owner vehicle and quickly transformed it from its previous sedate state into the wheelstanding, V8-powered ‘Brickie’, driving the car to worksites and the local dragstrips. “I had actually put a deposit on a GT Falcon,” Cooper recalls. “But my late dad, Ron, was a detective sergeant in the Victorian Police Force and he suggested it was better to find an old car and belt the crap out of it for 12 months while learning how to drive rather than risk killing myself in the GT,” said Cooper. “Thirty years on I’m still learning to drive and belting the crap out of it! Along with three Australian Championships (1986,’93, ’95), Cooper and the Bricklayer have won just about every major event in Australia, including 30ANDRA national series events. “It’s been suggested to me that when I’m finished racing it should be put in a racing museum, but I reckon I’m going to keep racing the Brickie until I die and then they’ll have to bury me in it!” motorsportnews

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Carata takes cleansweep as Trimble falls behind in Formula 3riOe-figftt by MARK JONES

OR the first time this year a driver has broken away from the pack in the Australian Formula 3 Championship to stamp his authority on both the round, and the championship, it was a stunning debut for the David Borg-owned lnsightF3 team, with Aaron Caratti taking two victories and three of the four bonus .points available for poles and fastest laps. Correspondingly, it was a grim day for title rival Michael Trimble and the BRM team. Local knowledge did not appear to help Trimble and could not stay with Caratti in Race 1, finishing second, but the Spiess Opel engine let go with two laps to go after leading the battle for third place for most of the race. Trimble now lags 23 points behind the Insight racer. "We just lost horsepower after the first couple of laps," Trimble said. Qualifying in both sessions 70

was a thrilling battle with top spots being exchanged throughout the sessions. Six drivers dived into the 1m06sbracket. Caratti ended up taking both poles, snatching both from the grasp of Tim Macrow, right, as the sessions wore on. Teenage sensation Sam Abay impressed with third position for the first race. Caratti won the start of the first race to lead away the fast-starting Trimble who quickly passed second and third qualifiers Macrow and Abay. Caratti pulled away early while battle embroiled behind. Trimble started hunting Caratti down, smashing the three-year-old lap record along the way. He closed in late in the race after Caratti was baulked by two lapped cars, one of which was his boss David Borg. Under pressure, Caratti kept his head and pulled away to win by Is. Macrow held third in the early running but was swamped by the other new F3 team,the ProTechnica Dallara driven by Chris Alajajian. The

reigning Production Car Champion started the race slow until, as he put it, "he pulled his finger out". Chris Gilmour kept the battle in sight with Abay next ahead of debutant Formula Ford racer Nathan Caratti who recovered from a drivethrough penalty for breaking his first Formula 3 start. In the second race Caratti just ran away with Alajajian quickly through on the slowing Trimble on the second lap. Macrow gradually pulled away from Gilmour, inheriting third from Trimble. Abay dropped from the battle after a half loose, but still kept ahead of Nathan Caratti in the

second Insight Dallara. BRM's misery was complete when Marc Williams had a major off in Turn 6 in the second race, handing Trophy Class honours, and the points lead to Bill Maddocks when the damage was too great to continue. Production Car racer Lauren Gray drove the second Scud Dallara into second for the weekend with a steady run in her first weekend in with wings and slicks. Points: A.Caratti 131, Trimble 108, Alajajian 88, Macrow 61, Gilmour 60, Michael Caruso 43. Trophy Class: Bill Maddocks 100, Marc Williams 91, Graeme Holmes 51.

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,:>TONY Bicciardello was too good for the £;opposition at Round 2 of the Tranzam Sports ^ Sedan Championship, walking away from Queensland Raceway last weekend with a perfect 63 points after the West Australian / based Alfa Romeo-Chev taking pole position ; and three race victories. "Three.wins and pole, that's pretty much all yve can ask for," said Ricciardello. "Pretty happy with the way the car went - it only needed littfe tweeks here and there." Ricciardello was never seriously threatened over the course of the weekend, although Darren Flossack showed pace without reliability. The reigning Champion dropped out of the first race ' after the Saab-Chevrolet's computer did not n activate a thermo-fan, causing the car to start overheating. The Victorian fought back to second ; in the second race, and a Race 3 DNF all but ., drops Flossack from contention. Dean Randle was second for the weekend with a steady run to two seconds and a third in the second of the Saab-Chevs. Bernie Gillon was faster in the Tranzam

Mustang and claimed third place through consistency but a couple of spins affected his run. By Race 3, he was running low on tyres to claim fifths and fourths in the three races. Daniel Tamasi (Calibra-Chev) was fast, but like Gillon, struggled to keep the car on the bitumen, ending what could have been a podium run to be a point behind the steady performance from Kerry Baily (300ZX-Chev). Jeff Barnes made a welcome return in the Pontiac, climbing to third in the final race after missing qualifying with engine problems. Des Wall (Corvette) blew his engine in Friday practice. Of the Queensland teams, driveline problems blighted the debut of the Geoff Gillespie BMW, and battery dramas affected Phil Crompton (Mustang). A promising run from Chris Donnelly (EB Falcon) was cut short after breaking a rocker, leaving Charlie Senese to be top local in his newly-acquired Prelude-Chev. - MARK JONES Points; Ricciardello 122, Randle 90, Gillon 79, Baily 68, Hossack 61, Tamasi 59.

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Nice day to be Tander

LEANNE Tander was in fine form amongst the bumper Improved Production/HQ Hoiden fieid at Hidden Vaiiey untii a mechanicai probiem thwarted her efforts to take a ciean sweep. Tander, right, won the opening race, ahead of local Adrian Kroonstuiver and Mark Short. Tander and Short battled all the way in the second, the lead fluctuating as they 72

GARRY Holt claimed his first round win of the year in the Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship at Hidden Valley Raceway last weekend, holding out a strong challenge from new championship leader Peter Floyd. In the opening race. Holt took full advantage of a first corner clash between pole sitter Floyd and Mark King, building a handy lead in the early stages. Floyd charged back through the field, but couldn't close the gap to Holt, who took the win in the 25-lap race which was draining on both equipment and drivers. Floyd settled for second, while Barrie Nesbitt was third in the first race for a new Holden Monaro, ahead of John Falk and Peter Boylan in a BMW. King would finish in eighth place after a blown head gasket ensured his team a long rdght. The second race was a straight fight between Floyd and Holt. On this occasion, Floyd got the best laimch off the start. The pair quickly settled into a battle, with the HSV of Floyd building a gap down the long

navigated lapped traffic. Tander eventually took the win by three tenths of a second. Short won the start in the third

race and led until Tander went past on lap 5 and went on to make it three from three. In the final race, Short again got the start, while Tender's challenge ended early with a mechanical problem. Short took a comfortable win ahead of Tim Playford. In the Under 2 litre Improved Production ranks, Paul Sacklyn had a perfect weekend of results, while Graham Mason and Layton Cranbrook shared the HQ honours. - MITCHELL ADAM

The F DAMIEN French has won the second round of the 2005 Lotus Trophy at Hidden Valley Raceway last weekend. The opening race of the weekend saw a stellar battle betw'een David Sieders and Andrew Fisher. Fisher got the jump on pole sitter Sieders at the start. From there, the pair swapped positions on numerous occasions, and in the end there was just one one-hundredth separating them, with Fisher edging past Sieders on the finish line. Damien French was

motorsporinews

Hanging the field

TY Hanger won Round 2 of the Australia Formula 4000 Championship at Queensland Raceway last weekend. Starting from pole, Hanger won the 12-lap Race 1 easily after Peter Hackett had a fuel-linkage problem prior to the warm-up lap, and had to start from pit lane, Hackett recovered to finish the race in third. Hackett in turn dominated Race 2, after Hanger spun on the opening lap, but Hanger managed to climb to second place by the end of the 20 laps. Derek Pingel, who finished the

races in second and third despite an. off, inset, now leads the series from Hanger. Previous points leader, Neil McFadyen, was absent from the round, replaced by Hackett. - DARIUS KOREIS

The NSX

Mitch makes Finals After four years, Palmer finally reaps NEW Zealand's Mitchell Cunningham made the Formula A Finals of a European Championship round for the first time recently. Cunningham qualified his CRG/Maxter 23rd in the 59 kart field at the second round of the championships on the Mariembourg circuit in Belgium. He then had solid runs in the three heats with 12th, 20tli and ninth, putting him on grid 23 for Final 1. A respectable 21st in that race was followed by a DNF in Final 2. The factory Birel/TM team won FA,Jon Lancaster picking up Final 1 and Sauro Cessetti Final 2. Two third places give Marco Ardigo (Tony Kart/Vortex) a narrow lead in the championship with one round to go. Andrea Benedetti(Tony Kart/CRS)dominated SuperICC while Erik Janis (Birel/TM)and Stefano Albertini(Intrepid/TM)split the ICC wins. -MARK WICKS

Karting Briefs

BEN George is marching towards the Austrian Rotax National Championship after a dominant victory at the third round held in Slovakia on June 25-26. On a circuit that offered little grip, the Tasmanian qualified on pole, 0,2s faster than the field. He then led from green light to chequered flag in all three races to extend his championship lead. After the meeting, George and the Team-V intrepid group tested at Bruck, Vienna, on the circuit to be used for the next round of the European Mojo 74

IAN Palmer won Round 2 of the Speed Energy Drink Australian GT Championship on home turf at Queensland Raceway last weekend. Palmer's round victory was his first in four years with the Honda NSX,but it came without an actual race win.

Unlike the previous round at Philip Island, things did not entirely go Peter Hackett's way. Hackett retired from the lead of Race 1 with a broken gearbox in the Lamborghini Diablo. Bryce Washington profited from the failure and snatched the race win in his Porsche GTS. The roles were reversed in Race 2, when Washington had a fluke retirement when a piece of rubber flew up,hit the car's kill switch and forced his retirement while he was

leading. Storming through the field from last, Hackett picked up the pieces and won the race, though he nursed the car home with a broken clutch. Race 3 was a breeze for Hackett, winning comfortably from Washington,above inset. By then Hackett was competing in his fifth race of the day, after doing Formula 4000 double-duties at the event.

Superkart Cup at Mallala last month. Matt Bryant was second ahead of Shaun Jones. Ralf Rupprecht headed a mixed field of 250, 125 and 80cc gearbox karts.

MAX Challenge. "We spent half a day testing and learning the track," he said. "Our times were quite competitive compared to last year's pole time." He is facing a busy schedule with the fourth round of the Austrian championship, the third round of the European Championship plus an invitational race in England (that will be broadcast on satellite TV) all within the space of three weeks.

n The Barossa Kart Club in South Australia conducted their Night Titles meeting on Saturday, June 25. The heat races were run in the afternoon with pre-finals and finals held on a cold and slippery track under lights. Scott Kissock, pictured right, Mason Merrit and David Baliga were the most successful, each taking out wins in two classes.

n Geoff King beat home a field of 23 MAX karts in the latest round of the

n CRG and Swiss Hutless have been chosen as the official chassis

rs' suppliers for the next Rotax MAX Challenge World Finals. CRG will supply 55 Road Rebel karts for the senior MAX class while Swiss Hutless will make up the Junior MAX field with their Magic model. Rotax's own

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CLASSIFIEDS

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from lust $25

your motorsport vehicle, parts, memorabilia with our all-new combined magazine/ ‘ internet classified service. Courtesy of an agreement between Motorsport News and internet classified service my105.com, your advertising will appear in both for as little as $25. Yes 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)

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IT’S THE SMART WAY TO SELL YOUR EQUIPMENT!

Mazda RX7 13B

m n A 44

PP injection. Microtech MTX8, Needham 5spd, full floater rear end 4.1, 4.4, 4.8 gears, adj watts link, 4 spot calipers, Dickward front and rear. Last raced 02 finished 3rd in class, 5th overall in NSW championship, must sell due to other project. $14,500 ONO. Berry 0402 998 633 or 02 6241 0678.

www.myl05.com/50296 Sedans/Sports Cars

Hurd/Krause Torana, Chev powered 300KW LX Torana, Freshened Engine. This car has at least 4 National Titles, Numerous State Titles, Won Mallala IP nationals in 2000 Times Phillip Island 1.47, Symmons 1.00.39, Baskerville 59.4 This car requires a serious driver. $26000ono. Mark 315 0408133510 / 0363695416. www.myl05.com/49063

BMW 320i New Zealand Touring Car, ExInternational Motorsport. Championship winning history. As raced by Craig Baird, Jason Richards and Brett Riley. Includes spares package. Spare engine also available. $49,000. Peter Mlllener 315 6421399565 / 6494136516. www.myl05.eom/72502

Datsun Sunny 3J Club Car, Professionally built lightweight race car, CA-16, EMS, Willwood Callipers, Monster Brakes, Fabricated Neg Camber Disc Brake Rear End, Welded 8pt Cage, New Dunlops Fitted, Fully sorted, easy to drive, stops & turns exceptionally well. Log Booked & ready to go, comes with 2 spare engines & spare set of rims. 11,000 Neg. Gavin 0416 065 510. 315 www.myl05.com/3494

Porsche 944, Build for 944 Series, 2004 Championship winning car, no expense spared, current spec engine, spare wheels and tyres, Sparco fire system, EC. $35,000. 316 Kane 0408 103 815. www.my105.com/69044 t

■W»j E

BA FALCON V8 SUPERCAR, Currently the HPDC V8 Supercar leading Championship.Sell as complete car + spares. Can supply assistance and services to purchaser. . Warren 07 5571 6625 or 314 0414 646 873. www.myl05.com/33651

PORSCHE GTS, Aust. Delivered, black interior, ex Nations cup car that has been fully refreshed, including paint / interior / brakes & fully rebuilt gearbox, engine is very strong. No major accidents. Very light & quick car suitable as a daily driver or competition car) In great condition, will consider trading. $149,500.00 Not Neg. 314 Christian 0402 797 666. www.my105.com/41930

6 July 2005

Escort Mkl Project Car, in excellent condition built for supersprints & hillclimbs. 1600 Kent engine, twin 40 Dellortos, extractors, electronic ignition, 5-speed Sierra box, Capri front end, gold superlites, alloy cage, fuel cell, extras include unassembled 2 litre engine, fibreglass flares, 4x7in Hotwires, many spares. Geoff 0408 118 087. $9,000 ONO. Geoff 0408 118 315 087. www.myl05.com/42648

U2L Datsun 1200 Coupe, Former U2L. state and national championship winning car, still posts competative times. Has been freshened up recently, and Is in very good condition. Spare parts package included. $12,500 Neg. Stephen 0412 046 462. 314 www.myl05.com/75684

MGB, MGB, Group Sb, excellent 64 shell, Rowntree motor done 2 meetings since rebuild, Needham close ratio box, LSD, good history. Many spares available. Over $40,000 spent. Custom trailer $1,800. $18,000 ono. Will trade. Tim 0417-654770 . 315 $18,000 ONO. Tim 02 65835955. www.my105.com/22931

1987 SIV Mazda RX7 Targa Car, Aust Delivered SIV RX7, built for Targa 2005, fi nished 1st in class, new paint, fresh 13BT engine, SV box, diff & turbo, Koni adjustable suspension & Lovells springs. Cobra seats, G Force harnesses. Steel cage, CAMS Log Book, long rego, extensive spares Ph Wayne 03 63401487 Freight easily 315 arranged. $17K ONO. 03 63401487. www.myl 05.com/84404

SPORTS SEDAN, Mazda RX7 Current Under 2.5L ASSA Vic Champion, 1999 Improved Production Championship Car. Fresh 13B Bridge Port, Fuel Injected Dry Sump, Motec, Rose Jointed suspension, watts linkage. Spare Diffs incl. torson limited slip. Slick/ Wet Wheels. $15,000 rolling chassis READY TO RACE. $25,000 Neg. 315 Graeme 0407367480. www.myl O5.com/15361

Torana XU1 Group Nc, One of Australia's quickest and most reliable Torana's, with times and results to prove it! Professionally maintained, full ground up rebuild March 2005, (Dyno sheets) etc. Immaculate car throughout, spares include gearbox, new wets and rims. Turn key ready to race, just been prepped for the next state round. $38,000 ONO. Mark 0407 801 126 or 03 315 9572 1376. www.myl05.com/95521

For sale or lease 4 Twin Cam Corollas, Troubles Racing offers for sale or lease 4 race ready twincam Corollas, these class winning championship cars are presented in excellent condition, the cars are suitable for Sprints, State Race Series and combined Touring Car Events. Also Endurance drives available. We offer junior development programs and assist in OLTs. To start your 2005 race year contact Michael. 0418 377 314 372. www.my105.com/28823

Open Wheelers IW': .

M i!. 1^

^ ' 64 Mustang, Mustang Race Car 1964 Nb, logbook ex condition left hand drive New roller engine over 400 H.P Toploader button clutch twin plate 9" Detroit Locker Alloy Roll cage Kelsey Hayes 4 spot front calipers Koni shocks Very competife & reliable car. 45,000 ONO. Shane 0733926699. 313 www.myl05.com/14888

Mitsubishi Lancer EVO,4wd turbo, welded in cage. Ohiins. Brembos. titan, exhaust, new turbo, box. brakes, raced only once for 2 wins from 3 starts, many spares, immaculate, excellent 3E or 3J car. $35,000 Or Best Offer, moss 0418 971 465. 313

www.myl05.com/9432

www.myl05.com/95122

, original gmp&A 4 door race shell 1 of only 10 .fully restored with original cams log books .fresh tate engine, full race and ownership history offers in excess of $110,000 call Chris 03 9725 4441 0407 889 910. www.my105.com/16347 313

Alfa Romeo gtv6, fully rebuilt drivetrain fully welded in cage new sparco seat and harness new momo wheel and shifter to

VW Beetle Turbo Sports Sedan, Tube frame, coil over suspension, Avon slicks, mounted wets, hot Subaru RS Liberty Quad Cam, Avo Turbo, EMS Management system, 300 BHP, Kombi box, Detroit locker, spares, trailer, hill climb car, very competitive. $20,000 Neg. John 0417 454 402.

group c a9x torana, group c touring car 1977 bob morris 4 door a9x bathurst torana

many things to mention all receipts and log books. 15000 ONO. adrian 0416028906. 313

www.myl05.com/59627

VN Commodore, Built in February 2005 with no expense spared, this front running national spec car has raced only two meetings, currently placed third in NSW championship. Reluctant sale due to overseas posting. Spares available. $19,500. Scott 0418 415 257 / 02 9653 1165. www.my105.com/84860

313

U2L Datsun 1200 Coupet, Former U2L state and national championship winning car, still posts competative times. Has been freshened up recently, and is in very good condition. Spare parts package included. $12,500 Neg. Stephen 0412 046 462. 314 www.myl05.com/75684

1200 f/vee, Run in (unraced) top hp Rigeline eng. Momo quickrelease s/wheel, year old Sparco 3” harness. 2 sets of tyres/chrome wheels, Dunlops & Bridgestones. 2 sets of ex-pipes 3 mufflers. Heaps of spares, and open trailer with tyre rack and rego. 10 500 Neg. Lee 0409 858 949 / 98028252. 314 www.mylO5.com/18833

Porsche 944 Challenge, suitable for 944 Challenge Series or Improved Production Very good condition. New motor & suspension setup. Very reliable car. $32,000 ONO. Greg 02 9327 6561. 313 www.myl05.eom/97059

Morris Cooper S Group Nb, Two top HP engines and gearboxes, each with manifolds, Weber, SC/CR gears and drop gears. Tranex and ZF diffs. Bond alloy cage, race seat, Schroth six point belt. Spax adjustable shock absorbers. All the best bits. Great looking car, ready to race. $19,750. Graeme 0414 232 709. 313 www.my105.com/14646

Farrell S/Sports car/traller, second outright SA Hiliclimb Champs, 2003-04 outright sports car record Colingarove 13.1600 record. 16-2000 rec, fast and reliable. $18,000. Andrew 08 8373 2820 (wk) 0438 317 943 799 / 08 8357 6485 (ah). www.my105.com/30977

SEDANS/ SPORTS CARS, RSI600 BDA ESCORT.Cams NC log book.twin cam CK49 body shell,1660cc BDA engine,close ratio gearbox,LSD, watts linkage, antidive, bilsteins, AP clutch, alloy fuel tank and radiator,world cup crossmembenect. $45000 ono. Phone Collin: 0438 441 480. www.myl05.com/34924

313

Eiwyn 003, 1986 with Nissan N/A SR20 240 HP new engine - Autronic ECU. CAMS/log book perfect condition with many spares Eastern Creek 99 secs Wakefield 62 secs Oran Park South 42 sec. Oran Park GP 73 secs (by a grey old 95kg beginner). $28,000 ONO or as a formula ford roller $22,000 ONO. Spares include coners, panels, etc. Steve 0412 711 481. 313 www.myl05.com/59575

TiMFwayto sell your gear! From Just$25* lust log on

(*$25 applies to ads entered directly onto my105.com) Advertising can also be supplied usingthisform ($10/$15 surchage to text onlyAext -i- pic advertisements) Advertisements will appear in next possible issue of..iotorsport Nev.T, PLUS them i05.com websiteforthreemonths. Please read & cross the desired services and calculate the total.

online classifieds Categorv: □ 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 it desired.

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motorsportnews

CLASSIFIEDS British F2, B48 Chevron roller. F200 ex Bobby Rahal. Used 1 year before storing in Australia. No nose or body top. Both available ex England. Only 5 cars still exist today. $45,000. Gary 07 3209 7816. 314 www.my105.com/22858

Historic Ralt RT4 Atlantic, Arguably the most perfect RT4 in the world. Raced in Australia against Prost and Piquet. Beautifully restored including $5000 rebuild on FT200. new fuel cell, new brakes, new clutch, new paint, fire bottle, rebuilt uprights, new wheels. Original logbook. Fresh Cosworth big valve BDD, No expense spared. Proud ownership guaranteed. $58,000 ONO. Mike Finch 512 577-7749. 312 www.myl05.com/2214

m Elfin 620, 1973 Elfin Formula Ford CAMS log book first owner Jack Brabham. With spares. Needs tyres brake 0/Haul. Seat belt. Excellent mechanicals. MK 9 gearbox spare wheels etc. $22,000 ONO. Steve 0412 711 481. 313 www.myl05.com/22858

Formula Ford, Spectrum 06B, just rebuilt chassis excellent condition, latest factory updates, updated Motec dash/rev limiter, fresh top HP Ritter engine 1 meeting old, spares, 2 sets rims/tyres, ratios, sway bars, springs, suspension parts, new alloy floor, nose cones and moulds, quick lift jacks/stands, 2 yo fully enclosed trailer, low profile tows well. $36,000 the lot. John (03) 310 9588 0087 / 0413 327 321. www.myl05.com/44291

Speedway

A Modified, Brand new XR6 engine, Koni suspension, 9" Dif, Reduction Stearing, Top Loader, WOLF computer, Ali Fuel tank, Storm Covers plus Spares. READY TO GO!! $9,000 Neg. Doug 0409 422 440. 309 www.myl05.com/49582

6 July 2005

car frailer, Suit open wheeler or clubman sized vehicle.new tyres,wiring,alloy ramps & tray.suit new buyer. $3500AUD Neg. David 9824 3717. 310 vrww.myl05.com/99431

●III

0 if -

mtOcaa

supersedan pontiac grandprix, light weight chassis .winters box , woodwood rack with power head, quick change with torque link, griffon ally radiator , rebco guages weld wheels , afeo threaded shocks , new body , oar has only done 15 shows, $16000 as roller or with chev 366 bow tie block+heads ,dry sump ,msd ing , fresh engine dyno sheets, trailer also available. Daryl (03) 5973 6075. 309www.myl05.com/87272

Transporter, 3 car transporter, Mercedes Actros Prime Mover. Low Km's, Semi-Auto in excellent condition. Custom Built trailer with first class corporate area. See www.supaloc.com.auUruck for details. Phone Kevin: 0413 943 425 or Matt: 0412 527 869. $375,000 or best offer over 310 $300,000. 0413 943 425. www.my105.com/51651

Dodge Racecar Transporter, 318 V8, Dual Fuel, HD ramps, fold down bench with vice, tyre racks. Needs TLC but its all there Suit local racer. $6000. Gary 0418832664. 315 www.myl05.eom/60552

Race Car Transporter - Scania 113M., 360hp - lazy axle - Alcoa's - Maxi cube 45 cubic meter fiber glass pan - 1500kg tail lifter - Belly lockers - tyre rack - Stainless steel work bench - 240v Lighting - 8 Kva gen - Air comp. Good clean tidy truck. Suit any type of race car. $80,000 Neg. Mark 08314 94343691. www.myl05.eom/34950

Regretfull sale Mazda rx-3, run's low 13's all day on street tyres and full street trim and weighs 2300 lbs engine is a 13b race bridgeport, hurley seals all the good bits in it . series 4-5 box 3" custom tail shaft , hilux diff 4:88 ratio, dragway indy pro's 15x7 plus brand new tyres . $18,000 neg Or Best Offer. Darren 0418871492 / 0434093474. 314 www.myl05.eom/50736 Gearbox, Mazda RX 4/5 Gearbox with s/cut gears. 5th Gear 1:1. Splined Cluster Shaft. 3800.00 Or Best Offer. Troy 0419528762. 313 www.myl05.eom/44606

Wanted Mazda RX7 improved production car, will spend top dollar for the right car. Preferably series 1, 2 or 3. Ian (08) 8384 6933 or 0414 815 955. 313 www.my105.com/16588

Collectable/Memorabilia

Transporters/Trailers

For Sale - Tow Vehicle, 4 Speed Auto. 2" Lowered Spindles and rear spring shackles. Billet Grill. Billstein Shocks. Black metallic paint. Rear Lid, Alloy wheels, Good tyres, Aircon, Showroom condition. RWC. $36,000. Paul Trevethan 0427 885 075. 314 www.myl05.com/7393

VAN DIEMEN RF86, Ground-up restoration, new Ritter engine, one race meeting. Imported by Van Diemen Australia 1989 used as school car most of it's life. CAMS Cat 1 Log Book. First FF driven by Mark Webber. Letter of authenticity from VDA. Best RF86 in the country. Some spares. Ready to race State historic. $25,000.00 312 Not Neg. John 0418 130 600 www.myl05.com/73102

Parts

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muwspiit www.mnews.com.au EDITORIU STAFF

Tliank you to Grant and Chris for stimulating such a discussion re; open-wheel racing in Australia (MNews #312).

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It is my belief that that the V8 Supercars hold the key to this debate. When it comes to

the sponsorship pie in Australia. Why would you sponsor F4000, F3, FBMW, or Formula Toyota if you are not getting great track attendance and massive television exposure? I can't remember the last time I watched an Australian F3 race on TV! I know SBS do a fantastic job, but unless you're racing on RPM as a support category to the V8s, you are nowhere. V8 Utes is a great example. Its popularity and exposure are sensational, hence the reason people Uke Ryal Harris, James Moffat and Chris Pither have chosen this as their pathway. Plus, I don't remember seeing Grant Denyer, Marcus Zukanovic or Warren Luff in an F3 car, but I do see them in the Development series now. Very rarely do you get better racing than from a 'controlled' category. This type of racing highlights driver skill, promotes good close racing and is usually fairly cost effective. For mine, the answer is Formula Toyota. It is a genuine open-wheel racing class, it is fast, it gives youngsters or oldsters exposure to wings and slicks racing and from aU reports it is cost effective. Toyota has tlie infrastructure and dealership base to support such a category, and whilst there is still a massive amoimt of negativity for another manufacturer to join the V8 Supercars on the grid, it gives Toyota a sensational marketing opportunity to be part of the circus without having to put a Supercar program together. There will always be wealthy fanulies to support their kids, but if you need to rely on companies and the general business community to fund your racing, you need to be under AVESCO's wing, plain and simple. Matthew MacKelden mattheimn@airporthiggnge.com.au

chose to act in a dictatorial and immature fashion to the detriment of the sport and fans. Tlie FIA blames Michelin but it should also take some

convener Send us your thoughts; mail; PO Box 7072, Gardenvale, VIC 3186 fax; 03 9596 5030 www.mnews.com.au Michelin all at sea in F1 A few weeks have gone by, but I have decided to put pen to paper. On consideration upon the recent US CP, how many times have the poor tyre constructors got it all wrong? All things considered, the experts at Bridgestone can stand tall, though at Michelin, they keep getting it all wrong and are up the creek. Sorry to ya'll American fans, but you can't go blaming everyone. It just so happens that that's motorsport. To all the teams that returned to the pits, I commend your actions, as it was a big call but the right choice. Getting back to the tyres, something must be done: A control tyre for next year perhaps? John Pudney Adelaide, South Australia

FIASCO still a hot topic

After watching the farce on TV that was the US FI Grand Prix, I am now ashamed to call myself a fan of Formula One. It saddens me that the most professional category of motorsport in the world is run by the most unprofessional governing body. Michelin made a mistake and should have been responsible enough to provide a tyre that was capable of coping with the conditions at Indianapolis. The FIA however, could have rescued the

situation but as is often the case.

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Oz open-wheel analysis on the money

responsibility for Michelin's predicament in the first place by introducing a rule that only allows one set of tyres per race. The raft of tyre failures throughout the year, not just at Indianapolis, should have been a wake up call that this rule (despite protests from the teams and drivers) should have been scrapped earlier. Roll on 2008 when Formula One will hopefully be free of the shackles of Max Moseley and the FIA, and the teams themselves will have a greater say in the way the sport is run. Sandy Martikas srnartika@bigpond. net.au

F1 ‘Tilke-rings’ a bore

I think the new Formula 1 circuits in Bahrain and China are very disappointing for all the money spent on them. Don't the idiots who run FI tell the builders of new FI tracks to take a look at Spa, Bathurst, Elkhart Lake, Suzuka, etc and tell them to talk to the drivers and riders about track design? I hope the idiots who run FI are talking to the Turks and the Cancun, Mexico people, or we'll get another two tracks like China and Bahrain. Then we'll have four new tracks with world-class pit facilities, press boxes, etc surrounding very average race tracks. It's a real shame because these countries are not going to spend that type of money again on race tracks. We should have four awesome new circuit designs for all that money being spent - it is a great opportunity for motorsport wasted. The people who run FI really are idiots, aren't they? I think Bernie Ecclestone should buy Silverstone with his own money and spend $150 to $200 million doing it up. Ecclestone has bled FI of $3-$4 billion and has never put one cent back into the sport. He's a disgrace, and the quicker the teams get rid of him, the better. Greg Hall Rockhampton, Queensland ●images.com

)i.

Hi everybody! Michelin's Bibendum may be the only person smiling in the Formula 1 paddock at the moment.

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