Motorsport News Issue 335 - May 10-23, 2006

K

REVERSE GRIDS: TEGA BOARD STANDS FIRM

motorsport THE NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS

M■

No.335 10-23 May 2006 Australia $6.50 NZ $7.95 inc GST

WW Mm

2007 COMMODORE:WHY? HOW? WHEN? O)

os ou s CO

CO

;o io o

o

m I CONTRAST i Schumacher r\r ^h\ {brilliant, Vi » I i i Webber furious

V-

■ JOHNSONJNR I Fighting on I through tough times

I

There’ for second place

« » l

●o .a ●«

Modern cam and valve train technology is highly sophisticated and operates at extremely tight tolerances. Such sophistication requires absolute precision during the manufacturing process and more importantly, an obsession with perfection. Which is why at Comp Cams we take the attitude that you either get it right or you stay at home.

So if you're looking for engine components that will produce more power, higher torque, greater consistency and greater reliability, then look no further than Comp Cams.

We won't settle for second best, so why should you?

Visit us online for our full product range:

www.performancewholesale.com.au

'tpERFOmilUICE ■WHOLESALE H /X U K '1' l< /V I. ■ A.

I* 'I' Y

'I' 13

07 3808 1986

motorsport

news ^ news

opinion 28 „

f '

4

VEryNice

A peek atHolden's VE V8Supercar

6

No Reversing

Two more rounds,atleast

8 Michaelstays 10 Peace at Last

Two more years,atleast Expectan IRL/CCWS deal atIndy

12 Hunt,Collect

New Talentfor Fujitsu V8Series

25 Motor Mouth 26 Box Seat

Maybe V8s need better hooters

28 Opinion

Beattie, Borland,Branners and...grids

Issue 335 10-23 i\l\ay 2006

www.mnews.com.au

Newey and Byrne, together atlast

82 Talk Converter Christian,JB's head and more Grace

f&^ure 44

30’ Five Minutes With Franck Montagny 5 32 Five Minutes With Gerhard Berger 34 VictorEcho A took atthe developmentofthe VECommodore

t

wm ^

*

38 First Rock from the Son Steve Johnson chats aboutlife in 2006

Caruising J < 42 Michael Caruso has his eyes on biggerthings

pcs

ncliniquM«ifi| 44 TAG4Porsche-GoodiFooWvork4Porsche-Bad How the Germans cleaned up,then screwed up

a

48 Marioexplains Dr Theissen clears upsome myths aboutBMW and FI

G)

/

i

●.T

52 Mike takes 2

Schumacher takes Europe by Storm as Webber has all of Williams's bad luck

58 On Target

Richo and Baz clean up Down South

I 60 Loeb Again

[Insert any unused Loeb headline here]

ii] V-

iSii

i

K

62 Worldwide

Around the motor racing planet

18 Stateside 22 Rallying

trade

63

national & international \

m

w

4

66 Speedway 70 Drag Racing 78 Race Shop

80 Classifieds

72 National Scene

&

VOTING FOR THE INDEPENDENTS AN independent board for the Touring Car Entrants'Group looks to be a step closer following last Friday's V8 Supercar Owners' Forum in Melbourne.

The owners of the 17 teams were addressed by Ross Oakley, the former commissioner of the AFL, who has been consulting to the group on a number of issues, including cost containment. While the details of Oakley's submission are confidential, MNews believes

that he received a positive response from the majority of team owers.

One called Oakley's presentation 'enlightening"and "a step in the right direction".

"He could not volunteer some of the large amount of work he has put in because of possible conflicts of interest," said one, "but what we saw and heard was impressive."

Richard Boland, V8SA Brand

and Communication Manager and most recently of integrated communications agency Publicis, addressed the owners about the marketing and advertising and earned a positive response.

But the key area of discussion in the morning session was cost containment, with Oakley presenting models including salary caps and a board without member's aligned to any manufacturer or sponsors.

YE

WORK continues to make the 2007 model Holden Commodore VE into a V8 Supercar but there is some doubt whether all teams will have cars ready for the start of the season.

Holden has stated a preference for all its teams to run the car from the Adelaide 500 next March but it appears a couple of teams, at least, will wait and field one VE and an older VZ at the early rounds of next season.

"It's my wish that the Holdensupported teams will run two cars from the first race of 2007,"

Saindown 500 moves forward a week to Father’s Day THE Betta Electrical Sandown 500 will move to September 3, Father's Day. A confidential settlement was reached late last week between promoters IMG and Network Ten, which had a contractual commitment to both the 500 and the opening weekend of AFL finals on September 10.

IMG had originally sought an underwriting of the'gate'at 2005 level, but it is believed a compromise was agreed which will assist IMG in future promotions,should the crowd be down.

No details were available from either party, although Ten's David White did teli MNews that 'it is far better to have a marquee V8 race such as Sandown away from the first weekend of AFL finals. If it transpired,for example,that there were 4

two Melbourne teams competing on the day - of which there's every possibility - it would have been far more damaging for the V8 race."

There was never any prospect of the AFL finals moving,even to a twighlight time slot to miss the 5pm Sandown finish - indeed, we understand the AFL wasn't involved in the negotiations.

Sandown event manager Jon Davison believes the agreement represents a fair outcome for the event: "We didn't get the underwriting we sought, but the agreement does provide some form of support if things fall below expectation," he said.

"Having said that, we will now be promoting the race as a terific option for anyone looking for an obvious Father's Day present!"

motorsport news

news

V!

Mobil

\

r

<r- .-

RACE AGAINST TIME

Holden wants its teams in VE-spec for Race 1 2007 says Simon McNamara, Holden's Motorsport Manager.

"I do not want a guy sitting in the grandstand, with a VE SS in the carpark, watching VZs run around.

It's a wish I have, and I like to think that it will happen. We are in the process of talking to our teams [about that] at the moment,so that we can go forward from there.

The is going to be a problem but there are some smart fellas in the teams who know their jobs."

However, MNews believes that a number of teams have already expressed concerns about the

workload required to complete the season with the current cars while building two completely different cars.

"I have not stated that [I would run two VEs],"says Jack Daniel's Racing's Larry Perkins,"that is not necessarily true."

The new car is substantially bigger than the current Commodore,as much as 100mm wider in the body and 75mm longer in the wheelbase.That means that the car will need to be slightly compromised to fit inside the maximum dimensions

permitted under the current Project Blueprint measurements.

In the meantime, developing the new car's aerodynamic kit is the main priority, according to TEGA. "By the third quarter this year, we need to evaluate aero," confirmed Kelvin O'Reilly,TEGA's Chairman."When you get to the busy end of the season, you jump from Bathurst to Christmas to the end of January pretty quickly.The aero tests we do take a fair bit of time, it takes time to get them right."

VE Mule:Above, Herald Sun’s spy pics ofthe VE Commodore. Below, the prototype Torana, which has a resemblance to the VE's rear.

FLOORPAN OUT FOR 2007 V8 SUPERCAR'S Control Floor Pan will not be in use with the 2007 racecars.

After evaluating the prototype, MNews believes that the teams have decided to stick with the tried and true method of building a racecarfrom a production bodyshell.

However,there appears to be considerable doubt about the status of the project, which revolves around a single chassis being used for both Holden and Ford V8 Supercars. Some team members were under the impression that the project had been permanently shelved while TEGA

10 May 2006

board member Garry Rogers,speaking on Network 10's RPM,said that was not necessarily so.

"I would not ^ay that, no,"said Rogers.

TEGA brought a prototype chassis to Phillip Island last December for viewing by the teams.The reception for the project was mixed, with some team members suggesting that there was insufficient time to develop the project in time for use in the Commodore VE and Falcon BF builds.

The decision to stick with production bodyshells moves V8 Supercars away from the notion that it directly follows

NASCAR practices.The USA-based governing body continues to develop its single'Car of Tomorrow'project, largely as a cost-cutting measure for its teams.

"To have Technical Parity, you would have to have the same car running under two different guises,"explains TEGA Technical Manager Steve Brow.

"You would have the one car, with either a Ford badge or a Holden badge.

That is what you have in NASCAR racing now but they are moving away from that, to something that more closely resembles the relevant road cars."

5

SMALL BATHURST BIOOO wins Logie THIS is the time of year when we pull out the Congratulations balloons and fire them over to Network 10.Yep,the V8 Supercar broadcasters have cleaned up for the third year in a row,taking home the award for the best sporting broadcast ahead of such events as the Melbourne Cup and AFL Grand Final. Congrats to all at 10.

Q Speaking of the telly, still no word on whether there will be a change of host broadcaster in the near future.Ten and the Nine Network are in discussion, we hear, with the James Erskine-led V8SA team, and things are ongoing. One thing we have heard recently is that any ideas about a Pay-TV-only deal have been set aside and that there will definitely be a free-to-air deal in 2007.

Scott Wensley is back home following his New Zealand adventures.

The photographer, who had his leg broken by a fence post at Pukekohe, had a skin graft while'on vacation'in Auckland and is recovering back in sunny Queensland. We expect to see the annoying shooter back at the races by mid-season ...

ONLY Level 1 and 2 entries will be allowed a start in the two V8 Supercar endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst this year.

A proposal was given to V8 Supercar team owners at the recent forum in Melbourne, where they voted against allowing selected Level 3 (Fujitsu Series) entries a chance to contest the two endurance races.

The submission was to allow 'hand-picked'Level 3 cars to enter Sandown and Bathurst.

Those selected would have been at the discretion of V8 Supercars Australia.

Dick Johnson Racing general manager Steve Chalker, who also holds a place on the TEGA board, told MNews that allowing Level 3 teams into the enduros would only detract from the existing Fujitsu Series round at Bathurst.

"The Fujitsu Series is a really good series, and they've got a great race on Saturday at

Bathurst," he said."We'd only be depleting their field.They are stand-alone now, it's a great series with a great sponsor.

There isn't much difference between 31 or 32 cars anyway.

"The days have changed when the cars were unreliable.

You don't have the huge drop out rate you had five years ago.

The 31 cars in the series are all well-funded, big scale teams and it's no longer a race for the weekend warrior."

This news means that the 2006 Supercheap Auto 1000 will be the second-smallest Bathurst grid, and the smallest V8 Supercar field to ever take to Mount Panorama.

In the 1997 AMP'Super Touring'Bathurst 1000, only 26 cars faced the starters.The smallest field before then was in 1995, when theTooheys 1000 was contested by 32 entries.That was also the first all-V8 Bathurst 1000.

-GRANT ROWLEY

WAIT and See. That is the message coming from the board of the Touring Car Entrant's Group (TEGA)to its constituents over the matter of Reverse Grid races in the V8 Supercar Championship Series. An informal agreement has been made to continue with the format for the next two rounds of the series, in Perth this weekend and at Winton next month, before any

iHTiX euuuwiun

I

D'Tasman Motorsport's sponsorship rotation system will be getting another workout at next weekend's V8 Supercar round at Barbagallo. After running Auto Trader signage at Pukekohe,the Commodores of Jason Richards and Andrew Jones will run Sleepyhead branding at Barbagallo,just as they did at the Grand Prix and Adelaide.

Ford Performance Racing is getting behind the Leukaemia Foundation's World's Greatest Shave.Several team members have committed to shaving their hair at third round of the V8 Supercar Championship in Perth this weekend, if there is enough donations in the kitty, drivers Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom may join in and undergo the clip. If you want to donate to raise funds for people living with leukaemias, lymphomas, myelomas and related blood disorders, go to https://secure. worldsgreatestshave.com/wgs/pages/ frm_sponsor.asp then enter group name as ford Performance Racing and dig deep.

Garth Tander and Mark Skaife have set aside on-track rivalries to duke it out for Saturday's AFL bunfight at Subiaco.

Apparently,some Eagles and some Magpies with be having a flap and the two Holden drivers have differing views of who will be the winner. Good to see some intense feeling and we think it is jolly of a Holden team owner to set aside brand loyalty to barrack for a team (heavily) sponsored hy Lexus.

0

LAUDA RE

A ;FR(!)SfRMiD Mark Webber left the Nurburgring before raceend last Sunday,after his Williams suffered its second hydraulic failure in four races.

The Aussie had made a brilliant start, passing seven cars on the opening lap, after both Williams cars had been forced to start near the back of the grid following a pre-qualifying engine change and 10 grid spot penalty.

That put him into 12th,fuelled to go to half distance,and easily able to shadow the lighter Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella. But on lap 11,the hydraulic gremlins struck again.

"There's not a lot you can say, is there?" he told MNews.

"Despite the need to change engines,things were looking pretty good for some reasonable points. I was fuelled to lap 32/33 - over half distance - as was Nico (Rosberg)."

Webber's frustration comes at a time when Williams(and Bridgestone) appear to be producing a more competitive package but not putting themselves in a position to show it.

FI moves to Barcelona this weekend for the Spanish Grand Prix.

For more European GP comment from Webber,see page 56

NIKI LaucJa's shorrific shunt, 30 years ago last Saturday, was briefly commemorated during last weekend's European Grand Prix.

On Saturday afternoon at the Nurburgring, Bernie Ecclestone, Lauda, Arturo Merzario, KarlHeinzZimmermann (an Austrian restaurateur and caterer to Ecclestone) and Matthias Lauda (son of Niki) went to the Bergwerk corner on the old Nurburgring circuit to mark the anniversary of the accident which nearly killed Lauda.

The Austrian, right, was trapped in the flaming wreckage of his Ferrari and was saved by the intervention of fellow drivers Merzario, Brett Lunger, Harald ErtI and Guy Edwards and by prompt action from the Ferrari team, which arranged to have him flown by helicopter to a specialist burns

motorsportnews

news discussion about the format.

The team owners met in Melbourne last Friday and, in the face of what MNews believes is overwhelming condemnation of the format following the first race of the type this year in New Zealand,the board is standing firm.

While no media was permitted to attend the forum, a number of team representatives have spoken to MNews to underline the strong and widespread feeling against the Reverse Grid format. While we have not conducted a poll of

m

all team owners, we believe that the only supporters of the system now are board members Garry Rogers and Mark Larkham,and Brad and Kim Jones.

Interestingly, it now appears that board member Mark Skaife, who has previously spoken in support of the format, may have changed his position. If this is the case, it comes after Tom Walkinshaw, who oversees the Holden Racing Team's program, condemned the format recently.

Triple 8 Race Engineering boss Roland Dane said that the owners understood the situation.

"We have made commitments to

> 1

the circuits, even though there is come concensus," he said.

But he also said that the reverse grid race this weekend may prompt a change in tactics at Barbagallo.

"We will certainly look strategically, and carefully, to the approach to the weekend. We have got to finish Race 1 in order for the weekend to mean anything in terms of serious points. If you do not finish Race 2, it is not the end of the world."

MNews spoke to a number of other team principals over the matter but those that commented would only do so on the condition of anonymity.

"They [the board] can't back down,"said one owner."It would have been good for the stakeholders in the sport to be consulted before this decision was made, but we weren't, so there is no point going on about that.

But the board knows that they have to stick with this, at least in the short-term, or they are going to look like they do not know what they are doing.

"There were a lot of positives that came out of the meeting and, I have to say, in that sense, the forum was the most productive of the three we have had so far. But it is so obvious that, if something is not done about there, things are only going to get worse."

tr

<

m I

t

■●■ii

I

f)

l _1

i

MEMBERS

MURPH unit at a hospital in Mannheim.

Lauda suffered terrible burns, notably to his ears. His friends felt it would be fun for him to keep photographers amused by 'staging'the discovery of what turned out to be a pig's ear in the grass near the scene of the crash!

-JOESAWARD 10 May 2006

THE latest driver to comment on the reverse grid races is Greg Murphy.

The Super Cheap Autos Racing star had a shocking weekend at Pukekohe and while he did not blame that on the reverse grid format, he is still critical of the races.

"When you have a system where, in theory, a guy wins the first race and does not even start Race 2, and then lines up 11th on the grid in Race 3, you have to wonder if that is fair," he said, "That is what we came up with when we debriefed on Pukekohe. Then, there is the fact that, if you have a DNF in Race 1 - like the DNF

that happened to me - your weekend is done. over, on the spot. Under the old system, you could race from the back, start mid-grid [in Race 3] and salvage a result - if not a round result, then at least, a good result in the final race. Now, that can't happen; you might as well pack up. It is down to luck."

While the criticism of the races looks set to continue (behind closed doors, if nothing else) expect silence, or muted enthusiasm, over the next two rounds - if things go well. Of course, if Race 2 ends on Sunday morning with six cars buried in the sand atTurn 1, all bets are off...

7

nuntJa Racintf

rt

uanOa Racing

ide Out AS expected,Yuji Ide has been 'rested' from the Super Aguri team, his place being taken last weekend by Franck Montagny.

The move followed a suggestion form the FIA that Ide be allowed more testing before racing again,following his clash at Imola with Christijan Albers.

Montagny's recruitment as a Super Aguri F1 race driver may affect his ability to take up an offer of a Pescarolo Sport drive in the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Henri Pescarolo's team announced this week that Montagny was down to co-drive one of its LMP1 sports-prototypes with Eric Helary and double World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb.The other Judd powered Pescarolo C60 will be raced by JeanChristophe Bouillon, Emmanuel Collard and Erik Comas.

Q Sir Jackie Stewart has opened a new Lightweight Structures Laboratory at Cranfield University. This US$4m facility will help researchers to learn more about composites manufacturing and other technologies which will be useful for the motorsport world.

The university has also invested in upgraded crash-testing facilities which will be used in impact testing for Formula 1 cars.

Q Tonio Liuzzi emerged unscathed from a big crash durig the Silverstone test when the Red Bull RB2 he was driving went out of control at Becketts at 270kmh.

The corner is usually flat for the current FI cars and the team was investigating possible causes for the crash as data revealed that the driver did nothing unusual before the crash occurred. □ Red Bull Racing has hired McLaren's Team Leader of Operational Research, Neil Martin. Martin will become RBR's head of strategic operations at Milton Keynes.

A career McLaren man, Martin has been responsible for the direction of McLaren strategic development both in terms of the technology and the race strategies.

The BMW Sauber team has announced the hiring of Jorg Zander to be its new chief designer. The 42-yearold German will start work in HinwiI in July, reporting to technical director Willy Rampf. Zander has been in FT since 1999 when he started working with Toyota, he moved to BAR in 2002 and then in 2005 switched to Williams although he left the team after only seven months having apparently failed to fit in with the crew at Grove.

- JOE SAWARD/QUENTIN SPURRING

0

MORE F1 LOCALS HONDA Racing may be having a hard time on the tracks at the moment and two Melbourne ladies are at the front line of the team's efforts.

Jenson Button may be English and Rubens Barricheiio is Brazilian but the drivers'assistants, Jules Kulpinski and Genna Beresford, are Melbourne-born and bred.

"It sounds like a glamorous life,"says Jules,"and to some degree it is, but a lot of the time it is hard work.Travel can take a lot out of you and you never sit still."

The two have different backgrounds. Kulpinski worked for two sisters named Minogue when Dannii and Jacques Villeneuve met(and,for a while, were an item). She stayed with JV after the split and, hence, has been in FI ever since.

Things were a little different for Genna, who was already in the sport (and has had stints with other teams, like McLaren) before she moved to Honda. Now, both are part of the team.

"It is a balancing act,"says Genna."Sometimes,the hard thing is to say no to requests but that is what you have to do."

But, despite missing home, what would they want to change?

"Nothing,"they both say, Kulpinski adding,"! think we have the best jobs in the world."

MUST BUY POPCORN GRAND Prix is coming to DVD. The 1966 classic motor racing movie will be released on the format in the USA and Canada on July 11. A local release has not been announced,Warner Home Video preferring to wait to gauge reaction in North America before making a decision.

However,the really good news is that Warner has notjust popped the John Frankenheimer-directed film on disc.The restored 65mm film will be released in widescreen format with a n re-mastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. And it will come as a two-disc set, with Special Features including four never before seen documentaries and the archival film'Grand Prix; Challenge of the Champions',taking viewers behind the scenes of'60s Formula One racing.

The much-loved film was the subject of an on-line petition that saw more than 7000 signatures request a right to see Pete Aron and Jean-Pierre Sarti duke it out for the title at Monza.

ri/i/o ALTHOUGH there have been widespread reports that Ferrari is offering Michael Schumacher a new two-year deal worth US$45m a year, with a clause which would allow him to leave if he wins the World Championship,a deal is still not done.

"It's up to him to decide and he knows that if he wants to stay for two years then we will agree,"says Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemoio.

"I think Michael wants to continue for a year, but not to find himself In five months'time facing the same questions he has now. it wouid suit him to sign for another two years, but he is assessing whether he will still want to race in 2008."

Montezemoio also says

NEXT STOP, MCL A BRILLIANT weekend in GP2 for McLaren protege Lewis Hamilton has re-ignited suggestions that the youngster could be ready for the big jump to FI, with McLaren, next year.

While he had to fight for both victories in his double win,the most impressive thing about the 21-year-old Englishman's performance was the manner in which he humiliated his own team-mate, Alexandre Premat, a man who raced successfully in GP2 last year.

Given that Premat often diced with Nico Rosberg in the ART cars last year and that Rosberg has gone on to make a big impression in FI with Williams, it is not impossible that McLaren might

motorsport news

nems

MORE YEARSZ that Ferrari has no deal at all with Kimi Raikkonen. If that is really the case,the question has to be asked: What has Ferrari has been doing for the last 12 months with Schumacher dithering and no major player under contract thus leaving open the possibility that the team might end up without a topline driver?

This would be at best strange, and not really in keeping with the careful management that the team has seen in the last 10 years.

When all is said and done, however,the decision may not be taken with money as the main deciding factor. Schumacher wants to go out on a high, whether he admits it or not. If he believes Ferrari can offer him that chance, he will take It, If not he will either quit or will move to another team.

,

i

REN

The only team worthy of such a move would be Renault, which needs a star name when Fernando Alonso goes off to McLaren. Fleikki Kovalainen may one day become that star, but the idea that Renault will willingly go into 2007 with Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella is not really credible.

There has been some talk of Juan Pablo Montoya going to Renault, but team boss Flavio Briatore has left little doubt that there is no such intention.

"Montoya to Renault. No, I don't see it happening,"he said last week.

Briatore has also shrugged Off the idea that Renault is bidding for Michael Schumacher which means that either he is being / economical with the truth or he '^ too is in danger of ending up ^ without a star driver in 2007.

- JOE SAWARD i

I

1 a

I=

1 n t

PRODRIVE

to

|4 B

n

=

g'

IQ

decide to take a risk and hire Hamilton.

Hiring a new boy in FI is a risk, and Dennis burned his fingers in 1981 when he took on Andrea de Cesaris from Formula 2 and again In 1993 when he hired FI novice Michael Andretti. On both occasions the drivers failed to deliver the results hoped for.

However Williams has taken on Jenson Button and NIco Rosberg and been successful with both,so it is not impossible.

While money is not usually a McLaren issue, an Alonso/ Hamilton combination would save the team about US$15m compared with its 2006 driver wage bill In addition to being an exciting new combination to attract more sponsorship.

Dennis has been supporting Hamilton since he was 13 and has carefully nurtured his career.

The big question that needs to be answered is whether the team thinks that Hamilton could make the necessary adjustment next year.

Dennis says that "anything is possible" but that he has not spent any time time thinking about his driver line-up for next year. Sure...

- JOE SAWARD 10 May 2006

PRODRIVE boss David Richards is "thrilled"that his company has been selected, as MNews predicted last issue, as the 12th FI team for 2008.

The decision was made by a fax vote of members of the World Motor Sport Council.The others 11 teams chosen are all existing FI operations.This is good news as there were fears that the FIA might try to push along its concurrent 'commercial' negotiations by excluding existing teams from the entry.

FIA President Max Mosley said that Prodrive had been chosen because it had 'the best combination of financial backing, technical capability and motorsport experience and is well known to the FIA through its participation in the World Rally Championship. Also, Prodrive's chief executive, David Richards, has experience as a Formula 1 team principal."

"An entry is just the beginning," admitted Richards, right.

"We now have less than two years to build a team and put two competitive cars on the starting grid for the first race of the 2008 championship.The task is enormous and the expertise and experience of the established teams well recognised. However, Prodrive has more than 20 years of motorsport experience and all of us relish a challenge."

-JOE SAWARD

\'r'

9

Al Basnight Ryan forIndy500?

Notthis year...

RUMOURS over recent days that Ryan Briscoe could pilot a third Chip Gannassi entry in the Indy 500 are apparently just that.The young Aussie, who was pit-side with Toyota at the imola GP and retains long-term ambitions to get his FI race chance with the team, is still looking at Champ Car options for this year, although there's nothing in place at present.

QTeam Australia Champ Car Atlantic driver Simon Pagenaud has topped the first of two official tests days at the Houston road circuit.

The Frenchman continued the impressive form that saw him place fourth at the opening round at Long Beach.

Team-mate and Australian James Davison was 16th fastest on the opening day, continuing his steady improvement.

Feliow Aussie Barton Mawer was 24th on Day 1 of the test, getting acquainted with his new Transnet Racing team.

IT is with great sadness we report the death of Ai Basnight.

The long-time NASCAR official, who was the race director during the formative years of the Calder Park Thunderdome in the 1980s and '90s, died late last month following an accident at his home in Virginia. He was 61.

Basnight was a US Army veteran, serving three tours of duty in SE Asia as a helicopter pilot, during which time he rose to the role of company commander.When he left the service, at different times, he was a pilot and traffic reporter with Norfolk, Virginia radio stations WTAR and WLTR,and personal pilot and assistant to the Norfolk police chief.

Apart from his time at Calder, he was NASCAR's first director of Asian Operations, and was formerly employed

by Petty Enterprises as general manager. He is survived by his wife Brenda,sons Michael and Travis and six grandchildren.

immM/Si ONE of the most destructive rifts in motorsport history may be close to healing, with reports filtering across from the US that the Champ Car World Series and Indy Racing League are on the verge of unification.

CCWS spearhead Kevin Kalkhoven and IRL chiefTony George confirmed several weeks ago that they were in discussion, however MNews sources are now suggesting that an agreement has been reached, and that an announcement can be expected at this month's Indy 500. if correct, the news signals a light at the end of the tunnel for open wheeler racing in the USA, which has spent the past 10 years struggling to sustain two anaemic categories following George's establishment of a iow-cost break-away series from Champ Cars (formerly CART) based around the Indy 500.

The prospect of reunification appears to have popular support amongst competitors, and there is widespread belief that a single series that plays to the strengths of Kalkhoven's political and commercial nouse and the PR clout of George's Indy 500 could help American single-seater racing restore some of its mid-90s glory, when it was often seen as a serious rival to Formula One. Many of the finer details of a merged series are still up in the air, however MNews believes that both Cosworth and Honda would be involved as engine suppliers.

Also remaining to be seen is which teams and races would survive the inevitable cull. One race that you can bet on securing a spot in a unified calendar, however, is the Gold Coast's Indy 300, which has long been regarded as one of the flagship events on the CCWS schedule.

Our subscribers are telling us they love it: YOU CAN HAVE IT TOO. In the two weeks since launch, MNews Platinum has kept MNews subscribers up-to-date daily with the very latest motorsport news, here and overseas, 24/7.

It's a totally free service, exclusively for MNews subscribers. It's the ultimate motorsport info package: news 24/7 & 26 magazines a year, To BO all for just $3 a week (within Australia). lij S GV; 4»Includes additional exclusive features and now...

'The Garage'

g mne^

THERE'S NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME OR REASON TO SUBSCRIBE TO MOTORSPOir^EWS

fremifwWivK

8 week/Sample-sub'available from the website.

You can subscribe via the web,email,fax, or phone.

CHECK IT OUT via

( THE,TITLE

I

FI;S<hum8ch«r aw

back-to-P8CX , -rn—

5

www.mnews.com.au

isrsai

. rrjrtte<v t”#' ■. u^ieocf!

'"decide

0, rQ osfta .^«nr.fc'ctrar»-’ca-

HA5CAR: The Motorfport New* 400

aSiiM

& subscribe MOW! I

10

motorsport news

I

news

| ppy^

John Large 0AM MOTORSPORT is the poorer for the passing of John Large.

The WA-born and Sydney-based former president of CAMS,FI A Vice President and founder of theTarga Tasmania died late last month after heart difficulties. He was 67.

Simply put, no other individual has had such an Influence on the adminstration of the sport as Large.

He opened Australian motorsport up to the world and was a critical player in ensuring international events came to our shores.

The Tasmanian-born Large was a pharmacist and built up the successful Lighthouse businesses in WA.While based in the west. he won the 1975 Australian Rally Championship with Ross Dunkerton.

He was elected CAMS president in 1983 and five years later. succeeded John Roxburgh as the Australian delegate at the FISA,the forerunner of today's FIA. Under president Jean-Marie Balestre, Large rose to the role of Vice President but when Max Mosley ran for the top position. Large

supported him. Mosley won and Large would play a key role in the sport until his death.

In 1991, Large concentrated his efforts onTarga and became a leading player in the FIA Foundation and the FIA Institute of Safety. In 2004 Large was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his services to Australian motor sport. l Hisfuneral at St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney was attended by many leading figures in the sport to which John devoted almost four decades of his life.To the Large family and his many friends within the sport, Motorsport News extends our sincerest sympathies.

mnews Subscriptions: One or two year subscriptions are available and offer the best discounts, but you can now sample Motorsport News (and thus MNEWS PLATINUM)for eight wee|^(4 magazine issues) with a'Sampie'subscription - oniy availabie via online - -purchase at WWW.mnews.com.au -utiiising the National Australia Bank Secure internet Payment System.

"Super idea" "Clad I subscribed"

2Years

SUBSCRiPTiONS(A$)

I Year

Australia (inc GST)

\ $148.50

! $285

NewZealand,SE Asia I $210.00

| $390 -h-

$35

$495

$45

I (26 issues)

Rest of the World

$270.00

I 8 Week'Sample Sub'

j (52 issues) |(4issues-web payment only) $25

Or via: Fax - Download the subscription form (or write on your own paper)& fax it to us on 03 9596 5030 Email — Send your name, maiiing address, emaii address & MastercardA/isa details to: subs@mnews.com.au Maii — Download a subscription form & send to MNews Subscriptions, PO Box 7072, Brighton,VIC 3186, Australia Phone - Ring us on 03 9596 5555 (office hours) with your details. International callers; +613 9596 5555 UT+10 It) May 2006

11

STOPPRESS: Tatnell WoOs'em! grant rowley

AS MNews dosed for press, Brooke Tatnell won his fourth World of Outlaws feature race by beating Terry McCarl to victory at Huset's Speedway on Sunday night.

Tatnell started from the pole In the feature and led every lap to cap an unforgettable weekend for the New South Welshman and his Rush Racing team. One night earlier on Saturday night, Tatnell and his team ventured to Knoxville Race way after the Outlaws show at Wichita was rained out and proceeded to break the lap record In qualifying at the prestigious venue with a 14.407s lap.

Tatnell is currently on a roll In the US with eight straight top 10 feature finishes.

Q There are plans for the cancelled Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix at SpaFrancorchamps to be replaced by a round of the Grand Prix Masters series.

Eric van de Poele,the Belgian who made his GPM debut at the weekend In Qatar, Is working with the series promoter and the local municipal authorities to set up a fixture. A Spa race might itself replace the GPM date at Monza if this cannot be accommodated within the 30 days on which the Italian venue is now allowed to run cars without silencers.

The prospect delights GPM front runner Emerson Fittipaldi, who has never raced there. The fabulous road circuit was absent from the Formula 1 calendar between 1969 and 1983, when the Belgian Grand Prix was held at Nivelles and Zolder.

The career of the 1972-74 World Champion endured from 1970 until 1980. He did not get into sportscar racing and did not race at Spa in Formula 3 or Formula 2.

Q 2003 Australian Formula Ford Champion Neil McFadyen is currently in the UK looking at opportunities in the European racing scene.

The New South Welshman was at the Pembrey circuit last week watching former karting rival Michael Patrizi test in Formula BMW UK. McFadyen worked with Patrizi's Motaworld team at the test before

TONY D'Alberto Racing will expand to two cars from the third round of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series at Queensland Raceway in July.

West Australian Formula Ford driver Mark McNally will join TDR and drive the ex-Kmart

SS PUB Huge Fujitsu V8 Supercar field set for Coulbum showdown A MASSIVE field of 38 Fujitsu V8 Supercars will attempt to qualify for, potentially,36 grid spots in the second round of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Championship Series at Wakefield Park in three weeks time.

Wakefield Park has a grid capacity of 36 cars, but after qualifying, V8 Supercars Australia will only accept the top 32. Four'wildcard' slots will then be up for grabs,and they will be allocated by V8SA after the qualifying session is run.This system will allow for any regular championship contenders to be accepted into the field if they strike any problems in qualifying.

The practice procedure for the round will also be different from the norm. Usually,two 35-minute sessions have all the cars out on the track, but due to Wakefield Park's tight nature and the influx of cars,four split sessions will be held.The championship's top 50 percent get two 20-minute sessions, with the bottom 50 percent get the same.

The Wakefield Park Fujitsu field is a record in the Development Series ranks.

Commodore, which Tony D'Alberto used to finish fifth in the Development Series last year.The ex-Greg Murphy/Rick Kelly VY is best known for its win ipvthe3004 Bathurst TOGO irwihi 'Spiderman'colours.

For McNally,stepping up from the Formula Ford series to a V8 Supercar is a dream come true.

"I've had to pinch myself a few times to make sure I wasn't dreaming," McNally said.

"For any young driver wanting a racing career in Australia, it's something that you aim at.

So I'm very happy to finalise n the deal, rcouldn't be more impressed with the team and l' can't wait to get over there and

HUNTS

RegularTouring Car Challenge driver Terry Wyhoon will contest the round. Fie will be partnered by Dean Neville.

A new face on the Fujitsu block is Colin Sieders.The New South Wesishman will steer an ex-Anthony Tratt AU Falcon.The #13 Falcon will run in black and yellow colours.

Jonathon Beikoff will have his first run of 2006 in his father's Turbo Brisbane Falcon AU. At Wakefield Park last year, Shane Beikoff actually won the reverse grid race.

One driver who won't be on the grid will be Dick Johnson Racing's Marcus La Delle.The rookie crashed his AU Falcon heavily at Adelaide and a replacement car could not be found.

- GRANT ROWLEY

moving on to continue scouting the scene.

Glenn Seton has been named as the official mentor of the Australian Formula Ford Championship.

Seton will interact and provide guidance to all drivers in the category.

"I'm really excited about this new opportunity for me to put something back into motorsport/'said Seton.

- STAFF/JOE SAWARD

n y8raBecarho«aps.MiMU^'«! ^3]

Lots on: Terry Wyhoon will compete in teh Fujitsu V8 Series at WP.

motorsportnews

n

_1

news

get into it.'

McNally,24, will campaign the same white, blue and orange TDR colours as D'Alberto, pictured above, but the car will be adorned with his own sponsors(Nomad Consolidation and Broadzone Investments). Fie is likely to run

his traditfonai #74-©ntlSeifears and will get his first test day at Winton Raceway next week.

D'Alberto will also have his last hit-out at Winton that day before the second round of the series at Wakefield Park. While McNally has to wait until the third round

A SYDNEY STAR MATTHEW Hunt will make his Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series debut for Sydney Star Racing at the next round of the championship at Wakefield Park.

Hunt was a round winner in last year's Touring Car Challenge, where he was seventh overall in the championship standings.

Hunt joins Aussie Racing Cars Champion Tim Monte at Sydney Star Racing, with the team expanding to two cars.

Sydney Star had originally hoped to acquire a Commodore to match the VY of Monte, but for the next few rounds at least. Hunt will drive an ex-Dick Johnson Racing AU Falcon, with an upgrade a possibility for Mallala in September.

The Mallala round will see Hunt announce a high-profile major sponsor, but in the meantime he will be backed by long time sponsor DC Shoe Company.

-CHRIS JORDAN

:in;Q,ueensland,'hia willbe at Wakefield Park to see how his new team works.

McNally's new V8 ride means that he will contest last Formula Ford race this weekend at Barbagallo Raceway in WA. "I want to have a good last

round in the series," he said.

"It would be nice to go out with a good result at my home track.

I finished.second in each race there last year,so we'll see what.,,,. ., happens this time."

BRAND NEW MOTORSPORT SHOW AN all-new Australian motorsport show will be launched in February 2007.

The Motorsport Show will be promoted in Melbourne by the Showtime Group, a Gold Coastbased company specialising in exhibition events, which recently acquired the rights to the show formerly promoted in Melbourne by Lisa Skaife.

Former ANDRA employee Jason O'Halloran has been appointed to head the management of the show.

Showtime Event Director Mark Harvey plans to involve the whole motorsport industry in the show, which will move to the larger Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre (Jeff's Shed,to Melburnians): "We plan to follow the

●'fimei

examples of the Autosport International in Birmingham and the PRI Show in Orlando by expanding the outcomes, in terms of business opportunities, for exhibitors," Harvey told MNews.

"We expect to have many additional elements to the show, such as technical forums, to give the whole event an inclusive atmosphere and attract overseas exhibitors."

13

The^ Said it...

“He can answer all the cjuestions 1 have but he can’t drive the car for me.

r )

Marco Andretti explains how he talks to his Dad, Michael, about the Indy 500, Son, you can ask Grandpa, too ...

Sometimes he has rea

i -i

'3

different lines to us. Maybe it’s because they drive on the other side in Japan.”

Christian KHen explains the finer points behind Yuji Ide’s demise “This car has not been to the wind tunnel. It has not been to a racetraclc. It

i

has not been to anythin Literally the paint was still drying on it when we pushed it on the truck Thursday.”

Chad Knaus, Crew Chief on Jimmie Johnson’s Talledegawinning Chevy “I was focused on mu goal not to make a mistake and to reach what I wanted since a longtime, what can I say more? We decide we don’t push too much because 1 couldn’t understand the car.”

Gigi Galli after Rally Argentina.

He finished third.

A fiiU-time ride, please?

\14.

Iff

●j ' I

Rally Argentina got the fans in with the stadium super special, above. sutton-images.com New BRDC President Damon Hill has plenty ofother world champions to advise him,like John Surtees,left. sutton-images.com i Steve Read had a number of I things go wrong iast weekend at f the WSiD, beiow, mainly engineV related...

John Morris/Mpix

motorsportnews

For anyone wondering about tyre development,please consider: Chris Vermeulen,Suzuki, Bridgestone, wet,knee on road,surf, pole.

Rkla SuzukiRacing

Prior to the French WTCC round,AlexZanardi and other drivers took part in a charity kart event. Alex did not win but hell, we don't care.

BMWPrssse

Brooke Tatnell races through Turns 1 and 2during the Missouri HighBanked Nationals at U.S. 36 Raceway in Obsorn, Missouri, below.

Chris Dolack/World of Outlaws

V.

10 May 2006

...

A

grant rowley

es Medo

WTCCSingapore WORLD Touring Car Channpionship promoter KSO has been approached for a 2007 fixture by the Singapore Tourism Board, which is aiming to complete its new Formula 1 circuit next April, but will likely not host a Grand Prix until 2008.

KSO has also been approached by street race promoters keen to stage WTCC races in Moscow and Pau, France. KSO expects as many as three new manufacturers to run 'factory teams against BMW,Chevrolet and SEAT next year, and these are understood to include Lada from Russia.

Alfa Romeo, which pulled its works team at the end of last season, has a projected 2007 works programme that will likely be based at the new Maserati Corse factory in Modena,Italy.

BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen has reiterated the company's opposition to the FIA's proposal that the specifications of the 2.4-iitre V8 Formula 1 engines should be frozen for three (or even five) years, starting in 2008.

Dr Theissen said in Germany:"This idea doesn't correspond with our beliefs. On the other hand, we can see that excessive money and resources are being wasted in Formula 1. We're working with other engine manufacturers on the possibilities of saving money without having to freeze engine technology for several years. Much less track testing would be a good starting point..."

-QUENTIN SPURRING

BUSCH GETS MUSCLE NASCAR is entertaining the idea of running different style cars in the Busch Series,and is currently bouncing the idea off of manufacturers and team owners of using Ford Mustang and Chevroiet Camaro-type bodies.

More and more Cup drivers are entering Busch races to help with feedback for their Cup cars. Seven drivers are running both series full-time this season, with Kevin Harvick leading the Busch series

points and winning the latest race.

Currently the only differences between the two cars are five inches in wheelbase, along with height and horsepower.Totally different bodies, especially when the Car ofTomorrow is released fully into Cup in 2009, would take away any advantage that Cup drivers currently glean from running both events at the same tracks.

- MARTIN D CLARK

First A/lotoGp 800 Hits the track DUCATi has become the first maker to publicly show its SOOcc MotoGP prototype.

Factory test rider Vittoriano Guareschi threw a leg over the Desmosedici GP7 last week at Mugello,almost four years after the Italian manufacturer tested its first GP prototype. It was a the first hit-out of many for the test team, prior to the competition debut of the four-cylinder bike at the opening race of the 2007 season.

"Today the new SOOcc engine finally moved from the dyno to the track and we are quite satisfied with this debut,"said Ducati Corse Technical Director Filippo Preziosi. "We started off by running a check on all the components of the new bike and over the next two days, if we don't encounter any particular problems, we will move on to phase two and begin the first set-up work."

CAMS Rising Star driver John Martin wili begin his international racing career in a Spectrum Formula Ford chassis in the UK mid this year.

Spectrum constructor Borland Racing Developments has confirmed the news (exclusively predicted by MNews back in January)that Australia's locally built chassis will head over to England to contest selected rounds of the UK Formula Ford Championship this year, as well as the annual Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch.

The move by Mike Borland's team is the first in what they hope will turn into a steady export of Spectrums into the international market.

BRD recently took delivery of a UK-spec engine, and they wiil now build a chassis to suit.The plan is for Martin to test the car a couple of times at Winton, before packing the car into a plane

FFORD Jt

AU^RALI^N Formuia Ford driversTim Slade and James Moffat tested a Sprintcar at the Quit Motorplex in Kwinana, Western Australia two weeks ago.

Slade and Wbffat=b^i travelled to WA early for testing at Barbagallo Raceway prior to the second round of the champiovwh^ Slade currently lies

JET-HOT Heat IVIanagement Ceramic Coating

ORDERS

m

1800 700 468

JET-HOT Hi-Lustre:

JET-HOT DIRECT

l Reduced engine bay temp l Corrosion protection l Improved performance l Streamline gas flow l Looks that don’t compare l Other colours available

Hi-Performance Pre-Coated Headers

For JET-Hot listings of car makes and models see the JET-HOT website: www.iet-hot.com.au // www.buildastreetmachine.com // www buildahotrod.com

16

f-

RETAIL STORE MANAGER MELBOURNE Revolution Racegear is looking for a dynamic Store Manager to take over the running of our flagship Melbourne Retail Store. You will be a person who has good retail experience at a senior level together with a keen interest in motor sport.

The position requires skills in supervision of staff, day to day management of store, store layout and merchandising, high level customer service with retail and major race team customers. A salary package commensurate with experience is offered to the right applicant. Interstate applications welcome and consideration will be given to relocation in Melbourne.

Interested? Then we want to hear from you.

E.mail your CV to: Dale Rodgers, Managing Director Revolution Racegear P/L daier@racegear.com.au motorsport news

H

news

Tyres Perform

on the open road - in wet and dry conditions

f and fly it to the UK. A team (which has not been selected yet) will prepare the car for Martin, who'll compete in five or six rounds of England's domestic series, before tackling the prestigious Festival.

Martin will continue to compete in all of the Australian Formula Ford rounds, and has been able to squeeze in the extra UK rounds thanks to a large gap between Rounds 6 and 7 of our local series.

The Queensland young gun has ambitions of an international racing career and is likely to contest the respected British Formula 3

Championship in 2007. He will use his time in the Spectrum to learn the circuits, and the UK way of life.

While Martin is eyeing off a future overseas, so is Spectrum.This is the first stage of the Melbourne-based team exporting cars to England ongoing basis.

"This is probably the biggest undertaking Borland Racing Developments has ever done, and its very exciting," marketing manager Paul Zsidy said."We know John can do the job,so there's a bit of pressure on us to deliver."

For more with Mike Borland,turn to page 28

BOYS TRYJIBJ lU II

I pwyPliiiry. vv4uie iv’.OiTdV

15 «Jn the sii lis yssT \«Brking 35 a madianicfor the SonfcfflDlor Racing team, for which Slade-drw«.

The oppomirnty waa oliamcJ to tte two hy WA AWG SpriScw Sris Championshpwiofting t»n ISnstrck Racing, which wiBPpsj ts SECond-con^utoffi fBetvufi-waiiK ago with American tean Jacobs, The Sonic team b uttlHing spare in ‘tharfes Hot#en sShadts has a "rtllTtnrhT with both race hMuw,the QppdrtenSy presentedfeelWiWhe two fij

QiT

ITi IT

Ken^'ck ^^e.

Slade anrt Moffat drove the car that Bcobs ^sreeko the title, the two ptctucEd bet^ withlfMcar. a's ju^s vidt thatthe boys got a taste of VS power, becats lA^sms^rd to com^%.WNews has heard that a Ford VS Sopercar proposed a scheme that wouW4)ave seen the tap-three finishers in file year's Porrmila Facd Qtampioosh^ rece«a d^ in «e of its VS Snpsrcais. only fcjrTESA tffinnckthe projssci back.

*

//T-110 S/TZ04

E

si

Proven High Performance Tyres

From your nearest Tyre Dealer or CALL: (07) 3848^1800 SYDNEY (02) 9725 6280 MELBOURNE (03) 9558 4944 DARWIN (08) 8932 2626 S A. & TAS {03) 9558 4944

77

stateside

Rookie goes quick AFTER problems with blown tyres last year at Lowes in Charlotte, Goodyear came to the newly-repaved speedway for a two day test with a much harder tyre, similar to the restrictor plate compounds.

Speeds were way down on last year's efforts.

When I came here, I was expecting the speeds to be ridiculously high and to have problems with tyres, but this has been a pleasure,"said veteran Jeff Burton.

'The race track is in great shape and it's going to have multiple grooves fairly quickly. Goodyear's done the right thing by bringing a tyre that a lot of drivers will complain about, but, at the end of the day, you're better off having a tyre that's too conservative, but won't blow out.'

David Stremme,driving a Ganassi Dodge,topped the speed charts in two days. Stremme's speed of 186.929mph ranked ahead of the second Haas Racing Chev of Johnny Sauter at 185.179mph.

NASCAR has fined Wood Bros Racing crew chief David Hyder at $5000 for using a space heater on pit road during the Phoenix race to put heat into the tyres.

This is a definite no-no in NASCAR. The fines sees him placed on probation untii the end of the season.

Q BAM Racing replaced rookie Brent Sherman with veteran driver Mike Wallace at Richmond. Sherman brought with him sponsors Serta bedding (which his father owns) and Hickory Farms.

The team failed to qualify for three of the first nine races with an average finish of 33rd. During Charlotte testing, crew chief Ron Otto said no decision had been made beyond Richmond, but with team owner Beth Ann Morganthau having her own deep pockets, they may bid farewell to Sherman (and backing) if a replacement can be found that can make the races.

No Fear owner Brian Simo, himself an accomplished circuit racer, is to field Fords for Boris Said, a co-owner of No Fear Racing.

Said will compete in four races this year as part of a partnership with Roush Racing, who will provide chassis and engines for No Fear Racing. They plan to run the two circuit races at Watkins Glen and Infineon-Sonoma, plus Indianapolis and Daytona in July. The team is housed in the old MB2 facility adjacent from Roush Racing in Concord, North Carolina.

- MARTIN D CLARK

m

I I

r: i I ' !

IN a itmowe that stuhnedi rnahy gareg&ihsidets, Kevin Hiarwick announced ah May 5th that he has electeditovstay with Rjehar# Chiidness Raeing^ Harwidfc has signed a three-year contract extension which will see hire stay with the Chevrolet team !Uintilithe’end!0f2009. ®u reoui rs :began> back at the startof the'season lin Da,ytona thatHarvick had inked a deal with

stay^wjth tliiefamous-^afiii "ei!iink.we:have a'"p:re^;i|pff understamdingi;of where weaf^' an'diwhatwehave/'reiiiatilredfe , Hiiarvick, vvho admittedihehad' talks with other orgahisations;,' When you can see Stuff Start-t©*

Toyota's teare’ Red Boll. Since then» Kevin HarviekMotorsports had! apparently built a Toyota Busch car, further fueling the paddock chat that Marvlck was bound to switch bran d s. B ut RCR's recent perforreance turn around; has no doubt contributed to his decision; to

MeanwhileToyota have n'o plans '. j to field more than six Gup cars ●'*' next season with the previously^ announced teams owned toy

n

cg'fi'etogethgr^ee^th'etffiiol'SAthat*^ areiih'thj works.an3 know what's^-^:T;, goihgionihehindithe'sgenes, it's> : ahtmatteroftirheheforeiit takes .■ .1

i

Ieteet.”

^

I

Team Red Bull. Waltrip is the only. confirmed driver at this point.

1-^Bill MARTIN D CLARK Michael Waltrip, Davis and

j '

LOW-KEY TOYOTJi ENGINE DEBUT MICHAEL Waltrip's new Toyota Cup team quietly debuted a Chevrolet Monte Carlo at the Charlotte test with Burger King backing and Bill Elliott behind the wheel.

If you looked closely under the hood, Toyota valve covers could be seen lurking as a TRD Cup test engine was put through its paces for the first time. A TRD engineer was present in a logo-less shirt.

As previously reported, Elliott will pilot the car in five races this season with Hendrick Chev horsepower. Elliott posted a 179.802mph lap in testing, compared to the fastest at the test 186.929mph.

Meanwhile, Waltrip continues to struggle behind the wheel of the

■

‘it ■>'

Bill Davis-owned Dodge he's been driving this year. Veteran crew chiefs Bobby Kennedy and Larry Carter from his Truck and new Cup team were at the Charlotte test

and at the Richmond race. His Bill Davis crew chief Derrick Finley has also returned to an engineering the team.

-MARTIN D CLARK

motorsportnews

C

Also available at your local

dealer across Australia

Pastorelli gets a Rocket Street talk WHILE most of the attention in US openwheel racing is either focused on the Indy 500 or the merger talks between the Indy Racing League and Champ Car, officials from the latter have been making positive noises regarding new events for 2007.

Las Vegas looks to be set to get a Champ Car street race early in 2007, with local officials keen to revitalise the north end of -

FLEDGLING Champ Car team Rocketsports Racing has confirmed Dutchman Nicky Pastorelli as its driver for the remainder of the 2006 season.

The team ran former FI driver Antonio Pizzonia at the opening round at Long Beach as it tried to broker a deal for sponsorship that would have seen the team rebranded as Team Brazil.

The signing of Pastorelli, the 2004 Euro Formula 3000 champion,suggests the end of those negotiations.

Pastorelli has tested for various guises of the Jordan and Midland FI teams over the past 18 months,and had his first taste of an oval last week at Milwaukee with his new team. Pastorelli also tested for Dale Coyne Racing during the off-season.

1

the city strip with a street racing festival.

Champ Car World Series officials have also admitted to serious discussions with the Phoenix City Council regarding a street race, which is being considered as a possible series finale, appeasing those who are keen to see the series finish on American soil.

MARTY Roth will run the remainder of the 2006IRL IndyCar Series after this year's Indianapolis 500.

Roth, who will be attempting to start his second Indy 500 this May,-has.caced in the IRL's feeder series,the Indy Pro Series, 13 times with a best result of fourth. | The 45-year-old Canadian will compete in both the Indy Pro Series and IRL races at the Brickyard this May, before moving up to the Indy Racing League driving for his own team, despite his lack of experience and results.

-PHIL MORRIS

While rumours continue to spread that the event in Ansan, Korea is all-but-dead.

Champ Car officials are said to be weighing up offers from the Zhuhai circuit in China, as well as the proposal to hold a Champ Car race on the streets of Otaru, a small city in Hokkaido,Japan.

-PHIL MORRIS

happens here first! e 1,400 Exhibitors » 4,000 Booths e42,000 Buyers From 40 Countries S’

●Worid’s Largest Racing Trade Show More New Racing Technology Than Anywhere On Earth!

Q

w-M

SAE Symposium and AETC Conference

For information contact PRI at:

31706 South Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651-6974, USA Telephone: +1 949.499.5413 ● Fax: +1 949.499.0410 www.performanceracing.com ©Laguna Coast Publishing. Inc. March 2006 TS4986-JH

20

DECEMBER 14-16, 2006 Orlando, Florida ● USA Orange County Convention Center ● North/South Building

motorsportnews

i

stateside

irs GO

AT INDY Final rides still up for grabs atthe Brickyard as confirmed entries slowly edge up to 33cars

ACTIVITIES for this year's Indianapolis 500 have begun at the Brickyard, and still the final make-up of many teams is taking shape.

Last week Playa Del Racing and C+S Motorsport announced that they will combine the resources of their respective single car entries for the 500, with Jaques Lazier and Jon Herb performing driving duties. Lazier finished 16th in a one-off appearance in last year's Indy 500 for Playa Del, while C+S's cars have been acquired from Newman-Haas Racing's 2005 Brickyard campaign.

Hemelgarn Racing's second entry will be driven by Jeff Bucknam and the team still has a third entry unconfirmed, while former 500 winner Arie Luyendyk has secured equipment and staff from old boss Chip Ganassi to run his son, Arie Jr. PDM Racing will field 2004 Indy Pro Series champion Thiago Medieros in its single entry, the Brazilian attempting to make his fi rst IRL start. Dreyer and Reinbold Racing has confirmed its entry for Al Unser Jr will be run in the Stars and Strips livery of Rick Weidlinger's Al Team USA. Chip Ganassi Racing, AJ Foyt Racing, Panther Racing, Penske Racing and Sam Schmidt Motorsport all have one unconfirmed entry each, ensuring that many a driver will be pounding the pavement this week in Gasoline Alley asking for a ride, although the Schmidt drive has been rumoured to be going to Richie Hearn. Roger Yasukawa, Jimmy Kite and NASCAR driver Jason Leffler are all on the lookout for available rides, which could come as late as the second week of proceedings, when the cost of leasing a Honda engine is reduced.

But perhaps the most intriguing team line-up is that of Indianapolis Motor Speedway boss Tony George's own team.

Vision Racing. Vision has lodged four entries, with American Townsend Bell confirmed to suit up in the third entry. As MNews went to press, 30 drivers were confirmed in entries, with Enge and Hearn rumoured as close. leaving 32 cars. George, left, has stated that Roberto Moreno is top of list if he runs a fourth car - which could be the entry that brings the grid up to the magical number 33, giving the field the famous 11 rows of three.

-PHIL MORRIS

■●pRffi-ES’!

IGtOVESTROMl! lUNDERWEARI

h M8PPNP SRECilffiRDEK

'great VALUET PYROWOOLNOM

VEflDElAIDE

m \mmm^ I

ill

OR CHECK OUT ...www.speedzone.com.au^ 21

EXPENSIVE ONUTS 1

A BIZARRE finish to the Rally Argentina left a bitter taste in the mouths of leading competitors after the FIA event stewards fined Manfred Stohl, Sebastien Loeb,right, Daniel Sordo and Gigi Galli for performing victory donuts.

The quartet of drivers were encouraged to perform the donuts by event organisers prior to the finish ramp to the uproarious applause of the 40,000 spectators who'd crammed in to watch the final Super Special Stage and the podium presentation.

The stewards, however,took a dim view and fined each driver 10,000 euros for'undertaking a hazardous action'.

"That is absolutely ridiculous!"exclaimed Manfred Stohl on receiving news of the fine."During the super stage, going 120km/h, you fly by the audience so close you could shave them with your sidemirror.

And then they come up with such a thing!"

-RYAN LAHIFF

Elena's new benchmark

r-'f-.

mV

MWtEO

22

NAVTtO

SEBASTIEN Loeb’s co driver Daniel Elena moved a step closer to becoming the most successful navigator in the history of the World Rally Championship in Argentina when he moved equal with Luis Moya on 24 victories.

"1 started as an amateur and to be at this level is a privilegeparticularly since I only started at WRC level in 2002," said Elena.

With Elena certain to be alongside Loeb for many events to come, there is little doubt that the pair will establish themselves as the greatest driver/co-driver combination of all time surpassing names such as Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz andTommi Makinen. "it's good to share the record with Luis," Elena continued.

"It's me buying dinner for Luis tonight, but Luis will pay for me when I get to 25!"

- RYAN LAHIFF

wi||3r6lNutth&^^ | ' 1*“ phasedfanaggressiweiie- .. .1 h ibrandingibflheif ifiQtoFspbn|:'t.and:petfdFmaiice vehicle’ ^ yehtuFes at next weekend'l' ^ ^ioFest^allyteMtestbFFii ■*'ti AustFalia. k feyota will dispense with f thefoyota Team Racing (TTR) I moniker which has signified its ● local motorsport efforts since . the late 1990's in favour of

motorsport news

mlfying

CAT/A

the internationaliyreGOgnisedfoyota Racing' DevelopmentsPR©)title.

"We're saying;goodbye toffR Poyota learn iacingi)andihellor#fR©:|iIpy0ta'Racing: :Devel0pments|,"said foyotafs Mike BreenL "it's.3'move we foreshadowed'at the Melbourne motorsho.w [earlier this year] with the'fR©'labelisigni^ingiboth foyota's motorspoKt pnOgram’mes andiperformanee roadwehicles” While the lip brandi'is wellnknown within loyota circles'iocally, the Japanese

1%X

fe¬

ll

^ icmeum FORMER World Rally Champion Colin McRae will take part in the next two rounds of the Porsche Micheiin Supercup after being invited to take the wheel of a 911 GT3.

McRae,left, who has only previously raced on a traditional circuit at Le Mans, will compete in Formula 1 support races in Germany and Monaco.

"I am not sure what to expect, with two races planned I will use this weekend as a shakedown to familiarise myself with the car and team prior to the Monaco race," said the former Citroen, Ford and Subaru factory driver.

- RYAN LAHIFF 10 May 2006

litiianufacturer has tielied: upon'the Spor'tito®. l bnanding to designate itsiperformanG^.' ’' ' onientated:vehicles along the lines of M'ol’d’enis flS'V'Ois Subapu's STi’labels.

"Spoptivo will still exist as a brand'inbur ppodluet range, however it will become the first tier of vehicle above our standard model lineup with:IR© vehicles geared to the higher end', peitformanCe minded buyer,"explained Breen.

T;heQr0,upiN«(iP)!Gorolias;0fi|Sieali:Batesan:d: Simoni Evans have been heavily re-brandedi

with a striking newIRD paint scheme, replacing the more Formula 1-style design utilised previGusly.

"The entire team is very excited about running under theTRD brand, particularly as it has suchia iJI^strious reputation on the International motors^rt stage,"coramented I »(M|i f Neal Bates.

"We hope that our.rally team can form a part Ofthe wider TRD organisation over a very . many years to come." ^RWVNLAHIFF

MADE mi CHINA Chinese Rally Champ heading to Australia

REIGNING Chinese Rally Champion Xu Lang has been enticed by the level of competition of the NEC Computers Australian Rally Championship and will contest at least two rounds of the series with co driver Dale Moscatt.

With limited competitive experience outside of his native China, Xu Lang is keen build on his pace noting and technical driving on the roads of WA and Queensland.

"There was a sizable gap in the Chinese Rally calendar and we sat down and looked at building his experience on events outside of China,the ARC was the most obvious option,"explained Dale Moscatt, the reigning ARC Co-Drivers Champion.

"The quality of the competition as well as the very technical nature of the roads were the major factors that Xu Lang wanted to experience and both events will be important learning experiences for him as a developing driver."

Moscatt commented that the biggest difference between the Chinese and Australian Rally Championships is the structure of the events, with

the rallies in China being of a more compact nature with less stages run multiple times.

In comparison, Moscatt feels that the more challenging nature of the Australian events and the professionalism of the championship will fast-track Xu Lang's personal development.

Rather than shipping his current Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8from China to Australia,Xu Lang has opted to purchase a car from Les Waikden,a near identical left-hand-drive EvoVIII making the transition as simple as possible.

"Essentially for Xu Lang it will be an'arrive and drive'arrangement, with Les'team delivering and maintaining the car during both events,"said Moscatt.

"After Queensland we'll leave the car in Australia with the possibility that we could come back at the end of the year for Rally Australia as well."

Xu Lang and Moscatt will also receive support from Rally Australia, the local round of the World Rally Championship, which is keen to promote itself to a wider international audience, particularly in the growth Chinese motorsport market.

- RYAN LAHIFF 23

'P

GP TECH suit The GP TECH, the lightest and mosttechnically advanced suitin the Alpinestars range, features a 3-layer Nomex® construction that weighs 300gr/sqm, strategically positioned A C fabric panels for superior ventilation, Alpinestars exclusive extractor handles (optimized for use with HANS device), full floating arms. ergonomic flex zones and multiple-panel engineered design for definitive comfort and performance.

opinion

AWARDS. RIVERS MOTOR AND THE GREAT HDDTER DEBATE

with

CHRfS LAA/IBDEN

OU know how it is when sometimes you just can't figure something out. It's happened again.

I'm not a Logies fan (although I did surf through long enough to cop the outrageous Joan Rivers, who must have given the bloke on the'beep'machine heart-burn), but it's hard to overlook the fact that Network Ten took out the sports broadcast gold for the third time in a row for its excellent Bathurst coverage.

It may be an industry-selected award, but it does serve as a reminder that V8 Supercar racing can kick goals up against the sports that consistently keep motorsport off the back pages AFL, Rugby, Cricket, and so on.

Great stuffTen, but it does beg the question: why is V8 Supercar racing considered so un-newsworthy'by the media at large - and I guess I'm pointing to the daily newspapers in particular here - when the big event of the year can take the TV award triple?

It's not that V8 Supercar Australia hasn't tried.They schmooze the newspaper journos to death; they've had a go at the sports editors; to no real avail. V8 coverage can be measured in column centimetres.

The new marketing/media crew at V8SA have this year had to resort to paid supplements in the major papers leading up to races.

Good idea guys - but it shouldn't be necessary.

Craig Lowndes seems to be on a different TV quiz show each week;TV weatherman/Fujitsu V8 star Grant Denyer was the star of Dancing with The Stars; a number ofthe well-known faces do commercials - so they're getting prime time TV visibility.

So why is V8 Supercar racing just not, apparently, NEWSworthy?

I

t's easy to point the finger at the media themselves, but is there another culprit? Recent events have,in my view,thrown up one obvious - if awkward -comparison.

Scenario 1: Ref doesn't hear the hooter at an AFL match;the game goes on 30 seconds too long,and the result is changed. Uproar.You know what I'm talking about.

That single fiasco filled four, yes four, pages of the Melbourne Herald Sun for four days until it was resolved. And then it went on for another two days.

Everyone,from the bipke on the hooter,to former players, to, importantly,the team coaches and clubs concerned, had a view and it was expressed. It went on for days.

Publicity you can't buy.

Scenario 2: V8 Supercars'first reverse-grid race is, let's

not mince words, controversial.

There's a first-lap fracas.John Bowe has a huge crash as a result of damage sustained. Some top runners get through, others don't.

It's big news. Surely the dailies will go big.

Er, well, no. Because with a few exceptions, nobody wants to speak out'on the record.'MNews has,for the past two weeks, been talking to teams and drivers, canvassing their views once the dust had,literally, settled. And the result, in most cases, has been the same - ie"don't quote me",or"off the record", or even more strangely "so what are you (MNews)going to do about it?"

Why?These grown men are scared, yes scared, of the consequences,the potential penalties for simply saying what they believe to be true,on the record. In 2006,there are grown men, players in a professional sport, who can't speak their mind.

I don't think that's entirely healthy and,for a sport desperately keen to claim its rightful acreage of sports page newsprint, it's counter-productive.

The papers and non-specialist magazines want real stories, real issues - not packaged PR hype.

A bit of honest, open, public debate never, ever hurt any of the big sports,so how about it, V8SA? The majority of the participants (with a couple of clear exceptions -see news pages) may

not currently be able to tell you the state of play themselves, but we can. Other than BJR, we are yet to find a team outside of the V8SA Board prepared to support the concept of reverse grid racing.

Of the four with Board representation, DJR voted against it, while Mark Skaife now finds himself in the awkward position of having voted for it, only for team 'boss'Tom Walkinshaw to subsequently be one of the few prepared to go public with his anti views.That leaves Mark Larkham and Garry Rogers.

Last Friday's annual forum did debate the subject with, we hear, a great deal of passion.

The outcome was a "trust us" plea from the Board and an agreement to see how Perth and Winton go, before debating the topic again. And, hooray,a couple of major players prepared to go on the record (see News pages) just to make sure, I guess,that the teams do have something'on the record'...

However, MNews also understands that a number of team owners are prepared, if they deem it necessary,to instruct their drivers to effectively'not race'in the reverse grid race, until the traffic clears. Say that again? Not race?

Perth always puts on a terrific weekend.This one looks like being particularly poignant.

I

R

ENAULT is the World Champion team at the moment. No big deal, but it does bring to an end an intriguing statistic; until Renault's win last year, just two men had designed every Formula 1 World Championship-winning car since 1992: Rory Byrne, with Benetton and then Ferrari, and Adrian Newey, with Williams and then McLaren.

Comparing the careers of the two men who have dominated Formula 1 design for the last 15 years is a fascinating exercise, because they started out in FI in the same year.

That was 1980, and Newey was fresh out of university and working as a draughtsman at Fittipaldi Automotive, while Byrne was designing a Formula 1 car for a new team called Toleman, which had just won the European Formula 2 title.

Byrne's first year in FI as a designer was horrible - the car only qualified twice!

While Byrne was living through the hard times, Newey was making his name as a designer with March,enjoying success with his

March GTP Sportscar and the March 84C Indy car before he returned to FI in 1986 with Carl Haas's FORCE Formula 1 team.

That was the year that one of Byrne's FI cars won its first race, in the hands of Gerhard Berger in Mexico City.

Newey's first FI car,the March-Judd 881, was a nice-looking car. His CG891 that followed was a beauty and that theme was carried on with his first Williams,the FW14,in 1991.That was the car that brought Adrian his first FI victory.

Byrne has since won eight World Championships while Newey has racked up just six.

A purist might argue that Michael Schumacher's title for Benetton in 1994 was not a true reflection of the car because the title was won when Schumacher shoved Damon Hill off the track in Adelaide and that the Williams was a much better car; or that last year the McLarenMercedes MP4-20 was a better car than the Renault R25 but these are esoteric arguments.

Facts are facts.The score is 8-6.

The major difference between the two men is that Byrne is 15 years older than Newey and,inevitably, that age difference has been important in shaping their respective characters and indeed the way they look at life.

Byrne is now 62 and is coming to the end of his career. He is now merely a consultant engineer to Ferrari, leaving the day-to-day design work with Aldo Costa and Nicholas Tombazis.

Newey,on the other hand,is still just 47 and is just beginning a new relationship at Red Bull Racing which could one day bear World Championship fruit, assuming that Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz continues his love affair with the sport and that the team eventually gets a manufacturer engine.

The two men are also perceived completely differently. Newey achieved great success and great respect when he was young, winning his first World Championship when he was 34.

Byrne,on the other hand, had to wait until he was 50 before his first title - and that title was clouded with allegations that the Benetton^

motorsponnews

opinion team had cheated and a widely-held belief that Williams would have walked to the World Championship if Ayrton Senna had not been killed at Imola.

Newey is seen as a prodigy, Byrne the solid man who chipped away at his job.

Such perceptions have affected the characters of the two men. On the surface both men seem to be relatively shy. Newey is easy to approach; Byrne can sometimes come across as being very brusque.

T

he two men share a drive to be successful but, beyond that,they are very different. Newey is a man who seems to see art in his cars. He is the owner of classic cars from the 1930s - notably a Jaguar SSI00- and he loves them. Success is nice but creating beautiful cars (and playing with them to make them successful) is part of it.

"It's also impossible to tinker with a modern car," he says."And I quite enjoy tinkering. It's probably a sort of throwback to my childhood.

I like maintaining the Jaguar and keeping it running. And the SS100 is probably the epitome of pre-war Sportscar styling."

Byrne, on the other hand, drives around in a new Ferrari F430. It is flashy and effective, but perhaps it lacks the soul of the 1930s car.

That difference carries through into their design philosophy as well.

"I don't consider beauty first because only efficiency matters,"says Byrne/'A winning car is always beautiful! Moreover,the concept of beauty is very subjective: what I think is nice probably doesn't suit everyone.

"The whole shape of the car comes from research and wind tunnel studies. When I look at a car, I don't only see its external shape. I see how well integrated it is; I consider the amount of work and resources allocated to its design."

Newey also wants to win races but his emphasis is slightly different: "I always want to Win more races," he says."I love design.That is my passion.The combination of engineering and sport is a great combination and it gives you immediate results and immediate feedback.

"It can be painful when you are doing badly but great when you are doing well."

A case of art versus science, perhaps?

k'

men had designed every Championship-winning car since 1992: Rory Byrne, left, & Adrian Newey, right^^

with

Joe Saward

BUSINESS

Network 10 Commentator DARYL BEATTIE TARGA Tasmania is a great event. It was my first time in a race like that, and I have to say that I really, really enjoyed it -the atmosphere,the people -1 had a lot offun.

It was obviously disappointing with the incident that we had on Day 3. 1 know why it happened and I have learnt from it. It was a new section of road,and I didn't have enough experience when we made the pace notes. I think I was a bit ambitious. But we still got back out there, even though we had more gearbox and engine problems on the final day.

Still, I definitely want to do more of these events. I want to do Rally Burnie, Mount Buller hillclimb and Rally Tasmania. I've got the bug! We are going to do some work on my Mitsubishi Evo IX, make it a bit nicer to drive and try to go up another level.

The event on the whole Is thoroughly enjoyable. I can see why Jim Richards thinks it's the best thing he does all year, because it's full of the unknowns.The damp spots under trees, blind corners,some fantastic roads, and some bumpy ones.There is such a variety. I don't want to use Jimmy's words, but he says it's like having seven,eight or nine races a day. k At the end ofthe day, you don't have to be a race driver to win Targa. Obviously you need to have ability, but it's the total package. Its the driver, its the right car for the conditions, your navigator and how much recce work you do.What you put in is what you get out.

Also, it was good to see a broad spectrum of guys in it. To have Jimmy, Tony Longhurst, Peter Brock, Dean Herridge, Steve Glenney and some of the country's good race drivers there is all part of the event.

Add to that those who only do events like this three times a year, and it makes for a great mix.

There's a good social scene attached to the event as well, and its very competitive.

I've definitely got the bug,and I want

IT'S taken a lot of planning, effort and persistence, but finally. Spectrum is going to race internationally.

It's something I've always wanted to do,and it was hard not to take an opportunity like this, because they don't come around very often.

Later this year, John Martin is going to drive one of our Spectrum 01 Is in selected British Formula Ford rounds, culminating in the prestigious Formula Ford Festival late in October.

We had a bit of a look at the possibility of doing it last year, and we got close, but simply ran out of time. With the new engines coming in for the Australian championship this year, we didn't want to jeopardise our local program by concentrating on our overseas ambitions. Now that we are over the new engine hurdle, we've been able to focus more attention on taking a car to the UK. We received our engine from the UK last week, and we are about to start the process of building a car to suit it, test it in Australia a couple times, put it in a plane and send it to England.

Martin will drive the car in six or so races in the UK, between his commitments in the CAMS Rising Star Spectrum here in the Australian series.

Fortunately, there are two big breaks in our domestic series which has made all this possible.

!

I I I

I i i ! !

;

ONE of my strongest memories of John Large comes from late T992,andia rare trip to Tasmania.

The founder ofthe event had invited a number of media types to the island to spend three days looking around'and! driving cars before, hopefully* returning home to write nice things about the experience.So it was, I found myselfJammed behind the wheel of a Toyota MR2,drivingelong a winding road as fast a's I could manage, with John in the left seat.

Around one particularly fun: bend-blind,off-camber, no run-off- was some gravel so*

molorsportnews

I

opinion

MATTERS ABROAD rormiuiliPbia^constructor MIKE /

n

'31 IS NOT ENOUGH MF^euus Nitiiinstl liUcfr

I We'll be able to go over there, run in a few rounds, and finish off our campaign at the Festival. We'll be gearing up to try and get a good result there.

John is certainly capable of doing the job. He has plans of racing overseas next year, probably in British Formula 3, so this is a way of short-cutting his learning curve on the tracks that he'll drive on,and get some experience in the environment that he'll be living and racing in. One of the reasons we are confident in doing this with John is that he is very talented and very committed. It's the perfect way for both of us to head overseas for the first time, learning new things together and move forward.

In the past, people have

i

bounced in and out of cars.

Anyone can go and race a Van Diemen anywhere in the world, and there's been the mindset that if you have an overseas ambition, you have to drive an overseas car. This is a way of proving our Australian machines are capable of racing at the front on different circuits, in different conditions against different opposition.

We are currently in the process of sorting out a team who is going to run our car for us. We are probably still a week away from announcing that.This is one of the most critical decisions we have to make in the whole process, and it's one we are not taking lightly.

I know,though,that they will be able to put the car at the head of the pack.

m

imriporl News Editor

Ili^RAimGAN e temporarily,ilfound the nose of the ear pointing;at two stra nds of wire that were the only thing, between me andi what turned out to be a 9®m drop. Whiie I got the ear pointed'in the tight direction.

10 May 2006

ll HliAVi a question for everyone. It's simple to ask, but notso simple to answer.

How is it possible that 38 V8 Supercars can enter a round of the Fujitsu Series at Wakefield Park, but potentially, we'll only watch 31 cars scream around Mount Panorama for six and a half hours in October?

My question above makes it obvious that I'm a traditionalist.

Class racing at Bathurst was one of the unique treats of the 1000km mountain marathon, but I'm also a realist, so I understand that the Bargwanna boys won't be able to shoot for another class win in their Toyota Corolla ...

But still, 31 cars on a 6.213km track for more than a quarter of a day is not enough.What would happen if an incident in the first few laps took out half of the field? Whoever escaped the carnage would be guaranteed great TV time for the rest of

;ROM/l|yp(

the race, but the punters at the track would be waiting nearly two minutes for a car to roar past them.

In the past, V8 Supercars Australia has said that Bathurst 'has to"remain part of the championship.That's fine -1 can understand their reasoning, but its time for the stronger Level BHicehee holders tp be granted a shot at Sandown and Bathurst. Even if its Just three or four of them.Topping the field up to 34 or 35 cars would be an acceptable grid size. It would also give capable teams and drivers a chance to'make their mark'on our biggest stage.

In the meantime, a huge field V8 Supercars is going to Goulburn to tear up the pasture.

I arh pretty’pumped for it. 38 cars at the small track, only 36 spots on offer and a reverse grid race.There is going to be lots to see.You'll find me there, standing in a safe spot...

" might tutipii into Someone one J - day. And,it was nice that he .4 saidi it.

Large was the most successful, and high-profile, official in the history of the sport in this country^ by a huge margin. As a Vice President ofthe FI A,former CAMS president and a Board Member of Rally Australia, he has participated in some of our biggest successes. Like many in a business with politics, Large was not always universally liked I but,as the name suggests, he had broad shoulders and the ability to focus, prioritise and % move on.

And as forTarga,the vision, confidence and sheer pigheadedness required to Australian Rally Ghampibnship as launch and run an event like a na vigator for Ross Du nkerton this is staggering. For as long was really Impressed by my as it continues, people should limited driving ability. But Large remember,and say a quiet thanks, was sharpenough to invest a to John Large. eo.mpliment in someone who

'u

Large laughed and muttered "nice work"from my left.

It meant something at the time and more a few days later; I was notstupid enough to think that a guy who won the 1975

29

:r-

Five /

fMCK MONTAGNY /j

Any plans that Franck Montagny may have had for last weekend were quickly shelved when the Frenchman recieved a late call from Super Aguri inviting him to make his FI debwt.

ADAM COOPER spoke to him at the Nurburgring.

be truthful. I was just expecting to drive, and finaiiy it happened.

This is a weekend that you probably thought would never happen ...

That's true. It's been quite crazy, quite good, quite fun, a lot of emotion, a lot of everything.

In the end I did my first race. I didn't finish it, but I took part, and I'm quite happy. I know the car, I know what it is, but I don't care too much. It's just good to be part of the circus.

How did you find out that you were going to drive?

I didn't know until Wednesday night.They called me on the Tuesday before and told me,'do you want to come in 10 days to the Nurburgring, we've got a third car, it would be nice to have you'.

Then I came here on Wednesday,and they said,'you're doing the race'. I was not sure...

To do the testing, I was not scared about it, because it was my job for two years.

But I didn't drive anything for five months,just 50 laps with a GP2 car. Nothing else.

Were you basically worried that you didn't want to do a bad job without any preparation?

The thing was that it was going to be hard physically, I didn't know the team, I didn't know the car, or anything.

It was quite scary at the beginning, but when we started the first session, straight away I was as fast as Sato, so that was good.

During the race I had a lot of pressure, but it wasn't too bad.

How did things go for you through Friday and Saturday?

It was just working. Friday was normal stuff, like testing, and you work on it.

The only problem was, you start with a set of new tyres on Friday morning, you put a set on on Friday afternoon, and the track has changed massively, and it's quite 30

Was qualifying a bit difficult?

A lot of problems with the red flag, with starting the car, many little things.

How did the race go for you? it was good to be on the starting grid. I took it easy and I didn't want to crash on the first corner, i knew it would happen,and it did.

But I didn't crash, and I did my first lap quite OK, and I was quite happy. After that I got I into traffic, and that was quite hard to manage. It was my first race - I don't know what to say, really!

Allianz

Allianz«

AHianzg

What happened to you in the end?

I had a problem with the hydraulics, and before that i had a problem with shifting and everything. In the end there was a fire. It was a leak, and it got on the exhaust and it caught fire. It was a shame, and the marshals were a bit slow.

Do you know if you are doing the next race?

On Tuesday I will know. We will see. I'll take it easy. If they give me more. I'll take more. If they don't, I will be happy about what I did.

"When we started the first session, straight away I was as fast as Sato" - Montagny making the most ofhis opportunity to race in FI

difficult to understand the set-up of the car and how it goes.

That was the main difficulty, to guess how the car would be.

And the Bridgestone tyres were new to you ...

A lot of new stuff, engine.

Bridgestone,the tyres, the car, V8.

Everything.

We know the current Super Aguri car is a bit of a compromise. Was it pretty much what you were expecting?

I was not expecting anything,to

Did you have much contact with the Renault guys this weekend?

With the mechanics, yes, because the mechanics are good friends.

But I was not so much in contact with all the chiefs!

So you haven't seen Flavio Briatore?

No, no.

Do you think you've proved a point - you did all those days of testing with Renault, and they never gave you an opportunity...

Well, when you set the fastest lap of all the cars on a track, you're not too bad. And when the car is World Champion,then the work you have done is not too bad.

motorsponnews

interview

=i».

f

10 May 2006

Five mu

7j

n

i

4>

Gerhard Berger acquired a shareholding in the old Nlinardi team at the start of the year in a barter deal where Red Bull took a share in Berger's family trucking company and Berger got to be half-owner of Scudersa Toro Rosso. But since then, Berger has kept a low profile - until JOE SAWARD cornered him MNEWS:You and Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz go back a long way, don't you?

GERHARD BERGER:Yes, I first met Dietrich at the 1985 Austrian Grand Prix when I was driving for the Arrows team.

This guy came up to me,told me about this drink he was developing and said he wanted to sponsor me.The trouble was, he said he hadn't got any money.

I told him,'join the club, neither have I'.

At the time Jackie Oliver, the boss of Arrows, was pressing me to make my latest - overdue - sponsorship payment to the team,so in the end I did a deal with Red Bull for just US$10,000,1 think it was.

That was the first sponsorship deal they ever did and I've known Dietrich well ever since.

So what is the plan for the team?

Presumably there is going to have to be a lot of investment?

We have agreed a budget with Dietrich Mateschitz for two years, but we are looking for more money from commercial sponsors.

The team has a long way to go but there has been a lot of criticism about the use of rev-limited VI0 engines.

The comments against us have become much sharper now we are not in last place.That is understandable.

But it is meant to bean equivalency formula, and not a penalty. In other words, it is meant to be between the best and the worst oftheVS engines. I would have thought that Mercedes-Benz has plenty of other things to be thinking about rather than complaining about the engine in our cars and what sort of power it may or may not be putting out.

What engine are you going to have next year?

Cosworth.

32

"If Ayrton [Senna] hadn’t been killed, F1 would have entered probably its dullest period ever** VIOorVS? Yes, that is right.

OK, let's move on to drivers.The team has two interesting young drivers:Tonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed.The Red Bull policy seems to be to hire youngsters and develop them rather than spending money on established drivers. Is that a fair assessment?

I know the Red Bull philosophy is to get the young drivers,find the new Schumachers and Alonsos.

If you cannot lay your hands on a Michael Schumacher, Alonso or Raikkonen,then you must have some of the five young drivers of tomorrow.

Those five, in no particular order, are Heikki Kovalainen, Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, Scott Speed andTonio Liuzzi.

Red Bull has built up a very nice driver pool with some really good talent: Liuzzi, Speed, plus Michael Ammermuller and Sebastian Vettel.They are really great guys.

But we are still lacking a little bit of experience, because they are so young.

Every team that can have Michael Schumacher is going to take him. It is crazy not to. I don't think we need to discuss his talent, his achievement and his performance.

What about Montoya? Recently you have made some remarks about Red Bull not really being interested in him.

I was asked my opinion of Montoya and it was put a little bit in a way like Berger doesn't want Montoya at Red Bull. Not at all.

I think Montoya is a very talented guy. We had him in Williams BMW and he had certain races where he was outstanding.

But I don't think he delivered in the last year with McLaren what he should deliver. I think he can do much better. He has to prove much more than he has lately.

That's all I said. But you know, Montoya says he needs to be happy and he needs a designer to make a car to his driving style, it all doesn't count.

If you go to a top team,and you are asking for $10m,$20m,$30m, you have to cope with what you get. Go to a team where there is no pressure,then you are going to be happy all day long. But if you want be in one of the top teams, it's always going to be difficult to be happy.

You get a team-mate like Kimi Raikkonen,Schumacher or Ayrton Senna and then it's difficult to be happy!

Talking about Senna, do you think the history of FI would have been very different if Ayrton had not been killed in 1994?

If Ayrton hadn't been killed in 1994, FI would have entered probably its dullest period ever.

He would have been on pole position all the time, won every race for years and taken four more World Championships with Williams,through to the end of 1997.

We were the about the same age and he was a great guy. I wouldn't have missed racing with him for the world.

He taught me how to be a professional and I like to think I taught him howto laugh.

motorsportnews

)

t

interview

*

# /

9

U1

tf. ●1

[['if

iM

9;M >

jcuderia:*^

"^oro

i.L9

iuttoia

WILL THE FIRST RACE OF 2007 BE

o

lll

NE of the challenges facing V8 Supercar teams in the coming months is the introduction of the Commodore VE as a racecarfor 2007.

The new model, which will start to appear in Holden showrooms in September, will take over the role of the VY/VZ, which has been the Lion's frontline racer for four seasons. It will be much different to the VZ; it is a'generational'change of model, with completely different chassis to the current model, which has served The General since the Introduction oftheVT in September 1997.

The VT commenced its life on the track in 1998 (ironically, the last year that a Ford won at Bathurst) when the Holden Racing Team debuted the new car at Calder but most of the teams stayed with the older VS model until the bugs were ironed out of the new weapon.

If Holden Motorsport Manager Simon McNamara has his way,that will not be the case this time around; "It's my wish that the Holden-supported teams will run'two cars from the first race of 2007," he says.

"I do not want a guy sitting in the grandstand, with a VE SS in the carpark, watching VZs run around. It's a wish I have, and I like to think that it will happen. We are in the process of talking to our teams [about that] at the moment,so that we can go forward from there.The is going to be a problem but there are some smart fellas in the teams who know theirjobs."

Having said that, you can bet that at least one of the Holden teams will be taking a wait-and-see approach to the new car, though V8 Supercars Australia does look like loosening the noose on pre-season testing and allowing the teams some extra track time to assess the new cars.

There are a number of different things about the introduction of the VE.To start with,there are some fundamental differences in the process now,compared with what happened four years ago.Then,the technical specifications for the new cars were signed off by Holden's Director of Performance Products and Racing Ray Borrett, Ford Racing boss Howard Marsden and Paul Taylor, who was TEGA'sTechnical Manager.

But since the end of 2004,the responsibility for the process has been shifted from manufacturers to the teams, in line with TEGA's role as a , representative of the teams. So along with TEGA Technical Manager Steve Brow, HRT's Richard Hollway and Stone Brothers Racing's Ken Douglas are now the'front men'for Holden and Ford, respectively.

"It's the teams'role to interface with TEGA to get the appropriate drawings, and other relevant technical submissions, done,"said TEGA Chairman Kelvin O'Reilly.

Secondly,the process is starting from a fairly level playing field. In the three-and-a-bit seasons since the last homologation (which,for the first time, was conducted with both marques at once)there have been no parity adjustments between the cars. Project Blueprint, which introduced a new degree of commonality between the Commodore and the Falcon, has proven to be a great success; even this season, after two rounds,the parity'trigger'sits near zero following TEGA's analysis of its sample.

In other words,there can be no parity adjustments until at least August.The current system, which measures the lap times of a sample of entries and then averages out the differences, allows adjustments to be made only after three successive events show a result in favour of one of the makes over the other. After the first two rounds of the 2006 championship,the result was inside the'margin'so it would take a massive turnaround at Barbagallo, Winton and Darwin to see anything change in time for Oran Park.

In fact, it is fairly safe to suggest that the current VZ and BA will see out their lives unchanged ...

34

i

D

etails about what will happen are hard to glean. Understandably, TEGA is coy to talk about the development of a new car; in fact, the people involved in the program are subject to confidentiality agreements.

Holden is also shy about having details of its new car in the marketplace before it wants to but there are some details available about the VE. As shown in the spy photos of the roadcar, and the artwork of the V8 Supercar, the VE is bigger than the VZ, with sources suggesting it is up to 75mm longer in the wheelbase that the VZ and as much as 100mm wider.

"The VE is a different-looking car and will have different characteristics to the VZ and,therefore, different aero,"says O'Reilly."It is about making sure that they are as close as possible. We gathered a lot of data earlier this year."

That data comes from a test conducted at the Royal Australian Air Force base at East Sale, in which TEGA oversaw a number of'coastdown'tests on a Commodore and a Falcon.The results have,again understandably, not been released to the media and some team continued on page 36

motorsport news

■r

sup&tm% DEVELOPMENT OF THE Y8 SUPERCAR VERSION OF THE NEW COMMODORE IS GOING AHEAD AT RACING SPEED.

BY PHIL BRANAGAN

■f:

10 May 2006

35

continued from page 34 members with whom MNews spoke (off the record)for this story expressed concern that the results of the test have not been distributed to the teams.

Why? As one may expect,theories run, roughly, along party lines. Holden teams point out that the Falcon has more front downforce; Ford people point to the Commodore's slight edge at the rear. One theory is that the Falcon has an edge on tracks with corners that place an emphasis on braking into mid-to-slow corners and changes of direction (ie, Adelaide, Surfers) and the Commodore shines on flowing,faster tracks, particularly with slightly superior tyre speed at the end of stints at places like Pukekohe, Phillip Island and the one place everyone wants to win, Bathurst.

"To say that[an edge in rear downforce] can decide a Bathurst win is over-symplifying things a bit,"said one Ford man,"but it is not a bad place to start."

There is also a suggestion that the reason that the results have not been made available is that the 2006 tests showed a marked difference to those conducted in 2003 at Avalon, near Melbourne. Without the opportunity to examine the data and make a judgement,that remains speculation.

One likelihood though is that the mechanical package for theVEis not far away.

Work on the project began in mid-2005 and a prototype is under construction at the Clayton base of HRT, where the build of the car has been simplified somewhat by the Project Blueprint process.

That is just as well, because the car needs to be finished in about 13 weeks. Despite the fact that the VE will not race, in all likelihood, until March,the clock is ticking and the deadline is not far away.

36

WHAT is important when it comes to V8 Supercar racing?

Is It sound? Is it sight? Is it Reverse Grid races(don't get me started?)

Most, if not all people in racing believe parity is important, very important. Getting the cars as close as possible is a monumental task and getting close to that goal is a mighty achievement. So, with that in mind, many reckon the last place to put a V8 Supercar is in a wind tunnel.

This is a pro and con argument.

Proponents of the idea point out that there has never been such a test of the current model cars. Equally, opponents point out the rather obvious counter argument that what has been three years of parity has been enjoyed without putting the cars in a tunnel,so why start now?

There are two kinds of parity; Technical Parity, in which engineers tick off the boxes and equalise as much as they possibly can between cars, and Performance Parity, which is evaluating

motorsportnews

v8 mpercars

COAST TO COAST

what happens on the racetracks that more closely resembles the relevant road cars." and,if necessary, making adjustments.TEGA has the latter.

One argument against wind tunnel testing is the expense "To have Technical Parity, you would have to have the same involved,one for it is that it car running under two different is finite and not as subject to external influences at the coastguises,"explains TEGA Technical Manager Steve Brow."You would down testing. have the one car, with either a Perhaps it will happen,for the Commodore VE and Falcon BF. If Ford badge or a Holden badge. it does,one question remains; That is What you have in NASCAR can someone from MNews come racing now but they are moving away from that,to something ?^^and watch, please?

BooK 1300 PUone

10 May 2006

so,what happens in a TEGA aerodynamics test?

According to TEGA Technical : Manager Steve Brow,the format of the tests is to run a car through a specific 200 metre measurement at 200kmh and, with sensors mounted to the suspension, measure the compression of the car (ie, downforce) at the axle points.

Just as in land speed record attempts, runs are made in opposite directions,to allow for variations in weather.The results are tabulated and averaged and there you have it.

"Aero is the last thing,from our point of view,"says TEGA Chairman Kelvin O'Reilly."It is just bolt-on bits.There are significant more technical issues that occupy the front end of the timeline.

"By the third quarter this year, we need to evaluate aero. When you get to the busy end of the

season, you Jump from Bathurst to Christmas to the end of January pretty quickly.The aero tests we do take a fair bit of time, it takes time to get them right."

Actually, the four-week gap between Sandown and Bathurst is fairly busy for all the teams so ideally, any aero testing oftheVE needs to be conducted before the 500km race.That pushes the testing into late-August,so there is about three months to go before a VE is coming to an airport near you.

The likely venue looks to be East Sale again,as the base has a smooth surface(due to the relatively small amount of use by heavy aircrafy, compared to a purely commercial facility) and the fact that Avalon is now busier than ever, due to Jetstar.

Other air bases could be used and no, we are not suggesting that the best piace to test is Woomera...

and now Steven Now he told MARK GLENDEmiNG

4 MOTORSPORT NEWS: We're two rounds in, and you're sitting fifth in the Championship.

You can't be too unhappy with that?

STEVE JOHNSON: No, not at all. It's been a pretty good start, considering that we haven't got the fastest car in the field. It certainly hasn't been a dream start, but it's probably been as good as we could have done at this stage. I think we've played it pretty smart,that's probably the best way to put it, and we're in a good position.

It's just a matter of keeping doing what we've been doing in New Zealand and we'll be right up there. I know that the car is going to get faster towards the end of the year, so if we can get to the half-way mark with a car that's improving, then when we get to the main races like Bathurst we'll be looking good.

Qualifying is where you've really been struggling.

Yeah. I mean, we do a lot of comparisons with other cars, and you look through graphs and histograms and all that sort of stuff, and compare what your race pace is like to everyone else's, and also how people's fastest lap time in the race compares to what they did in qualifying.

And we always seem to be the closest to our qualifying time out of everybody,so that goes to show that we're consistent, but we're not getting that extra time out of the green tyre.

38

itis timefor results

liner There's obviously something that we're not doing right to get that extra bit of grip that we need to gain those last few tenths in qualifying.

Some drivers have revaluated their approach to a race weekend in light of what Russell Ingall did last year - does that apply to you?

I don't think we've done that as such, no. I've probably been pushing harder this year, and it has certainly paid off.

Last year I was probably not as patient in some of the races where I was coming from the back, and I got caught up in a couple of incidents - though certainly not as many as most. But this year with the reverse grid races at Pukekohe, I really tried not to worry about whether there was a faster guy behind me. I pretty much let Russell past in the reverse grid race, and then followed him through from there and got a good result.

That's what I call playing it smart and having a little bit of racecraft. Some guys like to fight beyond what it's worth for one spot on the track.To me,it doesn't make any sense to risk 70 points for one point. But if they keep tripping over themselves. I'll be happy!

We've got a lot of new things coming that aren't going to be online for another few months,and it's really exciting stuff.They are probably the biggest developments that DJR has made in the last three or four years, and I know that it's going to make the cars better;

I know that it's going to bring our cars up to those of the Stone Brothers and Triple Eight.

That's where we're looking forward to: being able to race for wins, not racing for a good result in fifth place.

It's funny, because in qualifying the car feels really good. It has reasonable grip all round, it doesn't understeer or oversteer, it's not a dog to drive ... it's quite a well-balanced car that you can attack with. It just hasn't got that extra one or two km/h that we need. It's a general, overall grip issue.

The team has been through quite a few changes during the off-season,and I guess the big one in terms of team structure is the departure of Curl (former team manager Dean Orr). How much has that hurt the team?

1 don't think it has hurt too much. I don't really know the full happenings there, and it's not something that I really want to go into because it's not really my business.

We definitely need a team manager. At the moment, nobody knows who the boss is; who is running the show, if we've got a problem with on-track incidents, or we have to go up to the IPO, I don't know who to go to right now.

We do need a team manager.That is certainly in the pipeline, I think it is something that the team is putting more thought into and more effort into now than they intended to, because it is quite an important role and we

moiorsportnews

v8 supercars

- .r

1^0 ME

really need someone who knows what they're doing and can help lift the team.

We need someone that the guys can look up to, and who they'll all respect, and who can keep the team morale going.That's a big part of any race team; keeping team morale up and keeping guys hungry to want to work and to want to win races, rather than coming in from nine to five just to do a job. !suppose there are not many people who can do all of those things?

Exactly. My personal opinion is that we're going to have to look outside Australia. This is a premier category that we are racing in here, and all top people have got jobs in the top race teams. So we've got to find someone who is probably not known around the traps here, but I guess is as influential as any of those other guys. Whether they've been In FI,or over in Europe, or NASCAR ... I don't know.

But we probably need someone who has a bit of a technical background,too.That's in the pipeline, I think.They're still looking forward to trying to find a team manager, but I've only told the team once that these are the issues, this is what we need to do, and it's Dad and Steve Chalker's job to act on that. And I think they are doing that, but they're doing it cautiously so that they make the right decision.

Your engineer from last year, Leigh Geyer, has ^0 May 2006

"I think of myself as a fairly calm sort of person.(But) I am probably a bit harder this year on all the guys"

left DJR to work for PCR. Who is looking after your car now?

George Cummins is my engineer now,and he.came from the Larkham stable. He moved over to us at the end of last year, before the Larkham/WPS thing happened,and he is working;Out really well.

It takes a little while to get a relationship with someone like your engineer going, but now we're really starting to understand each other. He is starting to understand how I like the car set up, but he also understands that if he says that a certain set-up is faster but it has to be driven a certain way,then I can do that.

So we're working together really well, and I am learning a lot more on the driving style side of things. I think he has brought a lot of good knowledge and information to us, and it seems to be stepping slowly in the right direction.

Sometimes it can be good to get a fresh point of view.

Exactly. And George is not the only new guy, we've got another young guy who started as a junior engineer, he's come from TAFE and works mainly on the Fujitsu Series side of things, but he's learning a lot from the guys around him.There are new guys on car #18, there are new guys in the machine shop,there are new guys working on the panels and spraypainting ...

So we've had quite a big change of staff. A

lot of guys have left, a lot of new guys have come on, and it's good. It has really boosted the team spirit, because these guys that have come in have not been in it for a long time, they're excited about being on board, and I think that rubs off on a lot of the guys who have been there for a while.

All the same, you have had a lot of experience disappear out the door at once. Does that put more pressure on you to stand up and take a leadership role?

It has,for sure, and probably this year more so than any. i think of myself as being a fairly calm sort of person - I don't get upset too often, and I can't remember the last time, apart from this year, that I got upset at a team member. I am probably a bit harder this year on all the guys.

I guess I'm harder on their work, what they've got to do,the engineering side of things ... if there are things that we find are better, that make the car faster or easier to drive, and it's not on the car by the race meeting then I want to know why. i want to know why they can't build it in time, or whatever.

It doesn't get to the stage where lama prick to anyone, I'm still myself, I'm probably just a bit more hungry to get the cars going. Will continued on page 40 39

continued from page 39 [Davison] has given us a jumpstart, he has been great for me and great for the team. He's going to be a good thing. He has only been with the team a very short period of time, and he's fast.

I thinkthat has spurred not just the team, but also myself along. It has given us all a new lease of life.

"It has been a pretty tedious coupie of years, and I guess the biggest relief was when [son]Jett came along" - Johnson, above with son Jett and partner Bree, gives his family life the thambs-ap

When you say you are hungrier, has that come from knowing that the improvements are just around the corner?

Yes, that's definitely the case.The last couple of years have been very hard, because I knew what sort of developments we were trying to do,and I knew that we'd been down that path before.

And you're sort of going,'we really need to make some major changes now'.

There are a lot of critics out there talking about why we're not going fast, why we're in a slump and all this sort of thing. And the fact of the matter is that we'd given the staff that were there last year a fairly good shot at it over three years to try to get things going, and it wasn't working.

I said last year that we had to

change something major here, it's not working and we really need to shuffle things around.

I said,'if you guys think it's me,then get rid of me and get someone else who can do the job; otherwise, let's start working through the problems that we've got internally'.

You know, when you've got 50something staff, you're always going to have niggling problems, you're always going to have ego problems. It's just how you maintain it that decides how you're going to end up faring on f the race track.

And I think now we've really moved on from that stale patch that we had. We've dug ourselves out of that hole, and we're starting to move up. It's just a matter of time now,and I'm pretty sure that we're going to be back at the front.

You told us last year that in some ways the idea of striking out aione, away from DJR, was tempting.Why did you end up staying on?

I was working on another deal, and it didn't quite happen. It was very close. Like I said, I'm not going to move anywhere unless it is of benefit to myself.

PRE-BOOKiD TICKETS: SUNDAY $45 BIANTE HISTORIC TOURING

2 DAY PASS $80

FORMULA FORD 1600

3 DAY PASS $100

LOTUS SUPER SERIES

BP ULTIMATE STRAIGHT 2 DAY STAND $135

HQ HOLDENS

V8 SUPERCARS REVERSE GRID 2 RACES SUNDAY 1 RACE SATURDAY RESERVED SEATING AVAILABLE

PENRITE CORNER 2 DAY STAND $135 CORPORATE SUNDAY PASS $350 CORPORATE 2 DAY PASS S500

>

16 40

motorsportnews

msttffercars The move that I could have made would definitely been of benefit to me, but it didn't end up coming off.

And it certainly wasn't like DJR was second in line or anything; it was more along the lines of... I don't want to be in the category for 10 years having only won a handful of races. I really want to get back to where 1 was in Transam and that sort of thing, where we were consistently winning races and I was enjoying the racing a lot more.

It has been pretty tedious over the past couple of years, and 1 guess the biggest relief, in a way, was when [son] Jett came along. It changes your whole perspective on everything, and I think that has helped me a lotas well.

As for the hard patch, well. I've done a two-year deal with DJR and the changes that they're making are things I have known aboutfora while, and that was definitely something that coaxed me into signing a two-year deal with them. If it was going to keep going the way it was, I wouldn't wanted to have been driving there for the next two years.

It's interesting that a lot of drivers say that things change when they become fathers. I don't have any kids, so I've never really understood it.

Yeah, neither do 1 to be honest! I think it makes you relax a bit.

We're so on edge all the time, and there is a lot of pressure on you, whether it's through work, or the media, or the racing fraternity to perform.

And when you don't, I guess it is a bit of a reality check. 2003 and 2004 were pretty hard, and in 2005 1 think we moved forward a little bit. And certainly this year, we've made another jump again.

But the most frustrating thing for me is that you've got to rely not only on yourself, but also on 50 other people to make you and everybody else look good.

You can be the best race driver in the world, but if you haven't got the right equipment you're not going to shine. Especially in a category like ours, where there are so many good,fast drivers.

And that's the difference between someone like Tiger Woods and us - he's got a coach and a caddy,so he relies on two other people, whereas we've got machinery and a handful of other people as well.

In terms of team-mates, you've gone from Glenn Seton, who had a huge amount of experience,to 10!Vlay2006

^^1 sa\d, 'If you think it's me, get rid of me and get someone else who can do the job'^^

FirstRock n heOx falcon

%

'3:

Will, who has very little as far as V8 Supercars go. But he seems to be adapting well?

He is. Will is a talent; he has done a lot - he made it to the stage where he got a Formula One test, which is very impressive. And he's a good young bloke,too.

He's done more in these cars than most people probably think. He did a lot of driving with Dynamik, he did quite a lot of testing with us, he did the Fujitsu Series last year, he did Sandown and Bathurst with me ...

He knows what these cars need to go fast. Obviously he's a bit of a rookie at starting races and doing full V8 Supercar races, because he hasn't really done them before.

But I got along really well with Seto,too.They are two totally different kettles offish, but I really enjoyed my year with Seto.

I looked up to him for a lot of years, and he's been racing for as long as I remember. He raced against Dad back in the early days.

And because I love racing so much, I can't help but admire and respect those guys for what they've done,and what they're still doing. He's still a damn fast driver.Obviously it just didn't work out; I don't know what happened between Seto and our management at DJR,that's between them, but I still see Seto and it's good.

And he is smart enough to know what this whole business is like, especially having previously been a team owner himself, and he's not taking anything out on me because he knows that it is none of my doing, even though he was in a situation where a lot of people would expect me to get a few more handouts at DJR than my team-mate - which is certainly not the case.

Seto is still one of the gentlemen of the sport, and I learned a lot from him last year that I am trying to put into practise this year.

So what does the immediate future hold for you?

Well, I guess I am in my seventh full season now,and I certainly haven't achieved anywhere near what I would have liked to achieve by now.

But everything for me seems to happen slowly! So you never know.This could be my year.

People might trip over in front of me,and I'll just keep gathering points, gathering points ... ... and march on to glory.

And march on to glory. You never know. I might be the first championship winner that didn't win a race!

And that wouldn't bother you?

I wouldn't care at all. Although I would like to win Bathurst.

So if we can win the championship and have a sole win at Bathurst along with it, I'd say that my year would be pretty complete.

41

SECOND CHANCE DRAW

MOTORSPORT NEWS:Pre-season, there were people questioning your chances in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series this year. But now,they've gone quiet! Do you feel you've proved a point?

MICHAEL CARUSO: I don't think I really needed to prove a point. I always want to do the best I can do any time I go out in a race car, and I don't think I did go as well as I wanted to with John Faulkner's team.

But I'm happy with how the way this team is set up now, we all work together really well and I'm a lot more confident in the car than what I was the last time I was driving in the V8s. Having that confidence in the team and the car makes a big difference.

In terms of a V8 Supercar career,

l\Mcha^ Caruso has won just about everything he has driven.

Now in the Decina Falcon, the former KartStars and F3 * champ is at the pointy end ... but who expected it? * CRANfROWLEY asked for Caruso's thoughts f

4

\

your stint in the Young Lions 4 car seemed to set you back a bit.

Was that the case?

More than likely. People were expecting me to go better in my first drive in V8s, and so was I. Sometimes it's hard,though.You have to take in the whole picture, and most of the time people don't.

You can't do much about the past -you've just got to keep pressing on.

That's all in the past. Now, I have a good opportunity in the Decina Falcon, so I've just got to do the job.

All that must have made your result at Clipsal(second overall) all the more satisfying?

Oh yeah, definitely. I didn't expect to go that well at Clipsal, and I don't think Jim (Morton, team owner) did either. I don't think anyone expected us to run in the top five, let alone the podium. We also ran the fastest lap in the last race, which showed that we have the speed.

Hopefully there is more in me and more in the car to keep showing that I can be a quick driver, as well as a reliable one.

But everyone was really excited with after Clipsal.The sponsors were happy, which is obviously important.

Looking ahead, we have the second round at Wakefield Park, which is our test track, so another good result, hopefully a podium, would really kick us along.

Now that you have the taste for a podium, you won't want to be off it.

Absolutely. It's better than watching it on TV! That's something you want to take with both hands, and I enjoyed it up there too.

motorsportnews

■5

"I don't think anyone expected us to run in the top five, let alone the podium^^ - Michael Caruso, who also didn't expectJim Morton, below left, to stick his tongue in his ear after their Clipsalsuccess!

You're second in the championship. Early days, but do you consider yourself a chance for the title?

Yeah, I'd like to think so. But it's not the big picture that I'm focusing on at the moment. I'm just going to take it round by round.

I'm up against some pretty experienced guys who have been there and done it before.Some have lots of miles around Bathurst, and even main game experience, so the competition is pretty tough.

I just want to get out there and get on the podium as much as I can - and perhaps try and get a ride with one of the teams in the endurance races.

So,Sandown and Bathurst is a goal for your season?

Yes. When I signed up with Jim, that is the one things that I wanted to do,try and get a drive in the endurance races. Doing the 10 May 2006

Fujitsu Series was to get my name out there, get good results. A stint at Sandown and Bathurst would be unreal.

I think some people's careers can really take off in those races.

Everyone watches those two events,so if you can do well in them, it gives you a leg up.

You've had success in karts and Formula 3. Is V8 Supercar now the next phase of your career?

Yeah, It's where I want to be and hopefully I can make a career out of it in Australia. I want to move into the main game eventually, maybe even next year. It all depends on how this year goes.

Career highs and notso highs:Sydneysider Michael Caruso finished second on debut with Jim Morton's Decina team,above, at Clipsal. He admits that his first V8 drive with John Faulkner's Young Lions outfit, below,didn't go to plan.

Jim and yourself have a history of racing together(ED: Michael drove for Jim's Tony Kart Sprint Kart team).,Is that an advantage this year?

For sure. Knowing everyone in the team, being comfortable In the car, being comfortable with decisions that are made is a perfect environment.Jim and I pretty much know each other back to front. It's good to team back up with him and,so far, its already proved to be a good thing.

You just tested at Wakefield Park.

Has that given you a bit of extra confidence heading into Round 2?

It's always good to get in the car, , especially after six weeks out of the driver's seat. I've done quite a bit of driving around this track over the years anyway, and it's a track that I like, so that is always an advantage to have.

Qualifying is going to be important as passing at Wakefield is fairly restricted, and the reverse grid race is going to throw up some variables. We couldn't really test a qualifying set-up because we were on old tyres. Our test was about getting me comfortable in the car. When you're comfortable, things become second nature and you start to go quicker.

There are 38 entries for Wakefield Park. Small track, reverse grid, should be exciting. Do you agree?

It's not going to be easy to pass, especially in the reverse grid race.

You've just got to be patient and stay out of trouble. Qualifying is going to be the most important session of the weekend.

I don't know about the reverse grid. Hopefully I'm starting last!

I haven't been In that situation before. It will be all new to me.

There was a bit of carnage at Pukekohe in the main game so hopefully I'm not stuck In any of that If It happens at Wakefield.

Sparco Racestdts

1

$799

Motor Racing Jacks

i

$495

Sparco Racing J Harness $399

Factory 9,19-25 Grange Rd Cheltenham VIC F o39585S320 PQ395855340 43

It is 75 years since Dr Ferdinand Porsche started work on

formula 1

T

HE name Porsche is synonymous with all manner of things in motor racing.

Most of those things revolve around Sportscar racing.The marque and the classic events are intrinsically linked and you cannot drive a Porsche without thinking about its 16 Le Mans wins, including seven in a row.

(Actually, even if you cannot tell Derek Bell from Bo Derek, you literally cannot escape the Le Mans influence, even in a carpark. If you have ever driven a left-hand-drive Porsche, you will have noticed its unusual characteristic of having the ignition switch on the left side of the steering column rather than the traditional right. Why? So you can jump in the car, press the clutch with the left foot and the gas with the right while turning the key with the left hand and engaging first gear with the right. In other words, all LHD Porsches are designed for a Le Mans start.)

While it is widely recognised that the marque began in its own right in 1947,this year marks the 75th anniversary since Ferdinand Porsche set off on a path to create his own cars. On 25 April 1931, he founded an Engineering Office in Stuttgart under the name'Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Konstruktion und Beratung fur Motorenund Fahrzeugbau'('Dr. lng. h. c. F. Porsche Ltd., Construction and Consultancy Company for Engine and Vehicle Production'), and subsequently had the new Company entered in the trade register.

To this very day, Porsche is engaged is any number of customer engineering projects, many of which remain confidential. But some do not; when Harley Davidson embarked on the design of its 21 st century V-twin (as seen in the V-Rod and Street Rod), it turned to Stuttgart for help, Porsche having been involved with the development of the marque's 45-degree air-cooled donk for more than a decade.

While much of the company's racing successes have been conducted under its own name,one of the most successful chapters of the company's triumphs came at the highest level of the sport. Grand Prix racing, under the name ofTAG-Porsche.

The logic was straightforward. By the early 1980s,the FordCosworth engine was still competitive but when Ferrari joined Renault and accelerated the development of the 1,5-litre turbocharged engine, it was obvious that it would only be a matter of time before the normally-aspirated 3-litre engine would struggle to keep up with the'blown'engines.

Ron Dennis, who had taken control of McLaren International in 1981, recognised that the future would be dominated by turboed and manufacturer-developed engines. Because Porsche had considerable experience in the field, he approached the company and was met with a positive response; they would design and develop a new engine but only as a customer project. In other words, Dennis had to find the money. continued on page 46

continued from page 45 Dennis quickly recognised the opportunity to snag TAG.Techniques D'Avant Garde was, despite the French name,a company owned by Mansour and Akram Ojjeh, wealthy Saudi entrepreneurs.

Mansour had already been a sponsor of Williams but Dennis offered him something more as a partner.The tab for Porsche's engine development was US$5mlllion and Ojjeh agreed.

TAG Turbo Engines was established at once (actually, the official moniker was'TAG Turbo, Made by Porsche'.) Design was the work of Hans Metzger, who was handed a set of parameters

by McLaren designer John Barnard.The Briton had placed a premium on aerodynamics with the successful Cosworth-powered MP4s and his'Coke bottle'design was copied by many teams. Metzger, who has been instrumental in the success of the 917 and 908 Sportscars, got to work.

The result was a V6, with cylinders set at a compact 80 degrees, rather than the traditional 90 degrees.TheTTE POl used twin turbochargers from long-time partner KKK Turboladerand a then-state-of-the-art Bosch Motronic MSS engine management system.

The engine was announced to the public in September 1982 and shown to the world six months later at the Geneva Motor Show.

The engine was tested in a 956 racer and then modified McLaren MP4/1D and a later development of the car was raced for the first time at Zandvoort by Niki Lauda, who was very keen on the concept. Initially, engine power was around 650 horsepower at 1 l,200rpm.

But the engine was about more than just power. Barnard's strict guidelines resulted in a compact engine that allowed good packaging and, therefore, good aerodynamics. As well, refuelling was banned that season and fuel tanks were limited to 200 litres. Other turbo engines' had more power that the TAG but Lauda and Alain Prost dominated;the Frenchman won seven races to Lauda's five but it was the Austrian who took the title by half a point.

Prost won fewer races the following year (five) but the opposition was much stronger. Porsche was not standing still, with new Motronic MPl.4 electronics aiding a rise in horsepower to almost 800.The curly-haired one finally won the title in dramatic circumstances in Adelaide while McLaren and TAG won the Constructors'title for the second year In a row.

For 1986,the FISA tried to rein in the horses with a 195-litre fuel limit, which played into Prost's and Porsche's hands even more. WilliamsHonda dominated but Prost snatched the title, again in Australia, with new KKK turbos sending the power to about 825.The following season, with a new 4-bar boost limit Honda hit its stride and Nelson Piquet won the title. The great Prost still managed to coax three wins from the engine, now with 900 horses but the writing was on the wall; Dennis pulled another rabbit out of his hat by stealing Honda from Williams and Ayrton Senna from Lotus for 1987.

As a Formula 1 engine, there was no more TAG. After 68 starts, seven pole positions and 25 wins in five seasons,the program had achieved all its goals and more and TTE ceased to exist. It was a stellar effort and Dr Porsche would have been a happy man ... for now.

46

"For 1986, the FISA tried to rein in the horses, which played into Prost's and Porsche's hands even more" s g 3

^

ft

n

3

/

1.

n /i> k

niejtt'

I

The Best ofthe Best:Porsche's all-conquering TAG Turbo engine, top, won three Drivers'titles and two for Constructors. Lauda DNFd on debut in August 1983, centre, butsoon he and Alain Prost, above, were having races in a class by themselves.

moiorsportnews

formula 1

TWELVE THE HARD WRY

I

Five years after success, many TAGs did not make the Footwork work

F working with McLaren resulted in three Drivers'and two Constructors'titles, Porsche's role with Footwork was nothing but a tragedy.

Japanese businessman Wataru Ohashi had a yen to take the success he had enjoyed with his Footwork transport and construction business in Japan onto the world stage,and he bought Arrows in 1989.The team ran with Ford DFR motors the following year but, in 1991 and renamed Footwork, Ohashi had Porsche power.

The logic was that with turbo engines banned,the Germans would engineer a new 3.5-litre VI2, Michele Alboreto and coming man Alex Caffi would provide the driving talent and noted designed Alandenkins jnd his team would pen a new car. What could go wrong?

Everything. At the end of 1990,the engine was unveiled to a waiting media corps, ready to document every aspect of Porsche's return to Grand Prix racing.The first sight of the motor drew gasps, literally; the engine was huge. In much the same way as Porsche's 917 flat-16 was two 908s grafted together,this was essentially two P01 TAGS laid end-to-end. It was about the size of a small boat and the weight of a large anchor; with a clutch and injection items fitted, it weighed in at 180kg. By comparison, Ferrari's VI2 was 125kg; even the venerable 1967 Cosworth DFV, which no-one ran any more because it was too big, was 15kg lighter.

But not all the engine was big; half-way along, where'one engine'ended and the 'second'started, were the engine's gear-driven oil pumps.They were small, around half the size of those on a 1990 Cosworth.The Porsche engineers assured the worried team mechanies that they performed flawlessly and they were right; on the dyno,ail was well. As soon as any corner (and subsequent G-forces)came into the

equation. It all went pear-shaped.

The VI2 was a triple threat; not only was it heavy and large, it lacked power and was unreliable. In 1991,there were 18 teams; not only was it possible not to qualify for a race, it was possible to bomb out in pre-qualifying and head home by Friday lunchtime. A recipe for disaster.

Statistics show that in the six races for which the Footwork-Porsche managed to qualify, the engine packed up five times.That was only half the story. On the way down to Monaco in May, the team stopped in at Paul Ricard for a pre race test to sort the problems. In the single day, the team went through seven engines; twice a car chugged out of the garage and blew up before it got to the end of pit lane.

The Footwork FA12 was not a bad car but, with that engine, who was going to know?

Caffi was struggling; in four successive events, he never made it past qualifying and it was possibly a relief that he was Injured In a road car accident prior to Mexico, replaced by Stefan Johansson - who failed to qualify. At that race,the now-exhausted mules changed four engines just for practice and qualifying (including one exploding in the pit lane, again) and when the team got back to England, everyone had had enough.Jenkins and the designers modified the car to accept Brian Hart-built Ford DFRs and what was left of the Porsche VI 2s were sent back to Germany.

Caffi came back and made It past pre qualifying only once,earning the team a solid 10th in Japan.The team ended the season without a single point. Caffi's career was almost destroyed, running only a few pre-qualifying sessions for the laughable Andrea Monda team in 1992. You must say, though, he accepted his fate with admirable humour;after the Spa 24 Hour race in 2003, he said,"First of all, I want to thank Porsche for saving my career after the great disaster in FI with the Footwork Porsche.

Now I am getting a lot of results with Porsche cars and that is very good."

As for Footwork,the team battled away until the end of 1995 when the stagnant Japanese economy in the mid-to-late 1990s hit the company hard. Ohashi sold the team back to Arrows founders Jackie Oliver and Alan Reed for a fraction of what he had paid for it five years earlier. But that was byno>means the biggest'df* his problems...

Ohashi and five others were arrested for conspiracy to commit fraud in 2001 (or, as the official complaint rather charmingly termed it,"for window dressing its annual report"). It Is alleged that In three years, the company's sales were exaggerated by a total of $490 million for the purposes of inducing banks to approve applications for loans.Two of the men charged, who were accountants, have been convicted and fined. Ohashi Is still awaiting trial, and Footwork,the company,K no more. miiv .

And,with Porsche busy with its various ' Sportscar racing programs, it is difficult to see the Stuttgart company returning to GP racing.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz may both be running large and expensive FI programs, but Porsche '5 continues to profitably produce more and more Cars each year without recognising any need for an FI effort. A return seems unlikely, and but never, never know

Supplying engines is one thing, but running an entire FI team is a whole different matter. MARK GLENDENNING sat down with BMW Motorsport.Qirector Dr. Mario Theissen to talk about BMW Sauber EPENDING upon whom you talk to,there are two theories concerning the situation that Dr. Mario Theissen has found himself in for 2006.

Some people will tell you that in steering BMW towards acquiring Sauber, he has realised a long-held aim to control a Formula One team. Others will say that he has merely done what was needed to preserve BMW's best interests.

Prior to the BMW Sauber deal being announced last June,Theissen sat firmly in the latter camp whenever somebody asked about his ambitions. But then, diplomacy has always been a strong point for the 53-yearold German.Theissen's speciality may be engines, but it is his flair for politics that has got him to where he is today and it is these same skills that could help to propel BMW into the stratosphere occupied by the small cluster of FI teams that are capable of scoring points race after race.

Theissen is a challenging interviewee. On one hand, he has an acute understanding of the needs of the media.

He puts considerable effort into making himself available, and he speaks eloquently, patiently, and always ensures that you walk away with something that you can use. In that regard, he is a dream to deal with.

But you have to be on your toes.Theissen is way too smart to be trapped into saying anything that he doesn't want to. No question will be brushed off unanswered, but anything that strays too closely to sensitive territory will be countered, whether it be with a joke,or with a long, interesting response that might tell you something, but not what you were specifically asking about. Sometimes he'll finish his reply with a wry half-grin,suggesting that you may wish to read between the lines and draw your own conclusions.

During a press conference at last year's European GP, Theissen was asked about the fact that he had driven home to Munich from Monaco via Switzerland, where Sauber was based.

"Right,"Theissen said."Like last year and the year before."

But had he stopped anywhere within the vicinity of Zurich, close to the team's HinwiI base?

"Yes, if you drive for 800 or 900 kilometres, you have to

stop from time to time," he responded."But I can tell you, I went there without refuelling!"

Much laughter ensued.Three weeks later, BMW - announced that it had bought Sauber, and was going into FI in its own right in 2006.

Several months down the track,Theissen's day-to-day activities are quite similar to what he's been doing over the previous few years with Williams, even if he now has a lot more responsibility on his shoulders.

"I'm quite busy with the engines, because of the politics and because of the situation with the new V8,"Theissen said.

"But I hope that will stabilise within the nextfew weeks, and then I will be more busy with the car issues. I am moving forwards and backwards between Munich and HinwiI, and it works pretty well. It really is exciting. You get more leverage, you get more things to work on to improve the performance of the entire package.

"If you look at the team,it is double the workload. If you look at me,it is not double the workload.We now have a technical director on the powertrain side[Heinz Paschen], and a technical director on the chassis side [Willy Rampf], and they handle the business. My life now is very relaxed (laughs). I'm getting a suntan!"

r

!L’.

I*

●V-.-

● f

Going by the first five races of the season, BMW s transition from engine supplier to stand-alone FI team has been virtually seamless.The cars have shown respectable speed and reliability - they certainly appear to be more competitive than Sauber was been over the past couple of years - and there is still plenty of room for development. But marrying BMW and Sauber together in the space of 262 days must have been a massively complicated task.

When we started last year, we first had a look at where we are and what was available/'Theissen recalled.

'Then we established an R&D program, for the coming years - a road map of different areas that identified the projects. On that basis, we identified the number of people that we needed in the individual departments and how to expand the factory.The factory expansion has been released internally - we are waiting for the permission to start, and everything should be in place in [the northern hemisphere's] autumn 2007.

'I have to say that I am really proud of what the guys achieved in eight months. The drivers say that the car is good, and we see that in the lap times. continued on page 50

sj

A r^, t*7

«rr-‘V '*5T

C-.'

IMPROVING THE SHOW MOTORSPORT NEWS: Given that the V8 engine was introduced as a cost-containment measure,can you tell us a bit about the cost involved with designing a new engine from a clean sheet of paper?

MARIOTHIESSEN: it's a spending exercise. Basicaliy, Max Mosley's ideas are right. Forget about safety - there is no safer motorsport than Formula One. But costs and improving the show;these are the two main issues and we support that, i think that we are spending money in areas that are not relevant to the fans, and not relevant to racing.

The question is, how do you address that? My personal view is that there are directions that could be taken which are more efficient than what's being talked about.

I think it's important to keep Formula One as the pinnacle of motorsport, and that includes technology, but we have to be careful of where we spend the money. If you go testing and do three times the mileage that we do at race weekends,that is spending money and hiding the show from the spectators, because nobody sees you.

I support the test restriction, which has been proposed for the 2008 Sporting Regulations.

Are the miles that you do in testing proportionate to what you actually learn? I mean,if you are doing three times as many miles in testing as you do in the races, are you realiy learning three times as much?

Well, I am really in favour of turning Friday from a race weekend into a test weekend. And then, Friday is good for the fans, it's good for the promoters, it's good for the sponsors and it is good for the teams, because we gain data relevant to the race weekend.

And if we do that, it is no more expensive than when we go off and test elsewhere. At the same time, cut the in-season testing to an absolute minimum.That will save a lot of money OK,but this suggestion has been around for a few years. What has been stopping it from actually happening?

There are some arguments about it, and some drawbacks that you have to deal with.Testing on Friday means that you have to take additional equipment to the races, including the races outside Europe.That is expensive - you need more staff, more equipment, more cars.That is the downside. But even to do that would still be less expensive than what we do now.

What exactly would you have to take?

We have three cars already, and we only use two.So if we had four cars, we could easily cover a test day.

Is Formula One too expensive?

You can always argue that it is too expensive.[But] if someone pays the money,they think they get the benefit, so you can never say that it is too expensive. But we could put on the same show at less cost, and that is something that we should consider.

50

continued from page 49 "Last year the Sauber was about 1,5s per lap slower than the quickest car, and we have cut this gap in half. That was the target for this year, and we achieved that within the first two races."

Theissen's early optimism is echoed by the team's drivers.

"Driving a new car for the first time is like going on a first date,"Jacques Villeneuve deciared.

"As you know,first dates are very important - it can be very positive or very negative, and that impression remains.The first time we got into the car this year, it felt good. After a few laps you already had the feeling that you could do what you want with it, and that normally bodes well for the rest of the season.

"It's actually difficult to get a bad set-up on the car. It's always kind of balanced, even when you are off the plot. So that is a realiy good thing.

And when you think you are on the iimit and you just want to push harder, somehow you find a lap time - that's a difficuit thing to get in a car."

Fiaving experienced first-hand the frustrations of working for a good team that cannot afford to maintain a competitive rate of deveiopment, Villeneuve is in a perfect position to appreciate the changes that BMW are bringing to Sauber. According toTheissen, JV and team-mate Nick Fleidfeld have much to look forward to.

"Our next challenge is to match the development speed of the big teams during the season,"he said.

"We have to develop our FI.06 - this year's car - and aiso design next year's car, the FI .07.The challenge is to keep up the slope of improvement of FI.06 throughout the season equally as well as the biggest teams, and that is what we are fighting for at the moment.So far, it looks good."

One of the team's more immediate priorities is to get the windtunnel cranking. One of the great ironies about Sauber was that the team buiit the best windtunnel in Formula One, but could not afford to run it for more than one eight-hour shift each day. With aerodynamics now regarded as the single most important area of a Formula One car's performance, it should come as no surprise that the Fiinwii staff carpark will soon need to be expanded. As of January the windtunnel operation had been stepped up to two shifts, and by September the team aims to have it working around the clock.

"When we sealed the deal there was about 280 people in the team," Theissen said."Now,there are about 325 and we will go beyond 400. We are taking on more than 100 additional people in Fiinwii, and most of them will be for aero.

"But the staff at the engine department in Munich didn't change.The only change was that we are moving the transmission to Munich as well, so we will do the entire power train - engine,transmission and electronics - out of Munich, and the car, race and testing operations out of Fiinwii."

On paper then, most things seem to be in order, in the FI.06,the team appears to have a good foundation upon which to build a car capable of stalking the top 10, and there doesn't appear to be too much wrong with the BMW P86 V8 engine.The one area where Sauber always struggled was in its commercial activities, and it is here that BMW has brought a lot of clout. Just don't ask how much.

"Sorry, I forgot the figures/'Theissen smiled.

"What I can tell you is that we don't spend more this year for the entire

motorsport news

formutaom Big Fish. Small Fish

"n/iy life now is very relaxed. I am getting a suntan!"

- Theissen wonders why he didn't get into this team ownership caper earlier

V l

MOTORSPORT NEWS;There have been people who say that having the manufacturers involved to the extent that they currently are is unhealthy, because manufacturers can come and go. What's your view?

MARIOTHEISSEN:lthinkthat is not true.The manufacturers who have joined the GPMA have just committed to enter the championship from 2008 to 2012, and you cannot give a better commitment than that. You would not find a private team that would commit for such a long period of time.

If you look at it, for a car manufacturer. Formula One is not the core business, but it is very close to the core business. It is our chance to demonstrate our core competencies in the public, and that is very different from the role a sponsor would take.The sponsor is just displaying their brand, but it's not a competence statement for a sponsor. If you look at teams like Red Bull and Toro Rosso, it's not their core business. It's a marketing programme, no more than that. I really doubt that those teams are more stable than manufacturer teams.

Bernard Ferguson of Cosworth recently told MNews that his company thinks its way towards improving their engines whereas manufacturers just throw money at problems,and that he doesn't know what manufacturers spend all their money on. As a a manufacturer, what are your thoughts?

It's a good statement from their perspective, but you can be sure that the manufacturer's guys are thinking as well. And you can be sure that Cosworth is spending more than 10 percent of the manufacturers'budget, which is what the FIA claims they do.

The challenge for them will be to maintain development overthe season.

They certainly have done a very good job so far, and I can only congratulate them on what they did. Now,they have to prove that they can keep with the pace.

If you look at it, we have run into problems that were totally unexpected. Everybody will run into problems here and there, and then it is about how strong the team is to cope with those problems and overcome them.

Rattle Then Hum team than we spent last year on the engine. We spend the same money.

The level of commercial input makes the team in such a way that we don't have to spend more than last year."

Theissen says that the overall commitment for the team is comparable to the combined budgets of BMW and Williams over the previous seasons.

"1 would say that the budget is about as big as last year, if you put the BMW and the Williams money together," he remarked "And it makes sense - if a team couldn't operate on at least a zero cost basis, no-one would do it. BMW is a very strong brand and we were able to attract strong partners, so the team basically finances itself. Overall, as BMW,we don't spend more on the entire team than we used to spend on the engines at Williams," So the car, the engine and the funding are all sorted.That leaves only one box to be ticked, but it is a big one: results.

"We cannot expect podiums this year on our own,"Theissen admitted.

"That is clear. Formula One has become very close among the top teams, and we have to be there when the others make mistakes. I hope we can take away a podium position in that way this year, but we have to be there under our own strength next year."

10 May 2006

MOTORSPORT NEWS:What was the trickiest aspect of adapting to the V8?

MARIOTFIEISSEN:The initial challenge was to cope with very different engine behaviour in terms of the vibrations. With the VI0 we have the critical vibrations between 10,000 and 13,000 rpm, which is an engine speed range that you run through very quickly, so it doesn't really hurt. With the V8, vibrations increase above 17,000 rpm - and that is where the engine is running most of the time.So that was the initial problem.

The engine basically moves horizontally in the rear of the car, and that is something that is quite difficult to cope with on the engine side, and also on the car side.

That was the initial problem with the V8. What we are dealing with now is the short development time that we had. We have some reliability issues right now that we usually overcome in December or January but because of the squeezed schedule, all of the manufacturers are still dealing with it and it has spread into the season.

57

MICHAEL GOES -BACK WITH STUHNING VICTORY AT HOME.JOE SAWARD REPORTS

M

ICHAEL Schumacher won the European Grand Prix, his second consecutive FI win, and all that Fernando Alonso could do was to hope that next week the Renault team gets its act together a little better.

While the FI conspiracy theorists are still rumbling on about flexible wings and undertrays, Ferrari completed a really remarkable comeback after a dismal series of races in Malaysia and Australia. Clearly, the Ferrari is incredibly quick in a straight line but at the Nurburgring it was worth noting that Renault's top speeds were on a par with those of Ferrari, so the contest was really one of tyres.

Even the Michelin teams were happy to quietly explain after the race that the Ferrari performance was mainly due to the fact that Bridgestone had a better product than Michelin.

52

All the post-qualifying theories about strategy and sandbagging soon evaporated as it quickly became clear that Alonso and Schumacher were basically on the same fuel loads.Thus, it was down to which team could do what at the fuel stops and who could run longest. Alonso held off Michael for the first and second stints but realised that he did not have a chance when Schumacher stayed out longer and put in some startling lap times after Alonso disappeared into the pitlane.

"I was quite relaxed, controlling the revs, the tyres and everything," Alonso explained after the race.

"I pushed around the first stop and kept the lead, but in the second one it was not possible. We found ourselves not too competitive this weekend, to be honest. We had some grip problems. It's difficult to understand how we were on pole.

and today we saw the normal picture. We need something more to win these days. It was just a question of when they would come past us, and we need to improve a little bit in all areas of the car."

But when all was said and done, Alonso said that he was not disappointed. Another eight points in the bag means that Fernando remains 13 points ahead of Michael as we come up to the end of the first quarter of the season.

Michael won the race at the end of the second stint when he was able to dip into the low 1 m32s. and turned a 1.22s disadvantage into a six-second lead. It was mightily impressive.

"Actually, I thought I might be able to pass Fernando in the first stop but I pushed too hard in Turn Six and almost lost it. Interestingly, there were certain parts of the

race where he was slower,then where I was slower."

Michael was fortunate in that when they went into the first corner, his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa was alongside but let Michael go ahead.

"I couldn't see him in the mirrors or alongside when I looked over," Michael said,"but I could feel something there. I was in the slipstream of Fernando,then suddenly there was Felipe."

Michael admitted that there had been a couple of occasions when he was pushing so hard that he nearly dropped it.

"When Fernando was in the pits for the first time, I pushed pretty hard," he said."I got a bad tailwind in one corner which almost took me off the circuit, and then on lap 24, 1 went wide in Turn 11 and lost quite a bit of ground," Beyond that however, Michael reckoned it had been an almost

motorsportnews

formula one *1*. .u

\t^

fj

. #' .'1

Spray day;Flexible wings,superior strategy orjust plain brilliance?

Whatever the case. Team Red were back on top. And Massa's third place was a career best. Below, the pack poured into turn one,and Webber, back right, was able to drive around the outside ofhalfthe field!

/

perfect weekend.

Massa drove a good solid race and ended up third, scoring his first podium in FI. He was chased home by Kimi Raikkonen, but once again the McLaren-Mercedes seemed to lack the ultimate edge in performance.

"The overall performance of the car was not as 1 would have liked,"said Raikkonen."But we were closer and this is a definite improvement."

Raikkonen hopes that the progress will continue and get him into a situation to challenge for wins again. His World Championship hopes are still alive thanks to a consistent set of results this year but he needs wins soon to keep those hopes alive.

Alonso made a key point at the end of the race. In Barcelona and Monaco, Michelin has been dominant.

"If Michelin are stronger than 10 May 2006

Bridgestone in the next two n races," he said,"i think we will see different results."

The top four were more than a minute ahead of the fifth-placed Rubens Barrichello, who led home Giancarlo Fisichella and Nico Rosberg while there was a 15s gap back to the final points scorer Jacques Villeneuve. it was Hisao Suganuma of Bridgestone who perhaps best summed up the day; "What was particularly pleasing was that it was not only the two Ferraris that were quick but also Nico Rosberg and Ralf Schumacher. It was shame that Mark Webber did not finish as he could well have finished in the top six."

Ask them down at Renault

-ytsffr i

Good, bad and worse;Above,Alonso led the opening stanza, Montoya and Fisichella diced for the minors and Villeneuve outshone Heidfeld for the last championship point.

and they thought that Webber would have been on the podium.

Alas, the Williams failed with an hydraulic fuel leak after 13 laps.

53

QUALIFYING

A Renault were pliying mind games with Fei^ri^ in qualifyingror so JOE SAWARD reckons ns

I

F

ERNANDO Alonso took pole position for the European Grand Prix - and while that should not have been a big surprise given the pace of the Renault this season, it came as a surprise because,to do it, Alonso had to lap half a second faster than he had in the Q2 session, when the cars are normally lapping much faster because they are not carrying fuel.

The Renault people argued that the track got quicker in the final session (and that is probably true because Michael Schumacher managed to equal his Q2 time in Q3) but Alonso's improvement was so impressive that the only logical interpretation was that the Spaniard had been sandbagging in Q2. Perhaps,the theory goes, he was hoping to lure the Ferrari strategists into a trap which would leave them deciding to give Michael Schumacher more fuel in Q3 than he would otherwise have decided upon, because the team thought there was a sufficient margin to add more fuel and still stay ahead of Renault on the grid.

The logic of such a strategy is that Alonso would go into Q3 with a light-ish fuel load, grab pole, and thus be in a good position to drive away from Schumacher in the early part of the race.This would give him time to stop early and still get out of the pits ahead of the Ferrari. Alonso could then'slow down'the Ferrari when Schumacher at just the time that Michael would be at his fastest, and thus take time away from the Ferrari.

Well, that was the theory!

On Saturday evening this was the kind of speculation in the FI paddock at the Nurburging.

However, because the number of variables that exist are such than no-one can really guess what is 54

happening, it remains that - pure as the engines were changed in which smelled of a big fuel load (but educated?) speculation. both cars prior to qualifying. A because the McLaren obviously first?

There is a tendency to look for had more outright pace than it easy answers such a whether or Given Webber's pace (or lack was showing.

Jenson Button was sixth which of it) in the Q3 session, it was at not the tyres were working or not at a certain temperature.There is least fairly clear that he would be also suggested more fuel, as he the question of fuel loads but it carrying a monster fuel load to is usually ahead of Barrichello, has been clear for some time that try to make up for the problem and JarnoTrulli's seventh place the reality is usually a combination by running a very long first stint for Toyota looked like a car with of all those different factors a small fuel load, as is the trend and perhaps even a one-stop fuel involved. strategy. for Toyota these days. Conversely, There are still, however, Alonso stopped the clocks in Ralf Schumacher's failure to get engineers who are amazed that Q3 at 1 m29.819s,the fastest lap into the top 10 suggested that he of the entire weekend. Michael Ferrari was able to run so quickly would race with a big fuel load Schumacher was second with a as he would be able to take on as at Imola when they had seen the fuel loads that the team used much fuel as he wanted.

1 m30.028s lap. Massa was third quickest four-tenths off Michael in the race.There are no simple Villeneuve was eighth quickest and Barrichello was up to fourth. answers in FI these days.There but his lap time was seven-tenths faster than in Q2,so fuel - or lack is no question that temperature This looked pretty quick for Rubens but in recent races is vital with the current tyres, of it - was probably the reason for which only work in very narrow Honda has only managed such that. Montoya too had the look of temperature bands. But surely, n performance by carrying less fuel a man with a big fuel load, having than the others. if this was such a decisive issue, qualified ninth, albeit on the older would there not have been spec Mercedes engine(Raikkonen Kimi Raikkonen was quick early in the session but slower in Q3 many more wild fluctuations was debuting the new one). in the course of the season?.

Ferrari,Toyota and Williams have FORMULA 1 QUALIFYING had some big tyre performance POS NO DRIVER COUNTRY TEAM TYRES TIME differences from race to race Renault Fernando Alonso but Renault and McLaren have M 1:29.B19 Esp Ferrari 0 ;2 5 Michael Schumacher 1:30.02B been pretty much at the same Ferrari Bra 3 6 1:30.407 level. BMW has gone up and Felipe Mosso down rather a lot as well, which Bra 4 11 Ruhens Barrichello Honda 1:30.754 M Fin 5 3 M 1:30.933 Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes is curious given that the evidence GB suggests that the temperature 6 12 M 1:30.940 Jenson Button Honda problem is more pronounced with 1:31.419 7 Jorno Trulli Toyota Bridgestones than with Michelins.

1:31.542 Can Souher-BMW 17 M Jacques Villeneuve There were some easier M Col McLaren-Mercedes 9 4 1:31.880 Juan Pablo Montoya explanations for qualifying Aus 1:33.405 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth ;io 9 performance, or non-performance.

0 1:M.944 ^ Ralf Schumacher 11 7 Toyota The reason for Giancarlo Fisichella's WilliamyCosworih JD Nlcolqsbergi pl-f ilO 1®1§j failure to make it into the top M '1:31.197 Giancarlo Fisichella I Renault 13 2 10 run-off was fairly clear and GB ‘ '!®iiilierrffi iif # BaviHtoullhard: he made the point by stomping M 1:31.422 15 16 MickHeidfeld 0 Soub^BMW down to the BMW Sauber pit to M i ;16 “a VitantOnioliuQf ^TotolROsso^os^rfh shout and gesticulate at Jacques 1:32.901 Aut Red Bull-Ferrari 17 15 Christian Klien Villeneuve, suggesting that the 1:32.936 Ned 18 19 Ghristijpn Albers MFI-Toyota Canadian had got in his way.

1:32.992 M 19 21 US Toro Rosso-Cosworth Scott Speed The Williams men were in 1:33.658 For 20 18 Tiogo Monteiro MFl-Toyoto trouble. Mark Webber and Nico 1:35.239 21 22 Takuma Sato Jop Super Aguri-Hondo Rosberg qualified 10th and 12th 1:46.505 F 22 23 Super Aguri-Hondo Franck Montogny but both faced a 10-spot penalty

motorsportnews

formula one

MOHE PMM

THE European Grand Prix proved to be another big disappointment for Jenson Button and Honda.

The Englishman had gone for a strategy in which he was not among the first to stop and while Alonso stopped on lap 17 and Schumacher on 18, Button was second when he came in on lap 20, a lap after Barrichello. He dropped to 10th and worked his way back up

HONDM

THE RED FLAG THAT NEVER WAS WITH three minutes to go before the end of the first qualifying session,the red flag signal was suddenly displayed at the start-finish line and on the timing pages which are broadcast to televisions all around the circuit.

To all intents and purposes, qualifying had been brought under a caution and the message was sent out to the drivers and to TV viewers around the world.

There was considerable confusion when the timing clock suddenly started working again and a message appeared saying there had been no red flag!

It was some hours before this mystery was explained and it was not, as some suggested, because an FIA official had had too good a lunch and had pressed the wrong button. According to a press release from FOM,there was"an electrical fault in the start lights panel"which sent an erronenous"Session abort" signal to the computers. FOM was keen to point out that the timing system behaved correctly at all times.

Jacques Villeneuve, who had been on his hot lap at the time and thus had it 'disallowed', was subsequently reinstated and took part in Q2.

-JOESAWARD

10 May 2006

to fifth when his engine broke.

"The balance was not there," he said."It was changing from corner to corner."

Despite the poor result, the Honda team continue to talk up the progress the team is making and will have been pleased to have heard Fernando Alonso say that there were four teams in the running for wins.

Clearly the Spaniard thinks more of Honda's efforts than some of the more cynical FI media particularly the British reporters who are desperate to see a Button victory.

I?

Pos Driver

i J TORO Rosso's Tonio Liuzzi was a first corner casualty after tangling with Red Bull team-mate David Coulthard.

Liuzzi got his damaged Toro Rosso as far as Turn 10 where it spun to a halt as the right rear tyre was off the rim.That brought out the Safety Car for the first two laps.

Coulthard later pulled off after a first lap stop for repairs.

"1 got hit from behind by Ralf in the Toyota,"said Luizzi.

"I don't think he could stop and he hit my right rear and then I spun into David."

Funnily enough closer examination of the shunt revealed that Ralf was bumped by Coulthard and then hit Liuzzi, which sent the italian's car back into DC. -JOESAWARD

i »p. .

U'

f

£

i

3

i 3

1

i

\

Damage control: While Alonso raced into an early lead, Luizzi wasjuststraightening things up.

Best lap| On

Michael Schumacher 1:35:58.765

1:32.099

19

2

Fernando Alonso

1:36:02.516

1:32.532

23

3

1:36:03.212

1:33.099

22

4

Felipe Massa Kimi Raikkbnen

1:3603.644

1:32.472

12

5

Rubens Barrichello

1:37:11.351

1:33.952

49

6

Giancarlo Fisichella

1:37:12.881

1:32.964

39

7

Nico Rosberg

1:37:13.330

1:33.579

29

8 9

Jacques Villeneuve JarnoTrulli

1:37:28.129

1:34.037

43

59 laps

1:33.953

45

10

NIckHeldfeld

59 laps

1:34.035

12

11

Scott Speed

59 laps

1:34.091

30

12

Tiago Monteiro

59 laps

13 DNF

Christjian Albers Ralf Schumacher

59 laps

1:35.504 1:35.428

53 53

52 laps

1:33.607

43

52 laps

1:33.571

57

45 laps

1:36.706

53

DNF Franck Montagny DNF Jenson Button

29 laps

1:37.214 1:34.042

41 40

DNF

Christian Klien

28 laps

1:34.553

30

DNF

Mark Webber

12 laps

DNF

David Coulthard

2 laps

1:35.415 2:24.500

15 4

DNF

Vitantonlo LIuzzu

0 laps

No time

DNF Juan Pablo Montoya DNF Takuma Sato

%A

Total Time

1

r

28 laps

FI POINTS

Drivers'Points: Alonso 44, M Schumacher 31, Raikkonen 23, Fisichella 18, Massa 15, Montoya 15, Button 13, R Schumacher 7, Barrichello 6, Webber 6,Villeneuve 6, Heidfeld 5, Rosberg 4, Coulthard 1, Klien 1.

Constructors'Points: Renault 62, Ferrari 46, McLaren 38, Honda 19,Sauber-BMW 11, Williams 10,Toyota 7, Red Bull 2.

55

DEJAVU

Mark Webber is quietly furious ata second Grand Prix DNF due to basic hydraulic failure, as he explained to CHRIS LAMBDEN

A

S Michael Schumacher swept over the line to complete a superb win at the Nurburgring, Mark Webber was already at the airport.

That's not the usual Webber way. Problems or not, he's usually the one to hang around; support the team; boost morale.

Not this time.

It was a bitterly dispapointed Aussie who spoke to MNews as he boarded his flight; "There's not a lot you can say, is there?

"Despite the need to change engines,things were looking pretty good for some reasonable points. I was fuelled to lap 32/33 - over half-distance - as was Nico.

"Although my car wasn't crash hot off the line, I had a great first lap[ED: passed seven cars.

mainly around the outside of the Turn 1 melee] and found myself on Fisi's tail. I was surprised how easily I could stay there, considering he had six laps less fuel than I did.

"We'd done the obvious thing, fuelled to the brim, but looked to have the pace to do a bit of damage over the race distance.

"Then, no warning, complete hydraulic failure ..."

As theTV commentary team noted, body language can say a lot. In this case, it's one DNF too many; another'What If. A second hydraulic failure DNF. Would Webber have one-stopped?

"We had both options."

While the pace was reasonable. it hadn't been an entirelv trouble-

free weekend.Webber's regular race car had returned some dodgy cooling figures which meant, despite an investigation, a switch to the T-car for Saturday and race day. And then there was the double engine change.

"The oil analysis on Saturday morning wasn't a hundred percent, so the team took the decision not to take the risk."

All that aside, set-up had gone quite well.

"Alex did a great job again and we opted for the primary tyre rather than the more aggressive (softer) option.You do go to the races with a slightly 'aggressive' option, which you hope you can make work, but in terms of a race

tyre, we definitely went the right way by opting for the primary Bridgestone.

"Actually, the good news story so far is Bridgestone. With a couple of good Michelin men going there, and us and Toyota part of the program,along with Ferrari,there's been strong progress.

"Michael is back up there because the Ferrari is a good car - but it's Bridgestone who have made big steps.The tyre contest is very close now."

With Barcelona only days away, at least this one will be swept aside sooner rather than later.

Hey Flavio - you've got the number...

ans, waMt can^ia^ijnrie-based satelli^ ^and Ibxpensive as you rnight think!

F1>(including qualifying) can be accessed live via satellite, from free-to-air stations overseas plus many other cultural channels.

Packages from ju^ $800 (including installation)- available all states P 0408 351100 guidoc@netspace.net.au motorsportnews

’ormula one

Ft tech editor PAOLO FILISETTt reveals Ferrarrs latest winning tweak and reports that aero assistance is appearing in the oddest parts of an FI car

FERRARI 248 FI - A CRUCIAL DEVELOPMENT \M

THE WILLIAMS BARGE

FOLLOWING the aero developmen changed again on the red cars for < the chimneys on top of the sidepoi These are no longer separated by profiled in one single element whos more clear. In fact, this element \wor the sidepod, diverting the outer par right onto the rear wing, so as to inc Correlated to those latest change feature is represented by the triangi element of the new aero package. T complex chimney (coupled to the w the sidepods dramatically, allowing section, including the engine exhau greatly enhanced.

Without doubt, this has played ar increased performance of the Ferrai

/Sm'

n

V ^May2006j

\ [ I [. [

r-

aim

rilil

SIS

BBiig

iB

BBtg

isita

aim

A

A

I ; I \

4^ irdnt f Ihgsef®rs||>)fpeac%ilhi.' 1

I ► I

●'1

m.

'4

i.

N

I y .-● i f'-

t'l

t - il'evef ofth'ereir-wiewimirrdfs - ') f ■ land'ihafte tlh'ej^l^ll’df f -better rTnanagingitfea'iti'ojiv ● ► . ipassinigtS|.fe'^|h.ft|lfa0is? soas to'mducS't'uiib.u'tehtie, providediwith a vepticalffiV(5i)!;. ● ■whdsftriahgular shape ihas' .while. a'Ls0«^’^rueifigia!V|ry' the-effect ofJ'etaching the '■ ilmportant effect in dividing ibpundaryilayer'if|bi''‘.the edge the upper.andiil'ower air ipWi ofthfe step ibottom! teducing Another ehange relates ItuiiliiuJ’ehce.' to thetiiiimngivanes, 'now

'IF, sometimes, F.t appears i|§ibeiiai||tingi ima;ginationfromthe’engirieers,aionli: comes something to illustrate just how Cleuerthey can'be.

As we revealed back at Imola, Ferrari' had pioneered some additionaliirear'brake cooling via a 'profile'fitted'On the inside of the 24'8Fi: rear wheels. 'Not only does

'i

fJ

t

f gem

fa

m

(int^

EMC k

In detail! a stmalladditiQnali'barge tas;i|:eeh!fIa#difn^ftiW-^^ f. .the iiitsaiftdnfiKGlnnected^^^^^ |r^fdjfg|p|i|®pal^^^^^. 3i vane,in a similapfashion to a so>tion!tnalfed'by4fildd#^'iastS '■● season. .,:/f.V. ’ '●.’-r- ' ,1iliiis solution improves efficiency b|,diwentinfiitnire:effioiently. theair-flovvin^eiower part^fHtije'da'rr V _ _ -● T, . ilmmore detail, a portion'is'dwertedfpu|Md'e tO'te . , usefulness of the Ge'ntnal.'^^i^bdJhTt@«th®ig||i^y^n^^"'“ ^ #oorefficiency.. _ 1- ■

mi

J X

! -4

f :■

it impr0.ve:the'c&oiih’g.€uhGtions^^^^^ ;bra'kes,ibut there is a smail'aero<gain:iint that it 'reduces turbulence aroundlthe tear wing.

Now Toyota has gone a stepfitithet.

AttheiN:urburg,rin'g>,the‘f|l(06.ap.pear6di with ai small' GarbonHfibreiip.Onithe 'outer face of the wheeliirims. Wingseon: wheels 7!.

m

JIM & BAI

h H 1 Ik

t

/ /

I

I

Kind Targa Tasmania weatherplayed into the hands ofRichards and Oliver

J

IM Richards and Barry Oliver described their 2006 Targa Tasmania triumph as their 'best ever win"after the pair secured an unprecedented eighth victory in the Apple Isle event's 15th anniversary.

Having not won Targa Tasmania since 2003,'Richo and Baz'took their two-wheei drive Porsche GT2 to Victory Lane,thanks partly to the weather, which stayed dry for the majority of the six-day, 2100km road race test.

"This is probably our best win ever," said Richards."Competition has been really tight and it's nice to win another one. We haven't

won it for a while."

Uncharacteristically, the weather stayed dry until the last part of the final day, but by then, Richards/Oliver were far enough in front to ward off the four-wheeldrive entries.

"The good thing about being in the lead on the last day is when it's dry, you can Just regulate your lead and you don't have to try too hard and Just keep an eye on the gap between you and second."

The formidable Richards/Oliver combination finished Modern Competition with a 2m53s gap over back-to-back Targa runnersup Gary Garwood and John Allen.

After a quiet run early in the piece, Garwood stormed through into the top three on the final day, and inherited second when reigning

faster - it's been a real eye opener.

We're surprised but delighted to be on the podium.This afternoon we worked so hard."

Forty-six seconds further down the road,Team White wrapped up third despite clutch problems throughout the event, and a weird front-end noise during Leg 5. A cautious finish secured them third.

"We're happy to be on the podium again because we had lots of dramas during the event," Jason said."There's no doubt this car still has the potential to win Targa Tasmania."

Two time Bathurst winner Tony Longhurst scored his best-ever Targa result with fourth

out fellow Queenslander Russell Kempnich, in a Porsche GTS. Kempnich had also come from nowhere to produce a great top five finish at the end of the rally.

Driving forTeam Ralliart Mitsubishi, Warwick Rooklyn finished sixth. His Targa effort wasn't as smooth as some,after he copped a four-minute time penalty for changing tyres.

Rooklyn was one of many forced to change rubber due to the dryness of the event.

Porsche 911 pair Paul and Peter Blackie finished seventh overall ahead of the Lynn Rattray/Tony Jackson Subaru. Shaun Juniper and Cameron Reeves took ninth in their Porsche, while

!

motorsportnews i'.

tas

privateer Subaru steererwas forced to w/ithdraw midway through the last day when the officials directed him to change three worn tyres. With only two spares in his stock, he had no option but to retire. His efforts can not be overlooked, though, considering he shared equal leadership with Richards/Oliver at the end of Leg 1.

"We're very disheartened about having to withdraw,"said Glenney.

'We didn't think the tyres were that bad.They were fine last night (Saturday) and I didn't think they had deteriorated since then."

On the spot to take second place was the Skelta G-Force of Ray Vandersee. But he also had his Targa come to a screaming halt when a broken axle prevented him from contesting the last two stages of the day.

"It's a shattering feeling but there was a lot to take from our efforts," said Vandersee."This is the toughest rally event in the world and we nearly snared a first-up taste of success."

Network 10's team of Darryl Beattie and Scott Young had an major blow to theirTarga assault

when Beattie skated wide on Leg 3 and planted his brand-new Mitsubishi IX down a ditch, hitting a tree on the way.

2005 Australian Rally runnerup Dean Herridge was another to come unstuck on Leg 3. In his factory-prepared Subaru Impreza WRX Sti (the car that Cody Crocker used to win last year's Australian Rally crown), Herridge clipped a tyre chicane and was handed a five-minute penalty. Coupled with a tyre change, Herridge came home 13th (after being as low as 29th!), one place behind perennial favourite Peter Brock and co-driver Mick Hone.The Daytona Coupe team were 12th overall after losing several spots with a tyre change.

Another casualty of Targa 2006 was VIP Petfoods driver Tony Quinn and co-driver Keith Wenn.

While in 10th place, Quinn crashed on the final day - which made it the second year in-a-row he has fallen out of Targa on Sunday.

Alfa Romeo drivers Ian Morris and Alex Molocznyk won in the Shannons Classic class, John and Andrew Lawson won the Historic class and Stephen and Terri Bruce claimed the Classic Sprint class.

Podium placers: Greg Garwood,above,stormed through late in the rally to take second place ahead ofJason and John White, below.

Mr Ed meets Mini:There was horsepower everywhere in Tasmania,above.

The Mini was steered by Grant Denyer and Spencer Lowndes.

^^TlR^n^Piiotogt^phlcs

hil Hart hit the dirt, while Peter Brock's Daytona was fast, but tyre thirsty.

STADIUM PERFORMER It's not often that WRC cars s perform in front of grandstands, but Sebastien Loeb was up for the occasion at Rally Argentina r

wm

EBASTIEIM Loeb has weird and spooky powers.That is pretty much the only way to explain how he and the Kronos Citroen are capable of winning rallies by huge margins irrespective of where they are and what bad luck has befallen them.

Never was this more in evidence than at Rally Argentina two weeks ago, where Loeb spun and stalled on the opening day, watched two different drivers pass him for the lead over the course of the event- and still managed to win by 44.6s.

Ford's Marcus Gronholm profited from the Frenchman's mishap on the first stage, but he hadn't even begun to savour his lead when a transmission problem stopped his Focus after just eight kilometres.

"I came into a corner and the car stalled,"said the Finn flatly.

"I restarted the engine but could not select any gears. I locked the differentials and covered another 300 metres, but then we came to another tight corner and that was it." n Gronholm's disappearance left Subaru's Fetter Solberg with the task of keeping Loeb under control. Flaving been embarrassingly trounced on tarmac so far this year, the Impreza proved itself to be much happier on loose surfaces - so much so that the Norwegian was able to shuffle Loeb out of the

lead.Then, he hit a gatepost. And just in case Solberg hadn't lost enough time doing that, he also incurred a 10s penalty for arriving late at service after the car fell off its jack while having a tyre changed after stage nine.

So by Loeb's usual standards, he'd had a fairly ordinary opening day, and yet he still went to bed with a lead of almost 20s under his belt.

"On the last stage of the day, I really thought I was going to lose my lead," he said.

"The first few kilometres were really sandy;there was no grip and I made a series of mistakes.

I hit the side of the road about three times and I nearly spun twice. I really had to calm things down then, it's on stretches of road like that where you realise how much work the active differentials used to do."

From there, Loeb found things relatively straightforward.The team made a good tyre call for the second day in sending the car out on soft rubber, and Loeb picked his way through the jumps and water splashes to extend his lead out to a minute. From there he simply had to massage the Xsara home over the final day to take the win.

Solberg managed to hold on for second, despite incurring another 10s penalty on the final day for jumping the start. But the feel-good story of the weekend was unfolding right behind him.

motorsportnews

wrc

The Lazarus trick: Patter Solberg signalled Subaru's return to form with second,left, while Gigi Go/// upset a lot offulltimers in his privateer 307,above where Italian Gigi Gall! scored his first-ever WRC podium, despite never having driven his Pirellibacked Peugeot 307 on gravel before. We've asked the question before, and we'll ask it again: why hasn't this guy got a full-time ride?

Judging from the pace of Manfred Stohl and Henning Solberg,the Peugeot looked like a pretty useful piece of gear on the Argentine gravel. Stohl passed his team-mate for fourth at the start of the final day, and the Pugs were on track for a good haul of points until Solberg stopped with a clutch problem at the finale in the spectacular Cordoba stadium, dropping him to seventh.

This raised the stakes slightly for the battle that was going on just down the road between Daniel Sordo and Chris Atkinson.

The Aussie had been running strongly early in the rally before losing some time to an array of minor problems. He fought back, only to be penalised a minute for speeding in service.

Atko dug in again and reeled off a string of top-five stage times to close the gap to Sordo down to just 1.1s as they arrived at the stadium Super Special, but the Spaniard was able to protect his position and hold Atkinson out to sixth.

Isewhere in the field. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford youngster Matthew Wilson scored his first WRC points with an eighth-place finish, while others were left to rue squandered opportunities.

Xavier Pons'interest in the rally ended very early when he slid

W

wide and crunched his Xsara on the first day, causing a small fire that was extinguished before it could cause too much damage, while Mikko Hirvonen also had an early shower after developing engine problems in his Ford Focus.

Loeb may still be marching relentlessly onward, but Argentina served as a good indicator that Subaru's recent problems do seem to be restricted to tarmac.The next stop on the tour is the soft, sandy dirt ofSardinia-a rally that Solberg dominated in 2004.

Can the Imprezas do it again this year? Can Gronholm find both pace and reliability on the same weekend? And even if they do, will Loeb just steam on towards another win anyway?

All will be revealed at the Rally d'ltalia Sardegna on May 19-21.

SP73R

SP85R

RALLY ARGENTINA

Pos Driver

Nat Car/Time

1. Sebastien Loeb Daniel Elena

Fra Mon

2. Petter Solberg Phil Mills

Nor Subaru Impreza GB 4h07m35.9s

Citroen Xsara 4h06m51.3s

3. GigiGain Ita Giovanni Berncchini Ita

Peugeot 307 4h10m1S.6s

4. Manfred Stohl IlkaMirior" 5. Daniel Sordo Marc Marti

Aut Aut E E

Peugeot 307 4h10m31.3s Citroen Xsara 4h12m31.5s

6. Chris Atkinson Glenn Macneall

Aus Subaru Impreza Aus 4h12m35.1s

7. Henning Solberg CatoMenkerud 8. Matthew Wilson Michael Orr

Nor Nor GB GB

Peugeot 307 4h16m20.0s Ford Focus RS 4h17m25.9s

Driver's points: Loeb 56,Gronholm 35, Sordo 24,P. Solberg 18,Stohl 18,Galli 11, Bengue9,Atkinson 8,Hirvonen/H.Solberg 7,Gardemeister/Carlsson/Sarrazin 6.

Manufacturer's points; Citroen 69,6PFord 57,Subaru 51,Peugeot 31,Stobart VKM-Sport Ford 15, Red Bull Skoda 11.

D01J

i

Champion's Way WillowbankQLD4306 P07 5461 9100

147 Sherriffs Road Reyneila SA 5161 P 08 8387 8233

VICTORIA

TASMANIA

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Stuckey Tyre Service 828 Sydney Road Brunswick VIC 3056 P 03 9386 5331

Fulton Enterprises 41 McKenzie Street Mowbray TAS 7248 P03 6326 9199

Kostera's Tyre Service 7 Mead Street KalamundaWA6076 P08 9293 3500

Unit 3,13 Penny Place Arndell Park NSW 2148 P 02 9676 8655

no May 2006

61

HAMILTON STREETS'EM McLaren backed driverscores double IF Lewis Hamilton has a successful Grand Prix careerand he probably will - he may look back on Nurburgring,2006 as the time that was set in concrete.

The Ron Dennis protege overcome aii manner of probiems to become oniy the second driver (after Nico Rosberg)to score a GP2 double victory. He served a drive-through penalty to win on Saturday,from team-mate Alexandre Premat, while starting eighth for Sunday's race was not enough to stop the ART driver from making it two from two.

'It was a fantastic weekend," he said later."We lost a bit of time in

Murray Thrilled NIGEL Mansell won the Grand Prix Masters race at the Losail circuit in Qatar, beating Christian Danner by half a second while Eric Van de Poele was third.

There were two Safety Car periods in the race after incidents involving Eliseo Salazar, Andrea de Cesaris and Pierluigi Martini. Others in the field were Eddie Cheever, Derek Warwick, Jan Lammers, Stefan Johansson, Rene Arnoux, Riccardo Patrese, Patrick Tambay, Emerson Fittipaldi and Hans Stuck.

Although it might be argued that some of the above were hardly Masters when they were in FI, the series has managed to sign a TV deal with Brazil's SBT channel to broadcast the races. This deal has come about through Emerson Fittipaldi, who has close links with SBT having once been the owner of the right to broadcast CART races in Brazil.

-JOESAWARD 62

lAlflSf atiMbnzSsWorld ftouhdiandf as many:^xpectedf'^o,yiBayIiss was I the Aussie^est ofthe ail; The factory Pucati ace won b'l^races and now holds a 36-point ed'ge’in''the liampionship. Alex Barros edged ©uitTiroy Corser for second'in Race 1 while it was aHroy 1-2'irn .the second'outing, with Noriyuki Haga thlrd'frorn the lj[ondas of Barros and James Toselandl . '■j.'T?' 'The second'race wal^a #it!lfatd’er," Bayliss explained iater^'^'ibecatise the guiylTgot a bit of a jump and Gorser and Waga-made #good first few laps, while iwas withi JamesTor aibit andiit was difficult fo get past.'

Andrew Pitt 'has a^ stfongj weekeipli with fifth and sixth finishes, while Karl Muggeridge was one spot : back in his return ride after’back injuries.

Points: Bayliss 17S,*Gorser 139, Toseland‘97,'Barros 95,iHaga 93, I Pitt 79, Uanzi 59, Rplfo 46.

the qualifying session and were not quick enough to secure pole position but the races went great. it might have iooked easy from the outside but it was extremeiy difficuit."

Having said that, six cars stalied at the start of Race 2, so there are stiii some mechanical dramas to be fixed in the Daiiaras, then ...

On Sunday,the Brit won from Nicoias Lapierre and Jose Maria Lopez, but poleman Nelson Piquet Jr had a shocking weekend. crashing heavily on Saturday after a tyre delaminated and on Sunday, scoring no points for 19th place.

Points: Piquet 27, Hamilton 26, Lapierre 25, Bruni and Viso 19, Ammermuller 17.

international

THE TASSIE TIGERS

martin d dark DALE Earnhardt Jr. held off a spirited challenge from rookie Denny Hamlin in a sevenlap Shootout at Richmond last Saturday night, with Jr. prevailing for his first win since July of last year.

1 went to victory lane and Junior asked me why I didn't lean on him," quipped local boy Hamlin, who was nursing a stitched left hand after some horseplay with his team during testing.

"I told him I would have if I'd had the car to get to him. I could literally feel my heartbeat in my foot on the accelerator when I passed Harvick, but I would rather finish second here than the Daytona 500,1 will be riding this wave for weeks and months to come.

"It's great to be back in victory lane,"said Earnhardt, who started 10th."This is really going to help our race team, we're having a great season and we're really enjoying ourselves."

Kevin Harvick was the race dominator,taking the lead on lap 50 from Greg Biffle, who later pitted under green with a flat tyre.

But on lap 281, a yellow flag flew when Martin Truex blew his DEI engine and the competition pitted for fresh rubber.

Forty laps later, Earnhardt fresher tyres permitted him to run side-by-side with Harvick for the lead,the Bud car eventually muscling by with 44 laps to run.

Harvick later pitted for rubber under a later yellow but his chase ended when he ran out of grip, Hamlin forcing him back to third.

10 May 2006

YIIlMSail'

Last year's winner Kasey Kahne lost five laps early when he suffered a loose plug wire, while Jeff Burton ran well all night but he stopped when pit road wasn't officially open then spun on a restart finishing a lap off the pace. Matt Kenseth broke a brake disc, which flew up and holed his oil tank dropping the one-time point leader to 38th while Jeff Gordon finished 40th with engine electrical issues.

Final result; Earnhardt Jr.(Chevy), Hamlin (Chevy), Harvick(Chevy), Biffle (Ford), Kyle Busch (Chevy),Stewart(Chevy), Edwards (Ford), Newman (Dodge), Marlin (Chevy).

A WEEK earlier, Jimmie Johnson visited victory lane on Monday after a rain-out the previous day.

Johnson took his third win, and second restrictor plate triumph of the season.

Johnson passed under his Hendrick team-mate Brian Vickers with one lap to run and held off a charge by mirror-driving Tony Stewart to the chequered flag, Stewart finishing second for the sixth time at Talladega.

Point standings;Johnson 1521,Stewart 1466, Kenseth 1422, Martin 1345, Harvick 1313, Earnhardt Jr. 1305, Kahne 1274, Kyle Busch 1237,J Gordon 1216, Mears 1168.

MARCOS Ambrose's tough debut season in the Craftsman Truck Series continued at the Craftsman Truck Series at Dodge Ram Tough 200 at Gateway International Raceway.

Mike Skinner cut a tyre on lap 61 after running over debris, sending his truck into the wall.

Skinner's earthen veered across the track, leaving Ambrose and fellow rookie Kyle Krisiloff with nowhere to go. Ambrose started from 19th on the grid by virtue of car owner's points after qualifying was rained out. Amrbose was 17th in practice and was running solidly in the midfield before the accident.

"I saw him (Mike Skinner) go up into the wall and I tried to stay low, but I just couldn't stay low enough,"said Ambrose after the race.

"He came back down the track and I had nowhere to go. I guess that's an introduction to NASCAR and what it's all about.These cars are strong because that was a decent lick."

Ambrose, who was classified 34th in the race, will have his next outing at Lowe's Motor Speedway on May 19.

RICHMOND TIGERS KEVIN Harvick gave Richard Childress Racing a win in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Richmond.

Tempers flared when Martin Truex Jr and Rusty Wallace tangled, Truex gesturing to the veteran and getting a "please explain"call from the stewards. Paul Menard was second from Matt Kenseth third.

The week prior,Truex won the Talladega Speedway Busch race for the Dale Earnhardt Incorporated team on what would have been the seven time NASCAR champ's 55th birthday.

63

WWW. THE YOUNG TURKS ERICWINSIT. Melandri wins butStoner is closer than everto hisfirstwin COM ERIC Salignon has dominated the opening two rounds of the World Series by Renault held at Zolder two weeks ago.

Salignon gave the interwetten. com team a perfect start to the season on a weekend where both races were affected by rain. With two laps remaining in Race 1 the heavens opened,leading many cars to spin. Salignon himself made a mistake on the last lap, but held on for victory, with Christian Montanari second and Borja Garcia third.

The second race also saw rain fall during the race, prompting race leader and young Renault Development driver Ben Hanley to skate off, as did Alessandro Bonetti. After a Safety Car period organisers declared the race, with Salignon again winning from Garcia and Pastor Maldonado.

Robbie Kerr had a Race 2 to forget, crashing on the warm-up lap.

HONDA'S youngsters are taking over and suddenly,even Valentino Rossi looks old.

Marco Melandri outbraked Casey Stoner on the final lap to win in Turkey after a thrilling dice, which was cut from three men to two when Dani Pedrosa fell off his Honda on the final lap. While he was gathering it up to be classified 14th, Nicky Hayden took third and the championship lead.

"I thought that would be a good race and I was right," Melandri said."But from row .five I had no idea I'd be involved at the front. I got a really good start and the bike was great in these conditions on the day. But Casey is hard to beat and now it's going to . get harder and harder, he rode amazingly well today.'

Stoner seemed happy with second,even though he so narrowly missed out on matching the record of Freddie Spencer as the youngest ever winner of a premier class race at 20 years and 196 days old.

"It was great riding with all those others and seeing how much they all move about," he said.

"You've got to be a bit careful with these bikes because they don't stop as fast as a 250 either."

Rossi was fourth after disasters in the wet qualifying, while Chris Vermeulen was a strong seventh after surprising everyone (including himself) by taking a career-first pole position.

Points; Hayden 52,Capirossi 51, Melandri 45,Stoner 41,Rossi 40, Pedrosa 32,Elias 32, Nakano22,Edwards 19,Gibernau 18.

KTM'S 250cc program came up aces in Turkey when Hiro Aoyama gave the Austrian marque its maiden GP win.

The Japanese rider won from Hector Barbera and Andrea Dovizioso, with Ant West ninth on his Aprilia.

Jorge Lorenzo's bid for three straight wins ended in a six-rider tumble on lap 1.

Points: Dovizioso 52,Lorenzo 50/ Aoyama 46,Barbera 44, Locatelli 38,Takahashi 31.

THE MVA Aspar Aprilia team scored a rare 1-2-3 in the 125 race. Hector Faubel edged Alvaro Bautista and Sergio Garcia out at the flag. Mika Kailio was in contention until his KTM broke on lap 16.

Points: Bautista 70, Faubel 45,Gadea 41, Kailio 33,Pesek 29, Pasini 29.

Points: Salignon 30, Garcia 22, Maldonado 14, Montanari 13, Danielsson 9, Kane 8,Soucek 6, Rossiter 6, Fleming and Toccaceio 5.

SCOTCAR RACING SCOTSMAN Paul di Resta has jumped to the lead of the F3 Euroseries over Sebastian Vettel, giving the ASM team a familiar position at the top of the championship standings.

But it was fellow MercedesBenz-powered team Manor Motorsport that won both rounds at EuroSpeedway two weeks ago, with Argentinean Esteban Guerrieri and Japan's Kazuki Nakajima taking a round win each.

The ASM pairing of di Resta and Vettel followed home Guerrieri in the first race, with Nakajima leading home Richard Antinucci and di Resta in the second. Vettel's sixth in the second race meant he relinquished his series lead, but it was a lot worse for Guillaume Moreau, who led the opening laps before having to serve a drivethrough penalty for a Jump start.

Points: di Resta 19, Vettei 17, Guerrieri 17, Nakajima 16, Hirate 13, Moreau 12, Antinucci 11, Grosjean 6.

64

NATHAN NOT PRETTY Antunes 14th and a DNFin FR Eurocup debut NATHAN Antunes has endured a tough start to his Red Bull-backed attack on the 2006 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup at Zolder two weeks ago.

The Australian qualified in 23rd in the 37-car field, but was able to get his Motopark Academy car up to 14th in Race 1.

Race 2saw Antunes rise as high as 11th but contact with another car sent Antunes out of the race.

"I had some difficulties in adjusting to the

conditions until the second race, where it all came together and the car was Just fantastic," said the NSW driver."But contact with Adrian Zaugg saw me end up in the sand pit."

Antunes's next race will be in the North European FRenault Series on May 14 at Spa-Francorchaps.

Both races were won by Frenchman Laurent Groppi, driving for Graff Racing.

Points: Groppi 32, Baguette 22, Mustonen 14,Van Der Drift 12, Maasen 11,Dillmann 8, Albuquerque and Muggia 7,Van Dam 6.

motorsport news

.. international

BMW has taken the initiative from Seat in the second round of the World Touring Car Championship at Magny-Cours.

The 320is finished 1-2 in both races, \with BMW Germany fellow drivers Jorg and Dirk Muller duking it out in the opener, above, the former making a winning move with three laps left. In the second race, Andy Priaulx of BMW UK,right, sprinted away from pole f ./jf.'Ji position (which he scored for finishing eighth in Race 1) and could led to the chequered flag, while Jorg charged from seventh and have lost everything." overtook two Seats to secure If Pria ulx was happy,Yvan Muller second. was not. His Seat hated carrying While the German cars the success ballast he earned at dominated. Seat had to be content Monza a nd struggled on his home turf. Yva n's mood was not made with two third places shared between Rickard Rydell and Jordi any brig hter when PeterTerting's Gene. Alfa Romeo had a shocker, Seat too k seventh from him in none of the N.technology cars on Race 2,though he refused to the pace on the French track. complain about it.

"When I was fighting for seventh "He was quick, he overtook me with [James]Thompson in Race 1 and that's it," he said. it would have been nice to steal Alex Zanardi struggled in his the extra point,"said Priaulx after BMW,with 14th in Race 1 and a crash in Race 2. taking the series lead,"because my starts are good anyway and Points: Priauix 21,Y Muiier 18, J Mulier starting second would have been andTarquini 16, D Muller 15, Gene 14, Thompson 13, Farfus 11. fine. But if I had pushed too hard I

1

1

} ●Tie:''

\ ■ ^

.

10 May 2006

STAR PERFORMER BERND Schneider should be called 'Butter', because he is on a roll.

The German,above, was in great form at the Lausitzring, taking his second win of the season (and third in a row) and a 20-point lead in the DTM series. Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen was second and Mika Hakkinen third, after leading much of the race until he encountered problems on the leftrear wheel during his second pit stop.

Oddly, his fellow ex-Formula 1 driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen had exactly the same problem when he made his stop in his Audi, while poleman Jamie Green had it all go pear-shaped when he missed the start completely.

While Hakkinen was leading, the

Audi A4 of Mattias Ekstrom gave the leading group a Scandinavian feel, and it was the former DTM champion that took the lead with the two-time World champion fell back. But the Swede stopped with two laps left when he ran out of fuel, causing red faces in the Audi garage.

Green finished in fourth place ahead of his MercedesBenz-colleague, Canadian Bruno Spengler and Alexandros Margaritis, the best-placed driver in year-old machinery.The 10 was completed by Frenchman Jean Alesi (Stern AMG Mercedes) and the Audi trio of Martin Tomczyk, Timo Scheider and Pierre Kaffer.

Points: Schneider 20, Kristensen 16, Hakkinen 11, Margaritis 7, Frentzen 6, Aiesi and Green 5,Spengier 4.

65

-

Adelaide^s Trevor Green talks to GREG BOSCATO about winning his second Parramatta Track Championship and heading to the United States for a crack at Kerry Madsen^s Knoxville Track Championship title MOTORSPORT NEWS: Has it been a very tough season racing at Parramatta?

TREVOR GREEN: it's certainly been a tough season.To come up here and start with a new team and not have complete control of your destiny like I have had for the past 15 years was certainly different.

The crunch came about three races into the season when me, Baz and Viv (Barry and Vivian Lewis, Green's team owners) worked out what we were doing, where we were going. It's been great with Baz and Viv, the doors are always open for ideas and suggestions.

They gave me full confidence, three or four races in, that they were not here just to make up the numbers but to win.

What has been the highlight of your summer?

I think the highlight to any season has to be the Outlaws race.These young kids here now get to race against the best in the world.The car numbers - I guess there is 60 cars in the pits and you don't need much to go wrong to go 66

really wrong with that amount of cars so I think the Outlaws,the quality of cars and just getting to race with these up and coming young guns which are going to be the next generation.

Do you learn much when the Outlaws race here at PCR in January?

Yes, I think you do. It just shows, well every race you come to race here, it's always tough competition. Either it's (Garry) Brazier here one week or Max (Dumesny), or a bunch of Americans to get to race on ah American-style of track compared to the rest of the country.

Kwinana in WA is an American style of track, but the rest have been sort of been out-grown by our cars. I think it holds us in good steed to go over there (in the USA).

We don't fear the Americans anymore because we are used to them coming here.

They have been coming here so long and there is so many of them coming, we feel so comfortable racing against them. I think its not just here at Parramatta but it's helped the

entire country,filtering through the system.

You and the Lewis team are sticking together to run the Knoxville Track Championship. Is having the same team going to help?

Sure,the car I ran over the International season and we took it to New Zealand, well it left New Zealand and went straight to Knoxville.

Baz left here two weeks before the end of the season,so Baz and Paul Stock have been putting on the finishing touches getting everything ready for our first race straight after I leave here.

What is your program over in the US? Will you be able to fit in any races at other venues?

The plan is to run the full KnoxvilleTrack Championship and we can determine how it pans out as we go.

We will try and travel, we do have options to do Friday night and Sunday races. I kind of said to Baz I prefer to travel a bit further and do some better races, do some National Sprint

motorsportnews

speedway

NO ONE-TRACK PONY Tour or World of Outlaws shows.

It doesn't matter if you race a club show or race against them (the major touring series), it still costs the same amount of money to run. So we might as well race against the best competition we can.

You swapped over to a locally-built Cool Chassis during the year and it's worked very well. Cool has taken Kerry Madsen to last year's Knoxville championship as well as Brooke Tatnell to both WSS and Australian Titles.

Yes, we are running the same combination as Brooke and Krikke Motorsport did this season, Maxwill Engines and Cool Chassis, and look at Kerry's performance over the past few years (in Cool Chassis). We used my old car for the first couple of races and It did take us a few weeks to try and work it 10 May 2006

out and find a sweet spot with it.

It's very user-friendly car, everything we do to the car it does what we ask it to do. I think it has been a little bit better than me on a couple of occasions this year!

What does the future hold for Trevor Green?

You never really know but I'll be really hopeful that Baz and Viv do something again with us next year. Obviously what we do at Knoxville determines what we do here next season.

I think for my future, competition future is here at Parramatta. It's a beautiful track to race on, it gives us the roughest of rough,the slickest of slick, the biggest cushions,throws everything at us. I think for my long-term future, Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway is where I need to be.

don't fear the Americans anymore because we are used to them coming here^^ - Green,centre, with fellow Aussie guns Kerry Madsen,left, and Robbie Farr, right 67

j- .■/

Smee wins Bikebiz Speedcar Classic AN in-form Nathan Smee scored a brilliant victory in the Bikebiz 50-lap Classic at Tyrepower PCR two weeks ago with Jason Gates taking second from Tony Abson.

For Smee it was a great result, after the Sydneysider finished second to Michael Pickens in last year's inaugural Speedcar 50-lap feature. Smee was racing the WAbased McAllan Speedcar for the first time after his first race in WA was cut short after developing engine problems.

Adam Clarke, who was racing his brother in-law Steven Graham's #14 machine, quickly powered up into the leading pack in the feature and was on Smee's tail by lap four. After a restart, Clarke took the lead and quickly moved away but with 20 laps to run, an oil fire caused by engine problems forced Clarke out giving the lead to Smee.

Abson tried to dive by Smee after a couple late race restarts, but Smee held on for the victory, with Abson losing second to Gates late in the A-Main. Rounding out the top six of the 10 finishers were Chris Steep, Kiwi Scott Buckley (racing the Aussie Title-winning Hawk Engines Aggressor) and Tim Evans. Brett Morris, Mark Brown, Troy and Darren Jenkins and Mark Cooper were all retirements.

CRUMP ON TOP tony millaKdt JASON Crump has shot to the top of the Speedway GP World Championship standings after triumph at the European Grand Prix.

Crump won his 13th GP and helped his campaign to win a second World Championship by eliminating six-times Champion Tony Rickardsson in the last of the 20 qualifying heats.

By relegating Rickardsson to an also-ran. Crump also allowed fellow Aussie Leigh Adams to reach the semi-finals.

Crump, who was second in the opening round in Slovenia, stormed to victory in the final ahead of America's Greg Hancock, Matej Zagar of Slovenia and home favourite Jaroslaw Hampel.

"It was a great night and it was mighty tough," said Crump.

“My pits crew was tremendous.

It is important to keep going now and my aim is nothing less than the world title.

"My win in heat 20 put Tony (Rickardsson) out of the semis and with Nicki not making the final, It worked out well. I just have to keep going now. It was also good to win in from of a crowd who support me so well here in Poland."

Not only did Crump dent the hopes of Rickardsson but the failure of Denmark's Nicki Pedersen to make the final and build upon his victory in round one means Crump now has a six point series lead.

Adams had an off-colour GP but, with the help of Crump, reached the semi-finals with just seven points and one heat victory, only to finish last in his semi-final.

4 metres of rainfall. The infield go kart and bike tracks have been submerged, as has the Speedway track from the pole line towards the fence.

"The track is mostly under water and there is no way the track surface will dry out in time and I would estimate at least another two more weeks before we can even get a grader out there to start track preparations," said club President Garry Pendlebury.

If Mother Nature is kind to the venue, located in Darwin's Hidden Valley, the season will begin on Saturday May 22, and at time of writing the club will host 11 nights of racing featuring Sprintcars and AMCA Nationals scheduled for every night.

- GREG BOSCATO/PARIS CHARLES

m

1^.

I

li

Points: Crump 45, N.Pedersen 39, Gollob 27, Zagar 27, Hancock 25, Rickardsson 22, Hampel 20, Nicholls 18, Adams 17.

LUCKY JACK

The wild weather that has ripped through the top end of Australia has played havoc at Darwin's Northline Speedway, delaying the opening meeting of the Northern Territory season.

The opening night, scheduled for Saturday May 6, has been cancelled due to the record rainfall in the wet season and additional damage from Cyclone Monica.

Although Cyclone Monica caused little damage as it passed through Darwin, the Northline venue has sustained around 3-

ml

JAC Haudenschild has won the latest round of the World of Outlaws at US 36 Raceway last Friday night.

'Haud', left, passed Wayne Johnson for the lead on lap 10 and from there led the rest of the 40lap feature, giving car owner Rick Wright his first World of Outlaws feature win.

BrookeTatnell came via the B-Main to finish 10th, Daryn Pittman drove theTitan Racing Maxim to 7th, whileTrevor Green and Kerry Madsen both failed to transfer to the feature from the BMain. Series leader Donny Schatz rolled in his Dash and the feature. reducing his championship lead.

T-Mac pips Aussies TERRY McCarl has held off Australians Skip Jackson and Kerry Madsen to win the opening round of the Knoxville Track Championship.

McCarl was one of many World of Outlaws and National Sprint Tour drivers who ventured to Knoxville when other meetings were rained out. McCarl, a six-time Knoxville Track Champion, led home the Australian duo, who are both contesting the Knoxville series this season, Madsen as defending Champ.

BrookeTatnell was seventh in the strong field after time trialling second fastest. Australian Knoxville runners Lynton Jeffrey and Trevor Green were 15th and 20th respectively.

motorsportnews

speedway

MAX WINS OPEN

Wide at the Open: Dumesny drives inside Robbie Farr, above, and Terry Bracken, below, to take win the last event of his long 2005/06 campaign.

MAX Dumesny brought his 05/06 Speedway season to an end with a win two weeks ago,taking out the Smorgon Recycling Australian Sprintcar Open at Brisbane International Speedway over Robbie Farr and Terry Bracken.

Dumesny came up to speed as the weekend went on, not truly hitting his straps untii the end of the second night, "i dropped back to fourth and run there for a while,"said Dumesny."From about lap 10, 1 started to have a go at Robbie and pulled it off, it was good."

"I'm a little disappointed to lead the race that long and not be good enough for the end,"said Farr.

"Max was getting better as the race went on and we were getting a little worse, we were just a little bit loose. That's just racing. It's a good solid effort to get two cars in the top four (with team-mate Todd Wanless)."

Dumesny had laid the foundations for the drive, claiming the preliminary feature on Friday night (from Farr and Wanless), again climbing through the top end to do so.

Qnce the feature was underway Farr and Bracken made the early running while Dumesny and

Wanless traded third position.

Dumesny made the lead battle amongst three for a while before going side by side with Farr for a whole lap.

The three top Queenslanders were all disappointed to be third, fourth and fifth, with Bracken and Wanless both looking good early in the feature, while Andrew Scheuerle was unable to repeat Friday night's pace on Saturday when he had been the best car of the night.

Richard Morgan took sixth ahead of Northern Territory racer Danny Reidy, who will be racing the remainder of the Queensland season. David Muir, Darren Jensen and PeterThorley (driving Clem Fioffman's Q3 Maxim)completed the top 10.

It was a miserable campaign for the Lusty Low Loaders team, with Bryan Mann crashing heavily on the back straight in the preliminary feature, destroying his car.

Stand in team-mate Garry Brazier not only broke a rocker in time trials, he was left with nowhere to go when Mann crashed. He then got tangled in a second crash early on Saturday and missed progression from the B-Main by one spot.

-MARK JONES

Heartland wash-out gives SRA showdown to Nyora THE aborted final round of Victoria's Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar Series is now back on, to be run at a different venue and in the middie of the day.

The final round of the Series was scheduled for Echuca-Moama's Heartland Raceway two weeks ago, but severe rain forced organisers to cancel the meeting.The round will now be run at Nyora Raceway on Sunday May 21, with racing scheduled to start at midday.

Hoosier Tire Australia Australian Distributors for

Xoo$irr

^ ^ RACING TIRE

for more info on Hoosier Drag & Speedway Tyres caii:

NSW: VIC: 5A:

0296791990 0393316477 0883320800

10 May 2006

F029679V87 F0393317444 F0883640296

The Sprintcar Racing Associtaion said the cancellation prompted Nyora club member Frank Ramsdale and his committee to consider re-running the final, then Nyora club president Lloyd Hobson confirmed the event with the SRA late last week.

"We would like to run the Eureka Series final,"said Hobson. "We believe that by running it on the Sunday afternoon, starting by midday, it will be more spectator friendly and give the competitors time to get home

at a respectable time.

"A quick ring around to some of the drivers found that there was good support to do the Sunday afternoon event, over eighteen drivers have committed to support the event already."

Simpson's John Vogels and Melbourne's David Murcott will go into the final as the only two to have a realistic chance of winning the series crown.

- GEOFF ROUNDS

WORLD OF OUTLAWS 2006 CHAIVIPIONSHIP Missouri High-Bank Nationals

Standings as at 8th May

?●

DOWN McClenathan survives a big one CORY McClenathan was uninjured in a wild Friday night crash at Bristol two weeks ago.

The car's top frame rail appeared to break just behind the driver's compartment at the 1000foot mark, similar to Tony Schumacher's incident last season, but this one had far worse results.

The car bowed up in the middle, broke in half and roiled over before it hit the wall and skidded down the track in flames.

McClenathan was conscious throughout, and was flown to Bristol Regional Medical Centre for a complete check-up.

McClenathan was released at 1:30am on the Saturday morning.

The team had a new Hadman chassis transported to Bristol from their Indianapolis-based shop overnight.

The FRAM/Carrier Boyz Racing crew worked throughout the day Saturday to prepare the back-up car, and were ready before the rain-delayed first round of eliminations. McClenathan clocked a 4.66s/317mph, but fell to Rod Fuller in a first round loss.

Q Before his death-defying crash, McClenathan won his first eMax Drag Racing Series event when he narrowly defeated Andrew Cowin in the Top Fuel final of the IHRA Spring Nationals at Rockingham.

Cowin, who had defeated Michael Gunderson and Clay Millican earlier in the day, had his Serta dragster's engine give up, leaving McClenathan to pass and beat him - but onlyjust. McClenathan recorded a winning 4.71s/309mph to better Cowin's 4.78s/281mph.

After a long battle with pancreatic cancer, Ronnie'The Boss'Sox passed away at his Burlington, North Carolina home last week.

Sox was one of the major players in the inception of the Pro Stock and Super Stock classes, and the standard of professionalism displayed by the legendary Plymouth-powered,Sox and Martin team set the standard for years to come.

His dominance of the class's early years caused NHRA to make rule changes to stop it. His win record includes over 50 event victories in Super Stock and Pro Stock in an era when the national event schedule consisted of less than half the number of yearly events on today's schedule.

- DAVID OSTAZSEWSKI

RAINING GLORY A FOUR hour rain delay was not enough to stop proceedings at Atlanta Dragway for the 26th annual NHRA Southern Nationals Doug Kalitta won his second Top Fuel final in a row and moved past David Grubnic into second place in the points standings. Kalitta stopped Melanie Troxel in the final round,4.46s/327mph to a tyre-smoking 7.53s/133mph.The Mac Tools dragster streaked to 4.55s/324mph, 4.47s/325mph and 4.48s/328mph wins over David Baca,Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon in prior rounds.

Tony Pedregon, above, recorded his first victory of Funny Car, stopping Robert Might in the final round in a 4.74s/325mph to 4.73s/321 mph holeshot victory.

Dave Connolly continued the string of non-repeat drivers in 2006 Pro Stock racing as he became the seventh winner of the year.

Anton Brown made it three in-a-rowfor Don Schumacher's Pro Stock Motorcycle team,stopping defending series Champion Andrew Hines in the final round on a holeshot.

IN the round of the NHRA at Bristol Dragway a week earlier, Ron Capps continued his early season dominance by defeating John Force in the final round.

Capps clocked a holeshot aided 4.79s pass at 319mph in his Brut Dodge Stratus to hold off Force's quicker 4.78s at 31 Omph.The margin of victory at the stripe was a scant.019s.

Top Fuel winner Doug Kalitta stopped Rod Fuller in the final. Kalitta's Mac Tools dragster recorded a winning time of 4.53s at a track record speed of 331.53s, while Fuller's Valvoline/David Powers Homes dragster lost traction at the hit of the throttle.

Pro Stock saw victor Jason Line become the sixth different winner of the season when he took out series leader and team-mate Greg Anderson,6.71 s/205mph to 6.75s/204mph.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

THE standings at the head of the Australian Top Fuel Championship is dead even between reigning Champion Darren Morgan and Philip Read after the penultimate round at the Western Sydney international Dragway last weekend.

Held in perfect drag racing conditions,the Snap On Tools Nitro Championships produced a number of interesting points of the course of the weekend, including Read's 4.650s at 320.74mph - a new national record - on Friday to head qualifying.

But it was the blue Fuchs car of Mdr'g^h Which gripped,stuck mi' and stormed all the way to its quickest and fastest ever run at WSID. His 4.704s at 318.77mph was enough to edge out a tyre-shaking Read, who saw a possible 20 point series lead evaporate into nothing.

In the first round, Morgan defeated Bob Shepard who lost a blower belt. A solo pass in the senni gaye Morgan an easy run to the final. i^j.( .

Read's run was also straightforward. After top qualifying in an Australian record time. Read had a solo run through the first round, and ran a'four'against Steve Read in the

I

Points after Atlanta: Top Fuel:Troxel 636, Kalitta 504,Grubnic 434, Fuller 416,Bernstein 403.

Funny Car: Capps 634, Foce 538, Might 416, Medien 409,Worsham 376.

Pro Stock: Anderson 504, Line 451, Enders 425, Edwards 414,Yates 392

INNER-SWAPPING DON Schumacher In a related note, Schumacher has hired Racing has appointed rm LTodd Okuhara as the engine builder and former driver David Nickens to new crew chief on the replace Bob Glidden, right, Mateo Tools Iron Eagle as manager and crew nki Dodge Charger R/T chief on DSR's two Pro Funny Car, driven by Whit Bazemore in the it Richie Stevens and Shaun NHRA POWERade Drag JirPt Carlson.

Racing Series. ridO^H !* Stock teams for drivers Brian Corradi, who Glidden's son Rusty has also left the Pro Stock joined the team this team, which will remain operating season, will continue as Okuhara's out of the Indianapolis based shop. right-hand man as the assistant -DAVID OSTASZEWSKI crew chief.

[motorspoitnews

drag racing

TO THE WIRE Morgan grabbed a much^needed win at WSiDs while Bray and Upton were wrapping matters up

**

semi to advance to the final.

The closest Top Fuel nace of the day was in the first round between 'Pom'Steve Read and Terry Sainty.

Read was late off the line and suffered tyre shake at the initial hit of the throttle, and then blew a head gasket. All this, and he still took the win over a peddling Sainty.

Competition was just as tough in Top Alcohol. Ben Bray took the victory, and just about assured himself the Australian Top Alcohol crown.

Dean Oakey met Bray In the final and both cars shook hard off the line, but Bray's Funny Car recovered first and claimed the win with a 6.011 s at 249.12mph over Oakey's 7.832s at 119.16mph.

Bray's biggest threat came in Round 1 against fast Funny Car contender Mark Brew. Bray's holeshot was the only thing that saved him, as Brew actually ran a time 0.03s quicker.

In the semi, Bray beat Debbie Read, who was fortunate to be in

the semi final after Gary Phillips lost a blower belt in the first round.

Oakey defeated Wayne Newby and Brett Stevens on the way to the final. Stevens had damaged an engine in earlier running,and took a gamble by patching up a part, rather than changing the whole engine. His car held together and proved fast enough, but he wasn't as sharp at the green light as Oakey.

Jay Upton continued his class act in Top Bike at the WSID. He beat Brett Stevens in the final after Brett's bike struggled off the line.

With one round to go, Upton is in the box seat to win the Top Bike title.

Steven's team-mateTroy Maclean looked like the only rider capable of upsetting Upton or Stevens. When Maclean met his boss in the semi,the pair ran side-by-side until Stevens pulled in front. With Stevens still a mathematical chance at the title, Maclean's job security remains intact!

Bray Day(and night):Ben,above,took the win in Top Alcohoiat WSID.

Second place is the first loser:Phil Read,middle left, clocked a new Aussie record on Friday, but couldn'tget the points when it counted.Jay Upton, middle right, claimed the Top Bike win from BrettStevens,above.

Noshoesfor Italian stallions A PAIR of Ferrari 430s were slated to make their Australian racing debut at Oran Park's third round of the Speed Energy Drinks Australian GT Championship.

The cars, purchased by John Teulan and David Stevens,arrived in the country before Round 2 at Bathurst, however delays meant the tyres arrived in Melbourne on Saturday. As a result,Teulan reverted to his 360 Challenge and Stevens sat out the round. Both drivers will debut

Chris Jordan

GRM HISTORIC

GARRY Rogers will compete in the remaining rounds of this year's Biante Historic Touring Car Series.

Rogers, a former Australian touring car driver-turned-race team owner, has purchased a white Holden Monaro and will

make his debut in the popular category at Barbagallo Raceway in two weeks.

"I'll do it for the rest of this year, next year, and every year until I fall off the perch!" Rogers quipped.

The Monaro will be prepared in

their new toys at Phillip Island. □ A new ownership structure ushered In the 2006 STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship last weekend. Doing away with the board structure of 2005, reigning Series Champion Peter Floyd now owns GT Performance Pty Ltd, the company that controls the series.

Floyd will take a predominantly handsoff role in the category, which will be controlled by Craig Nayda. A range of competitor misfortunes were among the issues that reduced the field from an

- msB-

expected over-20 cars to the eventual 12 that did run.

Of the cars on track, on hand to help Andrew Moffat's debut in the class aboard an FPV BF Typhoon F6 were three engineers from Prodrive, to observe the vehicle's development. Also around the pits was 2005 ARC Champion co-driver Dale Moscatt, taking time out from his Chinese Rally Championship duties to renew his ties with Protecnica Racing, who ran Chris Alajajian.

Round 4 of the CAMS National Racing Series at Phillip Island on May 19-20 will be the first of two in 2006 to include Formula Vee races. The 37-car entry list includes Formula Vee frontrunners and champions from around the country. □ Round 3 of the CAMS Nationals was the series' first visit to Sydney and its strongest weekend to date. Aided by the presence of the SuperTrucks, a strong crowd was on hand for the weekend, which was a PROCAR reunion of sorts.

After three rounds of 10, Series Administrator Rob Curkpatrick is pleased with the progress to date.

"We are pretty much on-track," he said. "The philosophy has always been to provide a place to race and that's what's happening. Everything that we set out to do, we've achieved it so far."

-MITCHELL ADAM

A TECHNICAL infringement cost Garry Holt a clean sweep in the opening round of the 2006 STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship at Oran Park last weekend.

Holt, who finished second in the series in 2005, was in control all weekend and scored three comfortable race wins. However his Mitsubishi Lancer vyas found to have been under the minimum ride-height in Race 3 and was subsequently excluded from the race results.

It handed the round win to Holt's new team-mate, Barry Morcom, who finished each race inside the top three to secure his first round win in the class.

Morcom was reeled in and passed by Peter Floyd in Race 3, a move which earnt Floyd the race victory following Holt's exclusion.

It ended a weekend for Floyd that started on a far different note to his title winning season in 2005.

A faulty fuel pump ended his opening race, and a clash with Beric Lynton delayed his progress in Race 2.

Behind Floyd and Morcom in

Race 3 was Steve Cramp, who bounced back from a differential problem while running third in Race 1. Dean Lillie was fourth, securing third place for the round, ahead of Lynton and James Philip.

Philip, like Cramp, was among the drivers challenging for the final podium position ofthe weekend. He was third in Race 1, before costly tyre troubles in Race 2.

Chris Alajajian was a late addition to the weekend's field, but didn't have a smooth run. In

Rogers's Melbourne workshop and will carrythe#33onthedoors.

"I looking forward to it. I'm treating it as a bit of fun, but Tm going to be serious about it. I'm not saying Tm going to slay the opposition, it will be a lot of fun, but it would be even more fun if I can get a good result.

Tm sure all the critics be hanging over the fence, having a laugh!

Rogers recently competed in the V8 Utes Legends race during the Bathurst International Motor Festival. He said that he'll treat his HistoricTouring Car effort in the same vein as the Bathurst Ute race.

'It was a bit offun/'he said."The utes aren't the most powerful things on earth, but to be honest, it was one of the best times I've ever had at a race meeting. No one was running around with rule books in their hand. Everyone was there to have fun. I hope this new project is just as much fun.'

- GRANT ROWLEY

Race 1, he recovered from an early incident to finish fifth. This improved to second place in Race 2, before crashing out in Race 3 with a cut tyre.

Also in the wars, newcomer Andrew Moffat battled a number of issues in a new FPV F6 Typhoon.

Turbo and differential issues hampered his progress and kept him out of the final race.

-MITCHELL ADAM Points: Morcom 68, Holt 63, Lillie 49, Floyd 47, Lynton 46, Alford 44, Alajajian 41, Cramp 38, Philip 36, Moffat 27, Nesbitt 18.

motorsportnews

national imitchell ad^nii

W

THE battle for Round 2 honours in the Yokohama V8 Ute Championship went right down to the wire at Oran Park, with Grant Johnson and Jack Elsegood battling it out and a sideways moment determining the outcome.

Points leader Johnson was the man to beat early in the weekend, scoring pole position and taking out the opening race. Elsegood was eighth in Race 1, having been caught up in an opening lap fracas, but turned the tables and won the remaining two races.

In Race 2, Johnson was second after a move past Kim Jane at the final corner on the last lap.

Johnson ran in fourth place for the majority of the final race, however tried to make a move around the outside of Marcus Zukanovic exiting Turn 2. He got sideways momentarily on the exit and lost momentum,dropping a position.

With little separating Elsegood

and Johnson on points, it was this lost position that gave Elsegood the round win.

Gary Baxter finished second in Races 1 and 3, ahead of Zukanovic on each occasion. Matt O'Grady was fourth in Race 3,to cap a strong weekend where he finished each race inside the top five.

A wedding saw Jane miss quaiifying, but led to an impressive drive in Race 1 to finish seventh from the rear of the grid.

He was third in the reverse grid race and sixth in Race 3, ahead of Charlie Kovacs, James Brock,Tony Bates and Darren Palmer.

Damien White entered the round second in the series standings as he looks to make it three Lite crowns in a row, but had a weekend to forget. After qualifying second fastest, a computer issue kept him out of the opening race. He fought through to finish ninth in Race 2, while a clash with James Small at The Esses ended Small's race and left White to finish 20th.

The incident ended an already

J frustrating weekend for Small.

From fourth on the grid, he was turned around at Turn 3 on the opening lap by Kerry Wade.The ensuing damage as the field entered the corner eliminated Small from the race, along with Ashley Cooper and Scott Jennings.

Also involved was the luckless Matt Kingsley, ending his weekend and further delaying his first V8 Ute race finish, now after three events.

Wade was excluded from the

opening race, with 12th in Race 3 his best result from the weekend.

Points:Johnson 209, Elsegood 188, Zukanovic 185, Baxter 165, Brock 157, Jane 153,White 134, Kovacs 122.

●O

1!^ BW

Back to Back I NOT content with i dominating the NSW Formula Ford 1600 : Championship proceedings i during Round I of the New I South Wales Motor Racing ; Championship at Wakefield I Park last month, Ben Mdrley : (Spectrum) added another three race wins to his tally during Round 2 at Eastern ; Creek Raceway. ; Morley extendedhis championship points lead but there weren't any exorbitant ; victory margins, with Nick Lowe (Spertrum) pushing him I all the way on each occasion.

Kristian Lindbom (Spectrum) was third in each race, having battled with Kyle Wood (Van ' Dieman) and Glenn Welch (Mygale). Matthew Howard I (Van Dieman) entered the weekend third in the series standings, but an engine failure in Race 1 ended his i weekend.

-MITCHELL ADAM Points: Morley T80, Lindbom 117, ; Payne 112, Lowe 96, Welch 92, Wood ; 92, Cotton 91, Douglas 76, Howard 74.

no May 2006

■s.

ROUND 2 of the New South Wales Motor Racing Championship at Eastern Creek produced big fields and tight racing.

In a frenetic weekend of Formula Vee racing, Adam Proctor (Jacer) was at the front of 39-car field when it counted in each of the three races. Stephen Butcher (Stinger) recorded a pair of second place finishes, with reigning series champion Ryan Simpson (Jacer), Matthew Pearce (Jacer) and Gary Ogden (Mako) also snaring a race podium position.

The Over 2 Litre Improved Production brigade almost broke their 1998 class lap record, with Scott Fleming (Mazda RX7) coming closest en-route to a three race wins. It was predominantly Mazda at the front of the field, with Doug Moss (Datsun 120Y) providing some resistance to finish second in Race 3.

While Fleming came close to breaking the Over 2 Litre lap record, lap-record shattering pace helped Dave Loftus (Toyota Starlet) to a clean sweep of Under 2 Litre Improved Production races.Three dominant wins extended his championship points lead, while Bob Jowett (Ford Escort) was second in each race.

It was almost a perfect weekend for Combined Touring Car Championship racer Anton Mechtler (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII). He won the opening two races and led the third, before suffering a fuel pump problem, allowing Bob Brewer (Holden Commodore) to take the race win.

Anthony Skinner (Porsche GT3) took top honours in the Production Sports Car ranks, taking a pair of race wins after troubles struck rivals Bob Pearson (Mazda RX7), Paul Bolinowsky (Porsche GT3) and Race 1 victor lain Pretty (A/C Cobra).

Reigning series Champion Chris Jackson (Holden Calibra) bounced back from a disastrous first round, to take a hat-trick of Sports Sedan wins, Wakefield winner Anthony MacReady (Rover) cemented his points lead with three second-place finishes.

Keiren Pilkington won the opening HQ race at Eastern Creek, before Layton Crambrook took control.

Crambrook won the remaining two races, with Pilkington second in each instance.

While Clubman Challenge points leader Paul Shacklady (PRB) sat on the sidelines with gearbox problems, Russell Butler (Westfield) had a perfect weekend. He took three wins, withstanding challenges from Lynton Wettone (PRB) and Gordon Campbell (PRB).

It was three different winners from three starts as the AF2/Supersports races became a survival of the fittest. John Muddle (Ralt RT30), Greg Hunter (Reynard 913) and Kevin Lewis (CRD 852) shared the spoils.

-MITCHELL ADAM See next issue ofMotorsport News for the latest edition of Motorsport NSW, our exclusive insert detailing all the action from Round 2 of the NSW Motor Racing Championships

73

CI^INf HSarvey I'edlaifQKd d’oiiiihati^ thiiidiiroundlOfthe MOf Stipaioc Austijaiiani SalOon Car Championship last weekend.

Falteons filled'the top fourin all ibuit one pf the taceSi sweepingithe ippdium in each lini \what was aithoro.ugihiy dbrninating display by the Blue ©wall Harvey d'Oiiiiiinatedi the d'omihltprs,the West Aussiewinniingieaehiofthe three iraces andisetting;a.ineW'©:raniiPark lap record!to boot.

; ! ;

iHarvey's crushingi display <ca me early, escaping:to a sdiid;illeadiin the flrst irace before reigning Champ Bruce Heinrich elOsedi in towards the end'of the S il'ap sprint.

Queenslander Chris Walton followed! the trip' erossing'the inish line nose to tail.

Race twd'saw ilH'emfichutaste lilfie leadi ea nly; teiut heo:n%:ifnanaged;tohoid onfor one lap> before the flying Harvey shot past to once again record a stunning victory by just over ai second.

A battle for the minor positions saw Race T place getter Walton relegated to fifthi place at the flag. Matt Lovell;taking hisiA Palcoh fromvsewenth on.the grid to the podium'iin the lO'iap encounter.

Harvey again d'orainated the thitidirafe; leadiingiiHarvey and!Walton.ihome after eight

‘iaps.

Predictably, Harvey won the round' from(Heinrich and,Walton ^ the top three championship contenders clearly superior at ©ran Park.

RYAN TOP A PAIR of race wins at Oran Park has elevated David Ryan to the top of the Shannons Australian Production Car Championship standings.

Ryan (falcon XR6Turbo)took pole position, and won both of the series'handicap races. In Race 2, he held out a challenge torn Drew Russell(Honda S2000), hut built a threesecond margin in Race 3.

It saw Ryan take the Class A and Outright honours for the weekend,and move to the top of the Outright standings for the first time in 2006.

For Russell,finishing on the podium in each race was a strong way to bounce back from a disappointing trip to the Apple Isle for Round 2,where a mechanical problem cost him the series lead.

Adam Beechey(Honda Integra Type R)continued his perfect run in the Trophy Class,

74

again taking the honours. He was third outright in each handicap race, with Class B victor Colin Osborne(Toyota Celica)fourth in Race 3, ahead of Rob Rubis(BMW 323i)and John Houlder(Falcon XR8).

The sole Class C competitor was Darren Best(Ford Focus).

Best was ninth in the final race, having failed to finish Race 2 after losing a wheel.

Steve Briffa (Holden Commodore)won the scratch race, punctuated by a Safety Car following a clash between Houlder and Nick Dunkley, but engine problems in Race 2 ended his run. Leigh Mertens' retired from Race 1 when his Commodore went into'limp' mode,then retired from Race 2 and the weekend with oil surge problems.

- MITCHELL ADAM Points: Ryan 137, Houlder 128, Russell 110, Best 97, Dunkley 91,Osborne 90.

Holden's:hopes had'ai tough time dfiii given Ford's strong,0ran Park Rotiiifl„J@lhh' Goodacre and Shawn Jamieson the best of the'Red brigade.

Round'two standoutRaul Fiore had a tough \w'eekend>.unabJe,t<a(teplica]tehis, stunning pacefrOm Sytijirhons Plainsashi recorded'iresultsihithe:bottombfthe'tP,^l@s Harvey andiiHeinrich are nowthetwo’ main targets at the top ofthe table,>116?' points sp'liwihg the two foilowing;the third round.Walton, GoodacreandiFiore complete the top five.

RICHARMRif^i^ Points: Harvey/296,iHi§ihriiEh(280/Walton:241'/.Gibo^acne 2ii2,.'Fipre Jamiesph Il76;ibane 129; Camillerir1)29;^ Kwiatkowskii1!28;jBarbara>ii1:13.

- i

DAN THE DANIEL Richert has closed on the lead in the Ebanc Trade Commodore Cup Series following a strong performance at Oran Park Raceway at the weekend.

Richert headed a competitive field at the 2.6k Sydney circuit, three different race winners a highlight in a weekend that included the usual ferociously close racing and plenty of drama.

Richert's win and pair of second place finishes closed the margin to series leader Christian D'Agostin by seven points, the Round 1 winner bouncing back in the races following mechanical dramas throughout Saturday's practice and Qualifying sessions.

D'Agostin won the second race at Oran Park (ahead of Richert), whilst fourth in a shortened third race ensured enough points to secure second for the round.

Brett Holdsworth was the third race winner,theTTM-sponsored driver leaping to the front in a chaotic start before the race was declared after six laps.

A major shunt involving Ashley

Cooper and Chris Cone caused the stoppage, Cooper's car slamming into the wall approaching the dogleg before being clobbered by the Commodore of Cone.

While both cars were severely damaged the drivers emerged unscathed from the second major multi-car incident in Commodore Cup this season.

The early stages of the final race were highlighted by a major battle for the leading positions on the opening lap, Richert lucky to hold on to second place following a high-speed excursion into the sand on the run into turn two.

Fading light and a longer than expected recovery process saw the race called following the

motorsportnews

national mitchell adaim

r

IN a three-car, weekendlong battle for supremacy, consistency proved to be the key for defending Series Champion Bryce Washington, as he took the round win at Oran Park in Round 3 of the Speed Energy Drinks Australian GT Championship.

Qualifying set the stage for a battle between Washington (Porsche GTS Cup Car), David Wall (Porsche GTS RSR) and points leader Greg Crick(Dodge Viper), with the trio covered by less than four-tenths of a second at the head of the field. Crick's performance came after battling throttle gremlins during practice and the qualifying session itself.

When Race 1 got underway though, it all went Washington's way. Wall retired on the opening lap with steering problems, and Crick spun on out of second place on Lap 8. It left Washington to take a comfortable victory over the Cup Car driving Koundouris brothers, withTheo ahead of James.

Washington made it two from two with the Race 2 win, holding out a challenge from Crick, with

^ohn^Mom^

BRYCE ATTACK Wall progressing up the order to finish third. Crick and Wall got the jump on Washington in the final race, and built a gap. As the laps ticked down. Wall closed the gap to the Viper and applied some late pressure, but Crick held on.

He and finished three-tenths of a second clear of Wall, with Washington's third place was enough to claim his first round win for 2006 and reduce Crick's Championship points lead.

The Koundouris brothers continued their battle in Race 2,

MAN :

completion ofjust six of the scheduled 10 laps Marcus Zukanovic had a competitive weekend, recording fourth overall for a round that included all of his usual aggressive flair with some impressive three wide moments at some parts of the meeting.The Action Racing entry recorded two podium finishes and now sits fourth in the championship.

Stephen White and David Gittus completed the top six, with D'Agostin leading Richert by just 13 points following the round.

- RICHARD CRAILL Points; D'Agostin 284, Richert 271, Gittus 233,Zukanovic 231, Bates 199, Hoidsworth 198,Parker 189,Cone 184.

10 May 2006

with James holding outTheo to claim fourth place. He recorded another fourth place finish in the final race, while Theo retired on the opening lap with a clutch line failure.

Series debutant Damien Flack (Porsche GTS Cup Car) was fifth in the final race, capping a strong debut weekend where he recorded three top six finishes.

Matthew Turnbull (Porsche GTS Cup Car) was next, ahead of John Teulan (Ferrari 360 Challenge), Paul Tresidder(Porsche GTS Cup Car),

FOUR different drivers tasted success in the five Australian Super Truck races held at Oran Park Raceway last weekend.

The return of the trucks produced a solid 13truck entry and helped drew a sizable crowd to the circuit,the racing held in fine conditions and producing a variety of results and a stack of variety at the top of the podium throughout the weekend.

South:Australian Bob Middleton took pole, won the opening race and was a top five feature in the remaining two events behind the wheel of his ll!T.9*;litrefreightliner.

‘. Mil

Maher Algadri (Porsche GTS Cup Car) and MaxTwigg (Porsche GTS Cup Car), who lost ground after a clash with Flack at The Esses.

Having repaired his Honda NSX after a Bathurst crash, it was a tough weekend for Ian Palmer. He was seventh in the opening race, and 13th in Race 2 after Jumping the start. Things didn't improve in the final race, a mechanical problem prevented him from finishing Race 3.

Points; Crick 262,Washington 242, Koundouris J 173,Theo 167,Teulan 140.

Steven Coulter's Isuzu took outthe second race ^ - a five tapper - by an astounding;five seconds, whilst he would go on to score sixth in:the finale.

John Bomberie(Kenworth T90O) was another ! to score a race win,taking out the final:race on Sunday in rapidly decreasing light, ensuring that the race was reduced to a quick five lapper to conclude the day. Steven Zammit{Kenworth)and Daniel Bajema also featured in the results.

Colin Lovett was the man to beat in the pair of ' ; co-driver races, leading home contenders Ben Rose and John Falk in both events.

I ^iRIChlARDvCRAILL 2

NZkarts timed up THE national karting authority in New Zealand has done a deal with AMB Identification and Timing to put all Kiwi karters on the one uniform timing system.

Every licensed karter in the country will use an AMB transponder at race events.

This will also allow results from every ontrack session at sanctioned karting events to be uploaded to the mylaps.com website.

"This aligns New Zealand with movements in Europe and the US,"said AMB's Ben Wyner. A number of circuits in Australia also use the AMB system, with Newcastle and Picton recently added.

IT'S full steam ahead for Ben George and his Rotax race campaign in Europe.

The Aussie, above, scored maxirnutn points when he wc3n the opening round of the Austrian Rotax Championships at the tiny Graz circuit two weeks ago. Putting, his disqualification behind him from the opening Euro Series round, George

a win and a second apiece. Reigning Champion John Riley sits third, having completed the second race one-handed whilst holding a radiator hose in place!

weekend. Drivers need to be registered and compete in at least three of the opening four rounds to be eligible for the Newcastle Final and the subsequent prizes.

In other Premier State Cup news,the TaG category will be run at the remaining rounds of the 2006 series. The TaG class will replace Clubman Super Heavy, which failed to attract sufficient numbers at Round 1.There will be two classes racing simultaneously(Medium 170kg and Heavy 185kg).

Yamaha engines and tickets to the Australian FI GP and the Lexmark Indy 300 on the Gold Coast are the main prizes in the Five Track series in southern Queensland.

The series, which commences at Days Park Raceway on the Gold Coast in July, visits Toowoomba,Ipswich and Lismore (NSW)before the final round at Warwick on October 8. Five Yamaha engines will be given away to drivers in the National and Clubman classes. All the class winners will go into a draw for a double pass to the 2007 F1GP (includes airfare and accommodation) while all the other placegetters(2nd to 5th) will draw for one of the five Indy double-tickets.

-MARK WICKS

83

i

IT wasn't just the entry numbers that were up at the Island Karts-n-Parts Southern Tasmanian Titles recently.

Despite some enthusiastic kerb hopping'* ] at the Orielton.circuit, Kelsey Sapwell, left, didn't get to take home a trophy in Midgets.

Mixed weather saw a variety of slicks and wets in many classes. 15 classes competed at the titles with Senior and junior driver-of-the-day awards going to Trevor Parker and Rachel Baier respectively.

-MARK WICKS

Graham Barker(Anderson/Rotax) and Damien Payart(PVP/FPE)are joint leaders of the CIK European Superkart Championship after the first round at Hockenheim recently.The Brit and the Frenchman diced in both races to take

Registrations for the NSW Premier State Cup close this Friday, May 12.

The opening round has already been conducted and registrations need to be finalised before Round 2 at Goulburn this

simply dominated this NationaHevdl event,in miserably wet weather, he piantedi.his Team-'V I ntrepid on pole and:woni all ofthe races virtually'^^ unchallenged.

"It really was the perfect start to the championship,"said George of his title defence.

-MARK WICKS

New engines spark up r mark wicks

THE competition categories of kart racing are in a constant state of flux.The marketing of new equipment invariably sees new classes introduced to the sport that in turn bump less popular categories off the race program.

With the offer of free or inexpensive engine leasing,two more classes are beginning to infiltrate the Australian karting landscape; Yamaha TAG and Formula JMA. Both are currently classified as'experimental'in the AKA rule book.

With manufacturer/distributor support, both Yamaha (with their TAG100 KT100SEC)and Rotax (with their Junior MAX FRl 25) are building fields at various race tracks around the country.

Yamaha has a small fleet of Its lOOccTAG engines that move around the country.The motors are sealed and provided to the promoting club for competitors to use at a race meeting.

A similar thing is now happening with Formula JMA, or Junior Rotax, as it is more commonly known. Clubs wishing to run the category can arrange through their local DPE dealer for the supply of engines.

Competitors can then arrange through the dealer the use of an engine.This might attract a basic leasing fee, but includes technical support at the race track.

The Oakleigh club recently did this very thing, six Junior MAXers joining the seven-kart Junior Clubman field at their April race day. Jake Spencer took the honours.Just pippingTravis Millar after three close races. In the changeable weather conditions, FJMA lapped around half a second

faster than Jnr Clubman.

JMA is scheduled to run at quite a few of the Rotax/Bridgestonesupported events announced by DPE a few weeks ago.

The class runs the same MG Red tyre as used in Junior Clubman.

The Junior engine should be very reliable. It revs to around 12,800 - about 1000 less than the senior engine.The motor can be upgraded to senior Rotax configuration by purchasing a new cylinder and power valve.

Formula JMA made its Australian competition debut last year as part of the KartStars series, Luke Ellery winning a Formula BMW test and JonoTaylor winning a berth in the Rotax World Finals, both drivers pictured above in FJMA.

motorsportnews

national _

Neil Hammond

5^

r CHANGING weather conditions challenged drivers at Round 3 of i the Australian Motor Racing Series at Winton last weekend.

Mario Gaffiero, above, relished at the opportunity to run at the front, winning all four races. Simon Smith, who was slick in the wet, ended up second overall followed by Darren Formosa.

Luke Doidge in a Dungy Lancia won the thunder Sports scratch race after Wayne Green spun while leading. Doidge was heavily handicapped in? the final races and'only managedi one podium.

Scott McArthur won the first handicapped race frorn Green and; Keith Linnell;third'ini a Mazda RX7. Another handicaipped event ; brought top racing between'Green and Chris Cleatiiihan, with:Green pulling away to win,'Doidge next in third.

Ty Hanger was untouchable all weekend in: Formula 4000; winning both races.Kiwi Ben Crighton was second:in the first race, but a:touch with Derek Pingel in the second saw him beached at turn i®, bringing aboutthe safety car. Alan Price overcame -his tough initiation in wet racing:to endl up second overall, George Miedeoke won the opening Production Tourlngi Cars race in a: Glass B Hyundai!fiburon ifrom the two Class A BMW li3®s of Peter Kelly and:Luke Searle after an.amazingi wet weather driving display. A drier Race 2saw him:finish in.third'behiind the BMW ipair.

Kelly almost lost the lead to Searle on the last lap When:running wide at turn two. But Kelly held on to win in:the reverse grid race.

Searle was back to his dominant best for the final race; claiming the win from Kelly who took outthe round win by four points.

STRATEGY and variable weather helped decide Round 3 of the Touring Car Challenge at Winton last weekend, with Ray Sidebottom winning from Terry Wyhoon and John Burke.

A five-lap race kicked off proceedings under a cloud of rain.

Luke Searle in his BMW missed the start but went on to win from team-mate Peter Kelly with Wyhoon third,just ahead of the Peugeot of Bryce Peter-Budge.

A handicapped second race saw the BMW pegged back, Kelly finishing fifth and Searle 14th.

Burke was the eventual winner in a stunning display as he won by over 12 seconds from Ray Sidebottom with Peter-Budge third.

Sidebottom started the final nine-lap handicapped race in the second of four groups. Before the start, rain looked inevitable, leaving the majority of the field to choose wets, but not Sidebottom.

This proved to be a stroke of genius as after two laps of racing the track was drying up and from there Ray and Shannon Sidebottom proved hard to catch in their respective Future Tourers.

Wyhoon managed to split the

pair by the end of the race, but his wet weather tyres stopped him from chasing down Ray in the closing stages. By race end Ray was the quicker of the two after Wyhoon had been seven seconds quicker over a single lap when the track was still damp.

-AARON SHAW Points; Wyhoon 411, Krause 298, Neville 267,Burke 259, Searle 226,Peter-Budge 217,Oaklands 159, Loughrey 157.

MALLALA TREAT

ALL roads led to Adelaide for over 100 historic racing enthusiasts with all states of Australia being represented as Mallala Motorsport Park turned back the hands of time over the Easter long weekend with the running of the 26th Annual National All Historic Easter Race Meeting.

The circuit racing was held over the Saturday and Sunday while on Monday the historic competitors braved the cold and wet conditions and headed through the scenic Barossa Valley to Collingrove to run against the clock in the historic hillclimb event. Unfortunately only three rounds were completed before inclement weather ended the afternoon's proceedings.

This year's event celebrated

the Elfin, a car that was originally constructed in Adelaide.The Sunday affair featured a large Elfin display as the many makes and models paraded around the circuit.

Some of the more interesting machinery had competed on both the national and also international stage, such as the two on hand from the Lamer Motorsport team.The 1979 RT2 Ralt, below, was raced in the European Championship,finishing second, and was later sent to the United States and converted to a Can-Am car, where Juan-Manuel Fangio III placed it on several podiums. in 1988 the car returned to Australia and was reformed back to its original design.The other car an Elfin 700 that dominated the 1976 Australian F2 Championship,and

later went on to win the 1978 Rothmans series at the nowdefunct Amaroo Park.

A number of West Australian competitors were also present for the Easter event. Charlie Mitchell brought his Group L TS Special, which had formerly competed in three Australian FI Grands Prix. Trevor Eastwood in his Group KB Alvis Special and John Rowe aboard his side valve Ford-powered Murcury 100 were typical of the competitors all enjoying the historical meeting.

A Repco Holden-powered Scott Special entered by Ian McDonald was another car that took much interest, as the car competed in the hands of Glynn Scott at Albert Park in the 1958 Australian Grand Prix.

Competitors of all age groups

took to the track; of particular interest was the entry of 82 yearyoung Ian Brock aboard a 10OOcc Elfin Streamliner. At the other end of the scale, Nick Bennet drove a Wren Formula Ford that has been restored to its original livery, (including Ford and Motorcraft decals.)The car was last raced in the Formula Ford support events at the 1987 Australian FI GP. In addition to the openwheelers,the Group Nb and Nc Historic Touring cars provided some great entertainment as a large field of 24 competitors battled their way around the track.

Some of the standout performances included the potent GT Falcon of Rob Vanderkamp and the big black Ford Rallye Sprint of Roger Oliver.

-PARIS CHARLES

rtKeshop CROWCAKHS The opportunity to promote your products&services to the widestpossible range ofmotorsport ONE PIECE RACE PUSHRODS competitors & enthusiasts.

Uolusm australian Distributor

l Fast profile design service to your requirements l Custom ground toiler, solid and hydraulic profiles using unique computer controlled machines for unrivalled accuracy

l Matching race valve train components

CA MS

including a huge range of one piece

super duty pushrods

P 03 93570469 F03 93570001

visit our website: www.crowcams.com.au

As used by top touring car,speedway & drag racing teams. l 0.080" wall chrome moly l one piece construction l available in Vie" & Vs" diameter ●0.050" length steps from 6.00" to 10.00"

^ /.

● 0.080" wall hardened steel (y NEW street race version also available i

Advertising in

RACE SHOP

MOW CAMS

Titaiiiuiii vaiue^;, * Locks. RetaiiiCKsf : Guides & Seal Inserts^ AUAILnBLE NOWi

Pblloiiliii

rfefnEnniiflIIAr yy HOLESALE www.HDtloiiiiaiiGewliiilesale.caiii.au 'It

l lun

COMPLETE HISTORIC RACING CAR PREPARATION, RESTORATION j & CHASSIS SET UP.

r—

; ● in-house electronic corner weight scales I ● computerised in-house engine dyno facility iAustra/Zan agent for Pace products Phone Peter or Jamie Lamer P 03 9439 8986 M 0419 379 024 F 03 9431 2419 www./arnerengines.coni.au Iarner@minerva.com.au

visit our website: www.crowcams.com.au

g^RAIME Roller Lifters Camshafts RoJIer Rockers Ignition Systems Valve Springs & More!

CRANE TECHNOLOGIES PTY. LTD.

Call Brendon Sheridan on 0407007286 now.

Phone: 08 8363 5566

Fax: 08 8363 5633

www.cranecams.com.au

BmeFmmn Valve SprfnffT&dmfogy

No Compromise

PSI are the racing industry’s #! valve springs, manufyctured to,.

We,^hest quality using exclusive r^nufacturlng ..i '*0Ghniques.

The ultimate in

performance valve train technology

Holley www.holley.com

Holley Performance System Distributors I Call 08 8132 1888 for your nearest distribute Machined For hr^prsepower ● rullyCNCin. ● ibicll em.icliini

■rhniqucs .incJ

QLLCl!^£driJJ.JJ BflOlQC inDUfTRIU Ph: (07)32905911 Fax: (07) 3290 5933 www.qri.biz Email: sales@qri.biz

Pli: (07)3290’5911 Fax:;(P7)3290 5933 www.qriibiz Email: sales@qii.biz

Racirio Car Jack

eSKelletsRd Rowville 3178 P 03 9764 2811 F 03 9764 8740

Alloy Stands ● lOOOkg capacity ● Low Saddle Height $99*air ● Tested and approved to Australian Standards 2 tonne capacity AS-2615-1995

;y'YOKOHAMA AV#N

RACONG TYRES

motorsport

● (iH pnw« incfudti GST, Froiglil h) udtjiliotw!

Ph:1300 76 55 39 Fax; (07)54789833

I web: www.waranaiinporls.com ^maiinnfogwaranaimgo^^

^CEtVER

RBRPORMANCm ^ RROOUCTm ^

MICROSCANNER

Your High Performance Aluminium cooling product specialists for Radialors, Intercoolers, Liquld-to-Air barrel kits & Oilcoolers ■ NEW NEW NEW v'

High Performance Brake Kits by akon^ PWR LSI Superchargers for Holden GEN III PWR PCM upgrades and Exh.iusLs for Holden OEN III 4 Ply, Silicon Hose & Stainless T-Bolt Clainp.s AT PWR WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY

QUEE.SSI.ANO OFFICE Ph (07) 5598 1499

78

www.pwr.com.au

$295*/

● 12 month warran^^ifi ●Weight 15kg

Distributors for Victoria & Tasmania Your high performance tyre & suspension specialists

NEW

1

P 03 9357 0469 F 03 9357 0001

costs as little as $75 per issue!

TRACr/O/V

I

MELBOURNE OFFICE

,

Pli (03) 9793 6907

●,

P 03 9459 7068 info@raceceiver.com.au

Ph: (07) 3290 5911 Fax: (07) 3290 5933 www.qriJ3iz Email: sal^ri.biz

Harmonic

Bala

The True Performance Alternative H{k jpT bt.lj 'f lp

|.

Extremely durable bonded dampening

●

material Easy to read computer etched timing marks

.

Available in economical cast iron Street, all steel SFi approved Race & new Serpentine for Chev,LSl,LT1etc P 02 6937 8888 F 02 6921 7536

Visit out website www.precisionparts.com.au

RACMGSHOCK&i Single adjuster through 4 way adjusters available

p 08 8362 4417 f08 8362 8811 penske@nttyres.com.au

PO Box 5244, West Heidelberg, 3081, VIC

motorsport news

I

i

I

race shop I EASTERN RACEPART5 \ l Mocal l Aircraft Bolts - Girling

HEWLAND

l Goldine

l Silverline

:h\ 4:h\fJ *

Essential tools for serious plumbers!

*

Single or Double Ended

l

Anodised Aluminium to

' '^

minimise scratches. Sizes AN3 to AN20 o

o

Ph/Fax02 9526 6666 Bryan Miller M 0417 274 507 P 02 9524 3389 1 Tamba Place Lil li Pilli NSW 2229 easternraceparts@hotmail.com

_

Single Ended to tighten hose ends to adaptors Double Ended allow hose to hose end . assembly.also fit swivel nuts etc. '

ater NSW 2128

12 Stanley St

Ph= 02 9748 eon

Mr PSlffOHMANCE PRODUCTS

Fx :02 9748 6241

TM

IS^EEDFLOwi 4/30 steel tube and sheet 1

J 1 i §

Hardiman Auto Supplies Motorsport Connections Victorian Speed Pro Performance Wholesale Crane Technologies Goqear Racing Services

(02)9771 5877 (02)9838 7272 (03)9794 5177 (07)3808 1986 (08)8363 5566 (08) 9443_4400

mi

precision exhaust header modelling systems

AhiminiumTube and Sheet for all your Metal requirements FREe.Sjj ill /Vlbtqf sp.orf iN.evy.s,readers.

FREE Motorsport News 6 month suhscripLon or pair of uniden handheld radios and charger with every order. Conditions apply. Ask Mott/iew for details.

Pirelli Motorsport For Ibo (oopMo PlroUl OMi|Mmioa raogo Distributor of Omit, Cotu Brad l ego! Roliy Tyres soppoited by Ti bperthtting and IdhUt, coeKM ron PintU Motorsport DisMiretot tlnu 1996.

Contoct: Rod Wilson

k

Trofeo Motorsport Pty ltd - 42 Industrial Park Drive.

\ i

ULYDAlf, VK Ph: (03) 9735 2588

^ Fox; (03) 9735 2955 Mobile: 041 7511 911

I: fod@moforsportt/res.coni.au

%C0MP0/V10T/V£ MOTORSPORT WHEELS

VIC 03 9386 5331 NSW 02 9676 8655 SA 08 8387 3522 WA 08 9293 3500 TAS 03 6273 7555 NT 08 8941 5388 OLD 07 3217 1188

PLATINUIVI

RACE ROCKEnJSi The world's strongest & most affordable shaft type roller rocker

Race car preparation & storage MG V8 Racecar preparation

● Available in twin shaft and unique single shaft

Spares for Capri, Datsun/Nissan

designs for all parallel and cant valve engines

240Z, 260Z, 280ZX, 300ZX, 231,32

● Strongest race rocker available with unique lifetime warranty for road and race applications

p 03 97101091 f 97101887 e caprizedsparesi @optusnet.com.au

P 03 9555 5522 F 03 9555 4152 www.yellaterr a .,c o m.,

RACING FUELS

RACE PRODUCTS

CAMS SCHEDULE G: UNLEADED RACING FUEL Elf WRF is the control fuel for the 2006 ARC 02 4659 6396 National Office: Hi-Tec Fuels.

VIC: Race Fuels 0419 511 517 SA: Performance Fuels 1300 726 084 07 3269 6823 OLD: Elf Racing 03 6427 0700 TAS: Devonport Performance

World's leaders in Motorsport Safety Technology

Helmets ● Suits ● Boots ● Gloves ● Harnesses ● Crew Gear & all accessories for all motorsports QUALITY ● PRICE ● SERVICE Simpson Safety Equipment Australia 11/62 Newton Road Wetherill Park NSW 2164

www.stuckey.com.au

www.rtMcefuels.com.au

WUCHELtm

Competition | LSD's & Gears:

m

P0297560202 F0297560203

AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTORS

For Motorsport tyro requirements contact;

I EUROPEAN T

E

C

H

N

O

U

E

338 Swan St Richmond VIC 3121 P 03 9428 5547 Technical Support Contact

NEW EXPANDED RANGE

Trevor Sheumack 0418 548 578 Mtchelm Moi rspon tyres in Avistiftli

... others will say their products are the best ... ... for over 25 years we've PROVEN that ours are...

#1 IN WORLD MOTORSPORT For your nearest Sparco dealer call 1800 797 344 www.sparcoaustralia.com

10 May 2006

i VIC 03 9553 4200

02 4577 2400

SA 08 8340 4333

OLD 07 3274 4797

WA 08 9331 8488

FIA HARNESSES

2010 expiry, lightweight buckie, 3" webbing, clip in ends Black, Red, Blue ● 5 pt - $539 ● 6 pt - $579 FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY Aust Standard 4 point belts fr $ 145

KAIIUOtARS & FINAL DRIVE

DIFFERENTIAL

P 02 9756 0202 F 02 9756 0203 sales@simpsonraceproducts.com.au

:

Tin

PERFORMANCE' NO COMPROMISES FRICTION BRAKES it's Quicker

● Bikes Cars ● Trucks

It's Cooler It's Patented

VV

"T

●f

Phone: 0407 593 790 Email: gkellyfaracefuel&com.au

CAPRI COMPONENTS I-'", ■ ■ IRELLI

DEMO BLOCK PIECES NOW INSTOCK

Australian Distributor d Contact: Grattan Kelly Motorsport Pty Ltd >

Ph 02 4577 7769 or email performancemetals@bigpond.com We are here to serve you www.performancemetalsaustralia.com.au

r

12 Stanley St Silvorwator NSW 2128 9748 6011 Fx : 02 9748 6241

icengineworks'

for you!

1

^

Distributed in Australia by n

ff WO!don’t

Premium Motorsport Hose & Fittings! ’ j Contact your state distributor...

separately to front and rear brakes, and can be adjusted to alter braking ratio.

:;i=l

Cable Kits for in-cockpit bar adjustincnts also readily availablo

\

hayef^^,wHl dp our best to‘fjndi at the,right

^ I

r

Tilton Balance Bars come in various widths'" and bar thickness (2i/2* wide, 3/6' bar standard].

Distributod /n Australia by -

PSmnMAHCEPimfJCTS

Balance Barsdisthbutobrakoforco

Dealer Enquiries Welcome

Head office ● 07 3807 6870 0417 641 814 (Bris) 0414661 744 (Melb) ivw.performancefriction.com

I

This space could be yours.

Call Brendon on 0407 007 286 for details.

79

RACE AND PERFORMANCE CLASSIFIEDS

7

SELL your parts, motorsport vehicle or anything to do with motorsport via our internet classified partners my105.com -for as little as $35!* Yes, 3 months on my105.com, plus an insertion here in MNews, all for as little as $35. *(if directly entered onto my105.com)

HOW? Either log on to my105.com and follow the prompts (photo must be digital, if required) OR you can still advertise via mail/fax ($10 surcharge applies) and send us your car photo if you require one ($10 pic processing fee).

Type/write your advertisement clearly (no more than 50 words), nominate your category and include your pic(s).

Mail or email (include credit card and your details) - see addresses below.

TrTTTr)

online classifieds ■GtT ifi

I

Find hundreds more race vehicles and parts for sale at www.my1Q5.com VS Commodore Cup Car for Sale

5D channd Mena JDL Dash loggor. Dog Bat OW eoginesiSng Stas rod sfaiter. Light viBigla DifC cu in dash a® »SsadE. no HI: lb l®t ®Brtiational champiDnship Wfth ASs^de. tanpated. ^dy to ece.

Tony QtrifrBI 8S.

336

Built by the 1998 - 2001, Group N World Champions Top Run & has featured outstanding results: -Led Group N 2002 WRC Argentina and WRC New Zealand Ost Privateer 2003 WRC Australia -Consistent Top 10 fi nisher 2003 and 2004 ARC The EVO VII is ready to Rally at the highest levels.

The car has been completely rebuilt prior to WRC Australia 2004 but was never used.

Comprehensive Spare Parts Kit also available. . $85,000. Andrew 0409991551.

www.myl05.com/38683

dejse^fihapcetsapprov^&r 100% of Call for ferther ttifomation.

POR Not Neg. John MH^^^iS08 / www.my105.com/79486

ns

y Mnmunnu, y

336 iW

78

Australian Performance Car

!

DATSUN SUNNY

$10

Extra issues (per issue)

$35

Datsun 1200 Coupe

'Colour' block ad (per issue) 'Feature'ad

$20

Vehicle Cams and Street registered, not race for 2 years recent engine rebuild and diff. great for cuircuit race or hill climbs, for more information please call 0438120078. $6500 ONO. David 0438120078.

www.myl05.eom/33075

336

Good Cheap Little race car. U21tr sunny with fuel injected dry sumped SR20 with approx 230hp. NO expence spared when building.

Previous lap record holder at Oran Park GP. New Nissan 300ZX brakes, new suspension all round, Great, affordable car that will be corripetitive. $17,500,00 Or Best Offer. Dean 0400199 907.

www.myl05.com/23499

336

BA GT1’ Only B mEetmgs old. Promm hsnt ruaaing cat Sevustb In podium in Darwin guUy Prepared for the '06 season. ProfesstooaHy buih liohtvilHnht aluminium block. Mo@ M90 ECU and SJL Dash pull CdMo cage, ffilt fuS cQ 4 new wats and nmt, rims with lllll'lteui tyBE. Too nghy parts to memion, Demt miss dlls opfsaunl^tD purchse one al fastest and figb^ CiTs in J5.O0O+SST. JHio faik $0331T55 / na IBsnoflaq

www:myl05.coniZ79929

m

SEND TO: Mail:

My105, Suites, 11-21 Underwood Rd, Homebush, NSW, 2140 Email:

Fax:

mnews@my10S.com 02 9647 1177

Notice to advertisers: We are unable to return photos supplied for advertising. Ads will appear as soon as possible after receipt.

MNews/mylOS classifieds are for the sale of private goods and vehicles only. Photos marked 'proof will not be used.

m

[

! offering -this fully, ■<£ furti nt for $10,000 micler normal safe price of S272.5<EL 10%

Top Run EVOVII

Prototype

Photo

Typed/written advertisement; category, photo; credit card details (number, expiry, name); your details (name, address, phone, email)?

I

B^BgBWjUabBIbtiagBBip^e with

Sedans/Sports Cars; Open Wheelers; Speedway; Drag; Engines; Parts; Transporters/Trailers; Employment; Photographs; Wanted.

CHECKLIST - have you supplied:

sou

ai^ooking CSitod Slight Du^ for csmpl^n tee 2006. TSs Is

www.myl05.com/7457

$75

m

■Kuy if>» vbUi^t

‘^nrrd float apartment lirthlssxclting' new project Number 1 Ctim-nd Straight

Categories include:

- MNews & my105.com

i'"‘ A-'

Mount Panarama Resort Bathurst

Sedans/Sports Cars

Ads without pics may be faxed, along with your details/contact and credit card details.

Additional options:

^

www.myl05.com/383T7

This car was built by a consortium looking to move forward to production. It is a stunning looking car and the level of workmanship in the fi breglass body has to be seen to be appreciated. All the mechanivals are done but it requires fi nishing and registering as a Personally Constructed Vehicle under the auspices of a certified engineer. So far it has had well over $100,00 spent in getting this far. $20000 ONO. David 03 95341426.

Standard ad (no pic) - my105.com & MNews $45

GfTIlJ

walkinshaw group a commodore Original & complete turn key vehicle with multiple wheels & spares ready to race with Group C/A Association events. $120K Neg. matthew 0418604239.

www.myl05.com/58888

336

MAZDA RX4 IMPROVED PRODUCTION Mazda RX4 improved production, 13B Peripheral Port, 5 Speed, 4W Discs, L.S.D, 5i Mill Webber, Fresh Motor, New Clutch and Diff. $9,500.00 ONO. Ph: 0413 383 102. $9,500.00 ONO. Darrell 0413 383 102.

www.myl 05.com/10641

336

Porsche 2004 GT3 Clubsport Near new, Silver. Upgraded ECU. Professionally serviced, GT3 number plate. Low kms. $185,000. Contact Claude 0418 954 313, $185,000. Claude 0418954 313.

www.myl05.com/38472

338

motorsport news

I

classifieds Commodore VT 98 Suit racecar ' ^usEBS lai&car,cant bB egistsBEtfor road us. Must tvLknli;^ ncHHDtor orgmrtxix. pricedBS ralTert^i§Dtets) ] anailable 5.71. drive-train or 3.61. driue-tca»; tllSke art

’-C. '■

04122BS860

5^

2004 Toyota echo/yaris 3e

wwwnny 105.com/61998

Forsale2004toyotaecho/yaris3eproductioncar very competitive & reliable no expense spared

^ '^9r'

ready to race in - aust prod car championship,

K —

t

amrs prod touring carchampionship, combined touring & state level racing also make a great taga rally car. Still has road reg until 2007 well

\ 'f

■Si.

336

www.myl05.com/97194

www.myl05.com/964

J

sprintcar chassis

1

lease ph Michael 0418 377 372.

Sprintcar Chassis, Maxim make. Model: 04 86/40 tallboy. Colour: black powder coated.

Excellent Condition. Price: $3000. Contact Darren on (03) 5447 2944 for further info. $3000. Darren 0418510633.

Toyota Dyna 4.2U Diesel, 5sp, heavy duty towbar ( tow's car), driving lights, alloy work bench with vice, 200Lt water tank with pump, lots of shelving, compressor with internal & external airlines, tyre racks for approx 16 tyres, mesh on walls roof and shelving doors, drawers under bench, 12V and 240V lighting, hose and airline holders, retaining area for fuel drums, 3 seater, CD Player, roof vent, map light & cabin light.. $ 18,000 Neg. Andrew 0418 350 921.

Speedway r'

presented & maintained by Igm all inquires or

www.myl O5.com/16580

Rally or Race Truck

i

VZ SS UTE SALT WATER DAMAGE AND HAS BEEN CHAASIS NO CANCELLED CANNOT BE REGESTERD GOOD FOR DRAG CAR RACE CAR. 15000 ONO. NANDI 0297093300.

www.myl05.com/58128

336

Parts

J

Cobra Evolution Tech Seat

336

The Cobra Evolution

Skyline DR30 FOR SALE Here's a NT bit of the goodies list!! Forged

Welsor Clubman 1976

King Springs. This car is very well maintained,

Regretful sale (New Project) Datsun 1300 Fresh Engine C of D Record holder Winton short 62's with Spares and Enclosed Trailer.

Gar $25,000 Trailer $5,000. MICHAEL 0437102 780/03 57 664218.

serviced every SOOOK's or earlier. This car has

www.myl05.com/77142

Pistons 2mm oversize. Bigger turbo, roller bearing type. Rebuilt transmission, R200 2 way mechanical LSD. Adjustable Koni's F&R.

alot ofTourque, has been dyno'd with over 190

336

HP at the wheels. Very fast car. Ready for track work. Must be seen to be appreciated. MUST SELLMI. $8300.00 Neg. Clint 0411622454.

www.myl05.com/6465

Technology Is the ultimate race seat.

100% carbon shell, offering outstanding rigidity with 50% weight savings while NASA-developed Confor foam cushions mold to the driver, absorbing 85% of initial energy distributing loads. The ultimate in comfort and safety.

Features alcantara anti-slip fabric, leather wear patches, independent leg cushions, a deep-sided ergonomic. This seat has never been used (unfinished project) as new condition - bargain at $1800 - Call 0400 094 007. $1800.00 Not Neg. 0400094007.

www.myl05.com/38338 336

336

tyres, hoosier hoosier p215/60zr15 x 4 suit nc, supersprints new $ 1000. colin 0408244377.

www.myl05.eom/70113

V8Supercar VS Perkins 025 log Morkys VS Supercar as run in 2006Touring Car Challenge rebuilt motor car built from ex Perkins Shembri wreck new Dencar Shell

EA Falcon Saloon Car EA Falcon Saloon car/Combined Tourer,only 11 races old and only 3 races since complete professional rebuild,! race since full

respray,car has never had panel damage.

Custom Exhaust,Comes with spare shell,plus full set of panels and some misc spares.

Virtually a brand new car. $15000. Mark 0408 965 182.

www.myl05.com/81073

^ S

reg NSW Recent RTA inspected 16spd Volvo G/box Goes well with Clark drop deck 2 car

disappoint, $29,900.00, Enquiries to ndw@ jmarket.com.au or 0405 123 666 or (08) 8391 4612. $29,900.00. Neville 0405123666.

www.myl O5.com/13820

Ex Hugh Gartley. This car has been meticulously restored by well known race car engineer. Never crashed. Low hours, heaps of spares, ready to race. Trailer available. $32000 ONO. Bruce 0418824282.

www.myl 05.com/13503

336

Neg.^Richard 0407432029 / 0249877708.

www.myl05.com/71407

336

336

Chevron B29 chassis B29-75-30. Ex Brian Redman and

64'EH Holden Premier

enclosed racecar trailer

Group Nb Fastest EH in S.A & one of the quickest under 3litre cars in S.A 1,25.06 at Mallala. 3x45mm Webers, roller cam, roller rockers with girdle, sealed engine. Borg&Beck twin plate clutch, Koni adjustable shocks, heavy duty axles, heavily modified brake system including balance bar, twin leading shoe front brakes, 4inch ducting, 12 wheels 4 with wets, plus other spares, hundreds of hours spent on development & testing.

18,000 ONO. Serge&Bradley (08) 82663384.

10 May 2006

FORMULA FORD - 2000. No expense spared.

Maintained in as new condition. Very competitive. Full History. OZ Racing Rims (8), 3 way adjustable shocks (as new). New Paint, Dig! Dash. Available as roller or with 1600 Lamer or with 1800 Zetec Consider suitable trade.

Enclosed Trailer also available. This car will not

pan tyre racks fitted out for race cars. $35000

ground up build, only 2 meets old,full roller engine with 500-i-_ horspower, 10 new wheels and tyres, ready to race, currently racing in biantee series, call Keven Stoopman 0419 315 984.80,000 Neg. keven stoopman 0419315984,

www.myl05.com/43869

Formula Ford

Cheetah 1981 MK7 AF2

Volvo FI017 P/mover r/cond mtr 270HP

337

^

A

Transporter two car 8r Prime Mo

rrs

biantee series muscle car

www.myl05.com/47325

Transporters/Trailers

336

^

3

J

337

crome molly cage never been bent Pensky & Brembo 6 pot monoblocks Front JRZs & new Willwood rear Alloy 9inch Built last year cost $85,000 for parts. $45,000 Or Best Offer, Richard 0407432029 / 0249877708.

www.myl05.com/98396

Open Wheelers

336

336

Aussie Racing Car For Sale Aussie Racing Car - winning car in right hands comes complete ready to go 6 spare wheels big spares package full set-up history wili be given to purchasers $ 40 000 Phone Colin: 0415 286 986. $40,000.00. Colin 0415 286 986.

www.myl05.com/51939

337

professionally-built, including rubber- sealed rear loading ramp and side door, alloy wheels (8 total), tie down points, 2 x work benches, tyre rack, bench seat with removable table, soap and paper towel dispensers, 12 x cupboards, 4 X drawers, 240-volt power, including 3 x double power points, 3 x fluro lights and 2 x rear facing spotlights, plus 2 x plumbed air lines, excellent to tow/great to work out of, but no longer needed! $8750. $ 8750 Or Best Offer, david 0416194763.

www.myl05.com/97130

336

Hans Binder European F2 1975. Originally fi tted with BMW Ml2 engine. Now in 1976 Formula Atlantic configuration with 1600 Cosworth BDD. This car is very original and has been maintained by experienced race engineers.Engine recently rebuilt. One of the best maintained and presented historic race cars in Australia.Two sets of wheels including wets. Some spare body panels.sub frames and gear ratios. $85000. Ph 0403 388 982, $85000 Best Offer. Peter 08 74211414,

www.myl05.com/58147

337

87

'f

lM(Ccnmrter

Q Editorial Staff Editor: Phil Branagan

editor@mnews.cotn.au Deputy Editor: Mark Glendenning mark@mnews.com.au National Editor: Grant Rowley grant@mnews.com.au Staff Journalist: Chris Jordan chrisj@mnews.com.au Production Graphic Design & Web:Jason Freeman design@mnews.com.au Q Advertising Brendon Sheridan - PR Driven P 03 9877 7271 F 03 9877 7207 M 0407 007 286 ads@mnews.com.au Administration 357 Nepean Highway, Brighton East Vic 3187 (PO Box 7072, Brighton, VIC 3186) P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030 admin@mnews.com.au Managing Director/Publisher: Chris Lambden publisher@mnews.com.au n Contributors f7;Joe Saward, Adam Cooper, Paolo FilisettI Burope:Quentin Spurring, David Addison US: Martin D. Clark, Phil Morris Speedway:Greg Boscato, Geoff Rounds, Darren Sutton,Tony Millard (UK) R(t//y;RyanLahiff Drag Racing:Dave Ostaszewski(USA), Ken Ferguson,John Bosher National: Mark Wicks, Mark Jones, Andrew van Leeuwen, Mitchell Adam Photographers:Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Marshall Cass, John Morris/ Mpix, AF1 Images, James Smith, Peter Bury, Neil Blackbourn, Chris Carter, Coopers Photography, CBR Photographies, Paris Charles, Bob Potts, Neil Hammond,Justin Collins, Mike Patrick(UK) Motorsport News is published by Australasian Motorsport News ABN 55 125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Printed by: Offset Alpine Printing Pty Ltd, Lidcombe, NSW. Distributed by: NDD Ltd Material published by MOTORSPORT NEWS is copyright and may not be reproduced in full or In part without the written permission of the publisher. Freelance contributions are welcome,and while all care will be taken, Australasian Motorsport News does not accept responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted.

“Opinions expressed in Motorsport News ate not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

SUBSaUPTIONS Australia (incGST) Overseas (airmail): New Zealand & Asia Rest of the World

1 year 2 years $148.50 $285 A$210 A$270

Second tier motorsport hard for circuit promoters Circuit owners must be pulling their hair out with the rubbish they are expected to try and promote to get spectators to come along to their venues.

I recently watched some CAMS Series races on Foxtel from Symmons Plains and the Australian Motor Racing Series from Calder. It looked like there were 50 spectators at one and five at the other and the reason is simple; no main category to draw spectators in. All the classes are support ones and to be blunt, six to 10 cars in a race is a joke.

The'Muscle Car'meetings are becoming popular because the cars are more exciting to watch

%

Send us your woughts: PO Box 7072, Brighton,VIG 3186 mnews@mnews.cdin,au

than most current categories.

Who is going to pay to see old NASCARs, old Formula 4000s, boring street legal cars and whatever Thundersports are? The answer is no one.

Neil Stratton Quakers Hill, New South Wales Scott Wensley's little nightmare I am wondering if there will be a model car of John Bowe'sTeam BOC Falcon from his 200th start at Pukekohe.

The artwork was very good.

Phillip Jones Ballarat, Victoria State V8 Supercar champions Let's haveVB Supercar state champions (choosing a round in the three states with multiple rounds) and allow all the V8 Supercars available (there would . have to be 60-plus) to enter.

Do two qualifying races followed by the final, and award the top 15 finishers points as follows: first gets 35,second 30, third 25,fourth 20,fifth 15, sixth 10,seventh 9, eighth 8, ninth 7, ORANO

^X^lGRAND PRIX OF NATIONS"

8 WEEK TRIAL SUBSCRIPTION AVAILABLE NOW from as little as $25(online payment only).

See website for full details.

Intlades access to MNews Platinum!

10th 6, nth 5,12th 4,13th 3,14th 2 and 15th 1.

The other rounds can then be run under the same format as now, with the same points, and the national champion is the one with the highest points.

These state rounds would allow all competitors television time and a simple points structure so all the fans can work out who is state champion and maybe easier for all the newspapers to say that they have a state champion.

Don Sinclair dsinclair.finance@IJh.com.au What is going on with RPM? I have to say that I think RPM has completely lost its direction and I find myself watching it less and less these days.

Who is hosting it now anyway?

There are so many cutaways and people introducing other people's stories, all of which seems to be happening to accommodate the new host, Grace McClure, and quite frankly, give her something to do.

Ten seems to have attempted some sort of PR/ratings stunt in hiring a motorsports presenter that knows nothing about motorsport and cannot present either. If they wanted to hire a female, I am sure if they looked hard enough they could have found a person to at least fulfil one criteria and teach her the other, but poor Grace has no chance. I am still wondering what she actually does.

When you've got brains like Crompton and professionals like .

Rust and Diffey, why dilute their presence with deadpan autocue reading?

David Newton Sunshine, Victoria

mnews

SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, CHINA grand ^l|r

-^1

CHINA CITtC BANK

The World Ch

GRAND RXX

poll results

Q:V8 Reverse Grids:

love them or hate them?

Hated it: too much unneccessary damage 40.9%

f Motorsport'-

y/

imt

A$390 A$495

POST cheque/money order to the address above FAX credit card details(VISA or Mastercard) to 03 9596 5030(int'l +613 9596 5030) EMAIL to subs@mnews.com.au or PAY ONLINE at:

m

MNews,Yoong great - but AJ ... i've recently decided to stop buying FI Racing magazines and only purchase this fine publication.

I'm tired of the other mag constantly going on about the greatness of Jenson Button and how he is on the cusp of greatness, while bagging Webber and saying he was responsible for that incident with Fisichella at Sepang last year. Who was officially reprimanded for that incident? Certainly wasn't Webber.

On another note, I found it amusing reading through old publications that Alan Jones once referred to Alex Yoong (then Webbers'Minardi team-mate) as being unable to drive out of site on a dark night with the lights out.Thinking about that, how has Yoong's A1GP career fared compared to Christian Jones's AIGP career?

Christian Renaud christian@sheltonfinnis.com.au

mi o«AN

Hey Alex, Where's Christian? Reader Christian Renaud has a long memory and is pleased with Alex Yoong’s success in A1 Grand Prix.

Reserving Judgement until I've seen a couple more 31.8% Loved it: it was brilliant 19.7% OK: no better or vyorse than any other race 7.6% Latest Poll: The Sandown 500 date has moved a week forward to Father's Day. Will this have any impact on you?

motorsport news

smipsaia

\

1

Every Race.Every Track.Every lap.

Australia's Not SIMPSON Factory Distribiitor

1BBZ

Largest Range - Beat Prices - We won't be beaten

ROCKET Is a SIMPSON factory appointed distributor.Trade eniiuirles are welcome.For more Information on tbe full SIMPSON product range and your closest stockist phone ROCKET on 0288251900 or visit www.rockeUnd.com

S/3 I-

SUPER BANDIT

DESPERADO

SPbbUWAY VIIDO

CAM LOCK

PLAUNUM

SEATBELTS

OR SER

DRIVER RESTRAINTS TIEDOWNS S RESTRAINTS

C/3 E3S23

c/3

o

J

SUPERDRAG

FILAMENTKNIT

PRO LITE 4 LAYER

ETDRAG

3,2 S 1 LAYER DRIVING SUITS

YOUTHSIZES

KARTSUITS

PROTECTIVE ACCESSORIES

w

e/3 e/3 oS e/3

●«r

V

f

/

HUGE RANGE OF GLOVES TO SUIT FROM TOP FUEL TO KARTING & PIT GLOVES. SIMPSON SHOES & BOOTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR RACING & CASUAL WEAR. MASSIVE RANGE IN STOCK FROM T/F TO KART

n y-

\smpsoni

00 C/3

/

/

m

ss

RACE BAGS & LUGGAGE I

> V

iim

HELMET BAGS

SHIRTS

DRAG PARACHUTES

JUMPERS

I

Hardie - Ferodo 500 l 130 laps in 6 hrs; 33 min; 47 sec.

1

XW FALC01\ GTHO

'

Hardie - Ferodo 500 *130 laps in 6 hrs; 09 min; 49.5 sec.

F

XYFALCOXGTHO

iTTiTiTpifc r

Irmsed GTs... now I mwe on them”

it

Allan Moffat QBE 4 times Bathurst winner A.

Xt FAFCOX

Hardie - Ferodo 1000 l 163 laps in 7 hrs; 20 min; 6.8 sec.

X

Superior Performance. Affordable Price.

AA

13 dZ oZ

or use the GT Radial tyre dealer locator at:

www.gtradial.com.au

FREE Lifetime Guarantee. I\ie its. Ne buts.*»i,ionsapp,y