Motorsport News Issue 367 - January 2008 by V8 Sleuth

AUSTRALIA'S N0.1 MONTHLY MOTORSPORT MAGAZINE - WITH LOADS OF CHRISTMAS READING

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No.367 JANUARY 2008 Australia $7.95 NZ $8.50 inc GST

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2008

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Russell Ingall Paul Morris Motorsport

2 MarkSkaife Holden Racing Team

4 James Courtney Stone Brothers Racing

6 Steven Richards Ford Performance Racing

8 Max Wilson WPS/WOW Racing

10 .4-.

Jason Bargwanna WPS/WOW Racing

12 Andrew Jones Brad Jones Racing

15 Xi. n

Rick Kelly HSV Dealer Team

^ 17 L Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing

V8Supercar ChampionshipSeries Unofficialgrid Garth Tander Holden Racing Team

3 Jason Richards Tasman Motorsport

5 MarkWinterbottom Ford Performance Racing

7 Shane Price Perkins Engineering

9 Stone Brothers Racing

11 Todd Kelly Perkins Engineering

14 Cameron McConville Brad Jones Racing

16 Paul Dumbrell HSV Dealer Team

18 will Davison Dick Johnson Racing

021 Shane Van Gisbergen Team Kiwi Racing

26 Marcus Marshall Britek Motorsport

34 Garry Rogers Motorsport

67 Paul Morris Paui Morris Motorsport

99 Tony D'Alberto Rod Nash Racing

777 Andrew Thompson Ford Rising Star Racing

? Licencefor sale PWR Racing

Jason Bright Britek Motorsport

33 Lee Holdsworth Garry Rogers Motorsport

51 Greg Murphy Tasman Motorsport

88 Jamie Whincup Tripie 8 Race Engineering

111 Fabian Coulthard Paul Cruickshank Racing

888 Craig Lowndes Triple 8 Race Engineering

? Licence for sale Walden Motorsport

2008:Its Christmas time has come,and so has the silly season. MOT

ITH theVS Supercar Silly Season almost completed. Ford will hold the edge over Holden in 2008, if stability counts for anything. With 14 slots on the 32-car grid changing for 2008,there will be a much different look to the 14round season, which will also return to the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park. But with eight driver changes on its side of the fence, Holden has a bigger challenge than Ford to maintain its championship-winning form. Leading the way with be Garth Tander, who joins Mark Skaife at Holden Racing Team.The pair will race the latest Commodore VEs to emerge from Walkinshaw Performance, Skaife debuting his car at Phillip Island and showing sizzling speed. Tander will maintain his key

relationships from his title winning assault at HSVDT, with Rob Crawford stepping in as team manager of the factory team and Matt Techo'Nilsson following GT's switch form orange to red. Another likely switch between the grouped Clayton teams is the sponsor. Look for Toll to appear prominently on the HRT Commodores. If this is the case, it will be the first time since 1999 that Holden hasn't been the primary sponsor of its factory team. To make way for Tander,Todd Kelly has joined Jack Daniel's Racing and tested one of the team's car atWinton last week. The Bathurst winner was pleased with his first experience in the black VE; "We have covered so much ground today that I feel a lot more at ease," he said after along

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HEUJS

Silly Seasons Greetings Grant Rowley Deputy Editor DECK the halls with loads of driver changes! That's the theme for this year's Silly Season. At the start of 2007,the team here at MNews were discussing how easy things were going to be for us this Xmas.We assumed that almost

all change!

everyone was going to be staying put and that it was going to be a lean season for big news stories. In hindsight, it was naive for us to think that things in motor racing would go to plan! Fourteen drivers will be lining up next year in new coloured suits - not a record, but damn close. The big change,of course, is at the factory Holden team. Effectively, the Toll HSV Dealer Team - Champions for the past two years - have been stripped of their best bits and moved across the Clayton yard to the Holden Racing Team. How will it work out? Probably very well and very fast. But they'll have to be on their game, because Triple 8 and Ford Performance Racing will come out of the blocks real quick. Bring on 2008, but first, I've been a good boy this year, Santa. I want a new Playstation!

^RSPORT NEWS details the confirmed(and not-so-confirmed)changes for V8 Supercars in 2008 day,"this is a big thing for me. i have gone through so much of the same stuff[at Ciayton] and to iearn new stuff is a chailenge." Paul Dumbrell fills the vacant HSV seat, having switched from the defunct PWR Racing squad. After months of negotiation and rumour about his possibie switch to Stone Brothers Racing, Dumbreil was relieved to have his future sorted. But driving for the championship-winning team means that there can be no more excuses, "if i can't do the job, I don't want to waste anyone's time or money," he said. "Now that I've got the right equipment behind me, I'll able to prove that I can." LookforTasman Motorsport to be the big improvers on the red side. Jason Richards and Greg Murphy are staying put, giving www.mnews.com,au

them great stability. The Tasman team will enter the year with two brand-new VE Commodores. And if the pit talk is true, Rockstar Energy Drinks will be a greater contributor to their racing budget next year... Lee Holdsworth remains with Garry Rogers Motorsport, while his team-mate is not so firm. Dean Canto had a trying year, originally developing the first generation GRM VE and hasn't been told if his services will be required with GRM next season. Two drivers who raced Fords last season make the'jump', with Russell Ingall restarting his Holden career last Thursday, when he tested a Paul Morris Motorsport VE for the first time - a day after he drove a Stone Brothers Ford in a drive day! While a decision has yet to be made,the hot tip is that Ingall

couid run car number'zero'next year(How very Damon Hiil of you, Russelil). The other'jumper'is Andrew Jones, who will race an ex-HRT Commodore alongside Cameron McConville in Brad Jones Racing's new Holden-backed squad. On the blue side, the three leading Ford teams of'07, TeamVodafone, FPR and Jim Beam Racing all go into '08 with unchanged iine-ups. FPR is the only team who will have some degree of change, as they will enter an extra main series Falcon for Jim Morton's Ford Rising Stars Racing team. While it was not confirmed as MNews went to press, Morton was in negotiation with Kees Weel to purchase one of his availabie licences for 2008. Another iicence option for Morton wouid be Walden Motorsport, who will

not enter a car next year and is iooking to sell or lease their recently acquired licence. James Courtney awaits the arrival of a replacement for Ingall at SBR, with Shane Van Gisbergen, Steve Owen and Jonathan Webb in the frame. Marcus Marshail iooks set to join Jason Bright at Britek - and bring a DJR engine supply with him. Fabian Coulthard wiil replace the retiring John Bowe at Paul Cruickshank Racing, driving the chassis Craig Lowndes's 2007-spec T8 Ford that PCR purchased after the final round at Phillip Island. With almost half the grid changing drivers, manufacturers or some kind of engine supplier, the challenge will be for the new combinations to gel quickly to take on those who have familiar surroundings. 5

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That guy with Crusher looks like lll FOR Americans,the name'Earnhardt'is like what'Kylie'is to Australians. Dale Earnhardt Jr, one of the United State's biggest sporting stars, was a special guest at the final round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Phillip Island. The NASCAR star popped in, simply on a holiday with a few of his mates, decided (on the advice of his buddy Marcos Ambrose)to visit Phillip island and sample some V8 Supercar action. And he was damn impressed. "In a perfect world, I would come and race in a V8 full-time for a year," he said. "And I feel like I would enjoy it." While a move from Cup stardom to V8 Supercar may be some time off, he did get a chance to drive a Paul Morris Motorsport Commodore. Earnhardt also took in a round of the Comp Cams Sprintcar Series at Brisbane International Speedway. n Talented race engineer James Small has left Garry Rogers Motorsport, joining Paul Morris Motorsport in 2008. Small, a racer in his own right, engineered Lee Holdsworth's Valvoiine Cummins V8 Supercar last season, but will switch to the Queensland-based outfit to work with PMM's new driver 2005 V8 Champ Russell Ingall.

Hola!rm Ho-omisl Renault not penalised,so Fernando signs-for how long?

THE intriguing relationship between Fernando Alonso and Renault seems set to cft'ntinue, with the pair reuniting for 2008. As soon as the FIA's World Motor Sport Council confirmed that the maker would not be penalised over its role in Formula 1's second Spying saga of the season, a deal was settled and rapidly announced. According to insiders, the Spaniard will be paid US$51 m to return to the French team - but it may Just be for one year. Performance clauses and options may mean that the two-time World champion is free to leave again in 12 months and Motorsport News sources continue to insist that there is a done deal that will see Alonso at Ferrari for 2009. Alonso will be partnered by rookie Nelson Piquet Jr. The team's test driver will be Formula 3 Euroseries

Championship, Romain Grosjean. "It is time for us to begin a new chapter together said Alonso. am very excited aboutworl|ing with this great team once more,and confidentfhat together we can move back to the front of the field. Renault had a difficult year in 2007, but I know that the team has real strength in depth. I am infident they can produce a fast and competitive cir and be back at the top in 2008." What remains interesting is how the relationship will continue. Along with his huge pay packet - three times what Renault paid him in 2006 Alonso's return was dependent on the'tea m releasing Heikki Kovalainen,as Alonso wanted clear Number 1 status, not another nightmare season after the Lewis Hamilton experience.The highlyrated Finn - who is managed by Renault FI boss Flavio Briatore - was without a contract as this edition closed for press, and Kovalainen said he has two offers for 2008.They are believed to be from McLaren and Toyota. The other saga is how Alonso will integrate into the Renault team,again. While much of team's personnel remains unchanged since he left in 2006, he was less than positive about a return to the Enstone-based team prior to the announcement. Indeed, in late-October, he was less than kind about the team he partnered in two championship triumphs. "I have not yet spoken with any team," Alonso told

n While GRM won't have James Small, it will have Walkinshaw Group engines in 2008. Lee Holdsworth and Dean Canto finished 15th and 16th respectively in the V8 championship in 2007, but are hoping that the new engine power will the key to better results. The GRM Commodores were fast in every aspect in 2007- except down the straights. Having built its engines in-house since it started V8 Supercar racing, the Rogers team are now looking for the extra edge to propel them into the top 10. n V8 Supercar control tyre supplier Dunlop conducted a special test at Phillip Island on the Tuesday after the Grand Finale. The tyre run tested a polymer change, which is an additive used in the construction of the tyre. TeamVodafone's Jamie Whincup and the Holden Racing Team's Mark Skaife were entrusted with the testing duties, completing a five-lap run (simulating qualifying), before doing a single stint on full tanks.

The new tyre will be first raced at Bathurst in 2008. 6

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IT'S A NUMBERS GAME FOR MARCOS

Ambrose setfor a secondary,limited program for 2008 Sprint Cup

MARCOS Ambrose's Sprint Cup campaign has gained a new angle, with the addition offour races to his schedule this season. As has already been reported in eNews, Ambrose will race in 12 Cup events for Wood Brothers, in the #21 Ford Fusion sponsored by Little Debbie. But the next part of the Tasmanian's program is a little confusing, MNews sources reporting that he will also race will race four times in a #47 Ford which is currently being built at the team's Harrisburg, North Carolina shop. However,the #47 entry is most closely associated with JTG, which is owned by Tad and Jodi Geschickter, and their sponsor, Clorox.The team ran a small and unsuccessful program recently for Jon Wood.This appears to be a 'separate'entry to the #21. Marcos will also have a new crew chief, with fellow Aussie Walter Giles backing up Ambrose in the full Nationwide Series (in the #59 Kingsford Ford) and four Sprint Cup events he tackles with JTG. His crew chief for the 12 races with #21 is likely to be Gene Nead.

First among Equals.And Second A POLICY of clear Number 1 and Number 2 drivers looks to be the order of the day among most of the contending teams in Formula 1. Apart from World Champions Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso having that status at Ferrari and Renault repectively, Nico Rosberg's new long-term Williams deal ensures that rookie Kazumi Nakajima will be learning his craft in the shadow of the 22-year-old German. Likewise, while Lewis Hamilton did not have a confirmed team mate at the time of going to press, the hasty - and cost-free - exit of Alonso from McLaren shows that the team was not much interested in experiencing another nightmare season, where two drivers fight each other(and not the opposition) and neither win a Drivers'crown, or the team a Constructors'title. On the other hand, it is likely that Ross Brawn's experience with Rubens Barrichello at Ferrari will hardly leave the Brazilian as Jenson Button's assistant at Honda, while Mark Webber and David www.mnews.coni.au

f a/rasia.coJ Coulthard had a good partnership last season and it is difficult to see that falling on the rocks now. Likewise, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica worked well at the improving BMW.Sauber team. The question marks will be the all-Seb battle at Toro Rosso between Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais, and whoever gets seats at Toyota (alongside Timo Glock), Force India (alongside Adrian Sutil) and Super Aguri (alongsideTakuma Sato).

Differing Status: Nico Rosberg looks to be a firm favourite at Williams, left, but Jenson Button, above,and Nick Heidfeld, below, may have more ofa battle on their nomexed hands with fast team-mates.

BRIEFLV.l ll BJR gets new look and new cars BRAD Jones Racing recently underwent a management restructure, in preparation for the team's switch to Holden next year. The team has appointed Chris Clark to the role of General Manager- a position created allow team owners Brad and Kim Jones to focus on the commercial side of the business. The team's two Team BOC Ford Falcons are for sale,and as you are reading this,the Albury team will be sorting out its new toys -two exHolden Racing Team Commmodore VEs(WP003 and WP005),formerly driven by Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly this year. n Aussie International Sam Abay will drive for top Formula 3 team Carlin Motorsport in 2008. The Formula BMW Asia and UK driver is excited about saddling up for his first full-on attack of a F3 championship, having only contested limited rounds in the Australian F3 series in 2005. Carlin is a top team and they know who to win championships so I am really looking forward fo the season. n Formula 3 outfit Team BRM will campaign Lee Farrell in the 2008 Australian F3 Championship next year. The Irishman will tackle the National class in a Dallara F304, having spent the last few years racing F3 in Asia, as well as Formula Ireland back in his home country. Farrell made his debut with the team in a Formula Ford in the final round at Phillip island.

THE top end of the Careera Cup field will receive a shake-up in 2008. Reigning Champion David Reynolds looks set to move to the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, replaced by James Moffat in the championship-winning Bob Jane T-Marts Porsche 997. Joining Moffat at Sonic Motor Racing will be Rodney Jane, Dean Fiore and Bryce Washington, who'll rejoin with the Michael Ritter-run team, having spent 2007 with Paul Cruickshank Racing.

Troy:One More Year

been 'high-definition,' especially if you're a motor racing fan. Network 10 has confirmed that it will broadcast extra motorsport content on the station's new'second' channel. The network will show all 39 NASCAR Sprint Cup rounds (formerly Nextel Cup), most in an edited hour highlights format. For Marcos Ambrose fans, every round of the Nationwide Series (formerly Busch), will be beamed live to Australia live, mostly on Sunday mornings. Ten's HD channel, which started broadcasting last Sunday, can he

TROY Bayliss has confirmed that 2008 will be his last in the World Superbike Championship. "Next year will be my lastWSB," Bayliss wrote on his website. "I am not saying the word 'retire', just stopping with motorcycle racing." Bayliss tested his new Ducati 1098 F08 recently in Qatar and set the fastest time in the final day. "Sometimes it's frustrating because I want to go fast like everyone else, but when the other guys were going fast we were still on old tyres and working on settings. After lunch we found a bit of a way and were happy, so we decided to throw a few tyres at it and the times were coming good.

Expect to see other announcements soon, some of which may include the

around here by half a tenth and I did that time on a 999 with a

■ The buzz word ofthe month has

found on Hi on your television dial, words'Grand'and'Prix'... a

Washington's move back to Sonic(he drove with them in his Formuia Ford days) comes after the Gold Coast-based Cruickshank team abandoned its four-car Carrera Cup team. In the Team VIP Petfoods garage, Craig Baird emerges as the favourite for the Carrera Cup title, with some pundits saying that he could go through the entire championship unbeaten if a more experienced rival doesn't find a seat in the championship. Baird won't be alone in his fight forTeam VIP honours,though.

"■( hat's the fastest I've ever been

cjualifying tyre."

Expect to see New Zealand openwheel ace Andy Knight team up alongside Baird.The Kiwi speedster is a race winner in the Toyota Racing Series and will be a threat as the season wears on. The only driver who could potentially take the fight to Baird is Alex Davison.The Victorian l drove for Jim Richards Racing in 2007, but his ride has been assumed by David Wall (one of the PCR refugees). Davison continues to search for a ride in'08 and is not confining himself to the Porsches, with talks ongoing for a V8 Championship or a Fujitsu seat. Wall's 2007 car is up for grabs at the moment,with Bart Mawer emerging as one of the drivers in line for that seat. Meanwhile,the calendars for both the 2008 Carrera Cup and MINI Challenge have been made official. The calendar will kick off at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, before the traditional non-championship round at Albert Park, a return to Wakefield Park (to play support to the Fujitsu Series), Barbagallo (replacing Hidden Valley), Sandown,Queensland Raceway, the Phillip Island 500, Bathurst, and the finale on the streets of the Gold Coast. The inaugural MINI Challenge will kick off at Eastern Creek in March (Round 2 ofthe V8 Supercars), before heading

to Wakefield Park, Barbagallo, Sandown, Phillip Island, Bathurst, Symmons Plains and Oran Park. -GRANT ROWLEY

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JOIN NDUJ AUSTRALIAN RACING DRIVERS CLUB ITPAYS TO BE A MEMBER Free spectator admission ARDC Members and 1 guest admitted free to ARDC events at eastern Creek Raceway CHRIS Vermeulen is not about to give up racing in MotoGP for a V8 Supercar career but he might one day, if his first drive in a 650hp Falcon is any indication. Britek's Jason Bright gave the Suzuki star a chance to drive his Fujitsu Falcon at Winton recently and Vermuelen impressed with his speed. After some insights from the passenger's seat, the 25-year-old got down to within 5s of a competitive lap of the Benalla track. "The only real thing I can compare with my Suzuki MotoGP motorcycle is the fact that both machines are fast, but from there, it's completely different," said Vermeulen.

"Braking is the biggest surprise. For something that's around nine-times heavier than what I race, the stopping performance is amazing." Bright was impressed with the 25-year-old French GP winner. "Ghris did a great job,"said Bright. "He dialed himself in nicely, and then brought his speed up. I was not surprised that he had a couple of spins as he was trying understand the car's limits. I bet he's never spun a MotoGP bike before! "It shows that talent in motorsports can cross over. Although I'd have to say going from two wheels to four is the far easier transition."

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BergertoGMR?Oh, Bergmullerto GMR FUJITSU V8 Supercar team Greg Murphy Racing will expand to three cars next year, with James Bergmuller joining the squad. The team's 2007 drivers Dale Wood and Sam Walter will back up for a second season,to be joined by Bergmuller who has been seen in Formula Ford competition over the past two seasons. He has bought Tasman Motorsport's last VZ. Wood,who finished seventh in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, was honoured with the Mike Kable Young Gun award at the recent V8 Gala dinner. n The Aussie Racing Cars will be broadcast on Channel 7 next year. The pint-sized racers will be seen on both Seven and Foxtel,joining V8 Supercars, Fujitsu V8s, Carrera Cup, V8 Utes, Formula Ford and the Mini Challenge as the categories broadcasted on Seven Sport's motor racing coverage. n In other Aussie Racing Car news, Russell Ingall looks set to drive one of the cars during the 2008 series. The new Holden driver, who tested a Paul Morris Motorsport V8 Supercar at Queensland Raceway in midDecember, is likely to join his new team-mate in a two-car Aussie Racing Car attack. Morris has been a staunch advocate of the category and has no doubt tempted Ingall into sampling the Aussie class on a regular basis.

Taylor,Evans test in AH' THE Australian Rally Championship will look a little different in 2008 - both on and off the dirt roads. The recent Waldorf Rallye des Femmes in Canberra offered a unique insight into next year's ARC, with both Simon Evans and Molly Taylor undergoing course car duties.

Taylor was driving one of Toyota Racing Development's Group N(P) Corollas,further fuelling speculation that the 2007 FI6 Cup winner will drive a 4WD Toyota in the '08 ARC. "We're talking to plenty of people in regards to stepping into a more competitive four-wheeldrive," confirmed Taylor. "It was great chance to test a front-running rally car in full rally conditions without the pressure of fighting for results. "It's a car that takes a lot to get used to, it's certainly very different to any car I've ever driven before, but already I can see where I improve and make up time. "I'm very hopeful having tasted the Corolla now that we can find the budget to run one next year in the ARC." Evans, meanwhile, used the event as a proper shakedown in a Super 2000-spec Corolla, and, despite a small electronic glitch, was happy with the car. "It's really enjoyable to drive, and I especially like the fact that you need to be aggressive to get the most out of it," said Evans.

TanderSPORT EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: No. 1 MECHANIC TanderSport is seeking a No. 1 Race Mechanic for the 2008 Australian Formula 3 Championship. This full time position will be based at our brand new Melbourne workshop, with the successful applicant overseeing the preparation of our expanding F3 fleet both at each round of the championship and between events. The successful applicant will display an ability to work independently, a strong and professional work ethic and an ability to work as a team player. Experience in a similar position in either V8 Supercar, Formula 3 or National Formula Ford is preferred. All applications will be treated in strict confidence.

Interested parties should email their resume to leanne@garthtander.com Contact TanderSport on 0414 424 264. or visit www.tandersport com, for more information

"The hardest part has been getting used to not having anywhere near the torque of the olcJ car. In this car you really have to keep the revs high and keep the engine working incredibly hard." But It Isn't just Toyota which is looking to expand in 2008. Scott Redder has announced his intentions to return to the ARC, and paddock talk has him driving a third Ford Fiesta. "This time of year you look at all sorts of options with teams, both domestically and internationally," Redder said. "I still believe I can do the job required and obviously the option to be part of a factory supported

[

operation would be most preferred." In other Rallying news,the ARC will have a new title sponsor, with NEC announcing it will not continue with their support in 2008. "On behalf of NEC I would like to thank both Rallycorp and IMG for their efforts over the last three years,"said Regional DirectorAustralasia for NEC Computers Tim Ealinski. "We have seen the championship grow and go from strength to strength. We are sure that with the plans put in place that the ARC will continue to grow in the future." -VAN LEEUWEN/LAHIFF

Unique opportunity

2008 AUSTRALIAN F3 CHAMPIONSHIP

R-TEK Motorsport Services, operated by Ian Richards, has one driver position available for 2008 A seat is available in the second of the R-TEK ex-Raikkonen-Robertson Dallara chassis, with new Opel Spiess engines,for a suitable driver looking to contest the 2008 series National Class. You will be racing with the knowledge and performance benefits provided by one of Australia's leading open-wheeler specialists, together with a full crew, including data acquisition and analysis specialist, lead mechanic and No.2 mechanic. R-TEK's record speaks for itself - prior to forming R-TEK Ian Richards and key R-TEK personnel were involved with two F3 Championship-winning cars, and 90 podiums in 100 races. R-TEK Racing operates from a large full-service race shop and has a state-of-the-art multi-car transporter. Enquiries by email only to: lanrlchards@r-tek.com.au

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HEUIS

FFord class of'08finning up THE 2008 Australian Formula Ford Championship grid is starting to take shape. The end of the 2007 season has seen a flurry of announcements regarding the new season, not least the news that'07 race winner Nick Percat will team up with current Champions Sonic Motor Racing Services. Percat, who raced both a Spectrum and a Van Diemen during the 2007 season, will race one of the team's Mygale SJ07a chassis in the 2008 series. "I'm very excited,"said Percat of the deal. "They're a team who is always at the front, so it's my best opportunity to win the title. "I think we'll be up there next year. We've had some really good pace later in the year, I guess since I've settled into the category, so we should come out firing next season." There will be an influx of Spectrums running next season, with three'satellite'teams now confirmed for the championship. Howard Racing will run two cars, one for karter Chaz Mostert, who was originally slated for a CAMS Rising Star drive, and one for a yetto-be-named driver.

Minda Motorsport will complete its transition to the National Series with a four-car Spectrum effort, with Adam Graham staying on and being joined by Martin Swindells, Ben Walter(younger brother of Fujitsu V8 Supercar driver Sam)and Taylor Gore. And Synergy Motorsport will complete the semi-factory Spectrum line-up, with two experienced drivers. Brad Lowe will switch from Spirit, while former CAMS Rising Star Paul Laskazeski,p/cfured/n5ef, will make his comeback to competition after taking 2007 off. "Paul seems really focussed and hungry,"said Synergy boss Justin Cotter. "He really is a smart driver, and he's so cool and calculated in the car. I think he and Brad will work well together because they are very similar in their approcach to racing, so they'll be a good team. And that's what I want Synergy to be about - working as a team." A third Synergy entry will also run, however a driver is yet to be confirmed. In other Formula Ford news, as exclusively reported in Motorsport eNews,the National Series will not visit Western Australia in 2008,

POSiniNS VACANT

instead opting for Hidden Valley as the longhaul race. Clipsal will also be replaced with a support berth at the indy 300 on the Gold Coast, however that is yet to be officially announced. Oran Park and Wakefield Park both rejoin the schedule. -ANDREWVAN LEEUWEN

Paul Morris Motorsport is expanding its team and looking for quaified: staff to fillll the following positions:

#1 MECHftHIGS SIGNWRIIEB

fZMEGHAHICS MACHINIST

BEST WOBKING CONDITIOMS IN AOSTKftLIft. e-mail resume to nigel@nemoracing.com.au or by mail to: Paul Morris Motorsports (attn: Nigel Barclay) P.O Box 377, Ormeau, QLD 4208 n

Classic WKC-rounds get chopped' NOT only will Monte Carlo not be the opening round of the 2009 World Rally Championship,it won't be on the calendar at all. That's the news from the latest FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Monaco,at which the WRC's new 12-round rotational schedule was officially revealed. And Monte Carlo is the most startling absence from the 2009 schedule.The event is known as one of the longest-running motorsport events in the world, having been first held in 1911. Since 1949 it has been part of

every World Rally Championship except 1974 (when it was cancelled) and 1996(where it was a round for the Formula 2 Championship, but not Group A), and has not been the opening round of the WRC on just one other occasion (it was second cab off the rank in 1989, when Sweden kicked things offfor the season). Sweden also finds itself without a gig in '09, with the Ireland and Norway the first two rounds. Poland is the only new event slated for the season, except of course for Rally Australia, which is essentially a new event thanks to its move to Queensland.That Aussie round is

currently scheduled for September 6. The two classics - Monte and Sweden return for the 2010 calendar, but apart from them,the calendar is void of historic events. Great Britian and Finland are both gone, while new rounds in Jordan, Indonesia, Russia and Bulgaria guarantee a very different looking schedule. Just as Monte will be a noticeable absentee at the start of the'09 season. Rally GB,the traditional season-ender, will be just as missed by the traditionalists at the end of the '10 season. France is the replacement final round.

PICCOLA SCU DERI A.,..

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PAST WINNERS: JAMES WINSLOW/PETER MAC kk 77 / MICIIAI.L CARUSO /CHRIS Al.AJAIIAN

motorsport news

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Rally Champion. Just ask Heikki Kovalainen and Sebastien Loeb.The two,and Loeb's Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo,swapped cars for a day at Paul Ricard and had tons of fun. Loeb, already familiar with circuit racing after participating in the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours, was delighted to have the opportunity to drive another car with titlewinning credentials - and thrilled with the experience as he climbed from the cockpit. Today has been a fantastic experience," Loeb beamed,"it's a little bit like Christmas come early! I have just become a father for the first time, I won my fourth world title last weekend,and now

'I was very impressed with the grip generated by the aerodynamics, which is radically different from what we are used to in rallying. I already knew Paul Ricard well from my testing before Le Mans last year, so it meant I could really make the most of today's opportunity. It was a truly exceptional day.' For the Finn, driving a rally car was in his blood. 'I had a great time driving Sebastien's car. I had previously been in this type of car as a co-driver, but this was miles betterl I felt quite comfortable. even though the sensations are extremely different to what you feel in an FI car.'

With one of the largest ranges ofadapters and fittings available, Proflows variety allows you to choose a style to complement your unique application. Call for your full colour catalogue today! M44

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I % In nine years it’s become the world's biggest dn^ll' best * motorsport festival. Now it's the tenth Clipsal ^00] ' and . \n

beachwear parades, air displays and Murray Walker’s

we’re having a party. Not just any party, but a party fo ,

Extreme Machines, showcasing:over $20 million worth of

the power of ten. All the Supercar legends will be there;

exotic cars, the greatest display ever seen in Australia;

Lowndes, Skaife, Bright, Whincup, Kelly and Tander.

And if that’s not enough. Sneaky Sound System, Powderfinger,

Since 1999, only six drivers have tasted success on the

Shannon Noll and Santana headline four massive nights

streets of Adelaide, but winning the tenth Clipsal 500

of after race concerts, free to Clipsal 500 Adelaide ticket

Adelaide may well be the sweetest victory of all.

holders. This is one party you won’t want to miss.

>!DEL>;iDE 21-22-23-24 FEBRU^SRY 2008 CLIP§yil.500.C0M.>iU South Australia. A brilliant blend.

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There are four huge days of racing, grid girls galore,' . ^

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LIVING ELECTRICAL

PhilBranagan Executive Editor

HEN we look back on 2007,far from calling itTheYearof the Scandal, I think that it is fair to call itTheYearof the Team-mate. Look at the V8 Supercar Championship Series, with two teams,the Tolls and the Tones, both having two drivers in the hunt in the final round of the season. Ditto for McLaren in Formula 1, though I suspect that Ren, Nande and Lewie are a bit less pleased with their outcome than GT and his mob are. In the Nextel Cup, Rick Hendrick got to watch his lads, Jimmie J and Jeff Gordon,duke it out for the title at the final race. So there was much intra-team celebrating around the motor racing sphere, even if some of the drivers in the teams would not have been chuffed about coming up short. Then,there were the cross-team fights. Loeb v Gronholm,two greatly talented rally aces,fighting for the last time. Priaulx v Muller in the WTCC.Glock v everyone in GP2.Stoner v Rossi-and-a-giant-PR

machine in MotoGP.Evanses v a

Checklist in the ARC.Carl Edwards V Daylight in Busch. James Toseland v His Own Demons in World Superbike.

y point in this: whether it was a war or a walkover, it was a great year for racing fans. That is why the politics that happened this season is even more frustrating. Yes,the Spy Sagas in FI were compelling to the hardcore fans of the sport, but a muddled mess to the rest ofthe viewers. V8 Supercars Australia underwent some political upheaval of its own; hopefully, stability will be the byword there next year.

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Then there was the hype. Inevitably,the Pommy press went overboard on the whole Hamilton thing - gee,what a stunning development- but his arrival and performance was a great boost to the sport. Likewise,the next level of new FI talent,led by Heikki Kovalainen and Sebastien Vettel, performed impressively. On the V8 Supercars'side, its own new generation - Price, D'Alberto and Thompson - looks very premising.In MeteQP.the challenge from Lorenzo,De Angelis and Dovizioso - and the Aussies - practically guarantee good ratings. Not everything in the sport is rosy.There are all kinds of calls for Max Mosley to do the gracious thing and to march into the distance, and some ofthe grey brigade of drivers may have stayed a little to long at the top level. But our Sport is, generally,in good health. It looks good; now,if only the general media would take their eyes off the ball and ioOk our way,once in a while ... Speaking of teams, we have a new addition to ours. For some odd reason. Bill Riddell has for a long time wanted to be a part ofTeam MNews so, quite recently, he joined the squad. His byline appeared briefly in the last issue and we look forward to his input throughout 2008. We also look forward to your continued feedback,through both Motorsport News and eNews.The innovation of having a weekly, up-to-the-minute and free news magazine, online, was a huge one for us in 2007 and,thanks to your support, it continues to go from strength to strength. Developments in our production process and software means that it is now online as early as 8pm Mondays,and we look forward to more and more refinements through the year. Motorsport News will be back on January 23, with a host of

features(indwding the retwrn

of the Infamous Almanac)while eNews is taking a few weeks off,

and will return on tite evening of

I n

Monday January 7. In the meantime,compliments ofthe season (or off-season) and

enjoy the summer.

And let's be careful out there.

He may have had a year off, but he can still top official FI testing sessions and win karting races against the best drivers in the world.

Yep,the Schu stilTfits ...

^IPICTURES OF THE mORTH You may have thought Kimi's'Iceman' tag came from his cold and clinical demeanour, but it actually stems from his ice carving prowess. Here he accepts a trophy for a freezing portayal of his 2007 World Championship winning Ferrari.

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tyres, recent testing at Jerez proved that yes. Formula 1 cars still look hot hot hot on slicks!

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Two heroic drivers,one dramatic season -the story ofthe 1998 World Rally Championship,when Carlos ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN Sainz and Tommi Makinen went head-to-head

HE 2007 World Rally Championship was close and featured plenty of drama, but about a decade ago,there was a season of rallying that ended in an even more spectacular style. When Marcus Gronholm hit the wall, and effectively ended any chance of winning the '07 title, in Ireland, there's one man who would have known how he felt Carlos Sainz. The year was 1998, and World Rally Championship was in a healthy condition. Heading into the season the title fight was wide open: Carlos Sainz leading Toyota's program, Juha Kankkunen leading Ford's campaign,Tommi Makinen the main man at Mitsubishi, and Colin McRae in the leading 18

Subaru. And then there were smokeys like Richards Burns, Didier Auriol, both capable of winning rallies. It was a bumper season. Fittingly, the first two rallies of the year went to Sainz(Monte Carlo) and Makinen (Sweden),the drivers who would become the big players later on. Sainz won again in Portugal, while Makinen hit back in Argentina. Sainz won again in New Zealand, before Makinen set-up his title tilt with three on the trot: Finland, San Remo and Australia. By this point the championship had already taken a controversial turn. The penultimate round in Perth had stretched the Sainz/ Makinen friendship, thanks to a jump-start and an over-turned penalty.

The situation was this: having battled it out over two days, the pair lined up at Langley Park for the Saturday night Super Special Stage. Makinen clearly jumped the start, and copped a one minute penalty for his troubles.The penalty put Sainz miles ahead In the rally, but it was quickly, and controversially, over turned, making it a fight to the finish. Makinen won by about 12s, slightly opened his narrow championship lead, and left Sainz very unimpressed. "It's a scandal," he said at the time."It is quite clear what happened - 20,000 people saw him jump the start, but there is nothing done. "In Formula One it is quite clear you jump the start, you get a stopgo penalty. Here, it seems nothing

happens, it makes me wonder if I am in the right sport." Makinen was cagey about the situation:"! am very happy, I don't want to talk about the other thing. "This is one of my most important wins and makes the championship a bit easier going to the RAC." The Rally Australia win did makes things easier for the Finn, giving him a two-point lead for Britian. But what didn't make his title fight easier was a slight misjudgement on the first day in Wales. Makinen hadn’t got far into the rally when he slid wide on a slippery corner and crunched a concrete post.The impact pulled a rear wheel off his Mitsubishi Evo V, and while Makinen tried to make it back to service, the local

moiorsDortnews

Ups and downs:Makinen had a somewhatfortunate win in Western Australia, top, before not being so lucky in Wales, above, where the police made him wathdraw his three-wheeler Mitsi. Sainz, meanwhile, was so frustrated with his last-minute retirement in Wales, right, that he threw his helmet through the back window, below.

constabulary had other ideas and deemed the car unroadworthy. An infuriated Makinen was out of the rally, and, having conceded the title to Sainz, immediately set about making plans to leave Wales and fly home. The World Championship was all but Sainz's. All he needed to do was finish fourth, a task he proved more than capable of by holding that position throughout the rally. But then the final twist in the tale took hold. Just 350 metres from the finish of the last stage, Sainz's Toyota Corolla suffered terminal engine failure, immediately ending his rally. It was a bitter blow for Sainz, who was still reeling about the controversy in Australia. He responded by famously throwing

www.mnews.com.ai!

his helmet through the back window of the Corolla. "It is impossible to put into words how I feel," he said. "We had backed off earlier in the day because of the bad conditions, and we were doing all we needed for the championship, "it is difficult to comprehend what has happened,especially so close to the end of the rally." According to folklore, Makinen was informed of Sainz's retirement, and his subsequent victory in the World Championship,on his way to the airport. "This is no way to end the battle for the championship,"said a gracious Makinen, "I feel very sad for Carlos." And so ended one of the great seasons of rallying - or should that be motorsport?

5 minUTES lUITH ...

□RLE

Even on vacation, you could not keep NASCAR royalty away from the racetrack. The Hendrick Motorsports PHILBRANAGAN recruit dropped in at Phillip Island and liked the look of what he saw You have had a look up and down the pitlane, do you think that there is some scope for some NASCAR drivers today to do our [V8] series, and vice versa? In a perfect world, I would come race in the V8 series full-time for a year. I feel like I would enjoy it, I like the format of the race weekend, as far as the rounds go, which is definitely different to how we approach the weekend. I am sure other drivers have their favourite form of motorsport, some guys think that they have Formula 1 aspirations, but I feel like that is unrealistic for a NASCAR driver. With this, I could probably talk to the right people and make something happen. I feel like that is an option for any driver in the States, [anyone] who runs a fullbodied Stock Car. I am going to run my butt off in those Cup cars, until I can't even go, until I get tired of it or until nobody wants to hire me. Maybe I will come to Australia, if there is a ride for me! You move to Hendrick's next year, do you feel under pressure? Obviously, with Jeff [Gordon] and Jimmie [Johnson] being the guns of the year, do you feel the weight on your shoulders? Absolutely. One of the ways to look at it is, I am going to the team that just won the championship, they won 50 percent of the races this year, with the two drivers and Casey's one win in there [Ed: Mears, at Lowe's]. They get it done, there's no excuses. For years, I've had excuses. We came close, we have won races and done well in the championship and we have always had something to fall back on - a reason, a thought that we had in the middle of a season, whatever. As a driver, I have always wondered, I feel like I can get it done, I feel like I am a great driver. You have to feel like you are the best out there. I had an opportunity to put myself in the best situation that I could possibly be in.There is not another driver in the garage that would turn it [a 20

IT MEANS A GREAT DEAL TO ME, I AM VERY PRQUD OF THAT, TO BE AT THAT LEVEL JUNIOR IS LOOKING FORWARD TO RACING F1 AND INDY WINNERS

drive with Hendrick's] down. Now, there are no excuses, you got to put the numbers up, the wins up that people expect of you. But that is just a part of life, you have to put yourself in those positions. I would regret it and never forgive myself if I passed it up. I am a racecar driver and if I am serious about what I am doing, that is the place to be. Juan Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve, Sam Hornish, Marcos Ambrose. All these people are new to and broaden the appeal of NASCAR. How much does that actually legitimise what you do when you compare your performances to them? I think that it shows that our sport is really healthy. For us to have those calibre drivers - Formula 1 champions - entertain the option of driving in our sport, it is a flattering position for me.

Even though I try to be ... every driver is your enemy, on the racetrack you do whatever it takes to win, when you are sitting on pit road, with Juan or any of those other guys who are Indy 500 champions. Formula 1 champions, you jot that down in your little book that you are going to read to your grandkids. It means a great deal to me, I am very proud of that, to be at that level. It is good for our sport. I love having those guys there and I will help them as much as I can. But I am sure that they are not going to need much [help]. There has been a lot of talk about the Car of Tomorrow. Drivers say that, maybe, it is not as nice to drive as the last-generation cars. Will that sort itself out when the first race starts next new season? No. The cars are easier to drive, to physically drive the car and get it

around the racetrack is simpler. It is wider and that makes the car quite a bit more stable than our current cars. But then it goes into the corners, it goes straight and it pushes really bad. It is harder to get to turn in the middle of a corner. When you can't get it to turn, you can't get the power down because the rear wheels won't hook up. It just sits on top of the racetrack and doesn't get into the racetrack very well. We all kind of feel like that we are starting from scratch and we are very limited in the knowledge that we have. As we go, we will start figuring out how things work. Things evolve, people start to understand what they like and don't like, it's just trial and error. For the first little bit, I think that we are going to continue to complain. Eventually, that will go away.

motorsport news

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HIS is the time of year when we FI journaiists get to stay at home a bit. There is testing in sunny spots in Spain but most of the effort is currently going into building new cars for 2008.There is much hope floating around in the FI factories of Europe. This is a time when the industry is looking forwards and yet, at the same time, it is a time when everyone is looking back at the season that we have just finished, with seasonal reviews, parties, galas and, sadly. World Council meetings. The other week I went to Stuttgart in Germany for a Mercedes-Benz event that they call Stars and Cars. Make no mistake; this is a Mercedes-Benz promotional event, but the . idea is to share the fun of motorsport with the fans and give them the chance to get close to their heroes. It is free (which is always good) and the various teams that represent Mercedes

are there with the drivers making appearances, signing things and driving their cars on a makeshift track around the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Everyone was having a good time. It struck me that this is rather better than the black tie prizegivings that the sport seems to enjoy. Creating the image of exclusivity is all well and good - and part of the FI image - but allowing the fans to take part is smart.

hen I look back on 2007,1 will probably think about the scandals, for these things widely reported by most close observers. But it will not be more than a few seconds

before the thoughts will switch to the fact that we have had a great season of racing, with four different men fighting tooth and nail (and there has been a fair bit of fingernails this year!) for the World Championship until the very last race of the year. ^

You cannot really ask for more than that from a sport. There were signs that FI is gradually becoming a sport that will one day be run by grown-ups, all part of the inevitable process of FI moving from being a game fqr pirates to becoming more corporate in its thinking.That does not have to mean that things are any less fun than they used to be. They are Just being managed differently. Some might argue that it is like turning Panama, once a colourful den of thiefs, into a dull Industrial canal zone, but I would argue that while methods may change, the difference is more like that between reading Treasure Island and watching the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Both have their good points (and that is enough about Keira Knightley) and both are, when all is said and done, great entertainment. The bottom line is all of this is that the sport

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FORmULR 1 is about people. It is about you and me.Yes, it is exclusive and seems to be closed off to everyday folk, but in this respect, I look upon Australia as being a very lucky country. There is one event that always stands out for me as being the one that really takes care of the fans. It is called the Australian Grand Prix and takes place in a place called Albert Park. And long may that continue. I know I am not a taxpayer Down Under ‘ and that there is no solid proof that the event brings anything to the state of Victoria but, believe me,it is better to have something special and pay for it than to have nothing at all. You can argue, as the critics do,that FI is a world full of snake-oil salesmen and I might not argue with you on that one, but these odd folk bring the focus of the world with them.

;

t the moment I am reading up about a place called Greater Noida in India. There will be a Grand Prix there in 2010 and while I have never been desperately keen to go there, I have been amazed at what 1 have discovered about the way India is changing. The FI effect that the Indians are paying for is already starting to happen. My eyes are being opened and when one day in 20101 walk through a new airport and take a new expressway to a new hotel and go to a new circuit and perhaps pop over to see the Taj Mahal, I will be able to write of an India that I would never have thought about, were it not for the sport. I love Melbourne. I love the way that Australia runs its Grand Prix. When people ask me the best race of the year, I always say Melbourne first. I do it because that is how I feel not because of any vested interest. Sure, the indians will not try to be funny about me being a'Pom'but then again they won't have Australian meat pies on offer either!

BOH SEAT JoeSaward Formula 1 Correspondent Melbourne can have a hundred film festivals and whatever kind of sporting event you care to mention but none of them have the global reach of the Grand Prix and the day that Melbourne forgets that will be a sad one. I hope that never happens. I am already beginning to get excited about turning up in Melbourne in March for the start of the new FI season. It seems a long way off and there is much to do between now and then, but talking to FI folk on the phone one picks up the enthusiasm that drives them onwards, that makes them different and that draws people to them. Ladies and gentlemen, roll up, roll up. We have some rhagic for you. And we have snakeoil available during the intermission...

I WILL BE ABLE TO WRITE OF AN INOIA THAT I NEVER WOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT, WERE IT NOT FOR FORMULA 1

V l

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MOMENTS OF 2007

TOP 10

You know those moments.The ones that made you sit up and take notice.The ones that made yourjaw hit the floor. And the ones where you wished you knew more about criminal law.These are the incidents and extraordinary occasions that have been hand-picked and documented by MOTORSPORT NEWS,as we look back at the Top 10 WOW!moments ofthe 2007 motor racing season

Pole position,‘the early- race'lead/even rain'clid'Softhreaten his’Hfejies'to;secure theAJ'^orl'd ' Drivers'GhaWipiohship that Poms had dare'd'to.whisper.about sinceflSis seiisatiohal foliriiiula 1 debut in Melbourne. Even after Kim’i RaiRkonea stormed past into'the lead', McLaren kept the younfster-out ofti the track, waitlng'for-th'-e track condition tolrhprove prior td the final round of Stops. fhen,on the inHlapi Hamilton surfed off the pit road and stuck it in the gravel. His team had not aetedi early enough, his tyres were destroyed and at least six points - maybe eightwent begging. "You cannot go through life without making mistakes," he said later."But I am over it and we look forward to Brazil.The team will be working hard to make sure the car Is quick enough there, and we still have points in the bag." The problem was, Raikkonen was within range and Ferrari had momentum. Hamilton's title will have to wait, at the very least,for another year.

Nearly the perfectsend off YES championships are won and lost over the course of a whole season and yes chosing a single defining moment in 12 months of rallying is fraught with danger. But in the case of Marcus Gronholm and season 2007, its pretty cut and dried - Gronholm lost the World Championship to Sebastien Loeb in Ireland, Going into the penultimate round,the first visit to Ireland for the WRC, Gronholm led the championship by four points. And according to the maths,second place in both Ireland and Wales would seal the title. But on Special Stage 4, running on hand-cut slicks in the greasy conditions, Gronholm ran wide on a right hander, smashing a wall hard enough to actually knock the lanky Finn out momentarily. So,just when it looked liked Daniel Elena's wrong-note call and Loeb's subsequent crash In Japan was going to be the defining moment of WRC season 2007,there was a very broken Ford Focus out of Rally Ireland. And as history shows, Loeb went on to win in ireland, finish third in Wales, and wrap up his fourth title by just four points. 24

GRONHOLM THROWS AWAY WRC TITLE CHANCE IN IRELAND

motorsportisews

Stoner wins at Barcelona STONER AND ROSSI FIGHT OUT THRILLING SPANISH GRAND PRIX

FOLLOWING his season-opening win at Qatar,everyone expected Casey Stoner to win on tracks with long straights - Phillip Island, Shanghai and Barcelona. And he did. But the win in Catalunya was... special.The week before in Italy, Valentino Rossi won and Stoner was fourth, sliding around on an unsuitable tyre and edged off the podium by Alex Barros on the Pramac D'Antin Ducati. With a lead of nine points in Catalunya, Rossi took pole and, with Stoner starting fourth, was looking for the lead in the championship. The battle between the pair, with Dani Pedrosa playing a watching brief in third, was mesmerising. Lap after lap they battled, swapping the lead three times on some laps, until the Aussie got the upper hand and led narrowly to the flag. It was his fifth win in eight races and boosted the lead to 14 points. His victory two weeks later on a skating rink at Donington was more dominant, but this was an important psychological victory. And what a race.

1 ■.

TEAM PRINCIPAL MEETING KEEPS COCHRANE AS TOP DOG SATURDAY June 23 is not, necessarily a day many may think of as pivotal in V8 Supercars - but it was. And we are not talking about the opening Hidden Valley race, won by Mark Skaife from Rick Kelly and Craig Lowndes. It was what happened afterwards, at a meeting of team principals, rnany of whom entered the meeting holding the view that Tony Cochranes time as V8 Supercars Australia Chairman's was running out. It had been a bumpy time for the category, and many were fuming over comments made by Cochrane regarding a potential return to the Australian Grand Prix, and forrner broadcaster Network 10. It looked like it may have been the end of the era. a was ar rom the case. TC made an impassioned address to the group an , o owing some discussion, had his tenure guaranteed to the end of the year. At November's Annual General Meeting of TEGA - following a number of key developments, including a new AGP deal - the teams lined up and got behind the status quo. Cochrane was reappointed for 2008. It was a remarkable situation. The man considered to be a potential successor, TEGA Chairman John Hewson, resigned, and GM Kelvin O'Reilly's position was made redundant. Both TEGA and SEL support finding an independent Chairman to succeed Cochrane so that search will continue. But for now, after a tumultuous year, Cocho remains in place. 25

IT'S almost as if Will Power is destined nevejto win the Lexmark Indy 300 on the Gold Coast. For the second year in a row Power qualified his Team Australia entry on pole position. And for the second year in a row his race was compromised by the car controller releasing him into the oath of another car during a pit-stop. This time it was David Martinez who copped a nudge from Power in pit-lane, mildly damaging the front of the Team

Wills nome race was||gflF

Aussie car.

bad luck.

Power got going again,and was still in contention,as well as being the fastest man on the track. But an ambitious passing move on Katherine Legge put him,and Legge,out of the race for good on lap 19. "It was a disappointing day,"Power said at the time. "You know,once again,the same as last year, we have the car, had everything in place to win the race, but, you know,just.

"We just got let go early in the pits,just a mistake. Nothing we can do about it. The guy that made the mistake is usuaily flawless with his work, but it happens.We're ail human. "Then trying to charge back through the fieid, I got a run on Katherine Legge. I guess the car stepped out a little bit and grabbed her back wheel and threw me into the wall." That shunt with Legge aiso broke his hand, it was a bad day for Wili ...

IK COUGHLIN GOES TO PHOTOCOPIER AND SPYGATE IS UNCOVERED

Trudy goesshopping ONE could not have guessed that someone named Trudy Coughlan or a photocopier in Surrey would be involved in one of the biggest stories in Formula 1. But in 2007,they were. It was while the Grand Prix circus was on its North American swing tliat the wife of McLaren designer Mike Coughlan,p/cfured, asked a local copy shop to duplicate 780 pages of data. Someone in the shop recognised the information as Ferrari's and blew the whistle, and the Spygate Saga was in full flight. Had the Coughlans bought a photocopier and made their (.opies at home, who knows what might liave happened - or not happened. 26

i motorsportnews

MCLAREN V MCLAREN AT HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX

liljgbody language said it all. Fernando Alonso's final qualifying lap at the Hungaroring was just enough to edge team ifnate Lewis Hamilton of pole. But Hamilton was fuming; Alonso had intentionally waited in the pit’box to delay his team-mate,and Lewis's last set of tyres did not go on in tirne forhim to get . a final qualifying lap. The stewards stepped in, and AlonSo was penalised five grid positions. He finished fourth in the race, behind Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld. Had he started second;he would have finished, in all likelihood,second. And those three extra points would have won Fernando a third straight championship.

WINTERBOTTOM B NS A L KELY

Frostys chasefor glory ends in son ON lap 151 at Bathurst,things looked pretty solid for Mark Winterbottom. A stunning pole lap and classy driving from Steven Richards had aided Frosty in his quest for a maiden 1000 win. But then it all went wrong; leading on the road, on slicks, on a damp track, Winterbottom went straight on at the www.mnews.com.au

Chase and bodftted across the sandtrap, before plunging back onto the track, centimetres in front of Craig Lowndes. In a heartbeat, the win was gone; he soldiered on to finish 10th. "I thought that I entered the turn quite easy," he said later, "But I hit the bump and as the car

landed it gripped up and turned bard left, spun around and became half airborne." The bit he left out was,"at 300kmh"... If there is justice in the world, Frosty will have another chance to win The Great Race, But this year, his race will be remembered for the wrong reasons. 27

GIVES V

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SEBA'STI'A'N Vettel is, obwiously;talented, He qualified'eighth'for his first Srand frix, and!SGoredi a point on debut- and)since he' was not yet 20 when he did that,ihe became the youngest pointscorer in Formula t But then,in Japan, he first rammedi into the side of Fernando A'lOnso, pictuned, and then smashed into the baek of Mark Webber.

That's bad. He was ffuthirdi place at che tiWie. That is worse.The Safety Car was out.lihfee Strikes. That prompted this from Webber ^ bn live TV;"It's'kids isn't it? Kids with not enough experience“they do a good job and then they fuck it all up.'' Webber was right behind leader Lewis Hamilton and^ despite feelingi sick, was

ilining the McLaren up for a Ghallenge VMheni the race went green.'H’e wasfn ils way to second or, maybe,a win*!^ The upside is, Vettel redeemed himseif almost immediately. The following race.In China, he finished l fourth.The kid has ability; what he does from here is going to be interesting to watch.

Race 2, the West Australian was ill a posiiifh to put the title (alimost)"beyond! the‘reach of Jamie Whincup. But lander didnT. In'third' place be'hind! Whincup and' Iteven Richards,fander tried! a S0/§0 (at ibest) move on Richards at the lairpin. Richards didn't leave room and the pair diaShed! leaving'tand'er's steering! pointing in 14 different directions.

©esperately, tander tried' to Keep'with it, but speared! off at the end of the back straight. No result, no points and'no mem championship lead. As history sh0ws,fand'er went on to pass Whincup ihi the final! round and take his maiden V8 championship, but Symmons was the round! where the pressure nearly got the better of him'...

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HOPES IN DOUBT THE promotors of Phillip Island's Dunlop Grand Finale would have thought that Garth Tander's exploits in the final race at Sy mmons Plains were outstanding. Tander himseif would not agree. Having won the first race at the penultimate round of the V8 Superear Championship Series at Symmons Plains and fought back from a clutch drama in 28

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My2007 Phil BranaganMNews Editor CALL me bloody-minded if you like. but I like the idea of a Smokey -an outsider who has flown under the radar- getting into contention for a win. There were several examples of such an occurrence through the year but,for Smokeys,it is impossible to go past Bathurst. For a while there, it appeared that Jason Bright was going to steal, not a win,as much as a high placing,for Britek Motorsport. And let's face it, Britek could have used a good result this season. But there was another.Smokier Smokey. Along with a whole bunch of other cars, Greg Ritter pitted for fuel on lap 146.1 was far from pitlane,so I could not see whether he resumed on wets or slicks- but for some reason, I felt certain that they were wets. After all, he was 16th and, had he stayed on slicks, he probably would have stayed there. It was worth a punt and Garry and the Rogers troops do,sometimes, roll the dice. As soon as the Safety Car pulled off, there was the answer. In the drizzle, Ritter vaulted through the field like a missile and got as far as sixth before the rain eased,the track dried and his tyres started to fade. That was the end of the fairytale; Ritter and Cameron McLean would have to settle for ninth. It would have been some justice had the pair finished on the podium, or better. Not to mention the great story in the Monday dailies, of two part-time drivers beating all the'pros' in the biggest race of the year. Not to mention that they are two good blokes, to boot. With a little more rain« the race result could have been much, much different. Damn this never-ending drought...

won.But he did so having to withstand immense pressure from both the Triple 8 cars, and all the while trying to put pressure back on them.It was ditto for Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, with the latter showing there is plenty offight left in the old dog by a)jamming it inside TanderatTurn 1 when theToll car came out of pit-lane,and b)jamming it inside Tander at Siberia like a 19-year-old Formula Ford driver - and making it stick with no. carnage. That was the best part of the three races at Phillip Island; no bullshit.There were no controversial'offs'or'spins,'just good old fashioned motor racing. And, unlike last * year, when the final race finished there were no lingering questions about who the Champion was.

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And the winner is ...

Control Brakes r Stop the ^ ride I want

V8 SUPERCAR's control brake package was one of the talking points of the season. In the leadup to Bathurst, a number of teams were voicing concerns whether their Alcon rotors would be able to go the distance and we saw all manner of teams make modifications, to be ready to change them during the race. Ironically, the winning Triple 8 entry was one of the teams NOT to make a rotor change ... The 48-vane rotors, introduced to save teams money, were not tested as part of the tender process, which earned the ire of the teams. As for saving money, while some team principals agree that their costs are lower than they were a year ago, one has told Motorsport News that his team has spent more this season than last - 85 percent more. The most visual brake issues of the season came at Bathurst, where both Toll entries were crippled by rear brake problems (though, to be fair, that was not a control item) and at Symmons Plains, where scored discs were to be seen all over pit lane. But there does seem to be a consensus that control brakes are a good idea; just as well, as there will be common callipers as well, next season.

motorsport news

UB SUPERCflRS And the winner is ... ’ Here’s the ’ trophy, what’s your .name aeain?

Lee Holdsworth

MOTORSPORT News staffers typically leave for a V8 race on the Friday morning and checks into the track at Friday lunch. We press the flesh for a few hours before heading back to our accommodation to study the form guide and continue our research (ie grab dinner and a few beers). The first piece of flesh that MNews pressed at Oran Park in August was Lee Holdsworth's. Part of our Friday debrief with Holdsworth revolved around some chat about the Holden heavies

instigating some interest about his future driving plans. Whether it was true or not was beside the point in this game, where there's smoke, there's fire and Lee was on pitlane's radar... So when he scored his first round win,just two days after we'd had our chat, things were starting to fall into place for the Melbourne resident. Sure, Lee isn't going to be driving for HRT next year, as Garry Rogers has him locked into a long-term deal to drive for his team. But this isn't a bad thing. Judging by the speed that he's shown this year - both in qualifying and in the races - Garry's investment has been worthwhile. And with Walkinshaw Performance motors next year, Lee could be pushing inside the Top 10 more often. From there, who knows, but 2007 is certainly a season that will be remembered as the year that Lee Holdsworth turned from Fujitsu Series graduate to Main Game player.

And the winner is ...

Politics and politicians ONE thing that cannot be ignored is that 2007 was a huge year in V8 Supercar politics. The arrival of John Hewson asTEGA Chairman did cause a split in pitlane, with the former politician garnering support and criticism in wildly oscillating amounts. Regardless of what may or may not have happened,there was a huge shift in power during the course of the year that led to, ultimately, his swift exit. There were also a number of changes at board level, prompted by a number of matters, and the board actually finished the year in much different shape to how it started.There is a widespread opinion that, with a combined board high on the priority list, such happenings will not be repeated in the future. Along with the exit of Hewson, TEGA determined that Kelvin O'Reilly's position of General Manager was no longer wanted, and that the actual makeup of the board would change. Both stakeholders,TEGA and SEL, remain committed to an www.mnews.com.au

independent Chairman, but that will not be implemented until after Tony Cochrane's tenure runs its course. Cochrane remains in his role with the unanimous support of the teams, which is a good thing. Another year like this would do no good to the sport at all ...

Kevin oh seven

Grant RowleyNews Editor THE end ofthe 2007 season was a blur. Two weeks separated most ofthe final five rounds ofthe V8 season, meaning the pressure was on the teams,the drivers and all of the category's associates. For a season that never felt like it was going to finish, in the end,it wrapped up pretty quickly. It all made for a damn fine excuse to let your hair down when the final chequered flag fell. Depending on who you ask,the V8 Gala Ditiner can be a great event or a bit of a snooze. For myself and the crew at MNews,all you have to do is add fine food,a few glasses of red and a dance floor and the night there for the taking. This year, we grabbed it with both hands and ran. It's interesting to see the lighter side ofsome of the characters involved in the top level of motorsport at events like these. Motorsport is a sport that requires such passion that personalities can get lost with the pressure and adrenaline. On the dance floor,the pressure (for some)is a lot less. Events like this need to be embraced. Notfor the crappy speeches or the uninspiring awards(how the hell is Greg Murphy the season's most improved driver?) More so» to see who has the ability to keep themselves in an upright and orderly position, and who can resist the temptation of dancing on the tables within the Palladium room. And no, I'm not mentioning any names...

And the winner is ...

Supercheap Auto Racing AS crazy as it sounds,this team used to win races. But in 2007 the taste of champagne was a distant memory for Supercheap Auto Racing,the team lucky to make it through a Friday practice session, let alone to the podium. The funny thing is there were actually signs of speed. Paul Dumbrell was 10th on the grid at Indy, and then 12th on the grid at Symmons Plains - not too shabby. But the team had a

And the winner is ...

Parity

THERE are few other topics that get the Ford/Holden debate raging quite like parity. In years gone by there have been claims made by both sides, mostly pertaining to horsepower and aerodynamics.This year, however,there seems to have

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remarkable ability to suffer from mechanical failures.The team's engine woes were highlighted by, but not limited to. Cam McConville's warm-up lap retirement at Bathurst.The only upside to that situation was thet David Reynolds got to keep his Bathurst rookie status. There were off-track problems as well. First there was the 'take-over'by John Marshall, which went as far as No Limits signage appearing at the SCAR workshop. Paul Weel was told

he wouldn't be needed for the enduros(Marcus Marshall taking over the seat), and things seemed to be rosey.That was, of course, until the deal fell over at the last minute. So then came the demise of the team entirely - less than a fortnight after Kees Weel's public announcement of his intentions to press ahead in 2008 - paving the way for Dumbrell ancJ McConville to pursue other options and for the team's licenses to head elsewhere.

been very few outcries. Holden teams burnt the candle at both ends over the off-season preparing the VE, while Ford teams came out with fresh aero work in the form of the BF. And it was fairly even stevens. The start of the season looked like a Holden runaway with theToll HSVDT boys in the first handful of races (oh, and Todd Kelly even won a race), while both Bathurst and Symmons Plains were Ford 1 2-3s for the round.

of those instances were circumstantial.Tander had enough speed to win all three races in Tasmania, and Bathurst was, well, Bathurst.

But for the most part, both

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motorsport news

And the winner is ...

Drought? What

Wet weather races IF you even needed proof that a bit of rain spices up V8 Supercar racing,then 2007 was the year for you. The first time we had to break out the gumboots at a race track was, surprise surprise, Winton. The fourth round of the series was a wash-out, and it was exactly what the title fight needed. After three rounds of Toll HSV and HRT fighting it out at the front, a wet and wild Winton saw Jamie Whincup take his first round win of the year, and break the General's early strangle hold on the series.

Holdsworth loves Oran Park; he did so even before his maiden

Then there was glorious Oran Park. It was no secret that Lee Holdsworth was packing some serious pace in his GRM entry, but whether or not they had the grunt to actually get a result was an entirely different question. But when do you least need horsepower? In the rain, of course.

round win there this year. It was at the Sydney track that he scored his best round result of his debut year in 2006 with sixth. And he was third fastest(on old rubber) during practice, in the dry, this year as well. And while we're talking classic wet races from the year 2007, we

And the winner is ... THERE was always going to be as few teething probiems in Channel Seven's come-back year, but all things considered, Motorsport News is giving them the thumbs up. Technically speaking,the Seven coverage was bloody good this year. As far as presenters go, Neil Crompton still sets the standard. Whatever network the bloke appears on he does a brilliant job, and pretty much guarantees a level ofcredibility toa

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may as well mention Bathurst. Sure it wasn't a complete wet race, but a damp track played a big part in the result. For starters, pioneering in the greasy conditions was the downfall for Mark Winterbottom. And then there was the likes of Bright and Skaife following each other into the wall at the top of The Mountain.

And, although this is hardly the place, we could count a bunch of FI races that were spiced up by some precipitation this year as well. So forget reverse grids, optional compound tyres and parity adjustments. If you want to make V8 Supercar racing more exciting, start installing irrigation systems!

Channel Seven telecast, while Matty White is a consummate professional and compliments Cromley perfectly. As for pit-lane, Daniel Gibson seems born to be on TV, while the big revelation of the season was Aaron Noonan, who deservedly seems set for a more permanent gig in pit-lane next year. As expected there were some naysayers, mostly regarding lengthy advertising breaks and the prominence of AFL Sorry guy and girls, but its reality time: Firstly, ad breaks

are a part of commercial broadcasting. Showing V8 Supercars on television needs to be commercially viable, and companies pay big bucks for their ads,so expect them to be there, and be iengthy, because without them there is no telecast. As for AFL,anyone who honestly believed that V8s would take precedent over the country's biggest sport wasn't thinking straight.The 22 rounds, eight games a weekend,the biggest spectator sport in

Australia,come on people, what did you really expect? V8 Supercars isn't in the same bracket as AFL yet,so let's not dwell on playing second fiddle.

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And the winner is ...

Mark Winterbottom

WITH his second year at Ford Performance Racing and his fourth full season in the main series, Mark Winterbottom has made some significant leaps and bounds,including his maiden pole position at Pukekohe,and his first sole round win at Bahrain. Many had big expectations for Frosty for 2007, and maybe this should have been his year to shine. FPR's car speed has been undeniable, yet the results have not always come his way. Frosty failing to match his third place finish in last year's championship. Put aside his round at Bahrain, and Winterbottom simply has not been at the front often enough.

Misfortune and mistakes have been Winterbottom's downfall this year. A blown engine, few shunts that weren't his fault and a few offs have left him languishing a long way behind the top four in the championship results. It has effectively been a reversal of fortune. Last year he was lacking speed and failing to grab regular wins, yet extremely consistent. In 2007 the speed and wins are there but without the consistency. But bet against him as an '08 title contender at your peril.

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My2007 Andrew van Leeuwen National Editor THE best part about being a motorsportjourno is getting to go to racetracks,and getting paid for the privilege. Coming from WA,the most remote city in the world, my pre-MNews life was rather void of east-coast racing circuits. So when Grant Rowley and I went to Oran Park to cover the V8 Supercars, it was my first visit to the metro Sydney circuit. And what a nifty little the’place it is. The circuit is a fascinating layout, complimented by odd,and equally fascinating, retro surroundings (like the old tyre bridge). And I mean that in a positive,'this is what racetracks looked liked in my Scalextric dreams' way, not a negative,'I'm glad they are going to build houses here soon'kind of way. Then there was the racing. Sure the rain played its part in making the whole event one of the most interesting of the year, but what a result. We all knew Lee Hoidsworth was a star in the making, but holding the like of Jamie Whincup off in those conditions was something else.I know he made the right choice on tyres, but he had to go through however many restarts in that race with some handy steerers breathing down his neck, and each and every time he pulled away with ease. What a drive, and what a weekend. After 2008, I'll miss you Oran Park, my new-found friend.

And the winner is...

The new points WHAT a classic end to a storming V8 Supercar Championship. Just when it looked like Rick

Kelly would translate a handy lead into a second straight title, his disastrous weekend gets worse and Garth Tander snatched the title from right under his team¬ mate nostrils. Okay, what is Branagan on now? We are applying the 2006 pointscore system to the 2007 results, that’s what. Okay, we acknowledge that there were no reverse grid races to take into account, but otherwise,the rules were the same. The big difference was less about the points handed out but the ability to drop your worst of the opening 10 rounds. What really hurt Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup were late-season DNFs at Surfers Paradise and Bahrain, although the pointscore

significantly hurt Whincup in other areas as Race 3 DNFs at Eastern Creek and Hidden Valley. Meanwhile,the other three contenders had been able to press on and pick up points in races for finishing outside the top 15. Under the old system, that paid off with points in the bank; this year, the only reason to keep trying at all was to gam a slightly better (or, less-worse) grid position for the next race. The final'2006'points were: Garth Tander 3531 3514 Rick Kelly 3510 Craig Lowndes Jamie Whincup 3370 Mark Winterbottom 3073 Steven Richards 3002 Will Davison 2917 James Courtney 2834 MarkSkaife 2764 2751 Todd Kelly

motorsport news

Ua SUPEBCHRS And the winner is ...

Team Kiwi Racing THE Team Kiwi Racing name was dragged through all kinds of matter during the 2007 season. But the funny thing was,the team scored its best-ever results thanks partly to the equipment it utilised and the driving talent its possessed. After some lacklustre years in Holdens,TKR secured support from Ford NZ and crossed the manufacturer divide - and its first stop was Ford Performance Racing. The relationship lasted just four ‘ rounds before FPR announced that the deal had come to an end. Owning a Level 2 licence meant that the TKR squad could miss three races during the year and it gave them enough time to regroup, regather and find a new home. The home which awaited them was Stone Brothers Racing - a team with strong Kiwi links. When Ross and Jimmy Stone head back to New Zealand, they are lauded as legends,so it made total sense for this passionate pair to assume a technical relationship with TKR. And in the true style of SBR's youth policy, they wheeled out

Shane Van Gisbergen to drive the car. Shane has been on Stone's radar for some time, and was supposed to race in a couple of Fujitsu V8 Series races for them this year. But when theTKR alliance was formed.Van Giz was an integral part of the team's plans - and it paid off immediately." In his V8 debut at Oran Park, the 18-year-old got the attention of the entire pit lane. In his first

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official V8 Supercar session (Friday practice), he was faster than his team-mate Russell Ingall, and drove three cool-headed races, finishing with a best of 13th in Race 2. The best thing about his debut was that no one expected anything for him for the rest of the year. Everyone knew he was quick. You could see he can do the job - it's now just a matter of

experience and time. Time, it seems, is something that TKR,as we know it, might not have. Owner John has been dodging bullets for the past seven years, continually subject to rumours about the security of his business. There's certainly no doubting his enthusiasm and resilience, but it seems just a matter of time until more changes afflict the all black team ...

/dr

And the winner is ...

Officialdom OFFICIALDOM is one of those areas of motorsport where all of the people are never happy all of the time. But in 2007, what criticism there was of the officials was fairly muted.Yep,there were grumbles over decisions, or non-decisions, but generally, the season progressed without any of the headline-grabbing sprays that we have witnessed in preceding years. The main point of conversation this year regarded the policy - which was clearly stated at the start of the season - that there

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would be zero tolerance of loose or flapping bodywork. The safety issue was paramount and teams were advised that, should a rear bumper become dislodged,for instance, the car would be black-flagged for attention. The flipside was that, because in 99 percent of cases, the car behind is at fault, the instigator of the damage would also be pinged. That did not always work out, as that mate of Kim Jones out the back of the garage will testify.There is still some belief in the middle of

r^ pitlane that the'big'teams get more freedoms that the'small'ones but, generally speaking, there was a lack of controversial decisions that actually decided championships. Perhaps the best note on the season came from the final round where there was a near absence of penalties at all (Russell Ingall got one over contact with Greg Murphy).There were some warnings for blocking but not much else happened.The title was decided, cleanly, on the track. It is a little hard to complain about that. 37

And the winner is ...

V8 Supercar tyres

My2007

BUI RiddellStaffJournalist

MY highlight of the year was the Phillip Island round, my first working for MNews. And what a time to make a debut - the anticipation was palpable for the title decider, it was all smiles and rehearsed preparation at the pointy end of pit-lane, while elsewhere the effects of a long season were beginning to show. Garth Tander's mistake at Symmons Plains had opened the door to Jamie Whincup, but the Bolden driver proved his worth, victorious in the first two races despite qualifying seventh. But seven points is not a lot of breathing room heading into a final race, and while some believed Tander had it in the bag, others thought Jamie Whincup could cause an upset. It certainly had all the hallmarks of a great race, the Ford vs. Holden element, not to mention the now familiar Toll HSV vs.Team Vodafone rivalry and the classic seasoned campaigner vs. relative newcomer. The race may have started slowly, but when Tander, having opted for a long first stint, rejoined after the stops it was action central:Tander was trapped in a TeamVodafone sandwich, Lowndes'forceful passing moves,and Whincup's expulsion of energy catching Todd Kelly, even if he couldn't quite get over the line; All contributions to a great race.

TYRES are an important part of motorsport. As the point of contact between a V8 Supercar and the bit of bitumen it wants to be making grip on,those round blackthings have the potential to be a big talking point. But in 2007,there was barely a squeak about Dunlop and its rubber. Sure there was Rick's almost spectacular failure on the way through The Chase at Bathurst, pictured, but that was hardly a defining moment in the great race for he and GT, because brake problems ruled them out regardless. As usual,there were drivers being drivers, and begging for different compounds for different circuits. But the general consensus was that Dunlop did a good job this year, a point highlighted by their re-appointment as the control tyre supplier for the next five years, despite Pirelli making a sizeable play for the job. So, based on 2007,should Dunlop be making any big changes for next season? Probably not, although 500km around Phillip , Island is likely to play havoc with right rears. Motorsport News (in all of its engineering wisdom)suggests a one-off rock hard compound, but we should probably leave that to the experts ...

^ Trust ^ Dunlop!

And the winner is ...

Dick Johnson Racing THE challenge, Dick Johnson said mid-season, was not 2008 and beyond. It was getting to the end of 2007. The iconic Ford team, now branded Jim Beam Racing, was in all sorts of strife at the start of the season, with a budget what some other teams would consider well short of'adequate'. At the time, many were predicting the end of the team but, as ever, DJ was moving forward with his head up. And, with Triple 8 suspension technology, the team made great strides. It was a genuine contender, with Steven Johnson and Will Davison stepping up and, at times, outperforming some higher-priced teams. "It was certainly good and bad," Steven Johnson says. "We had some good results but we need to get better. We are looking on the season as a positive but a few DNFs put us back." With any number of pit lane

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observers predicting gloom and doom for the team, how close did it get to being over? "It was close. But, what can you do except put your head down and press on? I don't think that Dad wanted to be working full¬

time but he and Adrian Burgess worked really hard, the whole team did." The team carries a new structure into 2008 and it appears that its darker days are behind it. Roll on 2008, and cheers . ..

motorsport news

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Home is where the heart is Tony D'Alberto is racing with the family-and he can't think of a better way to go

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The second last time you saw him, he was involved in a Race 1 clash, smashed into the fence and his world, it seemed, had been turned upside down. As history shows, D'Alberto

saw Tony D'Alberto in a V8 Supercar, he crossed the line in fifth place in Race 2 at Phillip Island, wrapping up the 2007 Fujitsu V8 Series crown.

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secured the title by five points and, in all likelihood, will move into the main V8 Supercar Championship Series in 2008, driving for his own team. Getting to the Main Game wiil be one thing, but wrapping up the Fujitsu titie was another. The telling part of the whole crash saga with Dale Wood wasn't when he nosed into the wali It was when he disobeyed his team's pit orders ... and it saved his championship hopes right there and then. "Before the incident, i didn't get a good start,"he expiained. "I was probably a bit cautious but i was happy to sit behind (Jonathan) Webb and Wood, because i didn't have to go out there and win the race to win the championship. "When I dropped back, I didn't panic, I just wanted to do what I had to do. "Wood and Webb then had their own ciash together, and from where I was, it looked like I could easily pass Dale. I didn't think there was any risk. But Dale and I came together and fired me into

GRANT ROWLEY the fence. n "it was probably only a second that I was sitting there, but it feit iike ages, i thought to myseif'what do I do now?' "i restarted the car and there was smoke pouring inside the car and the crew toid me to pit. i decided to do one more lap to see what it was like, "i remember getting down to Honda the next iap and looking at the big screen and saw that there was only three laps to go. I thought if i couid nurse the car around, I shouid be OK. I'd only dropped a couple of spots ... "When I crossed the finish line in ninth and scored some points, I reaiised the championship was stiil on and everything was going to be OK. For a second i thought it was gone." Had D'Alberto pitted on that lap, he would have made Race 2 (and his chance at the title), very difficult for himself... Securing the title was the culmination of five years'worth of toii for D'Alberto. Having opted to skip national Formula Ford and head straight for the V8 leagues,

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D'Alberto took his time iearning the ropes, and in the process, amassing the second-most starts in Fujitsu championship history. For a young bloke ofjust 21,31 Development starts is quite a lot, and he admits that it was never really in his plans. "We kind of got suckered into going into the Fujitsu Series too early,"he says. "Looking back now, I probably should have done two more years of Formula Ford, and 1 think it took one more year in the Fujitsu Series than we wanted to. "But the one thing that takes time and patience is starting your own team.You can't just start your own team and win races. You

have to build relationships with your engineer, make sure you've got good equipment and build relationships with another Level 1 team. All of that stuff takes time, and we probably did it the hard way, I guess. "It would have been easier to drive for another team, but at the end of the day, it's a sport where its not all about me being the driver. It's also about my family as well and their involvement. "My family has a lot of involvement in the sport and they really enjoy it so that's why we went down our own path." Racing with the family is something that Tony has become accustomed to over his years in

motor racing - and things aren't about to change in the short-term. While he has looked to drive at other teams in the past, home is where the heart is. "We've thought about getting me a drive with a team and concentrate on my racing, but at the end of the day, you've got to enjoy life and my family love coming to the race track and being a part of it," he says. "If I'm driving for another team, they don't have that access within, and they would kind of get pushed away a bit. "But our goals don't change, regardless. We want to build our team so that it can be supported commercially and be strong on

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the track, and hopefully that sets us up towards a good future." So, where to now? "The plan is to run one car in the main series and one in the Fujitsu Series," he says. "Next year is about learning everything about the main series. In the future, we'd like to run two cars in the main series and have a driver in there who has good pedigree and be a genuine race team. "If we can get our heads around the main series and get the right people around us, we certainly can get good results. "It's going to be really interesting and I'm hoping we can do a good job."

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Breaking the Ice Many expected that Kimi Raikkonen would be silent this year. But that is not how it turned out A FINNISH joke:Two men,Pekka and Sami, head out for a day's fishing. After sitting quietly by the frozen lake for a couple of hours, Pekka reaches into his bag and produces a bottle. "Would you like some vodka?" he asks. Sami replies,"Did we come here to fish, or to talk?" Kimi Raikkonen will never be remembered for being as good an orator as he is a driver, but by the same token, you could argue he has been the victim of some lazy Journalism this year. The'Iceman'tag was one that he acquired while at McLaren - indeed,the nickname was apparently coined by Ron Dennis - and it stuck with him when he moved to Ferrari.The problem is, it no longer really fitted. It's impossible to know whether the change in environment suited him or whether some other factor was invoived, but whatever the case, Raikkonen seemed like a different person this year. He was

relaxed, he smiled readily, and if you asked a sensible question, you wouid get a concise, but reasonable - and sometimes surprisingly candid - answer. And in a radical departure from what has been normal behaviour for a iead Ferrari driver in recent years, he was happy to loiter around in the paddock. Where Michael Schumacher used to barricade himself in his motorhome until he absolutely had to leave, it was not at ail uncommon to see Kimi out in the open,talking - iaughing, even with a mate, and paying scant attention to any photographer who happenedno be firing flashbulbs in his direction. Finns do not, by nature,tend to be a chatty bunch. Raikkonen is economical with his words, and he's not the type to steal the show in press conferences. But in the past year he has become more communicative than his reputation suggests. -MARKGLENDENNING

Silver Drea IT is impossible to write about 2007 without making particular mention of Lewis Hamilton. In pure terms, his rookie Formula 1 season was nothing short of astonishing,the likes of which have never been seen in the sport's history. Four GP wins; second in the Drivers' Championship, a bare point behind World Champion Kimi jRaikkonen.Those stark facts are the hallmark of a great driver. But if anything, it was his manner rather than his successes that set him apart. Lest we forget, McLaren delayed confirming his elevation to the team, not so much because there was a lack of confidence in his ability within Woking (there wasn't) but because of Ron Dennis's wish not to apply the blowtorch of FI pressure to the kid any earlier than was absolutely necessary. By the time Hamilton won in Canada - in his seventh GP start the world knew how good he was. But the team confirmed that four races earlier, in Bahrain.Yes, Felipe Massa won but Hamilton chased the Ferrari hard and, at one stage, it was Massa that was made to look like the beginner. And Alonso was fifth, more than 1 Os back; Lewis had smacked him. [Just for reference, Alonso is a two-time World champion,the man who dethroned Michael Schumacher. He was recruited by McLaren to win a title, and at the time that was done,there was a year to run on his Renault contract. At that time, anyone suggesting that Hamilton would be his equal would have been locked up.] By mid-season, it was obvious that Hamilton was as fast as Alonso in every department and, at the very least, a match for him mentally. It was soon equally clear that Hamilton possesses the killer instinct necessary to win a title; Alonso has it too but Hamilton is a better fit at Woking,so the decision who to keep was the easiest, and least-anticipated, of the season. Alonso was released (not onsold) because the team simply didn't want him or need him. What McLaren needs now is a good, solid backup to Hamilton; they have their future star, he turns 23 next month and the world - and several titles - are at his feet.

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h ad exactly the same'problem' OVER the course of any Formula 1 season - any motor racing season there is almost always a gap between perception and reality. That is a difficult concept to grasp - and to make it even closer to impossible, perceptions flow and change like a river. McLaren-Mercedes and Ducati Corse found themselves in quite similar positions in 2007. At the same time a blinking Casey Stoner stepped into the MotoGP spotlight, Lewis Flamilton stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Fernando Alonso. Both youngsters were, so it seemed, there to back up their more experienced team-mates in their quests to win the world titles. Problem was, that perception was proven wrong. At once, Stoner was way too fast for Loris Capirossi to handle; by the end of the first lap of the first race of the year at Qatar, any intra-team battle at Ducati was over. Flamilton also started impressively, with a podium in Melbourne behind Alonso. But the Spaniard and the team had to dig deep into a bag of tricks to score second to put things'right'within McLaren. The outcomes were different, yet similar. By year's end, Alonso and Capirossi were both booted out the door to other teams and, while Stoner was World Champion, Hamilton was not. Mind you,.had McLaren waved the whip with three rounds remaining and put in place a number one and number two policy, Lewis surely would have claimed the crown. Both Hamilton and Stoner come across as smiling, boyish kids enjoying their time at the front of GP racing. Inside both, there must be an element of sheer determination, not to mention a fairly ruthless disregard for any other competitor. That is what champions are made of uuww.mnews.com.au

In spite of the Spying accusations, the two cars that fought out the Championship were very different ONE of the great ironies to come out of the whole Spygate mess, and the accusations that McLaren had engineered a pile of Ferrari know-how into its MP422, was the fact that as equal as the McLaren and the Ferrari was this year, the cars were polar opposites in terms of their characteristics. The two cars liked different types of corners, the McLaren was happier over bumps and kerbs, and the Ferrari was better at using its tyres during a race. Watching how each came to terms with their rival's strengths as well as their own weaknesses was one of the most interesting subplots of the whole season, although it unfortunately got lost amongst the ongoing parade of controversies. Out on the track you had a gripping fight for the title, but the development war between the two teams was every bit as fierce - the design departments of the two best FI teams in the world trading blows right to the end. If FI is meant to be about technical excellence, this year was a corker. Again, it's a shame that almost

nobody noticed. From a development point of view, one of the key moments of the year occurred early in the season when Ferrari's windtunnel suffered a meltdown and was taken offline for two weeks - a lifetime in FI terms. McLaren made the most of it, comprehensively gaining the upper hand in both championships during a one sided visit to North America. But when the championship returned to Europe, Ferrari's facility was up and running again, the team successfully tested a swag of new parts, and proceeded to beat McLaren around the head with them next time out at Magny Cours. At the end of the day though, Ferrari may have inherited McLaren's reputation for questionable reliability this year, but McLaren picked up Ferrari's old trait of unforced mistakes errors that often came about when they were forced to deviate from a plan. And that, as much as anything else, accounted for the outcome of the championship. -MARKGLENDENNING 45

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RENAULT lost Fernando Alonso and Mild Seven at the end of 2006 but seemed pretty confident as the new season beckoned, with a big new sponsorship from ING and high hopes for Heikki Kovalainen. But, it was clear from early on that the team had lost much of its advantage from 2005 and 2006. The major problem was that, after years using Michelins, the new car did not seem to work on’the new Bridgestone tyres. Renault tried to work out the problem but soon concluded that the changes needed were more than could be achieved without a major

redesign. This seems to have been a problem of underside aerodynamics as the centre of pressure was moving, thus making the car difficult to drive. This knocked back Kovalainen considerably and his confidence was badly affected, to a point at which it looked like he was about to be replaced. But then he seemed to rally and by the end of the year, was well clear of Giancarlo Fisichella. But the cars were still nowhere against the McLarens and Ferraris and rarely matched the BMWs. Towards the end of the year the Red Bull Renaults were increasingly strong against the

Renault FI cars, which came as a major blow to the team's self-assurance.This was followed by a spy scandal that has further sapped the team's self-confidence. Renault chief Carlos Ghosn has always said that the FI project should be cost-effective and useful to the company. This year's efforts in FI have not been that. With team boss Flavio Briatore selling off his GP2 series and buying the QPR soccer team, there are a few people in Fl who think that the Italian is preparing to leave the sport - and then, what will happen to Renault? ^JOE SAWARD

d Not Really Red but N MINARDI used to be everyone's second-favourite Formula 1 team, The Italian squad may have not had the results of some of its rivals but, regardless of who owned the team, it never seemed to fail to encapsulate the reasons why Italians love racing.There was passion, there was brio and there was always espresso. Toro Rosso carries some of that passion forward, albeit in different guise. Ownership fell to Dietrich Mateschitz and Gerhard Berger

but, in spite of the Austrians' combined miiiions (billions?), the team remained underdog small, Of course, this year the team had a new car, the STR2, with Ferrari engines,That was good and bad news; it was no secret that theToro Rosso was built around the same chassis as the Red Bull, but with aerodynamics that were, perhaps, a generation behind, The downside was the Ferrari engine, if it is such a good piece of kit, why then did Red Bull go motorsportnews

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IT was clear from early on in the season that the BMW Saubers were the third-best cars in FI behind the Ferraris and McLarens. The team had made impressive gains in terms of lap times and the indication was that this was a team moving forward smoothly.There was a major building program at HinwiI that will enhance the 2008 program, so there should be much optimism. But the question that hangs in the air is whether the team's success this year was due to consistent improvement or because some of the rival teams underperformed. The answer may have been a little bit of both. Williams, obviously, had potential but there were questions about the drivers. After some initial reliability problems with gearboxes were fixed, BMW quickly left the Williams behind - in the World Championship and on the racetracks. From then on,the German team was largely unchallenged in third place. Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica are drivers with very different talents, but ended up fairly evenly matched. Kubica's natural talent was never in question but his technical skills seemed rather limited. But the partnership worked and while the team too far behind the leading teams to close the gap and too far ahead of the rest to be seriously challenged, there was much activity behind the scenes. Rival teams swooped in to grab a string of Sauber aerodynamicists. The team had to be largely rebuilt and it remains to be seen whether this will be a setback in 2008. Thus far, it is hard to fault much BMW has done in its FI project and the team hopes to move on next year to win its first race.The going is gets tougher from here and it will be fascinating to see whether the team can breakthrough. -JOE SAWARD

ot Really Bull,either to extraordinary lengths (and expense)to get Renaults, and ensure that the Italian V8 went to its'B'team? Or,to put it another way, when was the last time a Ferrari motor was competitive in anything other than a Ferrari? That said,Toro Rosso punched above its weight. With all the shenanigans of Sebastien Vettel clouting Mark Webber in Japan, what was overshadowed was that the car was genuinely fast; the German kid had made the wm.mnews.com.aii

top 10 in qualifying and was running third at the time ofthe crash. Had he finished there, and the team performed as they did the following week in China,Toro Rosso would have scored more Constructors' points than Toyota and Honda. Quick, add upToydta and Honda's FI budgets and compare them to STR's, and then decide who was doing a good job in 2007. It was one ofthe feel-good stories ofthe season.

Misery loves Company

At least Honda and Toyota had each other for comfort THE two Japanese manufacturers in Formula 1 have completely different approaches to the sport, but this year the results have been pretty much the same. Honda was the biggest disappointment, given the team's pace at the end of 2006.The drivers reported that the cars were unstable, particularly under braking and that means that it was hard for them to be confident'.The team initially thought this was due to the way the chassis behaved on the new Bridgestones but it gradually became clear that the real problem was aerodynamics. The conclusion was that the problem had been one of management because an experienced FI engineer like Geoff Willis would probably have understood more and questioned the development early on.Team members quietly complained that the disaster would not have occurred had they had Willis whom Honda sacked ... At the end ofthe year when

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the team confirmed Ross Brawn's arrival, and the fact that he and Nick Fry would be reporting to a marketing executive rather than an engineer in Japan, it was underlined that Honda has decided to leave the program in the hands ofthe FI specialists. Over at Toyota,the company continued its hapless FI program, although on occasion,the car seemed to be quick - very quick and the focus shifted to the drivers being far too inconsistent. They argued that the car did not inspire confidence.Toyota management in Japan responded by nudging the old boss ofthe team out ofthe way but replaced him with an executive with almost no knowledge of motorsport. It was a weird move. Toyota may be patient. But this was the team's sixth season in FI and, in just a few months,Williams built a better car around the same engine. And that says it all. - JOE SAWARD

The Names in the Game SOME names that may not have been widely known previously came to light in 2007. They were:

Mike Goughian Chief Designer, McLaren His wife hates photocopying, so she visited the local shop, and unleashed a Spy scandal

Nigel Stepney

Head, Performance Development, Ferrari We are still wondering what that white powder was

Phil Mackareth Engineer, Renault(ex-McLaren) Uploaded McLaren designs to Renault's computer but did nothing else. Apparently

Nigel Tozzi QC

Barrister, 4 Pump Court, London The perfect name to be ●Ferrari's legal eagle - halfItalian, half-Mansell

THE END OF THE LINE IF anything,they stayed too long. No, we are not talking about John.. Howard or Peter Costello, but the generation of drivers who, having filled their bank accounts from the loot they made driving in Formula 1,should.have known when it was time to go. By the end of the season, Ralf Schumacher's chat had spun from having offers on the table from race-winning teams to testing - miserably -for Force India at Jerez. And, even that was actually windowdressing, as the team's technical director Mike Gascoyne is known to be no fan of the overpaid and underperforming German. Giancarlo Fisichella started the season with a brief to step into the role as team leader and failed, miserably. Despite the modest start to his GP career by Heikki Kovalainen, Fisi never looked like having what it takes to make it to the top level and, while RenaultFl did have a down year, it was obvious that he was going to be job searching in December. Alex Wurz, never one to be unrealistic, admitted that his time was near and stood down before the end of the season but, on the other hand, David Coulthard continues to impress Generation Grey. DC may be outsped by Mark Webber in qualifying but that is no disgrace, and the Scot continues to show speed and gain points in the races. One more year seems to be a fair reward.

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Reality is Suspended MARKUS Winkelhock will never forget 22 July, 2007. As if making your Formula 1 debut is not memorable enough, Winkelhock did it at home, at the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. It would have been equally memorable for the home fans; Winkelhock is a second-generation racer, son of the famed Manfred Winkelhock, whose skill, speed and bravery are still admired, 22 years after his death in Canada. Winkelhock Jr stepped into the void created at Spyker when Christijan Albers quit the team suddenly. With Yakon Sakamoto waiting in the wings with a bagful of money, the German knew this was his only GP race. He qualified last, but when the skies opened, he pitted at the end of the formation lap for intermediate tyres. As the rest of the field pitted for wets at the end of the first lap, he took the lead, and kept it for six laps; eventually, he was 33s in front. When the race was red-flagged, he was still leading and got to start the 'second' part of the race from pole ... The fairytale ended when, after 15 laps, the Spyket's hydraulics gave up and he parked it. In all likelihood, Winkelhock will never drive in another GP. But what a way to make your mark.

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.t-f 'J *\ ' IT does seem to be as crucial time for Max Mosley. During the course of the season,the FIA President has seen fit to fire barbs at iconic drivers' such as Sir Jackie Stewart and Damon Hill over their outspoken comments over the Spygate scandal. Then, he sought(and received) the federation's permission to initiate libel actions against Britain's Sunday Times newspaper and Martin Brundleover comments the former driver made in the paper regarding the actions and decisions in the McLaren Spying matter. Such action is not unreasonable - Mosley has the right to seek legal redress, should he consider that the federation's reputation has been damaged by Brundle's comments. And it is hardly shocking that he would take such action; he is, after all, a lawyer. But it is difficult to see how the outcome of this action will benefit the sport, as opposed to benefiting those who are charged with administering it.

It appears petty to question whether Stewart, Hill and Brundle are intelligent and qualified enough to hold informed and valid opinions on matters such as this. The former two are World champions,and the media is only doing its job in seeking Jackie and Damon's views. Brundle is paid to be an expert observer and award-winning commentator of the sport. Why has Mosley's view changed?Ten years ago, things may have been different; this is what he said in F? Racing magazine in 1997: "The day you start being offended by criticism is the day you're getting too old or going crackers or something of that kind."

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WITH Bridgestone supplying the entire field with rubber in 2007, there was iess talk about tyres than in previous years. But there was the added wrinkle of'option'tyres, a softer compound that had to be used by each driver some time during each of the races.That was done to encourage'wildcard' * happenings, like overtaking.That led to a David-Goliath moment. The race in Canada was already remarkable, after the SOOkmh mid-race shunt Robert Kubica,somehow,emerged from unscathed. But late in the race came one of those things you have to rub your eyes to take in. Fernando Alonso found himself struggling for grip and was fading fast. As team-mate Lewis Hamilton was steaming towards his maiden win, so bad was Alonso's car that

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But on lap 50,Takuma Sato had been smart enough to pit for fresh, harder rubber while the Safety Car was out. Much of the rest of the field were getting their'soft' laps out of the way before sliding around for the final laps. So, when the grip equation turned in Sato's favour, he was the fastest man on the track. Soon we got to see the unlikelyas-it-sounds sight of a Super Aguri blasting around the outside of a McLaren in a 200kmh S-bend. "This was absolutely the most beautiful day in my racing career and is an amazing result,"the Japanese ace beamed later. In the giant scheme of things, maybe this means nothing. Except, Alonso lost the title by one point... 50

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Formula 1's class of "07 Stars, Stripes, Poles and a few teams turning Japanese

OF the 22 drivers who started the season in

Melbourne, 19 made it to the end of the year as race drivers. One change was crash-induced, Robert Kubica's gigantic Canada impact prompting BMW to draft in test driver Sebastian Vettel to replace the Pole at Indianapolis. Vettel was back in GP racing when he joined Toro Rosso in Hungary, replacing Scott Speed, The fast-talking American had experienced some friction within the team, including a reported physical stoush with team manager FranzTost at

the Nurburgring. Suddenly, NASCAR called ... Spyker made the most of the driver merry-goround, with four drivers used through the season, Christijan Albers made it to the British GP before his sponsorship ran dry, and the team called in Markus Winkelhock and then Sakon Yamamoto, while Adrian Sutil did a full season. At Williams, Alex Wurz scored a podium in Canada but was never quite as at ease as a Williams race driver and stepped down prior to the season ending Brazilian GP, where Williams ran 2008 driver Kazuki Nakajima.

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FinnislUetil The 2007 season marked the end of a rallying era -the Marcus Gronholm era. So, having nearly won his last World Rally Championship, what does the Flying Finn think of retirement?

F it hadn't been for a pair of crashes in Japan and Ireland, Marcus Gronholm would have finished his career with a World title. Does it matter that he didn't actually win the 2007 World Rally Championship? Not really. What's incredible is that in his farewell year,the flying Finn was still fast enough to win six rallies finish inside the top four in all but two rallies (those pesky crashes in Japan and Ireland) and narrowly miss out on a third world title to Sebastien Loeb,one of the most dominant drivers the sport has ever seen. In other words,Gronholm has chosen to retire while well and truly still at the top of his game. So the obvious question is, any chance of a re-think? 'No,that decision has been made,"says Gronholm on the issue. 'Although it was an incredibly hard decision. I'm happy with that and have no plans to return to a WRC campaign next year." So how does one come to the decision of retiring from a front running WRC drive while clearly still capable of performing so strongly? According to Gronholm,that very point is the main reason. Rallying has been my life for so many years and when the Monte Carlo Rally comes round in January to start next year's championship, it will feel strange not to be there," he admits. But the time is right for me to finish now. I wanted to stop while still had the speed to win rallies; I didn't want to leave the decision too late so that I wasn't capable of winning any longer. It was after New Zealand that I made up my mind.That was the most amazing rally and, yes, I did think that perhaps things couldn't get any better. After all, I had fought over tenths of a second with Sebastien Loeb all rally and come from behind on the final day to beat him. [So] I discussed this long and hard with my family,they are the most important people in my life and I wasn't going to make such a major decision without speaking to them about it. This decision will allow me to spend more time with my wife and three children,[so] when I told my wife and children they were happy. [And] I guess that I am the last of my generation to hang up my helmet. When I won my first world title in 2000 my rivals were drivers like Richard Burns, Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae,Tommi continued on page 54

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continued from page 52 Makinen and Juha Kankkunen,and none of them are competing in the WRC any longer. The only other driver to finish in the Top 10 of that year's championship who is still competing is Fetter Solberg ..." Given how late he started his professional career,Gronholm has had a remarkable time in the World Championship. Having had a knee injury ruin a promising Junior motocross career, Gronholm took up rallying in 1987. A year later he was Finnish Junior Champion,and the year after that he made his World Championship debut in the Rally of 1000 Lakes. But it still took a while for his career to get ; going. Gronholm did Just 25 world rallies over the next 10 seasons, although in that time he did win the 1991 Finnish Group N Championship and finish fourth in a private entry at the, wait for it. Rally of 1000 Lakes in 1996. In 1998 Gronholm got his factory break, ; a two-round stint with the Castrol Toyota ^ squad. Unsurprisingly one of those rallies was 1 his home event, and Gronholm caused a stir ' by winning eight special stages, leading the 54

rally, and eventually finishing seventh. It was enough to secure a works drive with Peugeot for 1999, and a year later he won his first WRC round in Sweden. Later the same year claimed his first World Title. The 2001 season was fast but furious for Gronholm and the Peugeot team. He was fast enough to win three rallies,just one less than he had in 2000, but a string of retirements left him fourth in the title. He made amends in 2002, winning five rallies on his way to a second world title. From there it was all about consistency for the lanky Finn.Three more seasons in a Peugeot saw him finish fifth, sixth and third in the championship respectively, before ending his career in Ford Focuses,taking the runner-up prize in the title twice. So how do you pick a highlight out of that? "My best moment was my first world title in 2000,that was incredible for me," he says. "[As for favourite car], I have two.The Peugeot 206 WRC in which I won my world titles, and the Ford Focus RS World Rally Car that I'm driving now." With his own retirement now a reality, and Loeb bound to do likewise when he

gets bored of winning World Titles at will, Gronholm says his team-mate(and fellow Finn) Mikko Hirvonen wiil lead the next generations of WRC drivers. "I believe two of the biggest candidates have been colleagues of mine in the M-Sport set-up,"says Gronholm. "Mikko is now ready to step up and take the challenge to Loeb. He has grown in maturity in the last 12 months and now possesses the speed and reliability to win on a regular basis. "The other driver I have high hopes for is Jari-Matti Latvala. He impressed me this season with the speed that enabled him to lead in Finland and Japan. His consistency has to improve but that will happen as he grows older and develops greater experience "A driver has to have the outright speed to be capable of winning rallies, but that is not enough. Experience of a rally and an understanding of the nature and characteristics of the roads on a particular event also plays a vital part. Rally Finland is probably the best example - It is impossible for a rookie driver to be fully competitive against the top Finns there until they have driven the stages competitively several times." motorsportnews

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The Clevver Countree Yep,it's the time of year we love and you hate-Quiz time.There are 84 questions and,if you get more than 75 percent right first go,you are a genius.We will tell you the answers next month l ll 18: True or False. The Australian Carrera Cup Championship has never had one person win the title on more than one occasion.

1:Tasman Motorsport was big on rotating sponsors this yean What sponsor was on the Holdens'flanks atRound 4ofthe¥8SCatWlnton?

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21:How many drivers with thesurname 'Fittipaldi'have contested Formula 1 GrandsPrix?

2: Who won the 2007 World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year award? 3: Two Australian drivers contested the 1981 and 1982 IndyCar championships. Who were they? 4: Where did A1 Team Australia driver Karl Reindler score his one and only podium? 5:Carrera Cup Champion David Reynolds drove for Supercheap Auto Racing in the endurance races. Which team was original slated to drive for? 6: Who was the last rookie to win at Bathurst? 7: Peter Brock has the most Bathurst podiums. But who has the second most? 8: Which V8 Supercar chassis has won both the main V8 Championship Series and the Fujitsu V8 Series? 9; Who is the oldest race winner in the Australian Touring Car Championship? 10: Dale Wood won the Mike Kable V8 Supercar Young Gun award. Who was Mike Kable, and who did he work for? 11: Garth Tander has won three Australian racing championships. In what classes did he win these? 12: A1 GP will use Ferrari engines .56 ki

19:The Toyota Racing Series is contested in which country?

and chassis in the future. Who is the current engine manufacturer of the class? 13: Michael Schumacher is the most prolific pole position sitter in Formula 1. Ayrton Senna is second, but who is third? 14: Casey Stoner and Chris Vermeulen both won their first MotoGP events in 2007. But who was the last Australian to win his first GP in the premier class prior to them? 15: Who is the only V8 Ute driver to the win the championship in both a Ford and a Holden? 16: At which circuits do the Aussie Racing Cars use its advanced aerodynamic wing packages on its cars in this year's series?

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17: We could be tough andaskfortheyear, month and date. But we will settle for, name the driver, the car and the circuit, right

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QUIB 22: Which V8 Supercar driver got to race on Dunlop's 50,000th tyre? 23:How many'Manufacturers' scored WRCpoints this season?

28:Max Biaggi raced in the World Superbike Championship for the first time. How many wins did he have? And for a bonus point, how many podiums?

24: Mark Martin ran a limited Nextel Cup schedule last season. What was his best race result?

29:The NHRA POWERade Funny Car low ET mark was reset in 2007. Who, when and where?

25:In terms ofaverage points per round, name the top five drivers in the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

30:Marcos Ambrose finished eighth in the 2007 Busch Series. Who won it? Name the driver, the car and the team.

33: Who said this during the course of 2007? "It is not a secret I had difficulties with the team. We tried to work together as well as we could. "I have great memories from this season." 34: Irr 2007,TRD ace Simon Evans won the Australian Rally Championship, his second Drivers' titie in succession. Which other drivers have won consecutive ARCS?

36:ln2007TimMacrow won the Australian GoldStar,after having been secondin the Australian Formula Ford Championship(2004). Name three other drivers with thesamestatistic.

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26: True or False: No driver scored points in both the WTCC, above, and BTCCin 2007. 27: True or False: No driver scored points in both the WTCC and DTM in 2007.

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31: Who scored more FI points this season: Mark Webber, Alex Wurz or Toyota? 32: Valentino Rossi somewhat controversially switches to Bridgestone tyres next season. What was The Doctor's last win on a tyre other than Michelin?

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35: Before Shane Van Gisbergen at Oran Park, who was the last driver to make his sprint round debut without first racing in the Development Series?

37: When was the last time a World Rally-spec car won the Australian Rally Championship? 38: What is the unique about the support bill at the 2008 Australian Formula 7 Grand Prix?

continued on page 58

continued from page 57 39: As of Rally Finland in 2001,four noted WRC drivers, all current at the time, were famously tied on 23 round wins. Who were they? 40:At what round ofthe 2007Australian Formula Ford Championship did a Van Diemen chassis finish on the podium for the first time that season? 41: Former PM John Fioward wasn't the only man of that surname to lose his seat at the end of 2007. Which motor racing identity by that name called it quits? 42: The GP2series began in 2005. Name its champions since then and the teams for which they drove. 43: Who has won both the Gold Star and the Australian Formula Ford Australian Championship? 44:John Bowe retired at the end of the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship season. Before him, who was the last driver to elect to retire from the V8 Supercars full-time? 45: In 2007,12-Flour racing returned to Bathurst with the WPS Bathurst Motor Festival. Flow many previous BathursM 2-Flours had their been and in what years? 46: Who won the pre-2007 Bathurst 12-Flour races?

47: Wehavepixelatedout the driver's name. Who was it driving the BMW MSatWanneroo?

48: In 2006 Greg Murphy made a big splash by being the first Bathurst pole-sitter to lap the Mt Panorama track in under 2:07s. But who was the first to go under 2:1 Os for pole, and in what year did he do it? 49: Which two drivers havejoined Ian Dyk in the driving line-up of Australia's A 7 GP team so far in season 2007/08? 50:Three Australian drivers have been involved in Red Bull's European driving line-up since the start of 2006. Who are they? 57;Force India is the latest name for the team formerly known as Jordan Grand Prix. What has the team been called between being Jordan and Force India? 52: Bridgestone has recently tested a newly-constructed 'slick'tyre for possible use in Grand Prix racing in 2009. When was the last time FI cars raced on'slick'tyres? 53:Aside from their nationality - German what do Michael Schumacher and Nico Hulkenberg both have in common? 54: Who won the 2007 Rally America series? 55;Motorsport News went through a significant change in 2007, reverting from a fortnightly print cycle to monthly(plus our weekly eNews). Who featured on the cover of the first issue ofthe MNews

57:Porsche's 956and 962racers are two ofthe mostsuccessfulracersin Sportscar history. Is this a 956ora 962?

monthly magazine?

59: Flow many drivers in the 2007 Bathurst 1000 have won the Gold Star?

56: Second In the 2007 Rally America se/'ies was Jack Daniel's Subaru driver Andrew Pinker. Can you tell us where Is he from?

60:Name every team that recent retiree John Bowe has driven for in V8 Supercars/Australian Touring Car racing?

58:And, while we happen to bein the neighbourhood,tell us whattrack this is. And drivers. Oh,and the year?

61:Mark5kaife celebrated his 200th V85upercar/Australian Touring Carrace atPhillip Island,lastyear's final round. Name the year, circuitand carin which he made his debut. motorsport mews

out 67;The V8 Utes/BRutes series has had two back-to-back series champions since its first race in 2001.Who were they and what years did they win? 68:Only two makes ofcar have won one and only one Australian Touring Car Championship. Name the make and model ofthe car, the driver that . won the championship and the year that they did so. 71: Ford has been the most 69:There are five 79:Yvan Muller,above,is dominant manufacturer in the Formula 7 World Fujitsu/Development V8 Supercar UUdOUbtedly the mOSter history. Name each Fujitsu/ ,, ^i n j champions who also won Series Deveiopment Series champion OtWe OnnUOlAUdrOS the British Formula3 title. ;lJ“n:" ' Trophy Ice Racing series. Who are they and what How many titles has he 72: Who are the youngest and oldest year did they win their F3 drivers to win the Indy 500 and what won andin which years? was their age at the time? titles?

62:In 1998 Jim and Steven Richards both won the 'Bathurst 1000', but they did so in different cars. How did this occur, what were the cars that they drove and who were their co-drivers? 63: In 1999 Paul Morris raced the V8 Supercar enduro races (Queensland and Bathurst) with a team other than his own,with some strong results. What team was it, and who did he share the car with? 64:Place these drivers in the order in which they were born: Colin Bond, Peter Brock, Allan Grice, Dick Johnson, Allan Moffat,Jim Richards. 65:The first Formula Ford race in Australia occurred in 1969, name the race winner, the car he drove and the circuit.

66:KeesandPaulWeel seemingly ended theii'10yearinvolvement with V8Supercars as team owners lastyear. Name the various monikers their team has usedsince 1998. www.mnews.Gom.aii

70: While we are atit, this bloke,above,is also a British F3 champion. Name,please?Oh,and whatyear?

73: Which driver holds the record

80: Who was the first Australian

for most podium finishes in ATCC/ V8SCS history without a win?

drag racer to break the SOOmph barrier, what was the exact speed recorded and at which track was it achieved?

74: Which driver(s) has/have the most Indianapolis 500 wins - and in what years were they? 75: Which driver(s) won multiple Tasman Series Championships (2.5 litre Tasman Formula/Formula 5000)? And please tell us the years of those titles. 76:A1 Grand Prix had its inaugural round in September 2005 at Brands Hatch. Which team(s)and driver(s) won the opening sprint and feature races? 77: In what year was the Australian Formula 3 series awarded Gold Star status and who was the first champion to receive the title? 78:How many Formula 2, F3000, GP2 champions have won a Formula 1 World championship?

81: Place these drivers in the order in which they were born: Jason Bargwanna,Jason Bright, Craig Lowndes,Cameron McConville, Greg Murphy, Steven Richards. 82:Only once in NASCAR history has a driver won both races at the same track in his first year on the Winston/ Nextei Cup circuit. Which driver did that? 83; Lewis Hamilton won his first Grand Prix in Canada this year. But the youngest GP winner of all time is... who? 84:And finally... name the 2007 winners ofthe Australian rounds of FI, Champ Car, A1 Grand Prix, MotoGP and World Superbikes. 59

U8 5UPERCRR CHRmPIORSHIP SERIES nouno 14 - PHILLIP ISLHO

Close and Clean The Dunlop Grand Finale genuinely lived up to its name in 2007,and this year there were no posst-race questions to be asked about the Champion.GT won it fair and square

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LIRE, Garth Tander sealed the title and Todd Kelly won the race, but, to dust off a corny cliche, V8 Supercars was the winner of Race 3 at Phillip Island. The final 27-lap hit-out of the season was as tense a race as has been seen all season. With just a handful of points between Tander and Jamie Whincup,and both Kelly and Craig Lowndes there to play their part in the result, it was sheep stations at The Island. But unlike 2006,there were no controversial spins. Just good, hard racing; professionals doing what they do best - driving incredibly fast. Kelly came into play thanks to a blinder of a start to the final race. He jumped Tander on the run to Turn 1, and, with half an eye on his Dunlops and half on the gap to second,sprinted into the distance, withTander, Whincup and Lowndes in pursuit. Then came the compulsory stops, and,thankfully,some action. In fact, it was the Race 3 stops that decided the championship. Whincup went first on lap 6, a no-fuss stop from Triple 8, and was soon back on track and going very fast. Lowndes was in on lap 9, the Vodafone boys servicing #888 in just under 3s. But Tender's stop was a shemozzle. First he was kept out a lap too long - a conservative move on behalf of the Toll HSVDT boys who were worried about Jason Richards, who pitted at the same time, influencing Tender's progress down pit-lane. And when he did come in on lap 10, it was a fairly slow stop,somewhere in the region of 4.3s. So when Tander got back onto the racetrack, he was right in the thick of things. Whincup blew past with ease, while Lowndes also had a go at taking Tender's place in the queue,jamming his car inside the Commodore heading through one. But he couldn't make it stick and Tander got the spot back, effectively third place, back on the run to Southern Loop. Situation check: Kelly from Whincup,Tander and Lowndes. For 'Whinners'to win the equation was simple - he had to pass Kelly and Lowndes had to pass Tander. Lowndes did his job, but it took until lap 25 of 27. He did it by muscling his way past at Siberia, a move that caused Tander to chirp up on the radio. He was quickly informed that the pass didn't rule him out as champion. "I thought I had a flat tyre my car was so sideways,"said Tander of the pass. "I checked the mirror and he was a long way back, and then I was sideways." "I didn't realise we still had [the title] if Craig elbowed his way past, so it was a good feeling when the crew told me it didn't matter."

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Anyway Whincup still had to win the race to win the title, and for a while it looked like it was going to happen. By lap 17, it was obvious he was hauling the HRT car in at a rapid rate, and with a lap to go there was half a second between the two. But by then Whincup was out of tyres, and as a direct result, Tander was the champion. "We had great pace and we were able to catch Todd, but I pushed hard on the rear tyres to get there and when I did I ran out of rear bar as well," reasoned Whincup,"so that was it for me." While it was Race 3 that provided the drama,an'under the radar' drive in Race 1 set Tander up for the round win. He had qualified just seventh after being "mystified" with the car, but thanks to a gamble with set-up (basically taking all of pole-sitter's Rick Kelly's settings), he trucked away to find himself second after the stops. He then only had to pass Mark Skaife for the win, a task he achieved with ease thanks to an unsurprisingly compliant Skaife. The Race 1 result had Tander on pole for Race 2, which was a simple lights-to-flag effort. "That's the best comeback we've had from a poor qualifying performance,the car really looked after its tyres,"he said. "We changed more than we usually would and the guys got it close. I guess I just sailed under the radar." Speaking of pole position, Rick gave the bookies and early scare with a scintillating pole aboard the #1 Commodore. But that was the first and last highlight. After making a good start and leading the first race, Rick simply fell of the road at the hairpin on Lap 2 and never mixed with the front-runners again. So once again The Island gave us plenty of drama and a cracking final race. You've got a lot to live up to, Oran Park ... 61

Phillip Island Notepad IT was good news that the racing was so exciting at Phillip Island - especially for the Safety Car driver. Because he had plenty of time to kick back, relax and take it all in.The SC was deployed just once throughout the entire weekend,when Andrew Jones became stranded at the Hayshed during the first race. After that, nothing. It was a cakewalk for the stewards too. Just one mid-race penalty was given out,a drive-through penalty for Russel Ingali in his last appearance for Ford. His'enforcing' move on Greg Murphy at the hairpin was deemed a tad harsh. n Lee Holdsworth was 10th for the round,and 12 months ago that would have been a break-out story rather than just a brief. And that's a sign of the times for the young GRM driver. With his first win under the belt, an ordinary Top 10 no longer seems good enough for Holdsworth. "It was okay, I guess," he said afterwards. But Lee, last year you admitted to welling up when you were sixth for the round at Oran Park ... "Yeah I know,its nice that the expectations have changed a bit. Let's hope next year,fifth won't quite seem good enough anymore!"

One morefor IN an ideal world,the four championship contenders would have been the fastest qualifiers at Phillip Island, in order of points, setting up a battle royale at the front of the field. But things are rarely ideal, and the PI quali session was a prime example of that. Yes, one of the title contenders scored pole position, but it was Rick Kelly, the man with the longest shot at the trophy. And to make things even more surprising, he was joined on the front row by Mark Skaife, who was debuting a brand new HRT Commodore. The battle for pole between Skaife and Kelly was intense. Skaife was first to put the

hammer down,doing the first sub-34s lap with a 1 ;33.95s tour with three minutes to go. Kelly then joined Skaife in the 33.9s bracket, before delivering the killer blow with a 1:33.75s lap with Just seconds remaining in the session. Jamie Whincup was third fastest, his final lap of the session just fast enough to edge out Todd Kelly and give Ford something to smile about... The other two title protagonists finished the third row and started the fourth, Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander just sixth and seventh fastest respectively, giving themselves plenty to do to beat Whincup.

Jason Richards was packing plenty of pace in qualifying, which came as somewhat of aisurprise after a dismal pratice. JR had been just 19th fastest on Friday, giving the Tasman boys plenty of work to do on Friday night. But it paid off, and JR was fast enough to top the session in Q2 while saving a set of greens, and then go fifth fastest inQ3. Pole specialist Mark Winterbottom was eighth after having a lose at Lukey Fleights on his final quick lap, although he was still comfortably the best of the FPR brigade, Steven Richards failing to make it to the final session of quali. -ANDREWVAN LEEUWEN

n Having had a barnstorming finish to the year, and given that he took his first solo V8 race win at PI last year, most people expected Mark Winterbottom to be the outof-contention cat among the title-fighting pigeons. But he wasn't. A spin in qualifying (surprising given he took more pole positions than anyone in 2007) put him and FPR on the back foot. and although he was sixth for the round, he didn't spend as much time on the same real estate as the winners as he would have liked. n Mark Skaife proved just how much he likes new cars by running second in the first

race in a brand spanker Commodore. He might have even won had it not been for alack of grip in the closing laps. "The car wasn't great at the end but you can't expect miracles with a new car," he

said.

And to think there were conspiracy theorists saying he moved over to let GT through for the win; when will you people learn?

Consistency pays off: Ninth for the round for Will Davison, pictured above,secured 70th in the championship for the young gun - a goal he had set himselfpre season. There wasn't a lot ofcrashing and bashing at Phillip Island, but Rick Kelly did his bit in Race 1, above right, and Greg Murphy had a go in Race 3, right.

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Todd proves a point TODD Kelly won the first race of the year on the streets of Adelaide, and the last race of the year ahead of the championship battle-pack at Phillip Island. But its fair to say that between those two race wins,there wasn't a whoie bunch to smile about for Todd and HRT.Therefore, based on results alone,TK had a bit to prove at The Island. But the Race 3 win wasn't just about ending a mediocre year on a high: it was about saying goodbye to the boys in Red, and letting the world know that Just because he is moving a bit further down pit-lane next year, he's still got what it takes to be up the front of the fieid. At the conclusion of the last race at PI, the'TK to Jack Daniels Racing'story was still unconfirmed. But the Toddler gave the best indication that the race ay had been his last at HRT for the foreseeable future by giving the boys a big shout-out on the podium for all their hard work over the last five years ...

WINNERS^ GARTH TANDER; Pretty obvious one,this, but true all the same.Proved himself as a deserving Champ by winning Race 1 from P7,then wrapped it up by keeping a cool head in the final. Bravo, GT. RACE FANS: The final was everything that a good motor race should be: close exciting and clean. A perfect example of how professionals go racing, and bloody exciting to watch.

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As for the race itself, Kelly mirrored Whincup's thoughts that the battle for the lead was about tyre grip - and when it was available. "Its about where and when you use [the tyres]," he said post-race. "I pushed on earlier to get that gap,and then they pushed on

close to the end. "We only made a few small changes. I spent 50 percent of the race looking forward and 50 percent looking backwards. "The priority was to do a good Job for the team and let the other guys do what they had to do." -ANDREWVAN LEEUWEN

slight deficit in car speed with awesoime pit-stops. TOLL HSVDT CREW: Took a calculated gamble on GT's Race 1 set-up and it.paid off... gutsy stuff boys. Won the team's title, too. AEROGARD: Insect repellant stocks would have risen dramatically thanks to the fly population on The Island.

^UB 5UPERCRRSI Round 1H PHILLIP ISLRnP

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Pos #

Driver

Team/Car

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Garth Tander

7 4 Holden Racing Team Commodore VE 3 Team Vodafone Falcon BF 6 Team Vodafone Falcon BF 2 Holden Racing Team Commodore VE 8 Ford Performance Racing Falcon BF 1 Toll HSV Dealer Team Commodore VE 11 Jeld-Wen Motorsport Falcon BF 10 Jim Beam Racing Falcon BF Valvoline Cummins Commodore VE 14 12 Ford Performance Racing Falcon BF Tasman Motorsport Commodore VE 15 Caltex Racing Falcon BF 9 Jim Beam Racing Falcon BF 22 Fujitsu Racing Falcon BF 13 Team Kiwi Racing Falcon BF 16 Team Sirromet Wines Commodore VE 18 Valvoline Cummins Commodore VE 26 WOW Racing Falcon BF 19 Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE 20 WPS Racing Falcon BF 24 Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE 29 Team BOC Falcon BF 23 Team Sirromet Wines Commodore VZ 28 Glenfords Racing Falcon BF 27 IRWIN Racing Falcon BF 31 Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE 25 Jack Daniel's Racing Commodore VE 17 Autobarn Racing Commodore VZ 21 Tasman Motorsport Commodore VE 5 Team BOC Falcon BF 30

1 6 3 4 2 7 5 12 9 11 27 10 8 13 DNF 14 DNF 20 19 15 23 25 21 DNF 28 24 22 16 18 17 26

1 2 3 6 5 4 8 7 9 10 12 13 19 11 15 14 DNF 16 24 DNF 18 DNF DNF 22 25 23 20 17 21 26 DNF

4 1 2 3 7 5 10 6 8 11 9 22 26 27 12 17 13 14 15 18 16 19 20 21 23 24 25 28 DNF DNF DNF

16 22 88 888 200 5 1 4 18 33 6 51 9 17 25 021 67 34 8 50 10 20 12 39 111 26 11 7 55 3 14

Todd Kelly Jam.ie Whincup Craig Lowndes MarkSkaife MarkWinterbottom Rick Kelly James Courtney Will Davison Lee Hoidsworth Steven Richards Greg Murphy Russell Ingall Steven Johnson Jason Bright Shane Van Gisbergen Paul Morris Dean Canto Max Wilson Cameron McConville Jason Bargwanna Paul Dumbrell Andrew Jones Owen Kelly John Bowe Alan Gurr Marcus Marshall Shane Price Steve Owen Jason Richards Simon Wills

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oe SUPERCRR CHflmP!0nSHIP SERIES Final points:Tander 625, Whincup 623, Lowndes 592, R Kelly

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552,WInterbottom 420,T Kelly 381, S Richards 380, Skaife 379, Courtney 359, W Davison 343,343, Ingail 311, Johnson 304, Murphy 250, J Richards 23, Hoidsworth 209, Wilson 110, Bargwanna 109, Bargwanna 109, Owen 103, Radisich 96, Bright 71, Morris 70, Dumbrell 69,0 Kelly 63, Lyons 63, Simonsen 63, Besnard 54, D’Alberto 54, Weel 51, Bowe 47, Baird 45, Pretty 45, Halliday 42, McConville 35,Youlden 33, A Davison 30,Thompson 30,Seton 30, Price 30McLean 27, Ritter 27, Webb 24, Van Gisbergen 23, A JOnes 19, Longhust 19, Wills 12, Coulthard 8, Ellery 6, Caruso 6, Denyer 6, Perkins 6, Marshall 6, Gurr 2,

LOSERS ^ RICK KELLY: Did a good Job to snare pole, but what was the Race 1 'off'all about? Braking markers, Rick... JASON RICHARDS: The Tasman crew did a blinder of a Job to turn JR's car from a practice snail (19th)to a quail Jet (fifth). And then there was a late Race 1 brain explosion and second last for the round. JAMIE WHINCUP: Technically he's a loser, by two points. But given the way he handled himself post-race means he should probably be in the winner's column too. Good bloke, that Whinners ... STEVE OWEN: Its been a good year for Steve and the Autobarn crew, but Phillip Island wasn't a good meeting. Didn't have much speed and then had a DNF in Race 3. Unfortunate timing, considering his uncertain future. 63

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Guaranteeing a Grand Finale

Garth Tander looked to have the day - and the championship - in the bag. GRANT ROW LEY But there are no guarantees in V8 Supercar racing ● ea

EAVING Symmons Plains, there was no one happier than Tony Cochrane after V8 Supercar's penultimate round of the Falken Tasmania Challenge. Not only was there a larger crowd in attendance at his event compared to the Australian/Sri Lanka cricket test match down the road at Hobart, but Garth Tander decided that trying to pass Steven Richards in Race 3 was a better idea than consolidating his healthy series lead. The outcome of it all meant that Cochrane was able to jokingly suggest to the media that Monday's headline should be"V8 Supercars is better than cricket." But the real headline was that the title fight was close - really close - heading into the final round at Phillip Island. A promoter's dream, but Garth's nightmare. "It was a disappointing end to a promising weekend,"Tander said. The West Aussie's passing attempt on Richards was the weekend's second 'oops'for the #16 Commodore. Comfortably on pole, he took the Race 1 win, but when the field were held for nearly 10 seconds before the start of Race 2, the clutch of Tender's car became "dodgy." He dropped a few places at the start, and things got worse when he picked first gear rather than third at the end of the back straight. He recovered to finish 10th, and was up to third in Race 3 when he stuck his Commodore down the inside of Richards at the hairpin. Richo didn't leave him a lot of room and the pair banged wheels, damaging the steering of Tender's car. "We had done a lot of the hard work, winning Race 1 and coming back from 17th place after the clutch problem in Race 2," he said. "Richo went a fraction wide at the hairpin and I tried to go

Whinners again: Jamie, above, won in Tassie, whiie Lowndes wasn't so fortunate, beiow. Yetstili was in witha chance at the titie.

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under him. We made contact and something broke and that was that." Tander's pain was Jamie Whincup's gain.TheTriple 8 star jumped back into the championship lead when Tander faltered, taking two wins and a seven point lead into Phillip Island. It was a massive change of fortune for Whincup in Tasmania,

who had lasted a third of a lap in 2006 before writing off his car. "I wrote a car off within 14 seconds of last year's race," he said. "It's a great way to come back." "The championship puts a lot of pressure on you. Bahrain was the lowest of lows, and today's the highest of highs. We had a very good team performance here and a very good car. My brand-new car really suits me. I talk to the car, I get along with it really well!" Whincup's team-mate Lowndes did enough to stay in the title fight, battling to fifth, sixth and fifth in the three races, despite some brake fade in Race 2. Second and third overall went to Ford Performance Racing. Mark Winterbottom qualified second and looked like the only man with the outright speed to challenge Tander, but Richards emerged as the best of the FPRs, taking second overall. Richards was involved in the championship-altering clash with Tander, and was stunned at the move that was pulled, considering what was at stake in the title chase. "I was staggered by the dive that Garth had," he said. "I was surprised. I said to the guys on the radio, "hands up if anyone wants to win this [championship]." A testament to the terrific speed of the FPR team is that they could afford to totally balls-up its Race 3 pitstop. A communication breakdown between the #5 and #6 camps saw them both peel into pit lane under green conditions. Winterbottom was hurt most, dropping to seventh. Mark Skaife and the Holden Racing Team had a timely return to form, finishing fourth overall. While the pace of Skaife's HRT wasn't quite on the money, it was the closest Skaife had been to the podium for (what seems) a long time. 65

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wviiiirii 11%us Symmons Plains Notepad DRIVE of the meeting goes to James Courtney - hands down. The Stone Brothers Racing driver had a poor qualifying session (as did the two other SBR-equipped drivers), but Courtney fought back the best, storming into contention until he was involved in a braking duel with Shane Price. Courtney was penalised, while Price was out with suspension damage. A few cheap words from both parties were exchanged, but Courtney had the last laugh, coming from the back of the field to finish eighth and sixth in Sunday's races - and 10th overall for the round. "We finished today where we should have been all weekend," Courtney said. "But with a bad qualifying session and the drive-through penalty yesterday, it really set us back. "Considering where I was, it was a big race to get back to the front." ■ Britek Motorsport looked like a team counting down the days to the end of the year. After a hard season of crash damage and little reward, the team's boss gave the Dandenong outfit an early Christmas present, finishing ninth in Race 3 when he gambled with the Safety Car. On cue, the SC boards came out, and the Fujitsu star scooped up a bag of positions and points. Bring on 2008... m Marcus Marshall made his first sprint round start for the year at Symmons Plains, subbing for Jack Perkins who had been diagnosed a week before with Type 1 Diabetes. Marshall^ who drove for JDR in the Sandown and Bathurst endurance races, acquitted himself well in sprint mode, finishing two ofthe races inside the top 15 . ● Here's one for the personal section. A big shout out to the Garry Rogers Motorsport crew, who spent a good portion of Sunday morning attending to the broken spectacles ofthe Motorsport News representative at Symmons Plains. It required a huge rebuild, but the specs were good as new before the start of Race 2... ^ GRANT ROWLEY

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A? the end of the second 'in'TinTe5ya1te0lin&i|i!iftitt^^ ●rpn the let ha nd side of the . ' fronf row of the grid.- "'” qualifying segmeni@arth €(tt!^8^?yt^rwas Tandor was fourth, arid Mark ● '* ""ilitie fightwas won by Tander, tilifie'thTs year tfiv^i;Wilels^w^,o:iitlii‘ | Winterbottom was seventh. yyhb improved on his best'lap. qualiified iinsicld'1iHeii&^^^^ v' It was the lowest positions imB'Qhibis veryilast lap. first time top.liQiip'filer was Winterbottom was Second, the pair had been all weekend MaxWiison, butihecow'idn-t. to that point. But the breaking his pole-winning make an impression beyond streak, and was 6.15s away. interesting aspect was that that spot. A notable mention was the Iln. modern V8 Supercar they had only done eight and seven laps respectively to get competition.at Symmons performance of the Autobarn Commodore VZ. Sixteenth in Plains, Frosty was a lifetime through to the last qualifying behind. session. qualifying is a pretty average Best of the rest was Jamie Compare that to the other spot for the #55 car, but if you top 10 qualifiers Steven Whincup, although the Triple break Steve Owen's qualifying 8 driver wasn't fussed about Johnson (24), Craig Lowndes lap into the respective sections, shooting for the number One (22) and Rick Kelly (21), it was then you'll find that he was damn near obvious that Tander 10th fastest to the first split, last position, instead trying to sort and Winterbottom would be in the second, but fastest in the out a consistent race pace. Fourth was Lee Holdsworth third... fighting over who was starting

' Gravel rash: Garth Tander picked the wrong gear In Race 2, throwing a healthy championship lead away, above. Max Wilson qualified 10th, but couldn't replicate that form in the races, below. Tasman Motorsport's Jason Richards, sporting the new Rockstar Energy Drink livery, bagged third in Race 3, right, while Ford Performance Racing made a royal mess of its Race 3 pit stop, below right.

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;J©Hjtjl '^we made fe|asfceye,ri^§Supe'icar start, at his l^me drcuit |7s|it)mprrs Na^i I . (ihjreepgnition of hjs athievemeints arid standing I in the sport, the|99S Australian touring Car Champion was honoured when the circuit owners unveiled the 'John Bowe Straight.' lassie's favourite spn was already feeling the emotion of his last meeting at his home circuit, but still iianaged to see the lighter side of the occasion?

"It's not much of aiStraight though, is it?" JB quipped. "This has been an emotional weekend for me. "I didn't think my final W8 Supercar round in Tassie would affect me quite this much, but arriving here I realised that it's impossible for it not to have a deep effect on you." JB didn't have a great final fling, either. Me was involved in an first lap incident in Race 1, finishing 27th, before taking 19th and 17th on Sunday. -GRANT ROWLEY

JAMIE WHINCUP: It was starting to look like his title ambitions were over but the car was fast enough and the driver smart enough to know when to push and when to wave to the crowd ... PHILLIP ISLAND: With only half of Race 3 to go, it looked like the Dunlop Finale was going to be a flop. That was until Garth Tander made a wombat of himself... MARK SKAIFE: Nothing brilliant, but he finished as the top Flolden in a day (eventually) dominated by Ford. TASSIE PROMOTERS: There was an international cricket test match down the road at Hobart - but you wouldn't have know it - everyone was at Symmons Plains, enjoying Tasmania's most attended sporting event.

□8 5UPERCHR51 Round 13 SVITlIllDnS PLRIHS Driver Jamie Whincup Steven Richards Mark Winterbottom MarkSkaife Craig Lowndes Jason Richards Garth Tander Steven Johnson Rick Kelly James Courtney Will Davison Dean Canto Jason Bright Lee Holdsworth L, ROCKST*R 4

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15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

51 63 11 22 9 20 021 55 111 8 26 14 39 7 10 12 SO

Team/Car

Team Vodafone Falcon BF

3 6 2

2 4 3 7 5 10 1 8 6 28 9 20 17 DNF 11 DNF 14 12 16 13 24 15 27 26 25 22 18 DNF 23 21 19

1 2 3 4 6 7 10 9 5

1 2 7 4 5 3 DNF 8 DNF 6 14 10 9 12 15 11 16 DNF 13 DNF 18 19 17 19 20 DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNS

Ford Performance Racing Falcon BF Ford Performance Racing Falcon BF Holden Racing Team Commodore VE Team Vodafone Falcon BF Tasman Motorsport Commodore VE Toll HSV Dealer Team Commodore VE Jim Beam Racing Falcon BF Toll HSV Dealer Team Commodore VE Jeld-Wen Motorsport Falcon BF Jim Beam Racing Falcon BF Valvoline Cummins Commodore VE Fujitsu Racing Falcon BF

Jason Bargwanna Andrew Jones

Valvoline Cummins Commodore VE Tasman Motorsport Commodore VE Team Sirromet Commodore VE Jack Daniel's Racing Commodore VE Holden Racing Team Commodore VE Caltex Racing Falcon BF Supercheap Auto Commodore VE Team Kiwi Racing Falcon BF Autobarn Racing Commodore VZ Glenfords Racing Falcon BF WPS Racing Falcon BF IRWIN Racing Falcon BF Team BOC Falcon BF Team Sirromet Commodore VZ Jack Daniel's Racing Commodore VE WPS Racing Falcon BF Team BOC Falcon BF

Cameron McConville

Supercheap Auto Commodore VE

Greg Murphy . Paul Morris Marcus Marshall

Todd Kelly

Russell Ingall Paul Dumbrell Shane Van Gisbergen Steve Owen John Bowe Max Wilson Alan Gurr Simon Wills Owen Kelly Shane Price

5 14 1 9 7 26 11 21 24 4 IS 20 18 17 23 12 31 16 25 10 30 28 19 13 27 29 22

11 12 18 13 22 21 14 20 30 16 15 25 19 17 29 24 28 26 23 27 DNF

oe SUPERCRR CHRmPIOnSHSP SERIES Points: Whincup 569, Tander 562, Lowndes 548, R. Kelly 521, Winterbottom 381 S Richards 366 Skaife335 Canm '"9"" 301, Johnson 294, Murphy 238, J. Richards 235, Holdsworth 189 Canto 122, Bargwanna 109, Wilson 108, Owen 103, Radisich 96, Dumbrell 69, Morris 66 Bright 64,0. Kelly/Lyo ns/Simonsen 63, Besnard 60, D'Alberto 54, Weel 51, Bowe 47, Baird/Pretty 45, Halliday 42, Youlden/ McConville 33, Davison/Thompson/Seton/Price 30, McLean/Ritter 27, Webb 24, Jones’l 9 Van Gisbergen 17, Longhurst/Wills 12, Coulthard 8, Eilery/Caruso/Denyer/Perkins/Ma rshall 6, Gurr 2.

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LOSERS GARTH TANDER: GT is the first to admit that he could have considered settling for third place in Race 3 ... FPR's RACE 3 PIT STOP: Both cars in on the same lap under green conditions? Getting away with a double podium is testament to how fast its cars are. CAMERON McCONVILLE: Horror season got all the more frightening at Symmons. Kudos though for throwing the gloves at the fence. Bad luck, but great theatre. JAMES COURTNEY & SHANE PRICE: Boys will be boys. Early in the year, V8SA encouraged drivers to put their thoughts into the public arena, but some of the stuff that was coming out of these blokes heads wasn't all that nice. The only positive is - we have a new rivalry! 67

FUJITSU US SUPGRCSR SERIES RQUnO 7- PHILLIP ISLRRO . r

Deserved,but hard-fought Tony D'Alberto is the Fujitsu V8 Champion - but only after one hell ofan Island ride

NOWING that you only need to finish inside the top seven is a lot harder to do than you might think -just ask Tony D'Alberto. To wrap up the 2007 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Championship Series, the 21-year-old needed to finish in at least eighth place in both races to win his first title. For someone who finished on the podium in four of the previous rounds and won numerous races, it sounded like an easy enough task. But pressure does funny things to people,and there was plenty of pressure at the Island Finale. With title rival Michael Caruso racing off into the distance in Race 1, D'Alberto was dicing with Jonathan Webb and Dale Wood for third place, when he clanged with Wood through Siberia. D'Alberto was dispatched into the wall nose first, and then the rear. 68

There was significant damage to both ends of the GMAC Racing Commodore VZ, but somehow, D'Alberto got the car going and finished the remaining three laps of the race in ninth place. Not all was lost, though. Seventh place was all he needed in Race 2 to secure the title - and his eventual fifth place wrapped up a deserving (but ultimately hard-fought) championship, "it's a massive relief," D'Alberto said. "We put everything into our racing this year and it's paid off." A significant note to D'Alberto's championship win is that the chassis he has driven this year is the car that Rick Kelly took to his main series crown 12 months ago. "It's a special car, the best I've ever driven." D'Alberto's championship success was the focus, but Caruso

was the man on the edge of the spot light.The Ford Rising Star Racing driver was simply unstoppable, scoring a massive race win in Saturday's first event, before a more conservative victory in Race 2. After qualifying fourth, Caruso made a lightning start to Race 1 and was never seen again. "I could go one second faster if I wanted to, but I Just did what I had to do," he said. "I wasn't going to score any more points by tearing off into the distance." When the dust settled, only five points separated Caruso from D'Alberto, and the young Sydneysider rued a few missed opportunities over the course of the season. "We would have done better if not for the wheel nut at Bathurst," he said.

GRANT ROWLEY

"When things were going right and nothing fell off the car, everything was great." Caruso's big win also ensured that he finished second in the title. NZ driver Kayne Scott was threatening for the runner-up spot pre-island, but he didn't have the pace to run with the fast Falcon. Scott was content, though,to finish second for the round, third overall and establish himself as one of the most improved drivers of the season. "The car was better in the second race," he said. "I was struggling with the slow speed stuff yesterday. I was able to stay with Michael easier today. There were parts of the track that we were really strong, but then Michael was faster on other parts. I did burn up by tyres by the end of the race trying to stay wit him so I settled for second."

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Third overall for the round went to Damien White.The Wollongong Performance Racing driver, competing in his first race since his massive Bathurst crash in the Team BOG Falcon, admitted that he was"shaking like a leaf" before first practice, but by the end of the weekend, was able to execute the pass of the weekend - around the outside of Chris Pitherat turn four. Having finished fourth overall at the track last year (which was his first race meeting with his current Paul Morris Motorsport car), third place 12 months on was a sign that improvements are still being made. White is the first to admit that sixth overall in the championship isn't anything to crow to loudly about, but given his recent heavy accident, his Phillip Island result was a great consolation prize. Pither was a stand-out performer. After qualifying at the back of the top 10, he raced to seventh in Race 1 and fourth in Race 2-finishing fourth.overall, his best result for the season. Dale Wood had plenty of pace in Race 1,finishing fourth after his tight fight with Webb. Race 2 didn't go all that well after an early clash with Luke Youlden

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slightly bent his A&l Helicopter's Comnnodore steering.Two'offs' at turn one gave him a fright (possibly due to the tail wind at the end of the main straight, which meant the cars were arriving there some 1 Okmh faster than normal ...), but he recovered sufficiently for ninth place and fifth overall. Wood sealed off his rookie year by winning the Mike Kable'Young Gun'award at the Gaia Awards night. Stone Brothers Racing's Jonathan Webb was fast in Race 1,finishing third, but a turn one off of his own doing meant a pit stop and subsequent retirement when engine temperatures were too high. His Race 1 result ensured that he wrapped up the season in fourth place - a solid effort in his debut V8 Supercar season. In the unlucky department was Luke Youlden.The ANT Racing driver, featuring a striking new colour scheme for the final round, had a gearbox problem in Race 1, followed by a wild excursion on the grass at the start of Race 2. A pit stop to remove grass and debris from the front splitter dropped him down a lap, spoiling any chance of moving beyond fifth place in the standings.

Doing it the hard way:Above, D'Aiberto ieads Marcus Zukanovic. The pair stayed together for the majority ofRace 2. Below,the VACC Commodore is hounded by Chris Pither, Damien White and Brett Hobson.

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1/ THE Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series farewelled Mark Howard from the championship at Phillip Island. Well, maybe that's not the right way to put it. Howard, the championship's most-prolific starter, won't be seen in a driving suit any longer, instead concentrating more on his business, his race team and the impeding race car future of his sons. Jack and Sam. The young Howards, 14 and 12 years-old respectively, currently race in Australian karting, and plan to move towards racing Formula Ford. How are they going to do this?

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As part of Howard's retirement from full-time driving, he is establishing a tvy^-car Formula Ford team to compete in the national championship. For the first year, Australian national karting champion Chaz Mostert will drive, along with a yet-to-be-named driver. While Howard's son's debut in Formula Ford may be some way down the track, its not too far away from Mark's mind. "There has of course been highs and lows (this year), and we're motivated to learn from these and move on in the new year," howard said at the completeion of Phillip Island.

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"It will be a strangereeling; seeing the-carsrace and not being out there next year. That will no doubt take a while to get used to, but I am incredibly pleased with what the team has achieved in its time in the series and am very excited about its future. "Howard Racing will expand operations in the new year to include an entry in the national Formula Ford series.This popular open-wheel class is where the champions of tomorrow are made. Garth Tander and Jamie Whincup are a great example of this." - GRANT ROWLEY

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FUJITSU U8 5UPERCHR SERES I Rd 7 PHILLIP ISLRRD !«■>

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Winning by a miie: Above, Michael Caruso and Kayne Scott. This was about as close as anyone got to Caruso. Hello and goodbye: Debutan t Joel Spychala and the retiring Mark Howard, below, clashed at turn four. Nice comeback: Damien White, bottom, finished third at PI.

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Michael Caruso

100 85 44 46

Kayne Scott Damien White Chris Pither Dale Wood

Ford Rising Stars Racing Team Falcon BA Smeg/GT Radials Commodore VZ

4 1 9

99 98 94 73 30 60

Tony D'Alberto Brett Hobson Jonathon Webb Marcus Zukanovic LukeYoulden Jose Fernandez

42 62 61 47 96 69

JayVerdnik Scott Leadsman Damian Assaillit Sam Walter Mark McNally Robert Jones

91 32 68 71 75

Joel Spychala Adam Sharpe Shane Beikoff Shannon O’Brien Aaron McGill

5 3 12 2 7 6 14 7 24 17 16 20 19 29 18 25 15 26 27 8 23 28 13 21

1 2 5 7 4 9 8 3 17 6 11 18 12 23 10 DNF 13 20 14 21 15 19 DNF DNF 22 DNF 16 DNF

1 2 3 4 9 5 1 9 6 20 12 8 13 10 DNF 11 22 14 DNF 15 19 16 17 18 21 DNF DNF DNF

DNF

DNS

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

76 29 37 95

Phillip Scifleet Grant Denyer Mark Howard Ash Samadi

28 49

Geoff Emery Terry Wyhoon

Howard Racing/Crimesafe Falcon BA HPM Racing Falcon AU HPM Racing Falcon AU MW Motorsport Falcon BA Howard Racing/Crimesafe Falcon BA ASR Racing Commodore VZ MV Motorsport Falcon BA Image Racing Falcon AU

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Perpetual Water/Go Karts Go Commodore VX

WPR Racing Commodore VZ Kanga Loaders Commodore VY A&l Helicopter Services Commodore VZ GMAC Racing Commodore VZ United Oil Racing Commodore VZ Stone Bros Racing Falcon BA Opes Prime Stockbroking Commodore VZ ANT Racing Falcon BA Race Image/Fujitsu Racing Falcon BA GIO/Hi-Trans Commodore VZ Tint-A-Car Racing Commodore VZ Race Image/Prodigy Motorsport Falcon BA Andrew Walter Constructions Commodore VZ NRW Commodore VZ Re-Car Racing Commodore VX Mid Coast Ford Racing Falcon BA Howard Racing/Crimesafe Falcon BA Turbo Brisbane Falcon AU

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D'Alberto 303, Caruso 298, Scott 259, Webb 206, Youlden 198, White 185, Wood 180, Fernandez 162, Slade 139, Zukanovic 127, Thompson 117, O'Brien 102, Verdnik 84, Pither 80, Marshall 79, Hobson 77, Sleders 75, Walter 70, Sharpe 67, Assaillit 58, M White 53, McNally 51, Kelly 48, Jones 40, Wyhoon 31, Leadsman 30, McIntyre 25, Denyer 23, Rollinson 19, Howard 19, C Sleders 19 etc

molorsportnews

FORinULflFORD

TiiiBlirgharifiiiiinic Maloi^prliltirni^heiliit BILL RIDDELL

FORMULA Ford was yet another championship to go down to the wire with the final two rounds of the year. Tim Blanchard and Ash Walsh were both well in contention at Symmons Plains,just eight points separating them before the penultimate round. Kristian Lindbom dominated the Apple Isle round,taking two race wins and a third to claim his maiden round win. Nick Percat also achieved his first race win and two third places. Behind them Blanchard eased away from Walsh in the championship with a very consistent effort, two second places and a fourth, while Walsh grabed a lone podium finish and a DNF in Race 2. Lindbom inherited the Race ’1 win from team-mates Walsh and Josh Scott after Scott was forced onto the grass to avoid a spinning Walsh. Percat and Lindbow traded positions at the front in Race 2 while Walsh broke his steering, clashing with Glen Wood. Walsh stormed through the grid in the final race but It was not enough to match the measured performances of Blanchard; bolstering his lead after Tasmanian to 28 points. Lindbom and James Moffat also mathematical chances to snatch the title. When the series made Its way to Phillip Island a few weeks later Walsh needed wins If he was to stay in the hunt. He began well, leading the Sonic trio of Wood, Blanchard and Moffat for much of the race before Moffat moved past his team mates and challenged Walsh. Walsh's title chance was destroyed when he www.mnews.com.au

lost fourth gear in his Spectrum,then retiring with a lap remaining. Moffat claimed the chequered flag, Wood and Blanchard following him across the line for a Sonic 1-2-3, enough for Blanchard to become the 2007 Australian Formula Ford Champion. "Its just a big relief for It to be over. Ash Walsh and James Moffat have been very tough and fast all year,"said Blanchard. "It's just great to be able to wrap it all up." As if the championship was not enough Blanchard went on to win the Phillip Island round as well.

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Sonic celebration: Blanchard, Moffat and Wood, In Race 2, Wood rocketed from the front above, celebrate a 7 -2-3 finish and Blanchard's title. row before losing control at turn one and Below, Walsh was so close, yet so far. rejoining at the other side of the track,forcing Moffat, Lindbom and Taz Douglas (who'd made up several positions in Race 1 to finish fourth) to take evasive action, Lindbom and r Douglas later retiring.

Good fortune and smart driving once again saw Blanchard take the race lead, beating home Moffat and a resurgent Walsh. Moffat was later penalised for passing Walsh under a yellow flag, relegated to fourth for Race 3 The final race featured a battle between Blanchard, Walsh and Moffat, the trio swapping positions several times before Blanchard broke away in the final laps "It was.p pretty tough race, we didn't have anything to loose in the championship by then so it was all out war for the win and a bit of pride, it was a great race," he said. - BILL RIDDELL Points: Blanchard 346, Walsh 297, Moffat 275 Lindbom 252, Wood 211.

Parking Lot: The unorthodox mid-corner parking technique ofTobia Kipper, Sam Sewell and Luke Wood.

UJORLD RRLLV CHRmPIORSHIP ROUnO 16 - RRLLV GB

Sebastien Loeb didn't need to win in Wales to seal the title... so he didn't,and Mikko Hirvonen did instead

FTER such an exciting season to date,the final round of the 2007 World Rally Championship was almost a let down. On the slippery, muddy roads ofWaies Mikko Flirvonen won in a canter, Sebastien Loeb did only what he had to do (finish third) to seal the title, and Marcus Gronholm missed out on winning the title in his final season of full time World Rallying. Both Ford and Citroen played the sensible game in the title decider. With plenty still to lose. Ford sent Flirvonen out to pressure Loeb, and protect Gronholm. In other words, Flirvonen pushed, and Gronholm tucked in behind knowing that if Loeb faltered, the leading Fords could swap positions. But Loeb's mistake, unsurprisingly, never came.The Frenchman was more than happy to drop nearly a minute to Hirvonen on the first day, and almost had the last laugh when the young Finn ran off the road late in the last leg and came close to not continuing. /2

In the end it was third place for Loeb and Daniel Elena, and a fourth World Championship for the trophy room. "It's just fantastic!" beamed Loeb at the finish. "The challenge we faced before the start was not as simple as all that. We have been fighting to make it back to the top of the championship ever since the day we went off in Sardinia, but we always believed we would succeed. "The combination of the Citroen C4's potential on all the different types of surface that make up the championship and the excellent work put in by everyone at Citroen Sport kept us in the chase and it's really great to have pulled it off today! "Of my four titles, this was without doubt the most hotly contested.To have succeeded after such a fierce fight with Marcus Gronholm on stages across the world gives it a very special flavour. "I know Marcus would have liked to have ended his retirement year by taking the crown, but I'm only half sorry he didn't! On the other

hand, I am glad to have clinched the title on Guy Frequelin's last rally as the boss of Citroen Sport." While it was jubilation for Loeb, it was disappointment for the retiring Gronholm. But while he might not have seaied a third titie, he was happy to end his career with second in his final rally. "We were both very emotional at the end of the final stage," he said of himself and co-driver Timo Rautiainen. "To end my career in a team like this is a wonderful feeling, i've enjoyed two years at Ford with almost no problems and had a great car to drive. "Although I'm disappointed that I couldn't win the championship, it was clear before I started this rally that it would be difficult. I did all I could but it wasn't here that I missed out on the title, it was when I crashed on the previous round in Ireland." "This was an incredibly hard weekend. Driving in fog, rain and darkness at the same time was so difficult and as I'm newly-retired, I'm so happy that I don't have to drive in those conditions any morel'

Rounding out the points-paying positions were the usual suspects. Petter Solberg had a strong rally, coming home fourth aboard the ever-improving Subaru package. Citreon number two Dani Sordo was fifth, while Matthew Wilson was sixth at his home event. Australian Chris Atkinson came home seventh after a rally-long battle with Wilson. Atkinson has led Wilson by as much as 10s at the end of the second leg, but a slow run through the final morning's loop of stages allowed Wilson to overhaul the Subaru, and then pull away. In the end Atkinson had to settle for seventh, which was enough to secure the > same placing in the final points. "Of the three times I've attempted Rally GB this has been the most frustrating,"said Atkinson. "As a driver I can honestly say I've tried my best, but for a number of different reasons that hasn't been enough to get decent stage times. "We have experienced a variety of small issues but the main hurdle has been the inconsistent handling of the car."

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Andreas Mikkelsen had a spectacular roll after misjudging a boulder on the inside of a corner, above. Mikko Hirvonen capped

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Daniel Elena

+1:33.0

4 Fetter Solberg Phil Mills

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5 Dani Sordo

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Marc Marti

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Stephane Prevot

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Points: Loeb 116, Gronholm 112, Hirvonen 99, Sordo 65, P Solberg 47, H Solberg 34, Atkinson 31.

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Tatnell takes it to Max Brooke Tatnell still leads World Series at half-way mark,Dumsney right behind as Lack emerges

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Certainly notlacking: Peter Lack, above, drove around series leader Tatnell to grab his maiden AMain win in Kalgoorlie. Robbie Farr, below, trails Tatnell, below right, and Dumesny in the points.

DESPITE a tough few weeks on the Wanless World Series Sprintcars tour, Brooke Tatnell continues to lead the way over defending Champion Max Dumesny and Robbie Farr. With the Series at its half-way point there has been a fair share of controversy, great racing and surprise winners, none more so than Peter Lack's upset victory at the Kalgoorlie round of the Series. Lack drove around the outside of a napping Tatnell to take his first A-Main Sprintcar victory, and only the third round win by a Queenslander in the 20-year history ofWWSS. Tatnell vowed that he wouldn't make the same mistake twice and dominated the fourth round in Adelaide, before hitting a slump at both Brisbane and Parramatta. Tatnell's'slump', mind you, still saw him finish both rounds in the top 10. Brisbane saw Todd Wanless take the round win after Max Dumesny, who led commandingly,came across the stricken car of David Murcottjust moments from the finish, putting paid to his hopes of a first victory this WWSS season. Danny Reidy recorded his first podium in World Series competition in Brisbane, but a blunder that saw him miss the scales after qualifying at PCR's round sees him largely out of Series contention after running within the top five during the early stages. The Parramatta round, held in inclement weather conditions in and around Western Sydney, was taken by Garry Brazier who was at his majestic best. Dumesny looked likely to take out the first leg of the Tasmanian swing, before being boxed in by lapped traffic, allowing Robert Farr to sail around him. Dumesny,like Tatnell, is the only driver

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Just ahead:Brooke Tatnell leads Max Dumesny- both on the track and in the Wanless World Series Sprintcars points. to have finished every round inside the top 10 and hence he is just 26 points from the Championship lead. Farr's victory in Hobart was a sweet one, it was the first since he joined forces with laconic Queensland pipeline magnate, Barry Waldron. The battle for Rookie of the Year honours is just as hot as the Championship battle, with Peter Lack and Morvale Motorsport driver James McFadden swapping positions seemingly round by round. McFadden currently holds the lead just 14 points in front of Lack, with Ricky Maiolo and Bryan Mann breathing down their necks. American driver Jason Johnson's run in the Supaloc Eagle has been punctuated by engine

dramas of late. Team boss Darren Disbury was encouraged by his performances in the last couple of rounds and believes a platform has been established to move forward now that Speedweek is upon the teams. David Murcott's ambitions was hurt badly by the Brisbane spin, he now sits fifth in points behind South Aussie Trevor Green. Green has been solid, if unspectacular,to date in Wanless World Series competition and is one offew drivers who looks likely to challenge for round wins on a consistent basis. Once the second Tasmanian event is complete,the teams will have a break until December 26, when the gruelling Speedweek

Organised Chaos WITH new management on board World Series Sprintcars for season 2007/2008, the teething problems associated with organising an established, successful property with no data to draw from is becoming painfully obvious. To put it in layman's terms, the job put in front of Speedway Promotions Australia by the National Association of Speedway Racing (NASR) is akin to CAMS pulling the V8 Supercar category management rights from V8 Supercars Australia and handing them to a circuit owner-run group, mere months ahead of the Clipsal 500 in February.

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Mind you, SPA didn't have the benefit of manufacturers or established series sponsors forming much of its operating budget. Therefore, the job some would say has been almost insurmountable. SPA has

recognised there are issues with the way in which the series has run this season and have vowed to band-aid those problems for the remainder of 07/08 and rectify it for next season. However, many teams remain critical of the way in which SPA is operating. It must be remembered World Series, while far from perfect, brought a huge show to town under the stewardship of Wade

kicks in. Five rounds will run in seven nights, backed up by the month of money at Parramatta and the Warrnambool Classic. While Tatnell will be tough to stop, one can never count out Dumesny or Farr. Dumesny in particular has laid the platform for his Championship victories during Speedweek over the past few seasons and having not recorded a WWSS win yet this season, look for the veteran to fire on the Victorian tracks where he cut his teeth in the coming weeks. -MATT PAYNE Points after? rounds: Brooke Tatnell 1000, Max Dumesny 974, Robert Farr 968,Trevor Green 942, David Murcott 920.

Aunger and Peter Attard and only now have the promoters who led a boardroom revolt against Aunger and Attard admitted the job was far larger than first thought. While some would discredit WSS by going as far as saying the damage to the series is irreparable, the most important commodity the fans aren't interested in the backroom dealings. All they care about is seeing the best Aussie Sprintcar racers go toe to toe and to date that's exactly what they've got. And,funnily enough,they are still turning out in theii droves... - MATT PAYNE 75

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East verses West at PCR T HIS season at the

Parramatta City Raceway is shaping up to be an East V West Sprintcar battle, with WA stars Ken Sartori and Ryan Farrell tackling head on the Parramatta 'All Stars'with the Bevelite Glass duo of Ian Loudoun and Adrian Maher leading the charge. Sartori, who has made the Parramatta track his home base

this summer, took out two early main event wins but has been so consistent with a number of second placings, the West Aussie is currently fifth in the season points tally. Fellow Westerner, Ryan Farrell, while not a full season runner at Parramatta, he is using the local Sydney Rod & John Maxwell-owned Bestway Industries Maxim has been fast to pick up his maiden Parramatta feature victory in November, beating home Sartori in a thrilling Sprintcar A Main. The stars of the early part of the Parramatta Sprintcar summer have been Ian Loudoun and Adrian Maher. Maher has been on fire, winning three A Main victories but has been sidelined a couple of times with small engine dramas, allowing fellow Bevelite Glass team-mate Loudoun into

string of high placings and a few heat and dash race wins, young Loudoun took out his maiden

Sprintcar A Main victory in midDecember. Loudoun has been the find of the early part of the PCR.sUmmer, and now leads the Parramatta track championship with 1763 to Maher's 1674. The final three PCR Sprintcar meetings before Christmas saw A Main wins going to Maher and Loudon while the WSS meeting saw a vintage Garry Brazier blitz the best sprintcar field assembled anywhere this summer.Brazier returned the next week and in a shortened race program, was on the charge early in the A Main only to clash wheels with another car and flipped over on the front straight. The hard luck award must go to Ian Madsen, who has destroyed a couple of race cars so far this summer. Madsen was leading the feature race in late November but got tangled up in a lapped car's incident, which completely wrecked his machine, even destroying the engine. After missing a week, the younger Madsen returned, only to again get caught out in turn two in the

final meeting before Christmas, resulting in his #35 sprintcar flipping over and being badly damaged. Standouts iriThe early part of the Parramatta summer has been Dave Lambert. The-Wollongong racer showing great speed at times as has young Scott Darley both can spring a win or two later this season. The final Parramatta meeting before Christmas saw only a ■, limited race program after Sprintcar driver Stephen Grassmyr backed ex-Maxim into the turn three wall at speed. It was in the early laps of the opening heat and after complaining about pain in his legs and back the Ambulance officers called in back up and after a two hour delay he was air lifted to hospital. The rest of the meeting was completed with just C, B and A Main races were run with time trail results determining starting positions. Unfortunately the night . was declared a non-pointscore

round as a full program ol^vents wasn't run. S While Sprintcars are the #1 division at Parramatta, the V8 Dirt Modified Summer Slam series was run with Mark Robinson defeating Stuart Herne. Sean Barnett continued his Litre Gar domination, taking out theiri feature from SteveThoughtdn and Scott Lewin. There has also been two speedcar feature races run w&h Tony Abson defeating Matt Young and Shaun Insley (NZ) on November 24 while the following week Rod Bright took out a brilliant win over Glenn Revell and Mark Cooper.

- GREG BOSCATO

Points: Ian Loudoun 1763, Adrian Maher 1674, Craig Brady 1645, Grant Tunks 1642, Ken Sartori 1630, Glen Saville 1617, James Thompson 1609, Wayne Skipper 1605, Marty Perovich 1599, David Doherty 1591.

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Reed leads by a Little CONSISTENCY has been the key for Matthew Reed, who maintains a small lead in the aggregate of the 2007-08 Eureka Garages and Sheds Super Sprint Series championship. After the opening two rounds, Reed, pictured right, has yet to register a victory in the nineround series. But he grabbed a second at Warrnambooi's Premier Speedway in the most recent round and a fourth at the opening round at Geelong,enough to lead overall with 763 points from Sydney's Troy Little on 733 points. Warrnambooi's Darren Mollenoyux broke his A-Main duck, winning the recent round two on his home track in after a hasty last-minute decision to contest the event in the Maxim he wrecked last season.

It was a good career move for the 25-yearold who hadn't recorded a race win for over three years when he won the Winternationals while racing in the Formula 500 class in 2004. "It felt good to win,finally,"said Mollenoyux who shot to fame after winning the 2004 Australian Formula 500 Championship ironically at Premier Speedway. "Any win is a good win after so long. It might help us get a sponsor now, we don't have one and this win might help." All of this was also done with a car that displayed little sponsorship and Mollenoyux is hoping his first Sprintcar win will create some interest among people willing to sponsor a youngster going places. At this stage, Mollenoyux will miss the next Victorian race on December 15 in preparation for a busy Christmas schedule.

- C\ n

"The other night the track at Warrnambool was the best it's been there for a while. While Mollenoyux grabbed his maiden win, one of the sport's regular winners won the opening SRA round. David Murcott's racing season got off to a flier with victory in the opening round of the series at Avalon Raceway, Geelong. Fie showed why he is in the top 10 Sprintcar drivers in Australia holding offTroy Little, while Mike Van Bremen raced from eighth to third. "It's a great start to our season," Murcott said.

Some of the past Series winners that have already competed in this championship are current SRA champ John Vogels and the return offormer Australian sprintcar champion Brett Lacey. Other drivers that will be pressing for wins are John Baynes, Ian Thomsen, Brett Smith, Brett Flarvey and Glen Sutherland. -GEOFF ROUNDS Points: Reed 763, Little 733, Lines 665,Van Bremen 660, Brett Milburn 653,Jamie Veal 644,Vogels 559, Chris Campbell 539, Lacey 534, Carl Ludeman 511.

Cameron keepsthem Guessing

CAMERON Gessner has pushed out his championship lead in the Comp Cams Series. The P&P Motorsport driver claimed his second feature win this season at Brisbane International Speedway, Round 5 of the seaoson. Gessner began from the front row alongside Dash winner Andrew Scheuerle, who led until a deflating tyre forced the defending Series Champion to retire, handing Gessner the win. It didn't come easy though, fighting off late challenges by Darrell Hodges and Todd Wanless, the Aceways Autogear Racing drivers joing Gesnner on the podium. Hodges returned to racing, filling in for PeteThorley in www.ninewsxom.au

the #51 JEI racer and securing valuable points towards the Series Car Owners Championship for the team in Thoriey's absence. Alian Woods opened the night with the fastest time of the hot lap sessions, posting a very respectable 11.687 second run to head the time sheets over Scheuerie and David Muir. Ben Wright, driving #95 Motorguard Motorsport machine of Garry Brazier in his abscence, claimed a Heat race win, as did Darreil Hodges, Gessner, Richard Morgan, Mark Pholi and Darren Silcock. Scheuerie won the Dash from Gessner and Wright. A first iap incident sidelined Woods from the resuits and ieft him with a heavily damaged racecar.

Steven White won the Action Metal Recyclers B-Main, the race stopped two laps early after being deiayed by severai crashes. Tony Wynne, Darren Siicock, Adrian

O'Connell and Kevin Titman also transferring through to the main event. The series now takes a mid season break, returning Jan 26th. 77

BRIGFLV,l ll Stewart to the Max-im TONY Stewart Racing's World of Outlaws operation for Kraig Kinser will utilise a Maxim chassis in 2008. Maxim has long been associated with Kinser's father, Steve. TSR's other driver, Donny Schatz, will continue to use J&J chassis, having a personal arrangement with the maker. n Kasey Kahne Radng will add another car to its World of Outlav/s team, but only on a part-time basis at this stage. Kahne's team finished secorld in 2007 with Joey Saldana driving. The driver? Disgraced former NASCAR Craftsman Truck driver Tyler Walker will return to his racing roots in an attempt to resurrect his Sprintcar career! n Craig Dollansky will drive for Woodward Racing in the 2008 World of Outlaws season.The Woodward team had Brooke Tatnell on board in 2007 and was likely to park the ride before Dollansky jumped aboard. Where it leaves Tatnell is unclear. n Double World Speedway Champion Jason Crump has returned to the Belle Vue Aces British Elite Club after a year at glamour club Poole. Belle Vue struggled without the Australian during 2007.Travis McGowan has signed for fellow Milduran, Leigh Adjms's Swindon squad. n Crump's move to Belle Vue was the first major movement under the restructure of the British Elite League. Series bosses reduced the combined average score for each team's seven riders to 38.5 and also introduced a promotion and relegation system. Crump runs at the highest average in the League of 11.25. It is the first move, many pundits believe, towards flattening the British League structure, which currently boasts three leagues - Elite, Premier and Conference. H Good news for Sydney speedway is that the Parramatta promoters have signed twenty-year lease with the NSW State Government securing speedway racing in the Harbour city for at least the next twenty years. n Garry Brazier will be back at Parramatta, running the full International series with his dad Steve in their exKraig Kinser Maxim. He has used the earlier part of the season racing in Brisbane to get race fit, dominating the Parramatta WSS racing. n Advance Auto Parts has been announced as the title sponsor of the 2008 World of Outlaws Sprintcar Series. AAP has been involved as sponsor of Modified racing. - MATT PAYNE/GREG BOSCATO 78

New Day

With former Aussie champs MIA the door opens for a new champ IF there is anything that's certain about the upcoming Linddales Australian Motorcycle Speedway Championship Series it's that there will be a first-time Australian champion crowned. With Leigh Adams,pictured right,iason Crump and Ryan Sullivan the only Aussie champions still racing competitively and none of the trio entered for the Championships, it opens the door for a new Champion to emerge. To be conducted over five rounds,the Series starts at Mildura's Olympic Park on December 29 and concludes at Sydney Showground Homebush Bay on January 11, visiting Adelaide, Mount Gambler and Newcastle in between. Heading the charge of the young Aussies is 20year-old Sydney-sider, Chris Holder. Holder finished second in the World Under 21 Championship in 2007 and went very close to securing one of the rare places in the Speedway Grand Prix Series. Holder's nemesis from the past three Under21 Australian Championships, QueenslanderTroy Batchelor, has established himself as a star in Poland throughout 2007 and will return to Australia with little expectation on his shoulders. But the feisty 21year-old should not be counted out of contention. Expected to challenge for round wins will be another New South Welshman,Jason Doyle. After an English season plagued by injury, Doyle is now fully fit for his Australian Title charge. Realistically, there Is a strong possibility that a European rider will walk away with the title for the first time in many years.

Swede, Fredrik Lindgren is one of the hottest prospects in World Speedway and has just been granted 'permanent wildcard'status in the Speedway Grand Prix Series for 2008. Lindgren, 22, is highly rated by those in the know and comes to Australia a short-priced favourite. Englishman Joe Screen is another who may spring a surprise. Entering the twilight of his career now. Screen has been to Australia many times before and will challenge for event wins. Completing the international contingent is 19-year-old Czech, Filip Sitera, who rode alongside Holder and World Champion Crump in Poland this season and comes with big raps on him. Regardless,the title chase is going to be arguably the tightest in the history of the Australian title Championship Series. -MATT PAYNE

Madsen still an Outlaw

KERRY Madsen will return to World of Outlaws competition in 2008 linking up with the VerMeer Motorsports team with which he won a Knoxville Track Championship. The former Australian Sprintcar champion was facing life out of the Outlaws, despite being crowned Rookie of the Year, with many predicting he would return to racing at Knoxville.The VerMeer team, however has elected to

increase its racing program. Madsen drove with the team between 2004 and 2006, culminating in the 2005 Knoxville Track Championship. "It will be a big help having worked with the team before,"said Madsen."We have the chemistry and a great bond with the crew." Madsen also added he felt the team could finish In the top 10 at the end of the season. -MATT PAYNE

Sedan grids are Supersized Tfl

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THE National Super Sedan Series will boast the strongest contracted driver count of any Series in Australian Speedway this summer, with 30 cars contracted for the eight round Series. The 2008 season will be the third Series for V8 tin tops and for the first time. Series Co-Ordinator

the National Association of Speedway Racing (NASR) has signed a major sponsor in Carline Mufflers. Already, the NSSS provided the closest competition of any national touring Series, the Increase to 30 contracted drivers has enhanced this even further. - MATT PAYNE

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World War to continue American invaders Schatz and Saldana to battle it out with Australian defenders at PCR

THE World of Outlaws war between Donny Schatz and Joey Saldana is set to continue in Australia this summer as the two Americans headline Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway's International season. Beginning on Boxing Night with theValvolineSprintcar Grand Prix, Schatz, pictured right, driving a J&J for Garry Rush's Pick N Payiess team and Saidana, pictured below, driving his Kasey Kahne Motorsports JEI Chassis will go toe-to-toe in what is set to be an epic summer in Sydney. Aside from the Boxing Night spectacular, the $50,000 to win Beveiite Glass Sprintcar International regains much of the lustre it has lost in recent times due to the fact there is no longer

a date clash with World Series Sprintcars. In recent seasons, the likes of Max Dumesny and Brooke Tatnell have been taken out of the equation due to World Series commitments.The last two $50K races have been outstanding fought out between Schatz and Saldana. Ironically, Schatz and Saldana are the only two drivers to have their names on the $50,000 trophy since the race was inaugurated by PCR. However nobody would like to knock the Yanks off their perch more than the likes of Tatnell, Dumesny, Robert Farr or World of Outlaws Rookie champion, Kerry Madsen. PCR's International season goes from Boxing Night right through until January 17-19 when up to 15 of the world's leading Sprintcar racers converge on the Sydney venue for the fifth running of Outlaws Downunder. 'The King'Steve Kinser won the first trip for the Outlaws to Australia and since that time, it ' has been a Donny Schatz benefit the American hauling pocketful after pocketful of cash back to America. Joining Schatz, Saldana and Kinser will be third placed man from the 2007 Outlaws tour, Danny Lasoski. Lasoski has enjoyed success in this event in the past and will look to bow out from the Roth Motorsports ride with a victory in front of his legion of Australian fans. World #5 Jason Meyers set Parramatta alight last ODU with his storming run from the B-Main, while a welcome return to Australia this summer

will be made by Craig Dollansky. Wherever Dollansky goes, he is supported well and the intense Minnesota native has a strong pocket of fans in Australia. Other drivers to confirm their participation at the time of writing include the legendary Sammy Swindell, who has been amazing in Australia despite a reduced US schedule,former Tony Stewart Racing pilot Paul McMahan (who will race the TSR car) and Jason Sides,the pony-tailed driver who has built a cult following in Australia over his previous four visits to these shores. Justin Henderson who completed his second season in the Outlaws in 2007 will visit Australia and pilot the former Jason Solwold car. From an Australian point of view, Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year winner Kerry Madsen will take his final ride in the

SOUTH Australian Sidecar competitors Mick Headland and Paul Waters made the most of their home town advantage to triumph over the elite field of international teams to tldimithe prestigious

World PiM Sidecar fold

Trophy at Adelaides Wayville Showgroundi After 20 grueling rounds. fought against 1'6 other teams the Adelaide pairing was tied

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SelmaShell machine at Parramatta, while Brooke Tatnell will be driving his Krikke Motorsport Cool. Four-time Australian Sprintcar Champion Garry Brazier will be aboard the former Kraig Kinser Maxim owned by his father and Robert Farr will be in his Eastcoast Pipelines J&J. Max Dumesny was one of the best performed Aussies last time out a record he is aiming to better come January. If Parramatta's International carnival of Sprintcar racing wasn't enough,then just two weeks after that when the Americans have returned to their snow covered lawns, Australia's best will be on hand for the 47th running of the Australian Sprintcar Championship. All in all, it promises to be a hectic month of Sprintcar racing for drivers and racefans alike! - MATT PAYNE

with Townsville s Gary Moon and Duane Dennis on 13 points apiece. Moon got the initial jump in the final runoff however a determined Headland hunted him down to swing past on the outside and'on to world'vietory. South'A'ussies Mark Plaisted and Sam Harrison rounded out the podium edging out fellow Crow Eaters Ron Parker and Shane Rudloff. ^ PARIS CHARlyES 79

Read upstagesYanks

The Americans came,saw,but were conquered by Australia's reigning Top Fuel Champ

Sydney International Raceway on the weekend of December 8-9. Read faced Dunn in the final for Top Fuel but with a smashing pass of 4.801 s at 279.04mph, he was simply too strong for his American rival, who had struggled to get off the line and as a result recorded a pass of 9.682s at 72.67mph. On his march to the final in Top Fuel, Read, who was the second fastest qualifier on the Saturday, managed to dispose of 2005/06 Australian Top Fuel Champion Darren Morgan after a 5.423s pass at 235.80mph in the opening round of eliminations, followed

Fuel for Dunn, who had qualified fourth, took out the opening round of eliminations despite coasting to victory after losing a blower belt close to the finish line. Dunn still managed to post a pass of 5.496s at 210.31 mph that was good enough to take the win over Terry'The Giant Killer'Sainty (5.620s at 246.62mph). Newcomer and locally based driver Mark Mariani was the next to fall at the hands of Dunn in the semi-final after the latter had posted a 5.296s pass at 176.18mph, It was Read that spoiled an all American Top Fuel final when he outpaced McClenathan in the semi-final and he went on to face Dunn in the final. In qualifying it was Martin Stamatis that topped the time sheets with a blistering 4.684s pass at 320.36rnph and a little bit of history was created throughout the sessions as it became the

by a 4.781s pass at 308.28mph when he downed American McClenathan, and then made easy work of Dunn in the final. The road to the final in Top

fastest Top Fuel qualifying field ever in Australia. 'Fast Femme'and Australian Nationals runner up Amanda Shepherd, was unable to qualify

ESPITE the presence of NHRATop Fuel stars Cory McClenathan and Mike Dunn,defending Australian Top Fuel Champion Phil Read managed to come out on top in the Top Fuel Challenge at his home track of Western

into the elimination rounds despite the fact that the 19-yearold talent recorded a 5.241s pass at 287.53mph. For Stamatis,jubilation turned to disappointment when he was forced to not take the start in his match up against Mariani during the opening round of eliminations, unable to select forward gear on the start line. Nitro Champs winner Allan Dobson was another casualty from the opening round of eliminations when he recorded a 5.509s pass at 244.03mph, but it simply wasn't enough to deny McClenathan the victory and advancement to the semi-final. Throughout the Top Fuel Challenge, it was a case of four seasons in one weekend, as there was some very hot 30plus degrees weather, and also thrown into the mix was a huge thunderstorm, which included heavy hail, that hit the track late on Sunday afternoon, and therefore delayed the program for close to two hours. Brett'The Boss'Stevens was on a mission in the Top Alcohol

DANIEL POWELL

action and came away with the round victory by defeating Ben Bray in the final with a 5.818s pass at 241.80mph. Despite not showing good form in qualifying earlier in the weekend, after posting the seventh pass, Stevens turned it^ll around in the elimination rounds by downing defending Australian Champion Wayne Newby with a 5.691s at 247.38mph. He then went on to outpace Gary Phillips in the semi-finals after a 5.886s at 249.6mph and was simply too good for Bray when they faced one another in the final. The most impressive thing to come out of Stevens'victory was the fact that he managed to post consistent five-second passes, and this result has moved him to the pointy end of the leader board in the Australian Top Alcohol Championship. In the opening round of eliminations, both Stevens and Phillips managed to score win over Australian Nationals winner Newby and Nitro Champs winner Aaron Hambridge by recording better reaction times that

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Purring like a kitten: Brett Stevens upstaged the Top Alcohol field, above.

atWSID managed to prevail over their rivals posting faster passes. Fastest qualifier in the Top Aicohol field was Aaron Lynch, with a 5.669s pass at 251.77mph, but his weekend suffered a premature end when he iost a blower belt off the start line in the opening round of eliminations when he faced up against John Cannuii, which saw the latter take the win. Cannuii was only in the fieid due to the withdrawal of Debbie Reed (sixth fastest qualifier), who had suffered a nasty crash in qualifying and failed to take her place in the elimination rounds due to the substantial damage sustained in the crash. Bray defeated Steven Reed in the opening round ofthe eliminations, and he then downed Cannuii m the semi-finals. It awarded him the right to take on a red-hot Stevens in the finai for Top Alcohol, which he would later in the night go on to lose. John Barbagallo was the cream ofthe field in the Pro Stock www.mnews.com.au

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class, the third and final Group 1 category competing in the Top Fuel Challenge. Barbagallo managed to be the fastest in qualifying, and he then went on to charge his way into the final with impressive wins in both the opening round of eliminations and the semi-final. In the final Barbagallo took a slim victory over Scott Porter, but it was.enough to wrap up a perfect weekend. Barbagallo outpaced Porter and Dave Newcombe in qualifying with a 7.268s pass at 187.31 mph, and on his charge towards the final he downed Frank Nirta in the opening round of eliminations, third highest qualifier Newcombe in the semi final, and then in the final he took on Porter where he recorded a 7.266s at 187.21mph compared to Porter's 7.551 s at 151.22mph. The upset of the weekend in the Pro Stock category was the Tremayne brothers. The in-form pair of Aaron and Tyrone, failed to advance through the opening round of eliminations.

X..,^ Johnny come lately: John Barbagallo had a solid run in Pro Stock, above.

American invasion: Cory McClenathan and Mike Dunn raced at WSID.

What do golf and drag racing have in common? The local golf club really needs to keep to its balls in it's own confines. 81

Championshipsswing to K

Two weeks,four classes,one Western Swing. Australia's best drag racers were going at it across the Nullabor

T has been Australia's own equivalent of the NHRA's famed 'Western Swing'for a fortnight at Perth Motorplex with four championship rounds being run over two events at the WA venue. On November 16/17 it was Top Alcohol and Pro Stock Motorcycle taking to the track, won by Brett Stevens and Peter Cochrane respectively. Queensland's Stevens qualified second for the field with a 5.69s effort in his Kitten Funny Car, but it wasn't an easy effort by any means, with his throttle sticking after the run, detonating the engine. Stevens defeated West Australian Damien Harris in the first round, with a better reaction time on the start line seeing a 5.90s time defeat a quicker 5.75s run. Stevens's good reaction times again helped in the semis, where his 5.72s pass defeated fellow Queenslander Ben Bray's 5.71 s run by just two hundredths of a second. The final was decided by an outright good pass with Stevens's 5.75s just edging local Mark 82

Sheehan's 5.80s. The news wasn't all bad for Sheehan, with his car resetting the Australian Top Alcohol Altered record to 5.78s following a quick qualifying pass. But the night would be Stevens's, with the win plus bonus points for top speed of the event with a 254.76mph charge giving him the lead of the championship over Aaron Lynch (Qld) who went out in the semi finals and Wayne Newby(NSW), who was a shock non-qualifier. Stevens said it was a good reward for his team after some transporter problems on the way to Western Australia and then having to replace an engine. "This has been a fantastic weekend for the team here at the Perth Motorplex, we really couldn't have asked for anything more with me taking the win in Top Alcohol and Pete (Cochrane) taking out Pro Stock Bike,"Stevens

said.

"There were no easy rounds for me either with each race going right down to the wire." Sheehan dedicated his victory to his pit crew also, saying the team was starting to click.

"It makes me really excited about what we are going to do when we go nitro," he said, referring to his soon to come nitro-fuelled Altered. There was some more success in the WA ranks with newcomer Aaron Deery resetting the Australian Top Alcohol Dragster speed record to 251.65mph. In the Pro Bikes Cochrane overcame a troubled start to his season on the S&S Buell to win against Victoria's Callum Godeassi. Cochrane also took bonus points for low elapsed time with a 7.18s best and top speed with a 188.27mph blast that was also a new national record. Cochrane was lucky to win the final however as his bike stuttered on the start line which saw Godeassi extend a big lead before he had to back off due to the bike getting close to the centre line. Cochrane was rapt to win his first event in Pro Stock Motorcycle on his S&S Buell owned by Brett Stevens Racing. "I have really been putting the pressure on myself to perform this season and it is great to finally get the monkey off my back and break through for the win," he said.

"i am over the moon that we have been able to do it in such style as well, this will be a weekend that I will remember for a long time. "The job isn't over yet though, I now have the National Championship in my sights as we go into the back half of the Australian Pro Stock Bike season just 15 points off the lead." Two weeks later it was time for the Doorslammers and the Top Bikes to battle it out. It was local John Zappia who took the win in his Striker Monaro. Zappia was dominant throughout with a 6.02s top qualifying pass starting things out. In the first round Zappia defeated fellow West Aussie Robin Judd in a 6.05s to 6.17s contest. The hometown hero then started to really ramp things up in the semis when he took out Queensland's Ben Bray with a stunning 5.95s pass to Bray's tyre shaking effort. This set up the final against Steve Stanic from New South Wales. Stanic got the holeshot and Zappia had to pedal with tyre shake, giving the Camaro an early lead but then Stanic went up in

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smoke and Zappia shot past for a 6.14s to 6.58s victory. "The weekend was a real success for the team and everything ran smooth and to plan," he said. "Winning the event to extend our lead in the championship and getting consistently into the fives was the main focus. The'five' in the semi-final against Benny was a benchmark for us. Only the track conditions late at night that prevented another in the final." It was a difficult event for the Doorslammers, with the combination of tricky weather conditions (including rain on Friday night), and a new track surface conspiring to cause plenty of tyre shake for the teams. Most were managing to get a handle on it by the end of the weekend but some warmer temperatures would definitely have helped. Top Bike was won byTroy McLean, riding the Jack Daniel's nitro Harley for Brett Stevens Racing. McLean was similarly dominant to Zappia with a top qualifying 6.50s that remained low ET for the weekend. He defeated Neville Smith in the first round with a 6.64s run. WWW,mnews.n5om.au

his slowest of the weekend. Smith had troubles keeping his new nitro Harley in its own lane as it carried the front wheel wildly. McLean had a tough one in the semi-finals up against New Zealand's Athol Williams. McLean took a small holeshot and then used a 6.61 s time to defeat a 6.76 from Williams's fast nitro-fuelled Suzuki, one of three Japanese bikes in the field. This set up a rematch from the last championship round at the Australian Nationals against West Australian Ian Ashelford. McLean was lucky to win this one with his 6.58s just edging a 6.72s from the local's nitro Harley. "The cold, overcast qualifying conditions didn't suit the cars much but Brett and I were able to dial our bikes in really well, running five 6.5s passes between us out of our six qualifiers," McLean said. "This really gave me some confidence going into the elimination rounds where I was able to keep up the consistency and take a valuable win, and with all of the bonus points it will really boost my Championship chances as the season goes on."

Narrabeen

Better than The Boss: Trop McLean dominated on his Top Bike Harley. Runner Up: Steve Stanic, above, finished second behind the quick John Zappia, pictured above left. Black magic: Rob Pilkinton's slick and slippery Monte Carlo.

Utes debut at B1000,Perth THE Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series Powered by Freightliner will have a few additions to its calendar in 2008.* The series will make its debut on the Bathurst 1000 support bill next season. Its first as a championship round at Mount Panorama since the 2004 24-Hour race. The last time the Utes were at Mount Panorama was for the 2006 Bathurst International Motor Festival, at which there was a legends race that featured such names as Garry Rogers, Kevin Bartlett, and'Skippy' Parsons sharing Utes with regular drivers.

One track that will be a genuine first for the Utes is Barbagallo Raceway.The series will play support for the West Aussie round of the V8 Supercars in Mayjoining Carrera Cup and the MINI Challenge on a bolstered Barbagallo support card. And according to recently crowned Ute Champion and sandgroper Grant Johnson,the trek west is good news. "Any time we've had national rounds at Barbagallo Raceway, I've always been at the front,"said Johnson. "It doesn't matter where you go on the east

coast, there are guys there who have driven the tracks nearly every day of their lives. It's the same in Sydney and in Melbourne. "So even though Barbagallo Raceway is a fairly simple layout, when you've done a lot of laps you know how to get the little bits right, like those extra couple of tenths, and how to set up for passing opportunities." The series will finish at the big four-day Oran Park farewell meeting, another return to the calendar.The last time the series visited the Sydney circuit was 2005. -ANDREWVAN LEEUWEN

Macrow hits the States TIM Macrow has celebrated his Australian Formula 3 Championship win with a successful Champ Car Atlantic test in the United States. The young Victorian tested for Jensen Motorsport, the same team Hollywood racer Frankie

Muniz drives for, below, at Roebling Road recently. And the test was a success, Macrow going fastest of the three drivers testing with the team at the time, "it went realiy well, the cars are fantastic to drive," Macrow told

MNews at the Phillip Island V8 Supercar meeting. "That's what I'd like to do, but it stiil depends on budget, i'll wait and speak to Eric [Jensen,team owner] about next year and what we might be able to do." - ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Feb Mountaineers BOTH Holden and its young star Lee Holdsworth look set to tackle The Mountain in February for the WPS Bathurst 12-Hour. While Holden has made no decision had been made regarding which vehicle will be used as a factory entry, there is a strong chance it will be the one of its VE Commodore Sportwagons. Meanwhile young gun Lee Holdsworth has confirmed that he will definitely be tackling Mount Panorama in February. He will share a privately-entered Production Commodore with brother Brett Holdsworth and carowner Steve Briffa. "It has always been [Brett and I's] dream to run together at Bathurst, so you could say we are both really eager," Holdsworth said.

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ALLAN Simonsen wrapped up the Australian GT Championship with a dominating performance at the Sandown GT Classic. Simonsen came to the final round 17 points behind the Lamborghini powered Bryce Washington. The Ferrari 430 of Simonsen and co-driver Tim Leahey topped every session and lead every lap of the race the three and a half hour race - while Washington leapt from third on the grid to challenge early. Sadly, Simonsen's competition fell by the wayside. On the second lap a electrical fault near the fuel vent caused a fire in the Lamborghini Gallarado, ending Washington's championship hopes. Next to fail was the Porsche GT3 RSR of Des and David Wall, a broken suspension link their downfall, losing 28 laps in the pits. The Porsche had tremendous pace and, after rejoining the race, David

set the fastest lap of the day. The Ted Huglin/Craig Baird Ferrari 360 GT failed to finish after destroying two alternators and the Porsche of Paul Tressider and MaxTwigg also retired. The Aston Martin DBRS9 of John Kaias and Will Davison suffered with engine dramas from Thursday. A new ECU and a Prodrive technician were flown in but it failed to improve the car, pressing on to finishing eight laps behind the winning Ferrari, seventh. Ian Palmer and Paul Stokell finished second in the Lamborghini Gallorado.The pair slowly carved through the field from ninth to finish ahead of John Teulan and Steve Johnson who were third, four laps down. Sven Burchartz wrapped up the Porsche Driver's Challenge with help from Jon Trende and Dean Fiore.The trio finished fourth overall,five laps down. -BILL RIDDELL

Nationals Wraps Up

CFIAMPIONS were crowned during the Shannons Nationals finale at Sandown Raceway in December, and history was made when Geoff Emery ciaimed his fifth Commodore Cup title. Emery started his title assault with victory in Race 1 over Marcus Zukanovic, but was dealt a blow early in Race 2 and had to return to the pits. However the comfortable lead he held entering the round meant he could cruise in the final to

Weeks hangs on in South Oz

KEVIN Weeks and navigator Bee Crunkhorn may have won this year's Aeromil Pacific Classic Adelaide, but he didn't do it as easily as he might have. The local South Aussie went into the event favourite thanks to his tidy Porsche 911. But after winning every leg from the Prologue, disaster almost struck on the final day. "We lost fourth gear In Mount Lofty and did Picadilly, Echunga and Paris Creek Long with only

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one gear,"said Weeks. "When we were locked in fourth we thought it was all over, but then we said 'well, anything can happen,'and pushed on." Weeks held on to win by just 12s from Rex Broadbent,the exact amount of time he predicted he lost when he overshot a corner. Jim Richards and Barry Oliver were third outright, while Cameron Wearing and Rebecca Cochrane won the Classic section.

become Champion. Saloon Car Championship trophy was once again in the hands of Bruce Heinrich, who battled extensively with close rival Kris Walton all season. Heinrich came into the final round with a handy buffer and wrapped up the title with a race in hand. Sport Sedan speedster Tony Ricciadello enjoyed a lot of success throughout the 2007 and wrapped up the series with round victory at Sandown. Daniel Tamasi had the pace to run with Ricciadello but lost out due to consistency. Four classes competed in the one-hour endurance race for Production Cars where Leigh Mertens(VZ Commodore)took the lead late in the race to take victory. Gary Holt(BMW 335) wrapped up championship honours with second in the race while Steve Briffa won Class A. Len Cave (Celica), Martin Doxey (Astra) and Rocco Rinaldo all won their respective classes in the endurance race. - AARON SHAW 85

Luck ofthe West Aussie IN racing, a little luck can go a long way, however you have to be in the right position to capitalise. So vyas the case for Grant Johnson, who grabbed the 2007 V8 Lite Racing Series after two drama filled rounds at Symmons Plains and Phillip Island. Johnson and Jack Elsegood had been at the pointy end of the series for most of the year with Elsegood claiming a 25-point lead after an inconsistent round in Tasmania for Johnson. The Grove Fruit Juices racer began on the front row and was set for a Top 3 finish before gearbox dramas saw him fall back to ninth. Elsegood trailed race and eventual round winner Layton Crambrook, who managed another win and a fifth place. Johnson grabbed second in the reverse grid race but Elsegood made another podium in the third race, Johnson trailing in 11 th after locking the rears and spinning While battling Elsegood. Two weeks later at Phillip Island Elsegood

Magic Mason wins Masters STEVE Mason was crowned the inaugural Biante Touring Car Master at Phillip island. He claimed the title in his'69 Chevy Camaro in Race 1,fellow Camaro driver Jim Richards taking the win after pole sitter Gavin Bullas spun early in the race. Alastair MacLean made it a Camaro 1 -2-3,followed by the Mustangs of Edd,ie Albenica and Drew Marget. Races 2 and 3 were crowd pleasers, with plenty of position changes, paint swapping and sideways action. "I was so glad to wrap it up ' with two to go and really put on a show,"Mason said."I really ; enjoyed it." Mason won Race 2, Bullas ' charged through from seventh : to finish second - setting a lap record in his Boss Mustang. I Richards,third in Race 2, 1 bounced back to win the final race I and the round. It was a complex tussle at the front for most of I the race with Abelnica, Bullas, I MacLean and Mason all duelling i with Richards. Bullas finished I second (third in the round), ! Abelnica third with Mason fourth (second in the round). - BILL RIDDELL Points: Mason 1627, Abelnica 1481, Bullas 1465, Mick Wilson 1364, MacLean 1331.

PENRITE'

Still had the upper hand, putting his car on pole and finishing Race 1 untouched, while Johnson fell backwards from third to ninth. It worked to his favour as he charged through to win the reverse top-16 race while Elsegood slogged through to 10th place, losing a single point to Johnson. Into the final race Johnson's cause looked lost, he needed Elsegood to finish 18th or worse if he was to grab the title. The two contenders started side by side and lead the final race, trading fastest laps. With the finish and the championship almost in sight Elsegood's stressed front right tyre

overheated, pieces of the tread rubber came away, allowing exposed cord to damage the wiring loom - ending his race and handing Johnson the series as well as the round win. The Commodore driver was overwhelmed by his title win, yet understanding of what led to his glory. "Anything can happen in racing and in Utes you can times that by 100." He said "It's just unbelievable." -BILL RIDDELL Final Points: Johnson 714, Elsegood 699,Jane 582, Andrew Fisher 552, Baxter 547.

Steady asshe goes

HE might have been a long-shot winner after the first race of the final Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship round in Tasmania in November, but Gary Young took home the silverware. With Barrie Nesbitt winning the first race, he and Mark King were tied on points at the top of the leaderboard heading into the second. But the pair tangled wheels in Race 2, ending Nesbitt's race, and forcing King back to 10th. It was a terminal blow for both drivers' championship hopes.

Young cruised to second and third in the final two races (which were won by Peter Floyd and Sam Walter respectively), and sealed the title.

"Earlier in the year I wouldn't have thought this could happen," said Young. "We had a strong start to the year and I have tried to be consistent and finish every race." Jim Pollinca won the Privateers Cup. Final Points: Young 380, King 366, Floyd 340, Graham Alexander 335, Nesbitt 318, Tim Poulton 267.

Salliard takes emotional ATCC win THE amazing comeback to circuit racing for Darren Saillard was completed late November when he was victorious in the 2007 Australian Touring Car Challenge,taking out the ninth and final round at Oran Park Raceway. Saillard was right on the pace with the main contenders, and managed to come away with the round victory honours after placing second in the opening race behind Scott Loadsman,a result that he followed up with an eighth and third place finish in Races 2 and 3 under the handicapped starting format. Ty Hanger continued to dominate in the OZ Boss class, as he has all year, by taking out both races, and therefore the round victory ahead of

Sam Dale and Adam Barnes. Hanger comfortably took out the overall Oz Boss championship for the year over Matthew Fox and Dale. Defending Production Touring Car Champion Luke Searle(BMW 130)took out the round victory and also back-to-back series wins by winning two of the three races at Oran Park. It was only team mate Peter Kelly(BMW 130) who spoiled his clean sweep of the weekend when he won the third and final race. Other round winners over the weekend in the AMRS finale included Garry Stevens(SuperTT), Tom Drewer(Thunder Sports), Kieran Pilkington (HQ Holdens), and Sam Zavaglia (Super Karts). -DANIEL POWELL

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■HE.2007 New South Wales State Motor Racing ! Championship had: a i little of everything, with {plenty o>f close racing; cipse finishes, big crashes, emerging talent, a cancelled race meeting due to heavy rain, some upset performances, and everything In between. Without a doubt the iNSW State Motor iRacingi'Championshipiis a breeding ground for young taient, but also a* place where your 'weekend warrior' can have some fun and' Can race pn circuits around NSW, such as Wakeield Park Raceway, Eastern Creek Raceway, and Qran Park. A total of nine different categories made up the 2007 NSW State Motor Racing Championship, and here is a run of ail the trials and tribuiations of the year just past: formula Ford The baittie between defending champion Ben Morley and young gun Rob Storey raged :fierce .throughout the year in the .NSW State IormuiaiiFord Championship and lit ail came to down to the last race of the last round to decide who out of the two wou ld be crowned: champion for the year. Andli'htN end it was the young, gun Storey that came out on top over the much more experienced Morley. Storey finished the Championship: with a wet saifby taking Out the ifina'lt th ree rounds, !but while Morley managed to keep ihim on bis toes thrpugbout that time, but he fell short of the mark. The other standout during the

year was the emergence of GAMS Rising Star Daniel lEriekson, who showed iplenty of fight during the year andifinished on the podium Oh: three separate oCGasions, and was a well-deserved third place finisher in the overall Championship point standings andi took out the Rookie of the Year point score.

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RobStorey Ben Morley Dan/e/ir/c/cson tom Tweedie (3lenn Welch

492 473 374 324 309

Sports Sedans Rookie Scott Butier caused a major boii over in the NSW State Sports Sedan Championship by taking out the titie ahead of both 2005 champion Chris Jackson and defending champion Anthony Macready. It was the Gonsistency of Butler that earned'ihim the State Championship for 2007, as he managed to finish on theipodium in ail six rounds, while both Jackson: and Macready suffered: various imeChan'icali dramas, which in the end was their downfail'. iln the laitter rounds Butler showed! thait he eouidimatch it well!and truly with Jackson and! M'acready. I 2 3 4 S

SmttBuitler GhrisMckson Anthony M'acready Steven ShMs MatthewLong>

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Teamnmates Jason Gums,.pictured above right, and Adam Proctor

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frequented the winner's cirele throughout the year, and were rewarded with a T-2 inish in the ' overatli NSW State 'Formula Vee Championship point standings. After finishing second in the ehampionship ibehind Michaei Kinsella in 2004, Proctor was hopefuit of going one better this year, but a run:Of badJiuck at the finait round' handed Cutts his third crown. iBoth Cutts and ProGtor had the measure Of the whole field over the year, and that included defendingi champ Ryan Simpson, who suffered'some misfortune as he tried! to bridge the gap between himself and the Shantuii Lishide Racing team ears, ite: the !tl|00: class it was 'Dylan Thomas who set the pace a'l I year and was rewarded! with the NSW State Championship honours for his class. MOO class 1 Jason €utts 2 Adam Proctor 3 Ryan Simpson 4 ZaneM-Said 5 Matthew Pearce

414 366 324 300 285

1:200class t Elylmthomos 2 Greg Stott Bruce Pearce 3 Luke Warner 4 S Matthew White

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Other NSW State M'otor Racing Ghampionship winners for 2007 were: Daniel D'Aq.uino (HO Holdens), 'idward'Ciavin:(Af2/ Supersports),'Russeil!!Butler (Clubman Challenge), Matthew Holt (Combined touring), David Raddatz (Produetion Sports Cars); Jacky Tick (Improved! Production Under 2 Litre) and Dave Lotus (Improved! Produetion Over 2 Litre). -DANIEL POWELL 6F

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National Champions2007

By Andrew van Leeuwen,Grant Rowley& Bill Riddell

Tim the Cool man THE 2007 version of the Australian Formula 3 Championship couldn't have been more different than the previous year’s. After Ben Clucas whitewashed the'06 season,Tim Macrow had to wait until the final race of the season to clinch the title from LeanneTander. Macrow started fourth in the titledeciding race, but a blinder of a start saw

:Steve Wason Biante NVasters

him leading into the first corner - game over. "Its starting to sink in,"said Macrow of winning one of Australian motorsport's biggest prizes. "When you think about all the names that are on the list, guys like John Bowe and Mark Skaife and Brabham, it's a big honour. The Gold Star deserves more accolades, because back in the day it was the biggest

thing you could win. So it's still taking some time to sink in. "It was a difficult year. We led most of the year, but it was stili and up-and-down season. "But I was sick of being the bridesmaid,so to pull it off was great,for me and the guys who help us. We're a pretty small team and my guys are volunteers and work really hard."

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Mason the Man STEVE Mason won the inaugural BIANTE Touring Car Masters championship in his'69 Chevy Camaro. "Its just fantastic to win the championship - I've been so close a few times now, but it was worth it." Mason was runner-up three times in historic racing, finally getting the monkey off his back in the new series. "This level of racing is really dependent on a few close supporters. I couldn't have done this without two in particular. Ned Sassine, my engine guy at Hercules, built me a new engine for the final round. He already had a full week's worth of customers, so he worked back past midnight every night to build me an engine. Unbelivable - a great effort." "And of course after four years of hard work, with Ron Misson my crew chief, its great to see it has finally come to fruition." "Well be back at the front come Clipsal next year. I just love this racing, it's great fun and I love to put on a show for the crowd." 88

Brotherly Love

IT'S a standard case of sibling rivalry - when two brothers compete in the same field, they want to beat each other, or, in the case of say Todd Kelly or Ralf Schumacher,at least even the score. In 2007, Brad Ward did just that. With brother James already packing an Aussie Racing Cars title (from 2004), Brad was keen to even the score. And 2007 was the year. "Over the last two years I've come close to winning it," he said. "Last year I led every round but fell off at Sandown. I've always been up there but never been close enough to winning it. "This year, I guess I had a bit of good luck.

or bad fortune for the other guys. "I think it's just consistency over the entire season. If you race in the top bunch of cars every round and not have spins or loses or crashes or mechanical failures, you will be at the pointy end of the series." But just because he and James are now even in the trophy count, don't think Brad will be resting on his laurels. "I'll be back next year," he said. "I love it, and there's no way that I'd give it away for anything. When you put some much effort in getting the ready, running them,the racing is the least stressful aspect of it all. Going out and doing it on the weekend is the bit I love the most."

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AUSTRALIAN Performance Car Champion Gary Young had a premonition that his title rivals would crash into each other at the start of the second race in the final round at Tasmania. "Anyone can verify this with my team, but we had talked about it the night before," Young explained. "I said that I had a premonition that these two blokes would smash into each other at the start." Young doesn't have physic powers, but he was certainly pleased that his thoughts from the night before turned out to be true. Barrie Nesbitt and Mark King collided at

turn two,sending both into the wall and out of contention. "The first thing my team said to me on the radio was"have a look behind you!"While it was bad luck for those blokes, it was good luck for me. I just couldn't believe it." Young didn't win a race in that final round at Symmons Plains, but he did enough to wrap up the championship. "It was pretty close in the end," he said. "It came down to the wire and I'm pretty happy with it. I'll take it. I think I won the most races during the year and placed at every event apart from Bathurst, where we had some car troubles." i

Onefull year,one title SEASON 2007 was one of surprises for many national categories, and the Australian GT Championship was no exception. After a season seemingly dominated by Bryce Washington and his new Lamborghini Gallardo, Allan Simonsen emerged the Champion after a dramatic final round atSandown. "Obviously that was what I needed [to vdn the title)," said Simonsen. "I needed pole, I needed to win, and all

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those things happened. "It's fantastic to win the championship. In all these years, I've been doing it on and off, never having done a full year. I really wanted to have a crack at doing a full year, I didn't do a few of the races in Europe to concentrate ot, the races here.' "I really wanted to win this championship,to give it everything and do every round. We've done that at last and we've won the championship. Box ticked."

GRANT Johnson certainly didn't do things the easy way in 2007. Having shown plenty of promise in 2006, Johnson went into the new season as one of the title favourites. But he would have to beat Jack Elsegood. And it took him until the final two races to do it. Having been inseparable on the points table all year, the pair went into the final round at Phillip Island with Elsegood just ahead. And a disastrous first race, in which Johnson spun,all but denying him the title. But a final race drama for Elsegood saw his car falter in spectacular style, sealing the title for Johnson. "Hey, anything worth winning isn't easy," Johnson said. "We were probably stronger last year, but we had a lot more bad luck, so this year has worked out better. "It's great because I've never won a national category before, and the big thing is we spent the whole season underfunded and understaffed,so it's special that we were able to get the series win. "I guess it goes to show that it doesn't matter how much money you've got in this category, you can still run up the front."

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National Champions2007

By Andrew van Leeuwen,Grant Rowley& Bill Riddell

1 BRUCE Heinrich wrapped up his fifth Supaloc Australian Saloon Car Championship at the final CAMS round of the year. "It was obviously pretty hard to win the championship this year, Kris (Walton) really had a lot of pace, a lot of reliability. So that really made me have to work hard and make sure the ear was reliable. "It really came down to the

wire this year that's always good for the fans. "The only really bad round . we had was Phillip island, we went to the new tyre and I . locked it up once going down into Honda. Not knowing if the car had a wheel bearing problem or a flat spot, I was a bit concerned and I pulled in and DNF'd the race. Then I lost a few points at the Queensland round unfortunately. Apart from that f

No Holts Barre

GARRY Holt had a massive year in 2008. Driving his BMW 335T, the Sydney-based driver won the reborn WPS Bathurst 12 Hour and the Australian Production Car Championship. We had such a great year," he said. The 12 Hour was certainly a highlight. All the odds were against us for that race. We had brand-new cars that had never been raced before and we only had six weeks to put them together. The amount of time and effort from the crew to build those cars was all against us so to come away and win the race was quite amazing.' 90

had a pretty strong year. That's what got us the championship - you cant just win the odd race and hope that will do." 'HeinricK will switch from Ford to Holden next year, set to debut a Commodore after selling his championship-winning Falcon. "FII be racing a VT next year, get some more Commodbres on the track. I believe the cars are good enough to win so we will give It a crack."

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Title #5 ACCORDING to Geoff Emery, the people at Commodore Cup have devised a way to stop him getting overioaded with championship trophies. "They didn't give me one this year,"he laughed,"! guess when they saw I won it again, they didn't bother!" Having spent the 2006 season In the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, Emery dropped back to Commodore Cup for season 2007 - and, not surprisingly, won his fifth title. "It's a really good result, and I think reliability was the key," he said. "We only did seven of the eight rounds and still won the title by 18 points, so I think we proved a point this season. "The highlight of the season was the racing with Daniel Riehert early in the season. It's a shame he couldn't continue because he was a good racer, very fair, and we had some enjoyable battles. Once he left the competition became a little easier, so I'd say racing Daniel was definitely the highlight of the year." So, after five titles, what will Emery go and do next season? "We're trying to put something together to get back to the Fujitsu Series, but it's all too soon to be saying anything about that just yet."

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Seven's Heaven for Kel THE 2007 season was Kel Treseder's most successful in the sport - both on and off the race track. The 23-year-old won more state titles this year than any other driver (seven), plus the Rotax Heavy National Championship. The boy from Bundaberg scored the Leopard Heavy/ Rotax Heavy'double'three times (Victorian, Queensland and NSW championships) plus the South Australian Leopard Heavy title. "It was the most successful year of my karting career,"Treseder said. However, it could have been even better, an additional National title slipping through his fingers at Easter. "The header pipe nuts fell off while I was leading Leopard

Heavy," he explained. In addition to on-track results, Treseder had his biggest year in business (Kel's Karts-n-Parts). "There are benefits to success on the track.The local karting community relates to it." He continues to turn his hand to event organising. Kel is the man behind Bundaberg's now annual 3hour Leopard endurance race. "This year was the third year and the biggest we have had so far. It truly is a national event now and has boosted the profile of karting." "We are limited to having only 64 drivers, but there's still scope to make it bigger on the promotional side." Now all that's left is for him to actually win it... -MARK WICKS

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Deadly Dave WHATEVER Kel Treseder did in the Heavy classes, it seemed David Sera did in the Light categories. The Melburnian had a superlative year, grabbing six state titles and two National

Championships. Leopard Light titles were earned in Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland and NSW, where he also grabbed the blue plates in Rotax Light. It wasn't just the 125cc categories he mastered, David blowing the field away in Clubman Light at the Queensland Championships, plus third at the AKA Nationals. At the soaking wet Toyota Leopard Final,'Deadly Dave' www.mnews.com.au

dominated, lapping everyone up to eighth place in a 32-kart field. More recently, he was kicking butt at the Rotax World Final until a technical issue brought the effort undone. "This year, he's just blown me out of the water" his dad George said. As Mnews went to press, the 19-year-old was midway through a series of Formula BMW tests at Sepang, trying to earn a slot in professional car racing. Unfortunately, he's not in a position to buy a drive.These words from a karting rival are apt: Why can't someone put the guy In a race car so other people can win some kart races?" Indeed. -MARK WICKS

SUCH is the depth of talent and geogiiaphlGai expanse of this great land, no single |unior karter got the opportunity to stand Out from the crowd.

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'But that's not to say we don't have some great kids racing karts, to pick just One MrOuld be an injustice to the others. Takingi Junior Clubman as the benchmark class, every state title was won by a diHerent driver, Amrit KandOla, James Kowacic, tSIicholas Poster, Jye ©'Keefe, Zeke Edwards and Lewis Sutherland a'iearning ibiue plates. Additionally, ©ueensland'sChazMoStert, pictmeet above, won; the Australian Championship; iKOwacic was we'll-trawelled and picked up another two state titles in the Junior NationahLight class (MT and'WA) and'came incredibiy close to so many more. Mostert and "Foster also backed up Clubman sucGeSs with National class wins. Further down the age bracket, 'iylan Higgins (Midgets) and Mathew Mart (Rookies) won two state titles each. And! then there's Panlel Rochford. Me didn't grab any state or national title victories, but he damn near won the World Final for Junior Rotax and backed that up a week later beating established fcartingi stars on his seniors debut in the VACC 4-'Moup in Melbourne. -MARK WICKS

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Zeke goes out with 2 ZEKE Edwards capped off a brilliant year of karting with a double victory at the Victorian Closed Titles at Portland on December 2. Edwards won Clubman Light and Leopard Light. Titles also went to Franky Costanzo (Clubman Heavy), Leon Forrest (Over 40s), Aaron Ivermee (Formula 100), Jye O'Keefe (Junior Clubman), Travis Kodric (Junior National Heavy), Steven Mackenzie (Junior National Light), James Golding (Midgets), Liam Morey (Rookies), Nick Gottlewski (Rotax Heavy) and Dale Beaton (Senior National Light). ■ IKD (International Karting Distributors) will take over from DPE as the Australian distributor for Rotax karting products. "I believe that BRP-Rotax has made a very good decision in selecting IKD" said DPE's Drew Price. "I am confident that Rotax drivers can rest assured that Rotax has a very bright future in Australia." ■ An audit of Kart Industry Association of Australia members has revealed a significant level of sponsorshig and prizes are ploughed back into the sport. Spanning a period of seven years, KIAA members have dished out the following: six cars, eight Formula Ford seasons, 40 overseas trips, over 200 kart engines, $1.5m of cash and prizes for clubs and events. "Another important aspect of these contributions, is that some of our members have also brought corporate sponsors to karting" said Kl AA's Wayne Woolston. "The involvement of Ford in the past, and now Toyota, are examples of companies that have lifted the awareness of karting outside of just the karting fraternity". ■ The International Karting Committee has selected a new-spec Vega tyre for the 2008 CIK series. Interestingly, the tyre will not be available to purchase outside of the actual CIK race meetings. This is to cut costs by limiting the amount of productive testing that teams can undertake. Competitors will be issued with three sets of tyres at Round 1, but only two sets at subsequent events. ■ DP Karts in Melbourne has changed hands. Craig Holowell, formerly a team manager at John Faulkner Racing, took over the business from David Price last month. V8 Supercar driver Adam Macrow has been contracted to provide engine service work and driver education. -MARK WICKS 92

Rotaxes dominate 4-hour IT was a case of swings and roundabouts at the VACC 4Hour enduro in Melbourne on Decembers. Open to Rotax and Leopard class karts, the differing tyre characteristics made for a fascinating tactical race. The harder yet slower Bridgestone tyre allowed Rotax drivers to race flat out the whole way. The faster but much softer MG tyre for Leopard karts saw Leopards dominate qualifying - but meant their drivers had to race to a strict pace-managed plan if they were to make it to the end. After four hours it was an allRotax podium, Daniel Rochford/ Josh Arandt (Arrow) winning ahead of Alan Gurr/Tim Slade (Phoenix) and Jake Spencer/ Steven Scoble (Arrow). Reif Corbett/Ben Walter almost held on for a podium aboard their Leopard, but fell to fourth in the closing laps. One team that managed

their MG rubber exceptionally well was Masters class winners Bobby Bourke and Gary Pegoraro. Despite a puncture at the start of the race, the veterans clawed their way back to ninth outright and second Leopard home. Matthew Wall teamed with Bart Price for fifth. V8 drivers Jack

Perkins and Shane Price were sixth while Jason Richards/Adam deBorre rounded outtheTop 10. Damon Strong (Tony Kart) beat a 16-kart field to win the 50 minute Midget Enduro ahead of Jake Klien (Tony Kart) and Dylan Sylitis (Arrow). -MARK WICKS

Mini’Matt

KART-MINI Australia has confirmed reigning Leopard Heavy Australian Champion Matt Greenbury will drive the Brazilian-made chassis in 2008. Greenbury won the Nationals aboard an Intrepid chassis at Easter, however the team's kart and engines were stolen in a robbery in September. Australian Kart-Mini importer, Steve Hohns, offered Greenbury a drive at the final round of the Queensland Leopard Series at Ipswich. Further running at Puckapunyal's Leopard Final and more recently at Bundaberg has convinced the Queenslander to sign on for next year. Greenbury's first meeting with Kart-Mini for 2008 will be the Victorian Qpen Championships at Geelong in February. -MARK WICKS

He's still on it!

MICHAEL Schumacher won the International Challenge of Go-Kart Champs at the Ingleses Kart Track in Florianopolis, Brazil, several weeks ago. 'Schuey'won the opening race from grid four ahead of Nelsinho Piquet, Luciano Burti and Rubens Barrichello. Lucas Di Grassi won Race 2 over Burti and event organiser Felipe Massa. Schumacher's fifth place earned him enough points to claim victory. -MARK WICKS

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THE '"■ TERm

TRLH coduertor SEND US YOUR THOUGHTS: PO BOX 7072, BRIGHTON, VIC, 3186

■ Editorial Executive Editor: Phil Branagan editor@mnews.com.au Deputy Editor: Grant Rowley grant@mnews.com.au National Editor: Andrew van Leeuwen andrew@mnews.com.au Staff Journalist: Bill Riddell bill@mnews.com.au ■ Production Graphic Design & Web: Jayne Uthmeyer design@mnews.com.au ■ Advertising P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030

Are streets the pits? Queensland Raceway could not be more pleased that the people of North Queensland are to get the thrill oftheirown V8 Supercar race meeting in 2009. We have consistently supported the potential for a Townsville event because we know the enthusiasm that exists for V8 Supercars in North Queensland by the number that make the long

National Sales Manager: M04T8 580 700 ads@mnews.com.au

trek to Brisbane each year. Now that Townsville is finally

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getting the investment to have a big motorsport event, why can't North Queensland have

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 ■ Contributors FI: he Saward, Adam Cooper, Paolo Filisetti, MarkGiendenning Europe: Quentin Spurring, David Addison US: Martin D. Clark, Phil Morris, Mary Bignotti Mendez Speedway: Greg Boscato, Geoff Rounds, Darren Sutton, Tony Millard (UK) Rally: Ryan Lahiff Drag Racing: Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Ken Ferguson,John Bosher National: Mark Wicks, Mark Jones, Aaron Shaw, Daniel Powell

be spent on making and setting up the equipment to be able to run the V8 Supercar street race would pay for a permanent track facility that would match Queensland Raceway - or maybe better. They can also save the huge recurring expenditures of setting up and pulling down the circuit and equipment like Adelaide, Indy and Melbourne's Grand Prix.These annual expenditures can make

Mpix, AF1 Images, James Smith, Peter Bury, Neil Blackbourn, Chris Carter, Coopers Photography, CBR Photographies, Paris Charles, Bob Potts, Neil Hammond, Joel Strickland, Mike Patrick (UK) Motorsport News is published by Australasian Motprsport News ABN 5S125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Printed by: Webstar Printing Distributed by: NDD Ltd Material published by MOTORSPORT NEV/S is copyright and may not be reprorfuced 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. *Oplnlons expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

1 year (12iss) $79.50

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The amount of money that will

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permanent track facilities like Brisbane?

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As we have proven with Queensland Raceway, permanent tracks are more than self-

last 20 years, we would have many more motorsport facilities and some at a level to match China,

supporting and they contribute to the community in many more ways than a once a year major event. Building a permanent facility will not only save the government a lot of money over time but will result in a permanent community asset rather than a huge pile of concrete blocks and

Dubai,Turkey, and so forth. For those in the know, Singapore has offered land for a race circuit

mesh fencing that, as Canberra can attest, is of little use or value

developer to begin construction of a permanent facility so they can have a proper venue to run their Grand Prix on at some time in the future.They had to go with a street race because, at this point in time, they do not have a permanent race track capable of supporting the FI event.

to anybody afterwards. The benefit to driver training and safety has to be taken into account and the ability to have club level racing in Townsville may well result in the discovery of North Queensland racing talent that will otherwise go undiscovered.

motorsport facility Australia can offer, in my opinion, is Phillip Island, which is pretty good but it certainly does not match the mega motorsport venues that our neighbours have been building. It is not toojate. Can we make

If the governments of Australia had spent as much money on

Townsville the turning point please?

As it is, the best permanent

permanent motorsport facilities as they have on street races over the

6 years ago

John Tetley CEO -Old Raceways

●V.% 300 MPH

^●JSSIE Fin

1. ! J !

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Issue 195-15-18 Jan 2001

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THE first and only time Motorsport News went late to press. Lowndes'future was up in the air for months following long and heated contractual disputes with HRT. MNews held the presses for one day, in respect of the official announcement, and became the first specialised publication to detail one of the greatest news pieces in Australian racing. Lowndes'announcement that he would switch to

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the blue side of the fence was bigger than Ben Hur. Sadly the switch has yet to pay dividends although it could be argued that his move was the catalyst that motivated Ford to three titles since then ... The switch by Lowndes from Ford to Holden left Steven Richards without a seat after Fred Gibson bought back his team from Garry Dumbrell. Richards made a 11 th hour move to the Ford Tickford Racing, the factory squad that never really was. Before the Lowndes/HRT dispute got a little bitter, the star driver was slated to have a steer at the Adelaide hosted Race of 1000 years ALMS race. Dindo Capello and Alan McNish grabbed a devastating

victory in their Audi R8 while the trans-Tasman entry of David Brabham, Greg Murphy and Jason Bright brought there Panoz LMP-1 home in ninth after qualifying third. In the world of Formula 1 Mark Webber was doing pre-season testing for Benneton while a young James Courtney was about to be announced by Jaguar FI as its test driver and that he would race for its junior squad in British F3.

motorsport news

advanced wh€€l t€chnologi€s styl€ by d€sign The new Inferno wheel has been designed to provide clearance over the extra large brake calipers of current high performance Icical muscle cars. Inferno is available in stagger sizes of 18x8.0 or 19x8.5 for the front and 18x9.0 or I9>t9.5 for the rear on various HSV vehicles, including other fartory models.