Motorsport News Issue 373 - July 2008 by V8 Sleuth

AUSTRALIA'S NUMBER 1 MONTHLY MOTORSPORT MAGAZINE

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No.373 JULY 2008 Australia $7.95 NZ $8.50 inc GST

McCONVILLE STEPS UP,ON AND OFF-TRACK

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4 Foxtrot Golf

Who will build and who will buy?

Prepare for an Aston Martin LMPl

Aston-kicking

7 New Winner

Canada springs another first-time winner

8 The name game Gen-Y USA kidsshrug offpressure

13 Motor Mouth

The end ofa full life in motorsport

20 Box Seat

What nextfor the Mosley Affair?

82 The Back Page Revisiting 2002. The year, not the BMW

18 Five Minutes with Gianni Morbidelli 22 The Ford Formula How Ford built its first FG-and whatis coming next 32 Back to You, Brad. Er, Kim. Er, Rusty! McConville talks i nitials: BJR, WP and VEand TV 42 Twice around the clock,from both ends ofthe grid Two views ofLe Mans-from the factories to a University

lACE

46 Sandown:Jamie wins(we think.It was pretty dark) 50 Montreal:Kubica leads a BMW double 52 Monaco:Hamilton dominates in the damp 54 Sandown FV8s:More Owen (plus Denyer)

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58 WRC:Citroen wins. Then Ford(no,it's nota repeat)

NATIONAL 60

On Track

61 Carrera Cup 62 Formula Ford 63 V8Utes 64 MINI Challenge 66 Formula3 67 NA5CUP Cover Photos:

69 SportsSedan 72 Speedway

Racing^ Marshall Ca Contents; Olrj^Klynsmith Ford Racing BMW Motorsport

77 RaceShop/Industry News/Classifieds

August issue on sale July 23

Which team builds what Freakin'Grouse! For a full look at the construction, design and future ofFord's FG Falcon race car, turn to page 22.

It's here! Ford's new FG has broken cover,ready for its race debut in 2009. But which teams will build chassis next year? GRANT ROWLEY investigates who will construct,and who will purchase cars for next season ORD'S stunning new FG Falcon may only be built by three teams for 2009 and beyond. The blue oval's first all-new car since the BA Falcon was unveiled at V8 Supercar's Sandown round last month, driven by James Courtney. Ford Performance Racing was entrusted with the build of the FG (race-ready) prototype, dubbed the'FGOl.' The new car - built to V8 Supercar's Project Blueprint specification - will have a common floorpan, built by Paul Ceprnich's Pace Engineering. But even with the common floor pan,there appears to be just three teams who will build their own cars around it. FPR,Triple Eight Race Engineering and Stone Brothers Racing - the three teams which were instrumental in the design and production of FGOl - are set to supply FGs to all of Ford's V8 teams. Unfortunately, most of the teams that spoke to MNews cpuld not be specific with its future plans, as they are all waiting for confirmation of Ford's financial commitment for 2009. Regardless, as Ford heads into a new era, MNews took a snapshot of the position of Ford's major and minor teams to find out what chassis they will use and where they are likely to get them from. n Ford Racing FGOl is the very-first FG Falcon, built by FPR, funded by Ford Racing. 4

This car has been built to race, although only as a spare car if there are dramas with one of their leading cars. FPR has a lot of cars to finish by the end of summer,so perhaps, FGOl could be used early on, if deadlines are tight. n Ford Performance Racing Ford's flagship team will have a big off-season, but the mid-season homologation of the FG Falcon will help them get a head start. One FG is already under construction, with others in the pipeline. FPR would need to have a minimum of four rolling chassis prepared by January, if the factory's new team, below, comes to fruition. n Ford Dealer Team Proposed new factory Ford team for 2009 (see breakout right)- designed to take the fight directly to Holden's Clayton teams(HRT and HSV). Would use FPR-built chassis. n Triple Eight Race Engineering The Vodafone-backed team will start the season with two brand-new FGs. T8 has the capacity to build FGs for other teams, as it has done in the past. However, until Ford commits to its funding levels, no deals will be done. n Stone Brothers Racing The former champion team will build its own cars, and will have two FGs for Clipsal. SBR has the capacity to supply other teams with chassis...

n Dick Johnson Racing The oldest V8 team in the paddock has always built and maintained its own cars - until last year. T8 gave DJR's BFs a refresh, and the team hasn't looked back since, scoring its first round win in donkey's years in Round 2 at Eastern Creek. So, what will they do for 2009? Securing race-ready FGs from T8 seems the most logical option. n Britek Motorsport The newest of the Ford teams, Britek has had four different chassis in its Dandenong-base over its four-year history - three ex-FPR Falcons and one car built by Britek themselves. What will they do in 2009? FPR is likely to be stretched to build new cars for them,so Britek will either start the new year with its current BFs, or possibly purchase the cars from SBR ... n Paul Cruickshank Racing The Glenfords-backed team doesn't enjoy Ford support in 2008, and probably won't have any in 2009 either. But regardless, PCR hopes to start with the 2009 with an FG Falcon, continuing its carsupply deal withTB. n Team Kiwi Racing The New Zealand team would be the last Ford team in line to receive, purchase or build an FG for the new season. Would likely run the entire season with its exT8 BF chassis.

motorsport news

REliJS

for whom?

FORD'S AUSSIETOURING CAR HERITAGE Here is whatthe FG is up against,compared to the Blue Oval's most prolific race winners...

7. 2. 3. = 5. 6. 7. = = 10.

BA Falcon Sierra RS500 XB Falcon GT EB Falcon BF Falcon EF Falcon XD Falcon AU Falcon Mustang Mustang Trans-Am

29 wins 26 wins 11 wins 11 wins TO wins 9 wins 8 wins 8 wins 8 wins 7 wins

AS one of the Ford's principal factory drivers, driving around a track going as fast as you Steven Richards has been charged with the can,it is a process th^ has to be followed; responsibility of driving the FG W8 Supercar and in order to get the best results you've got ‘ in the aero testing. And that- means he is to make sure you're consistent." one of the very, very few guys to have been Although he is yet to'go asfast as he can,' behind the wheel at this early stage..„ Richo is salivating at the thought of having (r -i While his duties have been limited to lhat opportunity.. ' doing straight-iine blasts at the You Yangs in "For sure,to my mind:it's the best-looking Geelong and, more recently,Woomera,he V8 Supercar that has ever been produced. As''" said he is starting to understand the new car. I said there is ho way the car is going>to be "Its hard to say, but clearly all of the cars we slower than what we already have,sofrom design,deveiop and buiid never take a step that perspective it will be great too,and I'm . backwards, whether its in regards to safety, sure Ford want to get some cars out there asor the way we build suspension components, soon as possible." or just making the cars easier for the guys to While T2 is an FPR-built car, it is not actually ; an FPR car. But Richo confirms that it is a work on," he told MNews. "It's always a step forwards,there's no doubt good insight into the type of equipment he about that. And ultimately that can help the i n will have at his disposal in 2009. performance, because if you can change a "The concept of,how the cars will be buiitdamper faster, or you can make an adjust to the basic cage, chassis and body of the FG the car more efficiently, then you're spending will come from a contracted source,and fronr\;; more time on the track than you are in the there the teams will go and put their own n intricacies into the car.The car that we have v pits, so you can make it go faster. "From my perspective, I've been the guy is similar to the one we will run, we'll Just add'i’ some of the FPR niceties to it." ' right from the outset driving the car and - ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN doing the aero testing, and while it's not

How to take the fight directly to Tom's Boys

FORD is proposing an all-out attack on Holden's four-car factory squad with its own version of a'Superteam.' As exclusively reported in Motorsport eNews (Issue #058), Ford is making serious moves to implement a second 'factory'team - with a mooted name of the'Ford DealerTeam.' The new FDT outfit would be housed at Ford Performance Racing's state-of-the-art factory at Campbellfield. The only aspect stopping any comment from Ford is that fact that its racing budget beyond

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2008 is yet to be finalised. MNews understands that a deal should be signed off by Darwin's V8 round. The implementation of Ford's 'Dealer Team'is expected to come as a blow to SBR, DJR and Britek, which could have its funds reduced to fund the new team. On the driver front, James Courtney is the man in the box seat to drive for the pseudo-factory team, having been the centre of driver movement talk since March. Courtney is in the last year of his Stone Brothers Racing contract, and still has a season to run on his Ford Racing deal.

Pitlane talk suggests that the new DealerTeam would run two cars, with the first of its licences coming from Jim Morton's Ford Rising Star Racing team. This year, FRSR has V8 rookie Michael Patrizi in the car, and Patrizi could be remain with the

new DealerTeam, if they could secure a second licence. Morton's FRSR brand is said to be relegated back to the Fujitsu V8 Series, with Michael Ritter's Sonic Motor Racing Services set to take overthe running of two ex-FPR BF Falcons. -GRANT ROWLEY

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'Motorsport eNews,Issue 058 5

BRIEFLV.l ll Flav gets hitched RENAULTTeam Manager Flavio Briatore has finally married his fiance Elisabetta Gregoraci, in a lavish ceremony in the Santo Spirito in Sassia church near the Vatican. The wedding was attended by a host of celebrities, including Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Fernando Alonso.

RCuitPAULRICARD PL..__

n The Williams FI Team has been busy unveiling its most recent fourwheeled creation at the Chelsea Flower Show. Along with Countax Ltd, Williams now has its very own ride-on lawn mower for sale. The mower comes in at US$10,500 and is painted up in Williams FI colours. n Michael Schumacher has been elected as the Chairman of the newlyestablished FIA Motor Sport Safety Development Fund. The fund will use the FIA's percentage of McLaren's US$100 million to distribute to safetyrelated grants. B By winning the Canadian Grand Prix, Robert Kubica became the 99th different Grand Prix winner in the history ofthe sport. In doing so he also became the fifth different first time winner in Canada(seeseparate story). n Great Britian'sAIGP team is planning a different approach to the upcoming season - using just one driver throughout the championship. Last season Robbie Kerr and Oliver Jarvis did five races each, taking Team GBR to third for the second time. "Our drivers kept coming back to A1GP,after being out of our cars for some time, and on occasions driving other cars,"team principal Katie Clements said. "They weren't as in-tune with our car as they could have been and that's one of the reasons why we should look to using just a one driver strategy going forwari"

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Three-wayfightfor Le Mans^09? WILL Le Mans feature a threeway fight for outright honours between Audi, Peugeot and Aston Martin? That scenario is looking more likely this month,after the British marque triumphed in its assault on the GT1 category this year. That win, in the famous blueand-orange colours of Gulf Oil, commemorates the oil company's Le Mans success 40 years earlier, when Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi piloted the #9 Ford GT40 to an historic win. With that task now complete, it appears moves are afoot to see the famed name step up into the

outright LMP1 class next season, which is the 50th anniversary of Aston Martin's only Le Mans win. Apart from the victorious Aston Martin DBR9, which featured David Brabham among its victorious drivers, the factory supported the Charouz Racing Systems Lola, which was powered by a factory-prepared engine, but without the restrictors required in GTl.The Lola finished ninth outright, with Prodrive regular Tomas Enge among its drivers. When the deal between Aston Martin Racing and Gulf was announced. Gulf Oil's Alain Dujean described the partnership

as"the coming together of two great automotive names,for what I hope will be a long and fruitful partnership". As well, 24 Hour race organiser AGO has introduced air restrictors for the diesel-engined cars, in an attempt to close the 10second gap between the record setting pace of the oil burners and the conventional engines in qualifying. The time have never been better and a Germany v France V Great Britain race for outright honours in the world's most famous race could be one for the ages ...

Is it a bird?Is it a plane? Is it a three-year-old Ferrari FI car? No,it's actually the first ofthe new-generations A1GP cars(powered by Ferrari), cutting some exploritory laps ofimola recently.

n It has been a big month for Ultimate Motorsport. The British Formula 3 team made history at Snetterton recently, its driver Michael Devaney winning the first-ever F3 races for the Mygale chassis. The French manufacturer has long been a Formula Ford winner, and is now mixing it with Dallara in the competitive British series. Now the team, which aiso runs World Series by Renault cars, is being linked with Toro Rosso, as a possible buyer of the second Red Bull FI team. Ultimate was also close to aquiring a GP2 franchise for this season. 6

motorsport news

nEius

Monaco streets ahead forfirsts WHILE the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has now claimed five first-time winners, it is still not the pacesetter when it comes to the debut wins per circuit ranking. Monaco leads the way comfortably, with nine drivers breaking their Formula 1 ducks on the streets of the Principality. At the top of the list is Juan Manual Fangio, who took his first win there in 1950. Maurice Trintignant was next to win there in 1955, before Aussie Jack Brabham did likewise in 1959. Kiwi Denny Hulme was next in 1967, while Jean-Pierre Beltoise had his turn in 1972. Patrick Depallier followed in 78, with Riccardo Patrese winning his first in 1982. The last two were both oneoffs, with Olivier Panis winning a bizarre race in 1996, and Jarno Trulli, below, winning a sole race for Renault in 2004. Technically, Indianapolis has seen as many first-time World Championship first-time race winners as Monaco,thanks to the 10-year period where the Indy 500 counted for World Championship points. Americans Sam Hanks,Johnnie Parsons, Jim Rathman, Rodger Ward, Lee Wallard, Pat Flaherty, Bryan Jimmy,Troy Ruttman and Bob Sweikert are the nine drivers.

[ 1 www.mnews.com.au

BMW Sauber are race winners

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But are they contenders? ROBERT Kubica might be the latest driver to win his first Grand Prix, but neither he nor the BMW Sauber team are getting too excited just yet. In Canada Kubica led home a BMW Sauber 1-2, taking not only his first win, but the first for the team. But while he admits the win was a big boost for the team, he continues to be coy about winning the World Championship. "I did not expect to be leading the championship after seven races, as our car is not the absolute fastest on the grid," he said. "However, we have total reliability. We were still experiencing a few problems in this area last year, but since then we've made huge improvements. "I have collected points regularly so far this year, but of course I don't know if that is going to continue. I will focus on the Grands Prix one at a time and try to take maximum points in every situation. Of course, consistency is an important factor, and I hope that we are also able to make further improvements to the car.Then we can achieve good things. "Whatever happens, we have to do ali we can to make the best of the situation. After all, who knows if I will ever get a chance like this again? One thing is for sure - I'll be giving it everything." Team boss Mario Theissen was quick to point out that being in title contention would not change the team's strategy on any given weekend. "We will continue as we were", said Theissen. "Both drivers will be given exactly the same cars, and exactly the same devotion from the team.Then we will take a calm look at their qualifying results before deciding the race strategy. "It was clear to [Kubica] that he was going to win a race at some time. It has happened now,and he is

simply continuing to work as he did before." "We set ourselves ambitious goals and embarked on a two-year development program, which has laid the groundwork for achieving these aims. As things stand, we are right on schedule - and in this respect, the result in Montreal represents confirmation of the work we've been doing. We are heading in the right direction and will continue along this path." Kubica was the fifth driver to win his first race in Montreal,following on from Gilles Villeneuve (1978), Thierry Boutsen (1989), Jean Alesi(1995) and Lewis Hamilton (2007).

r 7

BRIEFLV.l ll JT6 dumps Trucks JTG Racing has closed the doors on its NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team. The team fielded Scott Lagasse, who was 28th in the series points(when the team folded). JTG had formed a partnership with Wood Brothers over the past two years. The partnership ended over the northern winter, although they still share the same building. n Joey Logano has taken over the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Nationwide ride and it didn't take the prodigy long to rack up his first win at Nashville. He's already being touted as the next Kyle Busch and at only 18(the youngest-ever winner of a Nationwide race) he looks well on his way. D Two officials who have been named in the US$225m iawsuit have been placed on administrative leave. NASCAR has warned that it is not to be assumed that the two men were being punished over allegations made by a former Nationwide official over racial and sexual harassment. Mauricia Grant was released by NASCAR in October 2007 and has filed a lawsuit against the governing body based on allegations of sexual and racia( harassment. H It's been a big month for the ANZACs in IndyCar, with Scott Dixon taking home the coverted Indianapolis 500 and Ryan Briscoe recording his first winattheMilwaukeMile. The Aussie's win was the 300th for team owner Roger Penske in all forms of competition and came on the 30th anniversary of his first IndyCar win, with Rick Meats at the same track. n Dillon Battistini may make his road racing debut at the Indy 300 on the Gold Coast later this year. Battistini is planning two outings for Panther Racing, with one an as yetunnamed oval, and the Indy 300 has pencilled in as the second. n It has been confirmed that NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Kyle Busch will not compete in all of the remaining Nationwide races this season. He will now focus his attention on his Cup season. n Dale EarnhardtJrfinally ended his 77-race winless streak at Michigan with a victory on, appropriately enough. Father's Day in America. In a fuei race, Earnhardt Jr gambled with strategy to coast across the finish for a popular win - his first points race win for Hendrick Motorsports. 8

Great American name^not in

OPEN-wheel racing in the USA wouldn't be complete without an Andretti, Foyt, Rahal or Unser. The new generation of races are not feeling the pressure of expectation, despite their families' legacy.The all-time career winners list in IndyCar/CART/Champ Car are A. J. Foyt with 67; Mario Andretti, 52; Michael Andretti 42; Al Unser 39; Bobby Unser 34, Al Unser Jr. 31 (tied for 6th with Paul Tracy); and Bobby Rahal with 24 (ranked 12th overall). A.J. Foyt IV is in his fifth IndyCar season, having spent his first three years driving for his grandfather's (a four-time Indianapolis 500 winner)'s team, before moving to Tony George's Vision Racing. "I think we all kind of feel the same amount of pressure,"said Foyt IV, who hopes to make his own mark in history, currently with

10 top-10 finishes. "We all have a lot to live up to. I think it's a little bit less pressure now that I'm driving for another team." Marco Andretti, son of Michael and grandson of Mario, is currently in his third IndyCar season driving for his father's team, Andretti Green Racing. While his rookie season was a typical learning season, Marco earned his maiden victory at Infineon Raceway (road course) in his sophomore year. And in 2008, Marco is becoming a regular challenger for the lead, as he demonstrated at Indy, Milwaukee, and Texas. His childhood playmate at the races, Al Unser III, is honing his skills in the Indy Lights series. Trying to live up to fill his father's big shoes is Graham Rahal, Bobby's son, won in his first actual

IncJyCar race at St. Petersburg (road course), driving for the greatly experienced Newman/ Haas/Lanigan Racing team and competing against his father's Rahal Letterman Racing team. "After St. Pete, it takes quite a lot of pressure off," said Rahal who, at 19, became the youngest race winner in IndyCar Series history. "Because a lot of people say, 'You're with a great team, but maybe you got out there because of your name.'And until you win, I think the question is always there. The question will always remain, though. Until I'm more successful than dad, I don't think I'll ever stop hearing about it. "The problem is, dad was obviously very successful, so it's going to be pretty tough to do that." - MARY MENDEZ

HENDRICK TOPS THE RICH LIST Chevy team and its drivers don't seem overly concerned over fuel prices... HOW much money is a NASCAR team worth? According to the magazine Forbes, plenty.The USA business bible has ranked Hendrick Motorsports has been rated as NASCAR's most valuable squad, with a value of US$335 million over Roush Fenway (last year's champ)at $313 million. The rating is based on assets, contracts, sponsorship and business partners which, with the more recent mergers among teams and outside investors, has seen the teams'values increase considerably. The top five, accoding to Forbes, is completed by Joe Gibbs Racing at $184m, Giilett Evernham Motorsports($150m)and Richard

Childress Racing at $130m. Hendrick also dominated the survey of drivers'earnings. Jeff Gordon,left, came out on top with $32m earnings for 2007, with $17m from sponsorship, endorsements and royalties on souvenir merchandise and $15m salary and percentage of winnings. Dale Earnhardt Jr was second on $31 m,ahead of Jimmie Johnson ($23 million), Tony Stewart(Joe Gibbs, $19 million) and Kasey Kahne(GEM,$14m). Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya had to make do with $11 m,ahead of Matt Kenseth (Roush Fenway)and Kevin Harvick (Childress, $11 m each)and Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, both Gibbs men on $10m. - MARTIN D CLARK

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New parts for Suzuki a time ly addition SUZUKI has completed the last-ever rally with the first-generation SX4 WRCcar. And it will be a timely update for the team in yellow, with both cars failing to make it through the second day of the latest round in Turkey. P6 Andersson's car was hit with an electrical glitch, while Toni Gardemeister's SX4 overheated when the radiator broke. "The next round of the championship takes us home to Finland and that's an event I'm really looking forward to," said Gardemeister. "We will have a test and some new parts to come from the car. It's nice to know the SX4 WRC will be even faster when we get to my home." m Will Ford's tactics in Turkey cost the WRC a manufacturer? The regularity-style manipulation of the finishing order to keep Sebastien Loeb first on the road in Turkey was criticised heavily by Citroen team principal Olivier Quesnel, who, on the Friday night of the event, stated on the Friday night that it might affect the future of the manufacturer's involvement in the sport. "What's the point for us?" he told autosport.com. "We don't have as many cars as Ford. What can we do? If there are no Citroens in the rally, then they [Ford] will be happy. Then they can go and win all of the time - but what's the use of winning against yourself? "Maybe we should go. How can 1 go to my boss and ask him to sign the cheque when this is happening?" He had calmed down the next day, adjusting his position. "I am not angry at Ford. Ford has used this regulation, like the regulation is there to be used," he told the website. "I do not have the power to say 'okay, now Citroen will stop,"'Quesnel said. "We will be here for the end of this season and next year. After that, we cannot say what we will be doing."

J(eM WRCars fast I ■ci

WITH Subaru having just released what is probably the last all-new World Rally Car to be built, Chris Atkinson has weighed in on the ongoing discussions regarding the technical future of the WRC. The new technical regulations, to be integrated into the WRC in 2011, will see upgrades be made to current Group N and Super 2000-specification cars. While the exact details of the S2000-1- and Group N-t- are yet to be released, the talk has centred around rear suspension and aerodynamics, as well as the addition of turbochargers to S2000 cars. It will be up to the individual manufacturers as to exactly which route they take.

While Subaru World Rally Team has already indicated it would prefer the Group N-tregulations, Atkinson himself says it is all about the spectacle. "We've still got to having something spectacular, and World Rally Cars are definitely that," he told MNews. "They are awesome to drive, and its good to have a pinnacle like that. Everyone dreams of driving a Formula 1 car because of how amazing and technically advanced they are, and it was the same for me growing up with World Rally Cars. But on the other hand, if there's more competition, then the sport could grow immensely. so it's a tough one. You want to have something with plenty of power. You don't want to be on a Group N level. you need more performance than that. For the spectacle you need something that looks on the limit and out of control. because that's what's cool ...' -ANDREWVAN LEEUWEN

■ West Aussie rally ace Dean Herridge has become the first winner oftheFIA Pacific Cup. The new class splits the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, opening up two new contests for drivers unable to complete tbe whole season. "I'm very pleased with what we have achieved, realistically winning the Pacific Cup is the best title I have achieved in my career so far. It was only three events but it is an FIA Cup and that is a big deal." Herridge is currently third outright in the APRC, and is now waiting to see if his contract with the CUSCO team will be extended. 10

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(CKvce AVcMcewceir T HERE are many other people in the motorsport media, even in Australia, who knew Ove Andersson far better than I did.

I got to meet the man a couple of times, once in Australia when he was here for the Grand Prix and again, in Cologne, when I was fortunate enough to spend some quality time at Toyota's Formula 1 toyshop. And that is just what its was full of toys. Because the place was open to the media that day, anything that may have been even slightly secretive was carefully hidden away, but what was on show was mouth-watering - and staggering. There was a section of the place that was full of cars, bits and pieces from the past. Over there, the last of the Corolla WRC cars. Here, a Celica GT4, modified for god-knows-what after its life belting around the stages of the world's rallies was done. One of the older, square-back 2WD Celicas in Safari trim. And over there, half-hidden in the corner, was a Toyota GT-One. The stunning Le Mans car was only a part of the story; in the racks above it were noses, windscreens, doors and other bits and pieces from the car that raced in the 24 Hour, unsuccessfully, twice. I suppose that the parts might have been useful to those people who shelled out and bought the roadlegal version of the car (since it was a GT car, the company was compelled to produce roadgoing versions). Funny, I never saw any of those...

Later, I got to chat to Andersson, in company with journo Paul Gover, who knew him quite well. I was quite taken with the fact that he was completely open in the conversation; he mentioned things that would not go down well with some in the room, but said them because he knew PG and counted on the fact that he could rely on his confidence. I also noticed that he was happy to listen and take in what was being said around him, rather than command the conversation, and his sense of humour shone.

Such was the between TTErelationship and some of the media present on the trip that the next day, Sunday, was when the fun really stepped up. As reported at the time, TTE had become Toyota's highperformance roadcar shop and we got the play with some of their toys on the A-roads, B-roads and autobahnen. Now, that is a day that will stay with me for a long time! Apart from the seriously fast cars, what was also evident was the affection in which Ove was held by the engineers. On the road to the Nurburgring - which was closed for the day due to roadworks and snow, dammit - we passed by some rolling green hills and my navigator pointed out that was where the Swede had made his home, with his wife and her horses, for some years.

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He later mentioned that the 'Old Man; then in his late 60s, was quite competitive in his daily commute to the office in, no doubt, some of TTE's better weapons. That, and the number of different types of car that had been evident in the factory, underlined to me what Andersson

had achieved.The whole European Toyota program had emerged from his own rally team and gone on to, if not ultimate successes in Formula 1 and Sportscars, then competitive presences in both. To be able to navigate his way though not only special stages but the politics of company boardrooms and rulemakers, and do it will such enthusiasm and good humour, is a legacy to be proud of.

mOTOR mOUTH Phil Branagan Execulive Editor It is ironic indeed that he lost his life in what was, on the face of it, some meaningless classic rally in Africa, where he made his home some years ago. But also, how typical that with the time , and, no doubt, the means to do whatever he wanted in retirement, Andersson was at the wheel of a car, enjoying himself, when that dreadful moment came. - ^ ^ I did not know Ove Andersson ■ ' - Vwell, so it would be trite of me to ■ ■■ ■r.. saythatl willmisshim. Butlam , absolutely certain that, after a full-: life, the sport certainly will.

While trying to control a 220 hp racecarinthewet is anything but,this picture of James Winslow is quite peaceful ...

PICTURES OF THE monTH

Photographers are a jealous bunch, and when we told Dirk Klynsmith about Morris's FG pic, he returned serve at Phillip Island with this pearler of George Miedecke...

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In the US,things were close. JustO.OOSsec separated Erik Darnell and Johnny Benson in Michigan,the pair running a two-wide convoy to the finish.

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Turkish Delight? The only thing the World Rally stars were getting in their mouth in Turkey | m.

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Just as all the excitement this month is of Ford's new FG V8 Supercar,a decade ago Holden and its new VT PHIL BRANAGAN were the talk of pitlane. But before its successes came a difficult debut... EN years is a long time in motor racing. Righto, that's the cliche out of the way, then. As Ford's V8 Supercar teams ponder the whys and wherefores of building the company's fourthgeneration V8 Supercar, the G Series, 1998 saw Holden ponder a similar challenge.Ten years ago, the General's second-generation racer, the VT, was taking shape and its track debut was a memorable one.

It came at Calder, in some weather more suited to the dramatic parts of the old testament.Two teams bit the bullet and raced their new cars against the older, proven VSs. From Clayton came the HRT version, overseen by then-team boss Jeff Grech. Built from a Dencar shell, the car featured an elaborate rollcage but was, otherwise, largely similar to the older VS model. Not far away in Moorabbin,

Perkins Engineering was putting the finish touches to its new VT which was more'conventional'. In the somewhat familiar tones of Larry Perkins, the car had been built somewhat conservatively. "If you listen to some of the Ford guys and even some of the CAMS people,somehow they thought that a Formula 1 car was going to pop out of HRT's and my own workshop," he said at the time, "But, after all the dust has settled, it is really only a bodyshell change.

as we still employ the same engine, gearbox, driveline and brakes." That was true, but the VT was a larger and different-shaped car to the VR/VS. Its front track was a whopping 100mm wider, and in production trim, it was 67kg heavier. Because of a number of things, the aerodynamics were much, much different, the new car featuring a banana-shaped rear wing after high-speed testing at Holden's Lang Lang proving

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No way to treat a new car! Murphy ended Race 7 with some damage after being caught up in a midfield melee. ground with a VT roadcar fitted with the VS rear wing. [That in itself was different to the development ofthe VRA/S aero kit, which was fine-tuned by fitting prototype splitters to the front of a ute and driving up and down a freeway, with oil traces providing evidence of how it was all working. But I digress ...] Another change was in the engine room, with the VT's lower height forcing teams to make changes to the airbox. The VT was also the first of the Lion's racers to be built solely with Chevrolet's 18degree engine in mind, while the older car originally raced with, of all things, a Holden motor.

alder beckoned. Both Holden squads played a conservative card; Perkins and Greg Murphy were entrusted with the new cars, Murph in a third HRT entry (which was permissible in those day) and LP suiting up on the new Castrol-backed car.Their

The same, just different: Larry Perkins and Greg Murphy were the two men with the responsibility of debuting the VT at Calder. The HRT car probably led in the presentation stakes, left, while LP placed a premium in making the car straightforward as well as competitive, right. www.mnews,com.au

team-mates, HRT's Craig Lowndes and Russell ingall, were left to fight out the points lead in the older cars. So, to action. Murphy took the VT honours in qualifying but it was nothing to rave about, with 10th on the grid, three spots ahead of Perkins. On the other hand, Mark Skaife and Lowndes were on the front row for HRT, while Ingall was sixth and fastest of the Dunlopshod cars. It was war out there. Murphy tapped John Faulkner on the opening lap and there was carnage behind; somehow, Perkins made his way through it and finished the race just behind the HRT car, and far behind a Lowndes-Skaife 1-2. In the second race, Skaife's startline bogey struck before he rocketed back to fifth, one spot behind Ingall. Jason Bargwanna won but our interest was that LP was 11th, after overcoming a spin, and one spot in front of Murphy, who had got

the heave-ho from Garth Tander, was 12th. But there was one more factor in the VT's debut weekend. The heavens opened before Race 3 (yes, it rained in Melbourne back then) and such was the state of the track that, after water was swept off the track for 30 minutes, that the drivers wanted to have an 'independent'driver look at the track conditions. With no title aspirations, Murphy stepped forward but after the VT twitched its way around the circuit on full wets, he bypassed pitlane altogether and drove straight into the HRT garage. He had decided that he was not racing, regardless of what decision the other drivers or officials might have made on their own. But it was unanimous and Race 3 was cancelled. After that start, the VT went on to become the dominant player in V8, as Ford's AU was not the car that the company was hoping for.

QUITE apart from the cars themselves,there are some fundamental changes to the way that V8 Supercars are developed and raced these days. As we pointed out in the main story, the VTs were driven at Calder by Greg Murphy and Larry Perkins, to protect championship aspirants Craig Lowndes ; and Russell Ingall from'new car'problems that may have caused DNFs. That is nothing unusual;in ' 1990,for instance, it was Mark Skaife who was given the job of racing Nissan's new GT-R because Jim Richards was - jl in title contention and team -ii boss Fred Gibson insisted on,;^ his racing the older and more^ proveflJij«I-S. But back to 1998. Post- ' Calder,theTEGA Board mandated that the newer cars were to be raced by the f contending drivers in the subsequent rounds ofthe series at Hidden Valley and Oran Park, meaning that ' Lowndes and Ingall would have to step into the new cars,regardless of whether their teams had what they deemed ^ n .’afe to be'iQfficient spares. ^ Today,that would seem to be unfair and such is the 3 power of V8SA now that it would not happen. In fact, 10 years later, there is no such impost on Ford team to have . their new FGs racing before . the end of this season. - PHIL BRANAGAN

f0 5 minUTES UIITH l ll

GIRnni mORBIDELLI

Back in 1995 Gianni Morbidelli had his best ever Grand Prix finish in Australian with third place. Now,he Is ANDREWVAN LEEUWEN looking to head back Down Under...and he wants a V8 Supercar! MOTORSPORT NEWS: Are the rumours true? Are you looking at coming to Australia to drive a V8 Supercar? GIANNI MORBIDELLI; I saw them race at Bahrain because I was there for the Speedcar series, and i was watching the series and I thought it was very good. I have seen every category,from Formula 1, to sportscars to Touring Cars. I was very impressed. The series was very nice - the level of organisation,the level of drivers, the level of the cars. And also my heart is in Australia because in Australia I had my best result in Formula 1, 1 drove a Ferrari Formula 1 in Australia, so, of course, I have lots of good memories. I always wanted to come back, because I like Australia. It is important for me to test so I can understand how the cars work, and to show the people what I can do. So if there was a chance for me to test, then I would like to co>Tie there. Flave you spoken to any teams or anyone about doing a test yet? No not yet. I only started to think about it after Bahrain when we were there with the Speedcar. It was when I saw the cars there that I thought'that's a car that I would like to drive,' because they have lots of power, rear-wheeldrive, and I have already good experience with that kind of car. I'm still racing Touring Cars in Italy, because last year I won the championship with Audi RS4, but who knows? I am happy to do another.championship, because it is good for my career to try different experiences. Have you ever watched a Bathurst 1000 on the TV in Europe? Yes. It looks very exciting, a very tough race, I think, with the track. All of the championship is nice. I watched them race in Adelaide as well, where I have

some good memories. I follow the championship when I can but of course there is not enough information here. So would you be happy to live in Australia if you could get a drive full-time in a V8 Supercar team? It is a bit too early to think about that, but I really like it there, Australia is a wonderful place. The only problem for me is that Europe is a bit far away. But it would be a good experience to live there and stay there, and it would be good for playing golf, because I like golf. You mentioned your best ever finish in a Formula 1 car was here in Australia, what are some of your other great memories from your Formula 1 career? My experience in Formula 1 was a tough one. But I tested for Ferrari, and I learnt a lot with Ferrari, not just as a driver, but as a man as well, I proved myself. Unfortunately in Formula 1, a good car means a good result. But for example, when I did the race for Ferrari, the car was unbelievable. I did one race at Adelaide to replace Alain Prost

when he didn't want to race after Suzuka, and I was already in Ferrari as the test driver. We had terrible weather conditions, it was raining a lot. When we stopped the race, I was third with [Nelson] Piquet in second and [Ayrton] Senna in first, but they counted back to the lap before, as the rules say, and I was classified back in sixth position. But 1 was there a few years later with Arrows, and it was nice to finish third, it was redemption. What I didn't do with Ferrari, I did with Arrows. I have a lot of nice memories, but these two memories are my best from Formula 1. Was the Ferrari the best Formula 1 car you raced in your career? It was a good car, but the best one,the car I enjoyed most, was the Arrows from 1994. Me and Christian Fittipaldi drove it, and I was sixth at Spa, but it was very fragile, and that was because the team had not a lot of money

behind it.

Do you miss it? I miss driving the car because a Formula 1 car is the most difficult

car a driver can drive. But honestly I don't miss Formula 1 because there is too much business,too much money. I like the Speedcar because we all spend a lot of time together, and we relax and play golf together, we enjoy it a lot. This doesn't happen in Formula 1. It is just business, there is no sport any more. That is just my impression. Well you've pretty much done it all ... Yes. When I was in Formula 1 did Touring Cars with BMW as well, the ItalianTouring Car series, and it was hard because the cars are completely different to drive.They need a completely different style of driving; the reaction of the Touring Car is very slow, where Formula 1 the reaction is so fast. When you sit in Formula 1 and then sit in a Touring car, you have to switch off your mind. Even now I do the Speedcar, and then race the Audis in the Touring Cars, and the cars are completely different. You have to switch off your mind and think about what you are driving at that time.

I HAVE SEEN EVERY CATEGORY FROM FORMULA 1, AND I WAS IMPRESSEDTHE LEVEL OF ORGANISATION,THE LEVEL OF DRIVERS AND THE CARS - MORBIDELLI WATCHED THE V8S RACE IN BAHRAIN. AND LIKED WHAT HE SAW motorsportnews

And now,is it Time for BOH SEAT Will Buxton Formula 1 Correspondent

other times: Mosley and Ecclestone have been allies for three decades. This is how they looked in 1977...

O, Max Mosley has won the vote of confidetice at the Extraordinary General Assembly of the FIA. While I honestly don't _ think that came as the largest surprise on earth,the manner of the victory certainly did. For a man believed to be on his last political legs, a victory by 103 votes to 55 - with seven abstentions and four spoilt papers - is a staggering landslide. But perhaps we should never have doubted . the size of the victory. Mosley is an astute and desperately Intelligent man,and his two months of politicking had clearly been well spent.The final masterstroke was to allegedly claim that News ofthe World's expose had not been intended to discredit It was instead intended to pull at ibric of the FIA. It was,claimed lort of terrorism, lis words wisely. How could the tes vote to allow terrorists to win It? Of course the vote was carried, re as leader continued.

illout has been nothing if not ing to the face of the sport as ?gations over Mosley's behaviour, e world's largest motoring tening to pull out of collaboration )lic line had apparently been The reality however isn't quite many's ADAC really made any at was only from a few working rregularly each year.The future of 1 any danger, not for a moment. ;ame Bernie Ecclestone ... and ; before, of course. In the years /var, where Bernie and Max made heir reputations,the threat of vas by far and away the most ol at their disposal. And they used itaking effect. Ecclestone's FOCA ew championship,the World j| Drivers'Championship, in 1981. ace, at Kylami in South Africa, and Renault, which supported the made his point. He could run a hout the control of motorsport's ISA and FOCA made peace soon eated the Concorde Agreement unified Formula 1 in the future. It ded document which still exists as oday and whose future resolution ace over the FI A's control of the lestone talks of a breakaway,the right to worry. Bernie owns the le owns GP2 and GP3. He has the the circuits in his pocket. He has impanies and the commercial le has it all, but for the FI name ... he can hang on for a little while er, then he will hold the FI name 100 years under a deal he made ith Max when the going between them was good.

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FORItIULR 1 @

the News? WHEN ECCLESTONE TALKS OF A BREAKAWAY,THE FIA HAS EVERY RIGHT TO WORRY

Ever since the rumourshas of abeen breakavway however, Ecclestone quick tosurfaced play down fears of a new championship. Quite frankly, talk of a new sport does little to impress sponsors, and even less to impress FI's new owners CVC Partners.They've just plumped up an estimated $1.7 billion for FI ... a sport which, if rumours persist, might not even exist in two years' time. So imagine my surprise when rumours surfaced that CVC was thinking about on-selling the FI franchise to - and this is where it gets really good News Corp. Yep, News Corp. As in, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. As in, the News Corp that owns News of the World. That News Corp. You couldn't make it up. Now I must stress there has, of yet, been no clarification that CVC is on the lookout for a buyer or that News Corp would even be interested, but it's a fascinating permutation to ponder and would give credence to Mosley's determined rally cries that the fabric of the sport was coming under terrorist attack. For if-and I stress this is simply an "if"- News Corp was interested in purchasing the commercial rights to Formula 1 and the Formula 1 group of companies,then the destabilising of the FIA in order to create a situation in which Concorde could be resolved to give more power, rights or benefits to the commercial rather than sporting rights holder of the category, would make a lot of sense. It's a big if, but a fascinating one. And one which, if true, has, with Mosley's survival,failed. Ecclestone realises that the political games he played back in the early 1980s cannot be repeated in today's publicity-conscious and business-savvy world. A breakaway would be dreadfully damaging for the sport, its public perception, its sponsors and its teams who,along with Ecclestone, have dedicated time, effort and great expense over the last few decades into creating the FI brand. What nobody wants to see is for it to fall apart. What would be best, for all involved, is to simply move forward from the last few months and get on with the job at hand. We have a sport which, in 2008, is proving to be fascinating and enthralling. We don't need a soap opera to play alongside it. All the teams want and need is a resolution to their constitution. . Mosley's won his battle. The sport can accept that and move on, or it can plunge itself into a hole from which it will find it difficult to climb

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FORD’S lATEST V8 SUmCAR CREATION HAS FINALLY BROKEN COVER, AND, AS GRANT ROWLEY AND ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN FOUND OUT,THE BLUE OVAL IS PRETTY EXCITED ABOUT IT /

FIAT you see here is Ford's immediate V8 Supercar future. The Falcon FG racecar is Ford's own car, designed and built by Ford Performance Racing, with assistance from Triple Eight Race Engineering and Stone Brothers Racing. It is the first of Ford's'Project Blueprint' cars, built to the same dimensions as the VE Commodore.The only major differences between the FG and the VE is the body styling, keeping the cars looking and feeling as dose to their road car cousins as possible. The other major difference between the two cars is that the VEs have an 18 month head start on the FG. Flolden racers have been turning laps since the Clipsal 500 in 2007, while Ford teams have still been racing the ageing BA/BF chassis, which was first constructed in 2002. The first BA that was built was Ford's own Tl. Unlike the FG (otherwise known asT2),Tl was constructed by Ford itself, not one of its teams.The car could never race, and has simply been used as a museum piece, but its driveline componentry and other parts have been used in T2 for all its initial aerodynamic testing. Now, after a long, 18 month process to get the car designed, constructed and stickered. 24

the first'Orion'is here - FGOl - paid for by Ford, and built by FPR to race. When Ford Racing boss Ray Price started his time in his current position back in 2005, his'high-priority'job was to get the T2 off the ground. Now that it's real, he couldn't be happier. "It's been fantastic," he said. "Since I came into the job, this has been one of the looming projects. It was something that we needed to make sure was all sorted out. Seeing the road car starting to unfold was quite exciting. "It's got a very good presence on the road and has some very good lines. To be able to look at that and turn it into a race car and give it a tough stance and make it a good race car... it was very exciting." Something that added to the excitement (and stress) of unveiling a new car was meeting the deadline. Price admits that Sandown was the ideal place to take the wraps off its 2009 racer - but it nearly didn't happen. "Anytime you get close to launch,there are always issues, which come up, and there have been supply issues," he said. "We've had to change things.T2 created its own challenges, because we've encased the

original mechanicals and TEGA data out of T1 and integrated it intoT2.That's had its own challenges. Up until now,there are things that we weren't sure about, even a month,two months ago. It was still an unknown quantity." FPRteam manager Tim Edwards agreed that being responsible for the build of the EG, being the centre of all of the Ford team's attention and meeting the tight deadline set was a"nerve-wracking" experience. "All the teams around us are watching what we achieve," Edwards said. "Over the last couple of months, we've had a hard date to meet and we haven't had that over the last 18 months. We've just carried on. Obviously, we've had milestones that we've had to meet, but when you start talking about public launches - you can't miss those things! "The pressure has been on over the past couple of months. We haven't had a massive crew of people assigned to it. There's a couple of guys dedicated to it, but essentially, the rest of my designers and engineers have all been involved in the design and build of this car. "It's certainly put the pressure on the last few months, and even last year. Phil Keed (FPR's chief engineer) has spent a considerable amount of time balancing his normal role of

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continued from page 25 or\e thing, but getting them on the track is another. As you read this, the car will head to Woomera rocket range in South Australia for TEGA aerodynamics testing. That shouldn't pose too many dramas,just a few tweaks of the front and rear wings, which were developed by Triple Eight's technical director Ludo Lacroix. Getting homologation approval could come at the next board meeting (ED:There's one board meeting held each month), and when that is secured, FGs will be able to race. Both FPR and T8 has started their own 2009 FGs, but could one of the cars, or even FGOl race in 2008? Never say never... "The reality is that we've started on our first car, and Triple Eight has started on their first car, but they are both a long way away from being racecars," Edwards said. "With the VE, manufacturers were working around the clock getting parts ready. If we can get the aero signed off in the next month or two, which is part of the homologation.

it means that the patents can do the tour around the country, all the composite shops can start making bars and by the time we race the thing, no one would have worked ridiculous hours." But perhaps the final word on Ford's FG race car should go to Ray Price, pictured right, it is, of course, his car, and his most interesting answer of our interview came when we asked;"When do you deem this project a success? When it wins a race? When it has won a championship? When all your teams are in them?" His answer was telling ... "I think when we put it out at Sandown,in its full Ford livery, sitting next to an XR road car and people say'there's the road car, there's the racecar'that's success to me," he says. "The on-track success of the car is the business of the teams. We're a part of that, and we benefit from that, but from Ford's point of view, we're a success when we've launched our car and every one can recognise that as our car is aligned to our road car." Who said there's no relationships between production cars and V8 Supercars ...

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THE ON-TRACK SUCCESS IS V THE BUSINESS OF THE TEAMS, FORD IS A SUCCESS WHEN WE’VE LAUNCHED OUR CAR“ RAY PRICE i.

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THE BLUE OVAL STORE The official online store for Ford, FPV & FPR merchandise. Visit blueovalstore.com.au for the latest official merchandise.

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Ford, FPV & FPR merchandise is also available at the FPR Race Centre,40 Glenbarry Road Campbellfield Victoria, and selected Ford Dealers. Visit the website or call the blue oval store hotline: 1300 661 377 for your nearest dealer.

TtCHNICAL REESONING

FPR’S GiENN REES SPEA.R-HEADED THE BUILD OF THE F6

FORD Performance Racing's lead design engineer Glenn Rees has managed the FG racecar project on a day-to-day basis. Under chief engineer Phil Keed, Rees has specifically been involved with the design of the first FG, creating one of the safest and fastest-to-build V8 Supercars ever. Rees has much experience in racing, having been involved with Renault Motorsport's touring car program overseas In the late 1990s. More recently, he worked on Britek Motorsport's Rally program, developing its S2000 Focus. But after working for other organisations and creating other great cars, how does the FG Ford stack up? "It sounds like a cliche, but this one is the best one that I've been involved In," Rees said. "Flaving the resources of FPR to work with and to up with a really good,coherent design is very rewarding. And not just the design phase,the actual build up of the car has been Incredibly easy. It's come to together so well." So, what were the major considerations when designing and constructing a brandn^wV8 Supercar under the Project Blueprint design rules? Rees says that many factors, especially cost and repairablllty, have been the major Influence on the final product. "At the moment,there's a lot of focus on keeping the cost down and Project Blueprint Is a step in the right direction," he says. "The assembly is very, very similar to the VE. In terms of the structure. It's Identical, It has just been tweaked In a couple of areas to accommodate the Falcon bodyshell, but essentially. It's the same. "The floor assembly itself Is very easy and quick to build up and you put your own

cage on overtop of that.The body panels pretty much bolt onto that, so its more straightforward than the previous cars. "And certainly repairs will be much easier, partly because the new Falcon is a little bit different to the BF - a little more modern, I'd say. For example,the whole front end, there's a radiator support panel that come off with the headlights, which means when the car is involved in a shunt, it's very easy to take the front end off and put a new one on.That was part of the design of the spec chassis as well. "It's got unboltable front rail extensions. If you have a reasonable size shunt,the worst thing you'll do Is bend a rail, and then of course nothing fits, so to be able to be able to unbolt your broken bit of rail is a huge time saver. Not just at the track, but when you're building them up as well." To make the new Falcon fit Into the Project Blueprint specifications, body parts of a production-based FG had to be'cut and shut Rees explains... "The bodyshell has been shortened by 63mm,so Its been moved back from the rear by 38mm.The front has been brought back by 23mm and the whole thing has been lowered 25mm.Which is all part and parcel of trying to remain parity between the FG and the VE. "The VE grew over the VZ, and the FG has grown over BF.TheTEGA blueprint designs haven't changes, so its all about trying to fit a bigger car into a smaller space. "We've had to cut and shut the doors, shortening the car and maintaining roof height and overall length." - GRANT ROWLEY

Building Blocks:In June 2007 analysis and CAD drawing started to appear, before the chassis was started at Paui Ceprinich's workshop in Queensland in November. In February it came back to Ford in Melbourne, where the final fabrication and painting was completed.

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RifAIRAianY THE BIG A0V4J^GE OF THE NEW CAR IN what is a parity formula,it can be hard to understand how a new car can be better than an old one. New cars are a necessity in this business if for no other reason than simple marketing, which means having Ford's latest road car on the racetrack. But in terms of performance, what can Ford really improve with the FG? Especially when the BF Falcon is proving itself to be anything but outdated, performance wise. According to Tim Edwards,the biggest advantage of the FG won't necessarily show on the stopwatch, but will on the pointscore. How? The car is far more repairable than the BF, meaning an increased chance of heavily damaged racing cars being able to make the start of the following race, not matter how short the deadine. "It's where the rails and the floor, etc, are," he explains. "They are a much simpler construction. We've

RACE

SUPERSPRINT

simplified the build of the car. We've certainly still found some advantages in there. Repairability-will be the biggest advantage of this car.The way we've got the rear part of the rail bolts on,and the sides are riveted on, whereas at the moment you have to cut it off.The repairability of this new car, compared to our old car is probably the biggest advantage." But,as Edwards adds,there are still some cases that pop rivets can't fix. "Well, it wouldn't have made any difference with Richo's car[from Eastern Creek].That incident travelled right into the heart of the car. "But the smaller stuff that you have week-in, week-out is going to be critical, and it's going to be an advantage to everybody.You have to have a mountain of staff to deal with all the*accictents we have. I'd rather have my staff concentrating on producing new parts, rather than panel beating and beating damage out of cars." - ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

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SEOtEIS WHEN Motorsport News visited FPR to see the FG for the first time, it took the parting of petitions for the new car to come into view. And we were a little disappointed.You see, Ray Price once mentioned a'back room'to Motorsport News,and we had it in our mind that it was a Bond 007style eye-scanning set-up. ‘ But while our Bond dreams were slightly wide of the mark, Price confirmed there was plenty of secrecy surrounding the build. "Well,the back room is a double secured area. You need security to get into the building, and you need a security pass to get into the inner sanctum. "There were only a few people who had access to it during the build stage. In the early stages, it was still an unlaunched road car as well. We're very mindful of that,just like other manufacturers are, and you've got to fit it in with the mainstream program. When the mainstream program was launched, it relieved us from some of our secrecy and we were able to get on with our program. "[But] teams,suppliers, contractors and anyone who deals with Ford on future programs all have confidentiality agreements. It's all part of the process." -ANDREWVAN LEEUWEN

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running gear,that winding up inT2 for the 'THROUGHOUT the build process,the most aero tests. But should it follow the Holden prolific question being thrown the way of Ford was'will an FG race in 2008?' lead,T2 will race,just as the first VE did in the hands of Mark Skaife, and still does in the And,throughout the process,there has never been a hard and fast yes or no. Ray hands ofTorvy D'AIberto. Price has said on numerous occasions that, According to Tim;Edwards,the car, while a car would be ready to race before technically speaking, would be able to race this season was out, it wasn't a priority.The this year. "This car, we've built it as if it was our racecar. priority was getting the car right, and getting it homologated so tgafja5,cpuld start work ,,^-,1, .U'sSPt all the running gear out of theTI,it's early and avoid a VE Commodore-style notour spec engine,suspension,or driveline, Christmas rush to get cars on the grid at [because] we've tried to be very cost efficient Clipsal. with the way we've built the car. Whatever But now the car is ready, is well on the way suspension or engine the car has got in it has no effect on the aero,and that was the most to homologation,and is set to be ready nice and early for the teams. cost-efficient way of building this car, utilising Should Ford follow its own lead,T2 won't all that suspension and car. race.TI never did, and now hasn't even got "But yes, it could have better stuff put in it

and race.' However Edwards hastens to add that FPR are yet to feel any pressure from Ford to debut an FG before 2009. "TheVE[Commodore] was in the showroom well before it raced,so, it's a very similar thing.They can still have FGs on display in the merchandise areas." Logic suggests the championship will play a big part in the decision. With Mark Winterbottom and,to a slightly lesser extent at this early point, Steven Richards, both still in title contention, expect to keep seeing BFs for the rest of the year. But if either is outside the mathematical realms of possibility going into Oran Park, well, as Price himself says, 'never say never." - ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

SU^ERQUl OF TOMORROW IS this the last Project Blueprint car? Costs have been a big talking point in^VB Supercars recently, with claims that millions of dollars need to be slashed from team budgets. And, as impressive as the build of a car like the FG is, it is an undoubtedly expensive project. So how close are we to seeing NASCAR type silhouette chassis? "I have no idea,"says Tim Edwards. "We've got to reduce the cost of building these cars, there's no doubt about that. How we achieve that, I have no idea, but you're talking three,four or five years away from that sort of thing. "NASCAR has a Car of Tomorrow, 30

and it's time that we starting thinking about our Car of Tomorrow. "In my opinion, we should never go down the same route that NASCAR went down, where theyjust put stickers on identical shapes. I think for Ford, Holden, or whoever they want to have their own model range there.There's no reason why you can't strap our panels onto a NASCAR space frame underneath. "The reality is, there's probably only 10 OEM (original equipment manufacturer) bits on these cars anyway.The public may perceive that we take the car off the floor, put a roll cage in it and go racing. But we all know its nothing like

that. If we put[bodies on] a space frame, nobody's going to know the difference." Meeting half way in the middle? Not a bad idea,Tim ... -ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Tomorrow is calling: The FG may be the last V8 Supercar built under Project Blueprint, with individual panels on a common chassis one of the options for a cheaper future. motorsport news

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What has it been like to get into a car that is' notjust corhpetitive but something that you know - something everybody knows - is a race winner? A breath offresh'air! Bargs asked me at[the]Winton [test];'what are they like to drive?'It has an HRT pedigree, it's on rails, it so easy to drive... It's not massively different to what I was driving last year, in lots of wavs,in the componegtc^But it is the thr^e^four percenters^^Tfiaybe 10 components on the whole car - that make it so nice and make the car so tuneable.The engine is 30,40 percent of the cars, as opposed to last year.They are so responsi^so driveable.The chassis balance is better aswif People, maybe, expected us to struggle. BJR has been getting results similar to mine, and there was an expectation of improvement when we got these cars. But anything would h ave been an improvement! How much? That

-I'l'i'i'lVriji 11 tfl't'Hi'iJJicE

was the big question mark. that time. Now I have the firm opinion that I set some realistic.goals. I didn't expect to rigt^teamiatjound yo,u and good be on the podium this year, not necessarily. ^ê^pment^'uxarreti!P§5t competitive In fact, I didn't tellSRônewhereTexpected ^ results, to be but,at the moment,I think that we are I went into this year and my wife said to me, punching a little further ahead than where I 'You are going to get some great results,this expected to be. isyouryearVI was thought that On the whole,though, we are where we last year. And the yearBefore'.fsuppose that I should be; witi|tnS@îpment that we have. needed an Adelaide result; not so much where' we finished,on the podium, but the way that Did this season reaffirm where you thought we came through the field fromê back. you were? Did you get disenfranchised with Since then. I caipjot wfjt'To^thêxt rac^l the poor results in the past few.s.easpns? have Withdrawal symptoms. Last year. If was For sure.] have said this beforlfKitTwas more like,'Another race weekend.Whoopee'.^ ;■, a miserable bastard to live with last year And that is not complaining, that was the waj^ because I get sick of reading about the young it was. I am not blaming Kees [Weel] for that. ' guys coming through and the old guys need but the tide turned and it was not the>place to retire. to be. I hope that I am not old at 34. Some of-theThere's no doirbttebout it.t[:iisvear has . ; mid-30s guys, and Bargs is in this bracket. renewed my enthusiasfn totte^n and keep. : have been around for a long time but we driving, allot longer thanj. wantedTq} years h ave not been driving for HRT or Triple 8 all

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More than Supercars: Even during his V8Supercar career McConville has had success in other cars. In 2002, he tasted the ^■i^c^ampagne in the Bathurst 12 along with Steven Richards, darth'Tander and Nathan Pretty.

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O^.com .au 35

MN:What had you learned since you have been working in the media? CM: I have learned that there are as many critics oY the media as there are of racing drivers. I really enjoy it. I find doing the TV stuff as big as an adrenaline rush as sitting on the grid at the start of a race. When they say,'30 seconds to the opener'in your ear, my heart rate is on 180! I feel just as nervous as being on the grid, but being on the grid feels more natural to me, because I have been doing it for so long. I still get bloody nervous before a race. But I find this daunting, because I know that... people like you, and people watching at home, want to watch the Monaco GP and have a good coverage, I think that it is more like people like you, watching me, make me think,'I have to make this look good'. I wish you were asleep by lap 8 so that I can say what I like! The media is tough. It has been a nice'side hobby'for me. Is this a balancing act? Definitely. I think that I could do it more justice if i were 100 percent focused on it, like Rusty [Greg Rust, above] and Daz[Daryl Beattie] are. But I have obligations to an employer that pays most of my salary, and I have unfinished business on the racetrack, anyway. Last year, it was a real switch-off from the dramas that I was having on the track and I would have, almost literally, slit my wrists if i did not have that outlet. I was able to catch up with the good guys like Rusty and [producer] Steve Wood on a Sunday night and that got me 36

through the bad weekends that I was having. Have you got to the stage yet where what you do - look here,say it like this - is automatic? It is not automatic, definitely not. I have been doing this a little while now, if you go back to Trackside, and things like that with Murray[Lomax] and [production company] Redmax,that goes back to '01 ,'02. Then there was stuff with Seven with the Super Tourers, so I have been doing this for some years now, but not live. I know people grizzle because it is not live but it is for us, because we only get one go at it and when the race starts, we need to be done. It is not'automatic'. I can try to think,'say this in the first sentence'but I am not good enough at that, I will bugger it up. So, I try to remember bullet points;just go off the cuff and get it out. There are still nights when I think that I could have done that better, or I got tongue-tied there. Plenty of room for improvement. Racing a V8 Supercar,then going on telly. You must be looking at Neil Crompton in an allnew light. Absolutely!The thing that was going for them then was having 10 do the V8s and Formula 1 s at the same time. At Darwin,for instance, I can't get back in time. From ipswich, I need to have a chopper from the track, the plane and a driver waiting for me at the airport, because it is so tight. In the old days,[Lee] Diffey and Cromley could set up in the garage and away they would go.

You try to give 100 percent when you drive the car - you have to, otherwise you are at the back of the grid - but your work doesn't finish there. You leave the track, fire up the laptop and talk to Rusty and go from there.Those weekends are pretty busy. Is this the long-term future? I think so. I understand that the media is like racing; you are only as good as your last performance. But having said that, I would like to finish off what I have started. I did journalism at university, as a snapper,and I still enjoy it. If the opportunities still present themselves... and I don't know what 10 intends to do with Formula 1, long-term. After driving, I would like to do it full-time. Whether the opportunity is there, I don't know. I would like to do some more'general'stuff; I am a horse racing nut, I love my AFL and, obviously, I like the cycling and the triathlons. I have an interest in a lot of different sports. Brad McEwan's role with Sports Tonight, I would give my left leg to substitute for him, when he is crook. It all about building up credibility on-camera,and that is why I went to theTour Down Under this year and did a couple of stories that never went to air. It was to get the experience. You have to make sure that you are good enough. When you are not a racing driver, you can't trade-off on having the'current' comments.You need to be more mainstream and hold your own behind the camera.

motorsportnews

SPRiiMOS’’ T

What have you learned from the last, say,two teams you have been with[GRM and PWR]? I have learned a lot. At PWR, I enjoyed working with Bryce Seales, who is now with HRT. I had the same engineer for two years; before that, at GRM,Cosmo [Steve Cramer] was just there for race weekends. I learned a fair bit from him about working on the shocks, because Cosmo was big on shocks. But with Bryce, I had a big say on what we did on the car, because we did not have any support. In the last year, Kees[Weel] was obviously sidetracked on other things and we were battling on our own a bit. So I have learned all kinds of things off different people. But I am really enjoying working with Wally [Storey] again. When we worked together before [at Lansvale], neither of us knew a huge amount about driving a V8. Now,we have more experience to bring to the table, and we can compare notes about what he did to achieve a certain result and what I did. I can't say that I took a lot from last year that has helped me this year. But the experience, the struggle, over the last two years has been a great help, because it just makes you hungrier. At GRM, I really enjoyed working with Garry [Jones]. He was very honest with me,and I appreciated that.The evidence now,shown by where Lee Holdsworth is punching,shows that he can run a good show. Garry was running it on a tight budget then; all the teams I have been with, with maybe the exception of PWR in the first year, have been on tight budgets.

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So, I have learned various things from various teams. But I enjoyed my time at GRM more than I did the last two years at PWR.What do they say - whatever does not kill you makes you stronger? There's no doubt about that, and I have taken that into this year. I have a determination not to go back to where I was over the past two years. You are as good as your last result and, based on the end of last year, I would be lucky to get employment, based on where I was then. Hopefully, at the end of this year, the team owners are happy and we can have a good future together.

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UB 5UPERCHR5 MN:Do you have any ambitions about competing in any races after you stop V8 Supercars full-time? CM; I would love to do a couple of the longer races, like Daytona and Le Mans. In that regard, I suppose that I am no different to a bunch of other drivers, like Craig Lowndes and col I was fortunate enough to do the four test days at Daytona with Rohan Skea back in 2000. But I got a full-time drive with Rod Nash Racing so he didn't want me to go back and do the race. I hadn't signed to race for Skea for the year, so that turned out with me missing out of a year's racing overseas. Fair enough, I guess. But, I would still love to do some Sportscar racing. If I get to the stage where I stop driving full-time, I am a firm believer that when you make the decision to stop racing, you stop racing. I am not so sure about being one of those blokes who comes back and dabbles in this and that; when enough is enough,stop.

It took me back some years and, I must say that it made me feel like a duck out of water until I got my head around it. It was really something to drive a car that was uncompromising,and I can't say too much but I might be doing some more in the future. When we go to Europe to do one of our Formula 1 stories with Network 10,there is a small possibility-sma//- that I could have a drive in a Formula 1 car. Nothing confirmed, but people are talking about it. I would say that it looks like that is about 50-50 at the moment. If that was to happen, I will make sure that I have done some more open-wheeler miles before I hop on that plane.You have to prepare yourselffor these things as well as you can because it could be an opportunity that never comes up again...

You had a test drive in a Formula 3 car a little while ago, below. Did that make any latent ambitions to drive a'real'racing car resurface? Absolutely. I loved every minute of it!

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T'S not hard to see that the Le Mans 24 Hour is fast becoming a showcase for alternative automotive technologies - if it is not there already. Audi started the current era with its diesel RIO, and Peugeot has promptly replied with his 908 equivaient. And what a race we saw between the two marques this year. When i say "we" I mean most of the worid's Sportscar enthusiasts except, obviously, any in Austraiia. The race received practicaiiy no media coverage this year, from what i have heard from MN's Home Office, which is a great ioss, as the ciassic race is in one of its best periods at present. The die for the race was cast A.

iong before the race started - in fact, before 2008 even started. Peugeot went to France with a faster car than Audi's, for the simpie reason of other commitments.The Germans had to get its new A4 racer on the track for the DTM this season (to match its new modei A4 road car) and the task of developing two cars at once was too big to contempiate. So it stuck with the RIO, tweaked what it couid and prepared to get spanked in qualifying and to race Peugeot from behind. Both things happened.The 908s were fast in qualifying; in fact, staggeringiy fast, with Stephane Sarrazin easiiy eclipsing the alitime qualifying record and then,

There were some rem beating the faster Pei taking on one of the i MARK GLENDENNiNi

lowering it again in the second, nighttime session. And the race started with all three French cars running in formation, which looked ominous. But what happened reaffirms one's faith in motor racing as a sport. While the Audis were blown away in qualifying, the roadster's race pace was closer to their qualifying pace than the Peugeots - much closer. And the R1 Os were also, slightly, better on fuel consumption, meaning that the cars' pitstops were marginally faster. So all they needed was something to go in their favour... Which happened when it rained. Audi pulled the masterstroke of leaving Allan McNish in the lead #2 car for four stints - four - and as Sunday

dawned, the car was in control of the race. Peugeot's fastest cars chased, and more rain in the last hour of the race threw up a wildcard but by the time the clock ticked 24, one lap was enough to guarantee Tom Kristensen, Dindo Capello and McNish a famous victory. Kristensen has built one of the most remarkable careers in the sport in the last 20 years. Considering that his open-wheeler career never quite reached the heights he might have hoped (he was a test driver forTyrrell and Michelin), to have achieved what he has done is astonishing.Think about it; eight wins at Le Mans - in 12 starts. That is Brock-like, perhaps even better. Kristensen is about to turn 41;

LE mRH

» 'H* t*

’kable stories at Le Mans this yean Stories of power, like A^i eots, and stories of passion, like a University from Japan n ighest races in the world, reports with the race becoming more of a sprint, Peugeot looked to younger and faster drivers this year, and Audi looks likely to follow suit. So, look for a number of fresh faces in the squad next year. Also likely are fresh cars. Race organiser ACO's current rules do give a slight advantage to the closed prototypes, and announcements made over the course of the 2008 race week are likely to close the gap between the fastest petrol-engined car and the rampant diesels, so it is odds-on that there will be at least two new cars to battle Peugeot next year. One is certain to have four rings while the other looks like being an Aston Martin in Gulf colours, after a toe-in-the-water exercise in the LMP1 class with

the Charouz Racing Lola this year. And rumours continue that some of the Japanese marques, keen to display their engineering and green capabilities, are ready to come into the race. None of the contending cars got through the race without any problems but what continues to impress is how robust the cars are. While there were a couple of gearbox glitches in the lead cars,some of them come about because of the fact that the modern'boxes - which have to cope with as much as 700 horsepower and vast torque - are designed to allow the drivers to flat change,as they would in a grand Prix cars. So,even if there is no need to race for position, the drivers are instructed to push

hard for the sake of reliability. The other feature that the Le Mans racers have is durability. Kristensen clouted a lapped car late in the race and was forced to pit for a new wheel, but the car was otherwise uninjured. Compare that with the damage Nico Rosberg's Williams suffered in Canada's pitlane a week earlier in what was, possibly,the slowest FI crash of all time ... Of course,there will also continue to be the cars that show up to race with little of no chance of victory (see next pages)and the cars in the other classes - LMP2s, GTIs and GT2s.This year, those categories provided wins for Porsche, Aston Martin and Ferrari, respectively. Not a bad list of makes...

The Brock ofLe Mans: Kristensen took win #8 this year... but how long will he go on?

HEREVER you looked. Le Mans 2008 was all about the battles. In outright terms. it was on between the triedand-proven Audis - in this case the RIO roadsters - against the 'home'team,featuring Peugeot's svelte 908. Both diesel-powered squadrons featured star drivers the most successful driver in the history of the race on one side and a former Formula 1 World champion on the other - and it was a great battle between the faster French cars and the canny and determined Germans. Down a peg,in GT1, Aston Martin took on the Corvette Racing outfit, and the Brits emerged from a titanic UK versus USA struggle to take the honours by a single lap. Even in GT2, Porsche faced a huge challenge from the hordes of Ferrari 430s. But while the headliners stole much of the glory and attention, as always,there were a myriad of stories behind the story. And one ofthem is ... well, not so much extraordinary as unexpected, in an

already unusual world. When you think about it, theTokai University Le Mans programme really couldn't have come out of any country other than Japan. Only in the Land of the Rising Sun can you find that precise blend of an obsession with technology, a fanatical enthusiasm for motorsport and the psychological remapping of the boundaries of logic that are required to come up with something like this. Universities building racecars as engineering projects is not a new thing. But building one and deciding to enter it in the outright class at the Le Mans 24 Hours is. "Last year we came and said to (race organiser) the ACO,'We want to get involved with this race"' Hirohisa Uchida, Dean ofTokai's School of Engineering, recalled. "The AGO said,'Oh, would you like to give a lecture?"No,'we said. 'We want to race.'" TheTokai LMP1 might seem to have come out of nowhere, but its appearance on the grid this year was in fact the culmination

of a project that began in 2001. It was the brainchild of Professor Yoshimasa Hayashi, whose CV reveals more than 30 years of motorsport experience with Nissan prior to joining Tokai's engineering department. "I used to work for Nissan, and every year we noticed that our new employees were very knowledgeable technically, but they did not have good practical skills," he explained. "I chose Le Mans because it was the highest ideal of car manufacturing and racing, and through participation in the race I have tried to inspire team spirit and the spirit of hope,challenge and dreams." Hayashi is perhaps the only man on the planet who doesn't think that building and racing an LMP1 at Le Mans is on the extreme side as far as university projects go,and argues that to do any less would have been pointless. "There is a reason why we chose a race as a subject of education and research," he said. "There is a world of difference

between learning the fundamentals of mechanical engineering, and actually applying this knowledge to building a car and competing in a race. "There is also a huge difference between building a car and competing. By racing,the students are learning not only intellectual skills, but they are learning how to apply them. "The reason we chose the Le Mans race was because it is a 24 hour endurance race, and that means teamwork.The race consists of 86,400 seconds, and they could not let their concentration drop for even one of those seconds." The car is based around the current Courage-ORECA LC70, although the team has followed its own development path. "We chose the Courage ORECA design because it is similar to what we had in the past,"said Hayashi. "Our motivation is to promote research and education. We will continue to co-operate with continued on page 44

)

Something new: The Tokai University team uses a current Courage chassis, with its own YGK engine. The very young-looking crew started the carfrom the back bfthe\ field, after getting a dispensation to race when itfailed to meet the minimum qualifying time. jcr

f ST,

fnSinCB December 11-13,2008 'industry

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●iir

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jcontinued from page 42

Courage, but we will do our own research. The engine is very compatible with the Courage * ; ● chassis so we used that as'a basis, ,^ but we want to do everything else jU-. -ourselves." "For example, we had to be \ ' creative when we were working on ● .1 ■ the aerodynamics. The university ■ does not have a rolling floor, so j-l ■ we a^ked an outside company ■ ' whether we could use theirs. ● Meanwhile, we did a lot of work on CFD and then correlated the ' results. "Then we ran a study car at Fuji, and with that we were able to measure downforce and drag. In the end, we had three separate sets of data to analyse." The team brought 29 students along as its crew, with graduates entrusted with the engineering roles, and younger students working as mechanics. But thankfully, one area that the team wisely decided to outsource was the driving. Endurance veteran and former FI part-timerToshio Suzuki led the line-up, joined by experienced GT pilot Masami Kageyama and Super GT driver Haruki Kurosawa. All three have been around too long to have harboured any doubts about what was in store. "Within the given conditions, 1 will do my best,"said Suzuki diplomatically after qualifying. The other area where Hayashi decided that some outside help could be in order was in the engine department.That base was 44!

covered by forming a partnership with Japanese engine specialist YGK, which developed a bespoke powerplant for the project that it designated the YR40T. It might all seem a bit dubious on paper, and as earnest as the squad was in its preparations, both the car and the team were hopelessly outgunned.The Tokai was slow - in fact, it was outqualified by half a dozen GT1 entries, and needed special dispensation to start the race after falling outside the qualifying cut off point. The car was sent to the back of the grid for the start to prevent it from being a liability to those around it at the first corner, and quiet bets were made in the press room about how long it would last. So when dawn broke over La Sarthe and the Tokai was still circling the track, some respect was due. "We haven't really had any problems," said Hayashi in the small hours of the morning. "There were some small problems with the braking system, but we overcame that. The engine and transmission are working fine. The students are working hard and are in good spirits - they look a bit surprised when something unexpected happens, but they are still working happily." It all came to an end after exactly 17 hours, 39 minutes and 44.363s when the Toi'ai suddenly slowed and pulled over onto a grass verge, a broken gearbox having brought its race to an end. It was a victory of sorts - the car had lasted

considerably longer than anyone expected, and outlasted a number of more seasoned hands in one of racing's toughest tests.The counter to that, of course, is that it was miles slower than any comparable car on the track. Hayashi remained upbeat. "The priority was to drive safely and reliably, so from that point of view, the lap times were very satisfactory," he said. Having achieved its aim of fielding a car in the outright class, what's next? There was speculation in Japan that the team was receiving funding through the back door from a major manufacturer that thought the Tokai programme could provide a low-profile, toe in the water entry ahead of a full-blown factory campaign in the future, although Hayashi was adamant that he was not interested in anything beyond a commercial arrangement. "We have no direct relationship with any manufacturers,"he said. "Although we do hope that they might support us financially." What is certain is that the team will return. Tokai's Le Mans operation has been designed as a minimum three-year operation, and the team has also confirmed that it will compete in the new Asian Le Mans Series that was launched by the AGO in the leadup to the race. But between now and then, there is a lot of work to be done. The rest of the field might put up with a quirky but under-gunned tagalong once, but its tolerance

will be sorely tested if there is no progress before next year. At the very least, the team needs to qualify for the 2009 race on merit, rather than rely on the goodwill of the organisers. In the meantime, a bunch of engineering students have probably learned more in five days than they have in the past two years, and Japan's commitment to developing its engineering expertise continues at full steam. It's almost enough to make you want to go back to school. Almost.

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08 SUPERCflR CWHnPIOnSHIP SERIES

Rouno s - sRnoouin prrr

“ mAMMtn

One slip was n^enough to stop Jamie Whincup from taking another Sandown win for theT8s

_46j,

U8 5UPERCHR5

OVING the Sandown round of the-V8

Supercar Championship Series from Spring to Winter, and changing it from a 500km, two-driver endurance race to a three-race sprint format, has done nothing to change the notion that the Melbourne track is Ford territory. The 2008 edition of the race proved that again, with only a pinched front brake on the penultimate lap of Race 2 preventing Jamie Whincup from posting the third successive 300-point sweep of the series. Whincup's error dropped him from the lead to third but did not stop him winning the round to become the first repeat winner of the season. In fact, he could have sealed the round win with a second place in the final race, behind Mark Winterbottom, but some hard laps before his mandatory pitstop and swift work from the T8 crew (3.1s to change the rears) meant that he emerged in tije lead and in clean air. Ford swept the first four places and kept its winning streak alive. In fact, to find the last Holden race winner at Sandown, you have to go back to the Mark SkaifeATodd Kelly win, in the wet, against the Dynamik car - five years ago ... Whincup was backed up by Winterbottom (if that is the right phrase to describe two drivers whose body language suggests a simmering and developing rivalry), while James Courtney was third overall.That may have been different had Race 2 winner Craig Lowndes not parked his car after breaking an axle while spinning the wheels on the formation lap of the final race. But even with a zero score in Race 3, Lowndes was sixth overall for the weekend, with only one Holden driver in front of him. That driver was Russell Ingall. It was not a case of Ingall being The Enforcer, so much as The Good Qualifier and The Chaser. Rusty qualified sixth (best of the Holdens bar Rick Kelly) and made no mistakes worthy of the name to finish right behind the Falcons. What he would have had was a good view of his own past. Shane Van Gisbergen took another step in what appears to be a stellar career with fourth overall, moving forward to ninth in Race 1 and taking a brilliant, if fortuitous, second in Race 2 when Whincup slipped up. In the damp, he was breathtaking to watch - and he was hardly less impressive in the dry. One of the reasons why this performance was so notable is that Sandown is the first track on which The Giz had prior Supercar experience. His showing backs up the Stones brothers'expectations for their young charge, to stay out of trouble and gain experience until he has gained experience at all the circuits. So far, the 19-yearold is bang on target. In the Holden ranks, the Walkinshaw cars struggled for speed and set-up, with Kelly taking the honours for the most spectacular incident with a Race 1,360-degree spin that,somehow,left only his pride damaged. Garth Tander edged Todd Kelly for next-best performance but, when the General's lead drivers stumbled, their backups were not there to pick up the pieces. In simple terms,there were more competitive Fords in Melbourne than there were Holdens, despite the 16-13 numerical edge to the General. One bad weekend does not necessarily indicate a trend but, on the Holden side of the fence,there are likely to be some hard questions asked before Darwin. 47

#88scores a9and a 10 I

^ahdown Park »y.

^THE Sandown round was the last one for the

^■ ciirreht-spec'.ccfntrol tyre. As a r^lt, teams ^ gave up their .tyre banks on Monday night to I Dunlop, whiih will supply a new tyre from The cha'nge has'come about because of ' amodification to the production process of the newerYpops.

'● ; ’ ,: .

■ Ray Price was feeling a little sheepish about'm|ising the unwrapping of Ford's new Flf raceton the weekend. The head of Ford Racing vyas on'his way tothe track when he had a^'rafficaccident though, he pointed Vut, he was not in an.FG road^gj^i "I was'juh^ttying to geta new registration for an.FG,"smiled Price, who was thankfully .unhurt after the impact. .W Mark Skaife will take third on the alltime list of SATCC/V8 Supercar round starts at Darwin. Skaifey made his 205th start at Sandown to draw level with his old mate Glenn Seton on the list./ Only Peter Brock and John Bowe have started more times that the HRT ownerdriver. ■ Paul Morris led the way in zany Tshirts at Sandown with various slogans in play, one of which encouraged racing on green tyres for environmental reasons... ■ The Chrysler Safety Car program continues, in spite of the sudden termination of the deal between V8 Supercars and sponsor WPS. Both the 300C and the V8SA transporter were somewhat hastily relievied and V8SA appears confident of having a replacement sponsor in the forthcoming rounds. ■ Michael Patrizi's V8 Supercar learning curve continued at Sandown, the Ausdrill Falcon driver making the Stewards' reports in all three races for loose bodywork [R1 black flag], overtaking another car behind the Safety Car and then overtaking the Safety Car itself [R2, exclusion from the race] and Speeding In the pitlane [R3, black flag]. -PHILBRANAGAN

I AFTER three decades of watching cars race at Sandown, the upside is having a million memories of the Springvale track. And rarely would they have been better conditions for cars to go fast than those during qualifying on Sunday morning; temperature in the mid-teens, cool and dense air, sunshine and - here was the cherry on the cake - the merest puff of wind. Predictably, the teams reacted with huge, huge speed. Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbottom broke the 70s barrier in the second segment and Whincup backed it up with a 1 m09.6987s lap in the top 10 to take pole by 0.32s - the fattest margin on the season to date.

Changing Places: Russell Ingall was the best of the Holdens, above, while the man who replaced him at SBR, Shane Van Gisbergen, below, put in a dazzling performance with fourth overall.

But the outright speed of the #88 was not the big story. Everyone was faster than in '07; in fact, had James Courtney repeated his 2007 best qualifying time of 1 ml 0.4430s, he would have been 15th. As it was, he was a little faster and 11th but the gain in speed over 12 months was impressive. Winterbottom bought back memories of winning at Sandown two years ago with second from Will Davison, while Rick Kelly and Russell Ingall were the fastest of the Holdens, split by the Glenfords car of Fabian Coulthard, who is rapidly becoming a repeat performer in the top 10. But on a weekend when much of the paddock talk was about Walkinshaw Performance, there was not much good news for its clients. Kelly apart. Garth Tander was best of the rest in 12th, ahead of Mark Saife, Lee Holsdworth and Paul Dumbrell. Neither BJR car made the first cut, so there was a lot of work to be done to restore some semblance of competitiveness.

motorspon news

Ua SUPEHCHHS

THE LEGEND OF RICKY KELLY It was looking good after a Q4 but then came a Race 1 spin for the highlight reel

THE good news for Holden lovers on the weekend was that one moment of the race weekend would have made,just about, every sports broadcast in the world.

Rick Kelly was in 13th place, having made his pitstop, when it all went wrong on the run to Dandenong Road.The car twitched one way,then skipped onto the grass and gyrated 360 degrees, all without hitting anything or anyone. In the course of the spin Kelly lost only two places and went on to finish seventh in the race. And he was pretty calm about what could have been a big accident. "We were pretty caught up with getting past cars. and that was when I lost the rear end," he said. "The first slide in the left-hander was no problem, I

had about 40 percent throttle. But when it snapped back, we were already having a problem with a rear anti roll bar and then it got a bit hard. "I tried to get it straight as quickly as it could. Eighty percent of a spin like that is luck and they don't go around in any kind of control when they are going backwards! But I hit the kerb and that flicked around the right way. As I was coming around, I banged it around a couple of gears and bump-started." Former team-mate Garth Tander had a good view of what happened. "I thought it was a bit of Talledega Nights and I was Ricky Bobby!"said Tander after the race. "I went through the smoke and Rick was sideways when I went past." -PHILBRANAGAN

WINNERS JAMIE WHINCUP: We can't, in all conscience, give Jamie 10/10 for the weekend after his Race 2 slip. But the pole lap and everything else scores him a 9.9. MARKWINTERBOTTOM: Frosty leads the championship for the first time aftera polished performance,even if theTBs were too speedy for him. RUSSELL INGALL: The days of expecting Rusty to elbow through a gap and take the win are long gone. But he looked really good in the Super Cheap car. CRAIG LOWNDES: Great driving but the smiling face after the axle broke was a bit much. Craig, it's OK to be glum in those situations... STONE BROTHERS RACING: We might have Just given Van Gisbergen all the kudos but that would really shortchange the effort this whole team has put in. Both drivers did a great job (OK, we just loved The Giz in Race 2) and there are genuine signs that Ross, Jimmy and the troops have got that winning feeling back.

LIB SUPERCRRSlRDUno 5 SHnODlUn PRRHi Pos #

Driver

Team/Car

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

88 5

Jamie Whincup MarkWinterbottom

Team Vodafone Falcon BF

4 9 39 888 1

James Courtney Shane Van Gisbergen Russell Ingall Craig Lowndes GarthTander n

1 2 11 11 6 9 12

7 17

Todd Kelly Steven Johnson

15 14 33 6 12 18 2 16 3 111 11

Rick Kelly Cameron McConville LeeHoldsworth Steven Richards Andrew Jones Will Davison Mark Skaife Paul Dumbrell Jason Richards Fabian Coulthard Shane Price

1 2 6 9 4 3 5 17 13 7 14 11 23 16 DNF 10 12 18

51 67 34

Greg Murphy Paul Morris Michael Caruso

25 50 021 55 26 777

Jason Bright Andrew Thompson Kayne Scott Tony D'Alberto Marcus Marshall Michael Patrizi

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

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

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Ford Performance Racing Falcon BF Jeid-Wen Motorsport Falcon BF SP Tools Racing Falcon BF Supercheap Auto Commodore VE Team Vodafone Falcon BF Toll Holden Racing Commodore VE Jack Daniel's Racing Commodore VE Jim Beam Racing Falcon BF HSV Dealer Team Commodore VE Team WOW Commodore VE Valvoline Cummins Commodore VE Ford Performance Racing Falcon BF Team BOC Commodore VE Jim Beam Racing Falcon BF Toll Holden Racing Commodore VE Autobarn Racing Commodore VE Sprint Gas Racing Commodore VE Glenfords Racing Falcon BF Jack Daniel's Racing Commodore VE Sprint Gas Racing Commodore VE Supercheap Auto Commodore VE Valvoline Cummins Commodore VE Fujitsu Racing Falcon BF PWR Performance Commodore VE Team Kiwi Racing Falcon BF Rod Nash Racing Commodore VE IRWIN Racing Falcon BF Ausdrill Ford Rising Stars Falcon BF

16 4 24 14 7 21 3 13 15 10 5 22 19 25 23 28 18 27 20 26 29

19 22 15 20 DNF 24 21 25 DNF DNF

Points: Winterbottom 1124,Tander 1072, Whincup 1062, R Kelly 1028, Lowndes 897, Richards 839, Courtney 811, Holdsworth 760, Davison 752,T Kelly 726, van Gisberg 692,Johnson 682, Coulthard 671, McConville 663,Skaife 630, Ingall 585, Murphy 580,Jones 538,J Richards 528, Bright 470, Dumbrell 440, Morris 431, Caruso 428, Marshall 378, Price 354, D'Alberto 346,Thompson 309, Scott 280, Patrizi 168, Pither 58.

LOSERS HOLDEN: We have been trying to remember the last time that Ford was so dominant in a race weekend and honestly, we can't. MARK SKAIFE: Absolutely in the wars from the time the cars hit the track. JASON BRIGHT: The memory of Brighty nudging past Rick Kelly to take the Sandown win in 2005 is still strong. For goodness'sake Brighty, get a customer car for 2009. WILL DAVISON: Q3 and running in fourth during Race 1 evaporated with electrical problems. For the second year in a row, DJR must be counting Sandown as its bogey track. 49

FORmULR 1 Rouno 7 -(nORTRERL, CRRRDR

HERE must be something in the Canadian air that makes Formula 1 go crazy every time it gets within range of maple syrup, hockey pucks and moose. There are any number of first-time winners and one-off occurrences that happen when the circus lands in Montreal and the 2008 edition of the blast around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was no different. At the end of an extraordinary race, Robert Kubica put the fact that he was nearly killed at the track 12 months earlier behind him in the best way possible by claiming his first Grand Prix victory. And typically, the race will not be remembered for that, rather than an extraordinary pitlane melee that saw Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton out of a race that the latter should have won. Blame was apportioned to Hamiiton when, in fact, Raikkonen was somewhat complicit in what was a fairly poor display of understanding of the rules, and paying attention by both. Hamilton had taken pole by 0.6s

from the Pole, but winning a GP from the front row of the grid is not a bad way to do it, even after the leaders had accounted for each other. If a BMW win was unexpected, a 1 -2 was a real shock. Nick Fleidfeld found himself in front of Kubica and fuelled to the end of the race but dutifully moved over to release Kubica, who made enough time for a second pitstop.The bloke with the beard has now finished second five times in his career and making way for Kubica and, effectively, handing him a win was a great dispiay of team-first discipline. Kubica's 2007 experience helped him in the pits. "It was a similar situation to last year when we pitted under the Safety Car and there was still a red light (at the pit lane exit)," he said. "Last year Fisichella and Massa went by, I stopped as the first car. This time I stopped side by side with Kimi and after a few seconds Lewis came flat out and crashed into him. i have to thank him that he chose Kimi and not me."

It was one of those races (there were seven different leaders) and to add to the madness, David Coulthard was third, after starting 13th. It was a matter of the Scot staying cool while others overdid it and took themselves out of contention ... Like Fernando Alonso, who hit a wall. Like Felipe Massa, who was delayed by a refuelling problem that forced him to make an extra stop. Fifth was scant reward for a charging drive, the highlight of which was a successful double move at the hairpin that put Rubens Barrichello and Fleikki Kovalainen in the shade. The other pointscorers tell the tale of the race. BothToyotas, led byTimo Glock in fourth place, finished in the eight, after the German was close to making it into the final qualifying session. Rubens Barrichello was seventh ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who started last after missing qualifying after a major practice crash. A point was just reward for the mechanics who did an all-nighter.

You! No,you! Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton bad differing views of what happened in the pits, above, but it was hugs all round at BMW.Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeid were soon joined by BMWMotorsport boss Mario Theissen after the historic result in Montreal.

A^maiden win for Robert Kubica? Millions ofdollars. A BMW 1-2? More dollars. But Kubica taking the lead

FORmULHI FORmULR 11 Round 7 mOPTRERL POS # 1 4 2 3 3 9 4 12 5 2 6 11 7 17 8 15 9 23 10 7 11 16 12 10 13 14 Ret 21 Ret 8 Ret 5 Ret 6 Ret 1 Ret 22 Ret 20

DRIVER Robert Kubica Nick Heidfeld David Coulthard Timo Clock Felipe Massa JarnoTrulli Rubens Barrichello Sebastian Vettel Heikki Kovalainen Nico Rosberg Jenson Button Mark Webber Sebastien Bourdais Giancarlo Fisichella Kazuki Nakajima Fernando Alonso Nelsinho Piquet Kimi Raikkbnen Lewis Flamilton Adrian Sutil

CAR BMWSauber BMW Sauber Red Bull-Renault Toyota Ferrari Toyota Flonda STR-Ferrari McLaren-Mercedes Williams-Toyota Flonda Red Bull-Renault STR-Ferrari Force India-Ferrari Williams-Toyota Renault Renault Ferrari McLaren-Mercedes Force India-Ferrari

LAPS 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 69 51 46 44 39 19 19 13

RACETIME QUAL 1:36:24.447 2 -H6.4S 8 -f23.3s 13 +42.6S 11 +43.9S 6 -I-47.7S 14 -I-53.5S 9 +54.1S 19 +54.4S 7 -I-57.7S 5 ■I-67.5S 20 +71.2s 10 +1 Lap 18 Accident 17 Accident 12 Accident 4 Brakes 15 Accident 3 Accident 1 Gearbox 16

WINNERS^ ROBERT KUBICA: Lucky? A bit. But it was still a pretty Impressive way to take your first win. NICK HEIDFELD and BMW: The German played the team hand perfectly and<selflessly set up a BMW 1-2. DAVID COULTHARD: First points for the season with his first podium. Again, drove a conservative race but it paid off in the end. X

Fastest lap: Raikkonen on lap 14,1ml 7.387s (202.871 kmh)

TOYOTA:

FDRmULfl 1 UJORLD CHRITlPIOnSHIP

TheTFlOB showed glimpses of speed once again and two points finishes were the reward.

Drivers' Points: Kubica 42, Hamilton and Massa 38, Raikkonen 35, Heidfeld 28, Kovalainen and Webber 15, Trulli 12, Alonso 9, Rosberg 8, Nakajima 7, Coulthard 6, Clock, Vettel and Barrichello 5, Button 3, Bourdais 2. Constructors'Points: Ferrari 73, McLaren-Mercedes 70, BMW S3, Red Bull 21, Toyota 17, Williams-Toyota 15, Renault 9, Honda 8.

PETER Sauber was not in Canada to see his team (of which he is still a 10 percent stakeholder) taste Fomula 1 victory for the first time. No doubt, the man who entered his cars in 215 Grands Prix before making way for BMW celebrated the win in typical fashion, with a cigar and a glass of something tasty and, almost certainly, expensive. Apart from being the first win for the German-Swiss alliance, it is a milestone for many other reasons. Robert Kubica, Poland's first GP winner, is the 99th man to win a GP and, if we treat this as a 'Sauber'win (as BMW has

already won GPs as an a engine supplier) it becomes the 27th victorious marque in the 58-year history of the sport. But the win also underlines the domination of the'big four'teams. Since the turn of the century, Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Renault have dominated. The Canada win is only the third for the 'others', following Giancarlo Fisichella's rather fortunate win in Brazil in 2003 for Jordan and Jenson Button's 2006 Hungarian victory with Honda. Fisi, below, and JB have not won again. It looks unlikely that this will be the case with Kubica.

KIMI RAIKKONEN: No point waving your finger at Lewis. If the stewards hcjd asked what on earth Kimi.was doing parked there, he would be starting 10 spots back in France, surely. Lucky man.

LOSERS LEWIS HAMILTON: Few things in motor racing are a certainty. But Hamilton had a deadlock on this race and no-one was going to catch him. Ten points went up in smoke. FERNANDO ALONSO: Points were there for the taking but for the second GP in a row, he drove into things. Most unAlonso-like. NELSINHO PIQUET: On a weekend when the bloke who scored the point for eighth started last, PKJr had a golden opportunity to break his duck. Instead, brake problems and the vultures continue to circle. HONDA: If it sounds harsh to bag Honda after scoring two points, it's because the team, and Rubens Barrichello, should be doing far better than fighting off a rookie in a Toro Rosso.

Jt .

CANADIAN ROAD MAKERS: Until this weekend, we didn't realise that Canada was a part of the third world. 57

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Lewis Hamilton shrugged off an early disaster to race to a polished maiden win on the streets of Monte Carlo. By WILL BUXTON

EWIS Hamilton did not win the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix because he hit the wall early in the race. It was what happened after that that won it for him. In the 30 seconds or so that followed his brush with the scenery, which forced him to pit for a new rightrear tyre, McLaren's brains trust switched strategies, filled his car to the brim and sent him back into the battle. He had dropped from second to fifth. A Safety Car erased much of his deficit, and when the cars in front pitted for their stops, he was back in the lead by lap 33. And there he stayed. Another Safety Car erased a lead of up to 40s but the early stop and his new fuel range meant he was on 'light' wets when he needed them, and switched to dries earlier than his opponents. With speed to spare and much of the opposition shooting itself in the foot, Lewis was home and hosed. "This has got to be the highlight of my career and I am sure it will continue to be the highlight for the rest of my life," he beamed. "The pace I had was ridiculous. I had one second (per lap advantage) on people for the majority of the race and it was quite easy." "It was the most fun I have had in a race, ever." The other thing that assisted Hamilton was what happened to everyone else, and some of that process preceded the race itself. Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari had a wheel problem that meant his team did not mount his chosen tyres before the mandatory three-minute window, so he got a drive-through. Later problems, culminating in ramming Adrian Sutil off the track late in the race, sent the Finn home with zero points. But McLaren suffered too. Heikki Kovalainen could not pick first gear at the start of the formation lap, and his subsequent pitlane start left him chasing all afternoon. Eighth and a single point were

.1^ molorsportnews

FORtnULR 1 scant reward. Robert Kubica was an impressive second from Felipe Massa, who found himself out of synch with the conditions while Flamilton's timing was perfect. Still, Massa's performance was deeply impressive; pole on a circuit he openly dislikes and a strong performance in the wet, not a condition previously noted as a Massa long suit. Another effort worthy of applause was Mark Webber's. Okay,the man is an acknowledged ace at both Monaco and on wet tracks, and he managed to stay out of trouble. Flis fifth points finish in a row vaulted the Red Bull man to'best of the rest'(ie, non Ferrari/McLaren/BMW) in the championship. As for the rest... Fernando Alonso drove like a rookie, clanging into things and jumping too quickly between tyres; Rubens Barrichello kept his head and drove to the conditions, which is exactly what to expect from a man in his thousandth GP start; and Kazuki Nakajima was sensible and seventh for Williams and is proving to be one of the revelations of the seasons.There are comparisons being made between Kazu-san and the'other' second-generation driver. Piquet Jr, and not in the direction many expected pre-season. In the latter half-hour of the race, while the track dried, there were still necks craning at the sky to see whether the computer forecasts of more rain were accurate or now. Had it restarted, Hamilton may have not been in the best position to defend his lead. Nor would he have been, had there been time for a 77th and 78th lap of the race. At almost the exact time the two-hour time limit struck, Lewis had a tyre go flat. On such things can championships be decided... Waterworld: Massa led early, below, but Hamilton ruled, opposite.

WINNERS LEWIS HAMILTON: Had it rained late in the race, as many expected, his clang with the wall might have been a pivotal moment in the championship. But it stayed dry and it counted for little. ROBERT KUBICA: The Bimmer may not be quite as fast as the opposition but Bobby K continues to shine. ADRIAN Sutil may find himself an honorary Indian citizen after his late-race Monaco heartbreak. After being punched off the road and out of the race by Kimi Raikkonen's oscillating yet sturdy Ferrari, the Force india driver returned to the pits, in tears, to find that many of his team had already started their own waterworks, led by team supremo,Vijay Mallya. "We were obviously shattered," admitted the billionaire. "We were so looking forward to a spectacular result, which was not to be. Sutil also owned up to post race blubbering. "I was, and so were many of us actually. I've had quite a lot of SMS messages and phone

calls from supporters in India, all of whom are I think highly emotional. "It was sad for us, that moment was a very emotional moment." It was also expensive; veteran commercial director Ian Phillips later mused that the loss of income from a fifth-place finish would have Just about covered a season's engine hire from, ironically, Ferrari. But if there is an upside to the disaster, it is that success did not come too quickly to the Force Indians. Such setbacks can often forge strong followings and when the team does score its first points, Sutil - the son of a German mother and an Uruguayan father - may find himself with another billion or so countrymen ...

FORinULR 11 Round 6 mOHRCO POS # 1 22 2 4 3 2 4 10 5 15 6 17 7 8 8 23 9 1 10 5 11 16 12 12 13 11 14 3 Ret 20 Ret 7 Ret 6 Ret 21 Ret 9 Ret 14

DRIVER Lewis Hamilton Robert Kubica Felipe Massa Mark Webber Sebastian Vettel Rubens Barrichello Kazuki Nakajima Heikki Kovalainen Kimi Raikkonen Fernando Alonso Jenson Button Timo Clock JarnoTrulli Nick Heidfeld Adrian Sutil Nico Rosberg Nelsinho Piquet Giancarlo Fisichella David Coulthard Sebastien Bourdais

CAR McLaren-Mercedes BMW Sauber Ferrari Red Bull-Renault STR-Ferrari Honda Williams-Toyota McLaren-Mercedes Ferrari Renault Honda Toyota Toyota BMW Sauber Force India-Ferrari Williams-Toyota Renault Force India-Ferrari Red Bull-Renault STR-Ferrari

LAPS RACETIME QUAL 76 2:00:42.742 3 +3.0S 5 76 +4.8S 1 76 76 +19.2s 9 76 +24.6S 19 +28.4S 14 76 76 +30.1 s 13 +33.1 s 4 76 +33.7S 2 76 75 +1 lap 7 75 +1 Lap 11 75 +1 Lap 10 75 +1 Lap 8 72 +4 Laps 12 67 Accident 18 59 Accident 6 47 Accident 17 36 Gearbox 20 7 Accident 15 7 Accident 16

Fastest lap: Raikkonen on lap 14,1ml 6.689s(156.794kmh)

FORfnULR 1 UJORLD CHRUlPIOnSHIP Drivers Points; Hamilton 38, Raikkonen 35, Massa 34, Kubica 32, Heidfeld 20, Kovalainen and Webber 15, Alonso and Trulli 9, Rosberg 8, Nakajima 7,Vettel 4, Button and Barrichello 3, Bourdais 2. Manufacturers Points: Ferrari 69, BMW 52, McLaren-Mercedes 53, Williams-Toyota and Red Bull 15,Toyota and Renault 9,Toro Rosso and Honda 6.

FELIPE MASSA: Lots of reasons why he could have looked like a goose - the wet, Monaco,an early off- but he pulled it all back together and looked like Ferrari's #1. MARK WEBBER: Just bloody brilliant. ADRIAN SUTIL: If it was the other way aropnd, anu he rammed Kimi,the.media would have crucified him.The German looks like a man with a big future in Formula 1.

LOSERS KIMIRAIKKONEN: We can,sort of,forgive Kimi for ramming Sutil out of the race. Maybe at a post-race karaoke bar, he sang: "I lost my tyres, I broke front wings. I've done all the dumb things." It's hard to imagine another world champ driving this badly. FERNANDO ALONSO: Okay, we spoke too soon. For the move on Heidfeld to various other transgressions, Fernando should hide away. NICK HEIDFELD: Any hopes were dashed by a dumb move from Alonso. JENSON BUTTON: A wet street track offered a glimmer of opportunity but JB was Just not up to it. Could be a long, hot summer. FORCE INDIA: Points were almost in their hands until Sutil got nailed. That must hurt. 53

HE first wins are always the hardest to get. Just ask Grant Denyer. After a tough few seasons in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Denyer,finally broke his duck at Sandown International Raceway in Round 3. I couldn't be happier," said Denyer. "It's been a long time coming. It's been tough the last couple of years trying to fit racing in around television but this year, I'm able to dedicate a lot more time to it and I think the results are showing what I can do, and that a lot more of my attention is on motorsport. "At the end of the day, you have to remember it was a reverse grid race, but we withstood some good pressure from some fantastic drivers and machinery. "We were coming from a long way behind, having missed the 54

first two practice sessions due to mechanical failures [he suffered a blown oil line and lost his power steering in the two sessions]. But let's just hope the second one is a little easier to come by that the first.' For Denyer, to finally get that elusive first win comes as a huge relief, especially this year. Having changed teams every year for the past three years, he finds himself with more of his attention focused on racing, but with a smaller budget. "Unfortunately, while Seven have given me the green light to compete in the whole championship, this is probably my smallest year in terms of budget. '"At DJR I had very good pace. They were a very supportive outfit and I learnt a lot, but that was also the busiest work period of my life.

Last year at Ford Rising Stars, they were a developing outfit who had to make a lot of mistakes to learn how to go motor racing and unfortunately I was a part of their learning curve." The development series is only part of what Denyer does and. although it's his focus, there is more to the man. "I knew along time ago that the only way to get to toplevel motorsport was to have commercial sponsors and support. I didn't come from a rich family, so 1 decided that television was going to find me the sponsors so I could go motor racing. So my television career actually started out of a need to find sponsors for motorsport, and that's all I had intended. "Now it's become a little bigger than I thought it would, but motorsport commentary was my step into television.

That's where I started as a pimply-faced, squeaky-voiced teenager and now the acne's cleared up and the voice has deepened a couple of notes and I'm still as tall as I was when I was 15 [laughs].' It was his television commitments that forced his racing career to take a back seat in the recent past but according to Denyer he is now more focused than ever. "A few years ago when we were travelling the country five days a week working for Sunrise, working on It Takes Two, Australia's Got Talent and trying to squeeze in racing around that it was a full plate, and to be honest, it nearly killed me. "It took me a year to really get back in shape and get healthy after being on the road for so long and my commitment, with no results there, well, there's not

motorsport news

FUJITSU UB

Grant Denyer has alot offeathers in his cap | and now he's a V8 Supercar race winner as well. PHILLIP MAHONEY spoke to him to find out how a lot of fire in the belly to keep pushing on, pushing through that pain barrier. "Something had to give and Sunrise was my choice for personal and well-being reasons. That fork in the road hasn't yet come from Channel Seven to say, 'one or the other'and they're still remaining very supportive. "So I'll try and keep these careers running along side each other for as long as I can and, at the moment. Seven enjoys the fact that one of their own is now on the podium each weekend." Finding a balance between the two can be tough at times but it's something, which Denyer feels is a necessity. "Motorsport balances up my life. "At the end of the day, it's all I ever wanted to do as a kid. "It's like someone who works a stressful job. You go home and you need to pour your heart

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into something else, whether it is your kids, or it might be crossstitching, or origami expert you know. Motor racing is my version of gardening and without it my life is very one-sided and I don't like that. "I'm a competitive guy, whether it's in television or motorsport. I get a real buzz out of passing other guys on the racetrack, and I guess the ego boost that comes with that." Along with balancing his Fujitsu and television commitments Denyer is also competing this year in the inaugural MINI Challenge, which he believes is something that adds to his racing. "Cramming a couple of extra races into a race weekend is not hurting me at all. In fact I think the MINI series, as quirky as it sounds, being a front-wheeldrive 1.6-litre engine, is actually

having an impact on my V8 stuff as well. "The more seat miles you do, the more that you're absorbing, the more information that your retaining, the sharper you reflexes are. Your just a little bit more match fit. "I think because the development series championship is so sporadic, it's really hard to be in a rhythm and the MINI series fills in those gaps nicely. It just keeps your edge. "Even if it's radically different, it's still racing, and working on your racecraft helps you as well. "I never thought the MINI would be great preparation for a V8 Supercar career but, in a funny way, it's certainly helping." With so many things on his schedule already, what does Denyer think about a possible move Into the Main Series? "I don't think I'm really going to have that opportunity, to be

honest. I'm probably still a parttime racer and that's what I hope to go out and prove. "I'm happy to tick away in the development series and do the enduros, that's really always been my focus. "I certainly enjoy making television. We've got a couple of exciting new things on the horizon and I'd like to be around the Main Series championship every weekend, whether it's as a commentator as a racer. But I don't think that a Main Series drive is going to be an opportunity that I'll ever get handed to me. "Should someone come up and tap me on the shoulder and offer me a step into the Main Series, I'm not factoring that into my career. But who knows, if Mark Skaife ever retired and said,'it's time to step up, how'bout it?'You'd have to think pretty seriously about it!" 55

fK.

THE Fujitsu V8s headed to Sandown for Round 3 to support the Main Series after their stand-alone round at Wakefield last time out. Former Main Game drivers Steve Owen and Dean Canto once again placed a claim to step back up into the top rank with both showing great speed all weekend. It seemed destined to be a fight between the two for round honours after Canto took pole from Owen,a fair margin ahead of the rest of the pack. But it was not to be. Owen took the first race and made it look easy after a great start, although he latter admitted that he was pushing hard. Canto hung on for second as the two split the field. Often Race 2s reverse grid top 10 can cause some dramas and Sandown was no exception.

Grant Denyer found time in his busy weekend schedule to win his first-ever Fujitsu race after starting from the pole, but he had to work for as the threatening rain made conditions greasy toward the end. The reverse grid forced some contact between Owen and Canto, with Canto receiving a 10 grid spot penalty and Owen being forced to fight back from almost last to take 10th. With the round up for grabs after the two contenders tripped over each other. Race 3 was sure to be a thrilling encounter. But once again Owen made it look all too easy. A lightning start on the drying line had him in front by the first corner and from there he was gone. Following his Race 3 triumph, Owen clinched the round win and extended his

Championship lead. After a solid result at Wakefield last time out, David Reynolds produced a measured performance all weekend to take his secondconsecutive second place. After struggling for speed early in the weekend, Reynolds chipped away and ended strongly with third place in Race 3. Third for the round was the ever-consistent SBR enduro driver Jonathon Webb,who had a quite weekend but remained consistent to take the last place on the podium. Once again, Michael Trimble continued to show pace and was unfortunately spun around late in Race 3. But he now lies equal second in the Championship after Jack Perkins had another tough weekend. -PHILLIP MAHONEY

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Wasted weekend: Dean Canto, above, had a strong start to the weekend by taking pole, but it was all downhill from there. A penalty in Race 2 would see him finish well down overall, David Reynolds, below, continues to show good pace and a smart drive at Sandown rewarded him with another second place.

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

62 99 94 37 27 64 73 46 42 29 74 60 47 98 23 35 96 36 19 95 44 58 500 38 68 30 13 75 49

Driver

Team/Car

Steve Owen David Reynolds Jonathon Webb Dean Canto Karl Reindler MichaelTrimble Marcus Zukanovic Dale Wood Jay Verdnik Grant Denyer Mark McNally Damian Assaillit Sam Walter Brett Hobson Tim Slade Tony Bates Joel Spychala Geoff Emery David Sieders Brett Holdsworth James Bergmuller Drew Russell Jack Perkins Ben Eggleston Jonathan Beikoff Tony Evangelou Colin Sieders Aaron McGill Taz Douglas

Tint-A-Car Commodore VZ Tony D'Alberto Racing Commodore VZ Tekno Motorsport Falcon BA Howard Racing/Crimesafe Falcon BA Howard Racing/Novus Capital Falcon BA Global Jet International Commodore VZ No Fear / Action Racing Commodore VZ A & 1 Helicopter Services Commodore VZ GIO Racing Commodore VZ Summit Fleet Leasing Falcon BA West Coast Racing Commodore VZ Fujitsu / DQH Falcon BA AWC Motorsport Commodore VZ United Oil Racing Commodore VZ Gawler Farm Machinery Commodore VZ TAG Motorsport Commodore VZ Mid Coast Ford Falcon BA TAG Motorsport Commodore VZ Gulf Western Oil Falcon BA TTM Group Commodore VZ Preston Motors Commodore VZ Go Karts Go Aust Commodore VZ MackTrucks Commodore VZ Eggleston Motorsport Commodore VZ Turbo Brisbane Falcon AU ANT Racing Falcon BA All-TransTrucks/Gulf Western Falcon BA Auto Motion Australia Falcon AU Image Racing Falcon AU

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

100

74 68 92 80 64 60 86 56 52 42 38 46 44 48 28 24 32 20 36 30 40 18 34 16 0 26 22 0

80 86 48 64 92 68 74 56 100 60 46 44 42 30 40 38 36 32 20 24 0 0 34 22 28 0 0 26

86 80 92 74 48 64 32 68 20 60 56 46 44 42 38 40 34 30 26 24 36 52 0 22 28 18 16 0

zu FUjrrsu us series i poinrs Owen 786, Reynolds 618,Trimble 618, Webb 590, Reindler 544, Perkins 542, Canto 518, Slade 505, Denyer 498, Wood 493, Zukanovic 484, Verdnik 474, McNally 442, Walter, 404, Assaillit 380, Flobson 358, Russell 305, Holdsworth 295, Sieders 281, Emery 280, Spychala 257, Sieders 205, Bergmuller 204, Bates 184, Eggleston 174, McGill 148, White 132, Pyne 92, Douglas 80.

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fts what's inside that

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Just like a V8 Supercar, it’s what’s inside a Fujitsu Smart Inverter Air Conditioner that counts. We’re talking grunt, and buckets of it. Enough to reach the desired room temperatu re more quickly and to

FUJITSU

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AUSTRALIA’S FAVOURITE AIR FUJITSU GENERAL (AUST.) PTY LIMITED www.fujltsugeneral,com.au For more Information call 1300 882 201

UJORLD RflLLV CHRmPIORSHIP ROUnO 7/8 - GREEC6/TURhEV

New Subaru brings new hope

The brand new Impreza WRC came storming out ofthe blocks at Acropolis recently,and suddenly the team looks back on track. ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN spoke to Chris Atkinson about his new toy

OOD things come to those who wait. A dated saying, sure, but right now,Chris Atkinson and Petter Solberg are testament to the cliche.They have been waiting a long time for the latest incarnation of a Subaru World Rally Car, and, if the early results are any Indication, it was worth waiting for. The new Subaru has been the hot topic of WRC season 2008, and at Acropolis it finally made its competitive debut. And what a debut,the hatchback {a first for Subaru, which has traditionally used the boot-lid version of its

Impreza as a base)taking Solberg to his first podium of the year. And Chris Atkinson may well have Joined him on the rostrum, had it not been for a minor electrical fault leaving him stranded on Day 1. He rejoined the rally, and,on the final day, delivered the first stage win for the new car. Podiums,fastest stage times - was the pace surprising for a brand new car? "Yeah a little bit," Atkinson admits. "If we didn't have our electrical problem we would have been right there with Petter, fighting for

a podium spot. So for both cars to be in with that chance in their first rally is a good sign. "In terms of outright pace we've still got a bit of work to do, but the reliability problem we had was completely unrelated to the new car, it could have happened in the previous car. it was just bad luckthe cars are strong. "It's a good base package.The chassis is a lot better; you can really notice it. It reacts a lot quicker,the centre of gravity is better, and everything is a lot more refined. It has better downforce so it is really good on fast stages.

"We have a lot more work to do and there is a learning process involved in bringing it out a bit early, but Acropolis was a really good start for us and I think the car will win rallies soon." Belief is a powerful thing, and just believing he has a technical package good enough to win rallies is, according to Atkinson, changing his approach to events. "Definitely. I've been thinking about it all weekend, looking forward to [the next] rally," he says. "We learnt a lot in Acropolis and we've made some changes and improvements. Now I know if we get quicker, and we have a problem-free rally, then we're in for a good result." Even in an ageing car, Atkinson had a stellar start to the season. He currently sits fourth in the championship, has been on the

UiORLD RHLLVinG

The games begin

questions even before the new car came on line such was Atko's form early in the season, but the superiority of the new package has strengthened expectations of a debut win. "You've got to look a bit later in the year, events like Japan and New Zealand," he says. "But Judging by our speed in Germany last year, that's an event I'm really looking forward to. And if this car is a good step forward on tarmac,then you don't know what can happen!" And in that response is proof of Atkinson's faith in his new car, and ability as a driver. Rally Deutschland is Sebastien Loeb country, the formidable Frenchman having never lost on German bitumen since the event joined the WRC in 2002. Does Atkinson really think he can defeat the reigning World Champ on'home'soil? "We're going quick on tarmac, which is good for me coming from Australia where it is all gravel rallying. Your first win is

so often completely unexpected, so I'm not worrying about it too much. I'm just driving at my comfortable pace, and it will be a team decision to go out and attack like we did on the Sunday in Greece, where we set some fastest times.Then we'll see the potential." When MNews spoke to Atkinson back in March, he was coy about his title chances, delivering a'too early to say' type speech.These days the tune has, slightly at least, been changed. "I'm not setting any unreal targets - I'm taking it one rally at a time. "If that means we stay competitive then you never know what could happen. But the main goal is to get the car winning, and the team back to winning, and we'll look at it from there. "If we can start getting some more podiums and maybe a win or two this year, then you never know what could happen."

THE last two rounds of the World Rally Championship couldn't have been more different. In Acropolis, Sebastien Loeb and Citroen scooped the pool. On what was predicted to be Ford territory, and an important opportunity for the Ford drivers to bank some vaiuable points before the championship becomes weighted towards tarmac rallies later in the season, the reigning World Champs were too good. It wasn't through lack of trying on Ford's behalf. Jari-Matti Latvala led the charge for the blue oval, bolting into an early lead. But then a pattern emerged; he suffered a puncture mid-way through the first day, spent the afternoon playing catch up, and then hit a rock and damaged his

car. He was on a charge at the start of the second day, again playing catch up, before the turbo failed. It just wasn't to be. But Ford had its revenge in Turkey. With Loeb the new championship leader, he was first on the rocky roads, a severe disadvantage. And thanks to some tricky'regularity'style timekeeping from Ford, Loeb stayed first on the road all the way through the event, leaving Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala to storm through on the final day and take a team 1-2. It was a clever, and entirely legal, manipulation of the results, which handed the World Championship lead back to Ford. But when they get to Finland, Hirvonen will be first on the road. Will we see Citroen return serve?

TURhEV

GREECE 1 Sebastien Loeb

Citroen

Daniel Elena

3:54:54.7 Subaru

2 Fetter Solberg Phil Mills

Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen

2 Jari-Matti Latvala

Ford 4:42:07.1 Ford

-H:09.5

Miikka Anttila

+7.9S

Ford

Citroen -I-25.7S

4-1:56.1

3 Sebastien Loeb Daniel Elena

4 Urmo Aava KuldarSikk

Citroen 4-4:19.7

4 Dani Sordo Marc Marti

Citroen 4-2:25.65

5 Dani Sordo Marc Marti

Citroen

5 Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud

Ford -r2:33.7s

6 Fetter Solberg Phil Mills

Subaru 4-2:48.25

7 Matthew Wilson

Ford 4-4:24.2

3 Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen

4-4:49.4

6 Matthew Wilson

Ford

Scott Martin

4-6:11.3 Ford

7 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila

4-6:47.5

8 Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud

4-9:14,0

Ford

Points: Loeb 50, Hirvonen 49, Atkinson 31, Latvala 26,Sordo 25, Galli 17.

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Scott Martin 8 Conrad Rautenbach David Senior

Citroen 4-7:46.75

Points: Hirvonen 59, Loeb 56, Latvala 34, Atkinson 31,Sordo 30, Solberg 20.

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OnTFVCK

EDITED BY GRANT ROWLEY

COVERAGE OF AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MOTOR RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS & SERIES

Dawn ofa new era

The Australian Manufacturer's Championship heralds a new era oflocal Production car racing. ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN investigates

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IRS

IT would seem that Production Car racing in Australia is finally emerging from the woods. The showroom-racing scene has had a turbulent time recently, with uncertainty plaguing the series in whatever form it has assumed. But the resurgence of the Bathurst 12-Hour has sparked a change, and, perhaps, the newlyformed Australian Manufacturers Championship is the saving grace. But even the AMC had a difficult lead-up to its first round at Phillip Island recently. V8 Utes promoter.SpherIx was supposed to manage the AMC, before deciding to relinquish the rights quite late In the piece.That opened the door for Jodi Zylstra to take over as category manager, and her tireless effort saw 16 cars on the grid for Round 1 of the new'Manchamps'atThe Island. "It's definitely time for a sigh of relief that we're through the first one,"she said at the conclusion of the successful first meeting. "I came in and picked it up fairly 60

late in the piece, so yes, 16 cars is a great start, and now we have building blocks to build on to get it stronger. The PCAA (Production Car Association of Australia), CAMS and Shannons are all working together on that, and making sure the championship keeps building in 2008 and beyond." Keeping the category growing is a key target should the AMC survive. While 16 cars was a positive start, and there are plenty of other series sporting smaller fields, more cars on the grid must be a primary concern to Zylstra and the rest of the team. She confirms that it is. "We had a really good meeting this morning [at Phillip Island]," she said. "The PCAA had a meeting about the category and I think we need to show some stability and some moving forward. We have confirmed our program for the next three rounds,the remainder of 2008, we've told competitors what we're doing with race formats, and we're working on the round at Symmons Plains in

Tasmania, and some incentives to get them there. "I think what they need to see is a cohesive group working together for the good of getting as many cars on track as possible. And I think we can aim for 20-plus cars at Oran Park, because there are plenty of Production Cars available in Sydney." To add to the successful debut ofthe'Manchamps'in Melbourne, there was an ideal result. George Miedecke won the first race outright in his factory-supported Hyundai Tiburon, proving that you don't need a Class A or B car to win, and that a manufacturer doesn't need to be a Ford or a Holden to be an Australian champion. "The plan is to make contact with manufacturers to try and work on getting them involved," added Zylstra. "I know that Hyundai are very, very pleased and keen to work together. One car won both races in class, and the other car won one race, so hopefully that might inspire some more manufacturers to come on board."

MAN.CHAMPS,ROUND 1 PHILLIP ISLAND CIRCUIT A PROMISING 16-car field, including nine manufacturers headed to the Phillip Island circuit following a major overhaul of the Production Car scene in Australia. First-up honours for the new series went to George Miedecke, who gave Hyundai its first win in an Australian national motor racing championship event. Miedecke,driving a factoryentered Tiburon, won the first one-hour race, which was called 15 minutes early due to light concerns. His Class D rival Colin Osborne took the Race 2 win and shares the top of the driver's tabie with Miedecke, but Hyundai leads Toyota in the manufacturer's race. Driver's points: George Miedecke 45,Osborne 45,Des Wall 40, Garry Holt 40,Jake Camilleri 40,Jamie Augustine 40,Craig Hendrick 32.

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Break down the Wall ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN spoke to Carrera Cup's newest race winner >] CRRRERR CUP

HERE are plenty of historical cases where. having taken that elusive first win,the floodgates really open for a driver. And that is exactly what David Wall is counting on right now. The young New South Welshman took his first Carrera Cup race win at Sandown recently, braving wet/dry conditions and a hardcharging Craig Baird along the way. "It was very difficult, the conditions," he said,"and the biggest problem was that the V8 Supercars dried enough ofthe track to suit themselves, and it didn't quite suit our line, because it is different with the spring rates etc. So it was very difficult. "I knew the start was everything, I knew if I could get to that first corner first, it would be hard to get past, which is the case in conditions like that. "[Those conditions] bring a bit if finesse back into the driving style. The Porsches are very aggressive to drive, and when the conditions are like that you can't really drive them the way you would if it was

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dry. So it comes back a little bit, and I do like it.' According to Wall, the combination of the rain, the fact that he beat Baird and the pit-lane being full of V8 Supercar team bosses made it a memorable first win. "The only better place you can do it is Bathurst. Everyone was there, in trying conditions, and I won ahead ofthe guy who is probably the best Porsche driver in Australia, Craig Baird. He was close and putting on a lot of pressure, and his fastest lap was the last one, so he was trying all the way to the end. It was a great feeling to hold him off." This year was an important one for Wall. With the might of Jim Richards'team behind him,there was undoubtedly pressure on Wall to hold up his end ofthe bargain. And when he did, he admits it was sweet relief. "The team don't put any pressure on me whatsoever, but I was putting pressure on myself to get that elusive first win in the class, because that's just the way that I am. "As far as Jim [Richards] and Karl [Batson](Wall's engineer) and all the guys go,they are very

supportive whatever the weekend throws at me,it was fortunate we got that win and everything came back to us a little bit. There was pressure on myself, because no result would have been back to the driver, so I'm now looking to the next round. I don't know if I'll feel different, but I will be more confident, there will be more self-belief. I've done a lot of laps at Queensland Raceway so I am hoping for a good result. Whether that's another win I don't know, but if we can finish on the podium and keep the form going, and hopefully get another win before the end of the year, I'd be really happy with that." Having now proven his capable of winning races, Wall's attention will soon turn to 2009 and how he can break into V8 Supercars. "I'm always thinking about next year, and probably another month or so we'll be looking at 2009 more seriously. "V8s is the goal for most of the young drivers in Australia and it is definitely mine, but in saying that there are less than 30 seats now, so if there is a seat available great, if not, then Fujitsu Series is an option, or another year in Porsche. Who knows?"

CARRERA CUP,ROUNDS .^ SANDOWN INT.RACEWAY' THE Carrera Gup field will find it hard to peg back Craig Baird; from here. The Kiwi qualified on pole at Sandown before winning the first two races. David Wall improved in each race,finishing third second and first in the three races. Series fast man Aaron Caratti qualified second but was involved in an incident with Rodney Forbes, who was third in quaiifying (his season-best). Bryce Washington continues his improvement,finishing third overall from Boom Logistics driver David Russell and James Moffat. Points: Baird 870,Fiore 642,Russell 600,Washington 534,Carrati 528, Wall 495, Moffat 402, Mawer 372, Jane 348, Forbes 291. 61

Dirk Klynsmith

gg^FQRmilLRFQRD THE CAMS Rising Star program is ali about giving young aspiring race drivers a leg up in the world of motorsport. It's a pretty exclusive group with some past names that include John Martin and Ash Walsh. This year sees Jake Chapman,Scott Pye and Daniel Erickson join the list. And after a slow start to the season the team looks to have hit its straps with Chapman becoming the first Rising Star to win a race this season in Round 3 of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Sandown. In doing so. Chapman also clinched the 50th win by a CAMS Rising Star driver since the program's inception in 2005. "We've been struggling a little bit in testing this year and I've been a little bit behind Daniel [Erickson] and Sfott [Pye],"said Chapman. "But then to be able to come out and actually beat them on the day, not in the overall, but to have the first win this year as a Rising Star feels pretty special. "We struggled at the start of the weekend but we worked at it, pushed and ended up getting the result. "I was a bit more relaxed at Sandown and came in with a bit more confidence.The first two rounds I felt like I had to prove something. But this one I just thought,'all right I'm going to do well here'and I didn't put as much pressure on myself." The obvious next step for Chapman is a long plane

FORMULA FORD,ROUND 3 SANDOWNINT.RACEWAY

making that next step is something that has brought some of the biggest names in Australian motorsport unstuck. 'Last year I went over and did the Formula Ford Festival and had a chance to see what it's like," he said. 'It's definitely the ultimate goal, and hopefully later this year, we'll be heading to Europe with CAMS to do some testing and some networking with the teams. "I want to try and move away from Formula Ford. "As much as it is a very good class, I've got to start moving on to wings and slicks eventually. Something like Formula Renault is a very good place to start. "We are going to apply for the AMSF International program again and I've got a great relationship going with a lot of the people down at the AMSF. Like many young drivers. Formula 1 is the goal for Jake and being part of the Rising Star program gives him a great opportunity to further his career. "When I'm over there I'll have a look and see what my options are. "The AMSF program uses its contacts to get you in a category that the hierarchies of motorsport look at. I'll be working with them to work out the best path to take."

PAUL Laskazeski extended his lead in the Championship standings with two race wins and a second place in Round 3 at Sandown International Raceway. CAMS Rising Star driver Jake Chapman picked up the final win of the round with a great drive in the final race. Second for the round went to Rising Star Scott Pye, who had a consistent string of results when others struggled. While, Adam Graham was lucky to get away with light damage after a spin in Race 2. A red flag ended the race and took the results back a lap giving Graham third place. A good run in the final race saw him finish third for the round. Points: Laskazewski 134, Ben Morley 88,Graham 82,Pye 70, Brad Lowe 62, Nick Percat61, Daniel Erickson 56,Rob Storey 46, Chapman 46.

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Stepping out ofthe shadow You know the name,but do you know theface? PHILLIP MAHONEY spoke to George Miedecke

U8 UTE5

WHO is George Miedecke? Well,for those of you don't know,George is the son of Touring Car and Open Wheeler stalwart Andrew Miedecke. More recently, Andrew has been the V8 Utes Driver Standards Advisor. After a promising season last year that saw him narrowly miss out of the Rookie of the Year title, Miedecke Jr has shown good pace in 2008. Unfortunately, issues have kept him well down in the standings. "It's been frustrating, to say the least,"said Miedecke. "We've been top three in every round in terms of speed so to be back in ninth in the championship is very frustrating. But you've got to roll with the unchesJfi(giiacLa.pcetty.ea.sy

year last year so it had to come sometime and i think it's mainly because I'm starting to drive the car harder now and that's starting to expose the weaknesses in what we're doing. "But we've got a bit of a plan to move forward for the rest of the year and try and make good on the speed we've got." Having his Dad back in the team after a stint as Driver Standards Advisor is a bonus for George, who believes it will give him and the team the ability to translate their good speed into some more favourable results. "Dad has been around in motorsport for so long,so he's the best sort of team manager you could possibly have," Miedecke said. It's exciting really to have him focusing his energy on me

potential, so I'm really looking forward to it. "There will be less silly mistakes and more solid results so I'm defiantly aiming for a round win this year and with any luck we'll be fighting for the championship next year." For Miedecke another positive of his Dad being more involved in the team is that he will be able to monitor and supervise what is going on to eliminate some of the issues they have had so far this season. "A lot of it [the errors] was due to a lack of preparation. I'm not based in Pt Macquarie where the team is so I'm not around to make sure everything being done. "Sometimes.it'sjus|.a,Jack of oversight and I think that's what Dad will give us is a bit more organisation and preparationjbr

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"Luck is where preparation meets opportunity and we've just got to get the preparation right because we've got the opportunity." Miedecke is also currently racing in the Australian Manufacturers Championship (where he won the first round at Phillip Island) with the Factory Hyundai team in an effort to improve his/acecraft and give him experience in some longer races. "The idea of having longer races really appeals to me and I'd like to get into some more consistent endurance racing," he said. "As a racing driver you just want' l to be in as many cars as.you can as.> often as you can so being in’these:.*:' [ptoijlngtion cars] gives the thaT ',: opportunity."’

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on TRHCh MINI CHALLENGE,ROUND 4 SANDOWNINT.RACEWAY

While Sherrin Motorsport gets bigger, it wants to get better. GRANT ROWLEY reports on the Queensland team's plans... now and the future

I I s'

X^ mini CHRLLERGE

QUEENSLANDER lain Sherrin came from motor racing obscurity three years ago to own and run his own teams and categories. After starting in the sport as a tarmac rally part-timer, Sherrin now runs a multi-car team, plus two manufacturer-supported categories (Carrera Cup and MINI Challenge). The announcement two months ago that he will relinquishing his category management duties wasn't a major shock - certainly not for Sherrin himself. Again, his passion is racing - it's what he wants to do, and it's what he wants to do well. He says that running a race team and operating a category are like comparing chalk and cheese. "It gets to the point when you ask yourself "what is your business and what are you doing?" he said. "Although it's in motorsport, running a category and being a race team are two completely separate businesses. "I guess I've just had a good look at what I want to do and where I want to be. I've come to the conclusion that running a team is

the direction I want to take." Sherrin's race team is already well established.This year, three Carrera Cup Cars and seven MINI Challenge cars are on the track with assistance from Sherrin Motorsport. Next year, there could be possibly more, and the year after, they might even have a V8 Supercar team... But before the future comes, running up to 10 cars at a race track on any given weekend throws up the odd challenge. "Regardless of what track you're at, certain cars do well, certain cars have problems. That's the nature of it," he says. "It throws up some different scenarios, problems and good results, which is the bit your enjoy. "I've got a good team, and if you look at the results of some of our cars, they are pretty good, so it shows that we can not only run them, but run them at the front of the field." Of drivers that Sherrin's got at his disposal this year, he says that he's been impressed with all his steerers.

J^l Stokell fi nish^foufith-ftom PauliFiore andNathan^'j' Geier. "'y. The series now turps^ < Phillip Island across Septdmb^ 21-24 weekend. .'V Points: Denyer 594, McFady^n 564,' .7 Stokell 429, Geier 420iP Fiore 4J 4, ' ■ Young 351,T Fiore 282; Caiiaghan ' j 243, Turner 216, Bargwa'rina 180,. ● ■>

"We look after the Decorug cars, and Grant Denyer is leading that championship, which is a fantastic result for us. "Another guy who we've picked

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up is Nathan Geier. We think he has a lot of potential and is a great edition to our team. Also, the Fiore boys are both showing good signs, particularly Paul at this stage, but there is quite a number talented drivers who we are looking after. "In Carrera Cup, David Russell as always is doing the job. He had a bad Wakefield Park, but he's always towards the front of Carrera Cup. And that's telling he's always threatening, and those are the type of results we want." But what about expanding his team? Could we see a Sherrin Motorsport V8 Supercar outfit sometime down the track? "It's definitly our goal and where we want to go," he said. "We're a long way off getting there, but it is our future. "One of the reasons why I'm doing what I'm doing is because I'm passionate about the motor sport industry and that's where I want to head and it's where I see my team in the future."

NEW MINI Challenge team owner Jason Bargwanna kicked off his category'debut' with a dominant round win at Sandown. 'Bargs'smoked the opposition,taking three race victories in tricky weather conditions. "Having done a few wet races at Sandown in the past, it really helped me out irrthe conditions," he said. Championship leader Grant Denyer completed double duties(MINIS and Fujitsu V8s), : finishing'second in the small- ; cars and winning a race in the ' big cars! Former Gold Star champion Neil McFayden ran third: outright and remainefi^withinstriking distance ofDenyer the series. .● o

The Sherrin Show: The inaugural MINI Challenge Series is making gains every round, above, with a record 19 cars at Sandown. Sherrin Motorsport's David Russell is an integral part of the Queensland-based team.

Britain's nei Aussie hope

X-.

Can James Winslow become Britain's V8 Supercar hope?' GRANT ROWLEY spoke to him about F3,A1GP and V8s 1

BRITISH racing drivers competing in the Australian Formula 3 Championship is not ^ a new story - nor is the fact that ‘ Brits have expressed interest in racing V8 Supercars, .m 2006,the UK's Ben Clucas , n came,saw and conquered our local F3 championship, winning V- an amazing 11. wins/rgjjp 12 starts, ; ,' ’ For Clucas though,that's where his Australian adventure ended. After testing two V8 Supercars and, with minimal budget, he now resides back in the UK, where he's driving Sportscars. Enter James Winslow.The 27-year-old is currently equal second in the Australian title after finishing fourth in last year's title race, despite missing a round. This year was meant to be his season to snatch the title, but Winslow was hit hard by the collapse of financial broker Opes Prime.To compete in the past two rounds, he has had to switch between teams and scrounge for sponsorship to get keep his championship campaign on track. It's a hard road that many, many race drivers have to endure, but Winslow has a goal - he wants to stay in Australia and race V8 Supercars. "All I can do this year is Just basically hang in there," he said. "I can't afford to damage a wing or a wishbone. Something as simple as that could mean I miss the next race. "I want to try and win Formula 3 here, get the prizemoney and then show people what I can do in

a V8 Supercar. "My ambition is to race in the V8s. It's what I'd very much like to do. I'm in a position where I think I'm good enough to do it. Basically, it's just a matter for finding a deal that suits and working hard to get it done. "There's isn't much chance of me going overseas and being a Formula 1 driver, so to have a nice life in Australia, a race career in V8 Super^ai;s and dp some A1GP stuff as well, I'd be more thari happy to have that." The first box he'd like to tick, though,is to win the Australian F3 title, but when you're switching between teams mid-season, it makes life hard. Or does it? "They are basically the same cars, they are all Dallaras,"he says. "Some of them have different engines, and they have slightly different characteristics like the pedal set ups and the like. I've doae a bit of single seater racing, so after a few laps, it's not a problem. "And at a track like Phillip Island that suits my style, I was able to Jump in and feel pretty comfortable straight away." Being comfortable is one thing, winning races is another. Winslow agrees that there is no room for error in Australian F3 in 2008. "It's a very competitive championship,and I don't think that it gets enough credit for how competitive it actually is," he says. "It has definitely grown over the past few years. Now you've got Leanne (Tander), Nathan (Caratti) and Neil(McFadyen). It's definitely competitive and it has a fair bit of respect."

FORMULA 3,ROUNDS PHILLIP ISLAND CIRCUIT

V8-bound? James Winslow is winning races in Australian F3,and wants to stay Oz-based.

NATHAN Caratti extended his Formula 3 Championship lead with a first and a second place in Round 5 at Phillip island. Caratti edged out Leanne Tander and Stuart Kostera in the first race, however, both Tander and Kostera were penalised in the second race for overlapping at a restart. James Winslow was the benefactor,taking the second race win after being hit off the track by Neil McFadyen in Race 1. McFadyen was later penalised for his indiscretion. In the other classes, Lee Farrell and Chris Gilmour shared win in the National class, while Jesse Wakeman and Andrew Mill won Trophy. Points: Caratti 128,Winslow/Tander 110, McFadyen 99, Mat Sofi 70, Kostera 43, Nick Percat 38.

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A miniature slice of Americana HRSCUP

WELCOME to the United States of Australia and introducing NASCUP - a cross between America's favourite stock series, NASCAR, and our home-grown miniature racing formula, Aussie Racing Cars. The cars are half-sized replicas of the famous NASCAR Sprint Cup, employing a typically American NASCAR-type space frame chassis, powered by a 1.3 litre Yamaha engine with water cooling. Imported by Aussie Racing Car creator Phil Ward, the cars will set you back $20,000 as a rolling chassis, and come in a kit form. According to Ward, they are easy to put together and even offer small ways for a bit of'home engineering.' "They are kind of like a mini Sports Sedan,"Ward says. "Competitors can buy the kits, have a play with them and come up with their own minor

engineering tweaks. "And the stuff in these car are as good as what anyone already has in their garage." The NASCUP class of car will be integrated in to other CAMS classes, with one likely option including the Future Racer class. As more cars come on stream and fields grow. Ward says that stand-alone events will be sanctioned.

At this early stage, interest in the cars have been solid, and he expects a half dozen to be in people's garages in the near future. Back in the late 1980s, Bob Jane, through hisThunderdome race track at Calder tried to kick off NASCAR racing in Australia. In the short-term, the formula was successful, but with the increased popularity of V8 Supercars,

Australian NASCAR didn't have the legs to continue. But of late, we're seeing a resurgence in the popularity of NASCAR racing 'down undei;.' With the continued success of Australian Marcos Ambrose, and other well-known stars like Juan Pablo Montoya competing in their series, NASCUP could be our local answer to Stock Car racing. - GRANT ROWLEY

f people who wish to get into motorsport. Introducing a new class of car that will offer similar excitement and drivingjfjnlls Jo a whole/ The cars are half-sized replicas of the famous NASCAR Sprint Cup Supers^êawaywairs that race every weekend on America's traditional oval type chpî^pweijedibv aT-.3 li{re.Yamaha_engi ne wUh w^torcîtjg.^h layputs.They employ a strong typically êrican iheirthat INASCAR ^ ^ reolTcêl ^ ^space ^ frame . iffa^mou!? hodwsivlos'that are-sowell knov/n on the fainous'lracksiacros^f * "âfe aad/obisfclTassiS is drapeS in a fi^glass shell that replicates the famous bodv^les that are-so well known on thîTOUftgac -Vs ■ fnci 'âlfaSecia.aad fnlfanapolis ” '' ‘ T-r-j^ *e on lr'jAuptialjaJhereJs.aflr.winflJoltb.wjol:MLN^.eA^n(l.The;NASC of car^Wlhbff integrated jp'tg^ww^^jan^^njoscaj^îge.o r* > a e: ^^!4r«^^:gifl»„«^*.^^[^(ffi:i^|ê,puncHtoppirig^sP^^^^^KPH on t'he-’sfraialits'.'Jrreaual^gthv^^rf’eiflgBtstispensro?i pomts S power transfflittg^ tQihe.trackvia^Ji^âj3|ej^flhdoVpgê's.^yihf^tuU«rac*eîc^tiangaît oUering unjimited 5rive gear-selection fqr_any track^vh@^^â^^^m^^-intCTTOfatir^|ullfai^l{^j^stablîas ●aBjnstmOTt that stop,the an amazing heart stopping Cars are available in a vyhol^ngeiof cpn?pleteyead7to^c^Hd■kitJorm ggrolhsUhgfipmeJhecharnccdn easil^ss'gnBle a*car from a kit that-oan

be tailored to suitôt^gtiggeêê^Wm^gPS^^paclâ^ is jitâ.ggs^^h includeS^!! the mî^rts to g^your car rolling less engin rienced in the industry * Tufy^.wlll be^'n_a-âif>^^s^gdjPpS^tt^^Jgriti^geâôujJijs^^ts thdl yod

Engine: Optional -incYamaha 1.3 litre Roll Cage: Integral with chassis Horsepower: 120-125 h.p. (Approx) Wheelbase: 1945mm Wheels: Aero Steel 13 inch X 7 inch Width: 1340mm Length: 3640mm Tyres: Hoosier Slicks 21 x 13-7 Height: 1066mm Steering: Stiletto Rack & Pinion Suspension: Afco Coil-Over shocks Weight: 566kg -. Top speed: 200km/h* Rear End: Winter's Quick. Change

Iter

2008 Events . 12th July: Oran Park 6/7th September: Morgan Park 5th October: Eastern Creek 1/2 Novt»mb&r: Pastern Creek

?MARK WICKSiEilroduces two new chassis to the Australian karting market-Kosmos Kart and One Kart y n

entire Kosmos range from Bambini (Midget/Rookie)through various lOOcc models to Leopard/Rotax and 125cc Shifters. ITALY is known as the heart of The duo is in the throes of modern kart racing and two more of the countries manufacturers establishing a quasi race team and have graced Australian race have already engaged Victorian tracks with new chassis. ace Zeke Edwards to steer the blue Kosmos Kart and One Kart are and white machines in Formula establishing themselves in the 100 and Rotax Light. Aussie market, but in different With karts having just arrived in the country,the team made a ways. One Kart is targeting only rushed debut at the Todd Road the high performance classes with two models while Kosmos offer round of the All Star series. Using a full range of chassis to suit all Sonik engines sourced from the categories. Kosmos factory team in Europe, The Kosmos brand was officially Edwards was also having his first launched at the International run in the Formula 100 category kart show at Offenbach and qualified and finished inside (Germany)in 2003. However,the the top 10. parent company(Paulo Drago's Unfortunately,this positive start Drago Engineering) had been came to a crashing halt at the ACT Titles when a massive accident manufacturing various karting products for other firms since 1992. wrote off Edwards'Rotax kart. Bourke holds the lead in the With CIK homologation,the chassis have been increasing its Over 40s Heavy division of the Formula 100 Titan series. He is presence throughout Europe and are now represented in currently establishing a dealer Australia thanks to a new retail network and aims to have the and wholesale karting business karts appear at as many circuits as in Melbourne's Airport West. possible, including regional tracks, Business partners Bobby Bourke over the coming months. One Kart is a new brand from and Paul Borrelli are offering the

^hRRTinG

●4/J-

The most beautiful karts in the Kosmos:Zeke Edwards,above,in his Kosmos,and the One Kart ofDean Foster, top. independent manufacturer, BRM. The striking silver-grey and carbonlook machines were immediately on the pace in Formula 100, Dean Foster qualifying and running third at Todd Rd (until the airbox fell off). Dominic Albanese was fastest of the Heavies and backed that up with a win at Geelong's recent Winter Cup. "This new chassis contains all the quality and advanced technologies of a BRM product,

but with the benefit of being designed with Australian conditions as its basis,"importer Steve Pettaras said. Pettaras has made sure the kart was designed to make best use of the tyres used here by ensuring BRM tested with the local rubber. The One Kart is available in two chassis sizes(30mm and 32mm tube) with the new Euro style 25mm stub axles and 40 or 50mm rear axles. lUDLCaiJiJ/J

on TRACK

Fast,and even more speed to come

>:^ SPORTS SEDfln

THE Kerrick Sports Sedan Series is having a gold season, with larger fields filled with better equipment flooding the grids. And one car that is making its presence felt is the Audi A4 of Darren Hossack. While the new car looks damn impressive, it is also very fast, winning two races at the recent round at Phillip Island, as well as resetting the Island's lap record. The Audi, built by Darren's father and John Gourlay, made its debut earlier this year, with the Island meeting being only its fourth outing. Already, Hossack has given the car race wins, and the scary thing is that he says there is more to come. "Compared to my old Saab, it's got more all-round grip," he said. "It doesn't seem to hurt its tyres like we seemed to suffer in the past. I could match Tony (Ricciardello) with it, but as the weekend went on. I'd fall away

a bit. With this car, that doesn't seem to be the case. "It's also a lot more user friendly. Traditionally, Sports Sedans are backyard creations. With the Saab, we did modifications after modifications. We started with a clean sheet of paper for this car and it has made it easier for us to work on. You can make more

changes at the track. I remember the eary days of the Saab - it would take us an hour and a half to change the front springs! "This car just has more grip, and when you have more grip, you tend to have better tyres, because the thing isn't sliding all over the place and you can carry a bit more corner speed, so you're not asking

for as much drive out of the rear tyres. Consequently, you get to the last race in Sunday and yqu still have good rubber to go into battle with." The next round of the Kerrick Sports Sedan Series supports the Shannons Nationals at Eastern Creek (July 12-13). - GRANT ROWLEY

*Hand made to the highest of standards ●WITH ANY KART SOLD WE GIVE FULL AFTER SALES HELP AND SERVICE ●Chassis for Midget, Rookie, JNL, JNH, J Clubman, Senior J, Senior Clubman, Formula 100, Leopard, Rotax, DDE, gearbox

●Developed and manufactured by BRM for the Australian and New Zealand market ●Incredible results in its first two outings as well as a lap record [F100 heavy Dominc Albanese] all stars series. ●30mm and 32mm chassis

Call for your neareset BRM or ONE RACING Dealer Definitive racing kartshe^Mmjie^tlylo^gdl^Tiinutes from theSy^ey CBD at Rosebery %j #

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'A'

STATE SCEAE

EDITED BY PHILLIP MAHONEY

THIS MONTH'S COVERAGE OF AUSTRALIAN STATE MOTOR RACING ^ >:

UIESTGRR RU5TRRLIR

THE future of V8 Supercar racing at Barbagallo Raceway isn't as uncertain as you might think. Because, even if the V8 Supercar Championship Series decides to never head West again, Isidore Ambrosio and his latest toy, an ex-Perkins Engineering VZ Commodore,will be there, and probably right at the front of the field. Ambrosio debuted the car at the recent Spices Catering Cup at Barbagallo, and did so in style, toppling the long-standing domination of the Mazda RX-7s by winning two races and the round in Sports Sedans. The car is Perkins chassis 040, and has an exciting history. It was the last V8 Supercar Larry Perkins raced in 2002, before being raced by Steven Richards in 2003. In 2004, Paul Dumbrell took over the car, and qualified third at Bathurst. He drove it again in 2005, before Jack Perkins raced it in the 2006 Fujitsu Series. Now it is shared by Ambrosio and Dean Kovosovich, who previously raced a VS Commodore together,and will alternate between meetings. Alistair Hutchins is the main ,man on the tools. ^ "Even now the car is capable of going a lot faster,"says Ambrosio. "But compared to the VS,the biggest

difference is the turn in - the car turns in really well. And the brakes are awesome,as is the mid corner speed.With this car you can brake right into the apex." Naturally, Ambrosio was stoked with his winning debut, and rapt to beat perennial winner Matt Cherry and his RX-7. "I went and shook his hand at the end of the race because we were racing door-to-door

Enjoyment Value

THE COMBINED TOURING CARS ARE PROBABLY THE BEST PRODUCTION-CAR RACING IN THE COUNTRY AT THE MOMENT. JIM POLLICINA 70

^ >:

and he gave me room,and I gave him room. I was really happy with the result; it was a good feeling." Other winners at the Spices Catering Cup included Jez Hammond (Formula Vee), Rob Marcon (HQs), Chris Reindler(Formula Ford), Dion Panizza (Saloon Cars) and Daryl Hansen (HistoricTouring Cars). - ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

REUI SOUTH UIRLE5

ONE of the headline acts in the 2008 NSW Motor Racing Championship is the productionbased Combined Touring Car category. This series features a large variety of cars, ranging from V8 HSV GTS examples,to turbocharged AWD Mitsubishi Lancer Evos and some smaller four-cylinder cars as well. Last year's Australian Performance Car Privateers Cup Champion, Jim Pollicina, has returned to the NSW Combined Touring Car Championship,and is enjoying the nature of the competition. "The Combined Touring Cars are probably the best productioncar racing in the country at the moment," Pollicina said. "Compared to the Performance Car Privateers class, the numbers are a lot healthier. At some rounds last year, there were only two entries in the Privateers class, whereas in Combined Touring, there are always eight to 10 cars

battling for outright race wins. "It is also a lot more affordable than the Performance Cars because there are a lot less travelling expenses. "My main competition this year is Matthew Holt. Matthew won the Championship last year, and he's ahead of me so far this season.Tony Loscialpo and Tony Virag have been very quick as well in their HSVs, as has Gerry Burgess in his Lancer Evo. There's still a long way to go,so I'll be trying as hard as I can to win." Pollicina finished second behind Bob Brewer in Round 2 of the production-based Combined Touring Cars at Eastern Creek. Other category winners over the weekend were Ryan Simpson (Formula Ford), Peter Lucas (Production Sports), Greg King (HQ Holdens), Shane Hart(Formula Vee), Chris Jackson (Sports Sedans), Robert Choon (AF2 / Supersports / Clubman Challenge), Ryan Brown (Improved Production Over 2Litre) and Bob Jowett(Improved Production Under 2-Litre). -LACHLAN MANSELL

motorsportnews

STRTESCEnE

A Racing Heritage ► >:

UlCTORin

WHEN your family is so heavily involved in motorsport, it's often hard not to get caught up and involved. Meet young Victorian Ben Small. Small is the younger brother of James Small, Russell Ingall's race engineer and the son of Les Small, Paul Morris's race engineer. "I've been brought up and been around motor racing ever since I can remember,"said Small. "It's always been my passion

and I'd love to make a career out of it, if possible." Small is currently racing in the CAMS Victorian Formula Ford series and recorded his first win in Round 2 at Phillip Island. Once a promising young karter, Small has been missing from the motor racing scene for a few years. "I did karting for about 10 years and then took three years off to concentrate on my VCE and university. "But I'm finishing university this year so it's time to get back into it. "I was always brought up that

QUEEnSLRHD

ONE of the recent additions to the Queensland calendar did not go ahead as scheduled. The Queensland 500 club enduro relay, starting in the afternoon and finishing under lights, was scheduled to be held on the Queen's Birthday weekend, the second of three consecutive race weekends for the QR crew. The Q500 has been put on hold for a yet to be determined date later in the year, with the race provisionally shifted to Lakeside Park.

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I had to do well in school and have something behind me before 1 tackled motorsport." With a degree in entrepreneurship now almost under his belt, it was time to make the jump to Formula Ford. "It was tough making the transition [from karts]. "I suppose the biggest thing was not being in a competitive racing environment and getting into that first race and having other cars around took a bit of getting used to again. "But my brother raced Formula Ford as well, so 1 was always going to have a go at driving in

During a conversation about Lakeside with an old mate, who should know, it came up that Lakeside has never had a real enduro event in its 47 year history,"said Queensland Raceways CEO John Tetley on Queensland Raceway's website. "This will be the first, the last and the only 500km race to be held on the track as it stands. It will also be the last race before we close down for the serious civil works in October." Final details are yet to be finalised but the race is likely to be held in September or October. June 1 saw the return of historic racing to Queensland Raceway with the Shannons

the category." With his family deeply entrenched in the technical side of sport it would be reasonable to expect him top travel down the same path. But Small is pretty determined to draw his own line in the sand. "I'm a driver through and through and there's no way I'm going over to that side of the fence," he Joked. "I'd love to race V8 Supercars. And if I ever got the chance I would Jump at it. I'd love to go race NASCAR in America. "That would be the ultimate." - PHILLIP MAHONEY

Sports and Muscle Car Showdown. Modelled as a lower key version of Eastern Creek's Muscle Car Masters, almost 90 competing cars took to the circuit along with demonstration laps from classic machinery. A highlight was the big field of Group N Touring Cars, Ethan Lind's LCTorana won two of the four races with Bruce Dummett (LJ Torana) and Russell Wright (XY Falcon). While the historic Sports Car races saw three wins for Lee Faulkner (Datsun 260Z) and three seconds to Jason Lea (Datsun 280Z). -MARK JONES 77

BRIEFLV.l ll

Lines heads OS n SOUTH Australian Steve Lines has arrived over in America to focus on his 360 Sprintcar campaign that will kick offon June20. While OS, Lines has been organising the shipment of six new J&Js to Australia for a number of competitors. Lines is due to stay in America for the next three months to compete in a host of races. "I cannot wait to get out there for my first run, and just get amongst it," Lines said. "Since I have arrived, I have been organising with Jack Elam for half a dozen J8ds to be shipped over to Australia, and now that is all sorted, I can now focus on what I'm here for, and that is racing." B NASCAR and Sprintcar fans ^were treated recently when Sprint Cup Series Champion Tony Stewart competed in the Ollie's 360 Challenge. Stewart raced his #20 Old Spice Sprintcar against a group of the best drivers in the country, including fellow Cup regulars Kasey Kahne and Dave Blaney. "Whenever I can race my dirt Sprint car or Late Model, I'm excited about it," said Stewart. "Open-wheel racing is a form of relaxation for me and I am really looking forward to running my winged 360 Sprint car at least three times this season.These events are marquee races and I'm pleased that Eldora Speedway will host a race in July. We're very proud to be able to offer our fans a variety of quality racing events and I'm sure this will be one of our biggest races of the season."

HERE are currently seven Australian riders among the top 25 in the British Elite League averages. Leigh Adams is already the highest ever-scorer over the years in Britain but former World champion and Grand Prix star Jason Crump is close behind. Davy Watt, Adam Shields, Troy Batchelor and Cameron Woodward are also very much in the mix with each, effectively, averaging nearly a second place from every heat in which they ride. However the man who is

GP rights, is always looking for new faces and it surely won't be long before Holder is among the sport's Elite. While Jason Crump was looking back to his best in the Denmark Grand Prix

catching the eye of everyone is Chris Holder.

At a small track just north of London at Rye House the 18-yearold finished third in the World Under-21 semi-final behind fellow Aussie Troy Batchelor andTai Woffinden, who is now racing on an English licence even though his father Rob was Aussie through and through. Crump has now failed to make the first two in 19 successive GPs but the Gold Coast man is still confident he can again be world champion. And,to be fair, he is right up there challenging Nicki Pedersen and Tomasz Gollob, who won his second GP in four starts in Copenhagen. "It went pretty well tonight but we missed out in the end. It is

Holder has taken the place of Crump in the hearts of the British League fans at Poole, where Crump was the hero of the supporters until his return to Belle Vue. Holder was racing in the British Second Division for the Isle of Wight just a year ago but, after a season back home in Australia, where he won the Australian title, he returned to Britain looking the finished article, improving every week and confidently expected to be the next World Champion from Australia. Crump now races regularly some 400km away on the Manchester circuit at Belle Vue but he has faced Holder many times already, not only in England, but in Sweden and Poland as well. Crump is now a veteran of 94 GP's and currently, only he and Adams represent Australian in the big events. But IMG, which now hold the

H ih" Holder was plotting his next step towards the World Under-21 final 24 hours later.

t.;,/ m A

Auss/e Speedway GP racer

„(,ove, on the

Chris Holder end TroyBaUl^ podium at the under-J i wui ^

going to be much closer this year and I am sure I will be there or thereabouts,"said Crump after the meeting in Denmark. "Tomasz is riding as well as ever but there's no way I can't match him and Nicki." For Holder, it's currently all about the British domestic scene

and racing around Europe and he has now settled into a British home in the South of England. Without a wildcard chance to race in a GP this year Holder will continue to battle in the Under21 competition and also through the GP qualifiers. But even if he misses out on official qualification, it seems likely the Grand Prix organisers could well give an invitation to him to be among the 15 privileged riders for next year's series. With the season starting in April 2009, Holder will still be only 19 and could be the youngest regular rider ever in the world championships. The scenario would see him join Crump and Adams to carry the Australian flag at the highest level. Whatever happens, it doesn't look like it will be too much longer before the new breed of young stars are right up there battling with the likes of Crump and Adams. Just how long, we'll have to wait and see. -TONY MILLARD

moiorsportnews

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urring Down The Quarter

Australian Group 1 drag racing is going gangbusters,and the 2007/8 season saw the best in Aussie quarter LUKE NIEUWHOF miles racing continue to transform the sport back into its former glorious self

HE 2007/8 Australian National Drag Racing Association series saw some of the biggest growth ever in the straight-line sport with massive fields, quick times and a full TV deal to cover it all. A total of 106 pro racers competed among the six Group 1 categories in events over three tracks.

Top Fuel dragsters are the kings of the sport and the king of kings (and queens it should be added) was New South Welshman Phil Read taking his Auto One/Snap On rail to its third consecutive championship win. Regular 4.5s runs and passes over 320mph were too strong for others to match, bar his team mate West Australian Martin Stamatis, who became known for his heavy hitting pace later in the season. Several huge stories emerged from the nitro-fuelled machines during the season.There was Victorian Phil Lamattina's shocking 74

accident at Willowbank Raceway in November, where his chassis split in half at over BOOmph, launching the cockpit through the air.Thankfully Lamattina emerged unharmed,a tribute to the safety of the cars. He was able to rebuild the dragster and compete at the next round at Willowbank in January. Stamatis also suffered a huge moment at WSID at the Nitro Champs. A rear tyre blowout almost destroyed his rail and forced him to revert to Jim Read Racing's spare machine for the final round atWillowbank's Winternationals, which he went on to win. A fresh face in the category was Sydney's Amanda Shepherd, whose enthusiasm and youth won over many new fans.The 20-yearold had no qualms about taking it to the boys, with the highlight being a runner-up spot at the Australian Nationals. She also went to the semi-finals twice and finished sixth in the championship. With the right backing for next

season, this now consistent foursecond car could be very much the dark horse. Top Alcohol matches Funny Cars and dragsters against one another and this season it was the Funny Cars reigning supreme. Queenslander Brett Stevens took his Kitten Mustang to the championship win.The turning point in the season was the crucial Perth round (with 50 percent bonus points on offer) where Stevens took the win and some bonus points for low ET.'The Boss'had power that could not be topped, scorching to a best speed of 263mph, unheard of for a methanol-fuelled Funny Car in Australia. Unlike last year's close contest with Sydney's Wayne Newby, this year the championship was virtually over by the last round and Stevens finished with a massive lead. Newby this season finished third,just one round short of overtaking another Funny Car racer in Aaron Lynch.

Speaking of Lynch, he had one of the biggest season of any pro racer.The Queensland driver has been regularly competing in his Top Alcohol Funny Car and Top Doorslammer for some time now, but this season added a Top Fuel dragster and a Nitro Funny Car to the operation.The dragster competed in two rounds, going to runner-up on debut, while the Funny Car wasn't in championship action but ran a 5.26s in testing Australia's quickest ever time for the breed. Top Doorslammer was the biggest of all the categories with 27 racers competing over the season and also ran its first 16-car field at the Tin Top Titles. This season, the championship finally went to West Aussie John Zappia and the Striker Monaro after several years of trying. Zappia is well known as one of the original supercharged sedan exponents and is as revered in the West as Victor Bray is in the East. Regular five-second passes proved

motorsportnews

DRAG RRCIHG

Brett's bikers: Troy McLeari, above, and Peter Cochrane,.below, were the pick of the Group 1 bike racers.

Quick and fast: Phil Read won the TF title, above, while John Zappia held on for TD honours, below.

PERHAPS the biggest. -? change to the ANDf^ . . : series this season was the' f-v n laddition df.TjUca^erei at -

too good for the rest of the field. Brett Stevens finished second in the Jack Daniel's Falcon while Ben Bray put the Castrol Edge Monaro into third. The five-second barrier still makes news in the Doorslammer category and no less than seven racers ran into the'fives'this season. Kath Stevens and Deno Brijeski moved into the zone at the Summernationals in Sydney for the first time, while Robin Judd, Ben Bray and Brett Stevens all put down their passes at the season ending Winternationals. Judd in particular shocked the field with a 5.90s run to become Australia's quickest and second quickest in the world. The craziest men in the sport reside in Top Bike and this season it was Troy McLean on the Jack Daniel's Harley who was just able to hold out New Zealand s Athol Williams, riding a nitro-fuelled four cylinder with custom-built engine. It was consistency that proved valuable for McLean - he never lost in the first round. Williams meantime became one of the most popular racers on the tour with an underdog reputation and friendly nature. He showed

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towards the end of the season just what sort of potential his machine had with a 6.45s pass at the Winternationals - the quickest of any bike for the series. And you can guarantee there's more in reserve. Pro Stock is home to 400 cubic inch, naturally aspirated sedans and is another category showing more growth as more and more teams import US-spec cars to compete in. It was a story of the brothersTremayne this season, with Aaron winning the championship after four event wins while Tyronne finished second with one win and two runner-ups.They even had the nerve to change cars mid season and still dominate.Tyronne closed his season strongly by running the quickest time ever in Australian Pro Stock with a 7.07s. Pro Stock Motorcycle had a difficult season as the only category to show a decline in numbers, not achieving a full field for the whole series. Recent engine rule changes have left several teams with expensive decisions to make and left season Champion Peter Cochrane dominant on the S&S Buell, run under the Brett Stevens Racing team.

While struggling early on with poor reaction times and some very strange start line habits with the bike the team eventually got sorted and had the bike back on pace, even resetting the national speed record. Only South Australian Jason Lee was able to come close to the twin-cylinder. His Trevor Birrelltuned Suzuki showing it could have the pace to match up with Cochrane next season with some 7.2s passes. However with several racers planning to leave again over the off season,the Pro Stock Motorcycle division could be in trouble. Top Fuel:P Read 695, M Stamatis 550 D Morgan 468,P Lamattina 403, A Dobson 380. Top Alcohol: B Stevens 698, A Lynch 543, W Newby 535,B Bray 440,5 Reed 380. Top Doorslammer:J Zappia 642,B Stevens 500, B Bray 455, G Phillips 340,5 Stanic335. Top Bike: TMcLean 653,A Williams 591,B Stevens 540,1 Asheiford 360, N Smith 300. Pro Stock:A Tremayne 520, TTremayne 4W,JBarbagailo 350,5Porter 340,D Newcombe 280. Pro Stock Bike:P Cochrane 545,J Lee 480, C Codeassi 410, M Gilbertson 320, M Allen 230.

allProfessioijal:and;Rp*cket.;ij| Allstars Racing SerjMevent^'^ The TV'deal ptit.dca'g: racita|'f as the second most covered;.',^ motorsport to V8 SupercarS"^ and many teams stepped'^up |.f their presentation to go alohg^ with it. TV shows have been; ' Jr aired on Channel Nine/SBS and Foxtel andwith-niprer innovative covera'ge'ping ? planned for next season,a lot _ < of people are staging to take, notice, with sevejal; nSajor ' ^ sponsorship.jinnouhGfemehtfe> being credited to theW Vpackage. r ANDRA has also been

undertaking media, ^ monitoring to ascertain the ^ value of the coverage and; * provide competitors with statistics on just what they l : are getting to their dollar. Th roug h a tiered system competitors have,somewhat controversially among sportsman racers, paid for the coverage but opinion is turning as some of the benefits start to flow through. As an arena motorsport, drag racing is turning some heads. It may well be Australian sport's sleeping (nitro) giant... -LUKENIEUWHOF

BRIEFLV,l ll Marker's second! STEVE Marker scored his second career NHRA National Event victory,taking the Top Alcohol Funny Car title at the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka. Marker clocked a final round 5.64s/256mph to defeat Sean O'Bannon, who trailed with a 5.69s/255mph. Marker also top qualified at 5.66s/255mph and scored 5.62s/255mph, 5.65s/253mph,and 5.62s/256mph wins over Alexis DeJoria, Steve Gasparelli and Roger Bateman on his way to the final. At Chicago, Marker qualified seventh at 5.65s/255mph, but was defeated in the opening frame by Cy Chesterman. He stayed in Chicago another week for the third 2008 Division 3 event, reaching the finai in a runner-up effort. Marker is currently in second place in the Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Funny Car standings, trailing Jay Payne by one point, and ahead of 11-time National Champion Frank Manzo who sits third. Steve's daughter Diana Marker qualified Randy Meyer's A/Fuel Dragster in the 14th spot of the Topeka Alcohol Dragster field, but fell in Round 1 to Jim Whiteley. E Bruce Litton returned to the IHRA Top Fuel winner's circle for the first time in 2008 when he scored at Milan. Litton rode a string of 4.6s passes in early wins overTJ. Zizzoand Spencer Massey to head into the money round. In the final, Litton clocked a 4.67s/287mph to defeat Scott Palmer, who could not get his car fired. Paul Lee had advanced to a final round onfive occasions, always coming up empty handed. At Milan, Lee defeated Dan Wilkerson, son of NHRA point leader Tim Wilkerson. Lee clocked a 4.95s/305mph in the finale to derail Wilkerson's nitro debut. Kenny Lang won his secondconsecutive Ironman, backing up his win in Rockingham with a victory at Milan. After trailering Thomas Patterson, Carl Spiering and Jim Halsey, Lang stopped Mike Castellana's'68 Firebird in the final with a 6.02s/238mph. Castellana had recorded a pair of 6.05s/236mph and 6.60s/237mph passes during eliminations, but it was Pat Stoken, who became the quickest nitrous racer of all-time when he uncorked a 6.02s/237mph in Round 1. Jeff Dobbins dominated the Pro Stock show at Milan, qualifying on top with a career-best 6.294 pass and powering through four elimination rounds to win. Dobbins defeated Pete Berner in the final round on a holeshot,6.36s/219mph to 6.33s/220mph. In Alcohol Funny Car,Tom Carter clocked a 5.80s/248mph in the final to stop Laurie Cannister. -DAVID OSTASZEWSKI 76

I r

Hillary makes it #11 DAVID OSTASZEWSKI brings you up to date on the NHRA score from the USA

WOMEN continue to rack up victories on the NHRA POWERade Series as Hillary Will became the 11th different female to win in a professional class when she defeated Larry Dixon in the Top Fuel final at Topeka. Piloting the Ken Black/Kalitta Motorsports dragster. Will, above, captured her first professional (and second overall) national event win,just a month after both Ashley Force and Melanie Troxel became the first women to notch Funny Car wins. After stopping Doug Herbert, Morgan Lucas and Cory McClenathan, Will clocked a final round 4.74s/304mph to defeat Dixon. One event later,Tony Schumacher drove his U.S. Army Top Fuel car to its fourth victory of the season at Chicago's Route 66 Raceway.The win was the third of his career at what is considered his hometown racetrack. Schumacher clocked the quickest time of the weekend in the final at 4.49s/329mph to defeat Rod Fuller. The top qualifier at 4.51 s, Schumacher defeated Bob Vandergriff,Topeka victor Will and Herbert to reach the final round. Topeka Funny Car winner John Force enjoyed his first victory since the comeback from his horrific

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crash in Dallas last September. The Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang clocked a 4.99S/281 mph in the final to stop current point leader Tim Wilkerson. Along his path to the final, Force had taken earlier wins over daughter Ashley, Gary Densham and Ron Capps. At Chicago,Tony Pedregon and his Quaker State team came back from a huge fire in the final qualifying session to take their second win of the year. After defeating Jerry Toliver, Mark Oswald and Ashley Force, Pedregon clocked a 4.81 s/319mph in the final to stop surprise finalist Scott Kalitta and the DHL Toyota. In Topeka's Pro Stock action, Ron Krisher used a final round 6.75s/204mph to defeat Larry Morgan, who shook and lifted early. Krisher's Valvoline Cobalt recorded low elapsed time of every round in taking victories over Todd Hoerner, Rickie Jones and new point leader Kurt Johnson. At Chicago,Johnson claimed his second win of the year in a final round 6.73s/205mph defeat of defending series Champion,Jeg Coughlin. Chris Rivas took the Chicago Pro Stock Motorcycle win,stopping Craig Treble in the final, 7.05s/185mph to 7.13/185.

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Power to the people: Tony Pedregon,above, Kurt Johnson, above left, and Tony Schumacher,left, have all tasted success on the NHRA Drag Racing tour.

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5th. 7th. 7m. sandost 5th, MB. fennsrts 7th. 5th. 6th (l s high s Sh) Mo'B; dsh oith SI sanssB. 2 ,,^ TWD rims, 2 tpare ams com, SI mw, for every corttEr, :h 8 ns's spa^s all ad fUdte M5h6baanp and reboBd. $65.«eo (gam Ssiseii 0BD3 031 233

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Mustang GTHO 1985 Group A Group A raced Bathurst 1985-86, Rebuilt 06. Air jacks, Harrop front, AP brakes, Tilton pedals, Getrag, Eibach springs, 2 diffs,12 wheels, power steer. Fast car easy to drive. Raced 2007 including EC Muscle cars finished 6th, C of D, Magnificintly presented car. Documented history. Now in Sydney. $155,000. Ross 02 9979 3122/ 0409 666 302.

D Van Diemen RF06

RALT RT4 Completely rebuilt, excellent condition, fully rebuilt Jennings Engine, has only done 1 race meeting. Spare set of wheels. $70,000 ONO. Peter Lamer(03)9439 8986/ 0419 379 024.

Isuzu Race Transport

www.myl05.com/26686

www.myl05.com/82478

374 ■K\asK

Tilting Car Trailer

Pantech 8.5m 6Cyl Turbo Diesel 15 spd Roadranger Long range tanks New batteries Good tyres Fast & reliable Loading platform Winch Tyre racks Ton of storage Huge enclosed annex Kitchen Fridge S/S sink Table & seating w/storage converts to bed Lighting 12V 240V Shower H/water system Cheap reg. $29,000 ONO. Jeff Barnes 07 5441 7700/0418 712 654.

Greg Doyle 0414 705 353. 374

www.myl05.com/2005

374

Collectable/Memorabilia

Top HP Motor, New Lamer Carby, New Paint, Aim Data Logger with Lamba , Koni Damper with King Springs, 2 sets mags with tyres plus 3 spare rims. New floor, Willians Harness, Many spares ,Carby, Fuel Pump, Springs, Arms, Sway Bars, Discs, Reduced Urgent sale, Ready to Race. $18,500.00 ONO. Richard 0408 176 557 /03 5127 7754.

www.myl05.com/81690

www.myl05.com/78150

374

Speedway

374

NSW 71 LITRE SPRINT

Holinger 5 Speed

Trophy Kart

Holinger Group A 5 Speed gearbox to suit Group A Commodore. Genuine reason for sale. Complete with magnesium bellhousing, gearbox mount and shifter. Excellent condition. Can hear running in car. $12,500 ONO David 0401 923 951

2007Trophy Kart white in colour the ultimate fun for a the kids or smaller adult huge suspension travel brand new never been driven top speed of SOmph www.trophykart for racing action. $7,500 Or Best Offer. C.A.P.A Performance 08 85 823499 / 0418 221 164.

Winters Dir Mount Front End, AFCO & Carrera Shocks, W'wood Brakes (Front & Rear), Real & Weld Wheels, Teltac 2 Autometer Gauges, Kirkey 17W Seat 15", 16 Gal Tank, Shroder Steer Box, Oz Wings & Al Heim Joints. Nissan A15 Eng, Mech Fuel In], Hilbourne Pump, Elec Pulsar Dist. Sold with assorted spares. $15,000 Or Best Offer. Paul Bevan 0413 382 802 / 0413 382 802.

www.myl05.eom/28098

www.myl 05.com/10004

www.myl05.com/41404

Tilting car trailer with Hydraulic ram. Electric brakes. 3ton load sharing rocker suspension kit. 45mm square axles. 450mm checker plate flooring runners. Aluminium nosecone with cupboard with clear anodised aluminium trims. Stainless locks. Gal coated piano hinges. Electric Winch 3000ibs. . $7,900 Or Best Offer.

www.myl05.com/89598

Race Car Transporter

Very strong motor - Dyno figure^ are conservative (MoTeC Dyno). Steel crank/ Crower rods/JE Pistons/lsky cam/Ferrea valves/dry sump plus heaps more. Engine still in car and can be driven. Genuine reason for sale - this engine is only 12 months old and is in as new condition.Tim 0418 501 509 $7,800 AUD

Photos for sale of all class's at round three of the Shannons Nationals at Mallala 17/18 May. For details contact David Batchelor email dbmp98@westnet.com.au. $5.00. David Batchelor 0412 181 695.

Mygale SJ96

Brand new car, 2 meetings old. new "B" spec engine. Completely restored, sandblasted on rotisserie. Built by V8 Supercar Machinist/ Engine Builder. Comes ready to race, Dorian etc. get in touch for full specs, to many to list. $33,000 ONO.James Wells 0409 859 919.

374

Mallala Photos

374

Group Nc U Torana

www.myl05.com/65412 LSI Chev Engine

374

Isuzu Race Transporter. CAB Chassis, '03, travelled 90,000kms, fully serviced, with kitchen,bunks,genset,compressor,a/cincab& pan,hydraulictaillifter,asnew$69,950incGST. John Briggs04111 90 111.

www.myl05.com/21571

Engine has jusf been assemble with new consumables including pistions and rods. No expense spared only the best components. Complete clutch through pulleys etc. $21,000 Neg, Scott 0408 030 167

www.my105.com/1402

374

THE 'H' TEHtn

HERE IS A COLLECTION OF THE BEST SNIPPETS PUBLISHED IN ENEWS OVER THE PAST MONTH

n Editorial

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

Executive Editor: Phil Branagan

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Staff Journalist: Phillip Mahoney

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Managing Director/Publisher: Chris Lambden publisher@m news.com.au SS Contributors FJ;Will Buxton, Mark Glendenning, Paolo Filisetti Europe: Quentin Spurring, David Addison US: Martin D. Clark, Phil Morris, Mary Bignotti Mendez Speedway:Greg Boscato, Geoff Rounds, Darren Sutton,Tony Millard (UK), Geoff Grade Rally: Ryan Lahiff Drag Racing: Dave Ostaszewski(USA), Ken Ferguson,John Bosher National: Mark Wicks, Mark Jones, Aaron Shaw, Daniel Powell Photographers:Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Marshall Cass, John Morris/ Mpix, AFl Images,James Smith, Peter Bury, Neil Blackbourn, Chris Carter, Coopers Photography, CBRPhotographics, Paris Charles, Bob Potts, Neil Hammond,Joel Strickland, Mike Patrick (UK) Motorsport News is published by Australasian Motorsport News ABN 55 125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Printed by: Webstar Printing Distributed by: NDD Ltd Material published by MOTORSPORT NEWS is copyright and may not be reproduced in full or in part without the written permission of the publisher. Freelance contributions are welcome,and while all care will be taken, Australasian Motorsport News does not accept responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted. ●Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

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Speeding I believe it's time to address pit lane speeding infringements with all data available after the race. I would allow a more consistent 30s penalty rather than a variable (depending on the track) and a more severe sentence of a drivethrough. No one would suggest that speeding is condoned but the penalty does appear harsh in the shorter sprint races. Jim Becus raises some good points email address withheld V8 Touring V8 drivers should be able to drive in the development series. I think that it would add a bit more depth into the category. But I do have one objection and that is that it takes up seats to the up and coming stars. So, instead of the development series. Main Game driver should drive in the new V8 touring category. I think it would be great to see the stars in their former cars.

What a great day to be a massive Ford fan. The results at Sandown would have to be some of the best ever

Rainman Anyone who watched the Monaco Grand Prix will agree with me that even though it's the jewel in the crown that is Formula One,the principality does not always offer the most exciting racing. However,this year's race was, in my opinion,the best of the season. James Graham enjoyed Monaco email address withheld We deserve better As an avid motorsport fan for many years, I feel it is time to speak up. I have read much praise for Channel 10 on their mbtorsports coverage and I don't understand it. We get five races in our region, but still have to wait until after Idol, Big Brother and Dance until we get to see the few races we could be enjoying at a Sunday afternoon BBQ. Denis Barbara wants an arvo barbie Ryde, NSW

Issue 236 - 24July-08 August 2002

A young James Courtney was recovering from an enormous shunt while testing a Jaguar at Monza, which effectively ended his Formula 1 dreams. Courtney was lucky to get away alive after his right rear suspension failed on the run into Ascari. Channel Seven was announced as the broadcaster for the up coming Bathurst 24 Hour in November with four hours of live television expected from the event.

Ford Heaven

Mark Piccoli wants history repeated email address withheld

6 years ago THE long-awaited first look at the FG is finally here, so it seemed appropriate to wind back to the first glimpse of "Ford's make-orbreak" BA Falcon. The 2003 Falcon racer was still a few months away from completion, but with the release of Ford's BA road car, the artists were put to work to determine just what the allnew race car would look like. While not as big a project as the FG, the BA still had considerable changes from the previous AU and retained nothing more than the doors from the older car.

mail@mnews.com.au

for Ford, well certainly in a long time. Holden really struggled all weekend. I mean seriously, when your best place driver is Russell Ingail, you've got to know your not having the best of weekends. Go the Blue Oval. Al Green loves his Fords Bondi, NSW The FG The new car looks great and I was excited after seeing it in eNews. But the finished product looks even better. At Sandown I was able to see the FG on track. I can't wait till the Main Game guys get a chance to race the car and hopefully take the title back for Holden. George Wallis was one of many to be impressed with the new FG Frankston, Vic

motorsport

■SiSSve

news

As ever, the FI silly-season was already in full swing with Fernando Alonso rumoured to make the move to a Renault race seat, while Jenson Button signed with the then BAR and Juan Montoya renewed his deal with Williams for another two years. Now V8 Supercar star Will Davison was still in Europe trying his luck and continued to shine in the British Formula Renault Championship taking the final podium position in the latest round of the series at Croft. As the Formula 1 circus look set to head to the French Grand Prix forthe'last time', again, it was at the doomed circuit that Formula 1 's most successful man equalled Juan Manuel Fangio by taking his fifth World Championship and the race win. And strangely enough it was his future replacement that shone, leading almost all the way until an oil patch brought him undone. Kimi Raikkonen finished second for McLaren and set the scene for years to come.

Ford’s make-or-break BA Falcon race car! fabulous

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The late Colin McRae was too good, winning the WRC Safari, while on home soil Ed Ordynski and the late Possum Bourne shared heat wins in the ARC. Joe Gibbs confirmed that he was making the switch from Pontiac to Chevrolet, which was big news for NASCAR. However, Gibbs has outdone himself with his recent swap from Chevrolet to Toyota for season 2008.

82 motorsnnrt newc

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