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JASON RICHARDS AND WALLY STOREY:
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RACE driver's relationship with his engineer is similar to the one he or she has with their wife or partner. When the missus asks you to do the dishes, you pull on the pretty pink rubber gloves. When the engineer tells you to brake later, apex earlier and use less kerb, you do as you're told. It's a two-way street. Do the dishes and you won't be sleeping in the doghouse. Set purple sectors on your qualifying lap and you'll spend the next weekend hanging out on your engineer's boat, inheriting invaluable fishing tips. And that pretty much sums up the relationship between Team BOC's Jason Richards and Wally Storey. Richards' is noted as being one ofV8 Supercars' fastest drivers, and Storey is regarded as the sport's best engineers/fisherman. The pair started their driver/ engineer relationship at Tasman Motorsport when the team first opened its doors in 2004. Then, a single-car team borne out of the Lansvale Smash Repairs outfit, Tasman quickly evolved into a competitive package - not a race winning team, but by no means a backmarker. It should be noted that at times, Richards looked like being a race winner at Tasman, but a magnitude of problems, including JR spending too much time off the circuit while driving at 11 tenths, culminated in two Bathurst
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-podiums with the team - and not much more to speak of. By the time that last podium finish was achieved at Bathurst last year, Richards' relationship with the squad had reached its used-by date. He never saw eye to eye with team-mate Greg Murphy, and after five years with the Tasman team, it was time to move on. Storey had already taken that initiative a year earlier, leaving Tasman mid-2007fora new environment at BJR. When it came time for the Albury-based team to look at its driver options for the 2009 season. Storey was guarded about his involvement in the decision, but was adamant that JR was the right man for the job. "I'm not too sure what I can say with this one,"Storey says. "There was a suggestion that the team needed a bit more pace and there was talk that there were very few blokes available that could run at the front. Jason was mentioned as a possibility and I said that it was a good plan. "They had some concerns about him and I said 'he'll be right.'So far this year, it's right, and I'm sure for the future it was the right call." Storey's right - so far, so good. Richards left Clipsal fifth in the championship and ran in a similar position at the non-championship races at Albert Park. For Richards, his decision to leave Tasman for BJR consisted of a few layers. Having his mate Wally calling the shots was a bonus, but the real carrot was ,
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Lifting wheeis, iifting winner's trophies? Jason Richards has made a super start to his new ride at Brad Jones Racing, above. Opposite right, Richards and Storey face the tough questions.
the chance to test himself with Walkinshaw Racing->built Commodores. "To be fair, a big chunk of my decision was that I wanted to try WR equipment," he admits. "There's no doubt about that. I've been involved in V8 Supercars for a long time and I've enjoyed what I've done. Most of the teams I've been with have been start-up teams;Team Kiwi,Team Dynamik andTasman. "When Tasman took over from Lansvale, there was a big shift in equipment and infrastructure but this way at BJR, I get to test my own ability. "I think I had Greg's measure at Tasman. If you look at qualifying, there' no doubt about that, but
we both struggled in the same spot in the races. At the end of the championship, we were both only separated by 20 or 30 points.There was really nothing in it. Greg was a benchmark for me, obviously. Up until then, I had (Jamie) Whincup and (Andrew) Jonesy who were both inexperienced when they were my team-mates. "This was an opportunity to come and drive the benchmark Holden equipment. The transition wasn't going to be too difficult because 1 had Wally here who knows how I like a car and knows the fundamentals of how I speak. He knows what I mean when I say things. He's got confidence in me and I've got confidence in him.
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That part was a no-brainer for me." In V8 Supercar racing, there is little or no chance to 'try before you buy.' Richards went to BJR knowing, maybe even hoping, that the WR Commodores were going to pay dividends for his career. After just one test day and two race meetings, he's confident he's made the right decision. "The way you extract the speed out of this car is so different to anything else I've driven," he says. "There's no where near as much pressure required from the braking to the apex of the corner which is excellent in a race situation. "You don't have that pressure in that entry part of the corner because you've got some grip left. You have to be slow to get the turn to put the power down. It's a different way of driving. "It just generates more drive than I've been used to. It gets off the corner better than I'm used to, given the amount of front grip that it has. I can afford to have my car different to someone like Garth (Tander) who is really used to having more rear grip. For me, if I have a more pointy car, in my world,the car still has a lot of drive because it's fundamentally got more drive than I'm used to." Storey says that Richards' acclimatization to his new surroundings has been fast tracked by the assistance that comes with a Walkinshaw chassis. "The information help we get from them is
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really good. When you're on your own, you've got no other teams and no other people to work off. If you don't have pace, you can get lost pretty quickly. "Keep in mind, it's like picking the fly shit out of the pepper - the blokes down the back are only a click of the fingers away from the blokes at the front. When people look like they're floundering, they're not lost by much, but you don't have to be lost by much to be off the pace. "Having the information and experience that comes with it saves you wasting time going down the wrong path.That's what enables you to be on it every time, and consistently on It. "Having WR's help,they can give you a bit of guidance because they've been looking after these cars for a long time. It makes the job ... easier. Easier isn't the right word because it's not easy, but it certainly saves you wandering off and wasting time going down the wrong road. "There's a million roads you can go down but only a few which take you where you need to go. You can fix understeer 15 ways, but most of them cost you as much as they gain." Storey makes V8 racing sound easy. Is it as simple as buying a proven car, use a base set-up, throw in a fast driver and start writing your winner's speech? According to
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