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aiews www.mnews.com.au
THE MONTHLV RNRLVSIS
ThGGneujsof LhGmonLh LEUICh. LfTTLE EMIT U8 5U(%RCRR5 TWO of V8 Supercars Australia's key positions were vacated within two days earlier this month. The splitter controversy, which started at Winton,finally claimed Campbell Little, who resigned his role at Category Technical Director.Two days later, V8SA CEO Cameron Levick resigned, Tony Cochrane has taken on the role of V8SA's Executive Chairman for the duration of the 2009 season, while replacements are being canvassed for the CTO role. In other V8SA news,the previously vacant eighth Board position has been filled by Mark Skaife,
HI5T0RV REPERT5 RT LE mRRS
Which is the better way oftaking to the track the first time?
Karts or Racecars?
AT his 16th attempt, David Brabham has won the Le Mans 24 Hour. Brabham joined Alex Wurz and Marc Gene in the third of Peugeot's three entries in the endurance classic but the trio drove a faultless race to lead a 1-2 for the French team. ? Defending champions Audi had a myriad of problems with their new R15s but salvaged third place ahead of the lead Aston Martin entry.
UJL0111L0BRTHUR5T V8 SUPERCARS Australia has announced the teams that will get a wildcard entry into the L&H 500 at Phillip Island and the Bathurst 1000. Greg Murphy Racing, Matthew White Racing, Sonic Motor Racing Services and the Sieders Racing Team will compete in the races. Drivers and other details are TBA.
ROSSI on THE ISLE VALENTINO Rossi has made his Isle of Man debut- but not in a race. The World Champion rode a Yamaha R1 road bike around the TT course, guided by countryman and 10-time TT winner, Giacomo Agostini. "For go flat down there, you need a lot of technique to ride the bike, for sure, but also especially, a lot of brave/" Rossi said later. 6
ELSEWHERE in this issue,Troy Bayliss talks about making the transition from racing a Ducati Superbike to a V8 Supercar. And that got us thinking; what is the best way of starting out in motorsport? The traditional explanation is to start as a small kid, in karting, and work your way into a racing car in your late-teens. But if Bayliss can come to grips with a 600-horsepower plus Falcon with virtually no experience, is that still valid? And now,CAMS will issue 14-years-olds with licences...
homework,and then out to polish and clean the kart. 1 watched the clock tick down until there was a race weekend. "It is a great place to learn. When you are that young, you are not thinking about racecraft, you just want to get in and race. You are like a massive sponge.You absorb so much about racing and things you need to learn, and Dad and Roy [Donald,from DJR] would be asking me technical questions about where the other guys were faster than me,and where I was better than them.
Steven Johnson started racing karts as a kid - but it was by accident.
"You will do things in a Supercar that you learned in karts; racecraft, passing, all that. You set up a pass, for instance, like you did in a kart. Sometimes it works, but a kart does seem to make things happen quicker. In a car, it is like slow motion, "I like to leap into karts these days and it is good for your coordination. I am looking to buy another one now to use on free weekends,to get a kart out and get out there."
I raced karts from six until I was 16. We never planned to go into karts but we were on holidays with the Brock family in Townsville. One of the kids up there had a kart, but she broke an arm when she fell out of a tree, so they decided to put me in it. "They got me a licence that week and it was a Saturday night race. We got the gear and I started on my P plates.That put me on the back on the grid and I won every race. "From then, I was perstering dad all the time. I lived and breathed it all the time, and when I got a kart, it was school,then do your
Shane Van Gisbergen went car racing after only a year in a kart 'Only doing a little bit of karting has never really held me back.
"I spent plenty of years racing quad bikes, so I learnt plenty about going fast doing that. I only jumped in a kart for 12 months just to get an idea about racing lines and those sorts of things. It was good to do that year, but I think I still could have jumped straight in a car and done a reasonable job. 1 wouldn't say karting is essential. For me, I was too tall and heavy anyway. John Bowe never raced a kart and started in open wheelers 'Karting as a serious sport was in its infancy when I was a kid, but I started driving my father's racing cars when I was 11 years old anyway. "First-up, I did Formula Vee, and that teaches you about wheel-towheel racecraft, and I held my own in that department pretty well.The kids who start at seven, perhaps, mature faster than what we did, but as to whether they will run out of steam before we did, who can say? I held my form and speed well into my 40s. I wonder if that will happen to kids who start very young. "If you have got what it takes, you have got it. You just need to hone it."
motorsport news
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