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I THIS MONTH’S FEATURES Unusual Suspects

The Grid COURTNEY SPOTUGHT

Experienced MN staffer Mitchell Adam steps into the Asst Ed's chair from this issue. As the Editor ofeNews as well, he faces a big year. No time for haircuts, Madam...

If2011 was a tough year to be James Courtney, the man himselfis nothing but confident he can turn it all around this season.

Dan Herrero stepped up to the mark this month to tctik to Nathan Pretty about how he combines racing in V8 Supercars, V8 Utes and V8 boats. The result could only be one thing... Herreroic.

What do you like about motor racing? Here are 40 random things about the sport that gets us grinning here at MN.

BRISVEGAS NEVADA

THE NEW,OLD MICHAEL

After spending Christmas and New Year down under Ryan Briscoe returned to a frantic schedule in January. You'll never guess where we tracked him down...

On the eve of the third season of his 'second'GP career, the question remains:can Michael J ' Schumacher recapture his I former glories?

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Round One of the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship kicks off in Adelaide. » Australia’s largest motorsport event with eight sensational race categories that rock across four amazing days and nights. » Four nights of concerts that rock include Good Charlotte, INXS, The Living End,Sneaky Sound System, Vanessa Amorosi,Wynter Gordon and Potbelleez.

Tor years Dirk Klynsmith has walked softly and carried a big ramern. I)K will he shooting images in some far (lung parts of the world this season, so we thought be better show his head while we can.

Ryan Briscoe also had a challenging season In 2011but he is raring to get his teeth into a new year and a new Indycar.

» Over 90 events and activities including the Armor All Show’n Shine, Route 66 Experience, Pit Straight Adrenaline Bar, Race Cage and Defence Force demonstrations. » The new TrAction Zone has stacks of free seating and stacks of entertainment with the ShowTime FMX Freestyle Moto stunt team AND Disney-Pixar’s CARS Truck Tour.

If you want to take a seat in the pit straight canyon, you’d better act fast. Book now at cBipsa8500.com.au A

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South Australia. A brilliant blend.

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I THIS MONTH’S FEATURES Unusual Suspects

The Grid COURTNEY SPOTUGHT

Experienced MN staffer Mitchell Adam steps into the Asst Ed's chair from this issue. As the Editor ofeNews as well, he faces a big year. No time for haircuts, Madam...

If2011 was a tough year to be James Courtney, the man himselfis nothing but confident he can turn it all around this season.

Dan Herrero stepped up to the mark this month to tctik to Nathan Pretty about how he combines racing in V8 Supercars, V8 Utes and V8 boats. The result could only be one thing... Herreroic.

What do you like about motor racing? Here are 40 random things about the sport that gets us grinning here at MN.

BRISVEGAS NEVADA

THE NEW,OLD MICHAEL

After spending Christmas and New Year down under Ryan Briscoe returned to a frantic schedule in January. You'll never guess where we tracked him down...

On the eve of the third season of his 'second'GP career, the question remains:can Michael J ' Schumacher recapture his I former glories?

:-3«0

proves

I /

»«r(* </

Tor years Dirk Klynsmith has walked softly and carried a big ramern. I)K will he shooting images in some far (lung parts of the world this season, so we thought be better show his head while we can.

Ryan Briscoe also had a challenging season In 2011but he is raring to get his teeth into a new year and a new Indycar.

If you want to take a seat in the pit straight canyon, you’d better act fast. Book now at cBipsa8500.com.au A

motorsport news

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by Schneider E i a c(r 11

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Australian

NATIONAL FEATURES J

NEWS

Editorial Executive Editor Phil Branagan editor@mnews.com.au Assistant Editor Mitchell Adam mitchell@mnews.com.au Special Projects Editor Steve Normoyle snormoyle@chevron.com.au

The Grid

Editorial Enquiries

357 Nepean Highway, Brighton East, VIC, 3187 (PO Box 7072, Brighton, VIC, 3186) P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030 admin@mnews.com.au

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Contributing Writers -

Andrew van Leeuwen, Mat Coch, Bruce Moxon, Mark Glendenning, Paul Carruthers, Geoff Rounds, Daniel Herrero, Callum Branagan

, You'd be hard pressed to find too many motorsport CVs more varied than ex-Formula 1 driver Mika Salo's. MNews cornered him for a chat

Photography

Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, John Morris, Andrew Hall, James Smith, Geoff Gracie, Phil Williams, Peter Bury, Rob Lang Cover Design: Chris Currie

Advertising

Advertising Director Chris West cwest@chevron.com.au P 02 9901 6376 M 0416125 252 National Sales Manager * Luke Finn lfinn@chevron.com.au P 02 9901 6368 M 0423 665 384 Chairman, Chevron: Ray Berghouse Circulation Director: Carole Jones Subscriptions: www.mnews.com.au

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Level 6,207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, NSW 2065 Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590 Chief Executive Officer, David Gardiner Commercial Director, Bruce Duncan Motorsport News is published by nextmedia Pty Ltd ACN: 128 805 970, Level 6,207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065 O 2012. All rights reserved. Motorsport News Is printed by CaxtonWeb, distributed tiy Network Distribution. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior permission of the publisher. The publisher will not accept responsibility or any liability for the correctness of information or opinions expressed in the publication. All material submitted (s at the owner's risk and, while every care vrill be taken nextmedia does not accept liability for loss or damage. Privacy Policy We value the integrity of your personal Information. If you provide personal Information through your participation in any competitions, surveys or offers featured in this issue of Motorsport News, this will be used to provide the products or services that you fiave requested and to improve the content of our magazines. Your details may be provided to third parlies who assist us in this purpose. In the event of organisations providing prizes or offers to our readers, we may pass your details on to them From time to time, we may use the Information you provide us to inform you of other products, services and events our company has to offer. V/c may also give your information to oihei organisations which may use it to inform you about their products, services and events, unless you tell us not to do so You are welcome to access the information that wo hold aiwut you by getting In touch whh our privacy officer, who can be contacted at nextmedia. Locked Bag 5555, S! Leonards. NSW 1590.

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Developing the Development Series MNews gets the lowdown on the state of play in the V8 DVS from some key stakeholders

Bairdo’s favourite blasts Craig Baird opens up about his favourite Porsche races

The Pretty boy of V8 Utes Nathan Pretty returned to fulltime racing in 2011 - in V8 Utes. We spoke to him about it

Crunch time It's time to check your answers for the 2011 Motorsport News Christmas Quiz!

Coming up ... We preview what's set to be another big year of Australian karting

REGULARS 8

Motor Mouth with Phil Branagan

On The Limiter with Chris Lambden

Bits & Pieces

Winding Back

Box Seat

Model Behaviour

Trade

Classifieds

The Final Word with Paul Cruickshank

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Australian

NATIONAL FEATURES J

NEWS

Editorial Executive Editor Phil Branagan editor@mnews.com.au Assistant Editor Mitchell Adam mitchell@mnews.com.au Special Projects Editor Steve Normoyle snormoyle@chevron.com.au

The Grid

Editorial Enquiries

357 Nepean Highway, Brighton East, VIC, 3187 (PO Box 7072, Brighton, VIC, 3186) P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030 admin@mnews.com.au

1 ■&

Contributing Writers -

Andrew van Leeuwen, Mat Coch, Bruce Moxon, Mark Glendenning, Paul Carruthers, Geoff Rounds, Daniel Herrero, Callum Branagan

, You'd be hard pressed to find too many motorsport CVs more varied than ex-Formula 1 driver Mika Salo's. MNews cornered him for a chat

Photography

Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, John Morris, Andrew Hall, James Smith, Geoff Gracie, Phil Williams, Peter Bury, Rob Lang Cover Design: Chris Currie

Advertising

chevron PUBLISHING GROUP .

a division of nextmedia Ry Ltd.

www.mnews.com.au

Developing the Development Series MNews gets the lowdown on the state of play in the V8 DVS from some key stakeholders

Bairdo’s favourite blasts Craig Baird opens up about his favourite Porsche races

The Pretty boy of V8 Utes Nathan Pretty returned to fulltime racing in 2011 - in V8 Utes. We spoke to him about it

Crunch time It's time to check your answers for the 2011 Motorsport News Christmas Quiz!

Coming up ... We preview what's set to be another big year of Australian karting

REGULARS 8

Motor Mouth with Phil Branagan

On The Limiter with Chris Lambden

Bits & Pieces

Winding Back

Box Seat

Model Behaviour

Trade

Classifieds

The Final Word with Paul Cruickshank

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motorsport news

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PHIL

BRANAGAN MOTOR MOUTH

Dear Sir, I am an avid reader of Motorsport News,so I hope you can help me. There are two phrases I keep hearing during motor racing telecasts, and I have also heard other people using them. But nobody I ask seems to know what they actually mean. They are'Game On'and'Go Off'. Hope you can help. Kenny R Port Macquarie, NSW Dear Kenny, Thanks for reading Motorsport News.Seems like you have quite a problem on your hands! First off, you have got the phrases slightly wrong. It is actually'Game On!'[see the exclamation mark?]or even, 'Game ON!"Go Off'is slightly more acceptable, but the past tense,'Gone Off!', usually required the extra emphasis. To deal with your query, maybe we need firstly to look at'On'and 'Off'. On and Off is a

have been known to go off, during a race (in some cases, even before).That is also the same for drivers;some have been known to go off during binary state;that is, something a race,some after the race. (Any number of times I have can be On or something can seen perplexed expressions be Off, but nothing can be on drivers'wives'faces, slightly On or slightly Off. Nor can it be almost off; either on wondering where their fella has gone off to. And whether or off, no grey areas. Next, we need to they were indulging in a bit of differentiate between a race post-event Game On.) The order of the expressions going off(sorry, my bad, is important as well.There is 'Going Off!') and a driver going something of a metaphysical off. If the driver goes off,that and existentialist argument usually involves a car leaving to be had, as to whether the road,often at speed,and that means that the race, or at something may be considered least his part in it, is unlikely to to be off before it is on. On Go Off until such time as he is and off are notjust mutually able to get back onto the track. exclusive;some people believe that they are mutually [Note;copyright rules require me to state here that'get back' consecutive as well. Some different folks believe that is nothing to do with Get Back, which is a song by The Beatles]. before something can be off, it must have been,at some Once the driver is back, he may or may not go off, again. If point of its life, on.This caused a heck of an argument in my he does not,and he gets near household recently, when my the leaders, his race may enter a phase of Game On. wife bought a new lamp. The other difference we As for the trigger point, it is hard to tell at which point must point out is that drivers, cars and races are not the 'Game On'or'Gone Off'might be instigated. It may be only things in racing capable when there is a clash on the of going off.Tyres can go track; it could be when what off; so can brakes. Engines

might seem to an casual and uneducated viewer a^ uninteresting part of thence is enlivened by a Safety Car, a crash, a driver collapsing in the pits or a shameless network promotion for tennis, singing kiddies or tubby yet cheerful people losing weight as entertainment. At a 500km race at Phillip Island, a race could even Go Off if a large bird crosses the track (or even, a cloud). It's all a bit relative' Rest assured that Game On!And Gone Off! are safe in the motor racing venacular. Though I might point out here that, in 20 years of doing this for a living, I am yet to hear any racing driver worth his HANS device say'Catch me if you can', unless there is a fairly uncharitable(and unprintable) oath tacked on the end of it, preceded immediately by the word 'youse'. The main thing is Kenny; enjoy the racing. And remember;there is a mute button on your television. Ask Mum;I bet she knows where it is.

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Regards, Your Uncle Phil

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C/H^OSO-iECimiBlLlE^ m The interior features driver's race seat with harness, rollcage, additional gauges and the unique air vent, just to name a few.

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HOLINGER

f CHRIS

ON THE LIMITER

S it just me? Am I turning into a grumpy old bastard? No! So why am I totally under whelmed at the hysteria being whipped up over the return of Kimi '' Raikkonen to Formula 1? Truth be known, I never really rated the Ice Man. Pretty good, yeah, like a number of those who get to drive the best racing cars on earth. But, superstar? Naaargh. And if you throw in the idiosyncratic, apparently disinterested facade that characterised his years near the top in FI, there's not much to get excited about, frankiy. As it happened, I went to the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix. It was in the second of his five years at McLaren and, looking back, it wasn't as if he dominated team-mate*David Coulthard, a journeyman, entirely. Anyway, Malaysia was Kimi's first win. Entirely by chance, I was sitting in the foyer of the Pan Pacific hotel, next to the track, a couple of hours after the race. A few feet away, huddled on a sofa with his girlfriend was a

I young man who looked like his Mum had died. Yup, Kimi. Surely, I thought, there's a reason to be just a little bit excited? But he just sat there, and none of the passing FI traffic even seemed to notice, never mind bowl up and congratulate him. Five years, runner-up twice, was Kimi's McLaren career. Then came Ferrari. There are drivers in FI who owe an astounding debt to their managers. Ralf Schumacher's manager, Willi Weber, shared with Michael, was a gun - sashaying the family name and extraordinarily average talent into some mindnumbing salaries for Ralfie. Kimi's move to Ferrari, for a reputed staggering US$51 m a year, evoked a similar reaction from me. Nuts, I thought. But sure, on the crest of a Ferrari wave, he won the championship by a point in 2007, his first year, in that cliffhanger in Brazil. But already there were unhappy faces at Ferrari. I remember watching, from afar, Chris Dyer - the Aussie engineer who'd won so many titles engineering Michael and who had now inherited the

Finn.The chemistry wasn't there, and Dyer got himself moved to an overseeing engineering role for 2008. And think back. Kimi was regularly being outqualified and out-raced by his team-mate. It was Felipe Massa; the same driver who's currently getting his arse handed to him on a plate by Fernando Alonso. Now there's a real ace. So a bored Kimi Raikkonen quit Ferrari at the end of 2009. None of the serious teams would entertain the cash he wanted,so he was gone, after a year's break, to the WRC no less. Maybe people expected too much, but the WRC move wasn't a howling success. Seb Loeb didn't lose a whole lot of sleep. Kimi was off the pace and crashed a lot. I don't know, but I understood that there was a fair bit of Kimi's own cash in that effort - I guess he had a bit to spare after the salad days at Maranello. And now,the press release says, Kimi has "rediscovered his passion"for Formula 1, courtesy of Lotus, nee Renault. It will be moderately interesting to see how he goes and how that passion makes its presence felt. I'm not expecting a lot. In his day Kimi had an army

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of fans who saw something in the grunge.These days i suspect they've transferred that energy to the new King of Grunge,World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who throws in a bit of genuine spirit and visible emotion as well. Nope,sorry, not excited about the Ice Man's return. And what's more, it comes at the expense of some young racer with a career in front of him. So what am I excited about? The resumption of Red Bull/ Ferrari/McLaren hostilities for one - gut feel says it's going to be a real contest this year. And Toro Rosso... how about them? Okay,they are the RB Junior Team, but to dump their pair of three-year racers for our own Daniel Ricciardo and novice rising star Jean-Eric Vergne who saw that coming? Rumour has it the two young bucks aren't exactly buddies,so keep an eye out. A bit like Seb and Web in the'A'Team. Kimi, I hope it works out for you, but honestly. I'm not really sure what Renault was thinking. If it were me. I'd have insisted on a proper test first; things move on pretty quickly in FI. Call me pessimistic, but if I had to predict an under-achiever in 2012, 1 know where my vote would go.

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ENGINEERING 12-14 Southfork Dnve. Kilsyln. Vic. 3137. Tel: +61 3 9761 7964 Fax. +61 3 9761 7965 in(o@hoilnger.com.au www.holinger.com.au

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Coming Attraction Who’s the next big thing?

Renee Grade - Senior Rotax Pro Tour

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MY FAVOURITE RACE

What is she currently doing?

WILL DAVISON - BRITISH FORMULA 3, CROFT,2003

Her driver coach is former karting World Champion, Ben George, who has been instrumental in setting up her kart and educating her on the sport. Renee has been keeping up the study off the track as well, and is currently reading Ross Bentley's book. Speed Secrets 6. She is also increasing her training to improve her fitness, which she hopes will translate into a few tenths on the track.

BRUNO MOVES TO WILLIAMS Two of Formula 1 's most revered names, Williams and Senna, will reunite next season when Bruno Senna races for the team. The nephew of the legendary Ayrton Senna will partner Pastor Maldonado in the Renault-powered cars, after a deal v/as announced last week.The news leaves veteran Rubens Barrichello out of a seat for the first time in almost two decades.

Where does she want to go?

MY British F3 race win is right up there. There was a fair bit of expectation going into the season. Pre-season had gone really well, we'd been in touch with some pretty big people over there and all of the sudden the first few rounds were a disaster. Financially,.things were really tough, but then to come out at Croft (ED: Round 3), stick it on pole really comfortably and then just lead the race from start to finish was just a massive weight off my shoulders. We were trying to raise funds back in Australia, trying to keep the whole ship going,so at that time it was a huge relief To win the fashion we did, I think I won by five or six seconds and got the fastest lap of the race to go with the pole position, it was just a great feeling. I was over there, putting so much in and getting that first, big proper win just gives you that confidence that you can do it, if you're in the right car on the right day. It'd been a really weird start to the year. At the pre-season test, I was new to F3, but there were a couple of days where I was just quickest. I was one of the major headlines in Autosport with [senior reporter] Marcus

Renee recently took part in the Spectrum Racing Cars and the Island Formula program. She plans to race state level Formula Ford next year and hopefully national Formula Ford by 2014. She is aiming to have a seat in the V8 Supercar Development Series in five years time. "I'm sure it wouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone, but my racing hero is Danica Patrick,"she says. I admire how she came so close to winning the Indy 500 and how she has raced against the best not only in IndyCar but now also NASCAR, which is such a tough series.'

QUICK QUIZ Where was James Courtney racing immediately before returning to Australia to race V8 Supercars fulltime?

What was the link between one of Salo’s Formula 1 teams and the team with which he briefly raced in Champ Car?

Will Davison spoke to Mitchell Adam

Nobody at the time wanted to pay the bill for him= That’s how simple it was. Everybody has to protect their brand. They just didn’t like his personality.

3 With how many teams did Mika Salo race in Formula 1?

Simmons; he'd been watching on the side of the track. It was all going awesome. Then it all got a bit hot and cold. We went to the first few rounds and I'd been one of the quickest at Donington in the pre-season test, but in the season opener we were absolutely woeful,for whatever reason. You start doubting yourself. But, then,to go to Croft and do what we did, I felt'right, that's the promise we showed in pre-season'. I actually qualified first or second again for the second race and I was leading and racing Alan van der Merwe, but I clipped the tyres and broke the steering. For whatever reason, my car in those conditions was extremely quick. I look back on that time as knowing that you needed the right car, in F3 - once they're right for the conditions... it's not easy, but that day felt easy. But, unfortunately we were never able to quite carry it on, particularly at that level. Croft was my potential and, unfortunately, we were never quite able to hit it consistently. But that's the way things went.

2 Before James Courtney with 10th in 2011, which V8 Supercar Champion had the unwanted honour of worst title defence?

WILSON, WALL TO BJR David Wall will step into V8 Supercar's Main Game this season with Brad Jones Racing. The former Australian GT champion and Fujitsu Series driver will step into the team's #21 Holden Commodore, with backing from Wilson Security. Wall will join Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard in the three-car team.

This year Renee moves up from Junior Rotax, where she scored a number of topfive finishes, to the Senior Rotax Pro Tour.

'Senior Rotax is another step up in competition,"she said,"but I know I can be competitive.'

eNews of the Month

King Richard Petty explains why his sponsor, Smithfield Foods, vetoed any idea of hiring NASCAR bad boy, Kurt Busch

Mow many starts has Nathan Pretty made in the Bathurst 1000?

www.mnews.com.au

motorsport news A.

RICHO, HORNE IN NZ V8s Steven Richards is the latest driver to join the growing list of trans-Tasman drivers in New Zealand's new V8 Supertourers category. The former Bathurst winner will join John McIntyre Racing and race a Ford Falcon. Veteran NZ team owner Steve Horne has returned to racing team ownership, after securing a franchise in the series.The entry of the former owner of crack CART squad Tasman Motorsports, and three others, will join the 16 cars that will start the series in February when the V8ST endurance races kick off in August.

BRABHAM BACK IN ‘HONDA’ David Brabham will return to the prototype class in the World Endurance Championship. The Aussie veteran will join Karun Chandhok and Peter Dumbreck in JRM's HPD ARX-03a - the car Brabham raced a year ago for Highcroft Racing.The news means that he will not be involved in Highcroft's Garage 56 Delta Wing Le Mans project.

RALLYING CRY The World Rally Championship started ontime and as planned in Monte Carlo, in spite of promoters North One Sport having its right to run the series removed by the FIA. Convers Sports Initiatives, NOS's partent company, went into administration at the end of last year, and its rights were terminated by the FIA 10 days prior to the classic rally's start.

Motorsport eNews available 8pm Mondays. www.mnews.com.au 13

BITS & PIECES

Coming Attraction Who’s the next big thing?

Renee Grade - Senior Rotax Pro Tour

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MY FAVOURITE RACE

What is she currently doing?

WILL DAVISON - BRITISH FORMULA 3, CROFT,2003

Where does she want to go?

QUICK QUIZ Where was James Courtney racing immediately before returning to Australia to race V8 Supercars fulltime?

What was the link between one of Salo’s Formula 1 teams and the team with which he briefly raced in Champ Car?

Will Davison spoke to Mitchell Adam

Nobody at the time wanted to pay the bill for him= That’s how simple it was. Everybody has to protect their brand. They just didn’t like his personality.

3 With how many teams did Mika Salo race in Formula 1?

2 Before James Courtney with 10th in 2011, which V8 Supercar Champion had the unwanted honour of worst title defence?

This year Renee moves up from Junior Rotax, where she scored a number of topfive finishes, to the Senior Rotax Pro Tour.

'Senior Rotax is another step up in competition,"she said,"but I know I can be competitive.'

eNews of the Month

King Richard Petty explains why his sponsor, Smithfield Foods, vetoed any idea of hiring NASCAR bad boy, Kurt Busch

Mow many starts has Nathan Pretty made in the Bathurst 1000?

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motorsport news A.

Motorsport eNews available 8pm Mondays. www.mnews.com.au 13

WINDING BACK the year that was...

There aresuggestions thatLola couldsoon return to Formula 1. Its last GP appearance was notthatimpressIve^BvTALLUM SRANAGMWI

Lola was completely out ofits depth when its cars appeared in the Albert Park pitlane 15 years ago. The car was rushed and lacked mechanical and aero grip, and power, and drivers Ricardo Rosset and Vincenzo Sospiri lacked experience. Lola boss Eric Broadley talked the project up. to Monaco's Prince Albert, right. but the car never reappeared once it DNQ'd in Melbourne.

O label Lola's entry into the 1997 Formula 1 season a 'disaster' would be the understatement

of the 20th century. The 1997 season is best

remembered for the triumphs of Jaques Villeneuve, who won the World Drivers'Championship in the ever-dominant Williams FWl 9, so you may be forgiven for forgetting the short appearance by Lola. All up, it amounted to the practice and qualifying sessions of the opening round at Albert Park. From the early '90s, it was Lola's long-held ambition to enter Formula 1 with its own team, after years of being a chassis'partner'for teams such as Larrousse and BMS Scuderia Italia. In 1994, Lola designed a radical chassis, but it never made the production line due to budget constraints. A year later, another chassis was designed, built and even tested by Allan McNish, but that would only serve as the testbed for a future foray into the sport. Lola 74

It was colourful while it lasted:

announced it would be entering the World Championship within the next couple of years then refined that statement. targeting 1998. But from almost every angle, the ambitious project was flawed from the beginning; from the car itself, all the way to the risky sponsorship deal the team made with credit card

tunnel before it was due to be shaken down at Catalunya. A heavily under-developed chassis made its, er, colourful debut to the world on February 20 in Barcelona, turning over just a handful of shakedown laps. It was clear even then, however, that the car was well off the benchmark.

giant, MasterCard. It was the title sponsor that topped the long list of problems for the team, putting pressure on Lola to enter Formula 1 a year earlier than planned, in 1997. With next to no time, and a £35 million budget(at the time, around $80m, and a figure considered small even then) the team set

That did not dampen the team's high hopes during its brief winter test season, with team boss Eric Broadley dismissing any claims from the media that the car wouldn't

about designing and building the T97/30 chassis that would be mated with an in-house

be competitive. Broadley also reckoned that the 107 percent

developed VI0 engine. All this had to happen in a few months. The car was meant to have benefitted from hours and

qualifying window was a large margin, and that the T97/30 would easily qualify for the race. So with the car primarily flawed, hardly tested and now vastly under-powered, thanks to its

weeks of wind tunnel testing, but the reality was that the car never actually made it to the

motorsport news

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even outpace Lola's Formula 3000 chassis once it got back to Europe. Following qualifying,three cars failed to lap within the 107 percent mark. Pedro Diniz had joined the two Lolas in failing to qualify, but Arrows team owner Tom Walkinshaw successfully argued that Diniz's times in practice should allow him to take to the back of the grid. As for Lola, their dismal times

csTonc

meant they had nothing better to do other than pack up, and try to make the next round at Brazil.

production line) Lola shipped its cars down to Australia for the

around 73 seconds off the pace, and they weren't looking like they were going to improve any time soon.

opening round of the season. Ricardo Rosset and Vincenzo

The best thing that could be said of theT97/30's

however.The team had hoped to finish theirVlO and add further

Sospiri were appointed by Lola to tackle the driving duties of theT97/30s, but in hindsight, it was probably a job the duo would have rather passed up. When the cars landed in Melbourne, a mammoth effort

aerodynamics was that they matched the MasterCard colour

parts to the car as the season progressed. But this wasn't to be the case; the car was tested

new Ford V8 powerplant(the inhouse VI0 never made it off the

was required by the new team just to turn the cars around in time for practice so both Rosset and Sospiri could try to sort the car sufficiently to qualify for Sunday's race. Lola's worst fears came to fruition after it became clear in practice that the cars were in a Formula of their own at the back of the grid. Both cars were

scheme. What the wings lacked in downforce, they more than made up for it in drag, meaning that the car was not only hopeless through all aspects of a corner, it was even slower along the straights. Neither Rosset and Sospiri could make the car handle the way they liked, and the mechanical grip of the car was at best, lacking. At a medium downforce circuit like Albert Park, the car served only as a laughing stock, prompting some in the media whether the car could

There was some optimism from the Lola camp following their horror debut at Melbourne,

briefly at Silverstone between Australia and Brazil, but it was never to be seen at a Grand Prix again. The'unique'sponsorship deal with MasterCard also ended,the money dried up and so did Lola's ambition to be in Formula 1. Lola's venture into FI sent the company into six million pounds of debt, and soon into receivership. Only Irish entrepreneur Martin Birrane's buyout saved the company from being wiped out entirely. 75

WINDING BACK the year that was...

There aresuggestions thatLola couldsoon return to Formula 1. Its last GP appearance was notthatimpressIve^BvTALLUM SRANAGMWI

O label Lola's entry into the 1997 Formula 1 season a 'disaster' would be the understatement

of the 20th century. The 1997 season is best

It was colourful while it lasted:

That did not dampen the team's high hopes during its brief winter test season, with team boss Eric Broadley dismissing any claims from the media that the car wouldn't

about designing and building the T97/30 chassis that would be mated with an in-house

be competitive. Broadley also reckoned that the 107 percent

developed VI0 engine. All this had to happen in a few months. The car was meant to have benefitted from hours and

qualifying window was a large margin, and that the T97/30 would easily qualify for the race. So with the car primarily flawed, hardly tested and now vastly under-powered, thanks to its

weeks of wind tunnel testing, but the reality was that the car never actually made it to the

motorsport news

www.mnews.com.au

csTonc

meant they had nothing better to do other than pack up, and try to make the next round at Brazil.

production line) Lola shipped its cars down to Australia for the

around 73 seconds off the pace, and they weren't looking like they were going to improve any time soon.

opening round of the season. Ricardo Rosset and Vincenzo

The best thing that could be said of theT97/30's

however.The team had hoped to finish theirVlO and add further

aerodynamics was that they matched the MasterCard colour

parts to the car as the season progressed. But this wasn't to be the case; the car was tested

new Ford V8 powerplant(the inhouse VI0 never made it off the

There was some optimism from the Lola camp following their horror debut at Melbourne,

lmark vv

Imqgin^^tôtifreJarno Trulll. You've /7Gc/a i^5^flj^/7nw^^êe/^n)i/Ve - i/i/6n the Monaco Grand Prix. Why woul^you waht t^^&f^lmlfofthe year away from home,dealing with all ofthe stresse^ât^me with being!n FI?

GLENDENNINGl^

n BOX SEAT

was sitting in my local cafe the other day with a coffee (double macchiatio, no sugar) and a book when I came across a passage that seemed especially pertinent. Check this out: "I write as someone who has been able to enjoy my own

profession for 46 years now,and I realise that life is crueler for athletes, taking away from them at a young age what they do best, love best,finally what defines them. I realise as well that with someone as driven and passionate as Michael, that playing is like life itself, in that there is, in a benign sense, an addiction here, and that it is harder to walkaway from his sport than almost any of the rest of us can imagine." The author was David Halberstam, a standout figure in a long tradition of brilliant American sports writers. Sadly, he was killed in a car accident in 2007, but there's a collection of his work titled 'Everything they had'that is well worth seeking out. And the'Michael'that he was referring to was Michael Jordan, although he might as well have been writing about'our'Michael. Or Rubens Barrichello. Or JarnoTrulli. Or Pedro de la Rosa. Michael Schumacher did famously walk away from the sport, but he's far from unique in coming back. Or in some cases, not wanting to go in the first place. It was in the pages of this very magazine four or five years ago that Schumacher's first real rival in FI, Damon Hill, admitted that the hardest thing about his decision to retire was picking that moment just before you begin to outstay your welcome. And this from a driver who arguably tried to do one season too many. Getting to the top of any sport requires that someone not only have some fundamental natural ability, but that they also be willing to make some extraordinary sacrifices along the way.To paraphrase Halberstam, it can almost end up defining a person. When so much of your identity is wrapped up in something that you can't do forever, it does raise questions about what happens when it's all over.

As neither a trained sports psychologist nor professional athlete. I'm not in the best position to speculate about what all of this means, but you'd have to think that this is why so many sportsmen and women find it hard to walk away. And not just in motorsport. Halberstam's Michael retired twice (having won three NBA titles with the Bulls during the first phase of his career, he helped them to another three-peat during his first comeback); marathon legend Haile Gebrselassie's retirement lasted just a few days before he began talking about wanting to run at London in 2012; and Lance Armstrong came back for another crack at le Tour. No doubt you've thought of a dozen more examples already. How tolerant fans are of'career extensions'seems to

depend on a couple of things. If you've dominated your sport in a manner that Schumacher, Jordan, Gebrselassie and Armstrong have, then you've got a gold pass for at least one attempt to relive the glory days. Longevity seems to play a part too, which is one possible reason that many of the same FI fans who were so underwhelmed by the news that de la Rosa will be making his FI return next year with HRT appear to be equally insistent that the

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sport would be poorer without Barrichello orTrulli. The argument over who is ultimately a better driver out of de la Rosa and Trulli could potentially be quite a long one, but the fact that the Italian has been ever present in FI since 1997, when Sebastian Vettel was just turning 10, seems to have earned him some grace, de la Rosa, meanwhile, has been around almost as long - his debut came with Arrows in 1999 - but his place on the grid has been erratic to say the least, with a full season here, a cameo there, and a lot of test and simulator miles in between. So is it the fact that the Spaniard gives the impression of being on his fifth or sixth chance that makes his claim to a seat seem,to some,to be less legitimate than that of Trulli? It's not like either still have reservoirs of untapped potential. We pretty much know what they're capable of, and it's the same with Barrichello. And how does Schumacher(who made his debut when Vettel was four) fit in to all of this? As someone who is enjoying Schumacher's return yet would be happy to see the other three retire gracefully, it's clear that I don't have an easy answer myself.That it is so unbelievably difficult for young drivers to get a chance in FI now is certainly a problem that could be addressed if a few of the old guard were pensioned off, although you don't have to follow FI too closely to realise how many different things influence a team's choice of driver. It Is well detailed elsewhere In this edition of MN that Nico Hulkenberg - one of the brightest talents of the past few years - has spent a lot of the past year playing Xbox, and don't make the mistake of thinking that there weren't teams who'd have picked him over one of their own drivers this year if they'd been able to. But while the issue of whether a 40-something midfielder is the best choice for one of the most indemand roles in professional sport when talented youngsters can't get a shot is certainly worth debating, the other side to the question is why the 40-something midfielder wants to be there in the first place. Imagine that you're Jarno Trulli. You've had a 15-year FI career, You've won the Monaco Grand Prix. You've made more money than you'll think of ways to spend. You have a blossoming second life as a winery owner. Why would you want to spend half of the year away from home, away from your family, dealing with all of the stresses that come with being in FI, when you know in your heart of hearts that barring something freakish happening, you're not going to step onto the podium again unless you accidentally walk through the wrong door? Why would you, or de la Rosa, or Barrichello, or Schumacher put yourselves through it? OK,so Rubens still believes that he can be competitive if Williams stops building crap cars, and Schumacher has proven that he's still got frontrunning pace. But the deeper reason can only be the addiction that Halberstam detected in Michael Jordan. Schumacher tried life without FI, and at that point in his life, found the hole impossible to fill The lucky drivers are the ones with the foresight to plan ahead and deal with the inevitable on their own terms.The rest hanq on, driving Lotuses and FJRTs, until the rest of the world makes the decision for them. 17

lmark vv

GLENDENNINGl^

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After a disastrous maiden season with the Holden Racing Team JAMES COURTNEY can see on y one way forward into 2012- by winning races and a second V8 Supercar title By^HIL BRANAGAN

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A lot of it was that he evolved

himself, over the years, to drive the car a certain way. It only took for myself and Scotty [Sinclair, Courtney's engineer who also moved from DJR to HRT] to point out some things to change on the car that he found some time. We changed things. Garth changed things, and he found time as well. His results though the year were definitely better. Towards the end of the year, we were bang on each others' pace. It was still not fast enough to get wins, which is what we were chasing, but a lot of that was down to the car being so different to what I had come from. I think that he got the jump on me through the year, working with the product that he had known. He had six years, or something, with HSV-HRT, so it was the same car for him for a long time. It has been equally as hard for him to change back than it was for me to try to drive the car the way he did, to get the most out of it. He was probably having to stop driving to protect the car, while he had been doing something with his driving style to help the car turn. What he was doing was faster, no doubt, but it was not helping us. I think he has, probably, learned a lot, evolved as well. We moved on qijite quickly because we both can accept that Garth is better than me in some areas and I am better than him in others. We are both strong enough personalities to accept that, and to know that we can continue learning, and evolving, ourselves. We worked together and we learned from each other and that was seen at the end of the season. But I still want to beat him and the 26 other guys. It is almost like you have had to deal with three different cars in 12 months; the Triple Eight Falcon at DJR; the early-2011 HRT Commodore; and the one that you ended up with at the end of the season. It has been pretty crazy! There has been so much change. But that change had to happen. It Is definitely a much better car at the end of the year than the one we had at the start. I think the main reason we got results at the start of the year - myself at Abu Dhabi and Garth at Adelaide - was that the other teams hadn't started firing up yet.They probably were not getting the best out of what they had, there was a little Christmas cheer hanging around. But once the season got going, the drivers started getting on with things, and that is when they really did get the jump, and get a gap on us.That is what killed us in that part of the season. That is not going to happen this year. Do you also feel like the playing field levelled out, so far as Sprint tyres were concerned? You were the Sprint tyre king in 2010. It was definitely a different tyre to the one we had the year before. You can ask anyone in the

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field; it changed. But I think that you are never going to have a specific advantage long, in this category. The rate of development is so high, and the calibre of the drivers is right up there as well. If you have even a small advantage, you are not going to have it for too long. If they are stupid and just sat around, you might have it for a while, but the guys who work in the championship are very professional. There are good, strong teams, people watched what I did (In 2010), put their heads down and evolved. But like you said, I definitely didn't have the edge that I had before. There is some pitlane chatter that you are not that well equipped with deal with adversity but that appears to be a short-term view. After the experiences you have had going back to the Jaguar years, do you feel like you can carry what you learned then forward into 2012? I don't know why people would say that, considering what happened last year [Ed: 2010]. Then, people were saying that the financial situation was so bad that the team [DJR] was not even going to make it to the last round. I was still able to put that behind me and get the results. 1 would say that ticks that box off. But last year, you are right, there were a lot of dramas. I think in the first few rounds, we had a steering arm fail almost every time. The car was incredibly fragile In the front end. If you leaned on someone, the steering arm would break - or at least, bend. Those guys were used to it in that car; you couldn't touch. TheTriple Eight car is like a Eerrari that doubles as an armoured car! Incredibly fast, but also incredibly strong. One of the key benefits those guys have is that they have a fast car that they can race herd. They can attack and be aggressive. We lacked that In our car, massively, at the start of the year. That suits me. I am aggressive, attacking. At the start of the year it was driving me mad that you only had to touch a guy and the front end would fall out. So, along with all the things changed through the year, we were able to build some decent steering arms. It is not only a better car, it is a lot more raceable.

Having a Dip: Courtney feels that HRT had its cars up to speed by the endurance races. Six years after making his debut with the team, below, James and co-driver Cameron McConville finished seventh at the Mountain -on a weekend on which team mates Garth Tander and Nick Percat won

MORE ENGINE, MORE BIKE. RULE THE STREET.

UNUMITED KILOMETRE WARRANTY

the biggest race of the year.

It used to be the other way around. HRT cars were bulletproof; I am thinking in particular of Mark Skaife v Jason Richards, Sandown, 2003 [Ed: When the two Commodores clashed, fighting for the lead, and Richards retired with broken steering while Skaife went on to win.]

LAMS ARRROVED

It's a design thing. That is the way that the cars evolved. As a factory team, we definitely cannot have the failures that we were having. It is unacceptable. As a team, we were not happy with it. It shows the strength 1191 of the team that it was redesigned.

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MOTORCYCLES & ACCESSORIES

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LAMS ARRROVED

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MOTORCYCLES & ACCESSORIES

AND* There was also an issue with the rear suspension,and that was redesigned as well. At Homebush,other cars were having problems all over the place and we survived. We have definitely come on in leaps and bounds in getting our cars raceable. Tell us what Ryan Walkinshaw brought to the team. I think a lot of people underrate him. He is a young guy, blond, long hair, he enjoys a party! But I think that a lot of people don't realise that he has gone back to university to study engineering,so he has a much better understanding of what we are talking about. He doesn't have to do that; I am sure it is not going to make any difference to him financially! But it is a credit to him that he is taking on the role that his father used to have. He is wanting to understand it. He

wants more of an idea of what is going on. He has done well, with the decisions he has made. A lot of the decisions have been down to Ryan, in terms of the change in personnel. Ryan and his mum Martine, and also Ken Page in the UK [Ed; long-time TWR and Arrows man, now with Walkinshaw Performance],they came out here, discussed things with everyone and made changes. It was a big move with Craig Wilson. He was an employee ofTom for 20 years, I think, and for Ryan to decide to move things around was obviously a strong decision. He picked, and chased down,Steve Hallam [Ed: HRT's new team manager,ex-Fl and ex-NASCAR], who will be an unbelievable bonus to our team. He has made some very good decisions in the short motor racing career that he has had. He has done well. Do you realise that you set a record last

year? You are the first racing driver, in any category,to win a championship one year and then win'Most Improved'in the same championship the following year. Congratulations! Yes, I thought that was unique! I think that was all about Will [Davison]finishing 22nd in that entry the year before and me getting 10th. I think most of the credit goes to Will for that one! 1

Gimme a realistic goal for 2012,James. The championship. In the factory Holden team, anything less than a championship win is not good enough. If you do that, people ask you,'Why not?'

I am in this thing to win it. Hopefully, I will not finish second in the championship.You don't have to be a genius to know that is the only thing that I will be happy with.

AS A FACTORY TEAM, WE DEFINITELY CANNOT HAVE THE FAIIIIRES THAT WE WERE HAVING IT IS

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www,barrysheeh@.cQrt<i.au

The Power of Dreams

Gimme a realistic goal for 2012,James. The championship. In the factory Holden team, anything less than a championship win is not good enough. If you do that, people ask you,'Why not?'

I am in this thing to win it. Hopefully, I will not finish second in the championship.You don't have to be a genius to know that is the only thing that I will be happy with.

AS A FACTORY TEAM, WE DEFINITELY CANNOT HAVE THE FAIIIIRES THAT WE WERE HAVING IT IS

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Bm CWTNUSIASr

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The Power of Dreams

JAME WHINCUP ’ JDub will turn 29 this month and has three V8 Supercar titles and three Bathurst wins. By comparison, Peter Brock was 35 when he achieved those milestones; Allan Moffat was 37; and Mark Skaife was 34. If Whincup stays interested, he may well break every record in the book.

THE MONTE CARLO RALLY 1 \Ne know there are good reasons behind the FIA's 24-month WRC calendar - but havii the Monte off the schedule for three years sucked, big time. The IRC events held in the Principality were fine, but the Monte deserves a full-time spot in The Big Show. PerioO

THE DELTA W If we do get to see the Garage 56 project deliver a car to the grid at Le Mans, that will be a massive result. It may not work -it may not even qualify -butsome radical thinking from time to time is what makes the motor racing world go round.

TOP There is not much sophistication to a Top Fuel Dragster. But watching two cars hurtle down the track in less than 5s brings out something primal in practically anyone who sees it. We also like the fact that,in this country, the quarter-mile is still a quarter-mile.

VALENTINO Wins in 2011 -zero. But Rossi is the human headline in motorcycle racing and everyone knows it- him included. Whether he can drag Ducati back into the winners'circle this year remains one of2012's greatest pre-season arguments.

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VETTEL Other than the passport of his team-mate, what's not to like about Vettel? He's super fast, works incredibly hard and seems like a i top bloke. A dual World Champion at 24, he could well leave tf with a bag ofrecords...

Garry plays the role ofV8 Supercar team owner his way and that's a good thing because the sport needs characters. And he's given plenty ofyoung drivers opportunities over the years- namely Tander, Whincup (admittedly he did also cut him) and Holdsworth.

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m Like Vettel, but with a touch ofgrey. He's personable, great with fans and corporates and you can put him in front ofa camera - he nailed those Vodafone ads. Ontrack, he's still getting it done and almostsnatched a fourth title with a resurgent2012.A real pro.

The co-driver practice sessions on the Cold Coast are some ofthe mostfascinating of the year. Seeing ex-Formula 7 drivers(and a current one in 2011),IndyCar types and sportscar aces come to grips with a V8 Supercar is always interesting.

If you've never been to a Grand Prix, do it. Even if you do ifyear after year, there's always something incredibly cool about seeing a Formula 1 car up close and personal.

It looks about as practical as conducting open-heart surgery in the back seat of a car but Formula 1 cars flying around the streets of Monte Carlo is special.

The day before on-track action for the Bathurst 1000 commences is a traditional arrival day for most. After the long trek, seeing the Mount Panorama sign for the first time on the approach to Bathurst

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Remember when we had to wait until the end of Sunday night movies and reality TV shows to watch delayed FI GPs? Thankfully, with the introduction of multi-channels, we get races live - and in HD.

SCOTT REDDER 1 He didn't have to, but former competitor Scott Redder put himself front and centre to run the Australian Rally Championship. He's been the CEO for a year now, and is having a red hot go. Moves like Rally Calder, the SUV class and the new, two-wheel-drive formula are positive and aggressive.

The boom in interest in Historic racing is down to the fact that the cars are fast, the drivers and accessible and there is something for everyone. The racing is not always close but, with cars this good, that hardly seems to matter.

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In an ideal world, V8 Supercars would be front page news wherever they go. But we're not in that world. While it can get swallowed up in some markets, like Sydney and Melbourne, it's great to see regions embrace V8 events. We're looking at you, Adeiaide, Darwin and Townsville. 28

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Otherwise known as the fastest-ever recorded lap around Mount Panorama, set by Allan Simonsen at Bathurst in November, in a Ferrari 458 GTS. Impressive stuff, will anyone go faster at the 12 Hour? And when Formula 3 visits at Easter time, just how fast will they go?

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motorsport news

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If you've never been to a Grand Prix, do it. Even if you do ifyear after year, there's always something incredibly cool about seeing a Formula 1 car up close and personal.

It looks about as practical as conducting open-heart surgery in the back seat of a car but Formula 1 cars flying around the streets of Monte Carlo is special.

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Remember when we had to wait until the end of Sunday night movies and reality TV shows to watch delayed FI GPs? Thankfully, with the introduction of multi-channels, we get races live - and in HD.

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SPORTS SEDANS Michael doesn t need to be racing m Formula 1 at the age of43, but he's doing it because he wants to. He's copped a lot offlack throughout his comeback, but he made visible progress in the second halfof20111n what wasn't exactly a winning car.

Sure, the strength ofthe Kerrick Series has ebbed and flowed in recent years, but there's always been one constant- awesome machinery at the front ofthe field, like the Ricclardello Alfa, the Darren Hossack-driven Audi and the Dean Randle-owned Saab. They're everything a racecar should be;fast, noisy and ballsy, and there's even been some ripper racing in recent years.

The black and yellow of VIP Petfoods have been prominent in Australian motorsport for over a decade now. Tony has the means to enjoy his passion and he does,so much so that he purchased the category in which he races - the Australian GT Championship -last

A former Rodeo promoter, Bernard replaced IndyCar founder Tony George as Its CEO In 2010 and is doing a goodjob. With anew car, more manufacturers entering the fray in 2012,the series appears to be heading in the right direction.

This year's Sprint Cup will be a nine-month roller coaster, with only two weekends off. It has good guys, bad guys, kids, grandfathers, heroes, rivalries, a Tasmanian, a Coiombian and girl named Danica, and is more fun to watch than a soap opera.

Audi versus Peugeot was entertaining enough - but now there are signs that Toyota,Porsche and other makes are iining up to fight out the World Championship and the 24 Hour. That is what we call putting the'Man'back into 'Le Mans'.

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POWER AND PERFORMANCE Just like V8 supercars, Fujitsu's range of quality Inverter air conditioners are on the cutting edge of technology. They've got the grunt you need to beat the heat in summer, and in winter, they’ll keep you warmer than a Bathurst hot lap.

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AUSTRALIA'S FAVOURITE AIR

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I r Some people thought the return of Carrera Cup might impact on the series, but it went up a gear in 2011.And with the endure performances ofPercat, Blanchard and co. front and centre for all to see, it's only going to get more important.

Small details like gym work and shaving appear to be well down the list ofStewart's priorities - but winning races and titles are clearly not. He will race almost anything with wheels and love him or hate him, the man known as Smoke is his own burgerloving, Coke-drinking man.

SEASON Like the AFL's pre-season NAB Cup,you can't read a lot into preseason Formula 1 testing. But it's still interesting to follow, and it does mean the start ofthe new season isjust around the corner...

Its NASCAR team may have shut its doors but the Austrian energy drinks company remains an enthusiastic sponsor in many other categories on four wheels or two. What other entity has ever, simultaneously,owned TWO Grand Prix teams?

The international Telco is much more than a solid motor racing

WILL POWERI

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1 This has almost become THE place for legends to race. Richards, Bowe, Seton, Miedecke and friends going at it in old school beasts is always good fun.

sponsor. We never thought that we would get to see Jamie Whincup or Craig Lowndes drive an FI car,Jenson Button in a V8 Supercar or a McLaren lap Bathurst. But we did, thanks to Vodafone. Their calls are important to us. Power to them.

So far as we can tell, the success, the fame and(we hope)the money

have not much changed the Queensland IndyCar star. He is still the same cheerful fella who raced In Formula Holden and Formula 3 in the same year. We liked the off-season beard as well. Now,Power; beat Dario for the title! I*.

Lights changed football, cricket and almost any other sport you care to name. NASCAR has raced under lights for years but it took until 2008 for someone to put Formula 1 under lights. Singapore did it first. You can bet it will not be the last.

Melbourne engineer Mike Borland carries on the tradition ofhis uncle. Cheetah's Brian Shead, with his Spectrum FFords and Sabre FVees. Both are competitive here and, better yet, are taking on the best overseas.

odd days of the year 32

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The international Telco is much more than a solid motor racing

WILL POWERI

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1 This has almost become THE place for legends to race. Richards, Bowe, Seton, Miedecke and friends going at it in old school beasts is always good fun.

So far as we can tell, the success, the fame and(we hope)the money

odd days of the year 32

motorsport news

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i Almost the complete opposite to the traditional venues hosting V8 Supercar rounds, the Homebush paddock is a great concept, well executed. Having all ofthe cars. mini garages and transporters in a giant pavilion creates a great spectacle.

AUSTRALIA’S ONLY DEDICATED 24/7 MOTORSPORTS CHANNEL YOUR ROAD TO RACING IN HD

Let's be honest;the history ofthe Grand-Am Series'Daytona Prototypes is littered with cars that look like there were designed with the ugly stick. But the new 'Chevy'is sex on wheels -and it's fast too. Thank goodness.

LITRE In 2007, MotoGP bikes were reduced in engine capacity to from 990cc to BOOcc. The aim was to reduce costs,tuts speeds and provide better racing. None ofthose things happened. Thank heavens that era is over!

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SPEED RECORDS I It is usually loony Brits, or down-home American 'individuals' who make it happen but there is something flat-out fascinating about folks trying to break the sound barrier without going to the trouble of flying. Hopefully.

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GARTH TANDER After more than a decade, GTremains V8 Supercars best-driver-in-a-bad-car - and a huge threat in a good one. His 2011 Bathurst win was epic, and he never. ever, ever gives an inch. Does fatherhood slow down race drivers? Not this one.

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AUSTRALIA’S ONLY DEDICATED 24/7 MOTORSPORTS CHANNEL YOUR ROAD TO RACING IN HD

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great expectations

WHILE MANY EXPECT SEBASTIAN VETTEL TO TAKE HIS THIRD TITLE THIS SEASON,THERE WILL STILL BE A LOT OF EYES ON GERMANY’S OLDEST FORMULA 1 DRIVER, MICHAEL SCHUMACHER. IF MERCEDES GP CAN DELIVER THE CAR, CAN MICHAEL STILL WIN? By MAT COCH

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E rewrote the history books,erasing the existing mark seemingly at will en route to becoming the most decorated driver the sport has ever seen. For more than a decade he dominated Formula 1 before retiring at the end of 2006.We thought then we'd seen the end of him, but we were wrong. In 2010 Michael Schumacher was back,threatening to cast his spell over the sport once again. After three years away there were questions asked. Would he regain his form - or even,a percentage of it? Could he get onto the podium or, dare we even dream it, win a race? At the start of the 2011 season,the questions were repeated. A year later,they are repeated,again. This year,there is one more; when/if the time comes,how do you tell the greatest of all time that he should call it a day - and how do you decide it's time anyway? Schumacher's record stands without peer. The man has won 91 Grands Prix and such was his dominance that Alain Prost, the man who lies second on the all-time winners list, has'just'41 victories to go with his four titles. Juan Manuel Fangio,the great Argentinian who dominated the 1950s, won just 24 races to secure his five championships. Fangio was 46 when he won his last championship in 1956. Schumacher turned 43 on January 3. if anyone is qualified to stand alongside Fangio, it is Schumacher.The German won an unprecedented five straight championships between 2000 and 2004. He won 13 races in 2004 alone, beating his own previous record of 11 race wins in a season,set in 2001. Then at the Italian GP in 2006, in a race he won, he announced his retirement. He was 37 years old and had been in Formula 1 for 15 years. He had nothing left to prove, his record spoke for itself. His time at the top had come to an end.Just like it had for Prost and Fangio before him. For the next few years Schumacher acted as an advisor to his beloved Ferrari team, hanging around the fringes of the sport without any real purpose. When Felipe Massa was injured at the 2009 Hungarian GP the first name on everyone's lips as a replacement for the Brazilian was Schumacher. It didn't happen,a neck injury suffered in a motorcycle crash at the start of the year meant the seat went to Luca Badoer and then Giancarlo Fisichell||^ut the notion woke a sleeping giant. Schumacher wanted a return, and intoj open arms of a former lover he fell.

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Mercedes-Benz purchased BrawnGP,the team with which Jenson Button had won the 2009 championship, ahead of the 2010 season. It wasn't in a strong position. What little funding the team had during its championship year was spent staying competitive.The 2010 car suffered as a result. At 41,Schumacher was an old man by Formula 1 standards, with a team whose car wasn't at the level of the frontrunners. The German, it seemed, would be consigned to the midfield until he could lead the team back to winning ways.' "It's a challenge I feel has a lot of potential to become a successful ending," Schumacher said of his decision to return. "It isn't about age,that's certainly the case. I still have the hunger of competing and racing." Schumacher's first GP back came in Bahrain where he finished sixth, one spot behind teammate Nico Rosberg. He hadn't set the world alight, that sparkle that shone so brightly in his younger days wasn't there.The aura that once surrounded him was missing, as though the spell with which he'd held Formula 1 had been broken. He was just another driver. He was Just another midfield contender. Perhaps it was Just race rustiness, give him time we thought. Having qualified seventh for the second race of the season at Albert Park, Schumacher's race rustiness saw him involved in the first corner melee. He lost his front wing in the exchange and was forced to pit for a replacement. At the tail of the field after Just a handful of laps, the stage was set for the seven-time champion to show he'd lost none of his touch.The world collectively edged its way forward on its seat in anticipation of a glorious recovery drive. Only it didn't happen. Instead Schumacher spent 20 laps stuck behind Jaime Alguersuari'sToro Rosso.The Spaniard was in Just his seventh Grand Prix and running well off the pace of Schumacher's Mercedes yet he somehow kept the German at bay. It was a sharp reality check, a statement in bold lettering that the new generation of drivers wern't going to move aside and defer. They had as much to prove as Schumacher.The German would have to work for every inch. It was unfamiliar territory. The race exposed a weakness in Schumacher,the fact that he has never been especially good in traffic or when under pressure. At Adelaide in 1994 he ran off

he may soon return to more ieisurely pursuits.There was a fourth place in Turkey, which gave the suggestion that it was Just a matter of time before he recaptured his swagger, only he never did. As races came and went Schumacher's performance was merely acceptable when we had all grown accustomed to exceptional. Things came to a head in Hungary. SCHl'MACIlER Schumacher found himself falling backwards and under pressure from Rubens Barrichello.That led to the nowinfamous incident that saw the silver car edge the Williams towards the pit wall at over SOOkmh. Barrichello scraped past, Allianz(HP but was furious, labelling the move as 'dangerous'while others heaped further scorn. Characteristically Schumacher was \ defiant, claiming he'd left enough room and inferring it was Barrichello who'd made the move dangerous. He later retracted those comments in the face of s: overwhelming condemnation. The problem was,the battle was for 10th. 1 While people may have been prepared to forgive such bully-boy driving tactics while fighting for wins,for such a lowly position, it looked sad, and kind of pathetic. Seventh gave Schuamacher points at Spa-Francorchamps, always a strong track for him, but at Singapore another clash, this time with Nick Heidfeld's Sauber meant another stop for a replacement wing, and 13th place, eight spots behind the circuit under the constant attention of teammate Rosberg. Damon Hill when the championship was For the first time in an uninterrupted on the line. He has undeniable talent and season, Schumacher was outpaced and speed over a single lap, and can reproduce beaten in the drivers'championship by his team-mate. It was not the Schumacher the it consistently like no other driver can, but world remembered. in the heat of competition the German has been found wanting with a history of making During the time he was away racing had rash decisions. changed.The cars had progressed, the tyres Similarly when he needed Just a single changed, a new generation of drivers had point to secure his sixth championship at emerged. Schumacher was playing a catch Suzuka in 2003, Schumacher qualified Just up without the testing to allow him to do 14th while team-mate Rubens Barrichello so behind closed doors.The cut and thrust secured pole. Tensions were high and nature of the midfield refused to give the invariably Schumacher ran in to trouble. A German any favours and that in turn exposed collision with Takuma Sato during the race a weakness in Schumacher's armoury. forced a stop for a new front wing, leaving At the start of the season, he had explained the German to scrambie his way back to that he had kept his red helmet design, eighth and the solitary point he needed for rather than revert to his pre-Ferrari look the title. It was the least convincing race of based on the colours of the German flag, to his illustrious career, but somehow it secured ensure that he was recognised by drivers he him his sixth title. More often than not luck was fighting for position. The inference was was on his side. that he wanted to intimidate the opposition, As 2010 progressed it failed to improve. as he had done for years at Ferrari. But such Rosberg continued to outpace him leading were his performances that it was clear that no one was intimidated by Michael many pundits to suggest he should have any more. stayed in retirement, while others speculated 1..^

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SCHU MACHER WANTED HIS RED HELMET TO INT M DATE THE OPPOSITION, AS HE HAD FOR YEARS AT FERRARI. BUT N 2010, IT WAS CLEAR THAT NO ON^ WAS INTIM DATED BY MICHAEL ANY MORE

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SCHU MACHER WANTED HIS RED HELMET TO INT M DATE THE OPPOSITION, AS HE HAD FOR YEARS AT FERRARI. BUT N 2010, IT WAS CLEAR THAT NO ON^ WAS INTIM DATED BY MICHAEL ANY MORE

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! More was promised in 2011. A new year, a new car and a revitalised Schumacher. Investment from Mercedes meant the new car should have been somewhere near the pace and benefit from its drivers input.The 2010 car had been inherited from BrawnGP and was developed with Jenson Button in mind. Schumacher and Rosberg had to make do with what they were given; 2011 was the first opportunity they had to dictate the development direction the team followed. Yet from the outset, the season had all the hallmarks of the previous year. Schumacher got caught up with Alguersuari and ultimately retired at Albert Park after the pair made contact. A brace of points finishes followed before a dreadful weekend in Turkey which made the 91-time race winner look decidedly second rate. nil

Battling with the Renault of Vitaly Petrov the pair banged wheels as they turned in to the final complex. Despite Petrov holding the inside line Schumacher swept across the track towards the apex as though the Renault was simply not there.They touched, leaving Schumacher in need of yet another new nose. He finally came home 12th after skirmishes with a number of midfield runners, including his former Ferrari protege Felipe Massa. It looked like 2010 all over again. Schumacher seemed to be stuck in meaningless battles In which he'd end up second-best and, as often as not, without his front wing. His driving, once so graceful, appeared clumsy. It was as though he was walking a tight rope without a safety net, and was swaying badly. Until Canada, that is, when he seemed to find his balance once more. With the pressure and speculation mounting, when he needed it most,Schumacher found his mojo. The race will forever be remembered for the last lap pass by Jenson Button to steal victory from Sebastian Vettel, but for just a moment there were hopes that the German anthem may play for another man. Running at the pointy end of the field, Schumacher looked more comfortable, more assertive; he looked like the man who had won seven world championships. In the end he lost out to Button, Vettel and Mark Webber but the result was unimportant. What was important was his performance because it was the first time we'd seen Schumacher drive like a World Champion since 2006. it was short-lived. At the next race he

ample opportunity by the press to criticise Schumacher's defences, but he declined to do so. There were other solid if unspectacular performances. Fifth place at the inaugural Indian GP was a highlight, having recovered from 12th place on the grid. It was a gain of seven places and typical of Schumacher's dynamite early race pace. He gained more than any other driver off the line in 2011 and in the post-season wash up it emerged the 42-year-old had passed more cars than anyone else. In truth much of that can be attributed to the fact he spent a good part of his races was coming through slower traffic after incidents. The 2011 season was progress, but not as much as had been hoped for after the disappointment of 2010.The team wasn't able to produce the car the drivers needed, and Schumacher remained guilty of becoming involved in too many incidents. "I always had a strong belief in my capabilities that results didn't really show in certain moments,"Schumacher conceded."! know the reasons why." He'll need to address that in 2012 because time is fast running out. Schumacher is at risk of becoming branded as a crash-happy midfield runner, a driver.who hung around beyond his use-by date. At 43 he is easily the oldest driver on the grid. No driver over the age of 40 has won a GP since Nigel Mansell in Adelaide in 1994, when the British hero was 41.

HIS PERFORMANCE IN CANADA WAS IMPORTANT, BECAUSE IT WAS THE FIRSt TIME WE’D SEEN SCHUMCAHER DRIVE L KE A WORLD CHAMP ON S NCE 2006

collided with Petrov, again, and lost his front wing, again,finishing a very distant 17th. At Silverstone he tangled with Kamui Kobayashi which resulted in a stop-go penalty. Canada became but a distant memory. At the Belgian GP Schumacher gave the world another glimpse of his talent on what was his 20th anniversary in the sport with a solid drive to fifth spot. One classic venue followed another, and another strong performance ensued at the Italian GP in Monza. After qualifying well the German found himself ahead of Lewis Hamilton early in the race. For lap after lap the pair battled, Schumacher defending as ferociously as ever, prompting Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn to remind his driver to leave room for his competitor. While it was borderline it was pure Schumacher, devoid of the desperation that marred his Hungarian duel with Barrichello the previous year. Hamilton did get by, finally, though Schumacher had proven once more that his ability to produce great drives was still there, hidden Just below the surface. Crucially the battle showed Schumacher could race hard, fair and clean. Post-race, Hamilton was given

Somehow, in those little flickers of brilliance throughout 2011, we've seen evidence to suggest the real Schumacher is still in there somewhere. When he's run with the leaders, he's shown his class but has been left floundering when there is less at stake. Schumacher is not an also-ran, a name buried somewhere halfway down the race classification. Schumacher is a man who for a decade embodied everything that the sport stood for. Since returning to the sport at the beginning of 2010 he's not found that form but maybe,just maybe, if Mercedes can give him a car to run at the front he can show us all just one last time. Schumacher will be remembered as one of the greats regardless, a man who can justifiably be mentioned in the same sentence as Fangio, Prost and co. His legacy cannot be taken away, it's now simply a question of whether he'll leave the sport with his head held high after a triumphant comeback, or if he'll skulk out the back door having gone on too long. <1114 motorsport news

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HIS PERFORMANCE IN CANADA WAS IMPORTANT, BECAUSE IT WAS THE FIRSt TIME WE’D SEEN SCHUMCAHER DRIVE L KE A WORLD CHAMP ON S NCE 2006

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waiting m the shadows

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SEBASTIAN VETTEL AND NICO ROSBERG ARE NOT THE ONLY GERMAN FORMULA 1 DRIVERS ASPIRING TO SCHUMACHER’S SUCCESSES

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HERE must be something in the German water. Over the last two decades the country has produced a steady stream of drivers, many of whom have made successful careers into Formula I.The success of Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the 1990s encouraged yet more youngsters, which in recent years has turned the trickle of Germans at the pinnacle of world motorsport into a flood. Sebastian Vettel's dominance of the sport in 2011 followed on the heels of a successful 2010, while Nico Rosberg looks to possess the qualities of a champion in waiting,should he ever get the opportunity.The talent pool runs deeper still because in 2010 there was another name to consider which was notably absent from the grid in 2011. Nico Hulkenberg may never have graced a Formula 1 podium but has enjoyed remarkable success in the Junior formulae. During his motorsport apprenticeship, he won five championships in as many years racing the likes of Formula BMW,A1GP and Formula 3. It's the sort of record that gets the attention of Formula 1 team bosses,so it was no surprise when Williams snapped him up as its test driver for 2009. A year later the newly crowned GP2 champion was confirmed alongside Rubens Barrichello at the famous team. The world appeared to be at his feet. It was in late in his debut year before he captured the headlines and truly laid his ability out for all to see. During a changeable qualifying session at the Brazilian Grand Prix,The Hulk made the most of tricky conditions and recorded his first pole position. What's more he did so with a lap more than a second faster than second placed Sebastian Vettel. Sure, it was lucky and owed as much to good timing as good driving, but he'd muscled the Williams in to the final phase of qualifying to be in that position in the first place - and either one of his two fastest Q3 laps would have been good enough to claim pole. Of course it was too much to ask the young German to maintain his position during the race and he ultimately fell back to eighth, which is about the best he could have hoped for. In that single weekend, he had Justified the faith Sir Frank Williams had put in him and showed himself to be one of the brightest talents in Formula 1. And then he was gone. In need of investment, Williams was forced to dump him at season's end in favour of Pastor Maldonado and Venezualen oil money.One of the most talented youngsters to reach Formula 1 - perhaps the best since Vettel - was thrown on the scrapheap at 23,the harsh realities of survival at the top having apparently claimed another victim. He had the talent, of

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that even Sir Frank was convinced, but in the cofnpetitive world of Formula 1 that's rarely enough. It's all about the money,after all. With such prodigious talent it wasn't long before Hulkenberg had a new home. Force India beckoning him in having recognised in 2010 the same talent Frank Williams had spotted in 2008. It was only a reserve driver role, though it was the next best thirig to a race seat and a smart move by the youngster - even Fernando Alonso took a year out at the start of his Formula 1 career. It was one step backwards in the hope of taking two forwards. "I want to help the team as much as I can,"^ulkenberg said when he inked the deal."We want to be within the best five teams in

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$255 $130

See www.fsport.com.au

2011 and I will try my best to assist on that, ^rsonally I want to satisfy the team to be back in a race car in 20^." And so 2011 was spent pounding away the wtorld's racetracks or a Friday morning, gaining experience and valuable seat time, all the while keeping his name and potential under the noses of the decision makers. By season's end, and with Adrian Sutil out of favour, it seemed the Hulk had weathered the storm well. Force India confirmed Hulkenberg would partner Paul di Resta for 2011 in what was the worst kept secret in Formula 1. The 2012 grid will therefore boast three Germans under 30 but all of which look set to shape the future of Formula 1 over the next decade. In Vettel we have the heir apparent to Schumacher's throne, while Rosberg continues to tease us with the prospect of a glittering career yet to truly get going. In Hulkenberg we have a dark horse, a man of incredible talent looking only for the opportunity to prove it. Second chances are rare in FI. You can be assured that Nico Hulkenberg knows that. -MATCOCH

for your nearest Kumho Motorsport Dealer

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for your nearest Kumho Motorsport Dealer

or call 1300 4 Kumho National Enquiries John Mills ACT ■>,

Notaras Racing New South Wales

0405 509 943

Peak Race Tyre Fsport Queensland

02 9683 5511 02 9679 8044

Hornibrook Motorsport South Australia

07 38651072

Kensington Park Tyrepower Tasmania

a <3 a

BriflAWM toToWiliillll

0418 404 945

Tas Tyre Distributors Tas - Launceston Beecheys Service Centre Victoria Tyrepower Essendon Western Australia Exieys Tyres and Brakes

08 8431 5856 03 6274 1640 03 6631 2948 03 9379 2616 08 9354 7855

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EVEN IN THE OFF-SEASON RYAN BRISCOE ISA BUSY MAN.PHIL BRANAGAN TRACKED HIM DOWN TO LAS VEGAS TO TALKABOUTA NEWSEASON,A NEWINDYCAR AND LIVING / THEAMERICAN DREAM H'

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EVEN IN THE OFF-SEASON RYAN BRISCOE ISA BUSY MAN.PHIL BRANAGAN TRACKED HIM DOWN TO LAS VEGAS TO TALKABOUTA NEWSEASON,A NEWINDYCAR AND LIVING / THEAMERICAN DREAM H'

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LLI can say is, thank goodness for Verizon. Not only is the American Telco a major sponsor ofTeam Penske, sometimes it is the only way to track down its drivers.Take Ryan Briscoe,for instance. He was in Australia during the Christmas/ New Year break, which was not uncommon. But rarely, so were Australia's other four leading international drivers, Mark Webber and Dan Ricciardo from Formula 1; Briscoe's own team-mate Will Power; and NASCAR Sprint Cup race winner, Marcos Ambrose. But once Briscoe left our shores, it was like trying to track a video game. After a stop in California, he was home to Charlotte, then off to Daytona for a three-day Grand-Am test,then a day in Indianapolis for his 2012 Indycar physical and then on to Las Vegas. There, he and Power and their team-mate Helio Castroneves made an appearance,for Verizon, at the Consumer Electronics Show,one of the biggest conventions of its type in the world. It was there that Briscoe stopped, briefly, to talk to MN. "It has been flat-out," he admitted, late at night. "I thought that I was getting back plenty early, but it has been fun. As soon as we got back, we caught up with our neighbours,and went to the Rose Bowl.They are huge Ducks fans [Ed;the University of Oregon's college football team, which won the Rose Bowl].Then it was straight to Daytona over the weekend.That went well, and I don't mind travelling. "We made an appearance at the show this afternoon and we had a dinner at the Penske-Wynn dealership. We are doing just team stuff at the moment, but we do a lot of team stuff as well. I think that we are on the upside of it, but over the past few years, we all came together and said,'Look, we need to do the hard yards. Indycar needs us to be out there and to help bring the series back'. We try to work hard, to reach out to the fans and do what we can." There is a clear sense that the Indycar Series,for so long the poor cousin of Stock Car racing, is starting to regain some traction with US fans.The heady days of America's open-wheeler series, whether known as CART or Champ Car,featuring a galaxy of stars and millions and millions of dollars worth of sponsorship are still only a memory, but the signs are good. According to Briscoe, that is because of one factor - hard work. "It has helped that everyone seems to want to work together," he tells."Everyone is on the same page; there is a hard road ahead. It is still pretty tough over here, people are looking for sponsors. Everyone needs to work towards the same goal.There is a great vibe in Indycar at the moment. Because of how the season finished last year, and that was terrible. Safety is the number one priority at the moment.That is all good. "But the signs are good and there are lot of good things happening. Chevrolet has joined the series, and that is huge. With Randy Bernard running the show at the moment,the feeling is good. He is a really hard worker and he is pushing hard for the series to be successful, for Indycar to be what it can be. We are looking to him, to what he is doing." One of the things that has been fixed, hopefully, is the problem in race control. Long-time Race Director Brian Barnhart had become known more for his quirky decisions than for fair and just rulings. Under his stewardship, single-file starts for the Indianapolis 500 became mandatory; overtaking down the inside line on street courses was frowned upon; and,for the piece de resistance, the New Hampshire race - on an oval - was restarted in the rain. That decision, the ensuing carnage and Power's gestures to race control appear to have been the last straw. Last month, Barnhart was replaced by Beaux Barfield, who joins Indycar from the American Le Mans Series. 46

FIEMSM AT (GA\NASSLTHE]R]E IS S(0)METHIN(G SP]E(C][A\]L A\]B(0)UT EOCGER mm "It is massively better,"says Briscoe."Things were getting out of control. He [Barnhart] was in a difficult position as well; he was under a lot of pressure and decisions were not being made in the way that they were meant to be. "I got to meet Beaux Barfield yesterday. He has a lot of experience, and I really liked the way he is thinking.There are going to be some rule changes that will be for the better, and that is all still in process. But I have a good feeling about that. I don't think that you will see some drivers complaining after every race any more." One thing that all Indycar drivers have to look forward to is a new car. After seven years with the Dallara-Honda V8 combination, a new Dallara is currently being developed to race with three different V6, turbocharged motors - one each from Honda, Chevrolet and Lotus. Penske will carry Chevy's bowtie logo and that is just fine with Briscoe. "There are a lot of good features in the new car.There is a lot more coming - there is an updated suspension package coming to be tested soon,for instance.There have been some issues; there were some fairly evil handling problems,and they have been addressed. It is lighter than the old car, it is a lot safer, they have done a good job on it. "The engine is really nice. It is still early days and I don't think that anyone is pushing their engines to the max yet, but it is really different. A turbocharged engine really changes the feeling of the car, it changes the way that you drive the cars as well. Changes are positive but in the next three months, before the first race, we definitely have a lot of hard work to do,to make sure we make it a good handling car as well." While the former chassis/engine combo served Indycar well, it was well past its use-by date.The experience that the teams had with cars meant that there were few surprises. But the two big teams, Ganassi and Penske, dominated, winning a staggering 43 of the 50 completed races over the last three seasons. nil But that masks a truth, according to Briscoe. motorsport news

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THERE never seem to be enough hours in the day for some racing drivers, but Ryan Briscoe wants to race and race - and not just in Indycars. Apart from from his regular trips iiome to Australia to race for the Holden Racing Team on the Gold Coast. Briscoe is a regular at the Daytona 24 Hour race. This year's race features heavily revised (and much better looking) cars including the Suntrust Corvette Briscoe is sharing with Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor. v^ww.mnews.com.au

"I asked permissiotr from Roger to let me do it," says Ryan. 'He is not always keen to let us does those races, but being a Chevrolet factory GM car -■ as is HRT - he is a little bit more lenient. Daytona is a race that Roger loves as well; I wouldn't be surprised to see him bar k in it, one of these years. But I love it; it is the best way to start the season off, you get to work with good engineers and drive a cjood racecar. I am in a girat car, with Max, who is my manager but w ho is more of a dose friend, so it is like a familv afeir." 47

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I SPENT a fair bit of time catching up with movies over the summer break. One of them was The Adjustment Bureau - and like any movie based on a book by Philip K Dick (one of his books became the classic Blade Runner), it takes some explaining. The basic premise is that there is a Grand Plan, overseen by an unseen entity (insert your own brand of deity here) and that a bureau of hatted men interfere with any seemingly insignificant event that might derail the big picture. Think of them as angels, with attitude. Grand Plans are, well, grand. It's all very well to have big ideas, and go after them. Heck, it's not'happiness'that is enshrined in the US Declaration of Independence, it is the'pursu/f of happiness'. Getting there is not a promise, so much as the opportunity to try. It strikes me that James Courtney and Ryan Briscoe are fairly happy men. Their careers are going well; I am sure that neither is particularly happy that the win count the two shared for 2011 was one (JC in Abu Dhabi) but both have the talent to right that ship this year. They are both with iconic teams, Courtney with the Holden Racing Team, Briscoe 4R

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with Team Penske. Technically, since Ryan is a usually wanted man by HRT come GC600 time, they are team-mates. My point is, where they are now is not where they were originally aiming. As youngsters in karts and cars, both here and overseas, Courtney and Briscoe wanted to be Grand Prix drivers. Both had shining talent and looked to be on their way, Briscoe swept up into the Toyota system that saw him testing Formula 1 cars regularly, and Courtney in Jaguar green. His tests ended badly, with high-speed crashes at Monza and Silverstone that, for a time, threatened his career. He rebuilt it, via Japan. Briscoe, after falling on the wrong side of Toyota politics, moved to America, and moved on. But it could have been different. In 2002,Toyota GP driver Mika Salo was in doubt for the British GP, due to illness. Briscoe was on standby; had the Finn not be able to get better in time for qualifying, Briscoe would have made his GP debut. A decent result could have changed his life. "I feel like I am very lucky," he says. "I have had a fantastic career, and I am still having one. You can always look at things

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"There was still some dominance between Penske and Ganassi but the playing field had never been more level. It was ridiculous how close the lap times were, at nearly all the races. "At the end of the day,the good teams are going to come to the front because it is not just about the equipment that you have. It is about how you execute pitstops; it is about your strategy; there are a whole lot of factors. Penske and Ganassi, they do a lot of things right to win races. But so far as potential is concerned, with the old car, there were no secrets. Nobody had anything that anybody else didn't have.The cars were identical. It was amazing. "Part of the problem at the end, I think, is that you would go to a Speedway and everyone was running identical speeds. Now, with differences in the cars, there might be Honda domination hopefully not, it will be Chevrolet! Or maybe,all the engines will be equally matched. But the top teams will be the ones winning races. A lot of the performance needed to win races is about the people in the team, preparation, and what happens before you go to the races. No one does that better than Penske." Briscoe is well-placed to make that statement. Very few drivers have raced for both Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi, and Briscoe is reluctant to draw a direct comparison between Indycar's two leading owners. "It is hard to compare. I am in my sixth season at Penske,and I feel like I have learnt so much from him. For pretty much all my races in those six years, he has been the man on my radio, calling my races. It has been pretty amazing.You learn how to race, how to strategise and even how to perform outside the car as well. It has been an amazing experience and I hope that it continues for a long time. "Ganassi was a great team,too. But there is no Roger Penske at Ganassi.They are two different nil

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and say,'It could have been so much better'. But it could have been so much worse. There are so many elements that make up a career. There are so many drivers out there that do not get the breaks and do not get to meet the right people. Some don't even get close. I feel privileged for everything that has been given to me. "That being said, there can be bad timing. I went to Europe as a go-kart racer. My thought was that, hopefully one day, I would become a professional go-kart racer! Then I got picked up by a Formula 1 team. All of a sudden, within nine months, I was testing a Formula 1 car! At that point, your expectations go through the roof. My dream became, immediately, to become a Formula 1 driver. "So, there was disappointment that I did not get that opportunity. IfToyota had come out as a stronger team, I would have definitely have got that opportunity. But when I was ready, they were forced into signing previous race winners, on long-term contracts. That pretty much ruled me out," So Ryan Briscoe, living in Italy, fluent in Italian, moved his career, and his life, to the USA. Today, there he lives, with his American

The Many faces of Ryan: Ten years ago, James Courtney and Briscoe were both in Formula 3, and Ryan was a Toyota FI test driver, left He is also a regular HRT co-driver and is married to Nicole, a fan of the NFL's Green Bay Packers. That is Packer Charles Woodson getting a special helmet from Briscoe at Milwaukee last year, top right.

wife Nicole (a presenter on NASCAR's TV broadcasts), their dogs and their American way of life. The new car in the driveway is even a Chevy Silverado pickup ("But there is also a 911 in the garage" he points out). He is even a fan of that most American of American sports, NFL football. "I love it. I really enjoy the football. When I was in Australia I had no idea about the game; I would just see these heavilypadded guys running into each motorsport news

other. I had no idea about the plays, or how the game worked. But I have taken a big liking to it. I have been lucky enough to go to a lot of games, I was roped into being a Packers fan through Nicole and her family. I did not have a lot of choice there!" Charlotte is a long way from Sydney's west, or from Italy. But it sounds like it suits Ryan Briscoe just fine. "Here I am, racing for Penske. That seems pretty damn good." -PHILBRANAGAN www.mnews.com.au

men. Chip is a racer; he used to race. He is all about racing. But there is something special about Roger; he walks into a room and it doesn't matter how long a guy has been working for him, people are, I think, extremely honoured to be in his presence. Hejust has this aura about him." After two seasons without a win, Briscoe is keen to hit the ground running in 2012. As recently as 2009, he went to the final round of the series at Homestead with title aspirations, and he is confident that in the new car, he can win races, and contend for the title again. "Hopefully it will start from race number one," he says. "I want to start strong this year and 1 am going to work hard to make sure I can do it. Last year was Just a strange year; 1 really felt like, in 2010, performance-wise, I was pretty strong. But last year, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I want to build on that this year. I have a new engineer, and I am excited about that. This is a fresh start. I have a lot to look forward to."

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OTORSPORT NEWS; Let's start with V8 Supercars. You've raced on the Gold Coast twice now, and in 2011 you looked like you really settled in. Have you worked out how to drive a V8 Supercar? MIKA SALO;There is still a lot to learn.There was a year between when I drove the cars, remember. The [FPR] car was a lot better than the one I drove In 2010 (ED: when Salo drove for Bundy Red Racing), and Will [Davison] was a huge help. Actually, Will helped me a lot the first year as well, when he was at Holden, but we weren't even in the same car. We get along really well, so I'm happy to drive with him. But back to learning the cars, there is so much to learn. I would need weeks of testing before I could get everything out of the car. Even the second time, I was nowhere near the limit of the car. Has the fact that you've done a lot of sportscar racing since leaving Formula 1 make the transition to a V8 Supercar easier? Would a V8 be harder to drive if you were still a Formula 1 driver? Yeah, I think so. It helps, because I've been racing closed-wheel cars for a while now. I know when the wheels are about to lock and things like this, where open-wheeler drivers would have a bit of trouble with that.

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n/IIK A SALO IS MUCH MORE THAN THE OTHER FERRARI DRIVER FROM OERMANT1999. ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN CAUGHT UP WITH THE VERSATILE FINN 52

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Let's go back through your career a bit; in 1990 it was you and Mika Hakkinen racing British Formula 3, and it was very, very close. After that, his career went one way, and yours went another. Is that a fair statement? Yeah it is. It was different times. The other Mika had Keke Rosberg as his manager, and 1 didn't have anyone. I had to do everything myself, and I had to go where I could. I had no money, no sponsors, so I went where the drives were. I had the best offer from Japan, so I spent four years there. I made good money for racing, and I was nil 53

N FOR ALL SEA SONS

n/IIK A SALO IS MUCH MORE THAN THE OTHER FERRARI DRIVER FROM OERMANT1999. ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN CAUGHT UP WITH THE VERSATILE FINN 52

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Salo made the first of his 109 GP starts at Suzuka in 1994 with Lotus, above. The last came at the same circuit in 2002, with Toyota and blue hair, right with a freshfaced Kimi Raikkonen. PsnascHc

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A stint at Ferrari in 7999 deputising for the injured Michael Schumacher brought his best race result, second at Hockenheim, albeit in unique circumstances,far right.

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happy doing what I was doing, because all I ever wanted was to be a

That Japanese scene was a big deal back in the 1990s, wasn't it...

professional racecar driver. Then the opportunity came in 1994. i had a phone call from Peter Collins from Lotus, and he said 'will you drive for us at Suzuka?'Of course I took it; I didn't even think about it at that time.

Flalf of the Formula 1 grid was there!

Soon after that, I was in Formula 1 - but I wanted to go back to Japan, because I wasn't making any money in Formula 1. 1 couldn't live like that. But the people around me said 'just wait, it will be okay', and it did all work out. So are you saying that you seriously considered giving up on FI, and just going back to living the life in Japan? Well ... with Formula 1, once you're in, it would be stupid to get out of it. There is something about Formula 1. Also, I didn't really want to be based full time in Japan. With Formula 1 I could move back to Europe. In the end, I realised it was the right place to be. 54

It's not like that now, but it really was a viable way to get to Formula 1, wasn't it? It was good, because we were the poor boys. None of us had big budgets or sponsors or anything like that, so we all ended up there. We were paid well and it was good racing. Japan was a good lesson for me. I was a young boy, and I was racing against guys like Johnny Herbert, who came down from Formula 1 to do Japanese series. I learnt a lot. When you debuted at the Japanese Grand Prix in 1994, you'd never driven a Formula 1 car before. How difficult was that? It was difficult, yeah, because I'd been to Suzuka plenty of times, but that was in Formula 3000.The first time I ever drove a Formula 1 car was in Free

Practice; that was an exciting moment!

failure? Nah. As soon as I saw Eddie

I actually qualified for the race, so it was pretty good.

behind me, I knew it was going to come soon. I'll never forget the calm voice ...'Mika, I want you to let Eddie past this lap'. I thought'shitl'

How many times have you been asked about Hockenheim 1999? I don't know ... millions! (Laughs)

It’s strange that'99 was the year where you didn't have a full-time drive, but also the

Is it something you dwell on? It was Just one of those things. Before I even drove a Ferrari FI car, the team told me their aims were to make Eddie [Irvine] World Champion, and to win

year where you went closest to winning a race. Exactly! That's how it sometimes goes. One guy's misfortune is another guy's luck. I remember when it all

the constructors championship. So I knew that if that situation

happened; I was sitting in an airport lounge, and I saw Michael crashing. I thought well, they'll need a driver'. A day later I had a phone call.

ever came up, my job would be to let Eddie past. I knew that. There were plenty of other things I did in other races for Ferrari where I sacrificed my result. I could have done a lot better in some of the other races, too. But it was what it was. Team orders were allowed at the time, and I did it. Did you think about pretending you had a radio

Since Formula 1 you've done a lot of different things. How was your time in Champ Car? Is that something you would have liked to have done more of? That was fun, I enjoyed that. We did a lot of street courses, and I like those. One thing that

i.ii4

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riL NEVER FORSET THE CAOVI VOICE.. 1VIIKA,I WANT YOU TO LET EOOIE PAST THIS LAP.I THOUGHT SHIT! TROFEO MOTORSPORT OFFERS FOR SALE ITS COMPLETE INVENTORY OF FACTORY BUILT UNIQUE MASERATI RACE CARS.

M/e offer the cars disolaved and a huge inventory of spare parts moulds andjigs along with a wealth of knowledge about these cars for future maintenance.

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FOR MORE INFORMAJIQN QONTACT ROD ON 0417 511 911 OR EMAIL R0p@TR0FE0M0T0RSP0RT.COM www.mnews.com.au

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Salo made the first of his 109 GP starts at Suzuka in 1994 with Lotus, above. The last came at the same circuit in 2002, with Toyota and blue hair, right with a freshfaced Kimi Raikkonen. PsnascHc

TororA

A stint at Ferrari in 7999 deputising for the injured Michael Schumacher brought his best race result, second at Hockenheim, albeit in unique circumstances,far right.

nil

happy doing what I was doing, because all I ever wanted was to be a

That Japanese scene was a big deal back in the 1990s, wasn't it...

Flalf of the Formula 1 grid was there!

Practice; that was an exciting moment!

failure? Nah. As soon as I saw Eddie

I actually qualified for the race, so it was pretty good.

behind me, I knew it was going to come soon. I'll never forget the calm voice ...'Mika, I want you to let Eddie past this lap'. I thought'shitl'

How many times have you been asked about Hockenheim 1999? I don't know ... millions! (Laughs)

It’s strange that'99 was the year where you didn't have a full-time drive, but also the

Is it something you dwell on? It was Just one of those things. Before I even drove a Ferrari FI car, the team told me their aims were to make Eddie [Irvine] World Champion, and to win

year where you went closest to winning a race. Exactly! That's how it sometimes goes. One guy's misfortune is another guy's luck. I remember when it all

the constructors championship. So I knew that if that situation

happened; I was sitting in an airport lounge, and I saw Michael crashing. I thought well, they'll need a driver'. A day later I had a phone call.

i.ii4

motorsport news

riL NEVER FORSET THE CAOVI VOICE.. 1VIIKA,I WANT YOU TO LET EOOIE PAST THIS LAP.I THOUGHT SHIT! TROFEO MOTORSPORT OFFERS FOR SALE ITS COMPLETE INVENTORY OF FACTORY BUILT UNIQUE MASERATI RACE CARS.

M/e offer the cars disolaved and a huge inventory of spare parts moulds andjigs along with a wealth of knowledge about these cars for future maintenance.

MASERATI TROFEO,2003 l Imported New into Australia by the Maserali Oistribulor. the best Iroleo in the world ●Approx ZOOOkin's club track days S hot laps.

l One S only Owner Since New l Hugo list ol Spare Parts and Support ^sl<|||()$//(^l^Atll)tlK; (ISI

computed in the Inaurjural liiropean based GT3 Championship Troloo purchased all 3 cars in ?008 and imported them to Australia Askinii$00iVKIAJ«1 '!( (IS I

FOR MORE INFORMAJIQN QONTACT ROD ON 0417 511 911 OR EMAIL R0p@TR0FE0M0T0RSP0RT.COM www.mnews.com.au

1:18 Scale - 18LM96 TWR WSC Porsche Winner, 1996 LeMans 24hour D.Jones/M.Reuter/A.Wurz ETA-March

Salo first visited the Goid Coast in 2003,above ieft, during his brief stint in Champ Car.

He was a V8 Supercar Internationai in 20)0 and20n,finishing second with Will Davison,above,on the Saturday last year.

Much ofhis year is spent in sportscars, winning the GT2 Class at Le Mans with Rizi Competizione in 2008 and 2009,left.

^iii

bothered me about Champ Car was that I never got to do an oval. I wanted to do one oval at least, so I would know what people are talking about. I missed that opportunity.

You've been closely involved with Ferrari since leaving Formula 1; has that come

Getting more Formula 1 guys, like [Giancarlo] Fisichella, is bringing a new standard to sportscars. It's a higher standard. A lot of the GT drivers haven't been higher than GTs, so we can help them understand what they want from the cars. Did it take you a while to get used to closed cars?

about given what happened in Germany in 1999? Has the sportscar stuff been a bit of a make-up? Well, they didn't owe me anything, but I built up a good relationship with Ferrari. They could see I was a team player, and you need to be a team player In this sport. But you're right. I've done a lot with them since Formula 1. 1

are much longer, so you need to use your brain to save the car.

did the Maserati MCI2 project first, and then started in GT cars.

There has been talk about

Even now I am still working with them. How have you found the sportscar scene? 56

Not so much the driving, but the traffic! It was about trying to get the most out of the traffic in a race situation. That was very different for me when I first started. As for driving, it's not hugely different. You just have to think more about the car; the races

you in NASCAR as well; is that something that could still happen? Yeah ... I'd love to do NASCAR. I did a lot of testing with Michael

Waltrip Racing, but, yeah, it's hard for a Finnish person to go and race in America. You need a

Fle's trying to make his way up the ladder, but he's in a similar situation to what I was when I

lot of money, and I couldn't find any sponsors. It's still there, and I still hope it happens, but with each day that goes past it becomes less likely. I do hope that one day it happens, even just a few races, because that's about all that is

was young. Fie has zero budget. Fle's just trying to do his best. Fle's very good. Fie could be a lot higher than he is right now, but it's just a lack of budget.

missing. I've pretty much raced everything else. How did you find testing the NASCAR? That is a world away from Formula 1! Yeah, the cars are not the best thing to drive. But the atmosphere at the races is unbelievable. It's something that's on a different planet. Now apparently you are [Finnish up-and-comer] Jesse Krohn's godfather. He raced an Australian Formula Ford in England a couple of years ago! How involved are you in his career?

:43 Scale Lola T70 MKII Mark Donohue Winner,1967 USSRC ETA - February

Scale Pagani Zonda R Nurburgring Lap Record Holder 6m 45.5s - Marc Basseng ETA - February

Despite the lack of budget, is it fun to be involved with a young talent? It is, yeah. I know he's good, and he's got a heck of a lot of experience for his age. He's been driving all sorts of things around the world already, and he would make a great racecar driver for a good team somewhere. What about Max Salo? Is he going to be a racecar driver? Ummm ... he's not a very competitive person. He likes driving, but he doesn't like the competition. But he's still a young boy. I'll let him do what he wants. I won't push him into anything. motorsport news

www.apixreplicas.com.au L. -

(

52115-1:43 Scale Jaguar XK120 Clark/Haines LeMans 24hour, 1950 ETA - February

1:18 Scale - 18LM96 TWR WSC Porsche Winner, 1996 LeMans 24hour D.Jones/M.Reuter/A.Wurz ETA-March

Salo first visited the Goid Coast in 2003,above ieft, during his brief stint in Champ Car.

He was a V8 Supercar Internationai in 20)0 and20n,finishing second with Will Davison,above,on the Saturday last year.

Much ofhis year is spent in sportscars, winning the GT2 Class at Le Mans with Rizi Competizione in 2008 and 2009,left.

^iii

bothered me about Champ Car was that I never got to do an oval. I wanted to do one oval at least, so I would know what people are talking about. I missed that opportunity.

You've been closely involved with Ferrari since leaving Formula 1; has that come

are much longer, so you need to use your brain to save the car.

did the Maserati MCI2 project first, and then started in GT cars.

There has been talk about

Even now I am still working with them. How have you found the sportscar scene? 56

you in NASCAR as well; is that something that could still happen? Yeah ... I'd love to do NASCAR. I did a lot of testing with Michael

Waltrip Racing, but, yeah, it's hard for a Finnish person to go and race in America. You need a

Fle's trying to make his way up the ladder, but he's in a similar situation to what I was when I

was young. Fie has zero budget. Fle's just trying to do his best. Fle's very good. Fie could be a lot higher than he is right now, but it's just a lack of budget.

:43 Scale Lola T70 MKII Mark Donohue Winner,1967 USSRC ETA - February

Scale Pagani Zonda R Nurburgring Lap Record Holder 6m 45.5s - Marc Basseng ETA - February

www.apixreplicas.com.au L. -

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52115-1:43 Scale Jaguar XK120 Clark/Haines LeMans 24hour, 1950 ETA - February

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Tim Blanchard has spent the last two seasons in the Development Series. In 2010, he finished second with Sonic Motor Racing Services, before finishing fifth with Matthew White Motorsport in 2011. He'll remain in the series this year, but had yet to confirm a team as MNews went to print. WHAT'S THE DEVELOPMENT SERIES TO YOU? It's a stepping stone into the Main Series. It's an opportunity to drive these cars without the pressure and spotlight of being in the Main Series, and the best way to learn the cars and learn the category. The rule change a few years ago, not allowing Main Series teams to put their fulltime drivers together in the endurance races makes the Development Series an even better place to be for drivers like myself. You're driving the cars regularly and getting opportunities in the endurance races as well, which we probably wouldn't have gotten in the past.Teams now require drivers that are up to speed in a V8 a lot more than they did in the past, so it just means the reliance on drivers from the Development Series becomes a lot greater.

After time in Carrera Cup and Australian GT- the latter resulting in a pair of titles - David Wall switched to the Development Series in 2011, running with Main Game outfit Tony DAIberto Racing. In 2012, he'll step up to the Main Game himself, with Brad Jones Racing. WHAT'S THE DEVELOPMENT SERIES TO YOU? To me,the Fujitsu Series was a path to get more time in the car, especially for the enduros. I obviously wanted to do well in the series itself, but I put a dampener on that myself when I went and broke my ankle halfway through the year and missed a round. As far as the series goes,for us, it was all over. But,overall, it was all about getting laps in these cars, learning them as much as possible to try and help me with what's happening this year. Normally things like that don't go to plan, but in this case it has. HOW DO YOU RATE THE CURRENT HEALTH OFTHE SERIES? I think it's going to get bigger and better. As the series went on last year, we ended 58

up with more competitors as it went.There were a lot of new cars coming into it, some cars were people replacing their cars and other people were new franchisees, if you like, with new cars coming into the series. I think there's a lot of interest out there to run. It is an expensive class to run, with the amount of rounds you get, but to get a step up into the Main Series, I think it's important to at least do a year in to get your head around the car and try to go down that path of trying to make it into the Main Series. WHAT'S YOUR VIEW ON THE INVOLVEMENT OF LEVEL 1 TEAMS IN THE CATEGORY? I think it's good. I think you do need to have that yardstick, if you like, to chase in the series. You're never going to stop it, for starters; you're always going to have the elite end of

the sport wanting to compete in all aspects of it. I think it's a good thing and something that will probably keep going for a while, even though some people aren't so happy about it. FOR THE SERIES MOVING FORWARD... The only thing, personally,that 1 think would be nice would be to have a go on would be the Sprint Tyre. I think it would be good if the Development Series could run on that tyre for one round,or one race even,so the guys that are trying to make it into the Main Series know what to expect on that tyre before they get there. I think it'd be a good thing, I think it'd probably mix the field up again,and would give you a real leg-up to know what to expect if one day you get to drive in the Main Series. motorsport news

HOW DO YOU RATE THE CURRENT HEALTH OFTHE SERIES? 1 think there are a few areas that need improvement but, generally, it's pretty healthy. I think it's getting stronger from year to year. In the two or three years I've been involved - from when I was helping Taz Douglas, working on his car, in 2009 - I'd say 2011, in terms of grid numbers,depth and quality is a lot better. You go back six or seven years, when they were getting close to 40 cars on the grid, I don't think the quality or depth was really there.There were a few good cars, but that was really it, whereas now there probably isn't 40 cars on the grid, but there's five to 10 cars capable of winning races. Back when they had 40, it was probably only three, so I think it's in better shape now than it was ever. WHAT'S YOUR VIEW ON THE INVOLVEMENT OF LEVEL 1 TEAMS IN THE CATEGORY? I see positives and negatives from it. Its good that there's a benchmark there and it enables the drivers and teams to push themselves to match those Level 1 teams. There's a clear benchmark for us to work and strive towards. But it's still got to be achievable. IfTriple Eight turn up to do the Development Series with Jamie Whincup driving, it's probably www.mnews.com.au

not going to be a realistic benchmark, it's good that they're there as a benchmark, but it needs to be an attainabie one. As good as the Level 1 teams are, and they've obviously made investments in the category,the lifeblood of the Development Series is Matt White, Greg Murphy,Sonic; teams like that. If they can't offer drivers competitive drives at a reasonable price, the Development Series isn't going to be around for very long. Not many people can afford to put deals together with big budget,excessive budgets, for long periods of time. I support Level 1 teams being involved, I personally have nothing against them being involved and I welcome them, but we need to make sure the Development Series only teams can compete at a reasonable cost. FOR THE SERIES MOVING FORWARD ... From a driver's perspective,tyres are the main issue.The amount of times last year I was running around on tyres that Main Series teams wouldn't even look at... you're doing laps four or five seconds off the pace because you're tyres are Just so old. At one test day last year, we went home at 3 o'clock in the afternoon because we Just had no tyres left to use. We weren't achieving anything, we were Just tearing gear up. It's a waste of time. When you're trying to learn and trying to catch up to the Main Series guys as you develop as a young driver, that's Just ridiculous.

You should have enough sets of good tyres to be on a good set and complete your test days properly.That's probably the biggest issue.You get limited testing, you're doing less miles than the Main Series guys, yet you're trying to improve yourself to match those guys.You need to be able to throw at least a new set of tyres on at every test day, I think. At the end of the day, it is an added expense, but $1200 or whatever it is for a new set of tyres when you're spending close to half-a-million dollars to go racing for a year, what's an extra three grand to make sure you can test properly? Additionally,they need to focus on looking after the Development Series teams' sponsors.TV time, hospitality at the track for sponsors and opportunities that V8 Supercars offer Development Series team sponsors are really important. It's really hard work trying to look after sponsors properly. I thinkVS Supercars have made an effort to improve it, but still they need to take a little bit more of an interest in it and dedicate a little bit more time to the Development Series in terms of helping the teams look after their sponsors. Teams like Matt White and Sonic don't have the budget and the resources to put a full marketing team in to look after their sponsors, like a Main Series team. V8 Supercars should help because, at the end of the day, it's their business and their brand and even the Development Series sponsors need to be looked after properly.

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Before Joining the Development Series in 2007 as an offshoot of then Main Game team Tasman Motorsport, GMR featured in Formula Flolden and Carrera Cup. They won the 2010 DVS title with Steve Owen and ran four cars in 2011.

HOW DO YOU RATE THE CURRENT HEALTH OF THE SERIES? I think, to be honest, it is in a healthy state. It's got good numbers at most rounds now, compared to two or three years ago. Some of that has come about with the involvement of VCS teams, but that said, there have been more people buying cars, getting into it and giving it a shot. It's healthy, but it's also becoming quite difficult. We're dealing with cars that aren't that expensive to purchase, but they are to keep going and maintain. As a consequence, there's becoming a bigger separation between the haves and the have nots, in terms of performance, which is probably a 60

little bit disturbing. Obviously people are always going to want to gravitate to those that have got the better equipment and better performance, but, that said, they don't want to pay any more for it than probably the teams that are struggling further back. So there's probably a bit of a balance there that's not actually always easy to bridge. WHAT'S YOUR VIEW ON THE INVOLVEMENT OF LEVEL 1 TEAMS IN THE CATEGORY? I'm disturbed by Level 1 teams just coming in and dominating. Particularly by them putting in talented drivers that they're putting in for the sake of just getting mileage for the endurance events. If they're genuine rookies, I don't suppose we can really point the finger too much, because it is a development series and they are developing youth. That said, they can come and go as they wish, the Level 1 teams. If they decide they're too busy next year with the Car of the Future coming in that they can't do a Development car, they would just walk away. Whereas for some of us, it is our total living. And we do a pretty good job. I notice a statement made by a fairly well-renowned driver in recent times that some of the teams are just too expensive and they should be looking at their costings, but that becomes an issue as well. We have to buy all of our stuff new, we have to rent our own premises, employ staff totally dedicated to what we do in the Development Series, whereas the Level 1 teams have a lot of that structure in place, get very good quality hand-me-down brakes,

for example, and a lot of other items. Their engine costs are less and so on. If they want to carry spare engines, they don't have to build them, they've already got them in their system, and they will come out of the truck. So they can do a much cheaper job, not always better, but cheaper, and consequently they are taking, in some cases, clients from us, the genuine DVS set-up teams, and making it very hard. There are teams like ourselves, Matthew White and Sonic, that do this for a living, and then there are the others, like the more privateer type guys because they're doing it because it's there for them, or they struggle to do it but they do it because it's a passion andthey help fill the field up. I think in that respect, the Level 1 involvement probably Isn't helping some of the business models that are out there, but, that said, there's no rule to stop them being in there and we shouldn't do that. I think some of the rules that have been looked at and recently introduced to level the playing field will do that a little. It will help save costs for the likes of ourselves and the other privateer teams. For example, the banning of twin-spring damper set-ups. Some people wouldn't even know what we're talking about, others haven't been able to perfect it, and others that have been able to perfect it will have the slight advantage at some circuits taken away from them. To me, that's a good thing. We've got to make it as much of a level playing field as possible.The control cam engine coming in, I don't think it will have the effect that some people think it will in

WHAT'S THE DEVELOPMENT SERIES TO YOU? It's a stepping stone to the Main Game, to try and get the kids noticed for a test or something along those lines, as we try to get them a Main Game drive. Doing this series is the obvious way to do it. Mileage in the cars is the most critical factor; you can get mileage In the cars in the series, and with these cars being so difficult to drive, learning how to drive them and manage the tyres and things like that is what you've got to learn. That's the biggest thing. HOW DO YOU RATE THE CURRENT HEALTH OF THE SERIES? I think the series is very, very healthy. When you sit down and look at it, in 2011 we were probably one of the strongest categories in the country, apart from V8 Supercars. To what that will be this year, I think it's going to be strong again, from what's shaping up from the people we're talking to.

WHAT'S YOUR VIEW ON THE INVOLVEMENT OF LEVEL 1 TEAMS IN THE CATEGORY I don't have a problem with it. 1 would prefer to try and have a level playing field, but technically there is a level playing field. It's just that some of us don't have access to that technology. When you've got the likes of Triple Eight coming in and running a car that's the same as their Level 1 cars and that sort of thing, it becomes very difficult to try and compete against them. All you can do is the best job you can possibly do and just keep going forward. The closer we can get to them, the more satisfying it is. FOR THE SERIES MOVING FORWARD... I think everything's pretty much a status quo at the moment. The new regulations have come in, with the mandatory use of the control camshaft as of the third round of the championship. That's just a sensible progression (ED: it was introduced to the Main Game in 2010). The rules and regulations are all pretty much the same as before. The Working Group is obviously happening, we're doing bits and pieces to keep all of that going and there's a few little things we'd like to change. But as a whole, the series is pretty good.

Wunlop Dominates Again at the 6 Hour^ ^^urance Race at Phillip Island! 1st 2nd 3rd

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Stuart Kostera & InkyTulloch Jake Camilleri & Scott Nicholas

Jim Pollicina/ Dean Kelland & Steve Cramp

NSW 8t ACT Gary's Motorsport Tyres Unit 3,13 Penny Place Arndell Park NSW 2148 P02 96768655

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VICTORIA Stuckey Tyre Service 828 Sydney Road Brunswick VIC 3056 P 03 9386 5331

When you look at it, a lot of the categories in the country are struggling big time for numbers. But when you look at our category last year, 1 think it was a 25 or 26-car average. We can't complain about the strength or the quality of the field.

slowing some of the front-runners down or dragging the back of the field up. I think that will be a very slow cost saving, because we do such little running compared to the Main Game teams, we're probably only doing about 18 percent of it. FOR THE SERIES MOVING FORWARD... A team like ourselves, we've had 255 car starts in the series and we feel that we should be protected to some degree to be able to keep our business going. By limiting the number of Main Game entries that can be in the field, or maybe the experienced drivers going back in should be directed at a business such as ours to help them continue. It's not that we run around at the back of the field. We've got equipment that could run at the front of the field, subject to having the quality of driver that the VCS-associated teams tend to attract. It's already showing, where people I've been speaking to have said 'I'm not happy to go to a team that doesn't have a direct association with a VCS team'. I'm not linked with them, so I'm stuck. If it gets out of hand, it will mean the demise of some of us. But come the Car of the Future, I think these other teams running that type of car, they won't be so keen to be involved in the DVS with their endurance driver. Suddenly, if the likes of GMR and Matthew White have disappeared because the driver pool has dried up, there'll be a massive void in the category. I think that's something the category has to be wary of and handled well.

Former V8 Supercar privateer runs a pair of ex-Brad Jones Racing Falcons in the series for his sons, Drew and Aaren, as they look to forge careers in the sport.

All winning drivers were using Dunlops DZ03G rCongratulations Winners! 1st, 2nd and 3rd across the line; 1

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WHAT'S THE DEVELOPMENT SERIES TO YOU? It's a number of things. Initially, it is a continuation of a business we have had set up since 1997 in Australia, running, in most cases, other people's racecars for them. In this case, now, we own three of the four cars that we run, but that's not by choice, necessarily, that's by circumstances with the winding down of Tasman Motorsport. To us, it would be very nice to still be running other people's cars for them, as we did through Porsches and Formula Holden.That said, it provides a business for me be involved with and provide income, and to a number of good peopfe that we have working for us. I also see the merits of the Development Series in the development of young drivers and new people into the industry from the perspective of mechanics and engineers. It's a development series for a range of things, not just for drivers. I currently see that there's a bit of a difficulty in getting the young drivers to bring in, because there's a cost involved. As has normally been the case, the young talent of today tends to have a fair bit of talent and not a lot of funding. If they're not fortunate enough to come from a family with some substance to help them, or some sponsors, a lot of them don't make it. In 2011, with the endurance drivers that were coming out of the Development Series, it proved that they certainly had benefited from the time they had spent in the category, with their performances in the two endurance events. I think, without question, it's keeping what it was set up to be.

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Walkinshaw Racing's involvement in the Development Series is one of the genuine Level i success

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stories. WR junior Nick Percat graduated from Formula Ford to the DVS in 2010, initially with Jay Motorsport. Mid-year, Walkinshaw took him in-house, and in 2011, he won Bathurst with Garth Tander. WHAT'STHE DEVELOPMENT SERIES TO YOU?

HOW DO YOU RATE THE CURRENT HEALTH OFTHE SERIES?

It's the transition for young blokes to

It's fairly strong. There are some good operators out there, for sure. And you've only got to look at organisations like Mick Ritter's and Whitey's (Ed: Matthew White's) to know that there's some guys out there who do some bloody good work. I only want to see that continue, that's good for

go from the feeder series into the Main Series. For us, it provides an incredibly important and, at times, incredibly enjoyable, environment in which we get to see guys running. We get to see new blokes and how they perform under heavy circumstances. For me, it obviously provides an area for us to observe and participate with young drivers who will be coming into the Main Series in the foreseeable future. With Nick, it probably came together earlier than we expected. But who's going to complain? It obviously worked fairly well. It's one ofthose things where you obviously go racing to somewhere like Bathurst with the full Intent of winning it, but I was very pleasantly surprised to see how well we went with both ofthose guys in the car. No doubt, that was assisted by his participation in the Dev Series last year. Historically, it hasn't really been a place where we've developed younger mechanics and engineers. However, I think, looking up and down the paddock, it is becoming that way. We have, at times, though. It's an opportunity for a young bloke to do a bit of engineering that he otherwise may not normally do, so we're pretty happy that they get to have a bit of a run around, get their fingers dirty chasing racecars. I think that's even more so these days, and becoming the norm as part of the Development Series for sure.

the category. I think it's pretty cool category. It's a great thing, I think it's a credit to everyone involved in it. WHAT’S YOUR VIEW ON THE INVOLVEMENT OF LEVEL 1 TEAMS IN THE CATEGORY I think it's fine. All Level 1 teams work within the rules, all of us are participating as part of the structure put in place by V8 Supercars. In that regard, everyone's within their rights to be there and participating and, whilst that's the case, we've got no intention of doing otherwise. To be fair to some of the Development Series guys, they work on a different budget to us, and so they have got their needs and requirements to make their business model work for them. Probably, in addition to me saying we work within the rules, the only other thing that I would like to add to that very much, is that Walkinshaw Racing is only too happy to work with participants are who are only participating in the Development Series to make things as good as we can for them, and as good as we can for us. I actually paid as much attention to and attended as many of the Development Series meetings that

have go ne on in the last 12 months as I could have. I must say that sometimes there wasn't a lot ofthose guys that you may have hoped to have been there that attended, but nonetheless, some did. There's some very good'guys who are really committed to motorsport and we need to recognise their efforts to support the category. In that regard, I want to see Main Game teams still in there. We are very much of the view that to work in the environment we work in, we're within

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. our rights to go Dev Series racing. But I definitely want to acknowledge the efforts of the smaller guys and express our absolute desire -1 can't make this abundantly clear

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I'm pretty comfortable, from our perspective, that the boys in that category are doing what they're going to do. Obviously the transition to running the current cars next

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enough - from our perspective to work with those blokes to help those blokes. I could see nothing better in my mind, in the world that I work in, that we go racing for a weekend and get knocked off by Aaron McGill or by Wayne [Russell] and the boys. I really want to see that happen.

It'll be quite interesting, obviously concerning for some at times. We'll help any way we can, but I just hope that some of the guys that are worrying about things manage to carry on. With their efforts and a maybe little bit of support from us they may be able to continue to do so.

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HOW DO YOU RATE THE CURRENT HEALTH OFTHE SERIES?

It's the transition for young blokes to

»ib

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CRAIG BAIRD HAS STARTED(AND WON)MORE PORSCHE RACES THAN MOST PEOPLE HAVE HAD HOT DINNERS. SO WHEN MITCHELL ADAM ASKED HIM TO TALK ABOUT SOME OF HIS FAVOURITES, HE NEEDED A DAY OR SO THINKING TIME. IN THE END, A COMMON THEME EMERGED - LONG DISTANCE RACES

SPA 24 HOUR, 2008

DAYTONA 24 HOUR,2005 IN 2005,j went over and the Daytona 24 with Marcos Ambrose, Paul Morris and John Teulan,although John Teulan didn't get to drive the car at in the race because the gearbox broke. But before that,1ifcan tell you this honestly, myself, Ambrose and Morris, in a 996 CupCar, up against TRG(ED; American Porsche squad The Racers Group)and all of the guys running those cars, we put a lap on the whole field. It's quite funny, Morris nicknamed me'Wolfie',so did Marcos. I said'why are you calling me Wolfie?'And Paul said'mate, when you went around the outside of Wolf Henzier in the factory Porsche,the guys from TRG',that we were sharing a garage with and leasing a car from,'said "who's this Craig Baird? We've never heard of him,you guys didn't tell us you had some hot shoes in the car!"' They were sort of going on'if we knew this, we would've put real good stuff in that car, you know?' Morris,even if 1 ring him now, he'll always call me Wolfie, because Wolf Henzier was the Porsche driver of the time and we put a lap on them. He was in the Farnbacher Porsche, which is a pretty good outfit. Ryan McLeod was involved in all of our pitstops and strategy and he had Morris, myself and Ambrose just ringing the neck of this thing. Teulan was in a position where we almost didn't let him in the car, because we were running so well, which was quite sad, because he was paying for it all. Every time he got his helmet on,someone would push in front of him and take his next stint. I think,to be fair, even Johnny at that point was thinking'shit, we're leading this thing, we're at the Daytona 24 Hour and we've just put a lap on the Farnbacher Porsche'- the one that was supposed to be blowing everyone to bits. motorsport news

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I ABSOLUTELY fell in love with the Spa 24 Hour when I did it in 2008,in Shaun Juniper's brand-new RSR. We turned up there, had an immaculately prepared RSR and got out onto Spa. Just the history,feel and aura of the track as you're driving into it is one thing, but when you get out on there... People rave about Bathurst and,yes, Bathurst is a sensational track, but Spa - you've got the elevation, you've got the long straights, you've got the fast corners.You've got everything Bathurst has, plus Eau Rouge. And Eau Rouge was one thing, but I reckon an even harder corner was Blanchimont,the really fast, top gear corner. We didn't finish that race, but I think in terms of enjoyment it was right up there. In qualifying, I think we were third quickest in the second session, which wasn't as quick as the night session, but we kind of missed the boat there.There was a big accident and it was red flagged,so I never got a lap in the daylight.You really had to get a lap in right at dusk, when it's cold but not yet dark, we kind of missed that. So we didn't qualify mega, but we were actually quite quick in the second qualifying session, but that was in the middle of the day,the next day. But driving a car of that calibre around a circuit like that, you just have to mention it. We didn't even finish the race, but I have to put it down as one of my most enjoyable weekends. I was with Juniper, MaxTwigg and Rodney Forbes, so we weren't this mega professional team of drivers, but we were going there to try and jag something like we had with Quinny -just stay out of trouble. I think what kind of took some of those boys by surprise is that when you're on an FIA GT stage, you've got GT1,GT2 and GT3, they're not there to muck around. If you're in their way... 1 think Shaun got bulldozed off the track at one point, it was night, it was drizzling and they knew the track and he didn't and we just got bashed from pillar to post, really. But it was still a very, very good weekend.

SPA 24 HOUR, 2008

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NURBURGRING 24 HOUR,2006,2007 & 2009 I THINK the Nurburgring 24 Hour is probably the biggest standout race I've done in my career. Not solely because of what the race is, but it's where it is, how it's run and Just the actual mass of it. The size of it, the entries with 240 cars, it Just blows you away right from the start... The first year, 2006, we took over a 996 Carrera Cup Car and finished ninth outright. We pounded around there, it was the two Quinns, obviously, Klark and Tony, Kevin Bell, who used to race Carrera Cup,and myself. Out of 240 cars that entered, in a standard 996, we got there and everyone said how hard it was going to be, the weather conditions were going to be terrible, there'll be this and that... And the next thing,the amazing part was that this little team from Australia turned up there with this container and we went round, and round and round for 24 hours and nothing went wrong.The boys never dented the car. We finished that race and we could've wiped it down and gone again for another 24 hour race. I think the biggest thing was that we stayed out of trouble. We didn't go there as an outright winner, and we were really surprised at the pace that we had,to be able to finish inside the Top 10. All

four guys were Just consistent, and didn't do anything silly. We didn't knock a bumper,didn't break a radiator, didn't blow a clutch -Just no silly business. I think that was the good thing about running with Tony Quinn, he made it quite clear; this isn't about who's the best race driver here, this is about Tony Quinn spending a heap of money and wanting to get a result and tick the box for himself.'Kevin and Craig, it's not about who's fastest, it's about who can complete the 24 hours with no mistakes'. And that's what we did, the whole team. It kind of sounds funny and I'm not an emotional person, but the whole team -from the Quinn family, all of the mechanics and the drivers - we had tears in our eyes at the end.We were emotionally drained and physically drained and here's this VIP 996 coming down the start-finish straight in ninth position out of 240 cars. I'd have to say, as far as a high of emotion and digging deep to get the Job done,that would probably be my favourite race. It's not a race that we won, but we won In our own way. We ticked the box,as Tony always calls it, and that was a great result. After the 2006 race, we went back twice and finished inside the top 10 in the Porsche 997 RSR in 2007,and that was probably an

even better result because we had a few little dramas and we had a better car. That was also a fantastic race for us, but we did have a few little dramas. I remember we were in the Top 10, we were about seventh or eighth, we were third in class, the big class, SP7.There was the Manthey Porsche,a factory Audi,and,once again,the little old VIP Petfoods team from Australia. So that was a really good result and probably a better result on-track, but it didn't go untroubled. It was a hard graft. We had little issues throughout the night with lights not quite working at times,just a few small issues. And I remember doing the last two hours myself, and we had no third gear.1 could use second, but I had to pull it twice to skip third and go to fourth. So that was a marginal one -'we're going good here boys, but I don't think we're going to make it. This thing's rattling its head off'. The gearbox in those things probably weren't known for being bulletproof at that time and it was rattling its head off with four or five hours to go,then third gear dropped out and we said 'there'll be a piece fall in the gearbox somewhere and this'll put us out'. But we soldiered on and with a bit of lady luck the thing finished.

nn THERE WAS THE MANTHEY PORSCHE. A PAC|T^Y AUDI AND,ONCE AGAXN,THE LITTLE OLD VIP PETFOODS TEAJ* FROM AUSTRALIA 66

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WITH his 2011 title, Craig Baird has now won the Australian Carrera Cup three times since its inception in 2003. He joined the series at the end of its second season and has been a mainstay since. Through that time, he's raced against a mix of established pros, young prospects and gentleman racers, Baird playing a key role in mentoring the latter group in 2011. But three names stand out. "I'd have to say Jim Richards," Baird says when asked of his favourite rival. "He was my childhood hero, my father kind of raced against him a little bit in New Zealand, and I just always liked the way Jim Richards could drive three cars in one day, he'd win in anything. "It wasn't about getting the seat perfect, the steering wheel perfect or the pedals perfect. To me, he was one these oldschool racers, who got in it, comfortable or not, understeer or oversteer and still pulled a result out of it. He just got in it and drove it without whingeing. "He was hard on the track but he was fair on the track. He was one of those guys that when I did get to race him later on, it was nice to sit in his trailer and have a nice cold beer from time to time. He's just a normal bloke that loves racing as good as anyone in the world. "A lot of people say'who's your idol, it's gotta be Ayrton Senna', because that's who it should be. But Jimmy, naturally, was probably as talented as a guy like that, but just in a different era and a different form." While Richards was an idol before becoming a rival in the series, Baird rates his race and title fights against Alex Davison and David Reynolds as some of his toughest. "They didn't have a bad weekend," he recalls. "The three of us would go to every track, rain, hail or shine and be within a tenth of each other, basically. You didn't have an off day, you couldn't afford to. They knew all of the tracks, they didn't really make mistakes over the weekend - there might have been the odd one here or there. "But if you look at 2011, Craig Baird made some mistakes, Daniel Gaunt made some mistakes, Jonny Reid took himself out of the championship at a silly time.There were weaknesses. "Whereas I think the first one 1 won against Reynolds and Davison was really tough. Alex had a lot of experience in Germany and German Carrera Cup and Supercup and Reynolds, in my opinion, is probably one of the most talented young blokes Australia has ever seen. It really blows me away that he was put into V8 Supercars and then got dropped back out, you just don't drop a guy with that sort of talent back out." - MITCHELL ADAM 67

CLOSER TO HOME

nn THERE WAS THE MANTHEY PORSCHE. A PAC|T^Y AUDI AND,ONCE AGAXN,THE LITTLE OLD VIP PETFOODS TEAJ* FROM AUSTRALIA 66

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DUBAI 24 HOUR,2008 IN 2008, with VIP again, we went and did the Dubai 24 Hour and raced against the Konrad Porsches and Alzens. You've got guys like Richard Westbrook sharing a car with Allan Simonsen, two world-class drivers. Westbrook's a factory Porsche driver. I pulled a lap out of my backside and put it on pole against these guys and everyone was like'what's going on here? This thing must be a hot-rodder'. But it was a bog standard car. It was funny, earlier in the weekend, we kept getting ushered out of the road; we were sirarinq a garage with the Konrad Porsche boys and they had spare gearboxes, engines, corners... When a session was about to start, they'd say 'hc-y, hey get your car out of the way, we need to get onto the track'. We v/ere sitting around witli two pizza boxes, one toolbox and a container. Typical Ouinny, lie (jenerally knows how to stand up tor himself, so ho didn't take any shit off any of these people and stuck to his guns. After c|ualifying he turned it around on them all and said'you should almost move your car out of the way!'We (|ualified on pole anri then got into the race and it was seriously, unbelievably bad weathi'r conditions. Torrential rain, it hadn't rained in Oubai foi month.s, and then all of a sudden it was pouring. We punched tlmuKjh thr- night, got into the lead of the race and that was with lonalhon Welib, myself and the two Ouinns, .ind I havr’ to s.iy Wi'bljy rlid a f.intastii. job that weekend. He was a yrmiirj(|uy and iheu* was a liit of pressurr> there.()uinny's sometimes not the easiest r/iiy in the world to work with, he can I lank ili^ pmqsore on and tell you how it is. lo Come riut of that and to win the Dubai 24 Hour wasn't as einoiioiiiil as fimsliinri ihr ,M Hours of the Nurburqring, but I nearly wci my p,lilts III the pitl.iiie afterwaids. Ouinny senior got taken to the poiliiiei on ,i ( ,imel, ,md (.tuinny's not into that sort of thing: lull they li.id tri <)ia him ii)) onto l lii' camel, iaki‘ him down to the liodiiim ,ind .ill of the test of it I've seen a lot of funny tfiiiir)s in my life, but (;iilnny iidiiu| a c.iinel t.ikes the c.ike I 'w.is III the Ml ecai so I |iisi du ive sli iicjlii lo the porlium I lool'.ed down pillanr and hem i nines ihe f iiiiiins ,ind Webby liding

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Those international races I did with VIP, it just proves that Quinny puts back into the sport as well. He's a good bloke and his heart's in the right place. He's a hard bastard, but not a fairer guy I've ever worked for or v.iith. You treat him right and he'll treat you right. There's a line in the sand, you don't step over it. He got some Tantastic results. Tfiere's been a lot of Australians,

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you go bark to (Peterj Brock, Ikarry] Perkins and all of those sorts of (juys who've goim to those sorts of big races and never drawn a result like that, but Ouinny did, with the Nuibuigring and especially the l.tubai win.

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OST regular V8 Supercars fans have heard of Nathan Pretty. He might not be as big a name as the likes of Jamie Whincup or Garth Tander, but Pretty has been part ofthe Australian motorsport scene for the best part of a decade and a half now,generally making twice annual . appearances as a hired hand for the endurance races, in the last two seasons with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport. In fact. Pretty has notched up some highly commendable results at Mount Panorama. Aside from just missing out on the podium as co-driver to Rick Kelly in the Holden Young Lions Commodore back in 2002 fourth that day his best 1000 finish among six top 10s in total - he also won the 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour and finished runner-up in the 2003 race running in a'Monaro'427C. That was back in the Nations Cup era, and aside from a year in the V8 Supercars Development Series in 2006,Pretty hadn't been seen frequently since the demise of Procar and its various categories. However,last year the Albury-born Melburnian joined theV8 Ute Racing Series for a full campaign, having driven in the category's first ever meeting at Adelaide way back in 2001,and again in another one-off at Sydney Olympic Park in 2010.The final two rounds of the season might not have gone to plan, but he's obviously content with his decision. "It's enjoyable, I'm actually enjoying my racing again, and having a lot of fun,"says Pretty. "Homebush was a bit frustrating, obviously, and Sandown was very frustrating. We've had a really good string of podiums and fourth places, so we were knocking on the

door of the podium and everything." While various dramas in the final tvyo meetings of the year scuttled what could have been a very strong debut season,the clearly frustrated driver still took a lot of positives away from the season. "Look,to be in the top five in the championship in my first year is quite good," he explains. "I've learnt a hell of a lot with different things about the category and all the rest of it - who to stay away from, who I can race cleanly with, and so on.The'race clean with'guys, it's a very, very small number,as opposed to the other ones to stay well away from, but I'm having a lot offun,and I've got a good bunch of sponsors in Monster Energy and Gearwrench and Holden looking after me. Pretty will be back in the Aussie coupes in 2012, and should be one of the contenders for the title. However, he and team-mate/ team co-owner Craig Dontas are also looking at bringing a promising young driver along for the ride in a third car, after the commercial success of Pretty's maiden. Monster-backed campaign. "We do obviously have quite a few sponsors that we're talking to currently," says Pretty. "Our plan is to try and nurture another young driver and help them out, bring them into the sport and all the rest of it, and try and minimise the impact of coming up with the full budget." It's an issue that Pretty knows first-hand, himself having not had the finances to press on after that successful first and only year in the V8 Supercars Development Series, in which he finished fifth. You'd suspect it's something that's kept him from

potentially cracking the top flight, but it's' not a disappointment that the 38-y^r-old is i dwelling on. "I'm not going to spend my monej^to go racing. I've had a lot offun over the years In my racing career and all the rest of it, and i've got a family now to support and all the rest of it, so I can't take food out of their mouthsjusttogoand have a bit offun on a weekend," reflects Pretty. As for using a Ute to keep'match-fit?for the V8 Supercar enduros? "They're too different categories to try and think that you can use this as a category to try and keep your racing and everything in line for Supercars because the cars are totally different, other end of the scales, really," he explains. "It's more just to have a bit offun and keep your name out there to go racing and all the rest of it." Speaking offun. Pretty is currently spending his off-season in New Zealand attempting to win the 2012 UIM World Series Jet Sprint Boat Championship. Pretty won the Group A title in 2008 on water, but hasn't driven a jet sprint boat since late 2009. "I'm going to go over there in January and probably try and do one of their local races in the lead-up to the worlds and see if we can't bring a world title back to Australia again," he says. "It's a sport that I'm very passionate about. I enjoy driving them,they're just extremely fast and handle like nothing else you could ever explain how to drive.They corner faster than an FI car,so just very enjoyable things to drive." It's not a bad off-season for someone who participates in motorsport solely for enjoyment it these days...

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ATHAN Pretty wasn't the only racer of note to take part in the 2011 AutoOne V8 Ute Racing Series. Another member of the 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour-winning squad, Cameron McConville joined the series on a fulltime basis last year in a Walkinshaw Racing-prepared Holden Ute. Like Pretty, he made progress throughout the year, and won the penultimate round of the year at Sandown, pictured. He eventually finished one spot ahead of Pretty in the standings, fourth, and will return in 2012. But a range of other notable drivers made one-off appearances in the class throughout the year. A 'Wildcard' Ute was entered at each round, driven by a different driver at each event. Having entered the series on a part-time basis in 2010, former Touring Car veteran Charlie O'Brien drove it at the Clipsal 500. Marcus Marshall was next, in Perth, followed by Tim Blanchard, Dean Canto, Marcus Zukanovic, David Besnard and Tony Longhurst, with Adam Macrow taking the reins for the Homebush season finale.

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1. If you were thinking V8 Supercars in relation to the fastest lap at Bathurst in 2011 ... nope. Unofficially, Jenson Button did that, in a McLaren. With a transponder, Allan Simonsen set the new Bathurst mark, 2m04.956s, in a Ferrari 458 GTS.

7. A total of 11 drivers raced for BJR in the 2011 Main Game. Jason Bright, Jason Bargwanna, Karl Reindler, Jason Richards, Andrew Jones, Shane Price, David Wall, Allan Simonsen,Stephane Sarrazin, Fabrizio Gionvanardi, Cameron McConville.

(Super Aguri) all debuted at the '06 Bahrain GP.

2. Ford had to wait until September to win a pointspaying V8 Supercar round in '02, with David Besnard and Simon Wills winning the Queensland 500 for Stone Brothers Racing.

8.The seven rounds of the 2012 Radical Australia Cup will be held at just three circuits - Eastern Creek (four rounds), Phillip Island (two) and Queensland Raceway (one).

14. Behind the epic Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards battle, Martin Truex Jr finished third in the Flomestead race, and Kevin Flarvick was third in the series.

3. Craig Lowndes won the Australian Grand Prix support round at Albert Park in 2002 for 00 Motorsport - but there were no points on the line^

9. What's been wrong with GP2?ln2008,2010 and 2011, the GP2 Champion has been older than the World Champion; '08 Giorgio Pantano/Lewis Flamilton;'10 Pastor Maldonado/ Sebastian Vettel; and'11 Remain Grosjean/Vettel.

4. Michael Andretti was the last American driver to finish on the podium of a Formula 1 Grand Prix, at Monza, in 1993. It was his final GP. 5. British outfits BrawnGP and Vanwall are the two teams with the highest winning percentage in Grand Prix racing. 6. In its WRC debut in 2011, MINI won seven stages; Dani Sordo bagged five, Kris Meeke two. C I

10. Valentino Rossi's great year was 1997,on a 125cc Aprilia. Fie won all but four GPs he started. 11.The three teams that debuted at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix were Super Aguri, Midland FI and ScuderiaToro Rosso. 12. Nico Rosberg (Williams), Scott Speed (Toro Rosso) and Yuji Ide

13. NASCAR star Carl Edwards is older than MotoGP racer Colin Edwards. Carl was born 15 August 1979; Colin was born 27 February, 1974.

15. A total of nine former Formula 3 Champions raced a V8 Supercar during 2011.They are... Australian F3; Michael Caruso(2003)and Karl Reindler (2004); British F3, David Brabham (1989), Gil de Ferran (1992), Jan Magnussen (1994)and Qliver Gavin (1995); German F3, none; Italian F3, Gianni Morbidelli (1989); All-Japan F3, James Courtney (2003); and F3 Euroseries, Ryan Briscoe (2003). 17. Nick McBride led the Australian contingent in the 2011 British Formula Ford Championship. Fie finished third. 18. Michael Schumacher was

second in the 2006 Formula 1 World Championship,followed by Lewis Flamilton (2007), Felipe Massa (2008), Sebastien Vettel (2009) and Fernando Alonso (2010).

V 35. BEFORE MARCOS AMBROSE, CO I> VmB DRIVERS BORN OUTSIDE OF WE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HAD NON A TOF~ LSVEENASCARRACE. BORN IN TTADY, MARIO ANDREHl NON THE m?DAYTONA SOO, CANADIAN EARE ROSS NON AT MARJINSVIUS IN 1979 AND COIMMBIAN MAN MONTOYA WSnED VICTORY DANE AT INFINEON RACENAY IN 2007-

19. FIRT finished 11th in the 2011 Formula 1 Constructors title, with Virgin 12th. 20. Adam Macrow won the maiden'Fujitsu Series'in 2006, followed by Tony D'Alberto (2007), Steve Qwen (2008), Jonathon Webb (2009), Steve Qwen (2010) and Andrew Thompson (2011). 21. Del Worsham has not competed in NFIRATop Fuel since 1995 - and he announced his retirement immediately after winning the 2011 crown. 22.Tomas Mezera made his final V8 Supercar start at Bathurst in 2004,finishing 18th with Anthony Tratt. 23. Will Power won the Mario Andretti Road Trophy and Scott Dixon won the A.J. Foyt Qval Trophy in the 2011 IndyCar Series. Dario Franchitti was second in each.

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24. Alex Lloyd (2010) and Raphael Matos(2009) have won IndyCar Rookie of the Year titles, J.R. Flildebrand hasn't he finished second in 2011 to James Flinchcliffe. 25. Garth Tander's full-time stint at Garry Rogers Motorsport pips Lee Holdsworth's by one year. Garth raced for Garry for seven seasons, Lee six. 26. Nick Percat's first win driving a V8 Supercar (Fujitsu Series or Main Game)came at the Bathurst 1000 with Garth Tander. 27. David Russell partnered Todd Kelly at the 2011 Bathurst 1000.

28. A total of 15 drivers raced a V8 Supercar for the first time at the 2011 Gold Coast 600. They are; Qliver Gavin, Simon Pagenaud,Jorg Bergmeister, Darren Turner, Richard Westbrook, Gil de Ferran, Augusto Farfus Jr, Joey Fland, Emanuele Pirro, Marc Lieb, Dirk Muller, Christian Klien, Antonio Liuzzi, Stephane Sarrazin and Marino Franchitti.

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16. HICHARP hiAS THE FIRST ENOUSH WH^ER TO WIN A WRC mu AS A omER,TAKm the chai^ionshif in 2001. 74

rm$ oowwi rrs time to check YOUR AHSMBRS TO THE 30V MOTORSFORT MEWS CHRISTMAS QUIZ!

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29.Three drivers, Ryan Smart, Justin Dowel and Steve Shepheard won their first ARC rounds during the 2011 season. www.mnews.com.au

30. Adrian Sutil has started 90 Grands Prix to Sebastian Vettel's 81. 31.The last Italian to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix was Giancarlo Fisichella, at Malaysia in 2006 for Renault. 32. A 2011 Gold Coast V8 Supercar international, Jan Magnussen finished 11th at Bathurst in 2003,sharing a Team Dynamik Commodore with NicholasMinassian. 33. Qnly Alex Davison (2004) and David Reynolds(2007) have stood up to the New Zealand hordes in Carrera Cup and won the Australian title. 34. Michael Patrizi was the highest-placed Australian born driver in the 2011 Porsche City Index Carrera Cup. 36. As of 2011, NASCAR drivers could only nominate to score points in one tier of NASCAR - i.e. Sprint Cup, Nationwide orTrucks. 37. Gaston Mazzacane scored zero World Championship points. 38. Before racing Formula First in New Zealand, Shane van Gisbergen was a quad bike racer.

39.The KumhoVBTouring Car Series took V8s to Mallala in South Australia and Wakefield Park in New South Wales. Neither circuit held a V8 Supercar Championship Series round in 2011. 40. Neither 2011 Moto2 Champion Stefan BradI or his father,former 250cc racer Flelmut BradI have won an Australian GP. Both Bradls have a best result in Australia of second place. 41.The Safari Rally was held in Kenya when it was a WRC round. 42. Mikko Flirvonen has won the last three running of Rally Australia - 2006,2009 and 2011. 43. Socceroo and Melbourne Victory striker Flarry Kewell went for a ride with Will Davison at Phillip Island in 2011. 44. Nigel Mansell was the first driver to win a Grand Prix using a semi-automatic gearbox, taking out the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix for Ferrari. 45. Fernando Alonso won the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix in a VI0powered Formula 1 car, the last non-V8 win.

46. Before Cameron Waters, Jamie Whincup was the last driver to win the Australian Formula Ford Championship and debut at Bathurst in the same year, doing so in 2002. 47. Clint Bowyer was 13th in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup points, behind The Chase participants. 48. Michael Schumacher finished third at the 1993 Spanish Grand Prix, behind Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. It was the only time the three shared a podium. 49.The non-FIRT entries from Walkinshaw Racing have used a total of six different numbers since 2007 - #1 (Rick Kelly in 2007),#15 (Kelly in 2008),#10 (Paul Dumbrell in 2009 and Andrew Thompson in 2010), #16(Garth Tander in 2007 and Dumbrell in 2008),#24(David Reynolds in 2009 and Fabian Coulthard in 2010) and #61 (Coulthardin2011).ln2012, they'll add #66 to the mix for Russell Ingall. 50.The late Dan Wheldon's sponsor at the 2011 Indianapolis 500. William Rast is a jeans/ fashion label, co-owned by singer and actor, Justin Timberlake. 75

5<?, Hoyro YOU

(Super Aguri) all debuted at the '06 Bahrain GP.

2. Ford had to wait until September to win a pointspaying V8 Supercar round in '02, with David Besnard and Simon Wills winning the Queensland 500 for Stone Brothers Racing.

8.The seven rounds of the 2012 Radical Australia Cup will be held at just three circuits - Eastern Creek (four rounds), Phillip Island (two) and Queensland Raceway (one).

14. Behind the epic Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards battle, Martin Truex Jr finished third in the Flomestead race, and Kevin Flarvick was third in the series.

3. Craig Lowndes won the Australian Grand Prix support round at Albert Park in 2002 for 00 Motorsport - but there were no points on the line^

13. NASCAR star Carl Edwards is older than MotoGP racer Colin Edwards. Carl was born 15 August 1979; Colin was born 27 February, 1974.

second in the 2006 Formula 1 World Championship,followed by Lewis Flamilton (2007), Felipe Massa (2008), Sebastien Vettel (2009) and Fernando Alonso (2010).

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16. HICHARP hiAS THE FIRST ENOUSH WH^ER TO WIN A WRC mu AS A omER,TAKm the chai^ionshif in 2001. 74

rm$ oowwi rrs time to check YOUR AHSMBRS TO THE 30V MOTORSFORT MEWS CHRISTMAS QUIZ!

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29.Three drivers, Ryan Smart, Justin Dowel and Steve Shepheard won their first ARC rounds during the 2011 season. www.mnews.com.au

ICTORY in the Nations Cup in the United Arab Emirates at the World Rotax MAX Challenge Final capped off a successful 2011 for Australian karting, however 2012 is shaping up to be a titanic year. The Australian Karting Association's 50th National Sprint Kart Championships will be the headline event for the 2012 karting season, with the AKA National Events Calendar packed with quality events across the country. The 50th Nationals on July 5-8 is shaping up to be a cracker of an event up in Darwin. It will be the first time the race has been held in the'Top End'of the country, and with the Northern Territory State Championships the week prior, many karters are planning to make a holiday out of it and stay for both races. Organised by the Darwin Kart Club, the 50th Nationals is set to be an event to remember, with a race bound to break out at their party. The season kicks off with the annual JuniorTop Guns at Oakleigh, which has an impressive prize list on offer in 2012, including cash for each class, a Formula Vee test drive, an Arrow Cadet/Rookie chassis, $2000 worth of Yamaha merchandise, a

motorsport news

$500 gift pack for Junior MAX, Dunlop Tyres and many other giveaways. The Victorian State Championships will once again start the battle for the'Blue Plates', with the first state title for 2012 being hosted by the Geelong Kart Club on March 9-11. This event sees karters converge from all over the country for the first real big stoush each season. Karters in search for a state title triumph will then head to Gladstone in Queensland on April 6-8, before tackling the NT, with drivers then having to wait until the last weekend in September for their next state title fix. Coffs Harbour will this year host the New South Wales event on September 28-30,followed by Western Australia the following weekend, October 5-7 in Bunbury. The final chances to snare a coveted 'Blue Plate'comes in November, with Mount Gambier hosting the South Australian State Championships on November 2-4, before The Apple Isle caps a big year with Tasmania's North West Kart Club a fortnight later. After the crowning of the three Champions in 2011 -Tyler Greenbury (Pro Gearbox KZ2), below,Jake Spencer (Pro Light KF1) and Pierce Lehane (Pro Junior

KF3)- the CIK Stars of Karting Series is again set for a bumper five-round duel. The series will kick off in South Australia at the Bolivar Raceway on February 25-26, prior to heading to the Mount Sugarloaf circuit in Newcastle for Round 2 on April 21-22. After hosting the series opener in 2011, Queensland will now have to wait until June 16-17, with Round 3 set to be conducted by the Ipswich Kart Club. Sydney's turn is next, and after missing out on a 2011 round due to issues with the track being resurfaced,competitors will get to return to Eastern Creek on July 28-29 to battle on what is now probably the best karting surface in the country. With every class going down to the wire in 2011,the Go-Kart Club of Victoria will get the honour of hosting the finale in 2012 at the Port Melbourne facility on September 22-23. Greenbury and Spencer have confirmed their intentions to defend their crowns, with Greenbury keen to claim the double, also registering for the Pro Light KF1 class, while Spencer will be again be joined in the class by JAM Racing Kosmic team mates Adam Hughes and George Geranis. Boosting the KF1 class will be two stars from the Junior category in

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2011, with Joseph Mawson and Jake Klarich stepping up into the senior ranks. Interest is again high in the Pro Gearbox KZ2 class, with 2010 champion Matthew Wall, Troy Woolston, Macauley Jones and two-time runner up Kel Treseder all registering their interest while the Pro Junior KF3 category is also shaping up, with many of last year's protagonists being joined by several newconters to the class. The Yamaha Challenge classes are again on he support card for 2012, with the CIK Stars of Karting Series seeing the addition of the Australian Leopard Challenge.This has seen a lot of interest flooding in for the five-round support, with some great prizes on offer in ail classes. Rotax racers are also set for a big year, which will be highlighted by the 12th running of the Rotax Nationals on August 30-September 3, in New South Wales at Dubbo's Lincoln County Raceway. The 2011/2012 Rotax Pro Tour is already underway with the opening event held at Canberra's Fairbairn Park circuit last October. Joseph Mawson won the Light class in his senior debut. National Champion Troy Woolston took out both the Fleavy category and DD2 while Thomas Randle was triumphant in Juniors. Round 2 of the Pro Tour will head to Melbourne at Todd Road on January 2729,followed by Cooloola on March 23-25, Albury Wodonga for Round 4 on April 2729, and Griffith on June 1-3. On July 20-22, Warwick will host the season finale, before the 2012-2013 Pro Tour kicks back off at Canberra on October 26-28. The year promises to be a great opportunity to witness a new crop of Junior talent emerge, with the likes of Mawson, Lehane, Klarich, Michael Stewart and several others stepping up into the senior ranks, it will pave the way for the next generation of Junior talent to shine. This already became evident late in 2011, as Thomas Randle broke through for his maiden state title in SA, after what was the first of many expected battles between himself and Joseph Burton-Harris. Anton De Pasquale was clearly one of the star Junior drivers in 2011 and will be sure to be right up there in 2012, as will National Champion James Golding, right, Brock Plumb, Damon Strongman, Luke Marquis, Bryce Fullwood, Cameron Flill, Jordan Boys and Jake Coleman. The younger kids are always great ontrack entertainment, and there is definitely a talented bunch of drivers set to impress. As they embark on their motorsport careers, keep an eye on the likes of Jordan Caruso, Cooper Murray, Reece Sidebottom,Thomas Prascevic and Jordan McGregor and their competitors. nil

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CHANGING of the guard may be in progress for the Top Doorslammer teams of the ANDRA Pro Series. Formerly under the reign of John Zappia, others have now stepped up where the Procomp Motorsport team has fallen. One of the thorns in the side of Zappia over recent seasons has been Sydney's Maurice Fabietti, one of the few drivers to keep up a respectable win record against the West Australian outfit. 'John has shown some kinks in his armour lately; there are more people there now to hold him to form," Fabietti said."Now Peter Kapiris has found form, Mark Belleri has found form, Robin Judd is back up, Benny Bray is starting to go good,so there are more than three people vying for the championship now.There are five and six really fighting for it.' Fabietti's Holden Trade Club Monaro has been at the forefront of a new movement in the ANDRA Pro Series Top Doorslammer category, trialling a Lencodrive transmission with a torque converter.This provides the team with the advantage of being able to control start line revs more effectively. Currently, the team is going through the research and development stage. though they have already run a best of 5.92s with a top speed of 392kmh. 'It's not the type of thing you put in and get cranking straight up. It takes development work, gear ratios and controlling power off the line," he explained. We are having good results but we are probably further back than we were hoping. We are constantly trying to find test days to learn what the converter wants." Fabietti has a brain trust in the team that includes former Top Alcohol racer Wayne Topp as assistant crew chief and Al's Race 1..^

IVE ARE BREAKINO NEW GROUND.A FEW PEOPLE HAVE TIHED THEN AND HAVENT ODT THEN TO WORK nil

Glides helping with the converter and transmission development. The traditional way of launching a Top Doorslammer has been with a very sensitive right foot controlling launch revs with the clutch pedal in, before letting all hell loose on the green light. Fabietti's Lencodrive allows him to use a two-step rev limiter that is pre-set and can be tuned for the conditions. However, unlike a traditional Doorslammer transmission, it doesn't slip off the line and instead delivers multiplied torque. "You have to drop so much power out of the motor to get these converters off the line," he said."You need to detune and then feed the power in down the track. When we get it right it will be a better product in terms of consistency and ease of maintenance." Fabietti is confident that it will prove to be the superior package. "We are breaking new ground. A few people have tried them and haven't got them to work," he said. "Put it this way; everyone is watching what I am doing because if it works you will find a lot more people going that way."

At the time of writing, Fabietti was preparing for the Slamfest Series, which takes in Heathcote and Portland in Victoria and Powranna Dragway inTasmania.Top Doorslammers compete over an eighth mile distance; 201 metres, half the distance of the traditional quarter mile. "We've got three meetings in six weeks,so it's all going to be pretty hectic and from there head off to Perth for the ANDRA Pro Series, then to Sydney, then to Mildura, then back to Sydney," Fabietti said. "Now that we have our own tyre prep machine built, we hope we can get the tracks up to good specs and get into the low fours and maybe even the high threes over the eighth mile." Fabietti has always had good-looking racecars but the team has stepped up in past seasons with the support of Holden Trade Club. "Holden realises that drag racing is a big part of their business, it is a great place to showcase their products," he said. "Drag racing people can get into the pits and only be a metre away from the guys when they are working on the car.They can come and

meet us and take a photo. "Holden customers are mingling with us as racers, it is a good one-on-one relationship, other forms of racing don't have that." Part of the promotion the team has been doing has also included passenger rides, which provide a rare chance to experience what it feels like to accelerate at over three Gs and reach 1 OOkmh in under a second. "The passenger rides have been great, not one person we have taken for a ride has been disappointed.They are always lost for words," he said."They think it's only going to be a short pass, but it happens really quickly and the g-force and the sound and smell is mind blowing. "People are just gobsmacked and blown away; it is the craziest fun park ride you have ever been on and for most they will never experience it again." Victorian fans can catch Fabietti at the Portland round of Slamfest on February 4, with Tasmanians getting their first chance to see the series on February 18.The ANDRA Pro Series then moves to Perth for the Westernationals on March 3 and 4.

No such thing as a free launch:Hard work on his Holden Trade Club Monaro has paid offfor Maurice Fabietti. The work never stops;a chat with 'Slammer legend Victor Bray;and a snap with one ofhis many fans.

touring MR Championship

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OTORSPORT NEWS:You've been a regular visitor in Australian summers, what keeps you coming back? Do you still enjoy it? DONNY SCHATZ: Oh definitely. I remember you asked me that 14 years ago and I said then I'll always come here as I truly love to. It's a great place to compete in and also see the sights. In that time I've made it a pretty large commitment on my calendar every winter to be here either way, regardless of where I race at and I plan on continuing that. There's no bad points about coming to Australia for me. I get to see the people I've made friends with over the last 15 years, I get to stay in the car and race and I'd be lying if I said I didn't come here for a good time too. I enjoy myself a lot here. It's also a big chance for me to keep sharp in the car in the off-season of back home. On the way to Australia this time,though, you did some racing in New Zealand, why? It's usually hard to go there and race and I told them 'OK, I'll come', but I did tell race promoters over there (in NZ)that my commitment is firstly to Australia and they've had to adjust to that. But we've been able to work racing into my program there this season. This was the first time I got there and I raced at Western Springs Raceway in November (2011), and that was Thanksgiving weekend back in the States, so my family was pretty hard on me about missing all the major holidays. But, racing is what I do and there's only one of me to go around. I'm in demand, I guess, and able to go and do that in New Zealand was great and while it's a long way to go for one race it was a great time. Donny, do you realise just how popular you are as a driver? Has it changed you at all?

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For me it's still the same venues and seeing the same people. I don't change the view of myself. I'm still the same guy I was back 15 years ago.The neat part about it is when you don't see someone for nearly 12 months or more but in their eyes you haven't changed.That's good for me to know I'm still the same guy. And you still live in the same area whee you grew up, with your family. 1...^ Yes, I've been married nine years

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to Erica and have a step-daughter Savannah and they are my life. We have a farm in North Dakota, which is

where all my family have always lived. You're a keen Facebook user, tell me about your dogs on your profile picture? My dogs are pretty important to me.They didn't care when I came home after running second in the Outlaws championship and they also didn't care when I came home with the biggest trophy from the Knoxville Nationals, they were just excited to see me. Sometimes the simple things in life like the little dogs are what helps keep a simple guy in check,and something as simple as having a dog is pretty important.They are called Kya, TJ and Sikari, and my wife and daughter have Belly. They're a big part of our family and they can keep you honest and really make you appreciate what you have in life. Back onto racing, the 2012 World of Outlaws season isn't far away and then there's Knoxville which you've won five times now, which do you want to win more and why? I'd like to win both.They're both awesome things to have accomplished. Knoxville was the Jnighlight of my year last season,and once you win the championship that taste of victory is something you can't get out of your mouth. Losing the last two WoO titles makes me think I will win the next one. It's all about the way you attack things and my team works very hard to keep things in check,so we're in with a good chance to win again. Just because you win one Outlaws championship doesn't mean your life's complete, you do need to be able to go onto the next one. If, somehow, you had to choose? No-one can tell me I can have one or the other. I'm going to go for both. I'm greedy and you know why I'm greedy as I've done it before and won both - it's not an option. Who do you rate as the your main competition in the upcoming Outlaws season? Jason (Meyers) has done a great job in the last couple of years. I wouldn't say that any one driver is better than the other. I've got a team-mate (Ed: Steve Kinser) who's the best in the business and he's hard to beat everyday. That's probably something that we work hard at, trying to beat each other and that's probably putting a little crimp in both of our championship rallies, but, you know,that's just the nature of the beast and Jason's capitalised on it and good for him. Right now, we're in a really good place and I'm just excited to be in it - hopefully we can capitalise on every opportunity we can get in 2012. 86

Is driving forTony Stewart about as good as it can get? There's no question about it, that's it's the best place on earth to be, at Tony Stewart Racing.Tony's a racer, he's also a businessman and he's a friend, so when you incorporate all of those things that we're able to do together, we race and talk a lot about how we're going to run the team and we also go and have pleasure time. When you can get along in all those three scenarios and you like the people you're surrounded by it's a win-win situation. Tony's assured us he will work hard to maintain great sponsors with us and he's assured us that he'll keep the team going. So for me there's a sense of security there, and I don't think people realise how big that is in the sport. It's a big organisation and a lot of people with jobs there and it's fun to be a part of. There's some things that we're probably a little overboard on. We have the most awesome facility in the world for Sprintcars and that's him, that's what he wants, he wants the best place to work on them and we appreciate his hard work in NASCAR for us to be able to race. Does Tony get to many Sprintcar races, and do you get along to watch him race NASCAR often? He gets to a lot of Sprintcar races. We don't get to many NASCAR races at all and I've never actually watched to a NASCAR race live. I've been around them in qualifying; it's kind of unique considering your boss is a NASCAR driver. He also does a lot of Sprintcar events and he won a round of the World of Outlaws race in 2011, which was huge for him. He does a lot of good things for Speedway in general, whether it be Sprintcars or Late Models. He's an all-round guy in the sport. Will you get back to contest other races in Australia in the future? I've pondered coming, particularly, to the Grand Annual Classic in Warrnambool. There's a lot of reasons that make things a lot tougher these days than it has been in the past. I can't say'yes'and I can't say'no' either. We're going to negotiate everything we can to get it worked out and come and do the Classic if the timing is right. I'm going to give it every shot and do my best to make it all work out real soon. Either way,though. I'm guessing you'll continue to race for many years yet all over the world... I'm 34 now and I want to keep on racing until I stop having fun or I'm told I'm too old to get in the car. Steve Kinser's 55 now and he has no problems, so hopefully at least until that age.

jwant to l(ee|focjng yntil Fin too old tomtIn the car motorsport news

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*schatz won’t beslowing down anytime soon | 87

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to Erica and have a step-daughter Savannah and they are my life. We have a farm in North Dakota, which is

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*schatz won’t beslowing down anytime soon | 87

MODEL BEHAVIOUR

Commodores

There aresome classic Commodores on offerin the miniature world ofscale models this month -In more ways than one.Bruce Moxon takes alook atthe latestreleases.

lassie Carlectables has sent us details on a couple of tasty morsels this month. But both Commodores. One old, one new. Hopefully, something for everyone. The older one,from the old Group C days, is a car that we tend to forget. Everyone remembers Peter Brock and Jim Richards coming from behind to win Bathurst in 1980 after their early dramas, Dick Johnson's'rock' crash and so on. But we often overlook the

excellent second place that Peter Janson and Larry Perkins earned. They put the car in the top 10 on Saturday and made some good progress early in the race. By about half distance, they were fourth and when the Kevin Bartlett and Allan Grice cars struck troubles, they were suddenly second and in a great position to cruise to the end. Janson had a great run of Bathurst finishes over his career and too many people

dismissed him as an eccentric diiettante. The fact is that he was a solid and competent competitor, as well as being a breath of fresh air in the pits sometimes. Maybe modern racing needs some more characters? The model is more of the same; great detail and finish, the result of endless measuring and photographing of the restored original and reference to archives.The model features the quarter window i.nif Janson used, with the duct to

Captain and Commodore:Classic Carlectables'superb 1/18 model of'Captain' Peter Janson's 1980 Bathurst Commodore, above, below, right.

motorsport news

www.mnews.com.au

MODEL BEHAVIOUR

Commodores

There aresome classic Commodores on offerin the miniature world ofscale models this month -In more ways than one.Bruce Moxon takes alook atthe latestreleases.

Captain and Commodore:Classic Carlectables'superb 1/18 model of'Captain' Peter Janson's 1980 Bathurst Commodore, above, below, right.

motorsport news

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The Australasian Safari is Australia’s ultimate off-road adventure where competitors on two and four wheels tackle the remote, rugged and stunning terrain of Western Australia. Regarded as the ‘Dakar Down Under’ the Safari is widely regarded as the toughest r endurance motorsport event in the AsiaPacific region. In 2011, the Australasian Safari started Vat Hillary’s Boat Harbour, continued to Geraldton, Mt Magnet, Sandstone, Laverton, Leonora and finished at the spectacular Kalgoorlie Golf Course. Competitors battled through seven tough days and 3,900 km of challenging outback terrain. The winners were Tod Smith (GHR Honda) in the MOTO division; Steve Riley & John Doble (Cairns Coconut Resort Rally Team) in the AUTO division; John Maragozidis (Team ●S. Organic Street Image) in the QUAD division

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Great Race YEARBOOK

Essential Bathurst Annual 2011

Mountain memories:Its almosta decade since Dick Johnson Racing's last Bathurst win, which was also the lastfor Dick himself,above. Biante's modelofthe Johnson/Bowe '94 Bathurst winner is on the way.

Next up at Biante is the 1994 Bathurst-winning EB Falcon and as usualthere's a detailed rollcage,under-bonnetand boot ^iii

winning EB Falcon. We think Biante's Dick Johnson/ John Bowe Falcon dived under the closing roller-shutter as the factory in China went bust. At least their timing is good! The EB Falcon was the first generation of V8 Supercars, so like a Group C or A car it would have started life as a full body shell, with a roll cage welded in. Nowadays they make a roll cage and stick a body around it much easier and stronger. Anyway, the Ford won the 1994 Bathurst 1000, the second win for the pairing (and indeed the last for both.) Prominent on the car is signage from Shell and FAI, two sponsors gone from the sport (in the case of FAI - gone for good). So, as usual there's a detailed roll cage, under-bonnet and boot.The wheels are the nice-looking Momo five-spoke; there's a drink bottle for keeping the drivers

lubricated and the Dunlop slicks fill the guards nicely. Coming soon from Biante will be a 1/18 BMW M3 - the 1988 Peter Brock/Jim Richards car from Bathurst 1988. After a campaign at The Mountain that probably left even the outwardly-patient Brock grinding his teeth, the nine-time Bathurst winner switched to (gasp!) Ford for 1989. There are at least two people that claim to own the'real'Brock Bathurst car now. One believes that this is the Brock car as a former Channel 7 technician identified holes he drilled to mount the in-car camera. Apex Replicas has stock of the 2011 McLaren-Mercedes Formula One cars. In 1/43, these are an essential part of any serious Grand Prix fan's collection. The pity is that we won't get to see a model commemorating Craig Lowndes' laps at Bathurst in the 2007 car - there was a

move afoot to get it done but it just didn't happen. Dang. Fans of Nigel Mansell (there have to be some left) might like to grab a 1/43 rendering of his Lotus 79. Mansell did a test in this car in a hybrid Martini/Essex livery an olive green with the Martini stripes - it looks as ghastly as it sounds, but it's still an interesting model. Trax took a break over Christmas, but is back on deck now, with a very nice HQ Statesman in its Opals line. With opening doors, boot and bonnet, this 1/43 scale model in Jade Green with tan vinyl roof looks great, at least in the pictures. Trax has done one of each of the big three of late - check out the silver XD Falcon, a trio of EK Holden wagons and a VE Valiant Pacer and an R Series from 1962. Is it really 50 years? The lads at our sister publication, Australian MUSCLE Car, got up to a bit of mischief a few years back when they featured the stillborn Torana GTR-X on the cover.The AMC crew imagined the sleek sportscar-that-never-was as Holden's 1972 Bathurst 500 contender, producing an artist's rendition of it in HDT colours. Now, thanks to Models 56, life has imitated art (if on a small scale) with this model of the'HDT' Torana GTR-X. This is a pre-production shot; we'll have it (and the unadorned version) in more detail in a future issue. motorsport news

The Great Race 31 tells the full story of the 2011 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. This year’s race will go down as one of the classics, with a determined Garth Tander holding out a hard charging Craig Lowndes in possibly the most exciting finishes in the history of the race. This is the original Bathurst annual hard-cover book, the definitive publication on Australia’s Great Race. The story of this always-epic and often heartbreaking event is presented in 256 pages, illustrated by some 400 images shot by some of Australia’s best motorsport photographers. The book also boasts a comprehensive statistical analy^^ covering all facets of the race - there’s even a full race history ^chev ron record for each competing car. This fabulous annual hard-cover ^J»UBL1SHING GROUP book is a collector’s prized possession, and a great gift idea.

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Great Race YEARBOOK

Essential Bathurst Annual 2011

Mountain memories:Its almosta decade since Dick Johnson Racing's last Bathurst win, which was also the lastfor Dick himself,above. Biante's modelofthe Johnson/Bowe '94 Bathurst winner is on the way.

Next up at Biante is the 1994 Bathurst-winning EB Falcon and as usualthere's a detailed rollcage,under-bonnetand boot ^iii

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1987 Chev Ute For Sale

Sabre Buick Indy Big Boys Toy

NO.7 RACECAR CLASSIFIEDS

SELL your parts, motorsport vehicle or anything to do with motorsport via our internet classified partners my105.com-for* as little as $29.50!

maintained

Commodore Cup As Raced

the

Untouched since claiming 3rd at Phillip

two spare sets of wheels, auto

highest

standards.

Includes

Island in 2011, this car is mechanically

throttle blipper upgrade, Motec

sound, built by Zucanovic, sister car

video

*for my10J.com ad only

engine, Modena dog box "AIM" dash/ logger.

Spare wheels, bumpers, sway

bars etc available on request. Needs bolt

logger,

variant

system. $215,000 0488 445 305

exhaust

plus

GST.

iMTC.

350Bhp, Bilstein coil-overs, Watts link, adjust roll seats, etc.

centre,

intercoms, Full

rego.

big

brakes, cage,

CAMS

Over

MoTeC

LXvr 'jC'Cnc 4JL yr. capjWo mcfe

G-foic« elc.

(xuvei if i-»«>dcd {> .«.' I .'J" mrotllf

Dald fr jni ^000. Piofe*. dsirpsii

Ixjtty, scricus p.ickjQc. Full lesta

i tl Lyirp ind le^Kiyiid. Upgiddes- such

tcdcly J

di big fr ufil btdktsSi ioW uii inldke.fieat

dc-srgricd Ftorrun blcbad^niky. cxscllerxc Intlv i.-i>girci.-i irq

defD iK.'eviki Cotre-i with ipa-e coineri. WII

scir

(071 J28J U(d I "

NZ,'UK.

Reddy

$100K

spent,

competitive history targa/circuits. Email

20(0 J a J Spiinl Car. Nwet Run. PiUed wiOi OTT 410 eiHjirK;. 6

bc-lh

rrusuem. &.11II.'

wilhi ihie be^l inoiiey cats buy and bedps of spares. Vfit talk d ded ta clean out wwksl-op.CdlR+WMS

J . i

Re-shelled late 2010, immaculate condition. Fresh gearbox (receipts avail).

Engine

6358km.

Cdourd dd spda-i .ivdildblc now,

Known

history. Car with 3 sets of wheels, normal spares & tools $150,000 (Plus GST) 0418 320 517

t:|'‘

i;lls|il*y I'.ii dulr».j hist twvi yfais Hull .n AiiStiat.i tvani .id'Onis

2008 Lamborghini Gallardo GT3

dyno,

M400

Motec

ECU,

Ex Tech9

Australian

and

then

I .I'.l p.>;V.;l F.i'ji'in Cr.vk

Championship

the

2010.

Aims

mini

spare wheels, all in very good condition and ready for use. Must sell. View in Brisbane. Very fast car to drive. Built in

fitted to vehicle as permitted in the Australian

Championship

windscreen,

clutch,

video

VBox.

Ohiins

Price

include; dampers,

'rranii'. .nr.nv md gHartii-.c*. III i .iiv lilm. fiVry nil i0i411 A.SR

www.1nv1a5.ca1n/5464

new

diff,

y/o motor,

new

shocks

$16,000.

New

16"

Bridgestone tyres

$1,100.0419814 549

WWW.mYi05.com/5798

righrt hand lilw rorwersiarH art. world fla-ss arad our r<pii1abon k sivond to none. Ctwk out ou whlckn at wwn.vIrlDrtanamprtcnnimpcirt.rom 0.1 5176 ftJCO

wwvyjnyios.cotn/esm

Unfinished Project 1

WWW.mYlo5.com/326O 4rib

Open Wheelers

WWW.mYi05.com/6i5i

Front running Ford Au Saloon Car, Rose engine, performance friction brakes, AIMS dash and logging system, qualified 4th at Bathurst, no heavy hits, lightly raced. Be racing at Bathurst Feb 2012 in a front running competitive car. Spare wheels. 0414 575 451 www.myio5.com/5665

cMskf,

OB R:i,

C)A1

,vl**l', Hi'.osl,.i

Willi

>n03

'ilioks, V/,.k.l Kllli. y

H.ii k tli*l (;>U||-||:, .|ii>tlty Siv.b iiiiiiili'H gt'i'ii. l ii r.Hf ■●i.ifly

www.mYioS.coin/5820

& brakes, AIMS dash, ready to race

body and hardly rar^. Pl<>nb/ of spares svitli car. Will talk a dpal bn cloan out

SUVsPtflai^ Inank and Sports C.ar^Our

2006. $29500 ONO, 07 3390 5455

My105,5uite 8,11-21 Underwood Rd, Homebush, NSW, 2140

Pfitzner gearbox,

Klrwr.'

0416 172 961

Fix SfMcdway or Crcuit flaang. Ficxn saoOD.OO second hard. To $3SCCO.DO

car.

C'jr. l-x

$195,000+GST,

Legend Cars

4 time & current leader of SA State

-Jpont

Sf^'Asirt Car. Has hash Oi l 4T3 ^nKglrw, Hil 11 Car, R«1 iZvAiil Sardsr '*tuwls, C H

Transportsirs/Tlrailcars

Swift Formula Soo For Sale

AU Saloon Car

EA Saloon Car - State Champion

f/jxlm

original K longr'St standing nam** In tb« Impoflabon andcorrvwdcnQf Anwlcan

Ir'.l rd p.iits .’i.sill.il'jiv ir. piit lai

fair.ilii

Email: info@my10S.com

'/ictorun AirtfilCjui Imports ar.» tt>«

WWW.RiyiOS.COln/58i3

www.myi05.com/6007

Championship

Chevy Silverado and CMC Sierra

kMrfcshop. MIS 4+J 395

as l.v.I

41 S.II.1S. ‘iHil as .1 icllin.g .liassis ran ■ in

Fresh engine and gearbox. Upgrades

dash, purpose built lightweight trailer,

www.myioS.coni/63Jd*

vfWW.my105.com/4248

AlGPCar

7(H1R

Suzuki engine, 220bhp @ wheels on

.ttiiy

U.|l‘> Jfl 'jJJ

I r.iLi /iM f :.ii .i g.or-.1 N,r. ritr.iii Has l;».iii iiwxl as a

Minetti sports car, fresh 1490cc Hyabusa

icmtiKKO

cotn".'i.il:h?v-OoyWqM:)BVhY

www.inyi05.coni/uT0

www.myi0S.com/S846

www.mYios.com/6492

Minetti 2006 l490cc Sports Car

inovnHj inletstsle. (.ytl.d'V.'.'Xi 3i'o.

wwwjnyiOS.com/SSi^

Sprint Car

■1

IM87 Dicvgle V>i -.die. ley lill d.1 ●t5-( l.iKj bbtk, !>!'(. .luto, iinist sell

li:lp;'.",vsvsv.>T>'jtulx\

on panel work doors/guards/bonnet. 0437 817 089

One Season UK Carrera Cup 2010.

sirK.e

DTA'. TullTI Ca. Red De'^il Sai-dei wheels

award i, dc-siqr*ct .’ faqic Indys As soon Histone ijrtdcrAn. bval 4

Fiew FullyOpboned M1H44ti3Ji5

Notice to advertisers: We are unable to return photos supplied for ailvertising. Ads will appear as soon as possible after receipt. MNews/my10S classifieds are for the sale of private goods and vehicles only. Photos marked 'proof'will not be used.

i.scc oi

sprint Car

dcl.webb@gmail.com, 0449 925 314

Mail:

02 9647 1177

tdce.

logbook,

SEND TO:

Fax:

WWW.mylOS.com/S9i4

Porsche 09 997 Cup Car

Log on to my105.com and place your ad by following the prompts . Payments can be made online by credit card only. If you prefer to pay by another method, please contact our office on 97460777. For an additional $15, our staff can put your listing up for you! 5imply type/write your advertisement clearly (no more than 50 words), nominate your category and include your pic(s). Then send it by mail or email (make sure to include your details) - see addresses below.

lumei

iliieklina, ■sabsiust. Kfc.0. '.ipds^ib drrJ

10 yrs, all good gear, 4 Bolt Rover V8, Professionally

w/ sleeiitT-i, bwke pf

Professionally built 98. Improved last

to his championship winner. Good HP

HOW?

Tep

1978 Triumph TR8

my105.com will also run your ad til it's SOLD! Get your ad on my105.com, plus an insertion here in Motorsport News (induding photo), all for as little as $55!

Van Diemen RE 06

2011997 Porsche GT3 Cup Car

'tniiv s|»,iik%. t,i>.-id ..II luli>.Miit s.ik- 51+:*.')3..M UNO n4i?* i ‘Ji: 118

wvfW.my105.CDm/4118

Sent! Enclosed Trailer 4800x3100.X3COD

cnclosod

Iraict

ind 3 bed accornodaban and area at rear fet sirull car or hikc-s etc These

Ti I 4 tip Sm ijle

4 4i’il ^

WliiM-l'.

,<i '‘i(irc

4iil«iji

♦ CiJT

Hiif

i14|R9Xi .rSI

www.iny »05.cqm/5>‘i74

Oailcrs can be made to ati^- sac at all , Uloalite NoriP/coiT*ie panels uscrl

0413 7J1 ecs

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Formula Racing Car for you? What

would

mean

to own

your

very own formula racing car? What's yourself arriving at your club day with this UNRACED Speads RM08? Perhaps

PACT. VTEV/S PER MONTH

it like when you SUDDENLY picture

IT SEEN

NO. I RACiCAR CLASSIFfiDS

you might imagine the feeling, as you anxiously strap into the cockpit for your fi rst time. But this car is NOT for everyone. 0418 350 055

WWW.mYi05.com/6292 motorsport news

■5. Ctrciilt Racing

SpttdwRT ft OvaJ

www.mnews.com.au

KIbIIv*

OffRiMti

ntng Sandtig

Roiidl, Drift a PBrfnmunDe

Transporttn ATbadlei*

Wior4ifll)0|> &Ccvw

Cleselcfr Prucige

toai»7%eom InlioomyiaB.MtB 97

r—

nmammn)

1987 Chev Ute For Sale

Sabre Buick Indy Big Boys Toy

NO.7 RACECAR CLASSIFIEDS

SELL your parts, motorsport vehicle or anything to do with motorsport via our internet classified partners my105.com-for* as little as $29.50!

maintained

Commodore Cup As Raced

the

Untouched since claiming 3rd at Phillip

two spare sets of wheels, auto

highest

standards.

Includes

Island in 2011, this car is mechanically

throttle blipper upgrade, Motec

sound, built by Zucanovic, sister car

video

*for my10J.com ad only

engine, Modena dog box "AIM" dash/ logger.

Spare wheels, bumpers, sway

bars etc available on request. Needs bolt

logger,

variant

system. $215,000 0488 445 305

exhaust

plus

GST.

iMTC.

350Bhp, Bilstein coil-overs, Watts link, adjust roll seats, etc.

centre,

intercoms, Full

rego.

big

brakes, cage,

CAMS

Over

MoTeC

LXvr 'jC'Cnc 4JL yr. capjWo mcfe

G-foic« elc.

(xuvei if i-»«>dcd {> .«.' I .'J" mrotllf

Dald fr jni ^000. Piofe*. dsirpsii

Ixjtty, scricus p.ickjQc. Full lesta

i tl Lyirp ind le^Kiyiid. Upgiddes- such

tcdcly J

di big fr ufil btdktsSi ioW uii inldke.fieat

dc-srgricd Ftorrun blcbad^niky. cxscllerxc Intlv i.-i>girci.-i irq

defD iK.'eviki Cotre-i with ipa-e coineri. WII

scir

(071 J28J U(d I "

NZ,'UK.

Reddy

$100K

spent,

competitive history targa/circuits. Email

20(0 J a J Spiinl Car. Nwet Run. PiUed wiOi OTT 410 eiHjirK;. 6

bc-lh

rrusuem. &.11II.'

wilhi ihie be^l inoiiey cats buy and bedps of spares. Vfit talk d ded ta clean out wwksl-op.CdlR+WMS

J . i

Re-shelled late 2010, immaculate condition. Fresh gearbox (receipts avail).

Engine

6358km.

Cdourd dd spda-i .ivdildblc now,

Known

history. Car with 3 sets of wheels, normal spares & tools $150,000 (Plus GST) 0418 320 517

t:|'‘

i;lls|il*y I'.ii dulr».j hist twvi yfais Hull .n AiiStiat.i tvani .id'Onis

2008 Lamborghini Gallardo GT3

dyno,

M400

Motec

ECU,

Ex Tech9

Australian

and

then

I .I'.l p.>;V.;l F.i'ji'in Cr.vk

Championship

the

2010.

Aims

mini

spare wheels, all in very good condition and ready for use. Must sell. View in Brisbane. Very fast car to drive. Built in

fitted to vehicle as permitted in the Australian

Championship

windscreen,

clutch,

video

VBox.

Ohiins

Price

include; dampers,

'rranii'. .nr.nv md gHartii-.c*. III i .iiv lilm. fiVry nil i0i411 A.SR

www.1nv1a5.ca1n/5464

new

diff,

y/o motor,

new

shocks

$16,000.

New

16"

Bridgestone tyres

$1,100.0419814 549

WWW.mYi05.com/5798

righrt hand lilw rorwersiarH art. world fla-ss arad our r<pii1abon k sivond to none. Ctwk out ou whlckn at wwn.vIrlDrtanamprtcnnimpcirt.rom 0.1 5176 ftJCO

wwvyjnyios.cotn/esm

Unfinished Project 1

WWW.mYlo5.com/326O 4rib

Open Wheelers

WWW.mYi05.com/6i5i

cMskf,

OB R:i,

C)A1

,vl**l', Hi'.osl,.i

Willi

>n03

'ilioks, V/,.k.l Kllli. y

H.ii k tli*l (;>U||-||:, .|ii>tlty Siv.b iiiiiiili'H gt'i'ii. l ii r.Hf ■●i.ifly

www.mYioS.coin/5820

& brakes, AIMS dash, ready to race

body and hardly rar^. Pl<>nb/ of spares svitli car. Will talk a dpal bn cloan out

SUVsPtflai^ Inank and Sports C.ar^Our

2006. $29500 ONO, 07 3390 5455

My105,5uite 8,11-21 Underwood Rd, Homebush, NSW, 2140

Pfitzner gearbox,

Klrwr.'

0416 172 961

Fix SfMcdway or Crcuit flaang. Ficxn saoOD.OO second hard. To $3SCCO.DO

car.

C'jr. l-x

$195,000+GST,

Legend Cars

4 time & current leader of SA State

-Jpont

Sf^'Asirt Car. Has hash Oi l 4T3 ^nKglrw, Hil 11 Car, R«1 iZvAiil Sardsr '*tuwls, C H

Transportsirs/Tlrailcars

Swift Formula Soo For Sale

AU Saloon Car

EA Saloon Car - State Champion

f/jxlm

original K longr'St standing nam** In tb« Impoflabon andcorrvwdcnQf Anwlcan

Ir'.l rd p.iits .’i.sill.il'jiv ir. piit lai

fair.ilii

Email: info@my10S.com

'/ictorun AirtfilCjui Imports ar.» tt>«

WWW.RiyiOS.COln/58i3

www.myi05.com/6007

Championship

Chevy Silverado and CMC Sierra

kMrfcshop. MIS 4+J 395

as l.v.I

41 S.II.1S. ‘iHil as .1 icllin.g .liassis ran ■ in

Fresh engine and gearbox. Upgrades

dash, purpose built lightweight trailer,

www.myioS.coni/63Jd*

vfWW.my105.com/4248

AlGPCar

7(H1R

Suzuki engine, 220bhp @ wheels on

.ttiiy

U.|l‘> Jfl 'jJJ

I r.iLi /iM f :.ii .i g.or-.1 N,r. ritr.iii Has l;».iii iiwxl as a

Minetti sports car, fresh 1490cc Hyabusa

icmtiKKO

cotn".'i.il:h?v-OoyWqM:)BVhY

www.inyi05.coni/uT0

www.myi0S.com/S846

www.mYios.com/6492

Minetti 2006 l490cc Sports Car

inovnHj inletstsle. (.ytl.d'V.'.'Xi 3i'o.

wwwjnyiOS.com/SSi^

Sprint Car

■1

IM87 Dicvgle V>i -.die. ley lill d.1 ●t5-( l.iKj bbtk, !>!'(. .luto, iinist sell

li:lp;'.",vsvsv.>T>'jtulx\

on panel work doors/guards/bonnet. 0437 817 089

One Season UK Carrera Cup 2010.

sirK.e

DTA'. TullTI Ca. Red De'^il Sai-dei wheels

award i, dc-siqr*ct .’ faqic Indys As soon Histone ijrtdcrAn. bval 4

Fiew FullyOpboned M1H44ti3Ji5

i.scc oi

sprint Car

dcl.webb@gmail.com, 0449 925 314

Mail:

02 9647 1177

tdce.

logbook,

SEND TO:

Fax:

WWW.mylOS.com/S9i4

Porsche 09 997 Cup Car

lumei

iliieklina, ■sabsiust. Kfc.0. '.ipds^ib drrJ

10 yrs, all good gear, 4 Bolt Rover V8, Professionally

w/ sleeiitT-i, bwke pf

Professionally built 98. Improved last

to his championship winner. Good HP

HOW?

Tep

1978 Triumph TR8

my105.com will also run your ad til it's SOLD! Get your ad on my105.com, plus an insertion here in Motorsport News (induding photo), all for as little as $55!

Van Diemen RE 06

2011997 Porsche GT3 Cup Car

'tniiv s|»,iik%. t,i>.-id ..II luli>.Miit s.ik- 51+:*.')3..M UNO n4i?* i ‘Ji: 118

wvfW.my105.CDm/4118

Sent! Enclosed Trailer 4800x3100.X3COD

cnclosod

Iraict

ind 3 bed accornodaban and area at rear fet sirull car or hikc-s etc These

Ti I 4 tip Sm ijle

4 4i’il ^

WliiM-l'.

,<i '‘i(irc

4iil«iji

♦ CiJT

Hiif

i14|R9Xi .rSI

www.iny »05.cqm/5>‘i74

Oailcrs can be made to ati^- sac at all , Uloalite NoriP/coiT*ie panels uscrl

0413 7J1 ecs

WWVfJHYi05.com/2g2

Formula Racing Car for you? What

would

mean

to own

your

very own formula racing car? What's yourself arriving at your club day with this UNRACED Speads RM08? Perhaps

PACT. VTEV/S PER MONTH

it like when you SUDDENLY picture

IT SEEN

NO. I RACiCAR CLASSIFfiDS

you might imagine the feeling, as you anxiously strap into the cockpit for your fi rst time. But this car is NOT for everyone. 0418 350 055

WWW.mYi05.com/6292 motorsport news

■5. Ctrciilt Racing

SpttdwRT ft OvaJ

www.mnews.com.au

KIbIIv*

OffRiMti

ntng Sandtig

Roiidl, Drift a PBrfnmunDe

Transporttn ATbadlei*

Wior4ifll)0|> &Ccvw

Cleselcfr Prucige

toai»7%eom InlioomyiaB.MtB 97

I PAUL

Performance Street and

CRUICKSHANKj THE FINAL WORD

T'S nearly time to crank back up again,the summer break is almost a memory and it's eyes forward for another year of action, surprises and drama of V8 Supercar racing. While we have known for sometime which drivers are changing teams,there are still some vacant seats unannounced and maybe even undecided - although you would suspect the latter; that it would at least be down to two drivers by now, and probably based around who has the best package available in terms of what finance can be brought to the team. We have known for some time that Lee Holdsworth will head north to Stone Brothers. Ross and Jimmy have always run a team that announces its driver lineup early or, at least, makes its intentions clear. This goes way back to when SBR first struck out on their own;the

k announcement that they were departing DJR to set up Pack Leader Racing with Alan Jones came at the 1995 Sandown 500. When they was announced that Marcos Ambrose was leaving the team in 2005 to take up a shot at NASCAR,there was a full season's notice for everyone to digest the move. Given the amount of energy rumors and innuendo take up in the paddock, I think that if it's clear who is going and who is staying, and there are no contractual or commercial obligations to contend with, you should get it out in the open and get on with the job at hand. No driver or team is going to give half-measures in performance in driving hard, or supplying the best gear possible, half-way through a season. Just because someone is leaving at season's end.There is so much pressure on teams from a commercial point that no one is going to give 80

percent unless relationships have turned really bad. There will be instances in which some items, such as set-up information, data and technical information, becomes a'need to know basis'and the outgoing driver will get what he needs, and that's all.That's fine; the teams own their IP and information, and what they share is their choice. It's also a gpod opportunity for the team's other (or second) driver to stand up and make the best of the situation for performance and political maneuvering inside the team. By that I mean, if there is some personnel on the outgoing driver's car, they may be able to bring the complete'A'team into one car. The other side of the equation is not announcing a change in driver until very late in the piece. When this happens, most of the industry people know what's really going on and then, when it is finally announced,the media brings out the"worst kept secret in V8 Supercars for this year" line, accompanied by the

Ross and Jimmy Stone have always run a team that announces its driver linup early, or atleast, makes it intentions clear

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driver and the team chanting, in unison,"the contract has only been finalised in the last few days". This generally creates some media interest for the team and keeps the speculation alive and well in the short term. But when almost all the other drives and changes to teams have been announced and there is one'name'driver left and one'good seat'left, it soon takes away any speculation of who is going where. It's all part of the show and makes for plenty of chat around town, but now we are at the walking-not-talking time of the championship, it's time to get it all out and get going with predictions on who will do what in the series this year. So my summary of this is good luck David Reynolds with Rod Nash; you have four more years to win a championship that I predicted! I am sure it will be another great year, but worse without our mate Jason Richards. All the 28 drivers should remember what JR said; it's a privilege to drive these cars in this series, not a right.

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1.James Courtney raced in the Japanese Super GTSeries in 2004 and2005,before becoming a fuiitime V8 Supercar driver in 2006. 2. Russeii Ingaii's eighth in 2006 was the iowest a reigning V8Supercar Champion had finished in the points before 2011. 3. Mika Salo raced with seven teams in Formuia 1; Lotus, Tyrreii, Arrows,British American Racing,Ferrari, Sauber and Toyota. 4. Craig Poiiock, the founding boss ofBAR, was the co owner ofPK Racing, with whom Salo contested four Champ Car races in 2003. 5. Nathan Pretty has made 14 starts in the Bathurst 7000.

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