Motorsport News Issue 417 - March 2012

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GREEN AND GOLD BULLS:

Australian

Incorporaling MOTOR RACING AUSTRALIA

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No. 417 March 2012 Australia $7.95 NZ $8,50 inc GST

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/Vo, this isn't Ski Jumping at the Winter Olympics, it's Jari-Matti Latvala on his way to Ford’s first WRC win of the season,in Sweden.

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r THIS MONTH’S FEATURES Unusual Suspects

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The Grid

Back in 2001, would anyone have guessed Rick Kelly, Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly would be key players in Nissan entering V8 Supercars in 2013?Perhaps not... The other Holden man in the pic, Robbie Starr, is still with Walkinshaw Racing.

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m Tim Fedewa talks for a living - to Marcos Ambrose,as his spotter. The former driver gave Mitchell Adam plenty ofinsights into how he and his driver, and team,interract during a Sprint Cup race. It's fascinating stuff.

Nissan Is the first new manufacturer to commit to V8 ; Supercars and the Car ofthe Future program. \Ne look into their entry '

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Brooke Tatnelljust keeps adding accolades to his already outstanding CV. But, after winning a fifth Australian title in January,something else put a massive smile on his face...

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With the current generation V8 Supercar in its final year we turn back the clock 28 years and look at the last year ofthe ATCC's Big Bangers

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For years Dirk Klynsmith has walked softly and carried a big camera. DK will be shooting images in some far-flung parts ofthe world this season,so we thought be better show his head while we can.

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Two Aussies line up in Red ! Bull colours in Formula 1 n this season -and we talk to i both Mark Webber and Dan \ Ricciardo

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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.

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IICLIP5AL

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South Australia.

A brilliant blend.

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

NATIONAL FEATURES

The Grid

Editorial Enquiries

Chevron Publishing Level 6,207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, NSW 2065 Locked Bag 5555,St Leonards, NSW 1590 admin@mnews.com.au

Contributing Writers

MNews takes an up dose look at Kevin Weeks'stunning new Ford GTfor the Australian GT Championship

Andrew van Leeuwen, Bruce Moxon, Mark Glendenning, Lachlan Mansell, Paul Carruthers, Geoff Rounds

Photography

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

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In the Spotter light \Ne learn all about the art ofspotting,from a NASCAR driver-turned spotter

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Another TCM Master Glenn Seton talks about his recent entry to the Touring Car Masters in an XB Falcon

72

Peter, not Simon We chat to Peter O'Donnell about his long-running BMW Production Car programs

76

Going back in time MNews looks at the karting origins of today's V8 Supercar drivers

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1,2, 3, 4, High 5!

Brooke Tatnell claimed his fifth Australian Sprintcar title in 2012. We spoke to him about it

82

Hitting the Paveyment Russell Pavey hasn't exactly put together his Top Doorslammer by the book

Advertising Advertising Director Chris West cwest@chevron.com.au P 02 9901 6376 M 0416 125 252 National Sales Manager Luke Finn lfinn@chevron.com.au P02 9901 6368 M 0423 665 384 Chairman, Chevron: Ray Berghouse Circulation Director: Carole Jones

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Ail rights reserved. Motorsport News is printed by CaxtonWeb, distributed by 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 is at the owner's risk and, while every care will 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 have requested and to improve the content of our magazines.Your details may be provided to third parties 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.

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REGULARS 8

Motor Mouth with Phil Branagan

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On The Limiter with Chris Lambden

12

Bits & Pieces

14

Winding Back

16

Box Seat

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Model Behaviour

94

Trade

96

Classifieds

98

The Final Word with Paul Cruickshank

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a Japanese company. Holden IMES change in motor and Ford are perceived as racing, quicklysometimes,too quickly 'Australian'but just try to buy for details to be taken in. shares in either company on the At Sandown's V8 Supercar test ASX.They are American - but it probably more accurate to say day, I asked aTeamVodafone that all three manufacturers member to show me his new handset. I knew he had a new are global companies, with one because of the team's new outposts all over the world, sponsorship deal with Samsung. and some of those outposts have production facilities (like He showed me his shiny new Holden and Ford do here, and Korean smartphone.

Toyota for that matter) and "It's a Samsung ... iPhone," some do not. he said.

But I wonder how significant No, it's really not. I pondered it is that the KR racer wiil be explaining the difference to him based on a road car not made between the iOS and Android in Australia. Does that matter? operating systems of the two Holden Commodores and Ford brands, but quickly abandoned Falcons are made in Australia that mission. It didn't matter; but sell in such small numbers that line was blurred. these days, particularly to If you have an irhone, have a look at the back. It will say. private buyers. Does that MadeDesigned by Apple in California, in-Oz badge even matter?

Assembled in China'. But if you For seven years,the love your iPhone, does it matter Australian Touring Car to you where it is actually built?

Championship was raced for How much does it matter Group A cars.There was an that Kelly Racing will race a impressive list of cars that won those titles- BMW's 635CSi and Nissan next year? It does to M3,Volvo's 240T, Ford's Sierra them, clearly, and to Nissan -

and Nissan's HRS 1 andGT-Rbut once you drove out of the gates at Calder, Amaroo Park or Lakeside, you would never see one on an Australian road. But, people still went to the races and cheered their heroes.

Now,even that is changing.

Last October, while he was driving forTeamVodafone at the Gold Coast, I asked Sebastien Bourdais about the long-term effects of international drivers coming to Australia to race V8 Supercars. Could he see a day when European drivers who were aiming at a career in Formula 1 and when FI did not work out, who would otherwise look to America, Sportscars or GTs, instead turn to V8 Supercars for a professional career? He could, he replied, but it would not happen for a few years.

And then,a month or so later, Alexandre Premat rang Garry Rogers, looking for a drive, and put Seb's timeline on fast-forward.

Does that matter? After all, if we are to have internationalised cars - Australian/American and Japanese brands, all with American engines - why not recruit talent from around

the world?

The teams have been doing that for years; take a quick walk up the V8 Supercar pitlane and you will see Adrian Burgess and John Russell atT8 and Steve Hallam at HRT.Tony Dowe is at Kelly's; nearby, Malcolm Swetnam is at DJR. All bring British accents to the V8 game.

KR has recruited staff in the off season from Europe and the USA. Of course,the first man alongside T8's Roland Dane when he was introduced as the new owner of what had been Briggs Motorsport was Ludovic Lacroix.

Nissan's arrival is big news maybe not the biggest news, ever, in anything, but it is a shift in the balance of V8 Supercars.

Likewise, Premat's arrival is a significant step in the evolution of the sport. It might just lead to more and more'New Australians' appearing in the racecars.

But in the pitlane garages, where the winning and losing decisions are made,that process started a long time ago. No matter the make of car, where that brand hails from, or what brand of phone the team is talking on, it's still business as usual.

Nissan's arrival is big news- maybe not the biggest news ever,in anything,

// but it is a shift in the balance of V8 Supercars

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; ON THE LIMITER

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SIDE from a few scattered hard liners, Nissan's announcement of its return to major-league motorsport in Australia has gone down well.

The company's announcement, that it would enter a partnership with Kelly Racing to field four V8 Supercars under the new Car of the Future regime, starting next year, lived up to the"most important announcement in the history ofV8 Supercars"tag put on it.The COTF project is and has been the key undertaking of the category over the past three years; it was a key dot-point in the sale of60 percent of the business to Archer Capital.

So the high-velocity winds emanating from Southern Queensland early in February probably had less to do with climate than the collective sigh of relief from V8 heavyweights.

Snaring a new manufacturer was crucial to COTF and, with the general economic outlook not the brightest it's ever been,there were those who thought it might not happen...

But it did and, more so,there does seem to be other potential entrants in the wings giving it serious thought.

Nissan was,of course,the

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the reality that they not only come from Japan, but Korea, India, and even China - though I think it's a stretch to think we'll see a Great Wall V8 Supercar last to leave Australian touring anytime soon... car racing, when V8 Supercars The reaction, then,to Nissan's took over from Group A.The return has been pretty good.The company's giant-killing GT-Rs motorsport and news websites were frozen out by the move were buzzing with'unique to the V8-only formula, so the visitors'and a'we're back'Nissan departure was not exactly display hastily put in place at voluntary. But,fortunately,they the following weekend's V8 test got over it. day at Sandown went down well Back then, Nissan's high-profile -1 don't recall seeing anyone involvement and success came with some awkward moments throwing tomatoes or anything.

It's a small reminder of - none more than good old Jim how things used to be preRichards'uncharacteristic"pack of arseholes"outburst on the V8 Supercars when the off season used to bring with it Bathurst podium when his 1992 the potential for new cars, new win, shared with a young Mark Skaife, appeared to rile the crowd. engines, new something.The one downside to the current V8s To be honest, I've always is that all that is fixed - off-season thought that was much less now is pretty much confined to about a Nissan winning the Great Race than the fact that the new sponsor liveries, which is less riveting. In that sense,then, win came courtesy of the redNissan's comeback couldn't have flag rules, with the'winning'car come at a better time. buried in a concrete wall at the The news does signal a big top of the Mountain. Going back step up for Kelly Racing and it a lap to find a winner after a racewill be interesting to see how the stoppage has always bemused organisation evolves to manage me,as in this case, where the it.Todd and Rick have taken a win came at the expense of Dick major role in team management Johnson's Ford Sierra (hardly an as their fledgling team has 'All-Aussie'car either!), which was grown but, while both continue still on the road and running to drive the cars,that is going to when it took the red flag.

The world has moved on have to slow down significantly.

The list of current race drivers a lot since, and Australia has, successfully running teams reluctantly, been among the last to drift towards smaller cars and anywhere is a moderately short

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one,and given the confidence level, okay ego,inherent in most top level drivers, it's clearly a tough call to make.That the need has been recognised in this case is illustrated by the increased profile offormer Holden/HRT top dog John Crennan as Chairman of Kelly Racing, and the recent appointment of internationallyrecognised tech guru Tony Dowe as Performance Director.

On the commercial side,there's been one other crucial change at Nissan - an acceptance of alcohol sponsorship that political correctness would once not have.That means Jack Daniels' presence isn't compromised,and there was thus no forced choice Nissan or Jack Daniels. It means that Nissan's dollar input doesn't have to be all-encompassing, and is probably well short of some of the telephone numbers that have been spruiked around some of the media.

The details - like the model of car, and even the engine spec (which, with my V8 Commission hat on, will be controlled to match power/torque figures of the existing Holden/Ford engines)-are yet to be confirmed, but I can understand the speed with which the news was announced. It's good news.

It may not directly benefit the other teams involved, but it is good news.

Turn on the TV - there's not a lot of it about!

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The battle for pole position for the 1977 Australian Grand Prix at Oran Park was held over three qualifying sessions, with the top 8 places separated by only 2 seconds. Pole position would be set by Warwick Brown in a Lola T430 with the time of 65.7s.

The cars were set to race, with the starter flag lifted to its highest pointJones’ Lola took offseconds before the flag had dropped.

Knowing his mistake Jones pressed hard to try and limit the damage from his inevitable I min stop-go penalty. With Jones seemingly out of contention the race was between Brown in his Lola, Peter Gethin in a Chevron and John Goss in a Matich.

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Jones charged from the back of the field, on his way setting the fastest lap of 66.4s. He was able to catch up to Goss who sat in 3rd place but his climb through the field was halted when he ran out oflaps. Jones finished forth only 2s behind Goss, Brown won the race with Gethin finishing 15s behind in 2nd.

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^br more details contact Classic Carlectables on Freecall 1800 088 564 With the engine cover removed the fine craftsmanship of the V8 can be appreciated.

The race cockpit dash features detailed instrumentation with chrome trim.

or visit classiccarlectables.com.au .-A-

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BITS & PIECES Who’s the next big thing?

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Coming Attraction Jon Collins - Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship What is he currently doing?

JON Collins is set to switch from Formula Ford to the wings-and-slicks of the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship in 2012.

The Sydneysider started out in the NSW Formula Vee Championship in mid 2009, and has spent the last two years in state-level Formula Ford, In the first of those, Collins finished third in the NSW Championship in an elderly Van Diemen RF92, before being picked up as a state-level CAMS Rising Star in 2011. Collins focused on the Victorian Championship and made a handful of National starts.

In 2012,the 19-year-old will switch to Formula 3, running with multiple-title winners Team BRM.

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Where does he want to go?

COLLINS has flagged a unique career path from an early age - international sportscars.

After a year in Formula 3, Collins hopes to follow in the footsteps of former Team BRM driver Ben Barker.

The English driver moved to Carrera Cup in 2011 after winning the 2010 Australian F3 title and impressed throughout the year. This year. Barker is doing British Carrera Cup, and aiming for the prestigious Porsche Supercup.

Collins is aiming to contest Australian Carrera Cup in 2013, as a stepping stone to racing Porsches in Europe in the future.

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QUICK QUIZ 1

How many fulltime V8 Supercar rookies will be on the grid when

the 2012 season kicks off at the Clipsal 500?

2

Who were Alexandre Premat’s team-mates at ART Grand Prix

during his two seasons of GP2(2005 and 2006)?

3 Everyone knows Mark Webber scored points in his Grand Prix debut at Albert Park in 2002. But when and where did he score his maiden FI podium?

4 Before last year’s British Grand Prix - when Daniel Ricciardo made his FI debut- when was the last time two Australians started an FI GP? 5 How many times did Ford’s legendary GT40 win the Le Mans 24 Hour?

J2

motorsport news

MY FAVOURITE RACE RYAN BRISCOE - INDYCARS, HOMESTEAD,2009

NEWS OF THE MONTH NISSAN TO RETURN Nissan is the first new manufacturer to commit to joining V8 Supercars in 2013.

The Japanese manufacturer's return to top-line Australian Touring Car racing will be in partnership with Kelly Racing, which will switch from Holden to become Nissan's factory team.The program will use a to-beannounced,"all-new sedan".

For more on Nissan's V8 Supercar entry, see Page 32.

COTF TESTING RULES SET

MY favourite race is hard to name - but there is definitely a race that I consider to be the Best Race of My Life.

I would say that the Indycar finale at Homestead in 2009 was that race. It was a heads-up between Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and myselffor the title. Whoever won the race won the championship, but for me,the equation was, I had to win the race and lead the most laps, to get the extra point.

It was an amazing race. First off, it was so hot, over 110 degrees in American temperatures.Then, it was the only race in the history of Indycar racing, that I am aware of anyway, when it stayed green from the start to the chequered flag. Dixon and I were first and second for the whole race.

and we pushed each other on every single lap. He knew that he could not let me win and lead the most laps, and therefore, even if I did win, he had to lead the most laps!

Dario was Just not as quick as us on that day. He had fallen off, so we are racing like maniacs! Every pitstop, every corner of every lap, we did everything right. But, like I said, there were no yellows.

So unfortunately, we had to pit for fuel with four laps to go. Dario goes past, and he cruises across the line, saving fuel, to win the race! We were four second behind, and he won the championship. It was still a memorable race; I felt like I raced hard, did everything right, but it just didn't work out.

Ryan Briscoe spoke to Phil Branagan

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You should be able to tell the honeymoon is still on, because we provided food for you guys...

2011 Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart on his up and down relationship with the media, during the NASCAR pre-season media tour’s stop at Stewart-Haas Racing

www.mnews.com.au

Like every other V8 Supercar outfit, Kelly Racing will get 10 days to test their COTFs between August 2012 and December 2013.

A dual-year testing limit has been put in place by V8 Supercars Australia.Three test days will be dates mandated by V8SA;one each at Queensland Raceway and Winton after this year's rounds,and 2013's pre-season test.

Teams will be able to use the other seven as they see fit during the 17-month window.

GARRY GOES FRENCH Garry Rogers pulled the biggest surprise of the V8 Supercar silly season - perhaps of any silly season - when he announced Frenchman Alexandre Premat as Lee Holdsworth's replacement.

A winner of the Macau Grand Prix, the 2005/2006 A1 Grand Prix Series and the 2008 Le Mans Series Champion has spent recent years in sportscars and the DTM. In other driver announcements, Michael Patrizi will partner Jonathon Webb at the expanded Tekno Autosports and Karl Reindler joins Kelly Racing in a Fair Dinkum Sheds Commodore.

Reindler replaces David Reynolds, who has been released to join Bottle-0 Racing, and Steve Owen has been confirmed as part of Dick Johnson Racing's four-car line-up.Taz Douglas will step up from the Development Series to race with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.

RUBENS TO INDYCAR? Could Rubens Barrichello give IndyCar a major boost by joining the series from Formula 1?

Without a drive in Formula 1,the veteran of 326 GPs tested one of KV Racing's new Chevpowered IndyCars at Sebring in February. In a three-day test initiated by close friend and KV driver Tony Kanaan, Barichello impressed and could join the series if a budget can be found.

"I leave Sebring now with a good taste in my mouth,"the Brazilian said at the completion of the test.

73

WINDING BACK the year that was...

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When Renault's first turbocharged car debuted atSilverstone 35years ago, people laughed.Itchanged motor racing,forever... ByPHIL BRANAGAN

HERE IS nothing like starting a story with an eye-catching opening par, so here it is; the most influential name in the history of Grand Prix racing is not McLaren. It is not Williams, or Lotus, or Tyrrell, or Senna,Schumacher, Stewart or Prost. It is not even, gulp, Ferrari.

It is Renault.

OK; I said it. And I have not lost my marbles; I have found them.

For all the chat about the French being a nation of disorganised, emotional, cheese eating fashionistas, Renault has actually been the company that has set the agenda in the direction GP cars have developed. It has, for a long time, been the major factor in the paddock.

This season, of course,there will be no Renaults on the Formula 1 grid.The ridiculous situation we faced last year, whereby there were two teams with the words'Lotus'and'Renault'in theirtitles, has been resolved. One is now Lotus FI, one is Caterham FI and never the twain shall meet.

Of course, both teams will race with Renault V8s, as will the Red Bulls and Williamses, so eight cars will use the the RS27 V8s. Six will have Mercedes-Benzes and another six, Ferraris. Four cars will race with Cosworth power.

In the last 35 years, no maker has done so 14

much,and won so much,as Renault. And it all started 35 years ago, when the company combined the racing activities of Alpine and Gordin! into Renault Sport, based in a new HQ in Viry-Chatillon, 25 minutes outside Paris.

In 1976,the company embarked on a massive project; to build a brand new Formula 1 car.The Renault RSOl would be the first car to take advantage of the untilthen unused technical loophole that allowed 1.5-litre turbocharged engines to compete against 3-litre normally aspirated units.

At its debut race, at Silverstone in July 77, Jean-Pierre Jabouille qualified 21 st(out of 26) and,sure enough, his motor exploded on lap 17. It had been an ignominious debut but there was potential, with the French car only 1.62s from pole.

"I was very realistic arriving at Silverstone," said Jabouille years later."I knew that we would eventually be successful, but first of all I wanted to finish races.

"I remember that Ken Tyrrell laughed at us a lot. It was he who called us'the tea pot' but we made our debut, we weren't a disgrace, we were in the middle of the pack and at the end of a number laps, what we expected happened: the engine broke with a nice cloud of smoke, which made everyone laugh."

After a couple of races off, the car reappeared at Zandvoort. Jabouille narrowed

July 1977:Jean-Pierre Jabouille gives Renault's RSOl 'teapot'its head at Silverstone, top. The Frenchman's background in engineering was a great aid in developing the car. The man in the white shirt, above,is designer, Gerard Ducarouge. motorsport news

Cue the National Anthem and fechez la vache!

Jabouille dominated the 1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon, winning from pole In a French car, with French motor, tyres, oil, fuel and sponsors!There was even French fizzy on the podium, which he shared with second-placed Gilles Villeneuve, right, and Rene Arnoux. Enzo Ferrari later claimed that this race was what convinced him to sign Arnoux to drive his cars three years later.

the gap to pole to 1.48s but was 10th.

In the race, he went further, retiring a mid-distance with suspension woes.

He started 20th at Monza (1.95s from pole) and stopped with another engine failure. At Watkins Glen,the story was Q14(-2.20s) and DNF (alternator). He failed to qualify in Canada and the team skipped Japan.

The single-car program continued in 1978.

Renault skipped the fiyaways in Argentina and Brazil and arrived in South Africa with a revised RS01. Kyalmai's high altitude suited the car well, and Jabouille qualified sixth.

The Renault EF1 V6 continued to spend a fair bit of time blowing up, but progress was remarkable; within a few races, he was finishing, usually about 10th-12th and lapped, but it was about the miles that the car was getting. Qualifying third at Monza was a highlight - not that anyone noticed much when a dreadful accident claimed the

www.mnews.com.au

life of Lotus's Ronnie Peterson.

And then, at Watkins Glen, it all went right.

After starting ninth, Jabouille picked his way through the pack and took Renault's first points finish in fourth.

In 1979, Renault doubled the size of the team by adding a second entry for Rene Arnoux, but it was not until the fifth race of the season in Spain that its new car, the RSI 0, showed up. With two turbochargers, ground effects and much better aerodynamics, it took some sorting, and with a five-week break before the French GP at Dijon, the local engineers were hard at work.

The result was stunning. Jabouille and Arnoux locked out the front row

and Jabouille won by almost 15s.

But the win was overshadowed by the epic fight for second between Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari, which is being replayed on the internet to this very day. It was a big win; a French car and motor, with a French driver, and Michelin tyres and Elf fuel and oil. And, if FI team owners did not have plans in place to secure turbo engines before the race, you can be sure their direction changed immediately after it.

By 1983, Renault was supplying customer engines,first to Lotus, then Ligier and Tyrrell. Renault withdrew from FI at the end of 1986, but returned to supply motors to Williams and Benetton, winning titles with both. In 2001, Renault resumed in its own right after buying Benetton, winning the Drivers'and Constructors' titles in 2005/2006. Genii Capital stepped in and in 2011, the team became Lotus-Renault, and is now known as Lotus.

After turbos were banned in 1988, Renault set the standard again, becoming the first manufacturer to develop VI0 engines, then pneumatically-operated valves. Both quickly becamederigeurm FI. Ferrari started in FI in 1950 and in 890 starts by Ferraris or Ferrari-powered cars, has scored 217 wins - a winning percentage of 24.4. Since 1977, Renaults or Renaultpowered cars have made 527 starts for 142 wins - a winning percentage ofjust under 27.

Take that,Tifosi!

Vive la France!

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T'S cold in Germany right now.

To an extent that's stating the obvious. It's always cold in central Europe this time of year, but at the moment,it is especially cold. I've been a German resident for nearly a week as I write this column, and the mercury is yet to make it's way past zero. Even the Germans are struggling with what they call the'schwelnekalt' (pig cold).

It makes life a little interesting. For instance, getting ready to go outside is a 10-minute job, by the time

flirawt @®Guiicgiv)

you wrap yourself in sufficient said, layers to stave off instant "It does help when the car hyperthermia.You need two gets started, and you can feel sets of rims and tyres for your the warmth of the engine car, one for summer and one through the cockpit. for winter, and our washing "Before getting in the car, we machine is currently out of do a special active stretch in order - because the water is the cold, and have a bit of a frozen in the pipes. Really. shake to get things going, it's Sport isn't immune to the good because we have trainers cold weather, but it doesn't and physios to help us out with stop because of a little snow. these things.They are good Compromises are made.The at knowing what our bodies major soccer fields here all have need before we hop in the car, heated grass, to stop snow regardless of the conditions." and ice forming on the playing The one advantage that' surface. It's just a small way to racing drivers have is fireproof make having to wear shorts in suits, socks and fuli-length 11 degree weather a little more n underwear. Where the^poor bearable for the players. For tiie '‘ footballers have to jog out smaller, semi-professional clubs into the freezing air in shorts that can't afford grass heating, and shirts, Ricciardo and his they use a bright orange ball driving buddies can be nice and play in the snow.The show and rugged up. Fiowever, must go on. footbailers might be travelling Formula 1 had its own coid at 15kmh. At 300km/h,cold air snap during the first pre-season finds its way into a race driver's helmet. test at Jerez. Spain is a long way south of Germany,and The fireproof stuff is pretty Jerez is in the south of Spain,.. .. ., good at keeping you warm so the weather is much, much particularly before ydliy^t in the car," Ricciardo added."But milder than up here in Centrai Europe. Most winter days will for the first few laps) you still make it into the teens, but on get a lot of cold air sneaking the last day of the test, the sun into the helmet. It probably took a bit longer than usual to takes about 10 laps for your heat things up.That meant the body to warm right up." drivers had to take the track There is an advantage to the cold weather. While drivers with the temperatures hanging around the zero mark. Not as might be struggling to perform. cold as Frankfurt, but still very, Formula 1 cars just love the crisp, cool air. As Ricciardo very cold. It was cold enough that the sector two speed trap explains, it's when they are at their best. was literally frozen.

At this point, motivation "The engine performs very, very well in the cold. We see must be hard to come by for the best speed graphs in those the drivers. It's the fourth day conditions. Also, in colder of the test, they have done conditions the air is denser,so hundreds of laps running the aero works better. Unless it various programs and system checks, mostly with full tanks of is freezing cold, and the track has no grip at all. Formula 1 fuel-making the cars sluggish cars are usually very quick in and ugiy to drive. Now it's those conditions." freezing cold, and they have to While a bit of a cold snap get their slim athletic bodies in Southern Spain might not working in the manner required be great for the drivers and to competently drive a Formula 1 car. the crews,some changeable weather during testing could Flow do they do it? i asked come in handy pretty soon, Daniel Ricciardo to explain. i mean,the season-opener is "It takes a bit of time to get in Melbourne, after all ... going on a cold morning," he U

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ROSS AND JIM STOhE 1 OW^ER: i TEAM MANAGER: DAVD STUART i DRVER #4: LEE HOLDSWORTK 8TH IN 2011 (GRM). ENGllsEER BRAD WISCHUSEN. SHANE VAN GlSBERGEN, 4TH IN 2011. ENGINEER: DAVID STUART n DRVER #9: TIM SLADE 9TH IN 2011. ENGINEER: WES MCDOUGALL i DRVER #47:

^TONE Brothers haswas won in V8 Supercars - but the most recentRacing of those inthree 2005.titles The question is, can the team return to its dizzy heights of seven years ago?

The signs are good. After a couple of lean seasons away from the pointy end, Ross and Jim's lads have made major inroads in recent years, started winning races again and the major change in the team for 2012 is, of course, the arrival of Lee Holdsworth. He has a strong pedigree in the sport, and his signature was sought by Rod Nash as well as the Stone Brothers before he decided to return home to Queensland, and join SBR. What Holdsworth brings to the team is attitude and experience.

In spite of the fact that he finished eighth last year - and that is only three spots ahead of the man he replaces in the Irwin car, Alex Davison - far more people are looking for the blue #4 to move forward this season than to go backwards. In short, Holdsworth is there to win races and get on podiums, and to push Shane van Gisbergen and Tim Slade, hard,to do likewise.

The Giz was fourth overall in the points last year, after a more mature and consistent season that also included his first two V8 Supercar victories. After exceeding expectations in 2011,there is a strong case to be put that Slade is the driver most likely to score his breakthrough win this year, his third season with the Stones. SBR may not be back to the heights of the Ambrose/Ingall era, but the steps it has taken for 2012 appear positive.

There is stability in the engineering pool, though joining Holdsworth in the ranks of newbies is his race engineer. Brad Wischusen,formerly with PMM. www.mnews.com.au

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ROD NASH OW^ER: TEAM MANAGER: CHRIS O’TOOLE DRVER #66: DAVO REYNOLDS 19TH M 2011 (KELLY RACING). ENGINEER JAMES SMALL

TheThere potential certainly were is times in thethere... last two years that Paul Dumbrell, while not wrestling with whether he wanted to be a racing driver or not, starred in this entry, even out-pacing the'FPR'FPR Falcons. Now,in the hands of David Reynolds - who at times out-shone his more

experienced team-mates at Kelly Racing - even bigger things are expected from Rod Nash's entry in 2012.

Good hardware and unquestioned speed abound in this combination.The question is, how will it all gel - but,for potential, the man in green is one to watch this year. A real smokey for a race win.

OWI^R WALKINSHAW RACING n TEAM MANAGER: ERK PENDER DRIVER #66: RUSSELL INGALL, 20TH IN 2011 (PMM). ENGINEER: RCe STARR

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IN the twilight year? of his longaand illustrious V8 Supercar career, Russell years Ingall-finally gets to race 'Clayton'Commodore.

That's the good news.The bad is that, does anyone expect much of an improvement on last year, when he drove a Triple Eight Commodore to 20th in the Championship? Maybe, but anything better than where Fabian Coulthard finished last year (12th) in the third

Clayton entry would, realistically, be a good result. Even at the height of his career, Ingall was not a great qualifier and in spite of some improvement in that area in recent years, he is still starting races from behind the quality opposition.

The longer the race,the stronger the performance from The Enforcer.

But, honestly, a Championship top-10 is going to be a big surprise,

20

motorsport news

ROLAND DANE OWNER: TEAM MANAGER: ADRAN BURGESS DRIVER #t JAME WHINCUP. 1ST IN 2011. ENGINEER MARK DJTTON DRVER #888: CRAG LOWNDES, 2ND IN 2011. ENGINEER: JEROMY MOORE

This year, the only question we what couldhad come up seen with as was:time howlast would Adrian Burgess fit into been 'Roland Dane's team?'The answer was, seamlessly.

The changes are minor at The Fones, with a couple of background staff leaving since the end of 2011. A 1-2 in the Drivers'championship and another team's title showed that the season starts with the team in the strongest position it has been since ... well, a year ago.

A few years ago, Craig Lowndes talked down his qualifying form.

He has sharpened that in recent years, he works the Sprint Tyre very well in race conditions and if anyone doubted his hunger, they only had to watch him in action during 2011. He turned in some stellar drives.

And, in all honesty, you would have to consider Jamie Whincup to be the best touring car racer in the world; maybe only DTM Champ Martin Tomczyk, who won the 2011 title in a year-old car, stands comparison. Whincup will be a force in the series for as long as he wants to race in it.

The transition from Falcons to Commodores is a distant memory, and you can be sure there'll be no repeat of the minor reliability gremlins that reared their heads during 2011. In fact, the big challenge for JDub and Lowndes could be adapting to their new Samsung Android mobile phones...

This is the best team in the business and the yardstick by which other teams are measured. Period.

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www.mnews.com.au

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WALKtNSHAW RACING OWNER: TEAM MANAGER: STEVE HALLAM DRIVER #2: GARTH TANDER 5TH IN 2011, ENGINEER: ALSTAR MCVEAN DRVER #22: JAMES COURTNEY. 10TH IN 2011, ENGINEER: SCOTT SINCLAR

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The signs are thatover the rebuilding of the Racing Team is far from but majorphase progress hasHolden been made in the last 12 months.

The big change for 2012 is the arrival of Steve Hallam as team manager.The Englishman brings massive experience to the team from teams such as McLaren and most recently, NASCAR's Michael Waltrip Racing.That is fine but past experiences shows that the real acid test will be how any team reacts to fresh leadership. Some internationals slot right in to V8 Supercar racing; some do not.

Without showing Hallam any disrespect, there will be many watching.

waiting to see what comes next.

There is stability in the rest of the team, notably that Operations Manager Mike Henry is still there,though in a more background role than the one he filled well in the second half of last year. Drivers are first-class and there will be a fascinating subplot to see how James Courtney reacts after his disappointing 2011 season.

Garth Tander may not have had the results he sought last year, but only the most passionate Courtney fan would say that GT did not take the honours last year - or that HRT hired James as a solid number two driver.

motorsport news

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OWNERS; TEAM MANAGER DRVER #8: DRVER #14: DRIVER #21:

BRAD AND KiM JONES CHRIS CLARK JASON BRIGHT, 16TH IN 2011. ENGINEER: PHIL KEED FABIAN COULTHARD. 12TH IN 2011 (WR). ENGINEER; ANDREW EDWARDS DAVID WALU ROOKE, ENGIFEER: CHRS STUCKEY

I

NTERESTING times in Albury...

The established Jason Bright is a clear team leader - but Fabian Coulthard has shown that he is capable of challenging some of the bigger names in the sport. He just needs to translate the speed he showed in the Ford he raced in 2009 into a Commodore after two comparatively lean years.

And BJR needs consistency.

Last year, there were times particularly in the first half of the season - that they looked like Contenders (the capital'C is intentional). There were also times - i.e. Surfers Paradise when we in the media just couldn't look, because the cars were anchored to the bottom of the timing screens and the team looked like it was struggling.

Having raced with BJR in the 2010 and 2011 enduros, David Wall looks like a handy recruit. and the other two drivers are there to do the heavy lifting.

Time to get on with it, fellas. www.mnews.com.au

23

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OWNER: LUCAS CUMBRELL TEAM MANAGER: ANTONY MCPHERSON DRVER #30; TAZ DOUGLAS, ROOKE. ENGINEER EDWARD VSKA

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FTER his team spent its first two years with Clayton gear, Dumbrell has acquired the Triple Eight Commodore that was raced last year

by Russell Ingall, and has an ongoing deal for support from the Eights.

That is a good move - but in the hands of experienced drivers. Ingall and Greg Murphy,and a larger team, Paul Morris Motorsport, a similar situation paid almost zero dividends in 2010and2011.

Development Series graduate Taz Douglas is a good driver, but even in an 'Eight'VE, it is a huge ask to expect that he will rise past the low-20s in his rookie season with a single-car team.

If he does,that will be a good block for the team to build on for the future.

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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 i summer, and in winter, th ey’ _ II keep you warmer than a Bathurst hot lap.

24 motorsport news

OWNER AL D’ALBERTO TEAM MANAGER: DYLAN NAPER DRVER m TONY D’ALBERTQ 26TH IN 2011. ENGINEER ADAM DEBORRE

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MOTHER change of look this season forTDR,following the departure of 2011 backer Wilson Security and Dodo set to arrive.

One-car teams are an endangered species in V8 Supercars and TDR looks to be the best of the two legitimate solo operations still going around. Even with technical links to Ford Performance Racing, it's a tough gig.

Tony D'Alberto is no mug; he was strong on occasion last season and seemed to adapt to the FPR Ford reasonably well after many seasons in Clayton Commodores.

One more thing;TD is the only one-car owner-driver in the field. For many years, that was the basis of the ATCC; it looks like D'Alberto is the last of the breed.

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25

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GARRY ROGERS OWI^ER: TEAM MANAGER: PERLUGl ORSI ALEXANDRE PREMAT, ROOKE. ENGINEER: RCHARD HOLLWAY DRIVER #33: MCHAEL CARUSO, 14TH IN 2011 ENGINEER: STEVEN TODKILL DRIVER #34:

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ARRY Rogers is a one-off, an eccentric, an enthusiast. He also has one of the keenest eyes, and sharpest minds, in motor racing.

He's never followed the rulebook when it has come to recruiting drivers. For many years, he was the team owner giving young blokes a go. Along the way, he unearthed some stars and some didn't work, but his track record is better than most. In 2012, one of his unearthed gems, Lee Holdsworth flies the coup after six seasons.

And wouldn't you know it, Garry has gone to the very left of the furthest-left field to find his replacement. No-one saw Alexandre Premat coming.

The Frenchman is well credentialed, having won in Formula 3, A1GP and the Le Mans Series. But he probably knows as much about V8 Supercars as many fans will know about him. He'll have the experienced Richard Hollway on the radio, and it'll be genuinely fascinating to see how he adapts to these unique cars, having spent recent years in DTM cars and Le Mans Prototypes.

Losing Holdsworth is a blow to the team but it creates an opportunity for Michael Caruso to step up. He has matched his more illustrious former team-mate for speed, but he needs to use that speed on a more consistent basis to lead the team, especially given the greenness of his new buddy Premat.

motorsport news

OWNER:

STEVE WEBB

TEAM MANAGER: DRIVER #19: DRIVER #91:

BRUCE JENKINS

JONATHAN WEBB, 21ST IN 2011, ENGINEER: GEOFF SLATER MICHAEL PATRIZI, RETURNING TO SERES. ENGINEER: PERRY KAPPER

ARDWARE? Tick; Two Triple

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branched out on his own - he was unable to build on a what had been an excellent debut season with DJR in 2010. But the

bottom line is that he is capable on occasion of taking a place in the top 10, on merit.

We cannot say the same for Michael Patrizi. He is V8

Supercars' Pastor Maldonado; there are some who rate his

ability but he is there because of his sponsors. Now that he is back in the Main Game after

two seasons out of it, he needs to demonstrate that he has

ability.

The growing team also has to adapt from a T8 Ford to T8 Holdens. The Fones have done

it but it can be difficult. So do

the drivers; witness Coulthard's

speed in a Ford compared to that in a Holden. Tekno may get it right, right away, but they might also struggle. We await to see what happens.

’D^lpo Dominates Again at the 6 Hou^r Erfcimance Race at Phiilip Isiand! 3 Congratulations Winners! 1st, 2nd and 3rd across the line:

All winning drivers were using Dunlops DZ03G BIEI

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www.mnews.com.au

THE KELLY FAMILY OWNER TEAM MANAGERS: AARON ZAMPESE m & #15) MATTHEW HOUSE (#11 & 51) TODD KELLY. 18TH IN 2011, ENGILEER: BRENDAN HOGAN DRIVER m: DRIVER #1l: KARL REINDLER 25TH IN 2011 (BJR). ENGINEER: MATHEU GALOCHE DRVER #15: RICK KELLY, 6TH IN 2011. ENGII^ER: ALEX SOMERSET GREG MURPHY. 13TH IN 2011. ENGINEER: SCOTT BESST DRIVER #51:

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P IRST, Rickdefinitely Kelly wonlooked three racesthe lastgood; year, and like a top-six driver in the championship.

And, Greg Murphy has his 51 back; really, Murph with any other number just looked odd.

The bad; there have been major and fundamental changes in the team's staffing during the off-season.The reasons why are not especially relevant to anyone outside the team, and they have been talking up the new recruits - which is a perfectly reasonable thing for any team, or any business, to do.

But it takes time to bed changes down.

KR goes into its fourth season with plenty of potential, but it is still playing catch up. And they'll have to balance 2012 in Holdens with preparing for their 2013 Nissan COTF program.

The driving talent is beyond question; both Kellys - Todd with a reduced off-track workload since mid-2011 - and Murphy are proven winners, and Karl Reindler has shown his speed in the past. It may be that the ingredients are all in place. Kelly fans will be hoping for a fast process.

28 motorsport news

OWlvER

PRODRtVE

TEAM MANAGER: DRVER #5: DRVER #6:

TIM EDWARDS MARK WINTERBOTTOM. 3FD IN 2011. ENGlisEER: CAMPBELL LITTLE WILL DAVISOK 7TH IN 2011. ENGlhCER GRANT MCPh€RSON

FTER finishing second in theTeam's Championship last year, and with Winterbottom third in the Drivers'points, many predict that 2012 will be the breakthrough year for FPR. They need it to be. There were two wins last year and the gap to the Fones was such that, with four races of the season remaining, FPR was out of contention after falling into something of a hole mid-year on the Sprint Tyre.

By the end of the year, the speed to match theTeamVodafone cars

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www.mnews.com.au

was there again.This year, it needs to still be there in Practice 1 in Adelaide, and remain until the final race in Homebush.

Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison are both capable of taking poles and winning races, and featuring on the podium frequently.The team just needs to give them the tools to do it, week in, week out.

By its very structure, FPR is the team that most Ford fans look to, to do the winning for them. There needs to be a lot more wins in 2012 to keep those fans happy.

DICK JOHNSON OWNER: TEAM MANAGER: MALCOLM SWETNAM DRVER #12 DEAN FIORE, 27TH IN 2011 (TRPLE F RACING). ENGINEER: JOHN WATERMAN STEVE JOHNSON 15TH IN 2011. ENGINEER: MARK FENNING DRVER #17: JAMES MOFFAT, 23RD IN 2011. ENGINEER: GREG WHEELER DRVER #18: DRVER #49: STEVE OWEN. 17TH IN 2011 (PMM). ENGINEER: BLAKE SMITH

IGHTO, up front; it is going to be just plain weird seeing the two cars most will mentally connect to DJR -#17 and #18 -not running identical liveries.

Times change. While Steve Johnson's car remains in Jim Beam colours, Norton has weighed in with, reportedly,substantial backing for James Moffat's entry. And that sets up an interesting situation; it way well be that the order of the cars at certain races is not what long-time Johnson fans are familiar with.

After a tough first taste of the Main Game in the 2010 enduros, Moffat stood out last year in his rookie season. At times, he was visibly faster than Johnson. It will be up to Steve to step up to address that situation.The arrival of Dean Fiore and Steve Owen do not aid that cause; there have been moments in which Owen,in particular, has looked podiumfast and capable of challenging the title contenders. Don't forget; it is barely a season since he won a V8 Supercar round.

And Fiore is yet to have a team-mate -let along three - to pool data and feedback with.

The team has to adapt to a bigger fourcar format, and put a disastrous second half of 2011 behind it. There are big challenges ahead.

30 motorsport news

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THE UD FUEL INJECTOR. THIS OBJET D ART INJECTS FUEL UNDER HIGH PRESSURE WHEN THE ENGINE NEEDS IT MOST. UD'S VARIABLE INJECTION TECHNOLOGY IS SO EFFICIENT OUR NEW GH7 TURBO DIESEL CAN REDUCE FUEL BILLS BY UP T010%.* UD TRUCKS.SAVE MONEY AND THE EARTH.

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MAKES THREE

V8 SUPERCARS'LOOMING CAR OF THE FUTURE ERA RECEIVED A MAJOR BOOST WHEN NISSAN CONFIRMED IT WOULD JOIN THE SERIES IN 2013.

MNEWS LOOKS AT THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP motorsport news

T

HE 9th of February 2012 will go down as a pivotal day in the history of V8 Supercars. In an announcement described

by Mark Skaife as almost 1000 days in the making, Nissan was unveiled as the first new manufacturer to enter the championship in 2013 and end the duopoly held by Holden and Ford.

Since - essentially - Nissan was squeezed out at the end of 1992 with the end of the Group A era,the top level of Touring Car racing in Australia has been about the red of Holden and the blue of Ford. In many cases,support was simply - tribally - about whether you were 'red'or'blue'. And there's been nothing wrong with that. A far bigger and stronger series in 2012 is a stark contrast to the one run in 1993, or even 1997 when the'V8 Supercar'moniker was introduced.

However, markets change. Holden and Ford are not the dominant players in the Australian automotive market that they once were, and purses for extra curricular spending such as V8 Supercars have tightened. With the primary aim of attracting additional manufacturers, the Car ofthe Future initiative was developed for introduction in 2013.

In March 2010, program head Skaife launched the COTF program to the public as opening the V8 Supercars shopfront to new manufacturers.Just under two years later, in the very same building, he announced he'd made a sale. After years of speculation about additional manufacturers, Holden and Ford finally - officially - had a playmate. Nissan would enter the series in 2013 with a four-car team run by Kelly Racing.

Word had been leaked the night before, and the heavy and glossy stock paper in the media kit confirmed the importance of the day in a strange way. When it got underway,V8 Supercar Chairman Tony Cochrane described it as a "milestone day"for the COTF program.

Skaife said it was a "core part of V8 Supercars'growth."

There were smiles all round.Two of those belonged to Nissan representatives; Nissan Australia's Managing Director and CEO Dan Thompson was flanked by its Executive General Manager of Sales and Fleet, Ian Moreillon.

What s so exciting for us, and especially this morning talking about V8 Supercars, is giving some excitement and innovation to passenger vehicles within the Nissan range,"Thompson said.

Talk about the project within Nissan Australia had been ongoing for over 12 months. But that progress was accelerated when Moreillon later dubbed'cyclone Ian'by Kelly Racing Chairman John Crennan returned from a stint working with Nissan in Japan last October.

"I was working in Japan,trying to stay in touch via the internet, and I was watching V8 Supercars on the Australia Channel in Japan in my own apartment,"Moreillon said.

"I realised that Nissan Australia had a very real opportunity to become involved in this great motorsport category in 2013 when Car of the Future was released.

"I would argue that Nissan, more than any other manufacturer - other than the two current[V8 Supercar] participants - has the strongest and most-profound motorsport DNA of any brand in this country.

"How then, now,do we continue this proven track record? How do we rekindle Nissan's golden age of track dominance and technological leadership? We found a way,and that way was through the Car of the Future. When we Join theV8 Supercar express, if you want to put it that way, we will be looking very much towards the future."

Crennan later spoke of having a cutoff of January 31 to"make a good go of being on the grid and being competitive"with the program. He got the nod from Nissan on January 30 and the Heads of Agreement was signed two hours before the announcement.

The manufacturer described V8 Supercars as a "long term commitment",and Thompson spoke of Nissan's winning culture in motorsport.Their last major involvement in Australian motorsport ended when a Nissan Skyline GT-R, driven by Jim Richards and Mark Skaife won Bathurst in controversial circumstances.The aftermath is part of Australian motorsport folklore.

"It wasn't about going back to the early 90s,"Thompson said, when asked if he feared any backlash.

"It was about today and moving forward,and there was absolutely nothing in all of the research and discussions we had that was www.mnews.com.au

The key players:(l-r) Mark Skaife, Tony Cochrane,David Melone(V8 Supercars),John Crennan, Todd Kelly, Rick Kelly (Kelly Racing),ian Moreilion and Dan Thompson (Nissan). negative in any way. It was only positive.That gave us great confidence that Aussies across the country would embrace Nissan."

In the time since the announcement,that's proven to be the case.

Even in the age of internet anonymity empowering the outspoken, positive reactions far outweighed the negative.Two days later, Nissan was front and centre at Sandown's pre-season test, with cars,signage and associated paraphernalia. Fans were keen and engaged. Expect similar activities throughout the year, possibly along with renewed trackside efforts from Ford and Holden.

There is no doubt that when a brand like Nissan comes along,they will do more activation, more leveraging to support their involvement inthesport/'Skaifesaid.

"If Ford and Holden sit on their hands with it, they'll be beaten. And they won't let that happen."

As it currently stands,there'll be three manufacturers on the grid come the dawn of the COTF era.Talk about Chrysler linking with Garry Rogers Motorsport has intensified in recent weeks,and Cochrane remains adamant the series will attract a fourth. He'd be open to a fifth, but that would be the extent of it.

"If we ended up with four, we'd be very, very happy, very comfortable and we'd be able to manage everybody's expectations with where our plans are going in the next five years," he said.

"We don't want to get silly about it. There is a number at which its manageable and smart. Under our rules, we're not expanding franchises,a manufacturer has to find an existing team,or teams,so there's 28 cars on the grid.

You have to find a nice balance here and that's certainly our aim.

My observation about touring car categories around the world, my criticism ofsome of them,is that they've turned themselves into used car showroom.They've got nine, 10,11 or 12 different manufacturers and all of the problems that come with that, because you can't manage expectation.

"The expectation from any manufacturer is to win. I would think that, probably, we would be very reluctant to go above five manufacturers.

It would have to be an incredibly compelling case for us to have more than five manufacturers."

For their part,the Kelly brothers are to become owners of a factory team.Todd and Rick have both been career Holden men, picked up in the old Holden Young Lions program in 1997 and 2001 respectively.

That program was the brainchild of Crennan,and after initial attempts to secure factory support from Holden,2012 will be their final year with GM. "Our priority was to always be loyal to that and become a factory team and have a really good relationship and factory support from Holden,"Todd Kelly told MNews.

"They tried extremely hard at their end to achieve that, but it's just not doable with the investment they've already made with nil other teams. It's great to have such a long relationship with 33

^

*

THE NOTSO NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK H

OW ironic that the new manufacturer in V8 Supercars turns out to be Nissan. It was Nissan which 20 years ago was elbowed out of Australian Touring Car racing to make way for what we today call V8 Supercars.

The manufacturer whose 1990 car, the all-wheel-drive,twin-turbo GT-R, was so peerless that it virtually killed off the old Group A formula, which was replaced by - guess what?

The manufacturer whose drivers, Jim Richards and Mark Skaife by coincidence the chief architect of the Car of the Future - were the subject of the most disgraceful affair in the history of Australian motor sport when they were booed on the podium after winning Bathurst in 1992.

Times change,things move on. It is a totally new ball game: Nissan's re-entry into the Championship next year with Kelly Racing will bear absolutely no relation to the old factory team of 20-plus years ago.

The Kelly Nissans might not boast any of the whizz bang technology for which Nissan's motorsport efforts in the past were always known, but under COTF regs the Kelly cars will be Nissans just as much as the Commodores next year can be considered Floldens, and the Fords Falcons.

And when it comes to Nissan's competition record,the Kellys will need to step up to the plate if they are to match the Japanese brand's past glories.

Nissans (well, Datsuns) were racing at Bathurst as early as 1966 when Moto Kitamo/KunimitsuTakahashi scored the first of what would a total of 12 Bathurst class wins on the Mountain for the marque (the company had intended to make its Bathurst debut the previous year but withdrew its three factory Bluebirds after wheel 34

failures in practice).

Through the 70s Nissan focussed more on the forests, winning the Australian Rally Championship consecutively from 1975 through to 1977, and then from 79 right through to '83.

By then the company had shifted to circuit racing with a slowburn development programme of the Bluebird model,in turbo form.The early cars failed spectacularly, but by late '82 things were starting to happen. Nissan was second in the 1983 Championship but so easily could have won. George Fury was leading the points with one round to run, but inexplicably Nissan chose not to turn up for the final ...

At Bathurst the Bluebird was always let down by unreliability, but it was good while it lasted - even if for only one lap. In '84 Fury scored a memorable pole position, the little 1.8-litre turbo four overshadowing for a moment the hype that year that surrounded the departing V8 Group C cars,the so-called'Last of the Big Bangers'.

Bathurst and the Championship likewise eluded the four-cylinder Skyline DR30 in 1986-87, but in 1990 the six-cylinder F1R31 would deliver Nissan its first title, courtesy of Jim Richards.

But by then the FIR31's day was done, replaced by the RB30 GT-R. Conventional Touring Cars could not compete with the technological tour de force that was the GT-R - it was beaten only twice in 1991, and not even an enormous weight penalty could stop it in '92 as it delivered back-to-back Bathurst and Championship titles.

It remains arguably the ultimate Touring Car homologation special, and the car that was the catalyst for the creation of what we've enjoyed as V8 Supercars these past 20 years.

- STEVE NORMOYLE motorsport news

nil

them, but, as I said, Rick and I want to win races. We've invested massively into our own team and to make that work, and for it to be sustainable, we need to be a factory team.

"The Car of the Future really allowed us to have a second option, if we couldn't achieve that with Holden,and everything with the timing of it has really come around and fallen into place well for us.'

Since the formation of their own,four-car team in 2009,factory status has been something the brothers have been working towards.Their workshop in Braeside, in Melbourne's south east is in the midst of expansion and input from a manufacturer was seen as vital, not only for success, but to ensure the team's long term viability.

"It's probably the biggest that's happened for Rick and I since we've been involved in the sport," Todd said.

"For us to be able to be a fully-fledged factory team and factory drivers is the box that we've had ready to tick since we started our team that's remained empty;the one key thing that we need to win races and achieve our goals.

"We've structured our whole business and gone in pretty hot with how we've set up our whole facility, really, with one goal in mind,that is to get this deal done. We have 20 departments,full in-house manufacturing capability, a state-of-the-art, brand-new facility, over 4000 square metres of workshop floor.That doesn't really work if you're a privateer team."

The team will grow and split in the coming months. Like every other V8 Supercar outfit, Kelly Racing will have to manage dual programs in 2012- their existing activities, and another dedicated to the build and roll-out of the COTF in 2013,the latter with input from Nissan's motorsport arm, NISMO from Japan. However, with the switch to Nissan,they will have to do a lot of extra legwork in the design and homologation of their new cars, with the 2013 Commodores and Falcons having been developed byV8 Supercars Australia. Separate COTF design and build departments will be introduced and run off-site, both with two members initially.

At the launch, Kelly reported that the team was a quarter of a way through the build of their first chassis, and that work on the bodywork was underway. Final word on the model was anticipated within the looming fortnight,see breakout.

"We've run the team as lean as we possibly could since 2009," he said.

"Our actual number of staff is comparable to smaller teams that outsource a lot of their stuff. We get a lot of stuff done with a very small amount of people.To keep throwing more and more workload into that isn't sustainable at our end.

"We've got our specific Car of the Future build team,that will actually assemble these cars, so we don't impact the guys that are prepping the cars to go racing this year, and there's going to be a separate design team that will look after just Car of the Future stuff on its own."

Teams will be permitted to test their cars for the first time in the week after Queensland Raceway's 2012 event in August.That date, some six months after the Nissan announcement,looms large as a goal for Kelly to have a car in action. But whether it eventuates remains to be seen.

"That's what I've got the timeline set to, but there could be a lot of roadblocks along the way,to get the aero testing and the homologation done," he said.

"It depends how close we can get to what we need to achieve first time. If that all falls into place, there's a small chance we could have a car there, but most likely we'll probably miss that one."

Either way, with six new cars - four to race and two as spares to design, homologate,develop and build before the start of the 2013 season. It's going to be a busy and challenging period of time. And Todd Kelly knows it.

"It'll be on for young and old," he surmised.

-MITCHELL ADAM

www.mnews.com.au

35

I

IN, BUT WITH WHAT? TWO of car thewill questions about entry intowill V8 Supercars are: which the team race,Nissan's and what motor it use?

From within the Nissan range,the most obvious thing to do would be to race a version of the company's four-door sedans, as Holden and Ford do with the Commodore and the Falcon. A change in strategy will see Nissan market the Altima in Australia in 2013 (replacing the current Maxima);that car, codenamed L33, will be available in the USA in the third quarter of this year, so expect a late2012/early-13 launch locally.

The current Altima, the L32, right, has a wheelbase of 2776mm 62mm shorter than the road-going Falcon FG. As cars evolve from generation to generation, they generally get bigger, not smaller, so it is fair to assume that the L33 will be slightly bigger than the current car. In old money,it could well be that the '13 Altima is within two inches of the current Falcon.

But, there is an alternative. At the Melbourne announcement,one thing that the Nissan executives and the Kellys did not say is that that they would race a car with a Nissan badge. With Nissan's premium brand, Infiniti, due to re-launch in the third quarter of this year, it could be that the Kelly Racing cars will be Infinitis, not Nissans.

One of the cars expected to be sold in Australia is the Infiniti M56, main, a four-door, rear-wheel-drive performance car aimed at the 30-40 year-old age group, who may otherwise be looking at an HSV, an FPV,a 5-Series BMW or an E-Class Benz.The current M sedan (codename Y51) has been a critical and market hit in the US market and is now making its presence felt in the UK and Europe.That is why you see Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber carrying Infiniti branding on their Red Bulls ...

The engine side of the equation is a different deal - but it could actually be the most straightforward part of the equation. At the launch, it was made crystal clear that an engine already in use in Nissan road cars would be in its racers (as opposed to a purpose-built race engine, as Holden and Ford use). In the Nissan shed,there are a number of V8s that fit the bill - and one that is, if not ready-made for the job at hand, well on the way.

When Nissan went GTl racing in 2010, its GT-Rs, above right, were packing not their regular turbocharged V6s but normally aspirated VSs.The engines, developed by Nismo,featured 5.6-litre, quad cams, 32 valves (with continuously variable valve timing control system on the intake valves), all packed within aluminium blocks and heads.

That technical specification falls within the remit of the COTF engine regulations. In GTl trim,they produce a reported 460kW and 650Nm of torque - well in the V8 Supercar ballpark.

For a company like Nismo,developing a version of the motor to produce slightly more power, on V8 Supercar-spec E85 fuel, may not be exactly easy, but in motor racing terms, it is straightforward. If anyone at Nissan is wondering where to get a motor from, it would appear that the GTl version of the VK56DE engine is a good place to start. And,for anyone thinking that the V8 Supercar program will be limited to only Aussie and Japanese thinking,the'DE'in the VK56DE stands for Decherd,the town in Tennessee where the engines are made. Funnily enough,that is about 40km from Lynchburg,the home of KR sponsor. Jack Daniel's.

One more thing. Nissan made a profit ofjust under $1 bn last quarter, in spite of problems like the floods in Thailand interfering with production.That is approximately the same profit Ford made in the same time, but a bit less than GM managed. In making that money by selling far fewer cars than the American companies, Nissan has done more, with less, in the marketplace.Time will tell whether than happens on the racetrack.

-PHILBRANAGAN

36 motorsport news

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This will be a transitional year in V8 Supercars as teams gear up for the 2013 arrival of Car of the Future. It’s a big change, probably the biggest upheaval in local Touring Car racing since the 1984 shift to Group A. That may have been before some of today’s V8 Supercar drivers were born, but it’s worth reflecting on the ‘80s transition to the Brave New World of Group A just as today we prepare for th’d'^'Brave New^World offered by the COTF - because there are some interesting parallels between then and now . By STEVE NORMOYLE

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THE end is nigh. On December 2 at Homebush, the V8 Supercars run their final race, bringing to a close an era of 5-litre V8powered touring cars that began a whole 20 years ago.

Of course, what comes next will still be called V8 Supercars, and in fact from the outside they'll look pretty much identical to the 2012 V8 Supercars.

Under the skin, however, the 2013 V8 Supercars Car of the Future represents a complete departure from what we've traditionally known as the Australian Touring Car.That is, simply, a modified-forracing (albeit rather heavily, perhaps even to within an inch of its life in the case ofV8 Supercars) version of the types of cars we see on our roads.

The COTF is the final, perhaps inevitable evolution to a common chassis silhouette formula; one which is designed to make the racing better, the cars cheaper, and

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Group A would end the homologation horse trading, would open the way for a host of new manufacturers,and would provide the opportunity for local teams(and even manufacturers)to compete internationally for the first time.

The other thing it did was absolve CAMS of the responsibility of policing the thing. As Group A was the FIA international category for Touring Cars, matters of technical intrigue would be the FIA's problem.

Fast forward 28 years and it's hard to imagine such a massive category change ever occurring -the only thing that might parallel it would be something like a complete collapse of V8 Supercars.

In a way,that's what happened with Group C - it literally had to be torn down before Group A could take its place.

Overnight,entire teams were wiped out by the severity of the change, while others were forced to replace their entire racing inventory. Existing Group C cars either weren't eligible (or at best had to be heavily revamped)for Group A, or were disadvantaged under the new rules to the point of being uncompetitive.

That's what happened to Allan Moffat.

He'd been Australian Touring Car Champion two years earlier in his Mazda RX7, but there was no place in Group Aforthe peripheral ported rotary coupe. Mazda withdrew from the sport and Moffat was sidelined.

Similarly, Dick Johnson was forced into a wholesale equipment switch from his ineligible XE Falcon to an imported Mustang.

At the time Dick reckoned it cost him around $300,000.That's more than the projected cost of next year's COTF;that was a lot of money in 1984 ...

Contrast all this with the silky-smooth manner in which the COTF is being phased in.The process has been going on for some years, allowing ample time for the changeover. And unlike the shock therapy of Group A in the'80s, today's teams have been consulted all the way during the COTF draft.

Whatever parts can be carried over from the existing cars has been retained within the new rule framework.Shielding teams from forced, needless expenditure has been a key goal of the COTF team. ill

Peter Brock ..was. no cheerleader for Group A, but late in 1983 when the decision was being made he described the change as ‘probably inevitable’.

Gotta say yes to another excess

THAT was the title of a 1983 pop tune by Swiss band,Yello, whose ironic commentary pretty handily summed up the decade in which too much was never enough.

Certainly the kind of excesses that characterised the Greed-ls-Good decade were evident in Australian Touring Car racing. Dick Johnson might have been complaining about being forced into a 300K refit by the Group A changeover, but

others didn't think twice about making substantial investments in Group C even the category's final months.

At the 1984 Sandown 500,the Allan Grice Roadways team and Brock's Marlboro-HDT each debuted brand new VK Commodores. With Bathurst and the Surfers Paradise enduro being the only remaining Group C events,the sparking new Commodores each had an effective racing lifespan ofjust eight weeks...

Group A would end the homologation horse trading. would open the way for a host of new manufecturers, and would provide the opportunity for local teams(and even manufacturers)to compete internationally for the first time.

The other thing it did was absolve CAMS of the responsibility of policing the thing. As Group A was the FIA international category for Touring Cars, matters of technical intrigue would be the FIA's problem.

Fastforward 28 years and it's hard to imagine such a massive category change ever occurring - the only thing that might parallel it would be something like a complete collapse of V8 Supercars.

In a way,that's what happened with Group C - it literally had to be torn down before Group A could take its place.

Overnight,entire teams were wiped out by the severity of the change, while others were forced to replace their entire racing inventory. Existing Group C cars either weren't eligible (or at best had to be heavily revamped)for Group A,or wer^ disadvantaged under the new rules to the point of being uncompetitive.

That's what happened to Allan Moffat.

He'd been Australian Touring Car Champion two years earlier in his Mazda RX7, but there was no place in Group.A for the peripheral ported rotary coupe. Mazda withdrew from the sport and Moffat was sidelined.

Similarly, Dick Johnson was forced into a wholesale equipment switch from his ineligible XE Falcon to an imported Mustang.

At the time Dick reckoned it cost him around $300,000.That's more than the projected cost of next year's COTF;that was a lot of money in 1984...

Contrast all this with the silky-smooth manner in which the COTF is being phased in.The process has been going on for some years, allowing ample time for the changeover. And unlike the shock therapy of Group A in the'80s,today's teams have been consulted all the way during the COTF draft.

Whatever parts can be carried over from the existing cars has been retained within. the new rule framework. Shielding teams from forced, needless expenditure has been a key goal ofthe COTF team.

As is also, of course,the objective of attracting new manufacturers. Again, it's hard to imagine today a situation in which a Mazda or a Nissan was forced out of the sport simply by a change of regulations, as they were in 1984.

Then again,that's more or less what did happen when the V8 Supercars formula was laid out in 1991. At the time CAMS was weighing up its post-Group A options and was considering a twin capacity formula, with smaller 2.5-litre or 2.0-litre cars competing op even terms with larger 5.0-litre cars. It made sense:a formula that catered for all existing Group A players; namely Ford, Holden, BMW, Toyota and Nissan.

The smaller capacity cars would be the new FIA category that was still being finalised. CAMS delayed formulating the V8 rules until the FIA settled on it new regs,for 2.0 or 2.5-iitre cars,so it could match the specs of the V8s accordingly.

Some say Ford and Holden were becoming impatient with the CAMS decision still pending a littie over 12 months before the proposed debut season of the new category. Others say the two manufacturers saw an opportunity and exploited it.

Either way. Ford and Holden combined with Channel Seven to force CAMS'hand. telling CAMS chief John Large to settle on a new 500 horsepower formula for 5-litre V8s from Holden and Ford, right now,or they'd each be exploring marketing opportunities elsewhere.That's how V8 Supercars was born, via a brutal piece of negotiation that forced Nissan out of the sport and left BMW marginalised.

How ironic that the infant V8 Supercar category which 20 years ago booted manufacturers out of the nest, now,as it reinvents itself, wants them to come back and that the first one to join in happens to be Nissan...

before and after:HDT's'Last ofthe Big Bangers' ; 'Commodores at Bathurst in 1984, top left, -icould hardly have been mor^differentfrom the following year's Group A version;centre left. First Group A round in 1985 featured not a single Holden in thefield, below.

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i'i m AFTER A FRUSTRATING 2011 SEASON. YOUNG TEAM-MATE, NOW TWICE WORLD CHAMPION, AN ALMOST PERFECT YEAR, MARK WEBBER IS REFRESHED, REVITALISED AND READY TO TAKE IT UP ANOTHER NOTCH IN 2012. HALF-WAY THROUGH THE PRE-SEASON TEST PROGRAMME. HE SPOKE TO CHRIS LAMBDEN 43

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Ji’ OTORSPORT NEWS:The twomonth break is over and everyone is at Jerez with their 2012 cars. The thing everyone will want to know right now is how good is the new Red Bull out of the box? You can talk development as much as you like, but that first day or so usually seems to tell who's got something good and who's got a dog ...

MARK WEBBER: It's still pretty early, but don't forget we use a number of tools over the winter - especially'simulation'to assess how the RB8 will roll out.Those tools have been good for us in terms of evaluating how the new car will be, and we have a pretty good understanding of the car, on and off the track, already that we can now go forward with.

The big unknown for us is whether we have done enough,and how we'll stack up against the others.

The first week of testing is, as normal, mostly all about correlating data; confirming that what the simulation 44

process is telling us is what the car is doing on-track; ensuring that the data from modelling to real, on-track, is saying the same thing. In our case, the simulation is being reflected in on-track behaviour, so that's a great start. At this point, sheer lap times aren't that important.

away from race weekends nowadays, it's inevitable that people will jump onto the different'who's doing what'agendas... but the bottom line is that we'll find out who's got the complete package - for Saturday and Sunday - when we get to Melbourne and then Malaysia.

If there's anyone who has an indication of what the others have been running, in terms of fuel loads,for example, it's you guys - for example,the vibes coming out of the first week include a sense of disappointment at Ferrari. Could you see that?

I've seen some of the comments. Yeah, who knows.Thankfully,for teams who are struggling and might be behind the eight-ball, it's a very long season, and a continuous development race, so teams can recover - we saw that from McLaren last year, who weren't too clever in winter testing, but turned up at Melbourne and were challenging for the win.

Given that FI does so little running

What has been lost, in performance terms, with the ban on exhaust'blown'diffusers?

A lot. There is a lot more movement under braking; the blown diffuser was an extremely sophisticated concept in the end, with the engine working with the floor to create a particularly strong aerodynamic platform, which is now gone. Braking and corner entry is a big part of it, whether it's karts or Formula 1, so that's now changed.

We knew it was coming,so we've addressed what we can, within reason. But yes, that's the biggest hit, grip on the way into corners.

Any noticeable change in tyre behaviour in Pirelli's 2012 tyres? motorsport news

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Sebastian's success looked to be built primarily on nailing qualifying,then getting a really strong start, and a gap big enough to keep everyone else out of his tow.You seemed to have a few start issues - we were in-car with you when it bogged a couple of times ... What was behind all that?

Starts are still quite technically-driven, so is it sorted?

The starts were definitely a step back from 2010! Probably, the majority of it was the 'feeling'of the tyre; and the technique I used for the majority of the season just wasn't good enough.

We did make a revision: again, the last five or six starts were much better, and that was a good step for us. Better late than never, I guess. Again, coming off 2010, where it was okay, we didn't react quickly enough over those first few races in particular, we put it down to circumstantial things and before we knew it, we'd let some races slip before we did anything about it. By the end of the year, i was pretty happy with the starts.

Starts are a very noticeable, public thing. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses; i have a lot of strengths in other areas, and i'm looking to make the starts something that is better for me.

To give you a blow-by-blow of how we actually get them off the line wouid keep us here all night. There are a huge number of factors. Having said all that, the best start I made all year was probably in Melbourne!

So I'll be looking to do the same in a few weeks'time...

Like I said, running top three in the championship,surrounded by four world champions, is hardly a bad thing.

And despite Seb having such a big year, the gap was often only a couple of tenths or so, which really is buggerall, but nevertheless crucial. Is that a bit frustrating?

The long and short of it is that Seb, in the same car or an extremely similar car - when he was closing out the championship, there would be priority in some areas, which is fair enough - did an awesome job last year.

I actually got more points last year than in 2010, when I nearly won the championship. But success is measured on wins and perception and one guy running away with it, which is exactly what he did. I

simply didn't win enough races. But if you want to speculate, you could have three or four more wins; you could also have three or four crashes. It is what it is.

Wins are important - no question about it, and 1 want to do more of it this year.

Yes, you do get a bit frustrated, as you say, but you also know just how fine the margins are. And that's a positive. We get analysed within an inch of our lives; every single metre of what we do, every lap.

That's good thing for me, because that means there's a lot of things I'm still doing alright.

There were a hell of a lot of positive things went down last year, even though on the surface it may not have looked like it. One guy had a great season, but in terms of consistency and Sunday performances, I didn't think we were too shabby at all. So I need to ramp that up a sniff, in those key areas we spoke about, and all of a sudden your Sunday afternoons are even better.

That's what I'm very optimistic about for this year.

I don't know if it's occurred to you, but when you roll up in Melbourne next month, while it's the start of your 11th season, it will be 10 years since that crazy debut day in March 2002 with the Minardi.

Other than the, shall we say, wasted two years with Williams,the rest has been in the same shed - Jaguar, which became Red Bull. Other than that decision to go to Williams (rather than Renault), is there anything, with hindsight, you'd change about those 10 years?

Generally I've been very fortunate. Over 10 or 12 years, in a career like this, you are going to be tested. Any top international sportsman or woman will vouch for that.

Being in a position to challenge at the front, which has only come over the last few years, has been extremely rewarding and not everybody gets that opportunity.

The Williams time was difficult, because it takes time to build momentum;to get the stripes on your sleeve, to give the top teams a belief in you. And it can all be taken away from you through the whole operation struggling at that point. No-one owes you anything so you have to say'okay, what do we do?'You can throw the white flag up or you can dig in and go again.

So I remained focussed, and disciplined, and that was the key.

UU THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF[T IS THAT SEB,IN THE SAME CAR OR AN EXTREMELY SIMILAR CAR DID AN AWESOME JOB LAST YEAR 46

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ID HAVE LOVED TO HAVE BEEN IN ONE OF ADRIAN S CARS WHEN I WAS 25,NO QUESTION BUT THEN IDIDN T HAVE THE WISDOM I HAVE NOW ^iii And that resulted in the longevity, and now the timing to be in a car that's competitive.

I'd have loved to have been in one of Adrian's cars when I was 25, no question ... but then I didn't have the wisdom I have now, which has held me in good stead in dealing with good and bad times.

So, in general, mate, that's how it's rolled out. We can always be an expert and improve the outcome with 20/20 hindsight, but those are the cards you're dealt and you make the most of it.

Back them, you might possibly have settled for running in the top three quite consistently, winning Monaco, Britain, and so on...

Hmmmm.(ED: We'll take that as a'maybe') As FI and its rules have evolved, the cars are now amazingly similar, certainly skindeep. It looks like nine out of the 10 cars there at Jerez have the'stepped-nose' look for 2012.The regs are so tight, that 48

everyone seems to come up with a similar solution. Knowing him as you do, does that frustrate people like Adrian Newey, or does he still get a kick out of finding the small gains that make the difference?

Adrian's always up for different challenges.

It's clear that if we had a new set of regulations every year, then it would be extremely costly. So yes, while being able to take on a fresh challenge every year would be very stimulating for him, it would be impossibly expensive for the teams... fresh crash tests, and so on, would be very costly.

The thing is, with these cars, you don't have to change much to open up a whole new Pandora's box of ways of skinning the cat to make the cars quicker, and it's all about finding those little areas to make it work for us - at all venues, in all conditions.

That's where his experience really comes in ... making a car for'now'at every track around the world.

It's still fascinating to work with him.

Sitting in the truck earlier tonight, going through things, he's still nailing Seb and

I on certain things - and not just him;the people he works with - chasing that one or two percent which will make the difference.

Four weeks to the start of the season; 10 years in FI, money's not an issue, what is it that ultimately motivates you - is it that championship which was so close; is it Sebastian? What is it that ultimately pushes your buttons?

Yeah, still to get a championship.That would be extremely rewarding. I'd be lying if I said I don't often think about that.

And to do that, you've gotta win. Winning is a beautiful feeling. You're reminded, as in Brazil, Just how great that feels. To work that hard with the guys, have the whole field behind you, having your national anthem played - all those things make it a very proud moment. It's great when you know everyone has put their maximum into it, and you've done enough on the day to succeed.

I want to feel more of that again, and that's what's motivating me at the moment. motorsport news

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?mmm or m puncmg,RicciAROo is dead serious about beating vergne lot of testing now,and I've said a few times that if I'm fixing him up in the first few races, then I'll let him use that excuse for a little while. But after three races, he'll have had enough time to get sorted. It will be a level playing field after that.

"It's just so important to be quicker than your team-mate. Given we do have a bit of a rivalry that's grown over the years, there is no one I want to beat more on the track than him. And it's the same deal for him.

With that in mind, it's very important.

"Neither of us like being beaten by the other. He got pretty pissed off a few times last year, and when he was winning races I wasn't too happy.

"It will be good to have a competitive team-mate, but I think there could be a bit of heat around the area at times.The main thing is we'll be pushing each other, and pushing the team,so the car is at it's maximum."

But there is one point Ricciardo is keen to make - he isn't scared of tackling the Vergne rivalry head on. In fact, he loves the thought of it.

"I partly ignore it, and partly live for it," he says.

"I would say that I thrive on it. I love the pressure of the battle. That's why we compete.You get extra adrenaline, and you can use that to be faster. I find I always drive better when I have a stronger team-mate. It really gives you a good reason to make sure you're using every little bit of your ability."

LET'S back track a alittle how driver.

Ricciardo actually became TorotoRosso Late last year it almost looked as if Ricciardo might miss out on a seat. When Hispania signed Pedro de la Rosa it seemed their budget was out the window,and there was no real reason to suspect either Sebastien Buemi or Jaime Alguesuari were

in any real danger. Caterham seemed like the likely option, until Red Bull decided to get drastic with its junior team,dump both Buemi and Alguesuari, and sign Ricciardo and Vergne.

Through that whole period, Ricciardo was kept in the dark by Red Bull. When he was signed by STR, it was a surprise.

"I wouldn't say I was sweating, but yeah, I was anxious," he admits.

"I didn't know what was going to happen.

I had faith that I was going to be on the grid one way or another, but I really wasn't sure where.

"I was pretty positive, but getting the STR news was a surprise.They didn't give me much at all. 1 didn't think there would be a place there.

"When Dr[Helmut] Marko called me and told me that I was driving for STR, I thought 'okay, there is something completely III! different happening here'. He asked

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"I think it's good. It's like a whole new start, a fresh crack at Formula 1."

Looking back, there is no doubt that the cameo with HRT was crucial in both Ricciardo and Vergne getting the nod. By finishing races regularly, Ricciardo showed he was proven quantity enough to take on a'lead'role ahead of freshman Vergne. And, giving former Red Bull protege Tonio Liuzzi a good clocking didn't hurt, either.

"I definitely had to prove myself, even though it was just a short amount of time in the category. I had to make sure I got on top of him more times that not, because Red Bull kh'^ISt/'Tonio well and that was the benchmark. ^iii

"At the end of the day they got rid of him, so if he was consistently outperforming me,it wouldn't have done me any favours.

It took a bit of work after Silverstone, but I got there. I feel that more times than not I was getting the better of him. I think in qualifying he had a bit of experience, and he managed to use the tyres and get on top of,the track conditions better than me, but myir^ce pace was promising.That helped a lot."

But that was 2011. Now it's 2012, and winter testing is underway.The good news is that,in Jerez, things looked promising both Ricciardo and Vergne were near the top of the time sheets while taking turns in the new car - but the bad news is that no World Championship points are awarded fortesting.

Still, it might be early, but better to be fast than be slow.

"Exactly! I had messages from my parents who saw the times and they were pretty pumped, but i said'yeah, you know it's only testing'. But you're right; it's only testing, but it's good to be near the front.

"The first impressions of the new car were good, i drove Toro Rosso's car this time last year at Jerez, and don't get me wrong, it felt okay, but it has improved a lot in 12 months.

"Even the vibe around the team is good. I don't think they've ever had a first test of the year go so smoothly. We can't get too excited too early, but so far we're pretty happy."

The one comment that both Ricciardo and Vergne made during the Jerez test is

that the new car has excellent balance. It's not a recipe for race-winning success, but it's a good place to start.

"Because Jean-Eric and I are still pretty new, we're looking for reliability," he says.

"Other than that, speed and balance.The balance is the most important. If you're confident in the balance,the speed will come.You really need the front and rear working well together."

Once testing is done,things won't slow down for Ricciardo.The first race of the year is, of course, in Melbourne. Ricciardo has only ever been a reserve driver for the Australian Grand Prix, and even that was one heck of a PR merry-go-round. It will be 100 times bigger this time around.

"I'm pumped for it. I am really, really excited," he says.

"Mark Webber is still on the grid, and he's likely to be in the more competitive car, and he's likely to be fighting for victory.

There will be more pressure on him than myself, so I'm just going to try and enjoy it and soak it all in.

"If you let things like this get to you too much,in a negative way, you don't get to enjoy it. i'll try and use the positive energy from the crowd,and having my family there, to be as quick as possible."

From then on, Ricciardo's expectations are clear - to be using the car to its absolute maximum, at every single race.

"The team are simply expecting us to get the most out of the car. They finished eighth in the constructors last year, so they want to be seventh or better. That's their objective.

"For me,I'm not saying 'I want to be eighth in the championship'or something like that.

I just want to get the most out of the car. If it's good enough for 14th on the grid, that's where I want to qualify. If it's good enough for fifth, then that's where I'll be.

"Obviously, points are what we want. If we can score points consistently, that will be a good achievement."

And that's the new Daniel Ricciardo. He's still measured in his responses,and he's still a down-to-earth guy. But there's something more focussed about his demeanour, and a clearly detectable resolve in his voice. He knows what he wants, and he isn't going to let anyone stop him getting it... especially not his team-mate.

Let the fireworks begin. motorsport ne

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TH£ HOPES - AMO SOMETIMES, THEIR LIVES HAMOS OF THEtR SPOTTERS. MITCHELL AOAM SPOKE TC THE OTHER EMO OF MARCOS AMBROSE'S RAOlO, TIM FEI 56

motorsportt}ev^

OTORSPORT NEWS: I spend a lot of time talking with drivers and people from teams, but I can honestly say I've never spoken with a spotter before.

How would you define your role?

TIM FEDEWA: Number 1, we're up there for the driver's safety. That's why NASCAR put spotters on the roof, mandatorily anyhow,to try to keep the drivers safe, and that's our number 1 goal. But also, we're a performance edge, I would say. We're helping put the driver into a better situation on the racetrack, or put himself out of a bad situation.

And, also, we can help the crew chief in the pitbox. We can see a lot more of the race than what they can see, so sometimes they rely on us to provide information that might be critical,[like] debris on the racetrack.

We might be able to pull one over everyone else, especially on the road courses. If we can pit before the pit road is closed when a yellow flag is displayed, you can essentially gain a lap on the field. At Pocono we can do that. Indy and the roadcourses we can do that.There are some benefits there.

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Spotters aren't something we really encounter in Australia due to our lack of oval racing.The closest comparison I can think of is a rally co driver. Do you see those similarities?

Yeah. I would say it's not quite as intense as that, but more and more,the way they make the rules, especially in the restrictor plate tracks - Talladega and Daytona - we're in contact with the driver a lot more - especially with this two-car tandem stuff, where we're pushing each other.

It started off that we had to be their eyes, because the guy pushing obviously can't see anything but the car in front. Then they all figured out that they could talk to each other, the drivers, so then they didn't put us out, but we just kept our mouth shut unless we saw something happen way ahead of way behind. We'd just let the two drivers talk, but now they've outlawed the two drivers communicating with one another, the spotter of whoever's pushing has pretty much got to do all of the talking for their driver.

When we go to Daytona or Talladega, with the restrictor plates, it's pretty intense.They rely a lot on us to do that.

Are they the most demanding races that you do?

I would say, even when it was the three-by-threeby-three in a big pack, we still talked the whole time, because there was always someone around them, inside and outside, pushing them. So I would say they're the most demanding.

It seems like you're always pushing the button to talk to the driver and sometimes it's hard for the

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driver to get a word in.They want to say something and the spotter's talking all of the time... it balances out. But it is a little bit more intense on the restrictor plate races.

At the same time, you're up there doing deals with other spotters for running partners...

Yeah. When you've got a team-mate,that helps, but any time you get separated from your team-mate ... With the restrictor plate races, you start with a partner and most of the time he's a team-mate, but if he's not, he's probably from the same brand; Ford guys with Ford guys, and Chevy with Chevy.You've got to have a partner. If you don't, you're just going to get left behind.

We went into the [Bud] Shootout last year kind of blind, without a partner. We thought we had one, but it didn't work out and we didn't have a very good back-up, and we got our tails kicked.

We learnt really quickly that you have to have a partner in this two-car tandem stuff.

And that's a situation that evolves during the race, as cars come and go, and Marcos moves up and down the order. I heard one example from a race late last year, where Marcos was partnered up with Paul Menard and Tony Stewart got on the radio to Menard. Being Chev and Chev,they both teamed up and Just before a restart, Marcos was left without a partner. How do those sort of situations pan out?

That deal, if I remember right, we were going to go with another manufacturer. Sometimes,the word comes from above that'you're not going with a Chevrolet driver'. Jack Roush is not one to be pushing around a Chevrolet, you know what I'm saying? Nor do they want to be pushing around Jack Roush,for that matter. Sometimes,the boss will speak and we have to change plans.

I think that was one of those instances.The manufacturer battle, it's always been there, but right now, with the way the auto industry is, it's been a tough few years, everyone tries to be loyal to their brand, that's for sure.

How did you get involved with spotting initially?

I drove in what's now the Nationwide Series;[back] then it was the Busch Series for several years. I drove back [in] Michigan, I come from Michigan, in the short track stuff and worked my way into a ride. I was fortunate enough to race but my driving career started taking a back seat - not my own doing, by the way! Age started creeping in there, money and a lot of things.

When I started spotting, I was racing on Saturday in the Nationwide Series, and I started spotting on the Sunday for Bill Elliot from Evernham. I could see the writing on the wall as far as my driving career was going, and figured I'd better do something else to support my family. I just kind of merged into it.

During your days as a driver in a Busch Series, how were your relationships with your spotters?

Pretty good. Some of the guys that I'm up on the roof with now, spotting, were still there. I don't think at that point, probably up until 10 years ago, you relied on your spotter like you do now.

One of the things that has made a difference in that is when they brought in all of the safety features with the COT cars.The seats are a lot more consuming,for instance, all of

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the stuff they put around the driver makes it harder to see.

And a lot of these guys don't come from the background that a lot of us moving up from the stock car ranks did. They come from open-wheel, go-karts, they come from just about anything these days.The backgrounds of the drivers that are in the Cup Series and Nationwide, some of them never even had a spotter. So when they get one, especially when the spotters are up on the roof now are so talented, a lot of them have driven, a lot of them haven't, but they do a great job for their drivers in, like I said before, painting that picture. It's a calming voice, it's a cheerleader when you have to cheerlead. nil

Do you think being a former driver helps?

I think it does. It definitely doesn't hurt. Again, I had several spotters that didn't drive a bit and they did a great job, and there's a lot of them up there now that haven't driven and they do a wonderful job.

The biggest thing is just paying attention and you've always got to put yourself in the position of'what would the driver want at this point of the race?'As long as you don't get lazy daisies doing your job. You can never talk too much,that's a lot of our philosophy.

They'll tell us to shut up when they need us to shut up.There's no such thing as too much information.

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MARCOS WANTS TO HEAR OR

You mentioned earlier that there's a little bit of cheerleading involved. Roughly, what's the split between information and motivation,trying to keep your driver positive?

That's a good question.

When you get to this level. Sprint Cup drivers, obviously they have a lot of talent, everybody out there. I think the cheerleading part, that comes in on a day when things aren't going your way. Maybe you're down a cylinder, they may have torn it up early, but they know that the outcome of the day isn't going to be good.That's more so when you have to be a cheerleader, I think.

When things are going smoothly and the car's fast, that's easy.That means the driver's happy. It's the bad days, or when you tear something up, that's when you have to be a calming effect on the driver so you don't tear more stuff up and get into more trouble.

I'm Marcos's spotter, but I'm hired by Petty.

Really, in a sense, Richard is my boss and they're the ones paying me.So I also have to get across what they want to Marcos, not just what Marcos wants to hear or I think he needs to hear. It's kind of a fine line, you have to spread yourself a little bit thin and be open up there as well, and remember that it's not always what the driver wants - there are a lot of things going on at any one time and the company's first.

Similarly, during a race, what's your split on motorsport news

time between watching Marcos, watching what's happening around him and keeping an eye on what might be the fast line at any given point?

When we're out there practising, I'll do corner and split times on stopwatches, because we're not allowed any data on the racecars during race weekends. Really, Marcos doesn't know if someone else is getting through a corner better than he is or outbraking him.

That's all for me and the crew chief to tell him.

So I do all of that.

When we're racing and the race has just started, we might start off on the low line of the track, and as soon as the track rubbers up, maybe we're running 10th or something and the leader's started to move high and he's starting to pick up time, or even someone at the back, you relay that information.

Like I said, you really try to give as much information as you can. Sometimes you feel like you're telling him things he already knows, but that's OK.There's no such thing as too much information. They'll tell you when they're sick of hearing you talk!(Laughs) Is there any specific preparation you do, going into a race or race weekend?

You talk it over; I'll talk to Marcos usually before we go to the event. I've been doing it so long. I've been to these tracks myself, so I know what to look for.

I'll speak with the crew chief before the day starts and he'll tell me what exactly they're working on. Sometimes we'll show up at the track and we'll be in Q-trim, we'll do mock qualifying runs. Other times, we'll show up in race-trim, which is long runs, trying to simulate a race situation. Once I figure that out, then I'll talk to Marcos a little bit, maybe talk about some of the struggles we had at the last race there. Some of the good parts of it and some things we may need to work on, that's about it. We just try to go over that.

A lot of these racetracks we go to twice, and sometimes less than six or eight weeks apart. You could have the pole and win the race in June but go back in July and not hit your you-know-what with both hands.

Things change that quick.

Really, I don't put a whole lot into your past history. There are some tracks that Marcos does really good at, some he does mediocre at and some I know he struggles at. The ones he struggles at, we work hard at to salvage a Top 10, and the ones he's good at, we work hard at to get that win.

Last year was the first time you'd worked with Marcos, wasn't it?

Yes it was. I'd worked with AJ [Allmendinger] before, at Red Bull, and I worked with Scott

The relationship between a spotter and a driver, is it something that Just has to click and work? Or is it something you can work at, if that initial chemistry isn't there?

If there's not that initial chemistry, you can work at it. It makes it a little bit more difficult.

In our case, we clicked pretty good, right off the bat. I don't know why, we just did.

Not saying we haven't had our moments, it's tense and there's been times we've been yelling and screaming at each other. But we call each other, talk about it and go into the next race positive.

Nowadays, more than ever, I think you have to be buddies off the racetrack-at least a little bit, to be successful. I've worked with people where you've not really gotten on and not really clicked, but professionally you made it work. It's just too competitive to have that anymore.You need that little bit extra to make it work, I feel. You don't have to be best buddies, but you better have a lot in common and respect each other a hell of a lot.

Between Marcos, Scott and AJ, they're three drivers that have gone into NASCAR from backgrounds without spotters Marcos from V8 Supercars here, Scott from Formula 1 and AJ from Champ Car. Compared to guys like Bill Elliot, do they want different things, or have they just adapted to the mould?

You know, I think to be honest with you,they all come from the same line of thought, as far as what they wanted.

When AJ came on board, he was a true rookie, in every sense of the word, in Sprint Cup racing. What I had to do there, I don't want to say... how do I put this... AJ has so much talent, but he just didn't know the racetracks, so I was depended on a little bit more, as far as telling him what the racetracks were like.The mental state, there were a lot of letdowns in his first year, we missed a lot of races.

So I was more of a coach, if you will. I used my experience from driving those racetracks to help him get acquainted a little bit quicker.

We'd get there, get in the pacecar and cut laps, where Marcos had already done a couple of years before I started working with him.You just do whatever you can think of to help them. Whether that means making laps in the pacecar, playing video games,talking about and watching DVDs of the past races.

We've done that a lot. Alf sorts of stuff really helps out.

Speed when AJ left. I was with Bill Elliot before and several Nationwide drivers and so

That sort of preparation would obviously account for a bit of your week,do you have a role at the shop with the team between races? Or do you just bounce from race to race?

on. But last year, we kind of got together and it was nice. Marcos has been a pleasure to work with, that's for sure.

I'm pretty much just contracted weekend help. I go in to the shop and we'll go over stuff, especially now if it's getting ready

www.mnews.com.au

for Daytona.You're trying to get things organised. But I'm not at the shop with the team.

I'm not a mechanic on the cars or anything like that. Some of the spotters are mechanics on the cars, and I have worked on racecars, so I can be a mechanic, but I just haven't done it since I quit racing. Some guys split duty at the shop, and have separate jobs altogether when they get back on a Monday, they're building racecars or working on them or doing whatever for the shop, but personally, I don't do that.

Before and after a race, how long do you spend in briefings with Marcos,the crew chief and those sorts of guys?

Usually, we'll all fly out together on a Thursday.

It starts as soon as you get to the airport and you're all sitting around talking. It might be an informal debrief, it's not a formal, called meeting, but you start talking about things and before you know it, you're in a pretty indepth conversation with your team and driver.

And then, when you get to the racetrack, the first thing you do is starting to talk about what you're going to do. When there's practice, I'll spot practice, then we'll have a break, I'll go down to Marcos's coach and talk to him about it, debrief with him again, go in the hauler and debrief with the crew chief.Then I'll go back, do another practice and qualifying, the same thing. We've got Dartfish which we go over after practice and compare it to other cars, I don't know if you know what that is...

I don't, no...

It's like an overlay. Like in the Olympics, when the skiers go down the downhill.They'll have a fastest run down the hill, and then they'll have your run down the hill.They do that on the racetrack. It's pretty cool.That tells the driver a lot. That's a good tool to work with,for us, because it doesn't lie.There's no guesswork; it's right there in black and white.

When Marcos is out there in the car, how important is the language you use, and how you convey it? From the audio I've heard, it's all very simple, yet deliberate, and all in very much the same tone.

We have certain phrases that I use that might be different to other people, but I think the tone is more important than the language.

When I'm excited, that means something's about to happen and he'd better be on his toes. And when I hear the octaves go up in his voice, I know that he's struggling and he needs all of the help I can give him. If he's in a pack of 20 cars and getting buffered around, his voice is a lot higher than it is when he's out front, leading. I know I have to give him my all. I think we know each other well enough, and most spotter-driver combinations are the same, it's more tone than anything.

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it down, usually I have something to stand or lean on. I take my split times, because I can't remember everything,so I write my split times down.

If 18 goes out there and does a qualifying run. I'll take its split times down,then if we go out there for a Q run. I'll do our split times, so that way I can compare them. I'll have several times and,again, I might right down what the 18 changed and when the time's appropriate.

I'll tell the crew chief what I've seen or heard.

Sometimes that helps,sometimes it doesn't.

You can never do too much,it's the same with the crew chief as the driver, you can never tell them too much information. Sometimes , you feel kind of silly telling them everything, but he's down there in the garage.

On the road courses,spotting gets a little more complicated. At a place like Watkins Glen, how many spotters do you have,and how do you work that out?

They have one at the start-finish, which would be me,that's the one NASCAR requires you to have. I can see quite a bit of the track, but we'd have three. We'd have one up at the Esses, because it's really hard to see up there from my vantage point. I can see the roofs, but it's really narrow over there, so If something happens, you need to have someone there.

And then you need to have someone at the far end,the inner loop, because I can't see it at all.

You go in there at a high speed.

Sonoma, I can do it myself There's one little blind spot, but the rest I can see, so it works www.mnews.com.au

out pretty decent. Watkins Glen is the hardest, because of all of the elevation.

On the ovals, it looks like all of the spotters set up on the top of the grandstand. How long does it take to get up to your post on some of these tracks?

If you're nice to the people with the golf carts, not long at all!(Laughs) Most of the teams or drivers have a cart you can get a ride over on, and a lot of the tracks have tunnels that go under the start-finish line, so it's not too bad.

The hard ones are the ones like Talladega, where it's a 2.6 mile track. Say you crash out early and everyone's gone or busy, that's the one you've got to walk around. But we haven't had too many of them with Marcos.There's only been a few times where I've had to walk a long way.

In the grandstands, hopefully they'd have elevators to get up there? Or is it just a lot of steps?

Yeah, sometimes you have to walk up the steps, but most of the tracks we go to are really nice. We've got nice facilities, and the cool part, usually we're right near NASCAR race operations - either above or next to them.So they've got elevators.

They'd get looked after...

Yeah,they didn't build them for the spotters.

I'll tell you that!

Do you have a favourite track to spot at?

You know...there are a lot of tracks I like going to, and a few that I don't like.

I like going to Dover. Dover's fast, you can see well as far as a spotter's concerned. I like Daytona and Talladega,the restrictor plate races. It's intense, but it's just a cool deal. When you get done spotting a race there, you feel like you've driven the race, because you're Just exhausted.There's so much going on,so much talking. We all say we hate the restrictor plate races, but deep down,we love them.

Finally, I imagine there'd be some pretty good views from the spotters'area. Do you ever get a moment,either before or after a race,to take it in?

We take it for granted, but to be honest with you, you have to do the job and there's a lot of BS that goes along with it. But there's a lot more good things.

Like you say, you get the best view in the house, you get to do something that most people only dream about doing. I've been In racing my whole life, and I know people that would love to have the opportunity to spot and work in a professional sport. I like American Football, so that would be a dream of mine to work with them guys, so I know what it feels like. I envy the people that get to work there, sitting up in the coaches'boxes doing their thing.

We take for granted that I get to do that 38 timesayear.Therearea lot of cool perks that go with it. I'm fortunate to be able to do what I do, that's for sure.

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OTORSPORT NEWS: First things first, why the Ford GT? KEVIN WEEKS: Oscar Fiorinotto [Supaloc Racing Technical Director] believed it was a car that had great potential. Its weight, power and torque, the car itself has great potential. On paper, it looked like it would be a pretty competitive package and, also, we wanted something that was a little unique.

We thought there would be two or three Ferraris coming out and in fact there's three.

And we're the only GT40 in the country.

We felt that as a promotional tool for the company, Supaloc and Supaloc Racing, it would be a good thing.

We've driven the car and it's a very, very nice thing to drive. We're very comfortable with it.

How does it compare with the Lamborghini Gallardo LP520 you raced last year?

It's faster, obviously, we'd want it to be.

Even though it's a five-litre engine, which is the same as the LP520, it does have a lot more torque.The overall power is about the same, but its torque comes in much lower. At SOOOrpm,the car has got a lot more power and torque than the Lambo had at SOOOrpm.The Lambo was very much a top-end engine, this ones's got grunt and pulling power out of the corners. It puts the power down incredibly well.

It's got great brakes and the aero's excellent. It's a very, very good package. I don't think anyone's taken them seriously, up until now. Oscar's done the set-up on the car now and the first test was

reasonable and the second test was excellent.

In those early tests, how were the laptimes compared to the Lambo?

We were faster than the Lambo. At this stage we're only half-a-second faster, but the Lambo fitted me like a glove.

I believe this car will be a good second faster than the LP520, it could be a secondand-a-half faster, it'sjust a matter of settling into the car. It's quite a different car to sit in, I lay back more in this car, whereas the Lambo was very upright. It's almost like an open-wheeler, in that respect.

How much have you had to, and how much do you anticipate you'll have to, change your driving style? [i&we

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The difference is power down. As you come out of a slow speed corner, you have to select the appropriate gear, you can't be too low because it'll just spin the wheels and the back-end will come out on you.

It's got traction control, we didn't have an effective traction control on the 520, that wasn't a really good feature of that car, it just didn't work. We've played with traction control and we can drive it with zero traction control, which is good. You just have to be a little bit judicious about the throttle application, or if you run at two or three on traction you can floor it out of the corners.

It'll be good, I think it'll be a good car to drive in the wet with the traction control, but I don't think it'll really be necessary when racing in the dry. .V v> V.xutt&wa

Is there any one feature that stands out?

Definitely the torque.

You pull out of the corners, its acceleration is faster and the gearbox is superb, down the through gears. It's got a proper gearbox in it; it's not just a Lamborghini case with Holinger internals.

This is actually a proper Hewland gearbox.

Its downshift is superb, you can pull it back through the gears.

The Lambo, you had to be very careful in terms of downshifting into corners. It won't pull the gears as quickly as you might like in some occasions. Particularly if you're coming into a hairpin in fifth gear, the Lambo always struggled to get back to second gear.

Whereas with the Ford I can pull it back to first if I wanted to, that's a big advantage.

Overall, what are your impressions of the car so far?

The car itself, dynamically, is very good, there's no understeer or oversteer out of the slower corners.

We had a little bit of high-speed instability, but that was rake. Oscar got onto that straight away and set the rake up. He shifted the centre of pressure and that worked really well.The car is really quite easy to dial in and, making small adjustments, you can really feel them.

It's definitely an aero car and it's pretty sensitive to rake. That obviously means that it's very important with your ride height and rake on the car, in terms of its front and rear grip.

I'm excited about it, I think it's going to be a good thing.

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CfUBNN SETON mS A Hm^nOFlUB ^OOfTION TO THE 1 omiNCr A smNm 1974 xb f4uon coufe, BCfTiry^ MfTCHEU.AOAM SFOKE JO Hm ABOUT THE C4K, THE $E 68

motorsport news

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OTORSPORT NEWS:So, life in the Touring Car Masters. What were your initial impressions of the category when you finally got in there at Eastern Creek?

GLENN SETON: It's a great category, it really brings you back to the early eras of motorsport, where I was as a kid,following the Geoghegans,the Moffats and the Brocks and my dad as well. To get into a category that's brought that category of motorsport to the public, and to be a part of it driving something like an XB, which has been an icon of a car in motorsport back in the day, is fantastic.

The category's very, very popular with the public because the cars get sideways, they get plenty of power and they put on a really good show. It's a great category to be a part of.

Part of that popularity is the fact that guys like yourself,John Bowe,Jim Richards and Andrew Miedecke are in there. Given that you raced against those guys in the ATCC era, is it a bit of a time warp?

(Laughs) In one way I suppose it is.

Naturally, it's been a while since I was able to race against those guys, and we had some great tussles over the years. One that comes to mind is the 1987 championship, tussling with Jimmy for the championship when he was in the BMW and I was in the Nissan.

And in 1995, when I was trying to fight Bowey for the championship that he ended up winning, and also '97, we went down to the wire and I ended up winning that one.

It brings back a lot of memories of racing those guys. And Miedecke, when we were racing Sierras he was around racing Sierras as well. So it's great to get back to racing those sorts of guys.

HOMB

OiJiniNCr CAR MASTERS IN 20V, CONTINUE INTO 2012, IBS ANO RACINO SOME OU> FRIENOS www.mnews.com.au

I think it's good that the class has almost become the place where a lot of guys like yourself race in. There's a really good bunch in there. Driving these sorts of cars against those sorts of drivers,there's got to be a lot of appeal there.

Absolutely.They're quite challenging cars to drive. Even though they're quite old cars, the technology in them is quite modern.

Shock absorbers, engine specs and that sort of stuff is quite modern.They're actually quite pleasant to drive, I enjoy driving the XB, naturally I'm sure JB enjoys driving his Mustang as well, because the feeling from them is good.

It also brings you back to where you have to have a bit of mechanical sympathy for the cars as well. If you get up too hard, you burn up the tyres too fast, or you can still break a gearbox or things like that, which is what happened to me in the last race in Sydney, we broke second gear. You've still got to have that 69

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mechanical sympathy, which is quite good and challenging.

The cars themselves, you did a bit of Group N running prior to joining the TCM in a Capri. Is there anything that you can compare the car to on any level?

In driving and the style of driving, it's similar to a V8 Supercar, to tell you the truth. You're just not doing it at that speed and level.

The straightline speed is there, but the cornering speed and braking performance is a bit lower. But the similarities of how you drive the car and the feeling you get from the car is just a slower version of a Supercar, which is quite remarkable for an old car like that.

Although, like you say, they're not entirely old cars. Ford Performance Racing had a bit of input into your car...

Not a massive amount.There was a lot of chat about it, but very little in the end.

So what did end up being the extent of their input?

Their input was that the guy that was employed as a contractor to do the fabrication work used their facilities, their flat patch.The rollcage was designed by 70

FPR's designer guy and the engine was built

by Brad Collins from FPR. But the rest of it, I did the suspension in terms of the design of where we were going to have everything and the shock absorbers and everything. It wasn't fully an FPR car.

When and how did you first get involved in the program?

Jim [Morton, car owner] approached me at Muscle Car Masters in 2010, about being a part of the project and what his intentions were. Naturally, that's when the car basically started off, about 18 months ago. It's been a slow process of getting the car out there.

Ironically, our first event was the following year's Muscle Car Masters. It took 12 months in the build process, because there was only one single contracted fabricator that did 99 percent of the work on the car and at the end Jim brought down Mick Caruso, Michael's father, to do the mechanics and assemble it up. It was a long process, but at the end of the day it turned out to be a very good car.

It's got some good equipment in the car, engine-wise and brake-wise, it's got the best you can buy to suit the category. It didn't miss having anything, that's for sure.

It looks like Jim's really enthusiastic about the program, but I guess when you're doing something like this, you can't half do it.

Yeah. It's modern day motorsport and to be competitive and run at the front, you've got to do it properly, because everyone around you is doing it properly and has been doing it for a lot of years.

Bowey's been around for a few years now with the Mustang, Jimmy's been around for quite a few years with the Sprint, and then you have the Tilleys that have been around for a while. Really, Jim had to do it properly to be competitive the first time the car rolled out.

In the car's early days, at Eastern Creek there were some signs of promise, but to then go to Bathurst and get the results you did there {ED: Seton won a race and the round), was that ahead of where you thought you'd be with the car?

I'd have to say yes, because we'd never tested the car. From the time the car rolled out of the truck at Eastern Creek on the Friday, they were actually its first ever laps.

We never did a test day the whole time we ran last year.

When I did my first few laps around motorsport news

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THE POTENT/Al- or THE CAR li/A5 PRETTY ^00 AWO THE FIRST TIME IT ROUEO OUT, TO BE A5 COMFBrmVE A5 IT t»IA5 l»ilA5 A REMARKABLE JOB $ETON ON THE KB

Eastern Creek and rolled into the pits, I said to Jim 'man,this thing is going to be half a good gadget. It's doing most things right'. The potential of the car was pretty good and the first time it rolled out, to be as competitive as it was was a remarkable Job. But at the end of the day we had some good people working on it.

On the engine side with Brad Collins, and the suspension and that sort of stuff that I did myself and I've been around a while, you understand what you need in a racecar to get it to a point.Then, naturally, once you do testing, you fine tune those little areas that make the extra improvements.

Have you taken it out for a test yet?

No. Naturally, to run the thing takes a bit of money. Every test day you do, you eat quite heavily into your budget. At this point in time, we've done no testing, and we probably won't before Clipsal.

How much more development do you think is in the car?

There'll be a lot of little things. I'd like the thing to stop a little better. Handling-wise and putting the power down,the car's quite remarkable.There's some areas in those that we'll fine tune and improve it a little www.mnews.com.au

bit, but it's not going to be seconds coming out of it.

There are some improvements to be made, no doubt, once we do a test day we'll learn a bit more about the car.

In terms of the 2012 season, are you thinking title challenge? Or is it really just about seeing where the car is early on?

I'm not really sure what Jim's intentions are, what races we'll do, or what. Jim owns the car and he funds it to run it, so whatever events he asks me to do, I do. At this stage, it's in his hands as to what events we do and whether we challenge for the championship or not.

Do you expect to start the season at Clipsal?

That's the intention, definitely.

In terms of the racing in the class itself, do you still get the same feeling of enjoyment and satisfaction from doing this now that you did back in the ATCC and V8 days?

Absolutely. I thoroughly enjoy getting along to any pf the race meetings and being associated and driving in that category.

It brings me back to the early days of

motorsport where it was, I suppose, a bit easier to get out there and enjoy the motorsport. Supercar stuff is fantastic for what it is, but it's very high pressure and a lot is expected of race teams and drivers, and that in turn puts a lot of pressure on people. So the enjoyment isn't there as much as when you get the opportunity to be involved in a category that is all about enjoyment, putting on an entertainment package and enjoying driving old cars.

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WEEK after the initial conversation with Seton, it emerges that the pro gram is unlikely to proceed. Citing a lack of sponsorship, Morton has listed the car for sale."It's all changed,"Seton says.

With the way it's all panned out,the three months in the car and the time being involved in the project before that, is it a period you'll look back on fondly?

Oh yeah, it was good. We had some great results straight out with a brand-new car, it's disappointing that we're not going to get the opportunity this year to do a bit more development and show the potential that the car's got. I'm sure it'll be a good car for whoever buys it.

71

THE GUIS PRODUC

FOR SEUERAL YEARS. PETER O’DONNELL’S PRODOCTION CAR LANDSCAPE. NOW. HE’S GOT SOME COMPANY. BUT O’DONNE

T

HE Greater Western Sydney Giants may be making their debut in the national AFL competition in 2012, but there is a GWS team that has been in existence for quite a bit longer - the GWS Motorsport team.

The team,owned by Peter O'Donnell from GWS Personnel, became involved in Australian Production Car racing in 2008,and since then, it has established a strong presence in the Australian motorsport landscape, including class wins at the Bathurst 12 Hour. O'Donnell had dabbled in motor racing through karting

and some charity rally events before the creation of GWS Motorsport, but as he explains,the inspiration to return to Production Cars came about when he sponsored Allan Shephard in 2008.

"In 2008 I sponsored Allan in the Bathurst 12 Hour. We formed a bit of an alliance, and that was when he lent me the Celica to get back into it," he explains.

"I used to go to race meetings and get frustrated being on the wrong side of the fence, so i stopped going to them. I needed to

‘I

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motorsport news

lion CAR GIANTS

NITFIT UIAS THE ONLY GWS’ ON THE NATIONAL SPORTING rS STILL LOUING IT. LACHLAN OIANSELL SPOKE TO HIM get back into it and Allan gave me the chance."

After racing the Celica, O'Donnell progressed to a BMW 1301 before Garry Holt's double Bathurst 12 Hour-winning BMW 335i came up for sale. O'Donnell purchased the 335i and continued running the car as part of an expanded team alongside Allan Shephard.

"The Celica was a great little car to learn in," O'Donnell recalls.

"It was competitive, but you had to wring its neck to get in amongst the field, which was good because I enjoyed doing

that. I really had to hone my skills and get the feel of competition again.

"Moving into the 130i was a big step up at the time, and took a bit of converting to, but once I did, I really had a ball because you can get a lot out of it by driving it to its limit.

"The 335i has a lot of heritage, and it didn't take a lot of transition because it was a bigger, quicker version of what was driving.The speed difference, particularly on the longer tracks like Phillip Island and Bathurst, where we're getting

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73

ill 250 or 260 kays, took a bit of getting used to, especially judging speed into the quicker corners on those tracks.

"When the car's sliding around at that sort of speed, you've got to be very delicate with it."

When Garry Holt and Barry Morcom first started racing the BMW 335i in the 2007 Bathurst 12 Hour,one of the main glitches was the car's tendency to go into'limp-home'mode, when the ECU sensed extreme driving - which, on a race track, was often all the time! According to O'Donnell,that problem had been mostly ironed out by the time he started racing the car.

"It happened once or twice, but we've been able to largely eliminate it," he said.

Having enjoyed his experience in Australian endurance races, O'Donnell competed at the Nurburgring last year, and now has his sights set on one of the world's most prestigious events,the Nurburgring 24 Hour.

"Richard Gartner has a relationship with a German team,so he and I are going todo the4 Hour race in one of their cars," he said."We'll do the Nurburgring 24 Hour in one of their cars as well, but we're taking some of our team over to help out."

In addition to his international racing experience, Peter O'Donnell rates his Bathurst 12 Hour debut in 2009 as a career highlight.The successful Central Western NSW business owner

recalled his first opportunity to race in a major event around his home circuit.

"I used to race at Mount Panorama in hillclimbs, but I had never done the actual track and of course it's the pinnacle of Australian racing," he said.

"My first lap, coming across Skyline, my five sons were at the top of the hill waving to me,so it was all I could do to get through Skyline and the Esses!

"We actually won our class in my first year there, and it was just an unreal sensation because it was the highest I could aim for."

For 2012, O'Donnell is again competing in the Bathurst 12 Hour,in his BMW 335i which he will share with Christian D'Agostin and Garth Duffy, while the GWS Motorsport team will also run two BMW 130is in the event. O'Donnell is upbeat about the team's chances.

"I can optimistically say that we have a very good chance of taking out both production car classes,"he said.

"We're not necessarily the fastest in either class, but we've done quite a few distance races in the 335i and it puts us in a situation where we've got a lot of experience that we bring to the race.

"If the two 130s run without problems,they will just run all day, so we're certainly hoping for a double podium."

THE SPEED DIFFERENCE, PARTICULARLY ON THE LONGER TRACNS LIKE PHILLIP ISLAND AND BATHURST. WHERE WE RE GETTING 250 OR 260 KAYS, TOOK A BIT OF GETTING USED TO O’DOnnELL on the step up FROIVI the ISOI to the 3351. BELOW

74

1

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8

T'S a well known fact in the motorsport industry that karting is where the champions of today began their motorsport career.

Evidence of this is the fact that 27 of the 28 drivers who will line upon the grid in the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship Series spent the majority of their formative years in the karting arena.

Between today's V8 Supercar stars they all but dominated the karting scene of the 1990s, even some of the 1980s, with the likes of James Courtney, MarkWinterbottom, Jamie Whincup, Michael Caruso, Tim Slade, Craig Lowndes and Russell Ingall taking victory at the major events.

While a number of current V8 Supercar drivers are former national champions and winners in the Castrol EDGE CIK Stars of Karting Series, Courtney is also a part of a unique trio as the only Australian drivers to have

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won an FIA recongised World Championship. Courtney's wins at World Championship level in karting (1995 & 1997) have him placed alongside Australia's Formula One World Champions Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones in the FIA's list of champions.

When Courtney, Caruso and Winterbottom filled the podium at the inaugural Sydney Telstra 500, James Courtney said, "today could have been the Combined District Kart Club Championship in 1992"- and this could be repeated with every V8 Supercar round.

"We all grew up karting together from when we were seven at places like Lithgow, Oran Park and Wollongong," says the Toll Flolden Racing Team driver.

"Back then we were banging side pods and now we're banging car doors. Back in the day we did it in front of our family and friends, now we're doing it in front of hundreds of

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thousands of people."

For Winterbottom, driver of the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, he believes the lessons learnt in karting are ones that stay with you for your entire career - as does your driving style.

"V8 Supercar racing is very much a technical game in this day and age. Flowever, the basic driving principles are still the same as when we were all in karting,"said Winterbottom.

"Karting teaches you all about race craft and driving techniques, it really grooms you for your future, those guys who used to crash into each other in karts still find themselves crashing into each other."

While slightly older than his counterparts. Ingall was one of the country's top kart racers during the late 80s regularly taking on some of the world's top drivers, including his good friend and Le Mans driver Jan Magnussen, at the Castrol Grand PrixatOran Park.

II

K

Now a three-time Bathurst 1000 winner. Garth Tander believes karting is the only place for youngsters to start their motor racing career.

"I learnt all of my racecraft when I was racing karts, there is no question about that," said Tander.

"You don't learn how to race in a Formula Ford or a Touring Car; all of your knowledge comes from the purest form of the sport - karting."

When looking at the 2012 V8 Supercars grid Victorian Kart Clubs dominate the list with almost half of the field coming from the Garden State - four of which class the Go-Kart Club ofVictoria, located at Port Melbourne, as their home club.

While interstate rivalry may be lost in the mix of million dollar sponsors these days, it is something that three-time V8 Supercar Champion, Jamie Whincup believes drove him to further success in his karting career. motorsport news

Guess who? Clockwise from above;Russell Ingall, Mark Winterbottom and James Courtney in their karting days.

■NTEnaCrrcV

"It was a massive, massive battle between us Victorians and the Sydneysiders,"said Whincup, who hails from the Eastern Lions Kart Club in Victoria.

"We'd head up to their title and try to knock those blokes off and be very proud that we could take the trophy away from them.Then they'd try the same to us when they came to our home track."

Interestingly, both New South Wales and Western Australia Karting Clubs have four representatives in this year's Championship.

Three Kiwis, along with two drivers from the Sunshine State and the Festival State along with one Frenchman make up the 27 drivers who started their careers in karting.

Jonathan Webb is the odd man out in the field, having been a late starter to his motorsport career. www.mnews.com.au

NO. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 30 33 34 47 49 51 55 66 91 888

DRIVER TEAM TeamVodafone Jamie Whincup Garth Tander Toll Holden Racing Team Tony D'Alberto Tony D'Alberto Racing Lee Holdsworth Irwin Racing Ford Performance Racing Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing Will Davison Jack Daniel's Racing Todd Kelly Brad Jones Racing Jason Bright Shane van Gisberge n SP Tools Racing Dean Fiore Triple F Racing Fabian Coulthard Lockwood Racing Rick Kelly Jack Daniel's Racing Karl Reindler Stratco Racing Steven Johnson Jim Beam Racing James Moffat Team Norton Jonathon Webb Tekno Autosports David Wall Wilson Security Racing Toll Holden Racing Team James Courtney Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Taz Douglas Alex Premat Fujitsu Racing GRM Michael Caruso Fujitsu Racing GRM Tim Slade Lucky 7 Racing Steve Owen VIP Petfoods Greg Murphy Pepsi Max Crew The Bottle-0 Racing Team David Reynolds Supercheap Auto Racing Russell Ingall Michael Patrizi Tekno Autosports TeamVodafone Craig Lowndes

' ‘ MH H (

KARTCLUB Eastern Lions Kart Club Tiger Kart Club Go-Kart Club of Victoria Ipswich Kart Club Sydney Kart Racing Club Eastern Lions Kart Club MilduraKart Club Gippsland Go-Kart Club Kartsport Auckland Eastern Goldfields Kart Club Kartsport Hamilton Mildura Kart Club Tiger Kart Club Gold Coast Kart Club Go-Kart Club of Victoria Didn't race karts North Shore Kart Club Combined Districts Kart Club Go-Kart Club of Victoria FFSA Combined Districts Kart Club Southern Go-Kart Club Go-Kart Club of Victoria Kartsport Hawkes Bay Albury/Wodonga Kart Club Southern Go-Kart Club Eastern Goldfields Kart Club Eastern Lions Kart Club

STATE VIC ●I WA VIC

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OCKIHG UP THE HUM

THE AUSTRALIAH SPRIHTGAR GHAMPIOHSHIP GOHTIHUES TO BE A HAPPV HUHTIHG 6R0UH0 FI MOTORSPORT, GLAimiHG THEIR FIFTH AHD SEUEHTH TITLES RESPEGTIUELVIH ADELAIDE IH Jl TATRELL ARD TEAM BOSS SHARE HRIHRE ADOUT THE EVERT. THEIR STATS AHD THE FUTURE 'JR. / \

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THE DRIUER...

BROOKE TATHELL

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OTORSPORT NEWS: IT'S becoming a habit for you, winning these national championships.

BROOKETATNELL: Yes it is and I don't think you could have

scripted it any better. I truly don't know how you top this one.

Being the 50th Australian championship, did it make it just a bit more special to win?

I'm a historian and I'm a heart on my sleeve racer, so, yeah, winning the 50th does mean something to me. To some people it's just numbers but to me there's an amount of pride to say look we did it in the 50th year of the event.

There's certainly a bit more prestige being the 50th title compared to the 49th. Also, to win in Adelaide where i won my first Australian Sprintcar Championship and where Dad won his - to win there really is a huge honour tome.

"1|

4

Your Dad George won there in 1988, was it something that was also in your rhind?

It was in my head before we got there. When you flick that switch you need to leave a lot of personal stuff at the gate but to know that he's won there and now I've captured five Aussie titles now, to do that where he won his first title,

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well, it doesn't get anymore special than that.

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How do you rate this one win in your career?

You only have to look at the names on the Australian title honour roll. This one will be very, very tough to beat for sure.

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What's your future with Krikke Motorsport?

Well, my little girl Emma starts school this year and I'm not prepared for someone else to raise my kids. I became a father to be a father and what the future holds is a bit unclear at this point.

We'd like to continue and we all have to find a plan that can work for

everyone that's involved. This sport is cheap now for anyone to do. This is what I do for a living and we're not sure what's going to happen for me in America this season. We're looking for backing over there, otherwise I'm looking at working in a real job and it could be the end of everything. i-Iow do you rate your actual racing, personally, at the moment?

I still think I'm driving better than I ever have. The longer the race the better we, and I am for sure, and I think that's reflected in our career as team together.

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I still have a lot to offer and I don't know what's to come. I have said to Shane 'if

4

you guys need a decision right now on my future, then I can't give it to you'.

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9 BROOKE TATHELL OHO KRIKKE IDORV. GEOFF ROUKDS SPOKE TO

Has becoming a father slowed your racing career?

Becoming a father has made me a better racecar driver, as it is the be-all-and end-all, whereas being a racer is more about where you finish each night.

She understands what winning such an event is all about and she sees my Dad's (named) grandstand in Adelaide and she knows we get to keep Number 1.

The coolest thing was after the win she said, 'Dad now we've got some money to pay some bills'. It was a pretty cool thing to say at the time.

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OTORSPORT NEWS:LIKE I said to Brooke, it's becoming a reguiar thing every January or February, you guys winning the Austraiian Sprintcar Championship.

SHANE KRIKKE: And I like it. It's always a great way to start the year off for us all.

Did the whole deal go the way you wanted?

We're pretty happy, we didn't have any major dramas.We had a couple of stewarding things, but the car was set for the A Main and ~ Brooke drove it perfectly. It was one of the best races I've seen for a long time and one of his best drives. liei you say to Brooke prior to the Australian title A Main?

'See ya on the infield'. We were still quite confident coming out of Position 6.We ran a new car in Adelaide at the Wednesday night prelude show and we knew then we had the car to win. Brooke wheels Adelaide probably better than anybody,and we needed an ounce of liick and we got that too.

-1 ta . '

"Vlt :iO^■ this win for Br8W?e«nd-for Krikke Motorsport?

It's the best drive I've seen Brooke do since he's been running for us. He put a hell of an effort in. It wasjust very measured and timed perfectly. As far as reward for the team,it was great reward as we'd had a tough year up until that stage. I think to go to Adelaide and win the Title somewhat makes a year well rewarded.

We went to Adelaide really looking down the barrel and didn't get . the result we wanted prior to that at the Classic, and the World Series is out of our grasp.So to win the Australian Sprintcar Title was good and for Brooke to achieve his fifth Aussie title at a venue where the

l

Tatnell family has such history is a^ery special and cool thing,

y 'Snap get in any way boring winning these national ^ diai.,pior.5ri:ps?

Well that was number seven for us and, umm, no. I still get very nervous prior to the race and during the race, but with Brooke steering and the boys dishing up a car like they did then I tend to relax a bit.

Put it this way, mate, I never get bored winning races.

^

So does the Krikke family Sprintcar team still ail get stoked with ivinning?

Oh definitely. There was a lot of emotion on the infield after the win and to be able to go and win those events with the family is great and it makes it a whole lot more satisfying.

We've had a Sprintcar team for 32 years and we've always done it together and it's good we can get on the road and we're lucky we can all go and do that together.

What's the immediate future for Brooke Tatnell and Krikke Motorsport?

We've sat down and have discussed it. We're not 100 percent sure of our commitment for next year at this stage. Brooke's commitment to us for next year is a little bit vague. I'd say we're about 98 percent you'll see Brooke Tatnell in a KMS car at the Classic and Aussie title and other major shows.

So Krikke Motorsport and Brooke Tatnell aren't committing to World Series Sprintcars for the coming season/s?

At this stage we're not going to commit to World Series Sprintcars, no.

80

motorsport news

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81

PAVEY-ING HIS Wt T

HE idea of building your own kit car and being competitive in top level rriotorsport is considered fanciful for rriost. But for drag racer Russell Pavey, a phone call to the USA delivered some steel tubing to his door and he was on his way.

The driver of the United Tools 63 Corvette Top Doorslammer has always done things a little differently. His last car was a Morris Minor with a supercharged V8 up front.

"It was plain that we were in the outer limits of what the Morrie could take and if we

wanted to go faster we needed a better car/' Pavey confessed.

"It was no dearer to build a Doorslammerspec car than just another Outlaws car."

Pavey is no stranger to the idea of DIY, having put together the Morris and an XE Falcon Super Sedan. But he knew that for something with 3000-odd horsepower, it wasn't safe to go completely home brew.

He began to price up new cars with chassis builders but the costs were high and the queues at the door were long.

After some more research he discovered

the now defunct Vanishing Point Race Cars in the USA. While they built chassis complete for customers,they also had kits on offer where they sent out all the tube and let anyone have at it.

"I spoke with them and loved the idea of it. I spoke with the owner and at that point they had turned out five five-second cars, they definitely knew their stuff in terms of engine location and where stuff should go,"Pavey said.

"It was the same set-up as what they used in the shop. It was just like a big Meccano set,

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TOP DOORSLAMMER DRIVER RUSSELL PAVEY IS DOING THINGS HIS WAY IN THE ANDRA PRO SERIES. AND IT’S PAYING OFF ... really affordable and a fraction of the cost because it was a bunch of parts."

Pavey built a jig in his shed to put the chassis on to then Just followed the plans.

"You need to cut and notch the bars to suit each join. I'm not very skilled in welding so I tacked everything in place then hired a professional welder who would show up every couple of weeks and weld it up," he said.

Once together and with the running gear from his Morris Minor in place, Pavey said the Corvette felt like a lounge room in comparison to the cramped Morrie.

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"It has a great feel and plenty of room.That's where’the bug bit more than ever before," he said."l hadn't considered racing the car in Top Doorslammer until I actually drove it.

"In one qualifying pass I went 6.90s and Robin Judd went 5.90s and I know that difference was something I wouldn't find in my current engine. I needed better gear so at that point I sold up the driveline from the Morrie and brought all the latest Brad Anderson Engineering and PSI stuff."

As Pavey wandered ever deeper into the Top Doorslammer waters, long time friend

Ken Lowe,an expert with fuel systems and many other aspects of tuning and driving, became involved.

"He had helped out a lot of other people and Id spoken to him about steering our way through this so he set up the fuel system and has been working with me as we figure out what the car wants," he said.

The work came to fruition when Pavey recently went to the final of the Slamfest event at Heathcote, an eighth-mile series run forTop Doorslammers when they're >..14. not at the ANDRA Pro Series.

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'Slamfest is a really exciting deal for me,it is a chance to race and compete without the pressure of do-or-die qualifying,"he said.

"Having that pressure taken away makes a massive difference as to how you approach your racing.

"I had an idea about some of the stuff we were in for(on country tracks) so it was just adapting the Corvette to the track we had.

The concrete was really sticky but the older bitumen wasn't as good; most passes you'd drop on to the bitumen and the car was spinning the tyres.

"We were thrilled to be there and have a good result. We had some challenges on the day, like our ignition controller gave up the ghost so we were struggling with what we could do but we counted on Ken's experience and disconnected the ignition controls and the car ran just fine. We managed to be

consistent and fast."

Consistent 4.2s passes for the eighth-mile were good on the day, but Pavey has also been quick on the quarter mile,finding a tune-up that can belt out 6.0s at speeds approaching 400kmh.

"We really found our stripes before the (2011)Winternationals but we didn't really get a chance to show it," he said."We did a bunch of testing before the Winters and found a fast reliable tune-up,so we had something that would go down a competitive track.

"That paid off in terms of qualifying for racing, we put on a good show and we're excited about the ANDRA Pro Series because we feel like we have come of age and know what the car needs."

Pavey followed the rest of the Slamfest through February and at the time of writing was on his way to Portland,Victoria and Powranna,Tasmania.

"The joy of Slamfest is that you don't know what you're going to get(with track conditions) and the racing is a mixed bag, you need the right set-up,"he said."It's the wise and the brave."

Once the Slamfest's southern stretch is finished, Pavey will rejoin the ANDRA Pro Series in Sydney in March and is particularly keen to put in another good showing at his home track Willowbank Raceway for the Winternationals.

United Tools branding on the car is also a new addition that Pavey is excited about.

"We're really excited about United Tools, one of the things about creating value for sponsors is having the right fit," he said."It is a nationwide chain of independent retail tool stores and each store does a good job of having anything you want.So many people in drag racing are car buffs and do stuff themselves,so it is a great fit."

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HE ANDRA Pro Series continues its Perth stretch with Top Doorslammer and Pro Stock enjoying their last round of the western swipg p,n, March 3 ancl’^.'

There may again be a dominant driver, but it is a new face to previous years.

Victorian Peter Kapiris seems to have taken the mantle from Western Australian John Zappia, a four times champion, with his new Dodge Saratpga proving consistently quick.

Kapiris knows what it takes to be a champion, in the early 2000s his Studebaker was almost unbeatable. While the learning curve for his Saratoga was steep,the team has come to terms with the set up and has run as quick as 5.80s with top speeds well over 400kmh. Kapiris said it was all down to the man-hours behind the scenes.

"It's hard work,the boys Jeff and Mark are relentless, going back and analysing runs I'm talking days of work," he said.

"Towards the end of the Studebaker era we were already starting testing for the Saratoga so that helped a lot. We never really got runs on the board not having a home track and that is why the Saratoga took us nearly a whole season to get it going."

The wrench time was worth it and increased racing opportunities have allowed Kapiris to really get comfortable in the driver's seat.

"I don't have the luxury of a home track.

but I am so comfortable in the new car it is ridiculous," he said.

"I looked at video the crew took and didn't realise it was that skatey. It's a lot to do with track time and getting comfortable in the car.The eighth mile series is giving me racing nearly every weekend."

Kapiris was referring to the Slamfest series, which has provided some new venues to race at in addition to the competitive ANDRA Pro Series.The team has produced two straight event victories from two events and a dominant lead in the points.

In the last round of the ANDRA Pro Series, also held in Perth, Kapiris nearly took the clean sweep, with a win,top qualifying position and low elapsed time points.The only points he missed were for top speed, which went to arch rival Zappia.

Zappia's normally clockwork Procomp Motorsport Monaro has seemingly encountered some difficulties since Perth, doing some engine damage including a spectacular explosion in the final against Kapiris.

Kapiris made it no secret the team has championship aspirations.

"I've got both eyes on it, if I do well in Perth it is just about wrapped up," he said.

As well as points, the team is pushing performance margins ever closer to the 5.7s zone, a mark Kapiris believes they can achieve.

"Perth is really hot during the day so the 6pm (qualifying) session is average but the 8pm session is killer.The air there is usually really good,depending on the weather."

Behind Kapiris, second placed Zappia's championship aspirations took a hit with a run of engine damage at the second round of the ANDRA Pro Series. It was an unusual turn around for the normally reliable four times champion.The season has certainly been one of highs and lows, going from setting a new standard of 5.77s for the category to wild, out of shape passes that aren't producing numbers.

Robin Judd has been testing fervently to try to return to consistent 5.8s meantime, as he comes to terms with a new engine combination including the Noonan cylinder heads that have become the new vogue in blown methanol racing.

Sitting in fourth, meanwhile, is Marty Dack. In something of a surprise, the Auto One Falcon reached the semi finals at the last round and with the bonus points on offer has soared up the rankings.The team has been experimenting with a four speed gearbox which though many said it wouldn't work, has since been paying dividends in terms of consistency.

Held over the Labor Day weekend at Perth Motorplex, Westernationals qualifying begins on March 3 from 6pm, with eliminations on March 4from 6pm also.

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0/f the scale

Going off the scale is what it's all about in the frontier world of Land Speed Record competition. When it comes to scale models of these unique machines, there are some rippers out there to collect: from the earliest to the latest, and some interesting ones m between. By Bruce Moxon 88

motorsport news

The beauty ofthe LSR cars is that they're often very interesting-looking.

They don'tlook like'normal'cars,so they bring some variety to a collection.

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car, top rTgKtflRaTBfdkelOOmp earner in 1927,and,from Spark Models,the supercharged 1.5-litre MG EX 181,right, which Stirling Moss clocked 395km/h at

BonneyillgiMPSZ

t's interesting that in last month's MN,in our'40 things we love about motorsport', there was mention of the World Land Speed Record. Interesting, because I'd already planned to write about it from a modeling point of view, this month.

Breaking speed records dates back almost as far as the car itself. For a long time, car manufacturers aligned themselves with such records as a way of publicising their cars' performance. Car makers like Sunbeam, FIAT, Benz, Mors and even Ford have held the Land Speed Record at one time or another.

Henry Ford himself did the driving in 1904 to clock up over 90mph (147km/h)on a frozen

lake! No thanks!

Today,the World Land Speed record is all about technology, balancing drag, lift and thrust, trying to make a compromise between a car and a ballistic missile. As for 'driving'one of these things - pass. I'll leave that to fighter pilots like current recordholder Andy Green, whose current mark is 1227.98km/h.That's faster than the speed of sound. He set that mark almost exactly 50 years after Chuck Yeager did the same thing in a rocket-propelled aeroplane.

But it's the models we'll look at today.The first thing to bear in mind is that Land Speed Record cars are big.The three being built

at the moment(one each from Britain, the USA and Rosco McGlashan's Aussie invader) are all well over 10 metres long and weigh upwards of six or seven tonnes.

So unless you've got lots of room, I'd suggest forgoing 1/18 scale models of most of these ...

The beauty of the LSR cars is that they're often very interesting-looking.They don't look like'normal'cars, so they bring some variety to a collection. And it's not just the new cars that look different.The Henry Seagrave'Mystery'car - actually a Sunbeam with 1,000 horsepower - is a big, red, slabsided affair that was first to crack 200mph on 89

www.mnews.com.au

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^1

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Daytona Beach.

Bizarre make rather a nice-looking example in 1/43 and for under $100, it's as good a starting point as any.

A LSR car with a strong Australian link is Donald Campbell's Bluebird. Actually the last car to set the record using an engine driving the wheels, Campbell set the mark at a sniff over400mph at Lake Eyre, in South Australia.

But does anyone remember Nissan trying to find a link between this beautiful car and their wheezy, lamentable Bluebird sedans in the early'80s? They had Campbell's Bluebird in display at the Sydney motor show next to their boxy four-door repmobiles...

Bizarre models Bluebird as well, but there don't seem to be many around - you might find one by looking at on-line shops or even Ebay. And to keep Donald's Bluebird company, Bizarre have a companion piece coming, his father's 1933 Bluebird. You could bore your family and friends for hours talking about the ill-fated Campbells and their obsession with speed. But such a magnificent obsession.

In the sixties, particularly in the USA, folks starting dabbling with jet and rocket propulsion for their record attempts. By this time military-surplus gear was becoming available and grabbing a superannuated F86 powerplant was a fairly simple matter.

Craig Breedlove's Spirit of America was the first such to do the business and Breedlove set the mark higher and higher between Toranarama:Holden's mid-'70s Torana L34 Bathurst special in 1/18 scale from Biante, right.

90

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 endurance motorsport event in the AsiaPacific region.

In 2011, the Australasian Safari started at 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 Organic Street Image) in the QUAD division

^

The A9X would go on to demolish its Ford opposition to the extent thatit gave rise to the phrase'Formula Torana'

1963 and 1970. At first he was only a squeak faster than Campbell's effort, but gradually raised the bar to nearly 600mph.

Gary Gabelich cracked the six ton in 1970 with the Blue Flame. And Art Arfons was there in the Green Monster keeping them honest. You'll find nice models of all three drivers'cars if you look - the Green Monster in particular, while butt-ugly, is at the same time quite visually interesting - check it out.

Sadly, getting hold of a model of Rosco's new challenger might prove difficult to impossible. But the current record-holder, the Thrust SSC (for Supersonic Car) is less challenging. You'll find it modelled by Lledo, for starters.

Actually, a few LSR cars might look pretty good on my own shelves; excuse me. I'm going shopping!

Turning to the comparatively more sedate world of 1970s Australian muscle cars, Biante is about to release a couple of very nice Toranas in 1:18 scale.

The LFI Torana SL/R 5000 was a pretty hot looking device in early 1974 when it was released. But that's before it got the mid year Bathurst hotup treatment from Holden DealerTeam chief, Harry Firth. Seeking to rectify the shortcomings of the road version and its US-styie'boulevarde ride'. Firth didn't muck around,fitting the standard LH up with wild bolt-on flared guards to house bigger rubber, some engine and 92

other associated mods,and, completing the picture, round headlights in place of the normal squares.

True, the L34 was a failure in its debut year. but following that it did pretty well until replaced by the A9X in 1977.The new model with its trademark reversed bonnet scoop. addressed the L34's durability issues in a more powerful and better handling package.

The A9X would go on to demolish its Ford opposition to the extent that it gave rise to the phrase'Formula Torana'.

Biante's L34 comes in Glacier White; the A9X is in Atlantis Blue. Both, as you can see here, are superb.

More Toranas: Biante has also produced a road version ofthe Torana that replaced the L34 on the track, theA9X,above, right.

Sydney swap meet NSW model collectors should note the date: March 11, which is when the Collectamania Toy and Hobby Fair will be held. It'll take place at Penrith Leagues Club on the Sunday, from 9am to 3pm,and since it's the first big swap meet held in Sydney for several years, it's likely to be a good one.There'll be a big range of models on offer, as well as the 1:1 scale Bill Patterson Racing Torana L34 on display - and its driver from back in 1977, Phil Brock, making a special appearance at the swap meet. motorsport news

The inside word on Peter Brock through the eyes

The greatest name ever in Australian motorsport,through the eyes ofthe man who discovered him and helped launch his career - a compelling insight into an Australian champion and a must for all followers of Australian motorsport.

■The never-before-told inside story of the early days of the career of Bathurst legend Peter Brock, the man who discovered Brock from Harry Firth and gave him his big cbance in motor racing.

As mentor to the young Brock, Firth recalls Brock’s formative years, and tells the story of how.a raw talent from the bush was shaped not only into one of the most successful racing drivers Austraha has ever seen, but a household name and one of Austraha’s greatest ever sporting heroes.

Brock and the Beast

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The man affectionately known as Stonie has three books coming on stream this year, the first to be launched at the Clipsal 500 meeting in March.

Stonie's Grand Prix Caricature is a limited first edition book of his cartoons

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spanning his career sketching Formula One. From Alan Jones's first win in 1977 to Mark Webber and his battles with Sebastian Vettel today,the collection of cartoons also includes the infamous Niki Lauda cartoon and the arrival of FI into Australia. It also covers the Prost-Senna years and the Schumacher era in Melbourne.

The limited edition of 500 will be numbered and personally signed to the purchaser at $79.95 per copy.

The Stonie Grand Prix book will be the first of three limited edition publications from the South Australian.The second, due out later this year will focus on motoring and rallies, while the third will cover 35 years of touring car racing.This third book,to be launched at the end of 2012, will feature the characters of Australian motorsport from Brock, Bond and Moffat to Lowndes, Skaife and Whincup.

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OW fascinating to see Nissan joining forces with a liquor manufacturer next year in its return to touring car racing.

While it goes without saying that the chiefs at Nissan share Jack Daniel's policy of recommending that its patrons pace themselves and 'drink responsibly', the thing is that there are some who think manufacturers of cars and makers of the demon drink aren't exactly appropriate marketing partners.

That's a moot point.

Ultimately we're talking about a product which is legally available and which can legally be advertised and promoted, so any arguments here are about perceptions, rather than anything tangible.

But if we are to talk about cause and effect, to suggest some kind of direct correlation

between an alcohol brandbacked racing car and road trauma is in the crazy territory of attributing blame for the serial killer's crimes on the psychological effect of certain types of rock music.

People are still free to make their own decisions in this society, and it's hard to imagine too many potential consumers of Nissan's products batting an eyelid next year over the company's V8 Supercar association with JD. Nissan knows this - otherwise it wouldn't be getting involved.

Things may change in the future. If alcohol company involvement in sport ever did become a topic of serious public debate, then the likes of Nissan would find themselves rethinking their involvement.

This, coincidentally, was exactly the position in which Nissan found itself 23 years ago during its last involvement in

team-mate Alan Jones nicked Australian touring car racing. the PJ cash out from under At the end of the 1988 Glenn's nose and took off with season, Nissan decided it no it to form his own team. longer wished to continue That was also the first year with tobacco sponsorship of of the tobacco sponsorship its Group A touring car team. ban, which meant AJ's new Instead, Nissan would fund the team {formed with the entire thing.

Stone Brothers) was called Tobacco company 'Pack Leader Racing', which involvement in sport did have its critics in the late 1980s. presumably somehow helped Philip Morris promote the PJ But there was no real public brand via 'Pack Leader'shirts, groundswell against fag packet caps, backpacks and other stuff, sponsorship at the time, and but that's a whole other story. cigarette advertising (while Seton ended up landing on banned on TV) remained legal his feet, initially with support in a wide range of media.The from Ford's finance company. actual sponsorship ban didn't come in fo.r another seven years. Ford Credit, Later Glenn's team was renamed Ford Tickford Nissan might no longer have wanted its brand to be Racing as the Blue Oval tried to evolve its own version of what associated with Peter Jackson, but it was no bother to Glenn Holden was enjoying with the Seton, one of Nissan's drivers.

Holden Racing Team.Today we know it as Ford Performance Seton left the Nissan fold, Racing. taking with him the PJ cash which he then used to set his As for Nissan, its hardline own team, running Ford Sierras. tobacco stance didn't last long.

Three years after it dumped Glenn Seton Racing would race on with Peter Jackson Peter Jackson, Nissan Motor Sport was renamed Winfield support right up until the end of 1995 - which was when Racing.

It's hard to imagine too many potential consumers of Nissan's products batting an eyelid next year over the company's V8'Supercar association with JD

QUICK QUIZ

Answers 1. There are three drivers

contesting their maiden fuiltime V8Supercarseasons in 2012- David Wall, TazDouglas and Alexandre Premat.

2.Premat's two GP2team mates were Nico Rosberg in 2005and Lewis Hamilton in 2006.

3. Mark Webber claimed his maiden FI podium finish at Monaco in 2005, with Williams.

4. Before last year's British GP,the 1977Austrian GP was the last time two Australians started an FI GP. They were Alan Jones and Vern Schuppan.

It was Jones'maiden GP win and Schuppan's last FI start, he failed to qualify for the next race.

5. The Ford GT40 won the Le Mans24 Hour four times,allin succession between 1966 and 1969.

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