Off i c i a l Pu blication of t h e B e n a l l a A u t o C l u b I n c .
pitstop September 2013
a l l i z d o G SPEED k c a B s i Races NSW Winners Fantastic Festival of
CHAMPS AT WAKEFIELD
0 0 3 n Winfito lls in 3 hours Authorised Print Post Number 326705/00006
Contents Editors Column..............................................4 Wakefield Report...........................................6 Members at Play............................................8 Winton 300 Winner Returns.......................12 Festival of Speed...........................................14 V8 Supercars...................................................17 Carrera Cup.....................................................22 Aussie Race Cars...........................................23 Dunlop Series..................................................24 Formula Ford..................................................26 NSW State Championships........................28 Winton 300......................................................30 Bryson Llyod...................................................32 Formula Ford dramas..................................33
SEPTEMBER 2013
PITSTOP
The Official publication of the Benalla Auto Club Inc. September 2013 Edition #590 Benalla Auto Club Inc Fox Street Winton, 3673 Phone (03) 57664235 fax (03) 57664249 race@wintonraceway.com.au LOCATIONS Winton Motor Raceway Fox Street Winton, 3673 Phone (03) 57664235 fax (03) 57664249 race@wintonraceway.com.au www.wintonraceway.com.au Wakefield Park Raceway 4770 Braidwood Road Goulburn, NSW 2580 Phone (02) 48222811 Fax (02) 48222812 info@wakefieldpark.com.au www.Wakefieldpark.com.au COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT President: Richard Weston Vice President: Warren Sheehan Secretary: Heather Wallace Treasurer: Matthew Ronke Bruce Robertson, Frank Wellman, Adam Ronke, Dianne Stolz, Gary Bennett, Stephen Harrison, Trevor Lee
WINTON DATES SEPTEMBER
1 7 8 14 15 20-22 28 29
Vic Drift BP Midland / Pedders No Bull Sprints Ford Four Car Club BMW Car Club Porsche Club Victoria Performance Car Mania Vic Drift Tampered Motorsport
OCTOBER
5-6 Super Truck racing 12-13 V8 Race 19-20 AROCA 6 Hour Relay 26 Drifting 27 Benalla Cruise N Shine TEST & TUNE SEPTEMBER 6 CARS/Motorcycles 13 CARS/Motorcycles 27 CARS/Motorcycles
EDITOR Matthew Ronke
WAKEFIELD DATES SEPTEMBER
1 PCRA 7 Circuit Club 8 Interclub 13 Astor Carnival 14/15 MRA Rd 4 (Truck Racing) 21 NSWRRC 22 HSV Club 28/29 HSRCA All Historic
PITSTOP SUB-COMMITTEE Matthew Ronke, Heather Wallace, Brian Nighingale, Judy McDonald, Dianne Stolz CONTRIBUTORS Brian Nightingale, Adam Ronke, Heather Wallace, Richard Weston, Judy McDonald PHOTOGRAPHS Rennsmart Photography, Judi McDonald, John Smith, Will Liston
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Nissan Motorsport test for KRUMM and ORDONEZ
MATTHEW RONKE Editor
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hat a Big Month it has been for the Benalla Auto Club. V8 Supercars, Festival of Speed and the NSW State Championships at Wakefield. The Weather Gods certainly shined on Winton for the V8 Supercars, 20 of the 22 days of August leading up to the event had rain so too get two glorious days on Saturday and Sunday was a blessing needed. It made for some interesting racing the wet Friday had more red flags then we have had all year. It was interesting monitoring twitter, Speed News Australia issued a stock Market Tip, Buy Red Cloth it will be in high demand. But the Big surprise was the Nissans, 23 years after their last Victory they returned to the winners stable. A few people were suggesting that they would do well at Winton. The major contention of the weekend was fuel. Two of the Nissan's (Moffat & Caruso) and the AMG of Mario Engle were running E70 fuel. It just happened that Moffat & Caruso went 1 and 2 on Saturday. In Sunday's race they had to revert back to the E85 fuel and dropped a little down the order but with the entire field separated by 0.7 of a second that means you only have to be off by .2 of a second to drop a quarter of the way down the field. The E70 fuel was a trial for the upcoming enduro's were the multivalve cars are suffering with Fuel economy problems compared to the pushrods Holden and Fords. It was a bit of a shock that CAMS has announced the end of a National Formula Ford Championship (the story on page 33). The Championship has been running for some 45 years and about 10 of those were run out of the Winton raceway Office in the late 80's early 90's. We have always put a lot behind Formula Ford at Winton and more Formula Ford do laps around Winton Raceway than any other circuit in Australia. Our Champion of Winton Formula Ford series was also a significant series in its own right champions include Steven Richards, Craig Lowndes and Jason Bright. Hopefully a solutions can be found as it's been a category that has significant History and one that continues to provide our future champions. On a Personal note it was wonderful to see all of our members and staff pull together to make a very successful operationally V8 Supercar event post Mick Ronke era. Everybody knuckled down and our Three Executive Officers of Heather Wallace , Don Bartlett and Adam Ronke all did an outstanding job along with the staff and especially the new members having their first V8 event.
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ichael Krumm and Lucas Ordonez were granted a special opportunity to step behind the wheel of a V8 Supercar at Winton Motor Raceway today. In highly variable conditions, the pair visited the 3.0 kilometre circuit in rural Victoria as part of Nissan’s recently announced “Global Driver Exchange” program. Greeted by icy temperatures, Michel Krumm took the wheel of Rick Kelly’s Jack Daniels-sponsored Altima, while James Moffat forfeited his Norton Racing #360 machine to Lucas Ordonez. Initially, both were equipped with wet weather tyres throughout the morning, however clearer conditions throughout the afternoon facilitated a switch to slick tyres as the track began to dry. Ordonez steadily began to grasp Moffat’s Altima as the day progressed, however the session was not without several anxious moments during the morning. A red flag was deployed after the Spaniard visited the gravel, adding to several other dicey excursions off the Winton asphalt. In due course, the 28 year-old well and truly came to grips with the V8 Supercar later in the day, and Ordonez was glowing in his praise of the Nissan Motorsport prepared Altima, as well as the opportunity afforded by the motorsports division of the Japanese marque. “It’s amazing. Lots of power, 650hp in the Nissan V8, so I’ve really enjoyed it,” said Ordonez. “It was very challenging for a new driver in these cars, but I was getting on the pace towards the end. “It was very tricky on brakes, but I was pushing and trying to find the limit” continued the 28 year-old Spaniard. “I’ve worked well today with the engineers and the other drivers, and above all else, I’ve had a great amount of fun.” Drawing on his extensive global experience, Krumm’s ability to come to grips with the Altima also impressed the Nissan Motorsport engineers. The 43 year-old German plies his trade in the Japanese Super GT sports car series; however he has also tasted competition in numerous GT championships around the world.
horsepower V8 Supercar. “Driving the V8 Supercar was quite an experience. We prepared well, the team gave us all the information about the car, how it is to drive, but when you actually get it, they are awesome cars,” explained the 43 yearold. “The Nissan Altimas have a lot of power and not much downforce, so it’s not what I’m used to, but it was much better to drive than I expected”. “It was great here at Winton. It’s kind of a crazy track. It’s a big challenge, bumpy and tight and has lots of different corners, but the cars are great fun. Everyone wants to come and race at Bathurst or the Gold Coast, so I’d really love the chance to drive these cars again in the future.” Nissans Australia’s General Manager of Motorsport, Jeff Fisher, was thrilled with the vast opportunities that such a driver exchange may present. “This test is absolutely significant for Nissan. It opens up V8 Supercars and Altima to the world of Nismo’s global motorsports program. It’s very exciting,” said Fisher. “Michael and Lucas are professional drivers who have a lot of experience around the world in different categories and different circuits. These guys will go back to Nismo in Japan, report on what they’ve done and they should be in the box seat to come out to Australia for the endurance races next year.” The driver exchange will also see Rick Kelly behind the wheel of a GTR GT3 at next year’s Bathurst 12 Hour, and Ordonez is early anticipating the 30 year olds opinion of the car. “I’m really looking forward to seeing his feedback and comments (on the GT-R) as it’s a very different car with more downforce, less power, but wider with lighter tyres,” he said. “I want to see him in the car having as much fun as Michael and me today.” While Krumm and Ordonez will jet back to Japan for this weekend’s Super GT round at Suzuka, the Nissan Motorsport outfit and their primary drivers will remain at Winton Motor Raceway for another day of crucial testing ahead of the Winton 360 in less than two weeks.
Despite his proficiency in many different disciplines, Krumm was taken aback by the raw power and marginal grip provided by the 650 brake-
http://www.touringcartimes.com/2013/08/12/ nissan-motorsport-testfor-krumm-and-ordonez/
THREE BAC MEMBERS WILL LINE UP AT THE BATHURST 1000 360 88 5
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Norton 360 Racing Dodo Insurance Racing Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford
James Moffat Dean Fiore Steven Richards
Taz Douglas Matt Halliday Mark Winterbottom
Nissan Altima Holden Commodore VF Ford Falcon FG
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The Wakefield Report
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nother Busy month for us at Wakefield Park. Once again we are nearly booked out for the year just two days available to Book. It shows what a great venue we have and is inspiring that so many people want to use it. This month a range of different activities from Bike Race meetings both Modern and Historical, Historic Family Day returned too Wakefield after spending the last couple of years at Marulan and many Track Days, Drift events and the NSW State Motor Racing Championships. The NSW Motor Racing Championship was another great event. Over 170 cars lined up across 9 categories. We had one of our best roll up of Officials and we finished the programme of events ahead of schedule. The Feature of the event was a one hour race for Production touring Cars. The field had over 30 cars and the race did not disappoint, The Production Cars have
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put on some great racing this year and we had a number more spectators along to watch. Supersports made a return to Wakefield with their last race in 2012, 9 starters took orders and we had double figures for Production Sports for the first time at a sprint round in 4 years. We have secured 3 dates for the series in 2014 with category still not decided. Next month we have our first ever Truck race Meeting, Interest for this event is very high in the local community and Canberra Truck repairs have come onboard as our major sponsor. The event will also be a part of the MRA series with superkarts, mini’s, Super TT , Pulsar & Excels and Sports Sedans all competing over the weekend. Its great to see more and more NSW’s people joining the club bring Wakefield Park more and more into the Benalla Auto Club, Hopefully more members from victoria can
make the trip like Bruce Henley who did the state championship round and a few more are booked in for the MRA event in September. Around the facility the Team have been busy building new tyre bundles, Now supply of tyres seem to be the issue. The Guys do a local run around the area’s tyres store to pick up used tyres that will fit our needs. But with one tyre store only selling 1 set of tyres one week it has become a problem that the supply is not keeping up with our workers. It just show how tough some business are doing in the community, I guess we are lucky that we have developed a range of good quality options for people at Wakefield and we are able to book out all of our days. Hope to see you soon. Matthew Ronke Executive Officer Wakefield Park
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howing just how serious Benalla Auto Club members take their racing, the month of August has seen many of them continue taking to tracks around the nation. Firstly, and finishing off July was the 2013 Coates Hire Ipswich 360-V8 Supercar Championship Races 22-24 on the 28th July at the ‘Paper Clip, Queensland Raceway, Ipswich. Driving the Dodo Insurance LDM Holden, Dean Fiore took his place in Ipswich 360 and did a very good job in qualifying to finish 20th for the 60/60 Race 22 of the championship and then finished 17th. Come Sunday and in Race 23 the LDM driver again qualified 20th, and then dropped to 26th in the race, ahead of a 22nd grid start in race 24, and a move forward to 20th in the race. After a promising start to the Dunlop V8 Supercar Development Series round, Image Racing/ARVO former main game driver Taz Douglas looking to be set for a good result in the Ford Falcon FG after qualifying fifth, just 3/10th off pole, but that is where it all ended. Inclement weather and two shortened races put a dampener on proceedings, and Race 1 was the only one to run all weekend the full distance, and Douglas who made a poor start finished sixth, but fifth in the points. The reverse grid top 10 Race 2 saw Douglas’ luck change as he made contact with Andrew Jones as he was attempting to move past the Albury driver into third into and they both went off. For Douglas it was race over as the hit bent a steering arm.
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The third and final race got worse for Douglas, for he got caught up with Ash Walsh mid race and they touched, sending both spinning off the track, with Douglas the worse off as he went backwards into the wall and severely damaged the FG. Rodney Jane drove his Rodney Jane Racing/Sonic Ford Falcon FG in the Dunlop Series, and qualified 14th, then in Race 1 dropped to 20th after Cameron Waters made contact with his #777 Ford.
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Dean Fiorie with Brendan Fevola
t s u g u A – y a l P t A mbers
By Brian Nightingale
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Dean Fiorie Winton V8’s Ian Kegg at SMSP
Taz Douglas Winton V8’s
The second race, the Reverse Grid Top 10, saw Jane spin off and out of the race after 6 laps, while Race 3 saw him make a huge fightback after starting 29th on the grid and finishing an impressive 13th. The 2013 Victorian 6 Hour Regularity Relay was run on the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on the 4th of August, with two Benalla Auto Club members included in the huge field. Both Stuart Thompson in his Mustang and Bryson Lloyd in his Celica drove extremely well over the weekend. The weekend of the 10th /11th August was very busy for members as they contested
10 Rodney Jane
events at three circuits. Goulburn’s Wakefield Park hosted the fourth round of the NSW Motor Race Championship, with Wayne Horswell driving his AASA/MRA Superkart Racing Team 125cc Phoenix Hypermax. The Superkarts only ran on Saturday, but had four races. Qualifying saw Horswell 15th fastest, then in R1 finished in the same position, and second in Class E, while race two he retired on lap 7 of 10. However, he was back for R3 and climbed back up to 13th and third in class, and in the fourth and final race of the day dropped a spot to finish 14th, but he stayed third in Class E. Victoria’s Bruce Henley made the trip north with his Stawell Garage Mazda RX7 and competed in the NSW Over 2 litre Improved Production races. After qualifying a commendable sixth in what was a top line field, he finished the first race In the same position, then on Sunday morning was 7th in R2, and in the 15 lap Trophy race had problems and dropped to 12th but stayed on the lead lap. North to the Festival of Sporting Cars (FoSC) Amaroo Two meeting at the Sydney Motorsport Park’s South Circuit on the Saturday (10 August) of the two day meeting, BAC’s Ian Kegg
competed in the 4th round of the NSW Excel Racing Championship. Ian has finished third overall in Round 4 of the NSW Excel Racing Championship Series at Sydney Motorsport Park, behind Dean Evans and Nathan Gotch. ‘Keggie’ qualified second on the grid for Race 1 next to pole-sitter Dean Evans, then finished the race in the same position, while Race 2 the reverse-grid 8 lapper he was fifth, and in the final race of the day he came home fourth, leaving him third overall for the round. In the championship he now sits second on 257 points, just 15 behind leader Nathan Gotch. Home base for BAC members the Winton Raceway, hosted the extremely popular 2013 Winton Festival of Speed on the 10/11 August with three members participating. Driving his #289 Ford Mustang in the Group N races against a top flight field NSW member Alan Shearer qualified 17th, then in race one red flagged after two laps he finished 18th, but more importantly third in Group Nb, then to complete his day one racing the second event run over a 6 lap journey, Shearer wrestled the ‘Stang’ up to 14th outright and again third in class. Shearer’s first appearance on
SEPTEMBER 2013 Plumbing and Electrical entry finish with three top 10 positions. Again with V8 Supercars qualifying was crucial, and the Winton 360 was no different as all drivers found it impossible to make their way through the field if they started near the back. As Fiore had no luck in finding the correct balance with his Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Dodo Insurance Holden Commodore VY, he only managed to qualify in 26th, 22nd and 20th for the three races. Fiore’s race results were indicative of that, as R1 the 60/60 Sprint race saw him finish 25th, R2 he put in a fighting performance to finish 16th and in the second 34 lap race, the 27th of the championship Race he once again came home 16th. Sunday was in the Rose City Touring Car Trophy Race for Group N Cars, a distance of 20 laps and #289 finished 15th and fourth in Nb, while along with half of the numbers that contested qualifying he was a non starter. Benalla Auto Club’s Peter Dunn competed in the MG races on the program, and driving his MGB he qualified 13th, then followed that up with a tenth in the 8 lap opener. Race two and the first for Sunday saw Dunn drop a spot to 11th, then the 7 lap third and final race he did well to hold onto the 11th position overall. Luke Doidge was another member on track, and he competed in the Groups P, Q, R Racing, F5000, & Invited Cars events behind the wheel of his #1 Cheetah Mk9, and qualified third. In a category dominated by a former open wheel and touring car hotshot Lucio Cesario who won all three races in a Ralt RT21. But the only BAC driver in the field Doidge, acquitted himself well, finishing third in R1, then in R2 did a great job to not only move up to second but set the fastest lap of the race, a not so shabby 1:26.5788, and get to within 4/10ths of a second of the winner by flag fall. The third race was much the same as Doidge finished second outright again. Winton Motor Raceways annual V8 Supercars event the Winton 360 was run on the
Dean Fiorie makes a splash at Winton V8’s
23rd to 25th August, and saw Benalla Auto Club members come up with good results. The Carrera Cup saw Steven Richards in his #12 Laser Plumbing & Electrical Porsche 911 GT3 Cup do a great job to qualify second on the grid and then finished 9th in Race 1 after he was sent off the track on the first lap on T1. The second race over 11 laps saw a great fightback from Richards as he moved up to fourth, only four tenths off a podium finish, but then the third race he was seventh, but it saw the Laser Wayne Horswell at Wakefield Park
The Dunlop Development Series had BAC’s Taz Douglas and Rodney Jane competing. Driving the ex-Shane van Gisbergen Image Racing ARVO Ford Falcon FG, Douglas qualified 4th but all his good work came unstuck in Race 1 when he was turned around from behind at turn 1 off the start. That compromised his weekend all together a he dropped to 20th, and being that far back drivers get caught up in everyone else’s dramas. The two remaining Dunlop races saw him finish 15th on each occasion. AS for Jane he qualified 18th in his Rodney Jane Racing/Sonic Ford Falcon FG, and then climbed to 13th in race 1, and in race 2 the reverse grid top 10 he finished 13th again, but a spin in the third and final race saw him drop back to 18th.
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n o t n i 1986 W g n i n n i 300 W 3 1 0 2 n i n i a g a r e t car a star
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he Valvoline Winton 300, an event that was annually run as a Production Touring Car event at the rural Victorian Winton Motor Raceway in the 80’s and mid 90’s, returned after an absence of 20 years in 2011 as a sister event to the Wakefield 300. It straightaway returned to its glory days, and along with its sister event the Wakefield 300 have grown to be arguably Australia’s most popular endurance event’s, and this year’s running of the race on November 9/10 will have a nostalgic theme, as the very same car that won the 1986 race is included in the very strong entry list. The car a Mitsubishi Starion will be driven by one of the winning drivers in 1986, Des Gibbs who will be driving, but not with his original co-driver Dennis O’Brien, but instead his son Carl Gibbs. When the two Wagga drivers took the chequered flag in ’86, they led home a Starion domination, the Japanese turbocharged flyer taking the top six placings, and among the drivers some of the best. Among other high powered names among the Starion drivers, included Peter Fitzgerald, Allan Grice, Kevin Bartlett and Brad Jones. Others in non finishing Starions were Leo Geoghegan and cricket great Tony Greig and Barry Jones. In the 300 of the 80’s and 90’s the race was run over 150 laps of the short circuit,
and the writing was on the wall the year before the Gibbs/O’Brien win, when they were leading the race until 10 laps remaining when the head gasket blew and they faded to finish 3rd. There are more than just Gibbs in this year’s 300 that competed in the ’86 race, with Phil Alexander, a Mazda RX7 expert in Group C finishing 11th in an RX-7 with Ian Green, while this November he will be driving a Nissan Pulsar with Orange driver Graeme Heath. These days Mini exponent Henry Draper shares the driving of a JCW Mini Cooper S with the very talented Linda Devlin, and then in endurance races the Victorian Arthurs Creek drivers team up. Draper was a prolific class winner in the 70’s and 80’s in a Suzuki Swift, and he drove the Swift in ’86 with Lindsay Siebler to finish 15th and first in class. Still a reserve for the 2013 chapter, Canberra’s Chris Clearihan, a former Australian sports car champion in a Kaditcha, and with Ian Stewart as co-driver finished 8th in a Starion in 1986. Currently Clearihan is still on the reserves list in a Future Racer with Kon Kalaitzidis. Shepparton’s Luo Renato is also on the reserve list with his Volvo, and if he gets a run his his osn Richard. Renato senior also drove in 86, but in a Nissan Pulsar with Ian Cruise and they were the races first retirement on lap 31.
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15 BAC Members 15 BAC Members will line up in the 50+ car field of the 2013 Valvoline Winton 300. The Field booked out in just 3 and a half hours and is now considered one of Australia Most popular Endurance events. Over 70 entries have been received with an impressive line up of cars that will certainly thrill spectators and entertain SBS Speedweek’s audiences. The BAC Members are Vice President Warren Sheehan teaming with Adam Ronke in a Mazda RX7, Terry Nightingale in a BMW
M3, Ahmin Chahda in an BA XR8 Future Tourer, Chris Walton and Phil Portea in a BMW, Shane & Glenn Baker in a Proton Satria GTi, Ross and Ethan Wilson in a Ford Falcon XR8, Hayley Swanson and Corey Gooch in a Mitsubishi EVO, Ross Wood in a Nissan R31 Skyline, Stephen Harrison in a Ford Falcon and Stephen Murray in a Holden Commodore. The 2013 race and beyond will be for the Mick Ronke Trophy donated by the Ronke
Family. Mick Ronke was a huge supporter of the club motorsport and the Winton 300 is a fitting event for the “Mick Ronke Trophy” said Adam Ronke. The event is the second leg in the Australian Endurance Championship with round one held at Wakefield Park in March won by Jake Shelley and Michael Shaw in a Mitsubishi EVO 9.
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FOS
The Annual festival of Speed keeps growing in stature each year at Winton Motor Raceway. Run in conjunction with the Victorian Historic Racing Register the event had over 200 cars competing. As is traditional at the Festival of Speed, Group N had a endurance race which once again attracted good numbers of competitors. The Rose City Touring Car race was taken out by local wangaratta driver Gary Edwards. Gary driving his XU1 Torana beat home Darren Smith in his Falcon XT with Angelo Taranto in another Toarana in third. The top 3 ran away with the race with John harrison XU1 in fourth some 30 seconds behind the leaders at the
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finish of the race. The top 10 were dominated by Toaran’s and Falcon with the best of the rest being David Brown in his Datsun 1600 in ninth. In the earlier sprint races in was a split affair between Edwards and Smith who swapped victories over the weekend. Toarana’s and Ford still dominated but Spencer Rice in his Alfa managed to break into the 10 on one occasion. Group S had a big field of over 30 cars and topped the weekend off with a 15 lap enduro. Geoff Morgan took out the victory in his Porsche but Sven Burchart was hot on his heels followed by the sensation De Tomaso of Rusty French. The top end of the field was dominated by Porsche except
Photo byRensmart Photography
SEPTEMBER 2013
Photo byRensmart Photography
for ironically Frenchs De Tomaso Pantera French being historically a Porsche man through the years. outside the top ten there were a scattering of MG’s, Healeys, Corvettes and Alfa’s make it a very interesting ild of cars.
Photo byRensmart Photography
Group P,Q,R & F5000 raced for the Mick Ronke Memorial Trophy BAC’s Luke Doidge lead most of the race but a late race spin saw him drop out of the lead. Lucio Cesario went onto to win the trophy in his Ralt Rt4 ahead of Doidge. John Pyke was third home in his Tiga. Robyn Bailey took out the MG races in his very fast MGB, in the trophy race he was challenged by Cody Hill and V8 Development series driver Glenn Wood in their MGF’s. BAC’s Peter Dunn was 11th home.
Photo byRensmart Photography
In Group M & O former Bathurst winner John Bowe took out the victories in a Brabham just before he jetted off to Laguna Seca. Laurie Bennett in a Elfin was second and rounding out the podium was another Brabham of Peter Strauss.
Photo byRensmart Photography
Photo byRensmart Photography
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V8
SEPTEMBER 2013
Supercars
Frosty Breaks his winton drought
V8
Supercars
Courtney returns to Victory lane after two year absence
V8
Supercars
And Nissan go one two
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Friday v8 supercars
Nissa
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V8 Supercar Championship Winton
Nissan set the Running n Friday Practice
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ames Moffat set the expectation for a competitive run from Nissan Motorsport at Winton this weekend by setting the fastest time in Friday practice. After a wet opening 75 minute hit-out, the rural Victorian venue proved dry enough for slicks within just minutes of Practice 2 getting underway. Spots of rain began to fall towards the end of the session, although did not prove enough to alter lap speed. Moffat’s best time of 1:23.48s came with 15 minutes remaining and left the Altima driver 0.12s
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quicker than next fastest man David Reynolds. Chaz Mostert, Scott McLaughlin, Will Davison, Shane van Gisbergen, Michael Caruso, Fabian Coulthard, Rick Kelly and Jason Bright completed the top 10. Those hoping to bump Moffat from the top with a late charge were left disappointed as a trip into the Turn 4 tyre barrier for James Courtney ensured the session was effectively over four minutes early. Holdsworth lost control of his Mercedes after dropping a wheel off on the Turn 4 entry. As was the case in Practice 1, the
wet track verges contributed to a total of five red flags. Three were called for single car incidents at Turn 4. Scott Pye and Lee Holdsworth had earlier spun at the corner, with the latter’s Mercedes suffering left-rear damage after making the tyre wall. Off-track excursions for Alexandre Premat at Turn 11 and Dean Fiore at Turn 8 accounted for the remaining stoppages. Dean Canto, Karl Reindler and Nick Percat were the only three co-drivers to cut laps in the second session, which was open to primary drivers for its duration.
SEPTEMBER 2013
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ames Moffat was eight when a Nissan last won. His famous dad Allan was still racing. Two of the greats, Mark Skaife and Jim Richards won Bathurst that year in 1992, and that famous podium quote went down in Australian sporting folklore. A year since Nissan introduced it was returning to V8 Supercars after 21 years away they scored their first win. Even better than that, it was a one-two finish. Norton ‘Hornets’ Moffat and Michael Caruso held steady hands to lead from start to finish when Red Bull Racing Australia’s Jamie Whincup had a failure when leading. Caruso and Moffat finished the first half of the race 1-2, with thirdplaced Winterbottom behind and conscious of the Championship picture in a relatively conservative end to the first 20 laps. Regardless of Whincup’s plight it was a well-deserved win for the Nissans, Moffat particularly happy given he has just re-signed with the team on a new multi-year deal. “We have all worked very hard to get to this point in your career and to
break through for your first victory means a lot not just for me but the people who have helped me along the way. They know who they are, I am not going to mention all of them,” Moffat said. “What a great day for everybody at Nissan Motorsport, Norton Toshiba. There was a bit if hype around that if we were going to go well anywhere this was it. I wasn’t prepared to get too far ahead of myself, just try to keep a lid on it if you like. “Sure Jamie had a bit of bad luck but I think both of us proved we had good speed in that race.” Caruso had led the first half of the 60/60 format but let Moffat through at the rolling restart. “This is brilliant for our whole team. We knew we were going to come in this round better than we had been in the previous two and probably better than the next two,” Caruso said. “We are all wise enough and old enough to know that this circuit has no advantage for the cars that have big horsepower and that was proven today. “We know the Nissans have been Photo by Judi McDonald
handling really well throughout the year at various places and that has worked for us.” It was Moffat, fastest in practice each day, who got the jump from the rolling restart. Caruso made sure there were no issues between the teammates at the first corner, preserving the chance of an ultimate result for his team. Just as Whincup looked to be in complete control as he has done so many time,s he had a massive malfunction of the front straight when approaching 220km an hour. Something ‘broke’ according to Whincup and he immediately pulled off the road. It left the two Nissan Hornets in the lead with Winterbottom behind and closing the Championship points gap on Whincup. “We were pretty stable there. I felt I was representing the line pretty well out there before that happened. That’s racing, we will move on,” Whincup said. “There was a big explosion in the car inside coming out of the last corner and it just had no drive. There was no indication whatsoever everything was sailing smoothly. We got a good start and were leading the race. It was awesome to be on pole and it turned into nothing unfortunately.” Moffat became the 11th different driver to win a V8 Supercars race this season, and the fourth to win his first race this year. His previous best was fourth at Queensland Raceway in 2011. Following the two Norton Hornets home was Bright, Winterbottom, James Courtney, Will Davison, Fabian Coulthard, Garth Tander, Russell Ingall and David Reynolds.
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ark Winterbottom has raced into contention for the V8 Supercars Championship winning Race 26 at the Winton 360 today, while points leader Jamie Whincup was eliminated from contention in a first lap collision. Whincup was the innocent victim when GRM Fujitsu Holden Commodore VF driver Alex Premat skidded across the infield and back into the pack. Russell Ingall’s Supercheap Auto Commodore was out on the spot, while Whincup pitted four times before retiring his Red Bull Racing
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Australia Commodore. Winterbottom, who had never won at Winton, launched into the lead at the start in his FPR Pepsi Max Ford Falcon from third on the grid as ARMOR ALL Pole Position qualifier Jason Bright and surprise second fastest Tony D’Alberto hesitated. He established an early gap but several times during the 34-lap sprint race Bright closed on to his rear bumper but could never get close enough to make a lunge in his BOC Commodore. Factory Holden driver James Courtney finished third after passing D'Alberto in his Team HIFLEX Commodore, who held off Shane van Gisbergen (VIP Petfoods Commodore) and David Reynolds (The Bottle-O Falcon) to claim fourth. With his teammate Will Davison finishing seventh, Winterbottom jumped into third in the Champi-
onship only 62 points behind Whincup. Craig Lowndes is 55 points behind his teammate Whincup after managing only 12th place. Davison is 79 points off the pace and Bright is fifth, 154 points off the lead. Yesterday's race winner James Moffat qualified a poor 25th, but drove a brilliant race through the field to 11th.
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26 & 27 H
olden Racing Team’s James Courtney has led from ARMOR ALL Pole Position to take Race 27 of the V8 Supercars Championship. Courtney is the 12th different winner for 2013 and this weekend has jumped into sixth in the Championship, after coming into the Winton 360 in ninth position. It’s his first win with HRT since Abu Dhabi 2011, and he won both races at Winton Raceway in 2010. Bad luck struck many of the top 10 Championship runners with Red Bull Racing Australia having had a terrible weekend of results. Jamie Whincup now leads Craig Lowndes by just 47 points heading into the PIRTEK Enduro Cup, after not finishing the day's first race and home 13th for the second. Pepsi Max Crew FPR's Will Davison
and Mark Winterbottom follow in the points. Courtney got a great jump off the start, and as he sailed away at the beginning of Race 27, chaos ensued behind. Todd Kelly speared into the infield after contact and Scott Pye’s ekol Commodore was on fire – literally. While Pye managed to jump out quickly, his Commodore was worse for wear. The incidents saw the first Pedders STP Safety Car of the race, and Courtney led Mostert and Will Davison at the restart. On lap 22, contact between Rick Kelly and Winterbottom saw the Jack Daniel’s Racing Nissan Altima run wildly to the in-field – and another broken right rear for the team. The incident will be reviewed post-race by the stewards. That was the turning point of the race – some chose to pit for a fresh set of tyres, including Coulthard and Tander who flew through the field in the dying laps of the race. Jason Bright, who had been in fourth, also ran off-track and found himself stuck in the mud, to bring out another Safety Car. The race went green with just five laps to go and the question was whether those with the
new tyres had enough time to continue to climb. Coulthard made it to second, but was a drag race to the end between Mostert and Tander for the last podium position. Mostert – who is proving himself a strong contender – held on to third, his second podium in consecutive events. “I didn’t get the best start in the one this morning, but to go from pole to a win is fantastic,” Courtney said getting out of the car. “Everyone’s done a great job, the monkey’s off our back and HRT’s definitely have to say they’re back. It’s fantastic.” ld
Photo by Judi McDona
Photo by Judi McDonald
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pitstop
Patrizi and Flack Claim S
peed and consistency has paid off for Michael Patrizi at Winton Motor Raceway with victory at Round Five of the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship, while Damien Flack claimed the Elite Class round win. Following Patrizi’s Race One win on Saturday, the West Australian placed second in Race Two, unable to hold off the fastpaced Shae Davies in the 11-lap race. Davies pulled away from the field to take a four-second victory and a new lap record over Patrizi, Nick Percat and Steven Richards in fourth. Elite Class race winner Flack placed fifth, holding off Championship leader Craig Baird to the chequered flag, with Baird in sixth from Adam Gowans, Duvashen Padayachee, Richard Muscat and Warren Luff in 10th. Paul Kelly finished 11th from Michael Loccisano, Max Twigg, James Bergmuller, Shane Smollen, Tony Walls, Rusty French and Renee Gracie in 18th.
Photo by Judi McDonald
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Percat then charged to the early lead in Race Three, ultimately taking victory from Baird and Patrizi. Third for Patrizi was enough to secure him the round win, joined by Percat and Davies in the Winton top three of the Professional Class round points. “This is what we go racing for. We come racing to win, and that’s what we’ve done here this weekend,” said Patrizi. “We did what we had to do to win, but we’re not fast enough. We’ll keep pushing and arrive at Bathurst as strong as ever. I’ve always been quick at Bathurst. We’ll see what happens there next round, but hopefully I can win like I did last time. That’s the plan.” Race Two winner Davies dropped to fourth by the finish,
Winton round win largely due to a mishap at the opening corner of the race, from Luff, Muscat, Richards and Elite Class race winner Flack in eighth. The result placed Flack on top of the Elite Class points at Winton, joined by Gowans and Kelly in the top three in class for the round. “I’d never been racing before at Winton so I’m absolutely ecstatic to win here this weekend,” said Flack. “I was sixth, fifth and eighth in the weekend’s three races. It was great to get the Elite Class win, but also to place so far up the field throughout the Winton round.” Shane Smollen placed ninth in the final race from Tony Bates, James Bergmuller, Tony Walls, Paul Kelly, Duvashen Padayachee and Rusty French in 15th. Craig Baird now holds a strong 98-point lead in the Professional Class standings from Percat, Luff, Richards and Patrizi. Flack’s impressive weekend has placed him only three points behind Elite Class leader Twigg, with James Koundouris and Smollen third and fourth in points.
SEPTEMBER 2013
B
rendon Pingel (league Motorsport Australia) has driven his Holden Cruze Aussie Racing Car to victory in round 4 of the 2013 Aussie Racing Cars Series at Winton Motor Raceway at the weekend. This marks the first ever round win for the League Sponsored car and the first time a 2013 Spec ARC Car of the Future has won a round. “It’s awesome to win two races this weekend (race 2 and 4) and go on to take the round win at Winton this weekend. We have been in Aussie Racing Cars for three years now and all the hard work is starting to pay off. The car was perfect all weekend and it’s a real credit to the Team to come away with not only race wins but the overall round win as well” Said an elated Brendon Pingel following the presentation of Trophies. The Winton circuit dealt some challenging conditions for ARC drivers over the weekend with heavy rain drenching the circuit for both practice and Qualifying on Friday morning with a slightly drier track for race one on Friday afternoon. The challenging conditions were managed well by former ARC champion, Kyle Clews who secured the round win in race 1 followed by Maurice Masini, who currently leads the overall standings and Darren Chamberlin third. A safety car period was called early on lap three so recovery teams could remove a stranded car from the side of the main straight, following which the field formed up two wide for the rolling re-start. Into turn 1 following the safety car period, former go-karter, Hagen Skinner tried an ambitious late brake maneuver which didn’t quote come off ploughing into the back of Adam Uebergang’s Falcon. Hagen’s Falcon was thrown up into the air on contact damaging the oil cooler system and dumping oil all over the race line of turn 1 and 2. Track officials failed to identify the huge oil slick on the circuit and didn’t display an oil flag so when the field arrived at the turn the next lap around they were unaware of the treacherous conditions that’s awaited them. One by one the leading cars hit the oil, spun and slammed into the wall on the outside of the track. Kyle Clews was first at the time and was first to find the oil and slam into the wall. A gaggle
Aussie Racers of cars followed, still unaware of the oil on the track including Darren Chamberlin, Trent Young, Martin Deckert, Ruth bowler, Maurice Masini, Mark Duckworth, Hayden Stephensen, Gus Robbins, Lachlan McDonald and John Reynolds. Stephensen, Bowler, Masini and Duckworth managed to re-join the race with minor damage. Brendon Pingel went on to win the race from Chris Stevenson in second and Dean Cottrell in third place. Race 3 on Saturday afternoon was equally as challenging for the ARC drivers. Following another safety car period for a minor incident, the restart went smoothly but into turn 3, Maurice Masini and Dean Cottrell touched wheels with Dean’s Artmetal Coatings car riding up on the VIP Petfoods Car’s right rear wheel throwing Cottrell’s car into a wild roll. The Cottrell car rolled over the bonnet of Masini’s car and skidded down the track on its roof to come to rest on its side. Masini continued on but was forced to retire with a broken rose joint in the front suspension. Mark Griffith, who started from pole position in his all new Euro GT Aussie Racing Car led from start to finish holding out defiant challenges from Darrell Lea’s Travis Edwards early on and ZMM’s Kyle Clews in the later part of the race. This was Mark Griffith’s first ever race win in ARC and the first time the new Euro GT, which was launched at round 3 in QLD last month had ever won a race. Mark Griffith is a long standing ARC competitor, previously running an ARC factory car several years ago and stepping up his involve-
Photo by Judi McDonald
ment in the category to run his own 5 car team for 2013 which includes 4 fully fledged Arrive and Drive cars plus solutions for transport, maintenance, pre-race prep, repairs, event catering and more from his QLD base. The round result came down to the final race of the weekend. Brendon Pingel and Travis Edwards battled for 10 laps with Travis holding Brendon out for much of the race until a small error by Edwards allowed Pingel to draw up alongside the Darrell Lea Toyota Aurion in the tight turn 7 setting him up for the inside run into turn 8. The two cars muscled around the tight turn 8 side by side with Pingel managing to achieve better mid corner speed emerging slightly in front of Edwards. That’s how the two would cross the finish line 2 laps later handing Brendon Pingel his first ever round win. Travis Edwards secured enough points for second overall and Maurice Masini, despite a DNF in race 3 had enough points to finish on the podium in third place. Hayden Stephensen was impressive all weekend despite battling with engine overheating issues to finish in his best ever overall position of 4th place. Stephensen actually tied on points with Masini for third place but on a count back, Masini was to get the overall 3rd place trophy. Hayden was however the first placed Rookie for the round, winning the Rookie Trophy for the first time. Darren Chamberlin took out the Masters Cup and Mark Griffith secured the ARC Gold Cup for the round.
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pitstop
Taz Douglas In The
H
eading into the Winton round of the Dunlop V8 Supercar Series, Image Racing’s Taz Douglas admitted that to be any kind of title threat he’d need to qualify on the front two rows. “Once you’re back in the pack, you’re no chance to make it to the front, especially around a circuit like Winton which provides very few overtaking opportunities,” he explained. “Once you’re at or near the front, the rest plays out for itself..” or at least it should. Quick in practice, the ex-Shane Van Gisbergen ARVO Falcon was quick in the opening group of qualifying, in fact so quick that he held the top spot at the end of the session. With the second group holding the points leaders, Douglas was dropped back from the front row, but retained a second row start for Saturday’s opening 12-lapper. “I haven’t had a single drama getting off the line in this car, but in race one I held 50% throttle and broke
into wheelspin,” he admitted. “I held the line down into turn one, but knew that there’d be guys firing up the inside, and sure enough, I got served in the rear wheel.” From behind him New Zealand’s Chris Pither got a strong start, but he was squeezed into Douglas after diving deep into the turn three wide - with Cameron Waters - turning Douglas around and into the
path of the oncoming field. “I knew we were in for trouble, so I just held on and prayed. We copped a few hits, but whilst the car was a bit average from there, I managed to turn it around and keep going.
“From that point on it was hard work, but I managed to work my way from last to 20th over the closing laps, but when you’re stuck in the pack like that, it’s bedlam..” Post-race inspections revealed that damage was predominantly superficial, although bodywork had been forced onto the rear tyres all but destroying two of their allocated batch ahead of the two final races. “That caused us issues in the final race, but all up, the damage was fairly light all things considered. Look, I have to take some ownership for what happened, because I was slow away, but I held my line on the outside into turn one. Pither went in too deep, but I would say he was helped by Waters. It wasn’t intentional by either of them, but you’re not going to fit three or four cars into turn one at Winton, so something had to give.” Despite giving the car less throttle off the start of Sunday morning’s second race, Douglas quickly found
Dunlop
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SEPTEMBER 2013
himself going backwards again heading down to turn one. “I used 40% throttle this time, which was less than at previous rounds, and more wheelspin. Again I was stuck in amongst the tail-enders, which isn’t where you want to be. It’s different in the main game, because that whole field is capable of winning, but the guys at the back of the Dunlop Series field can be as much as ten seconds a lap slower than the front
guys, and when overtaking is difficult, you lose so much time to the leaders and it becomes harder to make up positions.” Fifteenth for race two, led to an 18th placed start for the final race, the ARVO Falcon circulating with well worn tyres to grab 15th again at the flag. “Sunday was crazy,” he admitted post-race. “All the drivers - both Dunlop Series and the main game - complained about grip. It was like driving on ice. Understeer into snap oversteer, and it didn’t matter what you did with setup, you just couldn’t find a perfect balance, so you really just had to hang on.” Despite the frustrating end result, Douglas was reflective on what started as a fantastic weekend, but ended with more frustration. “Funnily enough, I’m not disappointed because we have pace, and that’s usually the hardest thing to find. “It’s only a matter of time before something DOESN’T go wrong.. and we’ll show just how quick we
series
Photo by Judi McDonald
are, with any luck that will come at Bathurst.” Whilst the Image Racing team will return the ARVO Racing Falcon to its pristine best ahead of the Supercheap Auto 1000 in October, Douglas has a busy month ahead of him with his first event as part of the Norton 360 Nissan team at the forthcoming Sandown 500. “It’s the right time to be a part of the Nissan team,” he agreed, in reference to enduro team-mate James Moffat’s maiden race win for the team at Winton. “We knew they’d be quick there, so when they started off the front for race one, both Dan Gaunt (Michael Caruso’s enduro partner) and I donned our Norton 360 gear to head down to the pits whilst the race was on for a show of force. They did a great job, and it showed how far they’ve come. “We have a ride day with the team in the next couple of weeks, and then it’s on to Sandown and Bathurst where hopefully we’ll see success in the Falcon, and score a strong result for the Nissan team.”
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pitstop
De pasq sweeps winton to take title lead
A
RESURGENT Anton De Pasquale has won the fourth round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship, surging to the outright series lead in the process. The 17-year-old high school student from Werribee in Melbourne won all three races this weekend at Winton Motor Raceway in regional Victoria, regaining the points lead he lost to rival Macauley Jones at the series’ most recent hit out in Queensland. The Shamik Racing / Sonic Motor Racing Services driver scored a com-
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manding pole position on Saturday and in a comprehensive weekendlong performance, beat Jones home in the first two races of the weekend. In the third, Safety-car interrupted race, Jones retired whilst running
second - allowing Anton to complete the sweep and regain the championship lead. Earlier in the weekend, he took pole by a massive seventenths of a second on a drying track during qualifying on Saturday morning, saving his best lap until last to sweep the field in the most dominant single-lap performance of the season. He now has an 8 point lead over Jones having entered the round 21 behind. With Jones failing to finish the third race, Sam Power inherited second overall for the round in a weekend of
SEPTEMBER 2013
quale Photo by Judi McDonald
constant improvement for the AVCS Consulting-sponsored Spectrum driver. Qualifying sixth, Power finished the three races in fifth, third and second, respectively and also leaped to third in the overall series standings – 45 points behind Jones. Victorian rookie James Golding (a former karting rival of round winner De Pasquale) finished third overall, having taken his Gippsland Body Builders Spectrum 014 to a trio of fourth-placed results across the three races, respectively. It was the national championship debut for the former Karting star, showcasing
his potential in front of the Winton crowd this weekend – scoring second place on the grid after an impressive qualifying performance. Jones’ pair of second-place race finishes gave him fourth for the round, though his race three DNF was costly given the fact his key championship rival was leading the race at the time – and would go on to win.
An electrical issue sidelined his CAMS Rising Stars Mygale on the fifth lap of the twelve contested, costing him not only the championship lead but any hope of a round podium. Jones’ teammate, Liam Sager, also suffered from a similar issue in race two – ultimately costing him in the round and overall standings as well. Sager had finished third in race one on Saturday however was sidelined from the second race and had to work from the back of the field to an eventual 6th place finish in race three. He slips behind Sam Power in the overall standings and now sits fourth at the series’ half-way point. Queenslander Jordan Lloyd had an ever improving weekend in his BF Racing Mygale and finished fifth overall – a position he also maintains in the overall series standings. Lloyd only qualified 11th, but charged his way through to seventh in race one, fifth in race two and third in the finale’ – a good enough drive to the top to earn him the EWP Hard Charger award for round four. Female racer Chelsea Angelo had a difficult initiation to nationallevel competition, though preserved through the opening races to end the final race of the weekend in a strong seventh position driving her OzStaff / Evans Motorsport Mygale. Promoted as the ‘Nations Action track’, Winton Motor Raceway served up action-packed racing across the trio of Formula Ford races at the weekend, with potential contenders frustrated by challenging weekends. Stars of the most recent rounds, including Thomas Randle and Luke Marquis, struggled to complete a consistent weekend – Randle only scoring nine points across the weekend and Marquis just the solitary point from 10th in race two. Wet conditions off line made for easily-bogged cars and as such both races two and three each featured two interventions from the Safety Car. After a tough weekend at Winton and after three rounds across a six week period, Australian Formula Ford Championship competitors will now enjoy a two-month break until the next round – to be held at the Armor All Gold Coast 600 on the streets of Surfers Paradise.
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Photo by John Smith
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f the race o ’s g n i n i DR rta t ente holrs and A s o m ance of the als, St some re of Radic nd perform Stholr n o t a but pu d. A mixtu of speeds the 1000cc naged to n y a t i e in e p k i r e w m a e o w R8’3 m victory arl Cha tav S B a l e t a n h t a c e d i t r t l k S mean esent. Dar the big Rad arlow too rbett akefie NSW of the ies visits W ver 170 pr ut Co ts B d n u were do ssive b the straigh cal of John e e egor t th ro r t r c r a p a u c u r o i t m f d e i he nin ip at r en was down e Rad p had ampionsh ing a 1 hou day p him 2 while th m u onshi h r e h c t own & The race b Cars. Satu had and d ces 1 . a p u R Park. e Feature s s n t g i e r battl erka that ourin Th aces 3 ber of Tim Brook river cars. oduction T duty. Sup ack in the took R m u n y r p a a P cd l’s o ld d d ce for es on one our races t to Wakefie ee ha CXC Globa put the cx a V r a e l c u i f d s n an or th d an Form But it was name categ ampio nd wi eeken hip. . w d l e had to y 22 cars a Some new stralian Ch some e h fi t r fo the g u ions y. lth ictory he champ a hea e very bus Multiple A both gettin tralian V k o t to e s er er ad of day w lude form d Sam Ros e AASA Au the le n c i n h t n a i e Park lvean eld befor ber. rs fi n McI umbe Warre les at Wake t in Novem e smaller n i h en race m ionship ev ad one of t h p s t m r o Cha persp The su
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pitstop pitstop Andrew Macpherson in his SR3
Supersports Race start
Scott Reed in the Mustang
In the Formula Racing cars, Garnett Patterson drove flawlessly all weekend. Setting lap times seconds faster than his nearest rivals. Patterson won the trophy race in a canter ahead of Darren Choon. Last years champion Nathan Gotch was not at this round which allows Graeme Holmes to sneak onto the podium. In the Sports Sedans Anthony Ma-
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cready took advantage of an incident between front runners Chris Jackson and Grant Doulman. Macready took victory ahead of Billy Cetin in his Camaro and a couple of ex supercars being Simon Copping in a Commodore and Stuart Inwood in an ex SBR Falcon. The feature Race of the weekend was the one hour Production touring
Car race. Bob Pearson has put down a very quick time in qualifying backing up from his National form winning in Queensland. Last year Champion Gerry Murphy was hot on his heals locking out the front row for the EVO X brigade. Pearson got away early and Murphy co driving with Jim Pollicina headed a big field of HSV’s with Matt Holt
SEPTEMBER 2013
Photo by Will Liston
and Tony Virag leading the charge. Virag who had some quick pace early slipped back and Holt then took up the challenge to the EVO’s. The race had action all the way through the 32 ca grid and with a couple of safety car bunching up the pitstop timing was all important. Rod Thorpe’s monaro managed to jump Brian Anderson BMW in the Pit
Stops. Dean Potts car expired on the start finish straight with flames billowing from the engine bay with a minute to run causing a red flag finish. Pearson took the Victory ahead of Murphy and Pollicina and Holt in third. Chris Reeves followed on his winton form finishing first in the small car class in his Toyota 86. The next round of the series is at the Shannons
Nationals at Wakefield Park. On the programme will also be the National Production cars giving a good indication on comparative speeds of the NSW series Vs the National series.. 2013 will See three rounds of the championship return to Wakefield Park. The categories will mix and maych whitch rounds they will appear at betweens SMSP and Wakefield.
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pitstop
What I have been doing at
Winton Raceway! Name: Bryson Lloyd Lives at: Echuca. Type of Vehicle: 2004 Toyota Celica 1.8L 4 cylinder
Photo by Judi McDonald
Events: Currently running the Benalla sprint series with the Celica in H1 under 2 litre high performance. My times are currently 1:40:095 hoping to break into the 1:39's. At the Phillip island 6 hour Regularity came 3rd last year and hope to better the result this year, and raced sport sedans at Sandown raceway in May for the Victorian state round; I ended up 18th out of 28 for the round. Career: started racing at the age of 14 at the Deniliquin car club, and visited Winton raceway when I was 16. We decided to call Winton our home circuit joining Benalla auto club in 2009. Our family run team is called 'Lloyd Motorsport' with my father Ian 'Lloydy' to most and my wife Tamara as pit crew.
We have always had competitive and reliable cars and hope to continue this for many years to come together with major sponsors, Laser Electrical Echuca Moama, Riverina Panels Deniliquin and other sponsors such as D'Alberto motors Echuca, Pumps Tyres Echuca, Tracey Exhaust Echuca and Phase autos Campberfield, we are also starting to have a fan base that are making their way to the track, it is a big part of the sport and we couldn’t do it without them. My second car, is a 1997 Nissan skyline 2.5L Turbo. We are currently running the autocross events at Deniliquin where it is a very competitive car, and is going through some performance upgrades at the moment and am hoping to have it at Winton by the end of 2013.
T
he Australian motor sport landscape is set for change with the cessation of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at the end of 2013. The vibrant State Formula Ford Championships will continue to grow in 2014 and beyond, however the Australian Formula Ford Championship will not run in 2014. CAMS will be reviewing alternative formats for Formula Ford beyond the state championships and one proposal could see a Formula Ford Festival, which would be held in conjunction with selected national motor sport events annually. CAMS embarks on this new direction for Formula Ford having reviewed the sustainability of the current national series. What had become clear is that the Australian Championship was not viable in the long term. CAMS Chief Executive Eugene Arocca says the costs of staging the national competition together with a lack of manufacturer support have prompted the change for Formula Ford which has a long and proud history in Australia, having been the breeding ground of many champions. “As much as CAMS would like to see a thriving national Formula Ford competition, this has been and will be difficult to achieve. We agreed to run the category in 2013 when the Category Manager at the time was not
Photo by Ju
udi McDonald
Nine are Australian champions:
able to continue doing so due to financial pressures - primarily a result of the withdrawal of important funding from the manufacturer. Those pressures have not eased and despite careful management of the category this year by CAMS, we simply cannot justify the
time and money it will take to continue doing so beyond 2013.” “It is expensive for everyone competing in the national competition and we feel there is a better, more affordable, more sustainable way of showcasing Formula Ford racing nationally.“ Mr Arocca
Jamie Whincup - 2002 champion Will Davison - 2001 champion Garth Tander -1997 champion Jason Bright -1995 champion Craig Lowndes -1993 champion Russell Ingall -1990 champion, 1993 British champion Chaz Mostert -2010 champion Tim Blanchard -2007 champion, 2nd in 2008 British title David Reynolds -2004 champion Four more won titles overseas: Scott Pye - 2010 British champion, 3rd in 2009 AUS title James Courtney - 2001 British champion Fabian Coulthard - 2001 NZ champion Shane Van Gisbergen- 2005/06 NZ champion And another seven collected title silverware on their way to V8s: Mark Winterbottom - 2nd in 2002 title, 2002 Rookie of the Year James Moffat -3rd in 2007 title, 2007 Rookie of the Year Rick Kelly -2nd in 2000 title Alex Davison -3rd in 1999 title Tim Slade Dean Fiore
-2nd in 2006 championship -2004 Rookie of the year, 2x WA champion
Todd Kelly
-3rd in 1997 title
n a i l a r t s u A e Th t r o p s r o t o m
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