Issue 7 • 2011

Dan WhelDon1978-2011

9100-77LIMITED EDITION

IndyCar DriverAlex Tagliani

Signature Chronograph

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Available at Fine Jewelry Stores

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_JorgGray_P1_MagazineAd_Australia.indd 1 8/15/11 10:46 AM

IT’S HAPPENING IN 2012.

formula3.com.au

I was getting kind of excited by the thoughts of F1 going down to the wire in the final two rounds –

bugger. We’ve seen it a lot in the past where a driver takes the title too early. I guess there is no fix for that apart from other teams and drivers having to step up – easily said, obviously difficult to do. Still, you can’t help but admire Vettel’s skill as a race car pilot, I still have arguments with people around the campfire who talk up the car a lot and give little credit to the person controlling it. But the reality is, the difference in pressing the throttle by 5mm, turning the steering wheel that extra or less of a degree, braking or backing of that one metre different to others… it’s those little tiny things that make a huge difference outside of the car itself. Vettel has proven he has the ability to judge and do.

One item of motorsport that made me shake my head in dismay recently was the performance by Kyle Busch in the Nascar Truck Series at the Texas Motor Speedway. If you are unaware of the incident then do a quick internet search in the news items, but more particularly in the video sites – you will also be shaking your head. What he did was unforgivable, and he was subsequently banned from racing the rest of the weekend. He has now been put on probation and any further incidents will incur an indefinite ban – so be it too. I’d like to know your thoughts on the matter, so feel free to join the P1 Forum to have your say www.p1forums.net

Finally, as we are all aware, October 2011 was a sad time in motorsport for the four wheel and two wheel fraternities. Like all motorsport followers we here at P1 were just as shocked as we witnessed the sad happenings at Indycar and MotoGP, many words have been shared since the occurrences, but for us, we have only two – Kia Kaha (Be Strong).

See you trackside….

Sooty

editor’s notes the team

EDITORIAL

Kia Kaha Media

PO Box 37 978, Parnell Auckland, New Zealand

PHONE +64 21 757 747

FAX +64 9 528 3172

EMAIL info@kiakahamedia.com

www.p1forums.net

EdItOr IN cHIEF Ned Dawson

PrOjEct MANAgEr Cathy Horton

EdItOr Craig Lord

Sub EdItOrS Leigh Neil

F1 EdItOr David Tremayne

cONtrIbutINg EdItOrS

Elysia Pratt

David Turner

Jacki Warnock

NAScAr Stephen Thomas

cONtrIbutINg PHOtOgrAPHErS Ned Dawson

Dirk Klynsmith

cOLuMNIStSAlex Tagliani

Chris Jewell

PrOOFrEAdINg Barbara McIntosh

grAPHIc dESIgN Dot Design

dIgItAL EdItION www.zinio.com

WEb dESIgN Fuel Design

contentsregulars

10 F1 TEnsIOn Scrappy racing and damaged cars, it seems the way to win is just to stay out of trouble.

28 GP2 – ThE YOunG PRIncE Heading back to the track after a four week break

following the Hungarian races, it was only a matter of time before Romain Grosjean was crowned the 2011 GP2 Series Champion.

44 GP3 – nO EAsY PATh GP3 has raised many eyebrows this season – not from

any marring incidents or lackluster, but from stunning and exciting racing.

110 nEw TRIO AT ThE TOP History may end up repeating itself as three young guns

from down under work hard to emulate and possibly surpass those that ventured before them.

126 F3 – unDER ThE Gun PRESSURE. It’s on every racing driver, young or old – but it’s the young drivers who probably feel it the most.

138 GARTh’s MIRAcLE Has there ever been a better Grandstand finish than the one we witnessed at Bathurst this year – short answer, no.

156 BOOGIDY – BOOGIDY – BOOGIDY ThIs Is REAL RAcIn’ BOYs! Darrell Waltrip had the experience that many would give up an arm for – or maybe even their first born child….

158 RAcER’s GOT TALEnT? With the current worldwide television fetish of Idol and Talent shows it is no wonder that it moved into sport.

168 FORMuLA FORD – JunIORs MAKE ThEIR MARK At just 17 years of age, Cameron Waters has already achieved a lot.

62 TRIuMPhAnT RETuRn After a difficult season in GP3 last year, Italian

Mirko Bortolotti returned to the FIA Formula Two Championship in 2011 with one goal in mind – to win.

76 DAnnY BOY David Turner shares his thoughts from afar about the

man he met and became friends with.

92 MAnAGInG ThE RIsKs As seen in very recent times, motorsport is dangerous

but it would be impossible to remove all risks from this code. The best that can be offered is the continuing trial of managing them.

BEHIND THE VISOR 90

TAKING STOCK 105

TECH TORQUE 125

F1 / GP2 / GP3

OCEANIA

EUROPE

AMERICA

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contact us:

Kia Kaha MediaPo Box 37 978 Parnell, auckland new Zealand

P: +64 21 757747 f: +64 9 5283172

e: info@kiakahamedia.com

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OUT NOW £40.00

Jochen Rindt

Available from all good bookshops or ORDER DIRECT on Tel: 01963 442030

www.haynes.co.uk/jochenrindtBooks for enthusiastsby enthusiasts

Written by David Tremayne

Foreword by Sir Jackie Stewart

This investigation of Rindt’s mercurial career paints the portrait of a man taken long before he reached his true potential and puts an underwritten character into his real perspective, as one of the greatest Grand Prix drivers of all time.

JR.indd 1 5/4/11 14:02:07

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F1/GP2/GP3

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formula 1

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Pressure is possibly the most used cliché in

motorsport. Who can handle it, who can’t, who

will falter and trip when the hurdles are put

before them – it does seem that Vettel could well

be one of the coolest under pressure.

story by Jacki Warnock photos by ned daWson

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formula 1

Under clear blue Italian skies, Sebastian Vettel moved one step closer to becoming the youngest ever back to back formula one

World Champion at the autodromo di monza; the same place he scored his maiden win for Toro rosso in 2008.

Starting from pole, the 24 year old was beaten off the start line by a quick fernando alonso, the pair battling with lewis Hamilton into the first corner. Behind them everything began to go pear shaped for the middle of the field as an out of control Tonio liuzzi slid across the grass and into the unsuspecting cars of Vitaly Petrov and Nico rosberg. australian Daniel ricciardo managed to stay out of the trouble after stalling on the grid at the start.

The track was cleared in record time and racing was once again under way with alonso leading the pack from Vettel before michael Schumacher made a move on mclaren’s unsuspecting lewis Hamilton for third. red Bull racing suffered their first retirement of the season after mark Webber made contact with

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an out of control tonio liuzzi slid across the grass and into the unsuspecting cars of Vitaly petroV and nico rosberg.

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the track was cleared in record time and racing was once again under way with alonso leading the pack from Vettel.

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ferrari’s felipe massa, attempting to continue on after the collision, unaware of the damage to his rB7 which resulted in the front nose wrapping under itself and putting the australian into the gravel at Parabolica.

Despite his team mate’s race being over, Vettel pushed on to make a daring move on alonso, flying down the outside of Curva Grande and into the second chicane, proving that he is more of a racer than critics have previously given him credit for. Sitting in the lead,

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the young German once again pulled away from the pack as a multi-lap fight between Schumacher and Hamilton broke out.

The mercedes looked to have a speed advantage over the mclaren initially, with the pair battling long and hard for position. Defensive driving from the Schumacher of old gave the 2008 champion a headache as he tried everything to steal the position from the elder statesman of the sport. Come lap 13, Hamilton found a way past,

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only to have Schumacher reclaim the position almost immediately. a fast approaching Button soon joined the pair’s battle, and frustratingly for his mclaren team mate, was able to pass them both within a matter of laps.

following the pit stops, Hamilton once again emerged behind Schumacher, only managing to get past with 15 laps to go. many felt that a number of moves made by the latter were pushing the boundaries of the rule book, appearing to weave on a number of occasions to hold position. regardless no penalty was given, and Hamilton eventually earned his rightful place on track.

Button’s charge through the field continued as alonso became his next victim, solidifying his second place behind the runaway Vettel. Despite a late race challenge from Hamilton, the Spaniard held onto third to move into second in the championship. Hamilton and Schumacher rounded out the top five.

With a 112 point lead, Vettel goes into the race at the marina Bay Circuit in Singapore mere points away from winning the sports most coveted prize for the second time in as many years. first place may seem a foregone conclusion but the race for second continues to heat up. P1

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GP2 SerIeS

Heading back to the track after a four week break following the Hungarian races, it was only a matter of time before Romain Grosjean was crowned the 2011 GP2 Series Champion, backing up his 2010/11 GP2 Asia Series win with yet another title.

story by Jacki Warnock

photos by ned daWson

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For the penultimate round of the 2011 GP2 Series at Spa-francorchamps

mother nature turned on the water works for the friday qualifying session which saw Christian Vietoris nab pole position from luca filipi and Jules Bianchi. The would be champ in Grosjean had a session to forget, starting seventh, much lower down the order than was to be expected.

The weather had cleared come feature race day Saturday, which saw Vietoris lead from lights to flag for his maiden win of the season. Behind him was where all the action was going on as Bianchi flew past filippi

jumping into second place, while Grosjean lept into third. His closest threat to the 2011 title, Giedo van der Garde had a start to forget, suffering contact and pushed off at turn one before rejoining at the back of the pack.

The heavens opened on lap 13, causing little drama to the field as they filed into the pits to change to wet weather tyres. an appearance by the safety car following a spin at eau rouge by Julian leal saw the drama continue as Stefano Coletti was injured after a clash with a much slower mikhail aleshin whose engine had all ready gone into safety mode. The race stayed under yellow while

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on saturday giedo van der garde had a start to forget, suffering contact and pushed off at turn one before rejoining at the back of the pack.

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the Trident racer was assisted out of his car, later being diagnosed with two compressed vertebrae, forcing him out of the remainder of the season.

The final lap saw the safety car return to pit lane to allow the field one more chance at racing. Positions remained relatively unchanged as Vietoris won from filippi and Grosjean.

for the reverse grid sprint race Sunday filippi was able to secure his second win of the season following a fast and furious race. Beginning in

fifth position it was no mean feat as the Scuderia Coloni driver picked off his opposition one at a time. By lap 7 he was one second quicker than pole man and race leader Josef Kral and soon in second position after having passed Cecotto, now in third. His charge was temporarily halted when a safety car was deployed following a massive crash at eau rouge by fabio leimer.

making up for lost time at the restart, filippi remained committed to securing the race lead, passing Kral at eau rouge ensuring the top

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step of the podium would be his at days end. The over taking moves came thick and fast for the rest of the field, positions changing and with some drivers finding themselves three wide after la Source in the midst of the battle.

Bianchi held on for second, with Kral kept third place from a determined newly crowned series champ in Grosjean, while Bird ended in fifth, leaving the battle open for series runner up wide open into the final round at monza.

frenchman Charles Pic found

himself on pole for the final feature race of the season but it was a home grown talent in filippi who would please the Tifosi and take the victory, flying past Pic at race start and leading convincingly until the chequered flag. With filippi going quicker and quicker, pulling a strong lead over the field, Pic was constantly battling to hang onto his second place.

The round of pit stops saw the Italian hold onto his first place after setting numerous fastest laps over the course of the race giving him a more than comfortable time

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GP2 SerIeS

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advantage over the remainder of the field. Pic was able to hold on to second, giving him a one point advantage over filippi in the fight for series runner up heading into the final sprint race on Sunday.

a botched start by front rowers, reverse grid poleman Bianchi and leimer allowed German Vietoris to move into first place, a position he held until the end of the final GP2 Series race of the season.

Behind the top three, drama broke out when Pic ran into the newly crowned Grosjean and rival filippi.

only filippi was able to continue without too much damage, soon passing esteban Gutierrez for sixth. local hero filippi was caught in a battle for ‘vice-champion’ with Bianchi, the pair locked on points, soon realising the only way to get ahead without being able to make a move on track was to set the quickest lap on track and nab a point that way.

It worked, and filippi was named as runner up for the 2012 Series behind Grosjean, in front of Bianchi, with addax taking the team honours from DamS and race engineering. P1

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GP3 SerIeS

gp3 has raised many eyebrows this season – not from any marring incidents or lackluster, but from stunning and exciting racing.

story by Jacki Warnock photos by ned daWson

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GP3 SerIeS

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The 2011 GP3 Series had one thing that its two ‘big brother’ categories, GP2 and formula one, didn’t have. a championship that was wide open with five drivers left in contention until the penultimate race of the season in monza where Valtteri Bottas

was crowned following the final feature race.The young finn began his charge towards champion after a small break in

the season at Spa-francorchamps, taking the first race win of the weekend by a massive 6.495s from his lotus arT teammate and poleman James Calado.

right from the beginning the 22 year old’s intent was clear as he stole the lead from Calado. adrian Quaife-Hobbs moved into third, while a flying start from alexander Sims saw him climb from sixteenth to ninth by the end of the first lap. His good fortune soon came to an end, with five laps remaining, contact with Conor Daly saw the Brit drop through the field and out of points with steering problems. Despite managing to reign Bottas in towards in the end of the race, it was too little too late for Calado who had to settle for second from melker, Quaife-Hobbs and Daly.

New Zealand rookie richie Stanaway finished in eighth, gifting the Kiwi pole for the reverse grid race on Sunday. The luck continued for the 19 year old who

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held on for a lights to flag victory in the race, taking a win on his first weekend in the GP3 Series.

Despite losing the lead initially to Nico muller, Stanaway’s focus remained on the top step of the podium, eventually making his way past the Jenzer motorsport driver and pulling out a commanding lead from the remainder of the field. Sim’s bad luck for the weekend continued, out of the race on just the first lap after yet more contact.

on a charge, fellow lotus arT driver Calado ploughed through the field and took second place, making it a one/two for the team. muller held onto third from Christensen and mW arden’s Simon Trummer in fifth.

With just one round and two races remaining, the championship was still wide open after Bottas finished back in 19th and out of the points after a clash with melker, leaving the finn just five points ahead of Calado.

any worry of a title slipping through his fingers would have been premature as Bottas hit back at the first race in monza just two weeks later. Securing the win and his fourth victory of the season saw the 20 year old take the second ever GP3 Series title, beating his teammate Calado to the honours after a fierce battle.

moving from fifth to third at the start of the race, Bottas was a man on a mission from the get go. It wasn’t all easy sailing for the finn, who temporarily lost the final podium position to rio Haryanto before making up the spot only a few laps later. muller took over the race lead from marussia manor racing’s

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GP3 SerIeS

Quaife-Hobbs and in a risky move the top three were soon running side by side, ending in Bottas making up yet another position.

Calado continued his climb through the pack, passing mW arden’s mitch evans and Haryanto to move into fourth. a safety car following Quaife-Hobbs’s mistake at ascari and subsequent contact with the wall bunched the field back up for the final three laps under green racing conditions which saw the lotus arT drivers fight through to first and second place respectively, sealing their championship fate.

finishing in eighth position meant two time pole sitter and Barcelona feature race winner, evans started from pole position for Sunday’s final reverse

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grid race of the season. after losing the lead briefly to antonio felix da Costa, evans took his rightful place at the front of the pack just a lap later. Daly’s race was over early after newly crowned series champion Bottas ran into the rear of his car, receiving a drive through penalty for his crime. Teammate and runner up Calado took the lead after moving past evans and felix da Costa, before evans once again fought back to hang onto the chance to be on top of the podium once again.

unfortunately for the 17 year old, Calado ran wide when attempting to take the lead back, making contact and unfairly ending the mW arden driver’s race.

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The Brit received a drive-through penalty for the offence which he did not complete, earning him a post race 20 second penalty and saw him dropped to fourteenth in the overall results.

Playing into the hands of those lucky enough to stay out of the drama, felix da Costa held on to take the final race win of the season, with Haryanto and muller rounding out the podium. lotus arT took the team’s championship from mW arden, setting the scene for an even bigger and better 2012 battle between them. P1

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PERFORMANCE COOLANTS

®

TM

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europe

PERFORMANCE COOLANTS

®

TM

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Formula 2

photos Courtesy F2

After a difficult season in GP3 last year, Italian Mirko Bortolotti returned to the FIA Formula Two Championship in 2011 with one goal in mind – to win. In front of his home crowd the 21-year-old duly delivered, securing the title and with it the prize that all aspiring racers dream of... a Formula One test. Tom Phillips reports.

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Formula 2

“my goal this year is to win,” is the response that came from mirko Bortolotti earlier this year when asked his ambitions

for the 2011 FIa Formula Two Championship. Five race wins, seven podiums and 97 laps spent in the lead later and the ultra cool Italian did just that, securing the F2 title at the penultimate rounds of the season and on his home soil of monza, Italy.

For his efforts, the 21-year-old may not have received a large cash sum

but arguably a prize that far exceeds this (at least for now), with a full test in the current Williams F1 car. under the noses of the F1 paddock in abu Dhabi later this year, the 21-year-old will get his ‘150 miles of fame’ as he attempts to show the world what he can do.

Given his dominance of the 2011 F2 season, Bortolotti will almost certainly impress behind the wheel of the Williams-Cosworth FW33 when the time comes, but 18 months ago

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things weren’t looking quite so rosy.after finishing an impressive

fourth in the inaugural F2 season in 2009, the multi-lingual, red Bull backed driver took the logical step of moving into the GP3 Series with Team addax. Yet, unlike his previous F2 season, the results were proving harder to come by and despite clawing back a podium late in the year, he could only manage 11th overall.

With limited budget and now

without the backing of the energy drinks giant, Bortolotti made the decision to return to the F2 series knowing full well that he had to win the series to reignite his career and dreams of driving in the pinnacle of motorsport.

like all good racers, the hardwork began before the season got underway with winter testing. Plenty of miles running different set-ups and configurations would prove to be the solid foundations he would need for

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victory, together with an ability to be not just quick but consistently quick.

Silverstone was the venue for the opening rounds of the 2011 season back in april where Bortolotti opened his account with a straight-forward lights-to-flag victory in race one. From then on he never really looked trouble, despite competition from the likes of Swiss Christopher Zanella and Spaniards miki monras and ramon Pineiro.

“obviously it was always our aim to win the championship,” says Bortolotti who is actually half Italian, half austrian, spending most of his time living just outside of Vienna. “Before the season though you say many things and then you have to prove it on the track, that’s the main thing in racing.”

Prove it he did though with pace that was rarely challenged this season together with some standout drives including a clean sweep of the honours during rounds seven and eight at Germany’s Nűrburgring. “my first win at the Nürburgring was pretty special as it was the first time I’d ever been to the circuit, I’d never

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FACt FILE

NAmE: mirko BortolottiAgE: 21NAtIoNALIty: Austro-ItalianLIvEs: vienna, AustriaspoNsors: Bortolotti CostruzioniINtErEsts: Fitness, playing the drumsrACINg IdoL: Kimi raikkonen

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even stepped foot on it before the weekend. We had great pace there and it was a big thing for me to win on my first visit,” continues Bortolotti.

Flashes of his raw talent also came at Spa-Francorchamps during qualifying for round five. In wet conditions Bortolotti left the field standing, going 1.398s quicker than his nearest rival, although later was stripped of his pole position for ignoring waved yellow flags – the first of three occasions this would happen.

although sometimes murmuring that the stewards were ‘against him’, Bortolotti never let this, or anything else for that matter, faze him, scoring well at every round regardless of conditions, familiarity or competition. In fact, he remains the only F2 driver

to have scored points at every round in 2011.

For his home rounds in monza (rounds 13 and 14), Bortolotti needed a mere two points from the second race to seal the deal but was determined to take the title in style, securing yet another pole and driving one of his best ever races to win after losing the lead early on.

“The race itself was quite interesting,” said Bortolotti afterwards. “my start was not so good and ramón Piñeiro managed to pass me into the first chicane. after that I felt I could go quicker and tried to get with him [Piñeiro] in the first couple of laps. as soon as I had a chance I tried to get my nose inside and pass him. ramon was very fair

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“mirko Bortolotti is another worthy winner of the F2 Championship. We have obviously followed his progress this season and witnessed some impressive performances, including points-scoring finishes in every round and five race wins. We are sure mirko will learn a lot from the test day he now has with us in Abu dhabi later this year and we look forward

to seeing what he can do in a Formula one car.”

sir Frank Williams, Williams F1 team principal, commends Bortolotti’s achievements.

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had the luck in the past to get some F1 tests so maybe that could help me but of course everything changed this year so it will be interesting to learn all the new parts that the F1 car has and try to give the best I can and enjoy the day.”

2011 has certainly been Bortolotti’s season and, in years to come, may well prove to be the turning point in the young racer’s career. From early success to disappoint in GP3, the newly crowned F2 champion, armed with an F1 test together with an FIa Superlicence, has indeed made a triumphant return. P1

when I did as he’s a true racer so that was a great battle between us and a great race and way to win the title.”

after some obligatory celebratory donuts, earning himself another trip to the stewards, Bortolotti was uncharacteristically lost for words, “Well, I don’t have words to explain it, I think I have to realise it which will take time. It’s just amazing for me, I’m very happy. I cannot say anything else.

“as for what happens in 2012 we’ll have to see. First of all I have to think about my Williams F1 test. I managed to win this prize so I will try to prepare myself as best as I can. I

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Teamwork, Precision, Performance.

Alex Tagliani is an IZOD IndyCar® Series driverIndianapolis 500 and IndyCar are registered trademarks of Brickyard Trademarks, Inc., used with permission. IZOD is a registered trademark of Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, used with permission.

Photography provided by INDYCAR / Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Bowers & WIlkins congratulate Sam Schmidt and the entire team for 

having put IZOD Indycar series driver Alex Tagliani on the pole at the 

100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500.

Listen and You’ll See

For more information and availability about Bowers & Wilkins products please contact B&W Group Ltd.

Dale RoadWorthing, West Sussex

BN11 Englandinfo@bwgroup.com

www.bowers-wilkins.com

BW-RaceCarAd-Austrailia.indd 1 8/16/11 10:15 AM

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americaTeamwork, Precision, Performance.

Alex Tagliani is an IZOD IndyCar® Series driverIndianapolis 500 and IndyCar are registered trademarks of Brickyard Trademarks, Inc., used with permission. IZOD is a registered trademark of Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, used with permission.

Photography provided by INDYCAR / Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Bowers & WIlkins congratulate Sam Schmidt and the entire team for 

having put IZOD Indycar series driver Alex Tagliani on the pole at the 

100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500.

Listen and You’ll See

For more information and availability about Bowers & Wilkins products please contact B&W Group Ltd.

Dale RoadWorthing, West Sussex

BN11 Englandinfo@bwgroup.com

www.bowers-wilkins.com

BW-RaceCarAd-Austrailia.indd 1 8/16/11 10:15 AM

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photos by DaviD turner & Courtesy inDyCar

David Turner is a television producer specialising in motorsport. Based in New Zealand he has had the privilege of attending various Indycar events which also included the Indy 500. He shares his thoughts from afar about the man he met and became friends with.

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Many words will be written in the days, months and years on dan Wheldon, many will talk of the great driver he was, there is absolutely no doubt of that. To become a two time winner of “The Greatest Spectacle in racing“ the indianapolis 500,

you are a great driver and for dan the indy 500 was, as he always referred to it, “the greatest race in the world”, to him indy was what it was all about, he loved everything about the place and it showed.

Highlighting his many racing successes would be easy along with his 134 starts in indy car Series racing, this is more an insight to the person he was ‘danny Boy’ as many knew him.

in the media we are lucky to meet so many professional people. in my case it has become sporting stars, mostly from the global motorsport family. i say family because this is exactly what it is, a family no matter how much the battles rage on and off track they are all still family. They travel together, they

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play together and become a giant family, sure the rivalries are there but the common bond is the sport. as an outsider, if the family accepts you then you have earned their trust and become part of the family as well and it is truly something you treasure. Over the past nine years of covering motorsport in a media role in the Untied States i have been lucky enough to become part of that indy car family.

Meeting dan for the first time in the summer of 2003 was one of those occasions when you meet a young driver on his way up, running parallel in many ways to someone that would become one of his closest friends kiwi Scott dixon. in dan’s case he had this appealing cheeky side, one you simply could not want to like and a humour that matched it. always there for the fans and the media because he enjoyed that role equally as much as the driving it was

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plain to see. He simply enjoyed what he did and he enjoyed meeting others that shared this sport that he was part of.

Over the nine years i met dan at either the indianapolis 500 each May or other indycar Series events across the season and he has never changed from the dan i meet the very first time. Likeable and approachable Wheldon always. Wining his second indy 500 this past May put him in a very select group of drivers however in many ways he was already there. a showman for sure but professional as well. a true ambassador for the sport in every sense of the word.

a member of the dream team at andretti Green (2003 - 05) comprising of himself along with dario Franchitti, Bryan Herta and Tony Kannan, then

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teammate to Scott dixon at Target chip Ganassi racing (2006 – 08), to a national Guard ambassador back at the team where he started is indy car racing journey, Panther racing (2009 – 10), Wheldon always shared that Wheldon smile. i recall him saying to me after the famous dental work he had done that he had never experienced anything so painful in all his life, followed by “but how do you like my smile now”.

The conversations i shared with him about is role back at Panther not only as a driver but also as an ambassador for the national Guard came with a sense of pride. He was proud to support the US Troops and share with them in is new found home in the US. at indy in May of 2008 i recall him playing on line guitar hero on a play station with a US Troop based in iraq, the two of them going head for head like young kids just moments after he had stepped out of his car

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Dan was simply a guy you could not help but like, always friendly, always with that cheeky smile, always there for the fan, accessible and likeable to the media, a driver that so enjoyed his job and his role of father to his family and wife.

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during practice for the 500 and his reaction “how cool was that, is that not a fun thing to do or what”.

He felt all new Zealanders ended a sentence with the term “oh yer” and every time he was to see us over all those years this term would always get used by him towards us. So much so if we ever needed his attention in a crowd you could simply shout out that same phase and he knew just who it was.

The prankster side in Wheldon rose again in 2009 when at the 500 he grabbed my credentials pass and scribbled onto it with a permanent marker, “don’t cheer for Scott cheer for d dub’. The thing about this is as media we are strictly told no autographs and there are quite strong penalties that arise as a result of this. Moments later i was back in the media centre and completely forgot dan had done this to my pass only to get asked by the head of credentials what was this on my credential. Thankfully it was seen in the correct way but Wheldon was to later say to me, “betta ya that got you in trouble” with his bright and yet cheeky smile.

Then there was dan the family man. at a pre season media day organized

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by the indy car Series at Homestead Miami Speedway and while doing interviews and promotional pieces for a TVnZ show with us he sprung into his hip pocket pulling out his wallet and showing us photos of his young son (Sebastian) and became the proud father rather than racecar driver for that moment in time. His next thought was and while on camera “imagine if my son dates dixie’s (Scott dixon) daughter later in life, ha i will really have the upper hand on him then”.

To 2011 and 100 years of the indianapolis Motor Speedway and dan was back at a place he so loved, indy. after not getting a full time drive for season 2011 he was back for the event that meant the most to him and with ex team mate now team owner Bryan Herta. This event really drove him, it ran strong within him and he quietly chipped away during practice and qualifying never really drawing to much attention but always there in the leading group. in that last corner drama he claimed his second 500 mile victory and even then while standing near the podium i let out the simple “oh yer” and he looked around saw me in the crowd and gave me a thumbs up. That was simply dan.

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We spoke briefly the next day about his role as development driver for the 2012 indy car and he was excited by it. a chance to help create the next generation car and one that would guide the sport into the future. This role meant a lot to him and he really knew it was a great project to be part of it. naturally of course he wanted a full time drive once more but for now he felt this was a great thing to be part of and was raring to go. its only fitting now that dallara are naming this new car after him and all the work he did, dan lives on with the dW12.

dan was simply a guy you could not help but like, always friendly, always with that cheeky smile, always there for the fan, accessible and likeable to the media, a driver that so enjoyed his job and his role of father to his family and wife. He will be deeply missed by many for that there is no doubt and remembered for all time as the great two-time indianapolis 500 champion he was. P1

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L ast you heard from me, we were headed

toward the last race of the 2010 indycar

season at the speedway in Las Vegas and i had

high hopes for winning that race in a grand fashion.

instead, that Sunday was the day that changed the

way so many of us look at the world of professional

motorsports.

it was the day of the horrific 15-car crash, 11 laps

into the race that stole away our friend and my

teammate Dan Wheldon.

There is so much emotion around the events that

unfolded that weekend and the build-up to the big

race with the “Go Daddy” challenge that was to see

Dan racing for the $5m prize pool with my team in

the #77 car. even now, it’s hard for so many of us to

remember the day and deep sadness wells up inside

when we think of what happened. There are so many

questions to answer… What should we have done

differently? What started it all? Was it preventable?

i think i have watched the replays over a hundred

times trying to process it all and what i am left with

is an unsurpassable passion to right the wrong, to

fight for change and to make this sport safer. racing

is in my blood, it pumps through my veins and it

fuels me everyday to a higher level of competition,

but this accident has shaken me to the core and left

me numb and wishing that we could have that day to

start over.

i want to take the opportunity to talk about the

Dan that i know, the funny and appreciative guy that

respected his fellow drivers and knew how to have

a good laugh, just long enough to flash his pearly

whites before beating you across the finish line with

a wink and a twinkle in his eye.

at the indy 500 this year, Dan was my teammate

as we had a technical partnership between Herta

autosport and SSm. We worked together all month

to get those cars fast and they were fast… indy 500

Pole for me and indy 500 win for Dan.

He was such a meticulous driver but great at

sharing information too. i had helped him with his

helmet position in the cockpit and i also convinced

Behind the

by Alex Tagliani

issue 7 91

him to switch to arai helmets for the first time. He

was so interested in everything, even fascinated by

my tattoos. i have Bronte’s name tattooed on my

arm in chinese characters and i don’t know, but

maybe it triggered an idea for him as the morning

of the Vegas race he had the tattoo of SW on his

wrist and was proud to show it to me as soon as we

arrived at the track.

He was my “little brother from another mother”

as i’m always calling people “brother” it’s like saying

“hey mate” and we appreciated each other with a

similar sense of humor. We just got each other, so i

gave him that nickname at the indy 500 and it stuck.

We had also done the winter tour go-karting

together so i saw him a lot at the tracks. Being in

a kart was a great way for both of us to stay fit

physically and mentally. For Dan, he always loved

karting and was very competitive, but it was also a

great way for him to relax and have some fun while

the professional racing season wasn’t started.

Vegas will always be a bitter-sweet place for me

now. Having lived there for 10 years and gaining

many friends there, i have many fond memories.

Unfortunately i now have one lingering slash that

also makes me wish i never have to go back.

i think after everything that happened in Vegas,

after all the time i was able to spend with Dan and

the special memories and moments that he shared

with me, i want the final message to read:

I love you my little brother from another Mother, you always were the true champion; the true lionheart and you will always be with us. We will race to honor your legacy and we will hold your memory close to our hearts and think of you with a smile and a wink, knowing you are watching. P1

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naScar

story by stephen thomas photos Courtesy nasCar

As seen in very recent times, motorsport is dangerous but it would be impossible to remove all risks from this code. The best that can be offered is the continuing trial of managing them.

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Talladega Superspeedway, known more simply to any and all as

Talladega, a two-and-almost-three-quarter mile long giant cut into the green countryside in rural alabama, 40 miles east of Birmingham. One of naScar’s two tracks (daytona being the other) where speeds climbed so dangerously high back in the late 1980s that the powers that be mandated the use of horsepower-sapping restrictor plates; seeing the great Bobby allison’s car launch itself crazily into the air in 1987 at 200 miles per hour and then into the protective fencing separating fans from track was enough to

convince the sport’s ruling class that something had to be done before someone got killed (though ‘driver safety’ was cited as the impetus for the move, cynics and naysayers would tell you that the sobering spectre of seeing allison’s car came perilously close to crushing members of the viewing public was naScar’s real motivating force).

in the intervening years, the restrictor plate and the spectacle it spawned, restrictor Plate racing, succeeded in damping speeds at Talladega and daytona. indeed, only once in the last quarter century has anyone come as close as allison did to landing in someone’s lap (a last-lap crash in april 2009 sent

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carl Edwards careening into the catch fence; naScar again averted disaster, with fewer than 10 fans injured). However, there was also an unfortunate byproduct to this improved ‘safety measure’: by limiting horsepower and lessening speed, naScar created a situation at both tracks where, often times, the entire 43-car field would, quite literally, be bumper-to-bumper, the distance from first to 43rd measured in hundredths of seconds. in theory, a wonderful scenario, a script that provided damn near anyone with a chance to win. in practice, however, those tight fields often times resulted in what came to be known as The Big One.

Think about it: 43 cars, some

driven by rookies, others driven by experts, still others ridden by guys who quite simply aren’t that good and maybe should have taken the weekend off. now, imagine what happens when robbie or dave or Jeff, running mid-pack, makes a mistake and clips the left rear quarter panel of the car in front of him, initiating a chain reaction of carnage. Or, more properly, The Big One, the accident that destroys half the field in one fell swoop. Four times every year, twice during the run-up to Talladega and twice before daytona, The Big One became everyone’s favorite parlor game: who would cause it, who would be caught up in it and whose season would be ruined as a result? is

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it any wonder that plate racing came to be seen as an obscene phrase, often times accompanied by a real obscenity modifying the noun, as in bleeping plate racing?

if nothing else, however, bleeping plate racing proved to be naScar’s ultimate wild card, races so thoroughly unpredictable, even by the standards of an absolutely unpredictable sport, that plate races at least had the power to alter the dynamics of a season in the blink of an eye. Of course, drivers strive to eliminate as many variables as possible, thereby improving their safety and chance for success; Talladega (and daytona) represent the ultimate, uncontrollable variable. if most drivers won’t admit to dreading a plate race, they will at least confess that they hope to survive it. To that end, quite often, no matter where they happen to start a plate race, top drivers will often immediately drop to the rear of the field, the better to cruise around and, theoretically at least, avoid the

trouble that always seems to occur in the field. The obvious result: plate racing tends to be thoroughly boring, interminable stretches of pack racing broken up by occasional spasms of total freaking chaos.

So, in an effort to split the pack and foster more side-by-side racing, naScar mandated some further changes to the cars. By one measure, they succeeded: the changes all but eliminated pack racing. But instead of one large school of cars completing lap after lap after lap as one, naScar spawned a Talladega that now features essentially 21 two-car packs (and one poor schlub who will be out of the race by Lap 22) completing lap after lap after lap in tandem.

“i think that there is an advantage to [this],” says Jeff Burton. “it does separate the field a little bit, but that’s not all bad. i’ve come [to Talladega] for a long time. Every time i come here, i’m pretty sure i’m going to get in a wreck. That’s a little odd way to race. Overall i think there’s less cars

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from fIrsT To 43rD meAsureD IN

HuNDreDTHs of seCoNDs.

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wrecked because of the tandem thing versus not having it. it does spread the pack out a little bit, but it doesn’t do it in a way that’s boring.”

it’s true that the some of the closest finishes in naScar history have occurred at daytona and Talladega in the last year, but it’s open to debate whether naScar has delivered a more exciting plate-racing product. The bulk of a plate race remains fairly static, there are just more packs circling the track in lockstep. it’s also true that the

new rules lessen the likelihood that a plate race will see The Big One, that someone’s season will be destroyed as a result of an accident caused by someone else’s stupidity or ineptitude. in short, the new rules make Talladega much more predictable, much less likely to turn the sport on its head in an instant.

But if the most recent race at Talladega didn’t feature a Big One, it still did a perfectly fine job dimming the hopes of a few drivers who nursed a dream of winning the chase

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for the championship, chief among them, Kevin Harvick. Harvick entered the race just five points behind overall leader carl Edwards. a disastrous 32nd-place finish dropped him to fifth, 26 points behind first place (under the new points system instituted by naScar for the 2011 season, it’s much more difficult to make up a substantial deficit in a few races).

“Obviously, that wasn’t the day we wanted,” Harvick told reporters after the race. “it is a little bit frustrating.

you do what you think is right at this particular track and you hope for the best. We had a lot of great runs in the weeks leading up to this and i guess the odds were against us coming into this one.”

in the previous five years, invariably, bad luck like Harvick’s seemed to rebound to one driver’s favor: jimmie Johnson. Some how, some way, Johnson and his crew chief chad Knaus managed to avoid all the pitfalls, all the crappy karma, all the bad breaks that undid his

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naScar

of Course, DrIvers sTrIve To elImINATe As mANy vArIABles As possIBle, THereBy ImprovINg THeIr sAfeTy AND CHANCe for suCCess; TAllADegA (AND DAyToNA) represeNT THe ulTImATe, uNCoNTrollABle vArIABle.

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competitors. it was as though the no. 48 team was perpetually sprinkled with fairy dust. But if Talladega didn’t provide us with a spectacular, field-destroying crash, it did offer something even more mind bending: the image of Johnson being caught out, in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Johnson entered the 32nd race of the season in eighth place, 35 points behind leader Edwards. On the heels of a disappointing 26th place finish, Johnson is now 50 points behind Edwards (albeit, one place higher, in seventh overall). Johnson was not mathematically eliminated from the title hunt, but it’s reasonable to say that his dream of an unprecedented

sixth-straight title took a severe hit. in fact, short of divine intervention, Johnson will not win his sixth straight title.

“i had hoped to make up some points on (Edwards),” Johnson told reporters, “but that didn’t happen. i don’t know where he finished, but there weren’t many cars behind me when i crossed the line. So i assume he was in front of me. But we’ll just keep fighting. Every position counts. Every spot counts. and i want to finish as high as i can in the points. if it isn’t the championship, i want to finish as high as i can possibly finish. So we’re going to keep fighting and see what we can do.”

Johnson being Johnson, and his

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resume being what it is, it’s probably unwise to discount the possibility of something magical and otherwise other-worldly seeing him through to still another title. and with just four races remaining, there is some incredibly solid data on which to base a case for optimism: in 61 career starts at the four remaining tracks, Johnson has a staggering 35 top five finishes, including 11 wins. and though Edwards has six wins in 48 career starts at the same tracks, he has a meager eight other top five finishes.

Still, Edwards’ most recent Talladega finish was striking for what it says about his maturation as a driver. no, an 11th-place finish is hardly sexy, but while his competition struggled, he maintained and strengthened his hold on the overall standings. contrast this year’s ho-hum result to 2008, when he entered the fall race in alabama in second place in the overall standings, just ten points behind Johnson. Back then, with about 20 laps to go, it was Edwards who touched off the

infamous Big One and effectively eliminated himself from contention, dropping 72 points behind with six races to go. (“i was worried about the idiots here,” he said memorably then, “and i was the one that caused that one.”)

Three years removed from that embarrassing episode, Edwards has learned that caution is the better part of valor, especially in naScar, a sport that rewards consistency and harshly penalizes glory hounds.

“it is easy to look at the outcome of the race,” Edwards told reporters after Talladega. “Wow, you finished 11th. if you went sooner, you would have finished better. i believe the plan we had worked out well. i’m happy with the outcome. if you can’t look at it from my perspective, 2008 we came in here and i was frustrated with myself for taking myself out. That was my first goal [today], not to take myself out. i was prepared to lose the points lead, but i wasn’t going to accept making a mistake and losing control of my car.” P1

BuT If THe mosT reCeNT rACe AT

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oNe, IT sTIll DID A perfeCTly fINe

joB DImmINg THe Hopes of A few

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of wINNINg THe CHAse for THe

CHAmpIoNsHIp.

Chicane RacewearUnit K Cain Park

Cain Rd Penrose AucklandEmail: chicanenz@xtra.co.nz

freephone 0800 ChICAne

issue 7 105

Finally, after five long, interminable years, we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. We can, each of us, exhale and thank our lucky stars,

secure in the knowledge that our prayers have finally – finally! – been answered. yes, ladies and gentlemen, sports fans of all ages, our long national nightmare is over: Jimmie Johnson, the Ken doll of naScar drivers (who completes the picture with his very own Barbie doll for a wife, though in this instance, she goes by the equally unreal name of chandra), will not win his sixth straight title.

at least, there’s a really, really good chance Johnson won’t win his sixth straight title.

Look, let’s put it this way: With three races remaining in the season, Johnson is in sixth place overall, 43 points behind leader carl Edwards. Put another way, Johnson must finish roughly 14 places higher than Edwards in each of the next three races – and hope that none of the four drivers sitting second to fifth engineers a late-season run of his own – to have any hope whatsoever of winning still another title. in short, no chance.

Or at least, not a really good one. But, let’s face it, Johnson is like dracula or something: the only way you know for certain he’s down for the count is if you stab him through the heart with a wooden stake. Think back to 2006, the year Johnson won his first title. With five races remaining in that season, Johnson was a seemingly insurmountable 146 points behind leader Jeff Burton (under the old scoring system, which was modified before 2011). Back then, Johnson rose, Lazarus-like, moving from seventh to first in three races, and winning twice and finishing second three times in the season’s final five races.

Or, as four-time champion Jeff Gordon told naScar.com a few weeks ago when asked about his teammate’s chances of winning another title, “anything is possible. if you’re a good enough team, then it’s possible, and that’s what makes them so dangerous. They are capable of pulling those types of finishes together when you might not expect it. you can’t count anybody out yet.”

and with as few as three laps left in Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, a legendary half-mile track in the hills of southwest Virginia, Gordon looked somewhat prophetic. Johnson was leading and pulling away, looking for all the world like he was engineering the beginnings of another miracle. But then, Brian Vickers brought out the race’s 18th and final caution, bunching the field and putting a hungry Tony Stewart,

himself a two-time champion, on Johnson’s bumper. Half a mile later, Stewart was leading, Johnson second.

“This is a tough race,” Stewart told reporters after the race. “could Jimmie just hauled it off in the corner to try to take us [out]? absolutely. He could have done that to anybody. He didn’t do that to us. you race these guys with respect and they’re going to race you back with respect. i think he knows we respect him and [we] have that level of respect.”

as it happened, Johnson didn’t punt Stewart for the win but he held on for second, seemingly well-placed enough to give his championship dreams some added life. But this is life under naScar’s new scoring system, a system implemented at least in part, observers believe, to make it harder for one Jimmie Johnson to win yet another title. Simply put, the new system makes it much harder for a driver to make significant gains in a short span of time, as Johnson did in 2006. Sunday’s second place finish earned Johnson just a seven-point and one spot improvement in the overall standings.

indeed, one of Sunday’s biggest winners was the winner, Stewart, now just eight points behind Edwards and eager to win another title. “it’s an awesome feeling sitting here tonight,” he said in his post-race interview. “We’ve got three tracks that we feel are really good to us coming up [Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead]. i’m excited. it’s a great feeling. To be honest, it’s really not the fact of beating Jimmie as much as it’s just hard to win in this series to begin with. you cherish the opportunities. you make sure that when you have the opportunity, you make the most of it.”

To Stewart, it might not be the fact of beating Jimmie. But to the rest of us? Oh, yes it is. Please, Tony, make the most of it: drive the stake home. P1

taking

by Stephen Thomas

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF JOINING CLUB 5000 IN 2012?• You have an invitation to join Mitch at

all the GP3 Championship rounds in Europe, hosted by Owen.

• You will catch up with Mitch and his MW Arden team and more than likely get to meet Mark Webber, his manager, and current Red Bull F1 driver.

• And you’ll probably be wearing your Club 5000 Mitch Evans supporters gear, designed by leading manufacturer Huffer, so everyone knows where your allegiances lie.

• Even if you don’t make it to all the rounds, you won’t be far from the action. Mitch will email, Twitter or Facebook you with race and progress reports.

• And when the season is complete you will be at the debrief with Mitch where you will have the chance to meet with the other Club members, find out for yourself what its like to do a lap in a GP3 car and chat through the ins and outs of a busy season in Europe.

• Signed photo of Mitch and his GP3 car

• Opportunity for corporate members to use Mitch or Owen as a speaker at their AGM, awards night or company function.

The 2012 GP3 Championship is held over 8 rounds at selected European

Formula 1 Championship races starting in Istanbul and finishing at

Monza in Italy so maximum exposure to Formula 1 teams is assured.

Mitch’s efforts over the last 2 seasons have enabled him to transfer the

outstanding support of the Giltrap Group to his European campaign and

add to this a significant contribution from current Red Bull F1 driver, Mark

Webber, who is also part owner of the MW Arden GP3 team for which Mitch

will drive. But the budget for a GP3 campaign goes hand in hand with the

opportunity. With the added costs of insurance, travel and living expenses

and series cost, Mitch needs still more funds to ensure a successful season

and he is requesting new and existing Club 5000 members to come along for

the ride as their assistance is instrumental in getting it right.

It probably won’t be possible for

me to reach my Formula One goal

by myself, but together, and as

a team, we can make this happen.

Mitch Evans

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Owen evans

353 Church Street, Penrose Auckland 1061, New Zealand

Mobile +64 275 900779Business +64 9 636 5004Fax +64 9 634 7228Email owen@evans-euro.co.nz

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oceania

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toyota racing series

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STORY BY DaviD Turner

PHOTOS BY neD Dawson & ToyoTa racing series

History may end up

repeating itself as three

young guns from down

under work hard to

emulate and possibly

surpass those that

ventured before them.

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Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme and chris amon, classic names and legends of kiwi motorsport, often referred to as the ‘trio at the top’ names that drew attention in the 60’s and 70’s, names that strongly flew the flag for new Zealand motorsport.

the trio topped podiums in the sport’s ‘golden age’. it was one of those eras when unlikely Kiwi talent managed to dominate a truly global sport. the team McLaren F1 racing team that four times grand Prix winner Bruce McLaren founded in 1966, is still one of the most successful in Formula one. that same year of 1966 McLaren and amon teamed up to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and in 1967 Hulme was Formula one world champion. truly a golden era for new Zealand in Motorsport.

Move forward now to 2011 and insert these new names Mitchell evans, richie stanaway and nick cassidy, perhaps this could be the new kiwi trio that will showcase the talents of new Zealand Motorsport once again. yes a different era altogether but never the less young determined kiwi stars that the world is standing up and paying attention to in this modern era. in recent years many have paved the way, notably Brendon Hartley, chris van der Drift and earl Bamber, now this latest three seem to be catching the eyes of many and new Zealand should be proud of their efforts as a new breed of driver arrives on a global stage.

How did it all start? Well the common trait these six all have is they have come from new Zealand’s leading single seater series the toyota racing series and with the exception of Van der Drift they are graduates of the elite Driver academy run by Motorsport nZ and the nZ Motorsport scholarship trust. this same academy that another leading kiwi on the world stage right now has graduated from World rally star Hayden Paddon.

For the now fast approaching 2012 international toyota racing series this stands as a testament to how good this series is. not only for new Zealand Motorsport but equally the fan getting the chance to see rising talent right here

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toyota racing series

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in their own backyard and those international drivers that travel here a chance to race in an otherwise off season period.

2012 will see the toyota racing series travel the length of the country in just five weeks beginning on the 12th January at the worlds most southern race track teretonga and wrapping up with the showcase event the new Zealand grand Prix at Manfeild on February 12th. What an attraction this series and summer hold and for the internationals that venture to new Zealand to avoid a northern hemisphere winter, there is the chance to complete in a massive 15 races in those five weeks including that all important new Zealand grand Prix. a title that looks good on any drivers cV.

Last season’s great international line up with drivers from russia, Japan, australia and the UK not only proved what a great series this is but how valuable the time down under can be for an up and coming driver. all

2012 WIll sEE ThE ToyoTA RACInG sERIEs TRAvEl ThE lEnGTh oF ThE CounTRy In jusT FIvE WEEks BEGInnInG on ThE 12Th jAnuARy AT ThE WoRlds MosT souThERn RACE TRACk TERETonGA And WRAPPInG uP WITh ThE shoWCAsE EvEnT ThE nEW ZEAlAnd GRAnd PRIx AT MAnFEIld on FEBRuARy 12Th.

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lAsT sEAson’s GREAT InTERnATIonAl lInE uP WITh dRIvERs FRoM RussIA, jAPAn, AusTRAlIA And ThE uk noT only PRovEd WhAT A GREAT sERIEs ThIs Is BuT hoW vAluABlE ThE TIME doWn undER CAn BE FoR An uP And CoMInG dRIvER.

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important seat time and tough racing competition in cars equal to those they can race back in europe. as a driver if you arrive in new Zealand and think this will be an easy five weeks with a nice little break in the sun you will be unmistakably surprised. this series brings full on racing week after week its far from a holiday. Demands of the changeable weather come into play, travel, working with a team and extracting the best from your car and reading data, along with a great media programme that follows the series and not only showcases the drivers to the fans but teaches them skills they will require for the rest of their racing days. all traits any young driver is going to need to be good at in today’s commercial form of the sport and to rise to the top. the toyota racing season will last just 32 days and the trs cars will be either testing or racing on one of the five circuits for 20 of those days. this very concentrated schedule is a first for the toyota racing series and is a result

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of a response to requests from european drivers and teams. the change in this format will also assist in containing the budgets for the domestic drivers equally with a short sharp season with plenty of testing and racing not dissimilar in the days of the tasman series in the 60’s and 70’s.

so WHat oF tHe neW KiWi trio?

Mitchell evans in his second year of the toyota racing series last season clearly owned the championship with superb drives across the season after a big learning debut year the previous season. it was a solid performance right from the very first round and this is how championships are won. His aim was the championship and the grand Prix title nothing short of that was going to be good enough. He took them both with a talented and mature series of drives. From there it was europe and a season of gP 3 with the MW arden

MITChEll EvAns In hIs sECond yEAR oF ThE ToyoTA RACInG sERIEs lAsT sEAson ClEARly oWnEd ThE ChAMPIonshIP WITh suPERB dRIvEs ACRoss ThE sEAson AFTER A BIG lEARnInG dEBuT yEAR ThE PREvIous sEAson.

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team and he certainly let everyone know he was the real deal. outstanding performance across the season on tracks he had never visited that deferred vastly from the likes of Manfeild or teretonga. europe had arrived and all the pressures that come with it.

richie stanaway meanwhile has been quietly getting on with business with solid performances in the german aDac Formula Masters series, over the past couple of seasons as well as becoming a member of the Fia Driver academy this year, which speaks massively for the efforts of ian snellgrove and Dean Horo from the Motorsport scholarship trust and the nZ sports academy respectively. the programme run by them each July for nine talented drivers from all forms of the sport equally respected by the Fia and vastly ahead of what many counties are offering their young drivers and very much leading the way in driver development. graduates from this academy truly are elite athletes and any bonus given to our talent can only help in the long-term goal of assisting them to their personal dreams and showcased new Zealand Motorsport talent.

stanway too made heads stand to attention in his debut outing in the toyota racing series at the demanding Hamilton street course in april of 2009. new to the car and track he drove like a season veteran to victory and the round. recipient of the Motorsport nZ steel trophy for the top junior under 21 in 2009 stanway had most certainly arrived and europe called him as well.

For the third member of this new trio nick cassidy made his toyota racing series debut last season. He too rose to the occasion taking rookie of the year honours in the series and running a superb pace in the grand Prix to push evans all the way. a winner of the well respected speed sport scholarship that has also found a massive amount of our young stars over recent years. cassidy

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like the others came though the minor classes but also turned his hand to some very successful performances in a 400bhp Midget at the iconic Western springs speedway in auckland last season and the F2 class the season before that. recently a trip to europe has seen him test and race over various weekends with pleasing performances. the return to the toyota racing series this summer will come with strong personal goals for him.

all without doubt drivers with big futures in front of them, equally are the three paving the road ahead of them in the form of Hartley, van der Drift and Bamber should be respected for what they have done and continue to do perhaps instead of a trio on top new will have a ‘class of six’ from new Zealand that will shine.

this common theme of the toyota racing series speaks volumes for the job toyota nZ and toyota racing series Management lead by respected and former racer Barrie tomlinson do in bringing this series together each season and the attention it now draws from off shore. this is a class act from the quality of the cars and the technology they have to the Formula 1 style paddock club that stands brightly and tall amongst the pit area. gone are the days of northern hemisphere drivers taking winter off, and hoping a drive will come good after winter. there’s now the chance to spend a summer in new Zealand and partake in some very serious racing to hone their skills or aid their development and be ready for an upcoming assault in europe’s season. For new Zealand drivers the demands of europe and the equally massive amounts of money to be found are never an easy task and this will never change. this is not a cheap game in any manner of the word it’s an expensive sport and business and money does play a part. talent however also shines and in these young stars and the prospect of many that may follow suggest new Zealand runs the chance of a bright future in global Motorsport. P1

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Life is not a spectator sport. The new 911 GT3.

Every idea, every part, every line that went into the design of the new 3.8 litre, 435 hp 911 GT3

was dedicated to the purest expression of Porsche performance. And as is the case with every

911 GT3, the rest of the world will just have to chase it.

For more information on the new GT3 contact your Offi cial Porsche Centre or visit www.porsche.co.nz

M13602/P1

GILTRAP PRESTIGE Auckland Ph 09 92 00 911CONTINENTAL CAR SERVICES Auckland Ph 09 52 68 991ARMSTRONG PRESTIGE Wellington Ph 04 38 48 779ARCHIBALDS Christchurch Ph 03 37 75 200

13602 EM F1 Mag GT3 Ad.indd 1 28/04/10 11:06 AMProcess CyanProcess MagentaProcess YellowProcess Black

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Just like the inner workings of any sport, the rules of motor racing are complex and require interpretation and deliberation to be best

applied. Drivers make mistakes, sometimes resulting in a competitor losing position – or worse still – crashing out of the race, and the job of officiating on these incidents is one that requires sound thinking, quick reactions, practical experience and self belief. once upon a time these decisions were handled by non-competing officials, but in recent years the motor sport world has seen drivers having not long ended their driving careers becoming the adjudicators on these types of matters.

Just like any umpiring decision in any form of sport, sometimes getting it wrong in an instant can rob an innocent party of an opportunity to score a meritorious outcome, or even influence the outright result, but it is impossible to review all penalties after the fact ... and motor racing is no different. However, some of this year’s decisions and penalties have left drivers and teams somewhat confused.

earlier this racing season most incidents were met with post race points or time penalties being handed out, but no sooner had we gone into the endurance racing season than all manner of PLPs (Pit Lane Penalties) were being dished out. case in point, andrew Jones contact on steven richards at the L&H 500 at Phillip island. Without wanting to pontificate on who was right and who was wrong, i was amazed that andy was quickly given a PLP, which takes around 42 seconds to complete, such is the length of the Phillip

island pit lane. a penalty of this type, together with the time it takes to serve it, can drop a car from the lead lap, effectively destroying the team’s race in one hit.

team boss Brad Jones was fuming at race end, stating that he would happily have given up a bucket load of points to have andy and driving partner Jason Bright standing on the podium for their sponsors ... and Brad made a damn good point

so what works best for V8 supercar? if all we ever do is apply post-race points and time penalties then drivers may feel they can get away with on track incidents for which they are responsible. can you imagine a race winner taking the spoils of victory despite having a post-race points penalty applied as a result of being found guilty of an incident? Heaven forbid that very penalty being for an incident that denied another competitor from winning that very same race! the same applies in reverse if a driver is deemed to be responsible for an incident, is then given a PLP, yet post race it is proven that he was in fact not in the wrong at all. this is the worst possible outcome and has proven to be the case on some occasions.

it’s a tough gig and i for one would not want to be in the chair making this type of decision and while many believe the inconsistency is just another way of keeping people talking about the sport, i don’t buy that for a minute.

Like so many areas of modern sport, processes are reviewed, modified and frequently put under the microscope, but just like all forms of sporting officiating and competing, human error will always come into play ... that in itself is the very essence of sport. P1

with Chris Jewell

v8 suPERCAR PEnAlTIEs

Life is not a spectator sport. The new 911 GT3.

Every idea, every part, every line that went into the design of the new 3.8 litre, 435 hp 911 GT3

was dedicated to the purest expression of Porsche performance. And as is the case with every

911 GT3, the rest of the world will just have to chase it.

For more information on the new GT3 contact your Offi cial Porsche Centre or visit www.porsche.co.nz

M13602/P1

GILTRAP PRESTIGE Auckland Ph 09 92 00 911CONTINENTAL CAR SERVICES Auckland Ph 09 52 68 991ARMSTRONG PRESTIGE Wellington Ph 04 38 48 779ARCHIBALDS Christchurch Ph 03 37 75 200

13602 EM F1 Mag GT3 Ad.indd 1 28/04/10 11:06 AMProcess CyanProcess MagentaProcess YellowProcess Black

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Josh Burdon kicks up the dust at Darwin in June this year.

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PRESSURE. IT’S ON EvERY RACING DRIvER, YOUNG OR OLD – BUT IT’S THE YOUNG DRIvERS WHO PROBABLY FEEL IT THE MOST.

STORY BY richarD craill PHOTOS BY Dirk klynsmiTh

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Josh Burdon

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Remember when you were in your late teens, early twenties? remember the pressures of graduating school, getting a job, buying a house and marrying that girl?

add into that the pressures of high-level motor racing and the drive and ambition to forge a professional career in the sport and you get the idea of the kind of stress some of these young kids coming through the ranks are under.

three drivers racing in this years’ Formula 3 australian Drivers championship are feeling that pressure, but so far they’re handling it pretty well.

steel guiliana, Ben gersekowski and Josh Burdon are the three main contenders in the Forpark australia F3 scholarship this year, a racing prize that awards a $50,000 (australian) bounty to the best all-round driver at the end of the season to go towards a championship-class (gold star) drive the following season.

the award seeks to find the best ‘all-round’ driver of the three, balancing raw speed with technical feedback, media skills and overall attitude or personality. a judging panel of industry peers has been established to select the winner, to be announced after the final round of the 2011 championship in tasmania this november.

the award is backed by Forpark australia, a Perth-based company specialising mainly in outdoor play equipment and the like. their catchphrase is ‘Helping young australians grow’, so it’s appropriate that their involvement is centred around three very talented young aussies who hail from completely different backgrounds.

the three young guns come from varying backgrounds. guiliana, 20 and from gosford on the nsW central coast, is perhaps the most experienced of the trio. a noted karting superstar, he was selected for a scholarship drive in Formula BMW asia and achieved some success before budget concerns forced him to return to australia.

that story is completely far removed from his season-long rival, Ben gersekowski. Ben, 19, hails from the small inland Queensland community of cecil Plains – not far from the birthplace of another local open-wheel gun named Will Power, who was born in toowoomba. gersekowski is a product of the state Karting and Formula Ford system, before purchasing the ex-Leanne tander Dallara to race at state level prior to tackling his national campaign this year.

and then there’s 19-year-old Josh Burdon, who quite literally comes from the other end of the country in Hobart. the diminutive tasmanian is another former-Karter and was a caMs-backed driver in aussie racing cars before moving to Formula 3 this year.

so there is a lot on the respective shoulders of these three y oung, talented and driven steerers. We sat down with the three of them at the most recent round of the championship to get their thoughts, expectations and feelings about their seasons and the pressures behind it.

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Richard Craill: What has been the highlight of your respective seasons?

Steel Guiliana: “the highlight so far has been our round win at Morgan Park. i knew it would be the toughest event up ‘till that point and we rose to the challenge. also having won 3 of the first 5 events against Ben gersekowski and Josh Burdon, with the experience they have not only with these cars from last year but also knowing the circuits which are all brand new to me this season.”

Josh Burdon: “Probably winning my first Formula 3 race & round at the last event at sandown. to come back after my massive crash at Morgan Park and finally get a win on the board is a remarkable feeling as in two rounds

one after the other i experienced the real low motorsport has to offer as well as the biggest high. i feel a massive load has been lifted off my shoulders now after that first win after everything that has happened and how hard it has been to get to each round financially and with not having had one test day all year.”

Ben Gersekowski: “i’ve enjoyed every minute of every race by having races where we have been that close you could throw a hanky over us and where qualifying goes down to who gets the quickest time on the last lap. But i can’t miss my first race win at Winton which gave me the confidence for the next races. same with eastern creek, but that round gave me the realization that the

R-Tek team owner Ian Richards gives feedback to Steel Guiliana at Sandown.

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championship could be a real possibility. then, of course, the Darwin super Prix, i absolutely loved that round. Just the whole atmosphere was unreal.”

RC: And your best race of the year?Steel Guiliana: “again, Morgan Park. going to Ben’s

home track and qualifying pole and winning the opening race as well as the feature race.”

Josh Burdon: “one of my other best races would have to be race 1 at eastern creek, i was leading by 2.5 seconds before coming off the track through pushing too hard and throwing it away. i feel i learnt a valuable lesson from that race and went to the next level in maturely. this

race has changed my mind set over a race distance and how to be smarter.”

Ben Gersekowski: “it would have to be race 3 at eastern creek, because of the fact that i lead from start to finish for the first time. running fairly close to the back of the gold star cars for most of the race and also that i was able to finish ahead of second by almost 10 seconds which lead to my first round win.”

RC: So, let’s think long-term. What are your objectives for a motorsport career?

Steel Guiliana: “simple... Formula one World champion!”Josh Burdon: “My goal is V8 supercars, ever since i

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Ben Gersekowski has been impressive despite work commitments often forcing him to miss practice on Friday’s this year.

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was a small boy at the track watching my dad & pop race. i remember standing up in front of the grade 6 class when i first started racing karts, said that i wanted to race V8 supercars when i was older and the teacher told me to think of something more realistic for next lesson. i think it is important if you want to succeed to be single minded on what you want and do everything it takes to purse it. so i have my life focused around forming a successful career in V8 supercars.”

Ben Gersekowski: “once i finish my apprenticeship,

i can then really focus on ultimate dream to race in the indy car series. But really for me to make a living out of motorsport would be a dream come true either in australia or overseas.”

RC: Any closing thoughts?Steel Guiliana: “it is great to be part of such a

prestigious championship with unbelievable cars and great personnel within the series. a big thank you to r-tek Motorsport for being behind me since our first test

The three have often been inseparable this season, running nose to tail in several races.

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together at Mallala, and a massive thank you to Forpark australia for investing in a young drivers career, that will never be forgotten. i hope they get the recognition that they deserve because of it.”

Josh Burdon: i came into 2011 not knowing i was going to race even one round of Formula 3, but i have found in this industry you do not know what is around the corner. i cannot thank ian & Meryl richards from r-tek Motorsport enough for what they have done for me this year, as well as my local supporters and family for going without like

they do to give me opportunity. 2011 has been an amazing year i have experience the extreme low’s to offer but also the highest high’s.”

Ben Gersekowski: “i am very proud of my efforts with what i have achieved so far, even if i win or lose. i am very grateful to be given the opportunity to drive these fantastic race cars. i have far exceeded my expectations by being in the situation i’m in for the championship and couldn’t have asked to race against better rivals, it’s a lot of fun and i enjoy every minute.” P1

Steel Guiliana

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hAs ThERE EvER BEEn A BETTER GRAndsTAnd FInIsh ThAn ThE onE WE WITnEssEd AT BAThuRsT ThIs yEAR – shoRT AnsWER, no.

STORY BY chris Jewell PHOTOS BY neD Dawson

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What a fantastic race it was, with so many twists and turns and garth tander’s

drive to hold off a charging craig Lowndes on the run to the flag will surely go down in the history books as a classic drive. Mind you, garth and craig didn’t do it all on their own, with both nick Percat and Mark skaife driving competitive co-driving stints throughout the 161 lap, 1000k journey.

the story of the race can never be told in a minute, and while Percat came close to denying tander his third Bathurst win after running wide early in the race while battling

with Lowndes, the former australian Formula Ford champion now has his name in the record books as a Bathurst winner. sometimes the god’s need to be with you to win any form of motor race, even more so when it is over a sustained distance, and with 28 other driving combinations all looking to stake their claim. yes, the Holden racing team pair certainly did have their fair share of good fortune on Bathurst sunday, but descriptions and circumstantial evidence is never engraved on the winner’s trophy, just the names garth tander and nick Percat.

Lowndes was simply supreme in his relentless charge to the wire and

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many expected him to make easy meat of tander once he arrived on the heels of gt’s number 2 machine, but garth was having none of it and drove two of the most impeccable, well calculated and intelligent laps we have ever seen at the mountain. Holding off craig by the smallest of margins to the rapturous delight of the Hrt camp and the captivated viewing audience, be they viewing trackside or at home watching on the box.

this year’s Bathurst 1000 witnessed so many great stories. greg Murphy’s pole lap was a highlight, regardless of the rain affected end to the session and

he and team mate allan simonsen enjoyed a more than competitive showing with third place overall on sunday. it is widely regarded that Murph grows an extra leg at Bathurst with each and every outing and this year was no exception. if not for some pretty shoddy pit servicing, Murph might just have upset the applecart of the two Holdens battling so vigorously just a little further up the road.

once again the Ford Performance racing operation left the rural new south Wales township without any silverware and while Mark Winterbottom and steve richards recorded a solid, if unspectacular,

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fourth place it was the sister car of Will Davison and Luke youlden that looked more like a contender on genuine speed. Unfortunately we were never to see the legitimacy of their challenge, youlden making a beginners mistake on cold tyres at the re-start after the first safety car. Davison could only look on in dismay as his trading Post Falcon skated into the gravel trap at the final corner while in the hands of one of the best co-drivers in the business.

Behind this pairing Jason Bright and andrew Jones pulled a rabbit

out of their hat with a fifth place finish that was never going happen on pure speed alone, benefitting from some great strategy and a safety car kerfuffle late race that saw a large number of drivers caught up behind the spluttering Jamie Whincup/ andrew thompson teamVodafone commodore. in fact, it was this combination that looked to have the race in their keeping. Jamie was driving beautifully and thommo was backing him up superbly as the best of the young co-drivers come race day and

1939 - 20091939 - 2009

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This year’s

BaThursT 1000

wiTnesses sO many

greaT sTOries.

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impact, from which he was lucky to walk away. once again it was a beginner’s mistake from a well-fancied co-driver, Besnard failing to pump the brake pedal back to hard after leaving the pits having just replaced steve Johnson at the wheel.

Bathurst bites and in 2011 it bit many, although incredibly, 19 of the 29 cars that took off when the lights went out at 10:30am were still running healthily on the lead lap at race end. Just over one minute

covered this group, while there were still 25 cars on track when the chequered flag finally fell on one of the most memorable Bathurst events on record.

as the sun went down on an incredible day, Percat entered his name into the history books as a Bathurst winner; garth registered his third win at the mountain and backed it up with his 50th career victory and the 200th first place finish for Holden racing team. it was simply meant to be. P1

if not for electrical issue it would have been his Bathurst trophy not Percat’s, but that’s the beauty of the Bathurst event, you’ve never won it until the fans are screaming at you from below the podium.

Last year the event opened with a horror rollover for Fabian coulthard, but this year it took until two-thirds race distance for the ‘big one’ and a big one it was, when David Besnard crashed heavily at griffin’s Bend on lap 112, his DJr Falcon erupting in flames after a massive rearward

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Darrell waltrip had the experience that many would give up an arm for – or maybe even their first born child….

PHOTOS BY neD Dawson

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With the current worldwide television fetish of Idol and Talent shows it is no wonder

that it moved into sport. It’s been seen already with Football but this time it was

Motorsport. It’s a game with higher risks than a Football field and certainly more than

singing on a stage, this winner would get a chance at one of the world’s toughest and

most iconic races. ANNA PRENTICE gives us a rundown on what it was all about.

PHOTOS BY kelly racing & neD Dawson

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It wasn’t heavily publicised but if you happened to stumble across the australian 7mate television channel on a sunday afternoon in the 11 weeks before the 2011 Bathurst 1000 you might have caught a

glimpse of ten young hopefuls slogging it out for their chance to hit the Mountain in a V8 supercar. shannon’s supercar showdown was the brainchild of three creative forces, one of which was rick Kelly, who wanted to give

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talented young drivers without a chequebook the chance to live their dream. But despite the fairytale ending for competitor cameron Waters, was the reality of the prize too dangerous and too soon for a 17 year old boy who stepped out of his school uniform and into a driver’s suit at the most dangerous track in australia?

it’s no secret that it’s near impossible to break into V8 supercars without substantial monetary backing. gone are

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the days when the likes of greg Murphy, Jason Bargwanna and the Kelly brothers were nursed into the sport by programs such as the young Lions initiative supported by the Holden racing team. it would appear to be one of the biggest problems facing the longevity of V8 supercars, when the large handful of aging drivers decide to hang up their helmets, who will be there to fill their seats? so enter shannon’s supercar showdown, a reality style television show that eliminates contestants one-by-one through driving-based challenges to find one eventual winner.

the contestants were all hand-picked by the Kelly brothers from different forms of motorsport domestically and internationally. the competition eventually came down to British racer andrew Jordan and an australian cameron Waters. after a final elimination challenge at Winton Motor raceway cameron was convincingly named the victor and set about preparing himself for the big race. it might seem from the outside that cameron might have been in over his head, but the year 11 student is no stranger to the race track. Having started racing karts at the age of 6 he had became a 2 time australian Formula Ford champion by the age of 17.

Despite the level of experience shown by most of the shannon’s supercar showdown contestants there were a few complaints from other V8 supercar teams who questioned the motives behind Kelly racing’s push for the show’s concept.

“Most of the successful high profile and commercially

savvy teams showed great support for the tV show initiative and were complimentary to the idea. But as you would expect there was the odd team who were adverse to the idea and concerned about the execution of the concept“ says rick.

the competition challenges put in place could also be viewed as insufficient where the competitors were placed behind the wheel of a renault Megane – a 4 cylinder family sedan - to complete motorkhana exercises. it doesn’t take a motor sport professional to see than the relevance of the challenges to actual V8 supercar driving are slim to none.

Whether the complaints were motivated by jealous commercial executives or concerned team managers who anticipated their Bathurst race day being ended by a promotional model or high school student, the concept was a big success in terms of exposing the sport of V8 supercars to a wider market. the reality television genre is an exploding formula which has been successful across the board, so why not introduce V8 supercars into the mix?

the answer to the critics would inevitably come on race day when rookie, and the youngest ever Bathurst 1000 entrant, cameron and full-time television presenter grant Denyer hit the track for the Bathurst 1000. Having followed cameron for the Bathurst week it was evident that he had indeed jumped from the classroom and into the fire. Hounded and stalked by the media, both on track

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and by phone for radio, the attention was relentless. every news program across the country was after the scoop on the school boy, who didn’t even have his provisional drivers licence, turned race car driver who was about to live every mans dream on the world famous Bathurst road circuit.

cameron’s family were also not spared the heat, with media outlets not able to get in contact with cam desperate to get comment from his immediate family. any professional athlete starting out in sport will tell you that this is perhaps not the best preparation for the biggest event on their respective sporting calendar.

“i’m just trying to prepare myself as best as i can. a V8 supercar is very hard to drive.” cameron said. this is a sentiment echoed by series veteran rick Kelly.

“My first ever race in a V8 supercar was when i was 18

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at the Bathurst 1000 and it was an experience i will never forget. i wouldn’t change it for anything. With cam’s ability and approach to racing, both inside and outside the car, his debut round at Bathurst was extremely impressive.”

But with a wetter than expected lead up to sunday’s race cameron was forced to get his first Bathurst laps under his belt in the most dangerous of circumstances, meaning that sunday’s dry race was a completely new experience for him altogether. Despite his obvious talents it’s not a big surprise that cameron found the wall early on in the event, forcing him to limp back to the pits for a lengthy repair attempt. He was then able to finish the race gaining valuable track time and experience along the way.

“i had a tough day at the start and damaged the car but the crew managed to fix it and i got back out

and double-stinted and got quicker and quicker, so it was awesome,”

it wasn’t the result cameron was after, having made it known he wanted to finish on the lead lap, but it certainly quietened the critics who were worried about his Bathurst attempt from a safety perspective. He made a small error, also made by former series champion Jamie Whincup on the same weekend, but managed to handle the Bathurst 1000 weekend with the calm and confidence of a series veteran.

“Just being here, it’s been absolutely awesome; just driving around the track was amazing and the experience i’ve got out of it is incredible. sticking it in the fence was part of the learning process, i guess.”

so with the aim of the whole project being to help young talent pave their way into the sport of V8 supercars has shannon’s supercar showdown been a success or hindrance for the career of cameron Waters? With several Fujitsu series offers looking likely for cameron then it would seem that the project has had the desired result.

With the purpose of shannon’s supercar showdown being to introduce fresh and capable faces to the V8 supercar paddock it can be said that the shannon’s supercar showdown concept was a great success. at age 17 cameron Waters is clearly a talented racer who will no doubt move forward through the ranks of australian motorsport. Kelly racing and the show’s producers are already showing interest in series 2 to be aired in 2012, so perhaps this is just the beginning of the road for this particular brand of reality television. But was it too soon for a 17 year old rookie to step behind the wheel of a V8 supercar? Let cameron’s future successes be the answer to that question. P1

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IMAGES COURTESY Formula ForD

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At just 17 years of age, Cameron Waters has already achieved a lot. Multiple

karting championships led him to the Australian Formula Ford Championship where he impressed from his first outing and he’s in the box seat to wrap up the title this year with gun team Sonic Motor racing Services. Juggling Formula Ford commitments and year 11 schooling would be enough for most kids his age, but Waters just made his debut at the Bathurst 1000 thanks to his victory in the reality Tv series, Shannons Supercar Showdown. While the weekend didn’t end the way he would have liked, he impressed many with his mature approach and obvious talent behind the wheel given his limited v8 miles. It may be still early, but Waters has his sights set on a career in the v8 Supercars Championship and you wouldn’t bet against him.

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This year has gone really well for you so far. If we look at the Formula Ford side of things, the year couldn’t have been much better up until this point.

it’s been pretty good so far, obviously i would have liked to have wrapped it

up already, but i didn’t finish the final race at the clispal round and that hurt me

a little bit, so i’ve just been trying to finish all the races and get as many points

as i can from that round on. i was hoping to wrap it up earlier, but hopefully i

can do it at the Gold coast.

You mentioned that the Clipsal round was your only DNF and it’s also only round you haven’t finished on the podium, how important is consistency in the Formula Ford Championship?

i think it’s the major part. if you want to win the championship you have to

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finish every race and i learnt that lesson early on in the year at clipsal and even

a little bit last year when i was racing. Just finishing all the races was my goal

this year and i’ve been on the podium almost every round, so that’s why i’m

leading the championship by as much as i am.

You’ve had a couple of round wins and a lot of podiums so far this year; does anything stand out as a highlight?

i don’t think anything stands out as a highlight this year because i’ve been

pretty quick everywhere. Some places i haven’t been able to win when i should

have, but if i had to pick one i would say Queensland Raceway was very good

for me, winning by 10 seconds was pretty awesome, but hopefully the Gold

coast can be a highlight. i was pretty quick there last year, so i’m looking

forward to it.

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This year you’re racing with Sonic Motor Racing Services full time and they have a history of winning championships in Formula Ford; how much does it help you as a driver working with a team like Sonic?

it helps me immensely, they’re an awesome team and Michael Ritter and all

the team have so much knowledge of Formula Ford, which has helped me a lot.

Michael has also taught me how to drive the car much better; just being in such

a high calibre team has been awesome.

The team really is dominating this season with your teammate Nick Foster in a clear second place in the championship. I know he’s a championship rival, but does it help having someone as experienced and quick as Nick in the same team?

it’s awesome having nick in the team, he raced there last year, so he knows

the cars pretty well. our cars are pretty much identical at any event, so our

feedback benefits both of us and we can work out what we’re doing differently.

That’s probably been part of the reason why we’ve been so quick this year,

because we can move forward faster than some of the other drivers and teams,

because two people are working towards the same goal.

How important is winning the Australian Formula Ford Championship to you? Do you take notice of the drivers that have won it in the past?

i haven’t had that much of a look, but i know there have been some massive

names who have won it in the past, so hopefully i can win it this year and maybe

one day be a massive name as well. The category has proven itself over the

years to be the best breeding ground if you want to have a career in australia

or overseas and it was the obvious option for me. all the V8 team owners look

at the series to see how the next young drivers are coming along and it’s taught

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me so much. if you want to be in V8 Supercars one day it’s invaluable, you get

to race on all the same circuits and you’re constantly at V8 Supercar events, so

for me the preparation for me couldn’t have been any better. i feel like i’m ready

to move into the V8 Development Series now and without Sonic and Formula

Ford i wouldn’t be in the same position.

It’s been a busy couple of months for you with school, Formula Ford and the Shannons Supercar Showdown TV Series. What was it like to be part of a reality TV show?

it was awesome being part of the TV series and it helped me a fair bit, not

just as a driver, but the media side of it as well. The two weeks that i was there i

did that much media stuff it wasn’t funny, so that helped me a lot and obviously

getting the chance to race at Bathurst was amazing and was a big learning

experience for me.

Like you said it was always going to be a steep learning curve, looking back, what did you take from that weekend?

i took a lot out of it. easing up to a place like Bathurst is important because it

can bite hard and it did with me in the race. it was great to get so many laps in

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a V8 and at a place like Bathurst it’s obviously extra special and hopefully it will

help me in the future.

Bathurst is a track that takes a huge amount of commitment and it can bite you in an instant and you had a couple of moments across the weekend. How difficult was it to come to grips with the circuit and with a V8 Supercar?

i had only done two test days in a V8 Supercar before Bathurst, so it was a

tough weekend. The first session i had on the track it was wet, which wasn’t the

ideal situation for me, but i got out there and eased my way into like everyone

told me too and i started to push a little bit throughout the weekend. Then

when i got to the race i pushed a little too hard and it bit just like everyone said

it would.

Obviously it wasn’t the way you wanted to end the weekend, what was going through your head at the time?

i was pretty disappointed, i wanted to finish the race and i was just annoyed

that i let it happen. i didn’t really know what had happened, it all happened very

quickly and was unexpected, but we managed to fix the car and get back out

there, which was good. When we got back out there and even though the car

was still a bit bent up, i was able to be reasonably quick, so i was happy with

that. The team understood that sometimes those things happen and being a

rookie, there was a fair chance of it happening, but they got me back out there

and were just awesome throughout the whole weekend.

How difficult has it been to get back in a Formula Ford after racing a V8 Supercar?

it has been relatively easy actually. We had a test day last week and after the

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first session i was back on the money again. When you get out of the V8 and

into the Formula Ford, things happen a lot slower, so in some ways it made it a

bit easier.

It’s getting close to the end of the year now; do you have any plans in place for next season?

at the moment i’m not too sure what will happen next season. i would like to

race in the development series, but it’s a matter of deciding which team to do it

with and then finding the budget required, but hopefully we can make it happen

and i’ll be in a V8 Supercar next year.

Good luck with the rest of the year.Thanks, i’m looking forward to it. P1

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ToyotaRacingSeries2012

Round 1 12-15 Jan 2012

Round 2 19-22 Jan 2012

Round 3 26-29 Jan 2012

Round 4 2-5 Feb 2012

Round 5 9-12 Feb 2012

Five Rounds, Five circuits, 2,500 km’s includes testing and

15 FIA Sanctioned Races

New Zealand’s Premier Single-Seater CategoryProfessionally managed by Toyota Racing Management

Contact Barrie Thomlinson barrie@toyotaracing.co.nz +64 21 984639

www.toyotaracing.co.nz