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The Motorsport Brief - Will Davison's Taupo Supercars Preview · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  The supercars are in New Zealand as Ford celebrates 100 years down under.
• 0:09
  Can a Mustang win in Taupo or will the Camaros spoil the party?
• 0:15
  G'day everyone, Rusty here for the latest edition of the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:18
  Will Davison is kindly standing by from Dick Johnson Racing.
• 0:22
  First time that he's been on the pod too, and I'm glad that we can kind of correct the fact that he's missing from the garage library.
• 0:29
  I'd also like to say thank you at the top here for all the nice messages to me and my family in recent time.
• 0:35
  had last week off, as you know, following the passing of my dad.
• 0:39
  He is the reason I love motor racing, cars and bikes.
• 0:43
  He was a lifelong Speedway fan and a regular over the years at Parramatta, Liverpool and the legendary Sydney showgrounds.
• 0:51
  He did business with the 10-time Australian Sprint Car Champion Gary Rush and Dad was very proud when I spoke to him here on the pod.
• 0:59
  Dad also worked with another gritty Speedway racer in Ron Wanless too.
• 1:04
  My father was a big believer in getting on with it, and so that's what we're going to do here after a nice celebration of his life last week.
• 1:11
  Thank you again.
• 1:13
  We released a fantastic feature ep in the last few weeks too with the former IndyCar team owner, Steve Horn.
• 1:19
  He was so candid in that conversation.
• 1:21
  I know you'll enjoy it.
• 1:23
  Working with Bobby Rahal, Scott Pruitt, Tony Canaan and Elio Castroneves, and a whole lot more.
• 1:29
  forming Tasman Motorsport and the successful partnership they enjoyed with Honda, testing Neil Crompton and Greg Murphy, and the masterstroke move to get out before the bitter kart IndyCar split, and the philanthropic work that he's now doing with the Tony Quinn Foundation and more.
• 1:47
  After a cracking first round of supercars at Sydney Motorsport Park and then shipping the field out straight after round two at the Grand Prix in Melbourne, they have arrived in Topor in the centre of the North Island.
• 1:58
  Last year was absolutely massive and another huge turnout is expected this weekend.
• 2:04
  To preview the action, we're joined by DJR's Will Davison.
• 2:07
  Hello, mate.
• 2:08
  Nice to catch up.
• 2:09
  Hey Rusty, always a pleasure.
• 2:12
  Can we begin with some fun stuff?
• 2:14
  100 years of Ford in Australia.
• 2:16
  My buddy Shane Jacobson was there, so was True Blue.
• 2:20
  A little favourite Ford memory from your time behind the wheel with them?
• 2:24
  Oh gosh, yeah, that was a special day on Friday, particularly with Shane hosting the festivities.
• 2:32
  All the big names were there, all the royalties from the Ford family.
• 2:35
  So it was cool, but...
• 2:38
  Jeez, from my time, I suppose I won my first ever race in supercars, 2008.
• 2:46
  Of course, a very special memory for me at DJR.
• 2:52
  2012, you know, many great memories for me that year.
• 2:55
  Although...
• 2:57
  Funnily enough, I had pole position at the Bathurst 1000 that year in the tribute retro livery from the famous Moffat Bond 1-2 at Bathurst in 77.
• 3:07
  You know, that was a pretty cool car, that trading post-Falcon.
• 3:10
  And, you know, 22 as well, 2022, some amazing victories in the Shell V-Power Racing Mustang as well.
• 3:17
  So never got a Bathurst though.
• 3:18
  That's still on the to-do list in the Blue Oval.
• 3:22
  um but uh yeah you got time you got time i've got a bit of time left not too much i'm hanging in there i'm hanging in there you are you are keep hanging in there there's there's uh experience counts in my books um formula one and and grand prix racing is very much a part of your family but i mean was was ford you know something when you were growing up either in the driveway or just you know generally following the likes of a moth or someone like that
• 3:47
  Yeah, I'm very honest in my answer here that, you know, I grew up in a racing family, but for sure, it's hard to explain sometimes to the fans.
• 3:55
  You know, I honestly was a race car fanatic.
• 4:00
  And as a kid, I have drivers, I have numbers, I have liveries that are fixated in my mind and obviously Formula One.
• 4:09
  was everything I dreamed of.
• 4:10
  But in terms of touring car racing, you know, my grandfather famously, you know, in one of the early touring car days, you know, crashed the old big bastard Ford Galaxy, you know, nearly off into a river at Sandown in 64, you know, leading back in the days of, you know, up against the minis and, you know, the big bangers.
• 4:33
  But he also, you know, entered Holden's first ever motorsport event
• 4:38
  in the cams booklet um the monte carlo rally you know the 48 215 holden with dan jones and my step-grandfather um tony gaze so um i suppose the families across both ends of the divide um and myself you know i just i obsessed over dj and bowie in the in the shell sierras um as a kid i could not get enough
• 5:00
  of those cars and having said that the 05 brocky um mobile uh whether it be the the commodore the sierra or even the bmw you know i love pb that 05 mobile one car um and and dj and bowie through through the era the fords as well so um i was honestly um all about the drivers and and the cars i didn't care which brand it was as a kid
• 5:24
  I love that, mate.
• 5:24
  Some great memories there.
• 5:25
  Can we turn to kind of the modern era now for you?
• 5:28
  Some significant changes at DJR, obviously, over the break.
• 5:31
  A couple of rounds in now.
• 5:33
  Just give us a sense of the progress you feel like you're making, how it's all gelling and how it's going generally.
• 5:38
  Honestly, the vibe and the energy is really good.
• 5:42
  It's been a huge shift at our operation this year.
• 5:45
  And we haven't had enough time to get on a bit of a roll yet.
• 5:49
  I feel like
• 5:50
  with no testing, we're straight into it at Sydney, and then we've gone to the Grand Prix.
• 5:56
  So I don't even feel like we've hit our strides yet with the amount of change we've had.
• 6:00
  And I just want to get that momentum going.
• 6:03
  So I feel good about the energy in the team.
• 6:05
  There's still definitely some settling in going on with some new staff only starting at the Grand Prix from a mechanics point of view.
• 6:13
  We've got a whole shift in our philosophy, the way we're engineering the cars and what Brodie and...
• 6:18
  and George and Tom, the new engineering group that have brought along.
• 6:21
  So it's all really positive.
• 6:22
  There's just that gelling in phase.
• 6:24
  But, you know, Brodie's sitting fifth in the points.
• 6:28
  You know, he's been on the verge of the podium at, you know, Sydney and Albert Park.
• 6:33
  We were both fourth and fifth in that last race there, battling for the podium in Albert Park as well.
• 6:38
  So signs are pretty good.
• 6:39
  Like, I really like the way my car's feeling.
• 6:42
  We're just trying to get on top of a few little niggling things,
• 6:45
  issues here and there but it's it's all coming together so um you know give us a little bit of time but the vibes are good at the team um i think the future's bright and i think this year we can do some some great things so just hanging to get on track again to um continue the trajectory i think from the last few rounds
• 7:04
  Well done.
• 7:05
  He's in the background there, giving me a bit of curry, I know, in the studio there with you.
• 7:09
  Oh, he is.
• 7:09
  He's staring at me now.
• 7:10
  He's everywhere I'm saying.
• 7:12
  You know, he's looking at me, you know, mate, we've got some things we've got to get out here.
• 7:17
  Are you enjoying working with him?
• 7:18
  And, you know, you've had a raft of very good teammates over the time in your career.
• 7:22
  What's it like?
• 7:23
  And perhaps how different is he compared to others?
• 7:25
  Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm just teaching him everything I know, you know, just trying to get him to go a bit faster in the fast corners and, you know, just trying to get him to brake a little bit later.
• 7:33
  And that's honestly, that's very sarcastic.
• 7:37
  He's obviously the current Bathurst champ and 23 champion as well.
• 7:41
  So, yeah, it's obviously awesome to, at my stage, to have, I think, the benchmark driver in the category alongside you because, you know, I'm...
• 7:52
  Yeah, thriving to still keep learning at my age.
• 7:55
  And, you know, you want to be up against the best.
• 7:57
  And I think he's, you know, bringing a whole new dimension to the team and level of what we're doing.
• 8:03
  So I wouldn't want it any other way at this stage.
• 8:06
  You know, I want to be in the pressure cooker situation to try and get our team to the top of the pops and just to work with him.
• 8:13
  You know, it's really cool.
• 8:15
  You know, I think my experience, I still have a lot to offer there.
• 8:18
  Yeah.
• 8:19
  We're at different ends of our career, but I think we complement each other really well.
• 8:25
  And I'm enjoying that dynamic.
• 8:27
  He's definitely a shrewd operator and he's asking a lot of the team and demanding a lot.
• 8:32
  And that's what you need.
• 8:33
  That's what you need at this level.
• 8:35
  So I think we've got a lot more to come.
• 8:37
  There's still a huge amount of settling in going on for our group.
• 8:41
  But as I touched on before, the energy is really good.
• 8:44
  And yeah, we're pushing flat out.
• 8:47
  So I just want to
• 8:49
  continue that trajectory like I said it's it's good he's an interesting character he's looking at me now he's an interesting character he's a proper racer though it's good he is we'll drill down into some more of the the topo specifics in a second but you mentioned Tom Moore there a moment ago he's obviously engineered the likes of uh you know Will Brown um Jack Lebrock at Erebus how are you going in that partnership working together yeah it's it's good it's interesting because obviously I'm uh
• 9:16
  I'm in this familiar uniform from the last four years for me.
• 9:22
  But everything's very different.
• 9:24
  Like we go into the first engineering meeting and it's Brodie, it's Tom, it's George.
• 9:28
  And, you know, they're engineering the cars like they have the last couple of years.
• 9:32
  Obviously, they've switched brands.
• 9:34
  But it's all very unfamiliar for me.
• 9:36
  So they're this clicky little bunch, like even Tom and Brodie get on very well.
• 9:41
  Tom and George, they know each other like family.
• 9:44
  And I'm the odd one out.
• 9:45
  I feel like I'm the stranger in the bunch.
• 9:47
  So trying to learn their lingo and the way they talk is a strange feeling because all the environment, the truck, the factory, everything's what I know.
• 9:56
  But in terms of the way we're doing things is like I'm starting all over again.
• 10:04
  They've had a lot of success in the Gen 3 era, so they've been given free reign to do things their way.
• 10:10
  And Tom's an impressive young guy, absolutely no doubt.
• 10:13
  I mean, I think he's really respectful, as they all are, of the history of the DJR brand and what it stands for and the resources we have, the facilities at our disposal.
• 10:25
  So I think they're bringing a lot of benefits from their experience, but I think they're enjoying some of the luxuries of what the Shell V Power Racing team stands for and, you know, the capabilities we've got to take their skill set to the next level.
• 10:38
  So it's been interesting, but Tom, yeah, he's...
• 10:41
  He's awesome, actually.
• 10:43
  He's an impressive young guy.
• 10:45
  As I said, he backs his skill set.
• 10:46
  He's quite experienced now for a young guy.
• 10:49
  And I like it.
• 10:50
  He's methodical, he's calm, and he's super chilled.
• 10:54
  So I think I'm looking forward to taking that relationship to the next stage.
• 10:59
  That sounds a bit kinky, doesn't it?
• 11:00
  But, you know, throughout this year and seeing what we're capable of.
• 11:06
  We'll grab a quick break here on Rusty's Garage.
• 11:08
  More with Will Davison in just a few moments.
• 11:12
  You're listening to the Motorsport Brief ahead of round three of the Supercars Championship this weekend, the ITM Topor Super 440 across the ditch in New Zealand.
• 11:21
  Will Davison has been good enough to jump on and join us on the pod here today to chat about it.
• 11:27
  So let's get back to the convo now.
• 11:30
  Turning your attention to Topor this weekend, the whole vibe there last year was unreal.
• 11:36
  We were reminded of how starved they are of supercars, how much they love it.
• 11:40
  Even just things like the track to town was massive, mate.
• 11:44
  It's going to be huge, isn't it?
• 11:46
  Yeah, it was one of those.
• 11:48
  I've been going around a long time now, 20-odd years, but...
• 11:54
  We always get a very warm welcome over here in New Zealand, but the Topor experience was a real eye-opener and a pleasant one for that.
• 12:04
  The fan base really felt like something different.
• 12:09
  They really appreciate and respect the supercars coming to town and to feel that.
• 12:16
  that appreciation is, is not that you need it.
• 12:19
  It's just, it's a nice warm feeling.
• 12:21
  Like they, they love the sport and they, they take it in.
• 12:24
  And, um, it's, it's infectious to feel that as a driver after all these years, you want to, you want to know that you're, you're entertaining and the fans love what you bring.
• 12:33
  And,
• 12:34
  There's no doubt that you feel that in New Zealand and particularly the town of Tope, which is a beautiful town.
• 12:40
  It was going off like it was honestly going off despite the weather and the challenges we had.
• 12:46
  You can feel that energy, particularly in the tractor town.
• 12:48
  They're pulling up into town.
• 12:50
  The roads were absolutely lined.
• 12:52
  And it was even one of those small pinch myself moments for myself.
• 12:55
  where I had to take it all in and go, you know, this is cool.
• 12:59
  This is what it's all about.
• 13:00
  And I'm expecting it to be the same this weekend.
• 13:03
  And I'm trying to enjoy all those little moments a bit more off the track than maybe I did in the past, you know, take it all in and appreciate it.
• 13:11
  So it is a cool place to race.
• 13:13
  And hopefully we can do a little bit more of it next year.
• 13:16
  That sounds like that's the talk.
• 13:17
  Yeah.
• 13:18
  We should be doing a couple here.
• 13:20
  Yeah, exactly, exactly.
• 13:22
  Can we come to the event itself?
• 13:24
  I mean, there's a real variance in that track, the surface, the style of corners.
• 13:28
  You get some real variety there.
• 13:30
  Obviously, learnings out of last year.
• 13:32
  Weather was a bit of a factor too.
• 13:34
  And we've got a real different format for this one this weekend, don't we?
• 13:38
  Yeah, yeah.
• 13:39
  It's an interesting little track.
• 13:40
  I suppose there's a racetrack.
• 13:43
  It's kind of in some elements not the best in terms of passing, like a bit like Winton, but then we saw such heavy degradation in the Sunday race, like nothing I'd ever felt before, which then does create huge strategy element, like the old Wannaroo Barbagallo with the old surface, where you'd often see some of the best races of the year.
• 14:06
  And I think the potential...
• 14:08
  is like that for this weekend as well because the circuit itself is quite narrow tight twisty which generally isn't the best for racing but the the nature of the surface at half the circuit is going to create that deg which means there's plenty of different options strategically which you know will give us some headaches but the track to drive on is actually awesome you have turn one and turn six you know very new bitumen heaps of grip so
• 14:38
  you've got plenty of traction, you've got plenty of turn.
• 14:40
  And the way you set the car up for those corners compared to, I think it's turn three, four, five, the right hand is down the hill.
• 14:47
  Turn 11, the distant double left hander onto the back straight.
• 14:52
  That surface has been there since the 60s, I think.
• 14:55
  It's a cheese grater type surface and there's no grip, there's no traction.
• 14:59
  Eats the tyres up for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the requirements engineering
• 15:05
  steering-wise are polar opposites.
• 15:06
  So that gives a headache, but it's a cool challenge that you embrace.
• 15:10
  And it's a fun circuit, the flying into that chicane as you finish the lap, you sort of turn in flat in top gear and you're braking and downshifting all the way into the last chicane.
• 15:19
  It's technically quite exciting and I really enjoyed the track.
• 15:24
  So we've got sprint races Saturday, the longer fuel race Sunday, and dual-tire compounds.
• 15:31
  on Saturday where we go directly from qualifying on the new soft tyre to the super soft tyre without having used that tyre yet straight into a short, sharp qualifying session.
• 15:41
  So that's going to provide some real challenges for the drivers and also the engineers.
• 15:47
  But we're not going to have any time to tune on the fly.
• 15:49
  So that's where homework comes into play.
• 15:52
  The two races on the Saturday are 120 Ks each, 200, as you say, on Sunday.
• 15:57
  Big Kiwi contingent would dearly love to keep that Jason Richards Memorial Trophy there.
• 16:03
  Who are the, is it Richie Stanaway if it's wet?
• 16:06
  Who's the biggest Kiwi threat in your mind?
• 16:09
  I mean, the field at the moment is just nuts.
• 16:12
  It's, you know, we're not far off, you know, the sport being, I mean, it is epic at the moment, but...
• 16:18
  There's still a few things I think we need to tune up in the category, but the depth in the field...
• 16:25
  is immense and that's from the teams to the drivers to the the racing that's going on that they're allowing some play on um you know some play on style aggression if you like and being in amongst it at the grand prix it's it's crazy but it's it's epic it's entertaining and you're seeing literally drivers go from the front row
• 16:51
  to 20th.
• 16:52
  You're seeing Cam Waters genuinely qualified 20th.
• 16:55
  I was down there next to him at Albert Park.
• 16:57
  Then I'm up on the second row 10 minutes later in qualifying.
• 17:00
  We're seeing huge fluctuations.
• 17:02
  The operating window is very small.
• 17:06
  And yeah, that Jason Richards trophy is one that, you know,
• 17:09
  I've been so close to on two times and I'll never forget it.
• 17:13
  You know, in 2013, I was leading it into the last race when I won at Pookie.
• 17:18
  2022, I won at Pookie, was leading it to the Sunday and I've missed out.
• 17:21
  And it's honestly been something that...
• 17:26
  you know, it was really, really upset me and disappointed me not winning it.
• 17:29
  JR was a good mate.
• 17:30
  I was there chatting with his, you know, mum and dad, Dave and Pauline on both days.
• 17:35
  We were like, we'd love you to win this, Will.
• 17:37
  But having said that, I think Bridie won it in 13 that year in JR's, you know, BOC number eight.
• 17:43
  You know, I finished second to Andre last year, who was in JR's number eight.
• 17:47
  So, you know, the Kiwis lift when they come here.
• 17:52
  It's crazy.
• 17:52
  I don't know what it is, but...
• 17:54
  Yeah, there's anyone of, you know, Andre won here last year.
• 17:58
  You know, Richie, we know, has got great potential, particularly in the car he's in this year.
• 18:04
  So I don't know who the favourite is this weekend, but, you know, Matty Payne, you know, they get a tenth when they come home.
• 18:11
  It pisses me off.
• 18:13
  Well, we hope it goes well for you.
• 18:15
  Can we finish with a nice little moment?
• 18:17
  I ducked into the Shelby Power corporate at the Grand Prix.
• 18:21
  You were there along with Brodie.
• 18:23
  You got some time on stage there with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
• 18:26
  And that was the first time in ages you and Lewis Hamilton had had the chance to catch up.
• 18:30
  I thought that was awesome, mate.
• 18:32
  Yeah, Rusty.
• 18:33
  It was great to see you there.
• 18:34
  And, you know, it was obviously a pretty quick moment in the corporate box there.
• 18:40
  And,
• 18:41
  Yeah, it was funny because Brodie's like, I'm going to see if he remembers you.
• 18:45
  And I'm like, of course he will, mate.
• 18:46
  Some of the stories I can tell you, we've got some good memories from back in the day, but it had been a while.
• 18:53
  uh yeah we had a we had a brief moment there i think he recognized me didn't he rusty he did he sure did he sure did he was we go back a long time so um but yeah that was that was a special little moment for sure good on you hey nice to catch up go well this weekend in the hunt for that jr trophy and it's nice to hear in this conversation that you're savoring some of uh the other stuff in in life here the the track to town and other big things as they uh as they happen at this stage of things and i'd look forward to it i really want to sit down for a
• 19:21
  for a longer chat with you about the life and times of Will Davison, the great Grand Prix history of your family and more, mate.
• 19:26
  And we'll do that at some stage this year, all right?
• 19:28
  Absolutely, Rusty.
• 19:29
  Always a pleasure.
• 19:30
  And, you know, I've still got the hunger.
• 19:32
  I'm still going strong.
• 19:33
  But, you know, as you get a bit older, you get a bit of perspective, don't you?
• 19:35
  So I don't know where 20 years has gone or even more, but you do take it in.
• 19:39
  You try and savour it.
• 19:40
  And that's what I'm trying to enjoy every moment.
• 19:43
  My racing now, I love it.
• 19:44
  So hopefully get a few more wins to the name before it's all said and done.
• 19:50
  I must get Dick Johnson on the pod at some stage too.
• 19:53
  We will do that, I promise.
• 19:54
  That is it for today.
• 19:55
  Enjoy the supercars this weekend.
• 19:57
  If you're in Topor, you'll be blown away.
• 20:00
  It's such a great vibe there.
• 20:01
  You can catch it live on Fox Sports in Australia, Sky Sports in New Zealand, and via the Supercars social channels for all the latest news and updates.
• 20:10
  We will catch you next week, everyone.
• 20:11
  Bye for now.