Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief with Rusty: Making sense of the Newcastle drama with Paul Gover

Transcript

The Motorsport Brief with Rusty: Making sense of the Newcastle drama with Paul Gover · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:05
  Welcome to The Brief.
• 0:06
  It's Thursday, the 16th of March, 2023, and there is a bit going on in our Aussie motorsport backyard.
• 0:15
  Hi, everybody.
• 0:16
  Greg Rust with you for another edition of our new shortcast that you'll find parked fairly regularly in the Rusty's Garage Library.
• 0:22
  A chance to talk about things that are happening right now, a bit of currency on matters you're talking about, and we'll try to break them down with people in and around the game that know.
• 0:34
  Round one of Supercars was last weekend in Newcastle.
• 0:37
  The race debut of the brand new Gen 3 car generated plenty of headlines, including a little bit of tension in the press conference, which we'll get to when it all wrapped up on Sunday night.
• 0:46
  And we want to try and make sense of all of this.
• 0:50
  Could have opted for a team manager or a driver.
• 0:53
  Some of you might think that only presents one viewpoint.
• 0:56
  We could have perhaps approached somebody from Supercars.
• 0:58
  But again, that might have led to a kind of company line.
• 1:04
  really probably deserves our usual long-form chats.
• 1:08
  There is no change to those, incidentally.
• 1:10
  Lots of great guests coming up, and we'll release them fortnightly now.
• 1:14
  2009 Formula One driver's champion Jenson Button is our latest guest there.
• 1:19
  Enjoy that once you've finished this edition of The Brief.
• 1:23
  Today, we are joined by award-winning journalist and author Paul Gover, who's written for several of the big papers and automotive internet sites.
• 1:30
  He's an old colleague.
• 1:31
  who worked the pit lane with me for a time there during the Channel 10 chapter as well.
• 1:35
  And we've got him as he's walked out of a radio interview in Brisbane.
• 1:38
  G'day, PG.
• 1:39
  Good morning to you, Rusty.
• 1:41
  You were in the paddock, the press room at Newcastle at the weekend.
• 1:45
  Give us an overarching view of the first round, the beginning of a new era.
• 1:49
  What do you think?
• 1:50
  Well, the thing about it is I think there's lots of controversy spinning around the whole thing on a number of levels.
• 1:55
  But let's cut back to the basics.
• 1:58
  There were lots of people there.
• 2:00
  Lots of happy people there.
• 2:02
  The cars look fantastic.
• 2:04
  So from my point of view, it ticks all the boxes.
• 2:06
  I love it, mate.
• 2:07
  Cars look tough.
• 2:08
  They sound good.
• 2:09
  They look tricky to drive, which made for a bit of interest, I reckon, in the Sunday race in particular.
• 2:15
  It is only one round in, and we probably need to see how they go at a fast pace like an Albert Park at the Grand Prix rather than just the city streets of Newcastle.
• 2:23
  What impressions did the cars leave you with?
• 2:26
  I would imagine if I know you, you're eager to drive one too.
• 2:30
  Yeah, I'm a little bit chubby to be getting in and out of these things.
• 2:33
  The access these days is not good.
• 2:35
  And, in fact, Brodie Kostecki mentioned that again on the weekend.
• 2:37
  Brodie is not – as you know, he's not exactly the most svelte driver in the pit lane.
• 2:42
  But I think they're –
• 2:45
  Look, it's designed to be a car parity formula, not a driver parity formula, not an engineering parity formula.
• 2:53
  And I think that's good.
• 2:54
  You know, it shakes the things up.
• 2:56
  There were some teams that were completely lost on the weekend, had no idea what they were doing.
• 3:01
  There were some teams that had, if you like, natural drivers.
• 3:06
  Brodie's a natural diver.
• 3:08
  Shane Van Gisbergen's a natural driver.
• 3:10
  Golding is a natural driver.
• 3:12
  And so they did quite well.
• 3:14
  So I'm actually enjoying the fact that the engineers are not running the whole show for at least for a time.
• 3:21
  They'll get on top of it.
• 3:23
  But the drivers I've spoken to have also said they don't have the tools they used to have.
• 3:28
  So I think a lot of the year it's going to be, can we get it near enough is good enough.
• 3:34
  Will it go round again, Newcastle?
• 3:37
  Should it?
• 3:38
  Contract is up.
• 3:39
  I personally think it should have looked good there.
• 3:41
  And I can remember being there around 2017 and the atmosphere of the crowd was always good.
• 3:46
  From a New South Wales government standpoint, from a more of a regional perspective, it sort of ticks that box too, doesn't it?
• 3:53
  Yeah, exactly.
• 3:54
  The biggest problem, and I talked to a number of people about this on the weekend, is the cost.
• 3:58
  The cost of building the track has gone up 40% since the last time they ran.
• 4:03
  And I think what happened was supercars went along and said, this is what it's going to cost.
• 4:07
  And I think a few people have got a bit of a shock, including the state government.
• 4:13
  I think...
• 4:14
  Look, there's a small group, a bit like the, say, Velvet Park people who don't want it, you know, a bit of NIMBY, not in my backyard.
• 4:21
  Most people seem quite happy with it.
• 4:22
  The council is happy, but they have to, you know, poll the people who live there to see what they think.
• 4:30
  I know the state government is happy that it works.
• 4:33
  It's going to come down to how much it costs, Rusty.
• 4:35
  The contract that they had in place also didn't have a CPI increase in it.
• 4:40
  So what they've been charged is...
• 4:42
  is the five years ago.
• 4:46
  So the number that everybody was looking at was the five years ago number, not something that had been progressively indexed through the five years so they would have seen the price going up.
• 4:55
  So what's happened is they've got a five-year increase in one belt.
• 4:58
  There is a protest over the disqualification of both the Red Bull cars, which finished one and two on Saturday.
• 5:04
  That'll be heard in the lead up to round two of the Grand Prix.
• 5:07
  Pending appeal, Cam Waters is currently the race one winner.
• 5:11
  The alleged breach, and you can correct me if I don't articulate this right, mate, surrounds additional driver cooling and its placement on the driver's side in an area designated to kind of remain clear for impact protection.
• 5:25
  Now, fans...
• 5:26
  don't perceive it as a performance advantage.
• 5:29
  In a black and white sense, the placement is outside the designated area for this stuff on the passenger side of the car.
• 5:35
  Does the punishment fit the crime?
• 5:38
  That's what people keep asking me.
• 5:39
  What do you think?
• 5:41
  The punishment fits the crime as the current hearing was done.
• 5:47
  And the thing about it is that I've had a good look at the rules.
• 5:50
  I had somebody walk me through the rules.
• 5:52
  They had something that was outside the box.
• 5:54
  And the reason why it fits the punishment fits the crime is because under the Gen 3 regulations, they're much, much tighter on what you can and can't do.
• 6:03
  And so they had to have an early crackdown.
• 6:06
  But it's also going to dissolve into he said, she said.
• 6:10
  The 888 people say that they were given permission to run it.
• 6:14
  The supercars people say they weren't.
• 6:17
  And the officials said, well, if you have been, where's the paper trail?
• 6:22
  And there isn't one.
• 6:24
  So it's going to be tough like that.
• 6:25
  But I've spoken to a number of people.
• 6:27
  There's more to play out on this issue.
• 6:30
  from a rule book perspective than just was it in the right place, was it in the wrong place.
• 6:35
  I think on the weekend, right decision.
• 6:38
  You can't have people messing around with the rules on day one.
• 6:42
  What did the punishment fit the crime?
• 6:45
  No, but any crime now is going to be punishable that way because they have to keep all of these lunatics.
• 6:51
  Black and white.
• 6:52
  Well, you know, you give them you can't give engineers a millimeter and they'll go, oh, yeah, but hang on.
• 6:57
  You know, what you really meant was this, you know, and do we want to have do we want to have a parody category or do we want to have a legal category?
• 7:05
  Scaifey mentioned in the broadcast that he'd had a difficult conversation with David Reynolds in the build-up about things Davey had said regarding the new cars in a radio interview.
• 7:15
  They sound like they've smoothed it over.
• 7:18
  Then there was talk of calls to journalists and media outlets about a perceived kind of lack of positive press as the weekend got underway.
• 7:28
  Did that really happen?
• 7:29
  Some of it definitely happened.
• 7:31
  Um, I've, but, but I've had so many phone calls, uh, from all sides of the fence, you know, not just both sides of the fence, but up and down.
• 7:39
  Um, I think the whole thing about it is, um, that supercars want this thing to roll out smoothly and be happiness and light.
• 7:48
  It's never going to be happiness and light because somebody is always going to have a complaint.
• 7:52
  Now I have spoken to Davey a number of times and, and, um, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've
• 7:56
  And yes, he's not happy in the cabin.
• 7:58
  Brodie Kostecki's not happy in the cabin.
• 8:00
  Most of them are saying it's hotter in the cars now than the old cars, but they don't want to go on the record, not just because they've been told not to, but you know, race car drivers, they really don't want to buy into this stuff.
• 8:13
  They just want to go boom, boom, fast round in circles.
• 8:17
  They don't care about, you know, they don't care about the politics.
• 8:19
  Now, Mark Scaife, who you and I have both known for, well, I've known him since 1986, he's been a big fan of the race.
• 8:26
  has always been a very forceful personality.
• 8:29
  He has a role in supercars to help drive these things.
• 8:32
  And, in fact, he was critical to the very late parity decisions that are made.
• 8:37
  And I would argue that if he hadn't got involved, it would be a much bigger mess.
• 8:41
  So he's defensive from that point of view.
• 8:44
  But does he need to be ringing up drivers and complaining?
• 8:47
  Probably, well, he can ring up with his hat on complaining about that sort of thing if he's representing supercars, but he also is a television commentator.
• 8:57
  So where do you draw the line between what your rules, what your responsibilities are?
• 9:02
  I don't think you would have ever called me up to complain about something when you're on the broadcast team.
• 9:08
  No.
• 9:11
  In a broad sense, mate, is there an awkwardness or a bit of a breakdown in the relationship between the sport and some members of the media and what should be done to fix it?
• 9:22
  I mean, you and I know this, right?
• 9:23
  It's a give and take business.
• 9:24
  Relationships are important, but it also has to be robust.
• 9:28
  And I say that appreciating just what you've detailed, there's been a huge...
• 9:31
  huge amount of work go into these new cars by a lot of very committed passionate and dedicated people naturally we want the start with the right vibe in the marketplace but people do need to be able to speak freely paul yeah absolutely and let's be honest but i think rusty the single most important thing that everybody's forgotten in all this is what is the media and the broadcast team are not the media
• 9:56
  They're paid by supercars.
• 9:58
  They have a positive, you know what I mean?
• 10:00
  So if you look at it from that point of view, when the people are on there and they say, here we are at Newcastle, that to me, whereas whenever I'm talking, I am at Newcastle, they are at Newcastle.
• 10:14
  I'm not part of the show.
• 10:16
  And so, and I think a lot of people, particularly the keyboard warriors.
• 10:20
  And independence, if you will.
• 10:21
  Yeah, yeah, correct.
• 10:22
  See, to me, the media is independent.
• 10:26
  You know what I mean?
• 10:26
  Like if you if you're watching the news at night, you don't expect that the people who are on reading the news are actually employed by the federal government or whatever.
• 10:34
  The people who are on the TV, which most people perceive as being the media in inverted commas, are not.
• 10:40
  They're the commentary team.
• 10:41
  They work for supercars media, which works for supercars.
• 10:44
  So ultimately, the checks are paper.
• 10:47
  People like Larko, well, you couldn't put a muzzle on him no matter what you were doing.
• 10:53
  He's going to call it like he sees it, and that's fantastic.
• 10:56
  He's fabulous.
• 10:57
  Yeah, that's right.
• 10:58
  But there are a lot of people around the broadcast industry who are perceived to be independent media, and they're not.
• 11:04
  But if you look at the coverage from the independent guys who were there on the weekend, all the various websites and, you know, newspaper reporting and that sort of stuff.
• 11:13
  If you look at that sort of coverage, it's far less sensational.
• 11:17
  It's far more balanced.
• 11:20
  But people obviously are getting upset about these things because drivers polarise people and fans are very fast these days to the keyboards.
• 11:29
  Now, that naturally leads us to an awkward press conference exchange on Sunday after it all wrapped up between Shane Van Gisbergen and Supercars pit reporter, Super 2 commentator and press conference MC Chad Nalon, who is one of the fairest blokes you will ever meet.
• 11:44
  Now, Shane didn't want to talk.
• 11:46
  The champions talking was, quote, done on track.
• 11:49
  Here it is.
• 11:50
  I imagine there was a bit of disappointment with the team today.
• 11:52
  So did that make today's race win even a little bit sweeter?
• 11:55
  Yeah, so basically just repeat what I said on track.
• 11:58
  Like, thanks to my team, our cars were awesome.
• 12:01
  But, yeah, all our talking was done on the track today.
• 12:04
  So thank you.
• 12:04
  There was a little... No, mate, it's a press conference.
• 12:08
  We've got to ask you questions.
• 12:09
  There was obviously that battle at turn nine between yourself and Chas.
• 12:13
  Can you talk us through it just from your point of view?
• 12:15
  All the talking was done on track today.
• 12:17
  Mate, come on.
• 12:18
  Are you serious?
• 12:19
  You were there, mate.
• 12:21
  What did you think of the press conference?
• 12:24
  Just kind of give us a balanced take on it and how it unfolded.
• 12:27
  Well, before we get to that, we need to back up a one day.
• 12:31
  In fact, two days.
• 12:32
  Shane was quite happy.
• 12:34
  Shane Van Giesbergen was quite happy to complain in the first press conference, the first official press conference about the amount of heat in the car burning his feet, said it was dangerous, all that sort of stuff.
• 12:46
  As I understand it, there were some allowances made overnight as a result of the comments that he made there.
• 12:51
  He was quite happy to talk to the media in inverted commas, like all of the press guys.
• 12:56
  And there probably are 40 people in that room.
• 12:58
  The next day, he was not happy after the first race.
• 13:04
  I have no idea why, but he was very late to the official champagne spraying after the first race.
• 13:12
  I talked to one of the supercars people about it.
• 13:15
  They said, no, no, no, it's just his normal thing.
• 13:16
  But the fact is, the person who was handing him the trophy on Saturday went up the steps before he did, which is very unusual, as you would know.
• 13:24
  So there were a number of things that led up.
• 13:26
  Then we had the situation before the press conference, when he got out of the car, Jesse Yates,
• 13:31
  who is a great journalist and a great anchor, got the, I've done my talking on the track, and he wouldn't engage with her in the pit line.
• 13:40
  So then we get to the press conference, right?
• 13:44
  Now, none of us were aware.
• 13:46
  I mean, obviously we're aware of the background to what had been going on with the weekend and the negative comments and all that sort of stuff.
• 13:52
  But...
• 13:54
  he wasn't asked about Gen 3.
• 13:57
  He was being asked about how the race had unfolded that day.
• 14:01
  And what we wanted to hear about was the bump and run with Chazzy Mostert and how did he feel when Chaz ran it?
• 14:06
  All that good racing stuff, okay?
• 14:10
  Shane just shut it down right from the start.
• 14:12
  Now, he shut Chad down and he shut down a couple of other outlets.
• 14:17
  It was not just the TV he shut down.
• 14:19
  He didn't want to talk at all.
• 14:21
  I thought it was...
• 14:22
  not the right thing to do because what he would have, what he should have done in there, instead of saying, I did my talking on the race, he should have said, I don't want to get drawn into anything about Gen 3.
• 14:33
  If you want to talk about the racing, that's fine.
• 14:35
  But he just basically shut down completely and it was a non-event as a press conference.
• 14:41
  Now, poor old Chad Nail, I've spoken to him since.
• 14:45
  Chad is a very, very good interviewer.
• 14:47
  He knows how to do those press conferences.
• 14:49
  He's interacted with Shane in the past.
• 14:51
  And I believe that they've probably sorted things out between the two of them.
• 14:55
  And I could not have seen that Chad would have been calling Shane up to apologise.
• 15:01
  It's unprecedented, that sort of behaviour.
• 15:03
  And in fact, I've had people yelling at me in the last couple of days saying, oh, you know, Scaife used to do that when he was a driver, Russell Inc. Well, I'm sorry, I was at press conferences with all of the difficult people, right back to Alan Moffat.
• 15:16
  And none of them actually have ever done the, I'm not talking about anything.
• 15:22
  All of them have engaged to some degree, even if, and I'm joking now, but even if to the extent, because I can't remember the exact details, but if it was that sort of situation, I'd ask, so what's your favourite colour?
• 15:34
  Just to try and break the ice, you know what I mean, to get them talking about something else.
• 15:40
  This is going to play for a while.
• 15:42
  I know Shane has put out a very long social media post explaining himself.
• 15:47
  It would have been a great thing if he'd bothered to give us even 50% of what he's put online before the press conference started.
• 15:54
  I do note that that is a very, very well-written piece that he's done, mate, on his social media platforms and supported by the likes of Scott McLaughlin, Russell Ingle and more.
• 16:07
  Can we just expand on this and clarify both sides a little bit here?
• 16:10
  Firstly, in the defence of the TV team.
• 16:13
  Sometimes when there's – you know, mate, you've been there with limited resources, times of the essence.
• 16:17
  The on-air team don't always get a chance to preview some of those grabs, right?
• 16:21
  Yes, correct.
• 16:22
  So Defence Leader Jess Yates, Mark Scaife and Garth Tander, as you've rightly pointed out.
• 16:27
  Shane did go on to answer – I think it was a question to Speed Cafe where he explained –
• 16:32
  that he'd been, quote-unquote, I think, bitten in the arse about some comments, et cetera, et cetera.
• 16:36
  So we got a bit more of an understanding of his reluctance to talk.
• 16:42
  And I think that's probably the side that we...
• 16:45
  we didn't get in the broadcast because we needed to understand why he didn't want to talk fundamentally.
• 16:50
  Now you can argue the rights and wrongs of, you know, even, I think as Mark pointed out, even, you know, those that have had an awkward association with the press or being perceived to be villains in the past have always been able to articulate to give something.
• 17:03
  So maybe that is the, maybe that's the learning for, for Shane in the wake of this, but if the sport,
• 17:08
  is stopping them from talking.
• 17:10
  I can also appreciate his frustrations, mate.
• 17:12
  I, he hadn't been gagged, he just got negative feedback.
• 17:17
  Different thing.
• 17:18
  Nobody told you don't talk.
• 17:19
  Now, just to run back, the single biggest controversy ahead of this is probably the shriek at the creek, which is when Scaife got out on the track and waved his fist and Ingall, right?
• 17:30
  You and I were both there.
• 17:31
  Right.
• 17:32
  Now, the other thing is that night there was a stewards hearing.
• 17:36
  And it ran until 9pm and I stayed to get the result.
• 17:40
  Mark Scaife came to me.
• 17:43
  He walked out of the stewards here and he walked straight into where I was and he explained the whole thing to me.
• 17:48
  He gave me chapter and verse, what he'd been charged with, what he'd pled, how he gave me the whole thing.
• 17:54
  And then I wrote my stories at that time for News Limited and it was not a problem.
• 17:58
  That's the thing.
• 18:00
  He came out and explained.
• 18:01
  And that's what Shane didn't do.
• 18:03
  And so that's where we've got a problem here.
• 18:06
  We got a brick wall from from from.
• 18:09
  Shane without explanation.
• 18:11
  Now, Shane is a very, very difficult interview at the best of times.
• 18:15
  He's not he doesn't enjoy engaging with the media.
• 18:18
  He doesn't like it.
• 18:20
  In fact, the day before, he didn't want to answer a question.
• 18:24
  He just said, I'm not answering that question to one.
• 18:27
  He just didn't like the question.
• 18:28
  So he didn't answer it.
• 18:29
  Now, I've seen Garth Tander do the same thing.
• 18:32
  He once said in a press conference, that's a stupid question.
• 18:35
  Has somebody got a better one?
• 18:37
  So all drivers suffer from this sort of thing.
• 18:39
  But again, what's wrong in this situation is that there was no context to it.
• 18:45
  And so what happened was everybody walked in and it blew up and we didn't have the correct background.
• 18:50
  Now, what Shane's put on social media as a result of what happened is fantastic.
• 18:55
  Great.
• 18:56
  Lovely.
• 18:56
  Explains everything.
• 18:58
  Well, a lot of it.
• 18:59
  But we didn't know that going into the press conference.
• 19:01
  And poor old Chad Nalan, who's the first bloke to ask a question, had no idea that's what was going to happen.
• 19:07
  I don't know for sure.
• 19:08
  My gut feel would be that if there was an apology, it's been a private thing between Shane and Chad.
• 19:15
  And Shane is not the kind of guy to seek social media points to say, hey, I've apologised to the bloke.
• 19:21
  I reckon he'll handle that as a private matter.
• 19:23
  What may also need to be handled as a private matter, I think, mate, is how we move forward here.
• 19:28
  What does the sport, what do we do to get a better scenario happening with the press, with the champion, with the race winner of the day?
• 19:38
  What in your mind needs to happen there?
• 19:42
  And does the sport need to do a little bit of navel-gazing around its work with the press, with the media?
• 19:49
  Well, I think the thing is, what's a legitimate question?
• 19:52
  You know, if you're asking a legitimate question, you deserve an answer.
• 19:55
  But the other thing about this is we're in Gen 3.
• 19:58
  Lots of people are walking on eggshells.
• 20:00
  Team owners.
• 20:01
  Yes.
• 20:02
  I know that for a fact that team owners were sent an email by supercars asking them not to be critical of the cars, at least in the early phase.
• 20:09
  Now, having said that, I've got two stories I'm working on at the minute where team people had been critical in the early phase.
• 20:16
  what needs to happen is that the drivers need to be going in there without a muzzle they're the guys that people want to hear about the fact they're that they're the superstars of the whole thing and press conferences is one authenticity absolutely and in fact a number of times in those press conferences or nearby people have said things and gone to me oh that's good that won't end up in print because they swore or whatever but
• 20:42
  I put it, you know, you run it because it's what it's raw and it's emotion.
• 20:46
  And the thing about the press conference is the only time it's better to interview them is instantly when they get out of the car because there's no filter.
• 20:55
  They've had no time to think and they haven't been.
• 20:57
  approached by the team spin doctor saying, oh, hang on, say this or say that or don't forget this or whatever.
• 21:02
  And you've done those.
• 21:04
  And I used to, I can remember standing with you as they got out of the cars, ducked down below the level of the cameras.
• 21:11
  The best.
• 21:12
  Right?
• 21:12
  The second best thing is when they come to the press conference, because usually they still, it's still relatively soon after.
• 21:21
  The winning driver these days is usually much longer because they do a longer chat at the end of the broadcast.
• 21:27
  But so on the weekend, Chas Mostert and Davey Reynolds were both in there on their own.
• 21:32
  So it was a chance to talk to them quietly and get their real raw experience.
• 21:36
  unexpurgated, if you like, version of things before the TV cameras are turned back on.
• 21:41
  So the bottom line is the system does work when there's no external pressure applied to them.
• 21:46
  We need them to be able to speak their mind.
• 21:49
  I know it's very early days in a brand new era, and we all want positivity in the marketplace to be excited about these great new things.
• 21:56
  And there's still a lot to learn and a lot to come, but I'm not a fan of drivers, people.
• 22:03
  feeling like they need to shy away from being themselves in those moments with you, mate.
• 22:09
  So however we repair that as a, you know, I look immediately to the other big sporting codes and some of their CEOs and executive and what they might do, mate.
• 22:22
  I just feel like we need to do something here to ensure that one of our big draw cards, the star of the game, is feeling comfortable about speaking properly.
• 22:30
  But obviously the want is for it to be, you know, for some positivity around that as well.
• 22:34
  Yeah, I agree.
• 22:35
  Look, there's a lot of really good things about Gen 3.
• 22:38
  And the fact that cars even exist and came and, you know, it's a huge kudos for everybody.
• 22:45
  But most of the people in and around motorsport are so far down the rabbit hole at the moment, they don't even see where the daylight is.
• 22:54
  And the daylight is where the consumers are, the fans, the people who watch TV, the people who turned up, you know, happy and smiling at the races on the weekend.
• 23:01
  That's who we need to be thinking about.
• 23:04
  Forget about what I want or what Mark Scaife wants or what Triple Eight want or whatever.
• 23:10
  What do they want?
• 23:11
  And that should be the answer to every question.
• 23:14
  Well done, mate.
• 23:14
  Great to get you on for a chat and some perspective on this at heart.
• 23:19
  We both love the game immensely and we just want it to continue to flourish and to be good for those fans.
• 23:26
  Take care and look after yourself.
• 23:27
  And we want to get you back on for a longer chat at some stage about the life and times of Paul Gover.
• 23:31
  Yeah, well, hopefully there's quite a bit more life and times to come yet.
• 23:34
  But, yeah, I've got the odd story, Rusty, that's worth telling.
• 23:38
  You've got some rippers having worked with some of the biggest names in the game over the years.
• 23:41
  Take care.
• 23:42
  Thank you, Paul.
• 23:42
  Thank you very much.
• 23:44
  He was fabulous, wasn't he?
• 23:45
  Balanced, which I like, and he's cut plenty of laps around the sport, Paul, so it's a viewpoint that I respect.
• 23:53
  I'd like to finish this week with an observation Russell Engle made in his post.
• 23:56
  I referenced that before.
• 23:58
  Not all champions are media darlings.
• 24:01
  The Shane Van Gisberg and I know, as Russell pointed out, actually does lots of good things, like his work at the Norwell Driver Training Complex, for example, with young racers helping them learn their craft, and he never...
• 24:13
  seeks kudos for that.
• 24:15
  I've been very fortunate to have a good relationship with SVG and there is, I believe, some onus on us in the media to ask the kind of questions that engage him, that unlock him a bit.
• 24:27
  Now, clearly he was frustrated at the weekend, but I think we need to just keep in mind some of the quiet good he also does so that we don't let this moment
• 24:37
  overshadow his legacy he is a truly special driver that history should remember as such and while there's probably learnings for him from this moment i reckon there's learnings for all of us in life every day and it is i believe incumbent on the sport to sit down with this bloke and work together to find a way forward that is my impassioned plea
• 25:02
  That is it for this edition of The Brief.
• 25:03
  My thanks to Paul Gover for coming on.
• 25:05
  Before we go, little shout out to Tabitha Ambrose, who is taking steps to chase the professional racer dream.
• 25:12
  She's the daughter of the two-time Supercars champion, our former NASCAR star, Marcus Ambrose.
• 25:18
  Tabitha,
• 25:19
  stepped up from karts to race a car for the very first time recently.
• 25:24
  A Hyundai XL, she did a ripper job as well in the support race activity as a part of the opening round of the Speed Series at Simmons Plains in Tasmania.
• 25:33
  Tabitha from all of us at Rusty's Garage, go get them.
• 25:37
  We wish you all the very best.
• 25:39
  Next week...
• 25:40
  a special guest on The Brief.
• 25:43
  And then after that, it's all about the build-up to the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, which we'll preview as well.
• 25:48
  See you next time, everyone.
• 25:49
  Bye for now.