Latest / Rusty's Garage / Rob Herridge - Part 3

Transcript

Rob Herridge - Part 3 · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:20
  Hi, it's Rusty here.
• 0:20
  We're just about ready to launch into the final part of our feature episode with two-time Australian rally champion Rob Herridge.
• 0:26
  Like many in the rally family, the good ones can talk and talk well.
• 0:31
  Because we're not watching the clock and Rob's up for a chat, we have made this a rare three-parter.
• 0:37
  If somehow you've skipped parts one and two and landed here, you are missing some gold.
• 0:43
  Like his early life in country West Australia and how sporting parents helped harden his competitive mindset.
• 0:50
  Farm life also gave him
• 0:52
  hands-on engineering skills.
• 0:54
  He calls himself a pretend engineer, but his craftsmanship is every bit as good, I'd argue even better, than many with a formal qualification.
• 1:03
  As is Rob's way, those solutions are often about practicality and functionality rather than chasing holy grail levels of horsepower and so on.
• 1:14
  You'll also hear about his barefoot water skiing talents, meeting
• 1:17
  and forming a friendship with another rally legend, Ross Duncanen, and moving into the sport on a whim and thinking that he was world champion material on his first ever transport stage.
• 1:28
  That is a very funny yarn.
• 1:30
  We're in the control, last stage of this event.
• 1:33
  Clock's counting, so let's get into it.
• 1:34
  The final part of my pod with Rob Herridge.
• 1:37
  Enjoy.
• 1:38
  Let's talk Dean for a little minute here, just in terms of his own career.
• 1:41
  I mean, were there moments where you were pulling your hair out around the Hyundai and he went off to England for a little bit?
• 1:47
  I mean, again, it was a big commitment from a business perspective.
• 1:53
  He's your son, all those sort of things.
• 1:55
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:55
  When we sent him, it was looking like because I had done some pace noting work for Colin McRae, I'd become mates with Derek Ringer.
• 2:05
  Just tell us about that.
• 2:06
  That's fantastic.
• 2:10
  I was, because I'd won the championship for Subaru, I was, as a bit of a token of appreciation, I'd go to the Rally of New Zealand, come along and do Possum's gravel notes.
• 2:22
  Great.
• 2:23
  Involved with the pro-drive team.
• 2:25
  So I arrived there.
• 2:27
  It was just not a very special car, but it's a Corona.
• 2:29
  I think it could even have rally ties on it, but it's, you know, whatever.
• 2:33
  So I'm doing the...
• 2:36
  I drive around the course and I make some notes and my job is to drive just before they close the stage and then... Latest information on what it's like.
• 2:43
  Latest information on the stage conditions.
• 2:45
  Not changing their pace note, but mud, snow.
• 2:48
  And what am I looking for?
• 2:49
  Are we looking for ice, snow, mud, black ice?
• 2:53
  And I go, black ice?
• 2:56
  What does that look like?
• 2:56
  That's a thing over there.
• 2:57
  Yeah, and I said, what does that look like?
• 2:58
  And they said, well, you can't see it.
• 3:00
  And I said, how will you know when you've got it?
• 3:01
  I said, you'll feel it.
• 3:02
  You'll know.
• 3:03
  And of course, they had all of that.
• 3:05
  And of course, Colin was under some pressure to win because he hadn't won a rally yet.
• 3:11
  And ProDrive was under some pressure because they wanted to debut the Impreza and the Japanese factory wouldn't let them debut it until the Legacy had won a rally.
• 3:20
  And they said, the Legacy is too good a car.
• 3:23
  not to have won a round of the World Rally Championship.
• 3:25
  So you can't debut the...
• 3:28
  So they're all under pressure, and the Japanese are there.
• 3:31
  So anyway, so Colin and Ari Vartnan, Colin McRae and Ari Vartnan are doing the rally, and so is Possum.
• 3:37
  And I don't think Possum's car was quite as good as theirs, but anyway, I'm doing the notes.
• 3:42
  And on the first night, Dave Richards, the boss of Protroth, called me aside and I was like, you know, I've been summoned by God here, you know.
• 3:54
  And he said, I hear you're doing gravel nights for Possum.
• 3:56
  And I go, well, yeah, I am.
• 3:57
  And he said, do you think you can do them for Colin?
• 3:59
  Because we had a bit of pressure here.
• 4:01
  Colin's leading the rally and Ari's coming second.
• 4:03
  I've gone, well, yeah, um, Bose.
• 4:06
  And I said, well, I'll need his notes.
• 4:08
  And they say, yeah, well, we'll, um, we'll, we'll get, you've got to get them sorted tonight.
• 4:12
  I go, what?
• 4:14
  So, and as I'm walking out of the office, Ari Vartner grabs me, because he and I have already been mates, and he says, Rob, I hear you are doing gravel notes for Colin.
• 4:24
  I said, yeah, apparently.
• 4:26
  And he said, you think you can do them for me?
• 4:27
  I go, hey.
• 4:31
  Yeah, okay, you get me.
• 4:33
  And as I get further out, Pots, Potsum goes, Pots, uh, Rob, apparently you're doing some other, you're still good with mine, aren't you?
• 4:41
  I go, hey, sure.
• 4:43
  Sure.
• 4:45
  Three lots of gravel notes.
• 4:46
  Three lots of gravel notes.
• 4:48
  All different.
• 4:50
  So I'm going, you know, I go up to Derek Ringer's room, Colin McRae's co-driver.
• 4:57
  Knock, knock, knock.
• 4:58
  Yes, I'm Rob Herridge and I'm doing your grammar notes.
• 5:03
  So if I can have your notes, I'll just take them away and photocopy him, he goes.
• 5:07
  That won't be happening.
• 5:09
  I don't think so.
• 5:11
  And he goes, I said, yeah, your boss, what's his name?
• 5:15
  He was going to square it away, he says, I'll make a call.
• 5:18
  And you can hear him saying, really?
• 5:20
  Really?
• 5:22
  Righto.
• 5:22
  He comes back, he gives me a note, he says, do not lose them.
• 5:27
  Don't worry about a thing.
• 5:29
  Same thing with Ari's co-driver.
• 5:31
  So down to the dealership.
• 5:32
  We're at the dealership.
• 5:33
  In the middle of the night, like Watergate.
• 5:35
  Lights off, using the phone to go.
• 5:36
  Watergate.
• 5:37
  To the light.
• 5:39
  So on the... Like a spy movie.
• 5:42
  The next day, there's the co-driver, safety first, in the Corona, with the big board on his lap with three sets of notes.
• 5:51
  And we ran on Colin's notes.
• 5:54
  And he just ticked and made amendments to the other ones as we went.
• 5:58
  Unbelievable.
• 5:59
  And then we would try to call the amendments back through the helicopter and we very soon, Dave Richards, gone, do not tie up this channel.
• 6:06
  Gotcha.
• 6:07
  So we had to then just go like 100 miles an hour back to the service and...
• 6:12
  Give them the notes.
• 6:13
  And Colin was winning the rally and on a bit of a high.
• 6:15
  He would take, go what?
• 6:17
  Get the amended notes, throw them over his shoulder because he wasn't worrying about that shit.
• 6:22
  But his co-driver, Derek, would come round the back and pick them up.
• 6:25
  Gotcha.
• 6:26
  And that's how we became mates.
• 6:27
  Mates.
• 6:29
  But before we even got to that point, I'm going to do possums' notes.
• 6:33
  And possums, anyone in the new possum had very complicated notes.
• 6:36
  He had twice as many pages as anyone else, at least.
• 6:38
  And they were very complex.
• 6:40
  And Dr Roger Freeth was, you know, he...
• 6:42
  I said, how can you get all this stuff out?
• 6:44
  And he said, Rob, if your life depends on it, you get it out.
• 6:48
  So we're going to photocopy them.
• 6:51
  And we're at the Souvery dealership.
• 6:53
  And he says, here's the notes and these are the books.
• 6:55
  And there's, like, books of them.
• 6:57
  And he said, and he's in the next room touching them up like they do, putting sticker on things, just making them all neat and tidy.
• 7:03
  So he says, well, he's got to photocopy them.
• 7:06
  So myself and my co-driver go into the next room and we're photocopying.
• 7:09
  He says, don't unspiral them.
• 7:11
  No, no, no, no.
• 7:13
  No, we're fine.
• 7:14
  So we turn over one page and we put it on the machine and we press the button and do it.
• 7:19
  OK, open the top, turn the page, do it.
• 7:23
  And I think this is going to take forever.
• 7:24
  It's going to take forever.
• 7:26
  What we'll do is we'll unspiral them.
• 7:28
  Don't unspiral them, no we're right, we're good.
• 7:31
  I'll unspiral them and we put one book in.
• 7:36
  We put the next book in, so about three books worth.
• 7:39
  All in there and then we press the button.
• 7:42
  And as we press the button off it goes.
• 7:47
  And I'm catching the paper and they're feeding in and there's about 10 pages in there and then all of a sudden, ching, ching, ching, ching, paper jam.
• 7:57
  With the notes in there, the real notes.
• 7:58
  Yeah.
• 8:00
  And I'm going, oh, that's not good.
• 8:03
  How you going in there?
• 8:04
  You haven't unspoken?
• 8:05
  No, no, we're all good, Roger, we're good.
• 8:06
  Don't come in.
• 8:07
  So we're trying to work out how to unjam this thing.
• 8:12
  So we get looking at this thing.
• 8:14
  We can't work it out.
• 8:16
  And we're looking at the front, and we get all the papers from the feed tray, and we put on top, careful, keep them in order.
• 8:25
  And as we're working out how to open it, we press the button and the whole lid just sprung up like a jack in the box.
• 8:32
  And everything went down the back of the machine, onto the floor and spilled out under the machine around our feet.
• 8:40
  Everyone's notes mixed.
• 8:41
  Yeah.
• 8:45
  As we both looked at them and I were going, this is not good.
• 8:48
  Good.
• 8:50
  So we're then on our hands and knees, trying to play snap with,
• 8:55
  I've got an SS1, page 6, what have you got?
• 8:58
  I've got an SS1.
• 8:59
  Does that look like the same writing?
• 9:00
  That looks like the same.
• 9:02
  So we put them all back together, eventually got them together, and we give them back, and we said, right, we're good to go.
• 9:09
  Any time during the rally, we had the team radio, any time during the rally, any time we heard Possum come over the team radio, there's only Possum's notes.
• 9:19
  Possum to management.
• 9:21
  We'd stopped.
• 9:23
  Uh-oh.
• 9:24
  And he'd call something and we'd go...
• 9:27
  It's not us.
• 9:27
  It's not the notes.
• 9:29
  As I said, I had to wait for a couple of people to die to tell that story.
• 9:32
  It's a story.
• 9:33
  Well, we did get them back in the right order, but...
• 9:35
  Yeah, only co-drivers and rally people understand that.
• 9:38
  And is the moral to the story here, was that a breakthrough win for Colin that weekend too, I think, wasn't it?
• 9:43
  It was, and it was a big party.
• 9:45
  And I've got to tell you, I thought he was fast despite his notes, not because of his notes.
• 9:49
  Gotcha.
• 9:50
  But when he was on a high, he was just on a high, you know, and his notes were nowhere near as comprehensive as, say, possums.
• 10:00
  And so he was on a high, Ari,
• 10:03
  Ari went out at the rally, he broke an engine in the famous Motu stage.
• 10:07
  And we actually got through the 45 kilometres and 900 corners of Motu, taking a bit of a break.
• 10:13
  And we left there very early in the morning and we get a call, Ari Vartanen to gravel crew, and we're going, oh, that's us.
• 10:21
  So we, yes, gravel crew to Ari, yes please.
• 10:25
  What is the temperature at the end of Motu?
• 10:28
  It's cold.
• 10:31
  So he says, no, what is the exact temperature, please?
• 10:34
  And we go, oh, give us one minute.
• 10:38
  So we parked outside the school, the local kinder school, so we have to go into the school to see if they've got a thermometer.
• 10:45
  The schoolteacher introduces us to the children who all have to say good morning and we have to say good morning back and then they have to ask the question, what is the temperature?
• 10:53
  We find out it's like three degrees after we say our thank yous and goodbyes and they say thank you to the rally drivers visiting our...
• 11:01
  And we have to get back in the radio and tell Ari that it's three degrees at the end of Motu.
• 11:06
  Excellent.
• 11:07
  The connection with Derek helps with Dean, I think, going to the UK and so on.
• 11:11
  What I wanted to ask about Dean's driving and stuff, did you sort of help guide him in a driving sense?
• 11:19
  Or was it more on the mental side?
• 11:20
  Because you've been so strong on that and learnt that from a young person.
• 11:23
  Yeah, no, I don't think I've ever given Dean a driving lesson.
• 11:26
  You either can or you can't do it.
• 11:28
  And Dean wasn't a real out there kid.
• 11:31
  I mean, his sister was more outgoing than him.
• 11:33
  Natasha.
• 11:34
  Yeah, Natasha.
• 11:35
  She was more ballsy, I suppose you'd say.
• 11:37
  It was an absolute shock that he drove cars as fast as he did.
• 11:41
  I mean, I wanted him to be involved in rallying.
• 11:43
  He was more into touring car racing than rallying, but his dad was the Australian rally champion.
• 11:48
  So he started to rally, drive a car when he could, but no, he got a chance because he showed some potential in the Hyundai.
• 11:56
  He got a chance because Derek Ringer was managing the two-litre rally championship in England.
• 12:04
  And he got a chance to test and he tested in a go-kart over there.
• 12:07
  And the people who were contracted to test him actually wrote a report that's saying that if indeed what he says is true is he's never raced a go-kart, it has to be said that his performance was extraordinary.
• 12:16
  Excellent.
• 12:17
  And he actually, I think he broke their record of what karts they used to this test.
• 12:23
  So he got a test for the factory.
• 12:26
  But by the time we did two rallies and thought, well, this will help him into the test, they disbanded the motorsport team.
• 12:32
  So, but it was more about, it was more about the psychology of winning.
• 12:36
  And because it's hard to give them driving lessons, isn't it, I mean, but- What sort of things would you have said in a psychology sense?
• 12:43
  I don't know.
• 12:45
  I don't really remember.
• 12:46
  I grew up the son of a farmer.
• 12:50
  And everything was about football.
• 12:52
  He grew up the son of the Australian rally champion.
• 12:55
  So everything we did was about motorsport.
• 12:57
  So we were speaking just before we started this interview.
• 13:00
  Dean and I were speaking about things that had happened over the weekend.
• 13:04
  And quite often we speak about, well, because we go rallying together, we run the team together.
• 13:09
  And his comment was, and my comment is, that people just don't get it.
• 13:13
  They just don't get how things work.
• 13:15
  And people are living, dying by the tenth of a second per kilometre.
• 13:19
  But the first thing you got to do in a rally is actually finish the rally.
• 13:22
  In the early days, everybody finished the rally, and those on zero points had a special stage to decide the winner.
• 13:28
  But now it all seems to be about the special stage.
• 13:32
  But it's not all about the special stage.
• 13:33
  It's about, let's keep our nose clean for the entire rally first,
• 13:40
  but now the stages will decide the fine points of the winner.
• 13:44
  So we had people like Harry Bates that had major stuff up on the first day.
• 13:48
  If that was clay target shooting, that would be him done.
• 13:51
  Absolutely done.
• 13:52
  Come back because you can drive brilliantly.
• 13:54
  You miss a target and clay target shooting.
• 13:56
  It's all over.
• 13:57
  It's all over.
• 13:57
  It doesn't matter if you shoot the next 150 or 200 straight, it's still all over.
• 14:02
  So he kept his nose clean for the rest of rally.
• 14:04
  We had some of our drivers making mistakes.
• 14:06
  We had Scott Pedder hitting a rock.
• 14:08
  We had all of this stuff happening.
• 14:09
  So it wasn't the 10th of a second a kilometer that won that rally on the weekend.
• 14:16
  And we had the young drivers come up saying, I was within two 10ths of a second a kilometer of so-and-so on this stage.
• 14:24
  But the next day you're parked in the bush.
• 14:26
  So maybe you're going a bit too fast.
• 14:28
  Can we get through the whole rally cleanly?
• 14:31
  Can we do one corner at a time cleanly?
• 14:33
  Don't even look at the time set.
• 14:35
  Different times I say to Dean, do not look at the time.
• 14:38
  Really?
• 14:38
  Yeah.
• 14:39
  Yeah.
• 14:40
  Because what's the point?
• 14:41
  What's the point?
• 14:42
  You know that you just got to do your best job.
• 14:45
  Do every corner properly and the time will come to you.
• 14:48
  Yeah, there's no point worrying who's got what.
• 14:52
  Maybe we get down to the last stage and we're two seconds or three or four seconds in it, then we might have to throw a bit of caution to the wind.
• 14:58
  There's a couple of things I wanna get through as we head into the final portion of this conversation.
• 15:03
  Firstly, you have driven some other things.
• 15:07
  The rally has become a significant thing.
• 15:10
  In terms of on land, we'll get to water in a minute, but on land you've driven a sprint car, the Kendricks, the Kendricks sprint car?
• 15:18
  700 or 800 horsepower.
• 15:19
  Did you do that at Claremont before it closed too, I think?
• 15:21
  Yeah, Claremont, yeah.
• 15:21
  The big track that went fast.
• 15:24
  I had an opportunity to drive one, it was a sponsor's day, they had a few media people there.
• 15:29
  and I got a chance through a media contact, Lynn Matthews, who did media for both of us, and they plonked me in the car, and I think Jeff Kendrick might have been reluctant, but they put me in, and all of a sudden, as they're explaining the dog lever and the oil pressure on this, I get a big bump in the back of my head.
• 15:47
  Push car, you're off.
• 15:48
  I'm off.
• 15:49
  And it's jiggering out onto the track.
• 15:51
  It all seems funny, and it drives like a truck, and it's got a big Herman Munster accelerator pedal that doesn't even have a heel on the floor.
• 15:58
  Yeah.
• 15:59
  And then you hit the switch and bop!
• 16:02
  It went from zero horsepower to about 800.
• 16:04
  And it wants to turn right into the wall if you don't give a throttle, basically, doesn't it?
• 16:07
  You're picked up on that, have you?
• 16:09
  So I guess I had one chance at this.
• 16:11
  And I thought I needed to drive it for five laps, sit down, think about it, have a talk, and go and have another go.
• 16:19
  But I realized that wasn't gonna happen.
• 16:21
  So I'm driving in amongst some of the journos who were just gonna pop, pop, pop, pop, and they're basically rolling the track for the proper drivers.
• 16:29
  So I'm going putt, putt, putt, and I get to the straight and I give it a big bootful, and then I'd give it a bit more around the corner eventually.
• 16:35
  I did a couple of laps and I started to get a bit of a hang of it, and the foot started to stay down a bit harder and a bit longer, and then I was realising the wind was catching the wing, and I realised it wasn't going to turn right, but you had to stay on the gas.
• 16:47
  but my neck was starting to get a bit sore, I was starting to get a bit dizzy, I was looking at my TV screen, i.e.
• 16:52
  the track, on a bit of an angle.
• 16:54
  But I was still giving it what, and I thought if I stuff up, she's all over, but this is me one chance, and after about five laps, I was going pretty hard.
• 17:04
  And then I got, and I'd now heard the story later, that Geoff Kendrick was giving an interview, and he called his minion over and said, get that car off the track.
• 17:16
  and he called me off the track, because he kept getting interrupted by this noise, all the other journos weren't going on pretty hard, but one car was.
• 17:25
  I came in and stopped alongside them, but the bloody thing wouldn't go out of gear.
• 17:29
  You've got a dog box, a dog gear, just like a ski boat.
• 17:32
  But you've got to knock it out of, yeah, yeah.
• 17:34
  And so get that out, you've got to have it unload, so I give it a bit of throttle unload, but it's still, it's all I did was accelerate, and eventually I had to skid it to a stop in front of everybody, and they dragged me out by the collar.
• 17:46
  And a journalist come up and said, Jeff, do you realise that he did like 18.7 seconds and the track record was, you know, and it was light and day.
• 17:57
  You know, that last second is for a take forever to get.
• 18:00
  And he said, and they said, that's amazing, don't you think?
• 18:03
  And it's the first time he's driven.
• 18:04
  He said, he's the Australian Rally Channel.
• 18:07
  Yeah.
• 18:09
  So I didn't, and I didn't realise where the throttle stop was.
• 18:13
  No matter what you drive, whether it's a supercar or whether it's your boat or whether it is, sooner or later your foot hits the throttle stop, doesn't it?
• 18:20
  And you go, this has got some power or it doesn't have some power.
• 18:23
  On that thing, I didn't know where the throttle stop was because I didn't get to it.
• 18:27
  Wow.
• 18:28
  If I put my foot down, it just went.
• 18:30
  It just still went.
• 18:31
  Yeah.
• 18:32
  So much, Grant.
• 18:33
  Yeah, very brave.
• 18:34
  Yeah, very brave.
• 18:34
  You've done some stuff at Wanneroo too, haven't you?
• 18:36
  There's been some circuit racing at times.
• 18:37
  I think there's an RX7 that springs to mind, among other things.
• 18:41
  Yeah, I've gone circuit racing twice.
• 18:45
  My mate Steve, you know, my partner.
• 18:47
  A good friend who still owns me his trailer, even at this rally, Stuart Dixon.
• 18:51
  A 300-kilometre race, I'll be his partner.
• 18:54
  We're a similar build, perfect.
• 18:56
  He's a pretty good punter.
• 18:58
  I don't think I even get to practice or test or nothing, but I'm the Australian rally champion, I've got to know.
• 19:04
  Anyway, I came in and he puts...
• 19:07
  I get in his car, the escort, and Steve is so excited that as he put me in the seat, he's reached forward and pulled down on the lapels, on the harnesses and wrenched them so tight that I couldn't breathe.
• 19:19
  And then he's banged the roof so hard to say to go that it's almost definite.
• 19:24
  Then he slammed the door...
• 19:27
  And in slamming the door, and I didn't realise this, the chrome strip has come off the door and it's gone up my glove.
• 19:35
  So this is no big deal and you don't know this until you get to the first right hand corner, which is at the end of the straight.
• 19:40
  So as I've gone under the straight and I've done a small right and a small left and I've got this, I couldn't turn because- It was jammed in the- It's jammed in here and I couldn't even get my hand off the steering wheel.
• 19:52
  And I've just understeered off the edge of the track into the sound trap.
• 19:57
  I didn't bog it.
• 19:58
  Well, I struggled to recover from that.
• 20:01
  And then the RX-7, I eventually got in the RX-7 and after about two or three laps, the exhaust fell off and I ran over it.
• 20:09
  Might have run over it in the next lap actually, but I thought it doesn't matter.
• 20:13
  It just hasn't opened up a muffler.
• 20:15
  But the exhaust was so loud, it was deafening me in this RX-7.
• 20:19
  And I was a very relieved man when they black flagged me to come in, so that's the extent of my circuit racing.
• 20:26
  I love it.
• 20:27
  Back to motorcycles, which you brought up before.
• 20:30
  There is a yarn on you, I think, trading a Honda for a Husvana, and you go to do a race.
• 20:36
  I mightn't have the brand right here, but on the start line, was it like a scramble?
• 20:42
  It goes backwards, it goes in reverse.
• 20:44
  Is this right?
• 20:45
  It is correct.
• 20:46
  No, I had a Honda.
• 20:47
  Yeah, I had a Honda trial bike.
• 20:50
  I bought it when my father was alive.
• 20:53
  And it was a new bike, it was a beautiful bike, but then I got caught up in motocross, and I've crashed it.
• 21:00
  And during the week, I've taken it to Perth and I've sold it.
• 21:03
  And I use the proceeds to buy a fairly old Husqvarna 360.
• 21:07
  And I'm at the Northern Motocross track.
• 21:09
  And eventually, I become president of the club.
• 21:11
  And eventually, I race all around the state.
• 21:13
  And I've got a sponsor who's still a mate.
• 21:16
  And I get to A grade.
• 21:17
  I don't win any major events, but I do OK.
• 21:19
  But on this start line, there's 72 riders on the start line.
• 21:22
  I'm in the middle of it.
• 21:23
  And I think, I can't remember if it was a hand-on-head start or a clutch start.
• 21:26
  But...
• 21:27
  But there's so much cacophony and smoke and noise, you just can't hear yourself think.
• 21:32
  And it's the main feature, and everyone is qualified, and I'm in the middle of it.
• 21:37
  And my bike has nearly stalled, but I haven't, hasn't stalled, but I've picked up the throttle.
• 21:43
  And as I'm blipping, I'm thinking, sounds a bit different, but there's so much noise, and it's, you know, they were about to start, and it's just mayhem.
• 21:49
  Anyway, as I've dropped the clutch on the start, 71 bikes have surged forward, and one bike has gone backwards.
• 21:57
  and the rider is me, and I've got as much of a surprise as everyone around me, and of course every being in my body is expecting this to go forward.
• 22:05
  Forward, yeah.
• 22:06
  And it's gone backwards.
• 22:07
  So I've actually got my weight forward and everything's because the bike's gone.
• 22:11
  And as it went backwards, it just went back and the handlebars hit me in the guts and my nose went over the front, and my nose is running on the front knobbly tire, and it's still running at like 100 miles an hour backwards.
• 22:23
  waiting to fall over as everyone racing forwards trying to miss it.
• 22:26
  And when I tell that story, people go, that cannot be true, but I can tell you for a fan, people have had it happen.
• 22:32
  The two straight will run backwards, no problem at all.
• 22:35
  The piston doesn't know which way it's going.
• 22:36
  I mean, it just goes up and down.
• 22:40
  crazy.
• 22:41
  From a boating point of view, is it the last offshore race win or maybe even offshore title win?
• 22:47
  I can't remember.
• 22:48
  What happened there?
• 22:49
  Tell us about the boats.
• 22:49
  They must have been awesome, weren't they?
• 22:50
  Oh, well, I raced inshore powerboats.
• 22:52
  I raced offshore powerboats.
• 22:54
  I won an Australian unlimited inshore title with a tunnel racing boat.
• 22:58
  A mate of mine had a tunnel boat that
• 23:00
  did over 100 miles an hour, but he flipped it and got the nerves up.
• 23:04
  160.
• 23:04
  Yeah.
• 23:04
  And this is down around, we used to have a very big race down around in Mandurah for a big carnival and raced it, we're still race boats at Harrison Island.
• 23:13
  And this is probably why I went rallying because I would come down with this special race boat and I'd come down for the race meeting and I thought they were
• 23:21
  I shouldn't say this because my mates still race, but I thought they were prima donnas a bit.
• 23:26
  But they were probably being cautious, but they would cancel the race meeting because it would rain too much in the country and there was too much shit coming down the river and they didn't want to hit a log or didn't want to hit a twig or something.
• 23:35
  And so we'd be ready to race and they'd cancel the racing.
• 23:38
  And I'm going, this is...
• 23:40
  on.
• 23:40
  So I bought a rally car because my thoughts were, well, they rally all weather, doesn't matter.
• 23:45
  But in the middle of all that, I ended up, I won the last 100 mile ski race in the ocean outright.
• 23:52
  We bought a boat with a mate called Terry Hartley.
• 23:56
  We shared the boat and it was a 17 foot Donzie with a 200 horsepower Black Max on it.
• 24:00
  Did about 80 miles an hour inshore or offshore.
• 24:04
  And we raced it offshore.
• 24:06
  I won the last offshore power bike race ever held in WA in 1983.
• 24:11
  That was about 100 miles.
• 24:12
  Did a round of the Australian titles.
• 24:14
  The Australian Championship was held in WA in the early 80s.
• 24:17
  Seven boats came from Victoria with a couple of big cigarette holes in the middle of all that.
• 24:21
  And the Victorian boats came 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
• 24:24
  And I came 8th.
• 24:26
  First West Australian boat, but I had a bit of a plan.
• 24:29
  Didn't work out that well, but the big cigarette holes with the big, you know, the huge end, the type of things that still race, they did about 80 miles an hour at the time, do more than that now.
• 24:37
  And my did 80 miles, my boat did 80 miles an hour.
• 24:39
  I'll just sit in there awake.
• 24:41
  So we got a race from Busselton to Ganship, 200 miles.
• 24:45
  I'd never been from Busselton to Ganship.
• 24:47
  All I knew was keep the coast on the right.
• 24:50
  That was it.
• 24:50
  Miss the reefs, keep the coast on the right.
• 24:53
  Had to stop in Mandurah for some fuel.
• 24:54
  I mean, roughly Mandurah was in there somewhere.
• 24:59
  Off we went, we came around about 40 boats in a big line as they do and the big flag dropped and there's 39 in the line and there's me tucked up the ass of one of these big cigarette holes.
• 25:08
  And we're doing about 30 miles an hour.
• 25:11
  And as they said, go, and the big flag went down, they've just, the throttle man has just put the throttles down, not the map man, cause there's three of them in it.
• 25:19
  Not the bloke with the maps, not the bloke with the steering wheel, but the throttle man has just gone off like that.
• 25:25
  And about 20 tonnes of water, just wind in the air,
• 25:29
  straight into my face and just about sunk the boat in one go.
• 25:35
  By the time I extricated myself from that, and the boat nearly stopped dead full of water, they were just a mere speck on the horizon, and I scrambled to get the rest of the water out of the boat and keep going.
• 25:46
  So we eventually made up some time, but it wasn't such a good plan.
• 25:51
  There's a couple of other things to chat with you about here.
• 25:54
  The boys tell me, I think it might have been crispy, I can't remember, one of the boys in the team, to ask you about State Bank Trial, the Mahindra rally car.
• 26:02
  I mean, tell us about that event.
• 26:05
  It sounds gruelling.
• 26:05
  Was it 110 starters and you finished fourth?
• 26:08
  Yeah.
• 26:08
  It was 110 starters and I was asked by Peter Crute, who was the owner of Perth Shocklands, if I'd like to drive it.
• 26:15
  I was showing some potential.
• 26:17
  He wanted someone with some grit and determination.
• 26:20
  They hadn't done so well in the Australasian Safari the year before, so here we go.
• 26:24
  And I took the car, it was basically a Willys Jeep with a Crossflay Falcon engine in it.
• 26:30
  It was a piece of rubbish really, but it did 100 miles an hour, handled badly, stopped worse.
• 26:36
  Anyway, had it in Northern, do we want a bigger fuel tank?
• 26:38
  No, we don't, we're good, it does this economy, it will do this, this.
• 26:41
  Do we want these spare brake pads?
• 26:43
  No, we don't, we'll be right.
• 26:45
  Anyway, off we went.
• 26:46
  We were seated maybe 10th, and I don't think anyone was all that happy we were seated 10th, because there's some proper machines and we've got this pretty rough looking Jeep.
• 26:54
  But after the prologue, we were actually fourth.
• 26:56
  So they had to sort of stop their moaning about that.
• 26:59
  And even though I'm not sure we finished fourth or fifth, maybe it was fourth, but we were the last car that did the entire course.
• 27:06
  I think it could have been fifth we finished.
• 27:08
  If you were slower than us, you couldn't do the course.
• 27:10
  We had to do about,
• 27:14
  Oh, maybe it was 10,000 kilometres in seven days and some of the legs were 1,400 kilometres long and in seven days I had 10 hours sleep and only four hours was in the bed.
• 27:26
  The rest of it was propped up against the window.
• 27:28
  We shared a service crew with Gerry McGrody.
• 27:30
  He bombed out the first night.
• 27:31
  The service crew went home with our clothes, our spares.
• 27:36
  They've actually left the spares and the clothes with other people.
• 27:38
  It was only through the next five or six days we found bits and pieces of our spares and clothing with other crew.
• 27:44
  But there was a lot of funny stories, and that'll certainly be a few chapters in the book.
• 27:47
  Book, for sure.
• 27:48
  One of them was at a tank.
• 27:51
  It was so hot...
• 27:52
  And it was such a long stage and we're stuck in someone's dust and we keep going on this, like a station track.
• 28:00
  And we go and pass some water tanks and I go, it's pretty hot.
• 28:03
  I'm going to stop at this next tank and there's any water I'm able to swim.
• 28:06
  And we're in a competitive stage.
• 28:07
  And the co-driver, Peter, is going, Bob, that'll take too much time.
• 28:10
  I said, Peter, it's not going to matter.
• 28:12
  It's so dusty, we can't catch the car in front of us and the bloke behind us can't catch us.
• 28:18
  And we'll see him coming.
• 28:23
  I jump up the side of the tank, it's got water in it, I'm in.
• 28:26
  And in two seconds flat, I peel my clothes off, except me jocks.
• 28:30
  He thinks stuff it, if he's in, I'm in.
• 28:32
  So he peels his clothes off, he's in, and we're splashing around in the tank in our jocks.
• 28:36
  And then we look over the side of the tank, like Freddy, you know.
• 28:41
  And we go, Tim, there's a car coming.
• 28:43
  So we pile out of the tank.
• 28:45
  And we go, Dad, there's car coming!
• 28:47
  And we couldn't, because we were wet, we couldn't get our clothes on.
• 28:50
  So we'd stuff it!
• 28:51
  We put our helmet on, our boots on, and we jumped in the car.
• 28:53
  In your jocks.
• 28:54
  In our jocks.
• 28:56
  And we took off.
• 28:57
  We managed to hold our position, and about 150 kilometres later, we've engrossed in the whole rally.
• 29:04
  Safety first, helmet, boots, jocks, harnesses.
• 29:07
  And we ride to the control.
• 29:10
  did a reasonable time and the control officials looked in, seen a surveillance in our docks and said, it's been pretty hot mate.
• 29:19
  So just one of the many stories, but,
• 29:22
  For about three or four days, all I wanted to do was get to Alice Springs and fly home.
• 29:26
  It was just, I was exhausted.
• 29:28
  I've had a gutful.
• 29:29
  It wasn't me.
• 29:30
  And he's irrepressible.
• 29:31
  Irrepressible to the point it would kill us.
• 29:33
  And he said, Rob, I thought you had more grit than that.
• 29:36
  I said, well, you were wrong.
• 29:38
  And I said, all I was just to Alice Springs and we're going home.
• 29:41
  When I got to Alice Springs, I had four hours sleep in the bed.
• 29:44
  Not a bed he organised, just a spare bed someone had.
• 29:47
  And he convinced me to keep going.
• 29:49
  And from then on, my mind changed.
• 29:52
  It went from, I don't want to continue, to doesn't matter what happens, I am going to finish.
• 29:58
  And circumstance and life threw way more at us in the second half than the first half.
• 30:04
  But the attitude had changed.
• 30:06
  So, yeah, it was a real ordeal.
• 30:18
  I must listen, if you haven't already, is the Rusty's Garage episode with Hall of Fame and Eel Bates.
• 30:24
  But it's not just for Ali fans, from a love of long-distance truck driving in the Team Transporter, to the title-winning cars who's kept in driving at Bathurst.
• 30:34
  I'm thinking, jeez, what do I do here?
• 30:36
  So then I hop in the car, Dowson straps me in.
• 30:39
  He gets in the door.
• 30:42
  I don't care what they, my lads swear I'm here.
• 30:45
  Of course you are, of course you are.
• 30:46
  I don't care what they fucking told you.
• 30:48
  You just get out there and hold this thing flat.
• 30:50
  So he knew they would have read in your ear.
• 30:52
  So he knew, as I say, he'd raced all over the world.
• 30:54
  He was a professional man.
• 30:55
  Neil also talks about the emergence of his sons, Harry and Lewis, as next-gen ARC success stories and the incredible partnership he shared with co-driver Coral Taylor.
• 31:05
  Now back to Neil's rival in the early 90s, Rob Herridge.
• 31:09
  Safaris, can we talk about that?
• 31:13
  What in the latter stages of your driving life, if you like, attracted you to that?
• 31:20
  You and Dean both tackle it.
• 31:22
  You have a Forester and an XV and both have gone through quite a transformation for that.
• 31:28
  And what you do with those vehicles has really turned some heads against the quality of the fuel, hasn't it?
• 31:35
  Absolutely.
• 31:39
  When my gravel rallying finished, I had the last of the crashes and I've gone... Did you make a conscious choice there?
• 31:44
  Did you go, that's it?
• 31:45
  Or what did you do?
• 31:47
  No, I made a subconscious choice.
• 31:49
  I mean, some of our business started to go towards tarmac rallies, and I did the first ten or so Targa West, and I did the Targa Tasmania to no great effect.
• 31:58
  It was in the top ten initially, but then made a mistake.
• 32:01
  Finished, but not well.
• 32:03
  But my wife, Debbie, was concerned about the tarmac.
• 32:06
  She says the gravel, yes, but she did some wrecking with me in Targa Tassie and up out of Perth.
• 32:12
  She goes, no, the speeds are too high and the risks are too big.
• 32:16
  She's not keen on that.
• 32:17
  So I've gone, well, I've got nothing left.
• 32:19
  I've won two Australian Rally Championships.
• 32:21
  I've won five West Australian Championships.
• 32:23
  That was more than anyone else, one more than Ross Duncan.
• 32:25
  So that was important to me.
• 32:26
  I bet there's some good combos on the boat about that sometimes.
• 32:30
  So...
• 32:33
  I then got interested in the safari.
• 32:35
  And of course, this is leading on from the state bank trial when, sadly, Peter Crute has passed away.
• 32:41
  But when he said, I don't think you're made of the right stuff.
• 32:44
  Well, I thought you're made of the right stuff.
• 32:45
  And I said, well, you're wrong.
• 32:47
  But he wasn't wrong.
• 32:49
  It's just that I didn't prepare the car.
• 32:51
  And the car wasn't well prepared.
• 32:53
  And I thought, I've always thought I wanted to come back and have another go.
• 32:56
  So when the Australasian safari was in Perth, or running out of Perth,
• 33:01
  My mate Justin Hunt was running it.
• 33:04
  A friend of mine was doing a control and he convinced me to go out and do a control with him for the seven days.
• 33:08
  And mates of mine, when the rally, we did control every day and at night time we camped.
• 33:14
  And then next day we moved on to another control.
• 33:16
  And I enjoyed the time out, but I wasn't big on the camping.
• 33:19
  And I thought if I don't compete, he'll ask me out again.
• 33:22
  So I better build a car.
• 33:24
  So I came back and I said to Dean and Steve, Steve was still alive.
• 33:27
  I said, I'd like to do the safari.
• 33:30
  And they're going, oh yeah, I thought you might.
• 33:33
  And I said, but I need, I think I said I need $60,000 to do it.
• 33:40
  And they go, oh really?
• 33:42
  I said, well we need to buy Pajero, and we need 20,000 to repair it, and we need 20,000 to run it.
• 33:49
  And Dean quite correctly said, Dad... Are we doing a Pajero for?
• 33:52
  Yeah, what are we doing a Pajero for?
• 33:55
  He said, it's got to be a Subaru.
• 33:59
  And he said, and if a Subaru can't do it, we don't have any business being in a rally.
• 34:04
  And that was probably a fair comment.
• 34:06
  I was just going to try and take the easy part.
• 34:09
  I go, OK, well, we need $80,000 in.
• 34:11
  So we bought a $30,000 off-the-show room,
• 34:17
  They wanted to sell me an extended service contract.
• 34:20
  Don't do that.
• 34:20
  And paint protection.
• 34:22
  I said, probably won't be needing that.
• 34:27
  And so I built it.
• 34:29
  And of course, when we rolled up on Rally Tires and with a bit of, as you can see behind us, it's got a stainless steel wire from the front to the windscreen to try and flick branches over the top.
• 34:42
  Quinny flicked that bit of wire and said, that won't last five minutes.
• 34:45
  Well, it's still on 10 years later.
• 34:47
  And everybody just laughed and poo-pooed and said, the forester will not do it.
• 34:52
  It can't do it.
• 34:53
  It's not strong enough.
• 34:54
  It's not big enough.
• 34:55
  And I said, it will do it because it does it now.
• 34:58
  The bloke that sets the course is in a forester.
• 35:03
  So don't tell me he won't do it.
• 35:05
  It just might be won't do it like you want it to do it.
• 35:08
  So...
• 35:10
  We built the car and we put too much in it.
• 35:12
  We carried too many spares.
• 35:13
  And, of course, if you carry too many spares, you need the spares because the car's too heavy and now you need the shit you're carrying.
• 35:19
  So now we don't carry nothing.
• 35:21
  And you know what?
• 35:22
  The less we carry, the less chance we need, the less we've carried.
• 35:26
  So it's a bit of a self-publish.
• 35:28
  self-serving type ideal that I've got.
• 35:31
  But anyway, we were certainly outclassed and outgunned the first year.
• 35:37
  And we learned some things though.
• 35:38
  We learned we needed bigger tyres.
• 35:39
  The rally tyres were too small.
• 35:40
  They wouldn't roll over things.
• 35:41
  They hit things too hard.
• 35:42
  They put too much load into the car.
• 35:44
  So we then started to massage things and got bigger tyres and rolled over things.
• 35:48
  And we went from struggling to even finish the first event to the second year coming second outright.
• 35:53
  And one of the persons who still competes, his family still competes says,
• 35:58
  Well, I said, how did you like the event, Reg?
• 36:01
  And he goes, oh, it was all right, except that bloody Forrester comes second, so it was shit.
• 36:05
  And they said, well, why didn't you come second?
• 36:09
  Oh, well.
• 36:10
  I could have, but I broke the car because I did this, and they said, well, they didn't.
• 36:15
  And they said, what do you do, Reg?
• 36:16
  And Reg said, well, I build roof trusses.
• 36:18
  And they said, well, maximum motorsport build rally cars.
• 36:21
  Cars, yeah.
• 36:22
  And so all we've done really from then is massage a few things and put in a stronger six-speed gearbox.
• 36:28
  And that's taken us from a production class to the outright class.
• 36:32
  And the outright class means against the big V8 off-road things and the Dakar cars, many, many hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• 36:40
  But it was, and the Australasian safari was a tough event.
• 36:44
  There was, the problem was we were probably the fastest, but when it was rough and tough, we were the slowest.
• 36:52
  And if we were faster than them, we were 5% faster, but when it was really rough and going, they were 100% faster than us.
• 37:00
  If we were doing 20 kilometers an hour, they were doing 40.
• 37:03
  But when it was suiting us, we were doing 160, they were doing 150.
• 37:05
  So,
• 37:08
  We needed the event to come to us a bit.
• 37:10
  So we needed to improve, and the event came to us a little bit.
• 37:15
  They realised that if, the other problem was, if it was rough and tough, that the big hero trucks would get in front of us, and then when it suited us, we couldn't get back past them.
• 37:24
  We couldn't make enough impression to get back past them.
• 37:27
  So we came second and fourth out right in the, that's two of the four safaris, so we're pretty happy with that.
• 37:34
  And in the first fundraiser we did, we led that with one day to go and break the engine.
• 37:39
  So it's only a long distance event I've never finished and we were leading by eight minutes.
• 37:43
  So that's a bit of a stick in my throat.
• 37:46
  You've done some incredible things across the course of your career.
• 37:50
  Is there an event either locally, internationally that you would have loved to have done that you haven't done?
• 37:54
  Is there sort of, I mean, I struggle to look at it and think that there's unfinished business because you've done so much.
• 38:01
  Well, I had someone come up and say g'day yesterday, and his name is Chris Haring, and we ran his son Toby in rallies.
• 38:08
  And Chris Haring is quite famous in WA because he sold his business kinetic suspension to Toyota for the linking of sway bars, and he sold it for about $55 million to Monroe Wiley, I think, and then sold the idea to Nissan and Toyota.
• 38:24
  And his system was in the Citroens when they were banned from the world rally cars.
• 38:29
  And he said, Rob,
• 38:30
  when are you gonna do Dakar?
• 38:31
  And sadly my wife was in the earshot and said he's not doing Dakar.
• 38:36
  And he said, well, when you do Dakar, let me know because I'd love to, he said, Toby and I went to Dakar at the invitation of Nissan, when I'm doing deals with Nissan.
• 38:43
  And he said, it was just staggering and mind blowing.
• 38:46
  And he said, I'd love to come along with you.
• 38:49
  And we have thought about that, but in the early days,
• 38:52
  when we were building these cars for the safari, and we're trying to build it for the rules, and what rules do you build it for?
• 39:00
  And there's some interpretation in rules, and rules are for fools to follow, and wise men to interpret the limits of.
• 39:06
  But I think at one point they wouldn't allow turbocharged petrol cars in it, and that was us.
• 39:11
  That was the turbocharged petrol.
• 39:13
  They had turbocharged diesels, and they had big natural aspirator petrols.
• 39:16
  So that's why some of them have got a turbo diesel 5-0 on the BMW, and some have got big American V8s in them.
• 39:22
  Even if they're buggies and sophisticated somethings, they've got big yank V8s in them.
• 39:26
  But I did notice that they've got V8 petrols now.
• 39:29
  But I'm 70, and...
• 39:33
  Just turned.
• 39:33
  Just turned 70.
• 39:35
  But a fairly healthy 70, never smoked, drunk very little in latter years.
• 39:41
  In early years, my sister probably said I'd probably made up for a few years there.
• 39:46
  It's a pretty big call though.
• 39:48
  And to what effect?
• 39:51
  I think the terrain would be too tough for our cars.
• 39:54
  You know, our cars are pretty effective and they're pretty good on the sheep stations.
• 39:58
  They're pretty good on the Australian conditions.
• 40:00
  Are they suitable for South American deserts and flash floods and Middle East deserts and big rocks?
• 40:10
  Maybe not.
• 40:11
  I don't think we got the budget.
• 40:12
  We haven't got, we certainly don't have the budget for that.
• 40:15
  So have I got unfinished business?
• 40:19
  Oh, I'm not sure.
• 40:19
  Okay.
• 40:20
  It's a good question actually.
• 40:21
  Okay.
• 40:21
  Someone actually asked me years ago, when I'd won one of the Australian Championships and I had maximum motorsport, some school kid came up and asked if he could interview me and why he chose me, but they probably, their thing had to interview someone.
• 40:35
  And he asked me a question which I've never been able to answer correctly.
• 40:39
  It was the best question I've ever heard asked.
• 40:41
  He said, at what point of your career did you realise you were successful?
• 40:46
  And I've gone,
• 40:48
  That's a good point.
• 40:50
  To some people, I've never been successful because I haven't won a world championship.
• 40:55
  To other people, I've been wildly successful.
• 40:57
  Australian championships and things, that's a huge achievement, huge achievement.
• 41:00
  Well, of course, but it got me thinking, at what point in your life
• 41:06
  The things that drive you, at what point in your life do you decide that you've been successful?
• 41:12
  We're surrounded by an amazing business.
• 41:14
  You've got some incredible grandkids.
• 41:16
  You've won Australian titles on the water in rally cars.
• 41:22
  Yeah.
• 41:22
  Yeah, healthy and well.
• 41:23
  I mean, I think that is the definition of success.
• 41:26
  Yeah, well, I did get emotional at my 70th birthday.
• 41:28
  Recently I didn't want a birthday party because I'm not big on them, but most of the grandkids were there, but not all.
• 41:33
  But I looked at my family and I thought, that's probably the answer.
• 41:37
  The answer's the family.
• 41:40
  But that's not why we're here.
• 41:41
  That's not why we're here.
• 41:42
  We're here to talk about the motorsport.
• 41:44
  No, I think Dakar is a step too far.
• 41:46
  Mm-hmm.
• 41:47
  I'm pleased that Dean is doing the safari because I thought he'd like it.
• 41:51
  I don't know whether he would have been into the Australasian safari.
• 41:54
  I think he could have got his white suit dirty.
• 41:58
  Or his hair.
• 41:58
  He's got beautiful hair.
• 42:01
  Dean's got the hair for TV, not like his dad.
• 42:04
  For the people that don't have the vision, his dad's pretty bald and Dean's got a good head of hair.
• 42:08
  And he's got the face for TV and I've got the face for radio.
• 42:12
  So, but the Sunranger Safari is a bit softer.
• 42:16
  It's not the rough, tough mining out back.
• 42:20
  It's sheep stations.
• 42:21
  We're racing, as the director, Troy Bennett, says, we're racing on sheep stations, not for sheep stations.
• 42:27
  But I can tell you we are racing for sheep stations.
• 42:29
  Because any time they're timing us or they say, go, we're racing for sheep stations.
• 42:34
  I rounded someone up in that safari that I came second.
• 42:37
  Yeah.
• 42:37
  And I was trying to pass him, and he wouldn't let me pass.
• 42:40
  And he didn't have push to pass him.
• 42:41
  I was just calling on radio.
• 42:42
  And I had to fudge where I was.
• 42:44
  And eventually I got past him.
• 42:46
  And at the end of the stage, it was like 180 kilometres long, he'd come over and said, Rob, what was the hurry?
• 42:51
  What was the rush?
• 42:52
  Like, it's a seventh-day event.
• 42:53
  I said, Reg, it's a rally.
• 42:56
  They're timing us.
• 42:57
  Just move over or get out of the way, you know?
• 42:59
  Yeah.
• 43:00
  Maybe back to the first time I'm on the first stage.
• 43:03
  I drive like an old nana on the road, so it's not a speed thing, it's a competition thing.
• 43:08
  And to win rallies, you've got to drive faster than I'd like to drive.
• 43:12
  And I think Dean's the same.
• 43:13
  I don't like driving that fast, but you don't win shit driving slow.
• 43:17
  So it's a competition.
• 43:18
  That kind of leads me because of your love of engineering and what you've done to the cars.
• 43:24
  Do you get an attachment to say the legacy behind us or is it just the tool that helped you do that to succeed at the competition?
• 43:31
  No, I get an attachment when, you know, when I first married Sir Dean's and Natasha's mother broke up and I got together with Debbie, my current wife, you know.
• 43:42
  and we have a great relationship, but we had no money, and we're going back, we've been together 25 or so years, and at one point I sold that legacy, because we had no money, we had no house, we were renting, we had no way to raise a deposit, Maxwell Motorsport wasn't necessarily doing well, and we only just started.
• 43:59
  So the life was in turmoil, so I sold the car, and I sold it to a friend of mine for $45,000, which was a bit of money then.
• 44:09
  I came home and I told Debbie that I'd sold the car and she cried and said, you're not selling it.
• 44:18
  It means too much to you to sell it.
• 44:20
  And I said, but we need the money.
• 44:21
  We need the money for a house.
• 44:23
  And she said, well, get the money one day, but you won't get the car back.
• 44:27
  So she said, give Ken his money back.
• 44:29
  It was a friend of mine.
• 44:30
  And I said, I've already spent $5,000.
• 44:32
  She said, just, I'm sure he'll be fine with us.
• 44:34
  So I went back to Ken and said, Ken, the deal's off.
• 44:36
  And by the way, I owe you $5,000.
• 44:38
  Right.
• 44:40
  And he was fine for that.
• 44:41
  But no, she got attached to it and I got attached to it.
• 44:45
  And it sat on our back brander.
• 44:46
  And any time she complained that, goodness sake, when are we gonna move this car?
• 44:51
  I'm going, well, you had the chance to get rid of it.
• 44:54
  So, no, I'm pretty good at getting stuff.
• 44:57
  I'm not very good at letting stuff go, which is why we have a couple of triple stackers behind us and another one coming and building a man cave.
• 45:05
  And, but they say who dies with the most toys win.
• 45:08
  I don't know whether I'm winning, but.
• 45:10
  One of the toys is a caravan, which I think means you're going to hit the road and enjoy a bit of that.
• 45:14
  At 70, will you slow down?
• 45:17
  Realistically, are you going to retire and stop?
• 45:22
  Debbie hopes so.
• 45:26
  No, no.
• 45:27
  And people say to Dean, you want to be careful of your dad.
• 45:31
  You know, I've been talking about retiring for a year.
• 45:33
  Mm-hmm.
• 45:33
  People are sick of hearing it.
• 45:35
  I'm sick of saying it.
• 45:37
  And in the last year, they put together a deal to build these cars for Subaru.
• 45:43
  And I'm saying to Dean, this is a good idea.
• 45:45
  Can I interject here?
• 45:48
  I think Crispy said that you were quoted in maybe in the lead up to the 70th, it was quite funny where you basically said, I'll have to live to be 130 to finish all these fucking cars.
• 45:59
  Is that right?
• 46:02
  Something like that.
• 46:04
  Maybe that was him saying that.
• 46:05
  Was it okay?
• 46:07
  I said, I hope it's a good idea and I hope it floats.
• 46:09
  Yes.
• 46:10
  But who's going to build these fucking cars?
• 46:13
  And he said, Dad, that's a good problem to have.
• 46:15
  Yeah.
• 46:16
  Well, guess what?
• 46:17
  We've got the problem.
• 46:17
  And they're beautifully made.
• 46:19
  They are beautifully made.
• 46:20
  They're beautifully made.
• 46:21
  And I've got to tell you, for those that are listening, the last one I've made, get in and buy that because it'll be the most valuable because it's the last one I'm making.
• 46:29
  Is it?
• 46:30
  It's too hard.
• 46:33
  I say that, but if somebody said, why don't we build a special safari car?
• 46:39
  That interests me.
• 46:41
  You know, we're cookie-cutting at the moment, but the problem is even with cookie-cutting the cars, I just agonize over every nut and every bolt and every line and every curve.
• 46:50
  Because the craftsmanship, it's in you, it's the way you want to build it.
• 46:53
  And I can't, and Chris being my long-suffering mate who comes in and helps me every day for nothing, he knows, I trust him to drill a hole,
• 47:01
  and I'd trust him to finish off a piece of metal, but I'll check it.
• 47:04
  Because, and Debbie, my wife says, Dale, don't agonise, don't sweat the small stuff.
• 47:09
  And I said, Dale, I do sweat the small stuff and I can't turn it off.
• 47:14
  So I would be interested, and I'm probably just as interested in building and coming up with the design criteria to build a car to say be successful and definitely win.
• 47:24
  You know, we have to push ourselves pretty hard on the Sunraiser to be successful.
• 47:28
  And Dean has been amazingly successful.
• 47:31
  Done it for two years and led both years, and wasn't a ball joint, it was a taper of a ball joint last year.
• 47:38
  Maybe not would have won it last year, it certainly could have come second.
• 47:41
  And certainly we punched well above our weight with the cars, but we pushed the cars pretty hard, and it's testament to them that they hold up.
• 47:48
  But the idea of building a bespoke car to be suitable for something like the...
• 47:54
  something like Dakar interests me, but we certainly don't have the budget for that.
• 47:59
  But to do it to be suitable for a homegrown event, yeah, that interests me.
• 48:05
  And they say, Dean, be careful your dad doesn't just drop dead like other people do when they retire.
• 48:12
  But Dean replies, my dad will not just go and sit on the beach with his feet up.
• 48:16
  No.
• 48:17
  He'd be travelling around Australia with his gun, calling to every gun club, like join the dots, trying to win their local championship, their state championship, get in the Australian team and represent the Olympics.
• 48:28
  So I'm probably a couple of years too old to try and get in the Olympics, but it's not short of trying to get in the Australian team, I can tell you.
• 48:34
  Good on you.
• 48:35
  Go and enjoy.
• 48:36
  Go and enjoy hitting the road.
• 48:38
  I have no doubt there will be quote-unquote projects that you will work on from time to time.
• 48:44
  Congratulations on what you've done today.
• 48:46
  on terra firma in rally cars and the Australian titles.
• 48:50
  You've won the unbelievable stuff on the water.
• 48:52
  I've thoroughly enjoyed hearing that.
• 48:54
  And it's been great at age 70 to see you get to celebrate that with your family, with your grandkids, even young Olivia, who was with us at the weekends, doing some amazing things around social media for Maximum Motorsport.
• 49:08
  Well done on what you've achieved.
• 49:09
  And I hope that that young school kid that came up and spoke to you has made you realise, as you rightly say, that maybe the success...
• 49:16
  which Maximum continues to enjoy, but perhaps the zenith of it is the family, mate.
• 49:21
  Yes, thank you.
• 49:22
  And thanks for the opportunity to sell part of my story and for the second part of the story and the third, fourth and fifth, buy my book.
• 49:34
  That's excellent.
• 49:35
  Excellent, mate.
• 49:43
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 49:47
  Series editor and producer is Thomas Dullard.
• 49:51
  Audio production by Link Kelly.
• 49:53
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• 49:58
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• 50:03
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