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Transcript

Greg Murphy · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:18
  I'm automotive commentator and journalist Greg Rust and this is Rusty's Garage.
• 0:28
  I'm in New Zealand, sitting in the sunshine, having a drink at the home of four-time winner of the great race at Bathurst, V8 supercar driver Greg Murphy.
• 0:37
  He's enjoying life back on home turf nowadays, which has come full circle for him as he kicked off his career here in New Zealand karting.
• 0:45
  His love of racing started as a spectator, though, going to the track with his dad.
• 0:50
  We used to go down to Manfield and go to Bay Park and bits and pieces and just sit on the bank and watch the racing and, you know, just look at these amazing machines getting flung around these little racetracks.
• 1:05
  So it was just a hobby, watching, you know, viewing, being a fan, being a spectator.
• 1:11
  And then, you know, a bit of karting came into it.
• 1:13
  And so, you know, there was a bit more of a connection, I suppose, between...
• 1:18
  you know, a little bit of racing myself and my dad was doing a little bit of karting.
• 1:22
  And then, you know, combining that with our following of the sport at the higher level domestically, but also very much in the Australian Touring Car Championship as well, you know, that was...
• 1:35
  That was one thing that I always used to love, reading the modern motor mag and getting the updates and also the occasional bit of TV coverage here in New Zealand.
• 1:48
  But then also Bathurst, which was live on television every year in New Zealand.
• 1:53
  That was definitely a...
• 1:57
  an event that we built up to just like many people still do today and enjoyed watching.
• 2:03
  What was in the family garage back then?
• 2:04
  What was your dad care of driving?
• 2:08
  Can you remember the cars that sort of caught your attention?
• 2:10
  No, well, all the cars that caught my attention were ones that we certainly didn't have.
• 2:15
  You know, dad had company cars and bits and pieces depending on the jobs he was doing.
• 2:21
  He had a ute for a very long time.
• 2:23
  It was a Falcon ute, and that was work vehicle.
• 2:26
  And then company vehicles throughout the time, nothing special, all sort of small.
• 2:31
  But he did have a couple of VL Commodores back in the 80s when the...
• 2:40
  The VLs had the 2-litre and the 3-litre six-cylinder Nissan engines actually back then.
• 2:46
  And I thought that was definitely the coolest cars he ever had while I was still at school and those kinds of things.
• 2:53
  So, yeah, there was always very much a love affair and a following of what was in the marketplace and what the cool cars were.
• 3:02
  And as I say, the modern motor mag was probably a bit of the Bible back then to keep up to speed with what was going on.
• 3:09
  Karting wasn't an easy thing for you insofar as, you know, it's an expensive sport, but there wasn't always money on tap for the Murphy family just to go and do that.
• 3:17
  So you guys worked really hard in that regard, didn't you?
• 3:20
  But was there a moment where you kind of thought, you know, it really clicked for you and that you knew this was something you wanted to pursue more than just a hobby?
• 3:29
  Not really, not really while I was racing karts because that connection, as I said, wasn't there other than what we were doing as being spectators and our karting.
• 3:41
  So the thought of that was a long way away.
• 3:46
  It was very foreign and, you know, watching Craig Baird and Paul Radisic and Ken Smith and all those guys in their Atlantic cars and everything was just, you know, something that I just –
• 3:59
  I loved watching, but I never really – and would go, wow, that would be so cool to do.
• 4:04
  But it wasn't a – you know, there was no path.
• 4:07
  And it was a – you know, back then, I think it was very few and far between.
• 4:11
  It wasn't like it is now that there's a – the stepping stones are –
• 4:15
  are taken by more drivers and the opportunities are probably, okay, they cost money, but they're there if you want them.
• 4:23
  You know, they are just there.
• 4:24
  And I don't think that was really like that back then.
• 4:26
  You know, it was few and far between.
• 4:28
  The people that were doing it had been doing it for a long time.
• 4:31
  New people coming in were few and far between.
• 4:33
  And, you know, I remember Beardo, you know, he was –
• 4:37
  usually a little bit ahead of me in karting all the time we didn't get to race together very much at all in karts but you know i knew who he was and you know and when he stepped up it was like a big deal because that went from karts and got into formula forward that wasn't really something you sort of saw a lot of so
• 4:55
  you know, you didn't really know how to do it.
• 4:57
  Now, you just make a phone call somewhere and you can go and drive anything as long as you got the cash to pay for it.
• 5:04
  So, yeah, I just sort of sat on the sidelines and dreamt about it and looked at other pathways for careers outside motor racing until the scholarship presented itself back in 1990 running at a man field.
• 5:22
  And we entered that scholarship, and that was my pathway, and that was my chance and opportunity to step into a racing car for the first time.
• 5:30
  We'll focus on the racing side of it, but did your teachers tell you, no, you're wasting your time?
• 5:35
  And what would the alternative career paths have been if you didn't go motor racing?
• 5:39
  Oh, I think it's a fairly common story for, I think I've heard it before as well, that the...
• 5:48
  The curriculum, oh no, was it the careers advisor, that's it.
• 5:52
  That's probably why they told me that because I couldn't even say what their job was.
• 5:56
  The careers advisor, you know, was like, well, you know, that's what I want to do.
• 5:59
  And it's like, well, you know, it doesn't seem very realistic, does it, Greg?
• 6:03
  But anyway, I chased a path and going down.
• 6:06
  I wanted to be a pilot as well.
• 6:07
  That was another thing.
• 6:08
  I liked aviation.
• 6:09
  So I sort of chased the Air Force path to go and fly Skyhawks in the New Zealand Air Force and,
• 6:16
  I also didn't get the greatest reviews from those that were taking all the tests to become pilots, so that failed as well.
• 6:26
  So how did a young Greg Murphy get around back then?
• 6:29
  What was the car?
• 6:29
  What were the wheels?
• 6:30
  How were you?
• 6:31
  Is it Datsun, is that correct?
• 6:33
  I was big borrowing and stealing because I did have a Datsun 1200 SSS and it was my pride and joy, but I went and did...
• 6:46
  did the worst possible thing to it and wrote it off.
• 6:50
  So I learnt my lesson.
• 6:52
  What was the triple S?
• 6:54
  Was it twin S used?
• 6:56
  Just a 1200 engine?
• 6:57
  What was the... Well, it was a genuine car.
• 7:00
  So they didn't have the 1200 triple S in Australia, but it was actually done here.
• 7:07
  The standard 1200s were imported to New Zealand and there was an arrangement with sort of an aftermarket...
• 7:14
  It was a shop back then, we're talking obviously early 70s, to put some high back seats in them, front seats, special little centre console with a rev counter in it, a camshaft slid into the little 1200 with twin 40mm Delores.
• 7:35
  Just sitting in one now and driving it now,
• 7:38
  And, you know, just because you're older, I'm not like I'm any bigger, but just because I'm older, and everything else has got so big, you know, and here you are in this tiny little car, and it is tiny, you know.
• 7:50
  We used to pack it four people up, you know, in it, or five people up in this little thing.
• 7:54
  It was sitting on – the wheels were rubbing inside the arches and go off on trips and all sorts of things, and it was just like what was done.
• 8:02
  I wouldn't do that now.
• 8:03
  I wouldn't do that if bloody someone paid me to do it.
• 8:05
  So, yeah, but it was just a –
• 8:08
  Yeah, one of those things that you become attached to and there was a tear when I bloody went and wrote the thing off and finally got around to finding another one a long time later.
• 8:17
  How authentic is the resto that you've done to the original and what other little extras have you added on over time that you perhaps couldn't afford back then?
• 8:25
  Ah, yes, well, there was no extras on the other one, and it went without plenty, I can tell you.
• 8:32
  Recaps on the, you know, as far as the tyres went and all sorts of things, because there was no money anywhere.
• 8:39
  So this one is a little bit better.
• 8:41
  It's basically nearly a brand-new car, but it's got a 1500 in it.
• 8:46
  I've got the original matching numbers 1200 engine for it,
• 8:50
  and the four-speed gearbox that comes with it.
• 8:54
  But this one's got a 1500 engine that's been breathed on beautifully by a specialist in Auckland, Tony Marsh, who is a very well-known Nissan specialist, has built it.
• 9:08
  And it's got a little five-speed gearbox on it rather than the four-speed.
• 9:12
  And other than that, it's pretty much standard and original.
• 9:16
  I've got a little quick shifter though for the gearbox.
• 9:19
  So she's a very short, sharp.
• 9:21
  I mean, that's racy.
• 9:22
  That's full on racy.
• 9:23
  So, yeah, other than that, she's fully pretty much standard.
• 9:27
  So it goes incredibly well.
• 9:31
  So in terms of the racing here, you spent a little bit of time in America.
• 9:36
  You were kind of contemplating different options in your career.
• 9:40
  You spent four months, I think, stateside, didn't you, at one point, you said.
• 9:43
  that was a real lure for you.
• 9:45
  But an initial detour along the way was really, it was Australia in the early 90s, wasn't it?
• 9:51
  Yeah, the whole, the added complexity of America was just like, wow, that's, you know, that was as far away as you could possibly imagine as far as our thought processes and then finding out the costs of it and what was required and, you know, no one just gives you a drive because you might be quick.
• 10:13
  and it was hard enough to even get in a car.
• 10:15
  And I was working for a race team who'd seen me race, and we occasionally needed to go to the racetrack to do some tuning or some testing or whatever, and it was even difficult getting in those cars because they were owned by the guys that were racing them, and they didn't know really necessarily who the hell I was.
• 10:32
  And there was a couple of guys that were in the team that had been in New Zealand and I had been racing against, so they knew me as well.
• 10:38
  And I thought, well, maybe I'll just be able to,
• 10:40
  score a drive at some stage and get a freebie, but that never came along.
• 10:44
  So Australia was just close.
• 10:47
  It was the cars.
• 10:50
  We knew the cars.
• 10:51
  And there was maybe opportunities over there.
• 10:57
  Touring cars was huge, and I was still a massive fan, and you never know.
• 11:01
  So that was...
• 11:03
  That was part of the plan, but it was the fact that it was close, the cost.
• 11:06
  We could get to the first round and not be in too much strife financially and then take it one by one, and that's what we did.
• 11:15
  We had to take each race as they came and see if we had the funding to do the one after.
• 11:20
  Yeah.
• 11:20
  To paint a picture for people that might be listening that don't know what the Formula Brabham or the Formula Holden cars were at that stage, they're an open wheeler, kind of a bit like a scaled down Formula One or Formula 3000 style car with wings and sleeks and a six cylinder engine.
• 11:36
  What were they like to drive?
• 11:37
  Well, the chassis is, say, 3,000 cars mostly.
• 11:40
  There was some other things in there.
• 11:41
  A couple of Australian-made single-seater race cars as well.
• 11:45
  But I was in a Rolt for that season.
• 11:49
  I'd been racing a Rolt, a 90D Rolte, and I was in a Rolt in that championship that year.
• 11:55
  And, you know, they were big, wide tyres, lots of aero, proper tyres.
• 12:02
  single-seater racing car designed to race in Europe, stepping stone to Formula 1.
• 12:09
  And Lowndes went over there, remember, in 1997 to do F3000, and these cars were earlier versions of what he ended up doing in 1997.
• 12:20
  So they were good.
• 12:21
  They just had the Holden V6 power plant in them.
• 12:25
  So they were about 320-odd, I think, round horsepower.
• 12:28
  Yeah.
• 12:29
  But the cars were light and carbon fibre tubs and all that kind of stuff.
• 12:32
  So they got along really good.
• 12:34
  I can't remember the lap times.
• 12:36
  I think it was 122s or something around Eastern Creek back then, back in 1994, something like that.
• 12:42
  So they were pretty rapid for something that didn't have a huge amount of grunt.
• 12:46
  But just that's where I wanted to be.
• 12:48
  They were fast round corners.
• 12:50
  You had to be committed.
• 12:51
  very, very committed to be fast in one, and it was a huge buzz.
• 12:56
  You had some touring car experience as well with Mark Pitch in the Whittaker's Peanut Slab Ford Sierra from memory, but in Australia, the first real door opening, if I'm right, was in a Toyota Corina at Bathurst, is that right?
• 13:09
  Tell us about that.
• 13:10
  It said we're talking front-wheel drive, two-litre.
• 13:12
  What was that like?
• 13:13
  Yeah, I hadn't really done anything like that other than...
• 13:16
  a little bit more production stuff in New Zealand and a little bit of that.
• 13:20
  And then that first opportunity came about pretty much as that car, from the British Touring Car Championship, arrived in – it was on its way to New Zealand and Peter Addison at the time who was –
• 13:34
  one of the guys that put together the Australian Super Touring Championship had sort of intercepted it from a guy named Bruce Miles who's a bit of a car collector and Toyota dealer down south in the South Island, New Zealand intercepted this car and
• 13:49
  Got it in to race in the Australian Championship and debuted at Phillip Island, actually, in the second round of that championship, either late April or early May of 1994.
• 14:02
  And because of my performance in the Formula Holden at Eastern Creek, he had...
• 14:08
  seconded me to drive that car and as well drive the Formula Holden.
• 14:14
  So I was doing double duties.
• 14:16
  My second event in Australia and I was driving two cars at the same event.
• 14:21
  And I just was like in just a total la la land.
• 14:24
  I couldn't believe what was happening.
• 14:26
  So it was a pretty interesting debut too in that car because Campbell Little, obviously of Supercars fame, been around a very, very long time.
• 14:35
  He was engineering the car.
• 14:36
  And it was one of the practice sessions prior to qualifying, maybe on the Saturday morning.
• 14:42
  I had a fuel pressure alarm come up on the dash, came into the pit at Phillip Island, came in, stopped, turned the engine off.
• 14:51
  Well, actually, it might not have turned the engine off.
• 14:53
  I was sitting there and I'm telling Cam we've got a fuel pressure problem.
• 14:56
  He opened the passenger's door.
• 14:59
  I hadn't even seen it.
• 14:59
  I opened the passenger's door to look around to see, you know, if there was something electrical or whatever.
• 15:06
  And the passenger's side of the car, which was the left-hand side of the car, the footwell and everything on the passenger side of the car was full of fuel.
• 15:14
  And so the fuel line from the back of the car, something ruptured and was filling the car up with fuel.
• 15:19
  And as he did that, it ignited.
• 15:22
  And so the car was on fire.
• 15:25
  Peter Aderton grabbed the fire extinguisher while everyone else stood back and watched because he was like, I'm not having this happen to this car.
• 15:30
  This is so important.
• 15:31
  So put the fire out, managed to fix it.
• 15:33
  It didn't actually do too much damage because the fuel was burning, not the car.
• 15:38
  And went on to race that weekend in the Toyota.
• 15:41
  And then onwards, James Kaye from the UK turned up and did some race meetings.
• 15:45
  And he and I joined forces to run the car at Bathurst in 94.
• 15:49
  Amazing.
• 15:49
  You then get an opportunity with Brad Jones, don't you, in an Audi to contest the Super Touring Championship and then beyond that with the Holden Racing team to pair up with Craig Lowndes at Bathurst.
• 15:59
  The touring car path had really changed as a result of that, hadn't it?
• 16:04
  You were then getting more and more opportunities in that sort of domain.
• 16:07
  Yeah, well, it was like these were chances being given, opportunities being provided and you were being offered opportunities.
• 16:14
  So the super touring thing with Audi, with Brad, was amazing.
• 16:18
  Effectively, the factory team in Australia.
• 16:21
  Were they good cars?
• 16:22
  They were amazing cars, absolutely amazing cars.
• 16:25
  But I was obviously in a big hurry and wanted to maximise all this in a big way, but I was the junior, number two, which probably didn't sit too well with me at the time, because all I wanted to do was win races, but the cars were fantastic.
• 16:40
  I loved driving them.
• 16:41
  Brad and Kim obviously had a great ability to put a team together and run a good team and all that.
• 16:49
  And also that was in a combination with Peter Addison as well who had basically, I suppose, leveraged me into the other seat because of our sort of relationship which was sort of blossoming, I suppose, as far as him helping me.
• 17:06
  become a full-time race car driver.
• 17:08
  So without his assistance, I would never have, you know, got these, certainly that chance in the Carina and then with Brad and Kim in the Audi.
• 17:16
  So, and with that happening, you get on the radar a little bit more and I was on the radar a bit more and that's when Geoff Greig gave me a call to do a test with the Houghton Racing Team because he had taken notice of what, you know, what I was doing in the Audi in the early part of 1995.
• 17:33
  So here's a bloke who, with his dad, had religiously watched Bathurst from a youngster.
• 17:38
  Now you get an opportunity to test with the team at the time.
• 17:43
  What was that like?
• 17:44
  What were your first recollections of driving a supercar?
• 17:47
  What did you think?
• 17:49
  Uh, it's a blur, to be honest, such an absolute blur because, um, I, I turned up at Melbourne, um, at Melbourne at Calder Park on, I think it was either a May or June, June day, um, in 95 after getting a call from Jeff, who, which I didn't believe was him.
• 18:07
  What did you say then?
• 18:08
  Oh, I just was like, I just, oh, you know, you know how blokes play tricks on each other and I, and Mark Addison, Peter Addison's brother and I were getting on really well and, um,
• 18:18
  having a pretty good time living in Sydney, being a footloose and fancy free.
• 18:22
  But blokes play tricks on each other.
• 18:24
  So I just assumed it was actually him or someone else gagging me.
• 18:29
  As it turned out, it wasn't.
• 18:31
  And I turned up in Melbourne and it was a freezing cold Melbourne day, horizontal rain going down the front straight at Calder.
• 18:39
  And under the awning off the side of the HRT truck was Peter Brock's
• 18:47
  race car for 90, 95, and they were like, oh, jump in, off you go.
• 18:53
  The kind of deal was so blasé.
• 18:54
  It's like, you've got to be fucking kidding me, mate.
• 18:58
  It's just, you're insane.
• 18:59
  I've never driven one before, and it's like we're on wets.
• 19:03
  In this horrible weather at Calder, and if anyone knows Calder, it's not exactly the nicest place in the sunshine.
• 19:10
  It's certainly not very good in the rain when you come onto the front straight, drive across the drag strip, which has got covered in VHT.
• 19:20
  And my first lap came across the drag strip.
• 19:23
  covered in VHT, and turned it 90 degrees to the front straight and was heading straight towards the concrete wall.
• 19:29
  Did it stop?
• 19:31
  Miraculously, and I don't think it had anything to do with anything I did, but it didn't hit the wall and sort of made the grass and turned and carried on.
• 19:40
  And anyway, that was that and did the first test.
• 19:44
  I really honestly, it was such a blur...
• 19:47
  I don't even really recall the day other than that moment.
• 19:51
  I couldn't tell you how many laps I did.
• 19:52
  I couldn't tell you anything because I was just so – I was absolutely shitting myself the whole time I was driving that car.
• 19:58
  But anyway, I went back to another test and things got better.
• 20:01
  And they were – and thanks to Jeff, really –
• 20:06
  I mean, he had to do a lot of talking, a lot of persuading, persuading Tom, Wilkinshaw, John Crenn and everybody that this is the way we need to go.
• 20:14
  This is the pathway that we need to take to, you know, prepare for the future because of the fact we've got Peter Brock here, but he's not going to be around forever kind of deal.
• 20:24
  And we need to look to the future to get a step ahead of other teams and maybe get some different talent out there, young blood.
• 20:32
  And that was his thoughts and his way that he wanted to run the race team.
• 20:38
  And I was a huge benefactor, as was Craig Lowndes of that program and his thoughts on where he wanted to go.
• 20:48
  We'll get to the Bathurst wins in a second.
• 20:50
  What about Brock?
• 20:51
  I mean, he's, you know, even now, over a decade since he's passed on, he's still huge in many people's eyes.
• 20:57
  What was he like to work with?
• 20:58
  How welcoming, how helpful?
• 21:00
  What was he like?
• 21:01
  Well, yeah, thanks.
• 21:03
  for those people that have had a chance to spend time with him or know him or the fans that he had spent so much time with, he was that guy.
• 21:16
  He came across all the time as wanting to help.
• 21:20
  wanting to assist, but he was laid back, very easy as a teammate to work with.
• 21:25
  But on the flip side, he was still incredibly competitive, very determined.
• 21:31
  And as much as he often showed a personality of being relaxed and relaxed,
• 21:44
  It's all good.
• 21:45
  It's all pretty calm and cruisy.
• 21:47
  When he got in that race car, even though he made it look easy, he was always out there for one thing, and that was to win, absolutely win.
• 21:57
  He never stopped at competing at that level.
• 22:00
  He may not have put the effort in in 1997 when I was his teammate, maybe not put the effort in...
• 22:06
  on the periphery of, you know, he was retiring that year and the focus was so much on his retirement and it was a massive big show the whole way through 97, you know, while he delivered his final tour, essentially.
• 22:20
  You know, maybe the effort wasn't put in on the racing side as far as, you know, spending time with the engineers and focusing on the bits and pieces to make the car go fast, that kind of thing, but every time he got in the car, he drove it.
• 22:33
  Like in some cases, you'd look at what he was doing and go, how the hell did he do that?
• 22:38
  And it was a learning curve.
• 22:39
  And it was a learning curve in many respects because, you know, he and Bev were committed to the fans in 97 and I was travelling with them a lot of the time and with him and Paul Weiser, our media guy.
• 22:54
  And, you know, I was, you know, 26 years old and teammate to Peter Brock and...
• 23:02
  And he drove me mad because he just, it was just, but I realise now and understand it, you know.
• 23:10
  what he was doing.
• 23:11
  I mean, he treated the people and the fans with such respect and was committed to making sure that, you know, everyone was treated the same.
• 23:20
  And all I wanted to do was get out of the track every night and go back to the hotel or spend time with, you know, the engineers or whatever it was to, you know, to be better tomorrow.
• 23:29
  But, you know, you'd sit there and wait for Brock.
• 23:32
  You'd be leaving for two hours.
• 23:34
  trying to get out of the car park or driving out for tours because every time someone saw him, they'd stop and he'd chat, and you'd be in the back seat just going, come on, because no one wanted my autograph, which was fair.
• 23:46
  But, you know, you look at that and you learn from what he was doing and how he went about that process.
• 23:50
  And, you know, he knew that that was such an integral, important part of why he had become who he was, was the people around him and the fans that gave him...
• 24:01
  the opportunity to do what he did.
• 24:03
  And that was pretty serious.
• 24:05
  And I think Craig Lowndes was probably the one that has taken on that more than just about anybody else because of his relationship with Peter and has tried to continue on that kind of relationship with the people.
• 24:18
  And that's why he is revered and loved as much as he is.
• 24:24
  This is Greg Rust and you're listening to Rusty's Garage.
• 24:27
  More with Greg Murphy in a moment.
• 24:30
  In this series, I speak with some of the most passionate designers, collectors, riders and drivers I know, like Toby Price, who won the most gruelling race on the planet, Dakar.
• 24:42
  You run, yeah, 9,500 kilometres over the 14-day period.
• 24:47
  Most of the time you're up at least 3 o'clock in the morning to be on the bike at 4.
• 24:52
  Our biggest day here we have is 1,100 kilometres in a day, so it's like that's riding a motorcycle from Brisbane to Sydney.
• 25:00
  Listen to the full episode with the first Aussie to win the Dakar, Tubby Price, here on Rusty's Garage.
• 25:15
  Handbrake turn.
• 25:16
  Before electronic handbrakes, this is how people navigated tight turns in car parks and wet roundabouts.
• 25:23
  Those were the days.
• 25:25
  Is the 96 Bathurst win with Craig, I mean, a pair of youngsters doing so well in V Team, to win the great race, is that kind of etched in the mind even now?
• 25:35
  That's ridiculous.
• 25:36
  It really is.
• 25:36
  It's just crazy, absolutely craziness.
• 25:39
  Because, you know, I just...
• 25:42
  It wasn't too many years before that.
• 25:44
  It was only three really years before that.
• 25:46
  I hadn't even been to the race.
• 25:48
  I hadn't been to Australia.
• 25:49
  Hadn't sat in a touring car other than the slab at Wellington at Pukakaui.
• 25:57
  And here I am in 96 at my second or third time, but second time there in a V8 touring car, and you win the thing.
• 26:10
  It's like it shouldn't be happening.
• 26:12
  It really shouldn't be happening, but...
• 26:14
  We were, you know, no question, believe we were in the best car.
• 26:18
  An amazing team that had great resources, fantastic tyres, because back then it was still, it was a bit of, it was open slather on rubber, and we had Bridgestones, and they were very, very good.
• 26:33
  Huge support.
• 26:34
  and well-prepared team that gave Craig that year a brilliant race car to go and win the touring car championship.
• 26:42
  And we were pegged as favourites when we started by winning Sandown as well.
• 26:47
  So it was something that, yeah, it's hard to really put into words because it happened so quickly.
• 26:56
  600-plus horsepower, Holden Commodore,
• 26:59
  A couple of young blokes at the wheel.
• 27:01
  Was the thing around the mountain nice to drive?
• 27:04
  Was it on the edge?
• 27:06
  Describe the race car.
• 27:07
  It was daunting, but the team had massive belief, huge support.
• 27:12
  My first stint in 1996 in the car, if you remember, it was just...
• 27:17
  terrible conditions to start of 96.
• 27:19
  The rain was just horrendous and I also remember that Alan Jones was in the pack leader Falcon and he was very fast and then it caught fire on the side of the hill and the conditions started to get better and better and
• 27:37
  Lounsey was about to jump out of his first stint, which had gone on, I can't remember, it was long because back then the fuel mileage was heaps better.
• 27:43
  We were getting mid-30s per stint, I think, 33, 34 laps or whatever.
• 27:50
  So by the time he was starting to end the first stint, things were starting to change, parts of the track were starting to dry, and so they said, what tyres do you reckon we should put on?
• 28:00
  And he was like, oh, it's definitely slicks, definitely slicks.
• 28:01
  I was like, all right, jumping slicks.
• 28:03
  I got out there.
• 28:03
  The thing, it's wet everywhere.
• 28:05
  The top of the mountain is just wet.
• 28:07
  And I'm on slicks in my first time ever, first stint in a V8 at the mountain.
• 28:14
  And I was just, yeah, duck out of water pretty much because I was so nervous.
• 28:20
  Actually clipped the wall where Chas Mostert bloody crashed a few years ago in qualifying to do all that damage that he did.
• 28:26
  I clipped, I rode up the wall at that kink.
• 28:29
  in 96 and I thought that was it.
• 28:31
  I came out of the dipper, second, third gear just gave the throttle a little bit of a dab and the back of the car just stepped out and climbed up the wall.
• 28:41
  Anyway, it started to all come together and it started to dry out, got the pace.
• 28:46
  and we started to move forward and it was just an incredible race I ended up passing Dick Johnson at one stage late in the race and we ended up leading the race and had the car back to Craig in first position and he went on and finished it with ease so it was just a moment that you struggled to
• 29:07
  to believe is even happening and and you know struggle believe happened so you get the the main ride in in 97 craig goes off to sort of pursue potential international ambitions and things like that sadly for you know all sorts of reasons it didn't work out for him and that kind of had a knock-on effect on on you
• 29:25
  And you and I worked together at that stage doing some commentary for television stuff and you went to America, I think, from memory and did a seat fitting in an Indy Lights car and may have even been in a test in an Indy car at that stage.
• 29:36
  Was there a bit of a reassessment, a career reassessment during that time?
• 29:39
  Yeah, it was a difficult time and probably not handled very well by myself either, to be honest.
• 29:44
  Why?
• 29:44
  Yeah.
• 29:45
  Oh, because, you know, 97, I put a lot of pressure on myself, and we were very fast.
• 29:50
  We had a few significant issues which really blighted our championship that year, and it was really costly, and it was just...
• 30:01
  There was a lot of pressure on and a lot of disappointment, not just for me but for the team also because they had a lot of pride in what they were doing and we had some great people there.
• 30:13
  We threw the champion, not threw it away, but we had issues and problems in development, things that we were doing at the time which were very costly.
• 30:20
  you know, there was several front row starts that I didn't even make the start because of, you know, mechanical failures and things that happened.
• 30:28
  And, you know, it was just, it was a hard year in that respect.
• 30:31
  And, but, you know, still very positive because, you know, I was winning races and, you know, when things were going right.
• 30:38
  And, you know,
• 30:39
  And it was good.
• 30:40
  There was a huge rivalry with Russell Ingle that year and Larry Perkins.
• 30:42
  And it was all on.
• 30:43
  It was, you know, you look back and it was pretty entertaining.
• 30:48
  But then, you know, Mark Scaife was also on the radar and had, you know, put himself in a position...
• 30:55
  and rightfully so, obviously, to get a drive at the Holland Racing Team with the Gibson Motorsports sort of thing falling over.
• 31:00
  And then Lowndes' thing came apart, and he was on a long-term contract with Wilkinshaw, and, you know, they just came back.
• 31:07
  And so I suppose, yeah, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time at that point, where I'd been in the right place at the right time.
• 31:15
  to be there and in there so it was hard but I also did have those dreams and the team was really supportive of the American side of things and they were doing things to help through contacts like Mobile at the time who were obviously massive supporters of the team and and you know they were going out of their way to also help me in my dream as well so you know I'd probably just um
• 31:34
  I just wanted everything.
• 31:36
  I wanted my cake, eat it too, and have control.
• 31:39
  And I didn't have control.
• 31:40
  You've won four Bathursts in your career.
• 31:41
  We'll deal with the ones that came out racing in a moment.
• 31:43
  But one that kind of springs to mind is 99 with you and Stephen Richards because he said to me recently that I think you guys drove to Bathurst from Melbourne that year, and you talked a lot about different things in the lead-up.
• 31:53
  And the Gibson Motorsport cars that you raced that year weren't...
• 31:57
  by any stretch the most competitive relative to others.
• 32:00
  But you kind of thought collectively that you and he and the consistency of that package would be a good thing at the mountain that year, and it turned out that was the case, wasn't it?
• 32:10
  100%.
• 32:11
  I think we even made a list in between stints, changing drivers, driving up to Bathurst.
• 32:17
  And I think we went through the entry list,
• 32:23
  and looked at the pros and cons and what we thought was possible.
• 32:28
  And at the end of the day, we sold ourselves on the fact that, you know, the statistics were good for us.
• 32:36
  He had just won the race the year before.
• 32:37
  He was the current champion.
• 32:39
  I'd won it, you know, not long before that.
• 32:42
  Yeah, we didn't have the best cars.
• 32:43
  They weren't outright the fastest.
• 32:45
  But we believed we had a consistent package, a consistent car, a very good team, that new strategy and managed that really, really well.
• 32:55
  Some fantastic people in there that were very smart who would maximise, you know, and we would maximise our car every single lap, you know.
• 33:04
  And that's the way it played out.
• 33:06
  You know, at Bathurst,
• 33:11
  things do have to work out.
• 33:13
  You can be the fastest car on the day, fastest team, fastest driver combination, the whole thing.
• 33:21
  It doesn't mean you're going to win it.
• 33:23
  It just doesn't work out that way.
• 33:24
  So every year that you have success in the mountain, things have...
• 33:29
  have worked in your favour.
• 33:31
  You just don't lead from start to finish and dominate and walk away with the race.
• 33:37
  It just doesn't happen.
• 33:38
  So, you know, I'm sure those that raced in 99 will have their stories as to why they didn't win.
• 33:44
  Like Paul Radice.
• 33:45
  Yeah, exactly.
• 33:46
  But that's the way it works.
• 33:48
  And, you know, if you want a list of sorrow stories that I've gone on days that I could have won that race that I didn't, then I've got my list as well.
• 33:57
  But it didn't work out that way.
• 33:59
  So it was an interesting win and a hard-fought one and one that, yeah, we were, you know, you always are.
• 34:05
  And everyone that was a part of that should be very proud of.
• 34:08
  You move into the 2000s and ultimately to what became Kmart Racing.
• 34:13
  And 2003 was an amazing year in terms of the Bathurst victory, but also what became affectionately known at the time as the Lap of the Gods.
• 34:21
  Your lap to get pole was the first time that the category had seen a supercars lap under the 2-minute-7 barrier.
• 34:29
  On Friday, it was the first time we'd seen one under the 2-minute-8 barrier.
• 34:32
  Yeah.
• 34:33
  Crazy.
• 34:34
  Actually, I don't even know if we'd done one on the 2-minute-8.
• 34:37
  prior to that either.
• 34:40
  That would have to be checked.
• 34:40
  But we dipped into the sevens in qualifying.
• 34:44
  Myself, John Bauer, and Mark Scaife dipped into the sevens.
• 34:47
  And I'm pretty sure we hadn't been in the eights, but the circuit had been resurfaced.
• 34:51
  And it was in beautiful shape.
• 34:54
  Track was perfect, conditions were perfect, and they were good pretty much all week, all weekend.
• 35:00
  So there were records being broken all the way through that week, and a big part of that, as I say, was the fact that probably I couldn't tell you...
• 35:09
  the time before that, but the circuit had been fully resurfaced and that played a part.
• 35:13
  The car was clearly beautiful and you were in great form, but I think you said to me once that the lap wasn't completely perfect.
• 35:19
  Even though you got to a 2 minute 6.8, you felt like there was a little bit more in it, wasn't there?
• 35:23
  Well, you were there, right there, and part of the whole deal, which...
• 35:29
  you know, was only, you know, was more, obviously more, made more special, that whole thing, and more memorable because of the reaction of the pit lane.
• 35:39
  And that was the thing that made the shivers go down my spine, was the fact that people were like, oh, that was pretty good, you know, and appreciated it for what it was.
• 35:51
  So to be the pilot,
• 35:53
  that achieve that, you know, that just doesn't happen very often.
• 35:56
  So, you know, that was – that's what made it.
• 35:58
  But, yeah, you know, I stepped out of that car and you were the first guy to speak to me with the microphone.
• 36:02
  And, yeah, I was just taken back by what was going on.
• 36:07
  And, yeah, it wasn't right.
• 36:10
  You know, H-Patton gearboxes, boys.
• 36:11
  That separates the men from the boys.
• 36:14
  And, you know, I'd got pretty good at using one.
• 36:16
  But, you know, I was in a space, in a zone that I could –
• 36:22
  probably can't tell you I've ever really felt since.
• 36:26
  It was just, everything was working well.
• 36:29
  I knew that the car was going to do exactly what I wanted to do.
• 36:33
  And I came out of the dipper, that lap, and had just flowed the car down the hill, felt fantastic, came out of the dipper, got on the gas.
• 36:40
  And we flat shifted, you know.
• 36:42
  I used to just dip the clutch ever so slightly just to release the load between
• 36:48
  you know, the drivetrain, just to allow that gearbox, that fraction split sort of release to get it into the next gear.
• 36:56
  And pretty much I'm sure everyone was doing that, you know, back then.
• 37:00
  But you didn't lift the throttle.
• 37:01
  You just took the gear lever through to the next cog.
• 37:04
  And I had to come across the gate to third from second.
• 37:07
  And across the gate, that was the hardest gear shift in that gearbox was second to third.
• 37:12
  and instead of going across the gate enough, I didn't, and that went straight in the first, coming out of the dipper, and it just, you know, the noise, you know, I just went, oh my god, this thing, you know, it was 9.2 I think it revved to.
• 37:33
  But you kind of caught it.
• 37:34
  Yeah, it was a very quick...
• 37:35
  It was up, and by the time I had...
• 37:38
  I started to realise it hadn't...
• 37:40
  I think even when it was going into the hole, and the gear lever was going into the hole, I knew it was going in the wrong place, but it took.
• 37:47
  So I was already clutching and releasing and putting it back into third.
• 37:53
  you know very very quickly so it hit nine two very quickly and then but then it was like woke me up from this bloody trance i was in and you know i i was like so angry with myself you know it's like you you idiot you idiot you've ruined it you know i just had thought that was it you know the lap was over but the thing was it was a short run it's a very very short full throttle run between you know the dipper and then the braking you know the dipper and then the braking
• 38:18
  um the breaking point um as you go around the that right hand and drop down to forest elbow so you know it's like i've lost time you know we'll just carry on with it and i never run you know a plus minus on the dash because i just you know they personally i just one of those things that i can't use because i just uh if i'm looking at it and focused on it too much i mean
• 38:38
  I take my head off to the people that do use them effectively, but it just wasn't something for me.
• 38:43
  So I just assumed, you know, the lap wasn't good, so I just pushed as hard as I could because I thought, oh, I've buggered it, so I might as well, you know, I'm going to put it all on the line for the finish and just see what we can do.
• 38:53
  So that car recently came up for sale, I think, didn't it?
• 38:56
  I think it's sold.
• 38:57
  It hasn't, but you won Bathurst that year, obviously, the Lap of the Gods.
• 39:00
  Did it tempt you?
• 39:01
  Were you tempted to, that would be a hell of a car to own.
• 39:04
  What would that be worth?
• 39:05
  How would you hide something like that from your wife?
• 39:08
  Yeah.
• 39:08
  And how would you somehow launder enough money, $750,000 Australian dollars, launder or find and hide $750,000 from my missus?
• 39:17
  But, no, listen, that's something I'd love to have.
• 39:20
  Actually, you know, I'm not sort of overly...
• 39:25
  Sentimental?
• 39:26
  Yeah, sentimental, I suppose, in many respects.
• 39:30
  But that's something that I just personally think, because it's tough, it's mean, it's a cool car, it's got a meaning.
• 39:36
  and that would be pretty neat to have.
• 39:38
  But yeah, Lotto needs to be won to do that.
• 39:43
  It'd be one of the first things I'd go and get though if I'd won Lotto.
• 39:46
  Back to back, you went 03, you went 04, and you were the king of Pukakawi.
• 39:50
  I mean, even winning races there in 05 and things like that.
• 39:54
  When you ultimately decided to give it away, you still had a very successful stint as a co-driver with the Holden Racing Team doing that in the latter.
• 40:02
  It was overly successful.
• 40:04
  But you still did it, which was a good thing.
• 40:06
  But was it a hard drug to give up, to stop?
• 40:07
  I mean, it had been such a significant part of your life.
• 40:10
  They're unbelievable cars.
• 40:12
  To stop, how hard was that?
• 40:13
  Yeah, really hard.
• 40:14
  Very difficult.
• 40:17
  And I wanted to be making a decision.
• 40:20
  Effectively, I ended up not making a decision.
• 40:22
  The last year, the Cali racing was tough because I totally understand, you know, the reasoning behind it all.
• 40:30
  But 2012, once the announcement was made that, you know, that it was going to be Nissan Motorsport in 2013, the inevitable happened, and that was that all...
• 40:42
  any kind of spending and development of any kind of for the rest of 2012 was done and dusted with because what was the point in wasting any money on out of date Commodores when you were going to be having to build and spend a fortune on brand new Nissan Ultimates for 2013 so it got really hard and then on top of that just to add to it all first race of the year
• 41:11
  or first event of the year, you know, qualifying for Sunday at Eclipsal 500.
• 41:16
  And, you know, I end up bursting my disc in my back after contact with John O'Webb, you know, into the last corner on a qualifying lap.
• 41:28
  which was something I knew was going to happen to someone at some stage because no one would do anything about the whole qualifying scenario where everyone would just slow right down and try and get a gap and people were getting caught up all the time on laps and it was going to happen, it was a discussion point that was happening all the time at the driver's briefings but nothing was happening.
• 41:46
  Anyway, I come round the corner on a flying lap just after a red flag for someone else for some other issue.
• 41:52
  I was the first out the gate, I think, and I was the first to start a lap.
• 41:55
  And come round a complete one through the back section there through that second to last corner where the car gets, you know, is really teetering on maximum grip.
• 42:05
  I didn't see Jono until it was too late and tried to avoid, should have gone to the outside and gone on the grass, but tried to stay on the track.
• 42:12
  He sort of tried to get out of the way a little bit, but it was too late, and we collided.
• 42:17
  Well, I collided with him very, very fast, and unbeknowing at the time, even though we didn't race that day because the car was so badly damaged, I'd burst a disc in my back.
• 42:26
  after I had had back surgery two years prior.
• 42:30
  And at the Grand Prix that year, we actually had a reasonable weekend at the Grand Prix.
• 42:38
  I felt something in my back, and long story short, it ended up being that I had to have a fusion done and missed five races of the year as well on top of a tough season as it was.
• 42:52
  So it was pretty miserable.
• 42:54
  Did the doctor tell you to stop?
• 42:56
  No, not stop.
• 42:58
  He said it would be absolutely fine.
• 43:00
  He never had a patient that was a racing car driver, but he said the healing is this period of time.
• 43:08
  I was back in a car just after six weeks and felt good, felt fine.
• 43:14
  But he said if you have an impact of some descriptor, I can't tell you.
• 43:18
  I'm not going to say don't do it, but I can't tell you what will happen if you have another impact.
• 43:22
  It felt great and, you know, it was like, well, how much bad luck can you have, I suppose, kind of thing.
• 43:27
  So we went back at it, but the rest of the year was pretty tough and uncompetitive and pretty miserable.
• 43:33
  And I'd never really contemplated, even though it had sort of been mentioned about...
• 43:39
  maybe staying on to race with the team but I just didn't have this desire to go and change manufacturers that late in my career and maybe destroy the many, many, many, many years that I had put together being a Holden driver and my relationships with Holden and with HSV and everybody else and so I was never really on the radar.
• 44:05
  And to be honest, the discussions never really came to any kind of fruition, and that was probably partly due to the fact that I showed my unhappiness with how...
• 44:15
  you know that year and that car was being run um towards the end of the year well for a large part of the year that loyalty is still um something to this day you know your relationship with hsv and and hold and you you came back here and had success in in super touring in new zealand and these days you do a bit of rally don't you tell us a bit about about that project and do you enjoy doing that and how did that all come about uh you just got to have something like
• 44:42
  You know, as you said, it was very hard to leave supercars, but other things have, you know, came along that made sense.
• 44:50
  But you still need that fix.
• 44:52
  You still need that rush, something to do.
• 44:54
  And I always was a fan, love rallying, love WRC, used to love going out and watching WRC when it was in New Zealand.
• 45:01
  It's just something that I've a huge amount of appreciation and respect for those that do it very well.
• 45:07
  And so it was something I always wanted to do.
• 45:08
  A lot of people I know...
• 45:11
  were involved in it and when I moved back home it wasn't too long before you know the seat was offered and and the first event happened and so we can continue down that path and you know got a an AP4 Holden Barina that's you know been professionally built and four-wheel drive four-wheel drive turned into a race car so four-wheel drive Sadie of six-speed sequential box we run the two-litre
• 45:38
  Chevrolet engine in the car.
• 45:40
  It's modified to 1800 or brought down to 1800 cc and turbocharged and it's about 350 horsepower and about 600 newton metres of torque or something I think, something like that.
• 45:51
  It's crazy numbers and it's just a completely different all new
• 45:57
  you focus on what you're doing, not what no one else is doing.
• 46:00
  And you go sideways.
• 46:01
  I've spent my whole career trying to go drive straight and being told to drive straight and look after the tyres and now I can throw it into a corner, you know, throw it in backwards and hit the gas and
• 46:12
  and get out of a corner, and that's the fast way around.
• 46:15
  He says with a bright smile, but I would imagine that's had a bit of reprogramming in the way you drive and what you do.
• 46:20
  It's the antithesis, isn't it?
• 46:21
  Endless amounts of reprogramming, and to be honest, I'll still be changing the program up to the day that I say, okay, that's enough and move on.
• 46:30
  All right.
• 46:31
  What about...
• 46:32
  We talked about the Datsun at the beginning of the chat here.
• 46:35
  Best race car of all time that you've driven.
• 46:38
  You mightn't have done a long period of time.
• 46:41
  It doesn't have to be a supercar.
• 46:42
  It can be anything.
• 46:43
  But the car that you walked away from going, that was cool.
• 46:49
  The car that I suppose just blew me away more than anything else and was one of the most outrageous machines I think ever designed and built and put on a racetrack was the Panos LMP1 car.
• 47:04
  And myself, Jason Brighton, were invited, thanks to the Race of a Thousand Years.
• 47:11
  In Adelaide.
• 47:12
  In Adelaide.
• 47:15
  To drive Panos with David Bradman.
• 47:18
  And we went to Sebring and tested that car.
• 47:21
  And, I mean, it's hard to try and even comprehend what the thing was all about.
• 47:27
  I mean, he was a roadster.
• 47:28
  You sat right back near the back wheels.
• 47:31
  You had this, it seemed like seven metre long, you know, front.
• 47:35
  It was like a Batmobile.
• 47:36
  It was just crazy.
• 47:37
  The most...
• 47:38
  outrageous car with a 7 litre Ford engine in it sequential gearbox, it was wild, your head sat out the top and it was wild and I never got, I don't think Jason or I ever got on top of that car, we ended up having dramas and I had a moment in that car during that race, had a brake issue that put it in the run off and into the fence at what are we, turn 11 a tricky, tricky turn 11 at Adelaide
• 48:08
  Got the car back, eventually back to the pits.
• 48:10
  They fixed it.
• 48:10
  We finished the race.
• 48:11
  But it was a tricky car, something that David Bradman drove so, so incredibly well.
• 48:16
  Jan Magnussen was also one of the drivers back then doing amazing things in that car.
• 48:21
  But they were – that was something else.
• 48:23
  That was a big –
• 48:23
  beast, an absolute beast, very, very fast aerodynamically.
• 48:27
  It was very fast too.
• 48:28
  And that was something that did struggle to get your head around.
• 48:30
  If hypothetically your wife Monique was okay with it, if hypothetically you'd won lotto, what's the car in Greg Murphy's dream garage that may not be there now?
• 48:38
  What would you have to have?
• 48:40
  Oh my God.
• 48:42
  That is so tricky.
• 48:42
  Probably hard to nail down to one.
• 48:44
  That is so, so, so tricky because I have a very wide-ranging appeal or love affair with so many vehicles.
• 48:52
  I love my American muscle cars, as you know, and I've got a 69 Dodge Charger that is going through, I think it's 10th year of some form of customisation.
• 49:05
  So I love all that stuff, but, yeah, that's a real hard one.
• 49:12
  What would it be?
• 49:13
  I don't know.
• 49:16
  I love an F40.
• 49:17
  I love an F40.
• 49:19
  Saying that, I think, albeit it'd have to be a big lotto win now, an F1, McLaren F1, three-seater McLaren F1, you know.
• 49:30
  Once upon a time, you could buy them for not a lot of money, and now you can't.
• 49:34
  And that, I think, is probably, it was ahead of its time, that car.
• 49:37
  And I don't know if there's more ultimate road car than maybe that one.
• 49:42
  Where will the 69 Charger end up in terms of its restoration?
• 49:46
  What are you doing to it?
• 49:47
  How far away before it will be completed?
• 49:49
  That is an open-ended answer to that one.
• 49:52
  I have no idea.
• 49:54
  Ten years in, and it's probably still ten years away by the way it's going at the moment, but I do need to get it done because it is, again, I think it's my Dukes of Hassid fetish back in the 80s that has got me locked into that one.
• 50:06
  And it needs to be done.
• 50:07
  It will be done because it will be a special car.
• 50:11
  But after seeing some of the stuff that comes off...
• 50:17
  some of the shop floors in America.
• 50:19
  I think maybe it's going to have to go to America to get finished because otherwise I'll never be happy with it.
• 50:25
  So it will be not in orange colours, clearly.
• 50:27
  You're not going to make it a Bowen Luke Duke special?
• 50:30
  No, no, it won't be.
• 50:31
  It may be an orange, an orange and black of some descript, because that seems to be something that I sort of stuck with a long time ago and maybe down the path of...
• 50:43
  the original, you know, papaya orange McLaren, potentially something like that, I don't know.
• 50:48
  The colour is a long way away probably from needing to be decided considering the amount of work that needs to be done, but it's definitely the muscle car that I want to have.
• 50:59
  On the next episode of Rusty's Garage, I speak with Matt Hall, who's a top bloke, a top pilot, actually, he's a top gun.
• 51:07
  There was one time I was running on the deck in an exercise in an F-15, and I was doing about 750 knots at 100 foot off the ground.
• 51:15
  So we're looking at around about 1,300 kilometres an hour, about 100 feet, in the middle of the desert, like near Area 51.
• 51:22
  And my fuel flow at the time was 110,000 pounds of fuel per engine.
• 51:28
  So 220,000 pounds of fuel an hour going out the back end.
• 51:32
  So do the maths on that.
• 51:37
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 51:41
  Series producer and editor is Alex Mitchell.
• 51:44
  Audio production by Darcy Thompson.
• 51:54
  Listener.