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The Motorsport Brief: A wrap with Supercars rising star Will Brown · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:06
  It's Tuesday, the 16th of May, 2023.
• 0:09
  We have just wrapped up round three of the Speed Series at Phillip Island.
• 0:14
  More TCR seat time for one of its stars, who is now gearing up for this weekend's round of the Supercars in Tasmania, where he is a big chance of grabbing some silverware.
• 0:26
  G'day everybody, Greg Rust with you for a Rusty's Garage shortcast.
• 0:31
  A quick fix around news, events and things happening in the world of motorsport that we park in the same place beside the regular long-form eps that you know and love.
• 0:41
  Thank you for...
• 0:42
  The message is on James Small, the recent ep with the Aussie racer turned NASCAR crew chief for Martin Truex Jr. And last week we released Ron Goodman, who raced the West Coast cooler NASCAR at the Thunderdome back in the day.
• 0:56
  And he's become an award-winning...
• 0:58
  Porsche file, restoring and modifying all sorts of models from the German mark.
• 1:03
  And we recorded that in his unbelievable man cave and started some of the cars too, as well as chatting about those that have blown them away in the US historic racing scene.
• 1:16
  Now, next week, we release an ep that will give you an insight into motorsport TV, into broadcasting at the highest level with an Aussie who's made a heck of a mark on supercars, has worked on Formula One, Dakar, the World Supercross Championship and more.
• 1:33
  Keep an eye out for notifications on that.
• 1:35
  That is a great story with a bit of fun by a great storyteller.
• 1:40
  While I was working on the Shannon Speed Series TV coverage, we found a window to talk to Will Brown, who won the first ever Australian TCR title back in 2019 in Hyundai.
• 1:52
  He's continuing to race for the Melbourne Performance Centre team in the latest spec, Audi RS3.
• 1:58
  But at round one in Tassie and at the island, he had all sorts of drama.
• 2:03
  Now, Will's story...
• 2:04
  has many chapters, plenty still to be written, so we will do a long pod with him one day.
• 2:10
  But when you look back on things so far, he has been successful right the way along in almost a meteoric rise in various types of cars too.
• 2:20
  For perspective, the TCR is a 350-horsepower turbocharged front-wheel drive four-cylinder.
• 2:28
  The Erebus Camaro supercar that you know he races is a rear-wheel drive V8 with over six
• 2:34
  hundred horsepower they're very different a quick thanks to our team at the listener tuning shop too i ran to the mpc truck to chat with will between races and my quality control wasn't the kind of usual standard that i aim for but it's the access to will that matters for you how's the year been for you it looked like from a supercar standpoint in wa that it was terrific
• 3:01
  Yeah, obviously Perth was an awesome run for myself and Brodie over there.
• 3:06
  Had a great weekend, able to extend that team's championship a little bit more and I was able to claw my way up to fourth in the championship.
• 3:13
  So overall, just got to not make mistakes and keep it consistent.
• 3:17
  How is it from the brand new generation car, the progression of the team, people like Garth Tander talk like you guys are genuine contenders in the mix now.
• 3:28
  Do you feel like that's the case?
• 3:29
  I'd like to think so.
• 3:30
  You know, obviously every track we've been to, we've had really good pace, but it's a bit of an unknown, you know.
• 3:36
  Year on year in the old Gen 2 cars, Triple Eight were there and they were fast.
• 3:40
  And for us to step up and be so competitive, it's hard to just say, yep, that's us now.
• 3:44
  We're there, we're going to be up the front.
• 3:46
  You hope so, but, you know, we're not getting ahead of ourselves.
• 3:51
  Yeah, just taking a race meet at a time is my approach to it and just doing the best job I can to prepare for that race meet and the team is the same.
• 3:58
  Next stop on the tour for you is Tassie.
• 4:03
  We're talking at Phillip Island as we record this.
• 4:05
  What's the preparation been like?
• 4:06
  How do you think you'll go there?
• 4:08
  And is there, I said this to Brodie very recently, is there the emergence now of more teams, not just Triple Eight and yourselves that are looming as threats, as they get accustomed to these Gen 3 cars now too?
• 4:23
  Yeah, I'm sure there'll be plenty of teams pop up there.
• 4:25
  Obviously, Chas has been quite fast as well.
• 4:27
  And it's just going to happen throughout the year.
• 4:30
  People are going to find stuff and it's going to be even more competitive.
• 4:33
  But we saw at Tasmania on the Saturday, I made a mistake and qualified 22nd.
• 4:37
  And I think it was 2.9 tenths to first.
• 4:40
  So Tasmania is even tighter generally than what Perth is.
• 4:44
  So I think you're going to see maybe one tenth cover the top 12 cars.
• 4:49
  Wow.
• 4:50
  Do you enjoy it down there?
• 4:51
  Yeah, I love Tasmania.
• 4:52
  It's an awesome place.
• 4:52
  I like the track and everything about it.
• 4:54
  So I'm keen to get down there and just, yeah, get into it.
• 4:58
  Like I say, it's a bit nervous waiting because you're thinking, oh, I hope we do really well and all of that and back up the front.
• 5:05
  So, you know, I just want to get into the race meets and get into it.
• 5:08
  Has the variety of driving that you've done in your relatively short career, mate, meant that you're not sort of, tainted is not the right word, but it doesn't mean that you're fixed into a kind of Gen 2 way of thinking?
• 5:21
  You're a bit freer in your thinking with this new generation car, or does that not sort of really apply?
• 5:25
  You would think so.
• 5:26
  You know, for someone like myself and Brodie that drive so many different cars and haven't been in supercars for that long, I think it has to be a little bit of a benefit compared to someone who's raced supercars for the last 10 years and that's all they've really been racing.
• 5:39
  So, yeah, I think that it is, but who knows if that's actually the case.
• 5:44
  But, yeah, I think driving as much as you can can't hurt.
• 5:48
  Tell me about...
• 5:50
  TCR then it's been a tough weekend here at uh at Phillip Island for you and that's a surprise because the Audi has been a a very good package um we we saw that late last year that new generation car but there's been some challenges this year for you and are you talking like um as you did in the broadcast this morning like your your bid for this compressed championship is is almost over
• 6:11
  Oh, yeah.
• 6:11
  Like, it's very hard in this championship because there's not that many cars in it this year.
• 6:15
  Only having 12 or 13 cars start each race.
• 6:18
  You know, a bad result for someone like Bailey Sweeney, who's leading the championship, is probably a sixth or seventh.
• 6:23
  So even if you win that race, you don't claw back that many points on them throughout the year.
• 6:27
  I had a stellar year in 2019 in this category, and I just won it.
• 6:32
  um i you know around before anyone where i've had four dnfs now so i've lost a round and a half pretty much and then just then we had another diff issue um which was a last place finish so you can nearly call it five dnfs um you can't claw your way back from there you know if you start thinking that you can now you're delusional i think so um
• 6:51
  Yeah, we're going to have to have a look at it after this weekend and see what we do, but it's really disappointing, obviously.
• 6:56
  A lot of time and effort goes into this, and MPC have always run a great car, so I feel sorry for them as well because they put a lot of pride in what they do, and for a car of theirs to have so many dramas this weekend, it's very disappointing for both of us.
• 7:10
  But yeah, three DNFs at Tasmania, two here.
• 7:13
  It's not very good so far.
• 7:15
  What are those things like to drive?
• 7:16
  Because they are diametrically different, mate, to the supercar, aren't they?
• 7:20
  Yeah, to be honest, it's been a bit of a shitbox this weekend.
• 7:23
  But, yeah, I think the diff issue we haven't found because of all the other dramas and the amount of understeer where we're losing one second to Clemente from the top of Lukey to the main straight, so literally in three corners.
• 7:36
  So I think it's just some sort of issue there.
• 7:39
  But overall, I usually do like driving them.
• 7:42
  It usually produces very fun racing and all of that.
• 7:44
  But right now, I'm just keen to get in my Gen 3 car next weekend after the weekend I've had here.
• 7:50
  You did talk about the want to go off and do maybe a bit of international competition in this class.
• 7:56
  Tell us a bit about that and what you might have identified within your busy schedule that you could perhaps have a crack at.
• 8:02
  I haven't looked that far into it, to be honest.
• 8:04
  I was thinking about the end of the year, the WTCR sort of finale that they were speaking of.
• 8:09
  So that would have been good.
• 8:11
  But it's not for me a certain category to race overseas.
• 8:14
  It's just to verse the best in the world and see how I go against them.
• 8:18
  Would that be Macau in the schedule?
• 8:19
  Where are you talking?
• 8:20
  Bathurst, maybe?
• 8:21
  What's your main focus there?
• 8:22
  I mean, Bathurst is obviously going to happen anyway for us here.
• 8:26
  Oh, like I say, when I say the finale, there was meant to be that final race at the end of the year that, you know, the top 40 go over there and race.
• 8:33
  So that was my ultimate one.
• 8:34
  Obviously, competing against the WTCR guys at Bathurst and Sydney was definitely a reason why I signed up this year and wanted to compete against them.
• 8:43
  But from there, I'm just...
• 8:45
  happy doing what I'm doing, racing supercars.
• 8:47
  I've got a busy life doing everything I do and something pops up overseas, I'll be keen to just race anything, really.
• 8:55
  But the obvious objective is wins with Erebus.
• 8:59
  That's kind of the top tier of what you're about this year.
• 9:02
  Yeah, to be honest, you know, and I'm very fortunate that I've been able to come this far in my racing, that TCR is actually a sideline thing for me.
• 9:09
  So it's just about getting more racing and, you know, I guess I can sort of take it on my chin and go, well, this weekend didn't go that well.
• 9:16
  But, you know, if you're a young guy like Michael Clemente and had this many dramas at the start of the weekend and you're trying to fund it and that, you'd be extremely disappointed, wouldn't you?
• 9:25
  For me, supercars is my outright goal.
• 9:27
  I want to try and win a championship there, and I'm just focused on my Erebus and supercar stuff.
• 9:33
  But like I say, it's still disappointing nonetheless when you come here and don't get to compete.
• 9:39
  But, yeah.
• 9:40
  I've taken it pretty well and it is what it is really.
• 9:42
  What's been the biggest learning for you as a young racer?
• 9:45
  I mean, you won this championship for Hyundai, you're now racing in an Audi, you've graduated to supercars with one of the great teams and when I think about it, your career, as I said before, isn't that long and you're already at the sharp end of things in Australian motorsport.
• 10:03
  Tell us about that.
• 10:04
  Yeah, it's been good.
• 10:05
  You've always got to do it young, though.
• 10:06
  It's hard.
• 10:08
  I've always wanted to try and get to the pointy end of supercars by this stage.
• 10:12
  I'm about to turn 25, so it's been awesome to be one of those young up-and-comers like myself, Brock, and Brodie that are all battling.
• 10:21
  For us to stand on the podium at Perth in that last one, I know Brock won it, but it's pretty cool to see three guys under 25 there.
• 10:29
  That new wave, that next generation.
• 10:31
  Yeah, yeah.
• 10:32
  So, you know, sometimes I sit back and take those moments in.
• 10:35
  I'm a competitive guy, but I always love seeing other people do well as well.
• 10:38
  So, yeah, it was cool to see Brock and Brodie up there and just cool to see that new generation coming through and the few rivalries and racing hard.
• 10:47
  You know, you saw how Brodie gave it to Shane over there and hopefully I can do that in an event.
• 10:52
  Yeah, I think it's just been exciting.
• 10:53
  The Supercars staff, all the fans, it's, you know, I'm not sure if it's growing or what, but you just notice that sort of support behind you and our fan base is building.
• 11:03
  And, yeah, it's just been an awesome, awesome few months so far.
• 11:06
  Now, has it meant that your relationship with Brodie is strong?
• 11:11
  Does it now because you're both starting to get at the sharp end of things?
• 11:14
  Does that get a bit tested?
• 11:15
  How do you balance all that?
• 11:16
  And how does Barry and the team manage all of that with two fast competitive forces?
• 11:21
  The funniest thing is we're just switched on and we sort of get each other.
• 11:25
  Like, we're good mates.
• 11:25
  I've been talking to him all this weekend when I'm having trouble down here.
• 11:28
  But, you know, even like at Perth, he knew in that last race it was a bit quicker.
• 11:33
  We'd gapped Reynolds a bit, and he actually let me go to hunt Brock down.
• 11:37
  Now, the team were thinking, oh, should we tell him?
• 11:39
  And before they even told him, he let me go, and I've done that before for him.
• 11:43
  Right now, who knows if we're battling for one, two in the championship and it came down to the last race, I'm sure then we'd get our elbows out.
• 11:50
  But right now, we're pretty fixated on making sure the team does well and what's best for the team and us in the championship.
• 11:56
  But, yeah, I think it's just about working together and not letting egos get in front of you.
• 12:02
  Like, you know, ego's probably the worst thing that can be in a team.
• 12:05
  We'll sneak a quick break here.
• 12:07
  More with Will Brown on Rusty's Garage in just a moment.
• 12:14
  couple of fun ones to finish.
• 12:15
  You've got a great personality.
• 12:17
  As you've grown and moved up the ladder, has that ever, you know, has anyone ever tried to polish that out of you or have you remained absolutely true to the same Will Brown from a few years back?
• 12:28
  Yeah, I'm not allowed to swear as much.
• 12:32
  No, I'm not sure.
• 12:33
  No, not at all.
• 12:35
  I've never had someone tell me I can't do what I'm doing or anything like that.
• 12:38
  I race for a great team in Erebus Motorsport and Barry and Betty, accept how you are, and Brodie's the same.
• 12:44
  Brodie's an absolute hard-ass, so I take the different approach, but I race to have fun.
• 12:48
  That's why I started racing.
• 12:49
  I'm very fortunate to be able to race in supercars and earn money and all that, but ultimately I race to have fun.
• 12:55
  I go there to be with mates and have a good time.
• 12:57
  And that's how I look at it these days.
• 12:59
  If I'm there and having fun, you know, it's not like a job.
• 13:01
  People go, oh, you might get burnt out doing all this racing, but I'm enjoying doing it.
• 13:05
  I'm not going away thinking, apart from this weekend maybe, but not going away thinking it's hard weekends.
• 13:11
  I'm just enjoying my racing.
• 13:12
  And I think that's why I find I do so well is that I just enjoy racing.
• 13:18
  We had a good laugh in Tassie when you joined us for the commentary.
• 13:22
  On the road, you have been washing clothes in the hotel bathtubs, haven't you?
• 13:28
  Are your washing skills on the improve, Wilbrough?
• 13:30
  No, no, they're not.
• 13:31
  Like, anyone who knows me knows I'm hopeless.
• 13:33
  So I don't pack a toothbrush.
• 13:35
  I'll end up having to buy a new toothbrush when I go away.
• 13:38
  I forget undies, forgot pants this weekend, and I'm hopeless.
• 13:42
  I make sure I've got my race suit, my helmet, and all that before I go away, but I don't care about the rest.
• 13:46
  So when I go away for long periods, it's always a bit of fun trying to get sorted.
• 13:50
  Cool.
• 13:50
  Last one.
• 13:51
  You enjoy a bit of flying and that continues to grow that side of things for you.
• 13:56
  I find with Neil Crompton and others that have indulged that passion, it is a natural complement to racing in many ways.
• 14:02
  Do you find that or is it more of an escape?
• 14:04
  And what's the latest in flying land for you?
• 14:07
  Yeah, I guess, you know, even though racing is my hobby, it's sort of become my job.
• 14:12
  So now I've got, you know, the flying is my hobby.
• 14:14
  And yeah, I've just loved it.
• 14:15
  I'm actually, what would you call it, restoring a plane?
• 14:19
  It's a kit built plane that has actually flown before.
• 14:21
  Tell us about that.
• 14:22
  Yeah, it's come out from America.
• 14:24
  So an old guy down in Banala actually owned it, and I got onto it.
• 14:28
  So it's an ex-Reno Air Race plane.
• 14:30
  And, yeah, it's really fast.
• 14:31
  So right now I'm doing a bit of a YouTube series.
• 14:33
  I'm building that up, and it's definitely hurting my back pocket a bit.
• 14:36
  But it's a cool plane, and I'm just, yeah, really, really love the flying.
• 14:40
  Like, you know, when I'm away from racing, I can look at ordering stuff, and it's a different sort of discipline, I find.
• 14:45
  It's made me...
• 14:47
  a bit more disciplined in what I do.
• 14:48
  You know, you can't make mistakes in the plane and that sort of stuff.
• 14:51
  Otherwise, there can be serious consequences.
• 14:53
  So I've enjoyed that.
• 14:55
  And I've actually had to learn to study, which I've never done before in my life.
• 14:59
  I never did much at school.
• 15:00
  So when I had to try to study for my plane licence, that was a bit of fun.
• 15:04
  But yeah, I might not be the most switched on with book work.
• 15:08
  Good on you.
• 15:08
  Tough weekend for you here.
• 15:09
  I know that.
• 15:10
  You're always smiling.
• 15:12
  Go get them in Tasmania.
• 15:13
  And for the rest of the year, mate, we hope at some point you get to do that little international ambition that you have and tick that off.
• 15:19
  But I know Bathurst for supercars and for the rest of the Gen 3 kind of season will be a big focus for you.
• 15:26
  Go get them.
• 15:26
  And thanks for chatting with us.
• 15:28
  Cheers.
• 15:28
  Thanks for the chat.
• 15:29
  A note for avid fans of the pod.
• 15:32
  Yes, Will's teammate Brodie Kostecki was a recent guest on the Rusty's Garage motorsport brief.
• 15:37
  It's not an Erebus favouritism thing.
• 15:40
  I just thought that Will's form in WA at the last round of supercars and the fact that we were working together at Phillip Island while he raced the TCR made for a timely chat and it was nice to do it face to face too.
• 15:53
  A couple of other bits of news for you.
• 15:54
  Massive congrats to Nash Morris, whose driving went to another level on his return to Trans Am.
• 16:01
  The racing in that class, as a colleague reflected, was box office.
• 16:04
  And on his 20th birthday, Nash went to Victory Lane.
• 16:09
  It looks like he is a chip off the old block, just like his dad.
• 16:13
  Bathurst winner and Super Touring champion, Paul Morris.
• 16:15
  And the dude is chuffed too.
• 16:18
  Well done.
• 16:19
  Molly Taylor continues to show her truly world-class talent, a former Australian rally champion who was top of the world for Nico Rosberg's outfit in the inaugural Extreme E season for electric SUVs.
• 16:34
  She lost that ride but has never really spoken about it, such is her professionalism.
• 16:39
  Molly joins another team, Veloce Racing, for this year and leads the series by 11 points after winning the Scottish round at the weekend with team-mate Kevin Hansen.
• 16:49
  I wonder if Nico is regretting not re-signing her.
• 16:53
  We need to catch up with Molly again too for a part two of her story.
• 16:58
  Fun fact, she was the first ever guest on Rusty's Garage.
• 17:03
  And finally, a shout out to Michael Clemente, who was racing Hyundai Excels only a few years back.
• 17:08
  He didn't.
• 17:09
  won the Aussie title in 2018, took a massive step with family to join TCR.
• 17:15
  After stints in a Civic Type R and an Audi, Michael, who's only in his early 20s, moved into the new Cupra at the weekend and joined a list of more than 20 drivers to now be a race winner in TCR Australia.
• 17:28
  The family went mad.
• 17:30
  Legendary British DJ Carl Cox is right behind Michael's racing.
• 17:34
  He will be thrilled with that result too.
• 17:36
  Great stuff all.
• 17:37
  We're out of time.
• 17:38
  Make sure you join us next week for a preview of the Indy 500 with a member of the NBC commentary team.
• 17:45
  Won't spoil it for you just yet.
• 17:47
  If you've got a question about the greatest spectacle in racing, the 107th running of the 500, hit me up on socials and I'll try and tackle it for you.
• 17:55
  That is it for today.
• 17:56
  We'll catch you next time.
• 17:57
  Bye for now.