Latest / Rusty's Garage / Thomas Randle - Part 1

Transcript

Thomas Randle - Part 1 · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:17
  I'm automotive commentator and journalist Greg Rust, and this is Rusty's Garage.
• 0:27
  I've been really looking forward to this episode and the chance to catch up face to face with a supercars driver who has been through a lot in his life already, and he's still only in his 20s.
• 0:39
  Thomas Randall and I actually discussed the idea of a chat like this before the incident with Brock Feeney in Tasmania recently, and the fallout from a bit of push and shove with Mark Dutton at Red Bull.
• 0:50
  We'll talk about that, but please...
• 0:53
  Keep it in perspective.
• 0:54
  It's a one-on-one discussion, and I'd happily do the same with Dutto.
• 0:58
  But this is a pod that charts Tom's story.
• 1:01
  It's a feature episode.
• 1:03
  Please don't fire up social media abuse.
• 1:05
  Again, I hate that stuff.
• 1:07
  It was disgraceful, some of the things that happened.
• 1:10
  They both...
• 1:11
  don't deserve that.
• 1:12
  The case has been heard and dealt with.
• 1:14
  From my side, Tom, because of his nature, was, I think, endeavouring to do the right thing, to apologise, to show good sportsmanship.
• 1:23
  He put his hand up.
• 1:24
  It is a high-stakes game.
• 1:27
  So in Dutto's defence, clearly he was disappointed in what had happened on track, and he wasn't entertaining the idea of Tom coming into their garage.
• 1:34
  Not at that stage anyway.
• 1:36
  It wasn't violent by Dutto, but the sport and City Hall had
• 1:40
  a precedent that they had to work with in terms of their rules when it was adjudicated on.
• 1:45
  Let's move on.
• 1:47
  There are two great parts to this pod.
• 1:49
  90 minutes flew by.
• 1:51
  You'll get a sense of his humour, his intelligence, his deep love, and I mean deep love for the sport, and the incredible memory bank he has for all sorts of things in its history pages.
• 2:02
  The love and influence of family, particularly his dad and that wild sports sedan he has.
• 2:08
  making his mark in carts as a young fella, following the open wheeler path that took him overseas and pitted him against some great names, including Lando Norris and more.
• 2:19
  The switch to supercars and a serious health speed hump, plus the piano and sim work at his own facility, something that he's actually rolling off the throttle on a bit as Tickford starts to really find form again.
• 2:34
  And Tom, as I discovered, has this real experience
• 2:38
  in a hunger to be a winner and a champion.
• 2:41
  I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.
• 2:46
  Here we are.
• 2:47
  How are you?
• 2:48
  I'm good.
• 2:49
  Very good.
• 2:49
  Why have you got a big smile on your face?
• 2:51
  Are you ready to take the mickey out of me?
• 2:53
  Not yet.
• 2:54
  I'm not sitting opposite you, so it's kind of like...
• 2:56
  This is good.
• 2:57
  The last time we worked together, you were up in Queensland Raceway, and I was in the studio in Melbourne, and that was a lot of fun.
• 3:03
  A lot of fun.
• 3:04
  So we're together now.
• 3:06
  There's no green screen between us, or we're not thousands of kilometres away from each other.
• 3:10
  You hit it out of the park with that.
• 3:12
  I was going to get to it later in the conversation.
• 3:14
  So for people that don't know, it was...
• 3:17
  the Shannon Speed Series, Queensland Raceway Round.
• 3:19
  You very kindly went into our Melbourne hub studio and did some great things with Richard Crowell, Matt Nolte, and all the boys, and I was doing some pit lane stuff in Queensland.
• 3:30
  And I got to see this side of you that was sort of next level for me in terms of your, and I mean this in a nice way, your kind of nerdy love for the game, right?
• 3:40
  You would, we've got a WhatsApp group going and we're messaging between categories and even ad breaks and so on.
• 3:48
  And you were finding stuff, mate, like crazy mistakes I've made or bloopers or whatever and sending them to us.
• 3:53
  You've got quite a memory for some of this stuff, don't you?
• 3:56
  I appreciate that.
• 3:57
  I've always loved the sport.
• 3:59
  I've grown up around motorsport my whole life and...
• 4:02
  I guess going into that sort of role, I was a little bit nervous in that, hey, I want to do the best job I can, but I also want to go in being as educated as possible.
• 4:12
  I never know what I might get asked on air.
• 4:14
  I guess I was going there in terms of more, you know, expert role from my driving side of things, but I wanted to understand as much as I could about all the different categories that were racing.
• 4:24
  And there's so much that goes on behind the scenes for a production like that.
• 4:29
  And that's probably something that.
• 4:32
  I wouldn't say I didn't appreciate, but you definitely appreciate it more, even though the way that it was set up, how we were, well, majority of us were in the studio.
• 4:40
  It was yourself and Chloe and Paul was up there as well at Queensland Raceway.
• 4:45
  But the fact that we were able to communicate so efficiently, it felt quite seamless.
• 4:50
  It did.
• 4:51
  And the way that it was being run from a production side of things, it felt really professional.
• 4:55
  And like you said, yeah, I'm a big fan of motorsport and a nerd for it, if you like, and
• 5:01
  just trying to put myself in the shoes of those that are at home and thinking, okay, you know, yes, I'm a driver and I probably know what I'd like to hear, but maybe there's a way of communicating, communicating, correct.
• 5:13
  Communicating in a way that maybe is not too nerdy, but also not too, um,
• 5:18
  vague as well.
• 5:19
  I love that because it's almost like you were dipping for analogies, things that people could correlate with, and you beautifully blended, made a bit of personal experience around either cars that you'd driven or behavioral things of those.
• 5:35
  of those machines.
• 5:36
  You talked about the level of work that goes into it, right?
• 5:39
  So I mean, I rattle off Matt Nolte and Krause before.
• 5:43
  They're probably- You better not leave out Cameron Vandendogan because he would not be happy to see this podcast.
• 5:48
  But all of them are the generational more behind me.
• 5:51
  They're about probably 10 years older than you, but I mean, they're properly good, mate, at what they do and what they bring to the table.
• 5:58
  And I know in the lead up with some of the production meetings and things, you were already thinking about
• 6:02
  what you could do to complement that, weren't you?
• 6:06
  Absolutely.
• 6:06
  I mean, as soon as I, like you hear, whether it's Crailsey, Nolte, Van and Dungan, when you hear their voice on TV, but to actually see it in action in that setting.
• 6:18
  What they're like.
• 6:19
  Correct.
• 6:19
  It's like, wow, okay.
• 6:21
  How they're able to express things to the viewers at home in the way that they do.
• 6:28
  I was quite surprised.
• 6:30
  blown away from that aspect of seeing it in person, seeing them actually do it.
• 6:34
  And like I said, you hear them in the commentary box when you're watching the racing or qualifying, whatever it might be, but to be next to them and actually seeing it and then being able to work as a team and timing, okay,
• 6:46
  whether it's, you know, you sort of raise your hand, which you wouldn't say that on air, but trying to make it seamless when you switch between who is, who is talking.
• 6:54
  And, uh, yeah, I just tried to fit in as best as I could and bring things to the table that whether or not they hadn't been mentioned, but just hopefully trying to add from not just a driver's point of view, but also whether it's technical side of things and
• 7:10
  I think there's, there's so much to motorsport, no matter what category it is that I think there's a lot that can be told and there's probably not that much time to tell it, you know, in these races that happen.
• 7:21
  And I felt like the racing was, was actually really interesting over the weekend.
• 7:26
  And, um, the time went by really fast.
• 7:28
  I mean, we were on air on Sunday from, I think I got there at 6am, we were on air at 7.30 for the GD4 race and I didn't comment out all the races, but.
• 7:37
  commentated the first one and then I was ironically commentating the last one.
• 7:41
  And that was about, I think I finished 5 PM, but it felt like it went by so fast.
• 7:46
  And, uh, you know, I've rewatched a few things, trying to pick up on, you know, maybe a few things I said that if I were to do it again, just trying to think about, okay, you know what, I probably could have done that better or, or pick up something that where the Nolte said or yourself, uh, Greg and, um,
• 8:02
  Just thinking, okay, if I get that opportunity again, how could I do that better?
• 8:05
  And it's also, you know, I love watching MotoGP, Formula One, Formula Two.
• 8:10
  I think Formula Two commentators, Alex Jakes, Alex Brundle, they're some of my favorite.
• 8:14
  They're excellent.
• 8:15
  The MotoGP commentators, they're some of the best in the world.
• 8:18
  And I think there's little things that you can pick up.
• 8:21
  It may not be things necessarily wording that they say, but what they're trying to get
• 8:26
  give back to the viewers at home and how they're doing it, I think it's quite impressive.
• 8:30
  Well done, mate.
• 8:31
  The hub model is a really interesting thing, and I had this conversation with Calvin Fish recently, and...
• 8:37
  he the the IMSA guys in the states use that model for call it your average round but the but the signature events of that series he's no no you've got to be on the ground for those so it probably you know it wouldn't work I don't think for a a a bathurst or a sand down 500 or something along those lines right but it does it does have a place and what you beautifully helped us um prove is
• 9:01
  is that in the right set of circumstances for certain categories, it can work, mate.
• 9:05
  So where I want to go with all of this is, you know, you've already talked about kind of almost reviewing yourself, what you brought to the table pre-game and so on.
• 9:17
  Does that help you in everything that you do around, you know, the next media thing you might do for supercars, the next appearance and so on?
• 9:23
  I mean, it came seemingly very easily for you.
• 9:28
  I think it has to help.
• 9:31
  the more that you do in regards to that sort of stuff, I mean, we're always going to be getting interviewed depending on whether it's a good day at the track or a bad day, a great session, a terrible session.
• 9:41
  So to be able to do those sorts of things and have that opportunity to be part of the commentary box and you actually, and I'm sure you've been through this, Rusty, that...
• 9:52
  While I was commentating, you kind of forget that you're actually on air and you just feel like you're just talking about the race.
• 10:00
  With some mates.
• 10:01
  Exactly.
• 10:01
  Talking about the race with some mates and then you step back and go, oh, actually, there's a few people actually listening to what we're saying.
• 10:07
  So I better make sure I'm saying some pretty sensible things and the things that we're saying...
• 10:13
  I feel like the whole point of the commentary team is to essentially add to the experience of watching the cars go around.
• 10:20
  Tell them what you're counselling, mate.
• 10:21
  Tell them what you're counselling.
• 10:21
  Exactly.
• 10:22
  And there's a lot we see.
• 10:24
  The thing, I guess, with Speed Series as well is that the way that the totem or the scoring chart is that there's no, unfortunately, there's no live gaps or timing.
• 10:33
  So in the hub that we had previously.
• 10:36
  We had a massive big screen, which was showing the broadcast, and then another massive screen, which had the timing.
• 10:42
  So one thing I was trying to do is let the viewers at home understand, okay, the gaps between the cars or the pace that certain cars are setting, or perhaps that driver is not pushing yet.
• 10:53
  He's saving up.
• 10:54
  or they're saving up for later in the race or whatever it might be when you've got the gd3 racing or gd4 racing and you've got pit stops i was talking to the producer and saying hey maybe we could do like a bit of a split split screen follow the effective race leader on the track and you know see where they come out and all that listen to you you've turned into director yeah i don't know if i'd be any good at that but um just yeah just trying to add to the the viewership and like you said at the start i think
• 11:19
  That only helps going forward with my racing.
• 11:22
  I watch a lot of racing.
• 11:24
  I watch Formula One, IndyCar, NASCAR, MotoGP, F2, F3.
• 11:28
  There's lots of things that I pick up.
• 11:30
  obviously from a driving point of view, that's the main reason I watch it from a research point of view.
• 11:34
  Yes, we don't race on all those tracks or really any of those tracks, but there's things that you can pick up, whether it's how to set up a move or trying to understand where your competition is strong or weak.
• 11:48
  And then I guess from a commentary point of view,
• 11:50
  if I pick up these sorts of roles, it's cool to see how, you know, play by play commentators and expert commentators go about it.
• 11:58
  You know, there's even, even weck, you know, John Hindoff, he's a, he's a superstar.
• 12:03
  So there's so many amazing commentators and I mean, you've been around for, for a long time.
• 12:09
  You understand how the game works and what people want to hear and, and being able to do it in a way that, you know,
• 12:16
  You know, if it's me listening at home as a driver, I'm not thinking, oh, you know, of course that's obvious or whatever it might be.
• 12:23
  But being able to merge what you're saying that sort of works for everyone listening.
• 12:36
  If you love supercars, you'll enjoy Rusty's feature episode with Dave Reynolds, who's restoring his first car.
• 12:42
  He owes that rotary some tender love and care after the life it's had.
• 12:47
  The original engine, I think it failed when I was doing donuts on my school oval late at night, I think.
• 12:52
  Don't try this at home, kids.
• 12:54
  Don't do this at home, I think.
• 12:58
  Sorry, but not sorry for Rusty's hyena laugh.
• 13:01
  How has that thing not become a meme yet?
• 13:03
  Now back to another character of the sport, Thomas Randall.
• 13:08
  Let's rewind.
• 13:09
  We don't necessarily have to do this conversation in a linear fashion, but you've already uncorked how much you love the game in all sorts of ways, right?
• 13:20
  How much of it stems from your dad?
• 13:23
  He's a great man, right?
• 13:24
  Like 2006 Australian Sports Sedan Champion, he's been around that game for an eternity.
• 13:29
  What sort of influence was family when Tom Randall was this little kid being around cars like that and so on?
• 13:35
  Clearly very powerful.
• 13:36
  Yeah.
• 13:38
  I mean, it all started with, with dad.
• 13:40
  I mean, he, uh, he got into go-karts very late.
• 13:44
  He bought himself a go-kart, I think when he was in his late twenties or early thirties and his father, I never met my dad's father or my grandfather, but, um, you know, they weren't
• 13:54
  that weren't from any money and they weren't into, well, my grandfather wasn't into racing, but my dad developed this love for motorsport and, uh, yeah, bought himself a go-kart.
• 14:04
  And then anyway, it ended up stemming into, he raced in sports sedans.
• 14:08
  So he started essentially a Saab Volvo servicing business, Swedish Prestige, which was, yeah, he ran that for about 25, 27 years.
• 14:16
  He's retired from that.
• 14:18
  I think about
• 14:19
  10 years ago, 2013, he retired.
• 14:21
  So, um, but hence why he raced a Saab.
• 14:24
  And it was quite unique that, you know, there was a Saab sports sedan and there was only, I think at that time there was only one, but then there were two when Darren Hosack was driving a Saab 9.3 as well.
• 14:35
  And now I get the pleasure of being able to race that car, albeit it has had many iterations or versions of Saab Sports Sedan.
• 14:45
  But yeah, my dad was a late bloomer in terms of racing cars.
• 14:49
  You've commentated him plenty of times on, I remember, I think it was, was it Trackside or Sidetracked?
• 14:54
  No, no, no.
• 14:55
  It would have been Trackside for Channel 10.
• 14:58
  And it may have even gone back to Speed Week with the early days for me on SBS.
• 15:03
  So yeah, crazy.
• 15:04
  Well, Speed Week was always, I think a couple of weeks after the event.
• 15:08
  And even, uh, there's a few races there that Nathan Prendergast was actually commentating my dad's racing.
• 15:13
  And I actually spoke to Nathan about this not too long ago and he's like, oh, that's right.
• 15:16
  Yeah.
• 15:17
  I did commentate some sports sedan races.
• 15:18
  So yeah, I used to, my love for racing, I guess, started with my dad, him racing cars.
• 15:27
  I can't remember the first time I was at a track, but it would have been probably when I was two or three.
• 15:31
  Uh, got to go to a lot of his races.
• 15:33
  I, I used to love going down to Phillip Island, watching him race at Island Magic.
• 15:37
  Uh, when he raced at Oran Park, I was there when he clinched the title in 2006, but, uh, I always had a love for photography and videography and it's going back a while, Rusty, but I used to put a digital camera in the car.
• 15:53
  We made up like a little, um.
• 15:54
  Is this like pre-GoPro kind of deal?
• 15:56
  Yeah, this was well before GoPros.
• 15:57
  I'm talking 2006, 2007.
• 16:00
  Bought this digital camera.
• 16:01
  It only recorded for three minutes.
• 16:03
  No sound.
• 16:05
  So I had this camera and I mounted on this tripod.
• 16:09
  Anyway, in the car, we made up some bracket.
• 16:12
  And I'd like hit record right as he was going out.
• 16:14
  Cause I'm like, I got, I got to get some bit of him on the track.
• 16:16
  And then I guess that evolved in being able to record a bit longer.
• 16:20
  And, uh, and yeah, I always had this love for, for onboard cameras and, uh,
• 16:26
  videography, photography.
• 16:28
  I used to do that sort of thing.
• 16:30
  Um, taking photos of dad racing and I always loved it.
• 16:33
  Obviously I ended up going more down the race car route, but, um, you know, dad's been a massive influence in my life.
• 16:40
  I wouldn't be where I am today without him.
• 16:41
  And 2003 was when he first brought me home and go-karts.
• 16:46
  So that was 21 years ago.
• 16:48
  So, uh, yeah, it's pretty crazy how fast.
• 16:52
  That time has gone.
• 16:53
  I've been to the workshop and I reckon the first cart is still there.
• 16:56
  Is it not?
• 16:56
  Is that the first one?
• 16:57
  Is that the first one or was it a championship winner?
• 16:58
  No, that's the first championship winner.
• 16:59
  Yeah, first national title.
• 17:00
  Yeah.
• 17:01
  I don't know where that first cart would be now.
• 17:03
  What was it?
• 17:03
  I think it was a speed cart.
• 17:04
  Okay.
• 17:05
  It's a brand I'd never heard of.
• 17:08
  No one would ever heard of.
• 17:08
  Just a no-name brand.
• 17:09
  And yeah, 2003 was the first time at Oakley Go Kart Club.
• 17:14
  And, um, yeah, he used to, he would stand as he would be a cone basically and say, He's the apex.
• 17:22
  He's the apex.
• 17:23
  And then he would stand basically a cart width out from that and say, you need to be, you know, inside of where I'm standing so you can get the curb.
• 17:31
  And I'm going around, you know, I'm just a seven year old freaking out.
• 17:34
  I'm going to run my bloody dad over.
• 17:36
  He's like, I'm not, I'm not worried.
• 17:38
  Cause you need to be taking this curb.
• 17:40
  And he said to me that you have to beat, I can't remember what lap time it was, but
• 17:43
  Let's say it was a 46 second lap time.
• 17:45
  I have to beat that lap time before he'd let me to a club day.
• 17:49
  So anyway, finally got that.
• 17:52
  And, uh, yeah, we've to think that that time has gone by that fast.
• 17:56
  I mean, we raced all around the country together.
• 18:00
  Um, the stories that we've had together, you know, whether the highs, the lows, there's been times that there were times on the way back from meetings when you, you have a really bad result and you think, you know, why are we even doing this?
• 18:11
  You know, you look back on those times now and think, you know, so glad that we persisted and it would have been so easy just to give up, but that we pushed through and, um,
• 18:22
  We ended up having quite a successful time or a couple of years in carding before we moved up to cars.
• 18:28
  That is the unsung benefit of that sport, that bonding time with family generally.
• 18:34
  At what point did that kind of click for you?
• 18:35
  Because, I mean, you've alluded to it there, right?
• 18:37
  On the CV, there are Australian titles, there's success internationally and so on.
• 18:42
  At what point has you gone from...
• 18:44
  whatever, seven-year-old trying to find the apex to bringing- Still trying to find apexes, I'll say that.
• 18:50
  When you bring home the trophies and the silverware that you think, hey, this is actually a thing for me.
• 18:56
  There's one that really stands out.
• 18:58
  2011, I was racing at Eastern Lions Kart Club in Pakapanyol.
• 19:02
  dad will remember this very well.
• 19:04
  Uh, I can't remember if it was junior clubman or, or junior max, but I had a shocking pre-final and dad was like literally ready to just pack up the trailer.
• 19:14
  He was like, I'm like,
• 19:15
  Like, why are we even bothering?
• 19:16
  Like, you are driving like crap, basically.
• 19:19
  You know, where's the motivation or where's the aggression out there?
• 19:24
  He doesn't strike me as like a super harsh daddy.
• 19:29
  He seems like a very fair man.
• 19:31
  So I'm assuming the way he's articulated that.
• 19:34
  Just describe that.
• 19:35
  Just describe that.
• 19:36
  Dad's been always a very hard critic, but I think it's been really good.
• 19:41
  You know, he doesn't.
• 19:43
  go to other people and brag about me.
• 19:45
  You know, he'll always, he's my first critic.
• 19:47
  You know, he will say, no, you know, why didn't you do it this way or something like that, which.
• 19:52
  But not sugarcoat it.
• 19:53
  He doesn't sugarcoat it.
• 19:54
  He's never sugarcoated it, which I think's like been really good for grounding me.
• 19:59
  But back at that race, he was pretty much ready to pack the trailer up.
• 20:03
  And he told me years later, he was like, I was never going to, you know, I was never going to go home.
• 20:06
  But the threat was made.
• 20:08
  The threat was made.
• 20:08
  And that's when I think I just went, oh, okay.
• 20:11
  Jeez, like, yeah, I need to, I need to pull my finger out.
• 20:14
  Anyway, the final, I think I started last or somewhere down the back and I made my way up to second.
• 20:19
  I finished second and we didn't win, but it was like a light switch or a light bulb was switched on and it was like, okay, maybe this is the turning point.
• 20:27
  And then the next race was at Canberra Pro Tour and I won it.
• 20:31
  And then from there on, it was almost like, you know, the gates opened and then, yeah, that was pretty much the turning point.
• 20:37
  And then 2012, we had an awesome year, won two national titles,
• 20:42
  three or four or five state titles.
• 20:45
  And then it was 2013, we moved up to cars.
• 20:47
  And carts are very different to cars.
• 20:49
  So we...
• 20:51
  Originally when we moved to cars, we were trying to do a mix of both, but then we said, look, we've got to focus on one or the other.
• 20:56
  So we moved up to Formula Ford.
• 20:58
  State stuff to begin with.
• 20:59
  Correct.
• 21:00
  Rookie kind of stuff.
• 21:00
  Yeah.
• 21:02
  State series, Vic State series.
• 21:03
  My first state round was Winton and it was actually Jimmy Golding's first one as well.
• 21:09
  So we moved up pretty much at the same time.
• 21:11
  I mean, I've been racing Jimmy for a long time now, but I won a race at the first state round at Winton that we did.
• 21:19
  And then, uh, we didn't actually finish that whole year in state series.
• 21:22
  I then did the last half of the Australian Formula Ford championship.
• 21:26
  How big was that step?
• 21:27
  Uh, pretty big.
• 21:28
  I remember my first test day at Winton.
• 21:31
  I'll never forget it.
• 21:32
  I drove out of pit lane.
• 21:33
  It was the end of 2012.
• 21:36
  I did a test day with Evans Motorsport.
• 21:37
  I drove out of pit lane and Sam Power, some people might remember that name.
• 21:44
  He drove past me and I
• 21:48
  It was like I was standing still and I was like, there's no way I could go that fast.
• 21:52
  Like it was just astounding to me.
• 21:54
  I thought, how the heck is this guy driving that car that fast?
• 21:57
  I'm like, there's no way.
• 21:59
  And then, you know, by the end of the day, I was only within a couple of seconds.
• 22:02
  And then for a first day, I was like, not too bad.
• 22:04
  And then.
• 22:05
  Later in the year, we were actually battling for position on the track.
• 22:08
  So it was just incredible that it sort of started like, it was just like, how is that possible?
• 22:13
  He, he looks like he's going so fast to then by the end of the year, we're racing against him and then 2014, we won the Australian championship was, which was a really cool battle.
• 22:21
  It came down to the last race between myself.
• 22:24
  Jordan Lloyd and Jimmy Golding.
• 22:25
  And it was a case of whatever the order was on the track was going to be the order of the championship.
• 22:30
  And we managed to lead that order and win their title.
• 22:33
  Tell me about that mindset at that point in time, because the CV, when you look back then, is very...
• 22:39
  or seemingly is very single-seater focused.
• 22:43
  And you go from that eventually and start embarking on some international stuff.
• 22:50
  Over summer, for example, I work in New Zealand on what they call the Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship now, which incorporates a New Zealand Grand Prix.
• 22:57
  You're a champion in that class.
• 22:59
  And when you look at the roll call of that series, Mitch Evans, Nick Cassidy, they're both multiple champions now in Formula E.
• 23:07
  Lance Stroll won in 2015.
• 23:08
  Lando Norris in 16, the year before you, after you.
• 23:13
  Liam Lawson, Matt Payne, they're on those titles.
• 23:15
  I mean, that's a pretty cool thing to have on the CV, isn't it?
• 23:19
  Yeah, it's definitely up there with probably one of my highlights in my career so far.
• 23:23
  I know, yes, it's a junior category, but it's an international category.
• 23:28
  Around that time, pre-COVID, it was one of the most popular junior series, open- All these internationals, 20 people over summer and all that sort of jazz.
• 23:39
  Yeah.
• 23:39
  And that year we had Red Bull junior drivers, Ferrari junior drivers, Sahara Force India junior drivers, some big names and-
• 23:49
  that year.
• 23:50
  So we did the championship in 2015, which that was my first ever wings and slicks championship.
• 23:55
  I'd only ever done Formula Ford up until that point.
• 23:58
  Oh yeah.
• 23:59
  Yeah.
• 23:59
  I loved it.
• 24:00
  So, uh, and that series, it's such a great series, Rusty.
• 24:05
  I can't begin to like express when I did it.
• 24:08
  I mean, you've got five rounds in five weekends, all different tracks.
• 24:11
  You're on track Thursday to Sunday.
• 24:12
  You get that much racing mileage in a, in a time of year when it's, it's pretty much everyone's off season.
• 24:20
  So that's why you get the Euros because they can go and test whenever they want, but to get actual racing miles in that, you know, it'd be driving that mental state of qualifying and racing, going for a championship.
• 24:31
  I learned a lot in the year that I did it in 2015.
• 24:33
  Mm-hmm.
• 24:34
  We did the New Zealand Grand Prix in 2016, only that race.
• 24:38
  And we finished, I think we finished fifth.
• 24:40
  And then 2017, we, we did it again with Victory Racing and my dad was my number one mechanic.
• 24:45
  Is that right?
• 24:46
  Yeah.
• 24:46
  He was my number one mechanic.
• 24:47
  My number two mechanic was in his mid seventies.
• 24:50
  He's an absolute legend.
• 24:52
  And, uh, my engineer Hagen, he, I think he won the champ, the formula, he won the Renault Euro cup championship with Jack Hake and I think the year before.
• 25:00
  So we had some, so had some really good guys in the car.
• 25:02
  Obviously my, my dad being my number one mechanic was really cool.
• 25:06
  And it was very similar to the Formula Ford Championship.
• 25:09
  It was the last race, the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfield.
• 25:12
  The top three, I think it was between myself, Pedro Piquet and Richard Vashore, whatever the order was.
• 25:19
  was, um, was going to be the championship and the race before that I started fourth and I got knocked off, went back to 15th, sorry, started fifth, got knocked off, went back to last or 15th and I managed to finish fourth and that sort of kept me in the hunt.
• 25:32
  And then, yeah, we ended up winning the championship by like three points.
• 25:35
  So it was, it was, uh, yeah, that's something that I'll, uh,
• 25:39
  You remember for a really long time.
• 25:41
  You rattle off a couple of names.
• 25:42
  I mean, Jack Aitken, for example, I think you've got a really good relationship with him.
• 25:45
  At one point in his career, he was a reserve driver, I think, at Williams, wasn't he?
• 25:49
  So the other thing about that championship is that although it's five weeks back to back and lots of intense racing, because that Euro element does come to it, which is the good benchmark for you and for others from this part of the world,
• 26:04
  But they were also in their formative years.
• 26:07
  And often a lot of friendships kind of come out of that, don't they?
• 26:10
  Like you get to know a few people.
• 26:11
  And I would imagine even now here you're focused on supercars.
• 26:14
  But there's people in the Formula One paddock, maybe even IndyCar, whatever, that you have good ties with to this day from some of that stuff.
• 26:20
  And your time in England.
• 26:21
  Yeah.
• 26:22
  I mean –
• 26:23
  Being able to do those championships, well, the Toyota Racing Series, I race in the British Formula 3 Championship.
• 26:30
  I caught up with Lando Norris at the Grand Prix this year, and he's really good friends with a guy named Max Futrell, which is part of the Quadrant program, which some people may know what that is.
• 26:39
  It's quite large overseas.
• 26:41
  And he was the Formula Renault champion, I think, in 2017, raced against him and caught up with him.
• 26:49
  That's cool, mate.
• 26:50
  Yeah, I know quite a few people.
• 26:51
  Marcus Armstrong, I know him.
• 26:54
  Have got a good relationship with Frederick Vestey, who's a Mercedes junior driver.
• 26:58
  No, obviously Jack Doohan.
• 27:00
  Jack Aitken, very close with him, was able to actually go to his wedding this year over in the UK, which is pretty special.
• 27:05
  And yeah, there's quite a few drivers that I've raced against that are doing really cool things, you know, whether it be in...
• 27:13
  F1, Formula 2, WEC or IndyCar.
• 27:18
  It's pretty cool to see, or Formula E. It's really cool to see where those guys have ended up.
• 27:24
  And I mean, I'm very fortunate to be in the position I'm in as well.
• 27:27
  Heck yes.
• 27:27
  I'm racing in the top tier, supercars championship.
• 27:32
  Best touring car championship in the world.
• 27:34
  Correct.
• 27:34
  And that's something that I wouldn't say we become complacent about, but when I was over in the UK and.
• 27:43
  whenever it was mentioned that I was racing in supercars, everyone just goes nuts.
• 27:48
  They're like, you race in the Aussie V8s?
• 27:51
  That is the amount of respect that they, whether it's Formula One guys or team members or other drivers, whoever it is, the respect they have for our category is like, it's just incredible.
• 28:05
  To finish the single seater element, right?
• 28:07
  Like, you know, there's a, um, there's a top five result in, in British F3, Lando was in it that year, you had wins and
• 28:13
  podiums and all sorts.
• 28:16
  You tested, I think, at one point Formula Renault 3.5, pretty damn cool piece of kit.
• 28:21
  Did it come to a point where it was just so insanely expensive to keep going that you needed to change tack?
• 28:27
  What was the moment you pivoted and said, right, let's try the supercars approach?
• 28:33
  So we, yeah, I moved to the UK in 2016.
• 28:36
  Was living out of home all right?
• 28:37
  How'd you go there?
• 28:40
  Well, by the time I signed the contract with the team to when I moved was like a week.
• 28:44
  And I went and stayed with my engineer at the time, Marcus Koch.
• 28:48
  who I hadn't met up until that point.
• 28:50
  And it was like, yeah, you can live with me, which was pretty, very nice of him to live with him and his son, Ben.
• 28:56
  And I've still got a really good relationship with him.
• 28:58
  He's moved back to Australia.
• 28:59
  He's originally from Australia and some of the drivers that he's run over his career, it's pretty impressive.
• 29:04
  I mean, he's won the, he's won the world series title with Mikhail Alessian.
• 29:07
  I think that was back in 2011, maybe 2012 racing against Ricardo.
• 29:12
  He's ran Carlos Sainz.
• 29:14
  Um, yeah, he's ran some pretty, pretty big names.
• 29:17
  So series was hot then too.
• 29:18
  Series was really hot.
• 29:19
  Yeah.
• 29:19
  They, uh, the, the world series by Renault back then was, was massive.
• 29:23
  I mean, it was really, you either did that or you did GP too back then.
• 29:26
  And, um, there was a lot of drivers that.
• 29:30
  there's a lot of drivers that are in Formula 1 today that I had the pleasure of chatting with Gasly earlier in the year.
• 29:36
  And he was asked, oh, what's one of your favorite cars you've driven?
• 29:39
  Well, we were both asked the same question.
• 29:40
  And I answered first and I said, oh, it would have to be the Formula Renault 3.5.
• 29:44
  And he went and said, look, if you put the F1 aside, that is by far the best race car that's out there.
• 29:49
  What was so good about it?
• 29:50
  Why?
• 29:50
  You did a few events in one.
• 29:51
  Yeah.
• 29:52
  I think they were quite light.
• 29:54
  Mm-hmm.
• 29:54
  The amount of aero that they had, no power steering, and, I mean, a V8 engine in the back of it producing 600 horsepower in a car that weighs...
• 30:04
  900.
• 30:05
  So the power to weight ratio is pretty insane.
• 30:07
  That DRS had a quite a unique DRS system.
• 30:10
  The rear wing didn't open.
• 30:11
  It actually shut and allowed for the air flow to be basically faster across the wing or it was just, just made it slipperier, but didn't lose as much downforce.
• 30:21
  But the, uh, those cars were something special.
• 30:24
  So, um, but yeah, back to the single seater stuff at the end of 2017, we actually had a night in Melbourne, uh, trying to,
• 30:33
  you know, raise some funds and see if we could get people involved, uh, down at Lorbex.
• 30:37
  And yeah, it, it kind of proved to be unsuccessful.
• 30:40
  And it was at that point we, I mean, the next step was, you know, whether that be formula three in, in the, in Europe, but I mean, the budget for that's.
• 30:50
  What sort of number?
• 30:51
  Tell me if you don't mind sharing.
• 30:52
  No, you're looking at it.
• 30:54
  Probably one and a half million euros.
• 30:56
  Three million.
• 30:57
  Three million bucks.
• 30:57
  Yeah.
• 30:58
  Aussie.
• 30:58
  Yeah.
• 30:59
  And that's before crash damage.
• 31:01
  That's before you even got to live somewhere.
• 31:03
  So yeah, at that point, I mean.
• 31:07
  You need a great benefactor, supporter, whatever you want to call it, to make that.
• 31:12
  And it's so hard.
• 31:13
  We often talk about it, I know, because I mean, for an Aussie based sponsor to ensure and unless they're on the world stage with their product, whatever it might be, it's very hard, mate, isn't it?
• 31:20
  It is.
• 31:21
  You normally need, if you luck into something like that or if you know someone or essentially private backing.
• 31:27
  But there's a lot of things, if you go down that route of private backing, you know, it's kind of like a bit of a, okay, well, we'll help you now, but you're going to have to help us.
• 31:38
  Yeah.
• 31:38
  So there's a lot of risk involved and...
• 31:41
  Yeah.
• 31:41
  I never wanted to get to a position.
• 31:43
  I mean, the stories about people mortgaging their houses and all that sort of stuff.
• 31:46
  It was mid twenties and got millions of bucks worth of debt or several hundred thousand.
• 31:50
  No, there's no way.
• 31:51
  There's no way.
• 31:52
  And that was always a discussion within our family that, Hey, you know, if it ever got to that point, that's it.
• 31:57
  We stop.
• 31:58
  But, um, you know, I had some great, obviously my family supported me, uh, you know, Rusty French helped me, uh, my last year.
• 32:06
  Well, he was, uh, he helped us in Formula Renault in a little way.
• 32:10
  And then, uh,
• 32:11
  Um, he helped us in the super two series.
• 32:14
  So I signed with Tickford for super two in 2018.
• 32:18
  Uh, did it, I actually did half a test day with Paul Morris in an, in an FGX up at Ipswich.
• 32:23
  It got rained out.
• 32:24
  Is that the first time you drove one?
• 32:25
  That was the first time I'd driven a super two car.
• 32:28
  I did get to drive a Kumo series car mid year in 2017 at Ipswich.
• 32:32
  Um, what was your first reaction?
• 32:35
  Very different to a single seater.
• 32:36
  Yeah.
• 32:36
  I was like, bloody hell, this thing weighs a lot.
• 32:39
  The corner speeds aren't very high and the braking zones are massive.
• 32:41
  It's like a taxi.
• 32:43
  But, I mean, I enjoyed it.
• 32:45
  And there was a lot to learn about how to drive one of those cars.
• 32:48
  Very different to a single seater.
• 32:50
  There's not many similarities apart from they have four wheels and an engine and a steering wheel.
• 32:55
  Um, the, the, the braking is the thing that's so important with the supercar, but yeah.
• 32:59
  So we did two seasons with, with Tickford.
• 33:02
  2018 was my first season.
• 33:04
  Uh, got my first pole position at my third round at, at Barbagallo against, you know, that year was massive.
• 33:11
  You had guys like Dumbrell, Fiore, Pither.
• 33:14
  Jacobson.
• 33:15
  Um, it was a massive year in, in super two, really competitive.
• 33:18
  And then you missed a little achievement there.
• 33:20
  I want to say that year two, you got the Mike Cable young gun.
• 33:22
  Oh yeah.
• 33:23
  Yeah.
• 33:23
  And for me, that's, that's sort of, I mean, he was a huge, um, um, supporter of young talent and that's an award that you get at the, at the supercars gala, you know, in front of all the, all the people that you're trying to ultimately try and get a job with maybe one day and so on.
• 33:37
  So the, for the business to recognize even in that call it rookie year that you, you had, you had,
• 33:43
  what everyone thought was something special on and off track.
• 33:46
  I thought it was a great, great endorsement, mate.
• 33:48
  I appreciate that.
• 33:48
  Probably when I got up and spoke, half the crowd was probably like, who the heck is this guy?
• 33:55
  But that's what it's about.
• 33:56
  It's about the business going, oh, hang on a minute.
• 33:57
  We need to keep an eye on that guy.
• 33:59
  And for you, a chance to tell them, show them who you are.
• 34:02
  It's great that you were recognized, I think, in that way.
• 34:04
  Yeah, I appreciate that.
• 34:05
  I mean, it was going back a step up until I moved to Europe
• 34:10
  My dad had always like was highly involved.
• 34:12
  He was my number one mechanic in Formula Ford.
• 34:14
  Uh, we did F4 in 2015, uh, which was a tough year, but he was my number one mechanic in that cause we ran our own team, Dream Motorsport.
• 34:23
  And it was myself and we were running a guy named Liam McAdden Formula Ford and then
• 34:28
  We ran Lewis Leeds, who ended up going over to Europe pretty much at the same time as me.
• 34:33
  Well, Brown was in the championship that year too.
• 34:35
  Yeah, 2015 he was.
• 34:37
  Sorry, sorry.
• 34:37
  Yeah, yeah.
• 34:38
  I think he won it in 2016.
• 34:40
  But yeah, we competed against each other in 2015.
• 34:43
  And then, yeah, so at the end of that, that's when I moved to England.
• 34:47
  And then when I came back to do Super 2, again, my dad wasn't... Well, he wasn't a part of...
• 34:52
  anything in the UK in terms of being involved with the cars.
• 34:56
  So it was probably tricky.
• 34:57
  It was just different, you know, being involved in a team where I guess dad wasn't in it.
• 35:01
  And same thing when I moved with Tickford and we did the Super 2 program and, and yeah, getting the Mike Cable Award was, it was really special.
• 35:08
  I mean, you really only get one chance at winning that award in your, it's a rookie.
• 35:15
  It's an award for the best rookie between supercars and Super 2.
• 35:18
  So the fact that I was chosen was pretty special.
• 35:22
  And then 2019, yeah, won a few races, learnt a lot, and we finished third in the championship.
• 35:29
  And then that was my first co-driving campaign, which was really cool with Lee Holdsworth.
• 35:35
  And there's a podium there at the Sandtown 500, isn't there?
• 35:37
  And Lee ended up third in the endurance trophy that year, didn't he, which was a highly sought-after thing.
• 35:43
  Were you away then?
• 35:44
  You were hooked?
• 35:45
  This is what I want to do?
• 35:47
  I think by that stage, I was...
• 35:50
  Yeah.
• 35:50
  By the end of 2018 into 2019, it's like, okay, this is, this is, I guess the pathway.
• 35:57
  And I mean, even when I was living in the UK, Rusty, I was always watching supercars races.
• 36:01
  I'd wake up and watch the races early hours of Sunday morning.
• 36:05
  Stupid o'clock.
• 36:06
  Yeah.
• 36:06
  Stupid o'clock.
• 36:06
  Um, I remember the race that Percat won at Adelaide when it rained.
• 36:11
  Yes.
• 36:11
  And, uh.
• 36:12
  Yeah, I was actually in Bletchley at the time.
• 36:14
  Lucas Dumprell Motorsport, wasn't he?
• 36:15
  That's right.
• 36:15
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 36:16
  And my engineer now was his engineer at the time, Chris Stuckey.
• 36:19
  Awesome.
• 36:19
  So, yeah.
• 36:20
  If someone had tapped him on the shoulder back then and said, hey, mate, you're going to be running this bloke in eight years, he would have said, who?
• 36:25
  Who's this guy?
• 36:26
  So, no, it's, yeah, a lot's happened in that time.
• 36:30
  Okay.
• 36:31
  So...
• 36:32
  Tickford, you are embedded, if you like, in that family there.
• 36:37
  Now, they've gone through quite a bit of change along the way.
• 36:41
  You've talked about your dad not necessarily being hands-on, but still a great source of guidance, I would imagine, in some ways.
• 36:48
  But you're learning to stand on your own two feet as an athlete, as a racer.
• 36:53
  What did you do to adjust for that for such a professional organisation like Tickford?
• 36:57
  Well, I think that's a lot where Europe helped.
• 37:00
  Helped.
• 37:00
  Yeah.
• 37:01
  That's having to fend for yourself over there.
• 37:04
  Um, that certainly was like a rapid development for myself, being able to look after myself.
• 37:11
  And I mean, I was still talking to mom and dad a lot and I can't forget about my mom.
• 37:15
  I mean, she was never into motor racing.
• 37:18
  Yeah.
• 37:18
  She wouldn't, she couldn't have named one racing driver in supercars.
• 37:21
  And now I tell you, she knows everyone.
• 37:25
  She knows what's going on.
• 37:26
  She's following it like crazy, which is, which is awesome.
• 37:29
  You know, I mean, my mum is, is, you know, she's the best and, um, you know, without her as well, I wouldn't be here today.
• 37:36
  But, um, I think what I...
• 37:41
  have taken from that.
• 37:43
  And what you just asked me, Rusty, is that being able to, I guess, know my place and, you know, everyone's got a job, everyone's got a job to do, you know, whether it's been the mechanics, the data engineers, the engineers,
• 37:54
  You know, there's so many different departments in a race team.
• 37:56
  So to be able to say, Hey, you know, I know my role, but being able to collaborate with everyone and I guess know that everyone wants the same goal.
• 38:07
  We're all wanting to win.
• 38:09
  We're all wanting to have fun.
• 38:11
  We're all here for a reason, but not, yeah, not trying to tell people how to do their jobs, being able to just work in a really good environment and know that, you know,
• 38:19
  It's, it's really is all about teamwork.
• 38:21
  I'm, I'm just the cog in the wheel at the end of the day.
• 38:23
  I'm the last thing that the car sees, you know, when it's on track, you know, there's so much work that goes into getting these cars on the track.
• 38:31
  I'm the last bit that once it's the car and me, you know, away we go, but I'm
• 38:37
  I've still got, whether it's Stucky or, you know, you've got engineer strategists that are helping you with the race.
• 38:42
  You know, you've got machine shop.
• 38:44
  There's so many different departments that make a race team work and be successful that you've got to be able to work as a team.
• 38:52
  You have come, I think, from the workshop to here today for this, for this, Chad.
• 38:56
  So, so how regular is the kind of either, either face-to-face phone call, email contact to...
• 39:02
  to help with all of that, right?
• 39:04
  To keep the team element that you're talking about, that contact's important, and then to, you know, all the things you unearth out of that that help you go, you know, to the next race meeting and so on.
• 39:14
  Well, there's a lot of...
• 39:15
  I would say there's more informal than formal.
• 39:18
  There's still a lot of formal things that we do, you know, whether it be pre-event or post-event, you know, engineering meetings, all those sorts of things.
• 39:24
  But, you know, I could, I could talk to my engineer nearly every day.
• 39:27
  Uh, I talked to my teammate, Cam Waters quite a fair bit.
• 39:30
  And he's someone that I've grown up racing for a long time.
• 39:34
  We, I
• 39:35
  I think one of the first races that we raced against each other would have been in Mildura, maybe 2005.
• 39:40
  Classy.
• 39:40
  What was that?
• 39:41
  Karts, obviously.
• 39:42
  Yeah, karts.
• 39:42
  Yeah, it would have been a Victorian Open or a Victorian Closed race meeting.
• 39:45
  What was he like back then?
• 39:47
  I can't remember.
• 39:48
  It was pretty quick, I reckon.
• 39:48
  I've got this great picture of him.
• 39:50
  He's a little, little tacker with Jamie Wincup, I want to say, at Todd Road.
• 39:56
  on a day where Toyota brought a Formula One car out and they did some cart laps.
• 40:01
  Oh, I remember that.
• 40:02
  Yeah, yeah.
• 40:02
  And when you look at one of those pictures in the background, there's this kid, Daniel Ricciardo, hanging out, taking photos and whatever.
• 40:07
  It was probably not even with a mobile phone back then.
• 40:09
  But he was tiny, mate.
• 40:10
  He was this little...
• 40:11
  little kid back then.
• 40:12
  So it's crazy how there's a bit of things like that of, you know, what's it, what's it like working with him nowadays because your teammates, everyone talks about you want to be your teammate and all this sort of stuff, but you seemingly have a, a good relationship.
• 40:25
  And in the changing nature of,
• 40:27
  of Tickford now, which is, you know, restructured, it's, it's downsized and, and clearly has worked that, that difficult decision.
• 40:36
  Tim's obviously moved on to work in the business and, and so on, but it does seem like it's got some zing about it again.
• 40:41
  Is that a fair statement?
• 40:43
  It is a fair statement.
• 40:44
  I mean,
• 40:46
  I've, like I said, I've known Cam for a really long time, but I haven't really worked with him until essentially I joined the team back in 2018 and I was at the team for two years and then I actually raced my third year in Super 2 with Matt White Motorsport and co-drove with- When you won the title.
• 41:02
  When I won the title, correct.
• 41:03
  And I co-drove with Nick Perk at the BJR, but 2018, 2019-2014.
• 41:08
  you know, Cam was obviously in the main series and I was doing Super 2.
• 41:12
  We would, we would talk, but definitely not as frequently as we do now.
• 41:15
  And I think the relationship that Cam and I have built up over the last few years, especially being main game teammates and even...
• 41:24
  uh, 2020, we, uh, we actually don't mind to go and fly RC model or RC airplanes.
• 41:31
  Fixed wing.
• 41:32
  So we're not talking helicopters.
• 41:33
  Fixed wing.
• 41:34
  No, no, fixed wing.
• 41:34
  Yeah.
• 41:34
  Yeah.
• 41:34
  So RC planes and, um, 2020 during, oh, I guess when...
• 41:39
  before COVID when the first round was about, well, when the Grand Prix was, was cancelled, we spent a bit of time flying planes and we still do every now and then.
• 41:50
  And yeah, we sort of built up a nice relationship off track as well as on track, not on track, but you know, at the track and within the team.
• 41:57
  And I think it's so important to have a really good relationship with your teammate.
• 42:01
  I mean, I
• 42:02
  I don't think it needs to be too good because like you said, we still want to beat each other.
• 42:07
  But I think the way that our relationship is, it's quite healthy in that, you know, if he gets on the podium, I'll go up and obviously congratulate him.
• 42:14
  Or if he gets pole, same thing and vice versa, he's kind of the same.
• 42:17
  And,
• 42:18
  Maybe it hasn't got to that point yet where tensions might get too crazy, but I think we work really well together.
• 42:24
  We talk nearly every day, whether it could be something to do with the cars or just chewing the fat.
• 42:31
  Yeah, just about life.
• 42:33
  Yeah, I've stayed at his place fairly often when there's a Grand Prix, I stay at his place with...
• 42:40
  You know, we've had nights together, all those sorts of things.
• 42:43
  And, you know, I know his family, Chris and Noreen, his parents really well.
• 42:47
  His partner, Brooke.
• 42:49
  Yeah, I think it's been really good for the team.
• 42:51
  And to have that strong chemistry, even not only between us, but between the engineering group, all the mechanics, all the team members.
• 42:58
  Like you said, with the restructure this year, Tim's now at Supercars.
• 43:02
  I mean, he was...
• 43:03
  He was with Tickford for a really long time and did have a fair bit of success.
• 43:08
  A few Bathursts and a championship with Mark Winterbottom in 2015.
• 43:14
  So I think the restructure has been really good and we're probably only just seeing the...
• 43:19
  the perks or the fruits of that now.
• 43:21
  And hopefully more to come, hopefully more to come.
• 43:23
  You know, we have Simon Brookhouse, our new CEO, which, um, you know, he's sort of been in a bit of a six month observational period, which is, uh, which has been really good.
• 43:32
  Very different for him from where he's come from, from running, you know, an NBL team, uh, the Jack jumpers.
• 43:39
  and he's been at golf, Victoria.
• 43:41
  You know, he's got a lot of experience in different sporting codes, which I think... That fresh set of ice can be a good thing, though.
• 43:46
  Exactly, exactly.
• 43:47
  So it's allowed the team to really focus on the two cars.
• 43:51
  I think, yeah, Cam and I work well together, the engineering group, Chris Stuckey, Brad Wischusen and Sam Potter.
• 43:57
  We all want the same thing, and I think the speed's certainly getting better.
• 44:09
  That's the end of part one of my podcast with supercars driver Thomas Randall.
• 44:13
  He stopped by the studio on the way to testing at Winton for the Sandown 500.
• 44:19
  Tickford have some mojo again after a downsize over summer, back to two cars, a bit of a competitive reset.
• 44:26
  He can sense the direction it's going and he has this focus around making the most of it.
• 44:32
  Now, I'm going to say,
• 44:33
  We still have a lot of ground to cover in this conversation.
• 44:36
  And as you can tell, he is up for a chat.
• 44:39
  I am grateful for the way that he opens up on the cancer battle and how he dealt with it and how it shaped him coming out the other side, tackling the F1 anthem on the piano, dealing with the fallout of the recent Tasmanian round, the old school training with legendary trainer in Rob Wilson, and a whole lot more.
• 44:59
  That's coming up, part two, here on Rusty's Garage.