Latest / Rusty's Garage / Sam Shahin | Part 2 - calls to Dorna, Supercars and how close he came to F1

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Sam Shahin | Part 2 - calls to Dorna, Supercars and how close he came to F1 · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:18
  G'day, it's Rusty here in the Adelaide Studios, all set for part two of my feature episode of Rusty's Garage with Sam Shahin from the Bend Motorsport Park.
• 0:26
  If you've clicked into second gear and landed here before engaging first, part one, do yourself a favour and jump back and take that for a spin first.
• 0:35
  The incredible story of the family's relocation to South Australia for a better life and the beginnings of a seriously successful business.
• 0:44
  The part Sam played, why he ended up in the medical profession to begin with,
• 0:48
  Finding motorsport and being there as he outlined his vision for a world-class motorsport facility just an hour from the CBD here at Talham Bend.
• 0:58
  Let's get back to the conversation now.
• 1:02
  When you travel to places like Sydney and you see an OTR, I mean, that must give you an immense sense of pride.
• 1:08
  Goosebumps.
• 1:09
  Goosebumps.
• 1:09
  And then separately, there was obviously a significant change for the business in recent years.
• 1:14
  Do you venture into that with, this is something your father had started from an ad in a newspaper, or do you, from all your business studies and what you've learned over time, do you go, no, no, no, we have to take the emotion out of this, this is a great opportunity.
• 1:29
  How did you approach all that?
• 1:31
  Yes, all of that, Greg.
• 1:34
  We are very matter-of-fact people.
• 1:38
  We are realistic people.
• 1:40
  And every industry has its challenges.
• 1:43
  Nothing is easy.
• 1:44
  There is no easy out there.
• 1:46
  And in that industry, the challenges facing the industry and the consolidation within the industry meant that you, again, have to either participate at a very high level or you will be eaten alive.
• 2:00
  You will be swallowed by the next big thing.
• 2:03
  And consolidation didn't just – and isn't just occurring in Australia.
• 2:08
  It's occurring all over the world.
• 2:10
  So the questions were becoming harder, but in our minds, we had to be very pragmatic about where our future lies in continuing to run that business.
• 2:30
  I wouldn't be truthful if I didn't say it was a mixture of emotions the day we signed the deal with Viva to sell the OTR business.
• 2:43
  It was sadness in a way that he's a baby that we nurtured for well over 30 years and got it into an internationally reputable business.
• 2:56
  And at the same time, it no longer will be ours.
• 3:02
  The emotion that overshadowed all of that was pride, was just tremendous pride.
• 3:07
  We had ensured that we remained true to the people that had come along the journey.
• 3:12
  We had ensured that the national headquarters for the combined entity with Viva and OTR will continue to be based in South Australia.
• 3:19
  Excellent.
• 3:20
  And that continues to be the case still today and will continue for the foreseeable future.
• 3:26
  All the people that are working in our business at the time continued to have roles.
• 3:31
  And in fact, a lot of them have now moved into very senior roles in the combined entity.
• 3:36
  And we went from a business with a 250-site footprint to a 1,000-site footprint.
• 3:47
  And we're still involved in that business.
• 3:49
  Part of that deal was to continue to develop the land bank that we'd accumulated over a long period of time
• 3:55
  for Viva, for the new entity.
• 3:58
  And we're still doing that now.
• 4:00
  But yes, two years later, I still haven't had even the closest of inklings to fill my car at any other site other than an OTR site.
• 4:12
  I love that.
• 4:13
  I love that.
• 4:14
  Your first time...
• 4:16
  in firstly did a teenage sam shahin seeing cars come into that service station maybe kind of fall in love with cars my good buddy um and and a colleague of both of ours in richard kraal says he can fondly remember you at at malala going out for for sort of track days and things like that how did the the gravitation to to you know um driving a car driving a race car how did that all start
• 4:43
  I was always fascinated by cars and I – and it was – you know, we were busy surviving when we first arrived into Australia, migrated to Australia.
• 4:53
  And many years later, I did go to Malala.
• 4:58
  And I was like a kid in a candy store, beyond a kid in a candy store.
• 5:02
  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
• 5:04
  I'd never been to a race track in my life.
• 5:07
  And I thought, wow, I mean, I can't believe this is legal.
• 5:14
  These guys looked like they were having a huge amount of fun.
• 5:17
  And I saw a race car in the paddock and I just kept walking around this car in circles and I thought, this is incredible.
• 5:27
  And the car, it was a cup car.
• 5:34
  And the driver's dad came to me.
• 5:38
  I thought, jeepers, I'm in big trouble.
• 5:40
  He said, are you, you know, what are you looking at?
• 5:42
  And I said, oh, I'm sorry.
• 5:43
  I'm just admiring the car.
• 5:45
  He said, look, if you hang around till the end of the day, you know, I'll see if my lad will take you around for a lap just to experience it.
• 5:53
  I said, tell me what I need to do for that.
• 5:57
  And I did hang around and I did go around the track in the race car.
• 6:03
  And all I could think about is what do I need to do in my life just to experience that again?
• 6:11
  And I started taking my road car to open track days and Malala was the only thing I knew at the time and learned a lot.
• 6:21
  The first time I ever sat in a race car, I was 44.
• 6:26
  I'd missed my calling.
• 6:27
  But I thought, wow, this is just super cool.
• 6:30
  But I have that personality.
• 6:36
  I cannot do anything.
• 6:37
  I'm either all in or I don't touch it.
• 6:40
  I was either going to learn how to do this a bit better or it was just going to frustrate me.
• 6:45
  And I might as well go do something else.
• 6:48
  And I, you know, we started taking with my good brother, Yasser, who's a far more accomplished driver than I am and who by – I should say that the vast majority of the development of the OTR business and where OTR is today is really the credit –
• 7:10
  mostly goes to Yasser.
• 7:12
  Does it?
• 7:14
  He is, aside from being a great human being, a smart guy, but a kind man, and a very innovative man.
• 7:22
  And I just had the absolute privilege of sharing this journey with him, not just in business, but also in motorsport.
• 7:28
  So we'd always take our cars to racetracks
• 7:31
  and have these beautiful days.
• 7:32
  We'd go to every racetrack around the country and we'd just try to enjoy it.
• 7:36
  But always, every time we went to a racetrack, we would always invite a professional driver to come and give us some tuition.
• 7:47
  Stephen Richards, Stephen Johnson, Luke Yulden, Dean Canto.
• 7:51
  Quality.
• 7:52
  Quality guys that also, you know, I can now think back and can only think what they thought after, you know, coming and seeing these two amateurs, you know, one in their 40s, one in their 30s, trying to learn how to drive a car fast.
• 8:07
  And, you know, we'd come back and Yasser and I would spend days arguing as who, you know, who could have got…
• 8:13
  Who could have been faster, not who was faster.
• 8:14
  Were you like that as youngsters?
• 8:16
  We were – it was always – it almost always used to end in tears.
• 8:20
  We were always, like almost always, within a tenth of one another at every track we went to.
• 8:26
  And bragging rights were unbearable, unbearable on both sides.
• 8:31
  Whoever finished on top that, you know, I remember Daniel Gaunt was another serious talent.
• 8:39
  Daniel is serious talent and I owe him something.
• 8:43
  One day we were at Phillip Island and we were driving our road cars and he caught a ride back with us to the airport.
• 8:52
  And on the way back, you know, he was, you know, having just a, you know, talking shit as you normally would going back to the airport.
• 9:01
  And he looked at me and he said, you know what?
• 9:03
  You're not far off going racing, mate.
• 9:06
  I reckon you can race a car.
• 9:08
  I said, don't be ridiculous.
• 9:09
  Like, you know, I'm racing a car.
• 9:12
  This is just crazy.
• 9:13
  But again, it just kind of stuck in my brain.
• 9:16
  He's good like that.
• 9:17
  I deal a bit with him in New Zealand.
• 9:19
  And sometimes he's got this sort of like blinkers-off observation around things.
• 9:23
  But I trusted him.
• 9:24
  I trusted his judgment because he was a very honest instructor.
• 9:30
  And I came back and I didn't have a race car.
• 9:39
  Michael Armand was racing in Cupcar at the time.
• 9:43
  And his good father, Ross...
• 9:45
  I knew through a friend.
• 9:47
  So I cut a long story short.
• 9:48
  I went to Ross and I said, you know, I want to have a go at this racing thing.
• 9:51
  He said, I've got a spare car.
• 9:53
  Phillip Island was the next round in 2013.
• 9:57
  13, yep.
• 9:59
  September 2013.
• 10:00
  Sprint challenge.
• 10:01
  Sprint challenge.
• 10:02
  Yes.
• 10:02
  He said, look, this is probably not a bad way.
• 10:05
  Last round, I think, of the season, just have a go.
• 10:07
  And I said, okay, I've never raced in my life.
• 10:09
  I don't know anything about it.
• 10:11
  Went to Mark Buick here, who's a great guy, ran Buick Motorworks and was supporting Mike Armand.
• 10:17
  I said, all right, I'd like to...
• 10:20
  I'd like to race, Mark.
• 10:22
  Can you support the car?
• 10:22
  He goes, okay, okay, okay.
• 10:27
  So I turn up to Phillip Island, very naive.
• 10:31
  I mean, I think back, I reflect on that story.
• 10:34
  I've reflected many times and it was very, very naive.
• 10:37
  Some would say very, very stupid.
• 10:38
  And I remember waking up on the Friday morning before we went to the racetrack and I opened the curtain in my room and...
• 10:48
  And it was raining.
• 10:49
  And I clearly remember my knees almost falling from under me.
• 10:53
  I just, I literally, my knees just wobbled.
• 10:55
  And I thought, what have I just got myself into here?
• 10:58
  Anyway, I went to the track.
• 11:01
  I was, I think, plum last in practice.
• 11:06
  Qualifying came.
• 11:07
  He said, okay, slicks, you just got to go on.
• 11:09
  You got to go hard, mate.
• 11:10
  Go hard.
• 11:11
  Go hard.
• 11:13
  I had no idea how to warm tyres, all of the stuff that, you know, kind of very few people teach you.
• 11:19
  Second lap in qualifying, smoke all four tyres going into turn two into the gravel, and that was the end of qualifying.
• 11:25
  Not the best introduction to racing.
• 11:29
  The story got better, though.
• 11:30
  Starting from last, we get out to the grid.
• 11:34
  So we go into the pre-grid there at the end of, you know, at pit exit before you're going out onto the… Yep, the dummy grid area.
• 11:41
  Dummy grid, yep, yep.
• 11:43
  And I've got Mark there standing next to me.
• 11:46
  I said, hey, Mark, okay, now just take me through again the procedure.
• 11:49
  How do we, you know, to start the race?
• 11:50
  He goes, red lights come on 10 seconds and your lights go out and you go.
• 11:56
  I go, all right, I'm a smart guy.
• 11:58
  I can get my reverse counting, you know, done properly.
• 12:03
  And fortunately there was a witness, one of the mechanics, heard the conversation because that came back to haunt me.
• 12:09
  So we go out to the grid, I line up.
• 12:11
  Red light comes on and here's Sam Shaheen going 10, 9, 8.
• 12:16
  Lights go out.
• 12:17
  They all take off.
• 12:18
  And I clearly remember in my head going...
• 12:21
  where are you guys going?
• 12:23
  Hasn't been 10 seconds.
• 12:24
  Where are you going?
• 12:26
  And literally, they were back by turn one when I just plucked first gear.
• 12:30
  So it was a memorable start to my racing career.
• 12:33
  Not a story that I'm proud of, but that's where I've come from.
• 12:37
  At the age of 44, that's where I started racing.
• 12:39
  But I thought, gee, I love the discipline that those drivers –
• 12:46
  were applying to drive the way they were driving those cars, which are very hard cars to drive.
• 12:52
  And what has unfolded since then in terms of your racing career is a move into a career a cup in this country significantly for basically a decade.
• 13:00
  You've done some stuff overseas.
• 13:02
  Richard kindly reminded me too, you are the first pro-am driver ever to win an outright round.
• 13:08
  I think that was Sandown, if we've got that right, which is clearly etched in your mind.
• 13:14
  And I love how much that means to you.
• 13:16
  What...
• 13:17
  we've observed also is that your incredible drive to succeed in business is absolutely evident in racing too.
• 13:26
  And I reckon it's the same with your brother when I've seen him compete with Garth Tander in GT cars and stuff like that.
• 13:32
  So if a day has gone poorly, we can see that.
• 13:39
  Equally, if a day has gone well, we feel that.
• 13:41
  Is that a you...
• 13:45
  I'm an emotional being and I think some people work very hard at bottling their emotions.
• 13:54
  I see that as futile.
• 13:55
  I think wear your heart on your sleeve.
• 13:58
  I think it's okay.
• 14:00
  When you have a good day, celebrate a good day.
• 14:02
  And when you have a bad day, just acknowledge that it's been a bad day.
• 14:06
  Spend no more than 60 seconds just dwelling over it, but get it out of the way.
• 14:11
  Scream, shout, cry, do whatever you want to do, but just move on.
• 14:14
  But don't deny yourself the opportunity to just mourn a bad day or a bad event.
• 14:21
  And I really live by that.
• 14:24
  And I've just, motorsport has been an incredible journey
• 14:30
  in shaping my personality even more, in being committed to what I do.
• 14:38
  I worked very hard to get to understand how to drive a race car and drive a race car better.
• 14:45
  2019, winning a sprint challenge championship, the last race of the last round was at the Bend,
• 14:53
  and the first race lost the clutch, and that put me plum last for the second race.
• 15:01
  And I made it from last to fifth and went back and won the last race to win the championship.
• 15:07
  And that was memorable.
• 15:08
  And to do it at the Bend in 2019 was just one of those things again, lots of goosebumps today, but it was incredible.
• 15:16
  2021 winning the Pro-Am Carrera Cup championship,
• 15:21
  the last race of the season at Bathurst.
• 15:28
  And I went into that weekend.
• 15:31
  It was a double round at Bathurst.
• 15:34
  Thursday, Friday was round five.
• 15:36
  Saturday, Sunday was round six.
• 15:39
  And against, you know, I'm sure a lot of drivers in Australia, as they do all over the world, as in any sport, you know, timing is everything.
• 15:49
  And sometimes, you know,
• 15:51
  If you just happen to be in an era where there are other great drivers just as you do with great swimmers or great tennis players in that same era, it's a different proposition.
• 16:02
  And I was driving in an era where there were some great, great drivers.
• 16:06
  It was like you had your work cut out every single time you're out on track.
• 16:11
  But you thrive in that.
• 16:12
  You like that, don't you?
• 16:14
  I absolutely, it elevates me to, you know, satisfaction comes from doing hard things well.
• 16:26
  It really is this personal, the journey is amplified when you do hard things well.
• 16:35
  Mm-hmm.
• 16:36
  And sometimes without intention, I think very few people go looking for hard things to do.
• 16:41
  But when they land in your lap, it's what you do.
• 16:45
  Do you rise?
• 16:46
  Do you elevate?
• 16:49
  And sometimes you don't have to consciously elevate.
• 16:51
  It's just does your performance match the occasion?
• 16:56
  And that weekend is etched in my memory because it took four or five months for the outcome of,
• 17:05
  of an appeal for that last corner dive bomb to be resolved.
• 17:11
  And it kind of took the edge a bit, a lot of the occasion, but I'm incredibly proud to have got there because I never ever thought in my life that I would win something of that standard.
• 17:28
  It was just incredible.
• 17:29
  I want to just before we come back to the bend and then ultimately the big news that has come out in the past week here, just tap into a little bit around, you know, you might have started your motor racing journey in your early 40s.
• 17:40
  But I sense in you there is a respect for the history.
• 17:46
  So my question here is twofold.
• 17:49
  Malala falls under your umbrella now after you you cover that story with Clem there before um I feel like you're as proud of that heritage venue in many respects um and I don't know what the plans are for it ultimately and then separately am I right in saying that you own the first ever elfin to come out of Gary Cooper's garage basically I mean he's been inducted into the hall of fame in recent years here in Australia and so on
• 18:14
  Incredible history and I love history and I love paying respect, really paying respect to those leaders and those innovators of their era.
• 18:27
  You know, the story of Elfin, I think, needs to be told much bigger and much bolder.
• 18:34
  There are books and things, but yes.
• 18:36
  With much more pride.
• 18:38
  you know, in the, you know, this is a brand that started here in Edwardstown, you know, in Adelaide, you know, in a suburban garage.
• 18:46
  And, you know, Gary Cooper built cars here in Australia, in South Australia that went and raced internationally and very successfully.
• 18:55
  And I was fascinated by the Elvin story.
• 18:57
  I was fascinated by how he built this Elvin brand from nothing.
• 19:00
  And, um, you know,
• 19:05
  And aside from being a proud Australian and a very proud South Australian, I wanted to find where these early cars were.
• 19:13
  And lo and behold, I walk into the Elfin Museum one day in Moorabbin and there is the first car that Gary Cooper built, designed and built.
• 19:28
  It was privately owned.
• 19:29
  It was there on display on behalf of its owner.
• 19:32
  And it was love at first sight.
• 19:35
  I just saw this thing and I thought, wow, this is history.
• 19:40
  I'm looking at a piece of history here and it needs to be seen.
• 19:44
  It needs to be seen by every Australian.
• 19:47
  Not just an Australian that is proud of Australian history, but...
• 19:52
  every Australian that remotely is interested in sport and motorsport.
• 19:58
  And I approached the owner and I was fortunate enough to secure the car, which still today sits proudly in the welcome center at the Bend.
• 20:08
  Love it.
• 20:08
  And I ran it at the Bend Classic one year.
• 20:11
  It was a mixture of emotions between being terrified,
• 20:16
  to being proud, to being happy.
• 20:19
  Here, all I could think about, like...
• 20:23
  They were racing these cars in an era not that long ago.
• 20:26
  And how far have we gone in terms of the safety provisions and the design and sophistication and complexity of the motor vehicle today?
• 20:38
  It was absolutely stunning.
• 20:39
  And I went on and bought an Elfen Formula 5000 MR8, one of three.
• 20:47
  which I did run at Malala for an event a year later.
• 20:52
  And it was a beautiful getting together of all three MR8 F5000s that Gary Cooper had built.
• 21:00
  It was a sight to be seen.
• 21:01
  It was just good.
• 21:02
  That Formula 5000 era, it was incredible.
• 21:05
  And that Formula 5000 ran third in the Australian Grand Prix at Calder in 1979.
• 21:10
  Wow.
• 21:12
  And a lot of history.
• 21:14
  I love that.
• 21:15
  And I got the mechanic that worked on that car in that 79 era.
• 21:25
  He's still here in Adelaide to do a full rebuild on the car.
• 21:28
  It was just a wonderful journey.
• 21:30
  Beautiful.
• 21:31
  And then I was lucky enough to secure the last Elfin that they ever built out of the Elfin factory when Elfin as a manufacturing plant closed.
• 21:42
  So it's a book ended the Elfin era and I'm incredibly proud to just be part of the journey of a great Australian product.
• 21:51
  Excellent.
• 21:52
  In doing Rusty's Garage, I tap every once in a while into some cool cars that people have.
• 21:57
  You are a relative late convert to single seaters.
• 22:00
  I'm told to ask you about the Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton V10.
• 22:06
  What the heck is that thing like?
• 22:08
  Wow.
• 22:09
  Like, you know, there are very few cars that impose their personality on the driver when you sit or drive in them.
• 22:18
  You know, there are wonderful race cars and road cars everywhere.
• 22:22
  But I think there are very, very few cars that when you sit in them, let alone drive them, you almost feel at one with the car.
• 22:31
  You feel different, a different human being, a different person.
• 22:34
  They literally transform you
• 22:37
  And that Benetton is one.
• 22:39
  You know, a lot keeps getting said about the V10 era, but Giancarlo Fisichella drove that car at the same time that Michael Schumacher was at Benetton and they shared that car.
• 22:56
  And when the opportunity came to get hold of that car, I jumped at it.
• 23:01
  And I'll never forget when we first got it out on track.
• 23:05
  I got the seat mould and took it out on the track.
• 23:11
  And the first time going down that straight at full noise, shifting through those gears, it was just...
• 23:21
  I don't think I've ever...
• 23:25
  my body had been elevated to a state so much at one with a car as it was in that car.
• 23:32
  And only a year or so before, I'd driven a Dallara, a 1989 Dallara that Andrea de Cesaris had driven here at the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide some years early.
• 23:43
  I love the connection it had with Adelaide.
• 23:46
  and won the Bent Classic in that year was incredible.
• 23:48
  And I'd learned a few things driving a single seater back then because that era was just all mechanical grip.
• 23:55
  Everything else was for show, eight-speed, five-speed gearbox, and you had to literally fold your little finger to try and pick fifth gear.
• 24:03
  It was just an incredible, incredible little thing.
• 24:07
  Your collection of it is amazing.
• 24:09
  So going from that V8 Cosworth Dallara to a V10 Judd Benetton was just – I thought if everything stops now –
• 24:20
  My motorsport journey is complete.
• 24:22
  I thought, what a journey.
• 24:24
  And that car is still out there.
• 24:25
  It's had a rebuild and only a couple of weeks ago, I saw my good friend Mark Rundle from BRM and said, we've got to get that car back on track to just put it through its bases again.
• 24:37
  So I feel we'll do that very soon.
• 24:39
  Good.
• 24:40
  The vision you outlaid that night when I was with you and Todd Hazelwood and stuff, as we sit here and record this today in 2026, how different is the bend from what was perhaps on paper that day?
• 24:50
  And what is to come, Sam?
• 24:52
  Are you happy with where it's at?
• 24:53
  Are there things that you still have that aren't finished, that are to do?
• 24:57
  Where is that at?
• 24:59
  The bend is a bold development, is innovative, is bold, is ambitious, and very...
• 25:08
  Sometimes I felt shy of declaring the ambition, but I'm no longer shy of shouting out that I am ambitious.
• 25:18
  I want to build a first-class, a world-class motorsport facility in Australia.
• 25:33
  And in my journey of exploration of what the ingredients may be to build a successful venue, it was very clear from the outset that to build just a racetrack at Talenbend was not going to work.
• 25:48
  Mm-hmm.
• 25:49
  I had to build the case, a compelling case for patrons, for visitors to come to South Australia, to go to the bend, to experience a racetrack and other things.
• 25:59
  So on its own, it was never going to work.
• 26:01
  And that drove a journey in its own right as to what else can we build on that facility to.
• 26:14
  build our credentials for people to come and visit and utilize the facility.
• 26:19
  We have a CIK karting track.
• 26:26
  We have an A-grade dragway on site.
• 26:31
  A-grade is underselling it.
• 26:32
  That thing is amazing.
• 26:33
  That dragway is...
• 26:35
  It's only been running...
• 26:37
  It's only been open for three years and the Australian...
• 26:40
  top fuel record has been broken in every at every event we've had at the bend since then uh i mean top fuel racing you know you know racing motor racing on on circuit racing we think is is is on the edge until you see top fuel racing and drag racing
• 27:01
  Um, the, the record has been broken three times.
• 27:05
  The last time, you know, the quarter mile was run, um, this is from a standing start in 3.64 seconds at a terminal speed of 534 kilometers an hour.
• 27:20
  We are now under 0.1 second from the world record, and I've thrown the gauntlet to our American counterparts to come and have a crack because we are going to break the world record.
• 27:41
  and I don't need a bigger carrot than that.
• 27:45
  But again, it had to be built to a high standard.
• 27:48
  It had to be built to best international standards.
• 27:51
  Otherwise, it won't work.
• 27:53
  It's a very short-sighted...
• 27:56
  approach to try and just build something just to get by and wait until it's successful to improve it or to take it to the next level.
• 28:04
  I think, yeah, build it and they'll come is a very dangerous way of doing anything in business.
• 28:09
  But if you've got the conviction,
• 28:11
  And if you've got the vision, I think it's a good recipe.
• 28:16
  The Bend opened for the first event in 2018.
• 28:20
  You were there.
• 28:21
  I was there, yeah.
• 28:22
  Shannon's Round 13th.
• 28:25
  National event, yeah.
• 28:26
  Shannon's Nationals, 13th April 2018 was the first ever event.
• 28:32
  We opened the door.
• 28:34
  maybe naively, first ever event, let's go for a national event.
• 28:37
  And Mother Nature, you'd recall, gave us a dose of reality that weekend.
• 28:42
  And that was back-to-back with Australian super bikes the following weekend.
• 28:46
  So two national championships, back-to-back, just to get us warmed up.
• 28:50
  And we held the first round of the Supercars Championship, also in August last year, in the same year.
• 28:54
  So it was a big year.
• 28:57
  The vision has developed over the last 10 years or so.
• 29:02
  The bend has,
• 29:04
  is and has to continue to be an innovative world-class facility.
• 29:10
  Opened the doors early 2018.
• 29:13
  In 2019, the Bend Motorsport Park won International Motorsport Facility of the Year.
• 29:20
  Massive event in Europe.
• 29:22
  When they first contacted me mid-2019, I thought they were joking.
• 29:26
  I thought someone's having a lend on me.
• 29:27
  And...
• 29:28
  I won't bore you with the story, but eventually they insisted that I attend.
• 29:33
  But we had an event at the Bend, and I thought, I'm not going anywhere.
• 29:36
  I need to be here.
• 29:38
  And I reached out to the South Australian government who had an agent general in London.
• 29:44
  And I asked them if we could get representation because these guys were pretty insistent.
• 29:49
  Because the other venues...
• 29:51
  were a pro-draft from the UK, Jacques Villeneuve circuit in Canada, venues from the Czech Republic, from Germany, the UK, North America.
• 30:05
  And I thought, who am I?
• 30:07
  I'm a year in Australia.
• 30:09
  And I still, till today, don't know who nominated the Bend for that award.
• 30:15
  And it was one o'clock in the morning, and I'm getting the agent general sending me a text message.
• 30:20
  He goes, you've made the three finalists here.
• 30:24
  What do I say?
• 30:25
  What am I supposed to be doing?
• 30:26
  I said, I don't know.
• 30:28
  I don't know how we actually are here.
• 30:30
  And, drum roll, the Bend wins International Most Water Facility of the Year.
• 30:36
  And that was really a watershed moment.
• 30:39
  It was vindication that in a short period of time, what I was doing was resonating and we were on the right path.
• 30:49
  And that has set the tone.
• 30:52
  Unless I am prepared to enter any of those disciplines of motorsport with an aspiration to participate at the highest possible level, I don't touch it.
• 31:02
  And today, I hope the journey has continued in our experience program, which is a real cornerstone of our offering.
• 31:10
  We are at the Bend.
• 31:12
  We've kind of, again, defined in the same manner that I sat through today.
• 31:18
  months and years of defining our OTR business, what is our role, where I've landed the bend, we are in the business of experiences.
• 31:28
  My job is to put a smile on somebody's face.
• 31:31
  And if I've done that, I've delivered on the promise to deliver an experience and then good things will come from that.
• 31:37
  You don't have to define the entire journey, but unless you start there, unless I deliver an experience and unless I put a smile on somebody's face, none of the rest matters.
• 31:49
  And it's a good way to distill culturally to people that want to come and work at the Bend.
• 31:55
  So this is what we are about.
• 31:56
  Motorsport just happens to be part of our experiences but doesn't define us because you can come and enjoy a lot of things at the Bend without even getting on the racetrack.
• 32:05
  And that's a pretty unique proposition.
• 32:17
  Can I come to the big news, the big news in the past week, which is mighty?
• 32:21
  MotoGP is coming to the streets of Adelaide in 2027.
• 32:25
  Its final year at Phillip Island will be this year, 2026.
• 32:27
  It's been there since the 1990s.
• 32:30
  On paper, you would think you would be heartbroken that it's not coming to the bend.
• 32:35
  But in the same breath, from what I understand, in the discussions with Victoria breaking down or whatever, and that it was clear that there was an opportunity for the event to move, the Australian Grand Prix to move,
• 32:46
  You sense that and I think you call perhaps the Premier or call some of his team and what's set in motion with your more than cooperation, I think, is that it has ended up on the streets of Adelaide.
• 32:57
  Talk me through that and how you feel about that.
• 33:01
  The Bend is the single largest private investment in Australian sport and entertainment history, in Australian motorsport history.
• 33:12
  It's a substantial commitment to
• 33:17
  And I didn't get this far to sit on my hands waiting for opportunity to hit me in the face.
• 33:23
  I've gone and chased opportunity wherever there is opportunity.
• 33:26
  And sometimes you just have to dig, you just have to find it.
• 33:30
  They say you've been talking to Dawn for like 10 years or their events, is that right?
• 33:34
  In 2000, when I secured the land in 2014, I started the journey and I went to every single organization, to every single rights holder in Australia and around the world.
• 33:44
  You know, James Warburton was CEO of Supercars at the time.
• 33:47
  First tenure.
• 33:48
  Yeah, yeah.
• 33:48
  First time.
• 33:49
  And kudos to James because James and I signed a deal to run the first event, the first Supercars event at the Bend before we put a shovel in the ground.
• 34:00
  He trusted.
• 34:01
  He trusted me.
• 34:03
  And that's not lost on me, that somebody did put their faith in me.
• 34:07
  It's an even bigger driver to deliver and to reciprocate that trust.
• 34:15
  And yes, we signed the deal to run the first supercar event in 2018, and I delivered it.
• 34:22
  And I'd gone to, you know, kind of almost maybe naively to every organization that would care to listen.
• 34:30
  And I made serious representation.
• 34:32
  I did a lot of traveling.
• 34:34
  I did a lot of flying.
• 34:35
  You know, I went all over the world, went to Europe, went to North America, went wherever somebody would give me.
• 34:41
  five minutes of their time to learn.
• 34:45
  Jonathan Palmer was running Bedford, you know, after he finished a career in F1.
• 34:50
  He owns and runs Bedford.
• 34:52
  And, you know, you had to pay to go through the front door.
• 34:55
  And I paid for two days of his time to allow me into Bedford to learn.
• 34:59
  And he taught me a lot of things.
• 35:01
  So I went to Formula One.
• 35:03
  I went to Dawna.
• 35:05
  I went to everybody.
• 35:06
  I went to World Endurance Championship.
• 35:07
  I went to every organization.
• 35:10
  I said,
• 35:12
  I've got an idea and I'm going to build this.
• 35:15
  And I think if you run a world-class event, I want to be associated with your brand.
• 35:22
  What do I need to do to get there?
• 35:25
  And maybe some of that talking didn't do me a lot of favors because in 2015, 2016, when I was talking to both Dorner and Formula One, the Victorian government went and signed a 10-year extension to MotoGP.
• 35:47
  I don't recall being disappointed.
• 35:50
  I thought, good move.
• 35:54
  Well done.
• 35:54
  Congratulations.
• 35:56
  But I'm not going anywhere.
• 35:58
  Ten years will come around.
• 35:59
  Excuse me.
• 36:00
  All right.
• 36:01
  Have a drink.
• 36:01
  That's all good.
• 36:03
  We've been talking for, which I'm grateful for, because I know you're a busy man.
• 36:05
  We've been talking for ages, so thank you.
• 36:08
  I thought that's not going to detract me.
• 36:11
  I'm not going anywhere, and I persisted.
• 36:14
  Dawn I visited on several occasions.
• 36:17
  Occasions, yeah.
• 36:19
  2019, even later, and I'd kept the door open for when the opportunity arises.
• 36:28
  And I don't make any apologies for that.
• 36:34
  It is a competitive landscape, and if there was going to be an opportunity, I was going to bring an event to South Australia and to the Bend.
• 36:44
  The same with Formula One.
• 36:45
  And I came much closer than people think to F1 in 2022 during COVID.
• 36:53
  Okay.
• 36:53
  Damn close.
• 36:54
  Okay.
• 36:54
  Okay.
• 36:57
  But again, opportunity will come and I hope I'm around when the opportunity comes.
• 37:05
  The bend will be.
• 37:09
  And the development of the venue and the facilities is always with an eye to the future.
• 37:15
  What are the best in the world doing to elevate their patron experience and how can we bring that to South Australia and the bend?
• 37:26
  And a lot of things that happened in the last few years that had kind of changed the landscape a little.
• 37:33
  Liberty Media acquiring Dorna was a watershed event.
• 37:39
  Liberty Media is a different business to Dorna.
• 37:42
  And you've seen how they've transformed Formula One.
• 37:46
  Stratospheric.
• 37:47
  Stratospheric.
• 37:48
  They have a very different concept and a very different vision to the sport.
• 37:53
  It's an entertainment-driven product rather than a sporting product that has entertainment on the side.
• 37:58
  And that kind of very simplistically kind of describes where they're at.
• 38:05
  And although they haven't explicitly declared that for MotoGP, that's their model.
• 38:12
  And they want to be in close to large population centres that are very well serviced with entertainment, with accommodation and travel, travel facilities.
• 38:31
  And here I was...
• 38:34
  Here I am, a first-generation Palestinian immigrant with an opportunity to make a contribution to this great place that has given me hope.
• 38:52
  that has given me an identity and has given me an opportunity.
• 38:57
  And that superseded any personal ambition to have MotoGP land only at the bend.
• 39:12
  I had maintained my relationship with Dawna and I put the proposition to them not long ago.
• 39:23
  What if a street circuit, you know, I own the Bend and Malala.
• 39:32
  If you're not going to run at a purpose-built motor racing circuit, what if there is an opportunity to run a MotoGP event on a street circuit?
• 39:43
  That's big.
• 39:43
  That is not in their offering at the moment.
• 39:46
  No.
• 39:46
  But it – yeah, and maybe it was, again, simplistic.
• 39:50
  But the fact – you know, the Vegas example, you know, they went to a – with Formula One to a street circuit –
• 39:59
  And they made something that I don't think any other organization could have done.
• 40:04
  And I think the prospect of a motor GP of motorcycles doing 335 kilometers an hour on a street circuit is a compelling proposition.
• 40:15
  It's exciting.
• 40:16
  It's unique.
• 40:17
  It's ambitious.
• 40:20
  And I put the proposition to them.
• 40:25
  And there was a long pause on the other side of the phone.
• 40:30
  And I genuinely thought that, you know, I'd built a decade-long relationship with them that, you know, if I wasn't serious, I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't open my mouth for something that I didn't think was remotely possible.
• 40:46
  I'm very familiar with the Adelaide Street Circuit.
• 40:48
  I'm very familiar with the landscape and what can and can't be done here.
• 40:55
  And they were open to the idea with a lot of reservations as they would.
• 41:05
  And I then picked up the phone to our good premier here.
• 41:10
  And I said, just hear me out.
• 41:13
  I've got an idea.
• 41:15
  And I think I can make it work.
• 41:18
  So I met with him and I did put the idea to him.
• 41:23
  And he was...
• 41:26
  equally surprised.
• 41:29
  In a way, I felt I had absolutely no right to be talking to a rights holder, an international rights holder, about a possible venue that I have no control over and to speak to a premier about an event that was completely almost...
• 41:43
  The conversation almost sounded irrational.
• 41:47
  But again, relationships and... Again, all I'd ask for is that just... Just hear me out.
• 41:54
  Hear me out.
• 41:54
  I think it can be done.
• 41:57
  There are a lot of elements that cannot be compromised, safety being one.
• 42:02
  Motorsport is a science today.
• 42:05
  It might have not been as scientific 30, 40, or 50 years ago, but today motorsport is science.
• 42:11
  There are speed profiling.
• 42:13
  There's a lot of science applied to design off-circuits and runoffs that you don't have to necessarily predict any of it.
• 42:21
  Yeah.
• 42:22
  there's a lot of technology that can do that for you.
• 42:26
  And I said, if... And safety is not subjective.
• 42:32
  If safety is guaranteed, if a street circuit can comply...
• 42:39
  would you consider?
• 42:41
  Would you consider?
• 42:41
  And I wouldn't have had that conversation if to his credit, Peter had not put his neck out and gone after attracting big events to South Australia.
• 42:52
  Live golf, gather around, developments throughout the state where he has been ambitious.
• 43:01
  And he's been successful because he's thought those things through.
• 43:11
  So he was also good enough to trust me with taking the proposition further.
• 43:16
  And I did for quite some time explore it on both ends and felt like I was a broker for a wedding that wasn't mine.
• 43:26
  What a great analogy.
• 43:31
  But I really felt that it was a terrific opportunity to make a contribution to this great state that just gave me so much opportunity.
• 43:41
  And by the time we got close to October and November last year,
• 43:46
  uh, it was either going to happen or it was not going to happen.
• 43:49
  Uh, so I was, I was abroad and I, um, and I just had to bring Dawn over here and just do it properly.
• 43:59
  And, uh, yeah,
• 44:01
  And that did occur during the Adelaide 500, just straight after the event, went through and walked the track.
• 44:10
  Did people know that they came in?
• 44:11
  It was all quite quiet?
• 44:14
  It was quiet.
• 44:15
  We did a good job at keeping it fairly quiet, walking through the streets and seeing the circuit was mostly still closed.
• 44:23
  Mm-hmm.
• 44:24
  But by the time we got to Decaturville Terrace, turn eight, there was open for traffic.
• 44:29
  And I thought, oh, this is not the smartest thing in the world to be doing.
• 44:34
  But it was important for me to make sure that all the work that I'd done can be translated on the ground and in the presence of Dorna to make sure that they also...
• 44:49
  can see it and understand the complexities of designing a circuit that can work.
• 44:55
  And be safe.
• 44:55
  And be very safe.
• 44:56
  So Turn 8 in a car, as you know, has built a lot of history.
• 45:00
  On a bike, you can't have a concrete barrier.
• 45:03
  And if you're going to have one, it's going to have to be in Kensington.
• 45:07
  It can't be where it is.
• 45:08
  It had to move a lot.
• 45:10
  So, this is the benefit of having been in a race car and being familiar with some of those challenges and how something like that may be overcome even by slowing a car or a bike down or putting a chicane or a hairpin just before.
• 45:29
  to change the architecture a little bit.
• 45:33
  And it was a very challenging couple of days, very confronting, because all the work over a long period of time had just come down to that.
• 45:42
  Can you design a circuit that is very exciting and very safe?
• 45:50
  And sometimes those two don't go together.
• 45:52
  And for it to be fiscally possible to around the Adelaide supercars events, we're not doing too lots of construction and everything else.
• 45:58
  And that was absolutely critical for the government on a lot of fronts.
• 46:01
  The government knew it had to expend some capital, but also some political capital, because whether we like it or not, motorsport doesn't appeal to everybody.
• 46:11
  And they have to govern for everybody.
• 46:14
  And it wasn't lost on anybody how much work needed to be done, even if this was feasible.
• 46:21
  So, yes, it got more and more – the idea just developed more and more and matured more.
• 46:29
  And in the context of an election in March this year, there wasn't a lot of time.
• 46:35
  And it would be an understatement to really describe the amount of work that had gone from that date in late November –
• 46:47
  to early February.
• 46:49
  Wow.
• 46:50
  And to pull it off, I think, you know, I'm sure one day the story and the details will have more time to go through.
• 47:01
  But it was a spectacular process that could have fallen over so many times.
• 47:08
  Mm-hmm.
• 47:09
  but at the end we got there.
• 47:11
  Well done.
• 47:12
  This next question may not necessarily be for you to answer.
• 47:17
  Maybe it's a question for the state or for Dorner or whoever.
• 47:21
  Naturally, there's a lot of passion attached to Philip Island, right?
• 47:24
  And I think Casey Stone has expressed how he feels and what have you.
• 47:28
  He's been someone I've had a great deal of time for and respect a lot over my career.
• 47:33
  What would we say to him to maybe, you know...
• 47:40
  I love Phillip Island.
• 47:41
  I love Phillip Island.
• 47:43
  I love Melbourne.
• 47:43
  I love Victoria.
• 47:44
  This is nothing against the venue or anything.
• 47:48
  But the business of motorsport has moved on in the last decade or three.
• 47:54
  Venues that service motorsport have significantly changed.
• 47:59
  You know, the bend is eight years old.
• 48:01
  I'm making improvements today for a venue that was only built less than a decade ago.
• 48:08
  You cannot continue to participate at the highest level.
• 48:11
  And MotoGP is an event at the highest level without...
• 48:17
  ongoing commitment and investment in the venue and the facilities.
• 48:24
  And that's not easy.
• 48:26
  That's not easy.
• 48:29
  And, you know, if the sport and if Dorna and if MotoGP were happy, they would not have...
• 48:37
  Look elsewhere.
• 48:39
  And it's no secret that they had concerns about the safety elements and the infrastructure for a long time.
• 48:49
  That's well publicised and well documented.
• 48:53
  So, and I didn't approach the opportunity through a back door.
• 48:58
  I went straight through the front door to the rights holders and asked the question, are you interested?
• 49:05
  I didn't try to hide behind an alias.
• 49:07
  I didn't try to do this in any other way.
• 49:10
  And Casey is a great rider and absolute champion, one of the greatest that we have produced in Australia.
• 49:18
  Yeah.
• 49:19
  I'd appeal to him and everybody just to come along the journey.
• 49:25
  There is no holding progress.
• 49:27
  There is no holding moving forward and moving on.
• 49:31
  And I hope they all embrace the opportunity for this absolute milestone development to have a street circuit participate at the highest level.
• 49:45
  How innovative we should be.
• 49:48
  We should be as excited and as proud to have this in Australia.
• 49:54
  And we won't have to wait very long to see it materialize.
• 49:59
  I get the emotional attachment to Philip Island and the incredible history it had built over a long period of time.
• 50:09
  And that will never go away.
• 50:11
  In fact, that I am certain will continue to grow.
• 50:16
  and I'm sure will forever continue to romanticize about that wonderful era, the sport and the rights holders had a choice and had a call to make.
• 50:29
  And their vision is that the venues have to move on.
• 50:32
  And that's a formula, that's a template that I guarantee you they'll apply all over the world.
• 50:39
  And every events holder of a MotoGP all over the world today
• 50:46
  and yesterday and the day before should have taken notice as what's happened in Adelaide and in Australia.
• 50:52
  Because they'll all have to change their delivery of a MotoGP event to continue to be irrelevant.
• 51:00
  Consumer has choice.
• 51:03
  Nobody's livelihood, if you're a consumer, depends on spending a weekend watching racing at a racetrack.
• 51:10
  They have choice where they spend their dollar at a movie theater or… Their experience.
• 51:15
  Or a hotel or a restaurant or whatever.
• 51:18
  We compete just like anyone else for patron experience.
• 51:25
  And that's where the patron experience is moving.
• 51:28
  And if you're a pure racetrack that is just relying on the same people coming over and over to watch a motor race, whether two wheels or four wheels…
• 51:38
  That ain't the future.
• 51:40
  And you either stick your head in the sand and you say, it won't apply to me, or you say, how can I be part of that journey?
• 51:47
  How can I remain relevant in an industry and a sport?
• 51:51
  Try something new.
• 51:51
  Have to.
• 51:53
  It's not a choice.
• 51:54
  You either have to or you'll be left behind.
• 51:58
  And we have many examples still in Australia of venues that have just continued not to invest in their infrastructure.
• 52:08
  and they lament why patronage is declining or why the sport is not where it should be.
• 52:16
  Participation is at a risky point in Australia in all categories in motorsport.
• 52:22
  And as a sport, motorsport, we've got to collectively bring our A game now to make sure we remain relevant to patrons, to customers that have choice.
• 52:33
  Mm-hmm.
• 52:35
  You're passionate about that, I can tell.
• 52:36
  And I've no doubt that is something that you will work with various bodies here locally in sharing that.
• 52:44
  Can I do two to finish here?
• 52:46
  Because as I said before, I know you're busy, mate, and you've been incredible with your time with me today, which I greatly love the ability to share a little bit of this story.
• 52:54
  You must do a book one day if you haven't already on the family story and what you've done here.
• 52:59
  So
• 53:00
  I'm a huge believer in respecting the process, so if you can't tell me this, you just tell me straight out.
• 53:05
  There have been rumours about maybe World Superbike to the bend.
• 53:09
  Can you tell us anything?
• 53:11
  Is there any truth to that?
• 53:13
  I have never stopped and never made secret of my ambition to attract people.
• 53:20
  any event at a world-class level to the bend, I've been very upfront about that ambition.
• 53:29
  I have a venue and the people that work with me that share that vision.
• 53:35
  We want to participate at the top level in motorsport in Australia.
• 53:42
  So wherever there is opportunity...
• 53:45
  I guarantee you, I'm going to knock on that door.
• 53:48
  Now, I've got broad shoulders.
• 53:51
  I've taken knockbacks, plenty of them.
• 53:54
  You've got to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and just say, I'm going to have another go.
• 53:59
  And that will not stop.
• 54:02
  If there's an opportunity, I absolutely will explore it.
• 54:05
  Okay.
• 54:06
  Let's leave it at that and maybe let's, as they say in the game, watch this space.
• 54:10
  You've got a busy year overseas.
• 54:12
  Will there be a bit more racing?
• 54:13
  What is on your own kind of program for 2026?
• 54:16
  Look, at 57, I think my time is coming, but I've so enjoyed, I've driven in Super Cup in Europe last year.
• 54:25
  And I thought I wanted to experience one race.
• 54:29
  iconic racetrack.
• 54:30
  I've watched these over on television all these years and I wanted, the one racetrack I wanted to go to was Imola.
• 54:37
  It's just such a spiritual place, the center history, that's an old school track and I just wanted to race on that track.
• 54:46
  And when it,
• 54:47
  became a possibility in 2014, I had goosebumps doing the track walk on that Thursday.
• 54:56
  It was just surreal, a surreal feeling.
• 54:59
  And I remember asking the team, the Dutch team, that were going to let me do a guest drive.
• 55:06
  I was looking at the calendar and I said, Monaco...
• 55:09
  Monaco Super Cup runs as a support category to Formula 1 at eight events in Europe.
• 55:15
  I said, Monaco is three weeks after Imelai.
• 55:18
  Can I do a guest...
• 55:20
  entry for monaco and the guy laughed he said if we'd accept guest entries for monaco we'd have a thousand people you can't do it unless you have a series entry for the whole season committed yeah and the season entries are limited to 28 drivers i said so how many drivers have they got he said let me get back to you he put oliver schwab on the line and there were 27 committed season entries he said there's one left i said i'll take it i mean
• 55:44
  And I put the phone down and I thought, literally my wife walked into my office and she looked at me.
• 55:49
  You have to believe this is word for word.
• 55:53
  She just looked at me.
• 55:54
  I didn't say a word.
• 55:54
  She said, what's wrong?
• 55:55
  I said, what do you mean what's wrong?
• 55:57
  She goes, we've been married 27 years.
• 55:59
  What's wrong?
• 55:59
  I said, I've got some good news and some bad news.
• 56:04
  The good news is that we're going to spend a little bit of time in Europe.
• 56:07
  The bad news is I have no idea how the hell I'm going to do it.
• 56:12
  Deep down, I was so, you know, there's a lot of self-doubt of whether I'm good enough to... You know, Super Cup is not for the faint-hearted.
• 56:21
  And there's been a number of great Australian drivers that have gone and had a go.
• 56:25
  Some with great success.
• 56:26
  Matt Campbell.
• 56:28
  Love Matt.
• 56:29
  Jackson Evans, Jordan and Aaron Love.
• 56:32
  A lot of great Aussies have had a go.
• 56:35
  And I...
• 56:37
  And I thought, wow.
• 56:39
  And it's almost an entirely pro field.
• 56:41
  There are no pro-ams.
• 56:42
  In 2024, there was only one other pro-am.
• 56:44
  And I did it again in 25, and there was only one other pro-am who'd won the British Carrera Cup championship four times.
• 56:51
  So my worth was really cut out for me.
• 56:54
  If I finish second last, I'd beaten a British champion.
• 56:58
  And I thought, wow, like my mission is just to qualify because if you don't qualify within 7% of the outright pole position, you're not allowed to race on Sunday.
• 57:10
  And in the era of Latter-day-turn-Ford and those unbelievable drivers, it was no mean fit to be within 7% of those guys.
• 57:17
  You get only one 30-minute practice session and you're out to qualify and a place like Monaco where you can't practice, one 30-minute practice session, turn up to Monaco and it's raining.
• 57:28
  So I did a season entry and I was...
• 57:31
  It was such an amazing experience.
• 57:33
  I went and did it again in 2025 last year.
• 57:36
  And I was...
• 57:37
  I just couldn't believe I... Top 15 drivers get points.
• 57:42
  And I had three top 15 finishes and scored some supercar points, which it was just a dream.
• 57:48
  I was just...
• 57:49
  I just leave every time I get to a racetrack and leave, I just pinch myself.
• 57:53
  And I said, here I am flying...
• 57:55
  Flying the Bend Motorsport Park and the Australian flag, who are both on my car, the flag and the bend.
• 58:03
  And it was just surreal.
• 58:05
  It was just completely surreal.
• 58:06
  And I thought, this will be my swan song.
• 58:10
  I'm going to do it again.
• 58:11
  I will fly the flag high on top of my car for both Australia and the bend.
• 58:16
  and hopefully we'll have a few more stories to tell.
• 58:18
  I love it.
• 58:19
  I love it.
• 58:19
  Thank you so much for coming into the studio today.
• 58:22
  I've had the honour of being there for the first broadcast that you talked about, the first national meeting.
• 58:26
  I've been there for things that you're doing experientially where a customer like Michelin comes and launches a tyre.
• 58:33
  I got to drive it last year with Ferrari Challenge.
• 58:36
  So some of those things will remain with me forever.
• 58:40
  But I began this conversation today
• 58:43
  with a very vivid memory of that night with Todd Hazelwood, because I would be lying if I didn't feel like it was ambitious.
• 58:51
  But you delivered it, Sam, with such conviction.
• 58:55
  You could have heard a pin drop in that room that night as everyone took in what your plans were.
• 59:01
  And here we are, mate, a decade later, and it's a reality.
• 59:05
  And you're showing no signs of slowing down.
• 59:07
  So have a fantastic year abroad, and well done on everything.
• 59:10
  Thank you for sharing your story today.
• 59:11
  Thank you.
• 59:12
  Thank you, mate.
• 59:21
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 59:25
  Series editor and producer is Joel Harrison.
• 59:28
  Audio production by Link Kelly.
• 59:31
  If you've got a guest suggestion, get in touch with me on social media.
• 59:36
  The Garage, it's where a journey begins with a tank full of passion-fueled stories.