Latest / Rusty's Garage / Drivers Only: Episode 6 with Bathurst Winners Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood

Transcript

Drivers Only: Episode 6 with Bathurst Winners Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood · Rusty's Garage

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A listener production.
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G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for the much-anticipated Bathurst episode of Drivers Only here in the garage at Listener and also on the Supercars YouTube channel.
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Some solid TV ratings from the great race of the weekend and all sorts of stories, from a brown snake on track in practice to massive overnight rebuilds and a win by a team that's been under the microscope this year.
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Its lead driver and champion missed the opening couple of rounds.
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He's off to a new team next season and...
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But this was a little bit of a fairytale bookend for Brodie Kostecki to his time at Erebus, partnered by one of the hardest working racers you'll meet in Todd Hazlewood, the former Super 2 champion who made ends meet with sausage sizzles and fun raisers in the early years, while...
0:51
more recently moving into a co-driver role and he delivered in spades at Mount Panorama.
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They both did.
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Together with Erebus, they collectively came away with the Peter Brock trophy in what was a truly unrelenting addition of the Repco Bathurst 1000, with the race more than 80% over before we even saw the first safety car.
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Today, the winning driver...
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And co-driver Combo will be joined by 2010 Supercars champion James Courtney, who may not have enjoyed his best weekend at Bathurst, but his media work this season has been terrific.
1:26
Perfect to help drive some of the conversation here.
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Enjoy the Bathurst edition of Drivers Only.
1:46
Welcome back everyone to Drivers Only episode 6.
1:49
We've got the Bathurst winners here, Brody and Todd the Nut Hazelnut and me.
1:55
So it's, look I'm not going to lie guys, I'm incredibly jealous.
1:59
I've tackled this mountain 19 times and failed 19 times miserably.
2:04
How's it feel to win the thing?
2:06
It's a pretty big week for us, to be honest.
2:09
I guess coming off a sand down, we didn't really have the result that we probably wanted.
2:14
You could be a little bit more excited about this.
2:17
No, but it's like one of those weeks where it went so perfectly that it's just unbelievable.
2:22
So I think it's still settling in for me, for sure.
2:27
I'm not sure about you, I'm not.
2:29
Well, I only got my voice back this morning, so I think that probably paints a picture of how I celebrated and enjoyed the moment.
2:35
But, yeah, as BK said, I think we're in disbelief.
2:39
I was almost in shock when Brady crossed the line, to be honest, just couldn't believe what we'd actually achieved.
2:43
And we were so emotional in the lead-up to the event because we knew we had a good opportunity.
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But, as you know, as a driver, you don't want to get excited because it's Bathurst, anything can happen and will happen.
2:53
So, yeah, when it finally actually happened, it was, yeah.
2:56
unbelievable.
2:57
But there was one, you did have a little touch of the wall at one point in practice, wasn't it?
3:02
I thought, Jesus, guys, put in a screamer and just got out of the car and packed it in.
3:05
But what happened there?
3:07
Just, uh, I, well, I literally had the shits.
3:10
Um, yeah.
3:11
So you weren't happy with how fast you were.
3:13
Well, I had the shits with myself, but I literally had shits that day.
3:15
So, um, I wasn't feeling, I was, I was feeling like horrible to the point where I was on the ultimate weight loss program.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah
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Yeah, I was on the shred.
3:25
That's taking it to the next level, isn't it?
3:27
Yeah, I was on the shred.
3:29
So it was like, yeah, it was like, it was not good.
3:33
So yeah, I wasn't feeling really good on Friday.
3:34
And then on the Saturday, I was minimal laps just trying to, well, actually on the Friday, I was just minimal laps trying to, you know, trying to stay, you know, fresh for qualifying.
3:42
But yeah, I was getting a bit of double vision and all that sort of stuff going on, a bit feverish.
3:46
So yeah, I was glad to...
3:48
I was glad to actually just put it in the shootout, to be honest.
3:50
Jeez, that's huge.
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He looked at me Thursdays like, you ready to put this thing in the shootout?
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And I'm like, whoa.
3:55
You're getting all excited, rubbing your hands together?
3:58
Yeah, exactly.
3:59
But no, it all worked out all right in the end, so thank God.
4:02
So what was different this year's campaign?
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Because obviously last year you had plenty of speed as well, but it didn't come out in the end.
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Why do you think it all come together this year?
4:13
What made this year different?
4:14
I think, you know, going up against, you know, we went up against Triple Eight last year, obviously, and going up against a team like that, you know, with, you know, such a high pedigree, they've been dominant for such a long time.
4:25
You know, you have to have all of your ducks in a row and you can't make any mistakes because, you know, they'll ultimately capitalize on them.
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So, yeah, we just made a few mistakes last year.
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We had a really fast race car last year, but just made a few strategic mistakes and they capitalized on them.
4:41
And, you know, going into this year, we...
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said, you know, we'd be, you know, a bit more prepared, got some more manpower, uh, on, on board.
4:48
So we had, um, uh, you know, Blake Smith on, on board and, um, yeah, he was, you know, fantastic for our, you know, campaign and, um, yeah, we didn't put a foot wrong all day and the car was fast again.
4:59
So, um, yeah, it was, it, it just made our jobs a lot easier and, and, um, yeah, and, and just kept us out in clean air.
5:05
And having Todd this year as opposed to D or Russell last year with him coming off all that experience and then obviously starting the season and doing some running, do you think that had a big part to play in it?
5:15
Yeah, definitely.
5:16
Todd's done a fantastic job, even at Sandown, even at our test day prior to Sandown, just with the car balance and all that sort of stuff.
5:25
It's been great working with him.
5:27
He's obviously fresh out of the main game as well.
5:29
So, yeah, that was awesome working with Todd.
5:32
We've gone back a long way.
5:33
We used to live together and it was cool to finally partner up.
5:38
It was awesome.
5:39
So working with Brody, everyone sort of talks about him being, you know, an amazing, you know, obviously an amazing driver, but also mechanically and engineering-wise so cluey and sort of really knows what he wants and how to tune the car and works so closely with Big George.
5:57
Was that, for you, was that a huge difference coming on from what you'd experienced previously?
6:01
And then, you know, was that a surprise for you?
6:05
Or is it all crap or does he really know what he's doing here?
6:09
Sometimes.
6:10
We hear these stories about drawing roll bars and all sorts of stuff.
6:14
No, no, it's legit.
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And, yeah, I saw what Brody was like back when we used to live together back in 2017 and 18.
6:21
And I used to spend more hours on CAD, you know, drawing up pedal boxes and making all sorts of weird stuff for his Super 2 car back in the day.
6:28
And I knew there and then, I'm like, man, if this guy ever gets the main game and actually gets his shit together, he's going to be hard to beat one day.
6:34
Still working that out.
6:36
We all are, mate.
6:36
We are.
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We've won Bathurst.
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So, yeah, as you mentioned, like watching BK and George work together, they just – they get on together like a house and – they both complement each other so well.
6:46
So I'm sure as you know, JC, when you get that engineer that can understand your language and they know how to bounce off you straight away, there's no ifs or buts or maybe.
6:55
They just – they make a decision.
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They just run with it.
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There's no questioning itself.
6:59
And I think, you know, it's quite comical watching Brody.
7:02
He's always pushing –
7:03
big George to try and do something or make something happen.
7:06
And there's always a little bit of pushback there from George, but I can't fault Brody because every time we made a change based off his feedback, the car was instantly better every time.
7:17
So, yeah, when you get into that scenario, it's pretty cool.
7:20
Yeah.
7:21
I hit you up with some text messages.
7:22
I did get a few for a few drivers.
7:26
Big jack-ass heart on the Brody text.
7:29
And I've read some quotes.
7:30
You were saying how amazing it was and you knew you had all that speed and you just had to focus on your job and executing it.
7:36
There had to be one time at some point over that week where you thought,
7:40
I've gone in a bit quick here.
7:42
You know, was it in the race?
7:43
Was it in practice?
7:44
You know, because you're wanting to push as well.
7:47
You're wanting to showcase your ability.
7:49
Was there any moments that weren't caught on camera where you were just like, hope no one saw it?
7:53
No, to be honest, I actually had a clean weekend.
7:55
So I was boring after sand down.
7:57
I think I probably did all the excitement at sand down.
8:01
Oh, yeah, sand down was pretty exciting for you.
8:02
And tried to get the goat out of the way, and that didn't work too well for me.
8:05
Nearly put myself in the fence.
8:06
The goat jammed his horn in your tyre.
8:08
Yeah, that's it.
8:08
See, he did that.
8:10
And, you know, I nearly went sailing off at Turn 6 again, so I thought I'd better not do that again.
8:14
But, you know, like even in what we did, all of my race runs in the co-driver sessions, it was... Because your speed in the race, I think you were faster.
8:22
Your average time was faster than our fastest lap time.
8:27
That's pretty, yeah, that's not easy for me to take.
8:31
But anyway, let's press on.
8:32
Yeah, the car was seriously hooked up and we had clear for most of the day.
8:36
The only rule probably I had was just the lap traffic.
8:39
There was blue flags coming out and drivers were just ignoring, which I get when you're in the big race.
8:45
You don't want to go a lap down because it stuffs up your whole strategy.
8:47
But I think with the lucky dog rule now,
8:50
If it's not your day, just get out of the way.
8:53
And for me, the first time leading a great race, being in a position where I know we could get a great result, that gets the frustration level up pretty quickly.
9:01
And I think I got on the radio to the boys and...
9:06
I was showing blue flags like three laps in a row to Cam Hill.
9:08
I just said, I got on the radio and said, for fuck's sake, Matt Stone, if you're scanning my radio, please get this guy out of the way.
9:15
Just someone listen to me.
9:17
Or you could do a lost it and just fence him like you did to chowder.
9:21
You know, like, so, yeah, you get into that situation where you start to become a bit desperate because, you know, I was watching my gap to Brock, you know, he was co-driving up against main drivers.
9:30
So I was already white-knuckle fever as it was trying to maintain that gap.
9:33
So when you get a car parked in front... Was that the time when you thought you'd gone too hard?
9:36
So that was the moment.
9:37
That was the moment right there.
9:39
So...
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There's always one moment.
9:42
That was a little scare for me.
9:43
So other than that, good day.
9:45
But I managed to jump in amongst the leaders there at the end.
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I did.
9:49
I'm not going to lie.
9:50
I saw you coming and I was like, I'll let you pass.
9:52
We weren't going to make it on fuel, we didn't think anyway.
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So I wanted you to go past and then I got in between.
9:56
I was like, those guys.
9:58
I wanted you to win.
9:59
And also get some air time for Snowy, which is...
10:02
Mate, you finished P2 in a great race.
10:04
That's right.
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I just got the timing mixed up.
10:05
We were just a lap down.
10:06
But what about you, Brode?
10:08
Any times, apart from that one-in thing, anything in the race that you thought, holy crap, that was close?
10:14
I had a moment actually down the hill on the first stint where I'm not sure whose idea it was to put the yellow sand, you know, where they filled up the holes with the yellow sand behind the curves.
10:24
But –
10:25
Yeah, I guess someone went a little bit wide or something, put yellow sand on the track going down the hill, and I almost fenced it going down like it was pretty close, similar to what actually Dave did.
10:33
Yeah.
10:34
So Brock was pretty behind me on that.
10:36
After the race, he'd come back to me and goes, holy fuck, like I don't know how you didn't crash going down the hill because it was, you know.
10:42
Did you see Moffs?
10:44
Yeah, that was, yeah.
10:45
I took the safe road and then nearly fenced it.
10:48
It was like a millimetre off.
10:49
It just proves you're never safe at that place.
10:50
Like you just, you're driving around on a, you know, it's a pretty small racing line and it's a street circuit at the end of the day.
10:57
And yeah, it's just one little mistake can, you know, put you out pretty quick.
11:01
Especially on that hard tyre.
11:03
Yeah, but it was so sketchy.
11:05
Even when you backed off, for me, I think it was pretty exciting anyway.
11:08
But over Skyline, when you backed off and tried to roll through there, if you caught those kerbs wrong, it was going to bite.
11:14
Yeah, definitely.
11:15
And then you're like half a foot wide and it's all that yellow sand stuff.
11:18
Yeah.
11:19
Yeah, it was knife-edge all weekend, and it wasn't crazy, the build-up to the race.
11:25
It was people running off every session, people in the sand trap, big shunts in quality.
11:29
It was like, man, it sort of had 2014 vibes about it.
11:32
Going into the race, and I think we both looked at each other on the grid, thought, well, we'll see what happens at the start of the race.
11:37
It just felt like it was going to be one of those crazy old Bathurst days, and...
11:41
to go past lap 120 without a safety car.
11:44
I was like, holy heck.
11:44
I was just talking before offline.
11:46
We did that whole race with that front bar sitting down at the elbow.
11:49
I saw it and I'm like, thank God, on my first, I'm like, it's going to bring the field back, but they kept running the whole day.
11:55
And you said you didn't even see it.
11:56
I didn't even see it.
11:57
It was a pity it was facing, because I saw it was facing the wrong way, because it could have had free branding for the whole race if it was facing the right way.
12:03
Maybe next time they can plan that.
12:05
I saw the bumper come off and I was like, oh, yeah, here we go.
12:07
Full course yellow.
12:09
Jumped out, ready for pit lane.
12:10
That could have been the safety car that could have set the whole race on fire, really.
12:16
Could have been.
12:16
Who knows?
12:17
Maybe.
12:18
Thank God it didn't.
12:20
But speaking of full course yellow.
12:23
What do you think?
12:24
We went into the weekend.
12:26
They told us it was going to be 120.
12:27
Went back to 80.
12:29
120, 80.
12:29
Ended up being 80.
12:31
How do you think it went, LaRose?
12:33
Everyone's had their own opinion about it.
12:36
I'm not a really big supporter of it, to be honest.
12:38
I think it has its place, like picking up that front bar that was sitting there.
12:41
That didn't happen.
12:43
Yeah.
12:43
Well, yeah, exactly.
12:44
That didn't happen.
12:45
But yeah, I'm not a big fan of it.
12:47
I think it ruins a lot of the spectacle of the show.
12:50
And statistic-wise, it actually hasn't been safer.
12:55
There's been more incidents under full course yellow.
12:56
And it's easy to say, yeah, we're supposed to be going slower when the yellows are at one knot, but we're all paid to drive the car as fast as possible.
13:04
And if we don't do that, we could be out of a job.
13:07
So,
13:09
It's a hard line to draw, but I think the old system was far better, in my opinion, as far as for the show.
13:16
And also, we knew where the crash was with the old system, and we knew not to blaze past it.
13:23
And we're still blazing past cars now because we have 25 seconds.
13:27
So I don't see how it's really helped that.
13:30
Yeah, I think the hard thing watching, I guess from an Erebus point of view, watching car nine, like Jack LeBrock was comfortably running four full day, FCY come out and he got absolutely sunk because of that system.
13:42
Yes, we probably could have maybe double stacked and we could have managed it better, but yeah, he come into pit lane and then they decide to put the green light on to catch the safety car.
13:51
So all of a sudden you've got cars speeding up in a yellow environment.
13:54
So it was all a little bit messy, but...
13:57
As we all know, we're trying to make our sport safer and better.
14:00
But, yeah, still needs some work in my opinion, but hopefully we'll get there.
14:04
So, right, I didn't really get anything juicy in the race there anyway, but podium had to have felt pretty amazing up there.
14:12
Everyone running out on the track.
14:14
You know, you've been on the sides.
14:16
Each side last couple of years watching someone else celebrate, that must have been pretty emotional.
14:21
Yeah, it was for myself.
14:23
And those last 30 laps there were grueling.
14:26
They were so intense.
14:27
Because the gap was close with you guys, wasn't it?
14:29
It was within a second for over 50% of that last stint.
14:34
And I've got a display on my dash that shows me how far Brock was behind me.
14:38
And I'd be going down the hill every lap, pretty much hanging my balls out on the line, ready to write this Chico roll off.
14:46
Roll through the sand.
14:47
Yeah, roll.
14:47
through the sand and, you know, I'd get to Forest and I'm like, surely I've put, I've put, you know, a gap on this little prick behind me and it'd come out exactly the same and I'd be like, fuck.
14:58
Like, how much more have I got to do to, you know, at least have a safe buffer that's, you know, if I were to make a small mistake, you know, that he wouldn't be able to, you know, to attack me.
15:06
And once we got, you know, I crossed the checkered flag, it took a while for it to actually all sink in because the adrenaline was so high, you know, from pushing, you know, for so long.
15:16
And once I got back to the, you know, the podium and actually Todd come in and- It was cool watching you too.
15:22
Yeah, Todd come in and he was just screaming, we've just won a fucking bath first.
15:26
And I was like, that's when it started to realise, I'm like, oh, we've just won Bathurst.
15:30
Yeah.
15:31
So, yeah, really cool moment for myself.
15:34
Great to see the emotion on Todd's face.
15:36
He's obviously had a very, you know, interesting path through supercars and what, you know, the sacrifice that his family's made.
15:42
So that was really cool to see the emotion on his face.
15:45
What about you, mate?
15:46
I saw your mum and dad out the back, and I saw you guys rolling back through after the podium and press conferences and all that stuff, and you can see so much emotion still.
15:54
It must be...
15:55
You can see it now.
15:56
It looks like you were all up.
15:57
It must be pretty amazing.
15:58
I still feel a bit weird thinking about it.
15:59
It's a cool one to win your first one.
16:00
You win Bathurst.
16:01
It's unbelievable.
16:02
Obviously, it's an absolute dream come true.
16:05
I was still in nappies watching you race around, thinking how cool would that be.
16:09
Don't worry about my age.
16:10
Let's just talk about you.
16:11
You still look great.
16:12
You know, like it's, you know, everything that I've ever dreamt of since I was a kid.
16:16
You know, I still remember watching the race three, four years old and being obsessed with the race.
16:20
I love the history and everything like that.
16:22
So, yeah, to get a win was one thing, but to get it at the great race, you know, seriously, like someone hit me.
16:29
It's unbelievable.
16:30
But, yeah, like, as Brodie said, like, I felt like I was a bit the same because the race at the end was so intense.
16:35
And, like, I had everything crossed.
16:37
I had my fingers crossed.
16:38
Like, I've never crossed my fingers for a race before.
16:39
Like, what the hell?
16:41
And my fingers are going purple.
16:42
You're a 12-year-old schoolboy.
16:43
Yeah, I'm, like, trying to scan the radio, and I'm trying to press buttons while I've got my fingers crossed.
16:47
I don't want to push Brodie's button.
16:48
Yeah, exactly.
16:50
You know, like, it was just all happening.
16:51
And it was actually when we got past you on Colorado, I think, oh.
16:55
okay, we might actually be able to do this.
16:57
And then when he got to the last corner, it was like just went into complete shock.
17:00
You know, like, holy fuck, we've just won Bathurst.
17:03
Basically, that was all that was going through my mind.
17:05
I think that was all I was saying at that time.
17:07
So, yeah, seriously cool moment.
17:10
Yeah.
17:11
As Brodie said, when it means so much, there's so many emotions that go through the body all at once.
17:16
I think Rihanna was interviewing me at the end and I felt like I was actually going to pass out.
17:21
Just pure emotion.
17:24
It sounds silly saying it out loud, but I guess that's how much it means to us as drivers.
17:30
You see it in your faces.
17:31
You've won the championship, you've won Bathurst now.
17:34
I've only done one.
17:35
What do you, what?
17:36
Come on, tell me the championship's better.
17:38
I, I, I, I'm not going to lie.
17:41
Winning Bathurst is, you know, really, really cool.
17:43
And, you know, like some drivers go, you know, go the whole career without winning a race.
17:47
Oh.
17:47
You know, let alone trying to win that race.
17:49
That was nearly me.
17:51
Well, you started with a good one.
17:53
But yeah, it was an awesome feeling.
17:56
But the championship still means a lot to me.
18:00
Being the best over the course of the whole season is something I'm really proud of.
18:06
But yeah, really, really cool to...
18:08
It must have felt pretty cool after all the drama from this year with what you guys have been through and then to come and win the grand final of our sport for you must have been pretty rewarding for you as well.
18:24
Not only the Bathurst win but for what's happened in the back story.
18:28
Yeah, definitely.
18:29
I think for myself, when I come back, the whole goal was to win that race.
18:33
That was something that we didn't win last year.
18:34
And we obviously won the championship last year and we set out to win that race.
18:40
And it was just one of those really strange weekends where...
18:44
I went into the race thinking we can only lose it pretty much by making a mistake.
18:49
So we knew that we sort of got the car back into its performance window.
18:54
And I was feeling pretty confident from Sandown and the round before.
18:58
So yeah, it was a really good round for myself.
19:02
I just felt great behind the wheel the whole time.
19:04
The boys did a fantastic job with the car.
19:06
There was not one single mistake on the car the whole weekend.
19:09
A few vibrations coming from the tyres, but that was about it.
19:11
Even though he was shitting himself.
19:13
Yeah.
19:13
Yeah.
19:14
Pretty much.
19:14
Literally.
19:15
Yeah, I feel sorry for the seat.
19:17
Oh, sham wow in between, just in case for the drive.
19:20
We did joke on Saturday.
19:21
We're like, we're going to have to put a garbage bag in this seat.
19:23
Like, I don't want to be sitting in that.
19:26
Brody gets in with an adult diaper.
19:28
Yeah, a little nappy.
19:31
So afterwards, podium, done all the stuff, went back to the team.
19:34
Have you guys had any sleep yet?
19:35
Yeah.
19:37
I've had some sleep now, but yeah, Todd was saying his fingers were going purple.
19:43
His face was definitely purple that Monday morning.
19:46
I actually...
19:47
It looked a bit rough on TV.
19:48
I've got a good picture, actually.
19:50
I was absolutely brain fried.
19:53
So I went and he said, I said, right, we got back at like five in the morning to where we were staying.
19:59
And I said, mate, we're going to be up in an hour to go do media stuff.
20:02
And he's like...
20:04
holy fuck just wake me up so I walked into his I walked into his bedroom this is pretty good this is set up for sure and he was somehow has taken a painting off the wall of a deer and has slept with a painting of a deer stop can you show that to that I even asked Jack I'm like Jack did you put that on my bed when you like left to go to the airport yeah so I'm sorry to the people that um that we uh wish you didn't raid their closet and start wearing their clothes yeah
20:27
So you're probably wanting to go across with Brodie next year?
20:33
Or is your deal with a few years with these critters?
20:36
What's the deal there?
20:36
I think I'm still hungover from Sunday, so I haven't even thought about next year.
20:39
That's very uncommunicable, isn't it?
20:40
Yeah.
20:41
Oh, so Brodie says, come with me.
20:42
You say, I haven't thought about it yet.
20:44
Yeah.
20:45
No, yeah, I've got a cool opportunity where I can work out what I'm going to do next year.
20:50
Obviously, I've had a great opportunity with Erebus this year, and they've been fantastic to me.
20:53
So it was only just for one setup that you've done this year?
20:57
Yeah, it was a one-year deal, but still got to have that chat.
21:01
Spent the time with Betty and Bathurst.
21:04
They gave me my first Bathurst and race win.
21:06
So certainly wasn't a bad thing.
21:08
And obviously, yeah, they looked after me at the start of the year of everything that was going on as well.
21:12
But obviously, Brady and I were good mates.
21:14
And I'd love to try and obviously defend that crown.
21:17
You must be annoyed it's not rolling into the Gold Coast Enduro now as well.
21:21
I know, right?
21:21
I was thinking that today.
21:22
I thought, I just want to have one more crack this year.
21:25
It'd be good.
21:25
That used to be such a great round.
21:27
I reckon that was awesome.
21:28
I thought they were going to bring it back for next year's calendar, but they didn't.
21:31
I used to love that round because I did the wild card there in 2019 with Jake the Snake.
21:36
Oh, you sneaky.
21:38
Where's the snake at nowadays?
21:40
He actually might be coming to Gold Coast, actually.
21:41
That's dangerous.
21:42
Yeah.
21:44
Yeah, Jinx.
21:45
Called it.
21:45
So, yeah, that was an awesome round.
21:47
Yeah.
21:48
I think it's...
21:50
It just added that little bit more to it.
21:52
Like it is a cool round, but it is hard to pass and whatever.
21:57
But when you had that strategy of having another driver in, I think it did add a little bit more.
22:01
And I think it's something that that event has been missing since we changed back to it.
22:05
And I think for me, I reckon it'd be so much better if we did roll back into that.
22:09
I'm sure Todd agrees.
22:10
Yeah, as a professional co-driver, one more round would be great.
22:13
So would you go back main game or that's it now?
22:16
I think for the right opportunity.
22:18
I felt like, for me, the last few years in the sport, I just got so frustrated to the point where I just felt like I wasn't achieving anything as a driver.
22:25
Like, as drivers, we're wired to win.
22:27
We want to do well.
22:29
When your name's on the door, you're representing, you're obviously representing the team, but it is very much an individual thing.
22:34
game at the same token.
22:35
You know, we basically all work as contractors in this game.
22:38
So, you know, for me, the last couple of years, I actually walked away from Bathurst last year and I just promised myself I would never do this again.
22:45
Like, if I keep doing the same thing and expect something better to happen, like kidding myself.
22:49
So, and sliding, you talk about sliding doors moment in life.
22:53
It was actually, I just spoke with Tim and John last year after Bathurst and they said, look, we're not going to progress with you as a driver next year.
23:01
Half an hour later, Barry Ryan, you know,
23:04
Barry Ryan reached out half an hour later and said, hey, we're looking at co-drivers next year.
23:08
Are you interested?
23:09
So here we are as Bathurst winners.
23:11
So yeah, proof in the pudding, I guess.
23:14
Yeah, exactly right.
23:14
I was pretty adamant I was doing the right thing, but until you get a result, it's probably hard to justify.
23:20
But yeah, certainly looking back now, I had seven years of frustration and one year as a co-driver and won the biggest prize in Australian motorsport.
23:27
I suppose the thing that's cool for you, like you've qualified on pole and you've done, like had...
23:31
spikes through your time in supercars at the moment in main game.
23:35
You obviously did really well in Super 2 but to now come out and have the best team, it's the championship winning team, championship winning driver, go up against like with Brodie all weekend, it must have been pretty rewarding for you to sort of
23:51
see, you know, and show that you are at the level where, you know, as all drivers, we all have got confidence in our own ability.
23:57
But the most frustrating thing I think about our sport is that we can have the most amazing race of our lives, but still come 25th.
24:05
It's so frustrating.
24:07
But for you...
24:08
I suppose that last weekend must have been so rewarding in that you could have just sort of let go of all that baggage and that questions.
24:17
Because everyone does question themselves.
24:19
I've been doing this a long time and you still question things that you do.
24:23
But it must have been, yeah, just a huge weight off your shoulders.
24:26
You'd probably, if you rolled back to Bathurst...
24:29
this weekend, you'd probably be heaps quicker again.
24:32
I'll probably crash.
24:34
Try too hard.
24:35
I'd be too excited.
24:36
No, yeah, exactly.
24:38
Like, to finally tick that box, you know, I walked away in the last year going, man, you know, like if I was that frustrated to the point where I was like, I could almost walk away from the sport just...
24:47
from the frustration that I had.
24:48
But the one thing that was keeping me in the game was like, well, I haven't just worked my ass off to not win a race in supercars.
24:53
I still wanted to tick that box.
24:54
So yeah, to tick it now, um, yes, as you mentioned, huge sense of relief.
24:59
But as you said, you know, like you, you put so much pressure on yourself to perform.
25:03
And when it gets to the point where you think, man, is this actually ever going to happen?
25:06
And, um, yeah, that was starting to eat at me, especially the last few years.
25:10
So yeah, to do that now is cool.
25:12
And, you know, we'll see what happens from here on in, but, um,
25:15
Yeah, just the journey of motorsport, isn't it?
25:19
Like it's such a cutthroat game when you get to the top tier.
25:21
It's so competitive.
25:23
You know, we saw on the weekend, you know, 26 cars separated by just over a second at the great race.
25:28
You know, that's seriously impressive.
25:30
So no one's out there just, you know.
25:33
making up the numbers, so to speak.
25:34
Everyone can drive.
25:35
So, yeah, it's just the journey of motorsport.
25:38
There's so many moving factors to be successful.
25:40
It's not just turning up and doing a really good job behind the wheel.
25:43
You've got to get the team around.
25:44
You've got to get the engineer.
25:45
Like we spoke about Brodie and George being a formidable partnership.
25:48
You know, you've got to have...
25:50
all the key elements put together to even get a sniff of a win in supercars these days.
25:55
So, yeah.
25:56
It's a pretty cool backstory because I didn't realise you guys knew each other that well and lived together.
26:00
Like, it must have been, like, I remember for me when I won that race with Jack, you know, it was his first victory in the main game as well.
26:07
And it was, like, for me, it made it even more emotional because he was a mate and sort of being able to do that for him, it's probably the same for you, I guess.
26:15
Yeah.
26:15
Yeah, like I, you know, Todd and I had probably like, we had a really different path getting to where we are today.
26:21
And yeah, living with Todd, you know, a bit in 2017, 2018.
26:26
You know, I was always working on my own car and all that sort of stuff.
26:29
And, you know, we was fortunate enough to have the, you know, the family backing at Super 2.
26:32
But Todd's...
26:34
Todd's story was a bit different where he had to go out and find the funding and spent every single last minute of every day trying to make each race type deal where my story was a bit different where I got to spend more time on myself, understanding the cars and all that sort of stuff.
26:50
So I had a really big appreciation for his work ethic to just get to each event back then.
26:56
And, you know, what he did back then in 2017 to, you know, win that championship against, you know, those guys that he was going up against, you know, like PD back in the day, you know, there was times in, I think, I can't remember exactly when it was a few years ago when he went quicker than the main game cars, you know, back then in Super 2.
27:12
So it was really competitive back then.
27:13
So, yeah, I guess we both had really different journeys to this point, but it was really good to, you know, work with Todd and, yeah, and, you know, get that win.
27:22
Oh, that's awesome.
27:24
No?
27:24
Yeah.
27:25
Heartfelt moment.
27:25
Yeah, heartfelt moment.
27:27
I still remember him going outside at Mount Tamarind and running up this really stupid big hill, wondering what the fuck he was doing.
27:34
Back when I was young and dumb and used to run.
27:37
And now you run around the mountain together for 1,000 k's.
27:39
But I suppose moving on a bit, we've had the calendar come out for next year.
27:44
Not taking anything away from the win.
27:45
Those are awesome, guys.
27:46
My hat tips to you both.
27:48
Hopefully I can do it next year.
27:50
Or that, or I can be your partner sometime.
27:52
You can win it for me.
27:55
So the calendar, what do you think of the changes?
27:58
Going back to QR, did you...
28:01
We didn't race a QR when you were in the main game, did we?
28:04
No, I've only tested...
28:05
I think it was 2019 was the last one, wasn't it?
28:07
Yeah.
28:07
Yeah, I've only tested a QR in the year that went back to QR.
28:11
I was out of Super 2 at that point because we're doing the wildcard stuff.
28:14
But yeah, I think it's great that we're getting...
28:16
They've added one extra round.
28:18
I'd still like to do more racing, obviously.
28:20
But yeah, the calendar looks great, I think.
28:23
What do you think of the new points, being the champion?
28:25
Yeah.
28:26
I was a bit unsure at first about what the format was, but I think they've got a really good system going forward with it.
28:34
So I'm excited for it.
28:36
I think it's going to promote pretty hard racing.
28:38
And at the moment, we've got – I think Will's got a 200-point lead over second.
28:43
I think it's Brock now.
28:44
And you can afford to be a little bit safe.
28:46
But now with the new system, it's sort of like you've got to be pushing the whole time.
28:52
Yeah.
28:52
um you know you can't you can't afford to rest so i i think it's good i think our sport is in need of a little bit of change for that i think we have you know people bang on about the racing not being great and everything else but to be honest like the racing's far better than any other um you know tin top stuff out there um so i think um yeah i think it's good for our sport to be honest
29:13
Yeah, I reckon it's going to be pretty good because we'll have our final sort of run starting or little championships or cups, they don't want to call it.
29:21
What is it, the Sprint Cup and Enduro Cup?
29:23
getting the confirmation off the side and then into that finals thing would be pretty cool because we don't really compete with any other sports through that phase because of you know all the all the ball codes are done um the cricket hasn't really started up too much so we sort of will get a big line share and i think the drama that we've had as a championship previously is guys like you running away with the championship early or having you know such a dominant season like it's awesome you want to do that but
29:49
It sort of probably does make those last few rounds a bit boring, but it's not for the guys that are actually in there, but for spectators.
29:55
Yeah, I think, like Brady mentioned, the intensity dial is going to get massively turned up in those last two events.
30:00
And we're not going to tracks where you can just cruise around either.
30:03
If you want to be fast at Gold Coast, you've got to have a dip.
30:06
If you want to be fast at Sandown, you've got to be aggressive and the same with Adelaide.
30:09
So especially when it's going to probably come down to qualifying, who can really throw it on the line and put a good lap together.
30:15
Like, man, it's going to make it so exciting, I think, at the end of the day.
30:18
What will be crazy is if one of those guys that's in that field
30:21
has an accident and you have a good coming in you've got a good points lead and then you have an accident and you miss out like it's there's going to be heartache stories but I think that's that's all part of it yeah that's just that's just yeah that's just part of motorsport and part of sports in general there's always going to be heartache somewhere so it's like the football codes you've got like guys that come in minor premieres and then lose and they don't even make the final but yeah
30:43
I agree.
30:45
I think it's good for us.
30:45
And the points gap you're happy with, isn't it?
30:47
50 points spread?
30:50
To be honest, I wouldn't mind if it got fully reset, to be honest.
30:53
Zero.
30:53
Yeah.
30:54
I'm waiting for the call maybe in a couple of years when it takes all last rounds.
30:59
Is that what they do in the NASCAR?
31:00
They zero it?
31:02
I didn't really follow it too much.
31:03
I believe so.
31:03
I can't really remember, to be honest.
31:06
It's one of those things where they have, you know, we do three races across a weekend where they only do one.
31:12
You know, they go into the last round or last race and winner takes all out of the top two or top four.
31:17
I can't really remember, to be honest.
31:19
But yeah, I assume that'd be cool.
31:22
Yeah.
31:22
Well, I think we should get to that point eventually.
31:24
But yeah, it's almost like we might need to have a different last round or something like that for, you know, for that instead of going on the.
31:31
same track and all the races a lot more races double races on the saturday back to that craziness yeah there's a few few interesting changes like even um obviously the lack of testing the lack of practice at the events so and you're literally going to get thrown one compound in one day and
31:48
you know, different compound on the others.
31:49
Yeah, so just going over it, it's only two test days and we have to do them together, one's at the start of the year on the Wednesday and then the Monday after the QR race.
31:56
Yeah, like, you know, you talk about making it tough for teams, like that's going to make it an absolute nightmare to try and get right.
32:02
So I think...
32:03
Practice at the races to 30 minutes, yeah?
32:05
Yeah.
32:06
That's all we get.
32:07
I think it's pretty, like, I think the more racing is definitely a positive, but I think, yeah, it's one of those, like, less practice is fine for, I guess, guys that are probably more experienced like myself, yourself, and a few others, but it's harder for, it'd be harder for, like, if we've got someone like Kai coming in next year, who's going to have two.
32:23
Poor Kai.
32:24
Yeah, poor.
32:24
No, I was going to say it's your teammate.
32:26
He's not, is he?
32:26
No, no, he's off at Groves.
32:29
But, yeah, like two 30-minute practices and, you know, going to three races.
32:33
Like, he's done, you know, a bunch of racing, the Cibitool and whatnot, but just don't want to make it too hard for those guys to, you know, get into the sport.
32:39
MUSIC
32:47
Speaking of Kai, I got told that he broke his collarbone in that accident.
32:50
No way.
32:51
Yeah.
32:52
They juiced him up and he raced the rest of the weekend.
32:54
If that's true, that's seriously impressive.
32:56
Is this true?
32:56
That would have stung.
32:57
Yeah.
32:58
What a story.
32:58
They kept that on the down low.
33:00
Yeah.
33:00
I thought shooting myself was bad.
33:02
Yeah, no, no.
33:02
Apparently, I don't think it was displaced and hanging out of the skin, but yeah, they said he did his collarbone and then they juiced him up and kept going.
33:10
That's why I couldn't miss that session.
33:12
That's some good juice.
33:13
Yeah.
33:14
That is juicy.
33:14
How do you reckon he's going to go next year?
33:16
I'm pretty excited.
33:18
I've been pretty lucky to spend some time with Kai.
33:22
He was part of the whole Norwell sort of.
33:25
Yeah, I got to spend some time with him in Mount Gambier and introduced him to Paul Morris at Norwell Motorplex and then into the Eggleston family, which is where I did my last in and Super 2 in.
33:37
They're good people.
33:38
The Egglestons are great people.
33:40
They really gave me a lifeline in 2020 there.
33:44
Think of all the young guys that they've helped come through as well.
33:47
There's sort of an unsung hero.
33:49
Yeah, a long list of names.
33:51
Yeah, there is.
33:51
Sorry, continue on about it.
33:53
Yeah, Ben to – I think he's got such a great talent and it'll be interesting to see how he fits in at Groves and seeing his career play out.
34:03
So hopefully it doesn't go too quick.
34:04
We'll find out.
34:05
Speaking of people that –
34:07
doing so well.
34:08
Someone who didn't really surprise me, but he did really well on the weekend was little Aaron Cameron in our team.
34:15
He's a cracking little fella and he drove the ass off that thing.
34:19
He did really, really well and he won his first Super 2 race, which was awesome.
34:24
Was there anyone on the weekend that surprised you, whether it be good or bad, main game?
34:29
Please don't say mine.
34:34
I think for us, you know, Erebus have their, you know, junior program and Job Stewart got his win on the Saturday there.
34:41
And Eric was following three seconds behind when he had the power steering failure then.
34:45
And then he was able to obviously, you know, deliver on the Sunday.
34:48
So those two guys on the Saturday and the Sunday there, sorry, on the Friday and Saturday were the standouts to me as far as the young guys.
34:57
Yeah, it's interesting watching it and seeing, you know, it wasn't too long ago that I was, you know, one of those guys trying to, you know, trying to make a name for myself.
35:04
So it's cool to see those guys having a crack, that's for sure.
35:06
Yeah.
35:06
What about in our race?
35:08
Was there anything that you were surprised at?
35:10
Like anyone doing anything silly or?
35:12
We were hitting bugs the whole race, mate.
35:14
We'd clean out.
35:14
Yeah.
35:15
Well, you could have spent a bit of time in the garage kicking the heels up while Toddler was cruising around.
35:20
Oh, I was, when he was cruising around, I was having a shower and on the toilet.
35:23
Cleaning up the back door by the sounds of it.
35:25
Yeah, I was.
35:25
Yeah.
35:26
Yeah, it was like a tornado on the toilet.
35:29
But yeah, there wasn't any real incidents, was there?
35:32
No, I think...
35:33
Sorry, I jumped around a bit then.
35:34
I just thought of that.
35:35
That Boost Camaro, that got in the way a few times, and I think that got a few driver's nerves up.
35:39
What happened to Matty Payne at the top of the hill for that safety car?
35:42
Just a bad down change?
35:45
I think they were talking about maybe he had a gearbox issue, but it sounded like it went into gear, but just real tardy.
35:49
Because he got three of them.
35:51
Oh, mate, my little teammate, Aaron, Scotty Pie and him.
35:55
Yeah, it is.
35:57
I've been in there.
35:58
Yeah, the Cutting's taken a few big names over its time.
36:04
The Goat?
36:05
Yeah, the Goat.
36:07
He's been in there a few times.
36:08
You watched him go in there, didn't you?
36:10
Yeah, I did, yeah, back in 2020 or whatever that was when I was co-driving.
36:13
Yeah.
36:14
But I was surprised that there wasn't more of that in the race.
36:17
But, you know, I guess, you know, once the track sort of rubbers in and, you know, like I said, it's got that street circuit vibe.
36:24
But once it starts to rubber in and, you know, the line becomes, instead of becoming, you know, it's two little train tracks that we follow, it becomes a little bit wider.
36:31
It sort of becomes a little bit more forgiving.
36:34
And, yeah, compared to last year, they seemed a lot more forgiving, the cars.
36:38
Obviously, the setups get a little bit better, but, you know, the aero changes and whatnot made it probably a bit...
36:43
a bit easy to drive.
36:44
So I think that's why we probably saw less mistakes in the race than what we thought.
36:48
What do you think about the tire?
36:49
To be honest, I knew the tire was gonna do nothing for the racing.
36:54
To be honest, there's probably less marbles on the road, but yeah.
36:58
like it's, it's sort of hard to pass around that place in general.
37:02
Um, you know, as we all know, it's looks, it's a, it's a great racetrack, but it's hard, it's, it is hard to pass.
37:08
Um, and for Brock to stay behind me, that's still, I thought that was impressive in itself because of, um, you know, the characteristics of the car, it's just physics, the current front's always going to have, you know, slight advantage, but, um, yeah, I don't know.
37:19
I think, um, yeah, I think,
37:22
I thought it was maybe a little bit easier to follow last year and maybe a little bit easier to pass on what's been this year.
37:26
We've got a little bit bigger rear wing this year, so the aero balance is a bit more rearward.
37:30
So when you follow, it's a bit more punishing.
37:32
So that's probably a little bit disappointing for myself.
37:35
There was some impressive towing down the straight, wasn't there?
37:37
The old mate little Will Brown pushing cam pass.
37:40
There was a bit of up drafting going on there.
37:42
Yeah, a bit of shake and bake action going on.
37:43
It was cool, wasn't it?
37:45
Yeah.
37:46
There wasn't too many shake and bake the other way from the Ford to Camaro, though.
37:49
Was there?
37:51
Yeah.
37:51
Punch in a big hole.
37:52
Yeah.
37:54
What's the go, lady?
37:54
Big draggy holes.
37:56
What's the go here?
37:57
Well, I don't know.
37:58
I was hoping it was going to be a lot better.
38:00
At least you didn't snap a crank, eh?
38:02
I didn't what, sorry?
38:03
At least you didn't snap a crank.
38:04
Yeah.
38:05
With all the question marks going into the race, that must have been pretty Friday.
38:09
That was pretty airy.
38:10
We got the engine on whatever it was, Friday.
38:13
How many engine changes did you do over the weekend?
38:15
Just one.
38:15
Just one for us.
38:16
Actually, Richie did toe up and actually try to pass me down a straight.
38:19
There we go.
38:20
There is one.
38:21
Yeah.
38:21
Lap one.
38:22
Oh, was it?
38:23
Oh, yeah, I saw that.
38:23
That was actually where I thought, like, oh, my God, here we go.
38:26
That big Cody was turned up.
38:29
Pulling along.
38:30
Oh, she was going good.
38:31
She's got a good one.
38:32
It was actually interesting watching all the Fords, like, because we spoke about it internally, and it definitely looked like.
38:37
You drove both quite quickly between the two.
38:40
Did you, like, in all honesty, don't worry about the engine side of things, but I suppose it's a very different team, so don't worry about it.
38:46
.
38:48
Do you want me to say something or not?
38:49
Yeah, yeah.
38:51
No, I was just going to say, it was interesting watching all the Ford teams.
38:54
It looked like Chas didn't really have much in a straight line, but the two Penrite cars looked really strong all week, even in the micros all weekend.
39:02
So for whatever reason, they set their car up, obviously.
39:05
Even the DJI cars were strong in a straight line.
39:07
Yeah, yeah.
39:08
Chas seems at that place just to focus on the top of the hill and coming down.
39:11
He always has a great sector there.
39:13
He's insane across the top and down, isn't he?
39:16
Yeah.
39:16
He's always been good there.
39:18
Yeah, it was interesting because we both spoke about it.
39:21
We thought Chas and Lee would be one of the ones to beat, especially with the pace they showed at the start of the year.
39:25
Like Chas was on the podium both days in contention to win both races.
39:29
So for him to be a little bit further back was interesting actually.
39:34
Garth and Payne were not as speedy as I thought they were going to be either.
39:39
Yeah.
39:39
I think Garth ran down the escape road in the first stint, so that probably didn't help their chances.
39:44
Yeah, sort of pushed him back a bit further.
39:46
But, yeah, I think internally we sort of thought that, yeah, probably Payne and Garth would be in the top five, ones to beat.
39:54
Someone that was super quick, or not as fast as you guys, but was that little Cooper Murray.
40:01
Is that his name, Cooper Murray, isn't it?
40:02
Yeah.
40:02
Holy crap, he went from the back.
40:04
I just was carving craters up.
40:06
Yeah.
40:06
Wasn't he?
40:07
Lunging guys at left, right, center.
40:08
I think Wes May must have had a pretty special setup in that thing.
40:11
My staff would have been laughing around.
40:12
Yeah, she was a fucker, I reckon.
40:14
Yeah, it was impressive.
40:15
Have you seen it?
40:16
Yeah, I've seen it, yeah.
40:17
His grey ass and the dirty black moustache.
40:20
Old Luigi Wesmo.
40:22
Yeah, Luigi Wesmo.
40:24
Bit of a spray can.
40:26
Matt Black on that thing.
40:27
But no, he was speedy, wasn't he?
40:29
He was.
40:29
No, he was seriously impressive.
40:30
And yeah, I think they're on track for like a top five, top six result.
40:35
He got caught out with that.
40:36
Yeah, I was talking to Wes on Sunday night at the Ox after a few beers.
40:40
Oh, you remember?
40:41
I'm surprised you weren't talking.
40:42
That was before I had too many beers.
40:44
Yeah.
40:46
But, yeah, I think Wes was saying, yeah, he hit the button, didn't engage, and then as he got back on the throttle, it sped up to 120, and that's why they got the penalty.
40:53
So maybe a little bit unlucky, maybe a little bit of a technical thing that happened there.
40:57
But, yeah, I think those guys did a great job.
40:59
So proof in the pudding for super cheap, like...
41:02
Two years in a row, that car's sort of been up the front and in contention.
41:06
So pretty cool program.
41:08
All right.
41:09
Moving on again.
41:10
We'll try and get away from Bathurst.
41:11
I always drag us back there.
41:13
Going into the Gold Coast, what do you think is going to be more of the same
41:17
Who are you expecting?
41:18
Expecting any standouts?
41:19
What do you think the guys like Cam and Chas are going to come back to the front a little?
41:24
I think Cam was strong there last year.
41:27
I hope we're right up there.
41:29
I was pretty good there the last day.
41:31
Dave and I had a ripping race there.
41:33
I sort of put my house down that you'll be there.
41:38
Dave and I had a ripping race there last year, so I'm hoping the same happens again.
41:42
But I think it'll be your usual suspects up the front, the T8 guys and Cam and Chas and whoever else will make up the top bunch.
41:55
Do you reckon Will's going to be able to hang on this time?
41:57
I don't know.
41:58
You sprayed him pretty hard at the gala dinner last year about him crumbling.
42:04
Yeah.
42:06
I remember distinctively Will actually shunted in the shootout at Gold Coast last year.
42:11
Do you remember that?
42:12
Yeah.
42:12
On the Sunday.
42:13
And it's actually pretty funny because...
42:16
I actually got a, I think I got pole that one and he's come in, he spun into the tire barrier, not too much damage, a bit of body work and stuff.
42:23
And I'm like, what were you like?
42:25
You're like 10 Ks up.
42:26
He goes, Oh, I don't even feel like I was even crashing.
42:29
I'm like, that's generally what happens when you crash.
42:30
You don't realize you're going to crash.
42:32
I was, you wouldn't crash.
42:33
Right.
42:33
And he's like, Oh yeah, God, that's dumb, isn't it?
42:36
I said that.
42:37
Yeah.
42:39
Yeah, he's always been really quick around there, so it'd be interesting to see how he goes.
42:44
But I don't think those tearcars were that strong around there last year.
42:46
And they obviously struggled at Townsville, so it'd be interesting to see how they go.
42:50
Because it's just between the two of them really now, isn't it?
42:53
I suppose if you look at all the points and if they don't finish and whatever, but...
42:58
It's a big jump from Will to, is it Chas third?
43:02
Yeah, I think Brock's in second now.
43:04
Yeah.
43:05
So, yeah.
43:06
Do we know what the points do?
43:08
One DNF and like it could be on again.
43:10
Yeah, you never know.
43:11
You put the pressure on going to Adelaide, two big races.
43:14
And there's always, you know, turn three where we go onto the back straight along the beach there.
43:21
I'm interested to see, you know.
43:23
The passing and these wheels are a bit interesting as well.
43:26
It doesn't take much for a car to turn into a helicopter.
43:28
Right.
43:30
Yeah.
43:30
Yeah.
43:31
I do get a lot of wheel-to-wheel lifting now, don't I?
43:34
I hate these wheels.
43:35
These new rims, I think if I could change one thing in supercars, it would be the rims because the rims protrude outside the tyre.
43:42
And, you know, we will talk about we want to have door-to-door racing, and that's probably the one thing that's stopping us from racing harder than where we are.
43:49
And like I look at my incident with Winkup at Sandown, like, you know, tried to lean on the door, make the pass happen because it's pretty hard to get around.
43:55
Was it the exhaust they cut it, you reckon?
43:56
Yeah, it was actually the exhaust, yeah.
43:57
Yeah, but, you know, between, well, I'll change that too.
44:01
How about two things I'll change?
44:03
But, yeah, I think if we could tidy those two things up, I think we could have some seriously really good door-to-door racing because we can get closer.
44:09
You know, we're not getting as much dirty air like the old Gen 2 cars, so.
44:12
We used to have that rule where the exhaust tip had to be, like, right inboard, didn't we?
44:16
And they'd measure it and...
44:18
Whereas now it's just hanging out.
44:19
It's hanging out like a Mad Max machine.
44:21
I don't remember them measuring it.
44:23
Back in the day, the old car.
44:24
Maybe it was a bit before.
44:25
Maybe it was the generation before that.
44:29
The BA.
44:30
The old Y-pipe.
44:34
But yeah, so Gold Coast, similar sort of thing.
44:38
Same guys.
44:39
And then into Adelaide.
44:41
Yeah, that'll be interesting, won't it?
44:43
So I guess I reckon Gold Coast will really set the tone for the championship, I'd say.
44:48
It sort of did for me last year, you know, that Sunday, having that second result there.
44:53
And I think Shane sort of slipped back a bit there.
44:55
But yeah, like anything could happen.
44:58
Two crazy racetracks, like Todd said, you can't make any mistakes.
45:01
Otherwise, you know, if you hit the wall, it bites your heart around those places and you're pretty much DNF, so.
45:06
I suppose the position that Cam and Chas are in now, and being strong at these next couple of circuits, they can afford to sort of lean on Brock and Will a bit more and probably pressure him into just letting him pass.
45:21
Because Will's not going to want to fight with anyone, is he?
45:23
He's just wanting to...
45:25
Well, we don't know.
45:26
I guess time will tell, but I'm not the championship either, so I'm just going out there trying to get some surf moves.
45:32
Oh, that's a given.
45:33
You're the hardest-ass racer out there.
45:37
It's good.
45:38
Sometimes it's too hard to get myself in trouble.
45:40
No, I think one good thing about racing.
45:42
I think you're actually the hardest.
45:43
You're the biggest prick to race.
45:45
Anytime your car's any good, I hate racing you.
45:48
I'm like, anytime I get near JC, it's like, fuck.
45:51
sakes just you'll block or just if you have a sniff you're up the inside from three car legs well those days are coming to an end so um hey townsville wasn't too low actually you might be a bit of a suspect you're pretty good at townsville you could qualify well like even gold coast you always drag it into the shootout yeah boys i think i'm coming in for a strong finish at the season's lookout i'll get it amongst those championship boys yeah one more time
46:19
Let's pluck fifth and just roll through there in fifth, see how we end up.
46:23
But it's also, you can get involved in someone else's accident.
46:26
Was it last year with, was it Jimmy that went through and punched that tire?
46:30
Two years ago now.
46:31
Yeah, that was bad.
46:33
I'm glad those tires are gone now.
46:34
Yeah.
46:35
Are they gone?
46:36
Yeah.
46:37
Well, last year, when Dave and I were racing, I felt confident going behind him.
46:41
It's still policing, really.
46:44
It is some policing, yeah.
46:45
Even though we have the kerbstrikes through there, there's only really the first one on the right where we run over the flat kerbs.
46:50
That really should be the only one.
46:51
The other one's self-policed.
46:52
But yeah, when I was racing, Dave, I could actually take a little bit more kerb without having to write my car off and have another passing opportunity down there.
47:00
It was this race when Dave just went straight through turn one chicane, didn't he?
47:03
Yeah, a couple laps in a row, yeah.
47:05
Right at the last lap too, so he couldn't get it.
47:07
Yeah, he didn't get it a prick, yeah.
47:09
How do you reckon they can fix that, apart from just putting a wall there?
47:11
I don't know.
47:13
Because that's a shit thing, because they save them up, save them up, and then... Yeah, I don't really know.
47:18
It's sort of hard to... Because there used to be a tyre wall there back, say...
47:22
I think the first ever time when they raced...
47:25
on the Gold Coast, they had grass, like, fake... Yeah.
47:27
Like, grass turf in there.
47:29
Yeah.
47:29
And then, obviously, that stuff ripped out.
47:30
And then we had, like, these big rubber things that were, like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
47:33
I reckon if you...
47:35
They were launching into the crowd.
47:36
I reckon it's like, you know, like, if you cut it, obviously, a little bit and you get a curb strike, like, obviously, you know, it's a curb strike.
47:42
But if you cut it completely like he does, like, we have to come up with some sort of... What you have to do... Because I don't think he even...
47:49
That last lap, he just went straight through.
47:50
I just didn't even try.
47:51
He just went to the fast lap of the race.
47:52
Wouldn't it be crazy if, like, you know, like Formula E, how you have to take, like, that outside line?
47:55
Yeah, like the outside line.
47:56
Imagine if you were to turn three and you had to deliberately run wide.
48:00
Like, you'd lose a spot straight away.
48:01
They do it in MotoGP.
48:02
That would stop you from doing it.
48:03
Like, I hate saying that out loud.
48:05
I think that's just fabricating fake racing.
48:08
The nuts come up with an idea.
48:09
But, like, it could be something that would actually make you want to make the apex.
48:13
Yeah.
48:13
Yeah.
48:14
They do it in MotoGP as well with a long lap penalty.
48:16
Like, I think we're probably due for something like that at a track like that.
48:19
Jeez, that'd slow everyone up, wouldn't it?
48:21
Yeah.
48:22
Like, I understand if you have a little cut, but if you just went straight through like he did, then you have to run around the wide line.
48:27
There you go, Mitch, write that down, get it into the trade market.
48:31
Who's that DSR?
48:32
I haven't been in it that long.
48:34
We did actually speak to Ben a bit after the last round, but there's obviously, like, there's a lot of, you know, they have to go through the, you know, mitigating factors of safety and whatever else, but, like, at the end of the day, like,
48:43
We're racing each other at 200Ks now between walls.
48:46
I'm sure we can figure it out.
48:47
But, yeah, going back to it, there is a weekend when you can get involved in someone else's accident, so that's a high chance of mixing it up as well.
48:56
Good for the finale system.
48:58
Oh, we've got mail.
49:00
Have you got questions, guys?
49:01
I think they're for you guys anyway.
49:02
We've got a mailbag here, so this will be interesting.
49:05
There's a few in here.
49:06
I'm a bit scared to open some of these.
49:08
We'll see.
49:09
Should I give some to you?
49:11
How many do we pick?
49:14
We've got Mitchell adjudicating.
49:15
How many is in there, Bush?
49:16
There's like a lot.
49:17
I'm hearing a lot of rustling there.
49:20
All right.
49:21
First one is...
49:21
I don't even know if we've covered all these topics, but anyway.
49:24
Oh, this is a good one.
49:25
I can't believe I picked this for the first one.
49:27
All right, let's hear it.
49:28
All right.
49:29
From Ali, should the rule that main drivers have to start remain in place?
49:35
I understand why supercars wanted to change it because it's our biggest event and when people turn on, they want to see the names in the car, but it does take all the strategy out of it.
49:46
Yeah.
49:46
Or a lot of strategy.
49:47
I think for Bathurst, like Sandown, you're always going to probably start the Coeys unless you're in a really bad situation.
49:53
But I think Bathurst, that used to be the cool thing.
49:57
You sit there on the grid, you'd have both drivers suited up.
50:00
oh, is he going to start or not?
50:01
You know, like there's always that element of unknown.
50:03
It removes, yeah.
50:05
Like you said, I do understand, but also too, it's a catch 22.
50:08
Like when the co-drivers are out there, TV can still come talk to us.
50:11
It's not like we're, you know, locked up somewhere and can't speak to the TV.
50:15
So I think like you said, it ruins the strategic part of the racing.
50:21
And yeah, I think I'd like to go back to the old way.
50:24
Because it pretty much got everyone into the same thing on the weekend, didn't it?
50:27
Like
50:28
Everyone, unless your DJR just got out of sync with everyone for some reason.
50:32
Between that and the full Corsellos, everyone was on the stream.
50:34
They're pretty much the same strategy.
50:36
And you could probably talk more to that point.
50:38
You could arguably say, like, it was really only Cooper Murray and Lowndes that you could arguably say, like...
50:44
who was nominated as a main driver, but it was really Cooper that was nominated as a main driver, even though he had the co-driver status.
50:51
And they blazed through the field and they passed cars.
50:53
That was probably one of the only cars that was actually passing.
50:55
So you could say proof is in the pudding if you actually mix it up.
50:58
We saw passing.
50:59
We saw some action.
50:59
Yeah.
51:00
Look at the nut.
51:00
He's coming with some screamers today, isn't he?
51:02
He does, yeah.
51:03
You should have seen him on a Monday morning trying to do the TV interviews.
51:06
It was the complete opposite.
51:07
I saw.
51:07
I had to kick him a couple of times and do the other.
51:10
Probably social media.
51:10
You guys were like sleeping in the car, doing interviews, laying down.
51:13
I think we used to chat an iron wine.
51:15
I thought I was going to pass out.
51:16
Yeah, he spoke for that long.
51:17
I thought he deprived the whole area of oxygen because he just forgot what he was saying half the time.
51:22
Carl actually cut me off, which I thought was impressive.
51:25
Righto, what else have we got?
51:27
So I think we, yeah.
51:28
Yeah, what have you got there, hasn't it?
51:30
So this is from David, J.C.
51:31
It's for you.
51:32
Can the Panthers make it a five-peat next year?
51:35
What does that even mean?
51:36
It's not even a question.
51:37
You're a big Panthers fan, aren't you?
51:39
Your whole family is, aren't they?
51:41
Yeah, I was born in Penrith, Nepean Hospital, mate.
51:43
I don't have a choice.
51:44
Born and bred.
51:45
Yeah, but yeah, we're the world's greatest football team.
51:47
We showed it over the last four years.
51:50
Very.
51:51
Very passionate.
51:52
There we go.
51:54
We're going to get big Ivan Cleary in at BRT to sort it out.
51:59
I've got a hear from Ryan.
52:01
Brodie, were you nervous when Brock started closing the gap?
52:05
Yeah, probably.
52:06
I wasn't nervous.
52:07
Pressure makes diamonds, buddy.
52:09
That's right.
52:09
That's where you get paid the big bucks, right?
52:11
But no, it was that second last stint.
52:14
Obviously, Brock was closing it a little bit.
52:16
The car was a little bit unbalanced at the time.
52:17
But yeah, we're trying to save a little bit of fuel in case there was a little bit of a late safety car, which there was.
52:23
But no, it was all good on the end.
52:26
All groovy.
52:27
It seems so measured all day.
52:29
Yeah, I don't know.
52:30
Both of you guys.
52:31
Like, it didn't look like it was hard.
52:33
Yeah, it doesn't... Yeah, it's funny.
52:35
Like, you go for the weekend afterwards, and it's like it wasn't...
52:37
It didn't feel hard, but then, you know, last year it definitely felt fucking hard, and we fucked the whole race up, so... Just do it easy then.
52:45
Just do the same.
52:46
Just roll out the same thing.
52:47
I hope it goes like that every time.
52:49
Yeah.
52:49
What else have we got, Todd?
52:50
This one's from Hayley.
52:52
Opinions on the most green flag run race, and how did it affect the strategy?
52:57
I think it was boring.
53:00
Tearing from what people are telling me, just because it wasn't...
53:04
I think you guys probably loved it, being out in the front, smoking away.
53:07
But I think as a spectacle, that lack of closing the field up probably took a lot of potential passing and stuff out of it.
53:16
Yeah.
53:16
And strategy.
53:17
The truth is, regardless if there was safety cars or not, everyone was running the same strategy.
53:21
So it started off with the fastest car on pole, then...
53:25
Which was you.
53:25
Yeah.
53:25
Yeah, which was us.
53:26
Who won the start?
53:28
I just won the start.
53:29
Who won every lap?
53:30
Yeah, we did, yep.
53:31
Who won?
53:32
You guys.
53:32
That's right.
53:33
It's the end of the day.
53:34
It's just how it works.
53:36
We started off the front row with the fastest car.
53:37
Everyone ran the exact same strategy, so there was no difference in strategy.
53:41
So regardless if there were safety cars or not, there was going to be no passing, in my opinion.
53:45
Do you reckon that's down to the cars all being identical too now?
53:49
Like we're all running the same stuff, so you can't design a different upright or any of that sort of stuff.
53:53
So it doesn't mix it up.
53:54
definitely that going on i'm gonna say that yeah like between my car and brock's car they look pretty similar like as far as how they made speed so that was always going to be a mitigating factor but i yeah the strategy thing in the full course yellow is that needs to be we need to have a serious think about that because that's going to ruin the racing i concur
54:12
Very good.
54:13
All right, got one more here from Liam.
54:16
How much of a weapon is Cooper Murray going to be in the future?
54:18
Fantastic drive from him on Sunday.
54:20
Yeah, I think we sort of touched on Cooper.
54:22
Yeah, he was seriously fast at both events, wasn't he?
54:25
Like fast sand down, fast leap of cars.
54:28
Did the same, yes.
54:29
Did the same on Sunday at Bathurst.
54:30
He's always got a nice hairdo.
54:31
He's fast with those ears tucked into that hat.
54:34
He is.
54:35
Is he an ear tucker?
54:36
Oh, mate, hard tuck.
54:37
Yeah, right.
54:38
Ah, Tuck.
54:39
In his photos, he looks like he's got a bit of crazy eyes too.
54:41
Like, I wouldn't want to mess with him.
54:43
He's very dedicated.
54:44
He's very dedicated, really, really dedicated to his racing, so.
54:47
I don't think he's going to be quick.
54:49
It shows he's obviously talented.
54:52
He's with a AAA, which is going to be produced and delivering a car that would be equal to the other two Red Bulls.
55:00
Rolling into Erebus next year, where you guys are, it's clearly a good team.
55:05
And with cars that are speedy.
55:06
So, look, I think he's going to be fine.
55:08
It'll just be, for him, it'll be his experience in managing those stressful...
55:13
It's one thing chasing someone, but like being you leading the race and that experience that you've got over your time and your mature head and your race craft, that's something that he's going to have to learn.
55:23
Like I don't think he could have delivered a result like what you guys did on the weekend.
55:28
That's only going to come with experience.
55:29
But, yeah, he'll be fast.
55:30
He's been given the word.
55:31
He's got three years to win the championship.
55:34
Well, you did it in three, didn't you?
55:35
Yeah, so he's been given the word.
55:37
Easy, right?
55:40
Time will tell.
55:43
No, bang, any more?
55:44
What else is in postman pad here?
55:45
Oh, we've done the Gold Coast predictions.
55:48
Mitchell, sorry.
55:50
Who's going to win?
55:50
The guy that goes over the finish line first at the Gold Coast will win.
55:54
I'm predicting that... How do you reckon the race will play out, though?
56:00
It's going to be one of those things.
56:01
I think it might be a bit of carnage, just because Bathurst was so cruisy.
56:05
You're going to see the same cars on the same strategy again, though, similar to, you know, it's a pretty long race.
56:10
Imagine how many FYC-wise or whatever the hell.
56:12
They're going to be everywhere with mirrors on the track.
56:14
We may not get one.
56:15
Well, they might do the NASCAR strategy.
56:17
As we try to deploy it through the beach chicane.
56:21
Actually, it's probably... Or short cutting under FCI.
56:24
That would be interesting.
56:25
I might do what you did last year.
56:27
Was it you last year that just drove through the Chikari, like flat out?
56:30
It wasn't last year.
56:31
Was that the year before?
56:32
Maybe.
56:33
I may have, may not have done that.
56:35
Yeah.
56:36
Can we get a cut of the footage of him just going flat?
56:38
Did you get a black flag for that?
56:40
We were a long way down and I had engine temp issues.
56:44
So I kept driving through until someone said something.
56:46
You went through the backstreet chicane.
56:47
Mate, I did like five laps of an oval.
56:49
No one said anything.
56:50
So I just kept going.
56:51
And then they're like, look, just try and just slow down and just go through the chicane.
56:54
I was like, all right.
56:56
That is awesome.
56:56
We had a drama and we had to pit.
56:58
And then the guys, the leaders were catching us.
57:00
And I didn't want to go a lap down.
57:01
So I just like hooked through there like five laps in a row.
57:03
And then they're like, right now.
57:05
Chasey said the first lap of the race.
57:06
All right.
57:10
But, yeah, look, I think, like we spoke about, I think Cam will probably come on.
57:16
He always has a great result around there.
57:18
But my money is going to be on you.
57:21
I think you'll...
57:23
The pressure's on.
57:24
I think the start of the year, the way the last few rounds have gone, how dominant your performance both of you guys are, your confidence and the way you're sort of carrying yourself is oozing.
57:37
that you're at the top, you're comfortable, you're delivering.
57:40
So, yeah, for me, it's going to be the Barodi show from here on the end of the year.
57:44
Well, I hope so.
57:45
That'd be nice.
57:46
It'd be a good way to send off with my current team, Erebus.
57:50
Yeah, and a big one into the end of the year.
57:52
But we're getting wrapped up here, so I can't thank the Bathurst winners enough.
57:57
Congratulations again, guys.
57:59
It was super impressive.
58:00
All weekend, considering you had the shits and everything, that makes it even more impressive.
58:05
But not a foot wrong.
58:07
You guys nailed it.
58:08
Smoked everyone.
58:09
Congratulations.
58:10
Thank you.
58:11
Thanks, mate.
58:11
You're a great host.
58:12
I reckon you should do this more often.
58:14
Oh, we'll see what we can do.
58:16
Are we going to see a big TV career out of you soon?
58:18
We'll talk about that later off air, but that's all for The Drivers Only, episode six.
58:23
Thanks for listening, everyone.
58:25
Thanks for coming, guys.