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The Motorsport Brief: Steve Richards Previews New Zealand's Historic GP at Taupo · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:05
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:06
  It's Wednesday the 17th of January 2024.
• 0:09
  There's a big meet happening across the Tasman this weekend.
• 0:13
  A few legends from Oz are heading over to take part in it and have a bit of fun in some seriously cool old cars.
• 0:20
  To talk about it, we've got a first-timer coming on the pod.
• 0:23
  He's already got some special silverware of his own in the trophy cabinet and is relishing the opportunity to drive one of the cars his famous father had a soft spot for.
• 0:35
  Hi everybody, Greg Rust with you for this edition of the Rusty's Garage Shortcast.
• 0:39
  Some quick housekeeping.
• 0:40
  J-Mac, James McFadden, came back on the pod last week, his third appearance.
• 0:45
  He's chasing the big one this weekend alongside a star-studded line-up, more than 100 other competitors at Premier Speedway in Warrnambool, the grand annual Sprint Car Classic.
• 0:57
  Good luck to everyone chasing that special prize in both Speedway and Australian Motorsport for that matter.
• 1:03
  Good luck to everyone.
• 1:03
  This Friday, we'll drop our next feature episode with respected driver manager Greg Siddle.
• 1:09
  There's some terrific stories in that one, from working with Larry Perkins in the early days in Europe to managing Nelson Piquet, how he helped bring Nicky Lauda to Australia in the 80s and Pee-wee's close ties with Mark Larkham and Sam Michael that he still has to this day.
• 1:26
  Both of those two, incidentally, Larkham and Michael, are...
• 1:29
  are already in our Rusty's Garage library.
• 1:31
  You might enjoy that.
• 1:32
  Keep an eye out for notifications when Siddle drops on Friday.
• 1:37
  Now, our guest today spoke to us just before jetting out to New Zealand.
• 1:41
  It was a nice night at his place.
• 1:43
  You can hear some birds chirping as he sat outside for the convo.
• 1:48
  And apologies for a little wind noise that may creep in too.
• 1:51
  But rather than try and make it all sound perfect, I just...
• 1:53
  went with it.
• 1:54
  Incidentally, I promised Stephen Richards years ago that I wouldn't badger him about coming on for his full life story.
• 2:02
  He'll do that one day when he's ready.
• 2:04
  I've honoured that promise, so we're keeping things in this chat very much in the now.
• 2:09
  How's this?
• 2:09
  He'll be back behind the wheel of the Skyline GTSR this weekend that his dad, Jim Richards, used on the way to the 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship.
• 2:19
  I think...
• 2:20
  Aaron Noonan, my buddy from the V8 Sleuth, said that there were wins at Amaru and Winton that year.
• 2:25
  It is a sweet-sounding six-cylinder and a car that preceded the cult classic, the GTR Godzilla.
• 2:33
  It is one of a number of attractions in Topor this weekend.
• 2:37
  Richo will also reunite with a Larry Perkins-built Commodore.
• 2:41
  There's a Bathurst 24-hour car from Gary Rogers' collection coming.
• 2:45
  Jack Perkins is heading over too.
• 2:46
  He'll demonstrate...
• 2:48
  bit of an icon the 1993 bathurst winning commodore that his dad drove that i think jack's had quite a hand in restoring too craig lowndes is going to be there and much much more greg murphy as well for this chat though it's the bathurst winner the five-time bathurst winner stephen richards hello mate welcome to the show
• 3:06
  Hello, my old mate Thruster.
• 3:08
  How are you, mate?
• 3:09
  It's great to see and hear you.
• 3:11
  How did this deal to go to Aussie say Taupo?
• 3:15
  The correct pronunciation is Taupo.
• 3:17
  How did it all come together and what appealed to you about it?
• 3:21
  Well, I've been involved with a bit of Kiwi motor racing for a while now, and my old mate Murph's a bit involved in that stuff as well.
• 3:30
  So I think it was just sort of a bit of a natural thing.
• 3:34
  It's an opportunity.
• 3:35
  Well, for me, I love it because I get to actually do a bit of driving, but in fantastic cars as well.
• 3:42
  So, I mean, I would just say...
• 3:44
  Where do I sit at the moment?
• 3:46
  I think I'm semi-retired, but I must admit, mate, I really miss that competitive element.
• 3:55
  So anytime I can get a backside of a race car, I'm pretty happy.
• 4:00
  Cool.
• 4:00
  I promised you I would keep this in the now and that one day down the track we'll do the Stephen Richards Life and Time.
• 4:06
  So we'll get to that in the years to come.
• 4:08
  So let's keep this in the now.
• 4:09
  Topor, supercars going there this year.
• 4:13
  It's great that it's returning to New Zealand.
• 4:16
  Great venue, but it's not a venue that is necessarily foreign or new to you.
• 4:21
  You've been there in relatively recent time when Clay did some racing, for example.
• 4:25
  What are your impressions of the place?
• 4:27
  Yeah, look, it's a really good little track.
• 4:32
  It's got a long straight.
• 4:33
  It's got some fast stuff, but it's got some quite tight stuff as well.
• 4:39
  So I think from that sort of perspective, you know, the supercars now, the evolution of where they've gone with Gen 3, I think...
• 4:49
  Look, it'll create a bit of opportunity, I'm sure.
• 4:53
  There's plenty of places like the fast right-hander, and I'll just quickly go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
• 5:01
  About turn nine, the fast right-hander onto the straight that heads back down to the bowl.
• 5:06
  Yeah, yep.
• 5:07
  Yep.
• 5:09
  That'll create some potential opportunities in the run down to 10.
• 5:12
  I think it'll be great.
• 5:14
  The other side...
• 5:18
  tour is no one's been there no one's been able to do any practice there's a few guys that have probably done a few laps around there over the years in in other cars like uh uh some of the guys actually no one at the moment was involved in the nz v8 super tourers back when they raced there so i i think it'll be i think it'll be good aaron love did some miles in a in a in a car
• 5:43
  Okay, yep, yep, yep.
• 5:44
  So there you go.
• 5:46
  It'll throw the cat amongst the pigeons, I'm sure.
• 5:48
  Definitely.
• 5:49
  Hey, this weekend, though, you get to walk down memory lane in a really cool manner in a car that had success in 1990 in the Australian Touring Car Championship, a car that's very close to your dad's heart.
• 6:01
  Tell us a little bit about it and the chance to step behind the wheel of it again.
• 6:05
  Yeah, so dad has owned, well, he did own the car for about 10 years.
• 6:12
  And recently it was purchased by a good friend of his, Peter Sturgeon, who actually previously owned the Group A635 BMW.
• 6:23
  That has a really nice history itself and it was a very special car.
• 6:26
  So, with Dad no longer doing the driving, he literally dangled the...
• 6:31
  I dangled the keys and he's thrown them my way.
• 6:34
  So it's been nice.
• 6:39
  Up until driving the Nissan, the GTSR HR 31 Skyline at Phillip Island last year, I'd never really driven any of his Group A cars.
• 6:54
  And I think I'd only ever driven a BMW M3 a couple of years ago at Hampton Downs.
• 7:01
  Dad, it,
• 7:04
  Dad's driven a lot of cars and in particular that car is very special, means a lot to him because it really set up the 1990 Touring Car Championship for him before, for the last two rounds he moved to the Nissan GDR and really up until that point he was, I'm sure he was leading the championship on merit in that car.
• 7:26
  So for me it's really close to the heart.
• 7:32
  What an unbelievable car.
• 7:34
  It just, they're still, they're a very, very simple car.
• 7:39
  No, um, no power steering, but, but the way that the power comes on, you know, back in the, back in the day, the Group A cars, they didn't have
• 7:51
  really complicated.
• 7:52
  You know, it was at the early stages of electronic management systems and electronic ignition, fuel injection systems that all combined in one sort of brain within the car.
• 8:08
  And yeah, it's good fun.
• 8:10
  When it comes on Boost, you know about it.
• 8:13
  Murph spoke about driving it at Phillip Island or driving these cars.
• 8:18
  You did as well.
• 8:19
  And he spoke about it so fondly, Richo, about how cool it was to drive, the sound, the feel and so on.
• 8:29
  I mean, I would imagine at the time you were a very, very young bloke when your dad was racing this thing.
• 8:35
  What sort of memories does it evoke, if at all?
• 8:38
  Yeah, I was just about to, so I was still go-kart racing, and I was about to embark on my own journey the following year through Formula Ford.
• 8:48
  And yeah, I mean, I've great memories, particularly from when Dad went from the Brock BMW team into Fred Gibson's, Gibson Motorsport for 1989 in the Nissans.
• 9:03
  And that was the car.
• 9:05
  And for sure, he was excited about...
• 9:07
  He knew what was in the pipeline and what was probably going to turn up with the GDR for 1990.
• 9:13
  So I'm sure that was one thing that excited him.
• 9:17
  But I don't think they...
• 9:20
  I don't think that they anticipated what they would actually be able to do with the car with the HR31 in 1990.
• 9:27
  Now by the time they got it to 1990, it was pretty well refined.
• 9:33
  It handled really well compared to the Sierra.
• 9:37
  The Sierra was the main competition.
• 9:39
  And they really got it working very, very well.
• 9:43
  And to the point where, you know, on the low horsepower tracks, they were taking it to the Sierras.
• 9:48
  I think they won it first round at Amaru.
• 9:50
  They had a win.
• 9:52
  And then at Winton.
• 9:56
  So I think what happened was, and maybe it was a Yokohama tyre thing as well, the fact of the matter was that they actually got it using its tyres.
• 10:03
  It's still about 200 horsepower short of a Ford Sierra on full boost, but it looked after its tyres really well.
• 10:11
  And I think that's what helped him get those early results.
• 10:16
  This Taupo historic meeting's got a lot for fans to be excited about.
• 10:21
  People in Australia will be able to watch the coverage, and those in New Zealand we would encourage to come along to the event.
• 10:28
  I don't think this is the only thing you're getting to drive, though.
• 10:30
  Is that right?
• 10:31
  Yeah, that's right, actually.
• 10:32
  Funny you say that.
• 10:33
  I've actually forgotten about it.
• 10:35
  My head's been so into getting the skyline over there.
• 10:40
  But, yeah, fantastic.
• 10:42
  You know, I'd have to say some of my fondest memories in supercars are when I joined Larry Perkins' team in 2002.
• 10:50
  And we, at the time, I guess, I'll just bore you with some details, but Larry, for the first time in a long time, probably in 2001, it's really started to open his doors up to younger thinking and getting young guys on board.
• 11:06
  And I bought my engineer who helped me out at Tigford Racing, Steve Henderson, and he was drawing and designing the car and he was working with Sean Hockey in the engine department.
• 11:18
  And there was a really great group of young guys that were working on that program through that period.
• 11:24
  And they actually had convinced Larry
• 11:29
  to do a fairly substantial step away from what a Perkins engineering car was.
• 11:36
  And Larry had pretty well given the engineers and the designers free reign to design this car based on what the best options were in terms of the design process through the CAD 3D system.
• 11:50
  So using finite analysis on stiffness and all this thing.
• 11:55
  Anyway, the end result was this chassis that we're gonna be driving.
• 11:59
  It was also the last car that Larry drove, the last V8 supercar.
• 12:05
  And we drove together at Bathurst in 2003.
• 12:12
  Look, it's got a lot of cool things.
• 12:14
  Larry, unfortunately, had a moment in practice and he shortened the right-hand side of it up by about four or five inches.
• 12:21
  There's a lot of work done by the guys overnight to get it back to scratch.
• 12:27
  And there's a whole story.
• 12:28
  And I know Larry's, I think Larry's told that story.
• 12:33
  around what was going on and why he was distracted and and how he come to have the crash so bottom line is it's a very very cool car one that I'm really close to designed by a close friend of mine um with a great group of young people you know I think during that period potentially a lot of the people that I'm still very good friends with in motor racing came from that time and so the cars the cars are quite special to me too
• 12:59
  Excellent.
• 12:59
  And Jack Perkins will be there driving an earlier model car.
• 13:02
  I'm glad that you bring up Steve Henderson too.
• 13:04
  You retain really good ties with Steve to this day, do you not?
• 13:08
  Yeah, it's funny, we've reconnected.
• 13:12
  I mean, we're good mates anyway, but over the course of the journey, Steve left supercars.
• 13:18
  We worked together in three separate teams in supercars.
• 13:22
  Then he went and had his own Autobahn store for about 10 years.
• 13:26
  Then when he finished his Autobahn store, he wanted to come back and play with race cars again.
• 13:30
  So we got him engineering when we had our BMW M6 GT3 program.
• 13:35
  Then we both moved to Team 18.
• 13:38
  Steve was managing Charlie Schwerkoltz's team, and I came on board once I'd finished driving, and now we work together at Essential Caravans, mate.
• 13:48
  Yeah, so it's great.
• 13:49
  But, you know, he's a fantastic guy.
• 13:52
  He's a car guy.
• 13:53
  I'm a car guy, you know, and we work together every day and fully...
• 13:58
  fully in caravan mode nowadays.
• 14:02
  Along the massive list of very cool cars that will be there this weekend is also a little something from the Gary Rogers Motorsports stable from its time in the 24-hour.
• 14:13
  And you got to experience that race.
• 14:16
  And I reckon you shared a little story with me about how difficult it was
• 14:20
  to sleep at night because you'd end up in the transporter, you'd kind of try and get a little bit of kip, but you'd hear it coming down the mountain, wouldn't you?
• 14:29
  And that would keep you awake and you'd try and sleep again.
• 14:31
  Then by the time you'd...
• 14:35
  The problem was, particularly the first year when there was only one of the cars and I was driving, it was myself, Garth Tander, Cameron Convo, and Nathan Priddy,
• 14:44
  And the car had done about 300 kilometres of testing prior to going to Bathurst for the 24 hours.
• 14:50
  So by no means were we convinced that we were gonna have a shed load of problems, but the reality was it probably would.
• 14:59
  So what ended up happening, you were just happy every time the car came around.
• 15:04
  So you'd have your, generally you'd have your nighttime driving stint.
• 15:08
  Then you would be in the motor home trying to wind down
• 15:13
  And then when the third driver was in, you would become the reserve driver ready to go.
• 15:17
  So you'd have to be awake.
• 15:18
  But you couldn't sleep because – and the one unbelievable thing with the Monaro is the sound that it made with that seven-litre Chev.
• 15:29
  And you'd just – you'd be out the back asleep in the paddock –
• 15:35
  It's not come down.
• 15:35
  It's not come around.
• 15:37
  And then all of a sudden you hear, and it had to come back again.
• 15:44
  But let me tell you, mate, that's a really special part.
• 15:49
  I know it's a special part of Murph's career too, but a very special part of my career, being involved in that program when –
• 15:56
  When Holden were just, they were just charging and so were Ford.
• 16:00
  So, you know, both manufacturers, they were selling the most cars of anyone in Australia.
• 16:05
  They were tipping in huge amounts of money into the sport.
• 16:09
  They were doing lots of cool promotional things with their models and, you know, alongside V8 Supercars with Holden, they pulled together this 24-hour program and then went out and won it twice.
• 16:20
  And, okay, you know, you hear what people say, oh, they did this and they did that.
• 16:25
  The reality was...
• 16:27
  they put a hell of a lot into Australian motorsport.
• 16:30
  They saw an opportunity where they could remarket that Monaro brand and get it back on the grid with, you know, the coolest line-up of Holden drivers of the time, including the great man, Brockie.
• 16:42
  It was awesome.
• 16:43
  It was so good.
• 16:44
  It was just a weekend that remains with you for life.
• 16:48
  We're going to sneak a quick break here on Rusty's Garage.
• 16:50
  More with Richo right after this.
• 16:56
  This is the Motorsport Brief back for 2024.
• 16:59
  We are already full gas.
• 17:01
  I reckon it's good for drivers to scratch the itch, as they say, and not go cold turkey in the latter part of their careers.
• 17:07
  Stephen Richards, envy, is driving some special cars this weekend at the Topor Historic GP, and he's come on to talk about it.
• 17:16
  Let's continue the chat now.
• 17:19
  you get to hook up once again with a couple of blokes this weekend that you've won some Bathurst with.
• 17:25
  So you mentioned Murph before.
• 17:27
  Lowndes is going to be there as well, and you've chalked up some special wins with him, and your time together with those blokes in different cars has yielded some very special results.
• 17:36
  So nice to hook up with both of them again this weekend.
• 17:39
  Yeah, it is.
• 17:40
  I mean, you know, we're, we're, I think we've always been pretty good mates with Murph and CL, you know, our journeys, our pathways have aligned the whole, the whole way really, you know, we all started around the same time.
• 17:56
  We shared that era with, we've all got kids of similar ages.
• 18:00
  So, you know, we, we catch up and talk about it.
• 18:03
  I think that was a beauty when I was driving with Lowndes at Bathurst
• 18:06
  as much of the conversation during the weekend.
• 18:08
  And it was probably good because it took a bit of the edge off what was going on.
• 18:11
  But, you know, we could talk about the kids and what they were up to and we could talk about what they were doing on weekends.
• 18:16
  And similar to Murph, you know, really, we've kept that good connection.
• 18:20
  So, yeah, these sorts of events in a lot of ways, they're as much about reconnecting with people on a different level.
• 18:29
  you know, when we were all competitive race car drivers, sometimes we all, we didn't necessarily always agree on certain situations, but, you know, we all remained really, really good friends, close friends.
• 18:40
  The event itself is also, whilst it has a very strong historical component, it is the season opener for the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship.
• 18:50
  Very special open wheel series in this part of the world.
• 18:53
  There are Aussies, there are Kiwis, there are Americans and international races that come and play.
• 18:59
  what is effectively the off-season of motorsport.
• 19:03
  But it's a great launch pad in many respects.
• 19:06
  Clay, your son, actually tested one in the last 12 months.
• 19:09
  I guess you'll be taking more than a little bit of interest in this series and what unfolds this weekend at Round 1 as well.
• 19:16
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:17
  I think it's been proven that this series in New Zealand has captured a lot of the current crop of talent that's racing in Formula 1.
• 19:33
  You know, what a great situation to have where when you're going through a European winter or a US winter, that you can jump down to the southern hemisphere in a fully recognised FIA category and get some runs on the board.
• 19:49
  before you start your season coming into the European and American Summits.
• 19:54
  So, you know, what's been created and the team, the Toyota guys down there, you know, we've been involved with the TGR New Zealand series.
• 20:04
  last year and they're a great group of people, really well run, so professionally done and lots of really good people working on it.
• 20:13
  And yeah, because of that reason, when we were sort of seeking out for Clay what the future held, I thought value for money to put him in one of those cars for a day and work with the likes of the Toyota technical personnel there at Hampton Downs.
• 20:28
  It was great.
• 20:29
  So I'm really looking forward
• 20:31
  to seeing a you know i'm i follow all the the tgrnz socials i've seen the the level of drivers that are coming over i'm really looking forward to taking that in you mentioned you know there about clay having the test and so on i don't know what you can uh share richo about his 2024 plans what can we hopefully see him doing um this year because he had the chance to uh race in tcr on occasion last year and he's done some great stuff in toyota 86 what does 2024 hold if you can share
• 21:01
  Yeah, look, it's very much a work in progress.
• 21:04
  We decided to try and shoot for the stars and see where we end up.
• 21:13
  Young racing car drivers, it's a reality around the world that finding the money is really, really challenging.
• 21:19
  And we've had a great group of partners through the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia series for the last three years.
• 21:28
  And we got to a point at the end of last year where we were shooting for the championship for Clay and we didn't quite get there, but he had some outstanding results, had some wins, pole positions, all that sort of thing.
• 21:39
  Look, it really, to be honest, Rusty, it...
• 21:44
  It comes down to how much budget that we can secure.
• 21:49
  There's no question, we're aiming for Super 2.
• 21:53
  That's what we want to do, but we're not there yet.
• 21:58
  And we're still working hard on that program, but we've got plenty of great options.
• 22:02
  And I would not be, I just think the quality of racing and competition is so good in the Toyota Gazoo racing series
• 22:11
  around our world at the moment that, you know, if it ends up we're back doing Toyota Gazoo racing, that's not gonna be a bad thing because it's really helped Clay's ability to go racing and in a competitive environment where you've got equality over performance in the vehicles.
• 22:28
  So we'll wait and see, mate.
• 22:29
  But yeah, look, we're looking at Super 2.
• 22:32
  for people listening that may be contemplating something like that, you won't find a more professional outfit to get involved with.
• 22:42
  So we hope that goes well, particularly for Claymate.
• 22:44
  We know, like anything, you'll be on the spanners there.
• 22:47
  A couple to finish, if you don't mind.
• 22:48
  Just turning our attention to supercars for a second.
• 22:52
  I worked on the Summer Grill series for Speed Cafe again, and Roland Dane said to us in a recent episode that he, in his...
• 23:01
  view in his kind of 2024 wish list, if you like.
• 23:04
  He thought it would be a good idea for supercars to continue some of their domestic parity testing, runway style testing that they've done, perhaps in conjunction with the things they've been doing abroad in wind tunnels and so on.
• 23:17
  And I think from memory made in that conversation, he suggested you, he said, you know, a really good neutral person with good technical nous that could drive both cars and offer the kind of fair feedback
• 23:30
  would be you.
• 23:31
  If that sort of role did become available, would that be something of interest to you?
• 23:36
  Oh, absolutely, mate.
• 23:37
  I mean, that sort of thing, and I didn't know that, but that's right up my alley.
• 23:41
  Like, my whole, I guess, motor racing career, I'm very much an on-the-spanners sort of guy, even through, you know, the years at Larry's and that sort of thing.
• 23:51
  So, yeah, I'd be 100% up for that.
• 23:53
  I was very lucky...
• 23:55
  to be offered the opportunity in 2022 to drive the two Gen 3 cars up at Bathurst and it gave me a pretty good sense for where they were heading and how far down the track in terms of development that they had come.
• 24:11
  So yeah, I mean if that was ever an opportunity I'd certainly take it up.
• 24:19
  Finally, it's very hard to say prediction when we don't know cars have hit the track yet.
• 24:23
  We don't know what everyone's going to be like for 2024.
• 24:26
  But based on some of the things you saw and that we learned, the variety of winners that we saw, the kind of reemergence of Ford even at the end of the year, what sort of stuff do you think we might expect in 2024 for supercars?
• 24:38
  Well, the biggest one for me is, and I'm not getting involved in the parity debate at all, but clearly when one manufacturer, and it doesn't matter whether it's only a couple of teams, in a two manufacturer series, you've got to be seen to have a quality.
• 24:53
  Now, supercars do a great job with all the parity performance and the review triggers and all that sort of thing.
• 25:01
  But I think what you're going to see this year is a more equal platform.
• 25:08
  To me, it's the emergence of Grove Racing.
• 25:11
  I really think that they are going to be a bit of a force.
• 25:15
  You know, I do keep my ear to the ground quite closely with Couchy and Grant McPherson, because I've worked with them both before on multiple occasions.
• 25:26
  And I just think, you know, this sport is so, so technically tough.
• 25:32
  that in year one you're always potentially going to get, and it's no discredit to anyone, but you are going to find a team that hits that sweet spot before the other teams do, because they can't go and test a great deal now.
• 25:45
  They can't, they can't,
• 25:48
  They can't simulate as much as they used to.
• 25:51
  Their tools in the toolbox are less.
• 25:55
  So it's harder for the teams when they're literally testing at race meetings on street circuits, fast circuits, different types of venues.
• 26:03
  So I think the Mustangs are going to be more competitive.
• 26:06
  I really do think that they grow.
• 26:07
  I mean, Matt Payne's result late in the year at Adelaide, that's a...
• 26:11
  that's a bit of an eye-opener.
• 26:12
  I think people will learn to know who Matt Payne is a lot more this year.
• 26:18
  And then you'll have...
• 26:19
  There's no question that Erebus... Barry, he's a passionate guy.
• 26:23
  He'll want to come out with Brodie and Jack LeBrock this year and really get amongst it again and prove to everyone that it wasn't... Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a fluke.
• 26:34
  But there are probably people around that think it may have been.
• 26:38
  Triple Eight will be there.
• 26:40
  Will now going to Triple Eight.
• 26:42
  I mean, there's so many storylines, mate, to be honest.
• 26:45
  It's fantastic.
• 26:46
  I love it.
• 26:46
  I still love the sport and love being involved in it.
• 26:50
  But yeah, it'll be great.
• 26:51
  I think year two, there'll be a lot more equality.
• 26:55
  Expectations will be more winners.
• 26:56
  There'll be a few more young blokes like Thomas Randall may get his first win this year.
• 27:01
  Cam Waters is itching for a championship.
• 27:04
  You know, you can go all the way down the list and see a reason why and how people are going to put... Tickford going back to two cars.
• 27:11
  Yeah, it's going to be a great year.
• 27:13
  We love it, mate.
• 27:14
  We love the fact that you're still oozing passion and that you will bring that to the racetrack in Topol this weekend.
• 27:19
  Enjoy, rather, driving some of those seriously cool cars.
• 27:23
  Good luck hooking up with your mates.
• 27:25
  We know there'll be a lot of laughs, a lot of ribbing and so on.
• 27:27
  It'll be the fans that will win there.
• 27:29
  Maybe a couple of beers.
• 27:30
  Yes, anyway, we'll definitely have those.
• 27:34
  Yeah, thanks, mate.
• 27:35
  Enjoyed it.
• 27:36
  Awesome.
• 27:36
  Can't wait.
• 27:38
  Aussie audiences will be able to catch it all on Fox this weekend.
• 27:42
  We hope to see as many Kiwis at the new home of the NZ Supercars event.
• 27:47
  That's coming up in April as well.
• 27:49
  Topor, the adventure playground in the centre of the North Island.
• 27:53
  Beautiful place.
• 27:54
  All part of round two of the Super Sprint Motorsport New Zealand Championship.
• 27:57
  It also marks the start of the Formula Regional Oceania Championship, which over the past decade has unearthed some stars.
• 28:06
  Drivers that are now in F1, like Lando Norris, Liam Lawson, Lance Stroll and more.
• 28:12
  Just before we go today, a couple of big stories have dropped in the past 24 hours on the admin side of the sport.
• 28:18
  David Tunnicliffe leaving the head of broadcast role at Supercars.
• 28:22
  And Nathan Brennegast, who you can find in our Rusty's Garage library, is making a return to the chair.
• 28:28
  We wish them better.
• 28:29
  both well and I have no doubt that Tunners will turn up somewhere in an executive producer role in sport.
• 28:35
  He's a good human being.
• 28:37
  Hopefully he keeps ties with motorsport too because I know he genuinely loves it.
• 28:41
  I haven't spoken to Nath yet so for those of you asking I don't know what it means for the brilliant work that he's been doing on the drag racing coverage.
• 28:50
  If there is some freedom for him with supercars to stay involved on the drag racing side over summer then I'll
• 28:57
  fans of that sport will really enjoy the little win there.
• 29:01
  And best of luck to a colleague and friend, Michael Smith from Motorsport Australia, who's announced that he's heading overseas after a long tenure with MA.
• 29:10
  That's all happening after the Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne.
• 29:13
  He's going to take up a position still within the sport, but on the other side of the equator.
• 29:18
  Go well there, MS. That is it for today.
• 29:21
  We're hoping to get Rico Abreu on the show before he heads back to the US after his awesome summer weekend.
• 29:26
  of sprint car racing here in Oz.
• 29:28
  No guarantees, but we're asking for you.
• 29:30
  We'll catch you next week, everybody.
• 29:31
  Bye for now.