Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief: The wild weekend of racing at Albert Park

Transcript

The Motorsport Brief: The wild weekend of racing at Albert Park · Rusty's Garage

• 0:01
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  Welcome to The Brief.
• 0:05
  It's Tuesday, the 4th of April, 2023.
• 0:08
  What a GP.
• 0:09
  The Australian round of the Formula One World Championship broke all sorts of records.
• 0:14
  And in this ep, we'll do our best to unpack it all for you.
• 0:20
  Hi everybody, Greg Russ with you for another edition of our Rusty's Garage Shortcast.
• 0:24
  Don't forget the regular long-form eps are still rolling out.
• 0:28
  James Small, the Aussie crew chief in NASCAR, is out very soon, so keep an eye on your notifications for that.
• 0:34
  In the last seven days, we released one with the 1996 Formula One world champion and the winner of the first race in the modern era at Albert Park, Damon Hill.
• 0:45
  A regular in the Sky F1 coverage since he retired from racing and was actually a part of the Network 10 broadcast last weekend too.
• 0:53
  In the commentary box alongside an old colleague in Tom Clarkson who many of you listening will know from the official F1 podcasts and the MC of the press conferences for the sport.
• 1:04
  The play-by-play or anchor of the call was a great friend in Richard Crail who continues to deliver world-class commentary for the Bathurst 12-hour, Porsche Carrera Cup and more, and for the second straight year at the Australian Grand Prix.
• 1:22
  He is on the line, mate.
• 1:24
  Welcome and congratulations.
• 1:26
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 1:27
  As you know, it's pretty special to rock up at a Grand Prix and call it.
• 1:32
  And you were there as well working for GPTV, but it's special.
• 1:37
  Formula One is the pinnacle of our sport in both driving, it's where the crowd is.
• 1:43
  crew members achieve to go where marshals want to be they want to volunteer at a grand prix but for people like you and i to tick that box to have that opportunity which doesn't come very often to call a formula one race is truly something very very special and those names you listed off are quite surreal that
• 2:02
  that I get to play in that pond it's pretty amazing now come on I what I love you we've got a job to do when you're in those moments obviously but the often very surreal as you said or special stuff is when you have a meal together at night time it's a great team environment there at 10 what was it like having a little glass of red with Damon Hill and Tom Clarkson and reliving old times with Alan Jones and people like that
• 2:27
  Amazing.
• 2:28
  And the whole don't meet your heroes thing, I think, is rubbish because I've met one of mine and Damon was one of my childhood heroes.
• 2:37
  I grew up in Adelaide.
• 2:38
  I grew up with the Australian Grand Prix and that race...
• 2:42
  being here in Adelaide, was fundamental to me working in motorsport.
• 2:46
  That was what gave me the impetus to chase a career in this game.
• 2:51
  It was growing up with Formula 1.
• 2:52
  I loved Formula 1 before I liked Brock and Johnson and the Bathurst 1000.
• 2:57
  So it's incredibly important to me.
• 2:59
  And hand on heart, Damon Hill was one of my favourite drivers.
• 3:03
  He was...
• 3:04
  The underdog, he was racing for the great Williams team that Alan Jones had raced for, so there was that Aussie connection there.
• 3:12
  He was in this incredible arm wrestle with Michael Schumacher, and I was cheering Damon on as a youngster going to the Adelaide Grand Prix.
• 3:21
  So to have the opportunity 30 years later to work with him is extraordinary, and he is one of the nicest, most down-to-earth,
• 3:30
  friendly people I've met in this sport, present company excluded.
• 3:35
  But the story's rusty.
• 3:37
  My goodness.
• 3:38
  And we shared a car with both myself, Damon, and Tom Clarkson driving in, and that's one of the more stressful moments of my life was making sure I didn't get crashed into on punt road with the 96 world champion sitting alongside me going, I'm sorry, officer, I'm sorry.
• 3:52
  And,
• 3:54
  And the stories are phenomenal and he's a wonderful storyteller.
• 3:58
  And if we achieved one thing on the weekend on our broadcast on Network 10, Rusty, it was giving Damon the opportunity to tell some of those stories, which he doesn't often get.
• 4:09
  in the Sky broadcast, which is punchy and quick and newsy and topical and much more in-depth, I think we had the opportunity to expand a little bit more and to get Damon talking about what it was like to come here in 1996 for the first Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne and win it and the battle with Jack Villeneuve and coming back in the Arrows and barely qualifying the year after.
• 4:30
  So if we ticked one box, I think that was just such a cool thing to get out of Damon and get that storytelling.
• 4:36
  And I love the fact that, A, he enjoys a surf, which I think he did a bit of when he turned up.
• 4:42
  And crazy where life takes you.
• 4:44
  For you to be a fan like that and then to get to work with him all these years later is tremendous.
• 4:49
  Hey, we were celebrating naturally 70 years since GP Racing kind of first came to Albert Park.
• 4:54
  So nice that you reflected on 96 there and that Damon got the chance to share a bit of that.
• 4:59
  Can we focus on the 23 race now?
• 5:02
  And it is very hard to know where to start in this conversation.
• 5:05
  I'm a bit pissed at some of the mainstream media for likening Oscar Piastri's first home race, first points in Formula One, to a Bradbury moment.
• 5:14
  Am I out of touch there, do you reckon?
• 5:17
  No, I don't think you are at all.
• 5:18
  I drove superbly in that race, in a car that is not a competitive...
• 5:23
  Formula One car, at least in the sense of being a regular point scoring proposition at this point in the season.
• 5:31
  They're still behind the eight ball and we know McLaren's got upgrades coming and they'll get better.
• 5:35
  But I loved his composure.
• 5:37
  I loved the way he navigated the opening lap.
• 5:41
  I enjoyed especially qualifying where he did and missing that qualifying two performance.
• 5:46
  But
• 5:47
  The way he navigated the opening lap, that early battle he had with Yuki Tsunoda was excellent and showed great race craft.
• 5:54
  The way he managed the likes of Sainz and Perez coming past him and not letting them ruffle him throughout.
• 6:02
  And he drove a mistake-free race.
• 6:04
  And he was never that far behind Lando Norris either.
• 6:08
  And the vibe I got...
• 6:09
  being in the paddock was that if you're within a tenth of Lando, you're doing extremely well because he is so highly rated.
• 6:17
  So, no, I don't think Bradbury moment is the appropriate way to explain it at all.
• 6:23
  I think he earned those...
• 6:25
  positions by staying out of the dramas that some much, much more experienced drivers got caught up in on all of those restarts that we experienced on Sunday afternoon.
• 6:35
  He earned those four world championship points.
• 6:37
  There's no doubt in my mind about that.
• 6:39
  And what a way to do it.
• 6:40
  And the fact that his first points come in Australia like Daniels did and like Mark Webber's did way back when, I think that's just a really nice synergy as well.
• 6:50
  But he earned them, Rusty.
• 6:51
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 6:52
  A huge launch pad for him.
• 6:54
  And the word you used there a moment ago was composure.
• 6:56
  A bit of that coming, of course, from the fact that I think they managed the spread of his appearances over the whole race week.
• 7:02
  So it wasn't exhausting for him, like it's been for Dan and for Mark Webber in the past.
• 7:07
  Oscar's obviously managed and guided by the Webbers.
• 7:10
  approach I think was important in what you just talked about.
• 7:13
  Let's talk Dan for a second here.
• 7:15
  I think Ted Kravitz from the Sky coverage expressed almost a little bit of sadness at seeing him on the pit wall with Red Bull Racing, but not racing, and basically asked him kind of not to subject us to that again, that he didn't feel like it was a great look.
• 7:30
  The crowd...
• 7:31
  went wild crazy every time they cut to him.
• 7:35
  He's still a hugely popular figure.
• 7:37
  Will we see him in an F1 car again, in your opinion?
• 7:40
  God, I hope that happens in 2024, because I think he's still got a lot to offer.
• 7:44
  Yeah, I agree.
• 7:45
  And I'm glad you mentioned the fan reaction because we saw the same thing.
• 7:49
  We had him in the studio and he was very giving of his time for media without that pressure of having to go and drive at the same time.
• 7:58
  And we had him in the studio for a while chatting to the host of our broadcast, Tara Rushton and Scotty McKinnon, and he was...
• 8:04
  just as engaging and friendly and happy as he'd always been, at least outwardly.
• 8:11
  And I love that.
• 8:11
  And I love that the fact that not being in a race car, he hasn't let that diminish his, the joy of life that Daniel brings to every conversation that he's got with that big smile.
• 8:21
  And, and he was quite open in saying that, you know,
• 8:24
  that this is just a pause, that there's plans in the works.
• 8:28
  And I think plan's the word.
• 8:30
  I can't believe that Daniel, with all his experience, with his time in Formula One, with the connections, I can't believe that he's gone into this year without having something longer term in the back of his mind that he's trying to get out of this.
• 8:46
  I feel like there's a strategy.
• 8:48
  This is all part of a bigger picture strategy
• 8:50
  that will hopefully return him to the grid.
• 8:52
  But he deserves to be back in the grid.
• 8:54
  I'd hate for his career... To finish his way.
• 8:57
  Yeah, to finish with that McLaren full stop.
• 9:00
  It's just such a not what Daniel's about.
• 9:03
  The Daniel we want is the one at Baku racing with Max Verstappen and getting the elbows out and beating Max on occasion in the Red Bull.
• 9:10
  That's the Ricciardo...
• 9:11
  you and I know personally and that we've experienced racing and that we want to see back again.
• 9:16
  So I hope...
• 9:18
  The other thing, just to put a full stop on that, is Nico Hulkenberg, who performed brilliantly all weekend, spent several years out of the sport.
• 9:25
  He's older than Daniel.
• 9:27
  He's less successful statistically in his career than Daniel, yet he's made that comeback.
• 9:32
  And this year he's made Kevin Magnussen look...
• 9:35
  not particularly special in that Haas.
• 9:38
  So I think that gives hope as well that there's opportunity to come back into the sport.
• 9:42
  You can get that second chance.
• 9:43
  Yep.
• 9:44
  Unbelievable weekend for Max Verstappen.
• 9:45
  That qualifying lap was mighty, chalking up the win in Australia, a bit like his mate in Shane van Gisburg, and both of them are in this kind of really special season.
• 9:55
  career phase.
• 9:57
  The other thing for me is, admittedly, it's only one race, but if Mercedes can keep this sort of performance up from this round on, surely Lewis Hamilton isn't going anywhere from this sport or from that team.
• 10:11
  I loved Hamilton v Alonso on Sunday afternoon.
• 10:17
  It wasn't an arm wrestle.
• 10:19
  It wasn't an all-out battle.
• 10:21
  They weren't trading blows.
• 10:23
  They weren't boxing on.
• 10:25
  They weren't rubbing wheels in a side-by-side battle, but it was a psychological battle between the two of them, and Alonso would nibble away and get just within DRS and then,
• 10:36
  Hamilton would respond and pull away and break that DRS window and then put a little bit of a gap on.
• 10:41
  I love the fact that both of those drivers, the world champions, are still as fast and as fiery and as competitive as they are.
• 10:50
  Great games on radio too between the pair of them trying to, you know.
• 10:53
  Yeah, isn't it?
• 10:54
  Isn't it?
• 10:55
  Just spectacular to watch.
• 10:56
  The two of the best drivers that there's been in Formula One, still punching on at such a high level.
• 11:01
  The other thing I like, Rusty, is that clearly the rules are working.
• 11:04
  So yes, the Red Bull's got a race pace advantage and a DRS straight line speed advantage.
• 11:09
  But behind that, it is as wide open as F1's ever been.
• 11:13
  So...
• 11:13
  If you pull Max out of that race, the battle for the lead is Hamilton, Alonso, Sainz for most of the day was there or thereabouts in the Ferrari.
• 11:23
  You know, Perez, the McLarens looked half all right.
• 11:25
  The Haas was half okay.
• 11:28
  The rules are clearly working in condensing the field.
• 11:31
  And you have to go back to qualifying one.
• 11:33
  And I think it was 1.4 seconds covering first to last.
• 11:37
  That's what we want.
• 11:38
  We want all of these teams to have an opportunity.
• 11:41
  I missed Alex Albon in the Williams, who I thought was superb in terms of that crash.
• 11:46
  Three world champions on the podium with, you know, Fernando, as you point out, joining Max and Lewis.
• 11:51
  The improvement for Aston Martin is a huge step forward this year.
• 11:55
  Hopefully at some point they'll be able to challenge, even if it's circumstantially, for a win at some point this year.
• 12:01
  Can we talk red flag restarts?
• 12:04
  Good thing or bad thing in your mind?
• 12:06
  I mean, I think great spectacle.
• 12:09
  Maybe you could argue it needs to be used kind of judiciously.
• 12:13
  It's the right approach, but was the card kind of overplayed?
• 12:17
  Yes, I think it was.
• 12:19
  I think there needs to be some regulating about when it can be used.
• 12:25
  So the first red flag early in the race after the Albon crash and there was some tie bundles that needed fixing, so they red flagged the race.
• 12:34
  I thought that was a good decision and I liked the standing start for that one.
• 12:38
  But it's early in the Grand Prix, so it's a reset.
• 12:41
  The bigger thing for mine is the regulations that allow you to change your tyres under red flag.
• 12:48
  I think that has to go because it killed any strategic options that we'd had.
• 12:52
  We'd just seen George Russell pit.
• 12:53
  A bunch of others had pitted to get the soft tyre off as well early in the race.
• 12:57
  So we had Mercedes splitting their race strategies.
• 13:00
  We had some different things going on.
• 13:02
  And that was going to set the Grand Prix up for a little bit later on.
• 13:04
  And I personally, I think, had he not broken, George Russell was going to beat Hamilton.
• 13:09
  on Sunday, had that played out the way that the thing had gone before the red flag.
• 13:13
  So the tyre changes under red, I think, has to change.
• 13:17
  Can't have that.
• 13:17
  And then I think as well, red flags in the last 10 laps of a race, I think, should restart under the safety car.
• 13:24
  By the time you get to that point of a Grand Prix and you're leading, I think you've earned the right to lead the field back to green and not have the lottery of a race start and a turn one and –
• 13:36
  like Carlos Sainz being punted out of the race by Fernando Alonso, or vice versa, sorry, Carlos Sainz hitting Alonso.
• 13:44
  I think at that point of the day, you've earned the right to get a safety car restart and have that little bit of an advantage that you've worked for, for what was it?
• 13:51
  I think it was 54 laps, wasn't it?
• 13:53
  Before that last red flag.
• 13:55
  So that would be the only thing I would change about that.
• 13:58
  And then with a full stop on it, the one lap...
• 14:01
  behind the safety car to get the checkered flag.
• 14:04
  They did it because they had to get the order reshuffled on timing and it needed to happen that way.
• 14:08
  But it was just really awkward that the cars went out and never actually raced again.
• 14:14
  I would have, the showman in me would have loved to have seen the one lap dash to the line just to get a little bit more...
• 14:20
  a little bit more potential for things to change on that one flying lap.
• 14:24
  Agreed.
• 14:25
  Was it a farcical finish in that sense?
• 14:28
  Some in the mainstream have labelled it that.
• 14:30
  I try to find the good in things.
• 14:31
  I mean, I certainly...
• 14:32
  It's one we won't forget in a hurry, will we?
• 14:36
  I don't think it was farcical.
• 14:37
  I think it was just...
• 14:39
  It was just very Formula 1, wasn't it?
• 14:42
  In that it was extremely complicated when it probably didn't need to be extremely complicated.
• 14:49
  I would have thought that a safety car at the end there... And I love what they're trying to do in finishing under green and getting a green flag finished.
• 14:57
  But that race was probably going to end under a safety car regardless.
• 15:01
  So...
• 15:02
  I don't think farcical is the right thing.
• 15:04
  I think it was just a complicated, dramatic end to a complicated, dramatic Grand Prix.
• 15:12
  But like you say, it's one that everyone's going to remember.
• 15:14
  And I don't think people left Albert Park on Sunday going, oh, gee, that was really terrible.
• 15:19
  We're not going to come next year.
• 15:21
  I think from the show that we got, 99% of the 140,000 people there on Sunday are going to come back next year because overall, I thought the show was really good.
• 15:32
  I think, like you, I would have loved a one-lap dash to the line.
• 15:37
  That's the showmanship answer.
• 15:38
  Okay, we're going to talk supercars with Tim Edwards shortly.
• 15:40
  He's standing by.
• 15:41
  Did the addition of F3 and F2 deliver?
• 15:45
  And I'm kind of asking that as someone who's a passionate enthusiast, a caller.
• 15:49
  You have close links, obviously, with Porsche and Carrera Cup in Australia who have...
• 15:53
  A huge presence there at Albert Park, mate.
• 15:56
  Great activation splash by them across the GP weekend.
• 15:59
  Were they kind of okay with it?
• 16:01
  We want to keep this lovely balance of the international aspect but the love for our local support acts too.
• 16:07
  I think Porsche was okay about being there, but I think the ones that felt the most out of place, to be honest, were supercars.
• 16:15
  And in a way, supercars experienced a little bit on the weekend what the support categories on the big supercar events get, which is shortened races and time-certain finishes and red flags and things like that.
• 16:30
  And they were...
• 16:32
  In the eyes of the event, the fourth category in the pecking order behind F1, F2 and Formula 3.
• 16:38
  So that was a very different experience for supercars.
• 16:42
  I thought they put on a hell of a show.
• 16:44
  The Gen 3 racing was awesome when they were racing.
• 16:49
  It was a pretty scrappy weekend otherwise.
• 16:51
  And the little blots in the copybook for mine include having to start with the national flag, which was just a really obscure thing.
• 16:59
  The fires in the Fords have been well covered off and well documented about the issues they've got there that they'll find a resolution to.
• 17:07
  It was a really scrappy weekend for supercars, but the product is great.
• 17:11
  To answer your question, I loved F2.
• 17:14
  I'm a massive F2 fan.
• 17:16
  That is box office...
• 17:18
  racing it's like combining formula one and indy car together and that's the kind of show that it produces um formula three the saturday race was a bit of a crash fest i think they had four safety cars and i think they got seven or eight racing laps but then the sunday one was a lot cleaner and a lot more straightforward did they add to the program is probably the the significant question
• 17:41
  My personal opinion, I'd probably bring back F2.
• 17:44
  I don't know if we need both of them there.
• 17:46
  And like you say, I think the balance is important for this uniquely Australian event that we keep supercars there.
• 17:52
  We keep the Carrera Cups, maybe open the door to one other local category to get that rare opportunity on the biggest stage in our sport.
• 18:01
  But I loved having F2 there.
• 18:03
  And at the same time, I think that's important because they're the drivers that are going to be in F1 in a couple of years.
• 18:07
  So introduce them to the local fans now.
• 18:11
  And, you know, they get to see Jack doing race before he's hopefully in a Formula One car in a couple of years.
• 18:17
  But they certainly put on a show, Rusty.
• 18:19
  There's no doubt.
• 18:20
  From an entertainment standpoint, it's pretty hard to argue about what...
• 18:24
  F2 and F3 added to the program.
• 18:25
  And it would keep what you've just very rightly suggested there in that balance.
• 18:31
  It would keep our unique nature for our race.
• 18:34
  Each GP they go to around the world has something a little bit different.
• 18:36
  Ours is renowned for its racing offering as well, that variety, so it would keep that.
• 18:41
  Finally, mate, can we come to something that has been...
• 18:46
  Well covered.
• 18:47
  I am reliably informed as we talk today that they may use facial recognition technology to try and find those who were among the first to invade the track at the end.
• 18:58
  That was bloody madness.
• 19:01
  Now, my heart wants to believe that these people are not diehard fans.
• 19:06
  If you are listening to this and that was you...
• 19:10
  I hope you're shitting yourself because there are big fines for that craziness, just dumb and downright dangerous.
• 19:17
  There are probably too many people involved in the end to get to all of them.
• 19:21
  But if they can identify those that kind of started the wave, I reckon we need to make an example of them.
• 19:27
  In other codes, you would get a life ban.
• 19:30
  Now, we played safety messages all week long on the track TV that probably drove people mad.
• 19:36
  I don't know how much clearer we can make it to you.
• 19:38
  Obviously, the event organisers have been asked for a pretty serious please explain from the international governing body and maybe security placement needs reviewing or where they're allocated at the end of the race and so on to prevent a repeat of this.
• 19:56
  That was just stupidity, wasn't it?
• 19:59
  100% agree with you.
• 20:01
  And while I understand the FIA, the governing body summoning the promoter to speak about this and to haul them over the coals about it, and ultimately the promoter is responsible for the behavior of the people in it, but the behavior of the people in it reflect badly on the promoter.
• 20:19
  Correct.
• 20:21
  The issue I have with this, Rusty, is that I think there needs to be an overhaul in access at the circuit and the way it's staffed from a security contractor point of view, because there were several points over the weekend where it broke down in terms of access, and there were people jumping fences to get across from one side of the precinct to the other.
• 20:41
  There were massive queues.
• 20:43
  There were bottlenecks.
• 20:44
  And that comes with having 140,000 people in a relatively small area that...
• 20:49
  behind turn one up to the final few corners as well.
• 20:53
  So I think there needs to be a review in the pedestrian access around the venue for starters.
• 20:58
  But it's personal responsibility.
• 21:01
  This is a...
• 21:02
  It's common sense, isn't it?
• 21:03
  It's common sense.
• 21:04
  And ultimately...
• 21:06
  What could happen out of this is that the FIA goes, oh, well, this is clearly unpoliceable.
• 21:12
  No track invasion.
• 21:14
  So the actions of a few people affect the 100,000 who waited for the right time, who listened to your safety messages, to enjoy it and have that opportunity, which you don't get to do at all in professional sport, is to get onto the playing field moments after the players have left.
• 21:31
  So even an Aussie rules football game, you can't really do that.
• 21:34
  They don't let you onto the turf unless it's a really special moment.
• 21:37
  So I just hope that they, yes, they can make an example of some people.
• 21:43
  And sadly, I think that's what has to happen, that the perpetrators here...
• 21:48
  need to be held accountable for doing something incredibly stupid and incredibly dangerous.
• 21:54
  And hopefully that adds some awareness down the road and then, okay, tool up your security, put some better fencing in perhaps if you need to.
• 22:01
  That's all stuff that the promoter can do.
• 22:04
  But ultimately, it comes down to the decision-making of a few people that ruin it for the broader whole.
• 22:09
  And, yeah, I hope they find them.
• 22:11
  I hope they make an example of them and try and stamp out that behavior for what is otherwise an amazing spectacle.
• 22:19
  And that entire pit straight is full.
• 22:22
  It's one of the most...
• 22:24
  uplifting scenes you could see rusty isn't it like exactly you and i both know it's heartwarming to see those that number of people embracing such an incredible event and i would hate for it to be ruined by the actions of a few silly people um who made a bad life choice and um and did something really stupid very well said as always awesome to be there as a part of the 440 000 plus over the four days
• 22:46
  Congratulations again to you, mate, on a fantastic job with 10 and have a great call this weekend on 9 and stand for the Bathurst 6-hour.
• 22:55
  That's going to be huge.
• 22:57
  Thanks, brother.
• 22:57
  I will forever have called a Formula 1 Grand Prix with a world champion, so I can tick that off my list.
• 23:03
  And had a little glass of wine with him.
• 23:04
  I'm envious.
• 23:04
  Well done.
• 23:05
  That's Richard Crail from The Race Talk.
• 23:06
  You can find the website, lots of great stories, his podcast, and lots more, TheRacetalk, all one word, dot com.
• 23:14
  A quick break.
• 23:14
  The boss of Tickford Racing is standing by to talk to us about the supercars component of that big weekend in Melbourne.
• 23:22
  Delighted to welcome to Rusty's Garage now, Tim Edwards, CEO of Tickford Racing, who we will have a longer kind of life and time chat with at some stage here on the pod.
• 23:31
  He spent 17 years living in the UK prior to supercars and much of that was working in Formula One with Jordan.
• 23:38
  Tim, welcome.
• 23:39
  Yeah, thank you.
• 23:41
  Hopefully you had a bit of a chance to catch up with some old friends there in the Formula One paddock over the weekend, did you?
• 23:46
  Not as much as previous years, bizarrely.
• 23:48
  I think, you know, what is it, 18 years I think since I came back to Australia and, you know, still communicate plenty on social media, which seems to be the way of the world now.
• 23:58
  The world, yeah.
• 24:00
  The challenge when you get to the tracks these days and particularly for those guys is like, you know, they are just working crazy hours and, you know.
• 24:08
  They fly in later than they ever used to and they leave straight after the race.
• 24:12
  So it's become increasingly harder over the last few years.
• 24:15
  Crazy long hours for you too, which we'll get to in a moment.
• 24:18
  Can we, in a broad sense, Supercars wants to return to Albert Park.
• 24:23
  That sounds like the plan.
• 24:25
  That was the last year of the current deal.
• 24:28
  Should we go back?
• 24:29
  Will we go back, do you think?
• 24:30
  Look, it's got its challenges.
• 24:32
  It's hard for the teams.
• 24:34
  But bloody hell, every one of those races, for whatever reason, that track suits our cars.
• 24:39
  You know, I think having the wider track, the fact that they can get three and four abreast, it just, it's, we always...
• 24:47
  always put on a great race there.
• 24:49
  And the interesting thing is Formula One, you know, it's been some of the most boring racing for Formula One, you know, which is, they don't shy away from it, you know, which is why they've tried to make changes to the track to suit their cars better.
• 25:01
  But bloody hell, it suits our cars because, you know, even that race, I think there was six or seven laps on Friday, I think it was.
• 25:08
  Holy shit, they were a bloody, they were an entertaining few laps.
• 25:12
  You know, so, you know, my view is that we are in the entertainment industry.
• 25:16
  You know, we're there to put on a show for people and the track suits our cars and it's always a spectacle.
• 25:23
  So, yes, there's some challenges to work through and, you know, it's hard for us because every other race we do for the year, you know, we are the...
• 25:31
  the main event and we go there and we're the sideshow.
• 25:35
  But, you know, sometimes you've just got to accept that and move on.
• 25:38
  Kind of compounded a little bit this year too, Tim, and maybe you're in two minds as I ask this from a, you know, a business point of view and then from a purist standpoint.
• 25:47
  Did the inclusion of the feeder categories, F2 and F3, work and sort of what feeling did that leave the supercars community with?
• 25:56
  I mean, from a supercar, step back to if you kind of ask yourself why, you know, when we do have open world categories here in Australia, you know, and I suppose, you know, just talking to the public and that, you know, Formula 3, who, what, they don't know anything about it.
• 26:13
  And Formula 2, where you can kind of, you know, people can, I suppose, relate to that.
• 26:17
  It's a bit like our Super 2 championship.
• 26:19
  You know, that's the...
• 26:20
  next rung down so potentially you are seeing people that'll be in the category in the next year or two you know the the f3 guys well you know they're not likely to be in the category anytime soon if ever for some of them so yeah i don't know it's you know i can i kind of see that the f2 stance but you know we have got s5000 in Australia we have got other categories that we sort of promoting a bit of our own
• 26:45
  But my understanding is that's locked and loaded for the never-never.
• 26:49
  So I think that's the format we'll see for years to come.
• 26:54
  Okay.
• 26:54
  Before we get to your own weekend for Tickford, some night race talk in the last week or so, and there's a bit of cost in all that.
• 27:02
  Great for European broadcasters of Formula One.
• 27:04
  Does that create any hassles for supercars or would that be something our sport would kind of welcome, a later start and things like that?
• 27:12
  Well, absolutely.
• 27:13
  It depends whether we're talking about night racing for us or night racing for F1.
• 27:18
  If it's for F1 only, you know, maybe that frees up more time for us during the day to have a longer race ourselves, you know, obviously if the day's opened up.
• 27:29
  But we know from our own experience the night races that we've put on at Perth and in Sydney, they're always a spectacular race.
• 27:36
  you know, spectacular event.
• 27:38
  So I think if we could be racing at night, that could be a great thing.
• 27:42
  You know, we know our cars also look great in the, you know, in night racing.
• 27:46
  And yeah, we're already putting on a spectacle around there in the day.
• 27:50
  I think it'll just look better at night again.
• 27:51
  Most definitely.
• 27:52
  Two decent, scary fires over the weekend.
• 27:55
  One for Nick Perkett, another for your driver, James Courtney.
• 27:58
  I'm not sure what you can share in regards to this just yet as tests kind of might be ongoing, Tim.
• 28:04
  What triggered this, if you can share that, and why are they happening?
• 28:08
  Well, the honest answer to that question is we still don't know.
• 28:11
  You know, we got the brightest brains in our pit lane together on Saturday night.
• 28:15
  You know, they're essentially the technical directors of all of the teams, you know, and they've come up with, let's just call it a hit list of 10 possible causes of it.
• 28:25
  So nobody at this point can say, no, it's definitely...
• 28:30
  one of them.
• 28:30
  So what they did on Saturday night was they came up with a mitigation strategy for every one of those 10 possible causes and we implemented that for Sunday, one of which was the most public one, which was the rolling start.
• 28:46
  So, look, I mean...
• 28:48
  Now that we're away from the circuit, there's some more testing that can be done and we can actually try and workshop some of the things that have been put forward.
• 28:58
  I think everybody's probably honing in on what it is, but it's still not, there's nothing concrete as we sit here at the moment.
• 29:07
  So there's another meeting tomorrow of that technical working group to workshop it some more and there's further testing that'll be
• 29:16
  put in, you know, some of the potential causes are not even Mustang specific because don't forget, under the skin, you know, there's a lot that's common in these cars.
• 29:25
  So it might not even be a uniquely Mustang related thing.
• 29:32
  So look, you know, it's a real concern to everybody, you know, there's the human cost to it, you know, and obviously James and Nick were both quite comfortable.
• 29:43
  You know, they...
• 29:44
  that they didn't feel like exposed.
• 29:45
  In fact, James said to me that if his car had been able to, he was more than happy to go racing again the next day.
• 29:52
  But it's also the toll on the teams, you know, particularly, you know, this team, you know, that unfortunately for car five, it had that,
• 30:00
  what was a relatively minor accident at Newcastle, which required major chassis repair, and the same car crew have just copped this, and fires are shocking.
• 30:10
  You know, a typical accident where it's just got mechanical damage where you just replace all the bent parts.
• 30:17
  The problem is with the fire.
• 30:18
  It just gets into everything, destroys everything, the wiring, the hoses, all those sort of things that don't generally get impacted in an accident.
• 30:29
  So, yeah, and even the foam, the Karosi foam for the extinguishers, just the poor guys there yesterday trying to just clean the car itself.
• 30:37
  So it's, yeah, it's, you know, there's the financial toll, which is, you know,
• 30:44
  you know, well into the six-figure sums now from the last two rounds.
• 30:47
  But for me, it's probably more the toll that it's taking on the pit lane.
• 30:51
  And it's not just this team, you know.
• 30:53
  You know, the other actions happened through the weekends.
• 30:56
  You know, there's a lot of damage happening to the cars that wouldn't have happened on our previous cars.
• 31:02
  And, you know, we've got to quickly learn from that and make some tweaks to the design of the car to try and overcome that because we're...
• 31:10
  We also don't want to change the way we go racing, you know.
• 31:12
  Love it or hate it, we're a contact sport.
• 31:15
  And at the moment, you're almost veering on the side of, well, don't touch anything because we don't know if it will break.
• 31:21
  And we don't want to change our style of racing.
• 31:24
  We don't want to become GTs or open wheelers where they are.
• 31:27
  totally non-contact sport, part of our show is the fact that we are contact.
• 31:33
  Do you or are you facing a race against time, given that the next round of the championship is a big mission across the Nullarbor?
• 31:39
  You've got to get that car repaired and then get it to WA?
• 31:41
  I don't think so, no.
• 31:42
  I mean, we're fortunate that there's actually four weeks between these races, so it does give us a little bit of extra time.
• 31:51
  We've got a lot of the parts.
• 31:52
  There's some of the electrical stuff and...
• 31:55
  We'll need some assistance from outside suppliers for that.
• 32:00
  Bear in mind, these cars, there's so much of them that we don't make that we did in the past.
• 32:04
  So we are reliant on external suppliers.
• 32:07
  But I spoke to Rob Herrod yesterday.
• 32:09
  They're sitting there waiting for the engine to arrive because the whole top side of the engine was severely damaged by the fire.
• 32:17
  Yeah.
• 32:18
  They're going to turn it around as quick as they possibly can.
• 32:20
  We do have the spare engine sitting here, but the goal would be to try and get that engine back into the car.
• 32:26
  The way the category is structured this year as well is that every single car in the category has two engines and you've got to manage those two engines for the year.
• 32:35
  And we've sort of got a planned cycle of when we would be rotating our engine.
• 32:41
  So if we can get that one turned around, it'll be back in the car for Perth as well.
• 32:46
  As we wrap up this part of the conversation, just in relation to the fire in JC's car, did we get an indication of this happening or potentially happening pre-season or even in Newcastle?
• 32:56
  And was it just a unique kind of set of circumstances at Albert Park?
• 33:01
  Absolutely no knowledge that we could have anything like this, and not least because we don't actually know what's caused it.
• 33:10
  Of the 10 possible scenarios, why was any of them triggered, particularly at that circuit?
• 33:17
  Now, we can see from the data on JC's car, and I believe it's similar on Nick's car, that it actually starts at the start of the race.
• 33:24
  So as he's sitting there with it on the limiter,
• 33:28
  You know, you can only imagine cherry red exhaust, lots of fumes, lots going on when you're stationary, you know, at high RPM there.
• 33:37
  But he doesn't get a – the driver, as in James, didn't get his first signal till around sort of three, four, somewhere around there.
• 33:45
  He kind of smelt something.
• 33:47
  And then by the time it gets to eight, all of a sudden, you know, you can see it from the in-car footage.
• 33:52
  You know, it's really starting to appear on the bonnet surface.
• 33:55
  So, you know, it's –
• 33:57
  You know, something triggered it at the start line there.
• 33:59
  What's different about the start there?
• 34:02
  Nothing.
• 34:03
  You know, so it's, yeah, it's a bit of a mystery.
• 34:07
  You know, and there is other theories.
• 34:09
  There's theories about electrical items also shorting out.
• 34:13
  So, yeah, the honest answer at the moment is, Rusty, we don't know.
• 34:17
  You know, we're still investigating it and, you know,
• 34:20
  Why it was triggered there and not prior?
• 34:23
  Why it happened to be two Mustangs?
• 34:25
  Is that just a coincidence?
• 34:27
  You know, all these things are yet to be answered.
• 34:30
  Cool.
• 34:30
  Couple to finish.
• 34:31
  Two rounds in, and these things are always a haggle when it comes to new cars as teams learn.
• 34:35
  and the sport you know tries to find and keep the playing field level some center of gravity tests have been happening right there at Tickford with a selection of cars from the field might be too early to shed any light on results but even can you tell us about perhaps the procedure involved and things like that
• 34:51
  Yeah, well, absolutely no idea on the results at the moment.
• 34:53
  You know, the supercars are conducting the testing.
• 34:57
  We're there sort of facilitating and helping out, but we're yet to see any of the results.
• 35:02
  But essentially what you do is, I mean, they've done it virtually as best you can, but they've even got different weights between cars of the same mark, even in the same team.
• 35:14
  So they needed to do this physical testing, which was done...
• 35:17
  uh, coincidentally after the AGP about four years ago at Kelly's.
• 35:22
  But the process is the cars are all set up the same.
• 35:26
  Um, so, you know, ride heights, you know, all those sort of things as a, uh, uh, set up that you put in the cars.
• 35:33
  And then it's simple as we have a big rig that you put the car on and it literally is tipped all the way with the rig and it's got bearings on the, the, the,
• 35:43
  beam that it sits on.
• 35:44
  And it's a case of literally finding what is that balance point.
• 35:48
  And if you actually saw it, it is close to 90 degrees.
• 35:51
  It's right up there.
• 35:53
  Yeah.
• 35:53
  And so the car is balanced there and it has an inclinometer, you know, strapped to the car.
• 35:59
  And it's as simple as once you find that balance point and someone is literally there with their pinky holding the car up it.
• 36:06
  And I'm going to say it's 80, 85 degrees.
• 36:09
  It's right up there.
• 36:10
  Yeah.
• 36:11
  And that is how you find your centre of gravity.
• 36:14
  You know, if it's, what, 80 degrees or it's 82 degrees or whatever, then mathematically you can calculate the CFG.
• 36:22
  And we, of course, we have a safety strap there in case, so it doesn't, someone's pinky doesn't let go of it and it actually goes the wrong way and ends up on its side.
• 36:32
  But, yeah, it's a physical test and it gives you a very accurate result.
• 36:36
  So, you know, I'd suggest in the next 24 hours we'll be getting an email from supercars saying this is what it is and this is the change that either mark needs to make to have equal channel of gravity.
• 36:50
  Cool.
• 36:50
  Well, watch this space.
• 36:51
  Final one for you.
• 36:52
  The fires, naturally, we don't want and, you know, work around parity is ongoing, as you've just detailed there.
• 36:58
  There are actually, as you alluded to earlier in the conversation, some good things happening around the entertainment or the action that we're seeing at times.
• 37:05
  Where in your mind is Gen 3 broadly at kind of from a sporting point of view and an entertainment point of view?
• 37:12
  And I asked that, Tim, with the caveat, we're only two rounds in.
• 37:15
  I'm very, very conscious of that.
• 37:17
  Look, I mean, you know my view, Rusty.
• 37:20
  I mean, for me, we're in the entertainment industry.
• 37:23
  Yes, we're a sport, but we're there to entertain people.
• 37:25
  So the theatre of our cars is very important for the show we put on.
• 37:32
  And I think we've had a massive tick with how these cars look.
• 37:35
  They look absolutely fantastic.
• 37:37
  So that's an enormous tick.
• 37:39
  They still sound fantastic, which, you know, you don't have to roll the clock back too far to when there was all this push to, we've got to go to V6 and all these things.
• 37:47
  And that would have, in my opinion, impacted our show.
• 37:50
  So we've retained the V8, which, you know, and they probably sound better than they did last year.
• 37:56
  We've ended up with a shorter exhaust system where they've brought the exhaust out of the car.
• 38:01
  So I think, you know, there's also a big tick for that.
• 38:05
  Certainly the Newcastle racing wasn't as good as we saw it at the Grand Prix, but I think that's a little bit of the nature of the track, but also we beat the drivers to death before Newcastle.
• 38:17
  We've got no spares.
• 38:18
  Don't crash the car.
• 38:19
  We've got no spares.
• 38:20
  Don't crash the car.
• 38:22
  So I think they all drove red.
• 38:24
  I saw quite a few opportunities at Newcastle where we,
• 38:27
  you saw drivers drift in on the inside and normally they would have gone, I'm just going to hold off the brake for a minute, you know, and maybe give the car in front of me a little nudge.
• 38:37
  They actually went back onto the brake at Newcastle to avoid, you know, following through with their overtaking manoeuvre.
• 38:43
  So, you know, I think we probably, you know,
• 38:47
  Probably impacted the show a little bit there, but for obvious reasons.
• 38:49
  You know, we just... And so, look, I think the show we put on at the Grand Prix on the weekend was fantastic.
• 38:55
  And so we've got great-looking cars.
• 38:57
  They sound good.
• 38:58
  They put on good racing.
• 38:59
  Yes, we've definitely got some work to do in the background to make them a little bit more robust so that, you know, they can probably...
• 39:07
  contact each other a little bit more than they are at the moment.
• 39:10
  But we'll get there.
• 39:11
  It's no different to Car of the Future.
• 39:12
  Well, a little different, but, you know, 10 years ago with Car of the Future, we rolled out cars.
• 39:20
  We crashed them over the first year.
• 39:21
  We made changes to them for the following year.
• 39:24
  You know, there was bars changed in the chassis, wall thicknesses and things like that.
• 39:28
  So...
• 39:30
  You know, we know that we always knew that we'd have to tweak these cars.
• 39:33
  It's probably a longer list than we would have liked, but that's life.
• 39:37
  You've just got to get on.
• 39:38
  And, you know, the technical working group have got a long list.
• 39:42
  You know, top of the list is obviously resolving the fire issue, but very next on the list is making some of the things that are –
• 39:50
  that are not as durable as we'd like, making them tougher.
• 39:54
  And it won't be 2024.
• 39:56
  We're going to have to make some of these changes sooner than that.
• 39:59
  Otherwise, we'll all be broke.
• 40:01
  Awesome insights for the fans, Tim, and for those listening to the show.
• 40:04
  All the very best for the next round, the Perth Super Sprint, April 28 to 30.
• 40:08
  And thank you so much for coming on the podcast today.
• 40:10
  No worries.
• 40:11
  Cheers, Rusty.
• 40:12
  Before we go, the latest IndyCar race in Texas, which has been described as beautiful chaos, went to Joseph Newgarden, winning from Pato Award.
• 40:20
  From our part of the world, Scott Dixon, fifth.
• 40:22
  Scott McLaughlin, sixth.
• 40:24
  Will Power, 16th.
• 40:25
  Now, McLaughlin and Power you can find in our Rusty's Garage library.
• 40:28
  And yes, I know, we need to get to Scott Dixon.
• 40:31
  I promise we're going to get him on at some point.
• 40:33
  Another win also in Sprint Cars stateside for James McFadden.
• 40:37
  Jay Mack was a guest on the pod very recently.
• 40:40
  That switch to Toyota Power off the back of a great finish to last season, which he really needed, has been fantastic for his Sprint Cars season so far.
• 40:50
  Well done.
• 40:50
  Quick shout-out to a young commentator.
• 40:53
  Sam Wyatt came and joined us at the weekend for the Grand Prix.
• 40:56
  Just very briefly, he's 14 years of age.
• 41:00
  His dad worked in the NFL in the broadcasting space, and I think his mum's a producer for the project here in Australia as well.
• 41:08
  Now, Sam came in, sprinkled in a little bit of commentary, and gave us his insights.
• 41:12
  The sport, Formula One, is an immensely inclusive game these days, but to think we could give that youngster, the next generation, a little opportunity, and man, did he deliver great performance.
• 41:24
  insights delivered with passion and a little bit of inflection as well.
• 41:28
  I might be out of a job.
• 41:29
  Don't forget Bathurst six-hour coverage on this weekend.
• 41:32
  Richard Crayle talked about it at the top of the pod.
• 41:34
  That will be terrific on Stan and Channel 9.
• 41:36
  That is it for this edition of The Brief.
• 41:38
  We will catch you next time, everybody, right here on Rusty's Garage.