Latest / Rusty's Garage / Brendon Hartley (Part 2)

Transcript

Brendon Hartley (Part 2) · Rusty's Garage

0:02
A listener production.
0:19
G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my podcast with New Zealand racer Brendan Hartley.
0:25
If you haven't heard part one, make sure you check it out.
0:28
It really sets the scene for this final instalment of our chat.
0:32
You'll get a greater understanding of the Hartley family, who are proper racers and involved in the sport in all sorts of ways.
0:39
The automotive origins of Brendan's middle name.
0:43
Yes, it's Rusty.
0:44
and how he left home in his mid-teens to pursue life as a professional motor racer on the other side of the world.
0:50
We get back into the discussion by talking about his time with Mercedes Grand Prix, which involved a lot of sim work or simulator driving.
0:59
It was kind of just before the period of dominance began that they now enjoy in Formula One, and Brendan could see all the winning ingredients were there.
1:10
Yeah, I don't know if you're trying to insinuate it was all because of me, but no, it was a cool period and I enjoyed my job there.
1:19
So I lived in Milton Keynes with my wife, Sarah, so it was about 30 minutes down the road from Mercedes, so I was there a couple of times a week on the simulator and I was
1:30
I feel very much a part of the team.
1:32
They're a fantastic team and I can 100% see why, you know, they've gone on to win, I don't know how many championships since then.
1:41
but they were fighting every day.
1:42
And I loved coming in and they've got a new update, something new to test, some new concept.
1:47
And for people that aren't familiar with simulators and Formula One, it's hard to imagine, but I'm in there testing development parts for the future.
1:56
And how that works is everything is modelled on the car, so millions of calculations going on at any one time.
2:03
And the idea is we can test anything from tire pressures to how stiff a suspension part is or new aerodynamic parts.
2:11
So any concept or idea that goes on the car goes through the simulator first.
2:16
And I think the idea is if you can prove it on the simulator, that's a good idea.
2:20
or you can prove that it's a bad idea, you can save a lot of money.
2:24
You don't have to then go and produce the part and test it on track.
2:27
You can first get a pretty good idea from the simulator.
2:29
So that was my job.
2:31
It's not me there to improve myself.
2:33
It's more development for the car, for the tires, for whatever part of that.
2:38
To be a part of that team in that time was awesome because they were fighting every single day.
2:44
We always had new updates coming on.
2:46
I saw all sorts of cool
2:49
bits of technology or software or whatever it was.
2:51
You know, I was there testing it before it got on the car and definitely taught me a lot as well and definitely prepared me well for what was coming next in my career.
3:00
And it also was a vehicle for Red Bull to reassess you before you got that driver at Toro Rosso, wasn't it?
3:06
You went in, I would imagine they probably sampled or tested other drivers as well, but you got put in the sim at Milton Keynes, didn't you?
3:13
Yeah, that's true.
3:14
So when...
3:16
after I had that fun call with Helmut, which was a pretty short one.
3:20
I hadn't spoken to him in years.
3:22
He loves Le Mans as well.
3:24
He actually won Le Mans in a Porsche.
3:26
So I think there was a bit of that connection there too.
3:28
And I never fell out with Red Bull and Helmut.
3:30
I lost my driver in 2010.
3:31
But as I said before, I was realistic about it.
3:35
I was like, you know what, I probably deserved to lose my driver.
3:36
I didn't perform as I should have.
3:38
Yes, okay, maybe I got burnt out, lost a love for it.
3:40
But that's what happened.
3:42
So I never fell out with them.
3:43
I never burnt that bridge.
3:46
But yeah, when I called him all those years later, I said, look, if there's ever an opportunity, I'm ready.
3:52
I'm a different driver than I was back then.
3:54
And he didn't say much.
3:55
He just went sign on the other side of the phone.
3:57
So he didn't, yeah, you could almost hear the cogs turning.
4:00
He didn't laugh at me.
4:01
He didn't say, forget it.
4:03
So I put down the phone, didn't think much of it.
4:05
I was like, okay, well, he didn't say no.
4:08
And it was probably only two weeks later he said, okay, you need to hop on a plane and fly to Milton Keynes to drive the simulator.
4:15
I didn't ask any questions.
4:17
I didn't wanna come across as desperate, although I probably was.
4:22
So I went there, drove a simulator, and a week later I was in discussions to do my first Grand Prix.
4:30
at uh at austin so that's the time period it happened that quick you know it was really that quick um from from hopping in the simulator i think probably two weeks after doing that first test in the simulator when they evaluated me i was two weeks after that i was driving the car my first grand prix so yeah unbelievable really and and it's not something i saw coming either you know okay i made that call but it was really more of a call um um
4:54
because I knew there were some maybe testing opportunities coming up.
4:57
Maybe not just a sim role, but I know that they have to sometimes put test drivers.
5:01
They can't always use their race drivers.
5:02
So I was more thinking of like, okay, look, maybe there's an opportunity there to be a part of that program again.
5:09
Not really thinking they would consider me as a race driver within the next month or so.
5:14
That was, we can't get into it in detail now, but I sense that was a really stressful period for you as well.
5:22
You've touched before on a potential opportunity, maybe a good one, with IndyCar.
5:26
Maybe that was unfolding at the same time.
5:28
For a really outwardly calm guy in a conversation like this, how difficult was that stress and how did you cope with that?
5:38
Yeah, that was a crazy couple of weeks.
5:43
So I'd actually just signed an IndyCar contract, to be honest with you.
5:46
I haven't told so many people that.
5:48
Don't tell me the team, but was it a good opportunity?
5:52
Yeah, it was a good opportunity.
5:53
So I was all of a sudden in a situation where I had an IndyCar contract and then all of a sudden I had it from one contract.
6:00
And it was definitely the most stressful two weeks of my life.
6:04
Because you're a straight up guy and you're obviously shaking hands kind of thing.
6:08
Yeah, 100%.
6:09
And some incredibly tricky decisions to make and difficult phone calls to make.
6:18
a lot of stress to sort it all out.
6:19
And at the same time I was racing for Porsche and I think it was the, um, on the lead up to the, um, Fuji race.
6:28
So I was in Japan and I mean, I had probably a week of sleepless nights because I was dealing with three or four different time zones across America, across Europe, I was in Japan and, you know, going through contracts felt like, you know, I'm looking at, I had some, some help, but I like to read the contracts myself too.
6:44
And, and, um,
6:46
I think at the same time I also did a race in America.
6:49
For an American.
6:50
So in this period, it wasn't just, you know, I had two races in the three weeks, as well as trying to sort of, yeah.
6:58
One day if I do ever write a book, which I'm not planning on doing, by the way, it was actually a very crazy story.
7:05
And my wife, Sarah, actually tried to note down what was happening at the time.
7:09
I mean, some of the phone calls at all hours in the morning were – and some of the things that happened and fell into place, it was a crazy story.
7:17
And Sarah has written the notes.
7:19
She's over there nodding to me.
7:21
She's looking.
7:21
But...
7:23
Yeah, it was an incredibly stressful time and I had a phone bill to match, mate, because I was travelling around the world and the phone was glued to my ear, downloading documents and all sorts.
7:31
So yeah, that one's also for the book one day maybe.
7:35
When the time is right, do that.
7:37
Let's talk Sarah just briefly for a moment because I can remember asking Mark Webber to get in contact with you and he goes, yeah, mate, get hold of Sarah.
7:44
She's great on the email, very organised.
7:46
Go through her.
7:46
No problem.
7:47
It don't bother me.
7:49
When you guys got married, beautiful photo of the pair of you in a Porsche.
7:55
Which car was it?
7:57
Am I right in saying was it a 356 Speedster?
7:58
What was it?
7:59
What was that day?
8:01
Yes, I'm going to upset someone if I get all the details of it wrong, but it was actually Colin Giltrap's car.
8:05
Oh, beautiful.
8:06
Yeah, so he was very kind to line us the car for the day.
8:10
Did you stall it?
8:15
I guess you could say it was a still, but I think just a bit about the car.
8:18
I think it was actually a car Colin bought new and ended up buying back, but a beautiful car.
8:26
Very, you know, it's got a removable top and anyway, speed, sorry, 356.
8:33
Awesome.
8:34
But you're going up the hill.
8:37
I don't think Colin knows this, but anyway.
8:40
We didn't average it, but yeah, going up the very steep hill to the venue, I flooded it.
8:45
So I guess you could say I stalled it, and there's a photo of us pushing it to the very last parking spot.
8:52
But here I am, not being a massive car enthusiast at the time, one of my good buddies came to me and told me to just put the foot flat to basically clear it.
9:00
And it was fine, mate.
9:01
I just basically stalled it.
9:02
We were trying to go slow up the hill for the nice photo, but then flooded the bloody thing.
9:08
But that was an awesome day.
9:11
I probably kept Sarah waiting way too long.
9:15
I think we'd been together, she's going to tell me, 13, 14 years before I actually popped the question to her.
9:20
It was about that, Sarah.
9:21
More, she reckons.
9:22
She's pointing out.
9:22
But you know what, the timing was right because I think if we had got married earlier, we wouldn't have had the group of friends and the people we wanted to be around us that we did 15 years later.
9:33
Just never –
9:35
I always knew we were together, nothing was gonna change if we're married or not.
9:40
I don't know why I stalled so long, but in a way I'm happy that we left it that long.
9:44
And it's not really until you're 30 that, well, we're probably 28, 29 then,
9:49
it's not to you that age that you actually know who your real friends are.
9:52
If you were to get married at 20, it would be a group of friends that I'm probably not in touch with now.
9:57
So yeah, it was an awesome day.
9:58
Mark was there, who you just mentioned, and some of my other teammates from over the years, Timo, Earl, and all these guys that I know I'll be friends with for life.
10:08
Yeah, probably up there with one of the best days of my life together with the Le Mans 24-hour win, I'd say.
10:14
It's probably got to be diplomatic with Sarah standing over there.
10:17
It's a great picture.
10:18
People can go and find that through your social media.
10:21
Maybe not the ones pushing the card.
10:23
No, no, no, not that.
10:23
Not that.
10:24
I'm talking about the beautiful photos, the right ones.
10:26
And for people that don't know that are listening to the podcast as well, Sir Colin Giltrap is kind of automotive royalty in this country.
10:33
Yes.
10:34
many dealerships and has been in the game for a long time.
10:37
And it leads me to the fact that he and you mentioned Kenny Smith before and a number of others, there's been this great tradition in the last, I don't know, 15, 20 years where Kiwis have gotten together, been able to get behind drivers.
10:52
Scott Dixon's benefited from something like that.
10:54
And that clearly is something that assisted you along the way too, isn't it?
10:58
Yeah, so very similar to Scott Dixon.
11:03
In fact, I benefited from Scott Dixon succeeding because he had a group of shareholders who supported him and helped fund him to get to Europe.
11:13
And it was about the time that he actually started earning a living and started paying a lot of them out that I was looking for help and support.
11:20
So a group of the same people, along with, you know,
11:25
PJ, who I mentioned before, Peter Johnston, Kenny Smith, Barry Tomlinson, obviously the Girl Traps, and others, set up a shareholding system.
11:36
So at 15, I also signed a contract together with my parents where I had shareholders, where people bought shares into me.
11:45
And the kind of people that put money in were not people looking to earn a big buck off me, they were people looking to help out.
11:53
paying them back, you know, as we speak.
11:55
And it feels really good to be able to do that.
11:57
So without that support, drivers like myself never would have, you know, been able to get there.
12:02
And as I'm one of many drivers that have benefited from the very generous Kiwis across and motorsport enthusiasts across the country that have helped us Kiwi drivers make it to Europe.
12:13
And I should mention as well, like, I noticed very early on, being a New Zealander in Europe, how much respect and,
12:24
It seems back from the likes of the Bruce McLarens and Denny Holmes.
12:28
That's what I was going to say.
12:29
Yeah, just the fact that I was a Kiwi, all those Kiwis that came before, that reputation that stood there, and not just drivers, mechanics, whatever it was, we've got such good reputation in motorsport, and I 100% benefited from that.
12:44
There were times where...
12:46
I benefited from that history.
12:49
And, yeah, like I say, not just drivers, mechanics, engineers alike.
12:53
And there's still a rich history there in Europe at the moment with, yeah, obviously drivers and engineers and mechanics.
12:59
So, and that became, like I said, I became very patriotic moving away from home.
13:04
And that was just another one of those little things.
13:06
And I think people also respected us because we'd,
13:10
had to travel all the way across the other side of the world.
13:12
So people knew that I was committed.
13:15
When I was searching for drives here and they're like, oh, look, there's that extra level of respect knowing what we've had to sacrifice to get there.
13:24
The grafters, the can-do people, and the fact that you learnt from...
13:29
as you reflected before, losing the Red Bull opportunity and having to make it work again for yourself.
13:34
I think people see that in Aussies and Kiwis.
13:37
I think in some ways I probably didn't have an option either because I think when I did lose that drive,
13:43
as I said, it was a bit of a relief, which is weird to say that.
13:47
But I think there was also a realization of not obviously wanting to go home, and motorsport, I didn't have a fullback plan.
13:54
So it was almost like, well, I've got to make this work, and it worked out, yeah.
13:58
When Porsche eventually said they were calling time on the program, I mean, two world championships for you, a Le Mans 24-hour win, in a career sense, you know, you'd been
14:10
climbing, grafting, working, and now you're cemented.
14:12
You're a factory Porsche driver.
14:14
You've clinched two championships, really important things on the CV.
14:18
Was it a case of far out where to now?
14:21
How did that make you feel at the time?
14:23
Were you surprised?
14:24
Did this come kind of left of field?
14:26
It was a surprise for me.
14:27
Yeah.
14:29
Obviously, I had an opportunity to continue with Porsche.
14:32
I'd been there for four years.
14:33
Like I said, I won two world championships.
14:34
So, of course, I had the opportunity to – as I did, I actually stayed with Porsche during my time in Formula 1.
14:41
And even last year, I was still developing their Formula E car for them.
14:45
So I was still under the Porsche umbrella at that time.
14:49
So they –
14:52
there was no hard feelings towards them.
14:53
You know, I had the opportunity to stay on as a factory driver and I feel like I'll always be part of that Porsche family.
14:58
I'm in the history books together with them and all the people that were involved in that program.
15:04
Yeah, the interesting thing was from when it was announced that the program would be stopping at the end of the year, yes, it was a huge disappointment, but it actually wasn't that long after that the Formula One opportunity came about.
15:18
And also, obviously I was chatting to IndyCar as well, so I was pretty proactive in getting on the phone straight away and looking at what other opportunities I had.
15:28
Yeah, so I wasn't left very long until some other opportunities came about.
15:31
So, yeah, it wasn't a hard few months, and I was still focused on the season that we were completing.
15:37
We're here chatting during the COVID-19 period.
15:41
You're about to jump back on a plane and go back to Europe, and hopefully we're all back to some sense of normality and racing relatively soon.
15:49
Your program is twofold.
15:50
Firstly, let's talk Toyota.
15:53
Fierce rival of Porsche during all those years you were with them.
15:58
Invariably it was neck and neck, very close, tens of seconds and the like.
16:03
You would think walking in from the Porsche side of the fence to your rival that the transition would be
16:10
relatively easy.
16:12
But the beast took a bit of learning, didn't it?
16:15
Is that correct?
16:16
Yeah, I mean, it was awesome to be able to drive both cars, because as you said, they were our biggest competitor for many of those years.
16:28
A lot of respect between the two teams.
16:30
When you walk up and down the pit lane, it was a friendly rivalry in Le Mans.
16:35
Obviously, we were fiercely competitive and wanted to beat each other, but there was a huge amount of respect between both drivers, engineers, mechanics, whatever, any part of the team.
16:46
But yeah, jumping in the Toyota was...
16:48
It was an exciting day because it's like all of a sudden I'm going to get to try out the competition's car, which I'm obviously now a Toyota driver.
16:58
But yeah, not a straightforward car to learn.
17:00
Again, equally as complex as either Formula 1 or the Porsche 919, but also completely different.
17:05
Different technologies, it's...
17:08
To give a little bit of background about LMP1 cars, they're hybrids, and the rules dictated that you're allowed two electric engines.
17:18
So at Porsche, we had a big 350 horsepower electric engine sitting beside my feet, which powered
17:25
underneath the front wheels and a combustion engine at the rear.
17:28
And our second electric engine was actually part of the exhaust system.
17:31
So all the heat that would be normally lost out of the exhaust was actually spinning up a turbine, which was effectively a generator, which would then also charge the battery, just to give you a little bit of background on some of the technology at play.
17:43
When you put all that together, what kind of horsepower number are we talking roughly?
17:47
It's around 1,000.
17:48
Oh.
17:49
Which is enough when the car weighs well under 1,000 kilos.
17:55
So the Toyota is a bit different.
17:58
It's got two electric engines again, one on the front axle, similar to how the Porsche was working.
18:03
But the other electric engine is on the rear axle.
18:05
So not a generator through the exhaust, but two kinetic recovery systems.
18:12
So just that, in effect,
18:14
makes the cars quite different to drive.
18:16
You have a lot of different opportunities from having an electric engine that's also coupled with the combustion engine at the back.
18:24
You can use it for TC, you can...
18:27
But you do all the recovery on under braking.
18:31
Where at Porsche we did a lot of the recovery for the energy under throttle.
18:36
I'm probably going to bore the viewers here, but... You're not.
18:38
But, yeah, the point is, the tools that we have available are equally as complex, but very different.
18:45
Driving style, knowing that you have to get all your recovery out of the braking, adds a new element to the Toyota.
18:50
And, yeah, it took...
18:52
a few runs well a few test days to get up to speed but I was in good company because I you know the same for Fernando I replaced Fernando and no one has hopped in that car and been directly on the pace but I now feel 100% at home very well integrated in the team I've got you know I love working with the teammates I've got Sebastian Buemi who's in my car is actually a guy you know I I
19:13
was first in the Red Bull Junior program with.
19:14
We lived together for two years, one year in Austria, one year in the UK all those years ago, and we're now back together as teammates.
19:21
And I feel, yeah, Toyota definitely welcomed me into their team from the word go when the opportunity came about.
19:31
They knew who I was.
19:32
Although I hadn't been in their team for all those years when I was at Porsche, they knew me because, as I said, it was a very...
19:38
Quite a friendly paddock, even if it was first rivals.
19:42
So we kind of knew each other already.
19:45
And, yeah, I feel part of the Toyota family and loving it there.
19:50
Really, really happy and love driving the car.
19:53
I mean, the LMP1 cars are some of the most exciting in the world and style of racing and everything else that goes with it.
20:09
A flooded engine, is when it has been fed an excessively rich air fuel mixture that cannot be ignited.
20:15
An engine in this condition will not start until the rich mixture has been cleared.
20:20
I'm looking at you Uncle Gary, stop trying to start it and just give it a minute.
20:25
You talked before about a bit of testing for Porsche in Formula E, and you're competing in Formula E. It may not have yielded the results for you yet that you want.
20:34
But I want to let people know we're having a little gin and tonic, okay?
20:37
We're allowed to do that.
20:39
Brendan's not.
20:39
Crunching on the ice.
20:41
Crunching on the ice.
20:43
It's a totally different sensory experience when you've got a car like that that doesn't have a combustion engine driving it.
20:50
Just in the same manner you described the LMP1 car, can you give us an insight into what the Formula E car is like to drive?
20:58
And, you know, for all the...
21:01
divided nature of fans in this.
21:03
You know, some hardcore fans don't necessarily like it.
21:08
I heard Greg Murphy's not a big fan, but we've seen him on an electric mountain bike now, so he's a bit of a hypocrite.
21:14
I'm really glad you said that.
21:15
He'll hear this too, which is great.
21:18
But tell us what they like to drive.
21:20
And there are, from a driving perspective, there are, I mean, it's instantaneous.
21:25
There's no lag, is there, when it comes to trouble and things like that?
21:28
Yeah, so I think electric cars, particularly in the past, had a...
21:34
you know, people saw them as a bit dull, a bit boring.
21:37
And I think the idea of Formula E, or even the hybrids that we were talking about in LMP1, is just to show everyone that they're not boring, they don't have to be.
21:47
And definitely now with some of the products out there in the market that are full electric, I think it's pretty clear who anyone who's driven one, that they're no longer boring.
21:56
And driving a Formula E car, it's interesting because it's,
22:02
Yes, you still have a throttle and brake, and you push the throttle, it goes forward fine.
22:06
But some of the sensors are quite different.
22:07
So you miss that noise, which is the very obvious one for the fans as well.
22:11
You know, they're sitting in the stand, they hear, you know, sounds like hairdryer, you know.
22:14
But...
22:16
That in itself is quite funny being in the race car because all of a sudden you now hear the tyre squeal, you hear the car bottoming, you have these new sensors that you didn't have before.
22:26
But the actual power delivery, I love electric engines because as you said, it's that instant power.
22:33
You have so much torque from an electric engine, you're basically mapping the throttle so it gives you some level of control, but it's...
22:40
you know, you get exactly what you asked for.
22:42
And there's not many combustion engines out there that will do that.
22:44
There's always some sense of lag.
22:45
So that instant relationship from throttle and, you know, and movement from the rear tyres is...
22:56
is a great feeling.
22:56
And in some ways it makes you feel even more connected.
22:59
Um, and it, it doesn't take long to get used to the lack of noise and whatnot.
23:03
And, and there's a lot, there's a lot else that goes along with formula E in terms of regioning and, and, and efficiency, if efficiency becomes a big part of the topic.
23:11
So we're growing up in racing.
23:14
Um, you never really talk about how much fuel you use.
23:16
Most of the time you don't care.
23:17
You just, you just want to go as fast as you can.
23:20
Where in both LMP one, uh, and formula E,
23:25
efficiency becomes a big topic so you only have a certain amount of energy that you're allowed to spend per lap if that's from fuel or if that's from energy from the battery it's the same thing in the end you you're you're actually in formula you start the race with less energy than you really have to finish the race so you have to find clever ways of saving energy or you
23:46
Or another way to look at it is go as fast as possible with the energy that you have.
23:50
So that's where this efficiency becomes more important.
23:53
It's another dynamic to driving a race car that you don't normally think of as a young fellow when you're driving a go-kart.
23:58
And it's an element I quite like.
24:00
I always enjoyed the fuel-saving element in LMP1 and figuring out, hey, look, maybe I can save a little bit of fuel there.
24:06
It's probably going to cost me low lap time.
24:09
Just that element is quite interesting and…
24:12
Even in Formula 1, it carried over sometimes.
24:14
I was sometimes able to start the race with five kilos less fuel than my teammate.
24:18
And you know what?
24:20
It sounds redundant, but when you start the race with five kilos less, that's also lap time in its own right.
24:25
So there's some skills that I actually took over from endurance racing and energy saving that can be used in any form of motorsport.
24:33
I enjoy that part of it.
24:34
And that was my next question because I can tell the passion in your voice and the answers that you've given there about that.
24:40
You've mentioned in this conversation about the fact that you're pretty good at math at school.
24:44
We know the sacrifices your dad made in stopping his own career to help you and Nelson in your own.
24:51
I mean, the engine work that he's become renowned for in this country.
24:56
You've been around all this stuff all your life, collectively, with the race experience you've had.
25:02
Do you reckon that all adds up to why you do enjoy this stuff so much?
25:07
Yeah, probably definitely in the blood with the history of my dad being an engine builder or engineer, my brother as well.
25:15
But I do enjoy that side of it.
25:16
I'm not claiming I'm an engineer and my brother is incredibly talented at what he does.
25:22
But I do enjoy...
25:25
both sides of it.
25:26
And that is part of being a modern racing driver in a professional high-level team.
25:30
It's not just about driving the car as quick as possible.
25:32
It's also about working with the engineers and developing the product, developing the technology.
25:38
You know, that's what's so exciting about being in the LMP1 or Formula 1 or even Formula E.
25:43
the technology that we're developing or or software or whatever it is that's something that's going to get passed on to the end user in a road car five years down the track so you know knowing that that a lot of the stuff i've been racing with and pushing to its limits and developing the end user gets is is quite cool yeah i like that handful of questions to finish firstly is one day a bathysst
26:06
on the wish list or is that not something that you wish to, you know, to tick?
26:12
Probably go back to, you know, a similar answer, you never know, but...
26:16
100% I grew up watching Bathurst as well, as well as telling everyone as a young fellow I was going to be a front-run driver, which was probably a ridiculous thing to say when I was seven years old and had no idea.
26:25
You made it though, mate.
26:26
It worked out.
26:27
But of course, I followed Bathurst every year.
26:30
And I have done one race at Bathurst.
26:32
I did the Bathurst 12-hour.
26:34
And it's now very firmly on the list of one of my top tracks that I've ever driven.
26:41
I get asked the question a lot, what's your favorite track?
26:43
And I always struggle to name one, but Bathurst is definitely on the list.
26:48
So, yeah, I'd love to do it one day.
26:50
You know, if that actually happens or not, I don't know.
26:54
But, yeah, 100% love to do it.
26:55
Thank you for the clarification there too, because I probably should have talked about 1000 versus the 12 hour.
27:00
There's some great events at that track.
27:02
I knew what you meant.
27:03
You knew I was leading to it.
27:05
Okay.
27:05
First time you ever drove a Formula One car.
27:08
Just recount that day what you thought, given that that young six, seven year old kid had dreamed of doing that.
27:15
What was it like?
27:18
A shock.
27:19
So the first time I drove this Formula One car, I think it was 2008, when I was the reserve driver for Red Bull.
27:29
Yeah, just the forces and the sound and the...
27:34
I mean, very hard to describe.
27:36
I mean, I think my neck only lasted one or two laps, and I was, yeah, I mean, I wasn't prepared at 18 years old for that speed and that amount of force.
27:46
So that in a line was a shock to the system.
27:48
Absolutely loved it, obviously, but also taught me how much I needed to get stronger and prepared for that.
27:56
you know, the first few laps when you're arriving at the corner, you know, 320 kilometers an hour, and you need to be braking at 80, it is actually hard for the brain to comprehend that.
28:04
What's so impressive is, you know, after doing a season in Formula One is sometimes watching the replays back, I was even still shocked, you know, watching, because in the car, you know, it feels completely normal, you know, your brain adapts, and it all seems to be in slow motion, you know, you want more power, you want more grip, you're complaining to the engineers that it's
28:20
you know it's not quick enough but you know watching that you know anyone who's watched modern formula one in the past years they'll know what i'm talking about i mean the cars are insanely fast and but it's hard to explain to someone what that actually means in terms of the body i think that's that's one of the things that i um didn't fully appreciate until i got to actually be there
28:39
When you pull the helmet on, is there a Jekyll and Hyde moment?
28:42
Are you, you're this calm, easygoing guy that I'm chatting to now.
28:46
I know full well from others and from this conversation about the competitive streak, but once that helmet goes on, does it change Brendan Hartley in some way?
28:56
I'd say, yeah, I think most drivers will tell you when the helmet goes down, you do get in a bit of a zone and that is something I love about motorsport is that flow.
29:09
It's hard to explain, you know, when you're in that moment and nothing else is on your mind.
29:14
I get it on the mountain bike too.
29:15
That's why I love mountain biking.
29:17
And I think it gives me that sense of adrenaline.
29:19
You know, you need to be just enough in control.
29:22
But that state of focus where you're, that's the only thing on your mind.
29:26
You know, you're only thinking about going as fast as you can.
29:29
And I love that, you know, and probably why most drivers become adrenaline junkies.
29:33
And I definitely need some level of that in my life, yeah.
29:37
Your brother says your first car in Europe was
29:41
pretty crappy Peugeot or something or other with bad brakes when you drove to a music festival or something.
29:45
What was that car?
29:47
I had a Peugeot 206.
29:50
I think actually PJ bought it for me actually.
29:53
Yeah, I think it was about 1,500 quid at the time because he's a car dealer.
29:58
So he had some car dealers in the UK and I didn't treat it very nicely, but I kind of enjoyed the fact driving around Milton Keynes.
30:05
If anyone's been there, it's just full of roundabouts and I quite enjoyed like,
30:08
shoving it up the inside of a some some audi you know that was worth 100 grand or so and you know just driving it flat out but um it saw some action um and we we had it for for five or six years um i actually remember um some great times in the snow it was a front wheel drive with a handbrake was great fun in the snow um daniel ricardo had one too so a front wheel drive car so yeah we had we had some good times in it but yeah
30:32
Good stuff.
30:33
Car that you, race car so far, there's still more of your career to go.
30:37
Race car so far that you'd go to sleep and dream about?
30:41
Well, that's a tough one.
30:42
I've driven a few.
30:42
I mean, it's hard not to talk about a four-in-one car.
30:50
Obviously, the Porsche 919, the Toyota TSO50, it's actually, it's...
30:56
It's hard for me to nail down one.
30:58
I've been lucky enough to drive some of the fastest and most exciting cars in the world.
31:02
I've driven a few classics as well.
31:03
So I actually raced a Mini at Spa.
31:08
For a very short period of time, I held the lap record in a classic Mini at Spa.
31:12
I think it was three minutes, something lap, something ridiculous.
31:17
That's awesome.
31:18
I mean, you've got one in the garage for a start.
31:20
You talked about your brother before and your dad's history.
31:23
That's cool.
31:24
But that same weekend, I'm just thinking I also drove a McLaren M1C, which scared the crap out of me.
31:30
So I don't know if I'd go dreaming about it.
31:31
Maybe nightmares about that.
31:33
But that was good fun.
31:35
And, you know, actually, you know what car I really love driving?
31:37
Because I did a few classics.
31:40
I raced one year at Spa, a GD40, original one.
31:44
So like what Bruce and Chris won, Le Mans, same car.
31:49
Not that car, but... And I love that, mate, the position.
31:52
I know the era, you know, back in the 60s, but it felt right.
31:57
And I really enjoyed driving that car.
31:59
So, yeah, a bit of classics as well as the modern stuff.
32:01
But, yeah.
32:03
Tough question, mate.
32:04
I've been spoiled.
32:05
You sure have.
32:06
I do have a favourite car as well, actually.
32:07
You know what?
32:11
And it's probably one of those cars that I'll drive now and I might be disappointed, but my memory of it was the best car I've ever driven was an Atlantic car, Swift, and I'm going to get this wrong.
32:21
Is it a DB5 or 8?
32:23
I don't know what it was.
32:23
I've had this similar conversation with Craig Baird recently.
32:26
So what he used to race, mate?
32:29
And they had this special place in the history of New Zealand motorsport.
32:33
Yeah, so it was well before my era.
32:35
So Craig's definitely a few years older than me too.
32:37
So I did a race at Manfield and Pukekohe together with Kenny Smith.
32:42
He had two of them.
32:43
So we lined up with all these Formula 5000s and we had these little Atlantic cars.
32:47
So I think it's a Swift from, is it like 88 or 89?
32:50
It could be.
32:51
Around the year I was born actually.
32:55
So I'd come out of Formula Ford.
32:57
and then to this Atlantic car with massive wheels, ground effects, and driving that around Manfield.
33:04
It probably was Toyota powered too, was it?
33:07
That had a Ford BDA.
33:09
So I think Craig probably had a Toyota back in the day.
33:11
Yeah, so this had a Ford BDA.
33:14
And I'll just never forget that H-padded gearbox, the grip that the car had, and the balance.
33:21
That's always been etched in the memory as one of the most pleasurable experiences I've had in a race car.
33:26
And actually, you know what, on top of that, I drove a sprint car.
33:30
So you know what, mate?
33:31
I have been so spoiled.
33:32
So, yeah, you know what, a sprint car, that's worth a mention too.
33:35
So my brother did a bit of Speedway, and I've always been a fan.
33:38
I'm always – every year I come home, you'll see him at Western Springs or you'll see him at, you know, Manotu Speedway.
33:43
So one year I came home.
33:45
We went out to Ohaki in the morning.
33:46
My brother had his old sprint car.
33:48
So I did –
33:50
I don't know, half an hour's running in the morning.
33:51
I thought, I hopped out of there with my eyes open saying it was mega, and then my brother told me, well, you didn't get full throttle yet.
33:56
I was like, oh, okay, all right.
33:58
You know, gutted, mate, just, you know, blew my ego.
34:00
But then I went and I did a race at Hawke's Bay that evening.
34:03
That's awesome, at Miany?
34:05
Miany, yeah, Miany.
34:06
I've actually got, believe it or not, I've got a sash, which Sarah, she hates it, I don't know why.
34:11
I had it on display for years.
34:12
I need to pull it up again.
34:14
I've got a sash.
34:14
I finished third at the Hawke's Bay Sprint Car Champs.
34:19
Awesome.
34:19
So my brother was in the race.
34:20
It was four cars, and he blew up the engine.
34:23
Being the engine builder, he blew up the engine.
34:25
So I was third, mate.
34:26
But that was a thrill.
34:29
So I've actually always said I would love to go and do some speedway racing in America 1.
34:33
I mean –
34:34
Mate, I don't know if I'd be any good at it, but I absolutely loved driving.
34:38
Mate, it's got 950 horsepower and the thing weighs, what, 500 kilos or something?
34:42
I mean, power to weight is off the charts.
34:44
Massive wing on the top.
34:45
Rottles your friend.
34:46
Yeah.
34:47
You're only turning left, but just unreal.
34:49
So, yeah, I don't know if you're going to ask me or not, but during this lockdown period,
34:56
I borrowed a gaming machine.
34:58
I've never been a gamer, and I've done plenty of simulation work with Form 9 teams, but this is very different.
35:05
But I spent most of my time on the gaming was actually on Speedway, mate.
35:09
So I was doing sprint car races and midgets and just loving it, mate.
35:12
So I'd love to actually give that a proper crack in real life.
35:14
And we should say, wrapping this up, congratulations, because I did a little bit of stuff with you guys during this period.
35:20
No, thank you.
35:21
I loved it.
35:21
I loved it.
35:22
So Racing Local was a great initiative that brought...
35:25
Kiwis, you know, from all sorts of disciplines together.
35:29
Some were still based overseas, everyone taking part in some sim racing to rightly try and raise the profile, raise some money for Kiwi businesses that need that support at this time.
35:39
And it was terrific.
35:40
It was great fun, wasn't it?
35:41
Yeah, it was cool.
35:43
And we felt really good about it because it felt like everyone was a winner.
35:46
So it wasn't just myself and Sarah.
35:48
It was Chris Vanderdrift and his wife and another friend, Christian Hermanson.
35:51
We came up with this idea.
35:53
And what was cool was, yes, we were raising money for local business.
35:56
But on top of that, we got the whole of the motorsport community together.
35:59
And not just from one formula, you know, from Rally to Speedway to –
36:04
It was cool.
36:06
Up-and-comers, you know.
36:07
So it gave up-and-coming go-karters or whatever to all be in the same race, whether the likes of myself or Van Gisberg or McLaughlin or whoever it was, you know, all in the same – well, Hayden Patton, Mike Boudet, all very diverse group of drivers.
36:19
And to get that motorsport community together like that felt –
36:22
It felt awesome.
36:24
And obviously supporting the local business too and having you on board as a commentator and just seeing everyone get behind it.
36:32
It was really fun.
36:33
It was a lot more work than we anticipated when we had this idea to try and put together a bit of a racing program for four weeks.
36:40
But yeah, who knows?
36:41
Maybe we can get something organised in the real world sometime soon.
36:45
Yeah, we'd like that.
36:46
But it has seen a rise in sim racing.
36:49
And as we sit here, you are about to do a 24-hour race.
36:55
Sim racers will say that's awesome.
36:56
Someone like Jeremy Clarkson would probably say, are you mad?
36:59
Tell us what you're doing.
37:00
And it's basically Le Mans via simulator.
37:03
Is that right?
37:03
Yeah, I'm actually quite excited about it.
37:06
So I've had a love-hate relationship with the simulator.
37:09
At times I've found it quite frustrating.
37:10
I'm not particularly – I haven't been particularly good at it.
37:12
It's been very new for me.
37:13
So the guys that have done it for years obviously have a bit of an advantage.
37:16
But parts of it I've really enjoyed.
37:18
And I think the connecting with people that you wouldn't normally connect with has been super cool.
37:22
Or like I was doing different disciplines, rallycross, oval racing and learning these new things.
37:27
But the last week and a half we've been preparing for the Le Mans 24 Hour.
37:31
Yeah.
37:31
It's actually been really fun because we're doing it with our Toyota race team.
37:34
So most nights I get a message from my engineer like, oh, can you just try a softer spring or can you just try, you know.
37:41
So, you know, we're working on the setup and it feels like a real team thing again.
37:44
So working with the other drivers, sim drivers as well, which is cool.
37:48
So the format is that every team has to have four drivers and at least one needs to be a sim driver.
37:56
Okay.
37:56
So we have three race drivers in our team and one sim driver.
37:59
So also, you know, connecting with him and learning what he, he's a professional sim racer, learning from his experience and how to set up the sim, and it's been quite fun.
38:11
Yes, it's now dawning on me that I'm going to have to sit in the simulator for a long period of time.
38:16
But the lineup's awesome too.
38:17
You've got the likes of Fernando Alonso or Jenson Button or Montoya.
38:22
I mean, I'm going to miss loads of people, but there's a huge list of drivers that are coming together to do this virtual race.
38:29
And everyone's taking it seriously, mate.
38:30
Every time I log on, all these guys are on there pounding laps, testing setups, and it's...
38:36
Yeah, it's going to be cool.
38:37
It's not going to...
38:39
I'm not going to say it's exciting as a real thing, and I still very much hope we get to do that later in there.
38:44
Good luck.
38:45
I'm hopeful, too, that you'll be back in a proper race car testing at some stage in the near future, because you're about to jet back off to Europe, aren't you?
38:52
Yeah, so the plan is in a few weeks from now, my first test in Paul Ricard.
38:57
So hopefully that's still going underway.
38:59
And, yeah, it's been a few months since I've driven a real car, other than the Mini that's in the garage.
39:05
It's been great to walk down memory lane with you.
39:06
Thank you for sharing the story about the mini two.
39:07
I think that's super cool.
39:09
And there's been a bit of stirring about your haircut over time.
39:13
It looks like it's as you reach 30 and, you know, compared to what it was in the early days.
39:19
What did you do?
39:20
You let it go for nearly two years at one point, I think, didn't you?
39:22
Mate, I think it was more than two years.
39:24
Actually, it's pretty embarrassing looking back now.
39:26
But it's funny.
39:27
I left – well, at school I had to have it above the ears and above the collar and –
39:32
So private school, was it all right?
39:33
No, it wasn't, but Palmy Boys.
39:35
Okay, okay.
39:35
I left school and I kind of just like, I don't know, I didn't like people telling me what to do.
39:42
So it started getting longer and then at a certain point people started like, no, you probably need to get a haircut.
39:46
And I'm like, no, actually I don't have to, I can do what I want, you know.
39:50
So it became this kind of match of,
39:53
just like, no, I'm not going to get, I didn't get a haircut for years.
39:56
And I know it seems ridiculous now, but at the same time, I was clever enough to realize that even if I looked silly, I was very memorable.
40:04
And that honestly worked for me later on.
40:05
There were people like, oh, yeah, I remember you.
40:06
You were the guy with the stupid haircut.
40:08
And I was like, yeah, that was me.
40:09
So people remembered me, you know.
40:12
But, yeah, there was a bit of stubbornness in there as well where people were like, yeah, you should probably get a haircut.
40:16
And I was like, no, I'll leave it.
40:18
Stubbornness, I say it's competitive streak too, mate.
40:22
So well done on everything that you've achieved so far.
40:25
We hope the next chapter is filled with even more success.
40:29
But Le Mans World Endurance Championships, you've ticked some mega boxes, and it's been great to sit and chat with you about it.
40:34
Thank you very much.
40:35
Yeah, cheers, Rusty.
40:40
Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
40:45
Series producer and editor is Alex Mitchell.
40:48
Audio production by Darcy Thompson.
40:51
I'm Greg Rust.
40:52
Enjoy the drive, but drive safely.
40:58
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