Latest / Rusty's Garage / Greg Murphy - The Next Chapter - Part 2

Transcript

Greg Murphy - The Next Chapter - Part 2 · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:19
  G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for more of my conversation with Greg Murphy, a catch-up with the Bathurst legend several years on from the first one in our library.
• 0:29
  Head back later on and give that one a listen, if you haven't already, from his Lap of the Gods to the Flashpoint moment with Marcus Ambrose at the Mountain in 2005, and a whole lot more.
• 0:41
  This next chapter, as we call it, is split into two parts.
• 0:45
  So if you've arrived here and missed the most recent one, that's where you'll find a good debrief on his Bathurst wildcard recently with Richie Stanaway, Peter Aderton from Boost Mobile and the Erebus team.
• 0:58
  There is a particularly special moment in there around his final stint where he kind of takes a moment to appreciate the mountain as a supercars racer for the final time.
• 1:10
  We begin part two by getting deeper into the incredible Dodge Charger restoration, as requested by many of you who listen.
• 1:18
  This 1969 model has been turned into something very special.
• 1:23
  Finished in a striking colour that wasn't necessarily on trend.
• 1:27
  It wasn't what others were doing, and that's a good thing.
• 1:30
  Powered by a 700-horsepower engine.
• 1:33
  Fittingly, it's a stick shift.
• 1:34
  It's a manual, proper manual.
• 1:36
  And there are some clever custom and bespoke parts woven into it.
• 1:40
  They nicknamed it Captive, which we'll explain too.
• 1:44
  This car has been on quite a journey.
• 1:49
  Firstly, you had the car.
• 1:50
  I think you went to SEMA, saw the Ring Brothers stand or display, and that was the first part of it.
• 1:57
  2014, 2014.
• 1:58
  And that was the first part of its mission or journey, wasn't it?
• 2:00
  Well, still, at that point, it wasn't even thought of sending it to America.
• 2:04
  I mean, I bought the car in 2007, and my good mates at Moselle Panel & Paint
• 2:10
  have had the car for quite a long period of time.
• 2:12
  There was big plans and ideas around it.
• 2:14
  It was a bit of a community project in some respects because I wasn't living in New Zealand and it wasn't as much of a focus as what it needed to be and mostly because of my doing and not actually having a proper plan around getting it built in New Zealand.
• 2:31
  It just went from place to place and was holed up at different workshops and different places over a long period of time.
• 2:38
  and then I went to SEMA in 2014 and saw the Ring Brothers released a car called Recoil, which was a 66 Chevelle, and I was over there with the guys from, my mates from Moselle's and also some other reprobates, Angus Fogg being one of them, and just having a great time at SEMA.
• 3:01
  It was just the most amazing show, and this car was there, and it just resonated with me massively what they'd done to it.
• 3:08
  and it was just gorgeous, and I just couldn't believe that you had a 66 Chevelle that looked this amazing.
• 3:14
  Everything about it just was like, wow, I wouldn't change anything in this car.
• 3:19
  And then that got me all fired up about, again, the Charger moving along, and anyway, there's a long period of time there where, again, procrastination and stuff not happening and blah, blah, blah, and then Steve Neuer and I,
• 3:38
  Steve from Moselle's and I Was sitting there And we were having a conversation It's just like you know what It needs to be sent to America You know And he goes well why don't you just
• 3:52
  ring or send Ring Brothers an email or give them a call.
• 3:57
  And I'm like, yeah, I suppose I should, you know, just to see what they say, thinking that, you know, why the hell would they want to know about a car in New Zealand?
• 4:06
  And, you know, you just have that sort of – they're the top of the top or one of the top builders over there.
• 4:15
  You know, they've got to have too much on.
• 4:17
  They'll be at this, you know, some –
• 4:18
  you know, pretty highfalutin, but he's, you know, wanting to deal with only a million years.
• 4:23
  Why would they want to do this?
• 4:24
  You know, all these things go through your head.
• 4:26
  Anyway, send an email, and literally less than 24 hours I got an email back from Nancy Ring, who's Mike Ring's wife.
• 4:37
  And they're like, oh, lovely, thanks.
• 4:40
  So nice to hear from you.
• 4:42
  Great.
• 4:42
  Yeah, we'd love to talk about your car.
• 4:45
  So then within a short while, we were on the phone and we were talking about explaining it, talking to them.
• 4:50
  And they were just the nicest, nicest people.
• 4:52
  Yeah.
• 4:53
  Anyway, so I made the call and started the planning and stuck her on the container and off she went.
• 5:00
  They won an award there, I think, this year.
• 5:02
  They won a few.
• 5:03
  They won Battle of the Builders again with Enyo, which is a 50-something, derived off a 50-something Chevy pickup truck.
• 5:13
  Just insane.
• 5:14
  Absolutely insane.
• 5:15
  They had four cars.
• 5:16
  They launched four cars there.
• 5:17
  And there was intention to have Captive go to SEMA, but none of it worked out.
• 5:22
  COVID just ruined it all, so it never happened.
• 5:23
  That was all going to be part of our...
• 5:25
  The journey.
• 5:26
  But it was an awesome journey with them.
• 5:29
  They were just so good, so good.
• 5:31
  Great, great people.
• 5:32
  Cool.
• 5:32
  Can I pick a couple of things out of that?
• 5:34
  Firstly, Captive.
• 5:35
  Where did that come from?
• 5:36
  Great name.
• 5:36
  Oh, Struggle.
• 5:37
  Stuck in the States.
• 5:38
  Trapped.
• 5:38
  Yes, that's it.
• 5:40
  Pretty much.
• 5:40
  They, you know, it got delayed.
• 5:43
  Things got delayed.
• 5:44
  There was other projects.
• 5:45
  Mine wasn't, you know, I wasn't.
• 5:47
  I didn't have a dead set timeline, so they rocked into it.
• 5:52
  COVID caused all sorts of dramas and problems here and there, and then they had other things and other projects that they needed to get done and supply chain, all that kind of stuff.
• 6:00
  There was just issues or things, and I wasn't in a hurry, so I kept – they sort of were like, hey, can we –
• 6:07
  just put it to one side for a little bit and I said, yeah, sure, no worries.
• 6:12
  And then there was also a bit of an issue, obviously, when COVID hit.
• 6:16
  You know, financially there was a few question marks there for a little while too.
• 6:20
  So they sort of parked her up and then – but little did I know that they were actually still beavering away on it and not even worried about –
• 6:30
  you know invoices at that stage so it was it was they were they were just amazing to deal with and um uh so it was there for much longer than that had been planned and uh we were trying to come up with names and there was a hostage was actually used thrown around that one stage and then i think um and then it was my wife monique i think she'd brought it up had said the word captive oh wow
• 6:55
  You know, it was like hostage but different.
• 6:59
  And then, yeah, it sort of flew from there.
• 7:03
  And, yeah, that's how it came up because they name every car.
• 7:07
  All their cars have got a name.
• 7:08
  And it was really difficult to actually come up with one.
• 7:11
  Yeah, so that's how that transpired.
• 7:14
  The end result looks beautiful.
• 7:16
  I know you had a special unveiling to first see it when it came back into New Zealand.
• 7:22
  Firstly, you, I think, did toy, mate, with the idea of putting a NASCAR engine in it.
• 7:27
  Yes.
• 7:28
  But you went away from that, didn't you?
• 7:29
  Just what have you done there?
• 7:30
  Yeah, no.
• 7:30
  So I sent – I had a –
• 7:34
  a Dodge Cup, a restricted plate cup engine, which had had injection and bits and pieces put on it.
• 7:40
  Hadn't been run, but that was the concept, and the idea was going to be that we put that in there.
• 7:45
  And they got shipped over to America with the car.
• 7:50
  And once they got everything there and they unloaded it and just started to do their initial sort of summary of the car and the design and everything for it, we had the conversation very early on in the piece, and they're like, you know, get the idea, get the concept, but it's not going to be a simple process.
• 8:09
  It's going to be quite an expensive process to actually make this thing work.
• 8:14
  And then it's never going to be, you know, just a...
• 8:18
  open the garage door, press the starter button and drive.
• 8:22
  And then so the suggestion was, you know, listen, put a Hellcat in it.
• 8:28
  Don't have to touch it.
• 8:29
  Just go straight in the car.
• 8:31
  And it's simple.
• 8:34
  You just go and press the key, you know, turn the key and she fires up and you drive it.
• 8:39
  And I didn't need any more convincing than that.
• 8:42
  And so, you know, that's the beauty of sending a car over there.
• 8:47
  There's obviously difficult – not difficulties, but –
• 8:50
  you know the time and the money to send a ship a car over there and deal with all that but is is one thing but you know they we agreed on it they ordered the engine that day and a day and and two days later you know you've got a brand new hellcat crate engine arriving via UPS at the workshop and off and off you go I mean and so those kinds of things don't happen when you're
• 9:15
  But it's arrived And there's not a fault There's nothing Nothing on the car
• 9:21
  that it's turned up and I'm gone.
• 9:24
  Oh, I'm not quite sure about that.
• 9:26
  It's beautiful.
• 9:27
  Just nothing.
• 9:29
  So it's a wonderful, and it's been a wonderful journey working with them and made lifelong friends.
• 9:36
  You and I tic-tac'd a little bit via text message at one stage about, oh, what do you think of this colour and so on, and you're toyed with different colours, and you've settled on this brilliant yellow for it, didn't you?
• 9:46
  What made you choose that?
• 9:48
  Oh, it was either going to be something that's quite –
• 9:53
  Dark You know it was either going to be We'd sort of toy Like Porsche grey at one point wasn't it Yeah toyed with all those greys You know every car company's doing them these days Those sort of What are they Pastely is that the word I'm not sure Just all those grey colours Audi do it Kia do it you know I think Hyundai Everyone does them And Porsche do a really nice one as well But then So before we'd made the decision Must have been
• 10:22
  end of 19, I think it was, rings went to SEMA and they come back and it's like, oh, every second car's one of those tones.
• 10:32
  Right.
• 10:32
  And I'm like, okay, well, we're not doing that because it's already out of date effectively.
• 10:36
  Right.
• 10:36
  And so the other option was going to be a bright colour, but I wanted it deep, really, really quite deep.
• 10:42
  So Mike, who does all the paint and panel, he and I spent quite a long time doing and throwing, and so I started throwing out some ideas and some colours
• 10:53
  And he and I, we were sort of like so connected with so many of the things and the design cues and bits and pieces.
• 11:02
  In sync.
• 11:03
  Very much, that's it.
• 11:04
  We were in sync.
• 11:05
  And so I sent him this, and it's a signal yellow, which is actually a Porsche color.
• 11:10
  Oh, right.
• 11:11
  I think it's still a special order kind of color you can order.
• 11:15
  And so I started searching and looking on the internet, and Porsche, this signal yellow.
• 11:19
  They do a signal orange, but the...
• 11:21
  The orange is very orange, and I didn't want a very orange car because then you sort of start going dukes-to-hazard sort of level and I was staying away from that.
• 11:28
  But the signal yellow.
• 11:30
  So I sent him a whole lot of pictures of this, and then he went and sourced.
• 11:36
  I think the codes for signal yellow, and then he just modified it slightly and changed it up.
• 11:42
  So he sprayed up a whole lot of different test panels, and not that I saw them in the flesh, but pictures and also then through FaceTime and stuff, and he laid them all out, and he said, you know, which one...
• 11:58
  Which one would you have?
• 11:59
  And I went, that one.
• 12:01
  And he went, yeah, that's the one that I chose.
• 12:03
  So we were online all the way through with it.
• 12:06
  And I tell you, the colour is just magnificent.
• 12:09
  It really is.
• 12:10
  It's just got this deepness to it, but it's just ripe.
• 12:14
  Suits the car massively.
• 12:15
  You and I have worked in television for many years, and you know what it's like when you work with a good cameraman like a Benny Green in Australia or any of those guys, or when you work with a good editor or a good producer.
• 12:25
  Invariably, they take something that you do and they make it even better than you imagined.
• 12:30
  Yeah, yeah.
• 12:31
  Clearly, the Ring Brothers did that, mate.
• 12:32
  And that's what they do, but that is what they do, and that's what those builders over there do.
• 12:35
  I mean, there's a bunch of them over there that are just so – and what I love about –
• 12:41
  America over there is that they love each other's work.
• 12:46
  They compliment each other's work.
• 12:47
  They- Chick-fil-A would admire what- Absolutely.
• 12:50
  And Troy Trepanio would love what they're doing.
• 12:53
  And they, you know, whereas this part of the world, it's like the tall poppy thing.
• 12:58
  Don't know about that.
• 12:58
  I wouldn't have done that.
• 13:00
  I understand.
• 13:01
  That's not good.
• 13:02
  And someone does something really amazing.
• 13:03
  No one's going to give you a compliment about it kind of thing.
• 13:06
  Over there, they just, they appreciate what each of them do and their ideas and they're not scared to talk about, show it and appreciate it.
• 13:20
  So that's what's really, really cool about it.
• 13:22
  So yeah.
• 13:23
  Final one on Captive.
• 13:24
  They have made a very, very cool steering wheel that.
• 13:29
  you can now basically go and buy for that thing yours is the first isn't it well we that was again a collab with um collaboration between us um because i'd said you know real key the interior is just such a key part of of getting the car right and um
• 13:44
  And I said, listen, we're going to have to do a steering wheel.
• 13:49
  They've got the people.
• 13:50
  They've got the connections.
• 13:52
  And so we started a bit of a project, actually.
• 13:54
  And I sent some ideas of what I wanted.
• 13:56
  And then they got a guy, a specific guy, actually, that doesn't work for them, that they'd been engaging with a little bit.
• 14:03
  And he started the process and came up with the CAD drawings and bits and pieces.
• 14:06
  And we modified it slightly and boom, boom, boom.
• 14:08
  And then next minute, yeah, it comes off the CNC.
• 14:13
  And that's what we've got.
• 14:15
  And then they'd been actually walking around some carbon fibre rims as well, you know, steering rims.
• 14:22
  And so that all just sort of came together.
• 14:25
  And so, yeah, another little part of the project which was unique.
• 14:28
  And, you know, as you said, actually one of the cars, I think it's the Camaro maybe, is it the Camaro?
• 14:35
  that they've just done, I'm pretty sure it is, that went to SEMA.
• 14:42
  It's got the wheel in it as well, the steering wheel in it as well.
• 14:46
  So, yeah, those are all part of the cool parts of doing a build like this and being a part of it.
• 14:51
  And obviously it's got, thanks to MoTeC Australia, Ty Anderson and everybody over there,
• 14:58
  And they were awesome in helping with the supply and connection.
• 15:04
  Integrating all that stuff.
• 15:05
  With the big 12-inch Motec screen that's in there, which is a first.
• 15:10
  Ring Brothers never done one like that, never put a screen like that in.
• 15:13
  And...
• 15:13
  And I would imagine that they'll probably use it in the future as well because of the collab that came together with Motec and Rings as well.
• 15:22
  So that's really cool.
• 15:25
  I was stuck on that as part of the build for a very long time.
• 15:28
  You know, I just wanted a big digital dash in there.
• 15:32
  And there was obviously nowhere to go other than MoTeC on that one too.
• 15:37
  Awesome.
• 15:37
  I cannot wait to see it in the flesh.
• 15:39
  Please don't bring it around to my place.
• 15:40
  I'm shit scared the dog will scratch it.
• 15:42
  Can we move on to the boys, Ronan and Cormac?
• 15:47
  Bit of racing, more than a bit of racing.
• 15:49
  I mean, Ronan's paired up with John Penny.
• 15:52
  They've been running in an Aston Martin.
• 15:54
  Very recently, Cormac, who's had a love of two wheels, has made a switch and has started to do some 86 stuff.
• 16:01
  Tell us a bit about that.
• 16:02
  How are you going with all that?
• 16:03
  What do you think of all that?
• 16:04
  It's a nightmare.
• 16:06
  Why?
• 16:07
  Why?
• 16:07
  Oh, bloody motor racing.
• 16:10
  I know too much about it.
• 16:11
  That's the problem.
• 16:12
  Yeah, Ronan's...
• 16:15
  working at the moment feverishly to put together a deal to do the Sprint Cup, Michelin Sprint Cup next year.
• 16:24
  He was at Phillip Island just at the weekend going.
• 16:26
  Yeah, he was down there just trying to nut out a team in that barunk because that's a popular little championship, an important championship as well.
• 16:36
  So that's where he wants to go.
• 16:37
  He did the South Island one-hour endurance races.
• 16:40
  He had some great support there from his sponsors but also
• 16:44
  Steve Brooks as well who helped him out with the supply of the car for those three rounds.
• 16:52
  He did really well, driving that car really well.
• 16:55
  So he's trying to make that next step to Australia for 23 and focus on doing that and try and emulate what Ryan Wood has done this year.
• 17:05
  He's done an amazing job.
• 17:07
  He's got a bright future, that boy too.
• 17:09
  So that's where he's going.
• 17:10
  And then, yeah, Cormac sort of has...
• 17:14
  I don't know.
• 17:15
  We'd sort of ignored him as far as cars go because one was enough.
• 17:20
  Can't ignore him now.
• 17:21
  And he, yeah, sort of, I don't know, pushed his way through and, you know, deservedly got one of the spots at the Tony Quinn Foundation Toyota 86 shootout recently through his limited track experience.
• 17:38
  You know, he showed some good speed and got a spot there to have a go.
• 17:41
  So, yeah.
• 17:42
  Where that's going, I'm not really sure, but he's done a couple of little sprint series races down at Highlands recently.
• 17:49
  They're different human beings, and I would imagine they go about their racing differently too, do they?
• 17:56
  Yeah, Ronan's really – he thinks a lot.
• 17:59
  He's a real thinker and planner, and everything's –
• 18:07
  everything is thought out and sometimes maybe a little bit too much he sort of thinks about stuff whereas the other one doesn't think at all so um yeah there's it's very much very much uh two different sides of the of uh the line there big time do you do you help where you can but then leave it to like a Dan Gaunt or what do you do
• 18:25
  Oh, yeah, no, no.
• 18:27
  I'm involved in a small way, but the academy has been fantastic.
• 18:31
  What Dan does at the Hempden Downs Academy is such a good tool to be able to utilise and great people there like Andrew Waite and Tom Alexander and a whole bunch of other people.
• 18:40
  very, very talented drivers, you know, coordinating and giving advice is the way to do it.
• 18:46
  You know, put these guys, put these kids in front of them and let them tune in and work with them to improve their skills.
• 18:55
  And, you know, it's like what Paul Morris is doing at Norwell.
• 18:59
  You know, such a great space and place for young drivers to go and actually –
• 19:04
  get some different perspectives and ideas and tools to apply to the motor racing trade.
• 19:10
  And I've no doubt that Ronan will end up spending some time up there too with those guys to pick their brains, but to evolve his techniques.
• 19:29
  Only me again.
• 19:30
  Wow, Greg Murphy sure does talk passionately, but he also talks sense.
• 19:35
  Thanks Greg.
• 19:36
  Alright, now we move on to a couple more projects that Murphy's also dominating.
• 19:43
  Your laptop is open as you and I sit and talk here, and that is because you've got a variety of projects on the go, but one of them involves now working with Highlands, Hamptons, with the Tony Quinn Foundation.
• 19:55
  Just explain to people about your role there and what you're doing in various aspects of that business, how you help them.
• 20:01
  Yeah.
• 20:02
  Yeah, listen, it's something I really enjoy because Josie Spillane, the CEO of the group here in New Zealand, is...
• 20:10
  you know, is her and I have become good mates.
• 20:13
  And, you know, the work and effort that's required, the time, the people that's required to run three circuits and manage all the different parts of that, you know, it's not just race meetings.
• 20:23
  Obviously, there's so much more to it.
• 20:24
  There's GT membership.
• 20:25
  Down at Highlands, obviously, a big part of that is their tourism offerings.
• 20:32
  And now Taupo's come on board.
• 20:35
  There's big opportunities there for that facility and circuit too.
• 20:39
  And it provides so many different...
• 20:42
  options for people to come to the tracks to do so many different things.
• 20:45
  I say the membership's won, but there's motorcycles and there's cars and there's race days and there's just so many bits and pieces to it.
• 20:52
  So, you know, the motorsport side is something that Josie's not, you know, she will tell you she's not an expert in and... She's good like that.
• 21:02
  She openly puts her hand up.
• 21:03
  Oh, absolutely.
• 21:04
  She doesn't know much.
• 21:04
  So are you motorsport manager?
• 21:06
  What's your title?
• 21:07
  Well, we put a title on it, but it's only because, you know,
• 21:10
  It felt like it needed something.
• 21:11
  It's not necessarily just motorsport, but, you know, my side of it is support her team, her crew, on lots of different aspects of the day-to-day and support around the safety side of things and some of our regulations and rewriting of our, you know, health and safety staff.
• 21:26
  And, you know, it's wide-reaching, but also, you know, with the foundation being involved in that as a trustee with...
• 21:35
  having an amazing opportunity to give away some of Tony's money to a lot of talented young Kiwis and the scholarships that we do for that, the 86th scholarship, the TRS scholarship, that's also other parts of it.
• 21:48
  That is bloody good, that whole thing, mate, isn't it?
• 21:50
  Yeah.
• 21:50
  For a variety of reasons, from trying to media train young kids to giving them opportunity and financial support to exposing them to corporates.
• 21:58
  I mean, it is more than just, here's a bit of dough, off you go, good luck in your championship, isn't it?
• 22:02
  Oh, yeah, completely.
• 22:03
  And I got into car racing through a scholarship, so I just love the idea of it and what it offers, and it's incredibly rewarding.
• 22:12
  Tony finds it very rewarding.
• 22:15
  those that are involved in it, myself, Dan Gaunt, Josie, Steve Horn, in making these decisions to be able to do this.
• 22:20
  You know, we're getting – it's incredibly rewarding to see it.
• 22:24
  And we're also just never-ending, just blown away by the skill and the talent that is here and what's coming through.
• 22:34
  You know, there's always going to be, unfortunately –
• 22:36
  those that don't win these things.
• 22:37
  And so far for this year, you know, they were very tightly fought scholarships with talent that, you know, is likely to, you know, have success regardless of winning these scholarships.
• 22:52
  So those are a huge part of...
• 22:56
  what we're doing as well and a very enjoyable part of it as I say doing that stuff so it's a it's a you know there's a lot of pieces to the to what I'm sort of involved with with the group but I just you know enjoy being a part of you know what the future holds for that and working with you know like-minded individuals who you know who are getting things done
• 23:19
  as well but the circuits are such a contributing so much to motorsport in this country and they will continue to do that for a very long time and I feel again pretty privileged to be a part of it
• 23:34
  I mean, the sport is the huge beneficiary of those, you know, fantastic facilities that have longevity and multi-purpose.
• 23:43
  I think that's the, you know... Yeah, well, you know, things, projects that we're also working on, such as events, we've announced the Highlands 6-hour, which is November next year.
• 23:54
  You know, so that's a huge undertaking, and there's many parts to that that need a lot of support and help, and so I'm enjoying helping and assisting,
• 24:03
  and being part of that, because that will be a significant event on the motorsport calendar here.
• 24:09
  Road safety has been a big thing you've sunk your teeth into in the last five-plus years, maybe even more.
• 24:18
  Do you feel like you're making headway?
• 24:19
  I mean, from condition of roads in this country to driving standards and training and so on, there's a lot of things that are lacking in your eyes that need attention, that need support.
• 24:31
  Right.
• 24:32
  Yeah, because we're just... All the politicians, the regulators, the NZTAs of the world, they're just regurgitating all the same crap that's caused all the problems in the past.
• 24:51
  The focus is in the wrong areas.
• 24:52
  They're not...
• 24:53
  The attention's not focused on the beginning at the start, what's creating the issues, right?
• 24:59
  It's just now trying to...
• 25:00
  manipulate... Patch stuff up, basically.
• 25:03
  Yeah, some of these easy, low-hanging fruit things that become such a significant focus.
• 25:13
  But they're a contributing factor to the issues and the causes and the death and the numbers and everything.
• 25:18
  But they're not...
• 25:21
  you'll never fix it if you don't actually go back to the beginning, the root cause of what leads to these things to happen, which is training and understanding, awareness, basic skills around motor vehicles and the physics of it and the understanding of what tyres do and ABS and safety and actually explaining what driving safe means.
• 25:43
  In a modern car.
• 25:44
  They talk about driving, you know, just drive safely.
• 25:46
  It's like, well, okay, what actually is that, you know?
• 25:50
  So there's lots of words and there's, you know, information, but it's not related correctly because people don't understand what it means because they've never been told or taught.
• 26:01
  You don't have the understandings, the basic understandings that you need to actually be able to apply.
• 26:07
  what that messaging means.
• 26:09
  But they just keep spending millions and millions and millions and millions on all this crap, which is not having any effect because it's not having effect because people aren't paying any attention to it.
• 26:18
  So I keep harping on about that side of it, and we're not actually making headway because the bureaucrats, they don't understand road safety, but they're using consultants to, and spending hundreds of millions of dollars on consultants who also don't understand road safety, but to go and collate information and research and stuff like that, and then try and put it all together.
• 26:41
  And then they, as I say, cherry pick the easiest stuff, which is let's slow everybody down.
• 26:45
  So let's slow everybody down so when they crash,
• 26:48
  the outcome or the damage might be less.
• 26:51
  There's no let's try and stop the crashing in the first place.
• 26:56
  And there's so many layers to that.
• 26:58
  I was talking to a first responder the other day.
• 27:00
  You know, the NZTA, there's no ever conversation or chat or care about the people that have to go and clean these messes up.
• 27:11
  These people turn up, the volunteers, a lot of the case from fire brigades and that kind of stuff, they've got to clean this stuff up.
• 27:18
  Yeah, there's offerings of support and counselling,
• 27:24
  But it's all expected that's part of their jobs and things to do.
• 27:28
  Yeah, you can't unsee that kind of crap.
• 27:30
  There's so many more layers to it that are happening that's having an effect that is not being seen as important as what it is and, again, increase the reasons why we've got to do things different and better to actually stop some of this stuff from happening.
• 27:46
  People don't go out, leave home or leave wherever they are in their vehicle expecting at any given time that they're not going to come home at the end of it.
• 27:54
  But it's happening and it will continue to happen as long as we still focus on the things we've – the money is focused and spent and the –
• 28:02
  the decision makers focus on the things we're currently doing, then we will not get a different result.
• 28:07
  And they refuse to actually see that and listen and understand it.
• 28:12
  But the numbers don't lie.
• 28:13
  Does the politics of all that drive you mad?
• 28:15
  Completely mad.
• 28:16
  It just drives you completely mad.
• 28:18
  Absolutely.
• 28:18
  Because the waste of taxpayers' money, it's just hard to comprehend.
• 28:26
  Well, it is.
• 28:27
  It's impossible to comprehend the stupidity of it.
• 28:31
  and literally the um
• 28:35
  really the neglect of the system and really the ignorance to actually want to do it properly.
• 28:46
  I don't know what they're scared of.
• 28:47
  I really don't know what they're scared of.
• 28:48
  Current ad would have cost a fortune.
• 28:50
  It seems more focused on inclusivity than actually getting cut through and things like that.
• 28:55
  That's probably another story.
• 28:56
  In a perfect world, if you could maybe have one or two things that you could get them across the line on, what would you change?
• 29:01
  What would you do?
• 29:02
  Well, we've got to actually provide a better base learning for... And you've got to start at the beginning.
• 29:10
  You've got to start at the youth.
• 29:11
  You've got to change the way youth are actually seeing and understanding and going about that exploring of learning and driving a car on the roads.
• 29:26
  You've got to...
• 29:27
  You've got to change that perception.
• 29:28
  You've got to change the basic skills that they've got, give them more tools to actually understand what safe driving is, more tools to understand.
• 29:38
  Not training to pass a licence is what you're saying.
• 29:40
  Yeah, and that's all we do.
• 29:41
  We just train to pass a licence.
• 29:43
  So we've got to provide more of the significant things that are going to make a difference in decision-making when you have to make a decision.
• 29:52
  Right, so all these young drivers, 17, 18-year-old, who's just gone through the basic normal process of getting a driver's licence, had mum and dad do some lessons and then go to the driving instructor to drive around the test course to know what they've got to do at those significant moments to pass the test, right?
• 30:11
  We've got to do so much more than that because they're not prepared.
• 30:14
  They're not prepared to be safe.
• 30:15
  They're not prepared.
• 30:16
  So, you know, when something does go wrong and it happens all the time, that's the first time...
• 30:22
  that that driver will have to make a decision on what they do next.
• 30:28
  And so why are you surprised that people are dying if the first time you've actually got to make a decision, an emergency decision at that moment, to actually determine the outcome of...
• 30:42
  How are you surprised when it doesn't come?
• 30:44
  If you haven't trained for that.
• 30:46
  When it goes bad.
• 30:47
  And that's what we're doing.
• 30:48
  That's exactly what we're doing.
• 30:49
  So we'll lower the speed, right?
• 30:51
  Oh, why?
• 30:52
  Oh, so when people crash, the chance of them surviving is better.
• 30:57
  That is the philosophy.
• 30:59
  Now, there's a certain, I suppose, accuracy in that comment, but...
• 31:07
  But you're still at the whim of fate and the laws of physics and what happens.
• 31:12
  You can still be killed at 80 k's an hour just like you can be killed at 100 k's an hour.
• 31:16
  You can survive at 100 k's an hour and be killed at 80 k's an hour because it depends on where the situation lies, what's around the surroundings, what you hit, what you don't hit.
• 31:27
  Yes, the speed you're travelling, all that stuff comes into it.
• 31:31
  But people survive 120-kilometer-hour crashes, they survive 140-kilometer-hour crashes, and people die at 80 k's an hour.
• 31:36
  So there's no standard rules when it comes to the laws of physics.
• 31:40
  Once you've lost control, it's fate.
• 31:43
  Fate takes over.
• 31:44
  That's where it's at.
• 31:45
  So we've got to do a much better job.
• 31:47
  And as long as we continue to be...
• 31:51
  dictated to by the current crop of politicians and bureaucrats and people making these decisions, we're not going to improve.
• 31:59
  Whether it's the incumbents or anyone in opposition, is your voice being heard?
• 32:04
  Are you getting some...?
• 32:05
  Yeah, I hear some things come back to me about...
• 32:09
  You know, my name being mentioned in various spaces, but it sounds like it's just I'm more of an annoyance than obviously anything else.
• 32:20
  So I've not been approached by the NZTA or MOT or anyone to actually come and be a part of the solution.
• 32:30
  They obviously don't think that they need that.
• 32:31
  We'll just keep going down the same path.
• 32:33
  Road to zero is one, obviously, just a ridiculously...
• 32:38
  ill thought out name for our road safety strategy.
• 32:41
  But there's no question that the current people in charge have got a missile lock on their current strategy.
• 32:53
  And they don't seem prepared to actually alter that to actually improve or actually, I suppose, admit that maybe it's not the right strategy and let's look at some other alternatives.
• 33:06
  They have locked into, you know, speed and –
• 33:11
  you know, saying that they're going to invest in roadside barriers and this and this and this, but at this stage, you know, three, four years in, three years into the current road safety strategy, there's not one KPI that's been even closely met, and yet we've spent billions of dollars achieving nothing.
• 33:29
  The condition of the roads is just abysmal.
• 33:33
  I mean, it is...
• 33:35
  you know, they should be ashamed, absolutely ashamed.
• 33:38
  But there's no accountability and, you know, that's just the way things are these days and we shouldn't accept it.
• 33:46
  But unfortunately, there's not enough of us out there to do the job to actually sway it a different way.
• 33:52
  Good on you for the passionate fight, mate.
• 33:54
  Keep that up.
• 33:55
  Couple to finish here because you've been very good with your time.
• 33:57
  Firstly, you said something in a documentary for Neil Crompton for Supercars and –
• 34:02
  airtime media recently just in relation to a an opportunity that many fans may not have realized and it involved potential with you and triple eight and a discussion that i think even your wife monique was was in on with with roland dane what was there an opportunity for you to perhaps go there and maybe drive for a falcon at one point and we'll just just open up and expand on that if you can
• 34:26
  Oh, yeah, there was.
• 34:28
  So that was... God, what was that?
• 34:33
  It was early days for Roland relatively, wasn't it?
• 34:35
  Yeah, it was.
• 34:35
  Yeah, that only just turned up, was it?
• 34:37
  I think Mum picked up on the fact that he was a sharp guy and this was going to potentially go somewhere, wasn't it?
• 34:41
  Was that the end of 2002 or was it...
• 34:44
  Now I can't remember what I said to him.
• 34:46
  So Kmart was really accelerating for you then, wasn't it?
• 34:49
  Well, no, I think I was renewing.
• 34:52
  I think I was renewing for three and four.
• 34:54
  I think that was about the time.
• 34:56
  So when did Roland turn up in Australia on supercars?
• 34:59
  Crikey, now you're testing my ground matter.
• 35:01
  Anyway, so it was around that time, early 2000s, and there was actually a...
• 35:06
  an opportunity why would you want to bring that up rusty well i just i just no i just thought it was an amazing thing that people may not have may not have realized and and um but i i i stayed you know there was i think there was um
• 35:21
  You can't have regret, mate.
• 35:22
  You won those two Bathursts.
• 35:23
  Oh, no, no, no, no.
• 35:24
  But it might have been after Kmart, was it?
• 35:25
  It might have been actually after, it might have been at the end of four, maybe.
• 35:29
  I can't remember.
• 35:29
  I think it might have been at the end of 2004 or during 2004 that the offer was, potentially.
• 35:35
  And- Before you went off to the PWR thing, what have you.
• 35:38
  Yeah, maybe it was then.
• 35:40
  But yeah, there was conversations had.
• 35:43
  I don't think there was anything official on the table, but there was conversations and-
• 35:50
  Yeah, I think I was sort of maybe a bit more focused.
• 35:56
  And they were very much in their infancy.
• 35:58
  Yeah.
• 35:59
  And they hadn't really been, at that point, I think, showcasing their full extent of their ability or what they were going to achieve.
• 36:08
  Ludo was there, obviously, and he was a key part of it.
• 36:11
  Yeah, it's one of those things if you know
• 36:14
  if you knew then what you know now.
• 36:17
  But also there was still that connection with Holden, which I think probably in the end of the day kept me aligned down that path.
• 36:28
  But, yeah, it's interesting, isn't it?
• 36:30
  Look back on those situations and, yeah, what might have happened.
• 36:37
  You know, it's a sliding door.
• 36:38
  That's that sliding door thing, right?
• 36:40
  Yeah.
• 36:41
  And Jamie Wincup went there in 05.
• 36:42
  So maybe it was about that.
• 36:43
  I think it might have been about that same time.
• 36:45
  Okay.
• 36:45
  Yeah.
• 36:46
  Holden is a nice way to finish this, mate.
• 36:47
  Yeah, yeah.
• 36:48
  We are on the eve of the Adelaide race, the return of Adelaide, which is great.
• 36:53
  There's going to be a great celebration for the final official races for Holden, for Commodore, if you will.
• 37:00
  Yeah.
• 37:01
  in Australia.
• 37:02
  It's been an amazing chapter for you.
• 37:03
  Crazy to think that it's the end in some respects, isn't it?
• 37:07
  Yeah, it is, but I think we've already accepted it from a while ago, it was unfortunate timing around the announcement, again with the big C getting in the way of being able to celebrate it properly.
• 37:22
  and so it's sort of been a bit drawn out now, I suppose.
• 37:25
  But, you know, to actually put the final nail in the old coffin there at Adelaide is a fitting farewell, isn't it?
• 37:35
  That ZB Commodore will have its last race in Adelaide.
• 37:39
  as part of that supercar championship.
• 37:42
  Shane's going to go hard to try and win that thing too, I would imagine.
• 37:44
  He's been passionate.
• 37:47
  Oh, no, he goes hard for absolutely everything at the moment.
• 37:50
  So I don't doubt that the challenge will be everybody else having to try and beat him around there.
• 37:58
  But again, it's like Pukakoe turning up to Pukakoe and the intensity that he had there to win at home.
• 38:05
  was just, I mean, it was incredible.
• 38:09
  You know, the pressure he put himself and his need, his desire to win and then Bathurst the same.
• 38:15
  And so I have no doubt that that significance of the Holden thing this weekend will be a big driver for him to...
• 38:23
  ensure that you know it's him that does it and and then probably secondly it's a it's a you know it is a commodore not um not ford taking the march on it yeah hey it's been awesome to catch up mate with a with a part two thank you very much for doing that congrats on what i think was a really um fitting bathurst for you for so many reasons i mean you talked about how
• 38:45
  It sort of ended first time round, but this was a nice bookend, mate, wasn't it?
• 38:49
  It really was.
• 38:50
  Yeah, an unexpected one and one that I'm now very thankful for considering how I was not overly enthusiastic at the start of the whole process.
• 39:01
  Yeah, sometimes it's meant to be.
• 39:03
  Awesome.
• 39:03
  Thank you.
• 39:10
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 39:14
  Series editor and producer is Ed Gooden.
• 39:17
  Audio production by Link Kelly.
• 39:20
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• 39:24
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• 39:25
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