Latest / Rusty's Garage / Eric Bana (Part 2)

Transcript

Eric Bana (Part 2) · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:19
  Hi, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of our 50th episode of The Garage, and we're fortunate to mark the milestone with Aussie actor Eric Banner.
• 0:30
  If you haven't already, head back to the library and have a listen to part one, which includes some details on an awesome new movie that he's directing, starring in and writing the screenplay for on Mike the Bike Halewood, one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time.
• 0:46
  We also cover Eric's early days and how he found his pride and joy, an XB Falcon Coupe, the Beast.
• 0:53
  Plus his recollections of meeting a young racer by the name of Craig Lowndes.
• 0:57
  Eric did it, you may recall, in his full mullet-wearing cult character, Puyter.
• 1:02
  Sweet!
• 1:04
  We begin part two by seeing if he sought out mentors or trainers for his racing, a little like actors do when they use a coach to perfect an accent.
• 1:16
  One of the things I've learned over the years is that learning is a skill in itself.
• 1:21
  And one of the things I love about my job is in a vast majority of cases, when you take on a role, you're about to learn something that you didn't know before.
• 1:30
  Now, whether that be just...
• 1:32
  on a purely analytical level or whether it be a specific physical skill set or whatever, um, that is a process that, that you get, that you get practiced in and get better at.
• 1:43
  And so motor racing to me was no different.
• 1:47
  It was kind of like, how do I set up my week on my weekend?
• 1:50
  How do I set up my sessions to improve?
• 1:53
  Like, so it is, there is a process, but at the same time, it was always fun for me.
• 1:58
  I was, I never, I,
• 2:00
  I never wanted to be professional.
• 2:02
  I never had aspirations of, you know, I'm going to get to this.
• 2:05
  I want to do all these events.
• 2:06
  I want to do all these things.
• 2:08
  I was really keen always on Bathurst.
• 2:09
  But besides that, it was always fun.
• 2:13
  And I had to be really careful that I didn't allow it to tip over into something that might have suited other people more than it suited myself.
• 2:22
  Naturally, when you're learning, you call on different people.
• 2:24
  I would imagine there are, you know, voice and accent coaches and things like that that you would use in a movie sense.
• 2:31
  What about some of the riders or drivers that may have assisted along the way with, you know, your racing?
• 2:38
  Not too much.
• 2:38
  I mean, really close buddy of mine, Peter Hill, was a great sort of mentor in the sense that, you know, he'd tell me what to sort of bother focusing on and what not to bother focusing on.
• 2:50
  But at the same time, he knew that it was all fun for me.
• 2:52
  So...
• 2:54
  I never really received a whole lot of, you know, high-end kind of tuition.
• 2:58
  I did, I did a couple of sessions, um, with, uh, with, with a fellow over in the, in the UK who, who is, uh, who is an absolute legend.
• 3:07
  Um, but besides that, no, I didn't, I didn't sort of align myself to a pro driver and do what a lot of people do.
• 3:14
  I, I didn't really interest me that much.
• 3:16
  I probably should have, but I just really enjoyed it.
• 3:20
  And, um, yeah,
• 3:21
  I wasn't a big crasher on the circuit, to be honest.
• 3:24
  So it wasn't like, you know, there was like an area that really needed to be addressed to make me safer or so forth.
• 3:32
  So I just, I love the process and it's kind of similar with the two wheels.
• 3:38
  The two wheels is probably a bit more kind of Zen-like for me because most track days I don't even use a stopwatch.
• 3:46
  I just go by feel.
• 3:47
  Yeah.
• 3:49
  But, yeah, there hasn't been a kind of major, like you say, mentor sort of figure for me in that area.
• 3:58
  The whole racing aspect, Tim Lay said to me that you were really solid.
• 4:02
  Just how much did Tim Lay say before this bloody podcast?
• 4:05
  I'm going to ask you two more things from him.
• 4:09
  He's been good.
• 4:10
  He's getting a phone call from me.
• 4:11
  Good, good.
• 4:13
  He says you were solid.
• 4:14
  in your stints, no errors or mistakes at the mountain.
• 4:18
  Tell me what it meant for you, having dreamt of it, to drive something like that, to race something like that at the mountain, to tick that box, whatever it was, a decade ago now.
• 4:26
  That's very cool.
• 4:28
  And you finished top 10, Eric, in the 12-hour.
• 4:30
  It's amazing.
• 4:31
  Oh, mate, it was incredible.
• 4:33
  So I got to do it three times in total.
• 4:36
  The first time, as you mentioned, was with Timmy Lay and Peter Hill.
• 4:39
  We did it in an Evo X.
• 4:43
  And I think that was the second last year before it switched over into full GD3 production.
• 4:50
  We turned up with a really underprepared last-minute performance
• 4:54
  you know, prepared car that was, you know, so far behind the rest of the Evos, it wasn't funny.
• 4:59
  It was like a pogo stick to drive around the top of the mountain, honestly.
• 5:04
  But to me, I don't think I got any seat time until the Saturday.
• 5:08
  I'd never driven around the track.
• 5:10
  I'd only, you know, played it on PlayStation or whatever it was.
• 5:15
  And actually, a friend of Tim's loaned me a sim for a couple of weeks so I could learn the track correctly.
• 5:21
  here at home and Peter Hill would come over and sort of say, you won't get away with that there.
• 5:27
  Be careful of this at the grate and so forth.
• 5:29
  I honestly believe that the only reason I didn't crash was because of the sim time that I put in before.
• 5:34
  But yeah, I really, I really do.
• 5:36
  But it was just amazing.
• 5:37
  I couldn't believe how narrow it was.
• 5:39
  I'd been there before as a spectator, but as a driver, I loved how the track got wider and wider over the course of the weekend.
• 5:46
  And, um, yeah,
• 5:48
  Whilst the car was a bit of a handful, let's be honest, I'm used to driving cars that are a bit of a handful.
• 5:54
  So, yeah, that first year that we finished, I think, 10th, the car wasn't great, but we got to the end.
• 6:01
  The next year we went back and we were doing even better.
• 6:04
  I think, in fact, we were running 440.
• 6:06
  fourth outright when Peter had a big moment up the top, had a relatively big moment on his own and then got cleaned up by another driver and we were done.
• 6:18
  And luckily he was okay because the car was a complete write-off.
• 6:22
  But that second year the car was fantastic.
• 6:25
  It was so much fun to drive.
• 6:26
  We really had a great experience.
• 6:28
  a great car that was well sorted.
• 6:30
  We were still nowhere near the, the heafy packages of, of the time, but the car was still really good.
• 6:35
  And then the third time was, was in the Lambo.
• 6:39
  Um, and I think that year we finished 11th, I think, or 12th.
• 6:43
  And that was the year that it was about 38 degrees.
• 6:46
  We had no air con in the car.
• 6:48
  We lost our radio, I think halfway through the day.
• 6:51
  Boy, it's a long day when you lose your radio.
• 6:54
  Oh man.
• 6:56
  I have one memory.
• 6:57
  I got ripped off in a stint.
• 6:59
  I was about 30 minutes into a stint and I came down pit straight and one of our pit crew was on the wall and I was sure that I saw a sign saying, come in.
• 7:09
  And what had actually happened was the person standing next to him from another team had the sign up saying, come in.
• 7:15
  So the next lap, I thought, oh, this is not really fair.
• 7:17
  I've got pretty good rubber.
• 7:18
  I'm only 30 minutes into a one hour stint.
• 7:21
  I pulled into the garage
• 7:23
  And I remember thinking it's odd that there's no lollipop man out the front of our garage.
• 7:27
  And I turned my head into the garage and everyone had their backs turned and were watching the TV screens, were watching the race.
• 7:35
  And I realised they're not ready for me to come in.
• 7:39
  And one of the guys popped the headphones off, you know, turned around and said, what's wrong?
• 7:42
  I said, well, you guys told me to come in.
• 7:44
  So anyway, we did a driver change and fresh rubber and off we went.
• 7:48
  But yeah, just an amazing, amazing place and to get to do it a few times.
• 7:53
  It all got a bit crazy after that.
• 7:56
  And we haven't been back since because that was when the GT3 thing really took off and just got a lot more professional and the costs and the pressure around the event.
• 8:09
  Went to a different level.
• 8:10
  So I can't say I regret not returning since then.
• 8:14
  But yeah, absolutely an unbelievable experience all three times.
• 8:20
  Would it tempt you to go back for maybe a six hour or something if time and work permitted?
• 8:24
  Oh, most definitely.
• 8:25
  The six hour format production car idea really, really appeals to me.
• 8:31
  I don't enjoy getting in people's way.
• 8:33
  And I think, you know, to turn up to a GT3 race at the speeds they're doing now,
• 8:40
  with the lack of number of amateur gentlemen drivers in that field would be a real stretch.
• 8:48
  So out of respect to the rest of the field, I think it would be a stretch to have a crack at the full 12-hour format now with a lack of track time.
• 8:57
  But yeah, the six-hour idea is definitely appealing.
• 8:59
  Tim says, this is a great endorsement for you.
• 9:01
  Well, I'm not Tim again.
• 9:02
  No, no, no, no.
• 9:03
  He says, you know, if time permitted from a work standpoint, he says you could make a really good AM driver.
• 9:09
  He thinks you're rock solid.
• 9:11
  But he did tell me one funny story.
• 9:12
  We'll wrap up on him now.
• 9:14
  He says he's not a great morning person, Tim Lay.
• 9:17
  We're talking about a car dealer from Orange who's a good racer.
• 9:21
  He's a funny lad.
• 9:23
  So you're leaving to go to the track at whatever it was, 4am in the morning, 5.30 start for the 12 hour back then.
• 9:30
  And he reckons you're all excited, Eric Banner.
• 9:34
  You're all fired up for the day and you launched into impersonations.
• 9:38
  He can't recall, but he thinks you might have been impersonating Dave Hughes or something or other on the way to the track.
• 9:43
  Does that sound about right?
• 9:45
  Oh, it's possible.
• 9:46
  I probably need to burn off a bit of adrenaline.
• 9:49
  Maybe I was trying to wake him up.
• 9:51
  Maybe I was trying to get him to fire up and wake up.
• 9:54
  Yeah, the early starts, mate, that's a challenge.
• 9:57
  I think we gave Pete the first stint every time to alleviate that problem.
• 10:03
  Thank you.
• 10:04
  Targa is the underpinning aspect of Love the Beast.
• 10:11
  Grant Denyer, who appears in the movie there as well, said to me for the podcast, he said, the great thing about it is it's like this week-long series of races, and every day, every few hours, you turn up at a brand-new racetrack.
• 10:23
  Is that what appealed to you when you had your first crack at it many years ago?
• 10:26
  Yeah, to be honest, it was the adrenaline level.
• 10:30
  Comparing it to circuit racing, it felt more to me like motorcycling.
• 10:35
  Okay.
• 10:36
  That's what I think appealed to me.
• 10:38
  It felt instinctually far more like being a motorcyclist than it did a driver.
• 10:43
  And I think it was because the level of danger, the likelihood of something going wrong.
• 10:49
  But also, you know, in our situation, you know, sharing the car with my mate in a car that you prepared yourself.
• 10:56
  It never really appealed to me to do that event in a modern car.
• 11:01
  So one of the reasons why I've never been back there, you know, so...
• 11:06
  It is a pretty special event.
• 11:08
  I love the camaraderie that comes from the classic category.
• 11:12
  And back in those days, the classic category was so much bigger and there were so many home-built specials and it was just a really, really wonderful place to be.
• 11:23
  When you decide to launch in and do this, for the movie's sake, you get the input of the likes of Dr. Phil, Jeremy Clarkson, also Jay Leno.
• 11:35
  What, for our listeners' sake, is the Jay Leno collection like?
• 11:39
  It looks unbelievably cool.
• 11:41
  It really is insane.
• 11:43
  The thing I love about it is it's so eclectic.
• 11:46
  And it's also, it's really, really, how I would best describe it is it's really Jay.
• 11:53
  And I think there are a lot of car collectors out there who collect what they think they should collect.
• 12:01
  You know, and Jay's not one of those collectors.
• 12:03
  He just has the things that he really, really loves and respects and doesn't have those things that he probably should have as a collector in the eyes of other people.
• 12:15
  I think that's what really, really impressed me about his collection.
• 12:19
  But it is astonishing, and it just goes on and on.
• 12:21
  You know, you walk out of one building and you think you're done.
• 12:23
  He's like, yeah, just come over here.
• 12:24
  You know, we'll go over here and there's another door.
• 12:27
  And, yeah, look at this.
• 12:28
  What do you think of the mirror?
• 12:31
  There's another building.
• 12:32
  And then you go through that building and then there was another one.
• 12:34
  And it just – and he's got this great, great group of guys who, you know, in his workshop and he's just so knowledgeable.
• 12:41
  That's the thing I love about Jay is, again, you know, he's not a collector.
• 12:46
  He's one of the most knowledgeable car people I think we've got, you know, on this planet.
• 12:52
  And his passion and knowledge is just amazing.
• 12:55
  How long did the XB sit after the Target crash before you launched into the rebuild?
• 13:00
  Mate, it sat for a long time.
• 13:02
  It really did.
• 13:03
  I was done.
• 13:05
  But not willing to part with it still, though.
• 13:06
  Not willing to part with it.
• 13:08
  I was kind of torn about what to do next.
• 13:11
  That's most definitely the case.
• 13:13
  And I had no energy for it.
• 13:15
  I had absolutely zero energy to deal with it.
• 13:18
  So I...
• 13:20
  Tony, my mate, gave me a great bit of advice, which is said, you know, mate, you don't have to do anything.
• 13:26
  Like, don't feel compelled to do anything at all.
• 13:28
  Like, just relax.
• 13:30
  It was a really good bit of advice.
• 13:31
  It just sort of gave me the licence to go, yeah, it's annoying that every single person I run into says, you fixed your car, yeah?
• 13:38
  LAUGHTER
• 13:40
  those people aren't the ones responsible for sourcing parts for an xb coupe you know um so it took i just let it sit for a long time and then i decided to to to fix it and then i just spent forever getting the parts together which is just a whole other mountain that i'll never want to climb again what are we talking we're talking we're talking ebay every car clubs all sorts are we
• 14:03
  We're talking all kinds of sources, all kinds of sources.
• 14:07
  And, you know, some of these characters, you know, are easier to deal with than others.
• 14:12
  But then I finally, I ran into Dick, I think it was at Sandown, and he asked me what was going on.
• 14:18
  I said, oh, you know, I haven't started repairing it.
• 14:21
  He said, look, look, mate.
• 14:22
  He says, just send it to Robbo.
• 14:24
  Stop.
• 14:25
  mucking around and just put it on a carrier and send it through.
• 14:28
  And it's actually what I really needed because what I needed, I actually didn't want to get it repaired in Melbourne because I just knew it was going to turn into a massive headache.
• 14:38
  And I needed someone who...
• 14:40
  was just a race car person because I knew that with a full cage and the structural damage, it just needed someone who wasn't intimidated by that.
• 14:50
  It wasn't a regular smash repair.
• 14:52
  So that's what I did, mate.
• 14:53
  I sent it up to Robbo at Logan Village, who at the time was doing a lot of V8 work, and he just got into it.
• 15:01
  And it was just not a massive deal for him, and he did an absolutely fantastic job and kept me informed.
• 15:08
  Constant progress along the way.
• 15:09
  Didn't take forever to do either.
• 15:12
  And then, mate, what I did was I got the sort of rolling shell back to a workshop in Melbourne and I let it sit until I had time to work with a mate of mine putting it all back together and I was having a fresh engine built for it and I had a really quiet year that year work-wise and I think I spent about eight months, you know, literally going to workshop every day.
• 15:33
  you know, getting it resorted and re-engineered and finished to how it is today.
• 15:39
  Because I don't like not being involved and I'm not a smash repair person.
• 15:42
  So there was nothing I could do on that front.
• 15:44
  But once we got the car, you know, as a rolling shell back and we sort of pull it apart and started all over again.
• 15:50
  So just, yeah, being involved myself was really important.
• 15:55
  And I literally, I know every square centimetre of that car, you know, so it's, and again, like we were talking about before, it coming full circle, you know, that was a year when, you know, it was a bit quiet on the work front and it just gave me something to do and gave me, you know, a sense of purpose and, yeah.
• 16:15
  One of the key things I'm told, I think it was a Unique Cars article that I read, you were absolutely determined that this would not come at the expense of another XB coming off the road.
• 16:27
  Is that right?
• 16:27
  You wanted to find the parts without acquiring another one to be the bits you needed for yours?
• 16:36
  Absolutely.
• 16:37
  I know this might sound weird because I do love my coupes.
• 16:39
  I have absolutely zero interest in anyone else's coup.
• 16:45
  If something happened to my coup tomorrow, there would not be another coup.
• 16:48
  I have zero interest in any other coup than my own.
• 16:53
  and never have been interested in any other coupe than my own.
• 16:57
  So that was the case, most definitely.
• 17:01
  And at the time, it wouldn't have been an easy thing to find a kind of donor car anyway, because by then they were already a little bit out of control price-wise, nothing like they are today.
• 17:11
  But, yeah, and also that didn't feel right to me as someone in the classic car community.
• 17:18
  I didn't feel like it was the right thing to pull a...
• 17:21
  you know, a going concern off the road just so I could, you know, if that was the case, I wouldn't have rebuilt the car.
• 17:29
  But it was bad, but it wasn't that bad.
• 17:31
  So it was repairable.
• 17:34
  And like I say, Robbo up at Logan Village Smash Repairs just absolutely brained it.
• 17:49
  Targa Tasmania, takes its name from the Targa Florio, a former motoring event held on the island of Sicily.
• 17:57
  I wonder if we should also rename Tassi to Little Sicily?
• 18:01
  You said before about Dick Johnson racing and the advice that he gave you to kickstart the process and get it going.
• 18:08
  Supercars fans will have, you know, their ears will have pricked up with that because I think also too, was there a bit of involvement from the engine side with Ford Performance Racing and maybe Stone Brothers from a suspension side?
• 18:18
  Is that correct, some of that stuff?
• 18:20
  No, so on the engine side, that was done by the Nancurvises here in Victoria.
• 18:27
  Yeah, Brad Nancurvise, who I think used to work at FPR years ago.
• 18:31
  But yeah, the Nancurvise family out near Bendigo.
• 18:34
  Awesome.
• 18:34
  Incredible engine builders.
• 18:35
  Yeah, so Brad built the engine for the car.
• 18:38
  And then whilst it was up at Robbo's, he really talked me into upgrading the suspension into something pretty special, which I'm –
• 18:46
  I'm more indebted to Robbo for that than the repair, I've got to say, because it absolutely – he said to me, he says, when this thing's back on the road, he says, you can have a completely different car to the one you had if you do the suspension properly.
• 18:58
  It will drive like you just will never believe.
• 19:01
  And he's right.
• 19:02
  That thing is insane to drive now.
• 19:05
  It has zero XP underpinnings in terms of the geometry and so forth.
• 19:10
  And that wasn't a painful exercise.
• 19:12
  We just contacted one of the guys up in Queensland who was doing a lot of work for one of the V8 teams.
• 19:19
  They, you know, CAD drew up, you know, some arms and some pieces and we had them made up and they did an amazing job.
• 19:26
  And the car now drives, you know, incredibly well, like incredibly well.
• 19:32
  That was one of the really, one of the upsides to a pretty shitty experience was the fact that I now have a car that drives, you know, 10 times better than it did before.
• 19:41
  What kind of horsepower are we talking?
• 19:43
  And you mentioned before about that quieter period of work and how you're able to be hands-on.
• 19:48
  It has got...
• 19:49
  some signature banner and banner mates loving it.
• 19:54
  You guys, I think, might have built the gearbox crossmember or something.
• 19:56
  What have you done for the... Oh, there's a lot of fabrication work over the years.
• 20:01
  And, yeah, so it's... Now it's running...
• 20:08
  I can tell you exactly, actually.
• 20:09
  It makes around 310 kilowatts at the wheels, right?
• 20:15
  So it's probably around that sort of six, just a little bit over 600 horsepower.
• 20:19
  Beautiful.
• 20:20
  But very drivable.
• 20:21
  I mean, there's a lot more horses there if you were to go a bit crazy with a cam and a spacer on the car.
• 20:27
  But...
• 20:29
  In its current trim, yeah, it's running around 305, 310 kilowatts at the wheels.
• 20:35
  In the research for this, you spoke to one particular website about a top five cars that you might like to have in the garage.
• 20:44
  Clearly, this is one you won't part with.
• 20:46
  What are the other four that you would perhaps love to have in the garage one day?
• 20:52
  That's a tough one.
• 20:55
  I'm not a collector at all, so I fall into the category of if I'm not using and abusing it, I've just got no interest in it.
• 21:02
  So I could never envisage having a collection per se.
• 21:08
  There are a few cars that I love from a design perspective.
• 21:12
  point of view.
• 21:13
  I think the Ferrari Daytona is a beautiful car.
• 21:18
  And I think the 300 SL, not only as a gold wing, actually, I think the Roadster is, you know, an absolutely stunning, stunning car.
• 21:29
  You know, a beautiful, beautiful car.
• 21:32
  I love a split window Vette.
• 21:33
  I think they're a pretty special looking thing.
• 21:36
  None of these cars necessarily would I try and own, but they're just cars that I really, really appreciate.
• 21:42
  I love my truck, mate.
• 21:43
  I've got a 54 F100, which I think is one of the most...
• 21:47
  beautiful looking things ever made, you know, for a work truck.
• 21:51
  Yeah.
• 21:51
  They are just absolutely – I just – I can't stop staring at that thing.
• 21:57
  And my other favourite, which I'm lucky enough to own and have owned for over – oh, God, nearly 20 years now, I've got an old Speedster.
• 22:04
  Beautiful.
• 22:06
  356.
• 22:06
  Yeah, yeah, which I was –
• 22:09
  very lucky enough to pick up at the right time before things went mad.
• 22:12
  But to this day, that car is just ridiculously stunning.
• 22:19
  So my taste is quite all over the place.
• 22:22
  I love looking at my pickup truck as much as I love looking at the Speedster, to be honest.
• 22:26
  Tell us a little bit more about the pickup truck.
• 22:28
  Are we talking left-hand drive?
• 22:30
  What sort of state of repair is it in and things like that?
• 22:33
  So it's the exact opposite of...
• 22:35
  most of the ones that you see which have had conversions and, you know, got late model running gear and front ends.
• 22:42
  This is bone stock.
• 22:44
  It's a Memphis truck, 1954 still runs a 272 Y block engine, three on the tree column shift, bench seat, uh,
• 22:53
  original height suspension skinny tires it's a it's a um it's a light sort of powder blue color really and it is just it is stunning i bought it as a as a unfinished project out of the states and and um just been fettling away the last sort of few years on that it's running really nice now but it's a stunning stunning piece of work
• 23:14
  You brought up 356 Speedster.
• 23:16
  There is a bit of a flair, a bit of a love for Porsche, which has existed along the way in this great journey of yours with cars.
• 23:23
  Firstly, am I right in saying there's been some stuff in your career involving 944s, correct?
• 23:29
  Correct.
• 23:29
  Yeah, so my first circuit car was a 944.
• 23:32
  I raced in the Victorian 944 series for a few years, and that was my sort of entree.
• 23:37
  And a great car, an absolute ripping race car, not a lot of horsepower, but to this day, that series is absolutely fantastic.
• 23:47
  Anyone who wants to get started in motorsport, I couldn't recommend a better car or category.
• 23:52
  That is just a really, really great car to drive.
• 23:56
  I went from that, then I bought a, then I competed in the sports series down here, Victorian sports category in a bit of a Bitsa car, which was a 3.3 litre turbo GT2 replica style.
• 24:14
  And Alex Davison took it for a couple laps around Phillip Island one day, came back and said, you are mad.
• 24:20
  That thing is ridiculous.
• 24:23
  So I had that for a few years.
• 24:26
  And that's a yellow car that you see at the beginning of Love the Beast.
• 24:29
  And that was an absolute weapon.
• 24:31
  And then I went into a 996 Cup car.
• 24:34
  Beautiful.
• 24:35
  And did a bit of GT3 Cup Challenge here in Victoria.
• 24:38
  And then even entered that into a few national Jetty 3 races and was lucky enough to race up at...
• 24:47
  up at Homebush and here at Grand Prix in Adelaide and had that car for many years and sold it a couple of years ago.
• 24:53
  So, yeah, I do really love my Porsches and that 996 Cup car was pretty special.
• 24:58
  It was the last of the H-Pattern GD3 cars before they went to the sequential shift with the 997 and it was in perfect condition.
• 25:07
  with Mark, were able to also sample a very special Porsche when it came down under at the Grand Prix one year, didn't you?
• 25:15
  I did, yeah, yeah.
• 25:16
  He took me for a lap in 918 around Albert Park.
• 25:22
  And I don't know if you've spoken to him before this podcast, but I don't know if he admitted that he ran a bit long.
• 25:27
  Oh, did he?
• 25:28
  And we took a trip onto the grass.
• 25:30
  That'll get back.
• 25:33
  It was the end of the back straight.
• 25:35
  Wow.
• 25:36
  The left-hander, that little kink, that little sort of chicane there at the back of the golf course.
• 25:41
  Yeah.
• 25:42
  Yeah, I think he had the F1 car brake markers in his head.
• 25:49
  We arrived a little late on the scene and went straight ahead onto the grass and back on.
• 25:53
  And then we finished the lap and he pulled up and said, your turn, which hadn't been organised.
• 25:59
  And he pre-approved it with Porsche that I could take it for a spin.
• 26:03
  But he surprised you with it?
• 26:05
  Absolute surprise.
• 26:06
  So before I knew it, I was doing a lap of Albert Park with Mark Webber in the passenger seat and I was driving a 918.
• 26:11
  And whilst I was being a little bit careful with,
• 26:16
  you know i also it wasn't a parade lap rusty let's put it that way it was fun got that one opportunity you got to go with it yeah hey let's um get back to kind of current projects if we can to conclude here we began our discussion with mike the bike on on mike halewood um what can you tell us obviously there's you know the covid period has probably impacted things but have you got a sort of timeline and and what you're hoping in as far as production is concerned
• 26:41
  No, we don't have a timeline as yet.
• 26:43
  So I'll just be making the most of this kind of, you know, productive, unproductive time, just working on the script.
• 26:53
  But until the world sort of, you know, and unfortunately, because of the kind of project it is, it's not...
• 26:59
  It's not like a narrative feature that we can kind of reconfigure to shoot here in Victoria.
• 27:05
  So it's one of those projects that we kind of need the world to be back to normal.
• 27:10
  Right.
• 27:10
  You know, before we can start putting things together.
• 27:14
  So it is a real bummer.
• 27:15
  We, you know, in a perfect world would love to have...
• 27:18
  to looked at 2021 to be attempting to make it.
• 27:23
  Obviously, that's completely impossible.
• 27:26
  So, yeah, I couldn't put a timeframe on it now.
• 27:29
  It's obviously been a massive setback, but it doesn't change a lot of things.
• 27:34
  It doesn't change the desire.
• 27:37
  It doesn't change the kind of film that I want to make.
• 27:39
  It doesn't change the pitch that I gave to the Halewood family.
• 27:44
  All those things remain intact.
• 27:45
  the script won't change as a result of what's happening.
• 27:49
  So we'll just do everything we can to, to turn it into, into an actual movie rather than a, than a, you know, just a, a chance.
• 27:59
  So,
• 28:00
  A lot of these things are about timing.
• 28:04
  Putting movies together and putting movie financing together in particular is really about momentum and timing, and right now that doesn't really exist in the film space.
• 28:14
  So we'll pick up the pieces and do everything we possibly can when this is all over.
• 28:20
  It's a big undertaking from you, Eric, because it's not just the acting.
• 28:24
  You've talked about the screenplay aspect, but your involvement as a director as well.
• 28:29
  When you, you know, so, I mean, supercars drivers talk about now that it's nigh on impossible to be a team boss and to be a driver.
• 28:37
  But, you know, you're doing all of those things.
• 28:40
  Immersing yourself in it, I think, probably helps.
• 28:44
  But what's that like when it's all encompassing like that?
• 28:47
  It is intimidating.
• 28:48
  I have a really special friend, work colleague that I'm working on this project with in Rob Connolly, who is just one of the great producers, directors here in this country.
• 28:59
  And we share an office and we're very close friends and really kind of lean on each other.
• 29:04
  And we're working together on this.
• 29:07
  And Rob was with me when I sat down with...
• 29:09
  Pauline at the Indian restaurant in the UK years ago, and we do a lot of this stuff together.
• 29:15
  So it's a wonderful partnership, and I couldn't contemplate doing it all by myself.
• 29:21
  I have Rob as my partner, and to bounce ideas off and...
• 29:26
  you know, we'd like to direct the film together.
• 29:29
  So that's really important and of immense help, especially at the moment where, you know, where you really, you know, all of us are having to lean on each other.
• 29:39
  You know, we're all having to,
• 29:42
  you know check in on our mates and you know in a professional sense and on a personal sense so it's really it's really great to have that that professional hand so true mate you do have a new movie that's due for release um i think in the new year the dry based on the best-selling novel by by jane harper shot in victoria tell us a bit more about that
• 30:03
  Yeah, incredible.
• 30:04
  So if anyone who's read the book will know, this was, you know, one of the biggest selling books in Australia the last sort of two or three years.
• 30:11
  Jane Harper wrote this book called The Drive, which is essentially a thriller set in a tiny country town, which we based out near Warwicknabeel in Western Victoria, out in the Mallee, Wimmera region.
• 30:25
  And that was really, really special to be able to shoot out there.
• 30:28
  And we had a
• 30:30
  Great crew out on location for a couple of months, and we all just hunkered down and got that job done.
• 30:35
  The film is stunning, and it was directed by my friend and partner Robert Connolly, who I mentioned before, who's just done the most unbelievable job.
• 30:44
  The film's sitting there.
• 30:45
  You know, it's 100% finished.
• 30:48
  We originally would have released in August of this year, so we would have come out this month in a normal environment, but obviously, like everyone else, we're now pushed into next year.
• 31:00
  But the film is absolutely stunning and I'm really, really proud of it and can't wait to share it with the rest of Australia.
• 31:08
  It's pretty special.
• 31:10
  Can I finish with, I don't like with these podcasts as a rule, talking about people's private lives.
• 31:15
  That's not something I generally venture into.
• 31:17
  But in Love the Beast, you use some voicemail messages in the storytelling, which I thought was terrific.
• 31:23
  The kids were worried about the crash that you'd had at the time and was dad okay and so on.
• 31:27
  Words to the effect that, you know, I really wanted to go for a ride with you in the car on a racetrack one day.
• 31:34
  Have you done that?
• 31:35
  Oh, yeah.
• 31:36
  So that was the voicemail that my son left at the time.
• 31:39
  He has not been on a racetrack.
• 31:42
  No, that has not happened.
• 31:45
  That opportunity hasn't presented itself.
• 31:47
  So I would like to do that someday.
• 31:50
  I don't know if it'll be in the Beast, but it'll be in something.
• 31:54
  He's now all grown up and 21.
• 32:00
  Well, listen to that voicemail now.
• 32:01
  I have to remind him that it's actually him.
• 32:05
  Both of my kids luckily have zero interest in cars.
• 32:09
  Is that hard, mate?
• 32:09
  Because it's been a generational thing for you with your dad and so on.
• 32:13
  Yes and no.
• 32:14
  It means that, you know, the fleet really is my responsibility, right?
• 32:18
  So I don't get a whole lot of, I don't get much of a hand with that.
• 32:22
  But at the same time, I'm thrilled for their pockets.
• 32:25
  Yes.
• 32:26
  That they're not mad keen because, you know, that generation, I just don't know where they'd even park a vehicle, right?
• 32:31
  So I'm quite relieved in some ways.
• 32:34
  Having said that, they do love the old stuff and they do love design and, and,
• 32:39
  and things like that so they do really appreciate the old the older cars um but they're not they're not car people at all which is which is you know some somewhat a bit of a relief and it's been super to talk to you we've chewed up a lot of your time here but i really appreciate it congratulations on everything that you've done so far and the ability that you know has very fortunately come with that to indulge your passion along the way and we wish you continued success
• 33:04
  Rusty, thank you so much, mate.
• 33:06
  It's been a real pleasure chatting to you, and I love the show.
• 33:09
  And this has been a massive highlight for me, just having a good chat.
• 33:13
  And all the best, mate.
• 33:14
  And I'll keep listening to all of them.
• 33:16
  And to everyone out there, stay well and look after your cars.
• 33:21
  Absolutely.
• 33:22
  Catch up soon.
• 33:23
  Thank you.
• 33:23
  Cheers, mate.
• 33:24
  All the best.
• 33:29
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 33:33
  Series producer and editor is Alex Mitchell.
• 33:37
  Audio production by Darcy Thompson.
• 33:39
  I'm Greg Rust.
• 33:40
  Enjoy the drive, but drive safely.