Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief - No BS and Business

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The Motorsport Brief - No BS and Business · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:05
  It literally is just about to be lights out and away we go on a new season of Formula One.
• 0:10
  Today, an Australian Grom preview here on the Garage Shortcast.
• 0:17
  G'day everyone, Rusty here.
• 0:18
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:19
  Not one, but two guests coming up.
• 0:22
  The always awesome Gunter Steiner.
• 0:24
  And we're trackside to talk to the AGP CEO, Travis Old too.
• 0:29
  Before we launch into it, thank you for all the feedback on the Robbie Farr feature.
• 0:33
  Such an engaging, awesome chat around Speedway.
• 0:36
  And we wish the sprint car legend all the best in his TA2 car at Race Tasmania in just over a week's time.
• 0:42
  Bit of a different environment for him.
• 0:44
  And he is loving that new chapter.
• 0:46
  A brand new feature ep dropped yesterday with Max Pappas.
• 0:50
  This one oozes just as much passion from growing up in Italy and racing karts against some rising stars that became big names in our sport.
• 0:59
  How he wrecked Russell Ingle and the Enforcer waited to get even.
• 1:03
  A special bond with Ayrton Senna.
• 1:05
  and making it to Formula One thanks to Max's tenacity and savvy skills for building strong commercial relationships.
• 1:13
  Why that brief stint in F1 nearly marked the end of the road of his professional racing career, before Mad Max...
• 1:20
  went to Daytona for the 24 hour, put in a very memorable drive in a Ferrari and it changed everything.
• 1:27
  Opened the door to Champ Car, NASCAR and later his motor racing business MPI, which has kind of reinvented the wheel, the steering wheel.
• 1:36
  It has become the choice in many series now around the world, including supercars and Trans Am here in Australia.
• 1:44
  Check out the Max Pappas two-parter when you have time.
• 1:47
  Now to the first of our interviews.
• 1:49
  He didn't disappoint when he came on last year.
• 1:52
  You can catch him along with the 1996 world champion, Damon Hill, funny man, Tim McDonald, world-class caller, Richard Crail, who's a friend of the podcast.
• 2:01
  More on Channel 10's big three days of coverage from Albert Park coming up.
• 2:06
  But right now we say Gunter Steiner.
• 2:08
  G'day.
• 2:09
  Welcome back to Rusty's Garage.
• 2:11
  Gunter, it's fantastic to get you back on the podcast.
• 2:13
  Thank you for talking to us once again.
• 2:15
  Thanks for having me once again.
• 2:17
  Now, tell me, are you sick and tired?
• 2:19
  You've been in my feed all week long.
• 2:21
  Are you sick and tired of answering questions around swearing and fines in motorsport?
• 2:26
  Well, I wouldn't say I'm sick of it, but I have to admit I was asked quite a few times in the last weeks.
• 2:32
  Yeah.
• 2:33
  As your view, obviously it hasn't changed, though, has it?
• 2:36
  No, my opinion hasn't changed.
• 2:37
  No, no, my opinion hasn't changed, you know.
• 2:39
  Thank you.
• 2:40
  Okay.
• 2:40
  Can we look ahead to the weekend?
• 2:43
  So many things to be excited about.
• 2:45
  Firstly, from a home perspective, statistically, we've gone all this time here in Melbourne without an Aussie really on the podium.
• 2:54
  Daniel made that brief appearance and it was unfortunately taken away from him.
• 2:57
  Do you think we can finally get an Aussie on the podium here in Melbourne this weekend?
• 3:01
  Yeah, I would say the chances are very high that Oscar gets on the podium and he maybe even can win it, you know, because it looks like that the McLaren is the car to beat for the beginning of this season anyway.
• 3:15
  And, you know, if he has got a clean race, I think he will be almost for sure on the podium.
• 3:22
  Lots of pressure around Jack doing at the same time.
• 3:24
  And I privately don't like that.
• 3:28
  But that is just a reminder of how tough the business is, isn't it?
• 3:31
  Yeah, no.
• 3:32
  I mean, Jack can do a good race.
• 3:35
  I think it is better than it was last year.
• 3:37
  as a car, but obviously they are not in the top four manufacturers yet.
• 3:43
  But I think for Jack, it's not if he can go on the podium or not.
• 3:47
  Jack just has to prove that he's competitive, you know, compare himself with his teammate, which is very, very good.
• 3:54
  Pierre Gasth is there a long time at Alpine.
• 3:58
  But for Jack, it's more like, you know, he did one race last year, been caught in the last minute.
• 4:03
  It's always difficult.
• 4:04
  But for him now, something completely new starts now and a big opportunity.
• 4:09
  And he has to take it, you know, and do a good job.
• 4:12
  The Aussies tend to adopt the Kiwi.
• 4:14
  So we're, I guess, proud in some ways of Liam Lawson.
• 4:17
  What do you think he needs to do for the first few races with Red Bull?
• 4:21
  What would be the target in your mind?
• 4:23
  I think his target should be, I mean, he shouldn't be trying to beat Max in his first season.
• 4:31
  He should try to learn as much as possible from Max in his first season because otherwise he will end up like the drivers, which were teammates of Max Verstappen.
• 4:39
  Max is just very good, you know, and take the opportunity to learn from the guy and then go at him in a few years.
• 4:48
  But if you go in there...
• 4:50
  to the season and say, I'm going to beat, I have to prove that I'm better than Max.
• 4:55
  That is very difficult to prove.
• 4:56
  And as we know, some people couldn't make it, that pressure.
• 5:02
  So many exciting rookies coming into Gunther.
• 5:05
  Do you think we might see a bit like Kimi Raikkonen all those years ago, a rookie that puts in a good performance here at Albert Park on their debut?
• 5:13
  I think the rookies, we have to see who is good and who is not.
• 5:16
  They're all good, I would say.
• 5:17
  But who is a champ or not, we will just see when they are participating.
• 5:22
  I think the times when a rookie came in like Kimi, a very good example from you, a rookie like Kimi came in where he came out of, I don't know, Formula 3.
• 5:31
  And Max Verstappen came out of Formula 3.
• 5:33
  I think that's now very difficult to do these days.
• 5:35
  You need to come to Formula 2.
• 5:37
  There is quite a few people which won races in Formula 2, which won championships in Formula 2.
• 5:42
  So I think there is a good bunch of guys there.
• 5:45
  But who can make it to stay there and who can come in and be a champion of the future?
• 5:50
  I think we need a little bit of time to see how good they actually are in Formula 1 because it's still a big step from F2 to F1.
• 5:57
  OK, lots of excitement about Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari.
• 6:02
  Realistically, what can you see from them?
• 6:05
  If they can get that car right, will he be as good as the Lewis we know that won seven world titles?
• 6:10
  Yeah, I think if the car is right, Lewis could get his eighth title and the World Championship Ferrari.
• 6:16
  That would be the ultimate dream for the whole of Italy.
• 6:19
  But I think for Luis, he has got a very good teammate.
• 6:22
  Charles Leclerc is very, very fast, you know.
• 6:26
  And Charles has had Ferrari since a long time.
• 6:28
  He knows the culture.
• 6:29
  He knows the people.
• 6:30
  He has got a little bit of an advantage there.
• 6:32
  What Charles can do, learn a lot from Luis.
• 6:35
  But obviously, Luis didn't win seven world championships because...
• 6:39
  He's not good.
• 6:40
  He's very good.
• 6:41
  So let's see if the new motivation joining a new team could bring that extra little bit out of him.
• 6:49
  If you look at the Australian Grand Prix and Albert Park generally, what sort of things would you be wanting from the car for the weekend ahead to be competitive at a place like Albert Park?
• 7:01
  I think the cars, they are now so good, all the cars, there is not anymore a specific racetrack which suits one racetrack.
• 7:09
  I think it's just what you need to try to find is the setup for the racetrack because it's a new car.
• 7:15
  The car was just tested for three days, you know, to make the car, I call it comfortable for the driver, to find a good balance in the car so he feels comfortable and he can go quick.
• 7:24
  But there is nothing too special.
• 7:27
  All the racetracks are the same.
• 7:29
  You just always need to try to find
• 7:31
  a very good setup to find the balance for the driver he likes and he's confident of the car.
• 7:38
  So obviously the big teams having more experience, for them it's a little bit easier because with only three days of testing, it's not a lot of time that you can learn about the car.
• 7:49
  And sometimes you're surprised to go out on Friday here for the first practice runs and you're completely off with your setup.
• 7:56
  that you have to overcome very quickly.
• 7:58
  And normally the big teams have got the edge on that one because they've got also just so many more people and very good people working at it.
• 8:04
  I know time will tell.
• 8:06
  Do you feel like this could be the year for McLaren off the back of what they did in the constructors last season?
• 8:12
  Yeah, I strongly feel that McLaren will have a very good year this year, you know, and double up what they did last year.
• 8:18
  Okay.
• 8:19
  Are there those that might be under a little bit of pressure, perhaps?
• 8:22
  What about a George Russell now in kind of almost that leader role for Mercedes?
• 8:29
  I wouldn't say George is under pressure.
• 8:31
  I mean, I think it's more Mercedes as a team is under pressure because they had a few years where they were, I mean, they won races last year, which is good, but they want to win world championships.
• 8:40
  So I think Mercedes is more under pressure than George.
• 8:43
  I think George is, he was at Mercedes a long time.
• 8:47
  He knows that he's ready to be the team leader now and his teammate is very young.
• 8:51
  So I don't think that his teammate will try to be the leader the first year he gets into it at 18 years old.
• 8:57
  But,
• 8:58
  But George is a good driver, is a good personality, is very organized.
• 9:04
  So I think he will be a good team leader for Mercedes.
• 9:07
  Awesome.
• 9:07
  Couple to finish here.
• 9:09
  Firstly, it's great that Australia is back at the opening round.
• 9:13
  If you had to predict who will win on Sunday and predict a champion for the year, who do you think is the favourite?
• 9:19
  I think the favourite, I have to say there are two favourites, is Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
• 9:23
  They are my two favourites and it's a 50-50.
• 9:25
  So I have to split it, you know, but it depends on how good of a day they can have.
• 9:32
  Who has got the better day or the better form of the day will win the race, in my opinion.
• 9:37
  Gee, that means potential for some more grey hairs for Zac Brown, doesn't it?
• 9:41
  Absolutely.
• 9:43
  But it's good to get grey hairs when you have to worry who of your team, who of your drivers is winning, you know?
• 9:51
  Fantastic.
• 9:51
  It's great to have you as a part of the broadcast here in Australia.
• 9:54
  Just as we wrap this up, are you enjoying that side of life now?
• 9:58
  Yeah, I'm enjoying it.
• 9:59
  You know, I'm enjoying doing the rework.
• 10:00
  I mean, I enjoyed it last year and I decided to do another year.
• 10:06
  And I really look forward to the whole year.
• 10:07
  And to work with the people from Network 10 here was fantastic last year.
• 10:12
  And I think it will be fantastic again this year.
• 10:14
  So I'm really looking forward to it.
• 10:15
  Awesome to catch up with you.
• 10:16
  And we look forward to speaking to you here at the track.
• 10:18
  Thanks, Gunther.
• 10:19
  Thanks, Asti.
• 10:20
  See you during the weekend.
• 10:22
  The 10 coverage kicks off at 11.30am on Friday, 10am Saturday, and Sunday is massive on from 8.30am, their Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Times.
• 10:32
  For more info and for times in your state, just go to 10play.com.au.
• 10:38
  Stick around.
• 10:39
  AGP CEO Travis Old joins us on the other side of the break.
• 10:49
  You're listening to a special edition of the Shortcast.
• 10:52
  On the eve of the Australian Grand Prix, I thought for this second half we'd catch up with the CEO of the event, Travis Old, as they continue to grow and shape the Albert Park offering, in line with the incredible popularity F1 now enjoys, the deep data-driven navel-gazing that the sport and the AGP do to ensure...
• 11:12
  that the experience for ticket holders is everything they dreamt it would be, and that the offering caters to both long-time, very loyal supporters, as well as newcomers.
• 11:21
  And they seem to have found their own unique space among the more than 20 races on the calendar.
• 11:27
  It's kind of Melbourne laneway, a little bit of fashion, food, and a celebration of motoring and motorsport.
• 11:33
  Ours seems to offer more categories than just about anywhere else.
• 11:37
  Now, if you're expecting me to get all 60 minutes and financial,
• 11:41
  review as we talk a bit of business here you're listening to the wrong pod but it does give you some nice insights here's travis old and i at the track before the race meeting proper got underway welcome we're a bit different to when we spoke 12 months ago how are you feeling a year in for you know the second crack at this
• 12:01
  Yeah, look, I think I'm definitely more prepared.
• 12:03
  I started in August 23.
• 12:07
  And so when I'd arrived, most of the plans were in place because it's such a temporary build.
• 12:13
  You can't change much.
• 12:14
  And that's probably a good thing because I didn't know much about what I was doing.
• 12:16
  So last year was a big learning curve for me to learn a bit about what we do and how we do it and how we operate as an organisation.
• 12:24
  And then we really –
• 12:27
  straight after last year's event, went into planning mode.
• 12:30
  We got into a bit earlier because we wanted to make some changes and to do that with such a big temporary build, we needed a long run-up.
• 12:36
  And so to answer your question, sitting here a few days out, I'm partly excited, partly proud of the team and what they've been able to get at the point we've got to at this stage.
• 12:47
  But then there's a healthy level of anxiety about making sure we bring it home from here.
• 12:51
  Can I come then to the fact that, you know, that enabled you last year to go in with this fresh set of eyes and maybe see opportunity, maybe see room for change and so on.
• 13:01
  And clearly you've done that this year.
• 13:03
  I mean, we have the improvement in traffic flow, a new pontoon to help fans.
• 13:08
  The numbers for people are mind-blowing for me.
• 13:11
  I mean, you know, 130,000 on most days, whatever it was, 450 across the event, and
• 13:17
  You've got grandstand seating for 46,000.
• 13:18
  You've got to look after 20,000 corporates.
• 13:21
  And you've still found a way to change it up, haven't you?
• 13:26
  Yeah, I mean, so we've had the, and I've had the luxury of inheriting an event that has year on year broken records.
• 13:33
  And so when you start with it, you can really, and the other thing is we've got a contract through to 2037.
• 13:39
  So that allows you to have the luxury of sort of lift your eyes a little bit and think about where you want to go.
• 13:45
  And for us, a few things were happening.
• 13:47
  One, we have this sort of unprecedented demand.
• 13:49
  F1's globally experiencing that, but Melbourne being Melbourne,
• 13:53
  really lean into big events.
• 13:55
  So very fortunate that fans here had sort of started that vibe and then invited others from interstate and international here.
• 14:02
  But also we've seen this incredible evolution of the demographic of people coming to our event.
• 14:07
  45% of last year's attorneys female, more families.
• 14:11
  And so the challenge for us and the opportunity for us is to evolve the event in a way that meets the changing demographic.
• 14:19
  And so, you know, this event starts and finishes with a Formula One race.
• 14:24
  And not just the Formula 1, we're Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, we've got supercars and Porsche Carrefour Cup.
• 14:28
  We've got a lot of on-track activity.
• 14:30
  That has to be right.
• 14:31
  We've got to get that right because a lot of people turn up to watch every lap.
• 14:35
  And so that's the core of it.
• 14:36
  Then what it allows us to do once you get that right is then how do you build the experience beyond the track?
• 14:42
  And we're known around the world to be a festival in a big park with 400 acres here on the doorstep of the city.
• 14:48
  And so we felt coming out of last year's event, given the level of demand, one, we wanted to improve the experience by investing in infrastructure at the track.
• 14:56
  So more overpasses, more pontoons.
• 14:58
  And so we've done some of that this year.
• 14:59
  We've got a plan to do a bit more next year.
• 15:01
  That allows us to let a few more in, but not too many that it ruins the experience.
• 15:05
  But it also allowed us to reorganize the circuit.
• 15:09
  And so we've better grouped activations and activities.
• 15:12
  For example, we've got Motorsport Straight.
• 15:14
  Motorsport Straight, we've grabbed the Porsche garages from what we would call operationally Oval 17 and moved it behind Fangio.
• 15:21
  And Supercar is taken from the infield to the outfield.
• 15:24
  And now we've got this incredible space, whereas if you love your racing, you're
• 15:29
  you'll go there and you're going to get everything you'll need.
• 15:31
  You're going to have that, you're going to have the Historics, we're going to have a Supercars podium there for just a couple of the races, not every race.
• 15:38
  And so we're able to group fans in areas there, families in Pitstop Park.
• 15:43
  If you want your entertainment, you go to Lakeside.
• 15:46
  If you want to go and have lunch at the Mo Vita and go to the pop-up Espy for a beer, then you go to Melbourne Junction.
• 15:51
  It's allowed us to better organise patrons.
• 15:53
  I think that'll help with patron flow.
• 15:55
  I think over time it'll allow us to continue to grow the audience.
• 15:58
  Okay.
• 15:59
  The natural question that is, what next?
• 16:01
  What else would you like to do?
• 16:03
  Now that you've had that year, you've just talked about a little bit of the change and the potential for more.
• 16:07
  Where could you see it evolving?
• 16:10
  And I guess that's done with two hats.
• 16:13
  One, in your own position as the proud custodians of our event, but also two, with the markers that Formula One have.
• 16:19
  I mean, there's some pretty serious markers you've got to meet around event and deliverables, aren't there?
• 16:23
  Yeah, and you know better than anyone, like motorsport and F1 don't stand still.
• 16:28
  Whatever you did last year was last year's job.
• 16:30
  Next year's job is something better than that.
• 16:32
  And it's what I love about this industry.
• 16:33
  I love about this sport is innovation is at the forefront of everything we do.
• 16:38
  And that starts with teams and drivers, but it ends with us as promoters.
• 16:41
  And we've got to make sure that we keep up.
• 16:43
  And so what's next?
• 16:45
  I mean...
• 16:45
  we're sitting three or four days out from the event.
• 16:49
  And so right now we're about execution.
• 16:50
  We're going to make sure that we get everything right and every detail matters from here on in.
• 16:54
  So the team's pretty focused on that.
• 16:56
  But if we lift our eyes for a little bit, our focus has sort of been, yes, we want to meet the demand.
• 17:01
  Can we make the event better?
• 17:03
  spread it out a bit more and move it around.
• 17:05
  And so what I mean by move it around is for the first time we have an F1 fan festival in the city at Melbourne Park Oval and that's free entry and you can enjoy all the on-track activity live into the fan festival.
• 17:18
  So if you couldn't get a ticket for Sunday and a lot of people couldn't, then you can go to the fan festival and enjoy the race live.
• 17:25
  And enjoy that vibe that comes with F1 and comes with Albert Park.
• 17:28
  And so that's a big part of our future.
• 17:32
  We want to keep bringing the best to Melbourne here.
• 17:34
  So I talked about the Movitas and the Espys and the Loons.
• 17:36
  You'll see all those here.
• 17:37
  We're going to keep bringing those into the track.
• 17:39
  We want to keep growing the economic impact of the event, more interstate, more international.
• 17:44
  We want to keep, to the extent the role that we play, we want to keep nurturing people.
• 17:47
  Australian drivers.
• 17:48
  And so, you know, for us, Jack doing making his, we'll say it's his debut, making his debut, certainly the start of his full season anyway, having to do a name in motorsport is really important.
• 18:00
  But we have a role to play to continue to promote Jack.
• 18:03
  And we've tried to see that through a lot of stuff that we've done this year.
• 18:06
  And then we've got Oscar as a Melbourne boy and there's enormous excitement and anticipation around what he might do.
• 18:13
  So there's a whole lot of stuff that we've got to look forward to.
• 18:15
  We're going to keep investing in infrastructure.
• 18:18
  And so, you know, to answer your question, we've made a lot of change from 24 to 25.
• 18:24
  I'd like to think that we'll continue to push the boundaries from 25 to 26 and beyond.
• 18:29
  I love the idea of a fan experience offside in the same way tennis do that.
• 18:34
  They're really cool, those things.
• 18:37
  Oscar, Jack, the energy around, I'm so reluctant to jinx this, but just around potential for Aussie success has been a huge thing for this year, hasn't it?
• 18:48
  I'm a bit the same.
• 18:49
  I get asked every time I chat to media or just general public about can Oscar win and part of me wants to steer away from it.
• 18:56
  But I think he's used to the pressure.
• 18:57
  You've met Oscar.
• 18:58
  I've met him.
• 18:58
  He's a pretty calm, cool kid.
• 19:00
  And so he'll know the pressure without me talking to him.
• 19:03
  talking about it.
• 19:05
  But we haven't had a winner since 1980.
• 19:09
  We haven't had one Australian finish on the podium since we've been here at Albert Park.
• 19:13
  So that brings some pressure with it.
• 19:15
  But if anyone can do it, he can.
• 19:17
  And they're talking about him being a potential world champion.
• 19:19
  So how lucky are we is how I feel about it.
• 19:23
  To have the Doohan name in four wheels, to have Oscar being spoken about the way he's been spoken about.
• 19:28
  We've got...
• 19:29
  Jack's dad on our board, McDon's on our board, Mark Webber, who looks after Oscars on our board.
• 19:34
  So I feel like I'm, you know, I'm one of the luckier people in motorsport in Australia right now.
• 19:37
  Yeah, definitely.
• 19:38
  One thing we should encourage fans to do is the right thing come Sunday afternoon.
• 19:42
  You have worked tirelessly, you guys, to get back something that I think is iconic about this event.
• 19:47
  It was much missed.
• 19:49
  The chance for fans to be on track Sunday afternoon, to be a part of that celebration.
• 19:54
  How much work was involved in that?
• 19:56
  And a chance here to remind people about do the right thing.
• 20:01
  Yeah, so in 2023, we know that some fans got on the track before we would like them to.
• 20:09
  We went through a pretty detailed process with FIA about how we beef up personnel around the track and how we invest in some additional infrastructure.
• 20:16
  And we took our time.
• 20:17
  We treated it pretty seriously to the point where we decided to pause the post-race track walk in 2024.
• 20:23
  It was not an easy decision because it's such a big part of this event.
• 20:26
  Fans love it, but it sends incredible images around the world.
• 20:30
  I'm really, really happy that we've made the decision post the 24 race to reintroduce it.
• 20:35
  But we've done so in a very considered way.
• 20:37
  We've invested in a whole lot of new infrastructure around the track with purpose-built gates to better arrange or better create entry points for fans onto the track.
• 20:47
  We had some lessons through 24, and you played a big role in this.
• 20:51
  We had much better comms towards the conclusion of the race about what we're asking fans to do.
• 20:56
  In 24, I asked them not to go on the track.
• 20:57
  In 25, we're at the same level of comms.
• 21:01
  We're just now letting them know they can go on the track, but when.
• 21:03
  And so there will be comms about –
• 21:06
  There'll be a siren that sounds when we're ready for fancy on the track.
• 21:09
  There'll be a whole lot of comms using GPTV.
• 21:12
  We'll use comms in the lead up.
• 21:13
  We'll be advertising where those entry points are.
• 21:15
  So the comms part, led by you and others, played an incredible role in 24.
• 21:20
  It's going to be equally important in 25 because –
• 21:22
  Fans are well-meaning.
• 21:24
  They're just excited.
• 21:25
  And, you know, if Oscar ends up on that podium, it's going to be – the track may not be big enough.
• 21:30
  So I'm really excited about it.
• 21:33
  We're very focused on making sure it works and works well.
• 21:36
  And we're going to need the help of fans and people like you again just to communicate when is the right time.
• 21:42
  Two to finish here.
• 21:44
  An influx of fresh young talent to the pit lane.
• 21:49
  Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari and so on.
• 21:51
  I mean, the amount of things that add to the thirst and energy behind it.
• 21:57
  I mean, you must be immensely proud.
• 21:59
  You walk through town here.
• 22:00
  I'm trying not to look at it as a, you know, a long-time passionate motorsport fan, but it's like you've taken over Melbourne, isn't it?
• 22:07
  Yeah, and I'm happy to hear you say that because one of our sort of key priorities in a planning process was to own Melbourne and really hand ownership of the race across to Melbourne.
• 22:18
  And so I'm really pleased to hear you say that.
• 22:21
  I got to ask the question a bit about race one versus sort of race two or three because we're generally in the first three.
• 22:27
  and I haven't been in the sport anywhere near as long as you have, but there feels like something different about race one this year.
• 22:31
  There's just so many storylines.
• 22:34
  We've talked about, we've got Oscar, we've got Jack, we've got Lewis going across to Ferrari with a big Ferrari support base here, 75th year of F1.
• 22:42
  There's just so many things and a whole set of rookies entering the grid.
• 22:47
  So we've...
• 22:49
  We've got a lot to talk about and a lot to drive interest, and it does feel like there's a real vibe around town.
• 22:54
  I'm getting a lot of feedback from people, people like yourself who've been around for a long time, who understand the sport better than I do.
• 23:00
  It feels like something different this year.
• 23:03
  To finish, just the –
• 23:06
  love and acceptance for the sport generally.
• 23:09
  I mean, if you went back 10 or 15 years, you know, there were times where it might have been in financial reviews or other things, people would question the level of government input and so on.
• 23:18
  It is like our motorsport answer to the tennis event now, and I would hope at a government level they've got their arm around it in that same fashion because it is a thing for Melbourne, for Victoria, for Australia to genuinely be proud of and for all sorts of reasons, isn't it?
• 23:35
  Yeah, and I think you explained it well.
• 23:38
  Like it's people are within their rights to question how their money's been spent.
• 23:43
  And so it's our job to make sure that the return on the race is evident for everyone and it makes sense.
• 23:48
  And so we're very clear about what the race costs are put on.
• 23:51
  And we also have done enough work to understand that the economic benefit is quite significant.
• 23:57
  In fact, it's about $2.80 for every dollar that gets put in, gets put back into the Victorian economy.
• 24:04
  Yeah.
• 24:04
  That's great, a triple ROI at least, isn't it?
• 24:06
  Yeah, and one of my KPIs and one of the goals I've set for my team is that number needs to continue to increase because the cost of putting the event on every event, not just our event but all big events is increasing.
• 24:17
  We've got to keep driving that ROI.
• 24:19
  That means more interstate, more international.
• 24:22
  spread the event out more, create greater experiences, take the event into the city like the fan festivals so restaurants and hotels continue to benefit.
• 24:31
  Because as I say, people are in their rights to hold us accountable for that spend.
• 24:36
  It's our job to make sure that we keep delivering on the investment.
• 24:40
  I'm grateful for the chance to spend a bit of time with you in the lead up.
• 24:42
  We'll probably catch up on the grid somewhere.
• 24:44
  And I do hope you get the chance to have a cold one and soak it all up on Sunday afternoon.
• 24:48
  Thank you.
• 24:49
  Thank you.
• 24:49
  And it's not until Sunday night when you sort of do sit back and you start to enjoy it for the first time.
• 24:54
  But I'm just looking forward.
• 24:55
  I'm looking forward to an incredible four days.
• 24:57
  I think we can break the record again.
• 24:59
  I can't wait to watch the racing.
• 25:01
  I think it's going to be one of the great weekends in motorsport.
• 25:05
  That was pretty cool, wasn't it?
• 25:06
  Both of them, Travis and Gunter, on today's edition of the Motorsport Brief, offering something a little bit different as we prepare and preview a big weekend ahead.
• 25:15
  Enjoy it, everybody.
• 25:17
  Hope it's a good one for Oscar Piastri and Jack Doohan especially.
• 25:20
  And we'll catch you next week.
• 25:21
  Bye for now.