Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief | Carina Napier, CEO of Norwell Motorplex

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The Motorsport Brief | Carina Napier, CEO of Norwell Motorplex · Rusty's Garage

• 0:03
  They are doing some world-class race driver training and more at the Norwell Motorplex.
• 0:08
  Today on the Rusty's Garage Shortcast, you'll meet the CEO.
• 0:12
  Welcome to another edition of the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:15
  Shortly to Carina Napier and a snapshot of her story, how the Motorplex team is now working with various manufacturers and applying their skill set to events all around the country, not just their fantastic facility on the Gold Coast.
• 0:28
  Training with Brock Feeney in his early days and a whole lot more.
• 0:32
  Now, before we get to the interview, a little backstory from me.
• 0:35
  A couple of years ago, I was given a gentle tune-up by a colleague, not a driver or someone from team personnel, I should point out.
• 0:43
  She was almost disappointed by what she thought was a lack of female guests in our library at the time.
• 0:49
  Now, if I'm honest, I took that a bit personally.
• 0:51
  I'm not perfect, but I'm not racist or sexist either, and I just...
• 0:56
  Talk to guests that I believe have an interesting story and hopefully preserving that stuff is good for everyone in our game, fans especially.
• 1:04
  We have since added several female guests to the garage, but I was conscious not to make that a tokenistic thing or a ledger levelling exercise just for the sake of it.
• 1:14
  I believe...
• 1:15
  They're worthy chats.
• 1:16
  And what you might notice in all of them is this great pride for what women are doing in all areas of motorsport.
• 1:23
  And we are doing some world-leading things around that very important initiative.
• 1:28
  But also, I've found they have this determination to win or succeed just as a competitor.
• 1:36
  as a team member, as someone working in the industry.
• 1:40
  And that is incredibly impactful for those that they are inspiring, in my opinion.
• 1:46
  Although there's been some study, today's guest has endured knockbacks, looked at our industry through a fresh set of eyes, which is a good thing.
• 1:54
  And as you'll hear, probably learned the most by being hands-on in her role.
• 1:58
  Enjoy getting to know Carina Napier from Norwell Motorplex a little bit more.
• 2:04
  Hello, you.
• 2:05
  How are you?
• 2:06
  I'm good, thank you.
• 2:07
  You are nursing a little injury, I'm told.
• 2:09
  I'm used to seeing or hearing stories of your water skiing and stuff.
• 2:12
  Are you on the men?
• 2:12
  What's transpired there?
• 2:14
  Yeah, so just taking the year off, had two injuries and just was like, I need to put my body in rest.
• 2:23
  But I'm back in the gym now, so hopefully October, November, I'll be back on the water.
• 2:28
  Awesome.
• 2:29
  Yep.
• 2:29
  What does the business card say now for Norwill?
• 2:31
  It's CEO, I think.
• 2:32
  Is that right?
• 2:33
  I am the CEO, yes, or as everyone refers to me at work, the boss.
• 2:38
  The journey for you is quite a decent one.
• 2:41
  So early life in South Australia, for example, and you have a sporting background around swimming especially, don't you?
• 2:47
  Yes.
• 2:48
  Yep.
• 2:48
  Swimming is definitely my first love.
• 2:51
  You still do that now?
• 2:53
  No, I don't.
• 2:54
  But water, just anything water-related, probably why I'm on the move with water skiing.
• 3:00
  Gotcha.
• 3:01
  But, yeah, swimming was the first love.
• 3:04
  Dad threw me in the pool at one years old and just took off from there.
• 3:10
  Your passion, your commitment to this then morphs into being, am I right here, you were the youngest at running, you know, swimming instruction in South Australia at age 18.
• 3:21
  Yeah, so I worked for the Department of Education.
• 3:25
  I was the youngest they ever employed.
• 3:27
  I even like got an award and yeah, just appreciation for being so young and my dedication for being a swimming instructor.
• 3:37
  I actually started when I was 15.
• 3:39
  I was best swimmer in Mount Gambier and they needed someone at that time and that just led me on a journey to all different swim schools when my family moved back to Adelaide.
• 3:50
  Were people accepting of an 18-year-old, like a young instructor?
• 3:54
  What was it like?
• 3:54
  Definitely not.
• 3:56
  I knew this one swim school in Adelaide that I had to work at that was going to give me the license to move up through the ranks.
• 4:05
  You pestered them, did you?
• 4:06
  And I pestered them.
• 4:07
  I made my dad drop me off every day to go there.
• 4:11
  I dropped my resume off.
• 4:12
  I used to say, I work for free.
• 4:14
  I just know I need to work at this swim school if I'm going to make a career of it because
• 4:19
  At that stage in my life, that was what I was going to do.
• 4:21
  I was going to be a swimming instructor.
• 4:23
  Do some of the things from that period still serve you well now?
• 4:26
  100%.
• 4:27
  Everything I learned about running swim schools back then and the people that I worked with is magnified at Norwell.
• 4:36
  Like working with all those, I think that's why I can understand working with all those young instructors at Norwell and teaching them how to grow and grow.
• 4:46
  and become young, you know, young people and find them a career in motorsport has been from my journey of being a swimming instructor and being in their shoes.
• 4:55
  I know what it's like to have a manager.
• 4:58
  I know what it's like, um, to be the boss.
• 5:00
  And I know what it's like when someone looks at you and goes, Oh, do you even have your driver's license?
• 5:05
  Um, but there are great, you know, those kids have so much potential and so much ambition like I did when I was their age that I'm able to, um,
• 5:14
  you know, harness that, to encourage them.
• 5:16
  Yeah, exactly.
• 5:18
  Cause I mean, the reality is that they're interacting with adults.
• 5:22
  They need to grow up fast, but, but it, it becomes a, um,
• 5:27
  It's a skill in their toolbox that they'll use for the rest of their kind of career if they're any good, won't they?
• 5:32
  Exactly.
• 5:33
  Like for every instructor, it's an opportunity to meet their future fan, their future sponsor, their future employee when other race teams are on site.
• 5:44
  And like I said, their future sponsors, people that could – and even mentors that they might use throughout their career –
• 5:51
  To be mindful of that, to always be aware that that could be something about the walk in the door, an opportunity potentially.
• 5:55
  100%, yeah.
• 5:56
  And we truly enforce that, like whether it's a teen defense driving course and you're meeting the parent or the kid, that impression you make on that person is going to stick with them for life.
• 6:06
  Norwalk is a destination that's usually a once-in-a-lifetime thing for a lot of people.
• 6:12
  So I really put on the staff that anyone that works through the door, no matter what their background is, you make that lasting impressions.
• 6:21
  They're never going to forget this place.
• 6:23
  It is one of those, you know, unique places like that.
• 6:26
  Well done.
• 6:26
  Does this stem back to a little something I think your dad taught you around this whole athlete mentality?
• 6:31
  What did you say to me before?
• 6:32
  Success leaves clues.
• 6:34
  Yeah.
• 6:35
  Just explain that.
• 6:35
  What do you mean by that?
• 6:36
  So successful people leave clues.
• 6:40
  They've had all the highs, the lows.
• 6:44
  They've had the success.
• 6:45
  They've had the losses.
• 6:46
  There's not one person that's successful hasn't had a bad day or something that hasn't turned out right.
• 6:55
  But what they can do is they can show you the – not necessarily the fastest ways to get there, but they can show you the –
• 7:02
  Hopefully the path that's less mistakes.
• 7:05
  Most effective, right?
• 7:06
  Exactly, yeah.
• 7:08
  So Mount Gambier is well known for its speedway.
• 7:11
  Did you go to the speedway when you were younger?
• 7:13
  Yes, I loved the speedway.
• 7:15
  So I did grow up in a family that...
• 7:19
  said that motorsport is not a sport and it's still a very hot topic sometimes.
• 7:24
  Your dad was big on football, soccer, is that right?
• 7:25
  That's right.
• 7:26
  My dad, he is very much into his – because he's English, football, as Australians know it as soccer.
• 7:35
  So he was an Australian coach, coached under 14's team.
• 7:39
  So I grew up with the best kids in Australia playing soccer and I played with them a lot too.
• 7:47
  But, yes, I grew up in Mount Gambier and, yeah, the Speedway was a place we used to go with the boys and hang out on weekends but I love the Speedway and still to this day I am obsessed with the Speedway.
• 8:07
  Nice.
• 8:07
  You've got a determined side to you.
• 8:09
  That's clear.
• 8:10
  I think you've done stuff around sort of singing and performance and the like.
• 8:15
  as well.
• 8:17
  Sometimes there's been knockbacks or whatever in your career from different elements before you got to Norwell.
• 8:24
  What does that stuff taught you, do you think?
• 8:27
  Yeah, singing, I had a lot of knockbacks.
• 8:31
  I did shows like Australian Idol.
• 8:33
  Oh, wow.
• 8:34
  I auditioned for bands.
• 8:38
  I auditioned for musicals.
• 8:40
  I did a lot of acting stuff as well and rejection.
• 8:45
  rejection just teaches you have to have a rock hard shell you should never be as scared of rejection it's just putting you in a different direction like my whole life has just been a whole heap of mistaken rejections and directions so it just teaches you to be resilient and and to be strong and I guess that's a very big thing that I give off in my personality as well that I I
• 9:11
  No is not a dead end.
• 9:13
  No is just a new challenge for me.
• 9:15
  So, yeah, I'm very, very determined in that respect.
• 9:17
  I don't know whether that was just your comment or a motto that you live by, but you said something then like, it's not rejection, it's a change of direction.
• 9:23
  That's actually a really cool takeaway, isn't it?
• 9:26
  Yeah.
• 9:26
  If you look upon it in that fashion.
• 9:28
  Come back to a little of the stuff around your swim coaching and so on.
• 9:34
  At some point here, beyond that, an opportunity to potentially come to the Gold Coast around, of all things, perhaps a television show, meet-a-maids, tourism and something crops up.
• 9:44
  But you, without fear, pack suitcases, one-way ticket and off you go.
• 9:49
  Tell me about that.
• 9:49
  Yeah, so sitting at the hairdressers one day, actually a local – just a friend who's now moved up here as well, were watching the Today Show and they advertised living on the Gold Coast meeting, Gold Coast meeting, for Queensland tourism.
• 10:06
  So I Googled Gold Coast meeting, there's these beautiful girls walking around in bikinis and I've always been into my fitness so I'm never scared of walking around in a bikini.
• 10:16
  So, I created a tourism ad on a place called Port Nalunga, which is in South Australia.
• 10:22
  And I sent that in.
• 10:24
  Four girls got selected out of 2,000 girls that submitted videos.
• 10:29
  I was one of them.
• 10:31
  We got told it was going to be like a reality TV show.
• 10:34
  This is well before reality TV shows.
• 10:37
  And, you know, I've never been scared of putting myself out there.
• 10:40
  So, that's how I ended up on the Gold Coast.
• 10:44
  Yeah, it was all because I got an allergy to chlorine, so I had to give up the swimming teaching, which is what I just saw the rest of my life being.
• 10:52
  And yeah, just packed the two suitcases and was like, all right, I have nothing in South Australia anymore.
• 10:57
  I'm moving to the Gold Coast and that's where I ended up.
• 11:01
  So it unfortunately doesn't morph into what was perhaps promised to begin with.
• 11:06
  And that forces you again, I guess, to use that…
• 11:09
  it's an overused word, but to pivot, right?
• 11:11
  So, there is a commitment again to kind of PT work and you've done some study around teaching, I think, in South Australia, but you begin some marketing stuff here.
• 11:20
  Is that right?
• 11:20
  Tell me about that.
• 11:21
  So, from the meter meeting, I was training in a gym and kind of trying to work out again, what am I going to do?
• 11:29
  Because there was no future in that meter meeting or promotional work for me at that stage.
• 11:34
  So,
• 11:35
  uh the gym actually said we need a receptionist and to be a receptionist and work in the gym I had to go get my my PT um certificate and the lady at the time Jo she actually paid for me to go do my PT certificate certificate certification but um all my years of sport obviously I was pretty good at training hence why they
• 11:58
  offered me the job in the first place because they could see the way I trained.
• 12:01
  Gotcha.
• 12:01
  And that around the gym.
• 12:02
  Yeah.
• 12:04
  So I become a personal trainer and then that's a saturated market and social media at this stage, Facebook ads and everything was really huge.
• 12:14
  And like you had the Ashy Bynes and all these people that were going online to promote their personal training and do online training, which you see a lot everywhere.
• 12:24
  So I just got really invested into social media marketing and how to create content, become a bit of an influencer before the word was influencer.
• 12:34
  So I got paid to do photo shoots and work with brands before that was a word or a term.
• 12:40
  So that's how I made a lot of my income.
• 12:42
  to support me being a personal trainer and was trying to save up for my own studio, which kind of wasn't working out.
• 12:48
  I just was going to banks and, you know, trying to get myself going and have my own PT business.
• 12:53
  I had over – I had 100 clients.
• 12:57
  Some of them were one-on-ones.
• 12:58
  The majority came to my group fitness sessions.
• 13:00
  And I was just trying to get going, you know, but I just was just getting – like I said, like a lot of my story, a lot of rejection, but just had the passion of wanting to help people.
• 13:11
  and just this passion of training.
• 13:12
  But yeah, started learning about marketing so I could get myself out there more.
• 13:16
  Somewhere here you meet Paul, you're now a partner, and you get a chance to go to Norwell.
• 13:21
  You come in with a completely kind of fresh set of eyes to this.
• 13:24
  But there was an underlying thing here from you that you wanted to meet the staff and to kind of do this.
• 13:33
  I guess it's like a separation point for you.
• 13:34
  Is it like you're their CEO now?
• 13:40
  the person actively contributing here, not Paul's partner, if that makes sense.
• 13:44
  Yes, that's right.
• 13:44
  Didn't want to be the token female he gave a job because her PT business wasn't working out.
• 13:49
  Because I started travelling with Paul when I met him.
• 13:51
  He was still doing the stadium trucks and we were going to America and that.
• 13:55
  Obviously, my PT business was suffering, my clients, so something had to give.
• 14:00
  And I'd been to Norwell and created a video of me doing the V8 experience because I was blowing my mind.
• 14:06
  I, you know, nothing about motorsport or cars or racing or anything like that.
• 14:10
  It's like a wonderland there, right?
• 14:12
  I was like, what the hell is this place?
• 14:14
  I've lived on the Gold Coast all this time and didn't know this existed.
• 14:17
  And...
• 14:19
  He goes, oh, I need someone to do stuff like that for me.
• 14:22
  Could you do something like this for me?
• 14:24
  And I said, I'd like to.
• 14:25
  And I'd written a few strategies for a few other businesses on marketing.
• 14:31
  It started to be another way of me making income.
• 14:34
  So I wrote a strategy for his business, but I wanted to have a marketing meeting with his staff so that we were all on the same page and they would just see me as an employee, not the token girlfriend.
• 14:46
  That's just...
• 14:46
  that's i'm when i'm at work even um some days when we're working with a like a corporate group people don't realize me and paul even together they're like i think they must just think i'm this bossy lady bossing him around and um they're like oh i like at the end of the day i might have a cuddle or a kiss or something like oh i didn't even realize you used to were together so that's when i'm in work mode i'm very much in work mode yeah yeah
• 15:11
  So, I mean, you help the business to streamline certain things in this regard from a website, a marketing perspective and so on.
• 15:20
  And then you look at, I guess, together and as a group, whatever, expansion opportunities.
• 15:26
  And it now does – I mean, as we're sitting here and recording this today, Nash is out helping to run a corporate day out there with 22 guests.
• 15:34
  Yeah.
• 15:34
  You'll do media and product launches for different organizations.
• 15:38
  It's expanded.
• 15:39
  I mean, it's...
• 15:40
  It's tripled.
• 15:41
  Has it?
• 15:41
  It's tripled.
• 15:42
  Okay.
• 15:42
  Tell me a bit more about that.
• 15:43
  Yeah.
• 15:44
  So, when I started, it had four different names and four different departments.
• 15:49
  And they all thought they had to run independently.
• 15:52
  But it was really not helping sell the place.
• 15:57
  Obviously, Paul's very famous for the T-shirt he wears, which says Normal Motorplex.
• 16:01
  Yeah.
• 16:01
  And that was one of the first things I did was change the branding of the whole place.
• 16:05
  Okay.
• 16:05
  So I got that t-shirt printed and I wanted the biggest logo across his chest because I knew once I learned about Paul and who Paul was, because trust me, I didn't know who he was when I met him.
• 16:17
  But I wanted every time and the TVs loved him at the races.
• 16:21
  So I realized this.
• 16:22
  So I wanted to make sure that every time he was seen on TV, that normal motorplex was plastered.
• 16:27
  And then eventually any kid that we worked with, it was plastered on them.
• 16:30
  And then every car that we ended up buying to build this corporate fleet that we had, I made sure there's always a Norwell sticker on them.
• 16:40
  So the day that I saw Dale Jr. wearing it on his podcast, I was like, wow, I've done it.
• 16:45
  Like that's Norwell.
• 16:47
  Because I told them in the marketing meeting when I first met Paul's staff that I was going to turn Norwell into a world
• 16:54
  into a home name, like a name that you heard every time you heard motorsport, you were going to hear Norwalk Motorplex.
• 16:58
  That was one of my goals.
• 16:59
  I was going to turn it into a household name.
• 17:01
  Like I had all these goals and vision for the place when I started looking at what it could be and learning about motorsport.
• 17:08
  So I started off with our V8 experience.
• 17:12
  We went from doing possibly 12 people on a Saturday morning to yesterday we did 30 people every Saturday.
• 17:19
  Yeah.
• 17:21
  you know, every week.
• 17:23
  And we now offer that at least four times a week if we don't have any corporate or manufacturer business on.
• 17:31
  So that's one of our titles.
• 17:32
  Our defensive driving course was just a –
• 17:35
  a half-day course, which we've now turned it into a teen defensive driving course, which sells out every Saturday afternoon and during school holidays.
• 17:44
  So we created that.
• 17:46
  We created corporate experiences.
• 17:48
  So at the time, they only had an SS Commodore and the V8s.
• 17:51
  Then I saw them do all these different motor carnas, and I'm like, well, what if we split the track like this and worked out ways we could – so now we can do corporate days of 100 people.
• 18:00
  Split the venue up, use it in different ways.
• 18:01
  Yep.
• 18:02
  Yeah, right.
• 18:02
  Yep, and had to buy a lot more inventory.
• 18:05
  Yeah, I think we've got nearly 40 cars on site that we own.
• 18:09
  So, we're the only track in Australia that has our own fleet of vehicles.
• 18:12
  Wow.
• 18:14
  Then I learnt about working with manufacturers.
• 18:15
  My buddy Daryl Beatty's been there in recent time with Honda doing some stuff.
• 18:18
  Yeah, they were just here last week.
• 18:19
  Yeah.
• 18:20
  So, with the manufacturers, the last two years, they said, they've asked us, well, we want what you do at Norwell everywhere, so...
• 18:29
  The last two years, the first two years, we've now gone interstate with what we do.
• 18:34
  So now we're on the road as well as having stuff happening at Norwell.
• 18:39
  And that is for manufacturers and staff with kind of fresh product, getting people in cars so that they can experience it.
• 18:46
  And then equally media as well, isn't it?
• 18:48
  Putting them through it as well.
• 18:49
  Exactly.
• 18:50
  So we just did a national launch with Bridgestone Tyres for an example where we went to every state and we ran it like a race team.
• 18:57
  So we had our own trucks, we helped with the logistics, and then we created a drive program at every track.
• 19:04
  So I can officially say now that I've done an event at every track in Australia this year and an event in every state in Australia, except the ACT, but everywhere in Australia this year.
• 19:14
  And that's another new step for Norwell, which I'm so proud of our team for achieving that.
• 19:21
  We're not done on this edition of the Shortcast, being shortlisted for awards, teaching Anton Di Pasquale to water ski and the ways that the Motorplex offering has expanded beyond its Gold Coast base while coming to the attention of the world.
• 19:36
  Back in a moment.
• 19:39
  While I was on the Gold Coast to record this episode, I also spoke to Terry Morris.
• 19:43
  Keep an eye out for notifications when we release that feature episode in the next week or so, because he's been so successful in business.
• 19:51
  You'll also get a few takeaways on that side too.
• 19:54
  That stuff seems to really resonate with many of you when we've spoken to, say...
• 19:58
  Tony Quinn, Sam Shaheen, and in the past couple of weeks, Stephen Grove.
• 20:02
  You will also hear about TM's own racing, his work with Formula Ford and Super Touring in this country, a hair-raising trip to Bathurst in a Nissan GTR with Alan Gow, and the immense pride when Paul finally won Bathurst in his 40s, and the way that his grandson Nash is now making his own mark.
• 20:23
  Right now, though, the conversation about Norwell Motorplex continues with CEO Karina Napier.
• 20:28
  you
• 20:30
  A couple of things here as we move along.
• 20:32
  Your time in PT isn't lost.
• 20:34
  It's not a, I mean, nothing is ever a waste in my opinion anyway.
• 20:38
  You meet at some point here a young Brock Feeney.
• 20:41
  I think there's even a point there where you might have even been taking a young teenage, maybe even preteen Brock Feeney to school and so on.
• 20:49
  But you identify a growth opportunity for him around fitness that he needed on his pathway.
• 20:57
  Tell me a little bit more about that if you can.
• 20:59
  Yeah, so I used to pick Brock and Nash up from school.
• 21:04
  Did you?
• 21:06
  I was a favourite because it was always like, did the Maccas run?
• 21:09
  Obviously, I had a bit of time up my sleeve so we could do the Maccas run.
• 21:12
  No more of that now.
• 21:13
  But that Maccas got cut out pretty quick.
• 21:16
  When it turned to Super 3.
• 21:18
  So obviously watched him through 86s, got to know him quite well.
• 21:23
  He missed out on that round at Bathurst because he was too young.
• 21:27
  Yep.
• 21:27
  So I actually drove him to his first Bathurst.
• 21:30
  And the only thing he got to do was pit lane media because he was too young to drive.
• 21:36
  The following year we ran him in Super 3.
• 21:38
  So I started learning about how a race team worked.
• 21:41
  Yep.
• 21:41
  And I'm too hands-on to sit around.
• 21:43
  So I was like, how can I contribute here?
• 21:45
  So I was doing a bit of social media for that.
• 21:47
  But Paul was getting really frustrated with Brock.
• 21:52
  And his test day – so with Super 3 we had unlimited testing.
• 21:56
  So we'd test that week and then go straight into a race weekend.
• 21:59
  Gotcha.
• 21:59
  Now –
• 22:01
  no, you don't expect a driver to go slower over a weekend.
• 22:05
  And this was frustrating Paul.
• 22:06
  He's like, I don't understand why he's not going faster by the end of the weekend.
• 22:11
  And I said, well, I think it's just because he's not fit enough.
• 22:13
  And Paul was like, what do you mean he's not fit enough?
• 22:15
  I said, just get him to come in the gym next week and I'll do a fitness test with him.
• 22:21
  And he did.
• 22:22
  He rocked up and I did a fitness test with him and I gave him a 2 out of 10 score.
• 22:28
  Yeah, I was brutal.
• 22:30
  And trust me, if you've met any of my PT clients, they will tell you how brutal I am.
• 22:34
  But honesty is policy.
• 22:36
  And he couldn't do a sit-up.
• 22:38
  He couldn't do a push-up.
• 22:40
  He was green within 20 minutes of the session.
• 22:43
  And I'm like, right, you need to rock up every day.
• 22:46
  If you're serious about wanting to make a career out of this and you want to win this Super 3 championship, you need to rock up every week.
• 22:52
  To his credit, he did.
• 22:53
  Is that right?
• 22:54
  He did.
• 22:54
  He did.
• 22:55
  Oh, look, school holidays, I had to chase him up.
• 22:57
  He's like, oh, school holidays.
• 22:58
  And I'm like –
• 23:00
  Mate, if you want this, I said, do you see the Ian Thorpes?
• 23:03
  I obviously refer back to swimming, Liesl Jones and all these people that I idolise.
• 23:07
  They'd never make any excuse if it was an Olympic medal on the side, you know.
• 23:12
  He's probably a good athlete now, hey, like in all sorts of ways, you know.
• 23:16
  Yes.
• 23:16
  Yeah, I remember –
• 23:18
  Once he finally made it, I saw him and he just had his first session with the allocated Red Bull PT or whoever it was with once he got the sign with AAA and they told him how good his form was.
• 23:29
  Whoever taught you good form.
• 23:31
  So I can take the credit for that one because I trained him from Super 3 all the way through Super 2.
• 23:37
  I got him off the sausage rolls and I got him off the McDonald's.
• 23:40
  Yeah.
• 23:41
  You drove him to his first Bathurst, as you said there before, but there is a yarn as his career progresses around maybe a connection with Red Bull or an introduction of some kind.
• 23:51
  Can you share a bit of that?
• 23:52
  Yeah, so Brock was doing his first co-drive with –
• 23:56
  James Corney in the Boost, I think it was Boost, was sponsoring that one at the time.
• 24:02
  And I was in Red Bull talking to Blake from Red Bull.
• 24:07
  At the time, he was the main guy for Red Bull sponsorship motorsport in Australia.
• 24:12
  And I said, mate, you need to come with me and meet this young kid because if I could put money on a kid succeeding in life, just working with Brock every day in the gym, I knew he was going to do anything it took to make it.
• 24:26
  I'm sad he hasn't won a championship yet, but just the drive in Brock is something I've seen in other athletes I've competed against.
• 24:36
  You just wish you had that extra look.
• 24:38
  You can train to have all the talent in the world, but it's that last 5% that makes you exceptional and makes you special.
• 24:44
  And Brock's got that.
• 24:45
  I love that.
• 24:46
  And that's why when I saw Blake and I kind of knew that they would be looking for a new driver the following year, I pulled him in there and introduced them.
• 24:55
  Love it.
• 24:56
  And then the following year, me and Blake stood on the grid with Brock and made sure we both had a photo and had our moment where that kid was, was on the grid for his first ever supercar round.
• 25:07
  And then obviously when he won in Adelaide at the end of that year, I knew he wasn't going to leave that year without winning.
• 25:14
  Just knowing the drive that Brock has, me and Blake again met up again.
• 25:20
  We're like, hey,
• 25:21
  this this happened hey yeah and it just i mean i i don't know if the conversation and then the meeting that blake met brock that day was it or you know roland dane later on some of many parts right like that that's one of them so yeah but i'll never forget when brock told me he'd signed the deal with triple a i just remember crying in the gym that day just remembering how proud i was of him he should be he should be i love the journey
• 25:42
  It's been a great journey.
• 25:43
  He never questioned you, I know, which that underscores his commitment.
• 25:47
  Yeah.
• 25:47
  Brock Feeney, Declan.
• 25:48
  I mean, Anton lived here for a while.
• 25:51
  Brodie started hanging out at some point here.
• 25:53
  Yeah, I got like 20 kilos off Brodie that year that he returned to Super 2 with the Egglestons.
• 25:59
  He was living here.
• 26:00
  I was...
• 26:01
  his worst enemy, but again, he, he wanted to get in that super two seat and he needed to go for it.
• 26:07
  I think he ended up doing the wild card that year with his cousin, Jake as well.
• 26:11
  So I ended up training him as well and a few of the other boys.
• 26:15
  I used to train him on the grass and had some good fun with all of them and compete them against each other, you know, try and keep that competitiveness.
• 26:21
  It was something I learned from swimming.
• 26:24
  We might be training, but we still egged each other on and played little mental games and stuff.
• 26:29
  So,
• 26:29
  And yeah, young Kai, when he lived with us as well, he used to train a lot.
• 26:34
  So yeah, I got to play a small pathway with all those boys and hopefully pass on something that helped them with their careers.
• 26:42
  Great stuff.
• 26:43
  You have been in the running for some significant awards here that sort of lean into the managerial things, the marketing things, the stuff you've been doing at Norwell.
• 26:52
  A nominee one year, a finalist another.
• 26:54
  Tell me a little bit about that too.
• 26:55
  Yeah, so the Gold Coast Bulletin do Gold Coast Women of the Year awards every year.
• 27:03
  And I actually didn't know that someone had put me forward.
• 27:07
  I found out later it was my staff that put me forward.
• 27:11
  So one year I was nominated for the Gold Coast Women of the Year Stars in Tourism.
• 27:15
  And then the following year I got to be a finalist and go on that journey and do all the fun things that go with that.
• 27:22
  Yeah.
• 27:24
  It was just awesome for people, again, always to put the mirror on Norwell.
• 27:30
  I'm so proud of what we do there and it was just good for people to acknowledge the tourism that we bring into the Gold Coast.
• 27:38
  So, yeah, I was really honoured.
• 27:40
  And then obviously for your own staff to do that without telling you.
• 27:43
  Like the second year that I got nominated, I was way shocked.
• 27:46
  Like I couldn't believe they put me forward again and then they shared the letter that they sent the Gold Coast tour
• 27:53
  Yeah, I'm basically threatening them saying they missed a huge opportunity of making me a finalist because of everything I do with bringing automotive and corporate drive days to Queensland.
• 28:04
  So, yeah, that was just your staff nominating you for that more than anything gave me a huge sense of pride because I'm so proud of the team there and everyone that comes through Norwell, you know, they all –
• 28:16
  really stand tall when they come through that place and they know if they go there they really learn off paul and myself and they know that they will become better people in our industry or but just better people by working with us and that's that's the biggest important thing brilliant a couple of finish here well done no doubt that will lead to an award at some stage so keep keep boxing there
• 28:37
  In the massive year that you've had going around the country doing different things, is there still stuff that you would love to see Norwell explore or that you would like to do there?
• 28:46
  Are you looking still at other opportunities?
• 28:48
  Or are you just so busy at the moment just trying to tick where you're at?
• 28:52
  Look, I don't know how we do everything we do every day as it is.
• 28:58
  I mean, you're here on a Sunday and I've been working for a lot of it.
• 29:02
  I definitely need to build my team.
• 29:05
  I need to learn how to delegate some of the work that I've taken on.
• 29:09
  But because we're so unique...
• 29:12
  a lot of the jobs that I take on is very individual and I treat everything very personally as well.
• 29:20
  Like if you've been to Norway, you know how personal I am with the delivery of anything we do.
• 29:25
  And I just love that people can call me and they get on the phone and they're like, hey, Karina, I've got a crazy idea, but I know you'll say yes and work out a way to do it.
• 29:34
  Yeah.
• 29:37
  As you can tell with my story, I'm always chopping and changing and taking on the next challenge.
• 29:42
  Well, Norwell's out every day.
• 29:43
  So I don't think I'll ever get bored working at Norwell.
• 29:46
  I'm never going to get bored with every opportunity that comes through the door.
• 29:49
  It's honestly a privilege, anything that comes to Norwell, and it's a privilege to work with...
• 29:55
  Everyone that I get to work with, whether it's manufacturers, the corporate drive days we get to run, the race coaching and all the people we meet from all over the world, I would like to go international.
• 30:07
  I would like to take – I know there's a big want for the racing school –
• 30:12
  on a world page.
• 30:14
  I know we've got a lot of huge international people coming this year to Norwell for coaching, but I can see what we do at Norwell is needed in places like America.
• 30:26
  For me, the passion's gone back into events, creating these incredible experiences.
• 30:31
  So, yeah, whatever's going to get thrown at it, I'm ready to take it all on and excited.
• 30:36
  Fun one to finish.
• 30:38
  True or false?
• 30:39
  The great Anton Di Pasquale struggled.
• 30:42
  He was on the pod recently.
• 30:44
  He struggled with single ski stuff and you were learning at the same time and you picked it up and off you went.
• 30:50
  Is this true?
• 30:51
  Yes.
• 30:51
  So, yeah, me and Anton both learned or Paul taught me and Anton how to water ski at the same time on the same day.
• 31:01
  Um, we both got up on two skis on a boom.
• 31:05
  Then we went long line with two skis.
• 31:09
  I got up first go and yes, Anton could not get up on long line, two skis.
• 31:15
  He had no core strength.
• 31:18
  Look, I went on to win Queensland Championships in water skiing for over 21 women and Anton's won some supercar races.
• 31:29
  So, you know, different parts.
• 31:31
  It's not all bad.
• 31:32
  Yeah, it's not all that bad.
• 31:33
  You know, at least we've been successful in some way.
• 31:36
  Well done.
• 31:36
  Congratulations.
• 31:37
  Thank you so much for this today.
• 31:39
  It's been nice to stop for a little moment and to – because I enjoy doing that, shining a bit of a light on some of the other stories in the paddock that people don't necessarily –
• 31:46
  know about.
• 31:47
  We wish you continued success with what you're doing there at Norwell.
• 31:50
  And for people that have listened today, one of the little takeaways, which I think is just a gem, what is it?
• 31:55
  Success leaves clues.
• 31:57
  That's it.
• 31:58
  Very cool.
• 31:58
  Thanks again, Karina.
• 31:59
  No worries.
• 32:00
  Thank you.
• 32:01
  That is it for today.
• 32:02
  If there's someone working in the pit lane or in service park that has a story like Carina's that you think might be worth covering, let me know.
• 32:09
  Could be on the engineering side and emerging driving talent.
• 32:12
  Maybe they're contributing in an area of the game that isn't widely known or recognised.
• 32:17
  I will also put the website contact for Norwell in our show notes.
• 32:22
  Check that out if you haven't already.
• 32:23
  They regularly run corporate days there, which could be great for team building if you run a business, an upcoming business.
• 32:30
  Christmas party, for example, or even a Christmas gift, whatever.
• 32:33
  It is a great day out.
• 32:34
  I can promise you that.
• 32:35
  We will catch you next time, everybody.
• 32:37
  Bye for now.