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The Motorsport Brief | Supercars Grand Final preview with Thomas Randle · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:05
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief, a special bonus edition as the supercars get ready to hit the streets of Adelaide for the title decider.
• 0:16
  G'day everybody, Rusty here.
• 0:17
  Thomas Randall is on the line in South Australia.
• 0:20
  We will cross to him in a moment for a chat that isn't just about supercars.
• 0:24
  He's returned in recent days from an epic trip to the UK where he was hanging out with some rally legends and he drove a very cool car.
• 0:33
  Something different.
• 0:34
  We will talk to him about that.
• 0:35
  Quick mention of a recent F with young Aussie Joanne Cicconti, who dropped into our studios before the final round of F1 Academy in Vegas, where she again turned heads.
• 0:46
  Joanne, at 16, has made some big sacrifices this year, fundamentally living overseas and endeavouring to make a full-time career in motorsport with a goal of Formula One.
• 0:58
  There is a beautiful series of stories, almost two hours worth of interviews that we've put together to celebrate the life of Gary Rogers, who passed away last month.
• 1:07
  And we wrapped up the Australian Rally Championship with another short cast by chatting to Hayden Patton and John Kennard shortly after the podium, the Kiwis claiming the title, and Hayden joining his hero, Possum Bourne, on that massive ARC Perpetual Trophy.
• 1:25
  Now to a mate that I had the pleasure of working with on the Shannon Speed Series coverage this year.
• 1:30
  His first pure love is driving, racing, but he can act and he sure can commentate.
• 1:36
  G'day, Thomas Randall.
• 1:37
  Thank you, mate, for coming back on.
• 1:40
  Thanks, Greg Rust.
• 1:42
  Rusty, I should say.
• 1:43
  It's always a pleasure, mate.
• 1:44
  Always a pleasure.
• 1:45
  Are you doing any additional acting?
• 1:48
  Because typically we're at that time of the year where Tickford rolls out something special around gala.
• 1:53
  Is there something we can look forward to?
• 1:54
  No.
• 1:55
  Oh, look, I think there will be.
• 1:57
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:58
  It's kind of a tradition.
• 1:59
  It's a Tickford tradition.
• 2:01
  And normally it's pretty ad-lib.
• 2:03
  So, you know, that's probably 90% of our videos anyway.
• 2:07
  But, yeah, I think Tom Rattenbury will be putting something together and hopefully yourself and, yeah, all the fans really enjoy it.
• 2:15
  Awesome, mate.
• 2:15
  When you've done some of those commercials for Autobahn and the like during the year, it seems like you and Cam slip into that character with way too much ease for my liking.
• 2:23
  Yeah.
• 2:25
  Yeah, I don't know.
• 2:26
  I think it's just over the years we've probably just gathered that confidence and, I mean, what you're seeing is pretty much what we're like anyway.
• 2:33
  And, yeah, I actually saw your comment on I think one of our Autobahn videos recently where we've got to get you in one for sure.
• 2:40
  That would be quite good.
• 2:41
  Yeah.
• 2:42
  You know, you've done a lot for Autobahn, so we've got to get you in there 100%.
• 2:46
  That'd be great.
• 2:47
  Oh, I would love that, mate.
• 2:48
  Now, we had a little sneak peek on socials.
• 2:51
  Thankfully, I don't think you've got too much jet lag.
• 2:53
  I'm not sure what you can share with us at this point, but tell us about your new mates, Peter Solberg and Carlos Sainz, and how was that trip to the UK?
• 3:01
  Well, it was a whirlwind trip, Rusty.
• 3:03
  I flew out on the Sunday night of Sandown.
• 3:07
  And it was, we had basically a full filming day on the Tuesday up at M Sport in Cumbria, which for those who haven't heard of M Sport, it's a team that's run, you know, WRC cars and rally two cars for, you know, decades.
• 3:25
  And the founder and the, well, I guess the owner, Malcolm Wilson, he's actually the vice president of the FIA as well.
• 3:32
  And he's, he's still there.
• 3:34
  and the building is just phenomenal.
• 3:37
  You know, they also have run cars in GT, Intercontinental GT World Challenge.
• 3:42
  They've won the Bathurst 12-hour in the Bentley in 2020, which was quite big for them, and they've got their own test facility there.
• 3:50
  So to get, I guess, the call-up from Castrol globally,
• 3:55
  to say, hey, we want to do a really cool thing celebrating our partnership with Ford and Castrol worldwide because Castrol and Ford have had a very longstanding partnership in multiple disciplines of racing.
• 4:09
  I was like, yeah, this is obviously pretty cool.
• 4:11
  And Castrol has been with Tickford for well over 20 years as well.
• 4:14
  So to collaborate with Castrol globally and to be involved with your absolute rally in Dakar legends.
• 4:23
  like Carlos Sainz Sr. or as they call him in Spain, Al Matador.
• 4:27
  And then, you know, Petter Solberg,
• 4:30
  You know, some of the stories he's got is just incredible.
• 4:33
  And I got to be taken on a hot lap or hot laps, I should say, with Carlos in his 2026 Dakar T1 Ford Raptor machine.
• 4:44
  And then he actually took me for a lap in a current spec WRC car, which was out in the forest.
• 4:51
  And then it was like, all right, well, now your turn to drive.
• 4:54
  So that was, yeah, really cool.
• 4:57
  I got to drive...
• 4:58
  current spec WRC car on extremely narrow gravel and mud in the middle of the forest with lots of trees.
• 5:05
  So it was an amazing experience.
• 5:08
  And yeah, to, to, to see, I guess what those guys have done in their careers and, you know, we've got to have dinner with them as well, including Malcolm Wilson.
• 5:18
  So some, some pretty, some pretty amazing company, but I can't wait to see all the footage come up.
• 5:22
  You know, I've only seen little bits of snippets because it was a full film crew and,
• 5:26
  And my eyes, I'm sure, are going to be wide open like dinner plates.
• 5:32
  It sounds like a terrible trip.
• 5:33
  We can't wait to see the socials.
• 5:34
  If memory serves, though, it's not your first time in a rally car.
• 5:37
  Did you do a little something with Molly where you drove her car at one point?
• 5:40
  Molly Taylor?
• 5:41
  I did.
• 5:42
  Yeah, great memory.
• 5:43
  Yeah, I did.
• 5:43
  It was a couple of years ago now.
• 5:45
  It was in her Subaru.
• 5:47
  And it was out in Pakenham.
• 5:48
  There's like a little test facility there.
• 5:50
  And...
• 5:51
  That was trickier in the sense that Molly and I are quite different in terms of height.
• 5:58
  So you can imagine me sitting in her seat.
• 6:00
  I was pretty much – I was driving like this.
• 6:03
  But I was blown away by how much grip those cars had.
• 6:07
  But the good thing about the track where we went to unpacking them was –
• 6:11
  There was plenty of runoff.
• 6:12
  If you went off, you know, there was – we were in the middle of a paddock, so it wasn't too bad.
• 6:17
  But where we were in the UK, you actually got up a fair bit of speed, and those WRC1 cars, they're pretty fast.
• 6:24
  And, yeah, if you went off –
• 6:27
  you were in a tree.
• 6:28
  So it was like, all right, we're just going to look after this one million pound WRC car and make sure that, you know, hand it back to the guys.
• 6:39
  And there was also obviously a film crew.
• 6:41
  So not only are you out there in a very expensive car, it's all on record, you know, there's a lot of cameras capturing everything.
• 6:47
  But I think they captured some cool content.
• 6:50
  And, you know, we were chasing the light a bit.
• 6:51
  It gets very dark there now as they're approaching winter.
• 6:55
  And it was like 4.30 in the afternoon.
• 6:57
  It was pitch black.
• 6:58
  So, yeah, it's a little bit miserable, to be honest, to be in England right now from a weather point of view.
• 7:04
  And, you know, it was minus 2 degrees on that day as well.
• 7:08
  So pretty cold, but it was worth the trip.
• 7:11
  I think I spent nearly more time in the air getting there and back than I did actually in the UK.
• 7:15
  Yeah.
• 7:16
  but it was well worth it.
• 7:17
  Like I said, to be invited to that was something very special.
• 7:20
  And, you know, I may never get to drive a WRC car again.
• 7:24
  Great for you, mate.
• 7:25
  Well done.
• 7:25
  Can we, before we come to a supercars preview, just talk a little bit of Formula One because you love that side of things.
• 7:30
  You pursued a single-seater career for a time there.
• 7:34
  Adelaide might be all about supercars this weekend, but, I mean, it's also celebrating its great Formula One history from back in the day too, isn't it?
• 7:43
  It is, yeah.
• 7:45
  It's 40 years of racing in the streets of Adelaide and, you know, we had the Australian Grand Prix there from 85 to 95 and I think 95 was, well, the biggest ever F1 crowd still on a race weekend.
• 7:57
  So, I mean, there's been so much history on the Adelaide street circuit, you know, from Senna, Mansell, the championship decider between Schumacher and Hill, the Hackenden crash, the famous crash he had on part of the old circuit as well.
• 8:13
  The rain back in the day, there was, yeah, been some amazing races and, you know, it was always at the end of the year and then now, you know, we race at the start of the year in Melbourne.
• 8:23
  So it's pretty cool that obviously we still get to host a Formula 1 race and it being the season opener.
• 8:30
  But the fact that we still get to race on the track and, I mean, what the Premier has done, what Peter Malinuskas and his team have done
• 8:38
  to not only bring back the race, but the way they've done it and the amount that they've put into this race, promoted it.
• 8:46
  I mean, I've been here for a day and it's already just been incredible to see how much promotion has gone into this event and it obviously being the BP Adelaide Grand Final now.
• 8:56
  is a really cool way to finish the season.
• 8:59
  Obviously, it's disappointing that I'm not in the grand final, but I'll still be going out there to try and win some races.
• 9:03
  We've got an extra race.
• 9:05
  And, yeah, it's just so special racing at this track.
• 9:07
  And I'm sure every driver would agree, outside of Bathurst, it's our favourite race on the calendar.
• 9:14
  We'll come to that in a moment.
• 9:15
  Quickly, mate, in your mind, who wins the Formula One World Championship this year, do you reckon?
• 9:21
  That's a tough question.
• 9:22
  I mean, yeah.
• 9:25
  Looking at the numbers, if you didn't know the story, you'd have to say Lando, but if you've been following how it's tracking and seeing obviously the double disqualification on the weekend for McLaren, which is just hugely costly at that point in the championship and the speed that Max has got now, they'd be worried, even Lando's...
• 9:48
  late breaking into the first corner lap one.
• 9:50
  He admitted that was a mistake.
• 9:52
  He's under pressure and it's his championship to lose.
• 9:55
  And you look, you know, Oscar and Verstappen are on the same points now.
• 9:59
  So all Lando needs is, is, you know, a DNF or for Verstappen to basically win the last, well, the sprint race and the last two Grand Prix and Lando to finish, I think third or fourth and a couple of them and it's game on.
• 10:14
  So, yeah,
• 10:15
  Anything can happen.
• 10:15
  If you look four months ago, no one would have predicted this.
• 10:20
  So the pressure is really, really on.
• 10:22
  Max has his tail up and I'm looking forward to seeing it.
• 10:26
  I'm actually going to be at Abu Dhabi for the last round.
• 10:28
  So I'm looking forward to being able to watch it all.
• 10:32
  There's still more to come on this special edition of the Shortcast.
• 10:36
  Stay with us.
• 10:36
  The Convoy with Castrol Racing's Thomas Randall continues right after this.
• 10:43
  This is the Motorsport Brief, our Rusty's Garage shortcast.
• 10:47
  Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for a new feature episode with Colin Bond, two Australian touring car legend who was so diversely talented, how he turned heads at Warwick Farm against some international stars of the day.
• 11:00
  Working with Ari Vartner,
• 11:01
  and some of Colin's own rally exploits, plus his rare place in the factory record books with both Holden and Ford.
• 11:09
  He has a fantastic new book out in time for the holidays.
• 11:12
  It's called Full Tilt, written in conjunction with my colleague and friend John Smales, who was part of a recent feature episode as well that you can find in our library.
• 11:22
  That book might make a nice Christmas gift.
• 11:25
  Let's get back to the Supercars chat with Thomas Randall.
• 11:29
  Let's come to a preview now of things in Adelaide from a supercar's perspective.
• 11:33
  Firstly, you talked there before about, you know, kind of being gutted that you're not a part of the final four.
• 11:38
  Just talk generally.
• 11:39
  I mean, making it to the sand down semi, if you like, and the new finals format generally.
• 11:44
  What do you think of it so far?
• 11:46
  I think it's been great in terms of, you know, an intensity point of view and also for the fans and it's created a lot of stories and you're seeing, I guess, all these funny videos of, you know, guys going around trying to bribe other drivers to help them out and all that sort of stuff.
• 12:02
  But, you know, it's...
• 12:05
  Yeah, it's just raised the intensity.
• 12:08
  And this year has just been ultra competitive.
• 12:11
  I know we probably – well, we say that every year, but this year has been like no other from that point of view.
• 12:16
  And you just have to look at Bathurst qualifying.
• 12:19
  Top 10 was two-tenths of a second.
• 12:21
  I mean, it's just unheard of there.
• 12:23
  And the intensity that finals brought with it, I mean, there were storylines that –
• 12:27
  Gold Coast with obviously Brodie's crash and that sort of put him out.
• 12:31
  Will Brown there, you know, was having qualifying issues.
• 12:34
  He made it through and now he's into the final four.
• 12:37
  But like Sunday at Sandown, we just threw everything at it, myself and my teammate Cam, and obviously, you know, it didn't pay off.
• 12:44
  But, yeah, it's funny.
• 12:46
  If you compare the regular season points to the finals, it's very different, especially that top four, top five,
• 12:53
  But that's what we're racing to now.
• 12:55
  And if it wasn't for the finals, pretty much after Friday, I'd say Brock Feeney would win the championship mathematically.
• 13:04
  But now it's 20 points between him and Chas.
• 13:06
  So, yeah, like I said, I'm not in it anymore.
• 13:09
  It's disappointing.
• 13:10
  I mean, I don't think I deserve to be in the final four based on how he went at Sandown.
• 13:14
  Yeah.
• 13:16
  But that's okay.
• 13:17
  We'll always come back next year, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it all pans out.
• 13:21
  And for me, I'm just going to go out there and do the best job I can and not intervene with what happens.
• 13:26
  I'm just going to race everyone else as hard as I would normally race them.
• 13:30
  So, yeah, it's on them to...
• 13:32
  to try and win their championship or do the best job they can.
• 13:36
  We still have a job to do and we're going to try and do it.
• 13:38
  I won't ask you to make an observation of those four because they're outside your sphere and, as you just said, you're going to kind of run your own race.
• 13:45
  What I would say, do you think that we might get something that is a bit of a left of field surprise here and how it plays out?
• 13:53
  I mean, Adelaide has had –
• 13:55
  over the years, some amazing races, some history-making races, you know, for Walkinshaw, for example, closing the Holden chapter there and so on, we could get a sting in the tail of this championship, couldn't we?
• 14:06
  Absolutely, yeah.
• 14:07
  I mean, it's 50 points between the top four and, you know, there's 300 points on offer.
• 14:12
  All it takes is one DNF or a bit of damage that puts someone out.
• 14:16
  They have to pit and, you know, they finish 20th or something like that and it changes everything.
• 14:20
  And that very much could happen when you've got a track like Adelaide
• 14:25
  There's infamous turn eight where if you're into that, you know, that's a car killer.
• 14:31
  But not only that, we saw last year the final race of the year where everyone threw the toys out of the cot and it was actually probably one of the most exciting races of the year because there was so much happening and we could be left with a race like that, especially Sunday when everyone's like, oh, well, you know, it's the last race of the year, but nothing to lose, you know, let's go for it.
• 14:49
  Go for it.
• 14:50
  Where we are, you know, from 5th to 7th, that's, you know, you can't finish any worse than that.
• 14:56
  Same from 8th to 10th and 11th onwards, you know, they're fighting for, I guess, 11th in the championship.
• 15:02
  But it's the top four that it's going to be interesting to see what the point scenario is on Sunday because it's not going to be wrapped up until...
• 15:11
  the end of that Sunday race, which is exciting for everyone.
• 15:14
  And that's going to be the first time that it's like that here in Adelaide for supercars.
• 15:19
  Adding to the story is the fact that we have a wild card and he's been warmly embraced in Austin Sindrick.
• 15:24
  He's part of the kind of Tickford framework there.
• 15:26
  How's he settling in?
• 15:27
  What do you think?
• 15:28
  And what sort of weekend, based on his lead-up, do you think he'll have?
• 15:33
  Yeah.
• 15:34
  Yeah, look, I've really enjoyed working with Austin so far.
• 15:37
  I haven't worked with him as much as I'd say can because I was in the UK.
• 15:42
  They went and did a two-day test at the band and he did the ride day at Sandown.
• 15:46
  But he was there with us at Sandown the whole weekend once he landed and did his seat insert.
• 15:52
  And, yeah, he's so much fun to be around.
• 15:54
  He's obviously super dedicated.
• 15:56
  He's taking it all in.
• 15:58
  He's got his little notebook there, you know, trying to learn everything.
• 16:02
  And it's funny when you try and explain all these things to him and, you know, he's just like a sponge trying to take it all in.
• 16:08
  But when we sort of say to him, oh, yeah, we're going to put green, you know, you're going to have green tyres for this session.
• 16:14
  What's green tyres?
• 16:15
  It's sticker tyres.
• 16:16
  Ah, sticker tyres.
• 16:18
  Yes, yes, greens.
• 16:20
  So, yeah, there's a bit of lingo there that we've got to work through, you know, explaining how the safety car procedure works.
• 16:27
  That's obviously extremely different to what they do in NASCAR.
• 16:31
  But, yeah, he's doing really well.
• 16:33
  We spent a good few hours on Sunday on the sim as well, just getting him up to speed with Adelaide.
• 16:39
  And, yeah, he's just great to be around.
• 16:42
  I think he's really going to enjoy it.
• 16:44
  He's obviously got his own expectations that he puts on himself as a professional race driver, but I think he'll be good.
• 16:51
  You know, I don't think he's going to embarrass himself at all.
• 16:54
  He's putting in the work.
• 16:56
  And I think he'll do a solid job.
• 16:58
  So, yeah, the car, I actually really like the look of the car and I think it's going to look good on track.
• 17:04
  And, yeah, I don't think he's going to make a fool of himself.
• 17:07
  I think he's going to do a really good job and you never know.
• 17:11
  Could be some good surprises there from Austin.
• 17:14
  You've got a massive day ahead of you in terms of your schedule.
• 17:16
  I'll ask two to finish here.
• 17:17
  Firstly, just a thought on the passing of Alan Moffat during the week.
• 17:22
  I mean, he made such a massive impact on motorsport generally in this country and supercars that we know today because of its Australian steering car championship heritage.
• 17:33
  He will never be forgotten what he has done.
• 17:38
  No, he won't.
• 17:39
  No, he's, you know, one of the true icons of Australian and I guess global motorsport, obviously born in Canada and raised in Australia.
• 17:48
  You know, he was, you know, really fond memories of that one too.
• 17:52
  I mean, I know I wasn't born for it, but I've certainly seen plenty of footage.
• 17:57
  from Bathurst and he was really part of that, I guess, Ford v Holden rivalry.
• 18:03
  And, I mean, it's just, I guess, terrible, that dementia that he suffered.
• 18:09
  And, I mean, no one should have to go through that.
• 18:13
  It's a horrible disease and, well, I guess, you know, how can I say it?
• 18:17
  It's unfortunately not curable and, you know, he really suffered with that over the last six years.
• 18:24
  But he shone a light on it, mate, which I think is important in the grand scheme of things, you know?
• 18:29
  Absolutely, absolutely.
• 18:30
  And to go on as long as he did, you know...
• 18:34
  was a credit to him and his family.
• 18:37
  And I feel for the whole Moffat family.
• 18:39
  I feel for James as well, who I drove with this year in Supercars, and that was a lot of fun teaming up with him.
• 18:44
  But, yeah, he'll be dearly missed, and I really hope that Supercars does something this weekend to honour Moffat as well.
• 18:53
  And James, just on that, mate, has mentioned on socials that he's off.
• 18:58
  He's had a great chapter with you guys from an endurance perspective.
• 19:01
  And as you say, you got to drive with him in the Enduros this year.
• 19:05
  Yeah, I did.
• 19:05
  Yeah, I saw that yesterday as well.
• 19:08
  And yeah, he's been such a great or integral part of the team for the last eight years.
• 19:15
  And great to be around, a lot of fun, does his job.
• 19:19
  And, you know, we have a lot of jokes.
• 19:22
  He's quite a fun character.
• 19:24
  When you get to know James, you know, he's really good to be around.
• 19:28
  He's a great person as well and he's got a really, really nice family too.
• 19:32
  So, yeah, I look forward to seeing his next chapter and I'll be following him this weekend in Trans Am as well.
• 19:40
  So he just raced last weekend at Malala and I think this is their season finale.
• 19:45
  Well done, mate.
• 19:45
  I've taken up too much of your time.
• 19:47
  You've got, as we talk, you've got the Mo on, mate.
• 19:49
  You've been doing some wonderful things for Movember.
• 19:52
  Congratulations on that.
• 19:53
  Well done on the UK and have a fantastic final weekend there in Adelaide.
• 19:57
  Enjoy it.
• 19:58
  Thanks, mate.
• 19:59
  Hey, it wasn't that long ago that you were running a Mo at Autobahn Tarnit.
• 20:02
  So I look forward to seeing that one come back as well, mate.
• 20:05
  100% we'll bring it back for sure.
• 20:07
  Thank you.
• 20:10
  That is it for today.
• 20:11
  We hope you enjoyed this one.
• 20:13
  Enjoy the Supercars Grand Final in Adelaide this weekend too and the second last round of the season for Formula One in Qatar, including what could be a vital sprint race.
• 20:24
  Bye for now.