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The Motorsport Brief: Taupo Supercars Preview · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:05
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:06
  It's Friday the 19th of April 2024.
• 0:09
  The cars are about to hit the track.
• 0:11
  Supercars are back in New Zealand for round three of the championship.
• 0:15
  And today, we'll preview the action.
• 0:21
  G'day everybody, Rusty here.
• 0:23
  Welcome to another ep of the Garage Shortcast.
• 0:26
  Thomas Randall is standing by in Taupo.
• 0:29
  That's coming up in a moment.
• 0:30
  It is going to be a fantastic weekend there.
• 0:33
  Taupo is a town on the northeastern edge of the largest lake in New Zealand, in the centre of the North Island.
• 0:40
  A lake born out of...
• 0:42
  a volcanic eruption actually over 25,000 years ago.
• 0:46
  The lake's beautiful, perfect for wakeboarding and boating.
• 0:49
  You can go fishing in parts.
• 0:51
  Kiwis have holiday homes there that they tend to call batches.
• 0:55
  The Hooker Falls are definitely worth a visit and various kind of thermal tours about the place.
• 1:01
  One of them called Craters of the Moon.
• 1:03
  At the
• 1:04
  At the southern end of the lake is Mount Ruapehu, where you can go snow skiing in winter.
• 1:09
  There is a 160k race around the lake each November, they call the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge.
• 1:17
  And just north of town, near Mount Tuhara, is the Taupo International Motorsport Park, one of three tracks in New Zealand owned by Tony Quinn.
• 1:27
  And it's gone through quite a transformation since he took over the lake.
• 1:30
  the ownership of it in recent years.
• 1:33
  A lap is 3.3 Ks.
• 1:35
  The races are scheduled to be 199 Ks each, one on Saturday, another on Sunday.
• 1:42
  Thomas will share a bit more of the detail on that shortly and maybe what you can expect.
• 1:47
  Porsche Carrera Cup has made the trip over there too, and they have given some locals the chance to join that field.
• 1:55
  It's the title decider for the New Zealand Toyota 86 Series, the popular central muscle cars are there, and Formula Ford.
• 2:03
  Now, our latest feature episode of Rusty's Garage is out now too.
• 2:07
  Quick plug for that.
• 2:08
  With former HRT engineer Chris Dyer, who went to work for Michael Schumacher in the years that followed his Supercars chapter.
• 2:17
  So working with Shoei at Ferrari in Formula One.
• 2:20
  From the computer-aided design of a Commodore, they called Gabriel, that Craig Lowndes used to win the Triple Crown, the title, and...
• 2:29
  as well as Sandown and Bathurst with Greg Murphy, what a year that was in 1996, to working with world champions like Damon Hill.
• 2:38
  He also worked with Jos Verstappen, the father of current world champion Max Verstappen, and dealing with a difficult strategy call for Fernando Alonso at Abu Dhabi in 2010.
• 2:49
  Plus, what Chris is doing now with Neon McLaren in Formula E. You can search for that, Chris Dyer, in our Rusty's Garage library.
• 2:57
  Hope you enjoy it.
• 2:59
  Now, Thomas Randall raced successfully in New Zealand as a junior in the fiercely competitive Toyota Racing Series, which he won in 2017 against some class drivers too, like Marcus Armstrong, who's now in IndyCar, and Brendan Leach, who won the GT race last Sunday with Tim Miles at Phillip Island.
• 3:19
  Away from supercars, he also runs Dream Simulation in Melbourne.
• 3:23
  Go searching for that on Instagram or on the net.
• 3:27
  It's a proper professional setup that helps racers in Australia and even the internationals when they come down under to ready themselves, particularly...
• 3:36
  as our sport tends to really limit track time now to keep costs down.
• 3:40
  Randall is currently eighth in the supercar standings, just 33 points behind Matt Payne, one of the highly rated Kiwis who will be eyeing up a win on home soil this weekend.
• 3:55
  Kia ora, Thomas Randall.
• 3:56
  Kia ora, Mr Rusty, how are you?
• 3:58
  Hi.
• 4:00
  I am very well.
• 4:01
  Firstly, just describe audio experience, obviously, but you are beaming in from the towport track.
• 4:06
  When we're back on the road like this with supercars, how have you guys got everything set up in portable mode?
• 4:12
  Just describe what you've done to ship everything over from Tickford to be ready for this weekend.
• 4:18
  Well, firstly, great to be back in New Zealand for the championship.
• 4:22
  It's always great.
• 4:23
  So good to be here and we always get such a great response from the Kiwis and to be racing a towport track.
• 4:30
  I've actually raced here in the past, not in a supercar, but a great venue to host a supercars event.
• 4:36
  And look, to be honest, the logistics are pretty crazy to get the cars and all the stuff here.
• 4:41
  So we have...
• 4:42
  Basically, these Gibson freight containers that we're only allowed to take so much stuff.
• 4:47
  And every team is allowed the same amount of containers.
• 4:49
  And then, obviously, the cars.
• 4:51
  Can't forget the cars.
• 4:52
  So there's one decommissioned 747, basically, that was a commercial plane that, I guess, gets...
• 4:59
  gutted and turned into a cargo plane that does two trips that takes, I guess, half the cars and half the equipment on one trip comes back and then grabs it all from Avalon.
• 5:08
  So it leaves and left Avalon, I believe Monday night or one of the, one of the flights did and then goes to Auckland and then it makes the trip down on, on trucks and,
• 5:18
  a few trailers, a few trips to get all the equipment here.
• 5:20
  So, yeah, operating out of what we've got here, I guess we've brought as much stuff as we can and all teams have.
• 5:27
  But still, you know, we've got to, you know, just know the itinerary and know the stuff we have because, you know,
• 5:34
  Yeah, as you said, we're sort of operating, I guess, bare bones in a way.
• 5:37
  We don't have our transporters.
• 5:38
  Normally you have a B-double, an A-trailer full of stuff, full of tyres and all equipment, spares, and then the B-trailer with plenty of other stuff.
• 5:47
  So, yeah, there's a lot that, I guess, goes on.
• 5:50
  But to have that here, and not only us, but you've got Porsche Carrera Cup,
• 5:55
  Australia here as well so it's been a massive logistical effort to get the cars here and I think having two sold out days in the tracks certainly going to make an awesome atmosphere it's going to be huge, how's the preparation and the lead up been for you and is there a little bit of kind of rewinding the clock a bit it's not the first time you've raced in New Zealand is it?
• 6:15
  No, it's not.
• 6:16
  We had the last race really at Pugacoe back in 2022, which was sad really because it's been such a great venue for supercars and the crowd there was just electric.
• 6:27
  It was just packed to the rafters and to finally be back here after I guess a year's hiatus and
• 6:33
  Like I said earlier, I've been fortunate enough to race here at Topor a few times in the Toyota Racing Series.
• 6:38
  And yeah, it's certainly the track condition, I'd say, hasn't got much better over the last seven years.
• 6:44
  So a lot of people are predicting some pretty high tide degradation, but
• 6:48
  I think that's going to lead to some very interesting racing.
• 6:51
  So I really hope we put on a great show.
• 6:53
  I think last time at the supercars at the Grand Prix showed that we can race pretty hard and have very entertaining races.
• 7:00
  So can't see why we can't do the same thing this weekend.
• 7:03
  For that full house and for everyone that's going to be watching the coverage in Aussie,
• 7:08
  Is there an element of unpredictability in this or do you feel like, you know, that great old saying, Thomas, about cream rises to the top that the good teams will get their head around it?
• 7:17
  Or are we in for a few little surprises here, just given that it is new for, you know, a number of people in the field?
• 7:24
  Well, I hope our team rises to the top.
• 7:26
  That'd be bloody awesome.
• 7:27
  I'm just not going to deny that.
• 7:29
  But I think just there's so many unknowns, mainly the track surface.
• 7:34
  And, you know, Cam Waters, my teammate, and I have been doing a lot of sim work.
• 7:39
  But you can only do really so much because we don't really know what the track surface is going to be like for our cars.
• 7:45
  And this tyre as well hasn't been driven on here.
• 7:48
  And our long races, two C-lap races, no fuel drops.
• 7:51
  So...
• 7:52
  That makes it more pressure on our data engineers.
• 7:56
  And we've just got to say, I guess, when the best time is to pit.
• 8:00
  And then there's the weather as well.
• 8:01
  It looks like there could be a little bit of rain across the weekend.
• 8:04
  So typical New Zealand, there's always some spot of rain at some point.
• 8:08
  But we have got to...
• 8:09
  90-minute practice session tomorrow or on Friday.
• 8:12
  And I think that's going to be really crucial to try and find a good quality setup and then also a good race car.
• 8:18
  So fingers crossed we can be on the other side of that and prep well for a Saturday for a quality.
• 8:23
  Fingers crossed the top-end shootout and then the first of two 60 laps.
• 8:28
  Shameless plug here because you do such a great job on the simulator side with the business that you've got.
• 8:33
  Tell people listening a bit more about that.
• 8:36
  You cater from an open wheeler perspective, but also a saloon car or supercars perspective.
• 8:43
  I think my colleague Chad Nalon was in there during the week getting used to the track and so on.
• 8:48
  Tell us a bit more about that.
• 8:49
  And maybe if you're comfortable sharing, maybe a couple of people that have come in to do some
• 8:58
  I guess the closer the car model and the track model is to reality, that's where you can really work on round preparation, whether it's other real drivers getting prepared for whether it's, well, Super 2, Super 3, Porsche, Brera Cup, Toyota 86s, Aussie Racing Cars, GT Racing.
• 9:15
  So we've had quite a few of the...
• 9:17
  Porsche Career Club guys get prepped for tow-poor that haven't raced here before.
• 9:23
  And then for supercars, well, I only let Cam and myself on the sim for that, so no other rival supercar drivers are allowed in the sim.
• 9:30
  But, yeah, the sim model we feel is quite close.
• 9:33
  At other tracks that we know, the times are within a couple of tenths of reality, which, yeah, as I said, the closer that that model can be and the circuit, whether it comes down to corner radius, well, corner cambers, bumps,
• 9:47
  curb profiles, even sponsor boarding, you name it.
• 9:50
  Trying to just get it really as close as you can to it.
• 9:53
  it can feel as close as possible.
• 9:55
  So when you roll out for the first session, you already know, I guess, your braking points where you want to put the car because track time, as you know, is very limited.
• 10:03
  It's not like other sports.
• 10:05
  And that's where being able to do that alongside having actual MoTeC data that we can download off of the sim and compare as well, live driver inputs, you know, your throttle brake gear, steering, speed, RPM or clutch, all that sort of stuff that is, it really comes in handy.
• 10:21
  Tell me about the growth of that.
• 10:23
  You are very hands-on with that business.
• 10:25
  You enjoy the challenge of it.
• 10:29
  You've very kindly taken me through it.
• 10:31
  I think I may still be the only person to cut a fast lap of the Austria pit lane, but that's a story for another time.
• 10:36
  Yeah, we'll save that one.
• 10:38
  Save that one.
• 10:38
  But I mean, it is an evolving thing.
• 10:41
  I mean, just like the advent of AI and all these other things that are in our lives.
• 10:45
  So that simulator business and industry keeps
• 10:52
  It really does.
• 10:52
  And over the years, the track time that we get just gets more and more limited and controlled.
• 10:58
  And for example, to supercars, we get three test days a year and it's always at the same track.
• 11:03
  It's at Winton.
• 11:03
  So
• 11:05
  No one can get on street circuits, that's a given, but we can't just go to other circuits that we want to try and test things and that's where the simulation comes in handy, whether it's the team with chassis sim stuff or whether it's drivering the loop stuff, which is what I do, and certainly fine with other drivers, whether it be up-and-comers that are going through the ranks, like Toyota 86, Formula Ford, Aussie racing cars.
• 11:27
  There's so many categories.
• 11:28
  And to be able to have somewhat accurate car models and track models,
• 11:32
  That only helps the progression.
• 11:34
  And I guess to be able to essentially put a practice session or a whole day of sim work under your belt before you even get there, and then you go and do a track walk, and you already know in your head what you want to be working on because you've been practicing on the sim.
• 11:47
  And it's a good way to, A, try and get rid of bad habits and, B, hopefully prevent getting any bad habits.
• 11:54
  But, yeah, it's obviously a really...
• 11:56
  controlled space with the sim stuff so you can set the track how you want to uh you can set change the setup and the hardware nowadays with sim stuff i mean you know i i had a hyper simulator 15 years ago and you know the steering wheel uh the way that worked was just a bit of rope and springs inside of it where now you've got direct drive systems that go to 25 30 newton meters which could rip you you literally have to take the hand off the wheel if you're going to crash uh you've got we've got active brake pedals now so you actually get
• 12:25
  proper feedback under braking.
• 12:27
  And, I mean, it's pretty crazy to think how far it's come in that time and who knows where it could be really in another five or ten years.
• 12:34
  Okay.
• 12:35
  So just between friends, how did Chad go?
• 12:37
  He thinks he's a bit of a wheel man, doesn't he?
• 12:40
  Well, look, let's just say he likes having high corner speeds, but it ruins his braking and his exits.
• 12:49
  So I think...
• 12:50
  He needs to work on maybe doing a few more laps.
• 12:53
  But the good thing is he knows how the track goes, and I think that's going to come in handy when he's doing his pit reporting this weekend.
• 12:58
  As always, you are too kind.
• 13:00
  Well done.
• 13:00
  Now, your stablemate in Cam Waters has been dabbling in some NASCAR, some truck racing stuff.
• 13:07
  Bit of news around about him doing some more of that.
• 13:10
  A, what do you think of that?
• 13:11
  And I know your focus...
• 13:13
  mate is supercars right now and being a consistent front runner and race winner in that.
• 13:18
  But are there little things in the back of your mind that you still would like to tick maybe along those lines?
• 13:23
  Oh, absolutely.
• 13:24
  Yeah, I think it's great to see what he's doing.
• 13:27
  And, you know, yeah, today they've just confirmed that he's going to be doing another round at Kansas in the truck series.
• 13:32
  And I was stoked watching him.
• 13:34
  And unfortunately, you know, it didn't end probably how he would have liked, but he learned so much over there.
• 13:39
  And I mean, for me, it's only my third year in supercars.
• 13:43
  This is his ninth year, I think, in main game supercars.
• 13:46
  So for me, look, I'd love to dabble in more international stuff.
• 13:49
  I have...
• 13:50
  come from somewhat of an international background, you know, doing two years over in the UK.
• 13:54
  But that was at a lot of an earlier point in my career.
• 13:57
  It wasn't a professional career, whereas now I'm lucky enough to say I'm at a professional point in my career.
• 14:04
  And whether or not there could be some, well, GT opportunities or, well, NASCAR opportunities, it's,
• 14:10
  certainly wouldn't turn away those opportunities.
• 14:14
  I'd definitely investigate that.
• 14:15
  But for now, I'd like to just try and get a bit more under my belt in supercars, try and be a little bit more successful.
• 14:21
  Ideally, win some races and win a championship would be incredible.
• 14:27
  Yeah, try and just succeed here first.
• 14:30
  I feel like I've still got a lot to prove here and then...
• 14:32
  Like I said, we're going to have some opportunities over there.
• 14:34
  But I'd love to go over to America and watch him for sure.
• 14:37
  I think it'd be an amazing experience.
• 14:40
  I've got a few friends over there and, yeah, it'd be pretty cool to see a NASCAR race and even an IndyCar race.
• 14:46
  I love watching IndyCar.
• 14:49
  Pretty much binge watch all their races.
• 14:51
  That's probably one of the closest – well, it is probably the closest Open Wheel Championship in the world.
• 14:55
  The Randall Waters Road Trip.
• 14:57
  That would make a very good video if you're in the –
• 15:00
  I think he'd be sick of me after about two hours.
• 15:05
  We drove from the airport to the track here.
• 15:08
  It's three and a half hour drive from Auckland.
• 15:10
  Yeah, I reckon he was probably sick of me after the second hour.
• 15:14
  What happens?
• 15:15
  Are you podcasters?
• 15:16
  Are you who's in control of the music?
• 15:18
  What kind of conversations are you having on those road trips?
• 15:22
  You don't want to know.
• 15:22
  You don't want to know.
• 15:23
  Really?
• 15:23
  We actually had our...
• 15:25
  Our chief engineer, Brad Shusen, and our team manager, Matty Roberts, in the car.
• 15:29
  So there was a fair bit of banter going on.
• 15:31
  But look, at the end of the day, we got here safely.
• 15:34
  Everyone's good.
• 15:35
  But when you're having banter, the trip just goes by somewhat faster.
• 15:39
  So, yeah, yeah.
• 15:41
  So it's a good bonding time as well.
• 15:43
  What do you make of Topor?
• 15:44
  I mean, I've been there many a time over summer.
• 15:47
  Great adventure town in lots of ways.
• 15:50
  Plenty of Kiwis on the North Island holiday there and so on.
• 15:53
  Are you enjoying it so far?
• 15:54
  Yeah.
• 15:54
  Loved tow boat, loved it when I was here 2015, 2017.
• 15:59
  It's such a great vibe in the town.
• 16:02
  I mean, I've been out on the lake a few times on fishing and, you know, you bring your fish back and you can take it to some local restaurants and they'll cook it up.
• 16:10
  They'll scale it, cook it up for you.
• 16:12
  Cam and I went on the bungee swing this morning, so that was an experience.
• 16:16
  There's just so much to do.
• 16:18
  I've been, is it Hucka Falls?
• 16:20
  I've been there.
• 16:20
  Yeah, Hucka Falls.
• 16:21
  Hucka Falls?
• 16:22
  Yeah.
• 16:23
  I've been whitewater rafting there.
• 16:25
  So, yeah, there's a lot of stuff to do in Topor and fingers crossed at the moment the weather's pretty good, but it's such a great, as you said, holiday destination in the North Island.
• 16:36
  A quick break here on Rusty's Garage.
• 16:37
  Stick around.
• 16:38
  More of our chat with Thomas Randall in just a few moments.
• 16:46
  You're listening to The Motorsport Brief, a quick catch-up with Castrol Tickford Racing driver Thomas Randall ahead of round three of supercars this weekend in New Zealand.
• 16:56
  Let's get back to the convo now.
• 16:59
  To get to the finish here now, Tickford's obviously gone through, call it like a condensing of the structure, focusing now just on two cars, unlike four that you've done in years gone by.
• 17:11
  How's that change gone?
• 17:12
  Do you feel like it's working for you and are there still things that you're all sort of collectively tuning up?
• 17:17
  I think the change has been really positive for the team.
• 17:20
  We probably haven't fully seen all the benefits yet, but, and, and, and, and, and, and,
• 17:25
  To add to that, I would say the results on paper don't look as good as they should be.
• 17:29
  And yeah, there's probably no excuses for that.
• 17:32
  But I think we're better than we were.
• 17:35
  And when we go through, whether it's data or talking setups and stuff, everything's so much more efficient now.
• 17:40
  Just being able to...
• 17:42
  do it across two cars.
• 17:43
  And I think everyone is working even better together now.
• 17:47
  But yeah, like I said, I think we probably haven't seen the full benefits of the two car model yet, but I feel like it's so far been a really positive thing for the team.
• 17:56
  Do you go your own way or are you and Cam quite closely aligned often on race weekend in what you're wanting from the car and how the cars are set up?
• 18:05
  So far, we've been pretty close in what we want, but also our feedback with the car is very similar.
• 18:11
  So we might, I guess, go, I might go one path and he goes another path in practice.
• 18:17
  And then we normally, I guess, end up somewhere similar by the end.
• 18:22
  But generally speaking, so far, yeah, we've ended up in very similar places.
• 18:27
  feelings with the car and I guess similar setups in ways that, yeah, we go, okay, yep, that's pretty much what I'm feeling.
• 18:34
  We talk a lot.
• 18:35
  Cam and I talk pretty much every day.
• 18:37
  So yeah, I guess it's good to have that healthy relationship with the team, but yeah, at the end of the day, you want to beat each other on the track, but that's only healthy for the team as well, because that just forces us to push each other.
• 18:48
  I love the fact that you are one of the emerging characters of the Supercars family.
• 18:54
  You and I crossed paths at Glamour on the Grid at the Melbourne Grand Prix.
• 18:59
  You and I should never be allowed.
• 19:00
  We sure did.
• 19:01
  We shouldn't be allowed at that place.
• 19:02
  You did an ace job reporting on that.
• 19:05
  Thank you.
• 19:06
  For people listening that don't realise, for years I've done kind of safety announcements at the Grand Prix, you know, for important reasons, obviously, but you love to take the piss out of me over those.
• 19:18
  Oh, I do.
• 19:19
  So can we finish, given we're going to have a sellout crowd there at Topo this weekend, your best safety announcement ahead of the weekend of racing, please, Thomas.
• 19:27
  Off you go.
• 19:28
  Okay, okay, okay.
• 19:31
  Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.
• 19:33
  Yes.
• 19:34
  The track will be closed on the weekends due to the high-speed vehicles on the circuit.
• 19:40
  We hope you have a fantastic and a pleasant weekend.
• 19:44
  Thank you for your cooperation.
• 19:46
  Oh, mate.
• 19:47
  Well done.
• 19:47
  Was that me or was that?
• 19:49
  I think that was Greg Rice.
• 19:51
  No, it was me.
• 19:52
  It was me.
• 19:54
  Mate, thank you so much for coming on the pod today.
• 19:56
  Awesome stuff.
• 19:57
  Hey, anything to make you laugh.
• 19:58
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 19:58
  Appreciate it.
• 20:02
  Ford's been strong in qualifying so far this year, but they haven't converted for a race win yet.
• 20:07
  Will the Mustang, perhaps even Thomas, in the 60th year of Mustang celebrations chalk that up in Topor?
• 20:14
  A few of them have been tied up in friendly fire, those Ford drivers.
• 20:19
  It is a delicate balance, I know, to be avoiding that, but still keeping the intensity up.
• 20:24
  Nick Perkat got to taste some champagne for Matt Stone racing at the Grand Prix.
• 20:28
  The red balls have been hard to catch so far in the 2024 championship.
• 20:33
  But the champion, the reigning champion, is back, Brodie Kostecki.
• 20:36
  He's done some miles at Winton in the lead up.
• 20:38
  So looking forward to seeing what impact he'll make back with Erebus.
• 20:42
  Do I think he'll be rusty?
• 20:44
  I doubt it.
• 20:45
  Formula One is in China this weekend.
• 20:47
  IndyCar at Long Beach.
• 20:48
  It's going to be big.
• 20:49
  Nice touch by the Porsche Carrera Cup competitors here in New Zealand with stickers for the late Sir Colin Giltrap running on every car.
• 20:59
  The announcement of his passing coming through yesterday.
• 21:03
  No doubt they'll acknowledge that in the Supercars broadcast too.
• 21:06
  He made such an impact on...
• 21:09
  The New Zealand automotive business, he had lots of dealerships.
• 21:12
  He did a huge amount to support not just Kiwi races, but lots of New Zealand sports people from America's Cup sailors to Olympic athletes and more.
• 21:23
  Our thoughts very much with all of the Giltrap family and their friends.
• 21:27
  especially to his son, Richard Giltrap, who I often see at racetracks, and to Sir Colin's grandson, Marco, who is racing in Carrera Cup this weekend and has a very bright future.
• 21:39
  Sir Colin Giltrap was 84.
• 21:42
  Keep an eye on your notifications next week for our next feature episode.
• 21:45
  It's with Rob Smedley, engineer you'll remember at Ferrari, Williams and more.
• 21:51
  He shared a great partnership with Felipe Massa and his race radio has become something of tick-tock gold.
• 21:58
  Plus, what he's up to in post-F1 life today.
• 22:02
  with karting and a series that he plans to take global that has an easier path to entry for those who in the past mightn't have been able to go racing and it's electric we tracked him down recently in the uk that hour flew by you will love that that is it for today as always thank you for listening if you get a chance to rate and review the pod we'd be very grateful enjoy a big weekend of motorsport at home and abroad we will catch you next week bye for now
• 22:32
  Yeah.