1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:18,600 Stories from Super Touring. The 1997 running of the AMP 2 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:22,920 Bathurst 1000 was the 38th running of The Great Race, the 3 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:26,200 legendary touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama 4 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:31,240 circuit in Bathurst, NSW. A major dispute, however, meant 5 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,840 that instead of the usual V8 taking part in the race, Super 6 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,160 Tours would instead be headlining the meeting. 7 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,160 Welcome to the latest episode of Stories From Super Touring. 8 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,600 I'm Levi Riley. And as ever to take a look back 9 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,360 on this interesting story in the history of super Touring 10 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:51,200 Australian motorsport journalist Aaron Noonan and the regular 11 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:55,320 team of Adam Jones and Al Clark. Gentlemen, how are we all? 12 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:57,240 Very good. Thanks very. 13 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:58,480 Good. Good to be back on another one. 14 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:01,720 And Aaron, how are you? It's it's currently morning in 15 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:04,280 in Australia where you are, so how hot? 16 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,200 Is oh great guys thanks to thanks for having me on I really 17 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,120 have. I think the term is long time 18 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,320 listener first time guest is probably the best way to to 19 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:18,000 describe love what you guys have been doing with the the Super 20 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,800 touring stuff in the 90s Euro because it's an era that is 21 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:23,640 close to my heart as well. So good to have a chat with you 22 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,400 guys about a a topic that I guess probably doesn't get 23 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:32,120 enough publicity and coverage over the term over the terms of 24 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,200 the the previous year since it's happened to talk about these two 25 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:37,680 special races in Bathurst history is pretty cool. 26 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,480 Fantastic. And thank you so much for for 27 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,720 coming on as well and and spending your your morning with 28 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,960 us at Zitvi. I mean coming back to to these 29 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:50,440 races as you say, what sort of your first memories of of these 30 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:53,600 two super touring Bathurst 1000 races? 31 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,720 Yeah, they're they're kind of a mixture of of feelings and 32 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,240 memories because it was kind of civil war in Australian touring 33 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,920 car racing at the time. And we had at stake, the biggest 34 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:09,520 piece of the puzzle being Bathurst, because at the the end 35 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:14,120 of the day it's the IT, it is to Australian touring car racing 36 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:18,560 what Indianapolis is to IndyCar, Lemoy's to sports car racing. 37 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:21,760 Daytona is to NASCAR, it's that Jew in the crown. 38 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,120 So when you when you have a fight over, you know, a prized 39 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:29,440 piece of land, literally it, it creates headlines and headaches 40 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:33,000 and it was very political, it was television fuelled. 41 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,280 But the first thing that sticks in my mind is that we got to see 42 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:41,520 things that we probably never had it not been for that fight 43 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,200 we would have never seen. We would have never seen 44 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:45,840 Williams Renault come to Bathurst. 45 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:50,640 We got our first look at 888, who later on established an 46 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:53,000 Australian offshoot. So we we got to see some 47 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,400 familiar old faces we hadn't seen for a little while. 48 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,360 Guys like Frank Bieler and John Clalland who we were kind of 49 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:01,760 watching from afar in the British championship on TV here. 50 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:06,280 But to see them blend in with the local stars of of Super 51 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,480 Touring, the Paul Morris's and the Jeff Brabham's and Brad 52 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,720 Jones and the Audi team and Jim Richards who's a a legend in 53 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:16,080 this part of the world were stuffed that if it wasn't for 54 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:18,240 this war we would have never seen that stuff. 55 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,280 So I guess I'm looking for the positives or the negatives. 56 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:25,280 But we got two really great races that were very different 57 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:27,920 in terms of those two years because there was AV 8 race and 58 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:30,920 a A2 litre race. But sadly the the Super Touring 59 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:35,720 races kind of fall away in the memory banks of most Aussie 60 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,960 fans, so having an episode like this helps to to bring them back 61 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:41,640 up a bit, which is great. Absolutely. 62 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,960 And Adam coming to you next, what jumps out in your mind 63 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:49,600 about about these races? I think I had to watch some of 64 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:51,680 the footage back, obviously, just to sort of remind myself 65 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,560 just how good it was really. But I think some of the things 66 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:57,320 that that come straight back to me was that the sound of that 67 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:59,680 screaming Volvo qualifying lap of Rydell. 68 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:04,760 I mean screaming damp you know Mount Panorama and I just you'd 69 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:06,520 never this is the one of those sounds you'll never get bored 70 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:10,480 of. And I think even Ricardo's 71 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,880 mentioned that himself about how good that's, you know, well that 72 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:17,360 engine sounded but to see that qualifying lap. 73 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:19,519 But it was huge news because Australian Touring Cars was 74 00:04:19,519 --> 00:04:21,240 massive. You know it was huge and even I 75 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,440 used to watch it all the time. It obviously in the UK, but I 76 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,680 think for the UK stars to, you know, the touring Cars stars to, 77 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:32,240 you know, arrive at Bathurst and race against, you know, the 78 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,720 Aussie stars as well with the likes of Jim Richards and Co and 79 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:36,840 then to team up with them as well. 80 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:39,400 It was like it was a big deal. You know, it was a big, I think 81 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:44,520 it was a big, big, huge, well orchestrated PR masterstroke, 82 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,640 really just fit in, touring cars in general. 83 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,200 And finally, coming to you, Al, what are your memories of this 84 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:57,080 story in super touring history? Well, I I must admit to forgive 85 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:01,400 me, but not not really knowing much about Bathurst before the 86 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:06,720 Super tourists went there. BTCC was my sort of main passion 87 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:11,360 and any other motorsport series, including F1, really sort of 88 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:13,160 took a backseat to touring cars for me. 89 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:18,480 But yeah, it was I almost I was 13 when the first one, when the 90 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:23,360 first one happened and I sort of looked at it as another World 91 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,040 Cup or took a shootout or just on the other side of the world. 92 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,280 And it was only when I got older that I really learnt about what 93 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:35,200 what the the the crazy back story behind these two races. 94 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:40,400 But I quite like the idea of driver changes and and stuff 95 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:43,920 like you know that that stuff that didn't happen in a 96 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,120 regulatory and car race. You know it was 160 laps around 97 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:49,800 a track that's far bigger than any of the British circuits. 98 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,080 It was crazy. It was like the Le Mans of 99 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:57,880 touring cars almost you know and you know driver changes you know 100 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:02,400 Alan Menu and Jason Plato in one car it was it was different and 101 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,880 I I really enjoyed that side of it and just the track it was 102 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,360 just it's a magical track isn't it Bathurst and seeing super 103 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,600 tours go around there is is marvellous and and as Adam said 104 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:16,320 the sound some of them just wonderful. 105 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:20,160 So yeah, a real, a real unique story in the history of Super 106 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:22,760 Touring, and we're looking forward to digging in, digging 107 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,000 deep into it. As ever, we've asked our 108 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:28,160 faithful listeners what they thought of this race meeting on 109 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,640 our social media channels, and there's been quite the response 110 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,800 of this one. Definitely a lot of demand has 111 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:39,880 been from you guys to cover these two races on stories from 112 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:42,840 Super Touring, so it's been great getting so many responses 113 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:46,200 from you all about these particular races. 114 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,280 Start off with Chris Phillips. He says he thought the races 115 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:51,240 were epic. Quite. 116 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,800 I think similar to what Alex just said, they're a completely 117 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:57,240 different dynamic to the Sprint races that were prevalent in the 118 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:01,360 UK and Europe and that there were multiple connotations. 119 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:03,720 And plus he says what an awesome circuit. 120 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,280 Tyson Davidovsky. He said that although he was 121 00:07:07,280 --> 00:07:09,800 only 6 at the time, he absolutely loved it. 122 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,400 But the he did wish that more of the German and European teams 123 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,680 had got involved, saying that it should have been even bigger 124 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,920 than what it was. Jamie Lemura. 125 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,600 He said that he was there in person for 1998's race and met 126 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:27,520 his hero Ricard Rydell, which I think would have been a hell of 127 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,000 an experience. Andrew Gregory. 128 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,880 He remembers Murray Walker getting a ride with Brad Jones 129 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:36,520 in the Audi in the build up and then seeing Plato with a big 130 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,320 grin on his face. He hit top speed in the Laguna 131 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:43,760 in 1997. That that video that that 132 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:48,120 Andrew's talking about, there was in a video compilation that 133 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,240 Murray did called Murray's Motorsport Spectacular. 134 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:53,360 And I'm sure there's plenty of our listeners now are going, 135 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:57,480 yes, yes, I remember that one and just seeing the joy on 136 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:01,240 Murray Walker's face as Brad Jones is taking him round in the 137 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:02,920 Audi. It was just brilliant, 138 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,600 especially when he's he's going at full, full speed. 139 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,560 You you can see even Murray is lost for words and it's a 140 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,560 wonderful video and if you haven't seen it, it's it's well 141 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:17,560 worth the watch and I'll I'll see if I can share it on our 142 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:18,760 channels. Yeah, share that. 143 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:20,080 That'll be a good one. Yeah, it's a really. 144 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:21,600 It's a really great video to watch. 145 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:26,400 Adam Haynes, He simply said I'm an Aussie and I absolutely loved 146 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,560 it. Ash Brewster remembers Rydell's 147 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,440 1998 qualifying lap, which a lot of people have been mentioned. 148 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:36,919 I'm sure we're going to dive into that particular one because 149 00:08:36,919 --> 00:08:39,840 that is a hell of a lap. Whilst Adam Little says that he 150 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,600 remembers the camera angles with nothing like we used to have in 151 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,960 the BTCC in that the you guess the TV coverage completely 152 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,040 different to what we got on grandstand. 153 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:52,360 And finally we have a great story from Corey Stair. 154 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:56,400 He said that he was 11 in 1997 and that he and a friend walked 155 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,760 to the track and spent the whole of Thursday and Friday there. 156 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:03,840 And we're just in awe of seeing the European cars and stars that 157 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,680 he would have normally only ever seen on the television from afar 158 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,040 and said that by first day was always a big day in his house. 159 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,880 TV on all day and a BBQ for lunch. 160 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:16,320 Which thing sounds pretty perfect? 161 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:19,680 Is that just a typical weekend, Aaron? 162 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:21,040 Yeah. Pretty much. 163 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,960 That is the Bathurst 1000 tradition of it's still going 164 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:27,320 where people get together for the day if they're not at the 165 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:31,920 track, television on barbecues, beers get togethers. 166 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:34,880 It's kind of an Australian tradition up there with some of 167 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:37,440 the other sporting events on the national calendar. 168 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:40,880 But yeah, I mean, people who aren't motor racing fans, they 169 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:43,440 don't watch Supercars, they don't watch Formula One. 170 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:48,440 They still use it as a way to have an excuse for a bit of a 171 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:50,080 national day. It's not quite a national 172 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:52,400 holiday here, but it's not far off. 173 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:53,600 But then again, it feels like it. 174 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:56,560 Yeah, yeah. I mean, here in Melbourne we 175 00:09:56,560 --> 00:09:59,000 have the Melbourne Cup horse race in early November. 176 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,400 It's on a Tuesday, the first Tuesday of every November, and 177 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:04,720 it's a public holiday here. That's how crazy we are for 178 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:06,920 sport. So Bathurst, we should probably 179 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:10,040 start campaigning for a a public holiday of some sort, you know, 180 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:12,360 Bathurst Day. It sounds like a good thing to 181 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:13,800 me. I reckon we should try that. 182 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:21,840 In 1996, the Touring Car Entrance Group of Australia, 183 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,480 otherwise known as TIGA, signed a deal with US sports agent Mark 184 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:30,200 Mccormick's International Management Group to market the 185 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,560 Australian Touring Car Championship, which they renamed 186 00:10:33,560 --> 00:10:37,480 to V8 Supercars. The new joint venture company 187 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:43,040 called Avesco signed a TV deal for 1997 with Network 10, which 188 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,760 included expanded coverage of the championship. 189 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,440 This was not an issue for the regular championship races, but 190 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:54,080 for the Bathurst 1000, which was organized and promoted by a 191 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:57,840 consortium that included Channel 7, it was a major issue. 192 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:03,240 Channel 7 had televised the Great Race since 1963 and had a 193 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,440 contract that was binding well into the 21st century. 194 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:11,080 Channel Seven were not prepared to drop the race, while Lesco 195 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:15,640 required a Bathurst race for Network 10 to broadcast Aaron, 196 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:17,400 It sounds like it's getting quite messy. 197 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:19,440 Quite early on here was, Was that the case? 198 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:25,480 Yeah, it got messy very quickly. Looking back on it, it was one 199 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:26,880 of those situations. There's probably a couple of 200 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:32,720 elements that almost predated that, The goings on of late 1996 201 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:36,840 that kind of got us to the road that set us to two Bathurst 202 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,440 races per year. So TEGA, the touring car 203 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:43,400 entrance group of Australia, was the teams of the VA Touring Car 204 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:47,720 Championship at the time. That was their body, their 205 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:51,320 representation of of, of. They tried many times in the 206 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,760 previous years to be united and they finally got it together 207 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:59,480 with with Tiga. So the television coverage of 208 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:01,840 the Australian Touring Car Championship had dropped away in 209 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:05,160 plenty of states in Australia because Channel 7 was showing it 210 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:08,800 late at night in many mark routing Victoria. 211 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:12,720 So it was a cut down one hour highlights version at 10 o'clock 212 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:16,880 11:00 at night which you know for sponsors and for teams it's 213 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:20,200 pretty hard to sell that yeah to keep that floating. 214 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:23,960 So the opportunity to have a Channel 10 deal, to have more 215 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:28,040 hours to be in, you know, Sunday afternoons in a regular time 216 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,120 slot was was really enticing. And the other element to all of 217 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:36,200 this was for years at Bathurst. The teams, it's kind of an 218 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:39,120 interesting one, They paid to race at Bathurst. 219 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:42,680 They were the stars of the show, but they weren't cut in on the 220 00:12:42,680 --> 00:12:46,680 deal as stars of the show. So if you think of your favorite 221 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:51,720 band, singer, performer, they're the show aren't they? 222 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:55,200 Regardless of the arena that they're in or the backing band 223 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:57,160 or who's at the front door selling the merch. 224 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,920 They're the star and the star gets the big clip of the gate, 225 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:03,200 the cut of of of the of the money. 226 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,920 But in those days the V8 teams turned up to race for prize 227 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:10,840 money and and it took a very famous story, it's been told 228 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:12,760 quite a few times here in Australia over the years. 229 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:16,160 So Tony Cochran, who later became the the chairman of of V8 230 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:19,080 Supercars, he was a big part of all of this and he sat the teams 231 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:21,960 down and said, so hang on a minute, let's. 232 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,000 And they did the numbers on a whiteboard and basically it all 233 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,600 distilled to the fact that they were paying to race and put on 234 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:29,440 the show at the biggest race of the year. 235 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:33,040 And he looked at them and said you're crazy like you you're 236 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:36,960 going to Bathurst, your grand final, your crown jewel. 237 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:40,240 And you are basically breaking even on it. 238 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:43,000 Like why are you doing this? This is crazy and it changed the 239 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,040 mindset. So it got to the point where 240 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:47,720 they went, well, we need a a bigger cut of the pie here 241 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:49,320 because we are bringing the show. 242 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:52,440 And without the V eights, there's no show in the Bathurst 243 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:55,880 1000, so that didn't go down well, as you could imagine. 244 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:00,040 I think that at the time, the prize pool for the Bathurst 1000 245 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:06,560 was about $350,000. Australian and Vesco wanted 3/4 246 00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:08,640 of a million because they obviously wanted a bigger 247 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:10,720 proportion of it. They felt that they were 248 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:16,680 bringing the show. There was an impasse it it 249 00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:20,280 couldn't be met and and as soon as V Eights did that deal with 250 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:23,840 Channel 10, they had it in their deal that they had to deliver a 251 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:25,800 Baathist race as part of the deal. 252 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,560 Now Channel 7 weren't going to give that up because they had so 253 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,520 much equity in you know 30 plus years of that race. 254 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:35,600 It meant hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of advertising 255 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:38,200 money to them every year every October. 256 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:40,720 So what business is going to give that up? 257 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:45,720 Understandably so. The second that V Eights went to 258 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:51,920 10, that kind of created the whole path of no return in, in a 259 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:54,520 way, because seven weren't going to give up something they had a 260 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:58,520 contract for. And in the end V Eights were 261 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:01,320 able to do a deal with the council. 262 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,280 Who was the other part of the the consortium that ran the 263 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:06,200 Bathurst 1000? It was the Australian Racing 264 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:09,880 Drivers Club, Channel 7 and the Bathurst City Council. 265 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,080 As it was then, it's now the Bathurst Regional Council. 266 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,640 So as soon as the V8 group were able to go to the council and 267 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:19,280 say, hey, can you hire us out the track because we'd like to 268 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:23,360 run our own Bathurst race. The council was in a hard place 269 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:28,240 because they knew that if it wasn't AV 8 race and there was 270 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:32,720 no V8 race at all that the income that came into Bathurst 271 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:36,360 every year for that event that week that weekend would drop. 272 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:40,040 So they kind of made the call and and some of the other 273 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:42,960 members of the consortium felt that they deserted the ship to 274 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:47,000 go inside on both sides of the excuse me on both sides of the 275 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,760 fence. But I think they were just doing 276 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,800 a a smart thing for their for their region because they had 277 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,960 this worldwide property that had the opportunity. 278 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:00,480 So the second that Supercars Vesco which was the Australian 279 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:05,320 V8 Supercar company, as soon as they got the keys to Bathurst to 280 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,320 have their own race then they could fulfill their contract to 281 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,240 Channel 10. So then they could basically say 282 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:15,720 Channel 7 ARDC. Everyone else, sorry, we're on 283 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:17,840 our way. And that's when they turned to 284 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:21,800 to Toka to put together a field and hence the amp. 285 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:26,680 Bathurst 1000 of 1996, that was AV 8, Commodore and Falcon Race. 286 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:30,960 12 months later was BMWs and Audis and Renaults, Peugeots, 287 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,720 Vauxhalls and Volvos. And there's an Alpha in there 288 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:35,160 and Toyotas and all sorts of stuff. 289 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,560 So it was a very, very big change and it got messy. 290 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,840 There was lots of mud throwing backwards and forwards between 291 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:45,640 whether it's a Vesco, Toca, the consortium, Channel 7, Channel 292 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:50,760 10, everyone kind of had a a a horse of the race in some way, 293 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:53,520 shape or form. But it was really political and 294 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:57,240 it got really messy really quickly and it was, it was 295 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:00,760 something that really threatened the future and the fabric of the 296 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,720 race. But I think we largely escaped 297 00:17:04,079 --> 00:17:07,640 unscathed compared to other sports at the time, particularly 298 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:09,280 rugby league. We were going through a big war 299 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:11,880 here with Super League at the time where there was 2 300 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:15,400 competitions in the same year that this was all happening in 301 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:18,920 in 1997 and we went through it with World Series cricket, with 302 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,839 Kerry Packer and this was just our version of it in Australian 303 00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:25,599 motorsport. There was no resolution to the 304 00:17:25,599 --> 00:17:29,600 dispute insight and as a result of Fesco announced that V8 305 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:33,640 Supercars would not compete in the traditional by first 1000 306 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,960 held on the October long weekend in 1997. 307 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:40,640 Adam, I think we've already touched this a little bit, but a 308 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:44,480 bit of a shock that the V8 would not be in their traditional 309 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,360 Bathurst 1000 slot in October for 97. 310 00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:50,680 Yeah, completely. I think like I said before, you 311 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:52,640 know the the V8 and the Australian Touring Card 312 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:54,400 Championship was massive. I remember watching it through 313 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:58,560 the Skyline days, the Horn Commodore days and it just we 314 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:00,960 used to love it. But now like Aaron's already 315 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:06,600 alluded to like it was like the Bathurst is like the Lamont of 316 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:11,080 of touring car races in in Australia, like huge, huge, huge 317 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:13,320 event. So to not have the V8, which is 318 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,760 you know the main category of touring car racing at the at 319 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:19,960 Bathurst, they just go hand in hand, don't they? 320 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:23,000 So you just expect the V8 to be a Bathurst. 321 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,480 So for that not to happen, I imagine, yeah, there was a roar 322 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:28,920 and and a lot of upset people, you know that would have been 323 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:31,520 involved and in that tradition has just been broken. 324 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:36,280 So I think on the plus side of that is the fact that the the, 325 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:40,320 you know the the Super tourists came, a lot of the European 326 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:42,080 drivers, European manufacturers came. 327 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:46,120 So I'm guessing the only person that really benefited, but I'm 328 00:18:46,120 --> 00:18:47,560 not the only person. I'm sure there was others, but 329 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:49,120 I'm just thinking of Alan Gow comes to one. 330 00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:54,600 Because obviously going back to the BTCC won a promotional tool 331 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:56,640 that would have been for him Having the likes of Cleland, 332 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,800 Bailer, Plato, Menu, Rydell, all these great drivers that have 333 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:03,560 gone out there to to compete with the Aussie guys and share 334 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:06,200 cars with them in this big endurance race. 335 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:11,320 And then obviously to come back to the UK sort of, you know, it 336 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,720 would have been a massive talking point, wouldn't? 337 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:18,200 It as a result of this, Channel 7 contacted Toka Australia. 338 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:23,080 Toka Australia was an offshoot of Toka which was also headed by 339 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:26,320 Alan Gale. Toka Australia had started a few 340 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:30,480 years earlier when BMWA, long time supporter of motorsport 341 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:34,720 Down Under, felt squeezed out when the new V8 Supercar formula 342 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:37,680 that replaced the old multi class Australian Touring Car 343 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:41,400 Championship came in with Gow as one of the three partners. 344 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:44,080 It was organised as an Australian Super Touring 345 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,480 Championship under the same 2 litre rules that were used to 346 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:50,480 such great success in Britain and across Europe. 347 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:54,560 Channel 7 owned the Bathurst 1000, Gal told Auto Sport in 348 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:57,800 2013. A war started between them and 349 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:01,480 Tiga who ran the V eights. Tiga wanted more money for 350 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:03,640 Bathurst and Channel 7 wouldn't pay it. 351 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:07,520 Tiga said We're not going. Channel 7 wouldn't bent to the 352 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,120 strong arm tactics and they contacted Toker Australia to put 353 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:14,560 a grid together. Now are you surprised that 354 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:17,560 Channel 7 went to Gowan Toker, Australia to arrange this 355 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:19,880 alternative for the Bathurst 1000? 356 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:22,960 Not really, no. I mean, who else would you go 357 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:26,840 to? Alan GAO at the time was the 358 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,720 touring car supremo pretty much around the world, wasn't he? 359 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:33,240 He was. He was well known for being able 360 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:36,120 to put things together a bit like the sort of the Bernie 361 00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:37,680 Ecclestone of touring cars, wasn't he? 362 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:42,240 Yeah. It was announced in January 1997 363 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:45,560 that Super Touring would be the formula used for October's 364 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:49,480 Bathurst 1000 which was agreed as a six year deal. 365 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,680 At this point the Australian Super Touring Championship had 366 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:58,920 BMW, Volvo and ALDI works teams with a strong contingent of 367 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,200 privateers running second hand cars from Europe. 368 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,320 Aaron taking us back to that time. 369 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:08,280 How was the quality and the standard of the Australian Super 370 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:11,520 Touring series at this point and sort of especially compared to 371 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:14,960 maybe the European series and and the V8 Supercars 372 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,680 Championship as well? It it was good. 373 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:23,600 But I in terms of its health, you know no competitor to the 374 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,280 BTCC or or anything along those lines. 375 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:30,520 But to compare it to the V eights of the time it it it had 376 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:33,600 a good solid standard probably to try to look at the peak. 377 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:36,240 I mean we only had two litre super touring here basically 378 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:41,800 from 94 to 2001. So it's pretty short shelf life, 379 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:48,480 but 97 was kind of where it's sort 9697 I think where its 380 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,880 peaks in terms of the the strength, the car count, the 381 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:59,240 quality 97 we had two factory BMWs, 2 factory Audis and a 382 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,560 factory Volvo albeit an older model car that Jim Richards was 383 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:04,760 driving. We we didn't get the S40 here 384 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:10,800 until 98 so he was in the older car but there was kind of that 385 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,720 next a good level of privateers or independence. 386 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,320 I think we called it back in the day didn't we, that we're in 387 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:19,400 that next little tier that on their day could create a 388 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:23,720 headache for the factory cars. Steve Richards was in a Honda 389 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:28,600 and then got a Nissan in 97. Cameron McLean got a Vectra for 390 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,440 for that year but then the drop off was pretty deep. 391 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:34,880 It it dropped away pretty well and I've only just been looking 392 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,000 back at some of the results and the the qualifying times and 393 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,960 things like that from from some of the rounds in in 97 and once 394 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:46,240 she got past that top five 6-7 it dropped away really quickly. 395 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:48,480 But there was a good little group of privateers. 396 00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:53,960 Rob Bob Tweedy had one of the John Cleland Cavaliers. 397 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:57,320 There was an alpha with David Olga that was a a car that 398 00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:01,480 Steven Richards had driven. There was some Kiwis getting 399 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,440 involved in the series as well because they didn't have a Super 400 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,720 Touring Championship, so a few of them came and and played in 401 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,200 Australia. So it was at a good standard, 402 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:13,280 but I wouldn't say it was at a great standard about to take 403 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:15,480 over the world. But it was, it was it was 404 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,480 ticking along quite OK. Talking to Steve Richards there 405 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:23,800 we we spoke to Steve at at Brands Hatch in in July this 406 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:28,360 year at Super Touring Power and and he said that the the the 407 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:32,360 ecosystem of the cars from Europe then being sold on 408 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:35,080 because they wanted to to sell on the older cars because they 409 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,480 were building new cars for the new season and that and that the 410 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,080 Super Touring guys in Australia were more than happy to receive 411 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:44,000 them and and and race these year old cars effectively. 412 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,120 So you know he said it created a good little ecosystem for the 413 00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:50,280 formula. So yeah, he he was full of 414 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:52,120 praise of it. And that was probably the thing 415 00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:56,640 that for Australia, once further up the food chain where the car 416 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:01,160 supply came from, the UK and and Europe in the latter years, once 417 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:04,800 that kind of died away, we were in big trouble there because we 418 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,360 didn't make them here or we didn't do Super Touring cars. 419 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:11,480 So yeah, when you're reliant on the the overseas second hand car 420 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:15,240 market or manufacturer backing that was always going to be a 421 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,520 drama that you know, it unraveled a few years later. 422 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:19,640 It's funny, they were never made over there, but. 423 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,440 They all seem to live over there now, these super tourists. 424 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:26,160 Yeah, The funny thing is that there's actually a lot of them 425 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:29,720 in New Zealand and there's yeah, they they could just about run 426 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:31,440 their own super touring race from over there. 427 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:35,440 But I spoke to Steve Richards and and Greg Murphy who was also 428 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:38,240 over there earlier this. Year. 429 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:44,000 And they were blown away by how many people at Brands knew them, 430 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:46,840 remembered the cars that they drove, whether it be two litre 431 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:49,960 cars V eights, Bathurst. It just blew them. 432 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:54,160 I think sometimes because we're so far away here in Australia, 433 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,920 we still have that thing, even though modern technology and 434 00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:01,040 communication. You guys can see so much of what 435 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:02,760 goes on down here now more than ever. 436 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:06,720 But I think it just blew them away to think that people 437 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,440 remembered things from 25 years ago. 438 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,600 I mean, it's just quite, quite phenomenal. 439 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:17,120 At the time, Alan Gal reckoned he could add up to 15 others to 440 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:21,760 the entry list by bringing along drivers from the BTCC and other 441 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:26,000 championships across Europe. Channel Seven put their hands in 442 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,160 their pockets to bring the cars out, Gal says. 443 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:32,080 When looking back, they also financially supported a lot of 444 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,240 the running costs. Otherwise it couldn't have 445 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:35,640 worked. It would have been too 446 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:39,560 expensive. The cars in the ASTC put on some 447 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:43,240 very good races and all I had to do was top it up with a bit of 448 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:47,440 quality from overseas. Adam From a driver's 449 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,960 perspective, this must have been a very tempting opportunity for 450 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,240 the drivers involved in super Touring in Europe. 451 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,440 Absolutely. You wouldn't have had to have 452 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:02,000 asked me twice, but like 100% like this is the like I said 453 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,720 earlier, this is the world famous Bathurst race. 454 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:08,840 Like for those that are listening now will some will 455 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:12,360 understand how big Bathurst is and some weren't but Bathurst is 456 00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:14,480 huge that Aaron has already alluded to earlier on. 457 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,400 It's massive. So from ACV point of view this 458 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:21,440 is grand, like this is you know this, it doesn't come much 459 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,720 better than this. But for Channel 7 to also help 460 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:26,720 with the funding side of it and getting the teams and the 461 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:29,520 drivers over was a great move. They probably wouldn't have 462 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:33,880 happened without that and and obviously Aaron, I mentioned it 463 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:36,960 earlier on about, you know it it sort of dwindle out because the 464 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,640 backing wasn't there and but you know this year that when this 465 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:44,560 happened it was massive. So to get the invite to go over 466 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,520 but it's just I think it it also enhanced the Australian Touring 467 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:51,040 Car Championship you know bringing over these big names 468 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,280 such as Ryder, Harvey Menu, Baila, you know the list goes 469 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:56,800 on. So I think it it it because of 470 00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:01,240 the the the coverage that the BTCC got and how big that was as 471 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:03,960 a championship and with the manufacturing involvement around 472 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:06,640 Europe. I think it it, I think it held 473 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:11,400 both sides of the of of of Australian Touring cars and the 474 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,640 British Touring cars. I think it was only a benefit 475 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:16,960 for everyone involved. I think I don't see how it 476 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,680 wouldn't. After some hard work from GAO, 477 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:24,240 the BTCC works cars from Peugeot, Renault and Vauxhall 478 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:28,440 were sent out to Australia along with a Nissan Premera run by 479 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,080 Team Dynamics. Meanwhile, Beeler and Rydell 480 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,960 would join the Audi and Volvo squads out there too. 481 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:38,600 Alex, That seems like a pretty good line up, a talent from the 482 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:41,320 BTCC represented there. Absolutely. 483 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:45,240 So you had 10 drivers going over that were BTCC regulars. 484 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,520 He had two cars from Peugeot to Renault and to Vauxhalls along 485 00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:53,120 with the the the Matt Neal Premiera. 486 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,680 It's it's it's a dream lineup isn't it And then you had as 487 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,200 well obviously menu was going to be racing in the the Williams 488 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,800 Renault that was the reigning BTCC champion. 489 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:09,120 The previous champion Beeler was going to be racing in the in the 490 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:13,760 in the Audi there he was the 96 champion one in Europe as well 491 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,240 yes some some really big names there and and if if you were a 492 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:24,160 fan of the BTCC down under then that would definitely draw your 493 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:25,560 attention and that sort of thing. 494 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:28,200 You would think, yeah, I need to get there, I need to watch these 495 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:33,640 guys because yeah, 10 top quality entries there from from, 496 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:38,120 from the UK Championship really would would add to the show. 497 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,960 Whilst an impressive line up from the BTCC had come along, 498 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:48,320 the big names from an Australian perspective were the additions 499 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:52,360 of 1980 Formula One World Champion Alan Jones who was 500 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,920 signed to race the second Williams rated Laguna whilst 501 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,360 signing of the legendary Peter Brock made the fan sit up and 502 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,120 take notice. Brock would race a 888 Vauxhall 503 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:06,840 Vectra alongside Derek Warwick, much of the disappointment of 504 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:10,280 Vauxhall's stalwart John Cleland, who would race the 2nd 505 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:14,960 Vectra alongside James Kay prior to the race, Warwick told the 506 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:16,880 press. When the chance came to drive 507 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:21,080 with Brockie, I got so excited. The guy is an absolute legend in 508 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:24,400 Australia and to be his teammate is going to be so good. 509 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,800 Aaron, just how much of an impact did the likes of Jones 510 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,520 and Brock have on the credibility of the event? 511 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:35,560 For the locals, clearly huge. And the big part of that was 512 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:41,520 Brock Alan Jones helpful Peter Brocker must I mean he could not 513 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:45,240 have a Bathurst 1000 without Peter Brock on the Internet list 514 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,840 and and he he actually at the time was contracted to Channel 515 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,160 7. He had a television show with 516 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,840 seven at the time that was kind of one of those I think it was 517 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:56,920 called police camera action. It was one of those clip shows 518 00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:02,360 with bad driving and stupid stuff on the road that became a 519 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,400 a Wednesday night 730 type TV show. 520 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:09,760 So he was contracted to 7 and was very much in there and and 521 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:13,440 he didn't appreciate the fact that he had pressure to not 522 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:17,000 drive in that race because he was contracted through Tom 523 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,160 Wilkinshaw to the Holden Racing team, the factory Holden team in 524 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,880 in the V8 Supercars. So there was a lot of grief, 525 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,280 There was a lot of drama in the background to get him to be able 526 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:32,360 to do that event and to do that deal, even to the point where 527 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,200 right up until when they announced that he was driving 528 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,040 that vector, which was sponsored by the Australian Grand Prix 529 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,360 Corporation to promote the next year's Formula One race, which 530 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:45,600 is a very smart PR move, it was clouded in. 531 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:48,960 Will it or won't it happen on the morning of the the actual 532 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:53,760 announcement, But huge to have Brock as part of it because he 533 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:58,200 gave it validity outside of the fan base, outside of the motor 534 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:01,440 racing tragics that we all are. The the man and woman on the 535 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:05,840 street in Australia knows who Peter Brock is and if he's in it 536 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:07,480 then it's worth watching. It's it. 537 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:10,480 It's a must. So he was he was box office here 538 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,560 in in Australia and he was a crucial part of the puzzle 539 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,480 because I think that race without him being as part of it 540 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:19,720 and because he'd announced his retirement that year too. 541 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:23,360 So he was on a farewell tour from the mid part of the year. 542 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,680 So he it was just this weird scenario where he got two 543 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:30,880 farewell Bathursts in his retirement year but he came back 544 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:32,880 anyway a few years later for a couple more. 545 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:37,400 So it was, it was really crucial though to have Brock as part of 546 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,880 it and I know Cleland was gutted because he'd been to Australia. 547 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:45,240 He he knew the race he'd driven with Brock before and I think he 548 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:47,800 really thought that he would be with Brock in the car. 549 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:51,280 But of course he wasn't a partner in 888, Derek was. 550 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:57,520 So but I think there was a story from that week in in Bathurst 97 551 00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:01,360 where you know Derek's a Le Mans winner, Formula One driver of 552 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:05,440 you know what, 100 plus Grand Prix starts, all the stuff he's 553 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,360 done in sports cars and racing here, there and everywhere 554 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:11,560 around the world. But in Australia, no one cares 555 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,560 because with you're sitting next to Peter Brock at Bathurst in an 556 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:19,480 autograph signing his line's real long, yours is not. 557 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:23,040 And I think that, you know, he, I think Derek knew he was a 558 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,920 legend in Australia, but he really got an understanding when 559 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:31,120 he came to Bathurst that week of wow, this is, this is next level 560 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:40,240 this guy something special. The 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 was 561 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:42,600 the 38th running of the iconic race. 562 00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:47,560 Meeting with the BTCC season, over 10 drivers would make their 563 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,720 way across the seas to join the regulars from Australia. 564 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:54,720 Many of them were suggesting that the local BMW teams of 565 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,400 Craig Baird, Paul Morris and the Brabham brothers of David and 566 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:02,800 Jeff would be the cars to beat. Multiple touring car champion 567 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,040 Frank Beale had disagreed, however, saying before the 568 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:10,000 meeting we don't know how competitive the BMW will be. 569 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:14,360 It isn't Winkelhook or Chikoso and probably their teams are not 570 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:19,280 as good as the Europeans. It is difficult to judge Adam. 571 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,560 That's some pretty strong views from Bila there about the the 572 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:25,120 competitiveness of the Australian team. 573 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:26,320 What? What do you make of that? 574 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:31,040 Yeah, it's almost like about halfway through there he sort of 575 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:32,880 started to backtrack a little bit because he's going to. 576 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:35,080 We don't know how competitive they are, but you know it's not 577 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,280 exactly Wincock or Chicato, but you know, we don't know where 578 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:40,080 they're going to be. But then also he's gone, but 579 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:44,640 he's difficult to judge. Well go on Frank, make your mind 580 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:46,600 up. But I think he's, he's being 581 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:49,400 honest. But you know, he knew how good 582 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,240 the BMW Chinits, the team was with Winghawk and Chicato and 583 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:55,560 but this was all new to him, you know, he'd not really raced 584 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:57,480 against them yet. So it was difficult to really 585 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:00,680 judge of, you know, you tell me, I've got all these Aussies in 586 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:03,680 this, in this car that's more than capital. 587 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:06,240 Winning the race. Then I'd be going there 588 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:09,239 thinking, well, these boys have got to be a strong favorites to 589 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:10,880 win this. You know, this is Bathurst. 590 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:14,440 This is like going up against, you know, doing the Le Mans 24 591 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,360 Hours and going up against the likes of Tom Christensen. 592 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,880 Yeah, the guy could drive the circuit blindfolded with his 593 00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:23,080 eyes closed, with tab tight, with hands tied behind his back. 594 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:26,679 So that that's how I would have looked at it with these Aussie 595 00:34:26,679 --> 00:34:30,239 boys in in a competitive car at Mount Panorama. 596 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:35,920 So odd of Adam as favourites, but again, you don't know until 597 00:34:36,159 --> 00:34:38,840 you know the first practice green light goes. 598 00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:42,280 You have no idea where you where you fare do you? 599 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,679 You you're bringing your your own cars over there and on a 600 00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:49,639 circuit you've you've not driven out in that car in anger. 601 00:34:51,639 --> 00:34:55,480 Yeah yeah it's just a different this isn't this isn't your 602 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,880 normal circuit like Alton Park or Brands Indy or anything like 603 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:00,320 that. This is Mountain Panorama. 604 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:05,960 So you know this is you know then then boys know that 605 00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:09,240 circuit. So I think it was yeah he I 606 00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:11,840 think all the the BTCC guys would have gone there knowing 607 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,080 that they weren't really going to be favourites for it. 608 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:17,600 I think you just go there and and hope to do the best job you 609 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:22,000 can and hopefully have a result. So yeah, it's a it's a tough one 610 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,280 to go there. Not it's always difficult when 611 00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:26,880 you go into a champ, like into any championship or any race 612 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,720 where you you don't know the you know your competitors as well as 613 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:32,920 your regulars on every other race weekend that you're 614 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:35,680 competing with. In the practice sessions prior 615 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:39,880 to qualifying, another first happened with local legend Peter 616 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:44,200 Brock rolling a car for the very first time after just setting 617 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,680 the fastest time. In Wednesday's practice session, 618 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,840 Brockie was going quicker again when he clipped a curb on the 619 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,440 way into the Chase s s and ended up on his roof. 620 00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:56,680 The locals couldn't believe it. Peter Perfect had made a 621 00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:00,280 mistake, Alex. That must have been a pretty big 622 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:02,080 shot for the High Court fans, do you think? 623 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:07,360 Yeah, Brockie rolled his Vectra. I didn't realize he'd never 624 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:10,160 rolled the car before, but it's actually the car that John 625 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:14,840 Cleland's got and he said that it's still got the marks in the 626 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:19,600 roof where where it's on the inside of the car. 627 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:21,960 It adds value. It does add value to it though. 628 00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:23,760 And yeah, he's very proud of that as well. 629 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:29,200 But yeah, he he rolled his rector and I quite like the way 630 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:31,520 afterwards. He sort of nonchalantly just 631 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:36,040 said, yeah, rolling with the car was just another tick in the box 632 00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:37,720 that I hadn't done in life and now I have. 633 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:43,960 But JC did tell me a rather funny story, and I don't know 634 00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:47,040 how true it is. Maybe Aaron can can verify it, 635 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:54,200 but basically there's the the there's a garage at at Bathurst 636 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:58,800 where the college kids repair the cars, any damage on them. 637 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:02,360 And basically working on Brockie's car was such a big 638 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:05,760 deal that it basically pushed its way into the front of the 639 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:09,240 queue and that the students were fighting over repairing it. 640 00:37:09,240 --> 00:37:14,840 And basically there was already ABMW in there to be repaired and 641 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:17,240 that got pushed back and that didn't run until Friday. 642 00:37:17,240 --> 00:37:19,920 But Brockie's car was straight out straight, straight away, 643 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:23,000 pretty much after being fixed. I don't know how true it is, but 644 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:24,600 it wouldn't shock me. Because. 645 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:29,120 The power of Brock at Bathurst and and they used to have a 646 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:33,120 smash repair team of TAFE students who as part of their 647 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:37,320 trade learning would be at Bathurst and they put lots of 648 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,000 cars over the years back on the track. 649 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:42,240 It's not really a thing anymore because the race teams are so 650 00:37:42,240 --> 00:37:45,360 professional now and you don't really have the privateers like 651 00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:48,840 back in the day. But there's actually still at 652 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,360 the National Motor Racing Museum at Bathurst. 653 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:54,800 At Mount Panorama. It's just outside the final 654 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:57,920 corner on the track. There's a bunch of amazing race 655 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:01,160 cars and and memorabilia. One of the panels from the 656 00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:04,440 Vectra from that rollover is still there and I'm pretty sure 657 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,400 it's signed by Brock and it says I did this. 658 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:11,480 So yeah, there's a bit of super touring left behind at Bathurst. 659 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:12,960 That's brilliant. That's brilliant. 660 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:14,000 We. Need to let John know because 661 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,920 he's missing the. He He won't pay cash for it, 662 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:18,960 though. He's tight. 663 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:22,680 As. With the race weekend at 664 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:26,600 Bathurst a little different to a normal race weekend, who better 665 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:30,160 than our expert on today's show to explain the qualifying format 666 00:38:30,240 --> 00:38:32,920 for the Great Race? Aaron, do you want to guide us 667 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:35,520 through that format for both qualifying and and the race at 668 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:40,000 this special event? It was a bit of a long run up to 669 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:43,560 to get to that Sunday race. So in those days at Bathurst on 670 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:48,200 track started Wednesday of race week, so practice on Wednesday, 671 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:52,840 not for, you know, qualifying positions, but then Thursday, a 672 00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:56,000 couple of qualifying sessions, then into Friday with a couple 673 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,760 more. So basically it really is a 674 00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:02,080 chance for a lot of the European drivers to get their eye in, 675 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:04,920 learn the track. Of course, a lot of these cars 676 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:07,600 had not run there before, so they were trying to understand 677 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:12,400 gear ratios and all those sorts of things that computer 678 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:15,080 simulations come a long way to be able to almost do the test 679 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:17,280 before you actually go to the the racetrack. 680 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:20,400 But then the big part of of Saturday, traditionally at 681 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:22,920 Bathurst since the late 70s is the top 10 shootout. 682 00:39:24,240 --> 00:39:27,240 And in those days actually it was in the morning on Saturday 683 00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:29,520 morning. In latter years, In the last 20 684 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:31,560 years, we've had it on Saturday afternoon, more so for 685 00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:35,000 television reasons, to roll into the the Evening News more than 686 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,320 anything. The power of television sounds 687 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:40,000 like a good create a Bathurst war, doesn't it? 688 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:44,320 But the Top 10 Shootout was the focal point Saturday after 689 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:47,120 Saturday morning. Then there was a like a a 690 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,480 practice session Saturday afternoon, a brief warm up 691 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,400 session Sunday morning and then the race itself at 10:00 AM 692 00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:57,840 local time. So 161 laps, 1000 kilometers and 693 00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:01,400 and get it done. So long lead up like long time 694 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:05,240 to be at the track rolling into a race like that. 695 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:08,720 But in latter years, in a couple of years after that they trimmed 696 00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:10,880 the Wednesday away and did away with it. 697 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:14,600 Because I think it got to the point where particularly for the 698 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:19,400 V8 teams who raced so regularly, it was a cost scenario where you 699 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:21,760 know you have another day running, you have to be set up a 700 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:24,040 day earlier, you have to accommodate and feed everyone 701 00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:26,280 for another day. It all adds up to the bill that 702 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:29,520 probably doesn't really add to. For the show, so it got trimmed 703 00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:32,080 back to start from Thursday's, which is the format that it 704 00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:35,200 still has. After such strong practice times 705 00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:38,560 everyone expected Alan Menu and his Renault to dominate 706 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:42,280 qualifying and on Thursday morning when he set a time over 707 00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:45,200 a second quicker than anyone else, it looked like that would 708 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:48,440 come to fruition. But at the end of Friday 709 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:52,040 afternoon Jeff Brabham picked this time but there was no cause 710 00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:55,200 for concern at Renault as they had been spending the time since 711 00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:57,760 Menu's hot lap on perfecting a race set up. 712 00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:01,920 Things got a little more tense for them though when Paul Morris 713 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:05,640 took a second out of his team mates time to take top spot. 714 00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:09,640 Menu tried to hit back but he made a slight mistake at the 715 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:13,560 chase and lost time, meaning he had to settle for second, only 716 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:17,840 two hundredths behind Morris Morris was surprised to edge 717 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:18,480 out. Menu. 718 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:21,720 There is no way I expected that, he explained. 719 00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:24,960 I thought there'd be a second or so quicker than anything we 720 00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:27,240 could do. But we have been improving and 721 00:41:27,240 --> 00:41:31,880 it's a great effort by the guys. Adam, I think a great efforts. 722 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,240 An understatement there. Were you surprised to see Morris 723 00:41:35,240 --> 00:41:39,720 edge out menus dominant Renault that year with a year old BMW as 724 00:41:39,720 --> 00:41:42,200 well? Yes and no. 725 00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:44,640 Like I said earlier you've got the you know these European guys 726 00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:46,040 coming over that have never raced there. 727 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:48,520 But as Aaron said obviously they get tons of track time. 728 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:51,400 So it benefits the European guys more so than than the Aussies, 729 00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:53,600 the local guys. But yeah that's a that was a 730 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:57,440 massively good effort a been an Aussie on home soil would have 731 00:41:57,440 --> 00:41:59,000 helped us. The knowledge of the circuit 732 00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:02,040 would have been completely invaluable, but it was. 733 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:04,360 It was clearly a quick, established driver. 734 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:07,120 As Aaron, you'd have to correct me on this if I'm wrong, but 735 00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:09,800 he's Paul Morris, like one or two people alongside Shane 736 00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:13,200 Bergen to have won all three major events at Bathurst, 737 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:15,680 winning the Bathurst 1006 Hour and 12 Hour. 738 00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:17,200 Yeah, he is. Yeah, he's. 739 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:20,120 So he's clearly capable. Yeah, totally. 740 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:22,000 And he nearly won the 24 Hour race, too. 741 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:23,720 He finished third in a Porsche. Yeah. 742 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:26,840 So like you look at, you look at those stats and you thinking, 743 00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:29,280 well, my money would have been on him to begin. 744 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:32,320 With an impressed menu, acknowledged Morris Lap. 745 00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:35,160 All credit to Paul, it was a brilliant lap. 746 00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:38,720 I'm disappointed because the car could have done it, but I 747 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:42,480 didn't. Both Peugeots made the top five 748 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:45,720 with Harvey 3rd and Patrick Watts in fifth. 749 00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:50,280 Derek Warwick was in between them with 4th on the grid and 750 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:54,680 with that the grid was set up beautifully for the 161 lap 751 00:42:54,680 --> 00:43:01,040 race. Paul Morris would lead the pole 752 00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:04,320 car away with Plato starting the race in the menu. 753 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,360 Plato entry from second on the grid. 754 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:11,080 Morris soon took the lead into the first corner, but Plato took 755 00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:14,120 that off him after a stunning move around the outside of the 756 00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:17,880 BMW into the BP cutting. The engines roar. 757 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:20,840 They're ready to go a great race for 97. 758 00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:26,680 Is away and Paul Morris takes the lead from Jason Plato, but 759 00:43:26,680 --> 00:43:32,280 there's 161 laps to go as they come down to and round L corner, 760 00:43:32,480 --> 00:43:36,480 starting the climb up Mount Panorama, up mountain straight. 761 00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:38,480 Everybody's getting round the first corner. 762 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:43,640 Well that's good and they stream up towards Revco Ben the first 763 00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:48,200 right-hander, and then into the BP cutting and Jason Plato 764 00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:51,880 passes Paul Morris to take the lead in the Renault Laguna. 765 00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:56,680 Behind him in the Peugeot Four O 6, it's double world champion 766 00:43:56,680 --> 00:43:59,400 Paul Radisich Morris retakes the lead. 767 00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:03,320 It's terrific stuff. On the 1st of 161 laps and 768 00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:07,120 coming up in the background you can see Peter Brock is in fourth 769 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:10,000 position in the red and White and Vauxhall Vectra. 770 00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:14,080 Alex, that was some move there on the first lap of that race 771 00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:16,600 from Plato. Yeah, it was a great move, 772 00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:19,800 wasn't it, for a for a rookie at Bathurst, some who'd never raced 773 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,720 a racing lap there before. You know, Morris took the lead 774 00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:27,560 into hell and I thought, OK, the race might settle down now, but 775 00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:31,200 but no, fair play to Plato. He drafted past him and hung it 776 00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:35,600 around the outside at the cutting and and yeah, some move 777 00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:39,400 you have to say a real move and not only that Plato then. 778 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:42,760 Really dominated. He he did really well. 779 00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:44,720 He was. Flying around the around the 780 00:44:44,720 --> 00:44:47,760 circuit. Plato quickly extended his lead, 781 00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:51,400 setting a scorching pace with the Englishman stretching out a 782 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:55,120 comfortable lead before pitting to hand over to team mate Alan 783 00:44:55,120 --> 00:45:00,400 Menu with a 30 second advantage. At this point the safety car was 784 00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:02,920 deployed, eroding the Swiss drivers lead. 785 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:07,160 Ironically, the safety car was brought out in response to Alan 786 00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:09,360 Jones crashing in the sister Laguna. 787 00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:13,920 There was a mongrel patch of oil, Jones said after the race. 788 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:17,080 I just came up through the cutting, hit the oil and 789 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:20,320 understeered into the fence. Aaron, That must have been a 790 00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:22,920 real shame for the the home hero there. 791 00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:28,720 Yeah, and and what a an Australian quote mongrel patch 792 00:45:28,720 --> 00:45:30,720 of oil, I mean. I was just going to say that 793 00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:32,320 sounds like a very Australian thing to say. 794 00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:36,240 Very Bathurst and not BTCC isn't it? 795 00:45:36,240 --> 00:45:40,800 But yeah it it really it sliced the the Williams Renault team in 796 00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:44,160 half and Allen was driving with Graham Moore who was the 797 00:45:44,240 --> 00:45:47,840 Australian privateer been doing Bathurst for for many years. 798 00:45:48,240 --> 00:45:51,680 He was the guy that helped bring together that whole deal to get 799 00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:54,800 the Williams Renault team to come to Bathurst that year. 800 00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:59,320 He was a big part of that whole process and project of putting 801 00:45:59,320 --> 00:46:02,000 together the funding and and bringing those cars out here. 802 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:05,720 So to have a banner head name like Alan Jones out within, I 803 00:46:05,720 --> 00:46:08,200 think it was 38 laps from from memory. 804 00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:13,200 One of the privateer BMWs drew by a couple of Kiwis had 805 00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:19,080 deposited itself across the road and it was actually the car that 806 00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:21,680 Tony Longhurst had won the championship in in 94. 807 00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:25,720 That was a car that was used for quite some years in in Super 808 00:46:25,720 --> 00:46:29,720 Touring after that. But yeah, it's it lost its lunch 809 00:46:29,720 --> 00:46:33,800 and AJ found it and caught the concrete and that was that. 810 00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:37,000 Game over for car 23. It was, it was quite a nasty hit 811 00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:40,560 actually, wasn't it? It's I think what was more 812 00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:43,200 shocking is that we didn't really see accidents like that 813 00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:46,920 in the new European tracks. Certainly in the BTCC you didn't 814 00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:49,280 have walls right up to the tracks like that it. 815 00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:53,880 So to see a touring car hit the wall like that was was quite 816 00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:56,960 shocking. Two more safety car periods LED 817 00:46:56,960 --> 00:47:00,320 Menu to feel that they were bringing them out on purpose to 818 00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:04,000 bunch up the pack. One of those really didn't need 819 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:06,560 to be a safety car, Menu said after the race. 820 00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,440 It felt like they were deliberately bringing the safety 821 00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:12,520 car out. The lead that the Renault had 822 00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:15,760 lost became even more critical when the brake pads needed to be 823 00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:17,760 replaced. At the halfway point on the 824 00:47:17,760 --> 00:47:20,520 race. After a delay on the right 825 00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:24,040 front, the remaining Renault Laguna had dropped to 5th place 826 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:26,920 Adam. It seems like quite bad luck for 827 00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:29,480 the Rooney pair at this point in the race, doesn't it? 828 00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:32,400 Yeah, he did. I think that you could see the 829 00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:36,120 impact of the first car with Alan Jones hitting the wall, 830 00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:37,680 that it looked like it totalled the car. 831 00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:39,080 To be honest. I think he'd bent the front end 832 00:47:39,080 --> 00:47:42,640 over because it was just there's no room to slow down and he 833 00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:45,720 just, you know, he'd finish the car off and then obviously got 834 00:47:45,720 --> 00:47:50,600 Alain and and Jason coming in for their pit and it was painful 835 00:47:50,600 --> 00:47:53,440 to watch because I've watched it back and they spent was it about 836 00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:55,120 3 minutes in the pits or something like that. 837 00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:59,200 It was the lost so much time but it was when they were changing 838 00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:01,960 the pads and and I think the piston had gone too far and he's 839 00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:04,000 always that danger. But to me, I'll just look at 840 00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:06,080 that and just think that's just the inexperience and I don't 841 00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:08,600 want to do Williams a disservice here because this is William's 842 00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:10,080 grown printing in we're talking about here, but. 843 00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:12,920 Yeah. But I think this is the 844 00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:16,200 difference, probably the fact that they're not used to doing 845 00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:18,640 these length, these long races that they, you know, there's a 846 00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:21,960 short races at best they'll change, you know, a set of front 847 00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:25,280 tyres during one of the races. So if it's just come in, 848 00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:28,840 obviously it's all planned the rehearsed it, but it's now under 849 00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:31,600 pressure, everything's hot, you've got to change the brake 850 00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:35,560 pads and it can easily go wrong. I've been in GT races before 851 00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:39,000 where this is an an, you know 24 hour races where this is, this 852 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:41,960 is normal and things have gone wrong because you don't really 853 00:48:41,960 --> 00:48:43,640 get a second chance, you know that. 854 00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:47,960 I mean Aaron, you made no more than me, but if I'm not sure if 855 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:51,200 was it the issue with the piston going too far and they couldn't 856 00:48:51,200 --> 00:48:54,120 get the the piston back in the in the caliper? 857 00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:57,240 From memory, I reckon that's what it would have been off the 858 00:48:57,240 --> 00:48:58,360 top, yeah, I. Think it was it's. 859 00:48:58,440 --> 00:48:59,720 A common thing. Common thing. 860 00:48:59,720 --> 00:49:01,760 Yeah, it's a common thing, but it's one of those once that 861 00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:04,040 mistakes happened. Yeah, stuffed, aren't you? 862 00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:06,320 Yeah, it's not an easy. Fix back. 863 00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:09,600 Hence why they lost a ton of time and but you're up against 864 00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:11,800 guys that are used to doing this and I think that was the 865 00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:13,480 difference. That was the difference. 866 00:49:13,480 --> 00:49:15,240 But yeah, it was bad timing for both cars. 867 00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:21,200 I I like that this is probably the first time we see Stroppy. 868 00:49:21,200 --> 00:49:25,840 Allen for the first time in quite a while, because obviously 869 00:49:25,840 --> 00:49:29,520 1997 went his way quite beautifully, didn't they? 870 00:49:29,640 --> 00:49:30,760 And he won the. Title in. 871 00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:34,440 The BTC Theatre Canter and and we didn't really see Stroffy 872 00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:37,480 Allen very much. And Stroffy Allen really came to 873 00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:43,200 the fore in 98, but he certainly showed his face in October 90. 7 874 00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:45,960 here as well. The new leaders were Cameron 875 00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:49,840 McConville and Brad Jones, with the Audis running well despite 876 00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:53,720 suffering from having to run with the FIA mandated 4 wheel 877 00:49:53,720 --> 00:49:57,440 drive weight penalties. Alex, those weight penalties 878 00:49:57,440 --> 00:50:00,480 would really hamper a car, especially around a track like 879 00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:03,880 Mount Panorama. Yes, I mean, Audi had spent the 880 00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:08,160 season lamenting those, those sort of weight penalties at at 881 00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:09,640 the tight, twisty British tracks. 882 00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:12,560 So yeah, the type of layout the Bathurst was, it would have 883 00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:16,080 exacerbated it to a degree that I don't think even Audi would 884 00:50:16,080 --> 00:50:19,200 experience before. So yeah, it wouldn't have been 885 00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:21,280 fun it. Would have been massive because 886 00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:24,040 you think about the impact it had on a short circuits like 887 00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:26,360 Brands Indy for example and then all of a sudden you've got 888 00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:30,960 you've got Mount Panorama that like you know the punishment. 889 00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:33,400 You know, you think how many laps they do around there, like 890 00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:37,120 for 1000 kilometres, it's not the the overall time lost 891 00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:40,840 through that extra weight over that complete distance would 892 00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:44,560 have been huge. With 55 laps to go menus pace 893 00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:48,360 was bringing him back into contention but he made a mistake 894 00:50:48,360 --> 00:50:53,000 and went bouncing off the track 4 laps later and his Laguna came 895 00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:57,600 to a halt with a diff failure. We did a diff on Thursday so I'm 896 00:50:57,600 --> 00:51:00,640 not sure if the off fire had damaged it but it probably 897 00:51:00,640 --> 00:51:03,080 didn't help, the dejected Menu said. 898 00:51:04,360 --> 00:51:07,400 When the Aldi's made their final pit stops, this dropped them to 899 00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:12,720 3rd and 4th behind the BMWs. After a race full of excitement, 900 00:51:12,720 --> 00:51:15,880 Craig Baird crossed the line to take victory with Paul Morris 901 00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:18,840 ahead of the Brabham brothers in the second BMW. 902 00:51:19,280 --> 00:51:22,840 However, Paul Morris and Craig Baird were later disqualified as 903 00:51:22,840 --> 00:51:26,200 Baird had breached the race regulations which limited anyone 904 00:51:26,200 --> 00:51:30,000 driver to a maximum of three hours continuous driving. 905 00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:33,840 Instead they were placed 27th and last. 906 00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:39,080 A late race error saw the BMW Motorsport Australia team leave 907 00:51:39,080 --> 00:51:42,960 bed in the car at the final pit stop instead of putting Morris 908 00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:44,920 in the car for the run to the chequered flag. 909 00:51:45,640 --> 00:51:49,800 This mistake ultimately cost the Team A12 finish for BMW. 910 00:51:51,240 --> 00:51:53,600 Aaron probably feels like it's best to come to you at this 911 00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:56,800 point and ask you to explain the rules behind the driver times 912 00:51:56,800 --> 00:52:00,400 and and why this was such severe penalty, excluding the Morris 913 00:52:00,400 --> 00:52:03,280 bed entry. The rule at the time was that, 914 00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:06,560 and I think I'm pretty sure it's still in place to the same 915 00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:09,320 degree. No driver could drive 916 00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:12,120 continuously for more than 3 1/2 hours. 917 00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:16,080 So when you consider that that year's race took six hours, 41 918 00:52:16,520 --> 00:52:19,760 that pit stop, that last pit stop where Baird stayed in the 919 00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:23,840 car, was the pit stop that lost them the race. 920 00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:29,360 Yes, they crossed the line first, but the race time ran, so 921 00:52:29,360 --> 00:52:32,800 Baird was in the car for three hours, 59 minutes continuously. 922 00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:35,880 So he was over by 29 minutes. In the end, it wasn't even a 923 00:52:35,880 --> 00:52:37,440 close. A couple of. 924 00:52:37,680 --> 00:52:39,880 Minutes, you know. Oh, 30 seconds. 925 00:52:40,200 --> 00:52:42,840 Oh, we got unlucky. Yeah, it was, it was not that 926 00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:45,680 case. It was a massive a massive 927 00:52:45,680 --> 00:52:48,200 amount over. So the rule's the rule. 928 00:52:48,200 --> 00:52:52,240 It's really quite clear. But the great strange element to 929 00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:55,000 all of it was that I I can only guess and and I know you've 930 00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:58,320 spoken to Craig on your pod and I've had him on my V8 salute pod 931 00:52:58,320 --> 00:52:59,520 as well. I'm with him. 932 00:52:59,720 --> 00:53:02,240 He's the driving standards advisor here for the Supercars. 933 00:53:02,240 --> 00:53:07,680 So get to a fair bit of him and if the feeling was, well, let's 934 00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:10,360 not put pull in the car. Craig's in the rhythm, Craig's 935 00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:14,160 driving well, you know, let's not risk that last pit stop with 936 00:53:14,160 --> 00:53:17,000 the driver change or fumbling the belts or anything that could 937 00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:20,840 go wrong. But the minute he drove out of 938 00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:24,440 that pit lane, they were cooked. They and some of the teams in 939 00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:27,400 the pit lane knew because they were looking at the clock and 940 00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:31,360 went hang on a minute, he's been in there for a long time now 941 00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:36,680 since I think Morris did 67 laps at the start of the race. 942 00:53:36,960 --> 00:53:39,480 So Craig had been in the car from that point onwards. 943 00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:43,560 So I think other teams had a bit of an inkling that, hang on a 944 00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:46,960 minute, I can't believe they've just done that, like they're not 945 00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:48,640 going to actually be able to do this. 946 00:53:48,640 --> 00:53:52,160 So the great army was, had they stuck Morris in the car, taking 947 00:53:52,160 --> 00:53:54,760 a little bit longer to do it, yes, they may have lost some 948 00:53:54,760 --> 00:53:58,160 track position, but there was a safety car later on anyway. 949 00:53:58,280 --> 00:54:01,440 That was probably the fastest car in the race as well. 950 00:54:01,960 --> 00:54:04,840 So a 1/2 went totally begging there. 951 00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:07,960 And I think they tried to argue at one stage that, well, it's 952 00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:11,840 not continuous driving time because he was in the pits not 953 00:54:11,840 --> 00:54:14,800 driving. And they tried to argue that 954 00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:18,080 that was a, you know, trying to argue the wording of the rule. 955 00:54:18,080 --> 00:54:22,400 But yeah, that one was never going to fly. 956 00:54:22,400 --> 00:54:26,880 So I guess the only saving grace for them was the fact that they 957 00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:29,640 had a second car that finished second in the race. 958 00:54:30,200 --> 00:54:33,880 Yeah, if they were to lose the win, BMW is still going to win 959 00:54:33,880 --> 00:54:38,640 regardless. I did feel for for for Bearder 960 00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:43,120 when when I was chatting with him about it for a for a piece 961 00:54:43,120 --> 00:54:49,280 we did a couple of years ago and it it was, it was interesting 962 00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:51,880 actually because he said yeah, yeah, obviously it's it's, it 963 00:54:51,880 --> 00:54:55,800 was gutting, he said. But still finished first on the 964 00:54:55,800 --> 00:55:01,600 road and the performance put in was still noticed by BTCC guys 965 00:55:01,600 --> 00:55:04,760 that were there. Yeah, and and ultimately, yeah, 966 00:55:04,760 --> 00:55:05,920 ultimately, yeah, that's what he said. 967 00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:10,360 He got my job, you know, Dick Bennett's picked him out for the 968 00:55:10,680 --> 00:55:14,000 for the Ford for the Ford Drive in 98, and he said he thought 969 00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:19,240 that the performance at Bathurst in 97 contributed a lot to that. 970 00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:27,760 After a pretty successful race in 1997, there was less interest 971 00:55:27,760 --> 00:55:31,320 from teams and competitors from Europe in the second running of 972 00:55:31,320 --> 00:55:33,480 the race under Super Touring regulations. 973 00:55:33,480 --> 00:55:38,720 For 1998, despite a large number of entries, there were only nine 974 00:55:38,720 --> 00:55:40,680 truly competitive cars on the grid. 975 00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:43,840 There are just six of those coming from the BTCCA. 976 00:55:44,840 --> 00:55:48,040 Number of factors were deemed to conspire to keep the entry list 977 00:55:48,040 --> 00:55:52,160 down but unlike in 1997, the organisers were not paying 978 00:55:52,160 --> 00:55:54,120 people to come and drive in the race. 979 00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:58,400 Questioned over the weekend, Alan Gallon said Of course we 980 00:55:58,400 --> 00:56:01,960 would have liked some more depth last year it cost the organisers 981 00:56:01,960 --> 00:56:03,800 a lot. People were getting paid to take 982 00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:07,280 part. Aaron Was it understandable that 983 00:56:07,280 --> 00:56:11,200 there were less entries in 1998 due to the organisers trying to 984 00:56:11,200 --> 00:56:13,440 cut down on the costs of hosting the event? 985 00:56:14,840 --> 00:56:18,320 Well, Channel 7 was still tipping in a lot of money there, 986 00:56:18,320 --> 00:56:24,160 so that that underpinned getting 888 back, the Volvo team proper. 987 00:56:24,240 --> 00:56:28,040 Because the previous year was the the local Australian Volvo 988 00:56:28,040 --> 00:56:31,800 team, sort of topped up with Ricard and Jan Nielsen and some 989 00:56:31,800 --> 00:56:34,880 engineers and some support. But it was the full shebang 990 00:56:35,640 --> 00:56:38,960 TWRBTCC team that came out in 98. 991 00:56:39,440 --> 00:56:40,960 Then you had the Audi factory team. 992 00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:44,920 We'd lost the BMW factory team in Australia at the end of 97, 993 00:56:44,920 --> 00:56:49,640 so they weren't there anyway to have a BMW factory presence in 994 00:56:49,640 --> 00:56:52,760 in 98. But while the Super Touring side 995 00:56:52,760 --> 00:56:56,520 of it went down from a contender side, the whole field went up 996 00:56:56,880 --> 00:57:01,840 because the look of 97 with I think 25 cars was a bit thin. 997 00:57:02,080 --> 00:57:04,640 Yeah, So they actually topped up the field and they added 998 00:57:04,720 --> 00:57:08,120 production cars with the Class and Schedule S Touring cars from 999 00:57:08,120 --> 00:57:11,560 New Zealand which were New Zealand's touring car category 1000 00:57:11,720 --> 00:57:15,000 of the time, which was a 2 liters type category, but a much 1001 00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:19,120 more production based, lower cost category of car. 1002 00:57:19,120 --> 00:57:23,200 And that brought from memory 10 or 11 cars across the ditch to 1003 00:57:23,520 --> 00:57:25,960 to Australia. So the field was about 40 cars 1004 00:57:26,280 --> 00:57:30,320 for the next year, but the the quality was still really good of 1005 00:57:30,320 --> 00:57:33,800 the cars that were at the front, but again outside the top eight 1006 00:57:33,800 --> 00:57:35,640 or nine, yeah, it it did drop away. 1007 00:57:35,640 --> 00:57:39,720 So you know no factory Peugeot team that next year, no factory 1008 00:57:39,720 --> 00:57:43,920 Renault team. So a couple in, a couple out. 1009 00:57:44,400 --> 00:57:47,560 But Channel 7 was still footing a lot of the bills here. 1010 00:57:48,080 --> 00:57:51,400 But this is where it got to the point of, well, how long can 1011 00:57:51,400 --> 00:57:55,360 they sustain this for Because it costs a lot of money to get 1012 00:57:56,040 --> 00:58:00,240 cars, equipment, people, resource from one corner of the 1013 00:58:00,240 --> 00:58:03,160 world to the other. And I mean if you look back at 1014 00:58:03,160 --> 00:58:05,560 the 97 race, the British Championship finished, I think 1015 00:58:05,560 --> 00:58:09,520 it was September 21st at Silverstone, 2 weeks later was 1016 00:58:09,520 --> 00:58:12,960 Bathurst. So cars were air freighted in 1017 00:58:12,960 --> 00:58:14,840 that, you know, it's not like they put them on the boat. 1018 00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:19,120 I mean we've had a recent World Tour TCR event here in at 1019 00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:23,000 Bathurst in Sydney and Macau was the following weekend. 1020 00:58:23,200 --> 00:58:26,000 Yet Lincoln, Co and some of these other teams had other cars 1021 00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:29,600 on the water going there before, you know, because they weren't 1022 00:58:29,600 --> 00:58:32,040 going to turn around from here. So when you're air freighting 1023 00:58:32,040 --> 00:58:34,600 things and you've got to get them there quickly, the bills 1024 00:58:34,600 --> 00:58:39,400 skyrocket and I reckon come 98, it didn't work for a lot of 1025 00:58:39,400 --> 00:58:43,160 teams in the UK and it was starting to add the bills up 1026 00:58:43,160 --> 00:58:46,400 here at this end to go, this is probably not all that 1027 00:58:46,400 --> 00:58:48,360 sustainable for for moving forward. 1028 00:58:48,360 --> 00:58:51,240 But still, I mean the quality that we got for 98 was still 1029 00:58:51,240 --> 00:58:54,640 very good though, although it wasn't growth on what we'd had 1030 00:58:54,640 --> 00:58:57,640 in 97. There was talk of the race 1031 00:58:57,640 --> 00:59:02,640 gaining World Cup status for 1999, but Roland Dane of 888 1032 00:59:02,640 --> 00:59:06,320 poured water on that idea. People aren't going to come out 1033 00:59:06,320 --> 00:59:09,920 for nothing, whether you call it the World Cup or the Bathurst 1034 00:59:09,920 --> 00:59:13,080 1000. Alex, was Dane right with that 1035 00:59:13,080 --> 00:59:15,520 assessment? I mean, it's quite a cynical 1036 00:59:15,520 --> 00:59:19,520 view, but I do think he's right on this one because the amount 1037 00:59:19,520 --> 00:59:22,600 of times there obviously there were three World Cup events in 1038 00:59:22,600 --> 00:59:31,880 93, in 94 and 95 and they tried to revive it at Kailami in 98 1039 00:59:31,880 --> 00:59:35,160 and the teams weren't that interested and they weren't 1040 00:59:35,160 --> 00:59:38,200 interested until they knew what sort of TV deal was going to be 1041 00:59:38,200 --> 00:59:40,640 put out for them and what sort of sponsorship. 1042 00:59:40,640 --> 00:59:44,080 And again, it's the same, exactly the same situation as 1043 00:59:44,080 --> 00:59:45,960 we've got here. It was all about funding and 1044 00:59:45,960 --> 00:59:48,720 money. You know, you could, you could 1045 00:59:48,720 --> 00:59:53,000 call the the Bathurst 1000 Super Touring race, the World Cup, but 1046 00:59:53,480 --> 00:59:56,880 unless it was worth their while, you weren't going to get teams 1047 00:59:56,880 --> 01:00:01,080 to come out and do it. And yeah, that was always going 1048 01:00:01,080 --> 01:00:05,360 to be the struggle. And as Aaron said there, you 1049 01:00:05,360 --> 01:00:08,840 know, if you're flying cars out, that's crazy and that's silly 1050 01:00:08,840 --> 01:00:13,440 money and it's just not viable. It was getting to the point 1051 01:00:13,440 --> 01:00:17,520 where it was so expensive to run a Super Touring race team that 1052 01:00:18,600 --> 01:00:22,720 the teams just couldn't afford. Doing it, the squads just 1053 01:00:22,720 --> 01:00:27,400 couldn't afford the extra expense, and unless they were 1054 01:00:27,400 --> 01:00:31,960 going to be reimbursed for that either through TV sponsorship 1055 01:00:31,960 --> 01:00:36,560 deals, you know, funding from TV companies like Channel 7, then 1056 01:00:36,560 --> 01:00:40,600 they weren't going to do it. So no Roland Dane was spot on. 1057 01:00:42,760 --> 01:00:45,880 You could call it whatever you like if if it wasn't worth the 1058 01:00:45,880 --> 01:00:47,320 team's while, they wouldn't do it. 1059 01:00:47,880 --> 01:00:52,720 There were 28 Super Tours in varying states of repair, taking 1060 01:00:52,720 --> 01:00:57,440 part in the 1998 iteration of the race, with 15 production 1061 01:00:57,440 --> 01:01:00,120 based entries from New Zealand and Australia. 1062 01:01:01,280 --> 01:01:04,960 A handful of these were run by highly professional outfits, but 1063 01:01:04,960 --> 01:01:09,320 most were regarded by drivers as mobile chicanes, with Brad Jones 1064 01:01:09,320 --> 01:01:12,960 the most vociferous. We need to have a split here 1065 01:01:13,160 --> 01:01:15,880 with the 15 fastest cars in their own session. 1066 01:01:16,240 --> 01:01:20,080 Every time we got Bolt we throw away two and a half 1000 lbs for 1067 01:01:20,080 --> 01:01:23,160 the set of tyres. There was one car that I flashed 1068 01:01:23,160 --> 01:01:27,560 at about 700 times but he was so concentrated on keeping his car 1069 01:01:27,560 --> 01:01:30,120 under control he didn't have time to look. 1070 01:01:31,320 --> 01:01:34,320 The now retired Peter Brock, meanwhile, said that getting 1071 01:01:34,320 --> 01:01:37,760 past all the little guys is all part of the deal at Bathurst. 1072 01:01:38,760 --> 01:01:41,240 Adam is our driver in the room. What? 1073 01:01:41,240 --> 01:01:43,000 What side of this argument are you on? 1074 01:01:44,440 --> 01:01:47,680 I do understand Brad's comments and if you are involved in in 1075 01:01:47,680 --> 01:01:50,240 raising the funds and you're involved within the team that 1076 01:01:50,240 --> 01:01:51,880 way. In terms of you know, I've been 1077 01:01:51,880 --> 01:01:54,840 in the situation where we tried to raise the sponsorship and I 1078 01:01:54,840 --> 01:01:58,360 didn't know with the the touring car championships that I did. 1079 01:01:58,360 --> 01:02:00,520 I didn't know if I was going to be there the next race or not. 1080 01:02:00,840 --> 01:02:04,320 You know it was all there on paper and it's all but we had to 1081 01:02:04,320 --> 01:02:07,320 live almost like day-to-day really to to know if we're going 1082 01:02:07,320 --> 01:02:10,200 to survive to the next one. But so I was very conscious of 1083 01:02:10,200 --> 01:02:14,280 costs and damage and all those sort of things. 1084 01:02:14,280 --> 01:02:18,320 So I do, I do get it and it is massively frustrating, massively 1085 01:02:18,320 --> 01:02:21,160 frustrating. But then obviously you've got 1086 01:02:21,160 --> 01:02:24,560 the the professional paid drivers that that wouldn't even 1087 01:02:25,360 --> 01:02:27,240 cross their mind to even think like that. 1088 01:02:27,800 --> 01:02:31,960 But you have to remember this is Mount Panorama and this is 1089 01:02:31,960 --> 01:02:34,760 Bathurst. This isn't a 20 lap Sprint race 1090 01:02:34,760 --> 01:02:38,240 around brands you know this is an endurance race. 1091 01:02:38,760 --> 01:02:42,480 Always has been, always will be. You know, this is, I think, the 1092 01:02:42,480 --> 01:02:43,960 fact that there were touring cars. 1093 01:02:44,160 --> 01:02:46,800 It's almost like the drivers were forgetting that it was an 1094 01:02:46,800 --> 01:02:47,640 insurance race. Yeah. 1095 01:02:47,920 --> 01:02:51,200 Well, I guess the other thing too, just quickly just to throw 1096 01:02:51,200 --> 01:02:58,200 in, is that Brad Jones owned his team his cars, so when two and a 1097 01:02:58,200 --> 01:03:02,160 half £1000 is coming out of the pocket, he's coming out of his. 1098 01:03:02,200 --> 01:03:04,280 Pocket. He has a lot more. 1099 01:03:04,400 --> 01:03:07,200 So he's the driver slash owner, which is very different to if 1100 01:03:07,200 --> 01:03:10,240 you're just a hired gun driving the race car trying to set a lap 1101 01:03:10,240 --> 01:03:12,840 time. So and Bradley is very frugal 1102 01:03:13,200 --> 01:03:16,240 with his pennies and has done a very good job running his race 1103 01:03:16,240 --> 01:03:19,000 team for many years. But that that quote that you 1104 01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:22,320 just read out before, I would never question that. 1105 01:03:22,320 --> 01:03:24,160 That was a Brad Jones quote. Let's put it that way. 1106 01:03:29,200 --> 01:03:33,880 Qualifying in 1998 saw what many call the greatest Super Touring 1107 01:03:33,880 --> 01:03:37,320 lap of all time. Ricard Rydell took pole position 1108 01:03:37,320 --> 01:03:40,840 at the wheel of his Volvo S40, the blue and silver car. 1109 01:03:40,840 --> 01:03:44,080 All my shaving the concrete walls that passed across the top 1110 01:03:44,080 --> 01:03:48,560 of the mountain. It resulted in a pole time 1.5 1111 01:03:48,560 --> 01:03:50,880 seconds quicker than anyone else. 1112 01:03:51,640 --> 01:03:54,600 Aaron, that's some lap isn't it? From Rickard. 1113 01:03:55,960 --> 01:04:00,200 It was nuts. I was there in 98 and I think 1114 01:04:00,200 --> 01:04:03,360 people had to rub their eyes and look at the screen again because 1115 01:04:03,360 --> 01:04:08,840 it was, it was so much quicker than what anybody else had had 1116 01:04:08,840 --> 01:04:11,720 wheeled out. And I mean in the end it was 1117 01:04:12,080 --> 01:04:19,840 214.92 which if you ponder you know, naturally aspirated front 1118 01:04:19,840 --> 01:04:24,040 wheel drive, 5 cylinder 300 ish horsepower. 1119 01:04:26,480 --> 01:04:30,680 If you go back only I think it was about 89. 1120 01:04:31,120 --> 01:04:36,720 Brock had Olin of S1 of the X Andy Rouse cars at a 15/8 so you 1121 01:04:36,720 --> 01:04:42,040 know with 500 plus power. So I mean it was it was 1.48 1122 01:04:42,040 --> 01:04:46,120 seconds quicker than Steve Richards in for all intents and 1123 01:04:46,120 --> 01:04:48,920 purposes as close to a factory Nissan Premier as you were going 1124 01:04:48,920 --> 01:04:53,200 to get at that wasn't a factory premiera it was a team Dynamics 1125 01:04:53,200 --> 01:04:55,440 car but with a lot of help because Steve was the test 1126 01:04:55,440 --> 01:04:58,400 driver for Nissan in British Touring cars that year. 1127 01:04:58,400 --> 01:05:02,280 So but Rick cars that was was just I mean you get I watched 1128 01:05:02,280 --> 01:05:06,440 the vision and it's kind of one of those we know it's fast 1129 01:05:06,440 --> 01:05:09,920 because we know the time and we know what happens but it's just 1130 01:05:09,920 --> 01:05:14,120 millimetre perfect it's just poetry in motion it just flows 1131 01:05:14,120 --> 01:05:17,720 it just goes to the right part of the track at the right time. 1132 01:05:17,920 --> 01:05:24,240 It's and it's really unfair in Australia because if you if you 1133 01:05:24,240 --> 01:05:28,440 asked a race fan to name their top five Bathurst Shootout laps 1134 01:05:28,440 --> 01:05:31,880 of all time, this one probably doesn't get in the five. 1135 01:05:32,200 --> 01:05:35,600 Because on the stupid touring race that didn't have the level 1136 01:05:36,000 --> 01:05:40,600 of exposure that the V8 races have, they'll talk about Greg 1137 01:05:40,600 --> 01:05:44,720 Murphy's Lap of the Gods in 2003, where he was a second 1138 01:05:44,720 --> 01:05:46,960 faster than everyone and and put in an amazing lap. 1139 01:05:47,200 --> 01:05:51,280 They'll talk about spectacular laps where guys were massively 1140 01:05:51,280 --> 01:05:56,480 sideways, slow but spectacular, but this is one of the best laps 1141 01:05:56,480 --> 01:05:58,040 of Bathurst that you'll ever see. 1142 01:05:58,040 --> 01:06:00,400 It was, it wasn't just the margin. 1143 01:06:00,680 --> 01:06:08,680 I mean it was kind of how it all clicked together and and it's 1144 01:06:08,680 --> 01:06:12,560 just one of the the amazing things of Bathurst that you just 1145 01:06:12,560 --> 01:06:15,160 had to sit there and whether you're you're like the Volvos or 1146 01:06:15,160 --> 01:06:17,720 you didn't or you like Rydell or you didn't or whoever you were a 1147 01:06:17,720 --> 01:06:22,160 fan of, you just had to clap and applaud that effort as a 1148 01:06:22,160 --> 01:06:23,640 sporting performance. It was. 1149 01:06:23,640 --> 01:06:29,080 It was next level and 1.48 seconds, yes, it's a six 1150 01:06:29,080 --> 01:06:31,840 kilometre track, so there's a bit of time if you've got an 1151 01:06:31,840 --> 01:06:34,080 advantage to, you know, stretch that out. 1152 01:06:34,680 --> 01:06:36,880 But that was that was phenomenal. 1153 01:06:36,880 --> 01:06:38,000 That was something really special. 1154 01:06:38,640 --> 01:06:43,000 Watching that back, that lap the other day, what made it even 1155 01:06:43,000 --> 01:06:45,240 greater? Watching back as, as Aaron just 1156 01:06:45,240 --> 01:06:48,960 said, the way Ricard drove that lap was beautiful. 1157 01:06:48,960 --> 01:06:53,240 It was poetry in motion, but what added to it was hearing the 1158 01:06:53,240 --> 01:06:55,560 dulcet town. Yeah, not only the sound, the 1159 01:06:55,560 --> 01:06:58,720 sound of the Volvo, but also the dulcet tones of Mr. Murray 1160 01:06:58,720 --> 01:07:03,200 Walker describing the lap of the Swedish florist as he called 1161 01:07:03,320 --> 01:07:09,680 Rick. And just as as the lap went on, 1162 01:07:10,440 --> 01:07:13,600 you could hear in his voice the sheer, you know, he could see 1163 01:07:13,600 --> 01:07:17,040 what a special lap he was witnessing and you could just 1164 01:07:17,040 --> 01:07:20,480 tell in his voice it was just getting octaves and octaves 1165 01:07:20,480 --> 01:07:24,400 higher with with every corner. It was just it's a it's a 1166 01:07:24,400 --> 01:07:26,480 special. Lap And it was. 1167 01:07:26,800 --> 01:07:28,800 The the courage was good. The way it was edited and the 1168 01:07:28,800 --> 01:07:32,360 way it was obviously in car, you got obviously outside and the 1169 01:07:32,360 --> 01:07:34,280 sound to go with it, you got Murray's voice. 1170 01:07:34,280 --> 01:07:36,360 It was just all one of those, Yeah. 1171 01:07:36,360 --> 01:07:39,920 Like I said, just one of those moments where just all just a 1172 01:07:39,920 --> 01:07:42,440 beautiful piece to watch. The lap started with him 1173 01:07:42,760 --> 01:07:45,920 describing going for pizza with Ricard Rydell the the night 1174 01:07:45,920 --> 01:07:49,440 before and then five off days later coming around the final 1175 01:07:49,440 --> 01:07:50,760 corner. He's just like. 1176 01:07:51,000 --> 01:07:52,560 Wow. Ricard Rydell. 1177 01:07:52,720 --> 01:07:56,040 He's just wonderful. It kind of blended too, didn't 1178 01:07:56,040 --> 01:07:59,400 it? The the Bathurst Australian and 1179 01:07:59,400 --> 01:08:03,120 the BTCC elements. So you had our track, the 1180 01:08:03,120 --> 01:08:05,520 reigning British Touring Car champion in the, you know, the 1181 01:08:05,520 --> 01:08:06,720 car, the Volvo. I don't think it was the 1182 01:08:06,720 --> 01:08:08,560 specific car that he'd driven that year. 1183 01:08:08,560 --> 01:08:11,520 But you know, one of them, Murray Walker, the voice of the 1184 01:08:11,520 --> 01:08:15,560 BTCC who you know had a huge he was the voice of Formula One for 1185 01:08:15,560 --> 01:08:19,160 Australian fans because Channel Nine took the feed of of of 1186 01:08:19,160 --> 01:08:22,040 Murray's commentary. So we kind of blended in that 1187 01:08:22,040 --> 01:08:26,680 moment all of the best elements of Super Touring, BTCC and 1188 01:08:26,680 --> 01:08:31,880 Bathurst all at once and it kind of with an amazing on track 1189 01:08:31,880 --> 01:08:34,279 performance. So it kind of I think that's why 1190 01:08:34,279 --> 01:08:38,600 it probably strikes a chord for us hardcore racing fans in 1191 01:08:38,600 --> 01:08:40,479 Australia. But for you guys in the UK, 1192 01:08:40,840 --> 01:08:44,840 because it had elements of familiarity to us all that made 1193 01:08:44,840 --> 01:08:48,680 it special rather than it being if that was Jim Richards doing 1194 01:08:48,680 --> 01:08:51,600 the lap in a Volvo at Bathurst. It probably doesn't have the 1195 01:08:51,600 --> 01:08:57,960 same cachet for for UK fans, but because it was Ricard that 1196 01:08:57,960 --> 01:09:00,800 probably helped click that together into something that, 1197 01:09:00,840 --> 01:09:04,600 you know, 25 years on where we're still, you know, jabbering 1198 01:09:04,600 --> 01:09:06,000 on about it like it happened yesterday. 1199 01:09:07,359 --> 01:09:10,520 It was a wonderful day for the Richards family with Jim 1200 01:09:10,520 --> 01:09:12,840 Richards joining Ricard on pole position. 1201 01:09:13,080 --> 01:09:16,120 While second on the grid was his son Stephen Richards. 1202 01:09:16,279 --> 01:09:19,359 He was sharing an RML Nissan Premiera with Matt Neal. 1203 01:09:20,520 --> 01:09:23,000 Alex, That must have been a nice evening in the richest 1204 01:09:23,000 --> 01:09:24,680 household. Probably that night. 1205 01:09:24,840 --> 01:09:27,840 You can imagine it, can't you? The pride that Jim Richards 1206 01:09:27,840 --> 01:09:29,720 would have had. Not only was he on pole for the 1207 01:09:29,720 --> 01:09:35,760 Bathurst 1000, but, you know, when he looks across the grid 1208 01:09:36,160 --> 01:09:39,359 and he looks down the times on the timesheet, there's his son 1209 01:09:39,359 --> 01:09:42,920 Stephen Richards. Second, it's yeah, that that 1210 01:09:42,920 --> 01:09:46,439 that must be a really, really special feeling for the family. 1211 01:09:50,359 --> 01:09:55,040 Race day developed into a microcosm of the 1998 BTCC 1212 01:09:55,040 --> 01:10:00,840 season, with Volvo and Nissan battling hard this time over 161 1213 01:10:00,840 --> 01:10:04,600 laps. The first running in 1997 was 1214 01:10:04,600 --> 01:10:09,080 notable for the BTCC cars coming over, setting the pace but 1215 01:10:09,080 --> 01:10:14,520 struggling to stay reliable. In 98, the BTCC cars redeemed 1216 01:10:14,520 --> 01:10:18,080 themselves with the beefed up front wheel drive cars coming 1217 01:10:18,080 --> 01:10:21,880 through to dominate. Jim Richards took the start for 1218 01:10:21,880 --> 01:10:25,800 the Volvo team with son Stephen starting in the Nissan Premiera. 1219 01:10:26,720 --> 01:10:30,640 Jim converted pole position into the lead, but Stephen soon 1220 01:10:30,640 --> 01:10:36,280 overtook and LED the first lap. He's very close to starting time 1221 01:10:36,480 --> 01:10:40,760 of the 1998 Mathurst 1000. Another history making moment. 1222 01:10:40,760 --> 01:10:44,680 Father and son Jim Richards, Steven Richards Volvo Nissan. 1223 01:10:44,840 --> 01:10:48,400 Front row of the grid Who Will Win the race to the first corner 1224 01:10:48,680 --> 01:10:52,280 that remains to be seen. Volvo, Nissan Volvo Then two 1225 01:10:52,280 --> 01:10:56,520 vectors 2. Audis, a Honda ABMW and a Ford 1226 01:10:56,520 --> 01:10:58,280 Mondeo. They are the top 10. 1227 01:10:58,320 --> 01:11:02,040 The flag is were dropped and the way they go and Jim Richards is 1228 01:11:02,120 --> 01:11:04,480 first down the block. He's got to run in the inside of 1229 01:11:04,480 --> 01:11:07,320 the health corner, Steven Richards powering up on the 1230 01:11:07,360 --> 01:11:09,280 outside but won't be able to get round him. 1231 01:11:09,280 --> 01:11:13,320 He's trying, he's trying, but he will not get there up towards. 1232 01:11:13,360 --> 01:11:16,960 Volvo made the right-hander and it's it's Steve Richards on the 1233 01:11:16,960 --> 01:11:18,720 inside. He's got the advantage on the 1234 01:11:18,720 --> 01:11:22,440 right hand then, but he takes the lead from his father Jim 1235 01:11:22,600 --> 01:11:27,120 Richards, with Russell Eagle in the Vectra in third position, 1236 01:11:27,120 --> 01:11:30,840 swarming all over the boot name of the Volvo challenging at the 1237 01:11:30,840 --> 01:11:33,720 start of the race. So it's this, our leading Volvo 1238 01:11:33,720 --> 01:11:38,000 second Vectra in third position, climbing up towards the highest 1239 01:11:38,000 --> 01:11:40,760 point of the course. And Steve Richards of course, 1240 01:11:40,840 --> 01:11:44,280 knows this track absolutely magnificently. 1241 01:11:44,520 --> 01:11:48,200 He's raced here many times before and his car's beautifully 1242 01:11:48,200 --> 01:11:51,920 set up for him. Australian touring car * Russell 1243 01:11:51,920 --> 01:11:56,080 Ingle held onto 3rd in the Holden Vectra for a bit before 1244 01:11:56,080 --> 01:11:59,680 his tires fell off, leaving it to A2 horse race between the 1245 01:11:59,680 --> 01:12:03,320 richest family. Aaron I think we've lightly 1246 01:12:03,320 --> 01:12:07,680 delved into this, but a few thoughts on your ends on Jim and 1247 01:12:07,680 --> 01:12:11,120 Steven Richards and their place in Australian motorsport 1248 01:12:11,120 --> 01:12:14,040 history. Yeah, the probably the first 1249 01:12:14,040 --> 01:12:17,120 thing that you would expect to think of and discuss is them as 1250 01:12:17,120 --> 01:12:20,360 racing drivers. But Jim and Steve, the whole 1251 01:12:20,360 --> 01:12:23,800 Richards family, they are amazing, fantastic people at the 1252 01:12:23,800 --> 01:12:27,720 core who have passion for the sport like you wouldn't believe. 1253 01:12:27,720 --> 01:12:29,640 But then the skill set to go with it. 1254 01:12:30,200 --> 01:12:33,040 I mean so many people are passionate about it and love it, 1255 01:12:33,040 --> 01:12:36,520 but I mean between them they've got 12 Bathurst 1000 wins, which 1256 01:12:36,520 --> 01:12:39,400 is kind of ridiculous when you when you really think about it. 1257 01:12:39,440 --> 01:12:43,720 But they were kind of in this amazing period at Bathurst where 1258 01:12:43,920 --> 01:12:49,000 from about 97 to 2000 they just were always on the podium. 1259 01:12:49,360 --> 01:12:52,200 And it helped that there were two races for two years, so they 1260 01:12:52,480 --> 01:12:54,720 were able to to do that. But I've got to share with you a 1261 01:12:54,720 --> 01:12:58,400 little story from the 98 race that is a real heart warmer 1262 01:12:58,400 --> 01:13:03,040 because you you mentioned before in the shootout Ricard did the 1263 01:13:03,040 --> 01:13:05,640 lap in the Volvo, Steve did the lap in the Nissan. 1264 01:13:06,200 --> 01:13:10,320 So of course race teams being so competitive and looking for an 1265 01:13:10,320 --> 01:13:14,280 advantage over one another. I think the media kind of 1266 01:13:14,280 --> 01:13:17,960 particularly the local media thought wouldn't it be great if 1267 01:13:18,440 --> 01:13:22,560 Jim and Steve started the two cars in the race on Sunday 1268 01:13:22,560 --> 01:13:25,280 morning. What a great story, what a great 1269 01:13:25,280 --> 01:13:29,280 build up, what great PR and it actually ended up getting 1270 01:13:29,280 --> 01:13:32,280 brokered. A deal got brokered by David 1271 01:13:32,280 --> 01:13:36,840 Rose who was a a guy from Tasmania, long time on track 1272 01:13:36,840 --> 01:13:40,160 commentator at at Australian motor racing events and he used 1273 01:13:40,160 --> 01:13:43,400 to do the pit lane quite a lot at at at Bathurst and supercar 1274 01:13:43,400 --> 01:13:46,640 races and and stuff like that. I can't remember which of the 1275 01:13:46,640 --> 01:13:50,200 teams he went to 1st but he went to one with the proposition of 1276 01:13:50,200 --> 01:13:54,200 hey, if the other guys put their Richards in, will you put your 1277 01:13:54,200 --> 01:13:55,640 Richards in. I can't remember if he went to 1278 01:13:55,640 --> 01:13:58,880 Volvo first or to to team Dynamics for the for the Nissan 1279 01:13:58,880 --> 01:14:03,280 team, but the answer came back, OK, we'll do it if they do it. 1280 01:14:04,080 --> 01:14:07,160 And you would think that somewhere along the line 1281 01:14:07,160 --> 01:14:11,280 sometimes people could go a bit AWOL of these things and you 1282 01:14:11,280 --> 01:14:12,920 know, say one thing and do the other. 1283 01:14:13,760 --> 01:14:17,800 But they all held to their word and Jim was in the Volvo and 1284 01:14:17,800 --> 01:14:19,760 Stephen was in the Nissan for the start of that race. 1285 01:14:19,760 --> 01:14:23,320 So you can thank David Rose for helping bring that together 1286 01:14:23,320 --> 01:14:28,040 because that's a pretty cool Baatha story and a part of of 1287 01:14:28,040 --> 01:14:31,560 the Richo's Bathurst history, which is pretty cool. 1288 01:14:31,560 --> 01:14:35,600 And then of course they they battled all day long to to fight 1289 01:14:35,600 --> 01:14:38,680 for the win, but they started there side by side on the grid. 1290 01:14:38,680 --> 01:14:42,600 But I think we outside probably talk so much about, you know, 1291 01:14:42,640 --> 01:14:45,160 the family and what they think of it and what they thought of 1292 01:14:45,160 --> 01:14:47,840 it. It's probably now that we're 25 1293 01:14:47,840 --> 01:14:51,280 years removed. Steve's son Clay is racing now 1294 01:14:51,280 --> 01:14:55,200 in Toyota 86 is here and it's done a bit of TCR in Australia 1295 01:14:55,200 --> 01:14:57,720 this season. But they can look back on that 1296 01:14:57,720 --> 01:15:00,200 stuff when it's all done and dusted and they're not racing 1297 01:15:00,200 --> 01:15:02,800 anymore. And you know like is that ever 1298 01:15:02,800 --> 01:15:05,760 going to happen again? Probably highly unlikely in our 1299 01:15:05,760 --> 01:15:10,960 lifetimes at the Bathurst 1000 that you know Jim at the times. 1300 01:15:11,760 --> 01:15:16,960 Ninety 80s, he's probably about 50 and Steve's around 30 ish or 1301 01:15:16,960 --> 01:15:20,360 you know mid to late 20s. You don't really see those sort 1302 01:15:20,360 --> 01:15:23,880 of age gaps in the field in supercars very often, let alone 1303 01:15:23,880 --> 01:15:27,080 a father and a son these days. So it's a really special story. 1304 01:15:27,080 --> 01:15:29,160 It's something really cool that springs into my mind when you 1305 01:15:29,360 --> 01:15:31,960 when you mention those two guys and and that race particularly. 1306 01:15:32,400 --> 01:15:35,960 The pair remained close into the first pit stops, but a slick 1307 01:15:35,960 --> 01:15:40,560 stop by the TWR crew got Rydell out ahead of Nil and switching 1308 01:15:40,560 --> 01:15:43,840 their positions. Rydell struggled to bed in the 1309 01:15:43,840 --> 01:15:47,520 tyres and Nil soon caught up, with the next few laps being 1310 01:15:47,560 --> 01:15:51,360 absolutely glorious. The two were battling hard 1311 01:15:51,360 --> 01:15:54,000 around the mountain as they battled for the lead of the 1312 01:15:54,000 --> 01:15:56,840 race. Look at this, because here is 1313 01:15:56,840 --> 01:15:59,960 the Volvo with the Nissan right up behind it. 1314 01:16:00,160 --> 01:16:05,040 So Ricard Rydell in the lead now and Matthew Neal challenging 1315 01:16:05,040 --> 01:16:08,520 him, the British Touring Car Champion of 1998 league. 1316 01:16:08,680 --> 01:16:10,600 And Matthew Neal is having a go at him. 1317 01:16:11,440 --> 01:16:14,440 I don't know whether this is wise at this stage in the race 1318 01:16:15,960 --> 01:16:19,400 of your experience, not on those opening laps for him, Mary, he's 1319 01:16:19,440 --> 01:16:21,600 he's having a bit of an aggressive go here. 1320 01:16:21,800 --> 01:16:25,160 Rydell is settling himself down. He won't like the fact that he 1321 01:16:25,160 --> 01:16:28,880 sees a Nissan flashing in his rearview mirror, but let's just 1322 01:16:28,880 --> 01:16:33,400 see how these two unfold. I wouldn't be as aggressive at 1323 01:16:33,400 --> 01:16:36,160 this particular point, but obviously Neil doesn't want to 1324 01:16:36,160 --> 01:16:38,040 let him get away. I know Rydell's making that 1325 01:16:38,040 --> 01:16:40,360 Volvo pretty wide actually at the moment and it was 1326 01:16:40,360 --> 01:16:42,000 interesting. I know the team had said that 1327 01:16:42,160 --> 01:16:44,840 one of the reasons that they wanted Richards to start the car 1328 01:16:44,880 --> 01:16:47,480 was because Neil had actually raced against Rydell before and 1329 01:16:47,480 --> 01:16:49,360 knew a lot more about the way that he drove and therefore if 1330 01:16:49,360 --> 01:16:51,200 they were going to be on the circuit and close together, that 1331 01:16:51,200 --> 01:16:55,000 was a better way to keep it. At the end of lap 41, Matt Neil 1332 01:16:55,000 --> 01:16:57,600 took the lead, squeezing ahead into Murray's. 1333 01:16:58,240 --> 01:17:01,760 He was now leading a touring car race for the very first time in 1334 01:17:01,760 --> 01:17:04,960 his career. And what a race it was to lead 1335 01:17:06,160 --> 01:17:08,720 Adam. You know Matt the most out of us 1336 01:17:08,720 --> 01:17:10,560 here. This surely, would have been the 1337 01:17:10,560 --> 01:17:14,040 best moment in his career yet. Yeah, I think so. 1338 01:17:14,040 --> 01:17:15,440 What a massive highlight for him. 1339 01:17:15,480 --> 01:17:18,760 I think to to not only lead his first race, but what a race to 1340 01:17:18,760 --> 01:17:22,160 do is that, you know, this isn't just like I said, Alton or 1341 01:17:22,160 --> 01:17:24,520 Brands or Darlington. I think that would have been a 1342 01:17:24,520 --> 01:17:27,920 special moment for him. But to go and do it at Bathurst, 1343 01:17:28,400 --> 01:17:30,960 Yeah, absolutely great. And he's such a lovely, lovely 1344 01:17:30,960 --> 01:17:32,440 guy. So he couldn't have happened to 1345 01:17:32,440 --> 01:17:36,240 anyone nicer really. He would have upped his profile 1346 01:17:36,240 --> 01:17:39,600 within the BTCC massively and well, right. 1347 01:17:39,600 --> 01:17:42,560 Generally, you know, obviously within Australia and and all the 1348 01:17:42,560 --> 01:17:44,160 other fans that would have been watching this event. 1349 01:17:44,160 --> 01:17:48,360 So, you know, it was a massive plus for him for that week. 1350 01:17:48,560 --> 01:17:50,160 Absolutely. Yeah, really good. 1351 01:17:50,440 --> 01:17:55,120 As as we said earlier with with Craig Baird, you know winning 1352 01:17:55,120 --> 01:17:59,840 there made people in the BTCC paddocks sit up and take notice 1353 01:17:59,840 --> 01:18:04,800 or winning on track anyway. Yeah, I think this race, this 1354 01:18:04,800 --> 01:18:09,600 particular race is the time that most people sat up and took Matt 1355 01:18:09,600 --> 01:18:12,200 more seriously than than he had been taken. 1356 01:18:12,200 --> 01:18:15,760 Because obviously he was racing year old privateer cars in the 1357 01:18:15,760 --> 01:18:23,920 BTCC for the last 6-7 years and it was only in 98 where you know 1358 01:18:23,920 --> 01:18:27,360 running with that 97 Nissan he was starting to ruffle the 1359 01:18:27,360 --> 01:18:31,800 feathers of the works teams and and then sort of at the end of 1360 01:18:31,800 --> 01:18:36,160 98 then he's come to Bathurst and he's racing with the 1361 01:18:36,160 --> 01:18:39,520 championship winner. You know that would have done 1362 01:18:39,920 --> 01:18:42,960 major. Major were things to his 1363 01:18:42,960 --> 01:18:47,040 reputation and then after this race he was considered for the 1364 01:18:47,640 --> 01:18:51,680 the second Volvo seat alongside Rydell for 99 before Rademacher 1365 01:18:51,680 --> 01:18:54,560 took it. So yeah, it certainly boosted 1366 01:18:54,560 --> 01:19:02,200 his profile in in touring car paddocks. 10 laps later, the 1367 01:19:02,200 --> 01:19:04,880 safety car came out with a Peugeot in the wall. 1368 01:19:05,760 --> 01:19:09,520 Neil and Rydell raced into the pits and Rydell came out in 1369 01:19:09,520 --> 01:19:12,800 front. There had already been terror in 1370 01:19:12,800 --> 01:19:16,080 the pit lane as Derek Warwick had a misunderstanding with the 1371 01:19:16,080 --> 01:19:18,440 stock board pulling away with the fuel. 1372 01:19:18,440 --> 01:19:22,480 Bowels are still attached with fuels splashing all over. 1373 01:19:22,480 --> 01:19:25,920 There was a pit lane fire which burned the mechanic's leg and 1374 01:19:25,920 --> 01:19:29,000 left another having inhaled dust from the extinguishers. 1375 01:19:29,560 --> 01:19:32,640 The Audi pair of Cameron McConville and Brad Jones were 1376 01:19:32,640 --> 01:19:36,160 the only cars able to keep up with the fly Nissan and Volvo, 1377 01:19:36,800 --> 01:19:40,840 but as in 1997, the weight penalties were keeping the Audis 1378 01:19:40,840 --> 01:19:45,480 from being fully competitive. Aaron, this was another pretty 1379 01:19:45,680 --> 01:19:47,960 cracking Bathurst race here, wasn't it? 1380 01:19:48,760 --> 01:19:53,200 Yeah, as a race, it's one of the best because you had the Volvo 1381 01:19:53,200 --> 01:19:56,640 and the Nissan barely separated by, you know, more than a couple 1382 01:19:56,640 --> 01:20:00,400 of seconds for the whole day. Which just, you know, that never 1383 01:20:00,400 --> 01:20:02,040 really happens in a race like this. 1384 01:20:02,040 --> 01:20:08,680 So it it it was an interesting one too because at the time on 1385 01:20:08,680 --> 01:20:12,560 the very same day the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix was at 1386 01:20:12,560 --> 01:20:15,760 Phillip Island and of course that was not televised by 1387 01:20:15,760 --> 01:20:17,800 Channel 7. It was televised by Channel 10. 1388 01:20:18,160 --> 01:20:21,480 So you kind of had this interesting, you know, bike fans 1389 01:20:21,480 --> 01:20:25,600 and car fans a kind of probably different demographic but it 1390 01:20:25,600 --> 01:20:28,680 certainly didn't help things at at the end of the. 1391 01:20:29,200 --> 01:20:32,840 The Bathurst organizers. But it was a great race meeting. 1392 01:20:32,840 --> 01:20:36,080 That's the first race meeting that I went to as a working 1393 01:20:36,120 --> 01:20:39,040 journalist. I was a teenager still who 1394 01:20:39,040 --> 01:20:43,560 Australian Motorsport News had given an opportunity to as a bit 1395 01:20:43,560 --> 01:20:46,560 of a cadet reporter. And I covered the schedule S New 1396 01:20:46,560 --> 01:20:49,000 Zealand touring cars and I was back out the back of the pits of 1397 01:20:49,000 --> 01:20:53,040 the 888 garage when the Cleland Warwick car went up in in 1398 01:20:53,080 --> 01:20:54,960 flames. So I was out of there very 1399 01:20:54,960 --> 01:20:58,440 quickly. I can give you the tips, but it 1400 01:20:58,440 --> 01:21:02,520 was a great race meeting because there was, it was a close race 1401 01:21:02,520 --> 01:21:06,600 and it went all day. Yes, it wasn't as competitive as 1402 01:21:06,600 --> 01:21:10,920 we would have liked it to have been, but there was a feeling 1403 01:21:12,160 --> 01:21:17,000 that I don't think we realized it at the time, but that was the 1404 01:21:17,000 --> 01:21:19,080 last Super Touring Bathurst 1000. 1405 01:21:19,080 --> 01:21:22,200 Yes, there was a Super Touring Bathurst event the next year, 1406 01:21:22,480 --> 01:21:26,320 but Channel 7 closed the purse strings and and stopped funding 1407 01:21:26,320 --> 01:21:30,880 the the overseas cars. But there was a NASCAR race that 1408 01:21:30,880 --> 01:21:32,920 weekend too. A lot of people won't know that 1409 01:21:33,280 --> 01:21:36,040 that two litre Bathurst Super touring race had a a 100 1410 01:21:36,040 --> 01:21:39,480 kilometer NASCAR supporting race on this Saturday that Russell 1411 01:21:39,480 --> 01:21:45,600 Ingle won just for something rare and unique to to fill in. 1412 01:21:45,600 --> 01:21:49,920 But it was a a great event. The weather was great all week I 1413 01:21:49,920 --> 01:21:55,000 remember and to be among again having British touring car teams 1414 01:21:55,000 --> 01:21:59,000 there with with AAA, with TWR, with team dynamics. 1415 01:21:59,000 --> 01:22:01,480 I mean they were always so great to deal with and that still goes 1416 01:22:01,480 --> 01:22:05,440 on these days in the 12 hour with the GT3 teams that come to 1417 01:22:05,440 --> 01:22:07,560 Bathurst and the the world Tour recently. 1418 01:22:08,400 --> 01:22:14,000 Always great to deal with, always super helpful and I think 1419 01:22:14,000 --> 01:22:15,320 they're just thrilled to be there. 1420 01:22:15,320 --> 01:22:17,880 They're thrilled to be at such a great race and such a great race 1421 01:22:17,880 --> 01:22:21,680 track. So it was a a very big event 1422 01:22:21,680 --> 01:22:26,080 from that sits in my mind pretty well because of you know that 1423 01:22:26,080 --> 01:22:32,360 impressionable age of teenagers that I was at the time and but 1424 01:22:32,360 --> 01:22:35,960 clearly the the the power was with the V8 Supercars. 1425 01:22:36,000 --> 01:22:40,440 Their Bathurst races had been better attended better probably 1426 01:22:40,440 --> 01:22:42,920 better better promoted and and bigger overall. 1427 01:22:42,920 --> 01:22:46,280 But still, where the 98 race sits in the the history of the 1428 01:22:46,280 --> 01:22:48,960 race is something pretty special with all of the the elements 1429 01:22:48,960 --> 01:22:51,480 that we've discussed. And one little thing I wanted to 1430 01:22:51,480 --> 01:22:54,720 tell you too, the Nissan that finished second is the Matt Neil 1431 01:22:54,720 --> 01:22:59,120 Carr that he won that that British Touring Car race with 1432 01:22:59,120 --> 01:22:59,760 the next. Year. 1433 01:23:00,280 --> 01:23:04,520 In 99, when he won the 250,000 LB bonus at Donnington, that was 1434 01:23:04,520 --> 01:23:08,200 the same car. It had been like a test car 1435 01:23:09,040 --> 01:23:13,600 during 98 that a bit of a last minute deal pulled that all 1436 01:23:13,600 --> 01:23:16,600 together to get it to Bathurst for Steven and Matt to drive. 1437 01:23:16,600 --> 01:23:21,080 So it's a pretty special car with Bathurst flavour and BTCC 1438 01:23:21,080 --> 01:23:24,520 history as well. So it's still around, but yeah, 1439 01:23:24,520 --> 01:23:27,080 pretty, pretty cool when you look back on where some of those 1440 01:23:27,080 --> 01:23:29,680 cars and some of those things have have ended up in the 1441 01:23:29,680 --> 01:23:32,720 aftermath. Ricard Rydell took his and Jim 1442 01:23:32,720 --> 01:23:36,440 Richards Volvo to victory, with both him and the Neil Richards 1443 01:23:36,440 --> 01:23:39,960 combo in the Nissan setting unprecedented pace in the 1444 01:23:39,960 --> 01:23:43,880 scorching hot sun. I was looking after the gearbox 1445 01:23:43,880 --> 01:23:45,960 in my first and the Swede stated. 1446 01:23:46,360 --> 01:23:49,480 But after that between US and the Nissan we were flat out all 1447 01:23:49,480 --> 01:23:51,720 race. This was one of the hardest 1448 01:23:51,720 --> 01:23:55,720 races I've ever done. Alex was that one of Rickard's 1449 01:23:55,720 --> 01:23:59,960 finest races and probably finest race weekend performances with 1450 01:24:00,040 --> 01:24:01,600 with qualifying added in as well. 1451 01:24:02,040 --> 01:24:04,840 Absolutely, Yeah, it was. It was a wonderful performance 1452 01:24:04,840 --> 01:24:08,560 from Rickard and and it's not just our opinion that that was 1453 01:24:08,560 --> 01:24:11,240 one of Rickard's finest races. It's one of his opinions as 1454 01:24:11,240 --> 01:24:13,640 well. Because obviously as we we spoke 1455 01:24:13,640 --> 01:24:18,440 to him about Bathurst a couple of a couple of episodes ago and 1456 01:24:18,840 --> 01:24:22,120 and he said that the Bathurst weekend is one of the highlights 1457 01:24:22,120 --> 01:24:25,080 of his career. That three laps was wonderful 1458 01:24:25,080 --> 01:24:32,120 racing wasn't it so good. I I love the the the the the the 1459 01:24:32,120 --> 01:24:37,640 clip where the commentator is saying oh you know I would hold 1460 01:24:37,640 --> 01:24:40,200 back, hold back, you know hold back and then there's Matt and 1461 01:24:40,200 --> 01:24:43,880 Neil just absolutely terrorizing the back of Rochelles. 1462 01:24:43,920 --> 01:24:48,680 Also, even after such a brilliant 1998 for Ricard, 1463 01:24:48,680 --> 01:24:53,000 winning the British Championship and doing so well, this was the 1464 01:24:53,000 --> 01:24:59,760 crowning glory. Both races were really exciting. 1465 01:25:00,360 --> 01:25:04,880 The menu Plato Renault looked set to waltz away in 1997 but 1466 01:25:04,880 --> 01:25:08,960 proved fragile and it was left to the local BMWs to beat the 1467 01:25:08,960 --> 01:25:12,040 Aldi's, with the Brabham brothers inheriting victory 1468 01:25:12,240 --> 01:25:15,800 after the sister 320 eye of Craig Baird and Paul Morris was 1469 01:25:15,800 --> 01:25:18,560 excluded. When Baird exceeded the maximum 1470 01:25:18,560 --> 01:25:23,480 driving time allowed in 98, the beefed up front wheel drive cars 1471 01:25:23,480 --> 01:25:26,760 got their revenge with Rydell and Jim Richards narrowly 1472 01:25:26,760 --> 01:25:31,840 winning in a hastily imported Volvo S40 from another BTCC car, 1473 01:25:31,960 --> 01:25:35,760 the Nissan premier of Matt Neal and Rick Richard's son Stephen. 1474 01:25:37,000 --> 01:25:40,840 The race stumbled on in short and format with no international 1475 01:25:40,840 --> 01:25:45,520 entries in 1999 and that was it. Channel 7, realizing that 1476 01:25:45,520 --> 01:25:48,760 importing a field of foreigners just didn't make sense from a 1477 01:25:48,760 --> 01:25:53,200 commercial perspective and I think we've already touched on 1478 01:25:53,200 --> 01:25:55,080 this a little bit. Would you start as a fair 1479 01:25:55,080 --> 01:25:59,240 description of how it went and and ended for the Super touring 1480 01:25:59,240 --> 01:26:04,120 era at Bathurst? Yeah, as soon as Channel 7 1481 01:26:04,120 --> 01:26:08,920 closed the purse strings and and wasn't going to to invest in 1482 01:26:08,920 --> 01:26:12,920 bringing out cars and teams and and drivers, you know at 1483 01:26:12,920 --> 01:26:18,000 Baathist 1000 with a field of local super tours wasn't going 1484 01:26:18,000 --> 01:26:22,560 to cut it as the Baathist 1000 either And and that year there 1485 01:26:22,560 --> 01:26:29,200 began another another scenario where the 1000 just wasn't 1486 01:26:29,200 --> 01:26:33,040 viable in that way. So there was an attempt to top 1487 01:26:33,040 --> 01:26:38,440 the field up again with what was being dubbed Junior Tour as kind 1488 01:26:38,440 --> 01:26:43,240 of a a cost entry V8 Commodore and Falcon series, which was 1489 01:26:43,240 --> 01:26:46,600 coming out of the cars that used to race in Oscar on the the 1490 01:26:46,600 --> 01:26:48,680 Thunderdome. Sort of our version of NASCAR 1491 01:26:48,760 --> 01:26:53,240 with with Aussie cars and clearly V8 Supercars were 1492 01:26:53,240 --> 01:26:55,200 aggrieved by that because they said well hang on, we've 1493 01:26:55,200 --> 01:26:57,880 invested in the Holden and Ford thing, that's our thing. 1494 01:26:58,360 --> 01:27:01,680 These guys are trying to pass off this as a cheap imitation of 1495 01:27:02,040 --> 01:27:06,480 AV8 supercars and there was various issues and dramas which 1496 01:27:06,480 --> 01:27:08,680 we could go into and a whole another pod, a whole another 1497 01:27:08,680 --> 01:27:11,160 day. But in the end it was a 500 1498 01:27:11,160 --> 01:27:17,320 kilometre Super Touring race, non championship but it was part 1499 01:27:17,320 --> 01:27:19,840 of a festival of motorsport. I was there that weekend and it 1500 01:27:19,840 --> 01:27:24,040 was it was wet, it was dismal, it was depressing. 1501 01:27:24,760 --> 01:27:27,600 They they pulled the pin on the race on Sunday afternoon for the 1502 01:27:27,600 --> 01:27:30,720 two litre cars because it was wet and foggy and they were 1503 01:27:30,720 --> 01:27:33,080 driving around behind the safety car more often than they were 1504 01:27:33,080 --> 01:27:35,160 racing. And in the end it was kind of 1505 01:27:35,160 --> 01:27:37,480 like the race that got put out of its misery because they 1506 01:27:37,480 --> 01:27:42,880 called it and and everyone went off and and went home but and 1507 01:27:42,880 --> 01:27:46,040 that was Super Touring at Bathurst done and dusted by the 1508 01:27:46,040 --> 01:27:53,080 end of of 1999 and Channel 7 had actually done a deal to be a 1509 01:27:53,080 --> 01:27:56,640 multi year broadcaster of the Super Touring Championship here 1510 01:27:56,640 --> 01:28:00,800 and also through that still had that long term contract for the 1511 01:28:00,800 --> 01:28:04,560 Bathurst 1000 but the the writing was on the wall. 1512 01:28:04,720 --> 01:28:07,960 They didn't have the cards. V8 Supercars had all the cards 1513 01:28:08,200 --> 01:28:11,600 they had Bathurst they had the momentum they had in the hearts 1514 01:28:11,600 --> 01:28:17,080 and minds of fans the Bathurst race and and two leaders super 1515 01:28:17,080 --> 01:28:21,120 touring at Bathurst as we all departed in October 1999. 1516 01:28:21,200 --> 01:28:23,360 That was it. It was the championship 1517 01:28:23,360 --> 01:28:27,120 continued for, you know, another sort of season spread across the 1518 01:28:27,120 --> 01:28:31,760 2000 and O1 calendar years. But then seven were out, which 1519 01:28:31,760 --> 01:28:35,000 meant Toka was out, which meant Super Touring was all over and 1520 01:28:35,440 --> 01:28:37,480 the circus packed up and that was done. 1521 01:28:37,480 --> 01:28:40,120 That was all over. Everyone got their way in the 1522 01:28:40,120 --> 01:28:42,960 end, Alan Gale told Auto Sport in 2013. 1523 01:28:43,600 --> 01:28:47,000 Channel 7 had proved they wouldn't be dictated to and V 1524 01:28:47,000 --> 01:28:49,600 Eights had shown themselves as the most attractive form of 1525 01:28:49,600 --> 01:28:53,880 motor sport in Australia. This was the story of Super 1526 01:28:53,880 --> 01:28:56,560 Touring car racing taking over Bathurst. 1527 01:28:57,200 --> 01:29:01,120 Whilst the two meetings provided 2 excellent races, the plan was 1528 01:29:01,120 --> 01:29:04,840 not sustainable and the V8 soon returned to the great race. 1529 01:29:06,160 --> 01:29:09,600 Now it's that time in the show where Producer Dan asks us all 1530 01:29:09,600 --> 01:29:12,880 the question and checks of we have been paying attention to 1531 01:29:12,880 --> 01:29:16,240 this story last time out. When looking back at Pembury 1532 01:29:16,240 --> 01:29:20,360 1993, Adam got a point for getting Ian Khan correctly, so 1533 01:29:20,360 --> 01:29:24,000 it's currently 31 to the regulars, So I'll hand it over 1534 01:29:24,000 --> 01:29:26,600 now to Producer Dan, Have you got your question? 1535 01:29:27,880 --> 01:29:32,320 I have and seeing as there's a three one result of the moment, 1536 01:29:32,320 --> 01:29:36,240 I've got a two point question. There's two parts to this. 1537 01:29:36,240 --> 01:29:39,440 So if you get each of these right you get one point. 1538 01:29:39,440 --> 01:29:42,280 So it could be level, but then it might not be level. 1539 01:29:42,280 --> 01:29:44,320 So let's see how much you've been paying attention. 1540 01:29:44,760 --> 01:29:48,960 In the 97 race there were quite a few British train car regulars 1541 01:29:49,360 --> 01:29:53,000 who raced in it and there's a few that haven't been mentioned. 1542 01:29:53,760 --> 01:29:58,040 So who was the British Touring Car regular who finished 10th 1543 01:29:58,720 --> 01:30:04,480 and also What Car were they in? Yeah, so I've got a feeling it's 1544 01:30:04,480 --> 01:30:07,080 Julian Bailey. It's correct. 1545 01:30:07,080 --> 01:30:12,080 And What Car was Julian in? It was. 1546 01:30:12,120 --> 01:30:14,360 I remember this. It was an FAI insurance 1547 01:30:14,360 --> 01:30:20,320 sponsored Honda record with Warren Luff and it was the car 1548 01:30:20,320 --> 01:30:25,200 that had been driven by Stephen Richards for Gary Rogerson 1549 01:30:25,240 --> 01:30:29,040 previously. It's all correct and you've made 1550 01:30:29,040 --> 01:30:30,920 it 3-3. So you see to help. 1551 01:30:31,040 --> 01:30:33,760 Do you see to help? Unbelievable. 1552 01:30:33,960 --> 01:30:35,120 That's impressive. Yeah. 1553 01:30:35,160 --> 01:30:38,200 Yeah. It was a it was one. 1554 01:30:38,200 --> 01:30:41,840 He was one of the few that did manage to finish the race in 97, 1555 01:30:42,680 --> 01:30:45,400 but of course in between all the excitement with the manufacturer 1556 01:30:45,400 --> 01:30:48,280 teams and all their other guys shipped in from the British 1557 01:30:48,280 --> 01:30:50,640 Training Car Championship. Obviously poor Julian got missed 1558 01:30:50,640 --> 01:30:52,720 out a bit, but certainly not by you. 1559 01:30:52,720 --> 01:30:57,080 And that means as we head towards the end of the year, 1560 01:30:57,160 --> 01:31:01,920 it's three points for the regulars and it's three points 1561 01:31:01,920 --> 01:31:03,360 for the guests. That's just a draw. 1562 01:31:03,880 --> 01:31:06,000 Excellent draw. I was adamant that you were 1563 01:31:06,000 --> 01:31:08,240 going to be asking a question about Rob Gravett because we 1564 01:31:08,240 --> 01:31:10,640 didn't mention Rob in this episode. 1565 01:31:10,640 --> 01:31:15,480 But I do think he deserves a bit of a shout out because he did 1566 01:31:15,480 --> 01:31:18,440 really well in the Lee Brooks car in 98. 1567 01:31:18,440 --> 01:31:20,520 He was. He was ruffling the feathers of 1568 01:31:20,520 --> 01:31:27,040 the top three in that. 96 Honda and yeah, yeah yeah, I thought 1569 01:31:27,040 --> 01:31:31,040 he did did really well that race and obviously the sadly retired, 1570 01:31:31,560 --> 01:31:40,840 but he showed some good pace. And with that, I would like to 1571 01:31:40,840 --> 01:31:44,120 thank Aaron Noonan for joining us to look back at this story 1572 01:31:44,120 --> 01:31:46,480 from Super Touring. We hope you've enjoyed being on 1573 01:31:46,480 --> 01:31:48,800 the show. Hope we didn't wake you up too 1574 01:31:48,800 --> 01:31:51,000 early for this one on your side of the world, but. 1575 01:31:51,000 --> 01:31:53,200 No, not at all. That love the guys love what 1576 01:31:53,200 --> 01:31:56,760 you're doing with your pods and keeping the the Super touring 1577 01:31:56,760 --> 01:31:58,800 story alive. You're doing an awesome job. 1578 01:31:58,800 --> 01:32:02,120 So thrilled to get asked. Thrilled to have a chat with you 1579 01:32:02,120 --> 01:32:06,800 guys about a a little era of of Bathurst history and super 1580 01:32:06,800 --> 01:32:08,800 touring history. That's pretty cool. 1581 01:32:08,800 --> 01:32:11,400 It's pretty special and no, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 1582 01:32:11,400 --> 01:32:13,000 Thanks guys. No, thanks for coming on. 1583 01:32:13,000 --> 01:32:14,960 Thanks for coming on because appreciate it. 1584 01:32:14,960 --> 01:32:19,080 We, we, we've, we've got quite a lot of listeners from your part 1585 01:32:19,080 --> 01:32:22,600 of the world and we've had quite a few requests to look back at 1586 01:32:22,600 --> 01:32:26,280 these two races and personally I don't think we couldn't have 1587 01:32:26,280 --> 01:32:29,440 done it without without an expert like yourself coming onto 1588 01:32:29,440 --> 01:32:32,440 the show to do it justice. So so really appreciate it. 1589 01:32:33,280 --> 01:32:35,440 Even if you did take two points off us at the end, though. 1590 01:32:37,320 --> 01:32:40,200 Look, I'm all about just evening things up, and then you guys can 1591 01:32:40,200 --> 01:32:43,920 fight about the rest of the points for the next episode, OK? 1592 01:32:45,800 --> 01:32:49,680 And our thanks as ever go to you guys for listening to the show. 1593 01:32:49,680 --> 01:32:52,600 And if you did enjoy today's episode, please make sure to 1594 01:32:52,600 --> 01:32:56,840 give us a review A5 star rating and subscribe to the podcast 1595 01:32:56,840 --> 01:32:59,560 feed on your podcast app of choice. 1596 01:33:00,000 --> 01:33:02,760 And your five star reviews really help the podcast grow. 1597 01:33:02,760 --> 01:33:05,280 And here's a few of our recent reviews. 1598 01:33:06,200 --> 01:33:10,000 So First off, we've got a user under the name Big Shaq, he 1599 01:33:10,000 --> 01:33:11,840 says. I'm loving these memories from 1600 01:33:11,840 --> 01:33:15,240 the best days of touring car racing and it's great to have 1601 01:33:15,240 --> 01:33:19,760 Adam on as a regular two now. I think he once beat Fernando 1602 01:33:19,760 --> 01:33:22,760 Alonso in a race. Adam, Is there any truth on 1603 01:33:22,760 --> 01:33:24,480 this? Is there a story to this? 1604 01:33:25,640 --> 01:33:32,400 Yes, obviously it wasn't in a Formula One race but it was my 1605 01:33:32,400 --> 01:33:36,480 last karting year so I did karting for 10 years and it was 1606 01:33:36,480 --> 01:33:40,400 it was probably actually my last ever Kart race because it was in 1607 01:33:40,400 --> 01:33:43,520 98. I'd already won the scholarship 1608 01:33:43,520 --> 01:33:48,480 I think to go over to do the Alpha Filiere championship in 1609 01:33:48,480 --> 01:33:54,480 France for 99, but in 98 it was the Ayrton Centre Memorial World 1610 01:33:54,480 --> 01:33:57,560 Cup event trophy event at Suzuka. 1611 01:33:58,400 --> 01:34:01,600 TAC left a review to say brilliant, funny and 1612 01:34:01,600 --> 01:34:05,440 informative, whilst Ricky and Jensen say that the pod offers a 1613 01:34:05,440 --> 01:34:08,040 fantastic insight which is really kind. 1614 01:34:08,080 --> 01:34:11,360 Thank you all of you for those really lovely reviews. 1615 01:34:12,400 --> 01:34:15,680 And don't forget you can now support the podcast by buying 1616 01:34:15,680 --> 01:34:19,200 some of our own merchandise. Range from mugs to T-shirts. 1617 01:34:19,280 --> 01:34:26,120 All are available at 1990s btcc.com/shop and all profits go 1618 01:34:26,120 --> 01:34:28,600 towards keeping the blog and the podcast running. 1619 01:34:29,800 --> 01:34:32,800 You can also send us a comment about today's episode, the 1620 01:34:32,800 --> 01:34:36,360 podcasts in general, or if you have a question or suggestion 1621 01:34:36,360 --> 01:34:42,400 for a future episode by sending it to POD at 1990s btcc.com. 1622 01:34:43,440 --> 01:34:46,720 And with that, that's the last of our regular episodes for 1623 01:34:46,720 --> 01:34:50,000 series three, with the Christmas special coming next week. 1624 01:34:50,680 --> 01:34:52,440 So until then, goodbye.