Grid Lines....
21/1/2001 23:00 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) - The summer silly season – a time for unveilings, arrivals, departures and general off-track scuttlebutt. We have all the hatches, matches and dispatches in this edition of Grid Lines.
>> It’s a race against time for the Melbourne-based John Faulkner Racing unit to secure a major sponsor before the season kicks off in late March.
Purse strings will be tight if Faulkner fails to find a principal backer, but we hear that a major Australian fast food chain could bail the team out of trouble. Artists’ impressions of the JFR Commodore livered in the potential sponsors’ colours have been requested.
>> With AVESCO boss Tony Cochrane vowing never to return to Barbagallo Raceway after this year, American Sportscar entrepreneur Don Panoz could be West Australia’s saving grace.
Panoz wants to bring a round of the Asia-Pacific Le Mans Series to a permanent venue in Perth – either a new purpose-built complex near Perth’s International Airport, or an upgraded and extended Barbagallo Raceway.
Either way, with the Perth City Council refusing to meet Cochrane’s demands of a V8 street race, Don’s proposed party could ensure the Supercar circus treks across the Nullarbor beyond 2001.
>> Fred Gibson’s Holden stocktake sale will see two more VT Commodores entered in this year’s Konica V8 Supercar Series.
Two-time Formula Holden champ and Stone Brothers enduro pilot, Simon Wills, will campaign the 1999 Bathurst-winning Gibson Commodore in the championship. At this stage, it is not known who will run the car for the New Zealander.
Wills will race against another of Gibson’s Commodores when the season begins at Wakefield Park next month, after former NASCAR racers Eddie Abelnica and Kim Jane purchased the 2000 Murphy/Richards Bathurst machine. Abelnica will pilot the car.
>> Meanwhile, it’s believed the Forbes clan (Bob and Rodney) will follow Gibson’s lead and switch to a Falcon to run alongside the Craig Lowndes Ford.
The move could spell an end to the short-lived administrative career of Bob Forbes, who was recently elected to the TEGA board as one of two Holden representatives.
>> The Bathurst-winning Valvoline-Cummins outfit has unveiled its new 2001 VX Commodores, complete with a new racier paint scheme.
Cameron McLean also took the covers off his new-look Greenfield Mowers AU Falcon last week, but we’re yet to receive photos from either team!
>> Speaking of the Melbourne-based Garry Rogers operation, the team will throw open the doors to fans next month for a behind-the-scenes open day.
All are welcome at the team’s Glenn Waverley workshop (350 Springfield Road) from 10am on Sunday, February 18.
>> Paul Romano is looking in much better shape for the 2001 season after ditching his ailing VS Commodore in favour of an ex-HRT VT Commodore (Todd Kelly’s 2000 mount). Paul Morris also looks set for an upgrade, to the new VX model.
>> Queenslander Steven Ellery has thrown his support behind a young toddler stricken with a rare heart condition known as pulmonary atresia.
Among other sporting memorabilia up from grabs at a special charity auction in Redcliffe this Wednesday will be a Queensland Raceway hot lap in Ellery’s Super Cheap Auto Falcon.
>> Perennial battler Richard Mork is also in a charitable mood, donating ten hot laps in his V8 Racing Commodore to the Camp Quality organisation. Bidorbuy.com.au is currently auctioning each ride online.
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