Grid Lines...
2/8/2001 17:25 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Pitlane, and the dangers that lie along it, is the talk of the town. John Bowe’s comments, plus much more, form this edition of Grid Lines.
We were so tempted to replace Craig Lowndes' driver profile picture with this one... Mini Moo attended the Konica Series round at Lakeside
Pic: Mark Alan Jones
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>> Talk about a backhanded compliment. While John Bowe said Oran Park’s new $2 million pit complex was “top notch” in his Brisbane newspaper column yesterday, he went on to say the circuit itself was, “in dire need of resurfacing. I first raced at Oran Park in 1980 and I don’t think the circuit has changed a lot since. The job is only half done.”
>> Of more concern to Bowe was the time it took for two of his pit crew to receive medical attention after their pitlane accident – more than five minutes. “Five minutes could mean the difference between life and death and it was fortunate that it didn’t come to that,” he said. He went on to suggest officials should look at employing a dedicated medical and retrieval team for V8 Supercar events, as CART and Formula One do.
>> With two members of Bowe’s team lying in hospital, recruits were needed for the all-important tyre change. Team Manager Les Laidlaw found himself among the pit stop action as a replacement, while Larry Perkins kindly donated a pit boom to replace the damaged one.
>> Kurb hobbing again raised its ugly head at Oran Park, with a number of drivers receiving warnings for skipping across the ripple strips. But according to Steven Ellery, consistency was lacking; “We were told that warnings would be given and I agree that AVESCO needs to enforce serious kerb hopping for safety reasons,” he said, “but I still think the ruling could be more evenly enforced.”
>> After the fiery events of last year’s Oran Park meeting, Mark Larkham thought he better learn a thing or two about dousing the flames. Larko joined Fire Brigades NSW last week for a training drill on extinguishing a car fire. Much to his dismay, the car in question was a Ford, not a Holden.
>> Nobody was more surprised about Garry Holt pre-qualifying on the weekend than the man himself – who was due to depart Sydney on Saturday in the Sydney to Gold Coast yacht race. While the experienced seaman cancelled his trip after unexpectedly qualifying his EL Falcon, the ocean race was later postponed until after the weekend, anyway. “At one stage I was going to use (it) as a test session, and then go in the yacht race...but when I got out of the car and saw we were in fifth position, I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
>> Meanwhile, Dugal McDougall was five-tenths faster than ever before at a Calder Park test session last Wednesday – yet missed the cut for Oran Park on Friday.
>> The Gibson Motorsport grid girls have been given their marching orders, and replaced by a gaggle of pint-sized flag-bearers. In an effort to be more ‘family-friendly’, the team will choose six children from merchandise ally at each round to flank the Gibson Falcon on the grid.
>> At Oran Park he was working with children, at Lakeside it was animals. Craig Lowndes guested at the Queensland Konica Series round a few weeks ago, but he wasn’t the star attraction. That honour went to his miniature horse Mini Moo who, complete with Gibson Motorsport cap, was a big hit with the kids.
>> The new tyre deal with Dunlop will create many headaches for teams over the summer, though the reaction has mostly been positive. While Brad Jones concedes the change of rubber makes every team’s database obsolete, he’s looking forward to the challenge. “It will provide a great challenge for all team bosses and drivers to see who can master the Dunlop’s first,” he said. “The team that does will reap the rewards.”
>> Organisers of this month’s VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 are confident of record-breaking attendances after positive early pre-race ticket sales. Corporate interest and general admission sales are well up on last year, thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign throughout the state.
>> Rod Nash will make his return to the drivers’ seat at the Queensland 500, partnering Tony Ricciardello in the Commodore HRT recruit Tony Longhurst has powered this season. Nash announced signing the 22-year-old West Australian for the Queensland 500 and Bathurst’s V8 1000 this week.
>> Peter Brock is making yet another comeback, this time as part of the Australian Safari. The King of the Mountain will campaign a factory-backed Holden Jackaroo for the newly-launched Holden Rally Team over the gruelling eight-day, 4300km distance. The event begins on August 18.
>> Don Bradman’s letters to Greg Chappell weren’t the only items up for sale at an auction this week: Alan Jones also put pieces of memorabilia from his Formula One and V8 Supercar days under the hammer. Jones said the items, including a race suit from his Peter Jackson Touring Car days, were of no use to him, as he’ll always have the memories.
>> It’s the ultimate pub debate: are Fords better than Holdens? The question will be put to a distinguished panel of petrol heads at the Hilton Hotel in Brisbane this Friday to raise money for charity. Steven Johnson, Marcos Ambrose, Steven Ellery and Paul Weel will speak on the Ford case, while Tony Longhurst, Paul Morris, Cameron McConville and Tomas Mezera are in the Holden camp.
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