Articles by Craig Lowndes

Our sport is forever trying to find ways to improve the racing for the benefit of the fans.  Over the past couple of years we've experimented with a soft-compound sprint tyre and it's yielded some great racing and spectacular passing at the last two rounds. However, it's not going to work at all tracks and certainly not at any of the longer or enduro rounds as it would be destroyed too quickly and there would be too many pit stops.  But there are other things the category is considering in our continual self-examination. In the next couple of years we will see a totally new car hit the tracks.  One of the things we'll be looking at changing is the locked or "spool" differential in our current race cars. A locked diff means the rear drive tyres always spin at the same rate, but when cornering the inside wheel needs to turn slower than the outside wheel, as it has less distance to cover. This in turn means the inside wheel is forced to travel faster than it wants to. Apart from ripping up the track surface, it also causes mid-corner understeer, which means the car doesn't want to turn the corner but go straight ahead.  Next week at the Darwin round and the following Townsville round, certain teams will be allowed to test various differentials in practice sessions to gauge what they do. The aim is to allow several different lines into a corner to encourage more overtaking.  With the spool diff there is basically only one line and if you dive down the inside into a corner, your percentage of contact with the car you are passing goes up. The two types of differentials being tested are the Detroit Locker which is either locked or open and the limited-slip differential which alows different wheel rotation speeds at either end of the axle.  The locker is a bit agricultural, and another piece of dinosaur technology I suppose and that seems strange when we are going to more advanced technologies in the car of the future project. Both types of diff are also going to be a bit more expensive in the short term, but once everyone's got one, the running costs shouldn't be any more costly.  We ran a style of locker two-and-a-half years ago when they were looking for more passing opportunities and it definitely reduces understeer, improves mid-corner speed and makes the car a bit more unsettled under brakes because it is completely free when you are off the accelerator. With the limited-slip differential, teams can play with the settings to change the amount of slip or speed difference between the rear wheels, so they can make the car better at one part of the corner, but worse at another.  So there will be different strengths and weaknesses out on the track which will only improve the racing. I'm a big supporter of this diff technology.  If our category is looking for more passing opportunities, this is one way to do it.  I think if it allows drivers to have more confidence on diving down the inside and knowing you can turn the car it will make much better racing and more passing.  It should also cause far less track damage. Even though we're not racing at Perth this year, I have to fly over for some promotional ride days early next week which are always fun.  However it means I'll be missing out on a team track day at Morgan Park in Warwick.  Our team principal, Roland Dane, encourages us to burn off some steam and doesn't pack us in cottonwool like some of the other bosses. And because he's a mad-keen motorcycle fan with a garage full of great bikes, he's right behind these track days that we have from time to time.  He's just bought himself a new BMW S1000RR sportsbike and this will be its first track outing. It's funny how he's been getting all the workers to run it in for him. There certainly hasn't been a shortage of volunteers to help out.  I was really keen to have a ride on the track and see how it goes. Maybe next time.

Our sport needs to be national and not having Western Australia in the calendar is a real shame.  I hope they can do something about ensuring we are back there next year. On a personal level, it is a shame because Perth was one of my best results last year.However, next stop is Darwin a track I love and where I've had some great results in the past few years. I love the heat and from what I understand we are using the sprint tyre there again, but not for the whole meeting like we did at Ipswich and Winton. We get one set of softs to be used only in Sunday's race. So it's back to hard tyres for qualifying and Saturday's race, and half to two-thirds of Sunday's race. Should make things interesting.Speaking of interesting, you just can't help getting caught up in all the hype about State of Origin football. It's like our Bathurst. It's the main game of the year. It's like Holden versus Ford, only it's NSW versus Queensland. There has always been a battle between the two brands and the two states and there always will be so long as people have their passionate loyalties.Although I grew up in Victoria and still have a real passion for AFL, I've now been living in Queensland for 13 years and I've grown to love rugby league as well and consider myself a Queenslander through and through. So I just hope the Maroons can go on and make it a five-series winning streak. Not only because I'm a Queenslander but also because Billy Slater is a good mate, having done the Rexona Greatest Athlete show with him.He is the consumate athlete and having competed against him in that show it's now great to sit back and watch him perform. I've also been watching two of our Aussie exports performing on the world motoring stage. It's quite impressive to watch Mark Webber dominating in the past two F1 races with qualifying and on race day.That's not only a great confidence booster for himself, but also psychologically it demoralises his rivals. He's driving extremely well. His performance at Monaco in particular was impressive because that's an unforgiving street circuit like Surfers Paradise.You have to maintain your concentration 100 per cent of the time or you could easily hit a wall. On the flip side we've got Casey Stoner whose MotoGP season seems to be falling apart. It's such a shame because even though he didn't have the qualifying pace at Le Mans, he had the race pace and was starting to catch Valentino when he fell again.There are a lot of rumours running around in this early start to the silly season that he is going to Honda. I just hope he can get past all that and get himself right for next year and finish this season on a positive note because it's pretty much safe to say he's not going to be able to get score the title this year.Finally, I want to make a plea for people to support the Fatality Free Friday road safety campaign.(MAY 28) There is no one magic solution to the road toll, but it all helps. For me, the biggest thing is driver education. We work in a program with Jim Murcott driver training in which we have drive days where we go out and give people rides in the race car, but also educate them on braking, vision, seat position, fatigue and more.For race drivers it's all just commonsense because we've been driving for so long, but for some people they have to be shown the correct methods. My opinion is that people only learn how to get a licence; many never really learn how to drive a car properly.I get frustrated watching people driving on the streets. My pet hates are people sitting in the right-hand lane doing 10km/h under the speed limit, people who don't indicate when they change lanes and people who stop on merge lanes instead of getting up to the correct speed and merging smoothly.But the main one is young people who drive from almost the back seat with their seat back reclined right down. It's something to do with peer pressure, but if they observed race drivers they'd see we sit up nice and close so we are in total control of the vehicle.

I have to agree that the racing has been brilliant.  Even on circuits like Winton where it can be boring because there are limited places to pass, the softer and gripier Dunlops provided plenty of passing opportunities.It made for very entertaining racing, not only for the spectators, but also for us drivers.  However, I don't think the format for this year should be changed when we are halfway through the season.We can definitely use it at other events to improve the racing and the passing opportunities, but it shouldn't be used in the long-distance events because the tyre hasn't got the structure for durability.Rounds such as Townsville, Darwin and maybe the Gold Coast could certainly do with it.  But not until next year.Let's sit down and think it through and work out which circuits could be improved by running on the sprint tyres and then make the decision at the start of the year so the teams can work out their strategies.  We all still have a lot of work to do to get a full understanding of this tyre.It generates a lot more grip and we're always looking for more turn in the car, but that means we have to adjust our car settings and balance.  We also have to get our heads around how it heats up and reacts to ambient temperatures.At a cold track like Winton, the tyre can actually act like glass rather than rubber until it heats up and if you charge too hard before it gets to the right temperature you can effectively rip grain-sized pieces off the tyre.  These are the sorts of things we need to sort out.Anyway, we had a ball at Queensland Raceway and then again at Winton with these tyres.  We ran two totally different strategies last Saturday and Sunday and I'm happy to say they were the right ones both times.I was concerned about the Saturday strategy of pitting late because of the lack of pace in the middle of the race, but it worked out well. My race engineer Jeromy Moore and the team made a good choice.  At the end we had massive closing speed and grip, so I was able to pass a stack of cars.Sunday was a different format because it was a longer race with two pit stops instead of one.  Our last stop was forced by the safety car and we stopped straight away which worked out well.However, knowing we still had about 24 laps to go, I was worried about our car having consistent pace and longevity.  Full marks to James Courtney and Dick Johnson's team.  James drove a very sensible couple of races for the second round in a row.He's matured a lot in the past year and he's driving really well. He's also not making the mistakes he did last year.  He's not just leading races, but also showing he's able to come through the pack like he did on Sunday when he started in sixth on the grid. He showed plenty of patience and good strategy.I don't think this is a matter of Ford gaining the ascendancy in the series, but simply that this team now has two years of development under their belt and they are getting the best out of their cars.  I know just how good that Triple 8-spec car is.It's also a good combination of car, team and driver. It be will be a hard combination to beat.  However, in just two rounds the whole top 10 has changed dramatically, so no one is unbeatable.From my point of view, I've come from eighth to fifth to third and am now only 108 points off my teammate, Jamie, and 222 off Courtney.  With more than half a season to go that puts me within striking distance and gaining momentum.It's a far cry from how I was at this time last year when I was fading the other way.  Needless to say, Jamie is bitterly disappointed with the results from the past two rounds.On Sunday he had a flat left hand tyre and got caught out in the gravel. It wasn't the result he was hoping for.  But knowing him, he will no doubt strive harder to bridge the gap and then try to get back the lead.The next two events in Darwin and Townsville will be crucial to the championship, knowing we have an eight-week mid-season break.  Everyone will want to go into that break with the momentum behind them.

Queensland Raceway is my new home and test track, but I grew up racing and testing at Winton where we are this weekend.  I've raced here in go karts and Formula 4, and it was my test track when I was with HRT, Gibson Motorsport and FPR, so it's a track I know extremely well.A few years ago it had an upgrade with an extension and new pits, but I hate to say it needs much more.  V8 Supercars have simply outgrown it.It's a great circuit for open wheelers, historics and motorcycles with its multidirectional changes.  But we never get into top gear around here and it's too narrow for passing, so we don't get a chance to really showcase our V8 race cars.Our category is a lot more professional these days with multimillion-dollar transporters and race cars, merchandise and team presentation, but some tracks just aren't keeping pace with that professionalism.  When you compare Winton with some of the circuits we race on like in the Mid-East and our own street circuits like Adelaide and Townsville, it just doesn't stack up.I'd like to see it developed, rather than scrapped because we still get a fantastic crowd there.  And I should also point out I won twice there last year.  However, before anyone gets too excited, that was on last year's soft tyre option rule.We're back there on soft tyres, but this time it's five sets of softs for the whole weekend, not just one set.  Last year I was able to pass up the inside, around the outside, almost anywhere I wanted because we had preserved our soft tyres and were much faster than those who were still on the control tyre or worn softs.When we arrived in Winton this week the temperature was still struggling to get into the double digits and they say it is below zero in the mornings.  However, that means the in-car cabin temps will be wonderful.It's normally about 25 degrees hotter in the cabin than outside, so the drivers should be nice and cozy for a change.  The problem everyone will face will be getting the initial temperature into the tyres especially for qualifying and the one-lap Top 10 Shootout.The soft tyre reacts to heat, so we won't go near as fast as we did at Queensland Raceway.  But they also won't wear out as fast, so there won't be that big difference in car speeds that there was at QR between cars on new and old rubber.Also, it's a low-grip circuit that doesn't chew up tyres anyway, so we should get a lot more laps out of them.  The cooler temps and low humidity will also mean engines will run crisper, so there are still a lot of positives.Winton is notorious for being difficult to pass so our pit strategy will be very important. We will have to try to leapfrog cars via the pits rather than passing them on the track.  Winton is also notorious for a boggy in-field if it rains.  If you go off, nine times out of 10 you may not come back on again. I'm speaking from experience here.You may also remember Marcos Ambrose running off near the back straight and getting stuck. He got out of his car and let the tyres down to get back to the pits. You really need to be multiskilled in this job.I'm running fifth in the championship but less than 230 points off the lead, so anything can happen.  It will be important over the next three or four rounds before the eight-week mid-season to be consistent and get good results to build some momentum.Courtney has a bit of momentum coming off a dominant result at QR and he'll full of confidence and hard to stop.  However, Jamie has the fire in his belly again to bounce back after his mechanical failure at QR and I have Tander just three championship points in front of me so it should be a very competitive round.Skaifey also gets another drive this weekend in practice to get him used to the car for our partnership in the enduro rounds.  We'll make some more cabin adjustments for him so he should be set for his rookie test day at QR soon where all the enduro partners who aren't full time in the main game get a chance to have a full day in the car.Skaifey knows Winton like the back of his hand as it's his old test track, so he should be able to give some vital feedback.  It's also important for him to start building a working relationship with Jeromy (CORRECT) Moore, our race engineer.

Last weekend's round at Queensland Raceway proved them wrong.  It was a real spectacle for the fans and delivered a lot of great racing, stacks of passing throughout both races and right through the field. In the end, I'm happy I went from eighth in the championship to fifth, even though I was on track for a second in the last race which would have lifted me to third in the championship.  However, it could have been worse. I feel sorry for Frosty who went from third to eighth with his big shunt in the Sunday race. The way the championship is now unfolding it will come down to consistency.  The beauty is that because the top 10 are so close on points, any weekend could dramatically change the order. I can't think back to a year where the top 10 drivers have so much bad luck. Everyone's had their misfortune.  My bad luck came down to a failure with a rattle gun in my last pit stop. It's unusual for us to have a problem like that and for me the timing couldn't have been any worse.  We'd set ourselves up to run the first three-quarters of the race looking after the car and nursing the economy. I don't think anyone was going to touch Courtney. He had a car that was capable of quick lap times for longer than anyone else.  But we were on course to finish strong until we lost eight to 10 seconds in that pit stop.  I had a lot of time to make up and enjoyed the chase from 11th to fifth. In the end I was just five seconds behind Tander who finished second. It's disappointing when you look at the numbers, but that's motor racing. You take the good with the bad and don't whinge.  The big benefit from the weekend was that the car now qualifies well and is a lot more comfortable to drive. A few drivers have been calling for more rounds on the soft tyre after last weekend, but it won't always have the same results on different circuits.  For example, we use it next round at Winton where it's a lot colder and the tyre will last longer. In fact, I won both races last year and used the same set of soft tyres in those races.  I like the soft, or sprint tyre. It certainly puts an emphasis on strategy and driver discipline. You have to race to a plan. There's no point going out there and destroying your tyres.  On the Saturday, Shane van Gisbergen drove a very mature race, allowing people to pass in the first half and looking after his tyres, then pouncing at the end. If the race had been a few more laps he would have passed me. Mind you, if Sunday's race had been a few more laps, I might have ended up second.  The soft rubber compound of those tyres offers more braking consistency, higher midcorner speed and better acceleration. I did most of my passing under brakes because you have the grip to turn in and the confidence to carry your speed through the corner.  Despite the great racing, the crowd looked like it was quite down on last year, which is a real concern as it could affect the organisers' decision to return. However, it was always going to be difficult attracting a big crowd on a long weekend. We had friends who went away camping for the three-day weekend, the weather was perfect for the beach and there were other big events on such as the Caboolture urban festival.  However, I would love for us to return. There was quite a bit of interest in the pits last weekend about my entry into the Australasian Safari this year.  It's been in the background for a while putting the deal together with Holden.  Now that it's out in the open I'm looking forward to it. It's an event I've always wanted to be a part of - even in my Ford years - and knowing what Brocky did back then gave me an extra incentive to have a go.  However, while I've got plenty of dirt bike experience, I've got none in a car. That's my biggest challenge; to get my head around the different types of dirt we'll encounter.  I'll be leaning very heavily on the experience of Kees Weel who'll be along for the ride in the Holden Colorado.

First, there is the weather forecast which says there could be a bit of rain. That will throw a big question mark into team strategies.  There's also a big cloud hanging over the future of the event at the Ipswich circuit.  At the start of the year it was ruled out because of a lack of facilities, then it was back on again, at least for this year, with V8 Supercars running the event and bringing in a lot of temporary facilities like a big grandstand.In the short term, I have to say that it is vital that we continue to come here for the sake of the Queensland-based teams that use it as their test circuit.  But in the long term, the circuit must be upgraded in facilities for the fans such as better shade, seating and catering.It's not the most technical track to drive, but at least it gives the spectators a view of the whole circuit.  As a race driver, I would like to see the circuit resurfaced and lengthened, preferably with more than just two left-hand corners.It would be nice to see them extend it at turn two and go straight ahead out over the embankment and then rejoin the track about the middle of the existing back straight.  It's a very basic circuit and there are really only two or maybe three places you can overtake.I'd be open to any ideas to lengthen the circuit and make it more interesting.  Race drivers love tracks with character, altitude change and corners that are difficult to drive. At the moment there is not much character at Queensland Raceway.Having said that, I've had some great results there and I'll never forget charging back through the field from stone last in 2008. But I've had some bad results there, too.  My ambition this weekend is to be on the podium as it's our test track and our back yard.We have the local knowledge and know the track and what the weather will do.  Although, it's being held earlier this year and will be hotter, so I imagine most drivers will be in cool suits.Our soft tyre and pit strategy will be crucial this weekend.  When you come out of pit straight you rejoin just into turn one so if you can get good track position even on cold tyres you can be confident of maintaining that position right down to turn three. By then the tyres might be warm enough to defend your position.My endurance round partner this year is Mark Skaife and he will get a chance to drive the car in Friday practice. However, he won't be partnering me at the Gold Coast like I had hoped.It hasn't been worked out yet but Andy Priaulx could be driving with either me or my teammate Jamie.  If Jamie drives with him, I'll be driving with Jamie's enduro co-driver Steve Owen, not Skaifey.We've scored well with Priaulx. He may not be as big a name in Australia as some of the other international stars who are coming, but he knows touring cars.  He's the European Touring Car champion, a three-time World Touring Car champion and he will be coming fresh from Bathurst where he is racing with another team so he will have good car knowledge.Scott Dixon, Will Power and Dario Franchitti may have raced at the Gold Coast before, but a lot of their track knowledge will be negated by the fact that the track is being shortened this year.  There has been a lot of talk in the past week about the Melbourne Storm and the salary cap rort.Some say that we will one day have a salary cap to keep a lid on costs.  However, a large part of the cost in our sport is the car itself, not the drivers.The car of the future project will go some way to reducing those costs.The other factor is that some teams, like ours, actually build cars for themsleves and other teams, so that is a separate income stream.  I just don't know that a salary cap would suit our category.

We were surprised by our qualifying result despite being sent out first in drizzling conditions, we were surprised by the brake failure we had on Sunday and we were surprised by the exclusion of three drivers from the final results. About the only thing that wasn't a surprise was may teammate Jamie's continuing good form. I started the weekend in sixth in the championship points and went up to fourth after a good result on the Saturday, but then came crashing down to eighth at the end of the round. I had a great start on Saturday and in the middle of the race the car balance changed slightly, but then it came good with some adjustments in the last pit stop and we had a great battle trying to catch Tander and Courtney near the finish. So I was pretty confident going into Sunday's race. We were fifth on the grid and had a good start with a really strong car that my race engineer Jeromy Moore had adjusted to suit the extra rubber and grip on the track. Our set-up was close to perfect. It was easy to drive and predictable. But after the first safety car it started getting a long brake pedal and ultimately, when we ran out of brake fluid I had to pit to get it fixed. I'm still unsure how that happened and where the leak was. Once we bled that out and resumed the race, the car felt strong again, but we'd lost several precious laps. We finished 22nd, but when three cars were excluded for technical breaches, we ended up 19th. Frosty and Richards's Falcons were excluded because they had the rear rotors on the wrong sides. Jamie was in that situation a couple of years ago when the team accidentally put the wrong rotors on at Eastern Creek. So we've been there and done that. It's one of those issues where they will never make the same mistake twice. I'm not sure if it was done on purpose or not to gain a benefit, but it certainly wasn't a winning recipe. Anyway, it caused a bit of a shake-up in the points. The fact that there was so much movement at the top of the leader board, including Garth leaping into sixth from outside the top 10, just shows how close and competitive this championship is. I may be in eighth, but I'm only 90 points off third. What is important now is consistency, not just a victory here or there. Jamie is showing everyone what that is all about, however Garth is getting closer. Courtney has shown good speed, Frosty's been a bit up and down lately, and Caruso is showing good form, doing well on street circuits. Shane van Gisbergen had shown great form up until this weekend which was a surprise on his hometown circuit. Maybe it was just nerves. I certainly won't be nervous when I hit the track at Ipswich next weekend (April 30-May 1). We have a home ground advantage in that we know the track and the weather, but history will show that people coming up from down south have always done well here and beaten us in our own backyard. It will be the first time this year on the soft tyre with the whole round run on them, so that will be interesting. I was part of the initial soft tyre testing a couple of years ago and we and a few others have re-run old soft tyres here in testing, but we haven't run a new soft tyre here for a while. As I said at the start, I'm not a betting man and I don't know many of the other drivers or personnel who are. If I go to the Crown Casino I would be unlikely to play. I'd be happy just to watch others lose their money. I don't follow the V8 betting odds but I know fans can bet on pole, fastest laps winners, etc. The betting side of the sport is apparently bigger than what it was five years ago. I can understand the problems Brendan Fevola has had with betting and I applaud his efforts to seek help. Having an addiction is bad enough, but if it's out of control and hurting the people around you, you have got to do something about it. Of course, all V8 drivers are banned from betting on our sport, but I don't think gambling is a problem at all. We are very conscious of it. Touch wood, V8 Supercars is pretty clean in all regards.

The boys at the workshops in Banyo have been madly building spare cars for us and the Supercheap guys over the past few weeks.  That could be more important then ever with us facing a potential weekend of carnage at our third street circuit in a row at Hamilton in New Zealand this weekend.We don't have a spare Holden yet after putting all our time and effort into getting our two race cars up and running for this season. So it's vital we get these spares in place quick smart.Obviously they won't be ready in time if there is any carnage here in Hamilton, so we'll have to take things a bit more cautiously than we have in the past.Like all street circuits there is bound to be a lot of carnage.  Jamie almost destroyed his car here in qualifying a couple of years ago and I did some damage to my car last year in the back chicane.Our strategy for this weekend therefore is simply to stay out of trouble.  The key to that will be qualifying.On any street circuit you want to be in the top three rows as it's difficult to pass and being up the front keeps you out of the crash and bash of the first few laps in the middle and back of the pack.  Thankfully my qualifying has been better and more consistent this year.We've only had two other goes at this circuit, but it's now in firmly in my mind and we have a great knowledge of what it takes to do a fast lap here.  There are a couple of sections of the track where I have struggled with mental attitude and car set-up such as in the back chicane, but I will try to rectify that this year.We had a fairly good result in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago with a third overall thanks to a little bit of luck.  But mostly it was good because we made some big leaps forward in car set-up so we come here with a lot of confidence in our machinery and our strategies.Street circuits are a lot more demanding on bumps, kerbs and changes in bitumen surfaces, so we will have to see if our new-found knowledge helps.  I'm also going into this round feeling well relaxed and wound down after the high-charged start to the year.It's hard to believe that here we are in April and we've already had four rounds, although only three of them were for points.  Now we head into an absolutely crucial part of the year.It will be intense over the next five rounds which are mostly only two weeks apart.  Straight after Hamilton we have two rounds at Ipswich and Winton with soft tyres for the whole round.That will be a whole new ball game and will require totally new strategies for the teams.  From my understanding we will practice on the hard tyres and then switch to the softs for qualifying and racing. It will be interesting to see how the teams get their heads around that concept.We had our only victory at Winton last year on a soft tyre, so hopefully we will be right there.  I think most of the fans are pretty excited about the soft tyre concept.But last year we virtually had to nominate a race where we could win as the tyres wouldn't last for two races.  This year the whole meeting is run on soft tyres so every team has a level opportunity to race for victory on both days.My prediction is the driver and the team that keeps out of trouble the most over the next five rounds will be leading when we go into our nine-week mid-season break in July and August.

I think that would be the greatest outcome from this project that Skaifey has been working on.  The obvious manufacturers that could join are Toyota and Dodge because they are already involved in NASCAR and everyone reckons we are close to their racing formula.It would also be nice to have Nissan Subaru, Mitsubishi and others join in. The category needs other manufacturers' support  to sustain our current growth.  Interesting to hear Skaifey talking about the parity issue which ensures technical equivalency between Ford and Holden teams and would ensure other manufacturers were competitive.He said our team's successful switch from Ford to Holden showed parity could be achieved with a minimum of fuss.  I don't think it was a minimum of fuss.From our track record so far this year it looks like we've done well without much fuss, but to be honest there was a lot of work behind the scenes.  In one sense it's right that we carry over a lot of components from one make to the other, but there is still a lot of hard work involved.The season continues when we return to Hamilton in New Zealand next weekend for the third year.  I did well in 2008 with a second and a couple of top-five finishes, but last year was terrible. I think I hit everything but the safety car.I had altercations with other cars, tyre barriers and concrete walls, you name it.  It's a fantastic circuit, but it's bumpy and unforgiving.One particular area of concern is the back straight chicane. It's very tight and narrow and with the tyre bundles there you can't run a millimetre wide or you smack them. I got the car up on two wheels there and broke the front end last year.  You need to be aggressive to get a good result, but it can all go wrong so easily.The race is very well supported by the Kiwis and I've got great motivation this year to rectify my results from last year.  After Hamilton, we then have two rounds back to back at Queensland Raceway and Winton on soft tyres.My teammate Jamie hates the soft tyre rule, but I actually like the concept. I'd even love to see the soft tyre as our normal tyre and have a super-soft option tyre.  It's a great idea that just needs to be massaged. And I think they have done it.The way it was last year with a soft tyre option you basically had to determine which day you wanted to win a race and then go for the soft tyres.  This year they have a better solution of having a whole weekend on soft tyres. I believe this is a big step forward.It means everyone is on the same playing field and it is then up to the engineers and drivers to make the most out of them.  If the category is looking at ways of introducing more pit stops to create more excitement and unpredictability, soft tyres will create that.Jamie and I have received our new lightweight carbonfibre Bell helmets which are FIA-approved F1-style lids.  In Europe they are the new standard, but they are not available yet in Australia.They are lighter and therefore cause less fatigue, which is good for the endurance events.  They are also stronger and, of course, more expensive to go with it, but our heads are precious, so you don't mind the expense.I always have my children's faces on the back to remind me what I'm racing for.  I got some new photos taken of Levi and Chilli at our last test day and the helmet will be painted in time for our race at Winton in May.  I'll try and fast track it, but the painter's not that quick. He's very fussy.

Hamilton probably thought it was just a bit of fun, but that's no way to conduct yourself in public. Hopefully he's learnt a valuable lesson that he's not above the law. The same goes with Alfie. In no way can I condone drink driving. As for his dancing frolics, from what I can understand he's had a good night and just been unlucky that someone recorded it. But sports people have to understand that they are in the public eye 24/7.I never put myself in any position that can be portrayed differently, but I have been very lucky to have have my wife, Nat, by my side to keep my feet on the ground plus strong friends and associates around who have kept me under control.My teammate Jamie copped a $3000 suspended fine for speeding on his warm-down lap after his Top 10 Shootout at the Melbourne Grand Prix. It's hardly in the same league as the other two incidents, but we take our public behaviour so seriously, Jamie was straight around to apologise to the marshals, so you can guarantee he won't do anything like that again.I had a pretty solid weekend with three top 10 finishes and third overall. We had a sensational GP in 2009, but this year we had to fight all the way. We had good pace and balance on Friday, but we experimented for Saturday's race and unfortunately miscalculated the grip level after the F1 qualifying session.For the Sunday race, my race engineer Jeromy (Moore) and I had some good luck and came up with the right set-up. We also had a bit of good luck on the track with others in front of us running into troubles.Even though it's not a championship weekend, we take the GP seriously. However, it also gives us the opportunity to try a few things we normally wouldn't on a championship weekend. In the end, I think we came away with a far better understanding of how our car works. It was a significant step forward.Hopefully the engine problems that forced Jamie out aren't a step backwards. It was disappointing for him as he was in the running for a podium for the weekend. I still don't know what the issue was that made his car drop a cylinder, but we will make sure it doesn't happen again or to my car.Before we head to New Zealand next week for the next round I've packed the caravan and am heading off with Nat and the kids to Southwest Rocks. It's an area we came across on a return trip from Bathurst two years ago and we fell in love with the area. We're going with friends with kids so they can all run around together.I'm enjoying more and more being able to get away in the caravan. With my hair going grey I suppose you could call me a rookie grey nomad. But you don't have to be a grey nomad or retired to enjoy this country. We've had the caravan for four years now and we love venturing out into areas and places you wouldn't see if you kept flying over it.When we get back and before we head to New Zealand, I'm having a bike track day with the guys from Triple 8 at Morgan Park in Warwick. Most of my fans know how into motorbikes we all are at Triple 8, including our boss Roland Dane.I've had dirt bikes on the farm and most of the team rode their dirt bikes from Brisbane to Darwin a few years ago for the Hidden Valley round. I also love getting the bike on the track to blow off some steam.Although my sponsorship ended with Yamaha last year, I now have a deal with Suzuki and I'm still anxiously waiting for my new bikes. Apparently they're on the next ship from Japan.