Audi R8 2011 News

Audi confirmed at the Australian International Motor Show that the car, which was first shown in 2009, will be made from late next year. The supercar is a true quattro with an electric motor for each wheel that combine to generate 230kW and push the 1600kg car from 0-100km/h in 4.8 seconds. A heat pump is used to provide heat for the occupants - the electric motors don’t generate enough heat by themselves to use in the airconditioning. The lithium-ion battery pack weighs in at 470kg and has a useable charge of 42.4kW/h. For those not inclined to plug their performance cars in, Audi has the R8 GT - a 412kW/510Nm rocket powered by a V10 engine. All five cars earmarked for Australia have been sold, despite the $470,700 price.

... as a selection of the world’s most desirable cars are wheeled out in Melbourne.For some, it’s their first visit to Australia and the first time visitors to the Australian International Motor Show can see some of the hero cars of today – and in some cases, the future.Supercar fans get their first glimpse of the stunning Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, which replaces the Murcielago and that now sets the standard for exotic cars.Named after a champion Spanish bull, the carbon-fibre and alloy version of the Aventador rushes to 100km/h from rest in only 2.9 seconds and has a claimed top speed of 350km/h.The powerplant responsible for this is a 6.5-litre V12 with 515kW and 690Nm of torque running through all four wheels.But the exceptional performance pales against the coupe’s styling. It is all low-slung wedge and razor-sharp edges – a work of art that mesmerises from every angle.Lamborghini Melbourne managing director Andrew Smith says the car is two generations ahead in terms of design and technology."The Aventador is a truly exceptional package of design, style and technical perfection," he says.  "Its performance is simply astonishing and is unrivalled in the super sports car arena. It looks amazing in photographs but that is nothing to seeing it in the flesh."Sister company Audi won’t be outdone. It has unwrapped its fiercest R8 supercar, the GT, bristling with 412kW of power and 540Nm of torque from its 5.2-litre direct-injection V10. The all-wheel drive coupe has a price tag of $470,700 and even if you had the cash, Audi Australia says only five examples are allocated for our country."And they’re all spoken for," a spokesperson says.Audi will also show its new A6 that has taken Europe and the US by storm. The sleek sedan will enter Australia with a range of engines that all include fuel-saving systems, including stop-start and energy recovery technology.At the other end of the scale, the baby Audi A1 in its diesel form will make its debut in Melbourne. This will be available this year and become the third engine in the A1 franchise. Audi claims the 66kW 1.6-litre turbo-diesel will sip just 3.8L/100km and expects it to account for 25-30 per cent of the A1 sales.The Germans continue to dominate the performance stands with two Mercedes-Benz models on show for the first time. The first Australian showing of the breathtaking C-Class Coupe and C63 Coupe pair is so impressive they even overshadow the awesome CLS63 AMG – finished in a spectacular red paint and also on display for the first time.The CLS63 impresses with its 386kW/700Nm bi-turbo 5.5-litre V8 that averages 10L/100km – not much more than a Holden Commodore V6. In the AMG version, its output jumps to 410kW and 800Nm. Mercedes-Benz Australia says that despite the leap in power, the fuel consumption is 31 per cent – equal to 4.6L/100km – better than its predecessor.The two C-Class coupes are extensions of the recently upgraded C-Class range, but the styling exercise is condensed and the effect is a startling change from the previous models.Output for the C63 AMG Coupe’s 6.3-litre V8 is 336kW and 600Nm which pushes the two-door to 100km/h in 4.5 seconds. Yet it is surprisingly low on fuel consumption and emissions, recording an average of 12L/100km.These Mercedes newcomers are joined by 15 other models, including another first – the debut of the new SLK range – before it hits the showrooms in late July. For many prospective buyers, this will be the first time they can come face to grille with the latest Mercedes convertibles.The SLK will initially arrive with three engines – two four-cylinder turbo models, a 135kW SLK200 BlueEfficiency and 150kW SLK250 BlueEfficiency, and the 225kW SLK350 V6. New equipment includes a panoramic roof called "Magic Sky Control" that is made of glass and switches between light and dark at the press of a button.

I drove the 20km track at the weekend for the first time and it is every bit as challenging as Mt Panorama. After second place with Warren Luff in an Audi R8 in the Bathurst 12-Hour earlier this year Audi invited us to take part in the four-hour race at Nurburgring to gain accreditation for the 24-hour races there and at Le Mans next year.But things didn't quite pan out. The track is just amazing. We were going 268km/h on the back straight and frequently over 250km/h with an average lap speed of 176km/h. It captures many of the aspects of Bathurst and even has a Dipper although it's not as intense or aggressive as Mt Panorama.There are a lot of very fast blind crests where you have to position the car correctly to set up for the next corner. The biggest challenge for me was reminding myself where I was on the track. It certainly didn't come naturally like Bathurst. There are also parts where the car gets all four wheels about four inches (10cm) off the ground. It's an incredible circuit.At this stage I don't know if we've succeeded because I crashed in qualifying and we never got to race. It's a bit disappointing in the end, but I learnt a hell of a lot. We had a two-hour practice session and one-hour qualifying yet I only managed five laps because it's the longest race track in the world. Luffy has driven there before and track knowledge is very important so we decided early on that he would qualify and I would start the race.Warren qualified with 8:18.6 and I did 8:25.2, so we would have been ninth on the grid and just six seconds off pole. The winning Porsche would have started alongside us in eighth and our sister car only qualified 18th. We were the second fastest Audi out of the six competing. Luffy had a fresh set of tyres to have another go so we could have been even better.Anyway, I'd just done my timed lap and was on a second timed lap when disaster struck. About the 8km mark I was passing a much, much slower Golf and he clipped my left rear wheel which sent me straight into the fence. The closing speed between the fastest category of cars like ours and the others is incredible. I haven't experienced that for a long time.Trying to get a clean lap with 200 cars of differing speeds was ultimately quite difficult. The crash was devastating for me and especially for Warren. Unfortunately, the car was unrepairable in the two hours we had left to get on the grid. Audi had an onboard camera in the car and they can see it's a racing incident with no one to blame.The Audi Experience Team was looking forward to having a good race and was happy with our times, speed and how we adapted to the car and the circuit. Even though we didn't race, we had qualified well and Audi is investigating whether we can now compete in the 24-hour races. It's unclear at the moment. Interestingly the winning car was the only Porsche hybrid in the field.With its F1-style KERS system it was fast, winning by a lap, mainly because it could do 10 laps to a tank where everyone else was only managing eight or nine laps. After the race we were straight on to a plane and home for a debriefing on the Winton round and then straight into a test day at Queensland Raceway with our focus on Darwin in a couple of weeks.Mark Skaife also had a chance to do a few more laps in the car in preparation for the endurance rounds. And it was good to see former World Rally Champion driver Chris Atkinson have a test in Russell Ingall's car. It's always good to see a driver from a different category have a go at our cars. There is a massive difference between our big and heavy rear-wheel-drive V8 sedans versus the sort of small, four-wheel-drive turbo cars he has driven.

Warren Luff and I are racing an Audi R8 at the famous Nurburgring circuit to gain eligibility for the Le Mans 24-hour race. At this point we don't have anything secured for next month's Le Mans, but hopefully we can look at doing it next year.Ever since our second place in the Bathurst 12-hour Warren and I have had a very good ongoing relationship with Audi, so when this opportunity came up they contacted us to fill a car. It should be much the same R8 as we drove at Bathurst.From the info we have the Audi will do about 8.5 minute laps, so on calculations with pit stops we should do about 27 laps in Saturday's race. Mark Batting from the winning German Audi team at Bathurst knows the Nurburgring like I know Mt Panorama and he will hopefully give us some tips and guidance.There's no time for sightseeing as we are back on the plane and home again by Monday for a debriefing on Winton and then a test day at Queensland Raceway on the Wednesday. Winton was a bit of an up and down affair and we ended up marking time, staying in second place in the championship.It started ok with the car working exceptionally well and scoring my first pole there. My bad start on the Saturday was my undoing.We have a process for operating the clutch and I was still getting used to the method. I bogged it down on the line and got swamped. We were three wide in the first corner and there was a bit of biff and barge which bent the steering. We didn't know it was bent until the boys were checking it on Saturday night.Before Sunday morning qualifying we also had to change engines. But I got the clutch right on the Sunday and had the best start I've had all year, and with a handful of laps remaining we were running in fourth. We had been trying to get 26 laps out of a set tyres but the tyre life is really only good for about 22 laps, so we lost rear tyre grip right at the end.We also had a very noisy third gear which I haven't experienced for a long time. Thankfully it didn't affect speed or performance, but no doubt the team will have a look at that.Jason Bright had the best race strategy of pitting late and only doing about 19 laps on his last set of tyres. He was able to easily come through the pack and grab another victory after his win in Perth. Jason has always been very quick, it was just a matter of getting his car sorted. Now he's done it two rounds in a row, so the team is obviously getting things together.It was also great to see the other Jason (Richards) get up on the podium and accept the team trophy.

It was the first event for our new line-up with Dane down the back of the pits and former DJR guy Adrian Burgess up front calling the shots with our race engineers.  The boys have commented that they've now got two voices calling out at them.I think the new line-up went quite well.  Roland is there to see that the team is running at the level he wants and I didn't see him too displeased at the end of the day; bar the race results, of course.  He can be quite vocal at times, but I think Adrian took it all in his stride.Adrian was calm and made good, collective decisions with the engineers. I think he knows just what to do to make it all work.  Three of our team have been over in Germany at the Sachs factory checking out developments in shock absorbers and clutches that we use and distribute.There was my race engineer Jeromy, Adam who works on our suspension and Neil who does our customer cars.  It was helpful having face-to-face meetings with the engineers instead of having to deal with issues via emails and pone.It was also handy for them to be able to explain to their engineers about our unique style of race car with its weight and horespower configuration. It's quite different compared with lightweight European race cars as I found out when I raced the Audi R8 in the Bathurst 12-Hour.  One of the key elements is the Sachs clutch we use.I haven't had any issues with it, but our heavy race cars make it difficult to get them off the line so the clutch has to be tailored to those demands.  I see a recent survey says that more than of all Aussie motorists flash their lights to warn oncoming drivers of radar traps.That's something we see quite often out in the country, usually warning of speed cameras rather than police hand-held radar guns.I don't disagree with the practice, but I don't encourage it either. People who habitually speed should be caught.  But warning people of a camera serves to make drivers more alert and pay attention.I think it's particularly helpful in the country where drivers can lose concentration on a boring stretch of road and not realise they have drifted over the speed limit.I'm taking the family off to the beach for some fishing and a bit of a last-minute vacation before the season starts in earnest in Adelaide later this month.  I'm not much ofa fisherman, but it's going to be the last time I get a chance to relax before a busy year ahead with V8 Supercars and the Australasian Safari.

Audi Australia boss Uwe Hagen is delighted with the one-two finish in the endurance race last weekend. He is vowing to return to the mountain in 2012 even though he didn't know where Bathurst was when the plan to compete was hatched back in November."The Audi motorsport committee in Germany approached me on the phone," he says.   "They were looking worldwide at endurance races to compete in and Bathurst was well known."I gave them an instant answer on the phone even though I didn't know where Bathurst was.  But I know this market is really interested in competition and car races, so I say yes."Audi Team Joest entered two R8 LMS race cars, one driven by an international crew and the other by Australians Craig Lowndes, Mark Eddy and Warren Luff.  The Aussies qualified first and the international crew won by less than a second."The international team knew the car and the local drivers knew the track. In the rain the Aussies were quicker," Hagen says.  "I've already talked to HQ about doing it again next year.  Hopefully other manufacturers will participate because endurance races are good for the product."Hagen says he can't quantify the sales effect of the enduro win, but says they have already sold one LMS race car and GT Production racer Eddy is keen to buy a new model."We never talk about figures but we invited all R8 owners and dealer principals to attend the race and had about 80 guests," he says.  "We do this to increase awareness of our brand."Audi has already run press ads featuring the race win and has videos of the race on its You Tube site.  The $5000 prize money for pole position has been donated by the Aussie drivers to the Queensland flood appeal and matched by Audi Australia.  The Audi donation rocketed to $35,000 with pledges from Audi dealerships.

But the whole Bathurst 12-Hour experience was fantastic and I'm now even more hopeful about my prospects of driving in the Le Mans 24-Hour race.  It would be great to take an Aussie team to France for the race and I'd be more than happy to go with my teammates from the weekend, Warren Luff and Mark Eddy.We had a great Audi team result with a 1-2 finish less than a second part. Our car was right on the pace and set a new GT Production lap record of 2:09 which is a second faster than Tony Quinn in the Porsche GT3 R last year.And we could easily have won the race except for some of the tactical calls our crew made during safety car periods.  It was mainly because of a lack of communication back and forth between the drivers and the German crew who were just getting to know each other, but we also had some bad luck.In one case I was just coming through the Chase when the safety car came out and it was too late to slip down pit lane.  We may not have come first, but I still had a few personal firsts in the race like the first time I'd driven a race car with ABS and stability control and my first rolling start in 20 years.The Audi R8 LMS GT3 race car was great to drive.  It is about 25km/h slower in terminal speed than the V8, but it is the quickest I've ever been across the top of the mountain.  The car is really well balanced with great aero and I held it almost flat across the top.  We dialled out the ABS and stability control at first as a caution, but as the tyres wore down we dialled it back in.With stability control on you could come out of the Cutting and basically just put your foot hard on the throttle and let it do its job.I wouldn't mind if they introduced electronic driver aids like this in V8s. It would make the car easier to drive because it does a lot of the work for you.  The next time I'm at Bathurst could be in an F1 car.Team Vodafone is trying to stitch together a deal where I drive Jenson Button's F1 car and he drives my race car at Bathurst in the lead-up to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne next month.  I'm not sure yet if it's 100 per cent confirmed, but it would be a great opportunity.I have never driven an F1 car before. The closest I got was racing Formula 3000 in Europe.  Jamie Whincup drove an F1 at Albert Park in Melbourne last year and has been raving about it ever since.I'd be delighted with the opportunity, but I have concerns about taking it around Bathurst.  There are safer paces to drive an F1 car.Bathurst is a circuit we drivers hold in high respect and I'd be concerned about damaging the car; even just clipping a wing would be quite expensive.Speaking of F1, I'm in Abu Dhabi for the first round of the V8 Supercar season this weekend and by the time you read this we should have visited Ferrari World.It wasn't finished when we were here last year and I want to ride the roller coaster that goes from 0-250km/h in five seconds. It's supposed to be the same acceleration as an F1.Team Vodafone blitzed the field here last year with a brand new car and we're keen to do it again, but there will be one major difference. This time the whole event is being run on soft tyres.That's practice, qualifying and two races on softs.  It's an unbelievable smooth, fast and flowing circuit but the sand drifts across and acts like sandpaper rubbing the tyres away quickly.It will be a real challenge to get the tyres to last and extract the best out of them.  Tactics will be important because of the big speed differential between worn and fresh rubber.That should lead to lots of passing opportunities, plus the fact that the extra grip of a new soft tyre means you can dive in under brakes and carry more corner speed to pass.Interestingly we qualify in the heat of the day and race at night, so the race pace will potentially be the same as, or faster than, qualifying.  Lap records should tumble.My race engineer, Jeromy Moore, was at the Bathurst 12-Hour and he saw the way they stiffened that car up; we might do the same on our car for this circuit with the combination of soft tyres and a smooth track.

CRAIG Lowndes started the 2011 V8 Supercar season with an emphatic lap record at the Eastern Creek test day at the weekend. The five-time Bathurst winner and three-time series champion set a lap of 1m30.1877s on fresh, soft tyres, beating Mark Skaife's 1999 pole position lap by half a second. Commodores took the top seven positions, while current champion James Courtney was 16th in his HRT Holden. The series begins next weekend in Abu Dhabi.THE Daytona 24-Hour came down to a one-lap sprint to the flag after a late restart at the weekend. Defending Grand-Am Series champion Scott Pruett held off his teammate, Kiwi Scott Dixon, by 2.42 seconds in the one-lap dash to take out the title at Daytona International Speedway in Florida. It was team owner Chip Ganassi's fourth win.GT vehicles will join with production cars for the first time in the Bathurst 12-Hour this weekend. There are entries from Audi, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Holden, Lotus, Mitsubishi, Mosler, Nissan, Porsche and Subaru. However, outright honours are expected to be fought out between Porsche teams and the 11-time Le Mans winners, Audi Sport Team Joest, with Craig Lowndes as the lead driver in an R8.FORMER F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen and World Rally Champion Petter Solberg have been confirmed to contest Rally Australia at Coffs Coast, New South Wales, in September. They will drive works-built Citroen DS3 WRC rally cars. Raikkonen's ICE1 Racing team will contest 10 of the 13 WRC rounds this year, while Solberg finished third last year and will compete in the full season.TASMANIAN Jason White has moved to the top of the Australian Targa Championship points table with a dominant performance at the second round of the series, Targa Wrest Point, out of Hobart. The reigning Wrest Point champion drove his Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera to a 29-second lead from South Australian Steve Glenney in a Mazda RX8 SP and Queenslander Tony Quinn third in his Nissan GT-R. The final round is the Targa Tasmania from April 5 to 10.EASTERN Creek International Raceway in Sydney will get a $9 million circuit upgrade. Work will include increasing the circuit's capacity and track configurations to four layouts with two circuits able to operate independently. The upgrade follows the recent closure of Oran Park.CHAD Reed has claimed his first podium with his own team, TwoTwo Motorsports, at in the fourth round of the AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, at the weekend in Oakland, California. The Australian finished second n the slick surface behind James Stewart and remains in fifth position in the titles while Stewart moves to the top. The next event is in LA this weekend.FLOOD damage has forced the third and fourth rounds of the Australian Off Road Championship to be moved from Queensland to Victoria. The March round at Goomburra will now be held on May 28-29 at Hedley in Victoria. Motorcycling Queensland has cancelled the Queensland 2 Day Enduro to the floods, but the national CIK Stars of Karting Series will go ahead as scheduled on February 26/27 in Ipswich. The International Karting Committee decision has come after consultation with the local council. The five-round series is conducted in four states up to September.TWO-time World Superbike champion Troy Corser has admitted he doesn't have many years left at the top level. The 39-year-old BMW rider from Wollongong missed the first test day in Portugal to test on his own at Eastern Creek and start his physical training earlier than usual. "I know I haven't got too many seasons left at the highest level, so I am really motivated to make the most of the next few years," he said. The season starts at Philip island on February 27.

Obviously I was very happy beating Skaifey's 1999 record by about half a second and coming out first thing with a car that still has plenty of speed from last year. But that was Eastern Creek and we don't race there, so a lot of the set-up work could be wasted and things we learnt may not be able to be applied to other tracks.We believed a base set-up in the car would work, which proved to be 95 per cent right, but there are always areas you can improve.My race engineer, Jeromy Moore, and I are working as good as ever and it looks like the changes of personnel in the team such as my new number one mechanic, Nick from DJR, are also working well.On the other side of the garage, Jamie (Whincup) was a bit disappointed with his car speed, finishing up 12th in the times. Even further back was James Courtney but that's no surprise. It'll take time for him and Will Davison to settle into their new teams, but they will still be forces to reckon with this year.The new concept of a mandatory pre-season test day was an outstanding success with a big crowd turning out. Not sure of the crowd numbers, but it's a lot more than footy teams get along for practice.We've struggled in recent years to get a fan base for Eastern Creek race meetings. While it doesn't look like we'll be returning for races anytime in the future, it was still good to hear that millions of dollars is being invested into the Sydney circuit.Most people know I am a big supporter of circuits for a multitude of uses, especially driver training. Eastern Creek is going to get a lot more facilities as well as four different tracks on two independent circuits. That's fantastic news for driver education and road safety.Eastern Creek is a fantastic facility and it's in the right place, especially since Sydney lost Oran Park.I hear that the boss of Subaru in Australia has claimed motorsport in Australia is irrelevant to our market and of no interest to youth. While there's always room for new motorsport categories, I disagree that V8s are irrelevant. The category has established itself over many years as an iconic series, not just something representative of what motorists are driving.You can invent a new category but you can't invent history and that's what V8s has in spades. And if you look at our fan base our demographic covers a huge age range. I'm sure Subaru would be happy to be a part of it if the company can come up with a vehicle to race when we introduce the car of the future.My immediate future is driving the Audi R8 in the Bathurst 12-Hour this weekend. I'm not nervous about it, even though it's a completely new team and the first time I've driven a race car with paddle shifts, ABS, stability control, left-hand drive and indicators.I had Audi Sport Team Joest email me the cockpit layout, switches and controls and I've been studying them. The first thing I have to do is learn the car, the team and most importantly figure out what I'll do about ABS and stability control. I'll have to get my head around how they work and how sensitive they are, but I'll probably start by turning them off.Some people have asked how I'm able to drive an Audi, but they don't realise I'm not contracted to Holden. I'm contracted to Triple 8, so there are no issues. It's actually the first time in my career I've had no direct connection with a manufacturer.I don't know whether this will lead to anything with Audi, but I do hope it leads to competing in the Le Mans 24-Hour race. The June race doesn't clash with any V8 round, so there's always a chance for this year. I'd love to think that if not this year then definitely next year.There has been a lot of talk about selling off half of the V8 Supercars Australia. It's an interesting move and I'll keep a close eye on how it develops. While there is a real danger of it being sold to foreign interests, HRT, FPR and Triple 8 are all foreign owned and that hasn't done any damage to the series.

I hadn't driven with Mark Skaife for 10 years when we paired up last year for the enduros and what a pairing that turned out to be, winning Philip Island and Bathurst.  Now we're back again for the enduros this year, but with a distinct advantage of time.Last year we announced the pairing much later in the season, giving us little time to prepare.  This year we'll be much better prepared and with Skaifey at every round for his TV commentary duties, we'll be able to get him in the car much more often.That means we'll be able to keep him sharp and on the pace which is important because each year the competition gets tougher and tougher.Also, Skaifey should be able to help us develop the car throughout the season.I'm absolutely delighted. Skaifey was always my first choice as co-driver.  He's also rapt and looking forward to the challenge.He says the surroundings are familiar and the car is the one he wants to be in.  Of course, the only problem is that with him on six Bathurst wins and me on five, if we keep drving together on the mountain, I'll never be able to catch up or beat his wins.But hey, I wouldn't be too disappointed if after Bathurst this year I've got six and he's got seven.  We have a whole new team structure and some new people this season so it'll be interesting to see how the new team dynamic shapes up.Our first test will be at Eastern Creek in Sydney this weekend when all the V8 Supercar teams will be present for a shake-down and fan day.  It should be a very special occasion, even though we don't race at Eastern Creek in the V8 calendar. That should make it a neutral base for all the teams, no matter what manufacturer or where the team is based.We have to use the hard tyre up until lunch time, then we swap to the soft tyre in the arvo so we get an opportunity to test both set-ups on the one track.  Because we are returning this year with basically the same car as last year plus a few minor tweaks made over the break, we will just be sorting out the plumbing and working on any problems that arise.There won't be any testing for lap times or speed as the track is not relevant for that.  Apart from giving the teams a chance to set up their cars for the year, it will also be a great opportunity for the fans to see all the new liveries and get some autographs.The event should attract a huge crowd as we don't get to Sydney on a permanent track throughout the year.  I'll also be making a mental note of who is driving what and the new colour schemes so I can pick them out in the rearview mirror.I'm sure the drivers will also be happy to get in behind the wheel again after a long break and shake out some of the cobwebs before we get to Abu Dhabi in a couple of weeks.In the meantime, I'll get another hit-out in the driver's seat when I compete in an Audi R8 in the Bathurst 12-Hour.  I couldn't be in a better team. The Audi Sport Team Joest is the most successful Le Mans team of all time with 11 wins under its belt.Even though the car will take some getting used to, at least I know the track very well and should make a good impression.  Could it lead to something else? Who knows?This is just a first step for me and we'll see what we can deliver.  Hopefully I can forge a relationship with the team that could lead to something bigger and better like a Le Mans 24 Hour race.Roland was good enough to allow my race engineer, Jeromy to come down to observe the race.  It will be a great learning experience for him to see how one of the world's greatest motorsport teams operates.He'll also be able a help to me in the sense that it will be a familiar face and he might also be able to interpret any problems I have with car setup to the other engineers.  He may also be able to give them an insight into how we operate.I spent Australia Day picking up my neighbour and motocross training partner, George Knight, from the hospital after he crashed his dirt bike.  It's a good sport to help me train for racing, but his crash is a warning. Crashing is one of those things I'm always very conscious of.I always thought it would be me having an accident not him with all his experience.  I wish him a speedy recovery as well as V8 driver Jason Richards.I got an email to say he's seeking treatment in the US for his cancer.  You hear about people getting cancer, but when you get someone fairly close to you in the industry it hits home pretty hard.  I'd love to see him back on track for the sake of his family, but also because he's a great competitor.