Ford Falcon 2006 News

HOLDEN RACING TEAMCar: No.2 Holden Commodore VZMark Skaife & Garth TanderAge: 39, 29Born: Gosford, NSW Perth, WABathurst Starts: 19, 8Best result: 1st (1991-92, 2001-02, 2005) 1st (2000)Defending champion Skaife is paired with form driver Tander but that doesn't necessarily guarantee success.HRT proved last year that winning wasn't about being the fastest but a tactical marathon to be the last man standing at the end of a long, tough day.However, serious mechanical problems have plagued both HRT cars in 2006 and those gremlins - primarily to do with the gearbox - could ruin another tilt at the coveted title.The Sandown 500 ended in tears, a steering problem ruining hopes of victory after leading the first half of the race. Tander had the car on pole position so we know they're quick.If the mechanics can get the Commodore to last 1000km then the men behind the wheel can make it take the checkered flag.TOLL HSV DEALER TEAMCar: No.15 Holden Commodore VZRick Kelly & Todd KellyAge: 23, 26Born: Mildura, VIC Mildura, VICBathurst Starts: 5, 8Best result: 1st (2003, 2004) 1st (2005)Aiming to become first family combination to win the coveted title.Todd gave up his right to defend the title with Skaife to help younger brother Rick at HSVDT pursue a championship series win.Both have won Bathurst titles as co-drivers - Rick with Greg Murphy and Todd with Skaife - but now have added pressure of being in the hot seat when it matters most.HSVDT have been fastest all year but with Rick's eyes on the series prize they may lack the attacking instinct to chase a win here.Showed promise when beaten for victory by a bumper at Sandown 500 and will be thereabouts again here.TEAM BETTA ELECTRICALCar: No.888 Ford Falcon BACraig Lowndes & Jamie WhincupAge: 32, 23Born: Melbourne, VIC Melbourne, VICBathurst Starts: 12, 4Best result: 1st (1996) 2nd (2005)Lowndes was the fastest man on the mountain last year but just wasn't meant to win - an airborne tyre landing on his windscreen smashing those dreams.Young teammate Whincup came of age at Bathurst last year when he put his Holden into a race-winning position to eventually finish second.Both have won rounds this season and they represent Ford's strongest hope of winning for the first time in eight years.The Triple Eight Falcon has been very consistent mechanically in 2006 albeit not the quickest.With two form drivers at the wheel they should be thereabouts for the final sprint home.Wouldn't it be great too if championship leader Lowndes brought Ford the Bathurst win and series title in the same year.JACK DANIEL'S RACINGCar: No.7 Holden Commodore VZSteven Richards & Paul DumbrellAge: 34 24Born: Auckland, NZ Melbourne, VICBathurst Starts: 13 7Best result: 1st (1998, 1999) 5th (2002)Dumbrell's inexperience cost this pairing a race finish here last year and almost ended the youngster's association at the Larry Perkins-owned team.But Perkins, himself a six-time winner at Bathurst, knows talent when he sees it and has given Dumbrell a second chance with the always consistent Steven Richards.Richards, son of seven-time winner Jim Richards, has won Bathurst twice (1998-99) and rarely turns in a poor performance.Dumbrell meanwhile has been much improved in 2006 to be running 11th in the championship - just two places behind his Commmodore VZGreg Murphy & Cameron McConvilleAge: 34, 32Born: Hastings, NZ Melbourne, VICBathurst Starts: 13, 13Best result: 1st (1996, 1999, 2003-04) 2nd (1999)Rate a mention on reputation alone because their 2006 form is abysmal.McConville (21st) and Murphy (23rd) are ranked poorly in the series pointscore - high-speed crashes and mechanical failures plaguing their season.Sandown was the perfect example, falling from fourth to finish 22 laps down after power steering problems.But Murphy has a passion for Bathurst, winning it four times, and McConville is without doubt a talented driver who has yet to find a home at a strong team.If their Commodore lasts the distance, and that is a very big if, then they could win it. But smart money says it'll be an early day.FIRSTROCK HOME LOANSCar: No.17 Ford Falcon BASteven Johnson & Will DavisonAge: 32, 24Born: Brisbane, QLD Melbourne, VICBathurst Starts: 12, 2Best result: 4th (1997, 1999, 2000) 19th (2005)The genuine smokeys of the field. A very impressive fourth place at the Sandown 500 last month, hot on the heels of the podium finishers, puts the Ford drivers in the frame for mountain glory.Steven Johnson, son of V8 great Dick Johnson, and Will Davison have enjoyed relative success in 2006 - Johnson eighth in the series with consistency throughout the year.Davison doesn't have much experience at Bathurst, but is surrounded by an experienced team.Some concern over the Falcon's speed, but winning Bathurst isn't always about the fastest car.If they keep their noses clean, and stay out of trouble with the race stewards, they could be amongst the top five.HOLDEN RACING TEAMCar No.22 Holden Commodore VZJim Richards & Ryan BriscoeAge: 59, 24Born: New Zealand Sydney, NSWBathurst Starts: 34 0Best Result: 1st (1978-80, 1991, 1992, 1998, 2002) / Yet to race Master and apprentice.Seven-times Bathurst winner Richards, second only to legend Peter Brock (nine), and V8 rookie Briscoe.Until Sandown last month, Briscoe had never sat in a V8 Supercar.But he stunned everybody putting the HRT Commodore in provisional pole position in just his first qualifying session.Who would have then thought it'd be veteran Richards that ended their dream run with a minor crash on the opening lap of the race.Richards makes his 35th start here, although last year he never got on track as another rookie in James Courtney crashed out early.Like Courtney, Briscoe is raw, aggressive and fast.The former F1 test driver and Bathurst veteran just might be upset winners.AAP

The Holden Racing Team No.2 Commodore led the time sheets for the majority of the 135 minute split session, holding an advantage greater than half a second until the final flurry of quick laps when most teams bolted on new tyres.Tander had posted the fastest time of two minutes 08.9594 seconds, with Sandown 500 winner Jason Bright (CAT Ford Performance Racing) closing to be within less than one hundredth of a second behind Tander with a time of 2:08.9665.However in the final minute of the session Skaife jumped back behind the wheel and posted a scorching 2:08.1727 to extend HRT's lead back to almost a second.Toll HSV Dealer Team driver Todd Kelly was third quickest in 2:08.9803.Steven Johnson (First Rock Home Loans Falcon) fired into fourth place in the dying seconds with his 2:09.0053 lap.Steven Richards in the Jack Daniels Commodore also found late speed to move into fifth position with a 2:09.0613 - but he then crashed coming down Conrod Straight after the checkered flag.Ford's Craig Lowndes in the Betta Electrical Falcon posted a 2:09.3283 time to be sixth fastest today.Last year's Bathurst runner up Jason Richards had a terrible start to his event when co-driver Andrew Jones crashed their No.3 Tasman Commodore at the top of the mountain on his first lap of the session forcing their car to have repairs throughout the entire session.Another Holden driver Lee Holdsworth also had a lucky escape when his right tyre blew at 260km/h down Conrod straight and he lost control of his Commodore."I was just a passenger but managed to keep it off the wall," said Holdsworth."I was probably doing 260 (km/h) at the time, I was not going full pelt."AAP

Two-times Bathurst winner Richards walked away from a high speed crash at the end of the 135 minute practice session when he lost control of his No.7 Commodore coming down Conrod Straight and hit the wall.The crash caused extensive structural damage estimated at over $100,000 and the pit crew must rebuild the vehicle overnight for Richards to have any chance of qualifying.Richards had put himself into fifth position on the time sheets, but was almost a second behind the Holden Racing Team pair of Mark Skaife and Garth Tander who posted the two fastest times of the day.Richards remained optimistic the car would be ready for qualifying tomorrow."With a bit of luck we might be saved and make qualifying," said Richards."I'm pretty sure the right rear tyre blew and it turned hard left in the middle of the straight."I just closed my eyes and waited for the big hit."Holden driver Lee Holdsworth had an almost identical accident during the first half of practice, but he was luckier than Richards as his car missed the wall.Richards and co-driver Paul Dumbrell could switch to the team's other No.11 Commodore, but team owner Larry Perkins ruled it out - partly because his son Jack and fellow rookie Shane Price are racing the other entry.All teams had until late today to confirm driver entries, and Richards-Dumbrell could have been given the undamaged No.11 vehicle, but six-times Bathurst winner Perkins believes other drivers should not suffer because of Richards's error."I'm not inclined to switch," said Perkins."If that's your car, you live with it."We'll put in an all nighter and see if we can't make it to qualifying tomorrow."The late crash overshadowed a dominant start to the event by pre-race favourites Skaife and Tander in the No.2 HRT Commodore.They set the pace for the majority of the session and just when Jason Bright (CAT Ford Performance Racing Falcon) closed the gap to within one hundredth of a second, Skaife jumped back behind the wheel to extend their lead.Skaife's two minutes 08.1727 seconds lap was clearly ahead of Bright (2:08.9665) while Rick Kelly (Toll HSV Dealer Commodore) was third best in 2:08.9803.Steven Johnson (FirstRock Home Loans Falcon) was fourth in 2:09.0053, ahead of Richards (2:09.0613) and Ford's Craig Lowndes (Betta Electrical Falcon) who finished slightly off the pace in sixth with a time of 2:09.3283.Skaife said it's too early to declare HRT the fastest car on the mountain - even though co-driver Tander posted a slick 2:08.9594 on old tyres."It's only Thursday, lets not get too carried away by the gap. I'm sure everyone will close that gap," said Skaife."You can easily make up big chunks of time here."Third-placed Kelly suggested there was still plenty left in his Commodore."Everything is going to plan ... we are not trying to break records today."The V8s resume tomorrow with two half-hour practice sessions in the morning followed by qualifying from 2pm.AAP

Bright is the last Falcon driver to win at Bathurst, his victory in 1998 the only success Ford fans have tasted in over a decade.A breakthrough win with Mark Winterbottom in the CAT Ford Performance Racing Falcon at Sandown last month has only intensified the hopes of Ford fans and bosses that 2006 could be the year of the Blue Oval."There is pressure, but no more pressure than what we put on ourselves to do the best job possible and try and win," said Bright."Heading into the biggest race there's nothing better than being the team that won the last round."It'd just be so good to win it for Ford because it has been such a long time and pretty frustrating time for them."Winterbottom too welcomes the pressure and hype surrounding the FPR drivers.He is running third in the championship, a remarkable result considering it is his first season at the factory-backed team.However, he realises winning the endurance double is a difficult task and a feat not achieved since 1996 when Greg Murphy and Craig Lowndes won both Sandown and Bathurst for Holden."It's been quite a while, winning Sandown never guarantees you'll win here but it does give you confidence and a big factor to have at Bathurst is confidence," said Winterbottom."We're running on a high at the moment which is good."It's good to go into this round as one of the favourites and to have a chance to win."Bookmakers have listed Holden's Mark Skaife/Garth Tander ($3.50) as favourites, followed by Ford's Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup ($4.00), Holden's Rick Kelly/Todd Kelly ($5.50) and Bright/Winterbottom ($6.00).Winterbottom says the FPR Falcon is the most reliable of those top four contenders."Our reliability all year has been pretty much 100 per cent," he said."The quicker cars like (Lowndes and Skaife) have had a few little problems so if you look at the favourites this year there's four of us and we are probably the most reliable of the lot."That's good to have that on your side going into this race because it is a long race."AAP

Holden young gun Rick Kelly fired the first salvo at Ford by flaunting the past seven Bathurst victories by the Commodore at Mount Panorama.

Circuit: 6.213kmAverage speed: 151 km/hMaximum speed: 292 km/hFastest point: Conrod StraightSlowest point: Forest ElbowQualifying Lap record: Greg Murphy (Holden) 2mins:06.8594secsRacing Lap record: Garth Tander (Holden) 2:08.6726Race ScheduleThursday 10.40am - 1.10pm: Practice SessionFriday 9.20am - 9.50am: Practice Session 10.00am - 10.30am: Practice Session 2.00pm - 3.40pm: Qualifying SessionSaturday 10.00am - 11.00am: Practice Session 3.40pm - 4.25pm: Top 10 ShootoutSunday 7.10am - 7.30am: Warm Up 9.00am - 9.30am: Peter Brock Tribute 10.00am - 5.45pm: Race (161 laps)Recent Winners2005: Mark Skaife & Todd Kelly (Holden)2004: Greg Murphy & Rick Kelly (Holden)2003: Greg Murphy & Rick Kelly (Holden)2002: Mark Skaife & Jim Richards (Holden)2001: Mark Skaife & Tony Longhurst (Holden)2000: Garth Tander & Jason Bargwanna (Holden)1999: Greg Murphy & Steven Richards (Holden)1998: Jason Bright & Steven Richards (Ford)1997: Larry Perkins & Russell Ingall (Holden)1996: Craig Lowndes & Greg Murphy (Holden)Most wins9: Peter Brock7: Jim Richards6: Larry Perkins5: Mark Skaife4: Allan Moffatt, Greg MurphyAAP

Ford has not won at Bathurst since 1998 and have only tasted success twice in the past 15 years.Ford's poor record at Mount Panorama is not mirrored in the season-long championship where it has won the past three driver's and team titles.The sport's highest paid driver Craig Lowndes currently leads the championship for Ford with 2218 points, 27 ahead of Holden's Rick Kelly with another Falcon driver, Mark Winterbottom, third on 1983 points.But while championship success is coveted, nothing matches victory in the Bathurst 1000.Ford president Tom Gorman said it was time Falcon drivers delivered the title to the legions of Blue Oval fans."The one thing missing in our trophy cabinet is Bathurst," said Gorman."I don't think a day goes by when Bathurst is not brought up in some type of conversation, it means that much to everyone associated with Ford."A win for Ford would mean a lot. I know that we are in the middle of a championship hunt, but I know that all the Ford teams will attack to win the race. The championship is a secondary consideration right now."We have the talent and the teams to get us a win at Mount Panorama. However it's the one race where predictions are too hard to make."It would be a career, as well as a personal, highlight for me to win Bathurst."Lowndes and Winterbottom represent Ford's best chance at winning this weekend.It's been a decade since Lowndes won the big race, but with his Betta Electrical Falcon flying and teammate Jamie Whincup in top form he's never been more confident.Lowndes and Whincup have won four of eight rounds this season but victory on Sunday would be the sweetest of all."It has been 10 years since I won at Bathurst and personally I have never felt better prepared for this event," said Lowndes."Without a doubt this is the best driver pairing of my career, Jamie is doing a tremendous job this year and knows what is required to get on the podium at Bathurst."Winterbottom too is carrying outstanding form into the season's biggest race.He and high-profile teammate Jason Bright, Ford's last Bathurst winner in 1998, won the Sandown 500 last start and their CAT FPR Falcon is considered one of the fastest V8s on the grid."This is without any doubt my best chance to gain a Bathurst title and even though I am in the running for the championship, this won't be stopping Jason and I from fighting all the way to the finish line like we did at Sandown," said Winterbottom.Defending series champion Russell Ingall and Luke Youlden (Caltex Racing), James Courtney and Glenn Seton (Jeld-Wen Racing) plus Steven Johnson and Will Davison (First Rock Home Loans Racing) are considered the outside contenders for Ford.Bookmakers have installed Holden as pre-race favourites at $1.70 with Centrebet ahead of Ford at $2.05.Holden's defending champ Mark Skaife (with Garth Tander) is the early pre-race favourite at $3.50, with Lowndes and Whincup next best at $4.00.AAP

The 2005 champion has slumped to sixth in the V8 championship, nearly 500 points behind fellow Ford driver Craig Lowndes.A miserable 27th in the previous round - the Sandown 500 - when brake problems plagued the Caltex Falcon virtually eliminated Ingall from the championship chase.However his Stone Brothers Racing team put together a solid test session this week with veteran Glenn Seton and rookie James Courtney all swapping data over 280 laps."It was by far our best test day," Ingall said. "Mind you, considering it was our last allocated day of the year, we had to make it count."Now James is up to speed and his feedback is excellent we can get plenty of information from two race cars which gives us a short cut to getting the right set-up for Bathurst. We ran in total Bathurst configuration and some gains were made."I wish we had these sort of results at the start of the year because I'm sure the championship would look a lot different to what it does now. At least we are more confident we are going to have a fast car to attack the mountain."

The ultra-green machine has a 2.8-litre, twin-turbocharged engine based on the GM global V6 made in Australia. However, the engine in the Aero X has been developed by Swedish engineers to run on bio-ethanol.Saab says the bio-ethanol engine does not increase greenhouse-gas levels because its CO2 emissions are balanced by the amount of CO2 that is removed from the atmosphere when crops for conversion to bio-ethanol are grown.It has 298kW of power, 500Nm of torque with a seven-speed double-clutch manual gearbox in a lightweight carbon-fibre body.Saab says it is theoretically capable of 0-100km/h in less than five seconds.Several new concept cars are expected to debut at the show along with key new production models, including the all-new Toyota Aurion, the Ford BF II Falcon and Holden's new Captiva 4WD.For details, go to australianmotorshow.com

Car sales overall fell 5.2 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with large cars recording the biggest slump, followed by declines for medium and large sports utility vehicles.About 5000 Commodores were sold, 2600 of which were the new VE model, which went on sale on August 14.The demand helped Holden reclaim the top sales spot from the Toyota Corolla, however Toyota's new model Camry outsold the Commodore, shifting about 2700 units in the month.Both new versions went on sale halfway through the month.Despite the success, sales of large cars continue to languish, with last month's 27 per cent fall year-on-year leaving the sector accounting for just 14 per cent of all vehicle sales, down from 17.5 per cent last year.Holden spokesman Jason Laird was cautious about the VE figures. "It's a promising start but too early to be drawing any sort of conclusion," he said, adding that sales were "pointing in the right direction"."Dealers are filling their inventories and we're getting close to our production rate of 620 a day," Mr Laird said.There were 3700 Ford Falcons sold, down from 5800 last August, a fall of 20 per cent. Just over 1000 Mitsubishi 380s were sold, less than the company's prediction of 1500 a month when it changed the price in April.But the new four-cylinder Toyota Camry has started strongly, with its 3023 sales in August representing a 45 per cent increase on August last year."The enthusiastic reception for the Holden Commodore and Toyota Camry is a great encouragement to the local automotive industry," Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Peter Sturrock said.The FCAI's official figures showed 81,661 new cars were sold last month, compared with 86,177 in August last year.Sales were down 3.4 per cent so far this year, with 642,383 vehicles sold. The FCAI said the market remained on track for 980,000 sales this year.The VE Commodore began recouping its $1 billion investment by reclaiming top spot after two consecutive wins by the Toyota Corolla.Despite the new model, 630 fewer Commodores were sold than in August last year and Toyota remained the top-selling maker - with its 18,585 August sales giving it a 21.8 per cent market share, ahead of Holden on 11,819 and Ford on 10,323.The figures came as it was suggested a decision on the future of Adelaide car-maker Mitsubishi could come as early as next month.John Camillo, South Australian secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, said Mitsubishi's Japanese parent company told its Australian subsidiary last October as it launched its make-or-break 380 model that it had 12 months to break even."Therefore, in October and November this year my understanding is that Mitsubishi Japan will have to make some sort of announcement," Mr Camillo said. "It really depends now on Mitsubishi Japan, whether they continue or don't."