Motorsports

It meant we had to rebuild the Colorado and it allowed us to go right over the car. That it highlighted the areas we needed to work on. The result was we had a bulletproof car and won the rally in our first attempt, leading all the way from day three.I'm going back to Perth next month to defend my title and last weekend was my first test in the new Colorado rally car. We headed down to a cotton property at Moree and I'm happy to say there were no crashes. We now have a two-car team with former V8 Supercar driver Paul Weel in my Colorado while I'm in the new one with Paul's dad, Kees.The cars are very similar but the new Colorado has some minor adjustments to suspension which makes it nicer to drive over high-frequency bumps and big hits like coming off a rut or big mound. Over 160km/h the new car is quite nice and settled. The original car will now get an upgrade so they are the same.We did about 300km of testing all up and encountered no mechanical problems all weekend. The owner of the property carved out some tracks that had us on similar terrain to what we will encounter in the West Australian rally.Speaking of the west I've been over there this week for a tool show which, as a qualified mechanic, is quite interesting. In the Safari, I have to do a lot of the work myself, so I always like to stay handy and up to date with the latest gear.I've been doing a lot of testing in the past week with a day at Queensland Raceway last week before the round there next weekend. However, instead of just working on set-up for the sprint round, we were more interested as a team in focusing on the coming enduro rounds.We gave plenty of seat time to Mark Skaife who will again partner me and Andrew Thompson who will partner my teammate Jamie Whincup. As usual Skaifey was totally committed and gave us some great feedback on car set-up and turned in some handy laps. He's getting quite comfortable in the car now and is far better prepared than he was this time last year. Skaifey wasn't far off my pace yet he was on hard tyres while I was on softs, so you can just see how close we're getting.This is probably Skaifey's last Bathurst as he is now chairman-elect of the new V8 Supercar Commission which doesn't allow active drivers to be involved. It's in the back of my mind that this will be his last opportunity to race at Phillip Island and Bathurst, so I would love to go out on a high with him and finish his race career on the best result possible - a double victory. It's too far away to start talking about who will replace him next year, but I have been mindful about who is out there to replace him.

From now on the 40 year-old Scot will be active as a discussion partner during customer and press events, and also support the AMG development team in their test driving activities.The first tangible result of the cooperation between David Coulthard and AMG is the marketing campaign for the new E 63 AMG, where the DTM racing driver demonstrates the qualities of this high-performance saloon both in racing attire and in a business outfit."I have been a member of the Mercedes-Benz family since 1996, and now I am also joining AMG as an exciting high-performance brand," Coulthard said."This is without doubt the perfect complement to my job as a DTM driver, where I already drive an AMG C-Class of course."

... during an official test day for the next round at Queensland Raceway in two weeks. Crusty Demon Matt Schubring from nearby Boonah helped promote the Ipswich event with a spectacular somersault jump over the Kiwi race driver and his Stone Brothers Racing team truck. Van Gisbergen, who is third in the championship, watched the stunt from the top of the truck and commented: "That's pretty cool.'' The quietly spoken driver owns a similar KTM bike, but says he rarely uses it despite many V8 Supercar drivers, such as Russell Ingall and Craig Lowndes, augmenting their training with motocross and trail riding. "I'm too young for that,'' the 22-year-old joked, referring to veteran drivers Lowndes and Ingall. "I'd rather go around the track, anyway.'' Surprisingly, 29-year-old Schubring says he's getting too old for the extreme sport. "The peak for this sport is about 22,'' he says. However, yesterday's stunt was a breeze for the extreme games expert who practices similar jumps almost daily on his property. While the famous American Crusty Demon stunt bike team is taking a year off touring, Schubring is busying himself opening the Wyaralong trail riding facility near his home town. He is also coaching riders in Perth, travelling Australia to shot a video of his stunts and will show his skills at the Ipswich V8 round from August 19-21 and at the Brisbane Exhibition.

Like all race drivers, I love speed and I suppose flying is the ultimate thrill. So during this long mid-season break I've been taking flying lessons at the Caboolture Airport just near home in Kilcoy and I'm loving it. So far I've only done about eight lessons and have about six hours of flying time with an instructor. I still need a fair few more hours before I go solo. It's one of those things where you sort of look for another way to have a thrill away from the racetrack and there are a lot of racing drivers that have plane and chopper licences. Just in the V8 paddock I can think of Greg Murphy and the Kelly brothers who have plane licences and Paul Dumbrell can fly a chopper. I was put on to it by my mate Neil Crompton who says it's a great way to leave behind the hustle and bustle of life. I'm not really sure what I'll do with it when I get my licence. I don't think I'll be putting a landing strip on my property because it's too hilly, plus there is a lot of expense in upkeep. Maybe there will be the occasional opportunity to fly to some of the V8 rounds or even to work it into my sponsorship commitments. So instead of a hot lap of the track I might give sponsors a hot lap of the sky. The thrill of flying a plane is much like driving a race car. You need to have total concentration, get your speeds right, monitor your instruments and listen to instructions on the radio communications. While I do everything naturally in a V8 race car, I'm still having to consciously think about it in the plane, so it's still a long way to go before I feel comfortable. I'd love to buy a plane, but I'm not really sure what to buy, where I would keep it and what the running costs are. Meanwhile, my other priority during the break between the Townsville round last month and the Ipswich round in two weeks has been preparation to defend our debut win in the Australasian Safari in September. This weekend we are heading down to Moree for a shakedown of our two Colorados. Last year I drove with Kees Weel and he's back with me again this year in a new Colorado. Our Colorado from last year will be driven by Kees's son, Paul, who used to race V8s until his big crash at Bathurst in 2008. We want to go to the Safari this year with the strongest possible combination and hopefully score a one-two finish. Paul has competed before and has been fast enough to be leading but hasn't been able to keep it together to the finishing line. Our new car is a carbon copy of the old one, so it should be easy to get used to it. Hopefully my first outing in the new car this weekend won't turn out the same as my first run in the car last year. If I think back I was doing pretty well until I rolled the car on to its roof just before lunchtime on the first day. It's going to be a fantastic Safari this year with even more international stars coming along such as three-time Dakar winner Cyril Despres from France. I'd love to be able to see him in action on the bike. Talking of internationals, this year we have open-wheel ace Sebastien Bourdais on the Triple 8 team for the Gold Coast 600. He's won in the Indy cars at Surfers Paradise before and he did a good job in the V8 races for DJR last year. Our chief engineer, Adrian Burgess, knows Seb from England and speaks very highly of him. However, Adrian wants Seb to drive with Jamie (Whincup) and leave world touring car champion Andy Priaulx and me together in the 888 car as our seating is pretty comparable. It's going to be another great Cold Coast race and I'd love to say I'm looking forward to seeing Simple Minds play, but like all the major acts that have played at street circuits - Guns and Roses, Powderfinger, Cold Chisel and the Beach Boys - I won't get a chance to see them. We're always too busy on the Saturday night. Hopefully they will be loud enough so we can hear them from the pits.

European sources point to 410kW at least and the picture shows wider guards, air intakes in the rear guards to cool the intercoolers and a new type of integrated exhaust system in the rear.

If that is the case, then I will be very sad, because he is still a very talented driver and I have enjoyed working with him these past couple of years.The reason he may have to hang up his helmet is that he is now chairman-elect of the new V8 Supercar commission which doesn't allow active drivers to be involved. Skaifey would take up his new two-year role after the Bathurst 1000 in October, so he could still race at Bathurst again in 2014, but it would be awfully difficult after two years with no racing experience.As we contemplate the sad end to a stellar career of an accomplished veteran, I'm also pretty excited about the calibre of young drivers coming through our category. It is important for our credibility that the young guns are competitive.James Moffat was a welcome addition to the top 10 in Townsville. Allan's son is doing a fantastic job in his first time as full timer in the A game. It's a huge learning curve, but we all had to start some time. His ability definitely means he deserves another year in the top level.Dave Reynolds is also doing extremely well, having qualified third on the Sunday race at Townsville. He's developing into a great young driver with potential and talent. Tim Slade is another great racer. He got turned around but came back through the field in Townsville, which shows a lot of maturity. And Triple 8's Andrew Thompson has shown a lot of maturity in the development series after being in the main game last year.Last week I promised I would explain some of the technical terms in motor racing during the long mid-season break. This week we'll look at trim switches and team orders.Trim switches allow the driver to "trim" how much fuel is injected into the engine. It's a four-position switch, and teams can alter what percentage of fuel each position takes out or puts in. Depending on how lean the teams want to run the engine, they can pull out up to a maximum of 20 per cent of the fuel. However, this risks heating up the pistons and possibly melting them.Often teams ask their drivers to run the leaner settings when they drive out to the grid, under safety car and generally any time where they aren't using full throttle and high revs. Teams can gamble to pit early under a safety car where they normally wouldn't be able to make it to the end of the race, switch to the leanest setting and try to make it to the end like james Courtney did in Abu Dhabi this year.Team orders haven't been visible in V8 Supercars, as most teams have a clear number one and a number two driver who know their position in the team.It's against the V8 Supercar rules for a team to tell a driver to move out the way for his team mate. But this doesn't stop team orders happening. It just means teams have to do it covertly.In our team, we're both fighting for the championship, so our sponsors, fans and even ourselves wouldn't be happy if we drove by team orders. Fans want to see fair racing and no one manipulating the result.

…to celebrate 50 years of Touring Car in the Shannons Lakeside Classic Speed Fest from 12-14 August.Allan Moffat's Iconic 1969 Trans Am Boss Mustang and Norm Beechey's famous 1970 Championship-winning HT GTS 350 Monaro will be coming from the Bowden Collection to be seen and heard at the meeting, while the late `Pete' Geoghegan's GTA Mustang that took the Touring Car crown three years running from 1967-1969 is also expected to put in a special appearance.

Gover has published Skaife as ‘the best’ in his first book – V8 Legends, Australia’s all-time top 40 race drivers.Amongst the top 40, Gover selected his personal top 10, with six-times Bathurst winner Skaife heading the field ahead of John Bowe, Ian Geoghegan, Marcos Ambrose, Jim Richards, Peter Brock, Allan Moffat, Craig Lowndes, Allan Grice and Frank Gardner.The selection of Skaife as the best in the eyes of Australia’s leading automotive writer comes at a crucial time in Skaife’s driving career. After retiring from full-time competition in 2008, Skaife won the Phillip Island and Bathurst endurance races last year with Craig Lowndes, but his acceptance of the role as Chief Commissioner on V8 Supercars newly-formed commission has thrown his driving future up in the air.Skaife will drive with Lowndes in the endurance races again this year – and it could be his last.Gover says that Skaife overcoming Craig Lowndes during the 2000 V8 Supercars Championship was a key reason behind his top selection.“One of the reasons why I put Skaife in as number one was that when he turned up at the Holden Racing Team, Lowndes was king there and he managed to pull his pants down,” Gover explained to Speedcafe.com.“If you look at history, not too much after that, Lowndes jumped the fence and went to Ford.”Gover is regarded as Australia’s leading automotive journalist with his work published in News Limited publications Australia-wide.V8 Legends is published by HarperCollins Publishers Australia and will be available at ABC Shops or the Pitstop Bookshop from July 27.Who’s your idea of Australia’s top driver? Leave a comment.  

…after his title defence has unravelled spectacularly this year. At the half-way point he is running in a lowly 19th position, despite a promising start to the year with a win at the first round in Abu Dhabi. But the champion does not regret his decision to switch from the Gold Coast-based Dick Johnson Racing to the Melbourne-based Holden Racing Team, even though he continues to live on the Coast. "There is no question that I've made the right decision," he says. "We've had four wins as a team and a few failures, but I always knew it was going to be hard changing teams and personnel. "This is a building year for us. In the second half of the season we're just going to go for it. "Bathurst is my main focus now." Courtney teams with veteran Cam McConville for the endurance races at Phillip Island in September and Bathurst in October. "The enduros will be a good time for us," Courtney says. "We can take a few more risks with strategy than the other teams." Courtney says he also wants to score some good results at premiere events such as the Gold Coast and Sydney which attract more attention. "We're heading in the right direction, team morale is getting better and better and we're developing the car at a rapid rate," he said.

Despite more than a decade since five-times world 500cc motorcycle champion Doohan competed - except for a few tarmac rally car events - the Gold Coast retiree showed a turn of speed in a V8 Supercar yesterday at Queensland Raceway. The stop watches weren't in action, but current series champion James Courtney observed, "He's not shy, is he?" "He's really going for it," he said. Courtney took Doohan for a couple of sighting laps in the HRT drive-day car around the paperclip circuit which included an unintended 360-degree spin at turn two. "I was showing him my braking markers and he was saying I think I can get to those," Courtney says. Then it was the motorcycle ace's turn to drive solo. Doohan declared his short stints "good fun". "The brakes seem quite good, although they lock up pretty easy," he says. "I locked them a few times testing to see how deep I could go into a corner." Courtney said Doohan's fused right ankle from his many motorcycle crashes made it difficult for him to modulate the brake pedal. Doohan's laps included a couple of spins and backing it into the gravel trap at turn six, but it was better than his Formula One test for Williams in 1983 when he crashed into a guard rail at Catalunya, in Spain. The ex-champ flew his chopper in to the Ipswich circuit yesterday, had two short stints in the car, then flew home a couple of hours later. His parting thoughts were less about the V8 experience and more about the current MotoGP season which Australian Casey Stoner is leading for Doohan's old factory Honda team. "He's definitely the one to beat and he seems to understand now that he only needs to keep scoring points and avoid DNFs (did not finish) like he had earlier in the season," Doohan said. He also predicted that the poor MotoGP grid would pick up in the next few years, tipping that "BMW and a couple of others" would join the series.