Motorsports

Multiple world, American and Australian supercross champion Chad Reed flew back to the US on Sunday morning to negotiate a deal for next season. Reed missed Saturday’s second round of the Super X season in Canberra and is likely to miss at least next weekend’s round while he sorts out a deal.  Spokesman Matt Cousins said Reed would hold negotiations this week with Honda and Yamaha. "He’s sorting out the best ride and trying to decide in his mind which bike and team package is the best for him," Cousins said.  However, negotiations could be difficult with tough economic times forcing some riders to offer their services for free. Reed raced a Honda to victory in the first round of the Super X in front of a home crowd at Newcastle, but Cousins said that was a "one-off deal". "Basically it depends on what deal he gets overseas whether he races again in the series and on what bike," he said.  "He couldn’t commit to any more rounds. If he is seen on a Honda too often, Yamaha might not want him."He may not complete in the (Super X) series, but he really wants to.  His heart is in it and has a vested interest in making it work." Reed, who is fifth on the Business Review Weekly's sport star rich list and the second-highest placed motorsport star by F1 star Mark Webber, has invested heavily in the fledgling series he has won the past two years.  The second round in Canberra on Saturday was an all-American affair with US imports Kevin Windham, Josh Hansen and Justin Brayton claiming first, second and third. The series heads to Launceston for the third round next weekend.

AUSTRALIA'S most successful Dakar competitor will return in January for his third tilt at the world's most gruelling rally.  Sydney's Bruce Garland and Harry Suzuki will drive their new Isuzu D-Max which had its first run in last month's Australasian Safari where they finished third.  The team failed to finish last year's South American Dakar Rally, but scored an 11th the previous year with a class first.  "Because we've competed before, our entry had been accepted but the final deadline to confirm or withdraw has arrived and we've decided to bite the bullet and go," Garland said.  Their three-litre, 192kW/630Nm D-Max will be loaded on a ship for Buenos Aires on October 28 along with all the tools and spare parts needed for the 9000km event and the team will fly out in late December. MARCOS Ambrose overcame a spin and pit lane penalty to finish 16th at Charlotte Motor Speedway, North Carolina, at the weekend. It was the Australian's best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series result at the venue and is now in 26th in the standings after 31 of 36 events.The race was won by Jamie McMurray (Chevrolet), followed by Kyle Busch (Toyota) and Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) who extends his lead to 41 points from Denny Hamlin (Toyota) in the Chase.CHAD Reed has rebounded from his US season-crippling illness in emphatic style to win both races in the Super X opener in Newcastle at the weekend in front of a home crowd of 12,500. US supercross imports Josh Hansen and Justin Brayton claimed the other podium spots. "2010 has been a tough year for me, but I had a blast riding tonight," says Reed who was forced out of defending his US motocross title this year. Brisbane Honda rider Dan Reardon grabbed the first holeshot and finished third in both races while 12-time national champion Craig Anderson claimed the second holeshot. The next round is in Canberra this weekend. American supercross rider, Ryan Villopoto, has withdrawn from the Sydney and Brisbane Super X events as he is still recovering from leg injuries.BMW is making a comeback to the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) in 2012 after leaving the series in 1994. The German company will campaign an M3 "high performance vehicle concept". BMW board member Klaus Draeger says the company is "returning to its roots". Motorsport director Mario Theissen says they began making technical preparations following their declaration of intent to return to DTM in April. There has been no announcement about drivers.SAAB and Audi go head to head in the final of the Sports Sedan Series at Sandown Raceway this weekend. Former kart racer and series newcomer James Sera (Saab) holds a slim lead over Darren Hossack (Audi) who won the Sports Sedan title and Superkart crown in 2008. "You can't count your chickens before they hatch, the plan of attack is to go out there, get some good finishes, and wrap up the title," says Sera.FIFTEEN years after the Perkins/Ingall combination claimed a sensational last-to-first victory at Bathurst, the names will be reunited at the Gold Coast 600 this weekend. Jack Perkins, the son of six-time Bathurst winner Larry, will drive with former Gold Coast event winner Russell Ingall in their Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore. "I owe a lot to Larry; he was the one who gave me my real start in V8 Supercars after I came back from Europe," says Ingall. "I've known Jack since he was this pesky little kid running around Larry's workshop, so I never thought that one day we'd be sharing a drive in a V8 Supercar."THE Formula Ford championship will continue next year with Ford Motor Company of Australia pledging its support. However the name will be changed to Ford Fiesta Cup. Ford Motorsport boss Christopher Styring says the name aligns the category more closely with the Ford Fiesta road car, which uses the same engine as the series. Formula Ford around the world has been the training series for world-class drivers and in Australia has bred racers such as F1 driver Mark Webber and V8 Supercar drivers James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom. THE Formula Ford championship will continue next year with Ford Motor Company of Australia pledging its support. However the name will be changed to Ford Fiesta Cup. Ford Motorsport boss Christopher Styring says the name aligns the category more closely with the Ford Fiesta road car, which uses the same engine as the series. Formula Ford around the world has been the training series for world-class drivers and in Australia has bred racers such as F1 driver Mark Webber and V8 Supercar drivers James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom.

... and include former Formula One stars such as Martin Brundle, Jean Alesi and David Coulthard.V8 Supercars Australia boss Tony Cochrane said there was a possibility that all cars in the field could have an international driver next year if the formula proves a success this weekend. The 18 international drivers gathered at Queensland Raceway yesterday for a "Rookies Day" of familiarisation with the cars they will race at Surfers Paradise this weekend. Only half of the drivers have raced a V8 Supercar before."If ticket sales are anything to go by, it will be a success," Cochrane said. "Sales are up on last year. We're on target for 150,000 to 175,000 people this weekend. When we took over the event we had a three-year plan to get it back to its former glory. The previous promoter did a poor job really."After the IndyCars withdrew from the event in 2008, the promoters replaced them with the A1GP series, but it went bankrupt last year and V8 Supercars Australia took over the event.In February the new promoters suggested adding international co-drivers to ensure Queensland Government funding of $6.5m.Sport Minister Phil Reeves said the government had a contract with V8 Supercars Australia and it was "up to them" how they spent the money."This event will go on to bigger and better things," he said. "We're going to have to look at the (ticket) numbers over the weekend and whether we'll have something to do with it in the future."He said the event was important for the economy and accommodation bookings were going "really well".Cochrane described the line-up of international drivers as "arguably the best line-up of drivers in any touring car race in the world"."This is a ripper of a formula," he said. "But it's expensive. Our budget for the weekend is north of $16m."He wouldn't say how much they had paid for the drivers."These are the best drivers in the world," he said. "We rang around quietly at first to gauge interest and were blown away with the level of enthusiasm. Next year this event falls between the Korean and Indian F1 GPs so we could have former F1 drivers such as Jean Alessi, David Coulthard and Martin Brundle. It is realistic to see those names next year if we have an international driver in every car in the field. We've had a lot of drivers in the last two weeks asking if there is a last-minute drop-out."Three-time world touring car champion Andy Priaulx of the UK, who will co-drive with reigning Bathurst  champion Craig Lowndes, agrees that the standard of international drivers is high."Everyone in motorsport overseas knows about Bathurst and the drivers go back with a high opinion of the drivers, the cars and the teams," he said. "It's always a pleasure to come here and drive. The positive spin we can bring from competing here is with the foreign media. I'd love to come back again next year."Priaulx admitted that few Australian motorsport fans would know who he was."Hopefully being partnered with Craig, they will like me."Marino Franchitti, brother of IndyCar champion Dario who is co-driving with championship leader James Courtney, isn't racing but hopes to compete next year."James Courtney is my best mate and I was his best man at his wedding and he told me to bring my race suit, just in case," he said. "It's a big race with all the international drivers, but I think they could have filled up double the cars with the number of drivers who wanted to do it. It's such a great idea and it will get bigger and bigger every year."

The five-time Bathurst winner toured the circuit in his Holden Statesman before the road is closed to the public today, setting a time of three minutes, 25 seconds amid the tourist traffic, red lights and construction workers."We used to do about one minute 52 seconds around here on the longer track, but I reckon this shorter circuit will shave about 40 seconds off the time so the fans will see the cars go by more often," the reigning Bathurst champion said.The circuit was revised from 4.47km to 2.8km to reduce the construction and dismantling time by five weeks and lessen the impact on residents.  Lowndes surveyed the circuit and noticed several changes such as resurfacing and widening of the track which he said would make it better for the drivers."They appear to have widened the main straight by pushing the concrete barriers back which will make the approach to the first chicane straighter allowing passing under brakes," he said.The second chicane has been replaced by a hairpin, first-gear left, followed by a short straight and a left kink on to the beach straight."On the exit of the new turn two they've opened it up so you can pass by lunging under brakes and then doing a switchback coming out of the corner," he said.Lowndes approved of the resurfacing in several areas of the track including the main straight, the northern corners and the new southern section."They appear to have laid thicker bitumen patches where the load-bearing tyre will be, so the grip will be better and the track shouldn't break up as easily," he said.  Although the track has been shortened, Lowndes said the top speed of 260km/h on the main straight would remain.Team Vodafone has given its drivers a head start on the new track by preparing a computer simulator.  Jeromy Moore, race engineer for Lowndes, said the drivers would practise on the simulator and walk the track today to familiarise themselves with the new corners before they drive the circuit.   

David Beckham kicked Kylie Minogue off top spot in the latest quarterly results from Millward Brown, a research company with 35 years experience in the UK.The results rank celebrities according to their 'star power', assessing everything from their buzz to how they score as a role model and their likeability.Stephen Fry is now the most-likeable celebrity with veteran actresses Joanna Lumley, Judi Dench and Helen Mirron rated as the most-positive role models, with Amy Winehouse, Katie Price and Ashley Cole as the most negative.Results of the rankings are compiled from 2000 consumer interviews about 100 celebrities and 100 brands.The UK celebrity top 10 are (previous ranking in brackets)1) David Beckham (3)2) Ant & Dec (4)3) Kylie Minogue (1)4) Will Smith (20)5) Lewis Hamilton (14)6) Judi Dench (12)7) Joanna Lumley (5)8) Cheryl Cole (2)9) Jamie Oliver (7)10)Gary Lineker (n/a)

It’s a stunning, almost art deco, four-seater powered by what is basically a full-tilt Le Mans race engine.  The 5.5-litre 100-degree V12 HDI DPFS (for diesel particulate filter system) engine is, in itself, a work of art.And a racetrack-proven one at that.  The twin turbocharged diesel engine makes more than 515kW and more than 1200Nm – a staggering amount of torque. It’s packaged pretty cleverly too.  It’s behind the cabin, although mid-mounted in relation to the wheelbase, and transverse. Not only that, but the compact six-speed sequential transmission is located underneath the engine. This positioning allows a high-capacity boot to sit behind the final drive assembly.The 908 RC sits on a combination of 20-spoke wheels measuring 20 inches in diameter at the front and 21 at the rear. The feline impression of the car overall is enhanced by the trademark Peugeot badge (a lion, naturally), while the designers drew inspiration from the big cats in the sculpting of the bonnet and the stance of the car overall.The glazed surface area is massive. It measures three square metres in an effort to blur the boundary between inside and out. The huge front screen allows an unimpeded field of vision forward, as in the RC concept cars, as it stretches back behind the driver’s head.Inside, a large MMI (Man/Machine Interface) facilitates the control of all secondary functions – radio, MP3 player, sat-nav, climate control etc.The 908 RC is built on a pre-impregnated carbon composite and vacuum-polymerised honeycomb platform. This brain-bending material minimizes weight while maximizing strength, while at the rear there’s a self-supporting shell with a tubular sub-frame to house the engine, transmission and suspension.Front and rear suspension are drop-link, double wishbone type derived from the 407, while the brakes are based around four monobloc ceramic carbon composite rotors to cut weight and boost high-temperature endurance. The 20- and 21-inch wheels are shod with Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 255/35 and 285/30 tyres respectively.The 908 RC takes airflow very seriously. A split front air intake ducts cooling air to each of the car’s two radiators. It also improves aerodynamic performance via an inbuilt venting system.The engine’s air inlet vents are located in the rear quarter panels, while cooling air for the twin turbo-intercoolers is drawn from the rear wheel arches, and subsequently ejected from vents behind the wheel arches.

AUSTRALIAN racer Daniel Ricciardo has been pipped by two points for the World Series by Renault title in Europe after a thrilling wet final race in Spain at the weekend. The Perth 21-year-old withstood the pressure from Russian rival Mikhail Aleshin for almost three quarters of an hour in torrential rain at Barcelona's Catalunya circuit. However, as Ricciardo struggled for grip in the closing stages Aleshin passed three laps from the chequered flag to finish third in the race and end the season with 138 points to the Australian's 136. They started the 17th race of the championship equal on 128 points after Ricciardo's victory in Saturday's penultimate race. Argentinian Esteban Guerrieri won the finale, his sixth victory of the year, ahead of Ricciardo's French teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne. Ricciardo, the reserve driver for the Formula One world championship-leading Red Bull Racing team, won four races and Aleshin three. Ricciardo was the top rookie, coming close to emulating the 2005 feat of Poland's F1 driver Robert Kubica in winning the World Series by Renault in his first season. GOLD Coast father and son Tony and Klark Quinn blitzed the field in the Australian GT Championship races at Bathurst at the weekend. Quinn qualified on pole and won both races and scored the fastest race lap (2:11.9943) in his Aston Martin while son, Klark, finished both races in second position in his Mosler. The victories were a satisfying result for Quinn after the disappointment of an early retirement with mechanical problems from the recent Australasian Safari. AUSTRALIAN rally driver Molly Taylor has scored a chance to break into WRC. She is the only female selected for the shootout for next October's FIA WRC Academy at the Spain WRC round. The 2009 British ladies rally champion and two-time Australian Rally F16 Champion is an AMSF International Rising Star. The rally shootout selects 18 young rally crews but only six will be part of the 2011 WRC Academy. "This is my biggest chance for an entry into World Championship competition," Taylor says. DAVID Russell scored his biggest career victory in taking out the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series' fifth round at Bathurst at the weekend. Russell, 28, of Casino, won both races in his Team Jayco Falcon despite having his driver's door ripped off in a mountain-top accident. He also partnered Jonathon Webb to 19th in the Bathurst 1000. James Moffat (Norton 360 Ford Rising Stars Racing) and Nick Percat (Bundaberg Red Racing) completed the Fujitsu podium. Steve Owen still leads the series by a slightly reduced margin, 175 points, from Percat, Tim Blanchard and Russell. The next round is on November 19-21 at Sandown. THE 20 millionth fan in 14 years of V8 Supercar racing walked through the gate at Bathurst at the weekend. Holden fan Anthony Hanlon, of Sydney, and his daughter, Jordyn, were greeted by Channel Sevens' Tom Williams and awarded prizes as they walked through the gates. Hanlon has been to the Bathurst 1000 at least 13 times. V8 Supercars Australia chairman Tony Cochrane said the sport was "in the best shape of its history". "We are completely debt free, growth is continuing in all areas and our fan base is bigger than it has ever been." More than 1.7 million people attended V8 Supercar events in 2009 compared with 900,000 in 1997. An average of more than 100,000 people attended each of the 14 events in 2009. KOREAN car manufacturer Hyundai has denied they are interested in joining the V8 Supercar series. The Car of the Future project that reduces car building and running costs was expected to attract other manufacturers to the series. However, Hyundai Motor Company Australia says they are "not interested". "We are not going to be competing in V8 supercars at this point," says senior product communications manager Ben Hershman. "There has been a lot of media speculation about us, but we have not attended any meetings at all with V8 Supercars and have n o plans to be involved for the foreseeable future." A DAD'S army of veteran racers will return to the streets of Surfers Paradise for the V8 Supercars Gold Coast 600 next weekend. (October 22-24) Legendary racers such as Dick Johnson, his Bathurst co-driver John French, "Big Rev" Kev Bartlett and "newcomers" Allan Moffat and Tony Longhurst will drive demonstration laps between races. V8 Supercars Australia boss Tony Cochrane said the veteran racers were brought in at the 11th hour last year to help salvage the event after the A1GP pulled out, but were returning this year because they had proved popular with the crowd. Other famous racing cars in the Australian Legends category include Moffat's Mustang, Longhurst's Ford Sierra turbo, and the Bathurst-winning Nissan GT-R of Jim Richards. MARCOS Ambrose suffered two spins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi Max 400 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, last weekend. The spins caused flat tyres and relegated the Australian, who started from the outside of the 13th row, to a 33rd finish and is 26th in the series. The race was won by Tony Stewart from Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson who continues to lead the Chase in his Chevy with 5673 points, 40 clear of Denny Hamlin in a Toyota. SPARE cars will be wheeled out for the Walkinshaw Racing teams at the Gold Coast 600 next weekend after a punishing Bathurst weekend. Fabian Coulthard's Bundaberg Red Racing car was spectacularly destroyed in the first lap, while Will Davison badly damaged his Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore eight laps from the finish when he hit a wall on the mountain. The drivers will revert to VE chassis they have driven earlier this season. CHAD Reed has ended speculation about his bike for the coming SuperX season, announcing he will ride for Honda. The multiple world and American champion parted with the Kawasaki team at the end of this year's American motocross season. The 28-year-old will ride the TeamVodafone Honda in the first round of the season this weekend at his home town of Newcastle. Reed was struck down with illness this year, but says he is fit enough to defend his Australian title which he won the past two years.

Snapping Holden veteran Greg Murphy's seven year record of 2mins 6secs 85mil with a blistering 2mins 6secs 80mil, the Team Vodafone superstar is the new and undisputed king of the mountain. The four time Bathurst 1000 champion said he knew from the first corner heading onto mountain straight the record was within reach. "It's great, " a clearly elated Lowndes said.  "I knew it was special most of the way around. I was looking at the splits coming out of every turn.  It was a good clean lap. We had good split times and I felt it grip really early. The Holden driver said his remarkable charge at the top of the mountain and descent through the esses was the key to the greatest lap the mountain track has seen. But the elation could be short lived with experts declaring the new record could easily be broken in this afternoon's first qualifying session in Bathurst. "There wasn't a lot left behind, " he said.  "Is there any chance we can go faster? You always say yes. I just hope it lasts the hour." Experts including Ford legend John Bowe said the record will be snapped again this afternoon as the drivers get more accustomed to the track. At the end of the first quarter of the lap, Lowndes said he was well behind former record holder Murphy, but was ahead by more than half a second when he entered Conrod straight. It was a drama charged fifth practice session for Team Vodafone with Lowndes' teammate and reigning V8 Supercars champion Jamie Whincup crashing out on the top of the mountain and is currently in a battle to have the car ready for this afternoon's first qualifying session.

Richards' Nissan GT-R had just crashed heavily on the circuit after aquaplaning into the barriers after an incredible deluge washed over the track.  He had been leading at the team and while the fans expected the race to continue with his car out of the race, the officials thought otherwise and ended the race as of one lap earlier declaring Richards and teammate Mark Skaife the victors.All perfectly acceptable under the rules but the crowd at the victory dais, particularly Ford fans who realised that their folk hero Dick Johnson would be leading if the race was re-started, booed the victorious Nissan team.To which Richards wrote himself into Bathurst folklore with his famous utterance to the fans: "You're a pack of arseholes."  It's fair to say that not a lot of people at the track or watching the telecast from the drier surrounds of their lounge room wanted the then all-conquering Nissans to beat the Fords and Commodores of the day.But then-teenager Bobby Atanasovski and a few others were greatly impressed by what they saw from the Nissan GT-R supercar of the day."I've been a fan of them since I was very young," Atanasovski says.He says he was only about 13 or 14 when he watched the famous 1992 race on TV, and the Nissan win the year before, and was seriously impressed by the car's performance.  He's owned a few Nissans since but three years ago he came across a special version.  "This one was the dream one," he says.  "I found it at a dealership here. They had no idea what they had."The car dealer in Sydney thought it was a clean example of an early GT-R R32 but in actual fact it is one of only 228 special edition models built in Japan in 1989 to go production endurance racing.While it had the regular in-line six-cylinder 2.6-litre twin turbo engine the car had been specially tweaked, tuned and enhanced to extract more power, reliability and strength to handle the rigours of racing.  Atanasovski says he has no idea whether his model actually did any racing as there are none of the normal tell-tale signs, such as rollcage mountings, on the vehicle."I don't have too much history of the car from Japan. Getting information out of the Nissan factory in Japan on it is like they are giving up their first born."His model is not the same as the cars raced here, they were developed from standard GT-Rs into race cars by Fred Gibson's motorsport team here in Australia.  Instead this model is the high-performance version of the first of the new breed of  GT-Rs, the R32.Atanasovski says that on the dyno the car has produced 280kW of power at the wheels but otherwise has had to rely on performance figures on the standard version of the car. Even then, they show a car capable of going from 0-100km/h in the mid-four seconds mark.He says he doesn't drive the car a lot as he wants to preserve it.  "It's just for special events. I'm struggling to put a thousands kays on it a year."However, one special event it will come out for is this Sunday's 21st birthday celebrations.  Atanasovski says about 100 cars will take part in a cruise up the Blue Mountains from Penrith via the Bells Line of Road to the Edge Cinema in Katoomba to watch a screening of the highlights of the 1992 Great Race.About 200 people have booked tickets but more are available.  Part of the proceeds of the ticket sales will go to the Westmead Children's Hospital.Tickets cost $15. For more information go to www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums and head to the events section within the NSW section.

This is where four-time Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes relaxes.  "I sometimes look across at Mountain Straight just so I can see what the weather's doing," he says. "Every time I get an opportunity to relax and look around I take it; even at Skyline."  But he says there won't be any casual waves out the window like his mentor Peter Brock on the last lap.  "Not unless I have a 50-second lead," he says. Driving Bathurst comes second nature to Lowndes who has driven there every year since 1996 and turned in more than 2000 laps in racing, practice and qualifying. "My favourite part of circuit is across the top where you allow the car to flow, particularly from Skyline to Forrest's Elbow," he says.  "It's also the most rewarding part of the track. "It's important to get a good flow of the vehicle across the top. You have to be confident in the car to hit all the apexes.  "There are no margins for error. You don't get away with a lot up the top." Although he's never crashed at The Cutting he names that corner as the scariest.  "You approach it in fourth and come back to third, then second and it's quite easy to carry too much speed and end up in the wall," he says. "I haven't done it, but I've crashed across the top and that's a gut-wrenching experience knowing you've put yourself out of the major race of the year.  But history has shown that The Cutting is where most accidents happen. That's where Murph and Ambrose had their accident.  A number of drivers have come to blows there." The best section for overtaking is at the Chase, he says.  "I like going around the outside on the kink. It's less bumpy, but you have to have confidence in your car to pull it up from almost 300km/h.  It's something I've got used to and now there are a couple of other drivers that go down the left, too." He says other passing opportunities are on turn one, two and the last corner.  "Basically the rest of the track you don't have much opportunity for passing, so you just keep it all together." So buckle up for a lap of the 6.213km anti-clockwise circuit with Lowndes as he "keeps it together" at speeds approaching 300km/h: "Turn one is an important corner to get right so you get maximum speed on the second longest straight. You need to get good drive out of an off-camber exit which is really hard.  You know you've had a good run up Mountain Straight if you hit the limiter in fifth and go to sixth. Turn two is faster than you think and starts the incline. I use third gear then grab fourth as you climb up the mountain.  The Cutting is quite a difficult corner to get right as you have a left foot brake in the kink, back to third and as you get into the actual turn you get really heavy on the brake and grab second gear. Coming out of The Cutting I short shift to third before the hump and fourth as I go under the tree.  I carry fourth all the way across through Reid Park into Skyline. You know you have Skyline right if you have it on the limiter just before braking.  Then you drop down the mountain in third gear and position the car for the Esses. Let it flow and drop back to second for The Dipper, one of the slowest points on the track.  Accelerate hard out of the Dipper up to third then quickly back to second for Forrest's Elbow, being careful on the brakes as you can easily lock the front right tyre. Hopefully you get a good exit and max out early on the throttle changing up on the limiter all the way to sixth down Conrod.  It's flat into The Chase at maximum terminal speed of almost 300km/h. Then it's hard braking back to second if qualifying and third in the race to conserve fuel.  A short burst of throttle and if I'm in second I grab third at the change of direction for the second-last turn. Up to fourth for the charge downhill to the last corner, shift to second and then on the gas and hopefully on to the chequered flag."