A1GP, Taupo New Zealand 23-25 January

2009 started early with a visit to Taupo on the north island of New Zealand in January for the NZ round of the A1GP. After holidaying there earlier in January, discovering that the A1GP was going to be there and being offered some free accommodation, it was a pretty easy decision to go over and experience A1GP first hand. Because former Formula Fordster Ash Walsh was our rookie driver for the event, a huge bonus that emerged once I arrived was that I was granted a "Team Guest" pass that gave me unrestricted access to the action in pit lane.

The whole event was an awesome experience. The category is truly understated and little understood. The cars are circa 2004 F1 Ferrari chassis powered by the next generation Ferrari F430 engine. The major innovation for this engine is the addition of direct injection. The technology is superb and has been translated into the car in a manner that exudes simplicity.

Ash unfortunately had an engine failure on his first lap so his allocated sessions were taken up by engine change. Pity we didn't get to see him run in the car, but his next opportunity will be at Kyalami in South Africa in February. One thing that the engine change made clear to me was the level of technology in the whole car. When the boys went to start the engine for the first time (after running hot water through it to bring it up to temperature beforehand), there was a message on the electronic dash that said a particular connector on the gearbox was not connected. The boys went straight to its location and discovered, sure enough, that it had been missed during final hook-up. "Clip" and the engine was ready to fire up.

A bit of a treat for me that arose from my time with the team is that I have now arranged to drive the A1GP simulator in Modena Italy when Mary and I are there for our 10th wedding anniversary in January 2010!

There will be a new direction for me in motorsport for 2009. Still Formula Ford, but something different.

My Van Diemen RF03K was completely rebuilt over the season break by BF Racing. The chassis was completely stripped and made 100% good. A new floor was fitted and properly adhered and the engine rebuilt complete with a new Scat steel crankshaft. The car is in better condition than it ever was since I've owned it from mid 2007. What's happening with this car is that I have leased it for the year to Vic Gersekowski for his son Ben to run at state level. What I have done for my motorsport pursuit is to lease the Van Diemen RF06AUSD that Ash Walsh originally campaigned at National Level in 2006. I will run this car at state level as a "racing car" not a Formula Ford and compete in some select national events, in particular the A1GP round at the Gold Coast in October.

Apart from the colour, there are a couple of fundamental differences between the RF03 and the RF06, the main one being the engine.

The RF03 runs the old cast iron block, over head valve Ford Cortina GT engine. It still has mechanical points ignition and a Weber carburetor. The RF03 runs the current Ford Fiesta all alloy, fuel injected, ECU controlled, twin overhead camshaft engine. The resulting car is around 20kg lighter than the old one due mostly to the lesser engine weight.

You can see from these images that the rear suspension is pretty much the same on both cars. The RF06 does have a slightly wider rear track and upgraded front brakes. The wheels are wider on the RF06 too. They now match the tyre width with 6" rims on the front and 7" on the rear. The result is a really good package that exemplifies what the category should be today.

This was my first outing in the new car. We practised on Friday in preparation for qualifying and racing to follow on Saturday and Sunday. I felt that I did an OK enough job in the car over the course of the weekend.

Saturday went actually better than I might have expected; I managed to achieve my very first career pole position! It felt pretty good I must say. It was really as a result of Bill Norman having difficulties with his Formula Holden; however, a pole position is a pole position and that's motor racing.

I also managed my first career race win in the race Saturday afternoon. That felt pretty special too. Again, that was also mainly due to Bill Norman's car having to work through the file from a rear of grid start; however, a race win is a race win and that's motor racing.

Sunday was a bit different with Bill getting his car going during the racing and winning both races leaving me to earn two comfortable second places. I mightn't have driven at my best but I did race well taking it right up to Bill as often as I could. You can't beat greater horse power, but I gave it a good shot!

I left the weekend second behind Bill in the CAMS Racing Car Championship stakes. The boys were pretty pleased with our efforts overall.

After taking a couple of weeks to reflect on the results of round 1, we took the opportunity to do some more serious testing at Morgan Park.

Whilst I might have raced fairly well in round I, I certainly don't think that I was driving the car as well as I could.

We changed the BF Racing set-up on the car very little and concentrated on my approach to the various parts of the track. Again, Brett Francis' expert coaching showed through resulting in me being able to achieve some substantially quick laps. The footage below shows my best lap to date at Morgan Park; 1 minute 4.2 seconds.

Round 2 at Morgan Park was another great race weekend. Bill Norman was there again with his Formula Holden. Barclay Holden came along to add some interest with his wings and slicks former Formula Ford car.

The best I could do for the weekend was a second and two third placings over the weekend so I still hold second place to Bill Norman in the CAMS Racing Car Championship stakes.

Apart from racing at a different circuit, round 3 was different from the previous two rounds because I had the opportunity to race against an identical car. Geoffrey Urhane brought his RF06 out to get some race practice prior to his assault on the National Round at Queensland Raceway in August.

I was delighted to find that my pace wasn't too far off his throughout the weekend. It resulted in some pretty close racing. You can see some of that on the footage below. I achieved three second place finishes over the weekend. You can also see below where I tried a bit too hard in practice on the Friday.

It was a very historic occasion for me to race at Lakeside. I was there, as a child in 1966, watching Graham Hill win the Australian Grand Prix ahead of the likes of Jackie Stewart. Jackie Steward gained pole position for the race and achieved fastest lap in the race with a time of 55.5 seconds. My target was to at least equal that time. Just goes to show how technology has changed in 40 years!

We practiced on a wet Sunday a couple of weeks ahead of the race weekend. It was great to just be on the circuit, so it didn't matter much that it was wet. I was actually quite relaxed about it all.

My target? Yes, I achieved that on Saturday afternoon and beat it with a lap of 55.2 seconds on the last lap of the last race on Sunday.

There was one great sadness for me over the weekend though; it was the last time, for now anyway, that Simon Taylor would be my right hand man. He has gone west to work with his brother. Many thanks for your dedicated support Simon. You are missed.

One of the biggest mistakes of my motor racing career has been to enter the 2009 National Round at Queensland Raceway. It was a complete disaster right from the start and through to the very conclusion.

It all started a fortnight before on our test day. I had some brake bias issues I was trying to sort out and promptly stuffed the car into the wall along the back straight. Even though I managed a personal best, the whole day was a complete struggle and just didn't set me up well for the event.

The car looked terrific, but I just don't think I was meant to be there!

Round 5 at Morgan Park the following weekend was a different story altogether. I as well and truly back in the saddle and racing like crazy.

I scored pole position in qualifying and a race win and two second placings for the weekend. That has put me in second place in the state racing car championship by eight points behind Bill Norman in his Formula Holden. Watch this space!!

The last round of the year was held at Morgan Park Warwick. It was also the fourth and final round of the CAMS state championships.

I entered this round trailing Bill Norman’s Formula Holden by eight points. I had to do something pretty startling to come away from this round with a win.

I told my sad story to Peter Mill who has a couple of F3 cars at his disposal. Well, Peter was kind enough to provide me with the best chance that I could possibly have of winning; the loan of a Dallara F301 Opel Spiess!

Man, did it do the job! We practised at Morgan Park on Wednesday 4 November and stayed over Thursday ready for more practice Friday. I needed to run consistently in the low 60 sec bracket to have any chance. A few laps in the 59's on Wednesday and Friday made me start to feel a little confident that we might just do it.

A look at the entry list during the week worried me a little. Steve Morcombe entered his F306 Dallara. That might have plagued the pretty much straight wins victory I needed over Bill Norman.

As it turned out, I qualified second behind Steve, won race 1 when Steve had a spin early on and then followed up with two second placings after that.

Overall, that was enough to gain enough point over Bill to take the State Racing Car Championship for 2009!

The sweetest part of the weekend came during race 2. Steve Morcombe set a new outright lap record of 59.2653; I was not far off that at 59.4799. I was pretty happy with that!

I need to thank Brett and Bryce Francis of BF Racing for their flawless preparation of the RF06 all year. Thank you as always to Dr Mary Dingley of The Cosmetic Medicine Centre who makes my racing possible. Finally a huge thank you to Peter Mill for providing a wonderful end to the season for me.