250: How to race in Mazda RX8 Cup Series with Ric and Tom Shaw
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60:07
Car
Ferrari F355
The Ferrari 355 is a sports car made by Ferrari that was built in the 1990s. It's famous for being fast and fun to drive, and many people love its unique look.
Brand
Ferrari
Ferrari is a famous car brand from Italy that makes very fast and expensive sports cars. They are known for their bright colors and racing success.
Car
Mazda Rx8
The Mazda RX-8 is a sporty car that has a special type of engine called a rotary engine, which makes it different from most cars.
Term
rotary engine
A rotary engine is a unique kind of engine that works differently than most car engines. Instead of using pistons that move up and down, it has a spinning triangle that helps it create power, making it smaller and smoother.
Term
86 series cars
The 86 series cars are a group of sporty vehicles made by Toyota and Subaru that are known for being fun to drive and having a good balance. They are lighter than many other cars, which helps them perform well on the track.
Concept
Bathurst
Bathurst is a famous racetrack in Australia where many car races happen, including a big race called the Bathurst 1000. It's known for being tough and exciting for drivers.
Term
dry brake fuel system
A dry brake fuel system is a way to refuel race cars quickly without spilling any fuel. It uses special connections to prevent leaks.
Term
enduro pads
Enduro pads are special brake pads used in long races. They help the car stop effectively even when it gets really hot from use.
Term
Cup car
A Cup car is a type of race car that is based on regular cars but modified to race in competitions. They follow specific rules to keep them similar to the cars you see on the road.
Term
production car rules
Production car rules are guidelines that tell how much a race car can be changed from the regular car you can buy. They help keep the race cars similar to the ones people drive every day.
Term
RX8 Cup
The RX8 Cup is a racing competition for Mazda RX-8 cars. In this series, drivers race cars that have been specially modified to compete against each other.
Term
fuel gauge
A fuel gauge tells you how much gas is left in your car. It's important for knowing when you need to fill up the tank.
Term
litres
Litres are a way to measure how much fuel a car uses. It's like saying how many bottles of soda you would need to fill up a car's tank.
Concept
Watkins Glen
Watkins Glen is a well-known racetrack in New York where many car races take place. It's famous for its challenging turns and beautiful scenery.
Term
Virginia International Raceway
Virginia International Raceway is a racetrack in Virginia where people race cars. It's popular for different types of racing events.
Concept
Daytona
Daytona is a well-known racetrack in Florida where many car races take place. It has a big oval track and other parts for different kinds of racing.
Term
Win on Sunday, sell on Monday
This saying means that if a car wins races on the weekend, people will want to buy that car during the week. It's about how racing success can help sell cars.
Term
grassroots motorsport
Grassroots motorsport is a way for regular people to get involved in racing without needing a lot of money or professional experience. It's about having fun and participating in events with your own car.
Part
Nankang tyre
Nankang is a company that makes tyres for cars. They offer different types of tyres that help cars grip the road better, especially in racing.
Term
semi-slick
Semi-slick tyres are a type of tyre that has a smooth surface with some grooves. They are good for racing because they grip the road well, especially when it's dry.
Car
BMW M3
The BMW M3 is a fast and sporty car that is based on a regular BMW sedan. It's popular among car enthusiasts because it combines everyday usability with exciting performance, making it fun to drive.
Car
Ford Focus RS
The Ford Focus RS is a special version of the regular Focus that is built for speed and performance. It has a powerful engine and can drive all four wheels, making it fun to drive.
Car
Ford Escort
The Ford Escort is a small car that was popular for many years. It was used in racing and is known for being reliable and easy to drive.
Car
Mercedes-Benz Xclass
The Mercedes-Benz X-Class is a fancy pickup truck that can carry things and drive off-road. It’s known for being comfortable and stylish, making it different from regular work trucks.
Car
BMW M4
The BMW M4 is a sporty coupe that is designed for people who love fast cars. It has a powerful engine and handles really well, making it exciting to drive on both the road and the track.
Car
Hyundai i30
The Hyundai i30 is a small car that is easy to drive and good for everyday use. The sporty version, called the i30 N, is especially fun because it has more power and better handling.
Car
BMW M2
The BMW M2 is a smaller version of BMW's sporty cars, designed to be fun and easy to drive. It has a strong engine and is known for its quick handling, making it a great choice for those who enjoy driving.
Car
Nissan Pulsar
The Nissan Pulsar is a small car that is easy to drive and great for getting around town. It's known for being affordable and good on gas, making it a popular choice for many people.
Car
Toyota A90
The Toyota Supra is a sporty car that many people love for its speed and style. It's known for being fun to drive and has a reputation for being a great car to modify and make even faster.
LIVE
Teh.
Soundcheck.
Check, check one, two, three, four.
Check, check, check, check, check.
The levels are great.
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening.
You listening to The Old Tom Cart Podcast?
Soundcheck.
We're not at the lair.
We're at Rick Shaw's lair.
We're at Rick Shaw Rotary down at Habifulia.
That's five o'clock.
I'm sorry.
Five o'clock.
Love industry.
Love industry.
I remember love at that.
Love industry.
We know that very well.
So we've got Rick and Tom Shaw here.
Good day, gentlemen.
We've got Tom who's helping out.
We've got security at the door to keep away people looking to buy cars.
How are we, gentlemen?
Good.
Good.
Everyone's good?
Thanks for having us.
No, it's good, mate.
We had a great awards night.
We talked about it in the last episode.
We went through the names of all the winners and we might ask the boys a few questions
about some of the drivers because Tom didn't know all of them.
Oh, no.
You didn't know?
I went to that Mazda dealership from the guy that won the series.
Alexandria Mazda.
Yeah.
They're quite Alexandria.
The Stearn crew.
That's right.
And I didn't even know.
I went and I was there that night.
So Stearn works owns?
He's the dealer principal of Alexandria Mazda in Sydney.
So Stearn, those who didn't hear the last episode, he was the rookie of the year and also the
ultimate winner of the championship.
He cleaned up the championship, but it was his first year in the championship, so obviously
he was rookie.
But he's not his first year racing.
No.
No, he's quite an experienced racer actually.
He's done a lot of racing in South Africa.
Yep.
A little bit in New Zealand.
Yep.
With the Mazda racing series there.
Okay.
And then he's come over here and landed in Australia and he's done his first season with us and
he...
Done well.
Done really well.
Really well.
Nice play.
No, really nice play.
So yeah, we met a few of the drivers the other night.
I think he's looking for Rick Stroll.
So we had the rookie come second and then we had the over 50s come second.
No, the rookie came first and the over 50s came second.
So we book ended Golden Silver with Scott, like Robert Scott, sorry.
He was a good player too.
We hung out with him after the after party if we could call it that.
So he must have a couple of years under his belt as well.
Robert, no.
Robert's quite new to racing.
He's new.
He won the championship last year.
Okay.
So last year, 24.
Yep.
Was his son in it?
Did his son race with him or in another car with him?
No.
His son raced his own car.
So there was a father and son with a car reach.
Did they ever race together and go for each other?
Yeah, they did the 6 set.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I mean like on the track.
Like days of thunder.
Yeah.
They just thought of father and son.
The father was...
No.
So who liked it how they're smashing everywhere and you know.
No, he's someone barely ever got close enough to him.
I've always chased him, but they did drive together in the one car at the bus.
Six hours last year.
Yeah, but you know what I mean.
We ran the car for him.
That's the cold kid with days of thunder, isn't it?
Yeah, that's what I mean.
You know, when they start smashing along the beach.
You've never seen it.
It's for real.
Yeah, it's for real.
You haven't got a thing for redheads, obviously.
No, not my redheads, but not as a surprise.
Reds are fast colour, you know, don't they?
Red.
So you'd say because red's the fastest colour in the car, it's the fastest woman as well.
Is that what you're trying to say?
I don't know, I'm not sure.
You can alienate.
I wouldn't have a live audience.
I'm not racist, hey.
I treat every woman the same.
You're not sexist, not racist.
No, I'm not sexist either.
Well, we're talking about colour.
Your colour, yeah.
But you're like all colours.
All colours.
By reds faster.
Yes.
It's easier to manoeuvre.
So, Tom, if you bought a Ferrari, what colour would you buy?
Red and tan.
True.
But you have bought a Ferrari, what colour did you buy?
But fuck it, yellow and white, true.
Why did you buy a yellow Ferrari?
It was great.
It was a 355 black and yellow, man.
It was mad.
Thanos, what would you buy?
If you bought a Ferrari, what colour would you buy?
White.
White Ferrari.
You know why?
He's thinking of, what's it, Mayagin?
Yeah, what's that Mayagin-wise?
Lamborghini.
What colour would you buy, Thanos?
Yellow.
Yellow.
So you got yellow Lamborghini.
Tom, what would you buy?
Black.
Black Lambo.
Peter?
Probably that orangey colour they got.
It's red, isn't it?
Not red.
The other colour.
Or purple.
Tom?
Purple Lambo.
What would you do?
I wouldn't buy a Lambo.
No.
But I'll force you to throw.
I don't know.
We've got to take it somewhere else.
I like the silver and the Lambo.
That's a good colour.
If I ever bought a Ferrari in a fitting one, the first Ferrari,
it's going to be the red and the tan trim.
That's your first one.
Then after that, you move.
Yeah.
You move on.
No, what happens, like, I've got a dentist of mine who collects
Ferraris, right?
And even when he buys them a different colour,
he just brought one a different colour.
Grey.
Yeah.
And went and wrapped it red.
What?
I don't know.
I'm going to hook.
He hasn't got one or two.
Because he can.
Because he can.
He's got about 12.
Why don't you respond?
They ring him when something's coming out.
To buy.
To buy.
Or when they have a function here, they ask where he is because
he never goes.
It is a club, though.
You've got to be part of it.
If you don't buy, you can't just turn up to a Ferrari dealer
and say one of those, please.
Well, that story, remember the story of the guy going to the
knocking on the door when it was on William Street?
Yeah.
And they wouldn't serve him because he was dressed normal and
all that.
He wasn't dressed up?
No, yeah.
This whole story was his brother-in-law went and brought a
Ferrari month or whatever beforehand.
Yeah.
Right?
And he liked it.
They had a business near here.
He's one of Steve's customers, right?
Right.
His father went there and knocked on the door.
They wouldn't serve him.
Wow.
Walked away.
And then when he went back and told his brother-in-law,
my mind goes, oh, no, you've got to book an appointment.
Went there and just went, oh, I don't know.
He bought the Ferrari, yeah.
Oh.
Steve's customer.
Oh.
Love was his friend when, I'm not going to say the name.
He went with the shorts when he was at Dali Harbour.
They had a show at the car show.
There was a yellow one.
And he went with the shorts and they wouldn't keep him
attention.
Then he went and bought another brand-new one.
Somewhere else.
But we had the Ferrari mechanic on.
It's just another car.
Yeah, you did.
With another VIN.
This is another job.
It was a nice bike, too.
Yeah, it was a good, I enjoyed that interview.
So let's go, let's wind back to RX-8 Cup.
So we had a great night.
The war's night was brilliant.
So now we're 2026.
So we're starting in a couple of weeks' time.
How many rounds we've got?
How many rounds this year?
Six rounds.
Kickoff at Phillip Island in two weeks' time.
Two weeks, yeah.
We've got a big group.
We've got 24, 25 cars.
So new drivers in the series.
So far, like Phillip Island, you can have all four seasons
in a day down there.
Yeah.
And the last four years in a row,
we've had near perfect weather.
So I reckon it could be the odds of building up against us.
We could have a wet Phillip Island, but I hope not.
It's a really good week in a way because socially it's great.
We have a couple of dinners.
Yeah.
We do the Saturday night dinner and then on the Sunday,
no one's got a driver next day.
So the Sunday night in it gets a little bit messy.
Yeah.
The red wine starts flying and all that sort of stuff.
So Phillip Island, so what are the tracks this year?
Phillip Island.
We do Winton.
We do Sydney.
We do Wakefield.
Wakefield.
We do Wakefield both directions.
Okay.
So that makes it like two different tracks.
Yeah, pretty much.
So that makes it interesting.
So with the RSA, I mean it's a rotary engine.
Let's start with Phillip Island.
I mean it's a high speed, high GeForce cornering type track.
The RSA would do all right there.
It's quick around there because it's so well balanced.
Yeah.
For the little power it's got it actually does some pretty reasonable WAP times.
It's an awesome track.
Actually it always surprises everybody where it goes with its WAP times.
On par if you had an equivalent other make sort of production.
Well it's as quick as the 86 series cars and they're lighter.
And then the Sydney we've got the Enduro.
So that's where the father and son teams come together and race together.
And everyone's got to find a co-driver.
So what's that?
Is that a six hour?
No, no, no.
It's only two 50 minute races.
Yep.
With a compulsory pit stop in the middle.
A driver change.
So we just do that for a bit of fun.
Yep.
And we don't go more than 50 minutes.
Otherwise we'd have to start looking at fueling the cars.
Okay, yeah.
And we don't have to drive brakes in the cars.
So fueling them would be a problem.
There's always something going.
There's always not enough petrol to do a full hour.
To do a full, yeah.
Something always comes up.
But jumping towards when the RX8 races at Bathurst in the production cars.
The long form racing is the setup of the car different and obviously the pits as well.
You've got...
Yeah, I wanted to ask that.
Because you always refer to your other car, the six hour car, as another car, right?
It is a different car.
Yeah, I see.
There you go.
So set up wise.
Well, it's basically an RX8 Cup car.
But it's got a dry brake fuel system put into the fuel tank.
So we can fill it with a proper fuel rig, like the V8s do.
And it's got different tyres and different brake pads.
The pads are enduro pads, so it'll go the distance.
There's not a lot else done to it.
Still pretty much a Cup car.
But it's built under the production car rules and regulations, which are slightly different
to the RX8 Cup rules and regulations.
Or fairly similar, you know, production based.
Yeah, so that's...
What's the fuel tank size in a Cup car?
With the dry brake system, it's about 70 litres or 71 litres of fuel.
And the other one?
100?
Or no?
No, without the dry brake, you've got about 65 litres.
What's the economy like?
You drive it flat out.
They suck at you, that's the problem.
70 litres around, say, Eastern Korea.
How many litres do you use a lap?
You know, I use a litre a minute.
Oh, so that's by time, a litre a minute?
Well, it's easiest way to work it out.
Yeah, okay, yeah.
You're using a litre a minute pretty much anywhere you go.
So you've got literally an hour of fuel.
You can use, yeah, you can do an hour.
Yeah.
Maybe just over.
But then you push it, yeah.
But a bath is depends whether you're lucky with safety cars, you know.
So you can cruise around a safety car and save fuel.
And get a couple of minutes or get a bottle.
Hang on, how many litres?
70 litres?
Okay, yeah, yeah.
An hour.
Because the hours are really about the hour and 10 miles.
An hour without stressing and then you've got...
Because there's six pit stops at the six hour this year.
Like, you have to...
It depends which class you're in.
Oh, our class is six.
The outright, no, it's five, I think.
Oh, one.
Outright class, six class, like the M4s and the M3s,
they've got to do five stops.
The Mazda's only got to do three stops.
Can I ask a stupid question?
Have you got a fuel gauge in it?
Yeah.
It's a proper gauge or like a light?
No, just a...
Yeah, it's got a light.
So it's a factory gauge or a light.
Yeah.
It doesn't have the arrow inside to fill up.
The M4 has it.
The M4 has it.
The M4 has it.
We work off, you know, how many litres we burn in a lap.
Yeah.
And it changes from driver to driver.
So it's about up to 2.7 litres a lap.
Is that bathurst?
Yeah, bathurst.
Yeah.
All less dependent on who's in the car.
Does the RX8 like bathurst?
Is it a...
Yeah, it doesn't like climbing the hill because it hasn't got torque.
Yeah.
But it's as fast as anything across the top.
Across the top where it's really snakes its way through there.
Yeah, across the top.
Skyline then on the way down, then top end, is it okay?
225k.
Yeah.
You're still getting up there.
Yeah, it's all right.
Flatten the chase.
And you...
I was going to say, you hit top speed where halfway down the main Conrad Strait or...?
So you turn into the chase.
Okay, you've reached the peak.
Yep.
And it's easy on the brakes through there.
It is good on its brakes, and it's good on its tyres.
The way the balance helps, I'm guessing, so yeah.
It's well balanced, can't it?
It could do with a bit more mumbo, but it is what it is.
Anyway, we're not running the Mazda this year.
We're running...
Well, we are running Mazdas.
Yeah.
Rob Scott's driving one with my mate from the UK who comes over every year.
Coxie, Coxie.
That's the one I interviewed when I never done the interview.
Yeah, to speak to Coxie this year where we say...
Yeah, in the UK, yeah, he's done lots of stuff with me.
Yeah.
He's driven in America and everything like this.
So we went to...
Catalonia, but...
Spain.
Yeah, in Spain, Barcelona.
We did a 24-hour couple of times there together.
We're looking to go back to Sipang next year, 27.
There's a race there.
We've done a couple of times and we're going to go back and do it.
So we're about to go to Watkins Glen again in May.
In the States.
Yeah, do a couple of ADR races.
So Coxie will meet us over there and we'll team up and drive.
We're taking six drivers over.
So what cars...
What car goes...
BMWs.
Okay.
We've got a couple of BMWs and six drivers.
Tommy went with us last year, 25.
We went to Virginia.
Are they UK cars or are they...?
No, they're American cars.
American teams have them.
So we did Virginia International in America to ADR races.
Tommy and I drove a Mazda and we had six other drivers driving BMWs here.
We drove an RX-8.
Do you notice different driving styles between different countries?
Or is it all pretty much...?
Pretty much the same.
The same. Everyone's sort of the same lines.
Yeah.
The way they build their cars and run their cars is different.
But the way they drive is the same.
Yeah.
And the track layouts, I mean, it's a track to track.
It doesn't matter where you are in the world, I'm guessing.
I mean, different climates, different temperatures, different...
There's no different tar-type mixture, tires and things like that.
Or is that track by track?
Oh, you're really getting into it, oh?
Yeah, rather country by car.
I don't have any tar, but the tires...
You can see last time...
The same tires, if we were around the world.
This racing cover was very bad built.
Will you see that in America?
There was one in Daytona.
Yeah, that one.
Yeah, I did the 14-hour race at Daytona on the Boll.
Oh, so it's just right around like three quarters.
Or four.
Or one.
Or one.
My big Boll.
Yeah, the Daytona Boll.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then it incorporates the racetrack on the infield as well.
It's attracted to the GT cars, usually.
Did they use the infield as well?
Or they just...
Okay, they wanted you to look to be with like two corners.
What are you talking about?
I thought you just did the outside Boll.
No, no.
Virtually the whole outside Boll and then...
And then you cut in through the...
You kind of left off the Boll and you do the whole...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's an inner circuit, which is like a normal racetrack.
Yeah.
Then you go back out on the Boll again, and it's a 14-hour race.
What's the Boll like, that part of the race?
It's different.
It's like nothing you've driven on before.
You've got to drive on it differently and approach it differently.
Like it's...
And the car's at an angle.
It's like...
It's really steep.
It's like 30 degrees.
The car wants to keep falling back down the hill to the infield.
Yeah.
So you've got to sort of...
The faster you go, the more it stays up.
And when you come off the Boll onto the flat section, you've got to steer different...
You've got to steer out of it, otherwise it'll want to turn itself in the wall.
So what's the fastest line?
Up high or down low with the wall?
Because you're not cutting...
Or on the wall.
You're not cutting the apex.
Did someone cheat once and used the wall to their advantage?
Oh yeah, they've changed the rule of that.
But you can't use...
There's no apex.
You're sort of sitting two lanes on the wall.
You sit on the bank, pin it upon your speed relative to the other cars.
So you're using your autonomous...
So the faster cars go high and the slower cars go low.
And you can end up with like three lanes of three different speeds of cars on the bank.
Coming through the corner.
Yeah.
Going around side by side, like the faster cars at the top on the outside, higher on the bank,
near the wall, it'll drive past the slower cars.
Oh shit.
Yeah.
They are steep.
I've seen someone try and walk it and it's like when you put the camera horizontal, it's a wall.
It literally is a wall.
Yeah.
Your mirrors don't work.
Your side mirrors aren't as effective on the banks.
Yep.
Because you can't see what's behind you properly because the car's banking.
It's hard to explain but it's completely...
You mean the top people longer at distance?
Yes.
Yeah, but they've got more power.
They're going to overtake somehow.
Yeah, lower down on the bank is shorter.
More distances travel higher.
But you're getting better speed up high.
Not necessarily.
It depends on the speed of your car.
But the faster cars are staying on the inner line on the lower side though.
Or is it just that's how they just...
Some of them go up and down.
Yeah.
The slower cars are going to start at the top because they're going to be even slower.
If there's no cars in the way, then the faster line at times is to go lower and then go back
up high and then come back up low and go back up high again.
So if you've got a clean run.
It just depends if you've got traffic.
Yeah.
So the rule of thumb is generally the faster cars go high.
Okay.
So that's more the rule for safety and overtaking?
Pretty much the rule of thumb.
Okay.
Yeah, but you said something about the building of that car that you were driving was...
So what's a bad build?
There was a car there that we couldn't believe was on the track.
It was just...
Is it because there's bolts falling out of it?
It's literally held together with string and...
It's been hit so many times.
It's just...
Bits of...
It looked like scaffolding bolted together with...
What's their scrutiny?
New bolts.
It was just...
It should be right.
It couldn't believe it was on the track and it was racing.
And it was all over the shop as well as a car up there?
It's just can't round and round and round.
It's one of the most unbelievable things I've ever seen.
What's that scrutiny like over there to ours?
Slack.
Over there?
Yeah.
Not as...
Strict as us.
Is it the rules?
Or is it the strict as us?
Is it the rule?
Like if they've got an easier rule book to follow?
Like it's more linear?
Or is it just a different attitude when it comes to racing?
What did you think, Tommy?
Did you think the rules over there were slacker than I was?
I think they were.
Yeah.
They just don't look at the cars as hard as what they get looked at here.
You know?
You've got to make rules and regulations here.
Safety first.
Safety is paramount.
That's right.
It's all about safety.
Safety.
Or you know what I mean?
As soon as someone digs, it's fucked.
And you guys experienced that last year?
That is secret.
One of your close friends.
Yeah.
Didn't pass away.
Was it turn one or turn two?
Yeah.
We unfortunately lost her.
Yeah.
I mean you can't help it.
I might.
Yeah.
You know?
There's minor race.
It seems dangerous.
And luckily it doesn't happen often.
It doesn't matter how many cages and helmets that you wear.
If something goes wrong, you're going to have problems.
That's why you can't harass the screwed-nearing guys when they pick something.
Because if it fucks up, it's there.
Things happen, man.
Do the owners really have a goal?
Drivers have a gut screwed-nearing if something's not right?
We've been reasoned.
Yeah.
Or you've got...
I remember drag.
I've gone for a screwed-nearing with the beamer and all that.
But back in the drag days when I used to fucking be leaning on the other side to get a clearance
on the wheel.
You know what I mean?
On one side, the other side.
If they picked it, go off at it.
Yeah, but you used to wear shorts and now you can't.
I don't know.
I think safety's paramount.
Is that the wrong of a buck?
Yeah.
You know, it's how they should.
Because your speed is very high.
You know, something happens, mate.
It's just like buffers down the straight, down the...
Whatever, when they made the centrist, yeah.
Well, they've done that to slow down the speed.
So, let's go back last 10, 20 years in safety.
Have they spent, is it more time and money on making tracks safer?
Or making cars?
They've definitely made tracks safer.
Or gear and equipment?
Everything.
Or is there a combination of everything they've made?
Oh, look, it's everything.
Oh, you've got your hands in.
I think maybe you've also got the tracks.
You've got your...
Like run-offs, there's no walls right there.
Yeah.
Well, remember, you used to buy a car from a dealership.
I think I'll race it.
And what was that, Slago?
Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.
Sell on Monday, yeah.
That got an RX-8 cut.
So, you've got a full...
You're one of the organisers.
You're heavily involved in the running of the series.
24 cars, is that like the limit?
Or is that...
We had 27 once at Eastern Creek, just before COVID.
But the numbers are coming back now,
and the category is still growing.
So, I reckon we could see...
We'll see a grid of 27 cars, I reckon, this year, no problem.
So, how would you join the category?
Is it expensive?
Do you bring your own car?
Can you hire a car?
Can you just be a driver and pay for the seat?
You can lease cars.
You can build your own car.
You can buy a car that's already built.
Pretty easy to get in.
It's grassroots motorsport.
And contacting...
RX-8 cut management will guide you
and help you and ask all your questions.
Roughly.
I mean, to get to buy a car...
The car's a 30 grand.
So, it's just not that expensive.
If you see an RX-8 in the classifieds,
you just buy an RX-classifieds.
Car sales...
Most of the cars...
You're really fucking 30 years old.
What's that?
What was the newspaper called?
Trading Post.
Trading Post.
If you see an RX-8 in the trading post,
I mean, you buy, then obviously you've got to kid it out
and you get it.
So, you look at about 30 for the car
and to kid it out,
would you get changed from 100 grand
or it's not that bad?
You buy it.
You buy it.
You buy a car that's racing for 30 grand.
So, 30 grand, you're on the trap.
That's the beauty of it.
The cheap and good.
So, it's a leading category.
So, these days now,
you buy a car for 5 or 10 grand,
like a road car,
and then you'd spend another 20 to 25 on it
to turn into a race car.
Or you go lease a car
or you can buy a car that's already built.
So, it's one of the cheaper categories.
And what sort of racing license?
It's a proper one-mate series.
That's the other thing that's really important.
Yeah, so all the cars are pretty much.
The cars are identical.
They're equal.
Everything's controlled.
Everything that makes it...
Ties are the same brand.
Can perform is controlled.
So, you can get into any of the cars
and do the same lap time.
It's like going to your local go-kart,
you know, where you rent a go-kart.
Go-kart track and you rent a go-kart
and you drive around.
And all the go-karts are exactly the same.
It's like that.
When you were there and the officials
made everybody pull the stabilizers off
to check that they were all the same size.
So, they should.
I mean, that's...
That's...
You're racing us.
So, you control and make it even.
But you also control it to make it cost-effective.
Because otherwise things...
People spend money,
it's most what they work.
The guy who's got the most money is going to spend it.
And he's going to have a better car
and a better listen of whatever.
So, you restrict the expenditure.
Yeah.
Like how many new tyres they can buy
and all that sort of stuff.
It keeps the cost down.
Yep.
And then no one's really got an advantage
over someone else.
So, $30,000 for the car to get on the grid.
Yeah.
Do they need to pay...
Yeah, there's entry fees.
And what have we registered at the beginning of the year
and you get a competition number
a lot of people and that's the number you run under.
And then you pay entry fee every round,
which includes practice in a garage.
You know, and then you've got to pay for your petrol
and your tyres and you wear your brake pads out.
So, some guys are running for, you know,
two or three grand a round
and some might spend six grand a round.
Okay.
And there's a travel cost.
You know, we've got a Phillip Island.
So, that's...
So, we're not in the tens of.
So, we're...
So, six to seven grand a round.
Yeah, typically.
And then there's six rounds this year.
Yep.
So, you're looking at, say, 40 grand to run.
Yep.
Plus 30 to get the car on the grid or one off.
You're looking at Phillip Island as the hardest.
Not...
I mean, the...
The most expensive.
How do you say it?
The most expensive or the hardest one to get to?
Is she a calendar?
It's the furthest travel for the majority of the drivers.
And you've done well then.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, it's probably one of the most expensive rounds
to do Phillip Island.
Yeah.
And Phillip Island's an expensive place
for anyone to go on a race.
Especially to go to the Greek restaurant there and eat.
Yeah.
But it's one of them.
The track owners charge a premium for the use of the track.
But it's an A grade, like, international circuit.
It's as good as driving at Bathurst.
You say Phillip Island, everyone knows.
It's Phillip Island and Bathurst.
It's synonymous with World Tracks.
Everyone knows.
Everyone knows it.
So, everyone from overseas, like, all the New Zealanders
want to come over and drive it.
For that round, yeah.
Yeah.
Either they want to drive it.
Or better than...
Bathurst or they want to drive Phillip Island.
They said Creek's not...
I mean, it's an international track, but it's not.
It hasn't got...
I was, like, one more...
Adelaide.
One more.
What's it?
Clipsil.
Adelaide.
The band.
Oh, the band.
The band's fairly new, though.
Like, it hasn't got that reputation yet.
But it's getting there.
Yeah.
It's getting there.
But the band's fairly new as a track.
It's a good track, the band.
Phillip Island stuffed all our tyres.
There was something wrong with the bitumen.
It was a bend.
Ah, Phillip Island.
Yeah, that and all the drivers ran out of tyres.
It was chilling the tyres.
It was really abrasive to the tyres.
Did they relay it?
Yeah, they relayed it.
What tyres are you running this year?
The same as last?
We run the Nang-Kang tyre, which is an aspect tyre.
So that's what they call a semi-slick.
It gets warm and it grips really well.
So it's a bit like a slick, but it's got a groove,
not much of a groove, but a groove cut in it.
Enough for wet, or do you need to put on wears?
Barely enough for wet.
Nah, we still run it in the wet.
Okay.
Because, again, it's cost-effective.
We don't want to have a separate wet tyre.
So you're not sliding all over the track with it?
Yeah, fair bit.
But everyone is.
It's the same for everyone.
Yeah, I know, but it's not.
It's controllable.
It's not made for water.
No.
No, it's not for water.
But you can back off and get around the track.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Which everybody has to do it, so it's, yeah.
So Nang-Kang supporters there with a really, you know,
cost-effective tyre that works really well.
Yeah, so it's a controllable tyre.
They do a deal with the RX-8 Cup,
and everyone buys their tyres.
That's great.
All the consumable parts, like tyres and brake pads,
are all at a special competitor price.
Yeah, and what's the,
what category of licence?
Just your basic Motorsport Australia.
They call it a national race licence,
which is the lowest, most basic licence.
Is it a speed one?
Is it a speed one?
Speed.
Yeah.
There is a speed licence that's lower again.
You can't race with a speed licence.
But is this through cams?
They're still cams, but they call it Motorsport Australia.
So you go to that website and you...
Yep, and you get a licence through them.
But we guide everyone.
We've got a bloke involved, a couple of guys involved,
with a category that do the licence testing,
which you've got to do.
They call it an observed licence testing.
So you still do it like you do a run around the track?
Yeah, you've got a race track with a car,
a bit of road car, and you get observed,
and you drive around the track.
What do they look at?
Like you're not doing reverse parking and stuff like that.
They see how you place the car
and how much speed you can bring in.
So if you're too slow, you're not going to get through.
If you're too slow, you're not going to get through.
Or if you don't know which way the track's going,
you end up in the middle of the track.
They also watch you with other cars around you.
So they check your spatial awareness.
Make sure you're using mirrors.
Not street, but common sense.
You make them want to go on race.
You make them want to go on race.
I don't know how.
I keep on thinking about it, you know?
You're going to lose weight.
You're going to lose weight?
What the fuck for?
You're trying to lose calories in the big one.
No, that's different.
What about your knee?
Will your knee be able to hack it?
My knee can handle it.
Don't worry.
I should do it.
Tom, I've been in a car with you around the track.
There you go.
I've still got balls.
You're all right.
You're having a go.
Yeah.
You're both alive.
Yeah, that's right.
So Rick was in the car.
You were driving.
Yes.
And Rick was in the car with you.
You were on the BMW.
Old BMW.
When you were up there.
Who's car was it?
It was the BMW.
Who owned it?
George.
His brother.
Your brother owned it.
Oh, yeah.
What was it?
The old M3.
An old M3.
Yeah.
They used to race at the BMW Club.
Club?
Club.
Club, not cup.
Rick, tell us the truth.
Was he good?
Yeah, was Tom good?
Was he good?
He talks that up.
I'm not scared.
He didn't have any fear.
I reckon we could work with him.
We could massage him into some...
Yeah, because he's not his car, so he doesn't care.
...except him in skill.
Yeah, we could.
There's not no fear, he knows it all.
Can I say something?
You know why he's asking, don't you?
I don't know.
Because of his fucking focus.
Because of the focus.
He's focused. He's scared. Wait mate, what's happening with it by the way?
So I'm going to drive the Focus. Yes, I'm last but because he's scared of the last because he's scared
I'm gonna put some of the drop before you. Wait, he's all gonna drop before me. Are you scared of my driving?
Oh, yeah
So we're talking about an RS what focus for focus RS turbo four cylinder
four-wheel drive
How many kilowatts does it make fit us?
It was 300 but now it's under 80 because what's running on three cylinders?
It'll be back up there for that day. It's a production-based car. Yeah, it'd be good for the six hour
Well, there is one in the six hour. Yeah. Yeah, so we're gonna put so we're gonna fit those racing security racing
No, we're gonna see who's the best driver with this. Oh, so it's just a car for muck around. We're gonna see who's the best driver
Hang on fit us. Let me ask this. What did you used to do with rallying?
Tell us what you used to do around test driving for the Ford Ford Ford factory test drive. Yeah, you're okay
Whereabouts? Yeah, where Middle East the Greece England in what cars?
Escorts muck one muck two. So early 80s. So you're a car or dirt, huh dirt. This is early 80s
Isn't it? Yeah, so is it like a bicycle? You don't forget. So when you jump in the focus, you're just gonna be straight into it again
Fuck
He grabs a steering wheel two hands and doesn't let go of one does that, you know, that's how we drive now
I'm out the fuck is all in that car. I reckon the older you get the more the feed factor drops your school probably go up
I mean, you know, not as flexible as it was shoot that I should do when I was
That's right. Well, this the question was asked to Craig Lowns once. Yeah, right
When you what's the difference between when you drove whatever whatever they said and he goes back then I gave it a hundred and twenty percent
I'm in the door for a hundred and twenty percent to a corner and now I'm going in at eighty
You know five percent throwing kids your reaction is different. Oh, yeah, and if you're mobile phone drink
I know because that's right. You know, I'm not saying you're old. Oh, yeah
Yeah, I'm just saying because
The old comes yeah, I know we get to talk in a minute, but is it true? Were you doing a hundred and twenty percent?
No, you're slow down the only get you do slow down
Factor or is that
Watch that shit
Doesn't work the same way was when you were young like family like stuff like you don't need to do a hundred and ten percent
Yeah, but then but your experience in school makes up for that as well
You be doing stuff now, I think so that you were
Time you obviously your reactions are going to get worse. Yeah, your vision is going to get worse
Your balance is going to get worse
On the track still going all right my reactions in that on the track. I I reckon I'll slow down a little bit. Yes
Like a personal question. What part of you do you think he is slowly withering away?
Reaction time. How old are you? It's 65. Are you 60? You don't know. I'm 60 man
Do it all right
Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you are. Don't give your special price. You're 60 when you're 60 at all
Thank you. And you all believe that. Oh, are you 60? No, I'm 45
Fuck off, you're 45
You've been in the suffer too long to be 45
Kids at 14
61 this year. Fuck you do it all right, man. It's still racing. Yeah
Bath of six hour with Tommy
So talk about the six hour
Tom's our lead driver in the BMW and we're going to go and win the six hour. So you've got the rx8 cup
But you also
compete in the production car
In the in the vsp security cars. Australian production car chair production car
And the bath of six hour race is all production cars. Yeah, and they're in different classes depending upon
You know how fast they are and all the rest of it. So the outright fastest cars are x-class cars
And that's the bmw m3s m2s m4s the m cars
And we're running sacks m4
Again, i'm going to jump in and drive in this year. You're driving this year. Yep. Yeah
Tom's the lead driver and we everything works around Tom. So three car three drivers. So Zach's one of them. Tom your your
V driver
Yeah, we're back in the m4
So how you join let's compare the m4 to the rx8. Is it chalk and cheese or?
I absolutely loved my years racing in the cup series rx8 cup
I still look back at some of the best racing we've ever done. Yeah, I started out first in top racing. I never did cars
So hopping into that and learning actually how to drive stick how to drive a manual
it was
The best three or four seasons i've ever done and then to sort of move on to this production m4
Now the beast that we've got with zack it's another sort of step in your career of what you're doing with motorsport
I'm loving that as well
But I still really enjoy and miss racing the cup series because I go back and do probably one
I do the enduro every year. Yeah, I'll be back on the grid with rx8 in may doing a
Doing a drive there every time we turn up. We just yeah enjoy it and have a lot of fun again
And we always find ourselves winning or back on the podium. So you won the didn't you win the um series once
We won the series in 2022, which was awesome. And then we tried to go into two-room cars and some other bits and pieces with
tcr and other stuff
Yeah, you're gonna run with home died in the tcr car
Look to test a few times two or three times down at um one raceway there
With hmo with the i30 n that was a really good experience with the morkums and all those guys
that was a lot of fun driving a
German factory car sitting on the wrong side of the car the twin turbos, but
How does that feel like I mean everyone's hired a car in europe and driven on the other side, but to actually race
Like you you're familiar with the track. You're in a left-hand drive car. Does it throw your bearings off like your lines and
You know get into a corner
It feels weird and different that was the first time ever driving on the left
I've got into this race car on the wrong side of the road and on a track that I've done hundreds of laps around and I just had to
Yeah, train my brain to get around the left side of the vehicle
You're hitting ripple strips with the right corner of the car when you think you're on the way from it
And you're going up the straight on the wrong side of the road and you're just trying to adjust yourself
But but you're also trying to focus on your gearing
I was gonna say is a paddle shift or was it a paddle shift?
The brake is just so you don't change it with your right hand. You haven't swapped hands. It's no it's all simple
In terms of driving. It's just the placement of the car
We're judging gears with this head instead of this head. Yeah, I know that but if it's paddle shift, they're both
Yeah, that's why I asked that so it's paddle shift. It's easy to drive
The braking and the throttle is completely different with those cars the amount of pressure to slam on the brake pedal was insane
Yeah, you're almost using two feet in those cars TCR cars and the first time I got out of it
It's it's like you're done a marathon
And the amount of training you would have to do
With legwork and stuff to be able to start with
Yes, and that did that make a difference because Eric says it's real. It's all real. So yeah
It was so foreign going from an iron state with no power
Really well handled car balance six-speed gearbox to paddle shift turbo child left hand drive
On a slick tire as well. So so you're lucky the track was familiar
Yeah, I'm lucky the track had lots of runoff not that we went off but we had um, yeah
It was a track that I knew and had a lot of runoff. So if anything was to go wrong
It was a comfortable place to learn this car. It was something I've never driven before and I still remember the experience
And I still get the footage up. Yeah, this was really cool when the guys were quite pleased like I was I was on the page straight away
They had some other guys from super cars there some young kids that were coming up the ranks
So I was testing against and just to learn off there and to learn from the team that looks at data
And lots of other bits and pieces with motorsport
It was just a whole another step because you're coming from rx8 cup with no data
It's a grassroots category very simple one max series to something that's semi professional
And you've got a team of five to ten guys working on the car on a test day
And they got the big transport out the back. It's it's a real deal
So we we didn't go down that path and and unfortunately that category hasn't succeeded in australia. It's more of a european category
Yeah, they're going overseas or everywhere. Yeah, so now that team is is venturing over to asia and i'm glad to see
I'd love to drive a car again. I'd love to get back into it
But i'm loving my time in php racing and then yeah, they go to the m4 now
It's it's been it's been unreal to
To go from rx8 cup to the fastest production car in australia with zack and
And teach him his ways he'd never raced before so he's given me an opportunity
He's bought this car and he said come drive with me. You know out of that whole story. You know what i'd like
Tom wants a bigger transporter
With his big
Is there is there a line so from rx8
Is it a smoother line rx8 to m4 because it sounds like tcr was completely a totally different car
Yeah, it's very foreign like it's it's a definitely a high step up straight away. Yeah one tip to the other about speed
Um much quicker car. You're talking about torx dear. You're talking about quicker. Really? Yeah, way quicker car
The kid though. Yeah, there'll be 10 seconds of that faster down in golden
Than an rx8 cup car, which is a lot for a small trap. Yeah, it's all it's all torque. It's all speed
The m4 is do you like that's all it's all torque. Yeah
It's certainly a car that's it's taken. I've driven a m4 production car back in 2022
And I was winning the championship of rx8 cup. I did it. I once off drive with um sion hodgers and
It more is probably the best m4 in australia. It's won the six hour. Isn't that our opposition? Yes, it is it now is
It's funny that I that was the first time I found those of it
It was the first time I drove and now we're compared. I saw it all strip at it
The guy that is the manager of that team now
Is the guy that worked on my car the focus and then he got there's the manager of the team
So you drove that car I drove that car back in 2022 with simon and now is that why he doesn't like you?
No, we get along great
I see walk past and get a small don't stop
I enjoy that now because I work with those guys and we race with them for a weekend or two and tested with them
And now we're trying to beat them. What we're doing with zack is is awesome. This car is giving us so much opportunity
We've just created our 2026 calendar
And that's got over 10 rounds of racing across australia
It's such a diverse car production car because this at the moment. There's actually a third series now
So you've got three different categories you can race it in you've got your new south Wales production cars
Which is our state series and that's our go-to being new south Wales base
We've also got the australian production car series and now the australian racing drivers club have just started up a full round
Championship nationally for production cars as well because they want to grow the grid size
So hopefully everyone supports it and hopefully
The production cars as well in new south Wales get good grids because you're seeing 20 plus production cars racing through the likes of
golden down at one raceway, sydney motorsport park
We're also going up to morgan park this year for state of origin. So we've got a really big calendar
We're going to kick off at sydney in march
With a state round and that's going to be an hour race a couple of hour races that i share with zack and a couple of sprints
So allows us to do a sprint each so zack gets the car to himself
Could be a 20 minute sprint race and then i'll hop in and have my race myself
So that's good to see where we're both at and we get to share have the car to ourselves for a minute
And then it's normally the sunday
We do our hour race together and that's where you come together and try and finish 60 minutes without any tire failures or issues
And we do a driver change about the 20 25 minute mark
And then we do half the race each and try and win it or get on the podium
What's the setting like in the car?
Well, you're not pressing m1 and m2 the memory buttons to fix the seat with the driver change is a repeat
I mean zack's got a text up zacks like a jockey
That's called a text up
Tom's be tall and lanky but not you're not a basketballer, but you're not zack size either
Does the seat move up and down? Is it on rails? It's on rails. It's got texture marks there for each driver
We've got our seating position in the car and it's either got zack or tom or rick whoever's driving it
It's in a pink and a pink marker and is the pitch like the angle of the seat the same
It's all the same
Tom and i can sit in the same position. Yeah
We might put a little cushion for that. So if you guys race together the
The driver change is pretty straightforward because you're going to see what you want to see how many six hours we've done together
You said the other day
Well, this year will be my sixth about the six hour in a row. Yeah, I've obviously done rx out cup in the previous years
We did three out of 86 the first year. This will be my second year out right in the m4
So you done four with me one with zack and anton
The squarley. Yeah, there's a v8 driver with a super car. Yeah
And in this year, they got rid of anton
Like put me in here. It's too slow. They must have won a really good drive
So, yeah, so the driver says it's a matter of moving the seat the rest of the car the setup of the car doesn't change
No, it's you're going to adjust to the car. You want to try and simplify the pit stop as best you can
We do practice the pit stops you can try and
Look at a time you get your time around and go we want to take five seconds off that of 10 seconds
Especially at baffas because every second counts. Yeah, but it's not a four second pit stop. We're not f1
No, you're talking 30 seconds to a minute and sometimes you have compulsory pit stops which have to be 60 seconds
Yeah, it's all controlled like you know what I'm not it's for now. It's a cut corner. It's not rush
You don't have to rush. Can I say an example?
Where were we the first time we uh, what's that trickle?
One way one way. It's not right. Well, it's one raceway
But they're all wakefields
another name
Which is a
But the thing is they call it the wakefield circuit all the all they could
But the circuit is called one raceway. It's called one raceway. That's the thing
When you go a certain direction
When you go the other way, it's going to show you last year
Sydney gardener circuit
But is it need gold?
Is it the one in the wood?
If you call it wakefield, then you know, which way you're going
It's the same track, but it's in the opposite direction. So you're either doing the wakefield or the shelly
Oh, okay. That's a track one raceway. Yeah, okay last year when we were there and we had to do the refueling
Yeah, remember you told us what to do
The BM and then Rick asked us to do the pulsar. Remember?
Yes
Okay, we know we had five five minutes to fuel the fuel and tea, right?
We didn't know what we're doing, but we knew what we're doing
The thing was we never panicked. We took our time because we know it didn't matter how quick we were
We still had enough time. Are you stuffed up the fuel? No, wait, wait. So the BM went out
right three linear time
Perfect and then
Right the pulses time
We never knew until he yelled out to us Rick yelled out to us
purged like empty because we had fuel in the
In the pipes? In the pipe. Yeah, we didn't remember. We've never done it before to the truth
And then we had enough time to empty that to recalibrate ourselves and all that and fill that up with petrol plenty of time
with no rush
And that works good
Because there's no accidents as long as you know what I mean. Yeah, that's the good thing about having like your time
Yeah, yeah, the other thing is we
We've got our crew sorted
We've done a year or two of racing together now and the manager's read the rule book. I heard
We've got a good management system. We've got a head mechanic. It's about the team. Yeah, you've read the rule book to win
You've got our refueling guys and if
If you change your refueling guys every event or every year at a certain event, that's when problems start to arise
so
Having guys that are experienced and this is what we practice for in all our state rounds and other national rounds before we get to
The big one at april for the six hour. Okay. This is this is really important. I've got to say this one right because
Not the last race not not um
The challenge when we went to the race before that where was it last year
It was the uh something happened mid-race and I was like was it where was it? I was away
Oh, yeah, I went up to rack and I go zack and I go mate
What do you want to do?
Is it about you or the team?
Because I always said it was about him. Remember I'm query. He's coming in straight. I don't know and he goes
It's about the team. I just turned around and that was it for me, right?
And this is when no, we've done a wheel line and all that and we put three new tires on the car
And we left what we left the old one on the front left
Remember this is where you were
Right and asack's walking out with me
It goes to me. Oh, how come I didn't get new tire?
Like I'm like, you don't have to worry about anything anymore
Just get in the car and drive into the best of your ability and don't worry about nothing
Put him in there for this for his maximum likes he had to do and all that kicked him out
Put tom in there gave him the new tire and he went out and he killed it until the fucker turbo is melted
Yeah
And then fuck this
Done
I was telling the tomm from the beginning. Do you remember that?
It's team. It's a team. It's never the driver. No, for me it was about Zach
I mean without a team the driver's got no car to race. I mean, it's about the team now
Everything's about the team. That's where I read the bull rules and everything
We've the boys have done a lot of work in the off season for the stomp smash or
Advent performance and even Zach himself like all the guys you can name everyone even and rig's done a lot of work on the car
Hours and hours around December
Just all the little things, you know, that's from experience and learning you're learning the car. You know, it's what will work
We're two on it now. We've learned so much and and now we're looking at how we can make it a better race car
We've got the old man to guide us. Yeah 60 year old
It just sometimes takes that year or two to learn your machinery
That's true
And and now we're going into 2026 really confident and we want to turn up the bathroom for a bit of testing and one
We only got one race meeting so low formulas on the car before we arrive
And it'll be fresh. It'll be stick it up looking great
And we want to really attack this year six and get on the podium
You were saying earlier about all the different categories bathers like pretty much everyone will come in together
It's the pinnacle of production car racing in the country. So you've got all the state series queens
And it's got their own w a's got their own everyone comes together
You got 70 cars on the grid and it's grown from the first time your dad invited me
When you're driving Mazda, I don't know if you're driving back then
All that I remember that time that I went down you had the these mad
Mazda books out trying to find the fault of the Mazda on the boot and all I remember walking in and I go
Fuck does he have to read all that? I don't remember the 70 cars a lot
Right, and it was small the campground slowly is growing
Every year now there's 20 to 30,000 people through the gate
Plus your tv audience which can be up in the millions. That's over the Easter weekend. Yeah, Easter weekend
Which is really good because I know how many of my friends are away holiday
But we still get such good support a lot of the family. I don't know how many
Family members of book to come out this year. They're all staying in the hotel
They're so keen for the event and they're talking it up so much
It's great to see people on the hill up the top school the campgrounds getting you got your 12 hour
You got your 1000 but the six hours now really coming up to speed with those events
And that's good because people are enjoying the showroom battles out of the production. It's relatable
And can we tell the families to stay out of the pits but on saturday and sunday, please
Except if they're feeding you. I don't
We'll step out for that. You'll step out for that. It is it is one of the greatest nights of the season
Who's doing the catering?
Oh, it's x misses or we just buy a whole lot of chickens. I don't know. Tom's right
It's one. It's the biggest production car event
In the country, you know for the year
It would take 12 months to prepare for it. So as soon as 2025 was over we're already talking about 26
Yeah, and if you've got 70 cars there, it's it's a big event. It's not a small race
It is it is big. We started what I still look at the photos to to this day
We started bit on the grid last year and in previous 86 and rx8. Yes, it's a slow car
But we've been in the 50 60 the tires starting around the corner
So last year to do it with Antonin's art was super special start on top live
And I actually started the car for the first time
So it's quite daunting to be on the grid with
Thousands of people walking around doing the grid walk and the pit walls full was
Can I ask you about the stars? It's the closest all the cars are going to be at the start
You got literally 70 cars within a couple hundred meters of each other. Yeah, it's awesome to see
Is it when the lights go green or when the lights turn off and when it's time to lift the clutch and go
Is it preservation is a position? Is it what do you think about the first corner? And it's a 90 degree corner
It's a pretty tough corner. There's not much when you've got people in front of you out next to you behind
Yeah, like are you looking sideways?
Are you looking for position to make a quick one two position?
Like there's you know, we should we should have put the muffs on brick and then put the muffs on tom to see which answer
Like yeah, like both of them can answer. I'm asking i'm asking tom now
What's what goes through your mind at the grid once the lights go out and you're in your racing?
You're sitting still in the car and there's a couple of minutes till everyone's clearing the grid and you start to get nervous
You're trying to calm yourself down be like, how do we attack this first lap with six hours?
And we do over a hundred and I can't every year. It's a bit different with these safety cars
But you do want a hundred and something else. So you're not going to win at the first corner
So you're not going to win straight away
So the idea and everyone is so aggressive because you've got professionals around you in super super car drivers
You've got other adrenaline very good
operators, but also
It's a it's a rolling start. So you come and down. Oh, okay
Yeah, and you're on the you're on the third row and you're trying to work out how
How do we manage this because I remember going into the first corner and you just get swamped by every car
There's there's some cars you think you can overtake
And then there's cars that come from behind from knowing our breaker
It was just about holding the track and getting and I think I lost a couple of spots up the hill
But you want to clean car yourself
You want to clean car though? You don't want to bang it in the first corner
Yeah, exactly and there was guys going into the wall
There was guys sandwiching each other and I think it was probably 10 laps in we started to work out
Where our speed was and we ended up into third outright in the race and we were we were racing Simon
We were racing some other guys that we normally race at state level
And we were in a great position and unfortunately some things didn't go away and the and the race belt was
But it just could have been what it was like. We ended up third in the race after
20 minutes and you go, okay, we can stay on track like this all day
You can end up so what's the goal this year podium?
Well, that's the idea is to get away on a clean start whoever starts the car and go round and round
I'm not worrying about where we finish at the end of the day. I just want to clean clean race and punch them out for the tires
Yeah, stay focused we finished 10th with four tire favors. Yeah, and that says the story
If you finish in the flattest four tire favors, where could we have been? I hate to think about it. So this year we're aiming for podium
Yeah
But I would my okay, we're gonna win is to get on the podium
Yeah, in an outright car to get on the podium will be but you've got the car to win it
We've got the car to win it. We've got the drivers. We've got the team to win it. We've got the crew
It's my sixth Baptist. I want to do it forever, but I also want to so the walls aren't as daunting anymore
I'm very comfortable with that. I've done enough now. I don't know what this didn't require
I've done double stint in the area. So I was in the car for three hours, which is the maximum
And you get out and you absolutely exhaust it. Oh, yeah, it feels good to do it
I'm very looking forward to this event and we have a good strategy. We have a good team behind us
Rumour has it we invested in the cooling suits
Yeah, we have thanks to the ratio for providing the units this year
We've worked on the car a lot over the season. We've changed little things and all that
The team's really formed. I'm really happy with various two races come to this year. Bathurst is going to be great
We're going to have everyone there. It's going to be a really good atmosphere
I think we're going to carry a new couple sponsors to on the car.
Yeah, I know
I was going to plug away yet, but
Don't plug away. Where can everyone find you and the Bathurst and the VSP car?
Yeah, well, first of all, I'd just like to say thanks to Zach. Zach was here for VSP security wholesale
Amazing job. He's doing behind the wheel. He's been on stage for all year
So you got to give all the thanks to him and organizing everything and having me drive with him
What he does is next to that. It's just absolutely amazing
How much time and effort he puts into the team and for myself as well
Amazing job
Yeah, if you want to check out what we're doing, it's TomTra racing on all your socials
Yeah, and uh, yeah the VSP M4 you'll see it. It's a great looking car and
We're back doing it again this year and we'll be doing some R&T Cup stuff on the side as well
So yeah, check out all the socials and keep up to date with the team. We've got plenty of bets this year and
I'm looking forward to all of them
The Baths6hour.com.au isn't it? I think I'll burn it there website
Yeah, you can check it out all there and we'll be releasing all info about entry lists and
Schedules and how to get into the pits if you want some tickets and come during the team
Everyone's welcome to come to all the events this year. It's so easy to get into the track. It's it's not like a high event
We need passes and stuff. It's just walk into the pits and look at the cars
It's all access for a family to
Got kids that are in the motorsport. It's a good race. I've been there when it's to get around. There's no it's not like f1
No, it's their big door gates and that and thanks to um, thanks to Tom's auto body as well
He's looked after me for years and years now since I first started driving and went over to his shop and met him for the first time
He's looked after me for years. We're one of the good customers. Yeah, we still haven't got your shirt yet
Your um, he looked after you earlier
It's just getting into racing and we don't need to see him now because you don't bang the car off anymore. So that's all right. Hey, I always say
Race do what you can do. It doesn't matter. We can always fix the car. Okay
It's not only about the business. He's working on the car. He's an engineer. He's not a panel better
I don't care what that did to the car. He's read the rule book. He showed me
Let's see the magnets work this year. He's trying to find ways to lose weight in the car
Not you. What are you trying to say within the regulation? Not you the car. That's all right
Because every rx8 plug away. We can somebody someone's interested in be racing the rx8 cut website
That's the best place to look so just google mazda rx8 car all the information's on there the calendar the rules the regulations
How to get in touch with us at management emails and his phone
We're very happy to sit on the telephone and talk you through it
What you know how to get involved how you do everything how you get a race license
How you sort of car how do you buy a car build a car?
You can bring your own sponsors. So i'm right at the way you want all that sort of stuff. Yeah, absolutely
You know rx8 cup is supported by uh some sponsors, which is fantastic
You know, we've got scott property group and we've got uh race chill and we've got dba and we've got alexander mazda
Our speedy wheels mco shock absorbers list goes on
I've got a question for you
How mad is it when you hear yourself? No great? Is it a good? Is it when you hear your son talking?
And you know what he's talking about because it's you're his father
You get what i mean. What's it feel like? It's great. It's an awesome experience to share motorsport
With a family handle with your son to drive together like we have a bathurst or overseas in america
You know, whatever we've done where we've actually shared the car and done pit stops and changed drivers together
It's been absolutely fantastic. It's a true. Now. We said father son
Is it true if you went into like a target type event a father and son aren't allowed to be in the same car
Why why i've never heard that either i think george said it once
Whether it was bw club. They don't want father son the same kind of just in case something happens
Definitely not true. It's not true. Is that not a rumor? I know I know girls who daughters that navigate for their dads
Yeah, and their sons that drive share the driving and navigate unless it's that particular category that my brother was
Yeah, it's just like when we can top drive the bathurst they drive in two different cars down there
Well, that family flies on different planes
My parents fly separately. I don't know because your dad doesn't want to hear mum
Oh
All right. Yeah, i've got succession. Okay. There. It's the truth. Well, thanks guys. I mean, it's always a pleasure
I remember when um tom first came on when you said like how well he's speaking like when you first came on, but you were like
Um, it was your first year of racing. You were learning off dad and but mate
It's that was five six years ago the way you're talking now and and presenting yourself on that. He's fucking yeah
Like he's doing well and and seeing
Elevate your way through in different classes
mates
moderation is a hard thing it's and it's
you know what it is
luck
It's like it's skew. We're gonna be out of luck. You're gonna be at the right place at the right time to get ahead for starters
You go it's just luck. It's like it's it's but you also gonna know what you're doing. Hey, what do you call if you win the lotto?
What do you call it lucky lucky? There you go
It's luck. Yeah, but you have to be in it to win it too. Yeah, but we are in it. Yeah, of course
And we want to win it. You know like no one's gonna pluck me out of the crowd and say, hey, you can drive a car come with us
No, we've been in the car. We don't want you to do it. Oh
Rain us review us
Send us your questions. I've got a question for our next podcast coming for you and um can what row?
Joe Rogan get back to me. We are yeah. Yeah. I just want a little question. I know
We'll find him in LA
Yes, based in New York
Yeah
Rain us review us follow us on instagram
Thanks to the boys follow them on instagram and
If you're keen come down to bathurst, um or even look at the rx8 races get on the website
Look at the calendars or even the production car class. So thank you again guys for having us here at your workshop and
and um talk again, we'll be down with the mini mics at bathurst and
We'll get coxie on the red light on the little red light on red light
On me red beans. I want to hear you talk about where you're gonna fucking go and get lunch because you're fucking cold
unquote
Thank you and bye for now. Bye. Thank you. Good night
There you go. There you go
One hour
Really? Yeah
Fucking hell
Oh
We're gonna eat downtown. We're just gonna feed us at this time. We're gonna go where we're gonna fucking eat now
The normal place come on
Joy, you gotta check what time of the kitchens close these days. So well, it's ridiculous
About this episode
Ric and Tom Shaw share insights on racing in the Mazda RX8 Cup Series, discussing the recent awards night and standout drivers, including rookie of the year, Stearn. They delve into the upcoming season, highlighting the tracks, race formats, and the unique challenges of the RX8's rotary engine. The conversation also touches on the camaraderie among racers, the dynamics of father-son teams, and the intricacies of endurance racing at Bathurst. With a mix of humor and technical details, this episode offers a glimpse into the competitive spirit of the RX8 Cup.
Original notes
Father son racing drivers Ric and Tom Shaw join Peter and Tom to discuss the new season of Mazda RX8 Cup Series and the Australian Production Car Series. Ric is one of the organizers and racers in his Mazda RX8 while Tom races with the VS Security BMW M4 race team in the Production cars series. Ric talks about some of the international tracks he has raced at. We look at the cost of racing in a grass roots racing category and we learn how to get a racing licence.
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