Brendon Leitch | Part 2 - GT Gun for Hire & Mentor Miles
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34:21
Topic
GT3 class
GT3 is a type of race category where car makers build race cars based on real production models. The rules are designed so different brands can race each other more fairly.
Topic
endurance races
Endurance races are long races where you have to keep the car quick and controlled for a long time. It’s not only about speed—drivers also manage tires, fuel, and other cars on track.
Term
stint
A stint is how long a driver keeps the car on track before the next planned change. In long races, it’s usually tied to tire wear and when you switch drivers.
Term
TCR car
TCR is a racing series for production-based cars (usually front-wheel drive) with standardized rules. In mixed events, a TCR car can be slower traffic that faster GT cars have to navigate safely.
Place
Hockenheim race
Hockenheim is a famous race track in Germany. It has fast sections and big braking areas, so drivers have to deal with other cars and plan passes carefully.
Topic
GT World Challenge Europe
GT World Challenge Europe is a big racing series in Europe for GT3 race cars. Drivers and teams compete at multiple tracks, and it’s a common stepping stone for people aiming to race at the highest levels of GT racing.
Place
Spa 24 hour
“Spa 24 hour” is a famous 24-hour endurance race held at Spa in Belgium. It’s a major event where teams have to manage speed, reliability, and changing conditions for an entire day.
Place
Imola
Imola is a well-known race track in Italy. Drivers often talk about it because it has a challenging layout that rewards good car control.
Place
Barcelona
Barcelona is a race track in Spain used for motorsport events. It’s a mix of fast and twisty sections, so it tests both top speed and handling.
Term
qualifying
Qualifying is when drivers try to set their best lap time before the race. Your qualifying result helps decide where you start, which can make the race easier or harder.
Place
Daytona
Daytona is a famous race track in Florida. People really want to race there because endurance races are tough and you have to stay fast for a long time.
Place
Le Mans
Le Mans is one of the most famous endurance races in the world in France. It’s a 24-hour event, so the cars have to last and the drivers have to stay consistent.
Topic
Michelin-Lemon Cup
Michelin-Lemon Cup sounds like a specific racing class or event name. The important part is that it wasn’t the full 24-hour Le Mans race, but a related competition at the same kind of weekend.
Concept
factory car
A “factory car” is a race car backed by the car maker itself. Instead of just a private team, you often get help from the manufacturer’s engineers and better-prepared equipment.
Person
Marco Mappalli
Marco Mappalli is another racing driver the speaker worked with as a teammate. The host is basically saying he’s very highly regarded in motorsport.
Car
GT3 car
A GT3 car is a type of race car used in many pro-am series. It’s based on a regular sports car, but it’s modified for racing—so it has race-focused parts and grip.
Place
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is a city in the United Arab Emirates that hosts race events. Here, it’s the location where the speaker says their team got podium finishes.
Car
Lamborghini factory driver
A “factory driver” is a driver hired or supported by the car maker itself. It usually means the manufacturer helps with the racing team and the cars.
Topic
Lamborghini Super Traffa Europe
This sounds like a Lamborghini-sponsored racing series in Europe. Drivers compete in Lamborghini cars using the same general rules.
Concept
six hour race
A “six hour race” is a long event where the goal is to keep going for six hours. Teams usually have to stop for things like fuel and tires, so strategy is important.
Term
infringement
In racing, an “infringement” means you broke a rule. If that happens, officials can give penalties that can change how the race or championship standings turn out.
Topic
championship in Australia
They’re talking about a racing series that takes place in Australia. For this kind of racing, teams often need a co-driver, and if you don’t have one lined up, you can miss the whole season.
Term
co-driver
A co-driver is another driver who takes turns driving the same race car. In longer races, it helps keep the driver fresh and lets the team plan strategy better.
Place
Highlands Motorsport Park
Highlands Motorsport Park is a race track in New Zealand. The host is saying Brendan worked there as part of building his career in motorsport.
Person
Tony Quinn
Tony Quinn is the person the speaker says owns Highlands Motorsport Park, the race track mentioned in the episode. That makes him a key figure behind the venue where racing happens.
Place
Phillip Island
Phillip Island is a famous race track in Australia. Wind and cornering make it tricky, so doing well early can really help a driver feel confident.
Car
1973 Volkswagen combi
This is a 1973 Volkswagen “combi,” which is a classic VW bus. People love it because it’s roomy, has a simple mechanical setup, and it’s great for trips and tinkering.
LIVE
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Tim Miles testing a supercar and his new home in GT World Challenge, Australia.
Let's launch back into it now.
I mean, as we move forward here, I mean, there are scraps with the likes of Valenciano Rossi.
There's lots of legends in the GT3 class.
You are on the big stage, mate.
Did you feel like you were kind of meant to be there?
Are you, you know, a small fish big pond?
Well, what's the sensation? What are you feeling like here?
Yeah, very small fish big pond feeling for the first couple of years.
In 2021, those endurance races, they did well.
It was great for me to really understand how GT3 racing works on the other side of the planet.
Endurance racing, how that works at, like, at a top level.
You enjoyed that?
Yeah, absolutely. It was hard. It was really good to challenge myself.
And I was, you know, I wasn't just hunting for a sprint race.
I was going, I was in for a long distance race.
It's a very different feeling when you're pushing for 25 minutes,
when you're trying to challenge your own time for two hours, you know,
and you're absolutely exhausted by the end of the second hour
and just trying to squeeze every bit of lap time out
and try and minimize, make your stint, you know,
get as many laps as possible within that stint.
So managing the traffic was something that I wasn't used to before.
I ended up taking out a TCR car at the Hockenheim race,
just went beside him and he just turned in
and just sent him off into the fruits and veggies.
It was just, there was lots of different dynamics going on.
First time working with a German team. I didn't speak any German.
Can you speak it now? Can you speak a bit?
Not really. No, a little bit. I can speak a little bit, but it's very limited.
And yeah, I didn't put too much effort into that.
I was, I can't, what did I say to myself?
I was like, the effort that I'm putting into learning a language,
I could be spending on the simulator.
Okay.
Yeah, so that was, that was the way I approached it all.
But for me in 2021, it was, it was really important.
And in 2022 was when I first raced in GT World Challenge Europe.
And that was, that is the biggest GT3 championship in the world.
It's Spa 24 hour.
Back then it was the three hours of Imola, 24 hours of Spa,
Barcelona, Hockenheim and one other track.
I can't remember right now, but it was something.
I mean, this is a heck of a roll call of amazing places.
That's right. And I did, I did the first race.
I did an amazing job in qualifying.
And I remember how good the lap was and I qualified 41st.
Yeah. And I was, that was a humbling moment.
And I was like, oh my gosh, like how and why.
And that was when I started to put all the pieces together from when I was a kid
and add to that knowledge and understand like, where's the time?
How can I find it?
What does the car need?
What do I need?
And, and all of these pieces now have to come together at the right time perfectly
to be at the front.
And, you know, I was racing that same weekend where I qualified 41st at Imola as round one.
I just put it on pole on Super Trafeo Europe on debut.
So it was, but I did the pole first and then we had our first race in Trafeo
and then I went and had that callie and that was a very humbling moment for me.
But yeah, it's such an important thing to have a team
and racing and endurance racing especially.
There's definitely no eye on the team.
In all of that.
Yeah.
I love the growth here, mate.
And the way you've looked within yourself for that,
you fundamentally become a bit of a gun for hire here, right?
Why is the racing in Pro Am about more, I think, than what you just do in the car?
It's about the relationships.
It's about rapport.
It's about, you know, fostering and building up the AM drivers and so on.
There is a lot more to it.
Yeah, absolutely.
Look, it's these guys that I race with.
They're here to have fun, but they're super competitive and they want to get better.
So for us, it's not only do you have to be fast, be a rocket,
but you've got to be super personable.
No one likes to...
That comes easy to you now.
I don't know if I did it when you were younger.
Yeah, it didn't use to come so easily to me.
I didn't used to be so good with people,
but it's one of those things that you just acquire of a time and experience.
And it's important to be, again, this is where I come back to the having fun thing.
If you're not having fun, why are you doing it?
And, you know, the lap time is just going to come at some point,
and if everything else comes together for you, if you're driving well,
you're always going to be having a good time, right?
So it's just trying to pick yourself up or pick these guys up when they're having a bad day
and dust them off and say, like, I know you can do better than this.
This is not you.
Like, just close the door, get back out there and do another run and push on.
I know you can do it.
You've just got to, like, you know, believe in yourself a bit.
The car can do it.
I know you can do it.
You just got to get it done now.
Is there a track you haven't done that you would like to do?
And of all, I mean, Suzuka, Hockenheim and legendary places,
is there a little fave there for you too, mate, of the international stuff?
The only one I can think of right now is Daytona that I haven't competed on.
I mean, I did Le Mans in 2023 in the Michelin-Lemon Cup.
I didn't do the 24-hour, but we had a really awesome weekend in Le Mans Cup that weekend
and I just missed out on the podium from a silly little mistake that I made,
so it was super close.
But yeah, 24 hours a Daytona is one race that I really want to do
and it's a track I want to drive.
But yeah, those two races are the races I've got to tick off
for sure, Daytona and Le Mans.
When did you get kind of that confidence in your own ability, mate,
and not feeling that need you talked about before to prove yourself the pressure and so on?
When did that come?
Probably, you know, three or four years ago in Asian Le Mans, I think,
2022 or three started the, yeah, 2023.
You know, we turned up there.
It was the first time I ever drove a factory car,
like the car had been with the factory and prepared
and, you know, we had all the engineers around us from the manufacturer
to support us where we needed it.
And, you know, I had really cool teammates
and Gabriel and Don and Marco Mappalli.
And Marco is like a world-class driver,
anybody that knows motorsport knows Marco
as one of the best sports car drivers in the world.
And to race with him and learn from him was a huge thing.
And the first time that I've probably been in a situation
in a GT3 car where I was in the same car, I was the chaser.
So it was a massive learning opportunity for me.
And to be, I mean, Marco was for sure, was for sure better than me.
And to be close with him and learn from him
and just keep trying to get as close to him as possible
was the point where I realized, oh, man, I'm not really too bad at this anymore.
Thanks.
I'm doing a good job here.
And, you know, the team did a great job.
The manufacturer did a great job.
And all the drivers, we did an awesome job.
We ended up with two podiums in Abu Dhabi that year in Asian Le Mans.
And we just missed out on top three in the Asian Le Mans series
by a couple of points.
It was very, very tight at the end.
And then, yeah, we went back the following year
and we just missed out on the championship due to one race where we had an issue.
So, like, it was that Asian Le Mans series was a turning point for me
where I started to trust myself and that, you know, I could do it.
Was it a conscious parking nerves thing?
Or was it just more that the results were there?
No, I mean, yeah, the results were there.
I was able to, I knew that I could do it then.
I was like, well, now I've proved it.
And then accumulation of that and some knowledge.
And I say, oh, you know what, if I can't do it,
it's just not meant to be that day, you know?
And, yeah, that's just how it sort of came together for me
and how I built my confidence off it.
When did you meet, and maybe I'm jumping around on the timeline here,
but forgive me if I missed some gaps.
But when did you meet Tim Miles?
Can we talk about Timmy now?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, so I met Tim in 2013, I think it was.
It was when I was racing in the Atlantic at Wiggum.
And I remember I was lining up at Scrutin' Erring.
My brother was racing in another R-T4.
And his Andy McIlroy had Tim Miles under there.
You can't miss those two when they turn up in those moments.
I think, let's just say, I think it was five o'clock at a historic event.
And Tim and Andy were out there,
I mean, working on their cars a little bit, I think,
but it was just more yapping than working.
But we were parked up there,
and I just, in the distance, just heard this voice, you know?
Was that those, was that those leech-buggers?
And I'm like, I've never heard this voice before.
I look over, and hearing it, sure enough,
here's Tim, just like, absolutely, chuffed for himself.
And I'm like, hi, mate.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
So, you know, that was the first time I'd met Tim and Andy,
and, you know, the relationship built from there.
And then, yeah, when they would come over to Queenstown,
I was working at Highlands.
I'd often go over and meet up with Andy and Tim
and Hunter McIlroy, you know, Andy's son,
kick around with Hunter a bit,
and remember us going on the luge and doing all sorts of fun stuff.
So they were, we kept in touch ever since then.
And then, yeah, the opportunity to race with Tim came, which was...
Was there a bit of a period of uncertainty there,
and maybe he sort of came about,
and maybe a crossroads or something or other?
Well, what transpired then?
Yeah, 100%.
That was the turning point for me in my professional career,
I would say, is when Tim gave me the opportunity.
I was, in the end of 2023,
I came back and did the Highlands six hour with Tim.
It was the first time I raced with him,
and we had a great weekend.
It was so much fun.
We missed out on the win,
and we had a small fuel issue,
which cost us through no fault of anybody,
apart from we just tried to cut it so fine,
and we missed out.
But we had such a fun weekend.
I kept in touch with Tim, obviously, frequently,
and after that, you know,
he started talking about wanting to do some racing with me.
And I was like, I didn't think, you know, so much of it.
Then I was, you know, laser focused on becoming
or trying to become a Lamborghini factory driver.
I had just...
That weekend was the weekend before the final round
of Lamborghini Super Traffa Europe,
where after the six hour race,
I flew straight back there to compete in the last round,
and we won the European Championship.
Megamite.
And then, you know, Tim started talking about
potentially doing some racing in Australia,
and he was looking at coming back and into GT3,
and he wondered what I was doing,
would have liked to come and race with him.
And that's how the opportunity came about,
and I wasn't sure, because I was still really trying
at the end of 2023 to get that factory drive,
and obviously didn't come in the end.
Went into the Asian Le Mans with Marco and Gabi again,
and we had a successful campaign,
and we got another couple of trophies.
We even won a race on the track,
and got to take an office for an infringement.
And then, yeah, then I went back to Europe,
and was wondering what I was going to do next.
Actually, at that point at the end of Asian Le Mans,
I had not a single drive for 2024,
and I'm like, well, what am I going to do here?
And I had an email from someone,
and they said, look, we want you to do this championship,
and I knew full well that the customer
they wanted me to race with was not going to be competing that year.
So I'm like, this doesn't make any sense.
Yeah, later on, he ended up leaving,
and we're getting told to leave,
and I ended up with no drive.
So I talked to him and said, hey, like,
you still want a co-driver for this championship in Australia?
And he said, yeah, absolutely.
Like, I haven't got anyone sorted yet.
Would you like to come do it?
I said, absolutely, keen as.
And that was the point where I really pivoted my career,
and we moved to Australia, moved my partner and I,
a fiancee and I, a partner at the time,
and we moved over here, Sydney, site unseen,
never been here before,
and yeah, started competing with Tim in Australia,
and yeah, and then it was a very busy year, 2024,
in terms of I didn't have anything,
so I was trying so hard to get every drive possible
and got some really cool opportunities that year.
Together, mate, I mean, I have very vivid memories
of his drive at Phillip Island,
and people like Paul Morris coming over and saying,
mate, one of the best drives I've ever seen from you, Tim Miles,
and you're in that kind of mentoring, coaching,
whatever you want to call it, capacity that you are
as the pro driver, if you like.
Do you help that mate?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, that first weekend that we spent together at Phillip Island,
we had an amazing weekend,
and I don't need to have one weekend with Tim before that,
so it was...
I wasn't really sure how it was going to go,
what the dynamic would have been like in the car together,
like, you know, what's the tension going to be like,
and everything was really good, but after race one,
we actually had a...in Tim's stint,
he was a little bit upset with himself,
and, you know, later on I figured out he'd actually...
he'd just let a couple of cars pass,
like one of his competitors or something,
and we had a conversation on Sunday morning,
and I was like, look, look, like, this year,
you didn't even fight, you just let him go.
Like, what's going on?
He's like, oh, you know, I just wasn't quite in the right headspace,
and we ended up having a great result that first race anyway,
it rained, and that's where I had an amazing race,
that I just flew through the field,
it was really, really cool.
Yeah, it was a real cool race that I always remember,
and anyway, Sunday morning, sitting with Tim having a chat,
and said, hey mate, like, come on, you can do better than this,
this is not you, like, get it together,
and then the Sunday race too,
he just put on an absolute masterclass of defence
and bought the thing home and won our first race together
and GT World Challenge.
Amazing.
Can I ask you, mate, if you don't mind about coping with his loss,
you and I are recording this not quite 12 months since he left us,
I have, I don't often talk about it,
but I can recall being with you on the grid at Sand Down,
Krausey was with us, and this is post the funeral right,
which I'd done a bit of work on the MC side of it,
and I privately felt very proud
because you want to do the best job you can in that moment
and be strong for the family and so on,
but man, I nearly broke on the grid there with you guys,
and Krausey sort of saved me and said, hey mate,
you know, we got this and blah, blah, blah,
and I didn't want to get upset on camera.
I don't think you could look at me at one point,
so it was tough, all that mate, wasn't it? It was really tough.
Yeah, that was hard.
I mean, I actually missed his funeral
because I had a race in South Korea and Andy...
You would not have minded that mate, you would not have minded that.
Andy and Tracy both said I had to go do it,
like it was not a choice,
and they ended up being with a co-driver now in Asia,
who gave me an opportunity this year in racing in GT World Challenge.
But yeah, that day on the grid and Sand Down was very hard.
It was probably the moment where it hit on for me that, you know, he'd gone.
That is a Western figure, it's not going to be in the pit line anymore, yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
And sitting in the car, I remember, after the moment on the grid,
I had to do a lap in the car and I mean,
it might have looked cool from the outside,
but it was just the waterworks under the helmet, you know,
for me it was...
That was when I really, you know,
hit me that I opened the door next time
and Tim's not going to be there ripping me out of the car.
So that's it.
So yeah, it was a tough period
and I just tried my best to keep battling through.
I sat in the corner of hospitality in South Korea
and watched the funeral and it was great that I could feel like I was still involved,
but it was a very hard time
and now I just feel more determined than ever to make everything work.
Brendan talked earlier about working at Highlands Motorsport Park
as he climbed the ladder.
That world-class venue is owned by Tony Quinn
who joined Rusty on the Podium 2020
for a fascinating chat about his business success
and why Motorsport has been such a good vehicle for the brands.
Yeah, so look, Motorsport in business for me,
whilst, you know, people would say that,
oh, it's for personal enjoyment,
it's actually not, I've used it for the businesses that I've got
and I've done very, very well out of the businesses that I've owned.
TQ has been on the Pod for a number of shortcuts since then
and he never disappoints,
but we still get feedback on the feature EP
and not just for the Motorsport yarns,
particularly for the business chats.
Search for it later.
Now it's back to Rusty and Brendan Leach.
Can we talk about the Supercast test, mate,
because I think by the sounds of it,
he played maybe a little part in helping some of that stuff come.
Tell me about that.
It's massive.
He got that test for me
and he also got that drive for me in the Bathurst 12
the first year I did it.
So it was all a conversation with another New Zealander
called Paul Forge.
And yeah, Forge gave me the opportunity
to come and drive the car,
but first Tim had sold it that I was a gun for hire
and the Lambo, which was true.
So Adrian gave me the opportunity
to come and race with him at the Bathurst 12 hour.
Yeah, we had a great weekend together
and from that moment, Paul was super stoked
to come and have me test the car
and we had a great test in Sydney.
It's just a tricky situation, I think,
to get an opportunity in Supercars would be great.
I love to do a co-drive, you know, for me,
I'm very focused on my sports car career
but I think I'd make a damn good co-driver for sure.
But one day...
I think that most people realise, mate,
I'm pumping your tyres there,
but that's, I think, the general feeling.
Thank you, yeah.
And I really want to do it.
It's something that I, for sure,
Tim was trying very, very hard to get that going for me
and at the moment it hasn't got off the ground,
but I'm confident that in the next couple of years
something will come together.
Good.
I'll just keep pressing on that
and I'm sure at some point
my international endeavours will strike up
a bit of interest from some of the team owners
and they can, yeah, they'll be happy
to give me the opportunity.
The test day was really good in Sydney, were you?
Yeah, Paul Ghee was super impressed
and, I mean, he knew exactly what I could do,
so he was, you know, like a bit of a proud dad moment.
He's such a good bugger
and, yeah, it would have been great to race last year
but I'm sure it will come.
I'm great.
I'm pleased rather that you still have a strong want
for that and I look forward to the day that that happens, mate.
Can we come to where we are now?
Firstly, of all the international stuff,
what's the zenith moment for you?
What's the thing that you're most proud of from all of that?
Oh, my gosh.
You talked tidal there a moment ago.
You talked all sorts.
Yeah, look, there has to be probably a couple of moments
and I think I already spoke briefly about them.
It would have been when I won the European Championship
and Lamborghini Super Trefaio.
It was actually my first ever championship.
I never won a national championship
before leaving the country, so...
Must have felt good, mate.
It did.
It was definitely a little bit of weight off my shoulders.
You know, I knew it would come at some point
and the team trusted me and liked it.
They knew that if someone was going to get the job done,
it was going to be me
and that definitely helped my confidence as well.
And the second thing would have been
the first race at Phillip Island in 2024, I think.
I mean, there was many times in that championship
where I was able to puff my chest out a little bit,
but that was probably the first one
and the one that just gave me that momentum
to keep pushing forward.
I had a great engineer, great co-driver, good team,
and it was just super fun to be racing here in Australia.
You know, Phillip Island was a track that I've watched
been to growing up.
I'd been there when I was like three years old.
Dad was looking after historic cars there,
so to go back there, I mean, when I'm growing up
and to race there and compete,
then I'm still the current lap record holder there,
so hopefully no one thinks that.
So it's a really...
It holds a little special spot in my heart, that one.
Definitely.
What about the move to Tagani this year, how that's going?
I feel like, you know, we're on the eve of the Ben round here,
but even at Phillip Island, Sergio Perez
showed some really good form there.
Mota, are you enjoying working with that outfit?
What's that been like?
100%.
100%.
They would definitely be one of the best teams
I've ever worked with.
They are super professional.
And yeah, man, those guys can make a car go fast for sure.
They do a really good job.
Good vibe too.
You're going as often music playing and stuff like that.
And that also is right in me.
You know, it's all about having fun.
And all those guys down there are happy to be here.
They're enjoying themselves.
And they're super competitive.
They all want to win.
Drivers, mechanics, engineers, the whole lot.
So that's really important for me.
And Nathan has done an amazing job with that team
with the help of Matt.
And yeah, I'm just super grateful that they gave me the opportunity
to come and race for them.
It was, you know, the middle end of last year.
I wasn't sure what was going to happen with my Australian racing.
I didn't have anything.
And they called up and said, you know, we want you
because we don't want to be racing against you.
So that was exactly what Matt said.
So I'm sure I won't mind me saying that.
But yeah, it was super cool.
Sergio is an amazing driver.
And to think that he's never had a driver coach until now,
a proper race coach to race with is just amazing.
So he's just getting faster and faster and faster.
He's loving it, mate. You can tell.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
He's driving really well and just getting better every time.
And we're having heaps of fun doing it.
So it's good.
Keep that mantra.
Before I come to a couple of maybe nice lessons to end
for young racers, stuff that you've learned along the way
through the hard graft, mate.
You have shared an apartment with some mates that is a bit of fun.
Can you tell me about what that life is like?
I see some videos on socials from time to time.
Tell me about the flatmates.
Tell me about the fun that goes on there.
And you, I think in the video side of things,
you are this podcast, been a lovely discussion,
which I've enjoyed, mate,
but a bit more of your character comes out and that stuff,
doesn't it?
Yeah, so I haven't had too many flatmates over the years,
but when I first moved to Australia,
I moved in with Simon Chapman and James Pavey and his girlfriend.
James works for Supercals, we should point out too.
So it was a very motorsport orientated flat.
True.
We called ourselves the River Road Racing Club.
We still call ourselves that.
We still learn the name of our group chat.
But no, we had heaps of fun.
Yeah, we enjoyed a lot of ice cream, that's for sure.
And I turned Simon into a coffee snob.
Oh.
And James too.
Oh.
Bought myself as a coffee machine.
I'm sure the way my mum is saying that.
You got turned them for Euro on me.
I didn't know that.
That's right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So absolute connoisseur, Simon,
as he outdoes me these days.
So that's been something.
And then, yeah, I've turned Simon
and back into a sim racer again.
Excellent.
Yeah, he's a NASCAR specialist.
Okay.
We haven't touched on that before we go
to these sort of bits of advice, mate.
The sim racing stuff, how much you enjoy that
and you're immersed in that and so on.
Yeah, I mean, the sim racing I do now
mainly for fun and learning circuits,
but also to a bit of driver coaching
and that with some of the guys I race with.
Yeah, so super, super useful for them.
I would say it's more useful for them than it is for me
because, you know, it's just like being in a car
in terms of, you know, how you place the car,
your pedal inputs, how you hold the handlebars
and what you do and you can actually see,
like, you know, when they're looking at the screen
and doing something if you're in the same room,
you can see where they're looking
and what they're looking for.
There's so much to be said for sitting beside them
while they're pushing and just the way they respond
because not only that, it's also psychological as well.
Right, so making sure that they're relaxed,
they're breathing, you often see them, you know,
white knuckling the steering wheel
and as soon as the drivers relax, they always go faster.
So, you know, sim racing is one of the most important tools
that we have that we didn't used to have
and, yeah, I use that very, very often with my guys
and getting them quicker and it works very, very well.
Cool, let's bounce through these to finish if you don't mind.
And maybe you've already covered this in the conversation,
so forgive me if I'm doubling up here.
A failure that perhaps secretly helped your career?
That would definitely be when I got denied
the factory promotion from Lamborghini.
Yeah, that was a turning...
How did that give you...?
Well, if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have come to Australia
and I would still be in Europe
and trying to pursue the career over there
and who knows what would have happened.
But moving over here made me become a freelancer,
now driving with many manufacturers
and, yeah, I could see the gun for hire,
but for me, it's being able to be flexible and drive
whatever my customers want me to race in
and that's probably something that I've taken on
as a bit of a strength,
is the adaptability to the different brands
they're all a bit different
and there's a lot of different tools that they all use
and just trying to maximise the car as hard
on any day of the week
but trying to jump from one brand to another
and try and get everything out of it
is a very tricky puzzle to solve.
Maybe this is the Phillip Island result, I'm not sure,
but what about a race result that perhaps meant more to you
than other people realise?
Yeah, for me, it was what I talked about much earlier about 2015.
I think 2015 was a point in my career
where I was really struggling to find funds.
Take that next step into Wings and Slicks from Formula 4
it was a huge jump up in terms of funding
and had I not been able to put the car on pole that day
in 2015 and win the race,
I have no idea where I would have been
but it wouldn't have given me that confidence to push forward
and know that I could do it
because that was the first day where I got in a proper race car
against some of the world's best young drivers
and took the fight to them
and kept my cool and bought the thing home without a mistake
and that's really one of the most important parts
is that you believe in yourself
and if you don't have the belief, you can't do much without that.
I mean, that's tremendous that that is still etched here, mate.
That's brilliant.
What do you reckon perhaps are the most underrated skills
in motorsport?
I mean, you've learned the mechanical side through your dad,
you've talked about the sales side that you learned
on your push bike as a young kid hitting the road
and so on and now the people side in that kind of coaching capacity.
What's the most underrated thing?
Oh, well, that's it.
I think the diversity and being able to adapt
to a different situation and having that skill base,
you've got to be willing to do things you don't want to do.
Put yourself out there.
Yeah, put yourself out there and get comfortable being uncomfortable.
I love that.
Yeah, because I think the more you put yourself in situations
as a driver that you don't feel fully comfortable with,
the more you learn and every single day,
it doesn't matter how much experience we as professional drivers have,
you're always learning every single day
and whether it's something to do with the car
or something to do with the way that you show yourself to the world
or something to do with the way that you treat your customers
and your peers.
It's all very important to be able to adapt to any situation
and yeah, again, make sure you're having fun.
That's really key.
So that leads me to what's harder,
getting those opportunities or keeping them.
Keeping them.
Keeping them, you know, and that's growing up.
It was very, very hard to make the opportunities happen
just to get to the grid, right?
But actually, the hardest part is performing the task still.
So if you don't enjoy the hustle,
you're definitely not going to enjoy the chase, I think.
When you're at this different level of the sport,
you're doing the same things or performing similar tasks
but with different outcomes, right?
Like when I was younger, all I needed was money, right?
And now all I need is opportunities to drive.
But what you're doing is the same thing.
You're just not looking for funds,
you're looking for opportunities now, right?
So the challenge doesn't get easier, just changes.
There's some really sage stuff in here, mate.
To finish, advice to aspiring drivers
and perhaps something that you might have done differently along the way.
I'm not a believer in regret, right?
You do the best with what you've got at the time
and make the best choice or decision at the time, right?
But is there something along those lines?
I mean, as a driver, you're always looking for optimisation, right?
But normally it's just on the track.
When I look back at where my career took me,
like you said, I wouldn't change anything.
I think it's what builds character
and it's what makes you become the person you are.
I'm a massive believer of that.
But definitely there's some things I wish I knew back then
that, you know, in still these days,
I think about this often as you've got to trust your instinct
and when something doesn't feel right, it's most likely not right.
And I do wish I created different opportunities at different points
and if that had happened, things might have happened a bit quicker
or might have took me in a different path completely.
But yeah, nothing. I don't regret anything.
Good. The final thing for me, you have a cool combi.
Tell me about that, baby.
And every once in a while, I see a pic of you,
maybe you're fiancé with you two venturing off for a little escape somewhere.
Tell me about that.
Oh yeah, 1973 Volkswagen combi.
I bought it as soon as we went into lockdown in 2020.
Did you?
Yeah, that was what kept me sane around that time.
I had some savings. I was saving up for a house and I just said,
you know what, just go for it.
So I bought the van and over a period of nine or 10 months,
I restored it with the help of Dad and his workshop during, I mean,
during COVID it was lots of free time.
So it was fine.
Once we went back to work, it was just during nights.
So I was working for Dad in the workshop, building race cars.
And then in the evening I was out in the shed building race cars,
building the van.
So yeah, I have a lovely 1973 V-dub combi.
And whenever we're back in New Zealand,
we always make the effort to take it out for a trip,
take it out for a night camping.
We enjoy going away and getting out in the nature a bit.
Love that.
And going for a few dips in the cold lakes in New Zealand,
because there's definitely no shortage of those.
And I mean, yeah, it's good fun.
It's such a beautiful country and we love going back there.
As often as we can, it's very expensive to do, but we do try our best.
And yeah, whenever we do, we always take the combi out for a gallop
and hopefully a night or two as well.
Good on you.
Well done.
This has been fantastic.
In hitting record here today,
I wasn't sure whether this would be short cast, long form.
And I know in your career, mate,
you still have chapters that you would, that you want to write.
I want to say go well with that.
I know Timmy would be massively proud, mate.
And congrats on what you have achieved so far through things
that I think are great examples for those that are going to be
the next wave of Kiwis coming through.
Well done.
Thank you, Rusty.
Thank you very much.
About this episode
Shifting from sprint GT3 to endurance racing, Miles breaks down stint planning and the reality of “managing the traffic,” even after incidents like “taking out a TCR car at the Hockenheim race.” Brendon’s path weaves through GT World Challenge, Pro-Am mentoring, and learning by chasing faster drivers—then pivots after being denied a Lamborghini factory promotion. In Australia, opportunities come through relationships, co-driving, and sim racing coaching, with confidence boosted by factory-car experience and key championship momentum at Phillip Island.
Original notes
When the going gets tough….the tough get going as they say!
Finding support from the Day Family in New Zealand and the secret to its longevity.
Spreading his wings to compete abroad and doing double duties between Formula 3 and racing a Lamborghini in Asia.
Stepping up to GT3’s and making it to the big stage against the likes of Valentino Rossi and more.
Why Pro-Am racing is about bringing so much more than just driving talent and how he’s enjoying the chance to share the knowledge now.
SIM racing with Shane van Gisbergen and some laughs while flatting with Motorsport journos James Pavey and Simon Chapman.
Memories of his late codriving mate Tim Miles and how ‘Milesy’ quietly helped make a Supercars test happen.
You get the feeling Brendon has unfinished business in Supercars but in the meantime he’s found a new home at Tigani Motorsport and the day after we recorded he and Sergio Pires won in the team’s Mercedes AMG GT3 at The Bend Motorsport Park.
If you’re an aspiring racer there are some ripper takeaways in this convo as well, from underrated skills in Motorsport and is finding an opportunity or keeping it harder?
Head to Rusty's Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and give us your feedback and let us know who you want to hear from on Rusty's Garage.
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