James Golding & Aaron Cameron | Part 2 - determined to prove SMSP was no fluke!
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Concept
chassis
The chassis is like the car's skeleton that holds everything together. Race teams sometimes fix or replace it to keep the car strong and safe.
Concept
supercars
Supercars are very fast and special cars made for great performance. Here, it means the kind of race cars they are working on.
Concept
Audi junior development contract
This means Audi helps young race drivers by giving them support and chances to race and get better.
Concept
motorsport
Motorsport means racing with cars or bikes where drivers compete to be the fastest.
Concept
MotoGP
MotoGP is the top motorcycle racing series where the fastest bikes and best riders race on special tracks.
Concept
Formula 1
Formula 1 is the top level of car racing where the fastest cars and best drivers compete around the world.
Concept
Formula 3
Formula 3 is a type of car racing for young drivers who want to get better and eventually race in the biggest races like Formula 1.
Car
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is a type of car that is famous for being fast and strong. People like to fix up old Chargers and make them look and run great again.
Concept
project car
A project car is a car that someone is fixing up or changing to make it better or to enjoy working on it. It might not be ready to drive yet.
Concept
restoration
Restoration means fixing up an old car or kart to make it look and work like new again.
Concept
show and title winning
If a car or kart is show and title winning, it means it has won prizes for looking great or being very well made.
Car
KZ Cart
A KZ Cart is a small racing vehicle that people drive on special tracks. It's like a very fast go-kart used in races.
Term
mechanical sympathy
Mechanical sympathy means being gentle with a car's parts so they don't break easily. It means driving carefully to keep the car healthy.
Part
welding
Welding is a way to stick metal parts together by melting them so they join as one piece. It's used to fix or build car parts.
Part
diff
A diff is a part of the car that helps the wheels turn smoothly around corners by letting them spin at different speeds.
Concept
fab shop
A fab shop is a place where people work with metal to fix or make car parts by cutting and joining metal pieces.
Concept
go kart
A go kart is a small, fast car without doors or a roof that people race for fun or competition.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a famous car from America that many people like because it looks cool and can go really fast. It has been made for a long time and lots of people enjoy driving it.
Car
CC7
The CC7 is a small, fast car made for racing and driving on race tracks. It's light and easy to handle, making it fun to drive.
LIVE
A Listener production.
G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my podcast with James Golding and Aaron Cameron,
the BRT supercars drivers coming into the studio for a fun roundtable convo
that'll give you an idea of just how well this pair is getting on
and the off-season step that the Blanchard racing team has made,
a little lit, I guess you could say, on over-enthusiasm or great expectations,
there is real positivity in that squad.
If you haven't caught part one yet, jump back to the library, give it a listen
because it sets up the early career paths that Jimmy and Aaron followed
and the hard yards that both did to make a life in motorsport genuine hard yards too.
We have a few laughs along the way. You'll enjoy listening into the conversation,
but if you are all up to date, there's only one thing to do.
Let's launch into part two then. Here we go.
I'm told, reliably, you're very inch-perfect with some things.
Some might even say a little OCD. Is this true? Is this true?
You mean CDO? OCD in alphabetical order.
Very good, I like that.
No, I don't think I'll do that. Definitely a little bit.
For me, it's obviously my background as a mechanic from Gary Rogers.
The feedback, I believe, that I can give the team of what's going on with the cars.
Pretty handy. That's something that, as we started the conversation
and mine said in all that early days, there was times where
I was probably getting too involved, thinking too much about that
when I needed to be thinking more about the driving.
Really found that happy medium over the last five to six years
of where that needs to be and being able to give the team the info they need
to make the car as best possible for me.
Then obviously working with Aaron as well.
He's super fast. I knew that going into this season was going to be a good combo
because we go about it a bit differently.
I know that Camo jumps in and just sends it, which is good too.
He doesn't think too much about the technical side of it
because sometimes you can be thinking about that
and if you have someone just go out and drive fast,
they can prove whether it's good or bad.
They might not be able to tell you when, why, or how it happened.
It's just another lot of data and then I can back up
what I'm feeling to him as well.
I think that's going to make us a strong combo as well.
Do you feel like this is a yin and yang thing that you're working quite collaboratively,
working well with a pair of you? It seems like you are.
Yeah, I reckon it's going grouse.
There's a word we don't use often enough anymore.
It's just such a good...
He described it so well that he's probably more into describing it perfectly
where I'm a bit more laid back and don't really...
Obviously I care about the result but I just want to get in there
and I'll just drive the car to whatever it's got
and then give some basic feedback and then afterwards me and him
and the team can really decipher about what's going on
and look, it's probably the same with...
I felt a big difference with Richie coming on board for the weekend.
I've got Zac Best as my co-driver but just having those guys around
and that extra feedback with someone of Richie's experience has been a big help
and yeah, I'm really excited...
It's only we're only one round him but I'm really excited
for what we're all going to do this year I think.
I really believe in this team.
I often don't use the word ingredients right,
but it is the sum of all these different parts from understanding maybe
let's say like triple A traits,
let's say the investment by the bland charts,
let's say the personnel involved
and we always say 1% is doing the 1% is better
but it seems like over summer there's been this another step at BRT, yeah?
Yeah, 100%.
I think we got a lot of people on board during last year
and figuring it all out but when you're in the middle of a race
it's hard to actually implement a lot of big change
and so the boys haven't had much break over the Christmas
so they've completely shipped the cars back to just chassis only.
A lot of teams just go buy a new chassis
but we believe in supercars and the original chassis.
It's like originally it was out and everything, it was like everything.
The whole thing completely just steel, got repainted
and yeah, they've just built everything
and both mechanics on each car working on both sides
just making sure the cars are exactly the same
and I think that's a big part of why our feedback is so similar
is because the cars are exactly the same
except for some buttons that Jimmy keeps moving in the car.
A few colours here and there that aren't in line with the rainbow.
When did you think then, I mean it's only one round
and that's your little caveat, right?
But when did you realise, hey, we've clicked here,
we might be onto something good for Sydney Motorsport Park?
Was it Thursday? Was it before you even got there?
When did you...
It was when we were starting on the front row, agreed together.
Yeah, I actually, I had a good feeling heading into the first round
and I thought that we were in a good place, we were going to have a good round
but to do that round one as well, like honestly
I was heading into this year hoping that we'd be...
I was targeting where we are now at the end of the year.
So to roll out there, I don't know, it's only one round but...
Pretty impressive though, mate, pretty impressive.
And you know, day after day we had the pace,
it wasn't like we just got it right and we...
Yeah, in one instance, yeah.
There was no time last year with BRT that I believed
that both cars made the top ten in every qualifying session during the weekend
and yes, we had some mistakes in the race,
we've got to work...
We still got plenty to work on in the race and the strategy
and making sure we're maximising it,
but to have pure speed all weekend was...
Yeah, it's just big satisfaction for us.
12 hours brutal for you too, mate.
Were you able to park that and just sort of like,
like I've got a reset here for SMSP?
Yeah, I did.
It was pretty full on.
Not something you want to remember,
but I was lucky to get away basically unscathed from it.
I think I had just a few bruises here and there
and just lucky the angler went in,
I braced myself well before it as well,
just without thinking about it,
put my head back and that sort of things.
I was like reduced any whiplash or anything that could happen.
But yeah, after obviously it was difficult to go through that
and then know that I had to launch into round one of the supercars
and basically nail it straight out of the box
with that being the last time I drove.
But yeah, having the test day
and when I first rolled out,
the feeling I got in the car was so good
that I knew that we were going to be in a good position
for that round, I just felt the car
and knew that regardless of where the setup was
and getting it exactly right,
I knew we were going to be there about
because I felt a good car underneath me.
Excellent strike, gave you that kind of confidence.
So now that means like in the wake of round one,
we're talking on the eve of the Grand Prix,
does that mean your expectations are great
or it's just about replicating the same thing again?
What approach are you taking into Albert Park?
I think it's a bit of both.
I mean, it's set up a bit of a precedent,
but I think what we've got is we've got a good base
that that's kind of going to be the target now.
It's not like, oh, I hope we can get it right this week
and it's like, it's there.
We've just got to get it in the window.
It's not like if we don't get it right,
we're going to be down the back.
It's like if we don't get it right, we're going to eat 10th.
That's the feeling I'm getting with the car
because all the work that's gone in to get it to where it is
is what's made the difference
and the setup stuff is just those last little bits in the lap.
So yeah, it's a huge confidence boost
and that's another good thing as well.
We're heading into this round.
Everyone's got confidence.
What's the reaction been like internally
for all the, you talked about all the hard work
over at Summer and stuff?
That must have been a great boost for the guys and girls there.
Yeah, I think it is.
Having been there for a little bit longer than Jimmy
and they've done a couple off seasons now
and when you come back and you do all the work
and then potentially you don't have a great result round one,
it doesn't inspire you necessarily to keep working hard
and keep doing the extra hours that these mechanics and crew do.
But then when you come back with a couple of trophies
a pole position from Jimmy, it just,
it gives the crew a really good boost to keep working hard
and making sure we are absolutely nailing
and it just validates all of the work
that they're doing behind the scenes.
So like me and Jimmy are working hard and we always will
but so much of it comes down to what the cars they can build
and I wouldn't even know how to describe it.
Jimmy's more of a mechanic than me
but all these 1% of stuff that is just making a huge difference
for us and our job this weekend is to go out there
and consistently be in that, I think, in that top 10 group.
We don't have to win, we don't have to get podiums sort of thing
but we just want to have the speed to be able to...
But we could.
Yeah, we could definitely.
I'll take a podium if it's there but we just, we just want to,
I really want to just validate.
Just solidify that kind of thing.
Yeah, I don't want it to be just a flash in the pan of
yeah, we'll go to Sydney, it needs to,
we need to back it up with some solid speed.
So what have you done in the gap between SMSP
and here do you get a chance to relax?
Is everyone sort of redoubling their efforts
because they want that to keep going?
How do you find that little balance in all of that?
I think it's not about trying to reinvent the wheel too much.
I think it's take the positives, definitely fix as much
of the negatives that we had.
To be honest from my side of it was actually a pretty average round
in terms of things going wrong.
So we actually had a fair bit of bad luck
and to come out of around 11th in the championship
and that was what felt like a bad round.
Obviously the raw pace of the car is what gave us a lot of those points
but if it was a smooth week and I honestly felt
there was three podiums there comfortably.
So yeah, to have that as like, oh, that was not too great
in terms of things happening that didn't go away
was a really positive thing.
And I think, yeah, now we've got to not get too carried away
and think that, oh yeah, it's going to be easy now
but also don't try and reinvent the wheel.
We know we're capable of doing it.
Just make sure everyone's doing everything right
then we can replicate it because that's really what makes
the difference like Camo's saying about everyone in the whole team.
Everyone's jobs just as important as far as I'm concerned.
It's about getting all those little things right
and I really feel like the team has come together
and people from all different teams as well,
different experiences, different cars, all that.
And it's all just jowled right at the right time.
You brought up the Brody scenario before.
I mean, share what you feel comfortable with,
how you've debriefed that in your mind.
Yeah, oh look, it's, yeah.
Have you spoken to it?
Oh, we've spoken to them on that the right day
but that was nothing really.
I think we both said our comments in the media or whatever
and for me it's the incident happens
and there's probably stuff that I'll do differently next time.
Just disappear into space.
Yeah, I think you could have done, I reckon.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm trying not to go into it too much
because it's something that happened at Sydney.
We've all said our sides of it.
But there's no point if I say something about it again,
he's going to get someone to ask him that question
and we're just going to keep,
I love what Supercars have done about making it
into something for the media and for everyone
but there's no need to harp on about it.
Yeah, exactly.
That's great, but that's a smart choice by you
to apply it that way.
Yeah, so look, we'll, yeah,
just go out there this weekend and do the best we can
and look, my mindset changes
a bit about the way Brody races
and I understand his mindset now
so I think that's going to put me in a better position
for next time we're on track together.
If you like your Supercars,
there's lots of guests to keep you entertained
in the garage library.
Over summer Rusty spoke with Will Davison,
who looked back on both his stints with DJR
and why the first one is special to him.
Only time in my career,
I still say to this day, I felt like I was myself.
Like I'd go in every day
and I can never get back to who I was then.
I don't know if the sport damaged me
or made me put my shield up.
I've just never felt like I've been able to be myself since.
It's part of a two-part feature episode with Will,
who is relaxed and open in the Convo,
a bit like Camo and Beaver really.
Let's get back to that Convo now.
What have you two done today?
Were you doing a bit of pre-event?
Plenty of flying.
Plenty of flying.
I flew in for starters from Gold Coast.
Yeah, learnt to fly myself.
Yeah, we went down to iFly in Essendon here
and the guy tried to teach me to fly
and indoor skydiving.
Like free-falling, internally, within the...
Yeah, I'm just not very good with...
Are you a control freak, so you're not coping well with...
I just couldn't put my arms in here.
He was spinning around and didn't know why.
Exactly, I was just spinning around at the moment
and then it was just...
Like he was stuck in a washing machine.
Yeah, I couldn't tell.
My brain was telling my legs to do one thing,
they weren't doing that and then the guy was just like,
you're just hopeless and then...
No, he wasn't that bad.
He's making it sound worse than what it was.
Did you not do it?
I did it, yeah.
How did you go?
I was alright.
I've done it before though, so...
Yeah, he had a leg up.
Jimmy was, I think, really solid,
but then the guy got in at the end, the instructor dude.
And made me look like...
Holy crap.
I've never done it before.
He was insane doing these flips
and going all the way up to the roof thing.
It was like we thought he flew out the top and wasn't coming back.
That's how high up he went.
See ya.
I'm not going back there again.
The wind speed, I think, and the max is out at like 280 clicks
and I think we had it on like 100.
Yeah, and I still couldn't control myself.
120.
I swear my arms were like laying out straight
and this diamond platform, like he told me,
all this blah blah blah.
I'm sitting a bit more of a perfectionist side in you.
You're actually not happy
like you thought you were doing all the right things, is it?
Yeah, no, trust me.
I did miss an apex and I'm still a 20th.
That's what I'm hearing.
Yeah, we had so much fun at iFly this morning.
It was incredible.
It's crazy how much like tiny little movements
in your arms.
Oh, perfect.
What it does, how much has Sydney maybe changed things
for BRT and for yourselves in some ways?
It's not like you weren't known,
but great performances, front row,
everyone talking about it kind of thing.
As it made phones light up a bit more,
you do mitches in here at the moment,
or you're doing a bit more in the way of PR and things.
What's it done?
Yeah, mitches making us work, huh?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
He's pointing at the merch.
We sold out a merch,
which is the first time BRT's ever done that.
We didn't even get to the weekend.
It was sold out.
Some of the guys I deal with in the commentary team there,
they were like, people were in the land.
I go, who are you supporting?
What are you doing?
Oh, no, we're going to BRT.
We bought the merchandise.
We're supporting them for this weekend, you know?
Exactly.
We were last in Pit Lane,
and after we'd have a good qualifying result.
Well, usually after qualifying,
Jimmy, there's no one at the back of our,
like on the back of Pit Lane area.
After qualifying, we'd have a good result again,
and there's just people everywhere.
It's signing autographs,
autographs, taking photos just to get to the truck.
It was...
You guys love an underdog story, don't they?
So, I mean, it's got a bit of growth coming out
of that sort of situation, doesn't it?
You know, so that's good.
Yeah, it's good to be a part of it.
And I think, yeah, it's just going to keep growing.
So, any support we can get, thanks everyone for that.
And, yeah, hopefully you can come on the journey with us to the top.
Talk about the journey to the end of the year then.
Let's hypothetically look back at the end of 2026.
What would you have loved to have chalked up along the way?
Dream would be a bathhouse or, you know,
more race wins and things like that.
I think to have both cars into the finals,
and at least one of us into the top four
would be...
That would be huge.
That'd be amazing.
Like, I think I'm probably not as lucky to find that.
I reckon at some point.
The whole final series maybe taught you guys
and maybe the whole paddock about, you know,
a way to approach it this year and so on?
Maybe, I mean...
That's not a criticism.
I'm just saying, like, about the way you might go about the year
or is it just keep doing what you did
at City Motorsport Park in that sense?
Well, I suppose from my point of view,
I don't think it has the racing still
just as aggressive as ever
at City Motorsport Park,
clearly with Brody on that last lap.
Like, it's...
Yeah, no one's just going to collect points.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
And the move...
I mean, Kai Allen round the outside at turn one,
that was pretty big.
I don't think he was like,
oh, the second's good enough.
He was willing to not finish, I think, to win that.
Which is awesome.
That's what you want.
That's what we want.
It just means so much to everyone.
And obviously, their bonuses are bigger if they win,
obviously.
What has been at the pointy end of BRT
from the Blanchards themselves,
what's been their reaction to the past couple of weeks?
I reckon JV, like, John Blanchard,
he was just the whole weekend
just in this state of shock, almost.
Yeah?
Like, just didn't...
Obviously, we all wanted to do well.
He was even that shocked.
He sort of lost his marbles a bit
because he picked up my phone
and went off the bench, put it in his pocket.
And I'm running around before the race.
Oh, he's got his phone.
He's got his phone ringing.
I've got the bloody phone my phone on.
It's nearly called the police.
And then he's picked up.
Oh, what's this?
Why is it buzzing saying lost phone on it?
Oh, hang on, it's not mine.
With that, though, we nearly missed the race
just because Jimmy had lost his phone.
We did not.
Everyone had to stop what they were doing
just to find Jimmy's phone.
It was, yeah.
There was a lot of important things going on,
but Jimmy's phone was more important.
But no, JBS was...
Yeah, I don't know why you grabbed your phone.
So I haven't figured that out.
I think, yeah.
Jon and Tim are both pretty stoked.
And I think they're just...
They're not getting too carried away
because they want to see it again.
Yeah, precious.
Which is the same.
It's just so good for them.
Like, they've put so much into this sport
and not just in supercars,
but all the other categories they support people in
and to have it in Australian business,
like Cool Drive just back us and now Jimmy this year
to make it all happen.
It's incredible.
I'm so happy for them to get the reward
because it easily could have been another year
of just cruising at the back,
but yeah, it's not going to be.
Can I wrap up with a couple of things here?
This has been great just to sort of shoot the breeze with you both.
Thank you.
Firstly, over summer,
we had a couple of little DMs
while I was working on the series in New Zealand and so on.
You've got a broad love of motorsport,
even some of the young guns that were coming through.
You asked me about Freddie Slater,
who's now got an Audi junior development contract
and so on.
You've got quite a broad following of it, do you?
Yeah, I love watching all sorts of motorsport,
including motorbikes, motor GP,
and I love the stories that go with that.
I did some stuff over in the Middle East this time last year
and Freddie was racing Anugo,
and then I had some British mechanics now
telling me all about Freddie
and what he's going on doing.
The British guys really believe in Freddie
to make it to F1 and be the next
sort of Lando Norris Lewis Hamilton sort of spec guy.
It's why I was so intrigued and I really wanted you
and you did get him on for a little short cast pod.
Big podcast guys as well as you can tell.
It was so cool to hear some of your story.
We'll get to see him in Formula 3 this weekend.
Are you IndyCar Formula 1?
Do you look at that stuff
where you took up to take a breather from him?
F1, bit of IndyCar.
No, I'm not sort of every session kind of guy.
You're just still in the dextune
and your DJ music thing, is that what you say?
No, not really.
I like to just mix it up.
I don't have a real consistent idea.
I do a little bit of everything.
Can I finish with maybe a little project
that you either have and are working on
or would love one day?
I quite often ask guests if they've got a...
Murph built that and had some assistance
with that amazing Dodge Charger.
Lots of the drivers have got a little project car
or one on the wish list.
Have you got something that you...
Maybe an old go-cart that you've restored
or something or other. Have you got something like that?
I've got multiple.
I've got my show and title winning KZ Cart
which is still in pieces and I need to
put back together so I can put on the wall.
That's awesome.
And then my dad's still got one of the old
Toronto A&X racecars that I have left
in the shed for a while and it needs an engine
and all sorts of pieces.
Yes, I drove them for a bit when I was younger
but I have a bad history of...
I'm not very mechanically...
I was trying to be like the mechanical sympathy type thing
but I just can't do it. Every time I got them things
I'd either blow an engine, blow a gearbox.
I literally welded a diff together.
We had to grind the thing out and like...
Without a welder.
Yeah, exactly. It was just incredible
how I do these things to these cars.
You weren't very good in the fab shop, mate. Is this true?
No, exactly. I was...
Don't ask the boys at me in the fab shop.
I thought that was shocking.
I was just welding together all bits of metal
and I still couldn't do that.
I love it. What about you?
Have you got a little something like that
or maybe something you'd like to do one day
when time permits?
I wouldn't mind doing an old go kart.
Have you kept one or you haven't known?
No, actually I've still got my
Australian championship winning kart.
That's on the wall in dad's shed.
But yeah, I wouldn't mind doing like
an old Ford Mustang,
shall we? Like CC7 kind of thing.
Beautiful.
Wouldn't do an original one.
Crank it up a bit.
Would you?
Probably like a burnout car or something.
Summer Nuts.
We love that.
Hey, time is going to beat us here.
You've got a massive schedule.
I hope that the merchandise sells out again this weekend.
I hope you both have the same kind of form
that you took into City Motorsport Park.
Rip it as you both looking so happy,
enjoying the environment.
Have an awesome 2026 and I look forward
to catching up with you both along the way.
Thank you for coming in today.
Thanks, man. Appreciate it.
Thanks, Greg.
Cheers.
Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
Series editor and producer is Joel Harrison.
Audio production by Link Kelly.
If you've got a guest suggestion,
get in touch with me on social media.
The Garage.
It's where a journey begins
with a tank full of passion-fueled stories.
About this episode
James Golding and Aaron Cameron discuss their strong partnership and the improvements made by Blanchard Racing Team during the off-season. They reflect on their contrasting driving styles and how that complements their teamwork. The duo shares insights into the meticulous car preparation, the confidence boost from a successful first round at Sydney Motorsport Park, and their focus on consistency moving forward. They also touch on overcoming challenges, including James' recent crash, and the positive morale within the team as they aim to build on early success and avoid being a one-hit wonder.
Original notes
The grounded approach the team is taking that comes right from the top.
How the relentless off-season work at BRT has filled them with confidence and a determination by the drivers to repay the faith as they say.
Jimmy is making the most of his new surroundings and we look back on his Bathurst 2025 podium with the benefit of a bit of time to process it.
A turning point for Aaron at Adelaide last year and how he rose to the occasion.
Plus the wave of new supporters (all in BRT merch) that love the underdog story.
And ‘Flying High’….Sky Diving indoors. Are either of them ready for a cameo in the next Point Break movie?
This convo flies by. It’s like the three of them are at a BBQ and you’re within earshot. Enjoy.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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