Sam Shahin | Part 2 - calls to Dorna, Supercars and how close he came to F1
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Concept
motorsport
Motorsport means racing cars or bikes in competitions on special tracks or roads. People watch these races for fun and excitement.
Term
race track
A race track is a special road or course where people race cars or motorcycles. It's made for racing and is usually safer and more controlled than normal roads.
Term
paddock
The paddock is the place at a race track where the teams keep their cars and tools. It's like a garage area for race cars and their crews.
Term
cup car
A cup car is a special race car used in races where everyone drives the same kind of car. This makes the race about who drives best, not which car is fastest.
Concept
race car
A race car is a special kind of car made to go really fast and compete in races, different from normal cars you drive on the street.
Concept
track day
A track day is when you take your car to a race track to drive it fast and safely, learning how to handle it better than on normal streets.
Concept
Phillip Island
Phillip Island is a race track in Australia where car and motorcycle races happen. It's known for being a fun and tricky place to race.
Concept
racing
Racing means driving cars fast to try to win against other drivers on a track or course.
Brand
Buick
Buick is a car company that makes different kinds of cars, some of which people race or modify. It's a well-known brand in the US.
Term
qualifying
Qualifying is a special part before the race where drivers try to set the fastest lap time to decide who starts at the front.
Term
slicks
Slicks are special racing tires that have no grooves or patterns, so they stick better to the track when it's dry, helping the car go faster.
Term
warming tires
Warming tires means making the tires hot enough so they stick well to the track, which helps the car go faster and handle better.
Concept
Bathurst
Bathurst is a well-known race track in Australia where many important car races happen.
Concept
Elphin
Elphin is a car brand made in Australia by a man named Gary Cooper. He built cars that raced in other countries and are important in Australian car history.
Concept
Formula 5000
Formula 5000 was a type of car racing where the cars had big 5-liter engines. It was popular because it was fast and exciting but cheaper than the top racing series. People loved watching these races in places like Australia and the US.
Concept
single seaters
Single seaters are race cars that only have one seat for the driver. They are made to go very fast and are used in professional racing.
Term
seat mold
A seat mold is a special seat made to fit the driver’s body exactly, so they can sit comfortably and safely in the car, especially when driving very fast.
Concept
CIK karting track
CIK karting tracks are special race tracks made for go-karts, which are small racing cars. These tracks follow rules set by the international kart racing group.
Term
quarter mile
The quarter mile is the length of the race track in drag racing, about a quarter of a mile long, where cars race to see who is fastest.
Concept
Shannons Nationals
Shannons Nationals is a big car racing event in Australia where different types of cars race against each other. It's like a national competition for car racing.
Concept
Australian Super Bikes
Australian Super Bikes is a motorcycle racing competition in Australia where fast motorcycles race on tracks. It's a popular sport for bike fans.
Concept
Supercars Championship
The Supercars Championship is a big car racing series in Australia where special race cars compete on race tracks. It's very popular and exciting to watch.
Concept
MotoGP
MotoGP is the top motorcycle racing series in the world where the fastest bikes race on special tracks. It's like the Formula 1 of motorcycles.
Concept
Formula One
Formula One is a type of car racing with very fast cars that race all around the world. It's the top level of racing where the best drivers compete.
Concept
street circuit
A street circuit is a race track made from normal city streets that are closed off for racing, instead of a special race track built just for racing.
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A Listener Production
G'day, it's Rusty here in the Adelaide studio.
It's all set for part two of my feature episode of Rusty's Garage
with Sam Shahin from the Ben Motor Sport Park.
If you've clicked into second gear and landed here before engaging first,
part one, do yourself a favour and jump back and take that for a spin first.
The incredible story of the family's relocation to South Australia for a better life
and the beginnings of a seriously successful business.
The part Sam played, why he ended up in the medical profession to begin with,
finding motorsport and being there as he outlined his vision
for a world-class motorsport facility just an hour from the CBD here at Tailum Bend.
Let's get back to the conversation now.
When you travel to places like Sydney and you see an OTR,
that must give you an immense sense of pride.
Goosebumps.
And then separately, there was obviously a significant change for the business in recent years.
Do you venture into that with...
This is something your father had started from an ad in a newspaper.
Or do you, from all your business studies and what you've learned over time,
do you go, no, no, no, we have to take the emotion out of this.
This is a great opportunity. How did you approach all that?
Yes, all of that. Greg, it's...
We are very matter-of-fact people.
We are realistic people.
And every industry has its challenges.
Nothing is easy. There is no easy out there.
And in that industry, the challenges facing the industry
and the consolidation within the industry meant that you, again,
have to either participate at a very high level or you will be eaten alive.
You will be swallowed by the next big thing.
And consolidation didn't just...
It isn't just occurring in Australia. It's occurring all over the world.
So the questions were becoming harder.
But in our minds, we had to be very pragmatic about where our future lies
in continuing to run that business.
I wouldn't be truthful if I didn't say it was a mixture of emotions
the day we signed the deal with Viva to sell the OTR business.
It was sadness in a way that he's a baby that we nurtured for well over 30 years
and got it into an internationally reputable business.
And at the same time, it no longer will be ours.
But the emotion that overshadowed all of that was pride.
It was just tremendous pride.
We had ensured that we remain true to the people that had come along the journey.
We had ensured that the national headquarters for the combined entity with Viva and OTR
will continue to be based in South Australia.
Excellent.
And that continues to be the case till today.
And will continue for the foreseeable future.
All the people that are working in our business at the time continued to have roles
and in fact, a lot of them have now moved into very senior roles in the combined entity.
And we went from a business with a 250-site footprint to a 1,000-site footprint.
And we're still involved in that business.
Part of that deal was to continue to develop the land bank that we'd accumulated
over a long period of time for Viva for the new entity.
And we're still doing that now.
But yes, two years later, I still haven't had even the closest of Inklings to fill my car
at any other site other than an OTR site.
I love that.
I love that.
But your first time in, firstly, did a teenage Sam Shahin, seeing cars come into that service
station maybe kind of fall in love with cars, my good buddy and a colleague of both of ours
in Richard Krell says he can fondly remember you at Malala going out for sort of track days
and things like that.
How did the gravitation to driving a car, driving a race car, how did that all start?
I was always fascinated by cars.
And we were busy surviving when we first arrived into Australia, migrated to Australia.
And many years later, I did go to Malala.
And I was like a kid in a candy store, beyond a kid in a candy store.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
I'd never been to a race track in my life.
And I thought, wow, I mean, I can't believe this is legal.
These guys look like they were having a huge amount of fun.
And I saw a race car in the paddock and I just kept walking around this car in circles.
And I thought, this is incredible.
And the car, it was a cup car.
And the driver's dad came to me.
I thought, Jeepers, I'm in big trouble.
He said, what are you looking at?
I said, sorry, I'm just admiring the car.
He said, look, if you hang around till the end of the day, I'll see if my lad will take you around for a lap just to experience it.
I said, tell me what I need to do for that.
And I did hang around and I did go around the track in the race car.
And all I could think about is what do I need to do in my life just to experience that again?
And I started taking my road car to open track days at Malala was the only thing I knew at the time and learned a lot.
The first time I ever sat in a race car, I was 44.
I'd missed my calling.
But I thought, wow, this is just super cool.
But I have that personality.
I cannot do anything.
I'm either all in or I don't touch it.
I was either going to learn how to do this a bit better or it was just going to frustrate me.
And I might as well go do something else.
And we started taking with my good brother, Yasa, who's a far more accomplished driver than I am.
And I should say that the vast majority of the development of the OTR business and where OTR is today is really the credit mostly goes to Yasa.
He's a great human being, a smart guy, but a kind man and a very innovative man.
And I just had the absolute privilege of sharing this journey with him and not just in business, but also in motorsport.
So we'd always take our cars to racetracks and have these beautiful days.
We'd go to every racetrack around the country and we just try to enjoy it.
But always, every time we went to a racetrack, we would always invite a professional driver to come and give us some tuition.
Stephen Richards, Stephen Johnson, Luke Yielden, Dean Canto.
Quality.
Quality guys that also, you know, I can now think back and can only think what they thought after coming and seeing these two amateurs,
you know, one in their 40s, one in their 30s, trying to learn how to drive a car fast.
And, you know, we'd come back and Yasa and I would spend days arguing as who, you know, who could have been faster, not who was faster.
Were you like that as youngsters?
We were, it was always, it almost always used to end in tears.
We were always, like almost always within a tenth of one another at every track we went to.
And bragging rights were unbearable, unbearable on both sides.
Whoever finished on top that, you know, I remember Daniel Gaunt was another serious talent.
Daniel is serious talent and I owe him something.
On one day we were at Phillip Island and we were driving our road cars and he caught a ride back with us to the airport.
And on the way back, you know, he was, you know, having just a, you know, talking shit as you normally would, going back to the airport.
And he looked at me and he said, you know what, you're not far off going racing, mate.
I reckon you can race a car.
I said, don't be ridiculous.
Like, you know, I'm racing a car.
This is just crazy.
But again, it just kind of stuck in my brain.
He's good like that.
I do a deal a bit with him in New Zealand and sometimes he's got this sort of like blinkers off observation around things here.
But I trusted him.
I trusted his judgment because he was a very honest instructor.
And, you know, I came back and I didn't have a race car.
Michael Armand was racing in Cupcar at the time and his good father Ross, I knew through a friend.
So I cut a long story short.
I went to Ross and I said, you know, I want to have a go at this racing thing.
He said, I've got a spare car.
Phillip Island was the, was the next round in 2013.
September 2013.
Spring challenge.
Spring challenge.
He said, look, this is probably not a bad way.
Last round, I think of the season, just have a, have a go.
And I said, okay, I've never raced in my life.
I don't know anything about it.
Went to Mark Buick here, who's a great guy, ran Buick Motorworks and was supporting Mike Armand.
I said, all right, let's, I'd like to, I'd like to race Mark.
Can you support the car?
He goes, okay, okay, okay.
So I turned up to Phillip Island.
Very naive.
I mean, think back, I think back, I reflect on that story.
I've reflected many times and it was very, very naive.
Some would say very, very stupid.
And I remember waking up on the Friday morning to, before we went to the racetrack and I opened
the curtain in my, in my room and it was raining.
And I clearly remember my knees almost falling from under me.
I just, I literally, my knees just wobbled.
And I thought, what have I just got myself into here?
Anyway, went to the, went to the track.
I was, I was, I think plum last in, in, in practice, qualifying came.
He said, okay, slicks, you just got to go and you got to go hard, mate, go hard.
Had no idea how to warm ties, all of the stuff that, you know, kind of very few people teach you.
Second lap in qualifying, smoke, all four ties going into turn two, into the gravel.
And that was the end of qualifying, not the best introduction to racing.
The story got better though, starting from last.
We get out to the grid.
So we go into the pre-grid there at the end of, you know, at pit exit before you going out onto the dummy grid area.
And I've got Mark there standing next to me.
I said, hey, Mark, okay, now just take me through again the procedure.
How do we, you know, to start the race?
He goes, red lights come on 10 seconds and you, lights go out and you go.
And I'm going, all right, I'm a smart guy.
I can, I can, I can get my, my reverse counting, you know, done properly.
And fortunately there was a witness, one of the mechanics heard the conversation because that, that came back to haunt me.
So we go out to the grid.
I line up, red light comes on and here's Sam Shaheen going 10, 9, 8 lights go out.
They all take off.
And I clearly remember in my head going, where are you guys going?
Hasn't been 10 seconds.
Where are you going?
And literally they were back by turn one when I just plucked first gear.
So it was a memorable start to my racing career.
Not a story that I'm proud of, but that's where I've come from at the age of 44.
That's where I started racing.
But I thought, gee, I love, I love the, I love the discipline that those drivers were applying to drive the way they were driving those cars, which are very hardcast to drive.
And what has unfolded since then in terms of your, your racing career is a move into a career cup in this country significantly for basically a decade.
You've done some stuff overseas.
Richard kindly reminded me too.
You are the first pro amp driver ever to win an outright round.
I think that was sand down if we've got that right, which is clearly etched in your mind.
And I love how much that means to you.
What we've observed also is that your, your incredible drive to, to succeed in business is absolutely evident in racing too.
And I reckon it's the same with your, with your brother when I've seen him compete with Garth Tanner and GT cars and stuff like that.
So, you know, if, if a day has gone poorly, we can see that equally.
If a day has gone well, we feel that.
Is that, is that are you?
I'm an emotional being.
And I think it's some people work very hard at, at bottling their emotions.
I see that as futile.
I think, I think, you know, where your heart on your sleeve, I think it's okay.
You know, when you have a good day, celebrate a good day.
And when you have a bad day, just acknowledge that it's been a bad day.
Spend no more than 60 seconds just dwelling over it, but get it out of the way.
Scream, shout, cry, do whatever you want to do, but just move on.
But don't deny yourself the opportunity to just mourn a bad day or a bad event.
And I really live, live by that.
And I, I've just, motorsport has been an incredible journey in, in shaping my personality even more in, in being committed to what I do.
I worked very hard to get to understand how to drive a race car and drive a race car better.
In 2019, winning a sprint challenge championship, the last, the last race of the last round was at the bend.
And the first race lost the clutch and that put me plum last for the second race.
And I made it from, from last to fifth and went back and won the last race to win the championship.
And that was memorable.
And to do it at the bend and in 2019 was just one of those things again, lots of goosebumps today, but it was incredible.
2021, winning the Pro Am Carrera Cup Championship, the last race of the season at Bathurst.
And I went into that weekend, it was a double round at Bathurst.
Thursday, Friday was around five, Saturday, Sunday was around six.
And against, you know, you, I'm sure a lot of drivers in Australia, as they do all over the world, as in any sport, you know, timing is, is everything.
And sometimes, you know, if you, if you just happen to be in an era where there are other great drivers, just as, as you do with great swimmers or great tennis players in that same era, you know, it's a different proposition.
And I was driving in an era where there were some great, great drivers.
It was like, you had your work cut out every single time you're out on track.
But you thrive in that, you like that, don't you?
I absolutely, I absolutely, it elevates me to, you know, you know, satisfaction comes from doing hard things well.
It really is this personal, the journey, the journey is amplified when you do hard things well.
And sometimes, with that intention, I think very few people go looking for hard things to do, but when they land in your lap, it's, it's what, it's what you do.
Do you arise? Do you, do you, do you, do you, do you elevate?
And sometimes you don't have to consciously elevate.
It's just, does your performance match the, the occasion?
And, and, and, and that, that weekend was, was, is etched in my, in my memory because it took, it took four or five months for the outcome of, of an appeal for that last, last corner dive bomb to be, to be resolved.
And it kind of took the edge of it a lot of the, of the occasion, but I'm incredibly proud to have, to have got there because I never thought, I never, ever thought in my life that I would, I would, you know, I would win something of, of that, you know, of that standard.
It was just incredible.
I want to just, before we come back to the bend and then ultimately the big news that has come out in the past week here, just tap into a little bit around, you know, you might have started your motor racing journey in your early 40s.
But, but there, I sense in you, there is a, a, a respect for the history.
So my, my questions here is twofold.
Firstly, Malala falls under your umbrella now after you, you covered that story with Clem there before.
I feel like you're as proud of that heritage venue in many respects.
And I don't know what the plans are for it ultimately.
And then separately, am I right in saying that you own the first ever Elphin to come out of Gary Cooper's garage?
Basically, I mean, he's been inducted into the Hall of Fame in recent years here in Australia and so on.
Incredible history and I love, and I love history and I love paying respect, really paying respect to those leaders and those innovators of their era.
You know, the, the, the, the story of Elphin, I think needs to be told much bigger and much bolder and much more.
There are books and things, but yes, yes.
With much more pride, you know, in the, you know, this is a brand that started here in Edwardsdown, you know, in, in Adelaide, you know, in a suburban garage.
And, you know, Gary Cooper built cars here in Australia, in South Australia that went and raced internationally and very successfully.
And I was fascinated by the Elphin story.
I was fascinated by how he built this Elphin brand from nothing.
And, and aside from being a proud Australian and a very proud South Australian, I, I, I wanted to define where these early cars were and,
and lo and behold, I, I walk into the Elphin Museum one day in Moorabbin and there is the, the, the first car that Gary Cooper built, designed and built.
It was privately owned. It was there on display on behalf of its owner.
And I, it was love at first sight.
I just saw this thing and I thought, like, wow, this is, this is history.
I'm looking at a piece of history here and it needs, it needs to be seen.
It needs to be seen by every Australian, not just an Australian that is proud of Australian history, but every Australian that remotely is interested in sport and motorsport.
And I, I approached the owner and, and I was fortunate enough to secure the car, which tool today sits proudly in the welcome center at the bend.
And I ran it at the Bend Classic one year.
It was a mixture of emotions between being terrified, to being proud, to being happy here.
And I, all I could think about, like they were racing these cars in an era not that long ago and how far have we gone in terms of the safety provisions and the design and sophistication and complexity of the motor vehicle today.
It was, it was absolutely stunning.
And I, I, I went on and bought an Elphin Formula 5000 MR8, one of three, which I did run at Malala for an event a year later.
And it was a beautiful getting together of all three MR8 F 5000s that Gary Cooper had built.
It was a sight.
It was a sight to be seen.
It was just good.
That Formula 5000 era, it was incredible.
And that Formula 5000 ran third in the Australian Grand Prix at Calder in 1979 and a lot of history.
And I love that.
And I, and I got the, the mechanic that worked on that car in that 1979.
He's still here in Adelaide to do a full rebuild on the car.
It was just a, it was just a wonderful journey.
Beautiful.
And then I was lucky enough to secure the last Elphin that they ever built out of the Elphin factory when Elphin as a manufacturing plant closed.
So it's a book ended the Elphin era and I'm incredibly proud to just be part of the journey of a great Australian product.
Excellent.
In doing Rusty's garage, I tap every once in a while into some cool cars that people have.
You are a relative late convert to single seaters.
I'm told to ask you about the Giancala Fusichella, Benetton V10.
What the heck is that thing like?
Wow.
Like, you know, there are, there are, there are very few cars that impose their personality on the driver when you sit or drive them.
You know, there are wonderful race cars and road cars everywhere.
But I think there are very, very few cars that when you sit in them, let alone drive them, you almost feel at one with the car.
You feel different, a different human being, a different person.
They literally transform you and that Benetton is one.
You know, a lot keeps getting said about the V10 era, but Giancala Fusichella drove that car at the same time that Michael Schumacher was at Benetton and they shared that car.
And, and when the opportunity came to, to, to get hold of that car, I jumped at it.
And I'd never forget when we first got it out on track to, you know, got the, got the seat mold and, you know, got it, took it out on the, on the track.
And the first time going down that straight at full noise, shifting through those gears, it was just, I don't think I've ever, I've ever, my body had been elevated to a state.
So much at one with a car as it was in that, in that car.
And only a year or so before I'd driven a Dallara, a 1989 Dallara that Andrea de Cesaris driven here at the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide some years early.
I love the connection it had with Adelaide and one of the Ben classic in that year was incredible.
And I'd learned a few things driving a single seat back then because that era was just all mechanical group.
Everything else was for show, eight speed, five speed gearbox and you had to literally fold your little finger to try and pick fifth gear.
It was just, it was just an incredible, incredible little thing.
You know, your recollection, your collection of it is amazing.
So going from, from that V8 Cosworth Dallara to a V10 Judd Benetton was just, you know, I thought if everything stops now, my motorsport journey is complete.
I thought, what a, what a journey.
And that car is still, is still out there.
It's had a rebuild and only a couple of weeks ago I saw, I saw my good friend Mark Rundle from BRM and said,
we've got to get that car back on track to just put it through its bases again.
So hopefully we'll do that very soon.
Good.
The vision you outlaid that night when I was with you and Todd Hayes Wood and stuff, as we sit here and record this today in 2026,
how different is the bend from what was perhaps on paper that day and what is to come Sam?
Are you happy with where it's at?
Are there things that you still have that, that aren't finished, that aren't to do?
What, where is that at?
The bend, the bend is a bold, is a bold development, is innovative, is bold, is ambitious.
And, you know, sometimes I felt shy of, of, of declaring the ambition, but I'm no longer shy of, of shouting out,
that I am ambitious.
I want to build a first, a first class, a, a world class motorsport facility in Australia.
And in my, in my journey of exploration of what, what the ingredients may be to build a successful venue,
it was very clear from the outset that to build just a racetrack at tail and bend was not going to work.
I had to build the, the case, a compelling case for patrons, for visitors to come to South Australia,
to go to the bend, to experience a racetrack and other things.
So on its own, it was never going to work.
And that drove a, a journey in its own right as to what else can we build on, on that facility.
To build our credentials for people to come and visit and utilize the facility.
We have a CIK, a, a carting track.
We have a, an A-grade dragway on site.
A-grade is underselling it. That thing is amazing.
That dragway is, it's only been, it's only been running, it's only been open for three years.
And the Australian top fuel record has been broken in every, at every event we've had at the bend since then.
I mean, top fuel racing, you know, racing, motor racing on circuit racing, we think is, is, is on the edge until you see top fuel racing and drag racing.
The, the record has been broken three times the last time, you know, the quarter mile was run.
And this is from a standing start in 3.64 seconds at a thermal speed of 534 kilometers an hour.
We are now zero point, under point one second from the world record.
And I've thrown the gauntlet to the, to the, to our American counterparts to come and, and have a crack because we're going, we are going to break the world record.
And I don't need a bigger carrot than that, than that.
But again, it had to be built to a high standard.
It had to be built to best international standards.
Otherwise it won't work.
It's, it's a very shorted, short-sighted approach to, to try and just build something just to get by and wait until it's successful to improve it or to, or to take it to the next level.
I think you build it and they'll come is a very dangerous way of doing anything in business.
But if you've got the conviction and if you've got the vision, I think it's a good recipe.
The bend opened for the first event in 2018.
You were there.
I was there.
Yeah.
Shannons round.
National event.
Shannons, nationals, 13th April, 2018 was the first ever event.
We opened the door, maybe naively, first ever event.
Let's go for a national event and Mother Nature, you'd recall, gave us a dose of reality that, that weekend.
And that was back to back with Australian super bikes the following weekend.
So two national championships back to back just to get us warmed up.
And we held the first round of the super cars championship also in August last year in the same year.
So it was a big year.
The vision, the vision has developed over the last 10 years or so.
The bend is and has to continue to be an innovative world-class facility.
Opened the doors early 2018.
In 2019, the Bend Motorsport Park won international motorsport facility of the year.
Massive event in Europe.
When they first contacted me mid 2019, I thought they were joking.
I thought someone's having a lend of me and I want to bore you with the story, but eventually they insisted that I attend.
But we had an event on at the bend and I thought, I'm not going anywhere.
I need to be here.
And I reached out to the South Australian government who had an agent general in London.
And I asked them if we could get representation because these guys were pretty insistent.
Because the other venues were a pro-drive from the UK, Jacques Villeneuve circuit in Canada.
Venues from the Czech Republic, from Germany, the UK, North America.
And I thought, who am I? I'm a year in.
And I still till today don't know who nominated the Bend for that award.
And it was one o'clock in the morning and I'm getting the agent general sending me text messages.
He goes, you've made the three finalists here.
What do I say? What am I supposed to be doing?
I said, I don't know. I don't know how we actually are here.
And drumroll, the Bend wins international motorsport facility of Greenville.
And that was really a watershed moment.
It was really, it was vindication that in a short period of time, what I was doing was resonating and we were on the right path.
And that has set the tone.
Unless I am prepared to enter any of those disciplines of motorsport with an aspiration to participate at the highest possible level, I don't touch it.
And today I hope the journey has continued in our experience program, which is a real cornerstone of our offering.
We are at the Bend. We've kind of again defined in the same manner that I sat through months and years of defining our OTR business.
What is our role? Where I've landed the Bend, we are in the business of experiences.
My job is to put a smile on somebody's face.
And if I've done that, I've delivered on the promise to deliver an experience and then good things will come from that.
You don't have to define the entire journey, but unless you start there, unless I deliver an experience and unless I put a smile on somebody's face, none of the rest matters.
And it's a good way to distill culturally to people that want to come and work at the Bend.
So this is what we are about.
Motorsport just happens to be part of our experiences, but doesn't define us because you can come and enjoy a lot of things at the Bend without even getting on the racetrack.
And that's a pretty unique proposition.
Can I come to the big news? The big news in the past week, which is mighty.
MotoGP is coming to the streets of Adelaide in 2027.
It's final year at Phillip Island will be this year, 2026. It's been there since the 1990s.
On paper, you would think you would be heartbroken that it's not coming to the Bend.
But in the same breath from what I understand in the discussions with Victoria breaking down or whatever and that it was clear that there was an opportunity for the event to move, the Australian Grand Prix to move.
You sense that and I think you call perhaps the Premier or call some of his team and what's set in motion with your more than cooperation, I think is that it has ended up on the streets of Adelaide.
The Bend is the single largest private investment in Australian sport and entertainment history in Australian sport history.
It's a substantial commitment and I didn't get this far to sit on my hands waiting for opportunity to hit me in the face.
I've gone and chased opportunity wherever there is opportunity and sometimes you just have to dig, you just have to find it.
They say you've been talking to Dorna for like 10 years or thereabouts.
I secured the land in 2014. I started the journey and I went to every single organisation, every single rights holder in Australia and around the world.
James Warburton was CEO of Supercars at the time.
First time and Kudos to James because James and I signed a deal to run the first Supercars event at the Bend before we put a shovel in the ground.
He trusted me and that's not lost on me. Somebody did put their faith in me.
It's an even bigger driver to deliver and to reciprocate that trust.
Yes, we signed the deal to run the first Supercar event in 2018 and I delivered and I'd gone to kind of almost maybe naively to every organisation that would care to listen.
And I made serious representation. I did a lot of travelling. I did a lot of flying.
I went all over the world, went to Europe, went to North America, went wherever somebody would give me 5 minutes of their time to learn.
Jonathan Palmer was running Bedford after he finished a career in F1. He owns and runs Bedford and you had to pay to go through the front door.
And I paid for two days of his time to allow me into Bedford to learn and he taught me a lot of things.
So I went to Formula One. I went to Dauna. I went to everybody. I went to World Endurance Championship.
I went to every organisation. I said, I've got an idea and I'm going to build this.
And I think if you run a world-class event, I want to be associated with your brand. What do I need to do to get there?
And maybe some of that talking didn't do me a lot of favours because in 2016, 2015, 2016 when I was talking to both Dauna and Formula One,
the Victorian government went and signed a 10-year extension to MotoGP.
I don't recall being disappointed. I thought, good move. Well done. Congratulations.
But I'm not going anywhere. 10 years will come around. Excuse me.
Have a drink. That's all good. We've been talking for, which I'm grateful for because I know you're a busy man. We've been talking for ages. So thank you.
I thought, that's not going to detract me. I'm not going anywhere. And I persisted. Dauna visited on several occasions.
2019, even later. And I kept the door open for when the opportunity arises. And I don't make any apologies for that.
It is a competitive landscape. And if there was going to be an opportunity, I was going to bring an event to South Australia and to the bend.
The same with Formula One. And I came much closer than people think to F1 in 2022 during COVID. Damn close.
But again, opportunity will come. And I hope I'm around when the opportunity comes. The bend will be.
And the development of the venue and the facilities is always with an eye to the future.
What are the best in the world doing to elevate their patron experience? And how can we bring that to South Australia and the bend?
And a lot of things that happened in the last few years that had kind of changed the landscape a little.
Liberty Media acquiring Dauna was a watershed event. Liberty Media is a different business to Dauna.
And you've seen how they've transformed Formula One over the last two or three. Stratospheric.
They have a very different concept and a very different vision to the sport. It's an entertainment driven product rather than a sporting product that has entertainment on the side.
And that kind of very simplistically kind of describes where they're at.
And although they haven't explicitly declared that for MotoGP, that's their model.
And they want to be in close to large population centres that are in very well serviced with entertainment, with accommodation and travel facilities.
And here I was, here I am, a first generation Palestinian immigrant with an opportunity to make a contribution to this great place that has given me hope,
that has given me an identity and has given me an opportunity. And that superseded any personal ambition to have MotoGP land only at the bend.
And I had maintained my relationship with Dauna and I put their proposition to them not long ago.
What if a street circuit, you know, I own the bend and Malala, if you're not going to run at a purpose built motor racing circuit, what if there is an opportunity to run a MotoGP event on a street circuit?
That's big. That is not in there offering at the moment.
And maybe it was again simplistic, but the fact, you know, the Vegas example, you know, they went with Formula One to a street circuit and they made something that I don't think any other organisation could have done.
And I think the prospect of a MotoGP of motorcycles doing 335 kilometres an hour on a street circuit is a compelling proposition, is exciting, is unique, is ambitious and I put the proposition to them.
And it was a long pause on the other side of the phone and I genuinely thought that, you know, I'd built a decade long relationship with them that, you know, if I wasn't serious, I wouldn't open my mouth for something that I didn't think was remotely possible.
I'm very familiar with the Adelaide Street Circuit. I'm very familiar with the landscape and what can and can't be done here.
And they were open to the idea with a lot of reservations as they would.
And I then picked up the phone to the good Premier here and I said, just hear me out. I've got an idea and I think I can make it work.
So I met with him and I did put the idea to him and he was equally surprised.
In a way, I felt I had absolutely no right to be talking to a rights holder and international rights holder about a possible venue that I have no control over and to speak to a Premier about an event that was completely almost the conversation almost sounded irrational.
But again, relationships and again, all I'd ask for is that just hear me out. I think it can be done.
There are a lot of elements that cannot be compromised, safe to being one.
Motorsport is a science today. It might have not been as scientific 30, 40 or 50 years ago, but today, motorsport is science.
There are speed profiling. There's a lot of science applied to design off-circuits and run-offs that you don't have to necessarily predict any of it.
There's a lot of technology that can do that for you.
I said, if and safety is not subjective, if safety is guaranteed, if a street circuit can comply, would you consider?
I wouldn't have had that conversation if, to his credit, Peter had not put his neck out and gone after attracting big events to South Australia.
So, he was also good enough to trust me with taking the proposition further.
And I did, for quite some time, explore it on both ends and felt like I was a broker for a wedding that wasn't buying.
What a great analogy.
But I really felt that it was a terrific opportunity to make a contribution to this great state that just gave me so much opportunity.
And by the time we got close to October and November last year, it was either going to happen or it was not going to happen.
So, I was abroad and I just had to bring Dorna over here and just do it properly.
And that did occur during the Adelaide 500 just straight after the event went through and walked the track.
Do people know that they came in? That was all quite quiet?
It was quiet. We did a good job at keeping it fairly quiet, walking through the streets and seeing the circuit was mostly still closed.
But by the time we got to Decadival Terrace, Turn 8, there was open for traffic and I thought, oh, this is not the smartest thing in the world to be doing.
But it was important for me to make sure that all the work that are done can be translated on the ground and in the presence of Dorna to make sure that they also can see it and understand the complexities of designing a circuit that can work.
And be safe.
And be very safe.
So, Turn 8 in a car, as you know, has built a lot of history. On a bike, you can't have a concrete barrier.
And if you're going to have one, it's going to have to be in Kensington. It can't be where it is. It had to move a lot.
So this is the benefit of having been in a race car and being familiar with some of those challenges and how something like that maybe overcome, even by slowing a car or a bike down or putting a chicane or a heap in just before to change the architecture a little bit.
And it was a very challenging couple of days, very confronting because all the work over a long period of time had just come down to that.
Can you design a circuit that is very exciting and very safe? And sometimes those two don't go together.
And for it to be fiscally possible to around the Adelaide supercars events that we're not doing too lots of construction and everything else.
And that was absolutely critical for the government on a lot of fronts. The government knew it had to expend some capital, but also some political capital.
Because whether we like it or not, Motorsport doesn't appeal to everybody and they have to govern for everybody and it wasn't lost on anybody, how much work needed to be done, even if this was feasible.
So yes, it got more and more, the idea just developed more and more and matured more.
And in the context of an election in March this year, there wasn't a lot of time.
And it would be an understatement to really describe the amount of work that had gone from that date in late November to early February.
And to pull it off, I'm sure one day the story and the details will have more time to go through.
But it was a spectacular process that could have fallen over so many times. But at the end we got there.
Well done. This next question may not necessarily be for you to answer, maybe it's a question for the state or for Dorner or whoever.
Naturally there's a lot of passion attached to Philip Island, right? And I think Casey Stone has expressed how he feels and what have you.
He's been someone I've had a great deal of time for and respect a lot over my career.
What would we say to him to maybe, you know...
I love Philip Island. I love Philip Island. I love Melbourne. I love Victoria. This is nothing against the venue or anything.
But the business of motorsport has moved on in the last decade or three.
Venues that service motorsport have significantly changed.
You know, the bend is eight years old. I'm making improvements today for a venue that was only built less than a decade ago.
You cannot continue to participate at the highest level and MotoGP is an event at the highest level without ongoing commitment and investment in the venue and the facilities.
And that's not easy. That's not easy.
And if the sport and if Dorner and if MotoGP were happy, they would not have looked elsewhere.
And it's no secret that they had concerns about the safety elements and the infrastructure for a long time.
That's well publicized and well documented.
And I didn't approach the opportunity through a back door. I went straight through the front door to the rights holders and asked the question, are you interested?
I didn't try to hide behind an alias. I didn't try to do this in any other way.
And Casey is a great rider and absolute champion, one of the greatest that we have produced in Australia.
I'd appeal to him and everybody just to come along the journey.
There is no holding progress. There is no holding moving forward and moving on.
And I hope they all embrace the opportunity for this absolute milestone development to have a street circuit participate at the highest level.
How innovative we should be as excited and as proud to have this in Australia.
And we won't have to wait very long to see it materialize.
I get the emotional attachment to Phillip Island and the incredible history it had built over a long period of time.
And that will never go away. In fact, that I am certain will continue to grow.
And I'm sure will forever continue to romanticize about that wonderful era.
The sport and the rights holders had a choice and had a call to make.
And their vision is that the venues have to move on.
And that's a formula and that's a template that I guarantee you they'll apply all over the world.
And every events holder of a MotoGP all over the world today and yesterday and the day before should have taken notice as what's happened in Adelaide and in Australia.
Because they'll all have to change their delivery of a MotoGP event to continue to be irrelevant.
Consumer has choice. Nobody's livelihood if you're a consumer depends on spending a weekend watching racing at a racetrack.
They have choice where they spend their dollar at a movie theater or their experience for a hotel or a restaurant or whatever.
We compete just like anyone else for patron experience.
And that's where the patron experience is moving.
And if you're a pure racetrack that is just relying on the same people coming over and over to watch a motor race, whether two wheels or four wheels, that ain't the future.
And you either stick your head in the sand and you say it won't apply to me.
Or you say, how can I be part of that journey? How can I remain relevant in an industry and a sport?
Try something new. Open your door.
It's not a choice. You either have to or you'll be left behind.
And we have many examples still in Australia of venues that have just continue not to invest in their infrastructure.
And they lament why patronage is declining or why the sport is not where it should be.
Participation is at a risky point in Australia in all categories in motorsport.
And as a sport, motorsport, we've got to collectively bring our A game now to make sure we remain relevant to patrons, to customers that have choice.
You're passionate about that, I can tell.
And I've no doubt that is something that you will work with various bodies here locally in sharing that.
Can I do two to finish here?
Because as I said before, I know you're busy, mate.
You've been incredible with your time with me today, which are great.
I greatly love the ability to share a little bit of this story.
You must do a book one day if you haven't already on the family story and what you've done here.
So I'm a huge believer in respecting the process.
So if you can't tell me this, you just tell me straight out.
There have been rumors about maybe World Superbike to the bend.
Can you tell us anything?
Is there any truth to that?
I have never stopped, never made secret of my ambition to attract any event at a world-class level to the bend.
I've been very upfront about that ambition.
I have a venue and the people that work with me that share that vision.
We want to participate at the top level in motorsport in Australia.
So wherever there is opportunity, I guarantee you I'm going to knock on that door.
I've got broad shoulders. I've taken knockbacks, plenty of them.
You've got to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and just say, I'm going to have another go.
And that will not stop.
If there's an opportunity, I absolutely will explore it.
Okay, let's live it at that and maybe as they say in the game, watch this space.
You've got a busy year overseas. Will there be a bit more racing?
What is on your own kind of program for 2026?
At 57, I think my time is coming, but I've so enjoyed.
I've driven in Super Cup in Europe last year and I thought I wanted to experience one iconic racetrack.
I've watched these over on television all these years and I wanted the one racetrack I wanted to go to was Imola.
It's just such a spiritual place, the centre history.
It's an old school track and I just wanted to race on that track.
And when it became a possibility in 2014, I like had goosebumps doing the trackwalk on that Thursday.
It was just surreal, a surreal feeling.
And I remember asking the team, the Dutch team that were going to have let me do a guest drive.
I was looking at the calendar and I said, Monaco Super Cup runs as a support category to Formula One at eight events in Europe.
I said, Monaco is three weeks after Imola.
Can I do a guest entry for Monaco?
And the guy laughed. He said, if we'd accept guest entries for Monaco, we'd have a thousand people want to do that.
You can't do it unless you have a series entry for the whole season.
Committed, yeah.
And the season entries are limited to 28 drivers.
I said, so how many drivers have they got?
He said, let me get back to you.
He put Oliver Schwab on the line and there were 27 committed season entries.
He said, there's one left.
I said, I'll take it.
And I put the phone down and I thought, literally my wife walked into my office and she looked at me with that.
You have to believe this is word for word.
She just looked at me.
I didn't say a word.
She said, what's wrong?
I said, what do you mean what's wrong?
She goes, we've been married 27 years.
What's wrong?
I said, I've got some good news and some bad news.
The good news is that we're going to spend a little bit of time in Europe.
The bad news is I have no idea how the hell I'm going to do it.
Deep down, I was so, you know, there's a lot of self doubt of whether I'm good enough to, you know,
super cup is that for the faint hearted.
And there's been a number of great Australian drivers that have gone and had a go.
Some with great success, Matt Campbell, Love Matt, Jackson Evans, Jordan and Aaron Love.
A lot of great Aussies have had a go.
And I thought, wow.
And it's almost an entirely pro field.
There are no Pro Ams.
In 2024, there was only one other Pro Am.
And I did it again in 25 and there was only one other Pro Am who'd won the British Carrera Cup Championship four times.
So my worth was really cut out for me.
If I, if I finished second last, I'd beaten a British champion.
And I thought, wow, like my mission is just to qualify because if you don't qualify within 7% of the outright poll position,
you're not allowed to race on Sunday.
And in the era of Larry 10 Ford and those unbelievable drivers, it was no me fit to be within 7% of those guys.
You get only one 30 minute practice session and you're out to qualify and place like Monaco where you can't practice.
One 30 minute practice session, turn up to Monaco and it's raining.
So I did a season entry and I, and I was, and I, it was such an amazing experience.
I went and did it again in 2025 last year and I, I was, I just couldn't believe I top 15 drivers get points.
And I had three top 15 finishes and scored some supercar points, which it was just a dream.
I was just, I just leave every time I get to a racetrack and leave.
I just pinched myself and I said, here I am flying, flying the Bend Motorsport Park and the Australian flag,
who are both on my car, the flag and the bend.
And, and it was just, it was just surreal.
It was just completely surreal.
And I thought, this will be my swan song.
I'll, I'll, I'm, I'm going to do it again.
I will fly the flag high on top of my car for both Australia and the Bend.
And hopefully we'll have a few more stories to tell.
I love it.
I love it.
Thank you so much for coming into the studio today.
I've had the honour of being there for the first broadcast that you talked about, the first national meeting.
I've been there for things that you're doing experientially where a customer like Michelin comes and launches a tyre.
I got to drive it last year with Ferrari Challenge.
So some of those things will remain with me forever.
But I, I began this conversation today with a very vivid memory of that night with, with Todd Hazerwood,
because I would be lying if I didn't feel like it was ambitious.
But you delivered it, Sam, with such conviction.
You could have heard a pin drop in that, that room that night as everyone took in what your, what your plans were.
And here we are made a decade later and, and it's a reality.
And you, so, you know, you're showing no signs of slowing down.
So have a fantastic year abroad and well done on everything.
Thank you for sharing your story today.
What a journey. Thank you.
Thank you.
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
Sam Shahin shares his journey from migrating to Australia and building a successful family business to discovering a passion for motorsport later in life. He recounts his first racing experience at 44, the challenges of starting late, and his competitive spirit alongside his brother Yasa. Sam reflects on the emotional highs and lows of racing and business, the pride in growing the OTR brand, and the pragmatic decisions behind selling the business while maintaining ties. The conversation highlights his dedication, resilience, and love for racing culture.
Original notes
From Supercars CEO James Warburton’s faith in him before The Bend had even been built to the global award it received that he at first thought was a prank.
The importance of forging a relationship with Dorna and the fascinating Covid period convos with Formula One management.
Why he can’t stand still and the message for other promoters and circuit owners on acting now to stay relevant.
Plus the big news around MotoGP’s move to the streets of Adelaide from Phillip Island in 2027. Why it didn’t end up at The Bend & his part in bringing the key players together as a proud South Aussie including a secret track inspection after the Adelaide Grand Final last year.
And what about the rumours of World Superbikes heading this way too?
This isn’t just for motor racing fans. Business owners will be glued to his insights in this area too. And Sam shares a few ‘life lessons’ that are takeaways for us all. Hope you enjoy the listen as much as we did during the record.
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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