M Sport is a racing team that builds and races cars in rally competitions. They are famous for their work in the World Rally Championship, which is a series of off-road races.
WRC stands for World Rally Championship, which is a series of exciting car races that take place on different types of roads, including dirt and snow. It's known for its challenging courses and skilled drivers.
Malcolm Wilson is the founder of M Sport, a racing team that builds rally cars. He is also an important person in motorsport, helping to make rules and decisions as vice president of the FIA.
It's a racing series where high-performance sports cars compete in long-distance races. Teams from different countries participate, showcasing their skills and cars.
Castrol is a company that makes oil for cars. They work closely with car manufacturers like Ford to help improve car performance, especially in racing.
The Dakar Rally is a famous race where cars, trucks, and motorcycles drive through very tough and rough places. It's a big challenge for drivers and their vehicles.
The Ford Raptor is a tough truck made by Ford that is built for driving off-road, like on dirt or rocky trails. The 2026 version has special features to help it handle rough conditions better.
Rally racing is a type of car racing that happens on different kinds of roads, including dirt and gravel. Drivers have to be fast and also know how to handle their cars well in tricky conditions.
Formula 1, or F1, is a type of car racing that features very fast cars on special tracks. It's known for its exciting races and advanced car technology.
The Australian Grand Prix is a big car race that takes place in Australia as part of the Formula 1 series. It used to be held on the streets of Adelaide, which made it special.
The Adelaide Street Circuit was a special race track set up on the streets of Adelaide for Formula 1 races. It was known for being exciting and challenging for the drivers.
Bathurst is a famous racetrack in Australia where a big car race happens every year. Many drivers love racing there because it's very challenging and exciting.
DNF means 'Did Not Finish'. It's used in racing when a driver can't finish the race because of problems with the car or accidents. This can hurt their chances in the competition.
Turn eight is a tricky corner on the Adelaide race track where cars can easily crash if drivers aren't careful. It's known for causing problems for many racers.
Green tyres are brand new tyres that haven't been used yet. They provide better traction and are often used when drivers want the best performance, like during qualifying laps.
The Ford v Holden rivalry is about the competition between two car companies in Australia, Ford and Holden. Fans of each brand often support their favorite in races, making it a big part of car culture in the country.
LIVE
Welcome to the Motorsport Brief, a special bonus edition as the supercars get ready to hit
the streets of Adelaide for the title decider.
Get everybody rusty here, Thomas Randall is on the line in South Australia, we will cross
to him in a moment for a chat that isn't just about supercars, he's returned in recent
days from an epic trip to the UK where he was hanging out with some rally legends and he
drove a very cool car, something different, we will talk to him about that.
Quick mention of a recent ep with young Aussie Joanne Chaconte who dropped into our studios
before the final round of F1 Academy in Vegas where she again turned heads.
Joanne at 16 has made some big sacrifices this year, fundamentally living overseas and
endeavouring to make a full-time career in motorsport with a goal of Formula One.
There is a beautiful series of stories, almost two hours worth of interviews that we've put
together to celebrate the life of Gary Rogers who passed away last month and we wrapped
up the Australian Rally Championship with another short cast by chatting to Hayden Patton
and John Kennard shortly after the podium, the Kiwis claiming the title and Hayden joining
his hero, Possum Bourne on that massive ARC perpetual trophy.
Now to a mate that I had the pleasure of working with on the Shannon Speed Series coverage this
year, his first pure love is driving, racing, but he can act and he sure can commentate.
G'day Thomas Randall, thank you mate for coming back on.
Thanks Greg Ross, rusty I should say, it's always a pleasure mate, always a pleasure.
Are you doing any additional acting because typically we're at that time of the year where
Tickford rolls out something special around Gala, is there something we can look forward to?
Look I think there will be, yeah absolutely it's kind of a tradition, it's a Tickford tradition
so and normally it's pretty ad-lib so you know that's probably 90% of our videos anyway,
but yeah I think Tom Rattenbury will be putting something together and
hopefully yourself and yeah all the fans really enjoy it.
Awesome mate, when you've done some of those commercials for Autobahn and the like during
the year it seems like you and Cam slip into that character with way too much ease for my liking.
Yeah I don't know, I think it's just over the years we've probably just
gathered that confidence and I mean it's what you're seeing is pretty much what we're like
anyway and yeah I actually saw your comment on I think one of our Autobahn videos recently
where we've got to get you in one for sure, that would be quite good and you know
you've done a lot for Autobahn so we've got to get you in there 100% that'd be great.
I would love that mate. Now we had a little sneak peek on socials I thankfully I don't think you've
got too much jet lag, not sure what you can share with us at this at this point but tell us
about your new mates Pettisolberg and Carlos Sainz and how was that trip to the UK?
Well it was a whirlwind trip Rusty, I flew out on the Sunday night of Sandown
and it was we had basically a full filming day on the Tuesday up at M Sport in Cumbria
which for those who haven't heard of M Sport it's a team that's run you know WRC cars
and rally two cars for you know decades and the founder and well I guess the owner Malcolm Wilson
he's actually the vice president of the FIA as well and he's he's still there
and the building is just phenomenal you know they also have run cars in GT intercontinental GT
World Challenge, they've won the battest 12 hour in the Bentley 2020 which is quite big for them
and they've got their own test facility there so to get I guess the call-up from
from Castro globally to say hey you know we want to do a really cool thing celebrating
our partnership with Ford and Castro worldwide because Castro and Ford have had a very or a
long-standing partnership in multiple disciplines of racing I was like yeah this is this is obviously
pretty cool and Castro's been with Tickford for well over 20 years as well so to collaborate
you know with Castro globally and to be involved with your absolute rally and Dakar legends
like Carlos Sainz Sr or as they call him in Spain El Matador and then you know Pettisolver
you know some of the stories he's got is just incredible and to be I got to be taken on a hot
lap or hot laps I should say with Carlos in his 2026 Dakar T1 Ford Raptor machine
and then he actually took me for a lap in a current spec WRC car which was out in the
forest and then it was like all right well now your turn to drive so that was um yeah really cool I
got to drive current spec WRC car on extremely narrow gravel and mud in the middle of a forest
with lots of trees so it was an amazing experience and yeah to to to see I guess what those guys
have done in their careers and you know we've got to have dinner with them as well
including Malcolm Wilson so some some pretty amazing company but I can't wait to see all the
footage come up you know I've only seen little bits of snippets because it was a full film crew
and my eyes I'm sure are going to be wide open like dinner. It sounds like a terrible trip we
can't wait to see the socials. If memory serves though it's not your first time in a rally car
did you did you do a little something with Molly where you drove her car at one point
Molly Taylor? I did yeah great memory yeah I did up it was a couple of years ago now it was in
her Subaru and it was out in Pachenham there's like a little the test facility there and
that was trickier in the sense that Molly Molly and I are quite different in terms of height
so you can imagine me sitting in her seat I was pretty much I was driving like this
but I was I was blown away by how much grip those cars had but the good thing about the
track where you went to in Pachenham was if there was plenty of runoff if you went off
you know there was in the end of a paddock so it wasn't too bad but where we were in the UK
you actually got up a fair bit of speed and those WRC1 cars they're pretty fast and yeah if you
went off you were in a tree so it was like all right we're just going to look after this one
million pound WRC car and make sure that you know hand it back to the guys and there was
also obviously a film crew so not only are you out there in a very expensive car everyone it's
all on record you know there's a lot of cameras capturing everything but I think they they capture
some cool content and you know we were chasing the lighter bit it gets very dark there now
as they're approaching winter and it was like 4.30 in the afternoon it was it was pitch black so
yeah it's a little bit miserable to be honest to be in England right now from not from a
weather point of view and and that you know it was minus two degrees on that day as well so
pretty cold but it was worth the trip I think I spent nearly more time in the air getting there
and back than I did actually in the UK but it was well worth it up like I said to to be invited
to that was something very special and up you know I may never get to drive a WRC car again.
Great for you mate well done can we before we come to a super cars preview just talk a
little bit of Formula 1 because you love that side of things you pursued a single-seater career
for a time there. Adelaide might be all about super cars this weekend but I mean it's also
celebrating its great Formula 1 history from back in the day too isn't it? It is yeah it's
40 years of racing in the streets of Adelaide and you know we had the Australian Grand Prix there
from 85 to 95 and I think 95 was well the biggest ever F1 crowd still on a race weekend so
I mean there's been so much history on the Adelaide Street Circuit you know from Senna,
Mansel, the championship decider between Schumacher and Hill at the Hackelin crash the
famous crash he had on part of the old circuit as well the rain back in the day there was
yeah been some amazing races and you know it was it was always at the end of the year but
and then now you know we race at the start of the year in Melbourne so it's pretty cool
that obviously we still get to host a Formula 1 race and and it being the season opener but
the fact that we still get to race on the track and I mean what the Premier has done what Peter
Malinuskas and his team have done to not only bring back the race but the way they've done it
and the amount that they've put into this race promoted it I mean I've been here for a day
and it's already just been incredible to see how much promotion has gone into this event
and it obviously being the the BP Adelaide Grand Final now is a really cool way to finish the season
obviously it's disappointing that I'm not in the Grand Final but I'll still be going out there to
try and win some races we've got an extra race and yeah it's just so special racing
at this track and I'm sure every drive would agree outside of Bathurst it's our favourite
race on the calendar we'll come to that in a moment quickly mate in your mind who wins the
Formula 1 World Championship this year do you reckon? That's a tough question I mean
looking at the numbers if you didn't know the story you'd have to say Lando but if you've been
following how it's tracking and seeing obviously the double disqualification on the weekend for
McLaren which is just you know hugely costly at that point in the championship and the speed
that Max has got now they would be worried you know even Lando's late braking into the first corner
lap one he admitted that was a mistake he's under pressure and it's his championship to lose
and you look you know Oscar and Verstappen are on the same points now so all Lando needs is
you know a DNF or for Verstappen to basically win the last well the sprint race and the
last two Grand Prix and Lando to finish I think third or fourth in a couple of them and and it's
game on so anything can happen if you look four months ago no one would have predicted this
so it's the pressure's really really on Max has his tail up and I'm looking forward to seeing
it I'm actually going to be at Abu Dhabi for the last round so I'm looking forward to
being able to watch it all there's still more to come on this special edition of the
short cast stay with us the Convo with Castro racing's Thomas Randall continues right after this
this is the motorsport brief our Rusty's garage short cast keep an eye out in the coming weeks
for a new feature episode with Colin Bond to Australian touring car legend who was so
diversely talented how he turned heads at Warwick farm against some international stars of
the day working with Ari Vartanen and some of Collins own rally exploits plus his rare place
in the factory record books with both Holden and Ford he has a fantastic new book out in
time for the holidays it's called full tilt written in conjunction with my colleague and
friend John Smales who was part of a recent feature episode as well that you can find
in our library that book might make a nice Christmas gift let's get back to the super
cars chat with Thomas Randall let's come to a preview now of things in Adelaide from a super
cars perspective firstly you talk there before about you know kind of being gutted that you're
not a part of the the final four just talk generally I mean making it to the sand down
semi if you like and the new finals format generally what what do you think of it so far
I think it's it's been great in in terms of you know an intensity point of view and also
for the fans and it's created a lot of stories and you're seeing I guess all these funny videos of
you know guys going around trying to bribe other drivers to help them out and all that sort of stuff
but you know it's um yeah it's just raised the the intensity and and this year has just been
ultra competitive I know I know we probably say that every year but this year has
been like no other from that point of view and you just have to look at Bathurst qualifying
top 10 was two tenths of a second I mean it's just unheard of there and the intensity that
finals brought with it I mean there were storylines at Gold Coast with obviously Brodie's crash and
that sort of put him out um Will Brown there you know was having qualifying issues he made
it through and now he's into the final four but like Sunday at sand and we just threw everything
at it myself and and my teammate Cam and obviously you know it didn't pay off but
yeah it's funny if you compare the regular season points to the finals it's very different especially
that top four top five but that's that's what we're racing to now and if it wasn't for the finals it
you know pretty much after Friday I'd say Brock Fanny would would win the championship
mathematically but now it's you know it's 20 points between him and Chaz so yeah like I said
I'm not in it anymore disappointing I mean I don't think I deserve to be in the final four
based on you know how we went at sand down and um but that's okay we'll always come back next year
but I'm looking forward to seeing how it all pans out and for me I'm just going to go out there and
do the best job I can and not intervene with what happens I'm just going to race like everyone else
as as hard as I would normally race them so yeah it's on them to to try and win their their
championship or do the best job they can we still have a job to do and we're going to try
and do it I won't ask you to make an observation of those four because they're outside your
sphere and as you just said you're going to kind of run your own race what I would say
do you think that we might get something that is a bit of a left of field surprise here and
how it plays out I mean Adelaide has had over the years some amazing races some some history
making races you know for Walkenshaw for example closing the Holden chapter there and
and so on we could get a sting in the tail of this championship couldn't we absolutely yeah I
mean it's 50 points between the top four and you know there's 300 points on offer all it takes is
one DNF or a bit of damage that puts someone out they have to pit and you know they finish 20th or
something like that and and it changes everything and that that very much could happen when you've
got a track like Adelaide there's infamous turn eight where if you into that you know so that's
a car killer but not only that we saw last year that the final race of the year where
everyone threw the toys out of the cot and it was actually probably one of the most
exciting races of the year because there was so much happening and we could be left with
a race like that especially Sunday when everyone's like oh well you know it's the last race of the
year but nothing to lose you know let's go for it and where we are you know the from fifth to
seventh that's you know you can't finish any worse than that same from eighth to tenth
and eleventh onwards you know they're fighting for I guess eleventh in the championship
but it's the top four that it's going to be interesting to see what the point scenario is on
Sunday because it's it's not going to be wrapped up until the end of that Sunday race which is
exciting for everyone and that's going to be the first time that it's it's like that here in
Adelaide for supercars adding to the story is the fact that we have a wild card and he's been
warmly embraced in in Austin syndrome he's part of the the kind of Tickford framework there
how's he settling in what do you think and and what sort of weekend based on his lead up do you
think you'll have yeah look I've really enjoyed working with Austin so far I haven't worked with him
as much as I'd say can because I was in the UK they went and did a two-day test at the band and
he did the ride day at Sand Down but he was there with us at Sand Down the whole weekend
once he landed and did his seat insert and yeah he's so much fun to be around he's obviously
super dedicated he's taking it all in he's got his little notebook there you know trying to
learn everything and it's funny when you try and explain all these all these things to him and you
know he's just like a sponge trying to take it all in but when we sort of say to him oh yeah we've
got we're going to put greens you know you're going to have green tyres for this session
what's green tyres that's sticker tyres ah sticker tyres yes yes greens so yeah there's a
bit of lingo there that we've got who are going to work through uh you know explaining how the safety
car procedure works that's obviously extremely different to what they do in NASCAR but yeah he
he's doing really well we spent a good few hours on Sunday on the sim as well just getting him up
to speed with Adelaide and uh yeah he's just great to be around I think he's really going to
enjoy it he's obviously got his own expectations that he puts on himself as a as a professional
race driver but I think he'll be he'll be good you know I don't think he's going to embarrass himself at
all um he's putting in the work and I think he'll do a solid job so yeah the car I actually really
like the look of the car and and um I think it's going to look good on track and yeah I don't think
he's going to make it make it afford himself I think he's going to do a really good job and
and you never know could be some good surprises there from Austin you got a massive day ahead
of you in terms of your schedule I'll ask two to finish here firstly uh just a thought on on
the passing of Alan Moffat um during the week I mean he made such a massive impact on motorsport
generally in this country and and supercars that we know today because of its Australian
Turing car championship heritage um he will never be forgotten what he has done no he won't
know he's you know one of the true icons of Australian and and I guess global motorsport
obviously born in Canada and raised in Australia um you know he he was you know really fond memories
of that one too I mean I know I wasn't born for it but I've certainly seen plenty of footage
from Bathurst and he was really part of that I guess Ford v Holden rivalry and I mean it's just
I guess terrible that dementia that he suffered and I mean no one should have to go through
that it's a horrible disease and well I guess you know how can I say it's it's unfortunately not
curable and and um you know he really suffered with that over the last six years but but he's
shot a light on it mate which I think is important in the grand scheme of things you know
absolutely absolutely and um to go on as long as he did but you know uh was you know a credit
to him and his family and I feel for the whole Moffat family I feel for for James as well who
I drove with this year in supercars and that was a lot of fun teaming up with him but yeah he'll be
dearly missed and I really hope that supercars does something this weekend to honor Moffat as well
and James just on that mate has uh has mentioned you know on socials that he's he's off he's
had a great chapter with you guys from an endurance perspective and as you say you got
to drive with him in the um in the enduro this year yeah I did yeah I I saw that yesterday
as well and um yeah he's been such a great or integral part of the team for the last eight years
and great to be around a lot of fun does his job and um you know we have we have a lot of jokes
he's he's quite a fun character what wouldn't you get to know James um you know he's really
good to be around he's a he's a great person as well and he's got a really really nice family
too so um yeah look I look forward to seeing what he you know his next chapter and and you know
we're following him this weekend in in Trans Am as well so he just raced last weekend at Malala and
I think this is the this is the season finale well done mate I've taken up too much of your time
you've got as we talk you've got the Mo on mate you've been doing some wonderful things um for
November congratulations on that well done on the UK and have a fantastic final weekend there in
Adelaide enjoy it thanks mate hey wasn't that long ago that you were running a Mo at Autobahn Tarni
so I look forward to seeing that one come back as well mate 100 percent we'll bring it back for sure
thank you that is it for today we hope you enjoyed this one enjoy the supercar's grand
final in Adelaide this weekend too and the second last round of the season for Formula
1 in Qatar including what could be a vital sprint race bye for now
and Doug here we have the limo imu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance
and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual fascinating it's accompanied by his natural ally Doug
uh limo is that guy with the binoculars watching us cut the camera they see us only pay for what you
need at liberty mutual dot com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty savings very underwritten by
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates excludes Massachusetts
About this episode
The Motorsport Brief dives into the excitement surrounding the Supercars Grand Final in Adelaide, featuring insights from Thomas Randall, who shares his recent experiences in the UK with rally legends and driving a WRC car. The episode also touches on the intense competition in the Supercars finals format, the history of Formula 1 in Adelaide, and the impact of motorsport icon Alan Moffat's passing. Randall discusses the upcoming race dynamics and the potential surprises that could unfold, making for an engaging preview of the season's climax.
Tickford star and friend of the show Thomas Randle joins us for a special bonus edition of the shortcast ahead of the Adelaide 500 season finale.
He’s just returned from an epic trip to the UK hanging out with rally legends Carlos Sainz and Petter Solberg where he got to drive a seriously cool car on the dirt!
How he feels about being eliminated at Sandown and some observations on the four who will battle it out for the 2025 Supercars title under this new finals format.
Channeling his inner actor for Tickford’s viral vids and some champagne comedy with our mates at Autobarn.
We reflect on the passing of Hall of Famer Allan Moffat and the impact he had on the sport along with the importance of celebrating his legacy this weekend.
Plus NASCAR sensation Austin Cindric and how he’s settling in ahead of his wildcard appearance down under.
Who he thinks will win the F1 title as well as Tom’s time in the commentary box this season for the Shannon’s Speed Series.
Don’t miss this ripper racing convo between a couple of mates as Tom beams in from Adelaide.
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
