A captivating journey unfolds as Romolo Liebschen recounts his six-month motorcycle trek from Germany to the Bathurst 12 Hour, sharing insights on his experiences and challenges along the way. With a rich background in Audi's racing program, he reflects on the significance of Bathurst and the evolution of motorsport. The episode highlights the emotional connection to the iconic track, the camaraderie within the racing community, and the changing landscape of Audi's focus towards Formula One. Rusty engages with Romolo's adventurous spirit and deep-rooted passion for motorsport.
Imagine riding your motorbike from Germany to Mount Panorama.
That’s exactly what Romolo Liebchen did! The former Audi Sport Customer Racing boss loves the #B12hr and has had this dream for a while now.
How he made it a reality, the incredible places he visited along the way, the planning, the bike & the challenges he encountered.
Plus where he’s off to next and the insane k’s he’s chalked up on two wheels during his lifetime.
We also chat about Audi’s change of direction in relation to its Customer R8 GT program and the big move into Formula One.
This little known story piqued Rusty’s interest when he saw the bike parked outside the Melbourne Performance Centre garage over the weekend while making a doco on the history making Quinn Family entry.
Romolo’s story is fascinating. Enjoy the ride.
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
"... with three generations of his family sharing an Audi R8 in the big race. Cool story that one that I'm hel..."
The Audi R8 is a fancy sports car that looks really cool and goes super fast. It's made by Audi, a well-known car company, and is famous for being fun to drive and having a stylish design.
The Audi R8 is a high-performance sports car known for its striking design and powerful engine options, including a V10 variant. It has gained significant acclaim for its handling, luxury features, and is often seen as a symbol of automotive excellence, making it a popular subject in discussions about performance vehicles.
"Adopted Aussie Maro Engel finally won the 12 hour but he did it for rivals Mercedes with MotoGP great Valentino Rossi..."
Mercedes is a famous car brand from Germany that makes luxury cars. They are known for being well-built and high-performing.
Mercedes-Benz is a well-known German automotive brand that produces luxury vehicles, buses, and trucks. It is recognized for its high-quality engineering and performance.
"Adopted Aussie Maro Engel finally won the 12 hour but he did it for rivals Mercedes..."
The 12 Hour is a long car race that lasts for 12 hours. It takes place in Australia and features fast sports cars racing around a track.
The 12 Hour refers to the Bathurst 12 Hour, an endurance race held annually at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Australia. It features GT and sports cars competing over a 12-hour period.
"with MotoGP great Valentino Rossi third for BMW. While they were celebrating..."
BMW is another well-known car brand from Germany that makes luxury cars. They are famous for their sporty and fun-to-drive vehicles.
BMW, or Bayerische Motoren Werke, is a German automotive company known for its luxury vehicles and performance-oriented cars. The brand is synonymous with driving pleasure and engineering excellence.
"...to struggle with electronic problems and sensors and can bus and I don't know what else."
CAN bus is a system that helps different parts of a vehicle talk to each other. It makes it easier for the car's electronics to work together without needing a lot of wires.
CAN bus is a communication protocol used in vehicles to allow various electronic components to communicate with each other. It simplifies wiring and improves reliability in modern vehicles.
"...some passion fuelled comments about Audi's shift away from its customer racing program..."
A customer racing program is when a car company helps regular people or teams race their cars. They provide cars and support to make it easier for them to compete.
A customer racing program allows private teams or individuals to purchase and race manufacturer-backed vehicles, often with support from the manufacturer. This helps promote the brand and develop the car further through real-world racing experience.
"...first race under our own responsibility as an organization Audi spot customer racing so we came here first race first win..."
Audi Sport is the part of Audi that focuses on making high-performance cars and participating in racing. They create some of the fastest and most exciting Audi models.
Audi Sport is the performance division of Audi, responsible for developing high-performance vehicles and motorsport activities. They are known for their success in various racing series, including endurance racing.
"...with the rival in Ford he was part of them and there's been some good drivers through here..."
Ford is a popular car company in America that makes many types of vehicles, including cars and trucks. They are famous for models like the Mustang, which is a sporty car.
Ford is a well-known American automotive manufacturer that produces a wide range of vehicles, including cars, trucks, and SUVs. The brand has a rich history in motorsports and is recognized for models like the Mustang and F-150.
"...with the let's say with the success of GT3 I always believed in in in this idea and so this is what was the reason why we really pushed for for this..."
GT3 is a type of race car that is based on regular sports cars. These cars are used in racing events and are designed to be similar to the cars you might see on the road, which helps keep costs down for teams.
GT3 refers to a category of sports car racing that emphasizes production-based vehicles. These cars are designed to compete in various GT racing series around the world, and they often share components with their road-going counterparts, making them more accessible for manufacturers and teams.
"...this was a risk for the series. Money keeping keeping the costs cost contained it would be wrong of me to ask you..."
Cost containment means finding ways to keep expenses low. In racing, it's important to manage costs so that teams can continue to compete without spending too much money.
Cost containment refers to strategies and practices aimed at controlling and reducing expenses within a given context, such as racing series. In motorsports, keeping costs manageable is crucial for the sustainability of teams and the series as a whole.
"...about the Formula 1 program can I ask more broadly Audi with what they have done over time from World Rally a super touring sports car racing especially even this program here now they're embarking on on on Formula 1..."
Formula 1 is a very popular and prestigious type of car racing. It involves high-speed cars racing on special tracks, and it's known for its advanced technology and skilled drivers.
"...what they have done over time from World Rally a super touring sports car racing especially even this program here now they're embarking on on on Formula 1..."
World Rally is a type of car racing that takes place on different kinds of roads, like dirt and snow. It's very challenging and requires special cars built for these conditions.
World Rally Championship (WRC) is a rallying series organized by the FIA, featuring a series of events held on different surfaces, including gravel, tarmac, and snow. It is known for its challenging courses and requires a high level of skill from drivers and co-drivers.
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Welcome to the Motorsport Brief. This one is about the long way down to the mountain
from Europe for the Bathurst 12 hour. Good day everybody, Rusty here. I recorded this
interview at the end of an epic weekend. I'd been embedded with Tony Quinn's family and
the Melbourne Performance Centre crew as TQ ticked a bucket list moment with three generations
of his family sharing an Audi R8 in the big race. Cool story that one that I'm helping
to make a documentary on which will be out in the months ahead. Anyway, while I was in
the garage, a touring bike was parked outside all weekend in the paddock right by the NPC
doors and it caught my eye. Bit of a story to it. The owner, the rider, Romolo Liebschen,
who set off from Germany over six months ago and rode through some incredible countryside
and terrain to get to Mount Panorama. Now he's no stranger to Bathurst and has been talking
about this idea in fact since before the pandemic around 2015. He had a very senior job with
Audi and its customer racing side and is regarded as a bit of a godfather of the racing program
around its iconic R8 GT. So we'll talk a bit about that too and how he feels about the company's
change of direction and their big focus now, their commitment to Formula One. That's later.
Adopted Aussie Maro Engel finally won the 12 hour but he did it for rivals Mercedes with
MotoGP great Valentino Rossi third for BMW. While they were celebrating, I grabbed Romolo
for a chat as the garage was being packed down by NPC who he's had dealings with for over a decade.
He's been familiar with the 12 hour since he came here with the Yoast team way back. Yesterday
he and some German colleagues were there supporting the three NPC cars. Will Brown
hustled hard at the end in the R8 that he shared with Bathurst's own Brad Schumacher
and Chris Harser. They just missed out on an outright podium finishing in fourth.
This is amazing. What prompted this and where has it taken you?
Yeah, so exactly. I left in Munich on the 17th of July and then the trip began. So in the first
stage of the trip it was together with a group which split up in Cambodia and from Cambodia
on I went on my own down to Malaysia where I shipped the bike over to Melbourne and then
I went on to reach Bathurst because this was the story starting at home which is not Munich,
it's close to Munich, it's a small village in the Bavarian mountains close to Austria
and reach Bathurst for the rest. This was the plan. Amazing. Firstly I didn't pronounce your
surname correctly. You do that for me and you tell me what it loosely translates to. What does it mean?
So my surname is Liebchen which means in English darling. Very good. Well it was a darling of a
ride. Let's talk about the motorcycle firstly. You are kind of the godfather of the R8 GT machine
which we celebrate in the garage. We are outside at the moment with the Melbourne Performance
Centre crew but you've written a rival mark here haven't you? Yeah exactly. It's an old BMW
GS model produced in 1996 so 30 years old now. Yeah the reason why I chose this bike is I was
looking for something without electronics so I could help myself somewhere in the middle of nowhere
if there is a problem so then it might be easier to fix the problem then to struggle with
electronic problems and sensors and can bus and I don't know what else. This is awesome. So many
questions that I have here. Firstly how long have you been riding two wheels for and then you
you clearly enjoy it? Yeah so riding two wheels started in the age of 15 and since that I never
stopped and I really did a lot of mileage in my life so it's far over one million kilometers so
and I also did some traveling trips before for example US and Mexico and then yeah North Cape
and all over Europe so yeah it's not the first time I'm on the road but it's the first time doing
something in so in this extreme way so as we did it now. What did you bring them there are
panniers on the back here obviously you need to pack some clothes and things like that but what
about did you bring some spare parts did you bring a few things Justin what did you bring? I have
quite a lot of tools with me and and the most important spare parts so I know this bike this
engine very well because I have this type of bike now for over 40 years and so I now wear
other sensible areas of the technique and so I took these parts with me. So if you've done that many
miles or kilometers on a motorcycle you've been to some amazing places around the world can we
focus on this trip to to Mount Panorama and if you are setting off close to to Austria there
places that you perhaps may have been to along the way that you didn't or have not been to before
did you go through the Himalayas? Yeah so maybe I give you the countries. Please please. Okay so
started in in in Germany then went down to Turkey so in between some other countries then from Turkey
to Georgia from Georgia to Russia then Kazakhstan Uzbekistan Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan China Laos Vietnam
Cambodia Thailand Malaysia so this was the rough trip. After here incredible you would have seen
some unreal sights along the way how much planning was involved before you set off on this I think it
was the 17th of July you set off last year? Yeah so yeah there was a lot of planning because in the
end it happened in a different way I was looking for in the beginning of the idea so finally I was
forced to book an organized trip from Germany down through China because I was not able to get it
organized to pass China and mainly because of the reason in China there is an age limit to
ride motorcycles for 60 but now I've become 66 still young but I was in in the first moment I was
told for the Chinese people and this organizer of the trip I don't know how he's doing but he found
a way to get the permission so I could ride with 65 instead of 60 years. I love it a good loophole
were you challenged along the way did did anything go wrong or has it gone thoughtlessly?
I had some little problems so with spokes on the rear wheel so they broke because of
let's say the heavy load or it was really rough for a certain stage and at that time I was accompanied
by my wife so she came or joined us in Uzbekistan and went with me down to Vietnam and when we went
this Pamir highway this road was this part of the trip the roads have been really bad so maybe it was
too much load for the bike so I had these failures so I was lucky I had spokes spare spokes with me
but I ran out of them and finally in Vietnam there was an artist who fixed it by cutting other
spokes welding them together and fixed the wheel and and I can't tell you which spokes he had changed
so I don't I don't know I really had a close look he was an artist. I love it I love that.
Does that mean that your your incredible experience with with Audi in a racing sense
has taught you a bit of that ingenuity about how to deal with these things if you are confronted
with something that's a little bit tricky? For sure and so yeah one thing was I always was focused
on motorcycles and I had a very detailed look on them but for sure within my business time
which started as a design engineer so later it was management but before I was very close to
technical stuff and I learned a lot and so this helps of course. Amazing amazing can we touch a
bit on your career if you don't mind I mean I referred to you I've seen some articles obviously
in the lead up to this and they they talk about your deep connection to to Audi and what you've
what you've done here. I know there's been a change from a customer racing perspective and
what they're doing and Formula One is now a very big thing for them. Tell me about your
chapter with them how long you were with them and why you know I guess you're so proud of the
I mean the R8 as one pulls up literally behind us has done some incredible things globally hasn't it?
Yeah of course so I was really lucky so in the company so when the idea came up
up in in the Audi top management Audi will need a sports car I was the one to be supporting the
team from the motorsports side to give because the the board leader of the technical department
he said to Dr. Ulrich please Dr. Ulrich send somebody to this team otherwise maybe we will
not get a real sports car so and from that moment on I went deeper and deeper into the
the sports car topic and then very quickly it became clear we also need a race car not only a
road car and finally I was able somehow to convince people let's do it and then step by step
we came to the decision and then I was the first person to start the R8 race car project.
We'll sneak a quick break here on the broadcast more with Romulo in a moment water story including
some passion fuelled comments about Audi's shift away from its customer racing program
to focus on Formula One.
You're listening to the motorsport brief a fantastic little known story from the
Bathurst 12 hour of the rider who spent a considerable portion of his work life with
Audi and decided to fulfill a dream over the past year he'd had it for over a decade and
ride to Mount Panorama from Europe for the 12 hour back to Romulo Leapshire now.
Australians in motor racing love this venue and tell me what brings you back to it I mean you
clearly liken this in some ways to like a Nurburgring or a Spa in its classic essence.
Yeah so Bathurst is really a very very special place so in motorsports at all I would say because
you know this is one of the few tracks which is left which has really character so this is one
thing but maybe why for me there's such an emotional connection to Bathurst is it was the
first race under our own responsibility as an organization Audi spot customer racing so we
came here first race first win so it was really a great start and it was also the last race of my
Audi spot customer racing career so and within these years I met a lot of nice people we had
exciting racing I really love the spectators here in Australia because they are different to many
other countries because they are real fans and I don't know any other country where so many people
are interested in motorsport statistic wise in in comparison to the total amount of people in the
country than Australia so you feel really good to be here and you know that it's very much appreciated
and so that's really nice. In the same breath that you have this this um uh deep connection with
R8 you've seen some great drivers come through this program and it's time too I mean locally uh you
know with the Melbourne Performance Setters squad here I mean Garth Tander did some things with them
over time Chris Meese who was involved unfortunately in a very you know we crashed this morning with
with uh with the rival in Ford he was part of them and there's been some good drivers through here
yeah we really have been lucky to build up a team which was really a team you know so I this was
always very important for me to to hire drivers which are not egoistic only to look on their own
success so and the drivers we had for many years now there was none uh like this everybody was
working for Audi customer racing for the team and so this was also really a great great thing I must
say. Is there one achievement that stands out or is it all of them? Well there have been so many
things so it's really difficult to to judge this was let's say the most uh yeah maybe uh the first
win at the 24 hours of Nurburgring was definitely very special also because my former boss at that
time Werner Throwwein he he was the he was winning the as an engineer was winning the first race 24
hours of Nurburgring so he always was really very focused on this and this was his live
dream to win one day again and so finally we have been able so it was not the first attempt but
finally we did it and this was for him a big gift I would say so and also for us of course because
it was really hard. Of course of course we are lucky in Australia that at Bathurst we we have
a few races during the year at this venue and it's book ended with the kind of 1000 for supercars
in October and then this really starts our year here in in February when you when you think about
GT racing globally now and what it's doing and what you perhaps seen here at Bathurst over these
is it healthy is it in a good state? I think so so with the let's say with the success of GT3
I always believed in in in this idea and so this is what was the reason why we really
pushed for for this because it really makes sense to have one car for the whole world
and it makes no sense to have a for every rule a rule or every series a different car we only
cost money so then there is no market so it for the for the customers it's much more difficult so
and the GT3 series now really becomes a very strong series and yeah I think this was the
right way and I hope I hope it will not come too soon to an end because of course more and more
prices are raising a lot so this is again as in other series in past as well this is a risk for
the series. Money keeping keeping the costs cost contained it would be wrong of me to ask you
about the Formula 1 program can I ask more broadly Audi with what they have done over time from
World Rally a super touring sports car racing especially even this program here now they're
embarking on on on Formula 1 I sense Romulo that this is not something they will do by halves
it's a big mission obviously and and one I see you know I feel like they're determined to really
see through on yeah so Formula 1 of yes this is the top top class you can make in in in motorsports
I personally don't like it because for me there are two points one thing is a race car should be
somehow visible as a road car as well and the next thing is the race series or the people
or the car should be touchable for the fans and this is something I don't like in Formula 1 because
you will not have the chance to do this so is there some sadness with you then for what's
happening at the moment with the customer racing program for sure and I clearly say the decision
was completely wrong okay I cannot follow this decision because we didn't spend a lot of money
and so it's hard to understand of course you need a follower car so the R-Rate road car is
is at the end of the life cycle so and there's no new car following but okay I think there could
have been options to make it to continue with this program basically somehow so yeah because
it's really global and with the with the customer racing program you reach countries
you will not reach directly with Formula 1 and you reach a different type of of customer and
spectator which is closer to the the fan of the brand because Formula 1 is more a driver series
not a brand series to finish let's let's come back to two wheels to finish this wonderful
discussion thank you firstly you look healthy and well in the crazy amount of k's that you
did between here and Bathurst did you fall did you hurt yourself were you okay I had one little
fall on a very muddy part of the construction work of the new silk road so but nothing happened
it was really slow and really even the bike nothing so did this was and I really felt healthy
all the time so I was I was really surprised because I thought it will be harder to do it
because we really had hard things like we we crossed 10 pass roads higher than 5000 meter so
the air to breathe was not so good anymore you're almost at base camp height there aren't you that's
crazy we have been at the Mount Everest base camp this was also part of the dream but unfortunately
it was snowing we didn't see anything amazing I have been there I have trekked there with my wife
a long long time ago and I have very vivid memories of it to finish you love your riding
we're packing up here at Bathurst where to next where are you going next I try to look around
the country so I will head to the north then along the coast maybe in the country as well
maybe I will reach Darwin and then I will come back through the country through the center
yeah through the center to Adelaide and back to Melbourne so in Melbourne it's then it's the end
and maybe I will have a short look to Tasmania great job great job in the million K's or whatever
you've done in on motorcycles is there a place you haven't been that you would like to go to
yes there's maybe there's another project so I would like to cross South America from the south
to the north so but I don't know if if there is enough time left so because I have to feel
like at the moment so and I don't know how long it will stay like this I'm now almost 66 so I'm
I really have to be happy it's it's like this so I feel good but you know you don't know how
long it will stay like this you have channeled your youth world you've done some amazing things
and I have thoroughly enjoyed this conversation what a ride Romulo enjoy the rest of it thank you
for talking to us thank you yeah and thank you Australia it's really a great country so I enjoy
to stay here we hope that he has a safe ride and enjoys the rest of his time in Australia I've
used a pic of Romulo and the bike in the F description so if by chance you see him on the
rest of his Aussie travels stop him and have a chat with him that is it for today trying to
catch up with Blanchard racing teams Aaron Cameron ahead of the supercars season opener too bye for
now
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