They talk about an apprenticeship to become an aircraft mechanic and how racing got in the way of finishing it. It’s about training and career timing, not car tech.
“Supercars” is the name of the top-level touring-car racing series in Australia. The cars look like regular models, but they’re built and tuned specifically to race.
Goodwood Festival Speed is a big car event in the UK where lots of famous cars (and drivers) show up. People don’t just sign up—entries are curated, and cars often run up a hill track.
Phillip Island Classic refers to a motorsport event held at Phillip Island, Australia, known for historic racing and classic-car participation. In the episode, it’s used to explain why the Skyline had an engine problem and why they had to spend that year addressing the issue.
They’re saying the car had a mechanical issue with the engine. That kind of problem can stop you from racing or driving it until it’s fixed.
Term
75 year anniversary of Formula One
They’re talking about a big milestone year for Formula One—75 years. That kind of anniversary usually means more famous cars and drivers and a bigger spotlight on the event.
Motorbikes are motorcycles. The speaker is pointing out that the event isn’t only about cars—it also has bikes and bike-related displays.
Topic
hillclown
They’re talking about a “hillclimb,” which is a race where cars drive up a steep hill as fast as they can. It’s timed, so the cars have to accelerate well and handle the climb safely.
This is a Nissan Skyline from the HR 31 generation. It’s a classic race-era car that people still talk about because it was used in big competitions, including in Australia.
Bathurst is a legendary Australian race track. It’s known for big, hard-fought races, and this story connects it to a famous 1979 battle between Derek Bell and Jim Richards.
A hatchback is a car where the back door lifts up, and it usually opens like a combined trunk and rear door. It’s just a way to describe the car’s shape.
“Super touring” was a type of touring-car racing where cars were based on models you could buy, but built and tuned for competition. Here it’s just naming the kind of race event they went to.
Formula Ford is a junior open-wheel racing series. It’s a common place for young drivers to learn racecraft in cars that are relatively simple compared to top-level formula cars.
Go-karts are small race cars you can start with when you’re young. They help drivers learn how to race—like turning, braking, and staying in control—before stepping up to bigger cars.
Formula V is a beginner-to-intermediate race series for up-and-coming drivers. It’s meant to be a stepping stone from go-karts to real race cars on a track.
A state series is a racing championship limited to one state. It’s a way drivers compete regularly and build experience before stepping up to bigger competitions.
Winton refers to Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria, Australia, a well-known venue for Australian motorsport. In the segment, it’s where the speaker’s early Formula Ford involvement and state-series racing took place, tying the story to a real racing circuit.
Topic
test days on Fridays
Test days are practice sessions before the actual races. Friday test time means the team had a chance to try things and get the car working well before qualifying.
Gary Rogers is a person they’re talking about because he was involved with sponsorship money for the racing team. The host is trying to clarify how that connection worked.
Valvelling is referenced as a sponsor that provided funding for the team’s racing program. The speaker contrasts it with earlier sponsorship and explains how the money came through a specific person/team relationship.
Livery is the specific paint scheme and graphic design applied to a race car, often including sponsor logos and team colors. Here, the speaker describes the Bradshaw’s white base with green Bradshaw’s markings.
Topic
Amps car rounds
“Amps car rounds” means a series of race weekends. They’re explaining how they’d travel to those events after work.
Car
Ford XF panel van
The Ford XF panel van is an older Ford van from Australia. In the episode, it’s the vehicle they used to tow the race car to track events.
They’re referencing the Holden Torana, an Australian car that many people raced. In this conversation it’s mentioned alongside other cars from the same racing scene.
“Group C” is a set of racing rules that determined what kinds of cars could compete. It’s most associated with prototype sports-car racing from the 1980s and early 1990s.
“Group A” was a touring-car racing class where the race cars had to be based on real production cars. “Commodores” here means Holden’s model prepared to race under those rules.
They’re talking about the Holden Commodore, a popular Australian car that was also used in racing. Here it’s mentioned in the context of specific racing rule classes.
Formula Holden was another junior racing series in Australia meant to develop drivers. They’re saying it was around, but not the main, central pathway compared with Formula Ford.
The Ford Falcon is a popular Australian car that was used in racing. Here, Steven Richards is talking about his own Falcon race car, sponsored by Valvoline and numbered 34.
Formula 4 is a lower-level racing series that helps drivers start their careers. In this conversation, it’s being used as a milestone before he moved into sedan racing.
Porsche Cup is a Porsche racing series with rules that limit what tech you can use. Here, the rule was that ABS wasn’t allowed, so they had to turn it off.
ABS is a safety system that helps stop the car without the wheels locking up. If you pull the ABS fuse, the car loses that anti-lock help, so braking behavior changes—especially when you brake hard.
Term
110 laps
“110 laps” is how long the race is. Longer races mean tires have to last, so drivers can’t always go full speed the whole time.
A radial tire is built with cords arranged radially from the center, which generally improves ride and durability compared with older bias-ply designs. “Good Year” here refers to Goodyear tires, and the speaker is pointing out that the tire choice limited how long the cars could run at full speed.
A slick is a race tire made for dry conditions with no tread grooves. The hosts are saying they weren’t using that kind of tire, which changes how the car grips and how long the tire lasts.
A road tire is meant for normal driving, not pure racing. They modified it by buffing it down to get more race-like grip, but it still had limits and could fail under full-speed running.
Term
buffed the tire down
“Buffing” a tire means sanding or shaving off rubber to make it grip more like a race tire. The tradeoff is that it can wear out faster and may not survive long at full speed.
A caution is when the race slows down because something unsafe is happening on the track. Everyone has to drive more carefully, and it can affect pit stops and tire strategy.
A pit stop is when the car pulls into the pit lane during the race for service—usually tires. Here, it happens because the tires can’t survive being pushed hard for long.
Place
Orrin Park
Orrin Park is a race track where they were competing. Short tracks tend to make racing more intense because cars are closer together more often.
Term
corker
“Corker” just means “really good” or “really exciting.” He’s saying the race was a great one.
“Winner take all” means only the winner really benefits—there’s no meaningful consolation for finishing second. It makes the race feel extra do-or-die.
“Bump and grind” means the racing got rough, with cars pushing and rubbing as they fought for position. It’s a way of saying it wasn’t clean and polite.
The pit lane is the strip next to the track where race teams work on the car during a stop. He’s saying he won and then rolled into that area with the car in bad shape.
A flat tire means the tire is deflated and the car can’t grip or handle normally. He’s describing a crazy moment where the car still finished despite multiple flats.
Al Bass Knight is mentioned as an official connected to NASCAR. The host says he helped handle the situation after the race because there were tensions and they wanted to prevent things from escalating.
NASCAR is a big racing organization in the United States, focused on stock cars. Here it’s used to show the official had experience from that kind of racing.
The Nissan Pulsar is a smaller car that has also been raced. The podcast is referring to a Pulsar that took part in the Winton six hour event, driven with Gary Rogers, which is why it’s being discussed.
GDI means the car injects gasoline directly into the engine’s cylinders. That can help the engine use fuel more efficiently and respond better when you press the gas.
Place
Orham Park
“Orham Park” appears to be a mis-transcription of a short-track venue used for racing in Australia. The context suggests they’re describing a period when road-racing teams/drivers started showing up at short tracks.
Adelaide is referenced as part of the Australian short-track/series history they’re discussing. Adelaide hosted various motorsport events and venues that fit into the late-80s/90s racing ecosystem.
In a turn, a car leans to one side. Roll centers are suspension geometry points that help determine how that leaning changes which tires get more load. If the roll center is positioned differently, the car can feel grippier—or more stressful on the tires.
Suspension geometry is basically how the suspension parts are set up. That setup affects how the front wheels move and how the car handles when you’re cornering hard and the suspension is loaded.
Banking means the track is tilted in the corners. That tilt helps the car stay “up” and can let it go faster with less reliance on steering grip alone. It also changes how hard the tires get worked.
When you corner, the car’s weight shifts. The outside tire is the one that usually gets pushed harder and does more work, so it often determines how much grip you have and how quickly you wear tires.
A tire has an internal structure that holds it together—this is the carcass. If the tire gets too hot or starts breaking down, you can sometimes smell it, and it’s a sign the tire is being pushed beyond what it can handle.
An open-face helmet covers your head but not your full face. Drivers then use goggles to protect their eyes, which is especially important in fast racing where debris and wind are constant.
A paddock is the controlled area at a race event where teams park their cars, do servicing, and manage logistics between track sessions. It’s where you’ll often see cars stored, repaired, or prepped for the next run.
“Written off” means the car was so badly damaged that it was considered a total loss. Instead of fixing it normally, people often use the remains for parts or replace it with another car.
“Regulations” here means the rule set governing what cars are allowed to be built and how they must be configured for a particular racing category. Those rules drive decisions like chassis/body requirements, suspension setup, and what parts can be used.
Term
suspension ready to go
They’re saying the suspension was already set up and ready for use. That means the car’s handling hardware was in place so the build could move on to the next steps.
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and Toyota genuine parts. Whether you're looking for a new Toyota, a family SUV,
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Twizzlers keep the fun going. Yeah, I know. I just stopped whatever you were
listening to to tell you that twizzlers keep the fun going. Well, irony isn't my
forte, but twisty, chewy, yummy twizzlers sure is. So think of twizzlers as a
little palette cleanser for whatever's queued up, which by the way should be
coming very soon. Like any second now. Okay, twizzlers, time to keep the fun going.
So I've lined up on the old front straight at Wynton and the red lights
gone off and I've been in reverse and I've gone backwards.
Hey, everyone. Great to have you company again. This is the V8 Sleuth podcast
powered by Parramatta Toyota Sydney's Toyota dealer with a passion for
performance and motorsport. It's taken me a little while, but we've got there in
the end. I'm chuffed that my latest guest for a big Sleuth star long form sit-down
chat is five-time Bathurst 1000 winner Steve Richards. Now, Richo's career story is
long, very long. It's packed with different cars, different series and different eras.
Three parts is probably not enough, but all we had time for on this one, but you will find out
that there is so much for us to talk about. On this one, part one, we're going to reveal
whether he's actually a qualified aircraft mechanic or not. I've been saying that for years,
but is it true? We talk about what happened to that Team 18 deal, his trip to the Goodwood
Festival of Speed, the early days in Formula Ford Open Wheelers and the Oscar days. How
the park funded him, plus what's happened to that number 34 Falcon and the Oscar for the
GRM and Richo built and never, ever raced. Richo's a ripper, but I have to cop the blame
for this. Don't blame him. There are a few tiny audio glitches in these episodes, so please
blame me. I'll cop the blame, but I think he'll agree the story's far outweigh any tiny technical
shortcoming. Righto, let's go. V8Sleuth podcast time powered by Parramatta Toyota.
It's taken us seven years, but finally, on the V8Sleuth podcast, five time Bathurst, when
Steve Richards is here, you've been hard to nail down. You are hard man to nail down. I've got
a lot going on. Yeah. And I think there were a couple of times back there when we suggested it
and it couldn't work for one reason or another, or there was a time there when my motorsport was,
I was feeling a bit negative towards it and I didn't really ever want to do that chat when it's
been so good to me and reflect something that wasn't really the case. So anyway, that's okay.
We're positive when we hear that. Plenty of time. Yes. Yeah, exactly.
Exactly. Firstly, let's, I mean, these pods, we tend to go all over the shop and we cover a
lot of ground and your career has covered a lot of ground. So we've got a lot of material to work
with. But right now, obviously, we see what's going on with your sun clay racing, your Evolve,
the Trans Am car. What's the day job? What are you doing in between all this? Because motor
racing is not the day job. No, that's not it. That sort of finished at the end of 2009. Well,
finished around COVID, I was with Charlie and had to sort of find our way and go and do something
else. And to be fair, it was probably time, you know, I'd been stuck in that rut for a long time
and it was easy. It was an easy potential option. And when the doors shut, I thought, right,
oh, let's try and do something else. And that's just motor racing was an easy option in whatever
role. Yeah, but well, there wasn't much available with the door shut in 2020. And I just saw it as
look, don't get me wrong, it wasn't planned to go that direction. But the way it all happened,
it probably happened for the better. I managed to take the break out of it. And then, you know,
I worked for a traffic management equipment company, RPM higher, and you always, you know,
you always go back to your personal relationships with people that you've known in the past that
are good people. And Ash Woodcock, who own that business, he didn't really know what role I could
have within his business, but we managed to do something. And then after that, I ended up at
Essential Caravans. So I'm, as a manufacturer, not a dealer. We build the vans, we build about
850 caravans a year from your single actual axle touring vans to off-road vans. And I'm,
I don't know, I sort of... What's your job title? What do you actually do? What's your date? What do you
actually do? And it's really weird because I started there as a bit of an ambassador. I think I call
myself a landscaper. I pretty well go and fill up the holes, whatever's needed, whatever's needed.
So I'm, I know, I'm one of the managers in there. And my roles just become more and more diverse.
I'm on the, from production, technical production stuff to just helping organize production to
dealer, dealer liaisons. We've got about eight dealers, helping there, of being in the warranty
department, just trying to manage the warranty differently. To be honest, it's whatever's required.
Yeah. Fill the gap. Plug and play the gap. Yep. If there's a gap, you fill it. Yep.
What have you learnt from your motor racing career that's applied to these gigs post
working in racing? Yeah. So what I have learnt is that the world, the world misses out on people
that are doers in some cases. So if you're a, generally every person that's ever gone through
motor racing that I've ever met has a passion for it and they, they want to do it. They're
willing to sacrifice. They're willing to work long hours. They're willing to learn. We've been very,
very sport with time in motorsport. And I think what I've learnt is that you're pretty well prepared
for any situation provided you're willing to do a bit of learning, you can pretty well fill
a gap somewhere in any, any industry because motor racing's more low than highs, because you're
exposed to all sorts of different people. Is it a mosaic of all of that stuff that all clicks
together? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's not one big thing. No, it's not, not one big thing. And
you're never scared. You're always fighting. In motorsport, you're always fighting the next
challenge. And, and to be honest, that's, that's what I'm fine. You're doing normal everyday life.
You know, I started life, came from, you know, I did my apprenticeship as an aircraft mechanic
at the Raven Airport for, for Bibb Stillwell, when he had his business back then. And I just think
it prepared, it does, it prepares you for, for life on the outside pretty well. If I ever get a plane,
can I, can you, you fix it for me? Can you work on it for me or are you not qualified
or do you need to get your ticket paid or how does that all work? Look, I'll be, I'll be completely
honest. I did my time, I finished my time and worked a year. The, the last year was when I was
right, well the last couple of years I was racing Formula Ford. And that definitely, and my, my boss
at Blue, so Stillwell was transferred to Blue Demon Aviation. They're still there at Raven
Airport. And, and my boss Mark was incredibly good at letting me go and do my car racing.
But what that did do is actually didn't quite finish my apprenticeship because I missed
down on one of the blocks of school. So I'd say I'm, I say I'm qualified, but I never quite got
that last tick. So all those years we've been saying you're a qualified aircraft mechanic,
we've been fibbing. Yeah, basically, basically. We're going to rewrite every old player with
yours ever made. Oh no, I say I am, technically I am, I just don't, don't do that.
That's the one I'm not feeling any pressure. I reckon I've written that hundreds of times
over the years about you've been. Well, I'm not, I'm not going to stop. You're not unqualified,
that would be harsh to say. That's right. And if you did rock up with your airplane,
I still reckon I could. You could find a way. I could find a way. Hey, wherever at the point
that I got an airplane, some weeds happen in the world. And seriously, I don't, I don't think you
need to worry about that, but your problem's somewhere down the track. What's your driving
status these days? Obviously full time professional racings pretty much done, but does the phone
ring sometimes for some fun things or has it rung in the last 34 I mean your last super
cars race was what 2019? Yeah, the team 18. Yeah. Has the phone rung over time maybe in the years
closer to that than more recent? I know the historic stuff's been awesome to talk about that,
but has the phone rung? Has there been opportunities for something else? No, not really, because I
think, I don't know, but I did actually try when COVID hit and I was dismissed from Charlie. At
that point in time, I'd actually had a two year deal. I'd sacrifice a two year deal to help Charlie
manage his sponsorship program and then- And the two year deal of being a co-driver.
That's right. That's right. So I was supposed to drive in 2020, but I didn't do that because I,
you know, I was looking for that next step out of driving, but still in motorsport,
and that was the opportunity that was presented. So I canned 2020, and of course,
everyone- And everyone got canned in 2020. Everything got canned, but also everyone
got their drivers sorted. So I kind of went back and put my hand up for 21.
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They're your complete Toyota destination for sales, finance, servicing, and Toyota genuine parts.
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GR performance, the team at Parramatta Toyota is here to help. Proudly serving Western Sydney for
over 50 years, visit Parramatta Toyota and experience the difference.
And there was something that Walkinshaw were looking to do with a wild card with GAC.
Perkins. Perkins. And the undercut zone. Yeah, yeah. The undercut zone. Yeah, that's right,
the undercut zone. But that never, never eventuated. And then I think from that point on,
I didn't really try too hard because I'd been out, I wasn't driving full time. The last thing I'd
want to do is, if I did get the opportunity, was going, you know, do a poor job because I wasn't
doing enough driving. So, and organically, Clay started doing his racing. So I think it just
kind of that stuff, the professional stuff stopped. But I certainly wouldn't be anti
doing something even now, if, when I say the right opportunity, whether it was
having a race of our trans and car or, you know, just to, because I love it. I love when we do
the historic stuff. Yeah. It's not competitive racing by any stretch of the imagination.
But every time I get in one, I go, I wonder if I can still do this.
Is it like to press and the flow comes back? Yeah, I was going to say the juicest
flow and that's right. And away you go. Tell me about last year though. So the historic stuff
you've been driving, all sorts of cars, last year, 2025, Goodwood Festival Speed, you and
Murph, fair to say, the rock stars of the 2020 festival, you guys were driving some cool cars
that don't get seen over there. You're in the Nissan Skyline, the HR31 that Jim won the championship
in 1990 or did the bulk of the work that he before the GDR came. Murph was in the red 24-hour
Monaro that he won the race in with Brock and Todd and Brydie, you know, three. And they don't get
this stuff over there very often. And this is an event packed with Formula One stars, Lamar legends,
MotoGP gurus, the cream of the crop of world motorsport. And these two Kiwi Bournblokes
have been the superstars and you won an award, you two, didn't you? It was, it actually was
incredibly unexpected. I think we went over there. We're actually invited over for 2024,
but due to particularly our car at Phillip Island Classic that year, the Skyline,
it had an engine problem. So we had to spend that year getting that record.
And you've got to be invited for Goodwood Festival Speed, you don't just decide,
ah, we're going to enter, run, you have to be involved.
Yes, yes. And then we actually said, oh, look, you know, basically through Pete Sturgeon who got
the invite and Peter Lucas who got the invite with the Monaro, we said, look, can we rain check?
Yeah, rain check to the biggest motoring festival in the world. And they went, yeah, no problem.
And it sort of worked out really good because 2025 was the 75 year anniversary of Formula One.
Good year to go. And again, never quite expecting,
you know, it's on a big stage. I'd never been. Dad had been there, had been there with Porsche
one year and he went over, he went over twice. Can't remember the second time, but
but they treated us like it would be easy at the 75th anniversary of Formula One to be completely
lost in the 120 odd Formula One cars that were that were on display or running up the hill or
doing it, all of that sort of stuff. And yet we weren't, they did, they did their follow up stories
with Murph and I. We were, you know, they, they, they treated us like, like I couldn't believe.
It blew me away. While we were sort of parked down with some incredibly beautiful old cars,
the amount of traffic we had through and there's 100,000 people every day there,
you're not going to not see anyone. But you're absolutely right. Ozzy, Ozzy slash Kiwi cars
but very often and, and we were, we were highlights of the show. Well, clearly you're a hit because
they keep rolling the vision of you two going up the hill at different times on their social
account. I see it every month in my feed. It's out of control, but what it is, it's a mecca for
motorsport enthusiasts of old stuff, current stuff. There's all the latest car reveals,
there's rally cars, there's motorbikes, there's, it's not just the Formula One and the Lamar
stuff. Like they've got a really wide, and hopefully by the time this podcast is released
and airing, I'm at the 2026 event or I'm about to go or I've just been, depending on when this one
comes out. But for anyone who's going to go, what's, I need Richo's guide to Goodwood. What are the
do's and don'ts? What have I got to see? What have I got to make sure I try to do? Please tell me
because I don't want to miss out. Yep. So the big thing is it's not just about the hillclown.
There's so much going on. There's so many displays. It's basically now the UK's big motor show for
all the manufacturers. So, you know, you had Jaguar Land Rover, Porsche, McLaren, they had all spent
in most cases, millions of dollars to be there. And on the side of the hillclown track,
where the house is, where all the cars are, on the other side, it's the greatest automotive display
and technical innovation centre and whatever you want to see, all things automotive that you see
anywhere in the world. And I'm talking tens of acres of automotive erotica. It's really,
really, really good. And then, you know, up the hill, you've got the rally stage. There's a rally
stage going up, going on. So you've got some of the best rally drivers and again, manufacturers
displaying the latest cars and the latest technology, but putting them on display and putting them to
good use. And this is a four-day event. I've got a feeling I'm going to need all four days here,
because there's even just looking at the cars that are doing the hillclimb stuff without counting
all the other stuff, that's enough in itself for four days. But I feel tired already before I've
even got the huge. And you've got the Duke of Richmond's house that, you know, everything's
sort of... Can we just pop in? Yeah, you can. I hope it isn't. Go and do a tour through the house,
check out his bedroom and all that sort of stuff. Really? Probably not. Oh, it's got to say, Richo.
What about looking at the in-car vision from you guys last year, it looks far more narrow than it
looks when you just look at the regular broadcast there. It could be easy when the shadows hit
at different times of the day to not quite pick up an apex and taste one of those hay bags,
because it looks, it's all great. But if it goes a little bit wrong, I reckon it could go pretty
wrong. Yeah, look, the first few runs, it was always the goal to build and
make the record straightaway. No, make the last run the good one. But it is, it's as narrow as
anything, the hay bales are a bit daunting. And you're rocking out. It's the old Duke's driveway.
It's basically the driveway to his house. It is the driveway. It's not figuratively speaking.
It is. It is. And when you go up the hill, the probably the trickiest bit is where you go,
where the big flint wall is handy, isn't it? The hardest thing you can possibly
hit is actually you're going from the bright sunshine into the darkness. Yeah. It's like
driving into a cave. Into a little sort of, not a chicane, but a little right left sort of flick
around this wall. So it's a little bit of time to work that out. But it was incredible. You know,
the driving up the hill was one thing. It was spectacular. But for me, it was the, you know,
you get access into the driver's lounges. And look, we all know, we see it now,
that the quality of Australian Kiwi drivers is as good as anyone in the world. Drop them into
anything, give them enough time. It's proven to be the case. But you feel like you are a long way
away. Yeah. And you don't feel worthy, right? I'm not worthy to be here. What? How do I get in?
And yet when you get, so you do the run up the hill, this is one of the cool parts.
You're up the run at the hill and there's like a round, a roundabout where you get
all the cars park. And then once everyone's done their run, then you drive back down the hill.
So everyone gets out of the car and they're all having a chat. And there's
there's Derek Bell over there. And there's Johnny Chicotto over there. And these are all guys at
Dad's race against it, Bathurst and all this sort of thing. And they're all just wandering around
chatting and you go up and you know, some of the, some of the legends, the other, the other classic
one was Dario, Franckitti and Carlit. And you know, they've all driven at the Gold Coast with us.
We all know what one another have sort of done. Not that I thought they did, but it's like their
old mates, oh, you know, Richo, how is really, really good. But, but the one, probably the
highlight for me was Derek Bell. So we're up the, we're up the top of the hill there.
And I walked, you know, pulled up in the car and I walked down and I said, oh, Derek, would you
mind if I get a, a photo with you? And he goes, yeah, yeah, sure. He goes, oh, what do
you drive? I'm in the Nissan overalls. He goes, oh, I'm just driving my dad's Nissan Skyline HR 31.
And he goes, Jim Richards. And I went, yeah, yeah, he goes, ah, I had the best battle with Jim
back in 79 at Bathurst and he flew past me in the, in the hatchback and I couldn't believe it.
And we had a beer afterwards and like just that sort of recollection, that was obviously a very
special event for him at the peak of his, of his driving. And yet here he was, just this guy,
when we're, here we are, generations apart, talking about, talking about the things we love,
which is really cool. That's the thing that because we're so far away in Australia and New Zealand,
you build this because you've watched so many of these people on TV. Yep.
And, but don't forget, they've watched you on TV too, because they're motorsport
tragics, a lot of them. And that's, that's, and that's the bit I just couldn't connect with. And
I've been over there and I've, you know, you know, we've raced against quite a few guys that have
come to Australia and driven our cars, but you just forget that the world is so close now. Yeah.
With everything we do, the amount of respect that fans have for, for supercars. Well, that was
the other thing wasn't it that blew you away. And you and Murph went to that max, max power,
the super touring event that you before Tuesdays before at Brands Hatch. Yeah.
And I think one of you told me that you were shocked at how many people knew who you were,
what you did, what you raced in the day, wanted an autograph, wanted a photograph,
remembered you're driving this car, that car. And you're like, mate, we're on the other side
of the planet here and you know what I did in 1998 or whatever it is. It's incredible,
really is. And it's awesome. I mean, the whole motorsport, motor racing, automotive community
is just so close now. And I think that's, that's what blew me away the most.
It's, it's cool. I can't wait to go and see some of it. So I don't know where to start,
we're talking, we've talked a bit of the now, but let's, let's go back over some stuff here.
It's hard to know. I've got too many notes here and I don't know how we're going to go,
but we'll do our best to get through what we can get through here, but might be a long afternoon,
might be a long afternoon, but wind me right back. So obviously everyone knows your dad,
the career, all that sort of stuff. Because he was busy doing all of that at the time,
your early racing, karting, Formula Ford even, you kind of sort of had to find your own way
to a degree. But you had the bug early, I'm guessing it wasn't like it came later on.
No, look, I loved it. And I was, as a kid, I was a pretty competitive,
in the competitive sport, you know, I played cricket, played soccer, bowl or bat.
Wicked keep batsman. Wicked keep. Yeah, a bit of ghillie actually. Yeah.
Yeah. Long before ghillie minding. Yeah, well, true, true. But Rod Marsh.
Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And that was good fun. And I probably, and I was also dad's biggest fan
going to the motorsport whenever we could. But of course, once we started going to school, it was
reserved for the local events and Bathurst, pretty well Bathurst. That was the family holiday,
it was in October Bathurst. That's exactly right. It was Bathurst and more often than not,
we'd go back to New Zealand over Christmas to catch up with the family over there. And that
sort of tapered off as we got busy and I got busy with the go karts and stuff like that. But
I raced karts, started at 15. Again, it came about from a mate of dad's, we used to have
fish and chips on a Friday night. All the dads and mates who used to go motorbike riding with
would come over and one of them bought a cart and he said, come out, I'm going out tomorrow,
come and have a drive. Oh yeah, cool. That'd be good. That was the catalyst for, okay, this is,
that's unbelievable. I can't, I can't believe I haven't done this. And I'd driven karts and stuff
like that, but not fun sort of. Yeah, that's right. That's right. So that's how that started.
But the only problem was dad was away most weekends racing and when he, when he wasn't racing
and we got into the karts, I had some really good friends, a guy, a young guy,
Wayne Stirling, it went to school with my sister. A couple of years younger, his dad was heavily
involved with his carting and they were just up the road. So I would go with them. And,
and if not, I would just, I had a mate who was a few years older. He had his license
and, and we, and he got a cart. So we started to go together. It was never, it certainly was
never ever a thought at that point that, hey, this is, is the thing. But as I got
more and more into it and I started to have a bit of success, the next, geez, I don't want to bore
everyone with the details, but the next thing was a, there was an opportunity to test a Formula
V at Calder a month. So this is the first chance to drive racing. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And this is at
age 16, 17. I'm going to say 17, 16, maybe 17. And on the same day, there are a couple of other
young, got the Formula V association had set this up. There are a couple of other young guys.
I think Darren Hossack, I think Lounsey, I think,
oh, I can't remember, quite remember, but there are about four of us. I think we all got to have a
drive Formula V. And then pretty well, we got to a point in the carting where I would, I would,
I would do all my own prep in the garage. Quite often dad, if he was around, but he was busy
because he had to mow the lawns. We had two acres at that point, living in the north wing.
The Bob Jean team at the time. So there's between racing, my family, there's a lot going on.
Yep. So he would drop, he generally dropped me in the morning. I'd do the carting
and he'd come pick me up in the afternoon. And then the mate of mine who got the cart to,
we got a trailer together and off we go doing that. So probably,
so then, then through Wayne Stirling's dad, Bob, who used to take us to the track for
carting, Bob had started to become involved in Formula Ford at state level series, working
with Margaret Hardy and, and a guy called Tony Armstrong at Winton. And he'd started to sort
of get involved in some media stuff. And he'd bumped into Mike Balland at a state level event
or something. Mike had just built his, I think his third Formula Ford. And that was the first
4A for me into, into car racing. And, and basically Mike had said,
dad took me out to call to one day to have a drive of the car. That was the first thing.
And I, and I actually remember dad saying, he said, we're driving out there. And he said,
are you sure you want to do this? Really? He said, you know, this is, this is hard and
that's tough. And it's going to cost a lot of money. And, you know, are you sure this is something
you want to do? And I said, well, yeah, naturally. Yeah, for sure. So when I had to drive the car
from that, Mike said, look, no one's racing my car this year. If you're prepared to come and
do the work on the car and run it on the weekends and pay the expenses, I'm happy for you to do
that. So that's sort of how that Formula Ford thing started. And I did that in 1991 with Mike,
and I used to go to his workshop after he was in Bracide, which is the next suburb from Morabin,
where I was working as an apprentice aircraft mechanic. The one you didn't finish? The one
I didn't quite finish. Got to remind you every time now. So that's how that started. And then,
then it just grew from there. And you know, that turned into, you know, a Van Diemen the following
year. And then, then, you know, winning a championship in 94. Do you remember your first
actual car race? I do. And I can't remember if it was the first race, but I know that it was at the
first race weekend. We'd been up and down a couple of test days on Fridays and all that sort of thing.
And I lined up on the, the good. Can't remember quite, I think I might have qualified.
And this is like a state round? State round. Yep. Sand round.
We were in state series in 91 at Wynton. And Lounsey was racing in his 85. Stephen White was
doing Formula Ford that he was even dipping into the national series, but doing some state-level
stuff as well. There were lots of guys that ended up going through the process to to to
touring cars, supercars. But so I've lined up on the old front straight at Wynton and
light red, red lights gone and gone off. And I've been in reverse and I've gone backwards.
Oh, no. You were in actually in reverse. Not in neutral and roll backwards. You were in. I was
in reverse. So, oh my God, you could only go up from there. The detent was pretty light and I
reverse was right next to first. And I was only in it for a split second hour. But you were in
reverse when I was in reverse for my first start or on the first race weekend. So I recovered from
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men dash care to shop now. From that? It was only up. Here we are. Yeah, here we are. We're
there's probably no vision of it either. No, they're definitely not. No telly. There was no
GoPros. No YouTubes. No blend lines. Nothing along those lines. So Formula Ford works out well
with Fast 40 over here. But you win the national championship in 94. So that's valvelling sponsorship.
So is that for so many years the valvelling money came via Gary Rogers? Yes. It was that the case?
Yeah, that was the case. So whose team was that? How was that all run and who was what?
Because Noski was in another car and who ran that? What was that all about?
So to start with when we got our first car in 91, we ran Bob Jane's sponsorship,
which midway through the year turned into valvelling. Now Gary was doing the sponsorship
with valvelling back. It wasn't as plug and play as it became, but we ran that car out of our garage
at home in Ringwood or Park Orchard, sorry. And then I would tow it to the races. So it wasn't,
we weren't involved with Gary at all other than through the sponsorship. And I did that for
that year. That was actually Russell Ingalls, British Formula Ford Championship car that dad
had done a deal with Russell. Wow, you do a deal with Russell. Did you have any fingers left to
the individual? Yeah, I think his dad's pockets were a bit lighter. But no Russell's fantastic
ship the car back. It came at a rise with the Bradshaw's 90. It was a 91 car for 1992.
Right, yeah, Van Diemen. It had the Bradshaw's white livery with the green Bradshaw's on it,
the car that he used at the Formula Ford Festool. And we used that as our first year car. And it
ended that year, I think we'd had a, I don't know if I'd had a win, but I'd been on the podium
and that national series. And I'd towed it every, I'd leave work on a Wednesday afternoon even to
go to the Amps car rounds. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'd come home. Dad would have had the
cut, we'd would have prepped it. He would have it loaded. I'd drive up in my XF panel, Ford XF
panel van, hook the trailer on and off we'd go. And we'd drive through the night, right? We'd drive
straight through. Who's doing this with you? Oh, I had my cousin Dave for a while. You're roping
in whoever will help. Yeah, one of the guys from Blue Demon Aviation where I work, he came a few
times. There's only the two of us. Really? And we used to park up near and I just, we had an annex
on the side of the trailer and we'd go racing. And that's the way I've grown up with my racing,
always been really, really heavily involved in the prep side, even to a point through,
particularly through the early days at Gary Rogers, working on the cars during the week,
and then driving the race cars on the weekend. And even pretty hands on it, the, you know,
when I was just, I became a driver, I was still pretty hands on down the, always, always, you
know, trying to, always trying to, trying to make a difference, trying to, trying to be an extra
vault of knowledge, so to speak, to help, help things. So that was great. 91 was really good.
And then 90, sorry, 92 was really good. 93, 94 became a lot more professional.
We had Bobby Smith come on board, who was Russell Ingalls, mechanic in Australia.
So almost full-top preparation. Went to be moved into the workshop at Gary Rogers.
And that's at the car dealership.
Yeah, that's at the battery car dealership, Springvale Road in Glen Waverly. And we sort of,
I guess, rode on the coattails of what Gary was doing. Gary was doing Oscar out of Calder
at that point. I think he'd sort of finished up in 1991, 90 Bathurst with the touring cars.
I think he did a couple more. Did he?
Well, he ran his own in 1990, but then I think he co-drove with Terry Fingham.
Yeah, of course, of course. Yeah, but the Oscar stuff was singing along pretty much and
competitively too. That's probably when Gary Rogers' motorsport as a team really,
like he'd raced a lot over the years. The Taranas, even, the BMW, Group C Commodores, Group A Commodores.
The GRM that we sort of know as a race team sort of kicks off in that period.
It does in the 1990s. Yeah, yeah, Thunderdome, Oscar, all that sort of stuff.
So you're riding it among it by this stage here. Was there a previous connection between Gary and
Jim? Oh, great friends. Because it wasn't Gary, one of the first people?
He was. So when he came over?
Yeah, when Mum and Dad came to Australia, they were at Calder, he was almost the first guy
that came up and introduced himself to Dad. And at the time Mum and Dad couldn't afford,
yeah, they couldn't afford much. And because they didn't have a credit rating in Australia,
Gary, Gary did the car salesman thing and managed to finance.
Saw these keyways coming.
Finance and a couple of cars for them. And that's, yeah, the friendship started from way back then.
Yeah, yeah. So by this stage, so what do we 90 for you in the international series? And at the time,
this is, there's no Super 2 Carrera Cup. No.
The pathway back then is Formula Ford. Formula Holden?
No, Formula Holden was there, but it was.
It was off to the side with the two-litre thing.
Yeah, yeah.
Um, Turricas, there's kind of no other, like now we've got so many options going on. It's kind of
probably a cluttered landscape, but then it's actually far more simple.
It definitely was.
Definitely was, but it's probably even not, even saying that probably from 1995 onwards,
it became more of a pathway as those legendary drivers that own their own teams started to
realise that we can't go forever.
We can't go forever.
Yeah, we need to find young guys. That's really when it started.
And Cam McConville was probably the first one that got the opportunity with Dick.
Then Lounsey sort of got some opportunity, but through a different pathway with HRT,
with through Formula Holden, and then got picked up.
That was sort of a period, even though Formula Ford still, it still wasn't,
it was the pathway that was being created. It wasn't the pathway, but it started to become,
some guys out of Formula Ford got some co-drives, like in the early 90s,
even Russell, I think Russell, well in 1991.
1990, you drove the GO car, and then went away, came back to the Coke car and the Larry thing.
It was sort of a period where the teams were starting to look at the young guys.
Before 1990, there wasn't a lot of really anyone getting a Guernsey.
Tell me about the, and I think this is a bit that's forgotten because there's so much of your
career, but you go off-car racing with GRM and with the Valvoline team, and there's a nice touch
here because you, as we're recording this, we talked about this a while back now, but there's
one of your old off-cars around that you posted about something about the other day, a month or
so ago by the time this comes out, but it's still around. It's the car you raced, number 34,
Valvoline Falcon, on the dome, on the flat track at Oren Park. It was just the best time.
We get so much love from the fans for the Thunderdome era, and you were right there among it,
and it was kind of the boom period. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it would have been. So that was really the
taste of, after Formula 4, of sedan racing, I think. I think I did Porsche Cup in 94 in a car
that Dad had. That's right. They're not so excited. So he would do the, whatever it was called, a
super production on the same weekend, and then you drove the Porsche Cup races on the same weekend
and all we'd have to do is pull the ABS fuse out because you weren't allowed ABS in Porsche Cup.
Right. You had to plug it back in for him. Plug it back in for him. So it was great,
but you're right. That particular car we posted is just a body shell, but that was the car that I
raced for the majority of time that we did Oscar, and we only did it for like a season and a half,
but they were just the best events. The turning up on a late on a Friday to bump in
a practice at like 10 or 11 in the morning, and then qualify, race under lights, 110 laps.
The cars couldn't go flat out for the whole race because we used a radial good year.
That's right. It wasn't a slick, was it? It wasn't a slick. It was just a road
tire that we buffed. We buffed the tire down, and if you race flat out on them,
that exploded about lap 60. So it was all this sort of trying to manage and generally,
whether it worked out or whether they threw the caution as a safety measure,
but most of the time competition course, but most of the time it worked out that between
lap 50 and lap 70, probably because the tires exploded and someone ended up in the fence,
it ended up doing a pit stop. And then from there, it was a flat out sprint to the end,
and they were just, the racing was just mega. It was really good. And there was some
really, really good steerers that Terry Waihoun, John Faulkner.
Were you in the era of Brad? He was in NASCAR. No, he was just gone off to NASCAR
as your sort of arriving. Yeah. Yeah. Because he virtually had the mortgage. He'd been on Oscar
there for a long time. But wasn't there a cracking fight on the short track underlights,
Orrin Park, you versus John Faulkner? And isn't that the one where he famously said,
boys, I think he said in a TV interview or whatever, what was it, put my name on the trophy
there or engrave my name on the trophy? Yeah, it was. And it didn't quite work out that.
No, and I sort of felt like that year. And they were good because they sort of established
little rivalries here and there. And I think I was the, I'd come in as the young guy that,
you know, up against the establishment sort of thing to agree. I got on with everyone great,
but there was definitely this, I felt like a bit of this us and him type scenario. And,
you know, he was the young guy that was coming to try and dominate this new world sort of thing.
But it took a little while to get, to get going. But that race at Orrin Park.
Oh, look it up. It's a corker. You know, you, you, that was my bread and butter for a start.
Circuit racing was, was where, and it was on the short track. And, and JF and I had this
unbelievable race in the final. It was basically winner take all sort of thing. And it got pretty
physical and it got, it got bump and grind. And, and like, I remember so on that last lap at all,
it's all kicked off. We've got together, JF's suspensions broken and I've continued,
but when I got to the line and what, and I won and I came around into the pit lane,
there wasn't a straight panel on the car. It had three flat tires. Like the tires had gone down
after the, and we had enough of a gap that, that we didn't get caught. But it was, we actually had
the whole, a guy called Al Bass Knight, who was from NASCAR in the States. He was a, he's like
a pit road official. And he used to come out and officiate for, for Bob. We actually had to go to
Bob's because there was a lot of beef after it. And, and they didn't want, Al said it, we don't,
we don't want to see any retribution from, from this heading into the next few events.
And JF, myself, Al Bass Knight, we had to go to Bob's favorite restaurant in Ligon Street.
So this is like days of thunder. I'm telling you. No way. This is like cold trickle.
Exactly like it. What's his name? Rowdy Bird is getting called to the big sit down.
The only thing missing was the rental cars. The only thing missing was the rental cars.
It was unbelievable. It was like, and we had to sit there and, you know, there was no drama,
but, but I'm the young bloke and JF, you know, he's the experienced guy and he,
JF's a legend. Like some of the stuff that he did through karting, the Toyota racing team
as a privateer in supercars is just, just unbelievable. Like the guy was such a,
such an amazing talent behind the wheel. And he, whether he was playing up on an auto,
was trying to intimidate me. He didn't like me at that point in time. You know, there was never
really, it was. You were a threat. Well, I don't know if I was a threat, but, but I was,
I was a young kid and he was the established guy and, and, you know, incredible driver.
Did Bob pay for dinner? He did. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Was it imposing driving on the Thunderdome
because it's very different to what you'd been doing or what road racing is, but did it take
you a while to get your head around it? Yeah, it did. Where we were lucky was, so at the end of 94,
I'd, I'd finished my apprenticeship and, and Gary had given me the opportunity to come and drive
for him. And, and that really was the establishment of Gary Rogers Motorsport as a professional
team. So you go to do the Oscar. Yep. Is that kind of a paid deal? It is. This is your first
professional. Well, I'm now, I'm now working for Gary as a mechanic and there were, there was myself,
Mike Excel and Shirl was working part-time in the dealership or doing some contracting for
another guy when you putting imported cars together, which is Kevin Shoya for those who
are Kevin, because then Gary, you got to have a nickname. Yeah, but you escaped, didn't you?
I did. It just, yeah, I was just, I was just rich. That was a real story there.
So there was three of us and then that grew to five of us and then it started to, you know,
as we, as we moved forward, but that was, you know, like I remember, I remember one time,
so here's a classic. Here we go. We've got, we've gone, we've gone in and Mike was doing all the
engines. We were both doing all the prep. Shirl was coming in on, on days when he, when he could,
when he didn't have his other job. There were a couple of guys from the dealership that would
come up and help out, but the actual Oscar meetings were made up of Gary's car dealership,
Brett Smith, who's got the shell of that Oscar at his, at his panel beating shop. Brett worked
part-time. He also had his dad racing out and we were, we came with Wayne Smith. We've come
really, really good mates and Mike, something had happened and Mike had had a bit of an
argument, I think with, with Gary about something and he just, he just had one of those days
and we were supposed to be going out to Calder to set up and get everything sorted,
load the, load the cars and go out to Calder and get set up ready for the weekend. So it was a Friday
and anyway, Mike's picked up his lunch. He's gone home. Oh, he's pulled a pen. He's
And I'm there at, what am I at that point? I'm 22, 21, 22. I go now. So I had Gary,
Mike's, Mike's left and he goes, righto Stevie, no problem. He said, you can drive the truck out.
I went, oh, I don't, I don't have a license. He goes, you'll be right.
So Gary, you'll be right. No, she'll be fine. All good. No worries. I went, oh no, here we go.
And it's, and it's a, it's an, it's an old Scania with, with, I think at that point it still had
for a long time there. Gary had, oh, I might be wrong here. He had Bob Jane's old, old, first
old band tech. I'm pretty sure it was that trailer. And anyway, righto. So I'm like, you're packing
it. Okay. This is like, whoa. Yep. Yep. So we had, and I think, and just trying to think, I think
dad might even have come and said it. No, he wouldn't have because he would have driven the truck.
Anyway, he didn't. So I drove the truck out to Calder through the city, out on the Princess Highway.
Anyway, so that, that, you know, great, great things that you remember at the time. Got there.
We, we get then Gary arrives out a bit later on because he'd been busy. We did our, we did our
practice. We must have had a, I don't know, someone must have come out and give us a handle,
met us out there. But anyway, yeah, that's so Gary that was it. Yeah, it is.
Right, press on Noah's. Absolutely. Absolutely. I, I, um, I loved the Gary Rogers phone call.
There was no, hey, man, how are you going? What's happening? Has the weather? Has things? It was
just right bang straight into it done. Before he kind of finished, he was already gone. Yep.
That's right. That's right. Seriously. He said what he had to say. He'd got an answer and he was
on to the next thing. Yep. Right. Okay. So he banged back. Yep. Done. That's exactly how it was.
Leaving a little bit of detail off, but you got the, you got the rough idea how you achieved
that idea. He wasn't too concerned. Yeah, whatever. Outcome. Outcome driven. Outcome focused. Um,
another thing I've forgotten, I do remember watching as, and I found the video recently,
I think we posted a bit of this, the Winton six hour, that Pulsar that you drove with Gary Rogers
Nissen on it with Mel Price. Yep. I saw that for sale on Marketplace. I reckon last year,
this year, not sure if it's still there, 17 and a half grand. I don't think that was a bad
18 and a half. We might have to go and put some stickers back on it and figure, do you remember
that? Yeah, I do. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I reckon 92 and, and at the time, Winton actually suited
the little cars pretty good. And I think Mark Bram and Henry Draper. Suzuki sweet gurus. Yep.
GDI. GDI. And we, we were, we finished second, I think. Triple S Pulsar. Yeah.
Great little car. Off the showroom floor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would have been, Gary would have
done a deal with Nissen. Of course he would have. It would have been a deal. It was always a deal.
That's right. But yeah, and we went and did the, I think we did the 12 hour
as well at Bathurst and Murray Carter had a Pulsar. Triple S and he was a weapon.
He went really good too. So that's good times. I mean, you know, I'm so, I'm so lucky. I still,
you know, at the time you're a young guy, just, you know, how good is this? Just focused and
hungry and just want to do everything you can. But you know, you reflect now and you just go,
wow, I'm just so lucky. I just have so many really, really cool friends.
The Oscar just backtracked into that for a minute.
NASCAR, Oscar, Sportsman, HQs, like it became this, like almost like a racing community of its own.
There are a lot of people who had come from road racing, a lot of speed, we are people who had
sort of taken the step up to, I guess we call it super speed. There was a time when the road
course racists started coming to the Gold Coast in the short track at Orham Park,
I think it was like Thunder in the park, whatever they call it. The short track it called,
it got a bit of a run. Adelaide. That's what I was going to ask about, the little short flat
bullring there. Looking back on it, it's kind of not celebrated enough because the touring cars
and the V8 supercars is the really dominant historical element. But that whole period of the
dome, Oscar NASCAR, that late 80s, it runs out of puff by the end of the 90s. But there's more
stories and there's more stuff that we told there because it was cool. It was a great time.
It really was. I've got just the racing, the racing was awesome, the crowds. Towards the end
there, that night racing stuff, there'd be eight to, depending on the event, eight to 12,000 people
sitting up in the stands. It was just a really good time. I got so many great memories from
that period and that was, as I said, really the first thing I'd done outside of Formula Ford.
That was fast. It was dangerous. I actually never had a crash into the wall out there
because I was scared. You didn't go fast enough. Yeah, but in the end there we had a pole,
we had a win out there on the Thunder Dome. I think you broke the drought, didn't you? Because
it was just hold and dominated in Oscar for years and you weren't at the dome in, I think,
maybe early 95, late 94. I think you were early 95.
I think it broke a streak of hold because there was mainly comatoles in that field.
Fords were a bit thin on the ground, but you broke the drought. Maybe it was late 95 actually.
Yeah, it could have been. But it was a drought breaker because no one in a Falcon had won the
dome for a long time. Maybe since back to your dad when he was in the early stages because it was
a comatole fest. Yeah, it was. We thought we'd work that out. We thought the front suspension
geometry on the Ford meant that because the cars used to compress so much into the dome,
into the banking, that we actually thought the main difference was that the roll centres
on the front suspension geometry went up so far virtually under the ground that the amount of
load on the outside tyre was such that it wasn't as easy on the tyre as a comatole. Now that was
only a theory, but I know we had to drive those cars so much, the Fords that is. We had to drive
them a lot differently than it would appear the comatoles. You really couldn't press on
flat out for more than 20 laps for risk of and you used to smell it. Like what I used to remember
was I got this innate sense because I did not want to crash those things up into the concrete wall
and you had this innate sense. It almost, it almost smelled like you could smell a tyre when it
got down to the carcass. It was like a, was like a pungent off, right? Because you used to wear the
goggles. You know the goggles. Oh yeah, open face, ran the, the night goggles.
Just cause that's what you did. Just everyone else did. Everyone else was doing it and that's
just what you did. So anyway, you knew when you were about to like, you'd lose a bit of grip but,
but when the tyre went, it wasn't like you get slower and slower. So it just went boom and you
just shot up. You're up into the, up into the concrete. So you sort of developed this. You got
a very good nose. A very, very good nose. Very Does it come in handy
for anything else other than sensual blowing tyres on the Thunderday? No, no. Well, what's
going to happen with that Falcon? Well, well, so, so what happened was Brett saw it up at
back of Smarsh Speedway sitting out in a paddock. I used to commentate out there. Yep. So I think
a lot of those cars became part of, they ended up at, um, Goldbin. Yeah. Like a drive school
car type thing. Yes. Yes. And I saw the comments. There were a couple of guys, I think, Gary
Wilkins and a few guys that actually drove those cars back then. And then did they end up at
Winton because of the common ownership between the two tracks with the Bronx? I think, yep. And
then somehow some of them ended up out at back of Smarsh. He spotted out there and, and Brett,
Brett and his family used to pit right next to us. And then Brett used to come out to some of the
early supercars stuff with Gary Rogers. He was a, he would work and actually Gary offered him a job
at one stage, but he decided to keep continuing down the path as a panel beater. But Brett saw it
and he rang Gary and he said, Hey, guys, this car's out here in a paddock. Do you want me to,
do you want me to grab it? So Gary actually, I'm pretty sure Gary bought however much they
pay was not much. It's just a painted body shell. And, and Brett bought it back with a view
that one day they, they would, when he had the time, they'd restore it. And, and of course that,
that's probably, I don't know, it still might happen, but never know. Because there is,
so that when that all popped up, it sent me down the rabbit holes are dangerous things when you
work at B8s. You're, you're a rabbit hole go down. Yeah, I went a long way down on this one
because it's sort of early before the sleuthing era really kicks off. So I'll round back and
so there'd been a Gary Falcon that was written off at AIR in a crash. And this car that we're
talking about replaced that one. So there were a few different Oscars of the, of the GRN era.
I haven't been out to GRN for a little while, but they, they've had for a long time a Velvilleen
36 Falcon that was built, but never raced. I built it. That was you. Yep. So me, Mike,
Sherle, we were building that, we got a lightweight shell from, from Ford. So that's the time that
was during cars, we're getting the lightweight shells too. That's right. So we were going to build,
that was going to be the, like we'd, we'd gone through the regulations and we were, we were,
we were going to be, this was going to be the, this was going to be the, this was going to be the
yeah. At the time that we were doing it, it never had an engine fitted to it. A suspension ready
to go. And I think that's how it is now from basically 95. We, we, we, there were three of us
that were, that were building it. Yeah. Don't worry folks. We're done with part one with Richo,
but part two is loaded and ready to get stuck into. There's lots of great stories from the
super touring days and Richo's move to England to become the test driver for Nissan in the British
touring car championship. It is well worth tuning into. I'll catch you there for part two of Richo
with the V8 Sleuth podcast, Powered by Parramatta Toyota.
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About this episode
Steven “Richo” Richards talks through the winding path from early open-wheel racing to five Bathurst 1000 wins, then into life after full-time driving. He explains how his post-racing work shifted from motorsport-adjacent roles to roles in traffic management and manufacturing caravans, using the same “doer” mindset that motorsport builds. The chat covers his aircraft mechanic apprenticeship (with a small technicality), the Team 18 story, and his Goodwood Festival of Speed experience—plus the cars and people behind his historic racing highlights.
IT’S been seven years in the making and 564 episodes, but Steven Richards has finally joined us on the V8 Sleuth Podcast, powered by
Parramatta Toyota!
Aaroon Noonan spent the afternoon with Richo, sharing epic yarns that cover some serious ground in this three-part special.
In this opening leg, the five-time Bathurst 1000 winner opens up on his status as an aircraft mechanic, his time with Team 18, a visit to the Goodwood Festival, his Formula Ford year, plus his time in AUSCAR at the
Thunderdome.
Episode two is currently available to download, and stay tuned next week for the finale installment!
The V8 Sleuth Podcast is powered by Parramatta Toyota, Sydney's Toyota dealer with a passion for performance and motorsport. Check them out today >> https://www.parramattatoyota.com.au/
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