#246 – D’ya hear th’ Drums, Fernado? Duration: 1 Hour 7 Minutes A light change of pattern has occurred at The RHHQ due to the onset of JP’s age and so it’s an afternoon Garden Party, no less, today. Troubles seem to be brewing in a country famous for beers where an eighty-something year old maybe called to explain. Naturally he’ll tell all that the onset of Global Transient Amnesia is to blame, so tood-el-loo, I’m off to Majorça with Pixie and Christopher. F1 tyres discussed in a positive way along with Honda announcing its back with McLaren for ’15. The V8′s are in Texas – it’s...

JP can never get shit done and this time he found something ‘too creepy‘ to put up on RH but then again he’s the one that’s been tooling around YouTube all day finding the stuff rather than getting anything done. This is mega great stuff. Go Mr G! Idea coming up! Let’s make one like this that applies to creating websites, iPhone apps and general calamity that puts cashola in my pocket. Thanks Goorgan for the nifty idea. Hey, you’ll a-get-a my cashola, when in Burbank. Bet this is smash hit ad! And I can’t get that jingle outa my head now… Oh man, JP is such a loser! I got on the phone and...

#245 – An Electric Conspiracy? Duration: 1 Hour 16 Minutes With a warming autumn chicken dish set aside for another time there was plenty to discuss. Sato winning his first big race after years of nothing. Dom taking the Viper to pole and a podium at Long Beach. Seb strutting it in the ME whilst a new set of snappy team mates were quashed by special secret dinners in San Sebastian, of all places! Winton testing and Texas V8 Supercar bragging. Getting to the bottom of why Peugeot has the need to do Pikes Peak. Don gets his fingers in the Grand Am pie at Road Atlanta. Christina in ADAC GT Masters. Alby sells whilst a tree dies. Our idiot...

A week ago Peugeot announced, with little specific detail, they had a new challenger for the annual Pike Peak Hill Climb in Colorado, scheduled for June 30. The car is very loosely based on a 208 road car in much the same way Group B rally cars of the mid 80′s were, albeit a greater level of safety. What possessed the company to return to such a fickle event? Surely people recall Ari Vatanen punting the 405 T16 (effectively a banned Group B car with massive aero) up the half dirt/tar road in one of the earliest in-car videos, called Climb Dance, way back in 1988? Is their any need? Here it is, just for the record. Since then few...

#244 – Interrupted by a Curry Duration: 1 Hour 14 Minutes Stirling Moss has put his foot in his mouth again by saying women are useless at driving racecars. Pukekohe turns it on and rightly deserves a place in the calendar. Madening TV times. How the good guy won the JR trophy. Chinese F1 GP. Foges has his regular say. Dan Day tells us about his new Kumho V8 Touring Car. The Buzz calls in to talk utes. How a Chuckleable Charles Curry halted the podcast. Great new lens for iPhones.       ...

The Foges’ words of wisdom from his latest column in Auto Action magazine CALMING TROUBLED WATERS MARK FOGARTY OUTLINES HOW V8 SUPERCARS’ BELEAGUERED BOSSES HAVE MOVED TO ASSURE TEAMS THAT THEY SEE A BRIGHT FUTURE AWAY FROM the track, V8 Supercars is going through a tough time. While interest in the racing has increased because of the new makes and Car Of The Future’s initial upending of the established order at the front of the field, the sport’s finances are under extreme pressure. The concerns and criticisms expressed about V8 management’s handling of the economic setbacks have dominated conversations among insiders and...

Allan Simonsen has taken victory at the opening round of the 2013 World Endurance championship in his factory Aston Martin Vantage. The all Danish squad, comprising of Kristian Poulsen and Christoffer Nygard, drove the #95 car faultlessly to win the GT-AM class. It was a stunning day for Aston Martin, also taking 1st and 3rd in the GT-Pro category, whilst the race was won outright by Audi, who with the 2013-spec e-tron Quattro prototypes trounced the front row hogging Toyota TS030′s, one of with was running as 2012 spec car. Here’s the story, from DailySportsCar.com FIA WEC, Silverstone – Brief Race Wrap Up Audi take the...

Richie Cunningham has been immortalised in the Happy Days series first shown in the 70′s yet his real life character, Ron Howard has done the same by the creating of Apollo 13 (Tom Hanks), A Beautiful Mind (Russell Crowe) and now with the impending film RUSH, that depicts the dark battles between Niki Lauda and James Hunt, of their quest for the F1 title in 1977 ...

There has been a lot of bitching and moaning in the last couple of days. It’s revolved around Holden’s decision to axe another 400 jobs, and as usual, it’s been fed furiously by the mainstream media – creating conflict where there was really only a difference of opinion and interpretation. Let’s make it perfectly clear, as far as V8 Supercars (supposedly the best touring-car/tintop competition in the world at present) are concerned, there would be no history, no Bathurst 50th anniversary last year and quite simply, no V8 Supercar or Australian Touring Car Championship, past or present, without Ford &...

#243 – Sorry, We’re out of order! Duration: 59 Minutes It’s been a month since JP has been able to speak to the viewers and I put it down to his high level of haranguing one receives in his line of work. Whatever that it. The annoyance that is a podcast recoding device. Clowndes wants it all. Russell has it all. Symmons to bare all. JR to live on forever. Glenn cans it. Siri won’t do it. NBN can ‘t do it. How the Asian Le Mans Series has excluded prototypes without actually saying that. And Rusty Sausage comes back from the detailers.   ...

#242 – Will Hagon Uncut Duration: 42 Minutes When travelling with other distinguished journalists there comes a moment when the Otago Pinot Noir has taken hold and we think back in time before spilling anicdotes of our past. For me it was Wayne Gardner et al as they came to grips with the peaky 500cc GP bikes. And who better to relate these moments than Will Hagon whose voice is as legendary in Australian motorsport as Murray was in F1.   ...

The video has just come in from NZ with Craig Baird setting a fast time of 1m 41.90s around the brand new Highland Motorsport Park. If you’d listened to #241 you’d have heard TQ talking about the Whoop Whoops, which CB didn’t use to set the benchmark time. Check out the great weather and the crowds! Make sure you select 720p, full screen and turn up the volume. [UPDATED] CB put in a 1m 40.5s on the Sunday run, eclipsing his benchmark of 1m 41.9s, set Saturday. Just so you know. ...

#241 – Tony Quinn Unleashed Duration: 1 Hour 20 Minutes The weather is glorious here in the South Island of New Zealand only made better by Highland Motorsport Park just outside of Queenstown. This is a Tony Quinn spectacular and he tells it like it is alongside those that asked him to partner in this passionate venture. Sit back and enjoy the podcast in all its rawness and honesty.   ...

Last week, The Foges and I joined several other esteemed journalists and photographers as a guest of Tony Quinn to check out his latest venture – Highlands Motorsport Park. Located a minute or so out of Cromwell on the South Island of New Zealand, it is a sight to behold. The level of craftsmanship and passion put into this project is phenomenal. And its fair to say that, even though we enjoyed Otago Pinot Gris / Noir, Bluff Oysters, a wonderful dinner at Botswana Butchery, along with an array of vehicles we were let loose in around the 4.8km track, everyone was blown away. Plus, TQ & Co. have the only McLaren MP4-12 GT3 in the...

The Foges’ words of wisdom from his latest column in Auto Action magazine. KIMI DOES WHAT KIMI WANTS AMID THE POST-RACE RANCOUR AT SEPANG, MARK FOGARTY NOTICED THAT ‘THE ICEMAN’ REMAINED CHARACTERISTICALLY COOL HERE WE go again. If the first two F1 races are any guide, we’re in for another volatile season that will produce many different winners until the front-running teams get on top of the latest generation of high-deg tyres. After Sunday’s Malaysian GP, it’s also looking like intra-team rivalries will also figure in the narrative that unfolds, with friction between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber rising to the surface, as...

Ok so here’s the deal. A disclaimer if you wish. HOTLAP does PR for Dominik Farnbacher (new website) who is part of the Dodge Viper SRT ALMS GT program. Yes, we’ll do the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well but not before I headlock Le Fogeaux and drag him to Long Beach, a week before the Texas V8 Supercar round before heading to the Indy 500, before the blasted Detroit Indy GP and then a pesky Canadian F1 thingy afterwards. Bloody hell, I’ll be happy to get in the luxurious confines of the Nissan corporate schmere at Le Mans, before a slightly cold ale at a ratting pub window will ensue. Yep, we’re doin’...

The Australian Grand Prix has been & gone already – and in 3 short days we’ll all be getting ready for the second round in Malaysia! But there was definitely something missing, something that we’d got used to going to view on YouTube the day after every Grand Prix for the last 12 rounds in 2012… Of course, it was McLaren & Framestore’s animated cartoon – Tooned. Interesting, because the cars still ran with the “Tooned” insignia on the back of the rear wing, McLaren’s official website has a reference (on the “Kids” F1 Merch page) saying that “NEW Tooned Merchandise...

SRT MOTORSPORTS TEAMS CLAIM TOP-10 FINISHES AT SEBRING Both SRT Viper GTS-Rs Display Plenty of Speed in Season Opener SEBRING, Fla. (March 16, 2013) – There are times when the finish order of a race falls short in painting a clear picture of the event. Such was the case Saturday at the season-opening American Le Mans Series event here at Sebring Int’l Raceway – the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. Although the two SRT Viper GTS-Rs from SRT Motorsports posted top-10 finishes, the results failed to reflect the impressive performance on the track. Reviving memories of its dominant performance 13 years earlier en route to the GTS Class...

Last week in New Zealand, the weather was the best I’ve ever experienced. For the last twelve years, I’ve been in Wanganui, mid March, doing family stuff. Next week, I’m hoping for more of the same, as The Foges and I head over to Cromwell, near Queenstown, on the South Island, to check out the brand new Highland Motorsport Park. It’s opening at Easter and Craig Baird will be putting in some fast lappery in a McLaren MP4-12C GT3 racer, but not before a few select media get the run of the place. If the video below doesn’t convince you that this venture is going to be a mammoth success, take heed that it is put...

It’s time to kick off the American Le Mans Series with the 12 Hours of Sebring, in Florida. A bumpy, hot track is the norm and this year, the DeltaWing is in P1, running a Mazda engine with Bridgestone rubber. But it is also a lame duck year, since 2014 will see new rules that amalgamate ALMS and Grand-Am. Andy Blackmore has once again provided his excellent Spotter Guide, which can be found here.   ...

The Foges’ words of wisdom from his latest column in Auto Action magazine THE STONER SERIES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA WERE ON STONER WATCH IN ADELAIDE, WHICH MARK FOGARTY SAYS IS BOTH GOOD AND BAD FOR V8’S PUBLICITY STARVED DEVELOPMENT SERIES YOU HAVE to feel sorry for Chaz Mostert and Ash Walsh. They were the winners of the two Dunlop Series races in Adelaide, but they may as well not have existed. Nor the 27 other competitors who weren’t Casey Stoner. The media and most of the crowd only had eyes for the most high-profile driver ever to compete in V8 Supercars’ development series. The TV coverage concentrated on Stoner and major media...

The Foges’ words of wisdom from his column in Auto Action magazine A NIGHT TO REMEMBER SURROUNDED BY SECRECY, BETTY’S BENZES HAD A ROCK STAR REVEAL THAT EVEN GOT THE ATTENTION OF SEEN-IT-ALL SCRIBE MARK FOGARTY IT WAS more like a gala entertainment awards night than a race team launch party. There was glitz and glamour, an atmosphere of occasion and, like an awards ceremony, anticipation and accolades abounded. The Erebus Motorsport V8 launch at Sydney Olympic Park on the Thursday night before the pre-season test day was unlike any unveiling seen in the sport. A fancy affair, it was an event that rivalled V8 Supercars’ own end-of-year...