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00:00I'm down here with Mark Larkham, it's pretty hot out there Mark, isn't it?
00:03Mate, I'd suggest one of the hottest ever in touring car racing. One of the hottest ever.
00:06Not nice. Mark, this year, your luck definitely seems to have changed.
00:10You know, when I think of Phillip Island last year, this racetrack last year,
00:14you don't seem to have put a foot wrong this year.
00:16It's funny, you know, the amount of people...
00:18Actually, if I got a dollar for everyone that says your luck had changed,
00:20I would have cracked it by now, but you're dead right, it has.
00:22And the amazing thing about it is I don't do anything differently.
00:26We did, we had a rotten luck year last year.
00:29It just seemed to be, it is, if you're in the wrong place at the right time,
00:32and the wrong time, and I managed to pick that every time last year.
00:35Don't do anything different this year, and for whatever reason,
00:37I see things happening around me, behind me, in front of me,
00:41but we're just managing to miss them.
00:43Maybe I'm a little more aware of things, but, you know, I think it's just a luck thing.
00:46I think it's because you got St. Christopher quite frankly.
00:49Well, as I've said, my travel agent kindly gave me St. Christopher,
00:52and we know we shouldn't talk about it, but yeah, I've got to say,
00:56I put that on the week of Bathurst, and gee whiz,
00:59there was enough opportunity there to have some bad luck, but it didn't,
01:01and it really has turned.
01:02So, as I said, I didn't want to be known as the unluckiest driver in touring car racing,
01:05so hopefully we're out the door with that one.
01:08Well, that was the thing, when we were at Sandow at the beginning of the year,
01:11the big massive melee on the front straight, and you missed the whole lot of it.
01:15Well, I tell you, it was like the path just opened.
01:17It was incredible, it was incredible.
01:19Someone's looking after me.
01:21I'm sure someone's looking after all of us.
01:23Anyway, let's hope the luck continues and it works out a wonderful year.
01:27Thanks very much, mate. I'm sure it will.
01:28Thanks, man.
01:29Good on you.
01:38Welcome back to Lakeside as the cars get ready for the second race.
01:41Now, unfortunately, something has happened that nobody wanted to happen.
01:44The surface here at Lakeside is starting to break up,
01:47as we have a look here at the carousel.
01:49Now, have a look at the big divot there in the road.
01:51It is starting to break up.
01:52The bitumen is not lasting.
01:54The patchwork is not standing up to this 29-car field, that is for sure.
01:59Now, something you want to get your hands on for just six bucks
02:01at your local newsagent or shell shop is the V8 Supercar TV Guide for 1998.
02:06It's fantastic, full of plenty of great things, the teams, the technology,
02:09all of the action that you need to get through the 98 season,
02:12so make sure you get onto that now.
02:14Six dollars at your shell shop or your local newsagent.
02:17Now, let's have a look at the grid, how they line up,
02:18and keep in mind this is the finishing positions from the opening race.
02:21It's a shell one, two yet again.
02:23John Bauer and Vic Johnson from the opening row.
02:25Russell Engel and Larry Perkins, three and four.
02:28Out of the second row, Tony Longhurst and Craig Lowndes moving up the order.
02:31Big charge from the HRT driver, Jason Bright and John Forknell will start out at seven and eight.
02:37We go back to nine and ten, Alan Jones, well done.
02:39He worked his way up from 15th to ninth in the new Komatsu Falcon.
02:43Jason Barguana from 10th.
02:44Finnegan and Steve Ellery, 11 and 12.
02:47Out of 13, Darren Hossack in the Wins Commodore.
02:49Steve Richards alongside the Valvoline machine.
02:51Thomas Mazera, privateer, first of the privateers.
02:53Out of 15, Glenn Seaton, having all sorts of trouble in the Ford Credit Falcon.
02:56He starts out at 16.
02:58We go back to Trevor Ashby out of 17.
02:59Paul Romano, who spun with Seaton.
03:01He's in 18.
03:02Mark Scaife, who also spun at Hungry Corner, 19.
03:04Ryan McLeod out of 20.
03:0621, Rod Nash.
03:07Darren Pate out of 22.
03:08Paul Wheel and Danny Osborne start out behind them.
03:11Back to Keren Brewer, Mark Larkham, 25, 26.
03:14Larkham had an electrical problem.
03:16Heffernan and Briggs, 27, 28.
03:20And Charles Ryman starts out at 29.
03:22He's replaced Greg Crick.
03:23He's pushed the reserves in the privateer ranks.
03:25He replaces Greg Crick, who has retired for the day.
03:28We didn't explain that to you earlier, but the privateers who missed out
03:32because of this maximum grid field of 29,
03:34they stayed around and filled in as reserves.
03:37So Charles Ryman is the first benefactor of that system.
03:40Watch to the back of the grid.
03:41Wait for that green flag to come up.
03:43There it is.
03:43All right, get ready.
03:4429 V8 set to do it all again.
03:46Race 2 of 3.
03:48Round 3 of the Australian Touring Car Championship set to go.
03:52Let's do it again.
03:53Keep your eyes on Ingle.
03:54Away we go.
03:55He gets away to a great start.
03:56Tries to nudge through there.
03:57He comes in contact with Larry.
03:59Whoa!
04:00Some action there.
04:01Through the kick they go.
04:02But it's the two shell cars that lead them through yet again.
04:05Well, it's amazing, isn't it, that incident in the first heat
04:07when John Bauer went right in behind Dick Johnson.
04:10This is the day where the teammates are having a bit of a collision with each other.
04:13But they've sorted themselves out.
04:14And Craig Lowndes, a sensational start.
04:16I think he's up to third position as they came out of the carousel.
04:19And Mark Larcombe looks like in trouble on the inside there too.
04:22Great work there by Craig Lowndes to work his way up from sixth.
04:25Ah, now there's problems in the back.
04:27Larcombe, that was.
04:28Now Bright and Jones, they're absolutely hassling each other.
04:31Ingles through on the inside.
04:32It's Dick Johnson who leads the way.
04:33Let's hope he can keep it together this time.
04:35Back to Bauer.
04:36Ingle.
04:36Then Lowndes.
04:37So Ingle got through on Lowndes.
04:39Back to Larry Perkins as the next one through.
04:41Behind Larry it's Longhurst.
04:42Then Faulkner.
04:43Yeah, you'd have to say the thing that's worrying everybody
04:46is the fact that the Bridgestones really seem to be in trouble today.
04:49So if you look at Lowndes, he's going OK at the moment.
04:52But they've had some really terrible, very high temperatures with their tyres.
04:56There's no stopping Dick Johnson at the moment.
04:58He is really pumped up to do well in this second race.
05:00The first one really should have been his.
05:02And we heard John Bauer say that earlier.
05:04There's Longhurst going through.
05:05He's sitting in sixth position at the moment in the Castrol Falcon.
05:08But it's Johnson and Bauer, one and two.
05:10Now Ingle was incredible towards the end of that last race.
05:13He really came up on these fronts too.
05:15So he's got plenty of time.
05:16He's well positioned in this one to do well.
05:18It's just an indication of how fickle the tyre battle is in V8 supercars.
05:22We take Dunlop on board.
05:23Camera looking out the back.
05:24John Bauer's car.
05:25Russell Ingle in pursuit.
05:27You think of the dominance of Holt Racing Team and Simmons Plains
05:29on the Bridgestones.
05:30No one could touch them.
05:31Then we went to the Australian Grand Prix, a non-championship round.
05:33But Ingle absolutely dominated on Dunlop.
05:35Hang on for a minute.
05:36John Bauer in trouble.
05:38And now here at Queensland's Lakeside Raceway,
05:41the Dunlops once again reign supreme.
05:43So it's a real tug-of-war in the tyre war.
05:45Here's John Bauer.
05:46I wonder what the problem is here.
05:51Is it a stop-go?
05:55Yes, it is.
05:56A stop-go penalty.
05:57So maybe they said he jumped the start or something.
05:59We've received no word here in the commentary box.
06:01But that has just put Bauer from second right to the back of the pack.
06:05Charles Ryman, last man in the field.
06:07Slinks through.
06:08So John Bauer goes to the rear of the field.
06:10And we've seen this a number of times where he's had to charge his way through the pack.
06:13Boy, he's got his work cut out for him today.
06:15Now, Nick Johnson looking good and looking comfortable.
06:18Lap 3 of 23.
06:20There's a long way to go.
06:21This is an interesting battle.
06:22The sole Bridgestone runner up the front of the pack, you could say.
06:24That is Craig Lowndes.
06:26He did well.
06:27He came from 10th to finish 6th.
06:28Now he's come from 6th up into 3rd position in this one.
06:31It's quite funny.
06:32I asked Larry Perkins, I said,
06:34does the Falcon look after the tyres better than, look after the tyres not as good as the Commodore?
06:40And he said, no, it's just the people that are driving the Commodore are smoother, you see.
06:43He's a holding man through it.
06:45There, Ingle gets a little bit wide on the entry to the carousel there.
06:48Lowndes gets right up behind the Castrol No. 8 Commodore.
06:51Ingle, a little bit tail-happy coming out of the carousel.
06:54He tries to get the power down and kick Lowndes out of that position.
06:58Well, we've got to keep a close eye on that, guys, too,
07:00as we get some great pictures from the Synchro on-car camera
07:03looking out the rear of Russell Ingle's Castrol Commodore.
07:06Lowndes in pursuit.
07:08Something we've got to keep in mind is whether we're going to see some different lines in the carousel
07:11because of that track break-up.
07:13That's a quick one from Dick Johnson, a 51.67.
07:16That's even quicker than the fastest lap he's set in the first teats.
07:18That's good news for the Dunlop runners.
07:20His new Dunlop 356, a new compound for 1998.
07:24It was absolutely dominant at the Australian Grand Prix.
07:26It looks like it's doing the same thing here.
07:28Johnson opens it up, 1.7, 1.8 seconds
07:31Over Russell Ingle in second position.
07:33Lowndes in third. Perkins completes the Castrol Sandwich.
07:35Tony Longhurst in fifth.
07:37That's Faulkner, Bright, Alan Jones continuing his charge.
07:40Jason Barguana could move from there.
07:42But Darren Hosack, the first of the wind's Commodores, climbs into the top ten.
07:45Well, that's a fantastic effort by Hosack if he can remain there.
07:48He's ahead of Stephen Richards, Glenn Sleeton and Mark Scaife.
07:50He's got three hot charges on his tail.
07:52So, Hosack, plenty of pressure on him.
07:54Here's Ingle. He's pulled out a bit on Lowndes at the moment.
07:57Perkins is going well also.
07:59It is so hot out there. It is unbelievable the temperatures.
08:02I know that Russell Ingle just ran through the scroll on his data acquisition on his dashboard
08:08and showed the ambient temperature inside the car, 61 degrees.
08:11Yep.
08:12Here is a profile on Craig Lowndes, the 23-year-old.
08:16He actually shares his time between Brisbane and Melbourne.
08:19He just bought a house up here in Brizzy.
08:22And that is an amazing record there.
08:24Twelve starts from eight wins.
08:26Eight wins.
08:27That is a 66% winning record.
08:29An unbelievable effort by the 1996 Series champ
08:33and the 1996 Sandown champ and the 1996 Battles champ.
08:39Russell Ingle, looks like he's opening up a car length or two on Lowndes.
08:42If you look at Lowndes' car now, it's starting to look like it did in qualifying.
08:46It's starting to wallow all over the show.
08:48You see, during qualifying, the thing looked like it was too soft and all sort of spongy
08:53and it's starting to look like it again.
08:55So I don't know whether the tyres are really getting...
08:57Perkins.
08:58Larry giving the hurry up.
09:00He's right over.
09:01Yeah, watching Lowndes' times.
09:02He's hanging in there, 51.75.
09:04It does look like he's struggling a bit though.
09:07To Russell Ingle, just in his fastest lap, the previous one, at 51.57.
09:11So Ingle, the fastest man on the track at the moment,
09:13trying to close that gap to Dick Johnson.
09:15He's pulled three tenths out of it.
09:161.4 seconds the gap now between Johnson in the lead.
09:19And a half second worse.
09:21And a little bit of a brush up there from Larry Perkins.
09:24You can see the rear bumper bar flex there under the pressure.
09:28He's giving Lowndes a good work over through the carousel.
09:31Keep your eyes on this, because as they come under the Dunlop Bridge
09:34and down into Hungary, they hit 225 kilometres per hour.
09:37Watch Lowndes' thing here.
09:40As it climbs out.
09:41Oh, yeah.
09:42Just unbelievable.
09:44In practice, he had the thing three feet off the ground on the inside wheels.
09:49Longhurst is staying in touch back in fifth position.
09:51Faulkner sixth.
09:52Bright seventh.
09:53Jones in eighth.
09:54Barguana.
09:55Richards has got past Hossack to get up into the top ten.
09:57Well, John Bowie really is a tiger.
09:59He's starting to charge from the back of the pack.
10:00He's already up to 22nd position.
10:02And he will keep it.
10:03Pedal to the metal.
10:04No doubt about that.
10:05Big wrap for Mark Larkham, too, because he's come from 26th to 19th.
10:10So he's grabbed seven spots very quickly.
10:13So the order now.
10:14Dick Johnson's 1.2 seconds.
10:15The gap back to Ingle.
10:16Ingle is in pursuit, and he's closing on our race leader.
10:19Here's a great battle.
10:20Oh, up the inside goes Jason Bright.
10:23Faulkner, you see him just dab the brakes there mid-corner?
10:26A bit of psychology there.
10:29Nice work.
10:30Well, it was interesting yesterday at one of the meet the public for the drivers meetings
10:34where Larry Perkins said,
10:35Ah, Jason Bright's been saying I've been pushed around a bit in V8R.
10:38And Larry said, Well, it's not over, son.
10:42Yeah, typical Perkins bluntness.
10:44Welcome to the big league.
10:46It's quite funny because Larry doesn't mean to be funny.
10:49Oh, yes.
10:50Gotcha.
10:51He certainly means to be fast.
10:53No, he doesn't mean to be.
10:54He comes out with some priceless one-liners.
10:57A bit like you, Baz.
10:59Didn't knock him out there.
11:00Now, that's interesting.
11:01Lowndes has just fallen right off the pace.
11:02A 53.1 last time around.
11:04He's losing speed in that Holden Racing Team Commodore.
11:08And judging by the struggle the Bridgestone runners have had this weekend,
11:10we have to suspect it will be tyres.
11:13Larry Perkins now up into the top three.
11:17You said the back end of Lowndes' thing.
11:19But that's what it was like in qualifying.
11:21It just looked all wrong.
11:23They have been struggling.
11:24A lot of understeer.
11:25Mark Scaife's big complaint yesterday.
11:26He just couldn't dial the understeer out of the car.
11:28They worked overnight.
11:30Shock absorber settings.
11:31All sorts of suspension adjustments to try and get those tyres working better.
11:35Larry Perkins, who now moves up to third position in the order.
11:3948 years of age from Melbourne.
11:41100 starts in the Australian Touring Car Championship.
11:45And it's quite extraordinary to see this man's success at Bathurst
11:48and how little success he's had in our National Touring Car Series.
11:51He first raced here at Lakeside in a Chevron Formula Pacific car back in 1981.
11:56A man who, well, a lot of years of his career has been in open wheelers
12:01before he even stepped inside a touring car.
12:03You can see where that track's breaking up.
12:04Those cars are driving right over the top of it.
12:06It's just on the outside of the exit to the corner.
12:09Russell Ingalls pulled another tenth back on DJ that last time around.
12:12Yeah, it's under a second now.
12:130.8 of a second.
12:14Well, he doesn't need to stop.
12:15What you can see, the gap closing.
12:16It's visual.
12:18And Ingalls repeating, Mark, what he did in the first race.
12:20Just two tenths of a second off the lap record.
12:24So, Dick Johnson, hard at work on the barbecue on wheels, as Barry Sheen described it.
12:31And John Bower said that was a very accurate description.
12:3360 degrees inside this thing.
12:36Trying to get as much, pump as much fresh air into the car as possible.
12:39It's very, very hard.
12:40Somebody's gone off up the top there.
12:41Plenty of dust in the car.
12:42Plenty of dust in the carousel.
12:43Have they gone off or just touched the outside of the circuit?
12:46Oh, gee, there's a real dust storm there.
12:49The Shell Helix in-car camera.
12:51We ride with Dick Johnson, your race leader at the moment.
12:53The man who, as we heard John Bower say, really should have taken out the opening race,
12:57but got caught up in an unfortunate situation.
13:00Quick shot there.
13:01Russell Ingalls is catching big time.
13:02Here comes the enforcer.
13:04He's closing the gap big time now.
13:06Look at that.
13:07He's just been chomping away.
13:08A few tenths of a second per lap.
13:10Now he's right up behind Dick Johnson.
13:11We've got a real battle on our hands.
13:15Oh, Satan.
13:17Look at that.
13:18Boy, he's, uh...
13:19Yeah, he's taken for a ride across the country and has snapped off that front spoiler.
13:23You'd have to say that Lakeside isn't very lucky for Glenn, is it?
13:28Well, last year it was a complete nightmare.
13:29He won the first race.
13:30Here comes Russell Ingall.
13:31The outside on Dick Johnson.
13:33250 kilometres per hour.
13:35And around the outside goes Ingall.
13:37How about that?
13:38Gives him the inside run for the carousel.
13:40We've got a new race leader.
13:42Oh, dear, oh, dear.
13:44He's going to pay the price for that.
13:45Dick Johnson would not like being beaten on his own turf.
13:48He's going to come back.
13:49And Russell Ingall, so much speed from this car.
13:52How about the guts to go around the outside through the gate?
13:55The crowd are going absolutely nuts.
13:57Side by side, 250 kilometres per hour through the sweeper.
14:01Russell Ingall knows no fear.
14:03Johnson tried to hold him out right up on the ripples,
14:06but Ingall was beautifully positioned for the right-hand sweep into the carousel.
14:10Fantastic action.
14:11So we have a new race leader.
14:13Castrol Commodores.
14:15Russell Ingall now leads Dick Johnson back to Perkins.
14:17Lowndes is still hanging in there in fourth at the moment.
14:20Lap 12 of 23.
14:23So a long way still to go in this one,
14:25but Ingall just keeps on getting stronger and faster.
14:28Keep in mind that under the new tyre regulations,
14:31all the Dunlop runners have to run the same tyre,
14:33same compound of tyres.
14:34So Johnson and Ingall are both on the same rubber.
14:37Whoa, there's a bit of action going on there.
14:41And a popular word around the pits is the Commodores perhaps use their tyres.
14:46They're a bit easier on their tyres over the race distance.
14:49Maybe that's coming to the fore now.
14:51Ingall starts to build on that advantage.
14:53Replay here.
14:54Ooh, car number seven.
14:55That's Darren Pate, is it?
14:57No, Darren Hossack.
14:58Darren Hossack in the Wins Commodore.
15:00That's a shame.
15:01He was going really well early in the race.
15:02He was right up into the top ten,
15:03and that's dropped him right out of that order.
15:05You know, that's the second time he's done a full 360 and kept going.
15:07He did it at the Australian Grand Prix support race as well.
15:10Here is your Shell Helix race score.
15:12It's been a great race so far.
15:13There is plenty more to come.
15:15It's Ingall, Johnson, Perkins, Lowndes and Longhurst.
15:18More on ten right after this.
15:27Welcome back to Lakeside.
15:28You're watching race two, round three of the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship.
15:32And this is the view from Dick Johnson's car of Larry Perkins reeling him in big time.
15:37We've already seen Larry's teammate, Russell Ingall,
15:40pass Dick Johnson a couple of laps ago and he's clearing out.
15:43Now Larry's starting to turn up the heat on Dick as well.
15:46I think Larry must have made a bit of a mistake that last lap
15:49because he lapped almost half a second slower than he had been lapping.
15:54Yeah, apparently he just went off a little bit after the carousel.
15:58So that's what happens when you're trying hard, you're trying hard
16:01and sometimes you're outraced yourself.
16:02And he's starting to come back.
16:04And Russell Ingall opening it up now on Johnson, 1.4 seconds.
16:08So continuing that dominant form he showed here just 12 months ago.
16:12When he fought his way through from the back of the field.
16:15Castrol Commodore is very competitive at Lakeside.
16:17Dick Johnson competitive too, but I think we're just starting to see it emerging.
16:22Commodore is perhaps using the tyres a little bit better than the Fords.
16:26Let's look at this triple M telemetry out of Dick Johnson's back.
16:30Now Larry, he really leaves it coming out of the carousel there.
16:33Opened up a big gap.
16:34An update on some other drivers.
16:36John Bow, according to our records here, has actually pulled off the circuit.
16:41And we're still trying to find out what that stop-go penalty was.
16:44Mark Scaife has come from 19th up to 11th.
16:47And Mark Larcombe from 26th to 16th.
16:51And Alan Jones meanwhile, he's up to 7th.
16:53So he's making great guns throughout the day.
16:55A really good debut for the Comanche Ford.
16:58Meanwhile back with Dick Johnson.
16:59You're watching telemetry live on the Shell 174.
17:03Road speed on the left of your picture.
17:05Inch and revs on the right of your picture.
17:07And right in the middle is the brake line.
17:18You can hear that gravel under there.
17:20But it's so tight.
17:21It's a lot tighter than it actually looks.
17:23And if you get on it, you're a big way out of that.
17:27It's something major for him.
17:40So Dick Johnson continuing to defend in second position.
17:43He's the meat in the casserole sandwich at the moment.
17:45Engle, 1.2 seconds.
17:47So he's sort of holding the gap as they pick their way through traffic.
17:50Just maintaining about 1.2 seconds, Johnson.
17:53Their lap times are almost identical as leading three.
17:56So Perkins now tries to close the gap again to Dick.
18:00In the lone Ford, Craig Lowndes still back in fourth position.
18:03Tony Longhurst in fifth.
18:04They've got four laps remaining.
18:05Charles Ryman.
18:07Isn't it interesting today, guys, to see the first couple of rounds of the year,
18:10all the talk was of the young guys really starting to ruffle the feathers
18:13of the more experienced drivers.
18:15Well, here's the big slap back in the face from the older guys
18:18to say we can still do it, and we can still do it very fast.
18:22Dick Johnson in this beautiful new number 17 Shell Ford
18:26making its debut at Lakeside.
18:28This will become the team's fastest car.
18:30I reckon DJ's got Larry under control, you know, because he's...
18:34I think he does.
18:35Look at those lap times.
18:36Oh!
18:37Oh, not again.
18:39Darren Pate this time.
18:40I can't stand it.
18:42Darren Pate just getting in a bit of trouble in the second of the wins.
18:44Commodore stays right out of the racing line.
18:48In that first race when Paul Will was...
18:51Oh, it's Faulkner.
18:53Oh, dear me.
18:56Well, Charles Ryman, the reserve privateer, was already in the kitty litter.
19:01A little bit of oil down there.
19:02Let's have a look at the Shell Helix replay.
19:04Another incident.
19:05Whoa!
19:06Karen Brewer.
19:07Yeah, she was in trouble in the first heat.
19:09She's just hanging on to it, gets her back onto the black stuff.
19:11She kept the boot into it, didn't she?
19:12Yeah, absolutely.
19:13Look at Jonesy with a hand out the window saying,
19:15What is going on?
19:16Oh, yes.
19:17It was the same thing.
19:18In the first heat, Alan Jones came across Karen getting back onto the track,
19:21so he's a bit exasperated there.
19:23But here's our race leader, Russell Engle, 1.7 seconds ahead of Nick Johnson.
19:27Boy, another one's taken a ride.
19:29They like doing the dirt track stuff today, don't they?
19:32Two more laps to go in race two,
19:34and Russell Engle is looking really good at the moment.
19:37He cleaned up in race three here at Lakeside last year.
19:39There's your Shell Helix race score for you.
19:41But it's looking pretty cozy up the front.
19:43I don't think those positions are going to change.
19:45We just got a quick shot there of Craig Lowndes coming onto the main straight.
19:48He's a long way behind.
19:49Lon Hurst has remained consistent,
19:51and he looks like picking up his second-fifth from two starts.
19:54And Bright has done extremely well.
19:55He's back there in sixth position.
19:57This is a really impressive fight back from Dick.
19:59The way that Engle just pushed his way past him,
20:01the amount of ground that Larry was making.
20:03It looked like he may have been in some sort of trouble,
20:05but he's picked up his speed,
20:07and he looks to be holding Larry up quite comfortably.
20:10I think he's going to catch this man.
20:12Russell Engle,
20:14very determined to win his first Shell Australian Touring Car Championship in 1998.
20:19I think he's doing all the right things at Lakeside this afternoon.
20:22Well, he's sitting third in terms of the championship points,
20:25is Russell Engle,
20:27at the start of this round.
20:29That's where he finished last year's Shell Australian Touring Car Championship,
20:32and he is on his way home.
20:34One more lap left to go.
20:35Thomas Mazera is the top privateer.
20:38He's sitting in 13th position outright
20:40from Trevor Ashby, Kevin Heffernan,
20:42John Briggs and Paul Wheel.
20:44They're your top five of the privateers.
20:46Keep in mind the privateers
20:48are running on the Yokohama control tyre for the first time,
20:51meaning that all the privateer cars are running on exactly the same rubber,
20:54and it provides a level playing field for the low-budget battlers.
20:57It's a great initiative.
20:59To be quite frank, it would be great if the whole lot were on the same tyre, actually.
21:03It's a really good argument for a control tyre, because...
21:07You can see the fickle nature of the tyre battle so far this year.
21:10There's a Bridgestone track, there's a Dunlop track,
21:12there's a Yokohama track sometimes, but that's the way it works.
21:14Well, nine years ago was the first time
21:16Russell Engle raced at Lakeside in a Formula Ford.
21:19Now he's here in a V8 supercar,
21:21and the hand is out the window.
21:22He is very happy.
21:24Engle takes out race two.
21:26Dick Johnson gets there for second spot in the Shell Helix Ford.
21:29Russell Engle is very happy.
21:31I was going to say, the thing I like about Russell Engle,
21:34and the fans obviously like about him too,
21:36is the enthusiasm he shows for winning.
21:38Some guys just...
21:39Yeah, he really, really loves winning.
21:41I have to say, that enforcer though,
21:43it's more like the entertainer,
21:45because wherever he's involved in it,
21:47there's always a bit of action.
21:48Yeah, he loves it, look at that.
21:50Soaking up the applause from the crowd,
21:52who just went absolutely berserk
21:54when he went around the outside of Johnson through the sweeper.
21:56250 kilometers an hour, no backing off.
21:59Well, it was an unbelievable move, wasn't it?
22:01Yeah.
22:02Just fantastic.
22:03Russell Engle, well, he'll be feeling how he felt
22:05at the end of race three last year,
22:07but he's got another one up his sleeve.
22:09Can he do it again?
22:10He starts from the number one position in the next race.
22:12Dick Johnson got there for second,
22:14and Larry Perkins hung on for third.
22:16Russell's got his hands in the air all the way around the circuit.
22:18I've done it, I've done it.
22:20Yeah.
22:21Yeah, they like him up here too.
22:24He's a real charger.
22:26Well, that's the thing, you know,
22:27even with all the controversy last year,
22:29and the trouble he got himself in,
22:32the crowd loved him.
22:34I remember here last year, you know,
22:35they were all highly appreciative of his efforts.
22:38Well, as he cruises back, the Castrol team will be delighted.
22:41Dick Johnson, a really consistent day,
22:43two starts and two seconds.
22:45So things are looking good for Johnson
22:47as we ride with Russell Engle on the way back into the pits
22:50and we check out the results for you of race two.
22:53Of course, we know the top three.
22:55Craig Lowndes, he dropped off the pace a little,
22:57but was able to hang on to his fourth spot
22:59and be the best Bridgestone finisher.
23:01Well done to Craig.
23:02Tony Longhurst, another fifth position,
23:03and that was a steady run for him.
23:05Back in sixth position was Jason Bright
23:07in the Pertec Falcon, a good run by him.
23:09Alan Jones keeps on getting better as the day goes on.
23:12Stephen Richards up into eighth.
23:14Now, Mark Scaife, that's a great effort,
23:16from 19th up into ninth position.
23:18And Stephen Ellery, a top ten finish.
23:20Finnegan Romano, Mazera the top privateer,
23:22Larcombe from 26th to 14th,
23:24and Ashby rounding out the top 15.
23:28The rear wings on V8 supercars
23:30are fundamentally similar in two areas,
23:32and that is that they're both made of a carbon fibre
23:35composite construction wrapped around a honeycomb section
23:38which forms the shape of the aerofoil.
23:40The second thing they have in common
23:42is they're both based on the effect
23:44of an upside-down aircraft wing.
23:46That is, instead of providing lift,
23:48they provide downforce, and they do it by this way.
23:51The longer of the wing surfaces is now underneath,
23:53so the air has to flow further
23:55and therefore faster than the air travelling over the top.
23:58Now, that creates a situation where you have
24:00low-pressure area below and high-pressure area above
24:03to force the rear of the car down on the ground.
24:05Now, that condition is exaggerated by this gurney flap
24:07or trim tab along the back
24:09which further slows the airflow across the top of the wing.
24:11Now, beyond those two similarities,
24:13the two wings are quite different.
24:14If you look at the profile of the Holden wing,
24:16it's quite a shallow, flat shape.
24:18And if you have a look underneath,
24:19it's actually mounted on a centre-post arrangement,
24:21much like you'd see on an open-wheeler car
24:23like a Formula Holden or a Formula One car, for instance.
24:25Now, the Falcon, by comparison, is quite different.
24:28If you have a look at the profile of this wing,
24:30it's actually very aggressive in its shape,
24:32almost like a banana in appearance.
24:34And if you have a look at these slots along the back,
24:35there's 12 of them in total,
24:37and the idea behind this is that they energise the air
24:39flowing along the lower surface to maximise the downforce effect.
24:42And instead of a centre-post,
24:44it's mounted on end plates on either side of the car's boot.
24:47The two wings are quite different in design,
24:49but I think everyone's agreed
24:50they make a big difference to the performance of a V8 supercar.
24:59Welcome back to Lakeside Raceway
25:01after Heat 2, round 3 of the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship.
25:04A very happy winner, Russell Engle.
25:06Mate, that move around the outside of Dick at the sweeper
25:08was just sensational to watch.
25:09I must admit, it was fairly touch-and-go,
25:12but look, to Dick's credit,
25:14he could have quite easily nudged me out a bit.
25:17We were holding it flat, side by side,
25:19and I thought I was just about to get out of it,
25:21and he did first.
25:22I thought, thank Christ for that.
25:23So, no, look, fair driving to him.
25:25He left me plenty of room, so well done on his driving.
25:28But I tell you what, Heat 2 is right because the heat is unbearable.
25:31We were talking about the heat in your car.
25:33I think you showed it to me in practice yesterday.
25:3561 degrees.
25:36That must be unbelievable, trying to operate in those temperatures.
25:38Yeah, well, we had a full driver window in it
25:40and it was getting up to 61 degrees in practice,
25:42and I said, look, boys,
25:43I'm feeling like a Kentucky Fried Chicken in here,
25:46so best we take it down.
25:48So it's gone down to about 53, but it's still hot.
25:51Well, mate, we've got one more to go.
25:52Best of luck in the final.
25:53Thank you.