Sandown 500 1998 - V8 Supercars - Race part 2 - video Dailymotion

Touring Car Classics by Tony Thompson

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Transcript

00:00:00It's a dream come true.

00:00:05Welcome back to the home of Motorsport Network 10 and this is the first of a

00:00:09series of major events coming your way over the next couple of months. This is

00:00:12the Techbit 500, the first of the Enduros for V8 supercars.

00:00:16And after an enormous smorgasbord of major motorsport, you will wind it all

00:00:21up with the FII 1000 Classic mid-November. That's all ahead of us but

00:00:25here right now is a spin that has cost Wayne Gardner's team dearly because

00:00:29Paul Stoeckel, just after making the driver change with Wayne, has buried the

00:00:34Coca-Cola Commodore waist-deep in the kitty litter. See you later, Greg Rust.

00:00:41Well, Wayne Gardner, we spoke a moment ago, some happy faces in the pit. You're up

00:00:44to seventh place but it's all turned to disappointment.

00:00:47Yeah, by the monitor, Paul's put in the sandpit, bunkered it, so

00:00:52yeah, it's disappointing but I mean, you know, nothing against him. It's very easy

00:00:56to do it on days like this. You know, I came into the rain slowly and

00:00:59built up to where all the wet patches were. He's just been shoved into it and

00:01:03it's very, very difficult and very difficult down that first corner.

00:01:05So, you know, he's probably not known, aquaplaned and probably

00:01:08has gone off obviously and bunkered it. So, it's a shame but, you know, we'll come

00:01:12back fighting another day. Well, some disappointed faces down here

00:01:15at the Wayne Gardner Coca-Cola racing pit but I can tell you the rain is

00:01:18actually getting heavier, Lee, so I hope it's not a sign of things to come.

00:01:21Well, good to see an understanding Wayne Gardner there because Paul Stoeckel

00:01:25it's a very big race for him and he'll, you know, he won't be feeling so great at

00:01:29the moment but, like Wayne said, they'll soldier on and

00:01:31we look forward to seeing both those guys at the FAI 1000 Classic

00:01:35the 14th and 15th of November as Larry Perkins gets it sideways. Well,

00:01:39this race, there's no question that it will be a 4.45 finish. It won't go on

00:01:43laps. Now, we've just got word Seton in the pits,

00:01:46driver change, so Neil Crompton stepping into the car.

00:01:49This will be interesting. Crompton doesn't mind the wet weather. He did a

00:01:52good job last year for Wayne Gardner Racing. We'll see what

00:01:55happens here. They've been practicing their pit stops too. They're pretty slick

00:01:58at it. Pad change, of course. I remember last year

00:02:02when David Parsons was teamed up with Ben Seton, they had some

00:02:05pad problems. What's happening down there, Baz?

00:02:11Barry Sheen may not hear. Now, the window's fogging up in that car as well. Let's

00:02:15hope they can get over that

00:02:19problem as Neil Crompton takes the wheel of the Ford Credit Falcon for the first

00:02:24time. Possibly the worst conditions. You just

00:02:26heard it from Greg in the pits. The rain is getting heavier. Just have a

00:02:29look at your screen. We're stating the obvious. Well, Greg Murphy was just

00:02:33saying last year's wasn't a patch on this year's.

00:02:36This is an indication of just how bad it is out there. Neil Crompton now

00:02:40with a lot of experience. Wet weather driving

00:02:44conditions. Survived some of the worst 1000 kilometer races of

00:02:48the Bathurst imaginable. So he'll be well suited to these

00:02:52conditions, Greg Rust. Oh, he's gone. Crompton has gone. Just as we said

00:02:58that, Crompton caught out by the conditions.

00:03:02Okay though, he kept it off the wall and everything. Glenn's smiling.

00:03:05Lucky. He held it in there, Glenn. No problem.

00:03:10Greg Rust. Well, I'm down here in the Glenn Seton racing pit and I can tell you

00:03:14at the moment, Lee, there are some fairly disconsolate faces. We'll endeavor to get

00:03:17a word with Glenn as they look on in shock, obviously, as a

00:03:21result of that. But a fairly slick stop was expedited. But we'll try and

00:03:25get in here. And Glenn, we saw Neil come into the

00:03:29pits there just a moment ago. But what happened then?

00:03:32Well, what happened? Looked as though it might have been a nervous moment for Neil but

00:03:35he seems to have recovered. Yeah, it's cold tyres and it's really slippery out there.

00:03:40It's quite dangerous. Actually, he's got up the throttle a bit early and she's bolted on him.

00:03:44Nonetheless, though, a very slick stop from your team. Yeah, it was great.

00:03:48Changed pads a whole lot and the guys done a great job. Been working on it.

00:03:52Well, look at the gap between John Bauer and Craig Lowndes. Just down to five

00:03:56seconds now. Here's the replay, the HSV replay of

00:03:59Neil Crompton just coming out on cold tyres.

00:04:02Just got caught out as he turned in the Repco corner. Fortunately, keeping it off

00:04:06those Armco barriers. Well, yeah, that was good. Well, here it is.

00:04:09Lowndes in the pits and Scaife in the car. So, Mark Scaife's

00:04:16first taste of the dreadful weather here at Sandown

00:04:19International Raceway. Have a look at that.

00:04:21Well, somewhere in there is the pit lane exit and they're out onto the main

00:04:25straight now. Mark Scaife now appearing just in behind

00:04:29Darcy Russell. So, we'll see how Scaife goes and a little

00:04:33bit of damage on the front left there of Lowndes' car. So, he's

00:04:36obviously clobbered someone not too hard but enough just to punch out that

00:04:39look like it punched out the left-hand headlight. Well, we just saw Neil

00:04:43Crompton get caught out by the conditions and see if Mark Scaife can

00:04:46ease this car around and slowly try and build some temperature into those tyres.

00:04:50Not suffer the same fate as the Ford credit driver.

00:04:54This car leading the event up until that pit stop.

00:04:57John Bauer will now go through to the lead in the Shell Ford but he must be

00:05:01very close to his stop.

00:05:06And we're just about half distance in this Tickford 500.

00:05:11Almost 80 laps completed of 1.61. Absolutely enthralling contest.

00:05:153 is going to come down for Team Tactics and that last pit stop

00:05:19is going to be a thriller. Yeah, well, quite often

00:05:23a lot of questions asked about how will Scaife and Lowndes go as teammates. Will

00:05:27they be going just fine? There's no doubt about that.

00:05:29The physical questions, how will they fit into the cars? Well,

00:05:33HRT have come up with a great idea on the steering column,

00:05:36whereas in a road car you would adjust the steering wheel up and down.

00:05:40They've built out, have a look at this, the battle between Bright and Scaife.

00:05:43Scaife still holding strong. They've worked out a mechanism where the steering wheel

00:05:47goes in and out around about 30 millimetres to

00:05:50compensate for the difference in size between the two guys. Now,

00:05:54we do have word that the safety car is coming out. Perkins is in. Now Russell

00:05:58Ingle is about to get into this car. Let's hope it's a slick stop. There's the

00:06:01boys. That's Oscar, one of the team guys working on that

00:06:04front right. It's going to be a bad change and you can bet that Larry has got

00:06:08these boys drilled very well. Well, you can tell what they're setting up for. All

00:06:11these lead cars would have topped up their fuel tanks when they

00:06:14came in to change from dry tyres to wet tyres. That's going to give them more

00:06:17fuel mileage. So if they have to pit again before the end of the race, it's

00:06:20going to be an absolute splash and dash. Get him into the pits,

00:06:23get him 20 or 30 litres of fuel, get him out there again. It's going to be really

00:06:26interesting to see if they can stretch their fuel mileage

00:06:28and maybe get through this race, the rest of this race, without a stop. It's going

00:06:31to be a nail biter. It's a good change, good pad change. The wheel's on already.

00:06:34Go with the five nuts, straight back on. Barry Sheen is pretty frantic down there.

00:06:42Yeah, Larry. Larry, can we have a quick word? Your glass is steaming up there,

00:06:46Larry. Is it? I'll work out that. Everything's steaming up.

00:06:50No, very hard. We're unbelievably treacherous. As I was just saying to Russell, you cannot

00:06:54keep full throttle up either straight. It just aquaplanes and wildly breaks in the

00:06:58wheelspin and very treacherous after about 200km.

00:07:01Well, they've brought this safety car out now and I think that's a very wise move.

00:07:04I totally agree. Once you're aquaplaning after 200km, it's no longer a skill,

00:07:08it's just luck of the draw and no point in just all having accidents. I think that's

00:07:13a very wise decision. Hot cup of tea for you, Larry.

00:07:16Sorry? Hot cup of tea for you, I reckon. Thank you.

00:07:19Well, Larry's done a tremendous job, hasn't he? Handling the conditions well and he brought

00:07:23the car in in third position. Greg Rust. The Dick Johnson team down here at the moment

00:07:28just expediting the stop and Stephen's out of the car, Dick's in ready to go. They've

00:07:32topped it up with 120 litres of fuel. The front tyre's just going on. A stop, I can

00:07:36tell you, in just on one minute and 10 seconds. So a pretty slick stop from the shell outfit

00:07:41and out goes Dick Johnson in these absolutely treacherous conditions to rejoin the race.

00:07:45Well, Stephen Johnson, as we said earlier, really has held up his end of the bargain.

00:07:50Stephen has done a great job. He's just handed over to Dick and Dick will more than likely

00:07:54see this one through to the end. Lap 82 of 161, we're over the halfway mark. We're

00:07:59talking about laps though, but because of this, the slowness of this race, we will have,

00:08:03I would imagine, I'm predicting and it's a pretty safe prediction that this race will

00:08:07end at 445. We won't make 161 laps as we did last year. It only got to 157. So we have

00:08:14a 445 cutoff and we are under safety car conditions at the moment.

00:08:20Steve Reid just going through the shop there. He is our top privateer, our top competitor

00:08:25on the Yokohama control tyres. Considering he started from pit lane, he's done a great

00:08:30job handling these tough conditions and he has yet to hand over the wheel to teammate

00:08:37Trevor Ashby. Now the safety car waiting to pick up our race leader. Greg, the rain just

00:08:44keeps on pelting down. It certainly does and the team here at Shell Racing are looking

00:08:48set for another stop involving the car 18, Karen McConville, John Bower entry, but Stephen

00:08:52Johnson's with me at the moment. Tim, you've been working really hard out there.

00:08:56Oh, absolutely. I mean, I just wish this rain would go away now because unfortunately,

00:09:01half or not even halfway through the stint, about 20 or 30 laps into it, the wipers stopped

00:09:05working. So I mean, it was just so unbelievably hard to see anything and even to pass somebody.

00:09:11So to be able to maintain the position like I did and actually pass people, I couldn't

00:09:16believe it, but I was just nearly come unstuck quite a few times there. So I'm pretty lucky.

00:09:22It's going to be pretty interesting watching these toward the end of this race. Keep in

00:09:26mind, a lot of these lead cars came in to change from slick tyres to wet tyres as the

00:09:32weather started to change. That was about lap 20, 25. They've now done 80 laps. So we've seen

00:09:37something like 61, 62 laps on a full tank of fuel. Considering that the rain keeps coming

00:09:42down, that drops your fuel consumption. Could we see a situation where one team tries to

00:09:46stretch it right to the end without coming in for fuel? It's going to be fascinating.

00:09:50Well, just have a look as Barguana changed. Barguana is now back in the car. Jim Richards

00:09:54out did a terrific job. Just watching some of the wins cars climb as Dick Johnson has

00:10:00come back in and then exits. We'll talk about the wins cars after this break. Let's give you

00:10:05the update. It's Bough, Lowndes in second and of course, Scaife behind the wheel. Then we go back,

00:10:10Ingle has taken over. Crompton has taken over from Seaton and Bright is still in that one.

00:10:15We go back, Johnson and Johnson. Dick is behind the wheel. Noski is there. Mazera Finnegan.

00:10:21Barguana is back behind the wheel and Mark Larcombe. We go back to 11th. It's the Parsons

00:10:26wheels combination. Hossack and Pate. Reid is still there. Wheel and Poole in 15th position.

00:10:32Crick, Nash, Tratt, Smith and Brewer. It's wet, it's tough, but we're going to hang in here at

00:10:37Sandown. 500 race update brought to you by FAR. Oh, rain's taking its toll on the 1998 race as it

00:10:50did last year. Conditions worse in fact. Many drivers having grip problems. Wayne Gardner's

00:10:56campaign came to an end when Paul Stokel put it in the kitty litter after a driver change. Larry

00:11:03Perkins also sliding off there. You can see John Bower's on the move. He took the lead early after

00:11:07a hole shot and then started to go backwards under a race plan and then tower passed again.

00:11:12Very patient drive from John Bower. Cameron McConville now in the seat. Craig Lowndes maintained

00:11:18his lead though, although with the pace car out that has been reduced to a matter of a couple of

00:11:22seconds. Robert Smith at a VS Commodore. Big spin here. He did make it back on track, but a scary

00:11:28moment there in these conditions because you don't know who's coming up behind you to slam into you.

00:11:33Murphy into the pits here for a key driver change and Mark Noski into the car for what should be a

00:11:39wealth of experience for the youngster. Driving so well in Formula Holden, now he gets his chance

00:11:45in the VS Commodore. Of course their teammate still leading the race in the VT. Gardner in

00:11:51the pits. Bad luck though as we see Stokel spinning there. Barely a lap or two into the race.

00:12:03And that was the end of it for him. Neil Cromley of course also having his share of problems when he

00:12:09took control. Not long after Glenn Seaton jumped out of the car, this is what happened to Cromley,

00:12:14but beautiful driving to keep the thing on track and out of trouble. Craig Lowndes putting Mark

00:12:20Scaife into the seat, still leading the Tickford 500 in, as you can see, miserable conditions here

00:12:27in Sandown. While miserable conditions and understatement, you can see the cars all weaving

00:12:35side to side, keeping some warmth in the tyres as they're behind the safety car. Now at the moment,

00:12:41lap 85 of 161. This has been an incredibly slow race. There's going to be some interesting tactics

00:12:48because this race will finish, there's no doubt about that now, at 4.45. It will be a time cut

00:12:52off as opposed to a lap race. Here is your race leader, John Bower. Now he'll be getting set to

00:12:58come into the pits any tick of the clock and hand over to Cameron McConville. You're going to see

00:13:03some interesting tactics here, Mark, between now and the finish. I'll tell you what's interesting,

00:13:06there's no movement down there and the Shell team at the moment does look like Bower's getting ready

00:13:10for a stop very soon. But the fascinating thing is because of these wet conditions, the race will

00:13:15now finish at 4.45. With all these safety car periods at very low speed, and naturally the

00:13:20low speed that the cars are circulating at, fuel mileage improves. We might have a situation where

00:13:25John Bower now is trying to stretch every lap he possibly can while these cars are under safety car

00:13:30conditions. One more load of fuel and they're going to run it through to the end. Now I'm sure there's

00:13:33going to be a few of these other teams trying to stretch their fuel mileage so they haven't got to

00:13:37come in for what they call a splash and dash where the car just comes into the pits, its crew tip in

00:13:41like 20 or 30 litres of fuel, whatever is required to get to the finish, and they drive out again.

00:13:45That little splash and dash at the end could be the difference between victory and defeat. It's

00:13:49going to be enthralling. Well I know that the Perkins outfit are very confident about their

00:13:53fuel efficiency. Larry Perkins, Russell Engel. So too, before we go into the break, I was talking

00:13:58about the wins cars. Now just forget about what's transpired before us so far. Freddie Gibson was

00:14:06saying this morning, if it's a wet race right from the start, I'm confident our cars can do 80 plus

00:14:11laps right from the word go. So I mean you know, don't discount the wins cars yet. I mean they're

00:14:16not sort of just sniffing around the top 10. Parsons is doing well in 11th and Darren Hossack

00:14:23has taken over from Pete Heath back in 13th. But still a long way to go and the lights are off on

00:14:29the safety car so get ready for action. It could be very frantic action now in behind John Bowne,

00:14:35of course he's not in second, it's just the way they've lined up behind the pace car. Our leader

00:14:38gets first shots and the pace car just concentrates on picking up the lead up is the new VT of Thomas

00:14:44Mazera as the dens are trying to entry. And don't forget about Honda Indy on the Gold Coast October

00:14:4917 and 18. That's going to be a great weekend. Although Alex Inardi has wrapped up the

00:14:55championship, it's going to be fantastic. So too is the FAI 1000 Classic November 14 and 15.

00:15:01As you've heard Billy Woods mentioning all day long, it is a massive end of the year on your

00:15:05home of Motorsport Network 10. This is just the start of it. Of course the Australian Motorcycle

00:15:10Grand Prix at Phillip Island Rally Australia. As we get set and we go racing again. Here we go.

00:15:16The safety car has pulled off and Bowne gets stuck into it. Now look at them sort themselves out.

00:15:20There's Scaife coming through the traffic as the mist flies. Well there's only three cars left on the

00:15:25lead lap now. That's John Bowne, Mark Scaife and Russell Engel in the Castrol Commodore as they

00:15:30sort themselves out coming up through the spray. John Bowne moves over to make sure there's no

00:15:34move by Neil Crompton in the Ford Credit Falcon. The field just trying to get through, just trying

00:15:38to survive as they swing through turn one. Mark Scaife, 3.8 seconds the gap it is to John Bowne

00:15:44on the Shell Ford. Look at that car splashing through the puddles. Neil Crompton trying to

00:15:50unlap himself. Only three cars on the lead lap as I said. Bowne, Scaife and Engel. Crompton desperately

00:15:56trying to get in front of that Shell Ford and put himself back on the lead lap. They come up the back

00:16:01straight and it is, well you've heard the drivers say, it is a frightening experience. The visibility

00:16:06is, you know, an all-time low. Even worse than last year. You can barely see the cars up the

00:16:11back straight. Now we haven't had that problem today. It's usually been on the front straight

00:16:14but the mist that bad. Although they are bunched nice and close together. I would suggest the boys

00:16:20have been on the radio to Neil Crompton to absolutely confirm with him that Bowne has not

00:16:24made his second stop yet. So maybe Neil can just sit back there and wait for the Shell Ford to peel off.

00:16:30When that will be Scaife just cutting the ripple strip. That could probably just, not so much a

00:16:35factor of grip but just not being able to see the apex of the corner. That's how difficult it is

00:16:38out there. Visibility down to virtually zero. You can see the green flag back to racing conditions

00:16:44right away around the circuit. And we'll keep our eyes peeled on the Shell 18 Ford. Our race leader

00:16:51to see when Bowne is going to bring that car in for its second stop. Well you remember what Greg

00:16:54Murphy said earlier. He said most times you can't see the apex of the corner until you've got

00:16:59the apex of the corner until you're right upon it. Here is Bowne. Look at the concentration. Just having a quick look in the mirror

00:17:04to see who's around. And all of the drivers are so tentative. It really is Mr. Smooth isn't he?

00:17:11It's fascinating when you listen to his throttle application or on the onboard camera. It's just so

00:17:16smooth. He just eases the power in. Just trying to feel that maximum traction and reduce the amount

00:17:22of wheel spin. He's a past master at this. Tremendously experienced driver. The 43 year

00:17:28old from Tasmania. Devonport car dealer. He also works as Tickford's development driver. Tickford

00:17:35of course Ford's special vehicles partner sponsor of this great event. He also drives the Ferrari

00:17:40for Ross Palmer Motorsports. Tremendously successful. Two times Bathurst winner. Two times Sandown 500

00:17:46winner. Australian touring car champion back in 95. Two times Australian driving champ. Former

00:17:52sports car champion. He's won in production cars. Well he's won in so many different categories

00:17:56that's what makes him so good. These conditions do not get any better. Now there are five cars

00:18:03between Bow and Scaife and ten between Scaife and Ingle. So it's tough at the top. Speaking of tough

00:18:09someone who has been doing it tough but he's done a great job before he handed over to his teammate

00:18:13Neil Crompton is last year's Shell Australian touring car champ Glenn Seaton. Glenn it's just

00:18:18a nightmare out there. It got quite dangerous there in the end but no it's the same for

00:18:26everybody. The confusion is at the moment I don't know how we can be a lap down on Ingle and Scaife

00:18:32because they pitted and so did we. So how we can be a lap down I'd probably I reckon John's a lap

00:18:38up on everybody because he hasn't pitted yet. So how we can be a lap down is almost impossible.

00:18:46We've just been reading it off our timing monitor what you say is logical and hopefully they will

00:18:51sort that situation out if it's incorrect. But you can just see by these conditions are these worse

00:18:57than last year? Well last year was quite bad Mark and it's very hard to I suppose remember back to

00:19:05last year or try and forget it but the conditions were as bad there's no doubt about that. The hard

00:19:10thing is it's not so bad about the circuit being as wet as it is it's when you're actually coming

00:19:16up behind people that is the drama. You just drive into this sheet of white water and you're guessing

00:19:22you're driving down the circuit looking at the white line on the side of the road to make sure

00:19:26you're still on the backstop. Wow well scary. You're hearing Glenn Seaton talk about just how

00:19:31tough the conditions are out there. We've just had word from the pits that Dick Johnson has no

00:19:37windscreen wiper. What a nightmare. So things aren't getting any better but anyway in the

00:19:44Ford Credit team Glenn things going well? It was a reasonably slick change. It was fantastic yeah

00:19:49the pads the whole lot so the guys have been working on that and they've done a great job and

00:19:54really we I suppose like I say a little bit disappointed with the lap we were on but we'll

00:20:01work it out and hopefully be on the same lap as the leader because it's the sort of race you just

00:20:06can't afford to drop a lap. Hopefully we can work it out and get back on the lap and lots of things

00:20:12can happen between now and now in the end I'm sure there'll be more pace cars with conditions like

00:20:16this there's there's no doubt about pace cars but it's gonna be hard work. Well Glenn's gonna stick

00:20:21around for some more commentary make sure you stick around as we go on board with Russell Ingle

00:20:26let's have a look at the order as they stand at the moment John Bow still has not pitted

00:20:30he leads the way from Scape, Ingle, Crompton and Bright. Sixth position Johnson Murphy in seventh

00:20:38Vazira eighth, Larcombe car in ninth, Barguana's car in tenth. We go back Parsons behind the wheel

00:20:43Hossack so to Reid, Bates has taken over from Paul Wheel and Poole. Rounding out the 20, Crick's car

00:20:51Nash 17, 18, Tratton Jones, Smith and Williamson 19, Brewer and Price in 20.

00:21:00Welcome back to a fascinating battle for the Tickford 500 in 1998 could this be a winning

00:21:11gamble from John Bow we believe he is going to come into the pits now any second and maybe just

00:21:17maybe he has lasted long enough to hold off at least Russell Ingle possibly not Mark Scape in

00:21:22the HRT Commodore but Cameron McConville is in for a very nervous wait now and what could be a critical

00:21:29drive for this youngster well the next time that Bow comes into the pits obviously hasn't come

00:21:33through this time Scape will take the lead because Scape is only nine seconds in arrears and Ingle

00:21:39should move nicely into second spot but the thing is Crompton is a minute and 14 behind those two

00:21:45guys so Glenn can you stay out there because I mean it doesn't look like you'll hop back in but

00:21:50can Neil stay out there fuel wise and everything are you can you maintain this it's really hard

00:21:54to tell in these sort of conditions leave because normally in a dry race which you use a lot more

00:21:59fuel we usually run to about 60 laps so you probably add another 10 laps maybe 15 laps on

00:22:07top of that in the wet conditions so um this is going to be touch and go for us yeah you're not

00:22:11too keen to get behind the wheel again though Neil's doing a great job out there at the moment

00:22:16the really fascinating gamble I guess involved with all this is that uh I know the pace comes

00:22:21down and the fuel consumption improves in wet conditions then you've got all these safety car

00:22:25periods and the car's just absolutely crawling along and then your fuel mileage improves so is

00:22:29it possible you can get 75 80 I think there's no doubt we can we can go that far mark um where

00:22:35we're working on going all the way to the end now we're going to need to get back up there so

00:22:41at this stage um we'll leave Neil in there um but you never know that the conditions can change

00:22:47can become dry I don't think so but uh you got to do another pit stop anyway but at this stage

00:22:52we'll be uh working on going all the way to the end we'll keep in mind that there's only three

00:22:56cars on the lead lap and bow is in bow is into the pits so let's keep a close eye on this this has to

00:23:02be a slick pit stop it can't be slick enough to stop skate going into the pits Barry this has got

00:23:07to be a good one it has to be a good one didn't it the old pressures on the guys now but uh you

00:23:13know there's no panic going on just having a look here pushing the cameraman out of the way

00:23:18it's going to be a pad change that could be the only bug there you never know but the good thing

00:23:21about it is the brakes aren't being used too too much in uh this kind of weather so the pad

00:23:26the calipers aren't going to be you know absolutely quite hot like they normally are

00:23:31and uh looking there just uh having a bit of trouble getting one of the pads out he's got

00:23:38out now that's not the sort of thing sort of thing you want to grab hold of with your hands but uh

00:23:43grab hold of the hot ones you soon know all about it sort of 400 500 degrees centigrade

00:23:49might eclipse go back in i'll select one that goes on and the left front's finished

00:23:55this is a bit slow with this one here a little bit of panic going on right everybody's handled

00:24:04pretty neat stop well you had you had the clock on that Marco roughly what was it

00:24:0850 seconds for the shell team how that compare to your stop then with uh pad change tell you

00:24:12truth um i don't know mark i think ours was much quicker yeah it looked quite slow didn't it yeah

00:24:17it did look quite slow and i think the guys in the uh right front there had a bit of trouble

00:24:21getting his pad out and um naturally that makes up for a lot more time but uh i'm sure ours has

00:24:27looked a lot quicker than that well Cameron McConville now takes the wheel a very talented

00:24:32young driver this guy and he's just taking it nice and steady i was really impressed with the

00:24:37driver change and the way that he wasn't clutching at the straps or anything he was very relaxed

00:24:42putting the straps on and quite often when you try and rush too much you fumble etc

00:24:46he did a very good job like that and uh was just nice and calm he's got a great head he's a good

00:24:52thinker he's very mature and uh let's hope he can hold it together for the shell helix race team

00:24:58overall this is your order scape ingle bow crompton Stephen Richards has taken over the

00:25:04Jason Bright Pertek Ford Dick Johnson Mark Noski in seventh Thomas Mazera the first drive in his

00:25:10new VT is going great guns in eighth Larkham has worked his way up inside the top 10 in ninth

00:25:15David Parsons in the winds car who is yet to hand over to Simon Wills his 10th Barguana in 11th then

00:25:21we go back to Hossack in the other winds Commodore is doing a good job he's taking over from Pate

00:25:27Trevor Ashby has finally slipped into the uh Lansvale autocar Candeel Bates has taken over

00:25:32from four wheel and Dean Croswell rounds out the top 15 now the top runner on control tires is in

00:25:3913th that is Trevor Ashby well what's that gap now between Mark Scaife and Russell Engle it's coming

00:25:45down it's now under 10 seconds Russell Engle and the Dunlop shot Castrol Commodore chasing Mark Scaife

00:25:52you just need to watch that gap Barry Sheen yeah JP that looked like a real hard work well it was

00:25:58not physically hard it's just uh mentally quite stressing because it's the car aquaplanes on the

00:26:03straights and really it's so competitive you know it's not a nice feeling you have to sympathize

00:26:10with somebody that's going out for the first time in this though used to get used absolutely I mean

00:26:14it's uh it changed all the time during the course of the race but now it's really aquaplaning so

00:26:21I sympathize with Cam but he's a good young fellow he'll do a good job and do you reckon

00:26:24is there a chance that can he go all the way to the end now but I wouldn't have a clue to

00:26:28be honest a bit of honesty there I would not have a clue but it's the car was good and the

00:26:34Dunlop tires were tremendous I really got to congratulate them last year we had a tire that

00:26:39wasn't quite as good and obviously now we've got a good tire so you know that's what development

00:26:43does but if I was you I'd be hoping he could go all the way to the end yes absolutely like

00:26:47I wanted the pace car to stay out there for another hundred laps thanks a lot JP thanks man

00:26:52Glenn we heard John Bauer mentioned it a couple of times there we've heard the drivers talk about

00:26:56it all day long they mentioned this term of aquaplaning you might like to explain to the

00:26:59folks at home who don't know what that is and what it's like to experience it it's quite scary

00:27:04it is really it's um it happens when these big puddles that you see everywhere on the circuit

00:27:09most of the circuit is pretty good but in a straight line with these cars with 600 horsepower

00:27:14they uh they break into wheel spin halfway down the straight and once they break into

00:27:18wheel spin because they got a lock diff in them they want to turn the car straight towards the

00:27:22fence so you've got to be really gentle with the throttle or even down the straight not just hard

00:27:26on the floor but you've just got to be gentle with it and once you hit these big puddles you

00:27:30end up it's just like a um basically a surfboard coming down a wave same thing it's just uh

00:27:38absolutely so it is quite a frightening thing especially at the end of the straight here

00:27:42it's quite bad there because while you're braking and you've got so much

00:27:46uh braking grip on the front of the car you hit these shiny spots instantly locks the front tyres

00:27:53and aquaplanes and you can't get to think the car to turn you just end up straight off the circuit

00:27:58we saw that's what exactly what happened to paul stokel going down the main straight

00:28:01obviously it happened to you today it happened to me uh just before coming onto the straight

00:28:06i was pushing it pretty hard and uh trying to make up a bit of ground and

00:28:10actually what happened there was the rear brakes locked up on me because i was pushing

00:28:14too hard naturally and away we went went for the ride here's a team you have a bit of the

00:28:18empathy for i'm sure with thomas mazzera getting fed up with being a paid driver he wanted to go

00:28:22out and set up his own team and uh for his first campaign they're sitting back there in 11th

00:28:26position just outside the top 10 it's putting terry finnegan in the car it's a great effort

00:28:31i think for mazzera considering the budget he's running on the time he's had to build the car

00:28:34it is for sure and it's a fantastic job thomas has um been beaten from bill of the post over

00:28:39the years from our teams and i think he's a fantastic driver and i think he's doing a great

00:28:44job and like we say we just hope we all come out of this weekend safe and with straight cars

00:28:49because with the conditions out there it's very difficult difficult to try and achieve that well

00:28:53terry finnegan taking the wheel of the densitron vt commodore from thomas mazzera and terry has

00:28:59been around for many years although this is only his third start on the tickford 500 but he had

00:29:04plenty of experience in the wet and that was last year when he teamed up with greg crick and peter

00:29:08fitzgerald so uh terry's no stranger to the wet tough conditions here at sandown whoa and he gets

00:29:14all shaky so he's taking some time to get used to it which is fair enough he's got cold tires

00:29:20he's got fresh brake pads it must be this first lap or two out as neil showed in your car must be

00:29:25uh very very nice it is really because um you're out there on uh fresh tires which is cold uh you're

00:29:31in conditions like this he nerves when you first drive out you think uh what sort of risk can you

00:29:37you just don't know how slippery it is until you do a few laps but um but it's uh it's a difficult

00:29:43time that's probably why i'd rather leave than the car mark larkin into the pits for our jones

00:29:48getting set to jump in greg rust well it's all happening down here lee and these guys have really

00:29:53played a big gamble on this they were the last to come in you'll recall for the change to wet tires

00:29:57and now they're one of the last to come in in fact for their mandatory brake pad change a good shot

00:30:01for you at home there you see just what it's like very hot conditions for the pit crews working here

00:30:05as they change the brake pads not a lot of wear on the pads as you heard barry mentioned before

00:30:09this is a pretty slick stop i've got to say from the mitre 10 outfit brad jones strapped in mark

00:30:13larkin out of the car they're going to be out of here in around 50 seconds by the looks of things

00:30:17and i can tell you having spoken to officials from this team they plan to go straight through

00:30:21there will be no splash stop for the mitre 10 team well brad jones has been just dying to get

00:30:26into this car and really give it a good flogging and well now's his chance he won't be able to push

00:30:31it to maximum but he's going to drive very sensibly and we know that brad can do that

00:30:35these two go back a long way 1989 they teamed up in the mobile sierra where they finished seventh

00:30:41brad's done much better than that he finished third with thomas mazzera back in 92 so

00:30:46let's see what bradley jones can do in the mitre 10 falcon

00:30:53oh yeah you can see it first lap there's one out in the trouble robert smith's commodore

00:30:57sharing with bruce williams out on the grass robert's at the wheel at the moment currently

00:31:03running in 19th position they drop them down a little bit but he's managed to get back

00:31:08on the tarmac so brad jones v8 under his foot heads out won't be stopping unless there's some

00:31:18sort of rub on the mitre 10 forwards going to go all the way well brad jones has taken over the

00:31:22wheel and heads up the back straight for the first time meanwhile mark scaife is our new race leader

00:31:27russell engel hot in pursuit cameron mcconville has just taken over the wheel of the 18 shell

00:31:31helix board neil crompton of course these guys are one lap down and stephen richards behind the

00:31:37wheel of the pertec board johnson in sixth murphy and noski they're in seventh position

00:31:41parson and wills the winds commodore they're in eighth park warner and richards two laps down in

00:31:45nine and larkin and jones just after the pit stop they're in tenth we go back terry finnegan as we

00:31:50saw has just uh climbed into the densitron vt possack's doing a good job so too is neil bates

00:31:56we'll be back right after this eight o'clock tuesday

00:32:1611 seconds is the gap between race leader mark scaife and the castrol commodore of russell

00:32:21engel so it's an all commodore battle again as it was in the shell australian touring car

00:32:27championship where the castrol commodore team took on hrt but different drivers in this case

00:32:32scaife of course holding off russell engel larry perkins teammate these are our casualties so far

00:32:38and i guess in the conditions that is not too bad five cars out and a couple of really sad stories

00:32:44there but we look forward to seeing them in action again at the honda indy and of course the fai 1000

00:32:50classic the climax to the season not too bad action we will not get 161 laps if you look at

00:32:55the top left hand corner of your screen we've had 102 but it'll be on time let's go back to 10 lane

00:33:02well disaster down here in the moment bill for the number 17 dick johnson shell falcon he's had

00:33:07an altercation just coming on to uh to the front straight with one of the privateers i didn't quite

00:33:11catch who it was but you can see just how bad the damage is at the front of this car the shell team

00:33:16dive and are frantically working on the front of the car trying to repair it they'll take this uh

00:33:20this front spoiler off and replace it but they're going to lose an awful lot of time here at the

00:33:24moment the clock's been rolling now for around 30 seconds and you can see how frustrated dj is

00:33:29at the wheel of the car he is desperate to uh in fact he looks like he's getting out of the car so

00:33:34he is not a happy camper at the moment dick johnson very unhappy indeed and i'd say he's

00:33:40going to call it quits at that indeed he is wow johnson dick johnson out and out of the race as

00:33:49well well there he is look at the dejection on his face apparently a tangle with a slower

00:33:57competitor greg getting there for an interview pretty soon talking to his son steve greg

00:34:02well uh dick tell us exactly what happened looks like it was say an altercation coming

00:34:05onto the front straight with uh with a privateer well matey you know he was sort of obviously uh

00:34:11a little bit out of control he just spun in front of me i just couldn't miss him

00:34:14one of these things the the conditions are really tough to drive in aren't they well it's not a

00:34:18matter of it's it's a matter of being tough you know with a no windscreen wiper i can't see anyway

00:34:23and you know that really they shouldn't be running a race in these conditions because it's uh

00:34:28you know you're aquaplaning up the straight and everything it's a joke well the damage is

00:34:31obviously quite substantial i'd say you've elected to call it a day i'd rather stop now

00:34:36and have a car for pathos and bugger eyes around here you know this is a joke commiserations mate

00:34:42yeah not very happy dick's really struggling he has been in a bit of discomfort all weekend

00:34:47after that sinus operation he's been coping with headaches and that was the biggest headache of all

00:34:51see burning a slower competitor the shell 17 ford out dick johnson deciding to call it quits and

00:34:57cut his losses well here the is the second wins car the parsons wills entry

00:35:03a long time racer david parsons and a bit of an enduro specialist sharing with

00:35:08formula holden racer simon wills they're in and out reasonably quickly and they're not going too

00:35:15bad they've been sniffing around the top 10 for quite some time now along with darren hossack

00:35:18who's back in 12th position so and of course they are uh a lap down even uh probably two or three

00:35:26laps down on our race leaders so rejoining but the main thing is that they are still out there

00:35:32well this is one team i'm really looking forward to seeing perform in 1999 in the shell championship

00:35:37series run on a control tire for the first time and all the cars will be running on identical

00:35:42tires uh has been a tough baptism of fire for this new arrangement between wins australia

00:35:49and the very experienced fred gibson motorsport that took a gamble on running a couple of younger

00:35:53drivers darren hossack and darren paint this year the level of development required two young

00:35:58drivers were considered too much so gibson motorsport now are hunting around for an experienced

00:36:02hand to run with one of the younger guns they'll be on the same tires as everyone else and i expect

00:36:07gibson motorsport to take a big step up the ladder in 1999 yeah well darren pate i mean hossack's two

00:36:12times national karting champion hossack was done plenty of formula fours and plenty of formula

00:36:18so as we go on board with russell engel is deep in concentration as everybody look at the view

00:36:26through that passenger side of the windscreen look at all the debris up in front of him two

00:36:30cars everywhere so it's very very difficult for the faster cars and just as difficult for the

00:36:35slower cars as the fast cars coming through everyone's tippy-toeing around water everywhere

00:36:41real lack of traction lack of visibility very very difficult conditions for everybody

00:36:46well let's update you scape engel mcconville the only uh three cars on the lead lap cropped

00:36:53on a lap down in fourth stephen richards in the pertec ford noski doing a good job in sixth

00:36:58barguana seventh brad jones in the minor 10 ford eight simon wills who we just saw on screen

00:37:04in ninth and darren hossack running in 10th and that great battle continues between mark scape

00:37:09and the mobile holton racing team commodore and this man russell engel runner up in the shell

00:37:14series this year john faulkner and the fisher and paykel better electrical car todd kelly the

00:37:18youngster steps out faulkner jumping back in they've had a wretched time you can see the

00:37:23battle damage their contact between himself and paul romano early in the race greg rust

00:37:28well todd kelly's extricated himself from the car mark john faulkner getting back in the team swamp

00:37:33on this car that is really sporting the battle scars as a result of that earlier altercation

00:37:37they have been pressing on though a fresh set of pads going in the guys have pushed the pistons

00:37:42back inside the calipers and in fact ready now to put the uh the wheels back on with a fresh set

00:37:46of rubber some wet rubber and of course a fresh set of brake pads so faulkner looks like he's

00:37:51going to drive this uh to the flag i'd say at this stage in the race i'll have enough fuel on board

00:37:55and given the conditions they uh they won't need to stop for a for a top-up well todd kelly when

00:37:59he brought the car in was in 23rd position and good on him for staying out there he certainly

00:38:04hasn't put the car into a wall and the last time we checked up on him he was doing comparable laps

00:38:10to john bow and craig lounge in the 125s that was some time ago and he's stayed out there for

00:38:16his entire stint so good on him he's only 19 years of age and this is his very first time in a v8

00:38:21supercar now these are menacing things to drive the best of times if you listen to anyone who's

00:38:25stepped in it for the first time and he's coming to it in the worst possibly the worst conditions

00:38:31we've seen so john faulkner back out on the track and the better electrical car

00:38:38mark scope across the angle the battle at the front continues about a 12 second gap between

00:38:43the castro commodore and the mobile car cameron mcconville the shell 1840s in third position

00:38:51stephen richards in the pertec falcon in fifth position that's your top five

00:38:57as they struggle on in these difficult conditions but there's a real battle going on amongst the

00:39:01privateers reed and ashby they're running 14th out right but they're leading the class

00:39:05on the oklahoma control time great battle from them we saw them win the privateers cup in the

00:39:10shell series and they're continuing that dominant form in the enduros must send a special hello to

00:39:16motoring journalist john evans who writes for some of the industry magazines and he's in hospital

00:39:22at the moment and uh feeling the best so john i know that you'll be uh tuned into this telecast

00:39:27hope you get better mate hope the operation goes well and we see you back in action real soon we

00:39:32see russell engel continuing to surge he's 12 seconds behind mark scaife this is an absolutely

00:39:39gripping battle isn't it look at these times there as they hit traffic one goes a little bit slower

00:39:44than the other than the other guy hits the traffic he goes slower just these times seesaw in the gap

00:39:48maintaining about 12 13 seconds these guys are right on the ragged edge on the ragged edge

00:39:56controllably if you could say that it's not a contradiction in terms they're doing a great job

00:40:00we just saw i think the graphic came up before five or six cars out

00:40:05in terms of a field of 33 and considering these conditions they've done extremely well

00:40:12russell engel just dropped a second on that last lap he was in the 12s behind scaife now it's out

00:40:16to 13 and a half seconds so our two front runners doing extremely well also cameron mcconville

00:40:22there was some 55 seconds behind engel in third position

00:40:28so it's a holden steamroller at the front one two at the moment

00:40:32in the tickford 500 the first of the forwards cameron mcconville returning to the shell team

00:40:37in 1998 in the most treacherous conditions imaginable and doing a fine job backing up

00:40:44the performance of john bauer who really set the field alight in that first stint pushed the

00:40:49fuel mileage right to the end it's going to be fascinating as these laps wind down

00:40:55see just who's going to emerge the winner from this leading three whoa neil bates has uh had a

00:41:03spin going through shell mastercard turn apparently uh the morg cedars entry was involved oh look at

00:41:10rod nash's car that's the nash edwards entry that has just crunched big time and he's gone again

00:41:15just shows how slippery it is there the auto pro budweiser holden in all sorts of drama look at

00:41:21richard morg's car we may see a safety car out here there's wrecks all over the place i think

00:41:25definitely that car has just been hit everywhere front and back now obviously obviously it is uh

00:41:34i would say nash's car that has done hit it from behind well looking at the back of that in the

00:41:38front of nash's just thinkingly the yellow flags are waving but the visibility is so poor that i

00:41:43hope no one just drives right up the middle and nails that car and see them emerging through the

00:41:47spray hopefully they're seeing the yellow flags and picking up that car soon enough well fortunately

00:41:51the safety car is out the safety car is out that driver is trying to get out of the car whether it

00:41:55is more or oh that is a real good thing to do so fortunately the driver's out of the way it's

00:42:05very precarious position look at that that's been front and back big serve up very old car the vp

00:42:10commodore plenty of miles and that's really going to wear look at this contact now there was a

00:42:14collision obviously between rod nash's car and richard bork's car well i wonder if uh oh and

00:42:21the ericsson trust bank machine he got caught in there as well and he tapped four wheels machine

00:42:26four of them involved well that's croswell behind the wheel of trust bank ericsson commodore and

00:42:30neil baits behind uh in the kj radio is cash trial entry so that car's had it there that is the nash

00:42:38edwards entry and then he spins again he's gone good escape for baits because that car it means

00:42:44just a little bit of damage to the side that's nothing they'll be able to keep on going as for

00:42:47the others nash is uh well and truly out of this one and as for the damage to the ericsson trust

00:42:53bank commodore here's a replay another replay what i was about to say before mark wonder if the cedars

00:42:58morgue entry was coming out of pit lane and the nash edwards car nailed it from behind all the

00:43:02visibility so poor out there anything could have happened bill ciders unfortunately at the wheel

00:43:07of richard morgues car four of them got caught up in that too very badly

00:43:12so unfortunately for rod nash he had such my expectations the auto pro budweiser machine

00:43:18the x-wing gardener racing commodore you can see very very heavy damage to the front of that car

00:43:23here comes russell engel running in second position he's coming in for a tire change

00:43:29they'll top up with fuel as well so larry thinking this is going to be the run to the flag

00:43:36good time to pit too under safety car conditions they lose the minimum amount of time at the field

00:43:40queued up behind the safety car to see jimmy richard's wandering up there having a look

00:43:44just watching there's the damage to the front of the trust bank ericsson car that is

00:43:48greg crick dean croswell croswell was behind the wheel when that crash occurred young tasmanian

00:43:56now apparently we've got word too that the pertec board has come in

00:43:59jason bright steve richard steve richard is driving the car at the moment

00:44:03and that doesn't look too bad well action aplenty here now it is a little past quarter to four this

00:44:11race is due to finish at a quarter to five this is the order as it stands at the moment

00:44:17scape engel who have just seen come in the pits mcconville then we go back to crompton

00:44:22and richardson right while they're about to change drivers murphy noski in sixth

00:44:27bargwana and richards two laps down in seventh larkham and jones three laps down in eighth

00:44:31posack and payton the winds commodore and nine parsons and wills in the second gibson machine in

00:44:3510. mizera finnegan then we go back to ashby bates involved in that incident pool and scott

00:44:40crick and croswell well they're right in front of us now in the pits nash and edwards in 16

00:44:45tratton jones in 17 brewer price 18 johnson and donahue round out the top 20.

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00:45:16do it while we're under a pace car in these atrocious conditions at the tickford 500 here's

00:45:27a reminder of the holden banner competition we're running this year it'll climax in the fai 1000

00:45:33classic at mount panorama and if you pick the winner you could win for yourself a holden club

00:45:38sport the winning banner the person who comes up with that wins an ss commodore great prizes

00:45:43great competition not so great for the bauxiters team that's the wreckage of the vp commodore in

00:45:51fact the only vp in the field used to be a vn now unfortunately it's rs back in pit lane

00:45:59yeah it's uh this is ben seaton's guy you're looking at and it's neil crumson at the wheel

00:46:03what happened uh somebody spun in front of neil and neil took avoiding action and in doing that

00:46:08went off and destroyed the spoiler on a curb so what it's done it's been some of the brackets

00:46:13they actually hold the spoiler okay at least they got it off and uh it's always a bit of a struggle

00:46:19if it doesn't bend the mounting brackets that's fine it goes straight back on but they just gotta

00:46:25looks like it's uh going all right and poor old uh crumpton there is uh it wasn't he was

00:46:32you know it's a case of uh avoiding the trouble and getting himself into uh into a bit more and

00:46:37see the bonnets uh up there just pulling it down and it looks like they're just about ready to

00:46:46frustrating for crumpton you know because it's uh it wasn't his fault and uh he'd been talking

00:46:52to glenn on the radio and saying that he went off couldn't help it and um you know you avoid go off

00:46:57to avoid someone and uh end up getting worse trouble anyway he's all ready to go and he's down

00:47:03and they're off yes glenn seton was just saying when he was joining us in central commentary how

00:47:08dangerous the conditions are out there explaining the principle of aquaplaning a car there's so

00:47:14much water on the track that the car actually gets up on a sheet of water and then the driver

00:47:17completely loses control it's been happening all afternoon very very difficult and dangerous

00:47:23conditions for these drivers well here's a replay of that main straight accident the hsv replay this

00:47:28is the more excited entry and uh watch what happens here croswell you saw the wheels turn

00:47:35actually dean croswell had his wheels turned to the left and just kept going straight ahead he

00:47:39couldn't help it he crunched in the most fortunate one out of that whole situation was this car on

00:47:44screen now the neil baits poor wheel entry apparently there's been a lot of oil deposited

00:47:49on the track courtesy of that accident this is the rod nash darren edwards entry which is uh

00:47:55spinning again extensive front end damage and obviously that came in contact with the rear

00:48:01of richard mark's car so uh an unnecessary well yeah unnecessary for those guys

00:48:10yet another accident in the 1998 tickford 500 well your race leader is still mark scaife got a great

00:48:16battle on their hands too even under the queue that gap remains the same about 14 seconds between

00:48:21mark scaife and russell engel there's a few cars back in this order look how the windows are fogging

00:48:25up inside these cars there's so much heat being generated by the exhaust through the floor pan

00:48:30things just like a kettle on wheels greg rust

00:48:38greg rust probably can't hear us down there in the pits plenty of commotion going on

00:48:42see the track windscreen yeah it's thrown up a bit of stone you can see how much dirt and garbage

00:48:47there is on the track there's been so many cars spinning well caught onto the grass and dragging

00:48:51it back on and it's uh very difficult for everyone could also could also be some of that debris on

00:48:56the main straight marco as well greg on down here at the moment with greg creek and uh the boys in

00:49:01the uh the trust bank outfit have really been working very hard to get that car back out they're

00:49:04taking advantage of the safety car uh safety car session but gee there was some damage there's

00:49:09quite a bit of damage the uh steering arm on the right hand side had been bent fairly badly

00:49:14they bashed the guard out put another tire on and dean's gone back out because he's not

00:49:17he hasn't finished his stint yet like we're not up to our window where i can get back in but

00:49:21he's done a terrific job and it's just one of those things you just got caught up in someone

00:49:25else's crash one of those things you say it looked as though he aquaplaned and the cars

00:49:28would have turned directly into it yeah he did it's very slippery down there and he'd gone in

00:49:32fairly deep obviously and when that crash was occurring there was no way he could miss it a

00:49:35bit the same as what dick johnson did really well it's been all action stations down here in pit lane

00:49:40greg creek saying that dean had done a good job and i think he's done a tremendous job as we saw

00:49:44him do at malala this year when he took out the top privateer on the day and he's just gaining

00:49:49more and more valuable experience in the v8 supercar under very adverse conditions it's been

00:49:54enormously impressive hasn't he yeah young tasmanian the first time he had his v8 supercar debut

00:50:00and won the privateer's cup at his first attempt it really just floored everyone at malala they

00:50:04couldn't believe how he did that and every time he stepped into the car he's been equally

00:50:09impressive young dean croswell we see a lot more of him in the years to come this is his debut

00:50:14for the tickford 500 here at sandown he's just making his way catching his way up to the rest

00:50:20of the group that are circulating behind the uh the pace car now look how slow he's coming out of

00:50:24that corner and the back end just steps out you can see just how treacherous it is these cars

00:50:29aren't traveling at anywhere near their normal speed around here and there's crofton just ahead

00:50:33of him so he's caught up to the back of the pack croswell will be there any tick of the clock and

00:50:38all that with a fully grooved wet weather tire with a very soft rubber compound lights are off

00:50:43on the safety car that means we'll be returning to green flag racing conditions this time around

00:50:48past the pens on brock straight there's our race leader that has been for most of the afternoon

00:50:53mark scafe and craig lounds mark scape at the wheel of the mobile holden racing team commodore

00:50:58well mark you see the pace car lights are off we have 50 minutes left to go in the 1998 tickford

00:51:05500 will this be a winner will hrt get their hat trick mobile one holden boys they are

00:51:14going to be having a big party if that is the case and that will be craig lounds hat trick

00:51:18as well as the teams all right we're underway again pace car goes off that looks like

00:51:23the mcdougal wiley entry they've got going again and they come back into the pits meanwhile scape

00:51:29leads this big pack lap 113 of 161 but the laps now are irrelevant this is all about time

00:51:35this race will finish at 4 45 run up the inside as they break hard for shell mastercard term we're

00:51:42keeping our eyes out for the castrol vt commodore just watch these sets of headlights he's in there

00:51:46somewhere there he is russell ingall sneaking through in second position the gap eight seconds

00:51:51as they came through our timing monitor to start racing conditions once again so it's mark scape

00:51:56in the lead russell ingall in second cameron mcconville in third mark dosky in fourth position

00:52:02stephen richards in fifth neil crofton he's a lap down in sixth coming up close to the three hour mark

00:52:12of the 1998 tickford 500 john faulkner still trying hard he's way back in 23rd position but

00:52:19keeping in mind that he started 33rd worked his way up then was involved in that accident

00:52:25and he's had young todd kelly on board who certainly held his end up of the deal did a

00:52:29great job young todd and uh so the forklift team soldiering on meanwhile so too is this guy he's

00:52:34trying to win this thing they finished second last year talking about russell ingall and larry

00:52:39perkins and that's exactly where they're sitting at the moment some eight seconds last time around

00:52:43behind mark scaife must apologize for that picture breakup on our cameras on board some

00:52:49of the cars as the water causes its gremlins getting into wiper motors getting into ignition

00:52:54systems it's also getting into our camera contacts as well getting into everything so it's absolutely

00:52:59drenching this circuit and uh i'm getting a bit of picture breakup as the conditions remain dreadful

00:53:08in the tickford 500 for 1998 russell ingall eight seconds the gap between himself and mark scaife

00:53:14as the laps begin to wind down to our official end about 45 minutes time quarter to five

00:53:22well car eight which is the mcdougall wiley entry was uh caught for speeding into pits

00:53:28so they'll receive a stop go well someone who we saw consistently in the top 10 earlier today and

00:53:33well looked like having a really good result unfortunately uh his new young co-driver got

00:53:38caught up in the the bad conditions in an aquaplane situation crunched the armco and

00:53:42then buried the car in the sand wayne gardner from coca-cola racing joins us wayne uh it's

00:53:47been a tough day out there huh very tough um you know tough for everybody um tough for my

00:53:52particular uh team and um yeah disappointing uh unfortunately um we got paul into the car

00:53:58and it's very slippery in the first corner and uh uh he's changed the brake pads they're quite

00:54:04cold on the front the rears are still hot and of course he stood on the brake and the rears are

00:54:08locked and it's just aquaplane around the circle and then he bunked it in the sand so it was pretty

00:54:13disappointing but you know that's motor racing like you said uh though you'll be back at the

00:54:17fai 1000 oh most definitely you know i plan to do the indie event and bathurst uh here in australia

00:54:24with my sponsors coca-cola and donut king and holden so we're here to do our best to give it

00:54:29our best shot and today we were going quite well i think we're probably looking at the ball we

00:54:32probably would have been in about fifth position by now so it's hard to take but look you know

00:54:37that's motor racing anything can happen and obviously paul didn't mean to do it let's um

00:54:42imagine you get a positive out of it i know that you're maybe struggling a little bit with the

00:54:46tires under dry circumstances things weren't going too bad for you in the wet how is the car and how

00:54:51is it for that that's good well i haven't used the car since the melbourne gp so that was a long

00:54:55time ago in march and um you know we pulled it out and done a few days testing with it

00:54:59and although we're performing very well you know we need a bit more work and a few more days testing

00:55:03but look you know it's still a competitive car it was working well um the tires were working

00:55:07reasonably well and um until obviously the the heavens opened up and then we've been slipping

00:55:13and sliding and um just trying to stay on the track so look that's motor racing and as i said

00:55:17you take the knock on the chin and uh in good faith and good heart and come back and do it

00:55:22again another day that's why we talked to wayne gardener this battle up the front is really

00:55:26heating up russell engel was just two and a half seconds a lap faster than mark scape last time

00:55:31around he's got the gap down to 5.7 seconds we're not sure if scape had a moment it's down to under

00:55:35five seconds now 4.9 so engel is really closing hand over a fist over our race leader mark scape

00:55:41we've um kind of makes me giggle in no disrespect though because when this guy gets the eyes on to

00:55:48use that phrase he gets that determined look we saw it at darwin when the championship the shell

00:55:54australian touring car championship looked like it had slipped from his hands and then he came

00:55:58and uh there's that look look at him look at him he just looks so determined this is the enforcer

00:56:04in action and uh we saw it in darwin he had this face on was so determined and came from a nothing

00:56:10result in the first race to come through and the gap now is down to 3.2 seconds here comes engel

00:56:16he's on a charge he's taken another two seconds two and a half seconds out of the race lead of

00:56:21mark scape you mean the mobile there it is now i don't know if mark scape's got a problem here

00:56:26but he's all of a sudden started dropping his lap times have fallen right away engel just

00:56:30chomping away at that lead he'll be right on his bumper bar soon wayne what do you make of this

00:56:35well um i'd say mark has got a problem mark's a very good driver in the rain but uh russell has

00:56:39taken a big piece out of him so he's obviously either got a tire problem or possibly a car

00:56:43problem i'm not pretty sure but he's catching him hand over fist at the moment well i also keep in

00:56:48mind too that russell engel did put on brand new tires during that safety car situation so

00:56:55look at this now he's just close two and a half seconds a lap he's been taking out of the last

00:56:59two laps around he's right on him as they come over the top of repco hill down toward falcon

00:57:04xr corner well it's just sort of trundling along there as these guys just trying to survive now

00:57:10we've got a real battle on our hands it's come alive russell engel in pursuit the mobile holden

00:57:15racing team commodore of mark scape and to put away the stock rogers it's a visual gap well this

00:57:21is the closest that the mobile holden racing team or the closest challenge they have had in quite

00:57:27some time this is exciting and here he is engel is right there within a car length as they come

00:57:32onto the main straight russell engel is right in contention for the 1998 tickford 500 we have got

00:57:38less than an hour to go less than 45 minutes to go you can see now obviously he's got a new set

00:57:43of tires on there the big blocks uh it's quite wet still and obviously he's pumping a lot of

00:57:48water away and i'd say uh mark's tires are pretty well worn down and he's having trouble uh slipping

00:57:53and sliding so i think uh russell's going to pass easy but russell's a very very good driver and i

00:57:58think next year when this controller type thing comes in i put my money on russell for the series

00:58:03i think he's the best driver out there look at this up the inside comes a rip code no mark scapes

00:58:08got a fight and fight hard as russell engel looks for a gap on the inside for the run on the back

00:58:13straight well what's this because here he comes he pulls out of the draft scape trying to stay with

00:58:17him but he can't engel has taken the lead of the tickford 500 here he is in the castrol commodore

00:58:23engel is your new race leader i'll be very surprised if they don't bring scape in very

00:58:27quickly you can hear the amount of wheel spin on the on-car camera there he's really struggling

00:58:30for grip now yes that's right mate you can hear a wheel spin in each gear he's grabbing onto the

00:58:34back straight there and uh russell just had fewer drive on him he's just crept up beside him and

00:58:38passed him on the straight so you know that's just grip better tires at that particular time

00:58:43what a fascinating contest can you imagine this now engel's going to take it right down to the

00:58:46wire you saw he ducked in under the pace car situation to top up with fuel so there was no

00:58:50question of being able to run the distance 45 minutes remaining russell engel now takes the

00:58:55lead watch what the mobile hold and racing team do see if they bring scape in straight away great

00:59:00tactical decision there by uh perkins engineering team scape no look like he may have been heading

00:59:05into the pits but he stays out there so we'll see what the gap is how much has russell put on him

00:59:09on that lap they come around russell's put 2.3 seconds over mark scape so away goes engel the

00:59:14crowd cheer here at sandown well the grounds down has come alive they are erupting down here

00:59:19at sandon international raceway as russell engel takes the lead of the tickford 500 well how about

00:59:25it you couldn't ask for it to be any better this battle continues we've got a new race leader with

00:59:30less than 45 minutes to go it's engel who leads the way scape mcconville noski and richards

00:59:37six seegman crofton bargwanda and richards in seven hossack and pate in the wits commodore

00:59:41in eights larkin and jones four laps down in ninth and parsons and wills in ten we go further back

00:59:46it's the mizera finnegan entry then neil bates we go back to tulip scott reed and ashby brick and

00:59:50crosswell 16th brewer and price tratton jones at 17th donahue lives to the 19th nash and edwards

00:59:56in 19 emery and crick round down the 20. this tickford 500 race update brought to you by far

01:00:09an amazing day here at sand down after an early race lead from john bow we saw the mobile hrt

01:00:16team take over with craig lounds at the wheel bow dicing with pit stops here a gamble camper

01:00:24mcconville jumping into the seat and maintaining third spot at this stage bows at the car for a

01:00:30long long time this is thomas mizera coming in for a pit stop as well pit stops have been crucial here

01:00:40all day

01:00:43and of course some hasty decisions have had to be made in the run of the finish fran jones jumping

01:00:49in behind the wheel of the minor 10 falcon and we've seen some incredible drama in a handful

01:00:55of laps russell ingle has turned an eight or ten second deficit into a 12 second lead you just saw

01:01:01a moment ago mark scaife behind the wheel taking over from craig lounds and in fact just recently

01:01:06losing the lead the race ended for dick johnson in dramatic fashion one of a number of bingles

01:01:11we've been fairly lucky up until recently in this race to have only lost about five cars but that

01:01:15quickly changed as the rain took its toll and that's the morgue cider's car and this was very

01:01:21very dicey as the visibility was so poor we were wondering there if ciders might have taken too

01:01:28much of a risk getting out of his car mid track but anyway it worked out okay for him not so for

01:01:32the car which is in big big trouble and several other cars coming to grief two of the conditions

01:01:37neil bates came out best there but right now it's russell ingle the race leader with 12.6 seconds

01:01:44on mark scaife the chase is on for mobile hrt make that 16.8 seconds they have just flashed

01:01:55across the line again can ingle be stopped he's just put another four and a half seconds

01:02:00on mark scaife 16.8 seconds the gap between first and second mcconville is still on the lead lap

01:02:07but he's quite a way back behind mark scaife he sits in third mark dosky is one lap down

01:02:12but he's doing a terrific job look at the front of the toll card the anthony tratt

01:02:19bob jones entry the front end all smashed off well what a decision wayne gardner for jeff

01:02:26gretchen the mobile hulk racing team do you bring him in and put new tires on and try and

01:02:30track him down then possibly lose your second place to mcconville or do you just sit here and

01:02:34try and hang on and hope for the best well he's obviously going to lose it in pace on the tracks

01:02:39he's going to have to make some sort of decision but uh look he comes in he's obviously going to

01:02:43lose a lot of time look i'd pedal on and hopefully if there's a pace car uh it would come out then

01:02:49you dive in and grab some new tires then but i think really it's in the hands of uh of someone

01:02:54else having a shot barry sheen yeah larry now let me get this right in my mind um russell

01:03:02doesn't have to come in anymore does he no he definitely doesn't have to come in we we've

01:03:05brought him in and uh put a little bit of petrol in which we might might have needed and at the

01:03:09same time chose the opportunity to put a a better dunlop uh better than what he had on before we

01:03:15changed the the cut of the tread a little bit and it's given us tremendous advantage at the moment

01:03:20and russell's just driving it absolutely ace so so far fingers crossed so far so good you got

01:03:2419 second lead over over the scape and scapy's got to come in change uh change tires and refuel

01:03:30yeah we did that stop in under the courtesy of the base car but uh you know it's still uh about

01:03:3633 minutes of racing left and we know uh you know nothing's one and uh or running one doors over so

01:03:43we just got our fingers crossed ain't looking bad though larry is it oh well we're happy so far even

01:03:48if it conks out now we're very happy with the way things have gone you know uh the practice and uh

01:03:53the pit work and everyone's worked very well and yeah it's just flowing along nicely the old

01:03:58castrol commodore and uh yeah but 33 minutes still to go best of luck you can see the uh little kid

01:04:04in the background with blond and green hair that's larry's son jack he's obviously pretty pretty happy

01:04:09that uh dad and russell are leading the way wayne um superior tactical decision just put it down to

01:04:15that it's a very good decision you know great hair he's been following uh anthony gobert jack

01:04:22villeneuve the latest trend of changing your hair color every race absolutely it might be red next

01:04:26time look i think was a great decision by larry larry's a very clever man a great tactician and

01:04:31um it's the right move at this time you know if another pace car comes out if there's a if there's

01:04:36an accident if i was jeff gretch i'd get him in there and then fuel her up if he needs it and of

01:04:40course throw some new rubber at it we're looking further back through the pack neil crompton has

01:04:44managed to get his way back past the steven richards jason bright entry the pertec ford

01:04:49so crompton is back up inside the top five in fifth steven richards hanging on in six barguana

01:04:54and seven darren hossack is doing a terrific job as we see scape coming in now now apparently there's

01:04:59going to be a driver change here as well is he standing by that's the word we got now well wait

01:05:04greg rust i'm down here at the moment lee and in fact uh it looks as though scape he might be

01:05:09staying in the car lounge just taking his helmet back off so they've put the other fresh rubber on

01:05:13topping it up with some fuel and scape will take it for the run to the chequered flag

01:05:17but this pit stop is going to cost them a whole heap of time i'd say and cameron mcconville

01:05:21meanwhile sneaks through into second position after that tire change so mark scape gets out

01:05:26with a fresh cut of tires no doubt the bridgestone engineers would have been working very hard might

01:05:31have come up with a new cut for bridgestone as well with these conditions continue to worsen

01:05:36so we'll be monitoring the lap times of the mobile car see if they find any improvement well he's

01:05:40going to have to take it nice and steady at the moment the way i read that i think that was a

01:05:44silly mistake by jeff to bring him in there and then i mean i would have tried to keep my fingers

01:05:49crossed and battle on but he's now lost a lot a lot of ground and i would have thought would

01:05:54have hoped that obviously another car would have had an off and the pace car come out i would have

01:05:57just kept my fingers crossed then that would have been the time to come in and change the tire but

01:06:01he's probably lost a lot a lot of ground now and i think maybe he could be out of it now it could

01:06:06be an easy win by larry well it's a real gamble isn't it sitting there waiting for a safety car

01:06:11to come out and losing ground the hsv replay of john forkner going straight off the shell

01:06:17master car turn and did he come out of the bunker yeah he did so just compacted today isn't it

01:06:23that heavy rain not trapping him at all not not quite hard enough for my car to come out today

01:06:28well here's anthony trap this is where we were talking earlier about that front spoiler the

01:06:31splitter being snapped off and as he goes off the circuit bang big ditch there he wasn't

01:06:36as lucky as some of the other guys uh and you can see some of it just crashing off there

01:06:42so mark scape back on track with the new set of tires feel that we'll run through to the finish

01:06:48it'll be interesting now to see what his lap times are going to be escaping with a brand

01:06:52new set of rubber and really what we're going to do now is compare bridgestone wets against

01:06:56dunlop wets and it'll be really interesting to see what the lap times are going to be escaping

01:07:00well he's 15 seconds behind camera for convo there is 50 seconds behind ingle

01:07:06well let's go right down to the wire we got two dunlop shot cars a commodore and a falcon

01:07:13in the first two positions mark scape the first of bridgestone runners in fourth neil crompton

01:07:18meanwhile has just passed mark noski in the fourth credit falcon to take fourth position for

01:07:23seetham's team there is the countdown clock a little over 30 minutes quarter to four this race

01:07:31will finish but that's still a long time out there in these sort of conditions and uh you know

01:07:35anything can happen as i said i'll bet if there will be another pace car come out it's still yet

01:07:39to come because everyone's pushing pretty hard still trying to hold their position and some are

01:07:43trying to catch up so really anything can happen the race is certainly not over yet as you say

01:07:48anything can happen compton's only a couple seconds now behind mark scape third position

01:07:55but one lap down one lap down so he's trying to claw his way back toward the front again waiting

01:08:00for a safety car opportunity maybe to get himself back on the lead lap but it's a big ask

01:08:05oh sorry he's been going well waiting up and your old teammate you know how well

01:08:09neil could go in the car and in wet conditions i mean he did a double sit with you last year

01:08:14yes neil's very very good in the rain i don't know what happened earlier obviously he's

01:08:18been off the track been through a ditch or so picked the spoiler up or dragged it through

01:08:22the mud and it's broken it off it was unfortunate but look neil's very very good in the rain if

01:08:26anyone can go very well i'm sure he can and uh miss him to see if he can catch

01:08:31well he worked his way past stephen richards and mark gnoski so now has improved from sixth

01:08:36to fourth a lot of work to do if obviously he has to gain a lap back he goes through goes

01:08:41cameron mcconville who's sitting in second and russell engel just in one lap has put another

01:08:45four seconds on mcconville so that gap is nearing one minute between our race leader russell engel

01:08:51and the second place cameron mcconville the rain continues to fall and engel continues to surge he

01:08:57and engel continues to surge he is ahead of mcconville skate crompton and gnoski they are

01:09:02your top five steve richards in six jason barguana in seventh darren hossack in eight

01:09:08wills in nine and brad jones in ten we go back it's finnegan then the reed ashby combination

01:09:14fool mates crick and croswell 16 through to 20 brewer and price in the castro cougars

01:09:21commodore trap jones 17 18 donahan borkner and emery

01:09:33wet and wild that's how it's been for the last two years of the tickford 500 here at sandown

01:09:38russell engel leading this man cameron mcconville by nearly a minute now as they cross the line

01:09:44with about half an hour to go in this race a little less as a matter of fact about 25 minutes

01:09:50in third place mark scape desperately trying to catch up with recut tires in the mobile one hrt

01:09:55commodore well not that long ago we were mentioning that russell engel had a 54 second lead over

01:10:01mcconville that's now gone to 59 but in reverse scape is catching mcconville that lead was still

01:10:08that gap rather between mcconville and scape was some 15 seconds it's now down to seven so scape

01:10:13with the new tires is back on the charge we're going to head for wayne gardner in 1999 a lot of

01:10:21your fans are have a high expectation maybe of getting a new vt commodore and getting back you

01:10:26know what's what's your what are your plans well i'm not really sure yet mark i'm still competing

01:10:30in the japanese gt series up there and i drive the toyota and the trd factory like the the racing

01:10:36department of toyota and in fact i was supposed to be racing today with martini and but i committed

01:10:42myself to this quite early in the program before that came up and uh obviously i'm here but um as

01:10:47far as next year goes uh you know one of the reasons why i'm not there this year was primarily

01:10:52it was grossly unfair the way the tire rules were you know it's like going into a boxing match with

01:10:57one arm type behind your back and uh now the rules have changed it's going to be a controlled tire

01:11:02not only is it going to be better for obviously some of the people didn't have as good a tires

01:11:06in the past but now it's going to be just fantastic for the spectators because it's going to be so

01:11:11close on uh on the qualifying and in the race you know it's going to be door-to-door stuff and

01:11:16that's what the people come to see good tv good television um you know and good racing and it's

01:11:21going to be door handle the door handle it's gonna be great in the future so obviously that's a lot

01:11:25more appealing to me well some uh team one team is doing exceptionally well inside the top 10

01:11:30although there's several laps down on the race leaders but nonetheless it's been the most

01:11:34positive uh run they've had all year i'm talking about the wins team run by fred gibson and the two

01:11:40combinations of darren hossack and darren pate and newcomers and certainly new partners together

01:11:46david parsons and simon wills they're running eighth and ninth respectively so well done to

01:11:51the wins team here they are on screen now that's a great job this is darren hossack who you may

01:11:56remember who missed some of the season whereby they brought in thomas mazzera to try and get

01:12:00some direction in the team and just a little more feedback on what the car was doing because

01:12:04the two young guys were struggling a little bit i'll tell you what they're not struggling so badly

01:12:08today it's been a great effort by these young drivers

01:12:15an earlier incident now this is brad jones on board the minor 10 ford teamed up with mark

01:12:21larkin just spinning over on the back is a higher angle replay the hsv replay he's not used to uh

01:12:26two-wheel drive that's his problem yeah rear-wheel drive 600 horsepower in the v8 supercar never

01:12:34changed for bradley at sand down this weekend it's the first time he's put a wheel out of line

01:12:38all weekend though yeah tremendous job for stone brothers racing the minor 10 ford team now that

01:12:45that spin was actually quite costly because brad was sitting in the top 10 terry finnegan in the

01:12:50thomas mazzera densitron vt commodore has now gone into 10 so well done terry finnegan now this

01:12:57tremendous battle here for second position mark scaife closing on mcconville here's the battle

01:13:05took the stopwatches away it's visual there is second place michelle ford and there is third

01:13:09place the mobile commodore so mark scaife with these new bridgestones has really been flying

01:13:14the gap between mcconville and eagle down to one minute six seconds but right behind mark scaife

01:13:20is closing hand over fist on second place well also neil compton too because he's managed to

01:13:25work his way past cameron mcconville although he is a lap down on these guys look at scaife

01:13:30working hard but scaife still only uh one second slower than russell ingall so there's no chance

01:13:35he's going to catch him now for the lead you'll probably get second back but that's about best

01:13:39he's going to have today well it's going to take a mistake from russell ingall for mark scaife to

01:13:42get back into that leading position that the mobile holden racing team have held for so long

01:13:46this afternoon tyre performance just fell off dramatically which really turned the order around

01:13:50russell ingall leaping into the lead in the castrol commodore but now back on the attack

01:13:56fresh tyres on board filling up the mirrors of cameron mcconville shell ford well the best that

01:14:01mcconville has finished in the tickford 500 was back in 1993 when he shared the drive with dick

01:14:05johnson and john bow but they finished sixth so he wants so long as everything remains okay he's

01:14:10guaranteed of a top tier top three finish here it's been a great effort by young cameron and

01:14:15also john bow who had that tremendous stint early on yeah there has been some very heroic very

01:14:21skillful drives up and down this field and this is one of them look at this battle wayne gardner

01:14:26this is going to be great because these two mcconville and scaper both catching cromley

01:14:31and uh it's going to be interesting to see who's going to push you where and what and when and uh

01:14:35maybe it could be a group someone coming to greet you well this is it the battle for second and

01:14:39third and these are the uh the back two cars in this battle neil crumpton is sitting in fourth

01:14:44outright but here's a lap down that's your front car the ford credit falcon but this is it second

01:14:49and third the shell helix ford of cameron mcconville holding out the mobile one holden

01:14:53racing team of mark scape look at the mist flying that is just uh so tough and so scary well this

01:15:00is going to be a tremendous test of cameron mcconville's maturity found himself in this

01:15:04situation at bathurst when he debuted with the shell team back in 1993 under pressure from a

01:15:09closing competitor he made a mistake damaged the car and the glare of a national tv audience

01:15:15had to go home with his head hung low but he's fought his way back proved himself a very talented

01:15:19driver and this will be the ultimate test and if we look at the countdown there is less than 20

01:15:24minutes remaining in the 1998 tigfoot 500 here at sand out the leader russell ingall has well

01:15:30and truly bolted he is one minute eight seconds ahead oh look at this on the inside mcconville

01:15:35trying to come through now scape goes the outside of mcconville but he's got crompton in front now

01:15:40scape drafts cropton and he's through mark scape back into second spot like an absolute rocket did

01:15:46you see the driver that car out of that corner phenomenal stuff just got right up behind took

01:15:51two cars in the length of the straight takes prompting as well and mark scape fights his

01:15:54way back to second position now he's got one minute 10 seconds to make up on our race leader

01:15:59russell ingall well time is running out for him it's a tough ask one yeah it's a tough ask i think

01:16:05impossible for him to catch the leader but uh you know mark's done a good job and to pull it back

01:16:09into second place uh mcconville tried his best but that hrt car is very very fast in the straight

01:16:14line and obviously they've got good grip now because they've got some fresh tires on there

01:16:18well let's keep you up to date we'll go back through the field as well richards is sitting

01:16:21stephen richards in the pertec ford is sitting fifth behind prompt and noski has done a great

01:16:25job young mark noski in sixth then we go back to jason barguana we'll take a break here on

01:16:31your home of motorsport let's have a look at the uh at the rundown we got down as far as richards

01:16:36sitting in fifth position we go back in sixth we're talking about noski in the mobile one hrt

01:16:41cup then we go back barguana richards combination hossack then we go back to terry finnegan and

01:16:47parsons in 10th position 11 through 15 jones ashby tulip scott crick and crosswell and the girls

01:16:53brewer and price

01:17:0515 minutes to go in the tickford 500 for 1998 if you've just joined us the wet weather obviously

01:17:10has forced this down to time not lap so it's 15 minutes left and russell engel has never finished

01:17:15worse than seventh here in four starts he was second last year looks like he's going to go

01:17:20one better with a lead of one minute nine seconds now he's pulled another second on mark scape

01:17:24who's had a miserable time at sandow for the last three years but was a winner here back in 1989

01:17:29with jimmy richards in an instant skyline i'll have a look at that face that is the enforcer

01:17:34face he sort of scrunched his face up gets that sideways look there he goes that's uh that is

01:17:41distinctly rustling a little bit of oversteer there has a quick look in the mirror things are

01:17:45okay though very determined look sky some great overseas experience not only was the australian

01:17:52formula four champ he was the 1993 british formula four champ and the formula four festival champion

01:17:59britney did some european formula three races in fact he you know went to macau raced against the

01:18:05likes of david coulthard and rubens barrichello kicks around with the many of the international

01:18:10stars he used to live with tom christensen who was a team bmw driver at the lemont 24 hour this

01:18:16year and uh many years ago it was the man who's sitting beside me wayne gardner and wayne gardner

01:18:21racing who in fact gave him his first v8 supercar drive brought him back from the uk absolutely but

01:18:26before that you mentioned tom christensen or tom's driven with me in the gd uh toyota sports cars in

01:18:31japan and tom's a very good driver as well there's russell's face um but how's the tape on the nose

01:18:36it makes his nose look bigger than what it really is how's the nose russell well it'll be feeling

01:18:43just fine because it's going to be a winner's nose today so long as nothing unfortunate happens

01:18:48we are winding down just 13 minutes to go in the 1998 tickford 500 a very good tactical decision

01:18:55by perkins engineering they called russell in while a pace car while the safety car was out

01:19:00on the circuit they put fresh rubber on and just a splash of fuel he returned and just

01:19:05crawled clawed his way back got up with scape mark scape tried to stay with him but scape's

01:19:11tires were going and russell ingall blasted past to the extent that he's now added another second

01:19:16and he is now one minute 10 seconds in front well he's going away and he's even doing 25s

01:19:22i mean he's two seconds quicker than everybody else at the moment russell so you know this new

01:19:25generation dunlop tires must be very very good and uh you know larry's certainly no fool uh he's a

01:19:31clever man and um obviously russell's talents together they're an unbeatable package at the

01:19:36moment and i'm very pleased to see they're going to win well it's just interesting that yesterday

01:19:40i was mentioned this earlier way while you were out there driving i was talking to larry yesterday

01:19:44i said you know you always get all the big raps you know they say you're an enduro specialist do

01:19:48you consider yourself that you know do you think that about yourself and he still didn't want to

01:19:52come outside he said look all i'll say is that if everybody in this team do their job including

01:19:57and russell there's no reason why we shouldn't win and i mean that's come true today well larry

01:20:03puts together a very good patching package he's a very good engineer he puts together a very very

01:20:07good race car in fact the new vt i think is a is a horn looking race car and um of course and a

01:20:13tactician you know he's a clever man as well and as i said with two good driving talents larry's

01:20:18and russell jeez they're a good package they're at the moment an unbeatable package and they're

01:20:22going to be really hard to beat at bathurst you mentioned before about larry perkins being a

01:20:26brilliant engineer and turkins engineering at marabin here in victoria they have some 1400

01:20:32drawings what i mean by that is that they manufacture themselves 1400 different parts

01:20:39that go on a car from well anything from exhaust pipes to to to wheel nuts to whatever you like

01:20:46i like the way larry does it you know he's a very clever man but he does it with uh cost in

01:20:51in mind and most of the other teams particularly hrt where their budgets you know as big as it

01:20:56wants to be uh they just buy in the biggest and the best parts where larry does it with a really

01:21:00cost effectively and i think he's a very clever man so you know i kind of think he's a bit of the

01:21:04underdog team out there and it's good to see him go on to win well plenty of fans no doubt about

01:21:08that as russell comes up on the back of neil crompton and crompton uh i imagine it's just

01:21:13going to give him some racing room and allow russell past he knows the situation at the

01:21:17moment as russell makes the inside move on neil who's done very well he's sitting there in fourth

01:21:22position at the moment well he nearly let him through it wasn't quite just want to give him a

01:21:26reminder look what i've done for you you owe me and single scape mcconville they are your top three

01:21:33and they are the only on the only drivers on the lead lap that's how it stands at the moment

01:21:39we are winding down but russell engel isn't just yet he leads the way quite convincingly crofton

01:21:44is two laps down and he sits back in fourth position and steve richard's still behind the

01:21:48wheel of the pertec board we go back to six and mark noski has done a tremendous job along with

01:21:53his teammate murphy we go back to barguana and the rest of the field follow through

01:22:008 30 monday you're watching the 1998 tickford 500 live on your home of motorsport network 10

01:22:07there is just six minutes remaining a little over six to the end of this race and you're

01:22:11watching the second place car the mobile one holden racing team combination of mark scafe

01:22:17and craig lounge lounge did an excellent effort so to escape to say a tactical decision has beaten

01:22:23them here today and it was a superior one by the perkins engineering outfit they brought russell

01:22:28engel in during a safety car situation put fresh rubber on he was able to blast his way past mark

01:22:35scafe who in turn has done a great job to fight back get past shell helix's cameron mcconville

01:22:41who is now back in third and they are the only three guys on the lead lap mark scafe hasn't

01:22:45given up mind you but russell engel as is equal to the task and he has extended the lead yet

01:22:50another four seconds can you believe it wayne gardner to one minute 15 he's not giving up until

01:22:55the chequered flag comes out well he must be doing it reasonably easy as i said i think it's a lot to

01:22:59say for the dunlop tires they've obviously got a new cut as larry said and a new rubber as well and

01:23:05really it says everything that dunlop's beaten bridgestone today it's without a doubt and he's

01:23:10leading the race and still going away it's still being conserved in his driving so

01:23:14it's a lot of credit a lot of credit to dunlop and larry and the whole team so

01:23:17and obviously good drivers as well evan larry and russell they've both uh you know done a

01:23:21fantastic job today well it's a nice return to australia for this young guy stephen richards

01:23:25in the pertec ford sharing it with jason bright stephen is now living in the uk he's moved from

01:23:33melbourne over there he's basing himself over there where he is the official factory nissan

01:23:38test driver for the british touring car championship he's learned a lot he's come

01:23:42back he finished fifth here last year and he's in exactly that same position again this year

01:23:46he's doing very well maybe he's used to this weather now live in england um that's probably

01:23:50why he's driving so well today but uh look he's since he's been in the car here all weekend he's

01:23:55been very fast um i think he's impressed the stone brothers i think no doubt and

01:24:00he's they're going to be a very hard package and a very hard team to beat about this yeah

01:24:04at the fai 1000 coming up november 14 and 15 i was talking to jim stone just uh half of the

01:24:11stone brothers combination brothers jim and ross stone run this car and also the mark larkham

01:24:15outfit and jimmy was saying that uh the difference he has seen between in stephen from when he left

01:24:22our shores he's now a test driver for the factory nissan outfit in the uk he's come back he said he

01:24:26just totally understands the uh you know setting up a car a lot better and the value of setting up

01:24:32a car and just the whole situation he said his understanding is fantastic and have a look at

01:24:36him go the two young guys sitting in fifth position well he's been thrown into the deep

01:24:40in there with nissan obviously um you know running the works cars over there he's a test

01:24:44driver for them he's he's been put pressure on to give him back information and he's had to go out

01:24:48and think all about at least so you know um he's learned a lot from it and you can see now the

01:24:53results and you know he's a lot more methodical in the whole system less than four minutes left

01:24:58to run three minutes 50 to be precise here's your third place car cameron mcconville he's

01:25:03done a great job as well michelle helix ford sharing this with john bow and it was an unfortunate

01:25:08situation for this car's teammate i'm talking about dick and stephen johnson in the number 17

01:25:15shell helix ford they exited earlier where well dick was having some problems whereby he didn't

01:25:20have a windscreen wiper working and visibility i mean it's cleared up a lot now wayne uh and

01:25:24dick came in contact with a uh one of the privateers i think it was who was spinning on the

01:25:29entry to the main straight dick had nowhere to go and just nailed him and too much damage on

01:25:33the front end i think cameron's done an outstanding job as you know um he's uh baptism to the shell

01:25:39team previously he had a big shun of bathurst and uh i think he's driven today with a lot of maturity

01:25:43he drives the outing very very well and um you can see now the results now he's uh uh he knew

01:25:49when to back off uh from that um from that scrap escape and you know i think he's using his head

01:25:55and uh that's the sort of good uh driving stuff that you need for bathurst that's what's all about

01:26:00speaking of using your head how about this young guy 24 year old mark noski third in this year's

01:26:04australian drivers championship in the formula holden category has done very well in adverse

01:26:10conditions i mean it's been tough for everybody and everybody is uh they're driving on the same

01:26:14track and in the same conditions for this boy well i shouldn't call him a boy this young guy

01:26:18hasn't had much experience in a v8 supercar at all he partnered jason bargwalla last year

01:26:23they were in wet conditions here at sandown also but he didn't get much of a driving at bathurst

01:26:27he didn't get any besides qualifying and practice he didn't get any part of the race

01:26:33unfortunately jason bargwana crashed the holden young lions entry coming out of forest elbow so

01:26:38time has been limited in this car but he's partnered greg murphy well and they're heading

01:26:43for a sixth place finish for 24 years of age he's uh shown a lot of maturity today mark noski and um

01:26:49hasn't been off the track the car's still clean hasn't had a touch with anybody and

01:26:53anyone who survives today's conditions really um you know deserves a good result well exactly well

01:26:58here's some pleasing news john faulkner has soldiered on to work his way up into 17th position

01:27:04just ahead of him and second place privateer on the control tire it's mick donahurn a great effort

01:27:11the ultra tune carton and as julia russell's wife haven't been married a long time look at her she's

01:27:18just uh hanging on she's riding with him she's thinking about the shopping on monday that's what

01:27:23she's thinking with the prize money i've heard she likes to shop to shop till she drops russell well

01:27:31he's thinking about other things at the moment he's counting down because we are getting very

01:27:34close like literally minutes away from the finish of the 98 tickford 500 now this is a very special

01:27:41moment because russell and larry together have never won a tickford 500 they were runners up

01:27:47last year of course larry is two times winner the last time that he tasted victory here was it back

01:27:54in 1992 with steve harrington and these guys really are establishing themselves as the enduro kings

01:28:01here in australia would you argue with that there's no doubt on that um you know larry's very

01:28:06good he's uh as i said a good engineer good package he's got together and um he just thinks

01:28:10the whole thing out really well and you know he pitted uh russell at the right time threw some

01:28:14new rubber at him which the dunlop have been bragging about all week and of course um just

01:28:19topped her up with fuel and sent russell on his way and he's got a lot of faith in russell as you

01:28:24can see how good a driver is i rate him now as probably the best uh touring car driver in this

01:28:29country right now russell eagle so next year i've got my money on him for the championship win well

01:28:34it's going to be interesting on the uh on the control tires he came here in 1994 and drove

01:28:40went percy that's right he drove for us in the first season we brought him back from the uk and

01:28:45of course uh he put in a good show that year and uh larry spotted him out of that and uh picked

01:28:50him up and had him driving for him yeah for the following season since then he's been with larry

01:28:55till this day and as you can see he's just matured uh you know he's got larry's brains behind it as

01:29:00far as their car setup and engineering and you know what a combination they've got now so really

01:29:05congratulations really to the whole team um but both of them are fantastic drivers but really

01:29:10russell i've got my money on him as i said well if you look at russell eagles form in the tickford

01:29:14500 over the past few years in 94 as we said he drove with win percy he finished seventh that was

01:29:20with the wayne gardner racing outfit for the following three years he was with larry perkins

01:29:24and the results are as follows fifth in 95 fifth in 96 second last year just gets better every year

01:29:31they are going to win the 1998 tickford 500 we go on board with russell ingall

01:29:37that determined look hasn't gone away there's those eyes again

01:29:41and that nose as well the enforcer eyes we'll call them yeah he's um he's doing a great job i just

01:29:48can't say enough about him i really rate him a lot and as i said uh you know i'd say oh don't say too

01:29:54much now before the end of the race that might break but larry's cars are pretty much bulletproof

01:29:58so they'll they'll bring it over one piece well there it is the checkered flag russell

01:30:02ingall and larry perkins wins the 1998 tickford 500 here at sandown there's the team there is

01:30:08larry the boss oh good on you a great job look at russell he doesn't mind showing his emotion

01:30:16he's pretty happy with why shouldn't he they've done a great job fantastic job and they deserve

01:30:20the victory a great win for castrol perkins russell ingall there he is punching the air

01:30:26and we'll be delighted an extremely satisfying moment it's really nice to see enthusiasm from

01:30:32drivers like that some drivers just win and drive around go yeah that was great but russell really

01:30:36shows what it's all about and that's nice because uh it just comes across good it comes across like

01:30:41a great sportsman and uh and russell is he tries very very hard and uh he shows that when he wins

01:30:47well the perkins outfit saw the window of opportunity when the safety car were there

01:30:51they brought russell in they whacked on the new tires and the rest speaks for itself russell

01:30:58ingall and larry perkins the 1998 tickford 500 winners take nothing away from the mobile one

01:31:04holden racing team because they put in a very good fight in fact for most of the race they

01:31:09led the way mark scaife finishing a great second spot and here he comes the checkered flag is out

01:31:14some one minute 14 seconds behind nonetheless a great result that was a good effort considering

01:31:21they were in big trouble at one stage and uh you know i have to eat my words i said they should

01:31:25have stayed out there but possibly it was the correct decision to pit and throw some rubber

01:31:29out and they pulled themselves back up to second now coming across the line right there and a great

01:31:34result for him well for both of them and the team the shell helix team john bowe cameron mcconville

01:31:39come across the line third well done to cameron a great drive there as i said earlier cameron's

01:31:45really matured a lot and uh that two liter racing's done him good and um you know he's

01:31:49he's got a great result today on the roster we're back with russell ingall how happy is he good work

01:31:58as he cruises around well there will be a party tonight he likes to celebrate

01:32:02they partied big time last year after winning bathurst and i joined him and i'll tell you

01:32:08russell does know how to party and it will be happening here in his hometown of melbourne well

01:32:14originally an adelaide boy but now lives in melbourne

01:32:18and uh well what a satisfying moment well certainly puts him in good shape for bathurst

01:32:22yeah they'll be looking pretty good and of course they'll be up at indy as well and um

01:32:27you know a pretty hard team to beat at the moment of which russell goes very well at indy

01:32:31now look at look at the fans running across to the uh to the podium there's still cars out on

01:32:38the track here comes russell he's going to be swapped there he is he won't be able to get out

01:32:42of the car they'll clear him away so russell can get out what a moment for this guy second was his

01:32:50best result with his teammate larry perkins now he'll get on the car oh yeah what a win

01:32:59that's great that's great loving it really good to see enthusiasm from drivers you know because

01:33:05they put in a lot and it's great to show you know what they put in and uh it's fantastic i love it

01:33:11well i don't think russell knows where to go and the fans are right there with him

01:33:16we'll be getting on the podium real soon

01:33:20as the weather uh in fact it looks like the rain has dropped stopped

01:33:24well barry sheen what a moment for russell ingall

01:33:40well uh russell ingall they're talking with barry we'll try and go back to that uh just amazing

01:33:47scenes on the main straight well here we go it is perkins and ingall that will stand the tallest on

01:33:52the podium in for a great win from the loundscape combination bowen mcconville in for third from

01:33:58seton and crompton we go back to fifth it was bright and richards a great result there for

01:34:02those guys burpee and noski in six and we go back to barguana and richards kossak and pate in eight

01:34:09that's a terrific result for the wins boys his uh teammate parsons and wills back in tenth mazira

01:34:14and finnegan the new vt for thomas in ninth well done larkin and jones hung on for 11th ahead of

01:34:20reed and ashby the top privateers on the control tire crick and croswell brewer and price the girls

01:34:26in 14 donahurn linstrom in 15 back to 16 tool and scott faulkner and kelly gee they sold it on for

01:34:3317 wilmington and emmers edie's emery and crick and 20 was tratton jones barry sheen yes i'm here

01:34:40russell doesn't get any better than that don't say what you said last time no no i won't barry that

01:34:44was with you too now look the team did a great job and i mean larry handed me the car in either

01:34:49second or third position from tenth so he did his part and i'd like to thank him for having faith in

01:34:53me leaving me in the car but look but we the team made the right tire choice put the right wets on

01:34:59at the right time at that last place car and as a right decision and like uh they've won me

01:35:03the race they've won us the race so the team with no palm trees wins again absolutely look at the

01:35:08palm trees barry i'll take these wins any day great i'm really pleased for you and uh you've

01:35:13got a bit of support here russell no no it's really great look uh this is the first time

01:35:16i've won the sand out 500 and uh geez i hope it's not the last okay best of luck thanks thanks

01:35:22well i don't think it will be the last time we see russell ingall stand

01:35:28number one on the podium time to go for a break

01:35:30we'll be back here at the ticket 500 to wrap things up right after this

01:35:33you're watching race promoter john davison there with the ticket 500 trophy in his hot

01:35:52little hand very shortly it'll be in the hands of the castrol commodore team of russell ingall

01:35:58and larry perkins marvelous performance there by the team that of course won what is now the fai

01:36:061000 classic last year cameron mcconville great performance to get third behind the mobile hrt

01:36:12commodore of mark scaife great motorsport coming up for you on network 10 this is the first of a

01:36:20long series of events we're going to philip island next saturday october 3 it all starts don't forget

01:36:26that early start on sunday the 4th of october 10 o'clock we're showing the marvelous documentary

01:36:32mighty mig doing and could he go a step further to taking title number five at philip island

01:36:37the carp world series continues honda indy live from surfers paradise again two days of action

01:36:42starting in midday on saturday and at 11 a.m on sunday for the race itself the fai 1000 classic

01:36:48from mount panorama in bathurst saturday the 14th of november remember that new time it will conclude

01:36:55a dramatic season of motorsport in australia sunday november 15 is race day and we'll be on air

01:37:00from seven o'clock in the morning marvelous motorsport action coming up but we've started

01:37:05it all here with a tremendous performance from the castrol commodore team right now talking

01:37:12to trevor ashby and steve reid who took the control tire category here performance for

01:37:18mcdonagher to take second place very tough day at the office here at sandown with terrifying

01:37:23conditions out there and i mean that virtually no visibility of times you can see there are a few

01:37:29holden supporters gathered around the podium as uh john bow steps up he and mccamber mcconville

01:37:34receiving their trophy for third place mark scape and of course the winner russell ingle filling the

01:37:40top two placings for commodore but there's no doubt given the placing of mcconville and the

01:37:44good drive from neil crompton teaming with glenn seeding today that ford is back and will be a force

01:37:49on the mountain on behalf of the commentary team and the entire crew

01:37:52here at sandown it's goodbye from the ticket 500 in 1998

01:38:20so

01:38:35just

01:38:50so

01:39:01we can

01:39:19you

Sandown 500 1998 - V8 Supercars - Race part 2

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