Australian Motor Racing Series V8 Giants Latest News

Category Calendar Available for Download

Click the icon to the right to view the 2008 V8 Giants / AASA Australian Touring Car Championship calendar. Right click and select "save as" to download a copy of the file.

March 1-2 - WAKEFIELD PARK (NSW)
April 25-27 - CALDER PARK (VIC)
May 17-18 - QUEENSLAND RACEWAY
June 14-15 - WINTON RACEWAY (VIC)
July 26-27 - ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (SA)
August 30-31 - CALDER PARK (VIC)
September 27-28 - QUEENSLAND RACEWAY
November 1-2 - WINTON RACEWAY (VIC)
November 29-30 - WAKEFIELD PARK (NSW)

The AMRS Endurance Championship has been officially announced, and will take place at Goulburn's Wakefield Park, 27-28 October.

The event will be a gruelling 300km around the technical Wakefield Park circuit, and will feature cars from a variety of AMRS categories, including:

Each car will have at least one driver change during the event, and may be driven by up to three drivers over the course of the 300km. Subclasses within the event will be established for cars based on the refuelling method used, with classes for timed fuel stops (where cars must pit for a fixed period of time) and classes for churned fuel stops (where cars pit for as long as it takes to fuel the car).

Further details will be announced soon. To find out now if your car is eligible, contact the AMRS: rod@amrs.net.au or garry@amrs.net.au

With thanks to AMRS supporter, Brenton Bachelor, we bring you this video of the first corner incident from Race One at Winton Raceway. Darren Formosa's car was unfortunately badly damaged in this incident, and the AMRS team wish him the best in repairing the car to race-ready condition.

South Australian driver Tom Drewer has taken the round victory in the V8 Giants category at Round 6 of the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) held at the Winton circuit in Victoria at the weekend (August 25-26).

Drewer, driving a Garry Willmington owned Ford Falcon AU, followed up his pole position set on Saturday with outstanding debut performances in all three races to take the round win in a day of incident packed racing.

‘To win in the V8 Giants category first time out is something of a dream come true, but I knew I could run at the front following our qualifying performance and my main aim was to finish all three races to get the ‘seat time’ I need in these cars’, an elated Drewer said after the presentation.

The AMRS Series regulations provide for one scratch and two reverse grid time penalty events and in Race 1 Drewer took the top grid spot but lost his advantage with a little too much wheel spin off the start.

‘I guess I just had a too much throttle position on the car, but that is what racing experience teaches you’, the young driver remarked after taking second in the event that was red-flagged and re-started as a result of a first corner incident that saw the Holden VX Supercar of Darren Formosa crash heavily.

‘My launch in the re-start was better but not good enough to hold out the Falcon of (John) Vergotis and while I monstered him for the entire race I could not find a way past. Still it was a great result’.

The first of the reverse grid handicap events saw Drewer off the back of the grid by virtue of his fastest qualifying time and it was this race that was to be the defining event in terms of taking the round win.

Drewer carved through the field to finish in 6 th position, but importantly passed his main rivals Amin Chahda (BA Falcon), Scott Loadsman (Commodore VY), and the Falcons of Darren Saillard and John Vergotis gaining valuable meeting points.

The final event of the day, also a reverse grid time penalty affair, saw Drewer cross the line in third behind Saillard and Loadsman, but he was given a 30 second time penalty and relegated to fourth following an incident while making a pass on Vergotis.

‘There was slight contact between the cars but when I went for the pass there was a gap and my version is that (John) Vergotis tightened things up when I was alongside. Anyway you have to accept the umpires decision’, Drewer said after the stewards hearing that resulted in the penalty being applied.

Summing up the weekend Drewer, whose only previous V8 experience was one start in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series earlier in the year, said it was both ‘character and confidence building’.

‘I know for sure that I can handle these cars and keep on improving, and driving and working with a Bathurst legend like Garry (Willmington) was fantastic’, Drewer said.

South Australian driver Tom Drewer has taken pole position in the Garry Willmington Ford Falcon AU ahead of tomorrow’s (Sunday August 26) Round 7 of the V8 Giants category in the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) being conducted at the Winton circuit in Victoria.

In a frantic 20 minute qualifying session Drewer recorded the fastest time with a lap of 1minute 28.0138 seconds putting him .2369 seconds ahead of John Vergotis, also in a Falcon.

Third fastest was Darren Formosa (Holden VX) with Scott Loadsman (Holden Commodore VY) in fourth with only little over half a second covering the top four cars.

Drewer had the fastest time for the earlier part of the session but Vergotis then put in a quicker lap forcing Drewer to have another ‘hot run’ to regain the pole position with only minutes remaining before the chequered flag.

‘It was a great feeling to put the car on pole. I hadn’t driven it prior to yesterday but I was fastest in practice this morning and also being fastest in qualifying means that I have ticked two of the boxes for the weekend’, an elated Drewer said after the session.

‘Racing is a different matter however so all the hard work starts again tomorrow. Its very pleasing though that I was able to repay some of the faith Garry Willmington has in me allowing me to drive his car’, Drewer added.

Today’s result came after just one prior drive of a V8 Supercar when Drewer drove the Prodigy Motorsport Falcon in round 2 of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Championship Series at Wakefield Park earlier in the year.

Drewer, who is currently leading the Thundersports Championship in the American built WEST WR1000 owned by Greg Steer, said today that ‘seat time’ was essential in his quest to get a regular drive in V8’s.

‘They are a challenging car to drive at the very limit and every lap in one helps to acclimatise. I can’t thank Garry (Willmington) enough for the opportunity.’

South Australian hotshot, Tom Drewer is set to join the Australian Motor Racing Series V8 Giants ranks at Winton at the end of August.

Drewer is the winner of numerous SA state Go Karting titles, the 2002 FVee Rookie of the Year, and runner up in the 2002 FVee championship, the 2003 Peter Wright Memorial driver of the year, 2004 Saloon Car rookie of the year, 9 th in the 2005 Australian Saloon Car Championship, winner of the 2006 Thunder Sports 1400cc Prototype class, and currently leading the 2007 Thunder Sports championship outright.

He is best known in the AMRS for his dominating performances in the Thunder Sports category at the wheel of the WEST D prototype car, where he regularly carves his way through the field after a handicap start.

Drewer will drive Garry Willmington’s AU Falcon V8 Giant, and has said he is “really looking forward to driving the 630hp V8 Giant”.

To see Drewer in action, head to Winton 25 - 26 th August, 2007. For all the latest news and information on the V8 Giants category, and the AMRS in general, visit the official website: www.amrs.net.au

Since January 2007, the Australian Motor Racing Series website has had over 4 million hits. 226,000 pages on the AMRS site have been viewed in that period. Over 40 gigabytes of data have been downloaded from the site in that time.

There is a new and improved look planned for the site in the near future, but the thing that keeps visitors coming back is content. And largely, www.amrs.net.au relies on you for that content.

Results, championship standings, event details and entry forms are taken care of internally, we upload photos when they are available, but with just under 200 competitors having taken part in the AMRS so far in 2007, it is simply not possible for www.amrs.net.au to write stories on each and every competitor.

For the competitors, it means that we're relying on you to provide press releases or content you would like included on the site. To get your message across to the plentiful visitors to the site, you need to supply information and photos to the site - you have the opportunity to get additional exposure for your sponsors, and potentially catch the eye of new sponsors who might be visiting the site.

For the fans, if you have a story you'd like to share about your experience at an Australian Motor Racing Series round, send it in, and we'll include suitable stories on the site. If you have photos you'd like to see on the site, send them too, and if you have your own online photo album you'd like us to link to we can add it to the links page.

For everyone, if you have suggestions for the site, or something new you would like to see included, send it through. Now is the time for innovations to be incorporated into the next generation of www.amrs.net.au

To all those competitors who have been supplying content for the site, we thank you, and look forward to receiving more. To those planning to submit more content to the site, thank you.

HUNT TAKES V8 GIANTS ROUND WIN

For Shane Hunt Racing, Round 5 of the the Australian Touring Car Challenge proved to be an eventful one. After breaking third gear in practice Shane had to adapt to driving his AU V8 Giant with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on the gear stick, so qualifying proved to be a handful but the first race went well and everything was looking up.

During race 2 the Hunt Racing Team wasn't so lucky, getting hit by a spinning Monaro causing a lot of damage. Shane skillfully managed to get the AU Giant home securing first place in the V8 Giant class.

"I was looking forward to Wakefield as I know the track well and hold the lap record there in a HQ holden, so to take a class win in my third attempt was great. I couldn't have done it without my sponsor's, Fracht Australia, Sabagraphics, Charsam Corporate Wear and a special thanks to the PowerPlus 98 team" said Shane.

Southern Highlands based driver Richard Huer is confident that strong results are on the cards for his assault on the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) this weekend (July 14 - 15) as round five of the Australian Motor Racing Series heads into Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway.

In only his first year of competition in the newly formed V8 Giants class, Huer is banking on his previous success at the 2.2km country NSW circuit to bring on a championship turnaround. Having competed there on numerous occasions during his 10 years behind the wheel of a 3.3 Litre Holden Kingswood, the added advantage of racing at a familiar circuit is sure to pay dividends.

Spending the first half of the year coming to grips with the transition into his Advanced Refrigeration supported #40 V8 powered Mitsubishi Magna, Huer now heads into the latest round confident of taking his on-track skill into the top half of the field to dice with the series leaders.

“I’m looking forward to racing at Wakefield Park because it’s a track I know really well,” said an enthused Huer.

“For most of the year I’ve been learning the tracks as well as the handling of the car. But knowing the tricks of getting a good lap around here will take away the burden of having to learn something extra and let me concentrate on working through the field.

“I’ve been slowly coming to grips with the car and finding its limits but we’ve got a good package now and just look forward to race day. The circuit can be a bit of a handful with the tight corners and the fast straight and the key is qualifying up the front. A lot of fast cars will be able to do that more so than us but once the handicapping rules kick in for the last two races, we are confident of competitively racing in the top five by the end of the weekend.”

It was a weekend of much adversity for Darren Saillard, he managed to reach Queensland Raceway (Ipswich, Queensland) to compete in the fourth round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) last weekend (June 16 and 17) and claim valuable points towards his championship lead.

After two attempts to reach the Queensland Raceway circuit from his home of Canberra in the ACT, due to two separate road incidents, Saillard looked to miss the fourth round and perhaps damage his chances of championship victory. However, thanks to a huge act of generosity from fellow racer and ATCC director, Garry Willmington, Saillard was able to compete in Willmington’s AU Ford Falcon V8 Giant in the V8 Giants class of the ATCC after his normal car was unable to make the trip.

“I certainly never thought after the two incidents on the road that I would make it up to Queensland Raceway and I thought there and then that my championship hopes were dashed,” confessed Saillard

“It goes without saying that without the support of Garry [Willmington] and his team I wouldn’t have been able to race, and their generosity is well beyond the call of duty, and for that I cannot thank everyone enough for what has been an amazing weekend on so many different levels.”

Running in an unfamiliar car on a track he has never previously been on, Saillard still managed to adapt quickly to his new surrounds by qualifying second and subsequently dominate the opening race of the weekend. In the two handicapped races, Saillard found the going a little tough and after suffering the loss of clutch in race two where he struggled off the start line to eventually finish in tenth place, and in the third race he managed to finish in a strong third place, only for the race officials to deem that he had passed under a yellow flag and therefore was given a 15 second penalty which put him back to ninth place. Overall for the round, Saillard finished in seventh spot, but it most certainly could have been a lot higher had it not been for his unlucky race two and three results.

“Despite being disappointed with the end result to the weekend, I can’t really be complaining too much, as if all truth I really shouldn’t have been at this round,” Saillard said.

“The AU Ford Falcon V8 Giant was an awesome car to drive, and it didn’t take too long to come to grips with it, and there was plenty of progress throughout the weekend, and I’m very pleased with how we came through the weekend and scored some valuable points towards the championship.”

Although his point’s gap has been narrowed, Saillard maintains his lead in the ATCC Championship.

The fifth round of the ATCC will be held at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway on July 14 – 15.

Saillard is proudly sponsored in 2007 by Hayters Sawmill and Timber Products and Abel’s Smash Repairs.

Queensland Raceway with its long straights has always favoured the V8 powered cars in the Touring Car Challenge, and this trend has continued in qualifying for Round 4 of the 2007 Championship.

John Vergotis proved the class of the field, driving his AU Falcon V8 Supercar into pole position, with a 1m15.0s lap, surpassing the pole time from last year by 3 tenths of a second (and beating his own previous personal best by a whopping one and a half seconds!). Lining up next to Vergotis will be Darren Saillard, who suffered some terrible luck on the trip to Queensland - his tow rig was involved in a accident, and whilst his EL Falcon V8 Supercar was not damaged, he was left with no way to get the car to Queensland. Garry Willmington came to the rescue though, handing the keys to his AU Falcon V8 Giant to Saillard, to allow him to continue his quest for the championship (which he currently leads). Saillard set a time just 2 tenths behind Vergotis. Next up is Scott Loadsman, in a Holden V8 Supercar, and next to him is Darren Formosa in his VX Commodore V8 Supercar. Amin Chahda proved quickest of the Future Tourers putting his BA Falcon in 6th, after Philip Groeneveld set the early pace. Top of the Super Tourer pile is Daniel Natoli, qualifying 10th outright.

With a quality field, and quality weather forecast for Sunday, the Touring Car Challenge is sure to provide plenty of action packed racing. The first race gets underway at 8.30am, with the second race around 10.15am, and the finale at 2.15pm. Get yourself to Queensland Raceway, just outside Ipswich to catch all the action.

2005 Australian Touring Car Challenge champion, Garry Willmington, is set to return to the highly competitive field, this time in the category he helped to create - V8 Giants.

Willmington's latest acquisition, an AU Falcon V8 Giant, powered by a 5-litre pushrod V8 and weighing in at 1300kg, has been piloted previously by young guns Brad Lowe and George Miedecke. Lowe took outright honours in the car at Round One, and Miedecke performed extremely well, in his first outing in such a high-calibre machine. And now Garry has decided to take the wheel himself. Despite having tested the car, Willmington is yet to race it, and Round 4 of the Australian Touring Car Challenge will be his first race for over 12 months, his last outing was in the ATCC in an older model EL Falcon for Round One of the 2006 Championship.

The inclusion of Willmington comes as the V8 Giants category is starting to take off, with its biggest field yet set to take the grid at Queensland Raceway. Willmington will be joined by the EL Falcon of Shelton Loughrey, the V8-powered Mitsubishi Magna of Richard Huer, plus the 4.6 litre Ford Mustang Cobra R vacated by Sam Dale (now on overseas duties) set to be taken over by former Super Touring competitor Neil Byers. There are also a couple of Holden V8 Giants set to join the bulging fields - the details of these cars will be announced in the coming weeks.

There are also some very exciting cars being built for the category, with the names BMW and Monaro being whispered around the paddock. Stay tuned for more news on these cars.

Round Four of the Australian Motor Racing Series heads to Queensland Raceway 16-17 June. The V8 Giants and Touring Car Challenge will be joined by a diverse range of other categories - head to the official AMRS website for all the info: www.amrs.net.au

In what was only the fourth occasion that a Future Tourer driver has scored an overall round victory in the history of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC), Amin Chahda, driving his GT BA Ford Falcon, took out proceedings at Winton Motor Raceway during the running of the third round last weekend (April 28 – 29).

It was a case of deja-vu as at the corresponding round last year it was fellow Future Tourer competitor Ray Sidebottom (VX Holden Commodore) that claimed the round honours at Winton Motor Raceway, and this year it was Chahda who took all before him by finishing seventh in race one, second and fifth in race two and three and being the highest placed Future Tourer in two out of the three races gave him enough points to claim a maiden round victory ahead of V8 Supercar rivals John Vergotis (AU Ford Falcon) and Darren Saillard (EL Ford Falcon).

The son of the 1987 Bathurst 1000 winner Peter McLeod, Ryan, made his first appearance of the year and the second ever in the ATCC. Driving a VY Holden Commodore V8 Supercar powered by a newly built Les Small engine McLeod topped the time sheets in qualifying on Saturday afternoon with a best lap of 1:27.9522 ahead of Vergotis (1:28.4221) and Saillard (1:28.5775) who completed the top three, and they were followed by Chahda and rookie ATCC driver Shane Hunt in his AU Falcon V8 Supercar in fifth. Ford Mustang V8 Giant entrant Sam Dale (sixth), Daniel Natoli (eighth) and David Gardner (Group A) were the best of their respective classes, V8 Giants – Super Tourers and Group A, in the qualifying session.

Drivers to come to grief in qualifying were Brett Hobson who suffered engine failure in the Matthew Hunt owned VS Holden Commodore V8 Supercar, AU Falcon V8 Supercar racer Peter Vicary (gearbox), whilst Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer) succumbed to clutch failure in practice. After dominating practice on Saturday morning Darren Formosa (VX Holden Commodore V8 Supercar) had an off track excursion on the opening laps of qualifying and that caused extensive damage to the undercarriage of the ex Imrie Motorsport car.

McLeod was able to carry his qualifying pace in the opening race (5-laps scratch race format) and crossed the line first under wet weather conditions where the use of wet weather tyres came into play. However, McLeod’s joy was short-lived when race officials handed him a 15 second penalty for jumping the start, and that put him back to fifth place. With a Speedway background, where sideways is the norm, Darren Saillard led the field for the majority of the race, right up until the final corners when he had an off which allowed both McLeod then Vergotis through and pushed Saillard back to third. With McLeod penalised, Vergotis was handed the win ahead of Saillard and Dale, with Natoli fourth, McLeod, a rear of grid starting Formosa, Chahda, Gardner, Andrew Gillespie (XR8 AU Falcon Future Tourer), and in tenth was Philip Groeneveld (VS Holden Commodore Future Tourer).

For the start of the second race (7-laps handicapped format) the entire field had switched to slick tyres as leading up to the race the rain had abated, and the circuit had dried. Many teams wondered if they had it all wrong as the rain started to come down as the cars entered the circuit, but the rain was not heavy enough to warrant wet tyres. As the race got underway, Dale was out at the end of the first lap as his Mustangs differential broke on the startline, but it was Groeneveld that showed his rivals a clean pair of heels, after getting by early pace setter James Henderson (EL Ford Falcon V8 Supercar), and he ended up defeating fellow Future Tourer rival Chahda and Natoli in second and third respectively. Gillespie placed in fourth followed by Vergotis, Saillard (who had suffered two spins), Formosa, Richard Huer (V8 Mitsubishi Magna Future Tourer), Stephen Southgate (VS Holden Commodore Future Tourer) and Hunt in tenth place. Throughout the race a number of drivers were caught out running slick tyres on a dampened circuit, and it resulted in outright round contender McLeod failing to finish after coming off the circuit on the sixth lap and failing to finish.

Henderson held a considerable lead over the field for the opening four laps of the third and final race (9-laps handicapped format) up until Chahda arrived on the scene and took control of the race lead. The lead of Chahda lasted up until lap seven when eventual race winner McLeod blasted by and from there he was never headed taking the victory ahead of Saillard and Vergotis. Formosa finished in fourth place, with Chahda, Henderson, Groeneveld, Gillespie, Natoli and Huer making up the top ten finishers in the field. The only non-finisher from the third race was Hunt who retired on lap three due to mechanical dramas.

Class winners for the round were Vergotis (V8 Supercars), Natoli (Super Tourers), Chahda (Future Tourers), Gardner (Group A), and Huer (V8 Giants).

The fourth round of the ATCC is to be held at Queensland Raceway ( Ipswich, QLD) on June 16 – 17.

All the action from this round of the Touring Car Challenge will screen on SBS Speedweek May 27 at 12 noon. Check your local guides for details.

For further information about the ATCC and its drivers visit their official website: www.touringcarchallenge.com

Darren Saillard celebrated his first Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) victory after winning round two outright at Victoria’s Calder Park Raceway over the weekend (March 24-25).

Continuing his front running form in the #25 Hayters Sawmill and Timber Products supported EL Ford Falcon V8 Supercar, Saillard now leads the ATCC driver points ladder after an impressive strong start to his debut season.

Topping time sheets straight out of the box in practice was a good sign of competitive pace but the round win didn’t come without a struggle after gearbox dramas haunted the Saillard Racing team all weekend. Putting Saillard to the test, the Ford Falcon’s second gear kept slipping in qualifying and needing Saillard’s restraint to stay engaged.

Repaired in time for race one Saillard held down second until the gearbox sensor failed on the last lap, with the experienced steerer lucky not to spin on his own oil. Managing to bring the car home in third, the gearbox issues still lingered but Saillard made the most of a difficult situation claiming the win in race two from the rear of the field (as per the category’s handicap start rules).

Saillard had a good start to the 12-lap third and final race but the mechanical gremlins that disturbed the Ford Falcon all weekend continued, causing an uncharacteristic spin early on and taking evasive action on lap eight to avoid colliding with another competitor. Going off track both times, Saillard made amends and caught up with the pack, managing to lock in second place for race three which was enough to secure a hard-fought overall round victory.

“I’m stoked to get our first overall win and even more so considering the gearbox dramas we endured,” said Saillard.

“My Ford Falcon V8 Supercar has been really strong straight up this year and pace has been great but this weekend we struck major second gear dramas, it didn’t want to stick and kept jumping out so I had to struggle with it all weekend.

“With so many tight sections of the track being run in second gear it was a bit of a handful but we know that even with those dramas we can still be at the pointy end of the field. Full credit must go to my team who done a great job to get us over the line this weekend.”

Round three of the ATCC, part of the Australian Motor Racing Series, will be held at Winton Motor Raceway on April 28-29.

George Miedecke is a young driver on the move. He made his circuit racing debut in 2006, in the Production Touring Car Championship, driving a Hyundai Tiburon. Miedecke was on the pace right from the start, and despite missing a round, managed to clinch the Class B title at the final round at Wakefield Park. Pleased with his initial performance, Miedecke set about finding backing for 2007, eventually landing support from Lubrimaxx to compete in the 2007 V8 Utes Championship. George's year has gotten off to a mixed start, with mechanical maladies at the opening round at the Clipsal 500, followed by a great run at the non-championship event at the Australian Grand Prix, where he finished 11th, 9th and 12th across the three races.

Shortly after he won the PTCC Class B Championship for 2006, Miedecke was judged by AMRS Director Garry Willmington to be the most promising young driver in the 2006 PTCC, and was awarded a test drive in Garry's V8 Supercar (at the time, an EL Falcon V8 Supercar). Since the announcement was made, George has been busy preparing for the 2007 V8 Utes Championship and despite being VERY eager to sample the V8 Supercar, he hadn't been able to find the time until today. In the meantime Garry has been busy too - busy acquiring a later model car, and converting it to V8 Giants spec. Garry's new car is an ex-V8 Supercar AU Falcon, and in the hands of Brad Lowe at Round 1 of the 2007 AMRS took out the win in the Australian Touring Car Challenge and V8 Giants. And this is the car George test drove today. The test was a big success - so successful in fact, that Garry has decided to step aside for Round 2 of the AMRS this weekend at Calder Park, and hand the drive over to George.

Round Two of the Australian Motor Racing Series will be held at Calder Park this weekend, 24-25 March, and will be Miedecke's first appearance in the V8 Giants sub-category of the Australian Touring Car Challenge, proving how successful the AMRS Driver Development Program - just another reason to get involved in the AMRS.

Hot on the heels of this announcement, Garry Willmington has confirmed that the V8 Giants test will be repeated at the end of the 2007 Production Touring Car Championship. The test drive is awarded to the driver who demonstrates the most promise during the year. The award is judged solely by Garry Willmington, and takes into account car control, speed, race discipline, enthusiasm, and many other characteristics. For more information on how to get involved in the AMRS, visit the official website: www.amrs.net.au

One part of racing that many drivers don't enjoy is interviews. It's easy to get nervous, or forget what you wanted to say (or which sponsors you wanted to mention), or give less than eloquent responses to some of the interviewer's questions. But if you can get it right, an interview will mean better exposure for you as a driver, for your team and for your sponsors. As many drivers in the top echelons of motorsport will attest, training in how to deal with the media is an important and valuable process.

As part of the Australian Motor Racing Series' ongoing committment to driver development, there will be a Media Awareness Seminar held at Round Two at Calder Park. Attendance at the seminar is not compulsory (although encouraged), and is free to all competitors (and team members) for the round. Simon Latchford, AMRS competitor and accomplished public speaker will deliver his thoughts on dealing with the media - how to plan for an interview, what to do during an interview, and how to keep the media on-side and assist you with promotion of yourself and your sponsors.

This is an outstanding opportunity for competitors to develop their professional knowledge and skills and an excellent selling point for future sponsors ("I have completed media awareness training to ensure I present your company in the best possible light.") The seminar will be conducted at Calder Park, 1630 Saturday afternoon.

Round Two of the Australian Motor Racing Series will be held at Calder Park, 24-25 March.

In his first appearance of the year and also in the Garry Willmington owned AU Falcon V8 Supercar, driven in the last year’s Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series by Adam Sharpe, Brad Lowe dominated proceedings in the inaugural round of the V8 Giants Championship, as part of the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) that was held last weekend (February 24 – 25) at Wakefield Park Raceway in Goulburn, NSW.

Having completing only a total of 15 practice laps previously in the AU Falcon V8 Supercar since Willmington purchased the car earlier this year, Lowe looked quite at home in his new machinery by qualifying on pole position and winning all three races in strong fashion, and this without doubt marks him as a hands down favourite after only one completed round for the V8 Giants Championship in 2007.

From the get go Lowe marked his intentions in qualifying after only managing a handful of laps which was good enough to post pole position, and from that point onwards he only got stronger. After missing all of Friday’s practice and Saturday’s morning practice session, due to Formula Ford testing commitments with the Anglo Motorsport team at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway, Lowe from the time he arrived at Wakefield Park on Saturday afternoon he basically jumped into the AU Falcon for the V8 Giants qualifying session.

“We were on the pace from the word go pretty much and only got stronger as the weekend progressed,” remarked Lowe.

“Heading into the weekend I hadn’t done many laps in the car (the AU Falcon) but we only got faster and stronger as I began to feel more and more comfortable in the car, as 15 laps practice laps didn’t give me too much to go by.”

Lowe scored a comprehensive victory in the opening V8 Giants race (over 5-laps) and continued his winning ways in race two and three (under the handicap format of fastest to the rear of the grid) by carving his way through the field. In the second race Lowe scored the victory by getting the lead within sight of the chequered flag in what could only be described as quite a thrilling finish.

With the long-term goal for Lowe being to step up to V8 Supercars, the 22-year-old feels that running in the V8 Giants aboard a V8 Supercar from last years Fujitsu Series is only going to serve him well for his future goals.

Next weekend (March 2 – 4) Lowe will head to the streets of Adelaide in South Australia for the running Clipsal 500 where he is to contest the opening round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship driving for the Sydney based Anglo Motorsport team.

Brad Lowe has been as a confirmed starter for the opening round of the V8 Giants Championship at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) on February 24 – 25 as part of the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS).

Once again, the 22-year-old, who is also competing in this year’s Australian Formula Ford Championship, will team up with AMRS director and Wakefield Park Raceway track manager Garry Willmington driving his newly purchased the ex Adam Sharpe AU Falcon from last year’s Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series.

“I recently completed around 15 laps around Wakefield Park in the new car as a shake down run and the car was an absolute pleasure to drive, and I’m confident of being a championship contender this year no doubt,” Lowe stated.

“The concept of the V8 Giants is fantastic and one that I’m very much looking forward to being a part of, as it brings together all different forms of V8 race cars, and the early interest has been very encouraging, which will grow once the championship gets under way.”

The V8 Giants is a new category within the AMRS that is open to all V8 powered race cars of all different makes, and their racing format is all based on power to weight ratio, and they will be handicapped accordingly in order to make for some close sand exciting racing.

“As much as I like the Holden versus Ford rivalry in the V8s, but with the V8 Giants allows all makes of V8 race cars and that will open up the door to so many manufacturers,” he commented.

“I support the V8 Giant concept and I’m very much looking forward to getting out there for the opening round at Wakefield Park Raceway, and being a part of its growth.”

A new addition to this year’s Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) is the creation of the V8 Giants category that has been formulated to the cater for all models of V8 Touring Cars, moving away from the these days traditional Holden Versus Ford rivalry, and opening up the doors for other makes of cars to join in on the V8 powered run on Australian racing circuits.

The brains behind the V8 Giants concept are AMRS directors Rod Dale and Garry Willmington, and both simply cannot wait for it to kick off. Even at these early stages the interest from around the country has been very encouraging.

“V8 Giants is a category for all makes of V8 powered Touring Cars providing that their engines fit into the standard engine bay, as no modifications are allowed to that area,” Willmington stated.

“So far we have makes such as Mitsubishi, Holden, Ford, Honda, and BMW entered this year, so this really is looking to be an exciting year and the racing is without a doubt going to be closely fought amongst the different manufacturers.”

In their first year the V8 Giants will run amongst the field in the Australian Touring Car Challenge, and AMRS organisers are quietly confident that their concept will flourish once the opening round begins.

V8 Giants is to run under a control aerodynamic package, but other than that, and of course the engine bay specifications, the category is quite open. Car must comply with an equivalency table, where larger capacity cars must comply with a higher minimum weight – this equivalency table is designed to ensure equivalent overall performance for all cars, but still allow different cars to have different strengths at different areas of the circuits. The race format for V8 Giants will initially be via the Touring Car Challenge handicapping system, with V8 Giants having their own stand-alone race one the number of cars increases.

“The whole idea behind the V8 Giants is to provide a category where almost anyone can bring their V8 powered race cars and compete under a fair and strict system,” said Willmington.

“With so many different makes of V8 cars the racing is bound to be spectacular, as some will have a straight line speed advantage, whilst others will have a cornering one, so it is bound to create some closely fought action.”

Drivers that are likely V8 Giants entrants for the opening round of the AMRS on February 24 – 25 at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) include Garry Willmington, Sam Dale, Neil Byers, Richard Huer, Shelton Loughrey and more, with many others preparing cars expected to appear as the year progresses.

To learn more about the V8 Giants simply log onto their official website: www.V8Giants.com.au

Coming on the back of Garry Willmington's successful V8 Giants test last weekend, Sunday saw another test session at Wakefield Park with two more V8 Giants in attendance:

After a twelve month break from Touring Cars to concentrate on open-wheelers, former Touring Car Challenge competitor, Sam Dale had his first taste of V8 Giants power today, onboard his new steed for the year - a Ford Mustang. The Mustang boasts a 4.6 litre, quad-cam Ford engine, with a 6 speed Holinger sequential gearbox, independent rear suspension, and Harrop brakes. Dale was quick to acclimatise to his new environment, relishing the power of the V8, and really enjoying the outstanding sequential gearbox.

Dale enjoyed a successful year in 2006, taking out third place in the Formula 4000 and Oz BOSS Championships. Despite enjoying Holden power in his Reynard F3000V6, Sam has a history of driving Fords - his first race car was a Ford Anglia, powered by a 2-litre twin-cam Cosworth engine. He graduated to a V6-powered Ford Mondeo Super Tourer, and is now very pleased to be driving another Ford. Dale will continue to campaign his Reynard F3000V6 in the Oz BOSS category, the car being prepared at the Mumbo Racing workshops along with the Mustang.

In the Mumbo stable, there is also a second Mustang - with the engine currently under construction, and it is expected to take the V8 Giants grid very soon.

After the initial shakedown run at Wakefield Park, Dale expects to make minor refinements to the setup of the car as the season progresses, but was pleased the car performed well "out of the box". The car also brought plenty of interest from onlookers, and is sure to be a head-turner throughout the year.

Shelton Loughrey also confirmed his participation in the V8 Giants category today, testing his EL Falcon at his home circuit, Wakefield Park.

Loughrey has been a strong campaigner in the Touring Car Challenge, and will drive the same Falcon he drove in the TCC in 2006. Shelton has a wealth of experience in 3.3 Litre Holdens, Super Tourers and V8 Supercars. He is a fierce competitor, and has some possible engine upgrades up his sleeve under the freedoms allowed in the V8 Giants rulebook.

The diversity the V8 Giants category brings is one of the key aspects behind Shelton's decision to join the category: "I think it's how racing should be - with cars that have different strength, but ultimately similar performance [laptime-wise], so the action is close, and there is plenty of passing."

The brand new V8 Giants category debuts at Round One of the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series, at Goulburn's Wakefield Park, 24-25 February. To keep track of all the action, visit the official Series website: www.amrs.net.au and to find out all about the V8 Giants, check out: www.v8giants.com.au

Garry Willmington got a head start on the 2007 season today, with the debut test of his brand new V8 Giant going very well, and his AU Falcon performing faultlessly.

Willmington took to the circuit he knows and loves - Wakefield Park - aboard his newly acquired AU Falcon, in his first hit-out in the car. With the paintwork barely dry on the car (and the V8 Giants aero package still on it's way from the composites factory), Willmington wasted no time getting down to business, running some quick laps before he set about making some suspension adjustments to the car, ultimately breaking into the 62 second bracket. Willmington was delighted with the performance of the new car, and with the prospect of the brand new V8 Giants category debuting in a month at the Wakefield Park layout. Willmington isn't expecting to be behind the wheel at that first round though, with a number of young chargers vying for the seat in what is sure to be the next big thing in Australian Motor Racing.

The AU Falcon, striking in it's orange colours and V8 Giants livery, is powered by a 5 litre pushrod V8, rev-limited to 7500rpm, and the car must meet a minimum weight limit of 1300kg. These specs - capacity, engine configuration, rev limit and vehicle weight - are the foundation of the V8 Giants category, with V8 powered cars from practically all manufacturers eligible, and cars not originally available with a V8 engine eligible provided they use an engine from a manufacturer with a recognised relationship with the manufacturer of the car. The equivalency table is designed to allow smaller capacity cars (say a 4.6litre quad-cam powered car) to take advantage of a lower weight limit to compete with a larger capacity, but heavier car. The different strengths of each car leading to more overtaking, more action and more excitement.

Successful HQ / Kingswood campaigner Richard Huer is set to come onboard the exciting new V8 Giants category, as he explores the possibilities of the equivalency table.

Huer has acquired an EL Falcon which he is busily preparing for V8 Giants competition. Huer will debut the car initially with a 5 litre pushrod engine, with around 450hp. With that engine he will be limited to 1300kg. Around midway through the season, Huer expects to convert to a 6.4 litre (390 CI) pushrod engine with around 700 horsepower (!), which will see the minimum weight increase to 1500kg.

Huer had the following to say about his entry into the V8 Giants category: “It will obviously be a big step up from the old car so I’m not expecting much for the first year. After I find my feet in the new car I should be able to make a bit of an impact. At the end of this year we will also start construction on a completely new 2008 Falcon that will run the 6.4 litre motor and a few other new goodies. This New class gives average punters like myself the chance to move into a premier category without needing a seven figure budget."

As this news item is released, another competitor is in the process of collecting two new cars for the V8 Giants category - the official announcement is expected within a couple of days, so be sure to check out the official website: www.v8giants.com.au to keep abreast of all the latest developments.

V8 Giants will hit the track for their first competitive outing in one month (24-25 Feb), at Goulburn's Wakefield Park circuit for Round One of the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series.

The Australian Motor Racing Series is all about making racing exciting, affordable and accessible. To simplify the paperwork and documentation procedures associated with racing the AMRS introduced the Season Booklet for the 2006 season. Now the new and improved Season Booklet for the 2007 season has left the printers and is on it's way to competitors.

Look out for your copy in the post this week. If you have not received a copy by the end of the week, or if you have not been in touch with the AMRS previously to supply your postal details, request a copy by contacting AMRS management via email by clicking here.

If you'd like an electronic version of the booklet, you can download it by clicking here. (It is 60 pages, and an 8mb download so recommended only for high speed internet connections.) The electronic version will remain available via the brand new "Downloads" page accessible via the main menu on the left of the screen.

Entries open tomorrow (15 January) for Round One of the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series to be held at Wakefield Park, 24-25 February.

V8 Giants is an exciting all new motor racing category for 2007. V8 Giants will feature V8 powered Touring Cars from a diverse range of manufacturers, featuring cars with different capacity engines, with different weight and rpm limits determined to provide close, action packed racing. V8 Giants will compete over a 9 round Championship on the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series program.

Thunder and Lightning. Australian racing fans love the thunder and spectacle of V8 engines. They also love diversity and seeing more than two manufacturers do battle. And this is what V8 Giants is all about - a range of different cars, with a range of different strengths and weaknesses doing high-speed battle on the racing circuits around Australia. Imagine a 550hp, 4.6 litre quad cam V8 powered car, weighing 1300kg, doing battle with a 700hp, 7 litre pushrod V8 powered car weighing in at 1450kg. The lighter car will have the advantage in cornering and braking, while the 7 litre beast will have the advantage on the straights. It's diversity like this that has been the strength of the Australian Touring Car Challenge, and it's this kind of diversity that's taken to a whole new level with V8 Giants.

Birth of a category. It's no accident that the Australian Touring Car Challenge and V8 Giants are mentioned in the same breath - the men behind the ATCC are the very same men who created V8 Giants. Racers themselves, and more importantly, followers of racing, Rod Dale and Garry Willmington have long discussed what has been lacking in Australian Motorsport - excitement, diversity, affordability, and accessibility. The birth of the Australian Motor Racing Series was the first step in Garry's and Rod's plans to bring back excitement, diversity, affordability and accessibility to Australian motorsport. The birth of V8 Giants is phase two.

Growing year. Any new category needs time to find it's feet, and V8 Giants is no different. Such a revolutionary idea in Australian racing means that cars need to be conceived, built and developed. This takes time. For 2007, V8 Giants will run in conjunction with the Australian Touring Car Challenge - allowing a full year where new cars can be developed, where competitors have the opportunity to realise the many virtues of the new category, and where the public get to be a part of the growth of the future of Australian motorsport.

New cars already being built. Despite the V8 Giants category keeping a very low profile until now, those who have heard about it have been extremely enthusiastic. So enthusiastic that there are a number of cars already in development. Garry Willmington is building an AU Falcon that will be powered by a pushrod V8. An unnamed Victorian racer is building a 7 litre Commodore. Neil Byers is believed to be heavily into the planning of a 360 ci Chrysler V8 powered Mitsubishi 380. The Mumbo Racing stable is also working on a 4.6 litre quad cam powered Ford Mondeo. All this, plus there are many existing cars all around the country that require no more than the fitment of the control V8 Giants Aero-package to be eligible. What we're really looking forward to seeing though are the Chrysler 300Cs, the Mercedes-Benz S500s, the Ford V8-powered Mazda 6s, the Lexus V8-powered Camrys, the....

Controls. With such a diverse range of vehicles eligible, the technical requirements have been kept relatively simple. All cars will be required to run a control aero package (consisting of control rear wing and mounts, and a control undertray for the front splitter). The V8 (or V6) engine used must be from a manufacturer with a recognised relationship with the car manufacturer, it must be installed in front of the original firewall (with modifications allowed for transmission fitment only), the engine capacity, configuration and rpm limit must comply with the equivalency table (below). Wheels may be 17" or 18" diameter, with a maximum width of 11".

As the start of the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series approaches, the AMRS management have delivered some great New Years news to competitors - Entry and Series registration fees have been lowered by 6% for 2007.

Competitors who register for the entire 2007 series, or for the total number of rounds they wish to compete at in 2007 will be eligible for the discounted rate.

AMRS directors Garry Willmington and Rod Dale say it is all a part of their ongoing plan to reduce costs to competitors and encourage exciting, accessible and AFFORDABLE racing.

In addition to the discounted fees, registered competitors receive product discounts from a number of suppliers, guaranteed entry and are eligible for points and other incentives in their respective category.

The AMRS is set for a big year in 2007, with 11 categories competing at up to 9 rounds at 6 different venues. To read more about the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series, visit www.amrs.net.au - Australian Motor Racing Series. Racing the way it's meant to be. Exciting. Affordable. Accessible.

Coming hot on the heels of the AMRS Expo is the announcement of the Category Calendars for the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series. The 2007 AMRS Calendar was finalised some months ago, but the distribution of rounds to the various categories has just recently been completed, and with the announcement of several new categories for the 2007 AMRS comes the calendar for each category.

V8 Giants is a brand new category, intended to promote a diverse range of cars and philosophies, each bringing different strengths and weaknesses. Larger capacity V8s are allowed, but bring a weight penalty and rev limit. Smaller capacity V8s may not boast the same power as the larger cars, but the lighter weight allowed with smaller engines should level the playing field, and should ensure close racing with plenty of overtaking.

In a building year, the V8 Giants will compete as part of the Australian Touring Car Challenge for 2007, with dedicated races coming as more cars are completed. The V8 Giants Calendar for 2007 is as follows:

Click here to download a printable version of this calendar. For further details of the category, click here to download an information sheet.

Check back soon for more updates on the next big thing in Australian Motorsport - V8 Giants.

Capacity (up to)	Valves/Cyl	Rev Limit	Minimum Weight
4000cc	4 (OHC)	7500rpm	1200kg
4600cc	4 (OHC)	7500rpm	1250kg
5000cc	2 (Pushrod)	7500rpm	1300kg
5400cc	4 (OHC)	7000rpm	1350kg
6000cc	2 (Pushrod)	7000rpm	1350kg
6400cc	4 (OHC)	7500rpm	1500kg
7000cc	2 (Pushrod)	6500rpm	1500kg

Round	Circuit	Date
1	Wakefield Park, NSW	February 24 - 25
2	Calder Park, VIC	March 24 - 25
3	Winton Raceway, VIC	April 28 - 29
4	Queensland Raceway, QLD	June 16 - 17
5	Adelaide International, SA	July 14 - 15
6	Winton Raceway, VIC	August 25 - 26
7	Calder Park, VIC	September 29 - 30
8	Wakefield Park, NSW	October 27 - 28
9	Oran Park, NSW	November 24 - 25