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Back to December 2011 Motorsports News Archive
| 08-12-2011 at 09:00: Teenagers to Drive the Rondo-DPO BMW 335i at Eastern Creek | |
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The production touring car veteran has picked a youthful ‘all-pace attack’ for his Rondo-DPO BMW 335i: his son Nathan and Chaz Mostert, both 19. The two teenagers will share the driving in the enduro, which will be held over a shortened duration on a shortened venue – Eastern Creek’s truncated 2.8km ‘North’ circuit. (Last year’s race went for eight hours on the full 3.9km ‘Grand Prix’ circuit.) Barry explained that he’s stepping aside for the weekend to give his team a better chance of winning the event. “Nathan, Barry Holt and I won Class B and came fifth overall in the eight-hour last year, but this time we’re aiming for the outright win,” Barry said. “To have a chance of beating the Class A all-wheel drives, our car has to be driven at 100 percent all the way. Nathan and Chaz are up to it, because they’re used to racing flat-out in short sprints, but we can’t afford to lose even one second a lap while I’m driving. “So I’ll be the team manager this weekend.” Nathan and Chaz are two of Australian motor racing’s hottest young prospects. Both had stellar careers in karting before graduating to Formula Ford in 2010, then tackled different ‘development’ categories this year. Nathan went to America to compete in the ultra-competitive F2000 Championship Series. He showed his potential with a stunning win in the rain-affected opening race, but after that a string of car problems and a missed round put him back to eighth in the final pointscore. Chaz contested the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, enduring a difficult start to the season but finishing strongly after switching to the Ford Performance Racing team. One pole position and two podium finishes in the final two rounds helped him to claim the 2011 Rookie of the Year award. Both are looking forward to the six-hour race, even though it will be a change from what they’re used to. “A six-hour production touring car race is about as different from a 30-minute openwheeler race as you can get,” Nathan said. “Production touring cars – even high-performance ones like the BMW, Evo and Sti – are fine for a 10-lap sprint, but they have to be looked after in long distance racing. You can’t use the brakes like you would in a short race, otherwise they’d fade and your lap times would drop off badly. “Another difference is how you share the track with other drivers. F2000 and FF1600 races are so short that if a slower driver in front doesn’t leave a gap then you have to make one, but next weekend it will be important to avoid contact at all costs. “There’s no point arguing over track position with five hours still to go, or running into a slower car when there’s an easy overtaking opportunity a couple of corners further on. Chaz added that winning endurance races can come down to strategy as much as speed. “Some of the Class A cars will probably be faster than the BMW, but if we can keep them in sight then our longer fuel range should make up for that,” he said. “It will all come down to the difference in lap times, and how much time we can save by doing more laps on a tankful.” Nathan added that the difference in lap times between each car’s co-drivers could also be a determining factor. “Most of the other cars have one driver who will be a lot quicker than the other, whereas Chaz’s and my lap times should be fairly close. That could help us make up time on the others at different times during the race.” Practice and qualifying for the Eastern Creek six-hour race will be on Saturday (December 10), with the race beginning at 10am on Sunday (December 11). |
Barry Morcom is taking a radical approach to next weekend’s Eastern Creek six-hour production car race … he isn’t driving!^ Back to top ^
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