This last week we were contemplating what topic to discuss. It soon became obvious when a certain Supercars driver announced his retirement from full time racing at season's end. Triple 888 racing's Craig Lowndes is that certain Supercars driver. We thought it only fitting to acknowledge a marvellous career and wonderful contribution he's made to motorsport.
    After karting as a child, Craig Lowndes moved into Formula Ford in 1991 where he excelled.  1993 saw him winning the Australian Formula Ford Championship and earning an invite to the prestigious Formula Ford Festival in the UK where he finished third. He then competed in Australia's then top open wheel category, Formula Brabham, earning an Australian Silver Star, before turning his attention to the Australian Touring Cars Championship (ATCC). A testing role landed him a surprise call up to partner Brad Jones in the Sandown 500 which they won. In 1997, ideals of motorsport grandeur saw Lowndes head off to Europe where he contested the then feeder series for Formula One, the International Formula 3000 Series. However, after being comprehensively beaten by Colombian team mate Juan Pablo Montoya, the fiscal well dried up, forcing Lowndes to return to Australia.
    Craig Lowndes has since forged a remarkable career in ATCC, V8 Supercars and now Supercars winning the championship 3 times. He's the first driver to amass 100 wins and currently sits on 106. He's won Australia's premier tin top race, the Bathurst1000, 6 times. 2 outright victories plus a class win in the Bathurst 12 Hour. This culminated in 2012 when he was awarded the Medal Of The Order Of Australia in the Queen's birthday honour's list for his contribution to motorsport and road safety education programs. 
    Craig Lowndes will still be competing in Supercars after 2018 as a co-driver for the enduro campaign. He has also expressed an interest in racing overseas in events such as Le Mans 24 Hour. 
    Retiring on one's own terms is a luxury not all sportspeople can experience. Armed with an ever present smile, he's sponsor friendly and never too busy for the fans. A true inspiration for any young driver desiring a career in motorsport.
      
    
    

    "Race on Sunday. Sell on Monday." Or perhaps more pertinent is, "Win on Sunday. Sell on Monday." Is this old motorsport adage still applicable today?
    Manufacturers have always come and gone in various motorsport categories when marketing strategies and economic climates suit. Formula One in the 2000's was chock full of manufacturers. Only just a few years ago with the introduction of Car Of The Future (COTF), Supercars had Holden, Ford, Volvo, Mercedes and Nissan making up its ranks. Volvo and Mercedes have now departed. Now we have the announcement that Nissan are withdrawing factory support for the 4 car entry of Kelly Racing. With the recent Kelly Racing resurgence, have Nissan bailed out just as their investment was about to return dividends? 
    Recently, Kelly Racing are starting to punch at the top end of Supercars. A podium at Phillip Island. Rick Kelly breaking a 210 race win drought with victory at Winton. 3 out of the 4 cars qualifying in the top 10 at yesterday's Hidden Valley race. Now Rick Kelly has outclassed a quality field in the Top 10 Shootout to qualify on pole for today's race at Hidden Valley. You'd have to agree, it's fantastic brand exposure. However, does Nissan's withdrawal sound a little reminiscent of when Honda pulled the plug on F1 in 2008, and then the new revamped team called Brawn F1 won the championship in 2009? Sure, the bottom line is ultimately what determines Nissan's decision, but are they leaving just a tad too early a la Honda as a constructor in F1? Perhaps the next generation COTF with proposed turbos and energy recovery systems will entice them and other manufacturers back to the sport.
​    On the flipside, we have to admit, we don't see many Nissan Altimas on the road. But we see a lot of the sporty little Nissan Z series on the road. It's still a Nissan I suppose....
      
      

    The racecar bids a hasty retreat to the pitlane. It grinds to a hurried halt in its pitbox. A mechanic aggressively wields a large mallet repeatedly at the recalcitrant locking nut on the wheel. After successfully removing the nut, he replaces the wheel with another sporting fresh rubber. He then repeats the process while another tops up the fuel for the thirsty machine. A glancing wipe of the small windscreen by another mechanic after passing the driver a drink. Remember, only four mechanics are allowed in the pitlane to service the car. Suddenly the driver lights up the rear tyres and they're off to rejoin the race. An excellent stop a little over 60 seconds. That's how pitstops were during Formula One's infancy in the 1950's.
    Fast forward 30 or so years to the 1980's and pitstops under 6 seconds were widely celebrated. Now since 2013, pitstops under two seconds are considered the norm, and are what the teams consistently strive for. The pit crews are well drilled, practising pitstops ad nauseam. Orchestrated, synchronized motion amongst over 20 mechanics if you will.
    Pitstops used to be controlled by a lollipop man (usually the chief mechanic) who gave the driver indication when the pitstop was complete and safe to leave the pitbox. In 2008, Ferrari were the first to use a lighting system instead of the lollipop man. However, after Felipe Massa left the pitbox with the fuel hose still attached in Singapore, shelved the system until it could be "perfected". By 2011's season end, all teams were adopting some version of the lighting system.
    But is the system truly perfected? 2013's German Grand Prix saw Mark Webber's Red Bull leave the pitbox with a loose wheel, which decided to detach itself and strike a pitlane camerman. Now in 2018 we've seen a raft of unsafe pitstop releases that can be attributed in some part to the indiscreet nature of the lighting system. Fernando Alonso suffered a loose wheelnut which rendered his McLaren a 3-wheel F1 car in winter testing. Haas squandered their best possible finish at Melbourne with both cars retiring with cross threaded wheelnuts in quick succession. Which brings us to Bahrain. Ferrari were fined 5000 euros in practise and 50000 euros in the race for unsafe releases. The race incident resulted in Ferrari mechanic Francesco Cigarini sustaining a multiple fractured leg. The system relies on sensors to detect that the wheels are on the car, then automatically drops the jacks, thus triggering the green light. The sensors cannot differentiate whether the nuts are fitted correctly, or for that matter, if the wheel has actually been changed. It can however be overridden.
    So, in the relentless quest to gain a few tenths of a second, is safety being compromised? Do humans actually have quick enough reactions to override the system before the green light is triggered? Anyone who knows anything about safety knows that if you are presented with two options to achieve the same objective, you always choose the option that creates the least exposure to risk. Does this work for F1 though? One could argue that Ferrari's tentative, yet methodical pitstop at the next race in China could have cost Sebastian Vettel the position due to Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas' undercut. Should there be an element of danger left so as to not diminish performance? Or has lap time demands through technology brought safety levels into question? Wonder what the 1950's mechanic brandishing his mallet would say....        

    Not very aesthetically pleasing is it? An ugly appendage deemed contrary to the very essence of open cockpit, single seater racecars? Yes, we're talking about the new for 2018 Formula One Front Cockpit Protection or "Halo" as it's colloquially known.  
    F1's governing body wanted to introduce some form of cockpit protection in time for the 2017 season, but due to lack of time in testing various options, postponed to this season. The teams were commissioned to present their best solutions. Small windscreens, aeroscreens and the like were tested. But after a failure to Red Bull's aeroscreen and time ticking away, the halo was decided upon. A circular steel and titanium piece of fairing if you will, encompassing the cockpit supported by a central pillar and at the cockpit sides. Whilst driver's vision, aero wake into the engine airbox above the driver, and debris deflecting into the crowd were considerations to the various options presented, the halo was decided upon. 
    Designed to deflect large objects such as errant wheels and withstand weight equivalent to a double-decker bus. What, however, of smaller objects? Could more testing have been done to find an even better solution? A halo certainly wouldn't have prevented Felipe Massa copping a life threatening Honda spring in the face at Hungary in 2009. 
    There are those such as 3-time champ Niki Lauda who suggest the halo goes against the grain of what formula racing is, and that it detracts from the driver's achievements against extreme danger. On the flipside, there are those like 2-time champ and McLaren ace Fernando Alonso, who suggest that if the halo improves driver safety, then it doesn't matter what it looks like. Surely, an option that increases driver's safety needs to be exploited and exhausted? Doesn't technology serve to improve? Aren't romantic notions of yesteryear's racing antiquated? Whichever way you feel, the teams are free to develop the halo. We've already seen various adaptations in testing. We will get used to it.
    The other main change you may have noticed for this year's racing is Pirelli's introduction of seven dry tyre compounds with them being a step softer than last year. Exciting indeed. Expect lap times to tumble.
    This week's Australian Formula One Grand Prix sees Melbourne's stunning Albert Park opening yet another F1 campaign. Weather at this stage looks typically Melbourne with qualifying Saturday and raceday Sunday looking iffy. Make sure you check out the F1 cars through the fast kink at Turn 5 where the walls are close, or the fast chicane at Turns 11 and 12 which a gripped up F1 car negotiates at over 200km/h, or the Turn 14 sweeper where they use all the track and then some. We'll leave the predictions to your good selves as the level of uncertainty is always high after winter testing leading into the start of a season.
    Final boarding call for flights to Melbourne. See you at Albert Park.... 
     
     

   Welcome back. We've had a lovely break and we hope you enjoyed the holiday season. Let's warm up the engines for a bumper 2018. Now it's time to outline some of the events that we intend on attending this motorsport season.
    We trust you are enjoying the images posted from the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour at Mt Panorama. A fantastic international, professional event that's only growing in stature and popularity. A must for any motorsport fan.
    As for the rest of the year....
March 22nd - 25th:- Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne.
April 29th:- MX Nationals at MacArthur District Motorcycle Club, Appin.
May 5th:- Sydney Dragway for the 400 Thunder Drag Racing Series featuring Top Fuel.
June 9th - 10th:- Muscle Car Masters at Sydney Motorsport Park.
July 1st:- Formula 3 at Sydney Motorsport Park.
August 4th:- Night racing at Sydney Motorsport Park for the Sydney SuperNight 300 featuring Supercars and Porsche Carrera Cup.
September 22nd - 23rd:- Shannons Nationals At Sydney Motorsport Park featuring Radical Australia Cup.
November 3rd:- East Coast Thunder at Sydney Dragway featuring 400 Thunder Drag Racing Series.
December 1st - 2nd:- Historic Summer Festival (Tasman Festival) at Sydney Motorsport Park.
    This is subject to change, but we'll make every effort to attend the aforementioned events.
​    See you in Melbourne....

    Feliz Navidad from Down Under. 
    Formula One is now in the off season and we thought it an appropriate time to offer our congratulations to the Mercedes F1 team for bagging a fourth straight constructor's trophy and to its star driver Lewis Hamilton for claiming his fourth driver's championship. He now resides with only a few other select drivers who have four or more titles. Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel.
    While it's difficult and often futile to compare eras, we can't help but ponder. Where in the pantheon of grand prix drivers does Lewis Hamilton sit? Surely at the least, through number of titles and winning percentage, he can be considered the greatest British driver? Quite often, it's after drivers retire that their achievements are put into perspective. However, it would be entirely reasonable to conclude that if he continues racing for a few more years, that Fangio's 5 titles is very much under threat. After that? Well, there's only Michael Schumacher's record seven titles to hunt down. Possible? 

   


​In Australia's premier racing series, Supercars, Red Bull Racing Australia ace, Jamie Whincup, absconded with the title from right under the nose of Penske DJR hotshoe, Scott McLaughlin at the very last race at the new Newcastle street circuit. A record seven titles. A truly remarkable achievement. Don't forget, Whincup's still young enough to amass a few more. Scary prospect, isn't it? You would have to consider Whincup to be one of or even the best Australian touring car driver of all time. We'll just throw it out there. Better than Peter Brock?

    A safe, happy and joyous Christmas and New Year to all our friends and surfers.
    Next stop. The Bathurst 12 Hour. See you at The Mountain. 

    Word association test. Bathurst.....Mt Panorama....Bathurst 1000....The Great Race. That's right. Simply mention Bathurst and images of Australia's Great Race naturally materialise in people's minds. This year's Bathurst 1000 was run in, to say the least, testing conditions. Congratulations to David Reynolds, Luke Youlden and Erebus Motorsport for winning all the chocolates. In fact, kudos to all drivers as the Safety Car was not called upon until the halfway mark of the race. Determining the winner was as unpredictable as the weather that day. Also, how amazing was Scott McLaughlin's record breaking pole lap in the shootout on Saturday? Mt Panorama never disappoints.
    The 2018 Supercars draft calendar has been released. For us Sydneysiders the date that stands out is August 4th. The event is called Sydney SuperNight 300. Under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park on a Saturday night. Awesome! Teams and drivers will have a whole new set of challenges to negotiate. Will the cold ambient temperatures have an adverse effect on the cars? The event is smack bang in the middle of winter. Surely bringing the tyres up into some sort of operating window will be a monumental task. What about the fans? Sydney folk are spoiled for entertainment choices on a Saturday evening. Will the fans embrace the event and arrive en mass to Sydney Motorsport Park? Let's hope so.
    Nikons at the ready.... 
    
     
    
    
     

    The Formula One summer break is upon us. Whilst the teams are just getting back to work after an enforced 2 week factory shutdown, it might be easy to reflect on the season so far. There's the Ferrari renaissance, or the intra-team battle between Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon at Force India, or the ever looming championship challenge by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, or the inexplicable moment of petulant road rage of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel at Baku. However, we're feeling a little more circumspect than that.
    Those that regularly follow formulafrontrow.com will know that we are all about promoting motorsport and encouraging people to attend their local events. Cast your mind back to the Monaco GP and there was one very prominent driver missing. That's right. McLaren's Fernando Alonso was off in the USA competing in the Indy 500 at the fabled Indianapolis circuit. He has his sights set on the only driver after Graham Hill to capture the triple crown. That is, victory at the Monaco GP (tick that off already), Le Mans 24 Hour and the Indy 500. Despite retiring with a blown engine towards the end of the race, it was Fernando's professionalism and the way he conducted himself that earned him respect amongst the paddock and won him a legion of fans outside the paddock. 
    For eons, Formula One has been trying to crack the lucrative U.S. market. Whether it be a race around the streets of Detroit, or around the Ceasar's Palace carpark, or even Indianapolis itself, F1 hasn't quite established more than a beach head in the States. Yes, there's the F1 purpose built Circuit Of The Americas in Texas to host the current iteration of the USGP, and what a fantastic facility it is, but trackside numbers have dwindled since the resurgence of the Mexican GP. 
    So we got to thinking. Has Fernando Alonso done more to promote F1 in the States than all avenues before him? Bear with us here. A lot of punters in the States follow F1, but there would be many more who would have done no more than pay F1 a nonchalant glance. After all, who was this F1 star competing at the U.S. of A's signature event? Now, after Fernando's presence at the Indy 500, those punters may just be intrigued enough to pay F1 their viewing time. But what if Fernando Alonso and McLaren are still languishing at the back? Will those punters turn off their TVs as quick as they turned them on? Surely they be more inclined to keep watching if Fernando was fighting for wins. 
    Here's hoping McLaren can turn their fortunes around post haste. The next instalment is at next week's Belgium GP at Spa.... 
    
     

    The 2017 Formula One season is underway, and it looks like we have a good ole stoush between Ferrari and Mercedes developing. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton are trading blows with our suspicious minds suggesting that this will run and run all the way to Abu Dhabi. Post Monaco, Ferrari have the ascendancy. Vettel is a clear race victory, that is, 25 points, ahead of Hamilton. You can be sure that Hamilton will bite back as the season progresses. Hard! 
   But what of their team mates? Can they contribute to their team's championship quests? Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas has sensationally acquired his maiden victory in Russia. A mature drive that withstood a mountain of pressure that will only see him wanting more. 
    Many will argue that Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen has past his prime, but he certainly bagged a scintillating pole position at Monaco didn't he? He proceeded to control the first stint of the race, only to be called into the pits first for his mandatory tyre change. This then rendered Vettel to push in clear air, pit, and then emerge in the lead. Overcut successful. Most teams will operate with the agenda that the car with track position has first option on the pit stop timing. Was Raikkonen afforded this luxury? All teams knew that the tyre degradation was extremely low in Monaco. In fact, many stated that they could complete the entire race distance on one set. But rules are rules, and all cars must use two different tyre compounds during the race in dry conditions to comply. Therefore, despite the teams' predictions and simulations, it doesn't take a genius to work out that the longer you could stay out, the more beneficial your race result. 
    So, the questions have to be asked. Are Ferrari imposing team orders this early in the season to assist Vettel? If so, why? You only have to witness Kimi's podium demeanor to get an indication of that. Have Ferrari lost faith in Raikkonen to mount a championship challenge of his own? Shouldn't they allow their drivers to race, or is having a clear #1 and #2 driver the best avenue to both driver's and constructor's championship glory? We know this though. Kimi sparks a lot more fan interest in F1 than Sebastian. 
    Lastly, whenever the contentious issue of team orders rears its head, why is it that Ferrari seem to be at the forefront?
    

    Comes around quick doesn't it? Seems as the though the Pirelli tyre marbles have just been cleaned off the Abu Dhabi circuit from the 2016 F1 finale and here we go again. Winter testing is complete. All the F1 teams are now descending on Melbourne's beautiful Albert Park circuit for the Australian Grand Prix to kick start another Formula One season.
    As usual, speculation is rife. However, many predict Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton will waltz away with this year's title. But is it really that clear cut? Major regulation and specification changes to the cars signify the first time since the 1960's that the rules and specs have been tweaked to actively make the F1 cars quicker. Wider cars, engine development regs freed up, more aggressive aero and wider more durable Pirelli rubber. A clean slate for all teams effectively neutralising any past car advantage. So who will come out of the box with a belter? Mercedes? Ferrari? Red Bull? Or will someone from the midfield surprise the bigger teams? Will reliability issues distress some of the teams? The cars are predicted to be beasts to handle with lap times between 3-5 seconds per lap quicker. Certainly the winter testing times from Spain suggest that this has been achieved. Already the 2017 spec cars are lapping quicker than the 2016 Catalunya pole time. All the drivers have had to up the ante on their winter training regimes to combat the extra physical demands of this year's cars. Therefore will driver fatigue become a factor towards the end of some Grands Prix?
    The factor that concerns us is that the powers that be have tried in the past to stifle the car's overall speed as speeds increase and lap times tumble due to car development. One avenue has been to change the regulations. Another has been to slow the circuits by redesigning or even removing certain corners, or introducing chicanes. Albert Park organisers have been ordered to make changes, presumably increasing run-off distances, to accommodate the expected increased car speed. Although circuit configurations this year are set, if the rule makers decide that the cars are too fast, will we see a re-emergence of chicanes in an attempt to slow the cars? How many times has the Turn 1 chicane at Monza or the Swimming Pool chicane at Monaco been redesigned? What about Catalunya's once fearsome last corner now slowed by the dumbing down of the previous corner by way of a fiddly little complex?
    Maybe we're being a tad presumptuous. Let's just wait and see. Gotta go. Got a plane to Melbourne to catch....