WEBVTT
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A listener production.
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I'm automotive commentator and journalist Greg Rust and this is Rusty's Garage.
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G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my feature ep with Paul Weill.
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Lots of good chat to come in this one on supercars, a brutal crash at Bathurst, stadium truck racing and a whole lot more.
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If you've somehow arrived here and not given part one a listen, jump back to the library and check it out first.
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The post-event debrief.com.
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after a soul-destroying finish to the Baja 1000 recently when he and Toby Price were on course to win the off-road classic, to an emotional moment on his dad, Keyes, as he rebounds from a health scare and starting out the competitive racing journey on two wheels, plus a little-known plan in the coming years to take on Dakar.
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Let's get back to the convo now.
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You take quite an interest in the numbers side.
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I know you're quite clever in that regard, mate.
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What it has become is a great Australian business success story to think that we are supplying to Formula One and to all these other, not just NASCAR that you've talked about either in the intros that Lee did and the work that he did with you in those early days and so on.
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I mean, the supply that you do to so many different forms of motorsport and that it is a cutting edge, very tech savvy, always evolving product that's been built with aerodynamics in mind and all sorts of things like that.
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The company has had the likes of Roland Dane in a significant position for a time there on the board and so on.
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And you look, Paul, at its net result now.
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But when a company goes through big growth like that, it invariably has had
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hurdles along the way.
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You've talked about trying to figure a production line to cope with the demands of Formula One and how many they needed and so on for these almost bespoke things.
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And in the midst of this growth comes along a thing called the GFC, the global financial crisis.
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How did that impact you guys?
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Yeah, at the time, that impacted us a fair bit because we were building, you know, we were building a factory up at Yatla.
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And the bank at the time, we banked with, you know, like 20 years since we moved to Queensland.
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And we had the same bank manager.
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And he actually got moved on.
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And so at the time he was going, yep, here's more money, here's more money.
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We need more money to do this or we need more money to do that.
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And we're building this factory so that we could take on the rest of the world.
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Basically, that was the reason why.
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And anyway, so we had this new banker come in who was from credit and you always got to go up the guys from credit because they're, you know, they're the box tickers in the banks, I say.
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And basically he goes, oh, no, you're over your limit.
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You've got to, you know, you've got to give us credit.
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I think some of you in the region of $5 or $6 million back, or else we're going to foreclose on you.
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They're going to foreclose on you?
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Yeah, they'll go foreclose on us, and basically if we couldn't pay the money back, they're going to basically bankrupt us, which would ruin the business.
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So Keyes and I quickly...
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Went and put our houses on the markets.
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Emma was pregnant.
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She was eight months pregnant with Abby.
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And so, yeah, we decided, you know, we put both places, both our houses on the markets and all that sort of stuff.
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And so they both sold very quickly.
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But it was timing that was amazing was that we had – we still had the race team building in Melbourne that we ran the supercars out of, which is the old Gibson Motorsport building, which is – which was now –
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And unfortunately, you know, with Gary passing away, Gary Rogers bought both sides of the building when we ended up selling them.
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And so, yeah, so we had a loan through the CBA, Commonwealth Bank, and the guy in Queensland rang just out of the blue and said, hey –
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your loans up for renewal, do you want to renew it?
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And is there anything else I can actually do for you guys?
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And so he come down and he was into manufacturing and, you know, we showed him around and told him the whole story and what our –
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plan was and what we thought for the future and where we could go and everything like that.
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And he said, yep, no problem, I'll back you.
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And so we just found the right person at the right time.
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It was more luck than anything, but, you know, we already sold everything that we had to keep the company afloat and everything like that.
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And, you know, at the end of the day, it worked out very well for us.
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Sure did.
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It evolved too, Paul, I mean you talked about oil coolers there before and so on and with all the battery tech that's around now as well, I would imagine the cooling leans into that space too.
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Yeah, so it's funny, you know, I was actually at a dinner last night and, you know, people were talking about, you know,
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you know, the electric vehicles and all that sort of stuff.
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And, you know, electric vehicles actually take more cooling than a naturally aspirated car does.
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So, you know, not many people realise that, especially with the battery cooling.
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And we do a lot of battery cooling, especially for Formula One.
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And so, you know, we basically now we supply...
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every Formula 1 team on the grid.
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yeah, I'm not quite sure exactly if it's every single thing in their cars that we supply or not, but we do supply every Formula 1 team.
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But we, we, we've done a lot of stuff with Honda when they come into the sport with Formula 1.
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They designed this battery that they couldn't work out how to call it.
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And
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So we came up with a design that was, you know, very expensive, of course, to be able to do.
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But, you know, basically it was a, well, I say it was expensive or it's expensive for what we sold it to them for.
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But it was basically a radiator without fins in it.
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So we could turn, it was an extruded tube that we could turn braised together into a header plate with a water comes through, weld a tank on it, and then have another tank over the top.
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And we could turn the water around because it had four extrusion parts through the tube.
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And so we just put a little turn plate in the end of the tube
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And they would glue the battery and the cooler together.
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So it sort of sat like that.
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Okay.
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And it was great at the time because when Honda first started with Formula 1,
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They used to go through a lot of battery coolers because they had a lot of battery problems with their technology on their side of things.
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So it was great at the time.
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But, yeah, it's interesting with the new technology of, you know,
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like all the hybrids and battery sort of cars.
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I mean, you go to different countries, you've got trucks now, you've got aerospace stuff.
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There's a lot of pretty much everything –
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around the world, you know, needs calling.
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So, you know, we're quite fortunate in that way.
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Cool.
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This stuff all interlinks in some ways.
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I want to dabble about your own kind of four-wheel career for a moment.
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Let's sort of hook right for a second, Paul, if we can.
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I got to come to what was a home workshop back in the day.
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There was a Ford Falcon in there that ran white, green, and maybe a bit of yellow paint scheme.
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You were training with Guy Andrews back in the day as well.
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You had a decent crack made in supercars, didn't you?
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Yeah, we did.
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It was funny.
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It was actually I'd done, after I finished racing motocross and supercross, I went and raced Stadium Off-Road.
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Yes.
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And so they were the cars that were from the Mickey Thompson series from America.
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So when that series went bust, a heap of Australians went over and bought all these cars.
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I can't remember the promoter.
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It wasn't Phil Christensen.
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He was the Supercross promoter, but it was another promoter.
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And anyway, so we went and started racing that.
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I was only 17.
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I don't even think I had my license or anything like that.
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And basically it was awesome because it was –
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It was motocross with a roll cage around you.
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So, you know, it didn't make a difference what you hit, really, to a point.
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But, yeah, so I started off racing that and it was after the first race that we raced, I had a guy from Yokohama, a guy called Alan Bradshaw, who was an off-road guy.
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for them and, and that come up to us and said, Hey, cause we had no sponsors or anything.
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Oh, we want to sponsor you and do this and do that.
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And at the end of that season, he said, yeah, I think you should, you guys should go and race supercars.
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And, um,
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Yeah, never raced a go-car, never raced on tarmac, anything like that.
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And so we went and bought Steve Alry's Ford supercar and, yeah, not nice.
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what we were doing or anything like that.
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We knew a few people who'd been in supercars, hired them, and I think the first time I drove a supercar was down around the cul-de-sac at K&J Radio in Grumman.
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LAUGHTER
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And just to make sure that I could change the gears before we went to Lakeside for a club day or whatever it was.
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So, yeah, my learning curve was very, very steep.
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Yeah, that was back in –
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1997, late 1997 and then 1998 was my first year racing in the supercar series.
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And I think there's a very famous moment on TV.
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of uh dick johnson taking me out at um lakeside when he was lapping me and um you know me waving him to go down the inside and took me out and um he was leading the race and i think it was the last race that he was actually leading before he retired and um he um yeah i'm sure you know
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obviously took me out and John Bell beat him.
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And anyway, that was probably a famous moment back then.
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I think it made play of the day on Channel 10, if I seem to recall, mate.
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So it got replayed a little bit.
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You had quite a chapter there with supercars and it probably, you can fill in the blanks here for me, it probably helped in parallel with the growth of ultimately what PWR has gone on to become in a performance sense and in a global sense.
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Was it something that you wanted to do just purely from a competition sense as Paul Wheel or you saw it as a business vehicle in the same breath?
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Well, it started out as a competition thing, really.
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Mostly, you know, it was one of those things of, you know, we'd been around racing our whole life and it was, you know, really the next step in motorsport and it was a pinnacle of motorsport and still is a pinnacle of motorsport in Australia.
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And, you know,
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We ran as a privateer up until 2003, end of 2002.
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We swapped, you know, 2003, we swapped to Holden.
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And it was actually the stage of where –
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the story was that where TWR was, had too many drivers.
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So, you know, they had Mark Skaith and Jason Bright and Todd Kelly and Rick and Murph and, and, and everything like that.
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And then also they had still had Peter Brock in the background and, and Brocky was, you know, you know, we all know, you know, the history of Peter and how, how great he was as a, as a driver and, and what he achieved.
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And,
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and TWR owned all those teams, and it was back in the day where you only owned a certain amount of teams.
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And so we had a couple of licences, and they needed a spot for Jason Bright to go to because there was too much of a clash there with Scafie.
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Yeah.
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And so we were fortunate enough to be able to do a deal with them and we ended up owning Team Brock and that.
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So which we only ran the Team Brock thing for a year under Team Brock and so it was Jason Bright and myself and –
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And it was a little bit weird because in 2002, I drove with Marcus Ambrose at the Bathurst 1000.
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And at that stage, I already knew that we were, you know, we were moving to Holden.
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And, um, so it was a little bit weird of, um, you know, drive, driving, driving with one of the best Ford teams that there was stone brothers and, um, and, uh, not driving my own car with my own team and, um, and then moving, basically moving, you know, straight away to, to Holden.
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And we, you know, it was, uh, yeah.
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The supercar's biggest thing was that we weren't allowed to cross data and all this sort of stuff and interlinked us.
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And they put so many restrictions on us at the time that made it very difficult for us to actually, you know, we weren't allowed to test.
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We weren't allowed to do anything, you know, really at the time.
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And I think the first year was, um, yeah, I think, uh, Jason basically finished second in the championship and, um, and, uh, and so that was, um, that was quite a good time of, um, you know, going to, to Holden and over, over the years we, you know, we sort of stepped away from, from the HSV side of things and, and sort of took our own route, but we were fortunate enough to have, um,
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Great drivers, as in, you know, got to work with Jason Bright.
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You're a good mate, Greg Murphy.
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Murphy.
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Murphy was very, very good, very, very passionate, as we know.
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You know, he didn't like toilets at Bathurst very much, poor to lose.
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But, you know, he spent about five minutes, I think, in one.
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I don't know what he was doing.
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But...
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But, you know, those sort of guys, you know, Cameron McConville, Paul Dunbarrow, and I think, you know, the thing was Supercars helped us as a company to be able to, you know, try different things, try new technology, try R&D, everything like that with the radiators and with the oil coolers.
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And I think it, you know, played a big part of, you know,
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especially in Australia, of getting our brand out there in front of people.
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So that definitely did play a big part.
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Your career, mate, I mean, you're over 100 starts, a decade long in supercars.
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Probably one of the moments, and I know you've opened up about this in the last year or two that immediately comes to people's minds, I think is 08 and that crash at Bathurst, which you described, I think, as something that you were pretty fortunate to survive, mate.
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Just share what unfolded that day and the way you dealt with it.
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Yeah, it was, yeah, two, yeah, I had...
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I was actually co-driving for our own team.
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We had Andrew Thompson, who was a young guy who was driving for us.
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And it was a practice session.
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And I was actually a little bit quicker than Andrew was.
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And so we were tossing up whether to have me qualify for a car or have him qualify for a car.
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And so I went out at the start of the session just to see sort of, you know, what sort of, you know, lap time we could do and what the car had and made a mistake over the top there, you know, where the grate is there where we dropped down over the grate and actually, you know, scraped the wall and had too much steering angle on.
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And when I bounced off the wall, spun.
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backwards and spun across the track.
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And it was always in the back of my mind because we lost a great friend in 2006 with Mark Porter there in a similar spot who crashed and got hit by another car and got killed.
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And it was always in my mind that, you know, if I was in that situation that I'd start the car and try to, you know, move it no matter what.
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But, you know,
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You know, when that happens, you don't even think about that.
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And then so I sat there, you know, I was talking to the guys on the radio and then Chris Pither thought that he was going to be a world champion and set the world alight and basically center punched me, you know, probably if he had got me two inches to the right further to the driver's side door, I probably wouldn't be here.
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You know, I had –
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Yeah, split my spleen in half, fractured my L1 to L5, punctured my lung and everything like that.
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And, yeah, it was one of those things, very, very fortunate to be able to – I didn't walk away.
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I got stretched away, but very fortunate and –
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And it was funny because, well, funny now looking back, but it was funny because, you know, I don't remember, I remember going into the ambulance at the top of the hill and I don't remember actually hopping out of the ambulance in the medical centre.
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So I remember everything else.
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except for that part.
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And my wife, usually my good friend Tim Lay, who lives in Orange, so my wife usually flies to Orange and goes out for lunch on the Friday with his wife, Alicia.
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And anyway, they had the TV on and they'll walk him, but it was on mute, and I'll walk him past and everything like that.
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And anyway, they're trying to get ready and Emma's phone starts blowing up and...
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And they go, oh, yeah, Paul's had a bad accident and all that sort of stuff.
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And she goes, oh, well, he'll be all right.
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They'll just take him to hospital or something like that, won't they?
192
00:20:59.583 --> 00:21:03.585
Or, you know, they'll probably bring him to Orange or he'll be in hospital at Bathurst or whatever.
193
00:21:03.625 --> 00:21:05.065
We're getting ready to go to lunch.
194
00:21:05.866 --> 00:21:07.707
And anyway, Tim said, oh, yeah.
195
00:21:08.947 --> 00:21:17.089
or it might have been Daryl or Tim, one of the two, Daryl Beatty, goes, no, I think you need to get your ass here right now.
196
00:21:17.389 --> 00:21:18.930
This is pretty serious.
197
00:21:19.730 --> 00:21:28.832
And it was one of those times, you know, when you're, you know, like every time at Bathurst you get checked at every checkpoint for a pass.
198
00:21:30.615 --> 00:21:33.536
And anyway, they never got checked for a pass whatsoever.
199
00:21:33.556 --> 00:21:34.457
I just drove straight through.
200
00:21:34.477 --> 00:21:36.758
I had no passes, drove straight through.
201
00:21:37.458 --> 00:21:43.961
And because we were waiting for her so that they could put me in the helicopter and fly me to Sydney.
202
00:21:44.702 --> 00:21:54.226
And so anyway, so it was a little bit more serious than, yeah, going to Orange Base Hospital just for a checkup.
203
00:21:55.207 --> 00:21:58.148
So, yeah, flew me to Sydney and I'm strapped in.
204
00:21:58.168 --> 00:21:59.289
Yeah.
205
00:22:00.089 --> 00:22:08.772
Yeah, I'm on the bottom of the, well, not on the bottom of the helicopter, but strapped in and sat, you know, on the floor of the helicopter and looking at the roof.
206
00:22:08.832 --> 00:22:12.253
And she's going, oh, you should have a look at this view over the Blue Mountains.
207
00:22:12.273 --> 00:22:13.113
This is beautiful.
208
00:22:13.253 --> 00:22:16.014
And I'm going, do you just shut up?
209
00:22:16.114 --> 00:22:17.914
I said, all I can see is a roof.
210
00:22:17.974 --> 00:22:19.135
I can't even move my head.
211
00:22:19.155 --> 00:22:19.255
Yeah.
212
00:22:20.275 --> 00:22:36.768
And then so they fly me into Westmead and anyway, she's there and she goes, oh, it goes to the pilots and the doctor who was with me goes, oh, hang on, can we just take a selfie up on the roof of the helipad?
213
00:22:37.448 --> 00:22:40.370
And I'm like, oh, God, this is unbelievable.
214
00:22:40.991 --> 00:22:45.594
And so we get into the emergency and –
215
00:22:47.848 --> 00:23:07.895
And so they go over everything and check everything, and this guy sticks his finger up my bottom to see if I had, yeah, there's obviously something up there that has a reflex, that gives you a reflex to tell something, you know.
216
00:23:08.615 --> 00:23:10.536
And I said, well, mate, what are you doing there?
217
00:23:10.596 --> 00:23:12.857
I said, we haven't even changed names.
218
00:23:12.937 --> 00:23:13.977
It's not even the first day.
219
00:23:13.997 --> 00:23:15.638
We haven't had a beer or anything.
220
00:23:15.858 --> 00:23:16.658
Like, what are you doing?
221
00:23:17.547 --> 00:23:21.769
Anyway, and so that was interesting.
222
00:23:21.849 --> 00:23:29.912
And Westmead Hospital on a Friday night in Sydney is very interesting with police and everything like that.
223
00:23:30.792 --> 00:23:33.413
And it was about three days in.
224
00:23:33.613 --> 00:23:37.155
The physio come in to me and goes, hey, you've got to get up and –
225
00:23:38.390 --> 00:23:40.231
start walking around and all that sort of stuff.
226
00:23:40.251 --> 00:23:42.292
And I said, mate, I can't get up.
227
00:23:42.352 --> 00:23:43.193
Like I, you know.
228
00:23:44.193 --> 00:23:52.117
And anyway, so he hops me up and I go, you know, got to take a step and, you know, start screaming like a baby.
229
00:23:52.177 --> 00:23:52.297
And...
230
00:23:55.339 --> 00:24:09.424
And he goes back to the, I was in the neuro and spinal ward, and he goes back to the doctor on call, and they relook at the x-rays, and they missed, in emergency, they missed all the fractures that I had in my back.
231
00:24:10.565 --> 00:24:11.365
So, yeah.
232
00:24:12.731 --> 00:24:16.777
So, yeah, it was a quite interesting one, that one.
233
00:24:18.580 --> 00:24:24.889
But, you know, quite fortunate, you know, getting hit at, you know, probably 180 Ks, you know, close to 200 Ks and, you know,
234
00:24:27.833 --> 00:24:43.301
You know, you look back at the photos and you look back at the photos of the car and the roll cage had split behind the driver's seat and actually had started to come up into the driver's seat and puncture the back of the driver's seat.
235
00:24:43.381 --> 00:24:55.348
So, yeah, we're quite fortunate because if that had gone through, it probably would have come out through my chest somewhere and, you know, we would have been on a whole lot of different, you know, might have been a different story.
236
00:24:55.368 --> 00:24:55.668
Oh, wow.
237
00:24:57.429 --> 00:25:09.920
That sort of ended the V8 supercar career of, you know, I was only driving part-time there because I was working full-time with PWR.
238
00:25:10.780 --> 00:25:12.402
So, yeah, that sort of ended that.
239
00:25:12.882 --> 00:25:17.085
The great thing is, though, mate, you've been able to get back behind the wheel, which I think is tremendous.
240
00:25:17.105 --> 00:25:21.008
I mean, the doctors could very easily have just said to you, no, stop, no more.
241
00:25:21.608 --> 00:25:27.292
You dabble again, I think, if I've got the timeline right here, again in stadium trucks, there's a little bit of success in that too, mate, isn't there?
242
00:25:27.852 --> 00:25:32.613
Yeah, doubled again in the stallion truck stuff with the Robbie Gordon thing.
243
00:25:34.314 --> 00:25:39.595
And so, yeah, doubled with that a little bit.
244
00:25:40.736 --> 00:25:56.500
I think I probably made another play of the day again there in Darwin when I went off the jump sideways and rolled six times and landed back on his wheels and drove it back to the pits just because I didn't want to get out and...
245
00:25:56.900 --> 00:25:58.221
fall over because I was too dizzy.
246
00:25:58.241 --> 00:25:59.281
Yeah.
247
00:25:59.961 --> 00:26:02.582
And my eyes were, you know, rolling around my head.
248
00:26:03.823 --> 00:26:06.704
And so I drove back to the pits.
249
00:26:06.744 --> 00:26:09.445
But yeah, we won a couple of races there.
250
00:26:09.485 --> 00:26:10.546
We had some fun there.
251
00:26:10.566 --> 00:26:16.148
Yeah, I sort of got to know, sort of, I knew Toby.
252
00:26:16.448 --> 00:26:18.029
Before that, I went to the pits.
253
00:26:18.669 --> 00:26:34.438
I met Toby in 2017 at Fink, but yeah, I got to race against Toby and Robbie Gordon and the dude with Paul Morris doing it, and we had some great fun doing that sort of stuff.
254
00:26:34.878 --> 00:26:36.299
It wasn't very nice on the body.
255
00:26:36.819 --> 00:26:38.400
I can give you the hot tip.
256
00:26:38.460 --> 00:26:46.745
It wasn't very nice on the body whatsoever doing that, but yeah, we won some races and we had some success there and yeah.
257
00:26:47.245 --> 00:27:04.118
had some fun and you know it was a shame to see um that uh you know that series didn't keep on going here and you know in australia with the with the supercar rounds because you know i think some at some rounds there was more people watching the stadium trucks and then the supercars
258
00:27:15.238 --> 00:27:16.478
Come to Baja for us.
259
00:27:16.618 --> 00:27:18.199
So we've talked about this year.
260
00:27:18.379 --> 00:27:20.119
Let's talk about next year.
261
00:27:20.159 --> 00:27:22.240
You have a new truck coming.
262
00:27:22.500 --> 00:27:35.003
The events of recent weeks with the refueling drama and going so damn close to winning the Baja 1000 has not in any way dampened or tempered your commitment, the peer review to this.
263
00:27:35.203 --> 00:27:37.763
There's a new gen truck, I think, in the pipeline.
264
00:27:37.903 --> 00:27:40.624
What can you tell us about that truck technically, what it will be like?
265
00:27:41.104 --> 00:27:44.385
And then secondly, when you get your hands on it so you can start the prep for next year.
266
00:27:45.110 --> 00:28:13.917
Yeah, so basically what we had done was there's only two new Gen 2 Mason four-wheel drives getting made and we were able to, for a guy called Jesse Jones who actually gave Toby his first star in a trophy truck in America, helped us out and he had one ordered
267
00:28:16.303 --> 00:28:18.244
And so we bought that off him.
268
00:28:20.205 --> 00:28:21.806
We've had some hold-ups.
269
00:28:22.227 --> 00:28:31.012
Unfortunately, Mason has, we've been able to get the machining done and programming and everything like that.
270
00:28:31.112 --> 00:28:37.336
It's a totally new designer truck where we can change camber caster.
271
00:28:37.656 --> 00:28:44.620
We've got a lot more flexibility of being able to change a lot of different stuff compared to the first-generation truck.
272
00:28:45.560 --> 00:28:46.721
still four-wheel drive.
273
00:28:48.081 --> 00:28:58.665
We can run a bigger engine in there, which we run a Toyota engine, which is made by Joe Gibbs.
274
00:28:59.265 --> 00:29:01.386
So the NASCAR team made that engine.
275
00:29:01.406 --> 00:29:03.567
So we're running around about –
276
00:29:04.567 --> 00:29:06.229
1150 horsepower.
277
00:29:06.450 --> 00:29:08.952
So just a few ponies under, under the hood.
278
00:29:09.853 --> 00:29:14.538
Um, and that, so we're sort of being delayed until about Christmas time.
279
00:29:15.179 --> 00:29:19.364
Um, so we're hoping to be able to start testing, um,
280
00:29:20.974 --> 00:29:22.796
you know, the start of next year.
281
00:29:22.816 --> 00:29:24.718
It's got a bigger fuel cell.
282
00:29:25.940 --> 00:29:29.143
So if you put up enough fuel in it, you should be able to finish a race.
283
00:29:30.064 --> 00:29:32.287
But we've got a bigger fuel cell.
284
00:29:32.327 --> 00:29:33.548
So we got it right now.
285
00:29:33.588 --> 00:29:35.210
Our current truck has about 105 gallons of fuel.
286
00:29:37.152 --> 00:29:38.093
to be able to go in there.
287
00:29:39.093 --> 00:29:42.116
This has around about 140 going.
288
00:29:42.176 --> 00:29:52.284
So we can do something like a San Felipe 250, which is a 250-mile race, without having to do a tyre or fuel stop.
289
00:29:52.724 --> 00:29:56.267
So it gives us a great advantage.
290
00:29:56.567 --> 00:30:03.213
The thing that, you know, for me was the biggest, the thing was, you know, the...
291
00:30:04.073 --> 00:30:14.271
development side of things and being involved with a manufacturer to, to actually develop something, um, different and something new was exciting.
292
00:30:14.812 --> 00:30:14.972
Um,
293
00:30:16.648 --> 00:30:33.692
We don't know, we're taking a gamble of, we don't know how good this truck's going to be, but if anyone in America who builds trophy trucks, Mason are the best in the business, and I believe in those guys.
294
00:30:33.732 --> 00:30:37.793
They prep our race car for us as well.
295
00:30:38.794 --> 00:30:44.675
So I believe that they're the best, and I think that they are going to be able to,
296
00:30:45.235 --> 00:30:54.041
you know, pull something off straight out of the box, that's going to be very competitive and step up the game even more.
297
00:30:54.061 --> 00:31:01.847
You know, as we're seeing these races, you know, we've finished second twice this year at the 400 and 500.
298
00:31:03.548 --> 00:31:05.810
we lost the 500 by 35 seconds.
299
00:31:06.510 --> 00:31:12.295
So 500 miles and first and second were covered by 35 seconds.
300
00:31:12.555 --> 00:31:21.261
So it just shows how close the racing is getting, the game and the level is stepping up.
301
00:31:21.341 --> 00:31:23.703
There's a team called Concrete Motorsport.
302
00:31:23.783 --> 00:31:28.867
They've got four four-wheel drives so that they can pre-run in
303
00:31:29.187 --> 00:31:39.974
in the four-wheel drives and they race and, you know, they got, yeah, you know, two, one spare race car and that and they race in a four-wheel drive.
304
00:31:39.994 --> 00:31:45.978
So it just shows how the, you know, competition level is just going up and up and up like in every sport.
305
00:31:46.058 --> 00:31:48.740
You know, it doesn't make a difference if it's supercars or if it's,
306
00:31:49.981 --> 00:32:02.862
Well, supercars probably a little bit restricted now compared to what it used to be, but you look at Formula One and everything like that, your level of technology is just always growing.
307
00:32:05.369 --> 00:32:09.870
Yeah, it's coming into the off-road world, which for me is exciting.
308
00:32:10.230 --> 00:32:17.832
They're an amazing piece of machinery, more than a million bucks worth, and super cool to watch from the side of the road.
309
00:32:18.152 --> 00:32:24.113
I want to bounce through a few things to finish here, and we'll go kind of quick fire here, Paul, with your answers, all right?
310
00:32:24.133 --> 00:32:26.274
So firstly, true or false?
311
00:32:27.280 --> 00:32:37.184
When you call time on the supercars or tin top chapter of your career, you get a gig with Thomas Mazira doing some driver training at Porsches.
312
00:32:37.644 --> 00:32:39.484
How was the white knuckle fever and all that?
313
00:32:39.524 --> 00:32:40.505
How long did you last?
314
00:32:41.965 --> 00:32:53.469
I think I lasted about 12 months because it was very scary sitting in the passenger seat, especially with some of these special people who buy Porsches.
315
00:32:53.489 --> 00:32:54.430
Yeah.
316
00:32:55.455 --> 00:32:59.418
It was a lot of fun, but it was a passenger seat, definitely not my side.
317
00:32:59.818 --> 00:33:04.000
I'm told you were reaching for a brake pedal that wasn't often there on your side of the car.
318
00:33:04.361 --> 00:33:06.202
Let's come to your good mate, Timmy Lay.
319
00:33:06.802 --> 00:33:15.848
He is a great supporter, and as you're going through your recovery from a life-threatening, basically, crash, he was your wheelchair man for a little bit.
320
00:33:16.048 --> 00:33:18.150
Is he a terrible assistant in that regard?
321
00:33:18.910 --> 00:33:27.197
He is a terrible assistant and especially, well, a terrible assistant, a terrible friend at the time.
322
00:33:28.438 --> 00:33:33.402
Whatever button he could push on the bed to do whatever it done, oh, what's this button do?
323
00:33:33.622 --> 00:33:33.882
Push.
324
00:33:34.102 --> 00:33:34.983
What's this button do?
325
00:33:35.023 --> 00:33:35.404
Push.
326
00:33:36.464 --> 00:33:40.407
And then I had to go to the toilet and so obviously,
327
00:33:41.829 --> 00:34:00.245
when you got your hospital gown on, the little rear end is showing and he was trying to push the wheelchair and take photos of me, half my ass and at the same time to be able to show everyone.
328
00:34:00.265 --> 00:34:00.365
Yeah.
329
00:34:02.053 --> 00:34:02.874
Oh, what a champion.
330
00:34:02.894 --> 00:34:03.514
What a champion.
331
00:34:03.614 --> 00:34:09.597
Did, true or false, your wife hit a record amount of potholes on the way back to the Gold Coast from Westmead?
332
00:34:10.257 --> 00:34:10.938
Yes, she did.
333
00:34:10.998 --> 00:34:20.943
She hit every single pothole on the way back from the Gold Coast because we tried to – we said to them, can we fly a helicopter back?
334
00:34:21.023 --> 00:34:21.403
No.
335
00:34:21.843 --> 00:34:22.724
Playing low?
336
00:34:22.904 --> 00:34:23.344
No.
337
00:34:24.405 --> 00:34:26.106
And I'm like, oh, God, we've got to drive.
338
00:34:26.826 --> 00:34:28.207
And, yeah, every pothole.
339
00:34:29.047 --> 00:34:38.612
The Formula One connection with PWR has meant that you've had the opportunity along the way to meet some star-studded operators in that field.
340
00:34:38.952 --> 00:34:44.875
I think, is it true, Carlos Sainz might have driven you in the boat at Monaco to the track one day?
341
00:34:44.915 --> 00:34:46.176
He was your chauffeur fundamentally.
342
00:34:46.196 --> 00:34:46.736
Is this true?
343
00:34:47.517 --> 00:34:48.517
Yes.
344
00:34:48.577 --> 00:34:50.198
Well, yeah, Monaco in 2013.
345
00:34:51.939 --> 00:34:55.280
big massive fanboy moment and Emma's going like, who's this old dude?
346
00:34:55.881 --> 00:35:06.024
And I'm like, this is Carlos Sainz, he's a two-time world rally champion and Carlos Sainz Jr. was actually on the boat as well and wasn't in Formula 1 yet.
347
00:35:06.204 --> 00:35:15.408
And yeah, had massive fanboy moment and one of the best experiences I've ever actually had and it was with Red Bull fans.
348
00:35:15.968 --> 00:35:20.992
was kindly enough to invite us over there back in 2013.
349
00:35:21.012 --> 00:35:24.074
But, yeah, he was a great chauffeur.
350
00:35:24.735 --> 00:35:25.115
I love it.
351
00:35:25.255 --> 00:35:28.698
Lunch with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, I think, too, which is pretty special, mate.
352
00:35:29.018 --> 00:35:33.742
Toby Price says, How expensive is it to take a piss at the borderline?
353
00:35:35.042 --> 00:35:37.163
It is very expensive.
354
00:35:37.543 --> 00:35:40.084
It wasn't me who was taking the piss.
355
00:35:41.045 --> 00:35:51.869
It was someone in my truck, which was a marketing guy, Matty McAlpine, and I think it cost us about $300.
356
00:35:51.949 --> 00:35:54.950
I did tell the policeman to take him to jail first.
357
00:35:54.970 --> 00:35:55.030
Oh.
358
00:35:56.991 --> 00:36:03.976
and that because they go, oh, you've got to come with us, you've got to go to jail, da-da-da, you know, they're now very corrupt over there.
359
00:36:04.656 --> 00:36:09.419
And I said to him, I said, mate, I can't control what this guy does out of my car.
360
00:36:10.040 --> 00:36:12.021
And he's in your car.
361
00:36:12.041 --> 00:36:15.503
I said, well, he's outside of my car, Wayne, not inside of my car, Wayne.
362
00:36:15.944 --> 00:36:17.285
So I said, he's not my problem.
363
00:36:18.045 --> 00:36:19.106
I said, take him to jail.
364
00:36:19.207 --> 00:36:19.787
I don't care.
365
00:36:20.308 --> 00:36:25.153
And he goes around to Matty and goes, oh, your friend, your friend don't like you.
366
00:36:25.173 --> 00:36:26.515
He said, take you to jail.
367
00:36:29.595 --> 00:36:33.477
So it ended up costing us $300 US, so it was a very expensive piss.
368
00:36:33.877 --> 00:36:34.597
Two to finish.
369
00:36:35.038 --> 00:36:39.640
You get to, with your crazy mates, enjoy a bit of two wheels again.
370
00:36:39.700 --> 00:36:48.944
He's stopped doing them nowadays, but Darrell Beattie ran some fantastic outback dirt bike tours across the Simpson Desert and all these wonderful places.
371
00:36:48.964 --> 00:36:53.726
And if memory serves, you and Wheelie and others went to the very top, mate.
372
00:36:53.746 --> 00:36:54.567
You went to Cape York.
373
00:36:54.607 --> 00:36:55.067
Is that right?
374
00:36:55.610 --> 00:37:02.075
Yeah, went to Cape York and then through COVID he couldn't get a lead rider.
375
00:37:02.095 --> 00:37:08.339
So I went and done three tours with him up there in Cape York.
376
00:37:08.499 --> 00:37:19.647
And I had the last tour we'd done, we had Troy Bayless and some of the guys from Ducati and being the lead rider, yeah.
377
00:37:20.367 --> 00:37:27.272
Yeah, so every day was a race with those guys, and especially with Troy and Nat.
378
00:37:27.452 --> 00:37:30.695
And I was just like, boys, I'm not fit enough.
379
00:37:31.075 --> 00:37:34.237
Back then I was like, I'm not fit enough to do this every single day.
380
00:37:34.357 --> 00:37:36.519
And it's my third week in Aurora.
381
00:37:36.539 --> 00:37:37.299
Give me a break.
382
00:37:37.839 --> 00:37:40.541
So, yeah, great fun.
383
00:37:41.402 --> 00:37:44.224
Got to see, you know, stuff that you never –
384
00:37:44.604 --> 00:37:56.016
Never would see, you know, going across riverbeds, carrying bikes, you know, across because the water was so high, you know, crocodiles, all that sort of stuff.
385
00:37:56.437 --> 00:37:57.178
It was amazing.
386
00:37:57.578 --> 00:37:57.999
Crazy.
387
00:37:58.739 --> 00:38:06.388
To finish, the girls have a passion for a different kind of horsepower and you are about to go and join them, aren't you?
388
00:38:06.848 --> 00:38:08.029
Yes, I am.
389
00:38:08.149 --> 00:38:14.796
My oldest daughter is a very good dressage rider and very, very, very proud of her.
390
00:38:15.016 --> 00:38:23.905
She was the youngest at 13 to be representing Australia at an international dressage event.
391
00:38:24.725 --> 00:38:27.847
as an official Australian team and done very well.
392
00:38:28.427 --> 00:38:30.668
And so we're going to Florida.
393
00:38:30.808 --> 00:38:35.730
Emma, my wife, and Abby are already in Florida now.
394
00:38:36.231 --> 00:38:40.113
And the youngest, Miller, and I actually leave tomorrow morning.
395
00:38:41.293 --> 00:38:48.677
So we're in Florida up until April, which is great for two reasons.
396
00:38:48.717 --> 00:38:51.438
Great for Abby to be able to follow her passion and,
397
00:38:52.118 --> 00:39:01.085
And one day, hopefully, hopefully make it to the Olympics and make it as a professional sport, you know, as a professional.
398
00:39:02.387 --> 00:39:07.971
And that's her goal, which I think she will be able to do and achieve.
399
00:39:08.832 --> 00:39:13.796
And on the second thing, I've been over there.
400
00:39:13.856 --> 00:39:20.321
It helps us, you know, with the racing side and R&D in testing of this new car.
401
00:39:21.798 --> 00:39:27.841
you know, the horses has been a passion of Emma's, you know, ever since she was a kid.
402
00:39:28.521 --> 00:39:44.648
And, you know, I believe, you know, at the end of the day, it doesn't make a difference if it's for recreation or fun or whatever, professional-wise, you know, you should always follow your dream of what you want to do and what you're passionate about.
403
00:39:45.448 --> 00:39:51.651
And, you know, that's, you know, one of our mottos, you know, of, you know,
404
00:39:52.011 --> 00:39:54.573
what we do with our family is no risk, no fun.
405
00:39:54.873 --> 00:39:59.016
And, you know, we definitely take a lot of risks in what we do.
406
00:39:59.036 --> 00:40:05.821
It doesn't make a difference if it's in business or in sport, in motorsport, horses and everything like that.
407
00:40:05.841 --> 00:40:18.570
So, you know, it will be a very good learning experience for her, for Abby, and hopefully it's a, you know, it's a Kickstarter for her to, you know, you know,
408
00:40:19.250 --> 00:40:23.113
follow on to go, you know, higher places in the sport.
409
00:40:23.373 --> 00:40:27.395
And, you know, her ultimate goal is to represent Australia.
410
00:40:29.156 --> 00:40:36.841
And, you know, most of the competitions and most of the, you know, all the good riders are in Germany.
411
00:40:37.382 --> 00:40:42.465
And, you know, one of her goals is to be, you know, based as a professional out of Germany.
412
00:40:42.505 --> 00:40:43.666
So, you know, if we can...
413
00:40:44.306 --> 00:40:52.369
If we can contribute and help her to be able to achieve that, it will be a great goal.
414
00:40:53.290 --> 00:40:54.110
Great stuff, mate.
415
00:40:54.130 --> 00:40:59.812
Hey, nice to chat with you about that and nice to see that you're supporting her in her own endeavours.
416
00:40:59.832 --> 00:41:02.413
Great to reflect a bit on your own career.
417
00:41:02.453 --> 00:41:03.714
You talked about no risk before.
418
00:41:03.734 --> 00:41:08.416
There's been some risks taken along the way in a business sense that have paid big dividends.
419
00:41:09.116 --> 00:41:16.679
You've proven, mate, the kind of hands-on learning, even though you left school at year nine, has still served you immensely well.
420
00:41:16.719 --> 00:41:23.881
And you've continued to play in the motorsport arena in an area that is deeply loved by your family.
421
00:41:24.101 --> 00:41:25.402
Give your dad our best, mate.
422
00:41:25.422 --> 00:41:26.402
Tell him to keep powering.
423
00:41:26.422 --> 00:41:27.002
Merry Christmas.
424
00:41:27.042 --> 00:41:28.823
And thank you very much for coming on the pod today.
425
00:41:29.612 --> 00:41:30.372
No problem, mate.
426
00:41:30.412 --> 00:41:31.273
Thank you very much.
427
00:41:31.433 --> 00:41:33.414
And same to you, Rusty.
428
00:41:33.554 --> 00:41:48.562
And it was great to see you in Mexico and have you experience what we get to do four times a year of how mad that place is and how passionate the people are down there.
429
00:41:48.902 --> 00:41:51.644
And, yeah, Merry Christmas to you and to your family.
430
00:41:51.724 --> 00:41:53.465
And thanks for having me.
431
00:41:53.545 --> 00:41:54.165
It's been a pleasure.
432
00:41:54.345 --> 00:41:55.386
Thank you for having me there.
433
00:41:55.426 --> 00:42:02.850
It opened my eyes immensely to that event, and I've got a little bit of an understanding now of why you and Toby love it so much.
434
00:42:02.890 --> 00:42:05.752
So to conclude, mate, you've gone ultra close with that 1,000.
435
00:42:05.772 --> 00:42:07.012
Go and win it next year.
436
00:42:07.032 --> 00:42:08.053
We wish you all the very best.
437
00:42:08.466 --> 00:42:09.627
Yeah, mate, that'll be the goal.
438
00:42:09.667 --> 00:42:16.313
That's what we said on the, I think, the Wednesday night when we'd done the interview that we're going to win this race, and we come damn close.
439
00:42:17.073 --> 00:42:22.117
So, yeah, definitely next year, or next year one isn't going to get away from us.
440
00:42:22.177 --> 00:42:27.262
So we'll, you know, we'll be trying our best to win everything we can.
1
00:00:02.690 --> 00:00:04.051
A listener production.
2
00:00:19.224 --> 00:00:23.949
I'm automotive commentator and journalist Greg Rust and this is Rusty's Garage.
3
00:00:25.060 --> 00:00:28.744
G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my feature ep with Paul Weill.
4
00:00:28.784 --> 00:00:36.493
Lots of good chat to come in this one on supercars, a brutal crash at Bathurst, stadium truck racing and a whole lot more.
5
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If you've somehow arrived here and not given part one a listen, jump back to the library and check it out first.
6
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The post-event debrief.com.
7
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after a soul-destroying finish to the Baja 1000 recently when he and Toby Price were on course to win the off-road classic, to an emotional moment on his dad, Keyes, as he rebounds from a health scare and starting out the competitive racing journey on two wheels, plus a little-known plan in the coming years to take on Dakar.
8
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Let's get back to the convo now.
9
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You take quite an interest in the numbers side.
10
00:01:10.997 --> 00:01:13.119
I know you're quite clever in that regard, mate.
11
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What it has become is a great Australian business success story to think that we are supplying to Formula One and to all these other, not just NASCAR that you've talked about either in the intros that Lee did and the work that he did with you in those early days and so on.
12
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I mean, the supply that you do to so many different forms of motorsport and that it is a cutting edge, very tech savvy, always evolving product that's been built with aerodynamics in mind and all sorts of things like that.
13
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The company has had the likes of Roland Dane in a significant position for a time there on the board and so on.
14
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And you look, Paul, at its net result now.
15
00:01:52.069 --> 00:01:56.111
But when a company goes through big growth like that, it invariably has had
16
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hurdles along the way.
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You've talked about trying to figure a production line to cope with the demands of Formula One and how many they needed and so on for these almost bespoke things.
18
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And in the midst of this growth comes along a thing called the GFC, the global financial crisis.
19
00:02:11.882 --> 00:02:13.103
How did that impact you guys?
20
00:02:13.741 --> 00:02:24.744
Yeah, at the time, that impacted us a fair bit because we were building, you know, we were building a factory up at Yatla.
21
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And the bank at the time, we banked with, you know, like 20 years since we moved to Queensland.
22
00:02:32.046 --> 00:02:33.787
And we had the same bank manager.
23
00:02:34.487 --> 00:02:37.288
And he actually got moved on.
24
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And so at the time he was going, yep, here's more money, here's more money.
25
00:02:42.970 --> 00:02:46.391
We need more money to do this or we need more money to do that.
26
00:02:47.512 --> 00:02:51.433
And we're building this factory so that we could take on the rest of the world.
27
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Basically, that was the reason why.
28
00:02:56.447 --> 00:03:10.357
And anyway, so we had this new banker come in who was from credit and you always got to go up the guys from credit because they're, you know, they're the box tickers in the banks, I say.
29
00:03:10.897 --> 00:03:13.659
And basically he goes, oh, no, you're over your limit.
30
00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:17.062
You've got to, you know, you've got to give us credit.
31
00:03:18.165 --> 00:03:23.607
I think some of you in the region of $5 or $6 million back, or else we're going to foreclose on you.
32
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They're going to foreclose on you?
33
00:03:27.408 --> 00:03:39.091
Yeah, they'll go foreclose on us, and basically if we couldn't pay the money back, they're going to basically bankrupt us, which would ruin the business.
34
00:03:39.131 --> 00:03:41.872
So Keyes and I quickly...
35
00:03:44.472 --> 00:03:47.294
Went and put our houses on the markets.
36
00:03:47.554 --> 00:03:48.374
Emma was pregnant.
37
00:03:48.394 --> 00:03:52.277
She was eight months pregnant with Abby.
38
00:03:52.817 --> 00:03:59.661
And so, yeah, we decided, you know, we put both places, both our houses on the markets and all that sort of stuff.
39
00:04:00.421 --> 00:04:02.323
And so they both sold very quickly.
40
00:04:02.343 --> 00:04:18.654
But it was timing that was amazing was that we had – we still had the race team building in Melbourne that we ran the supercars out of, which is the old Gibson Motorsport building, which is – which was now –
41
00:04:20.435 --> 00:04:28.082
And unfortunately, you know, with Gary passing away, Gary Rogers bought both sides of the building when we ended up selling them.
42
00:04:28.863 --> 00:04:40.773
And so, yeah, so we had a loan through the CBA, Commonwealth Bank, and the guy in Queensland rang just out of the blue and said, hey –
43
00:04:41.534 --> 00:04:44.816
your loans up for renewal, do you want to renew it?
44
00:04:45.636 --> 00:04:48.358
And is there anything else I can actually do for you guys?
45
00:04:49.058 --> 00:04:58.623
And so he come down and he was into manufacturing and, you know, we showed him around and told him the whole story and what our –
46
00:05:00.810 --> 00:05:05.731
plan was and what we thought for the future and where we could go and everything like that.
47
00:05:06.611 --> 00:05:09.232
And he said, yep, no problem, I'll back you.
48
00:05:09.632 --> 00:05:13.272
And so we just found the right person at the right time.
49
00:05:13.512 --> 00:05:23.374
It was more luck than anything, but, you know, we already sold everything that we had to keep the company afloat and everything like that.
50
00:05:23.534 --> 00:05:27.115
And, you know, at the end of the day, it worked out very well for us.
51
00:05:28.077 --> 00:05:28.498
Sure did.
52
00:05:28.558 --> 00:05:36.567
It evolved too, Paul, I mean you talked about oil coolers there before and so on and with all the battery tech that's around now as well, I would imagine the cooling leans into that space too.
53
00:05:36.947 --> 00:05:43.655
Yeah, so it's funny, you know, I was actually at a dinner last night and, you know, people were talking about, you know,
54
00:05:45.157 --> 00:05:47.860
you know, the electric vehicles and all that sort of stuff.
55
00:05:48.020 --> 00:05:55.266
And, you know, electric vehicles actually take more cooling than a naturally aspirated car does.
56
00:05:55.767 --> 00:06:00.031
So, you know, not many people realise that, especially with the battery cooling.
57
00:06:01.272 --> 00:06:04.375
And we do a lot of battery cooling, especially for Formula One.
58
00:06:05.155 --> 00:06:10.540
And so, you know, we basically now we supply...
59
00:06:12.001 --> 00:06:14.322
every Formula 1 team on the grid.
60
00:06:15.043 --> 00:06:25.447
yeah, I'm not quite sure exactly if it's every single thing in their cars that we supply or not, but we do supply every Formula 1 team.
61
00:06:25.927 --> 00:06:33.090
But we, we, we've done a lot of stuff with Honda when they come into the sport with Formula 1.
62
00:06:33.410 --> 00:06:38.492
They designed this battery that they couldn't work out how to call it.
63
00:06:38.512 --> 00:06:38.832
And
64
00:06:40.305 --> 00:06:50.271
So we came up with a design that was, you know, very expensive, of course, to be able to do.
65
00:06:50.711 --> 00:06:57.716
But, you know, basically it was a, well, I say it was expensive or it's expensive for what we sold it to them for.
66
00:06:57.736 --> 00:07:00.518
But it was basically a radiator without fins in it.
67
00:07:01.438 --> 00:07:17.542
So we could turn, it was an extruded tube that we could turn braised together into a header plate with a water comes through, weld a tank on it, and then have another tank over the top.
68
00:07:17.922 --> 00:07:23.704
And we could turn the water around because it had four extrusion parts through the tube.
69
00:07:24.344 --> 00:07:28.165
And so we just put a little turn plate in the end of the tube
70
00:07:28.905 --> 00:07:37.207
And they would glue the battery and the cooler together.
71
00:07:37.247 --> 00:07:38.628
So it sort of sat like that.
72
00:07:39.888 --> 00:07:41.549
Okay.
73
00:07:41.649 --> 00:07:46.270
And it was great at the time because when Honda first started with Formula 1,
74
00:07:47.829 --> 00:07:57.637
They used to go through a lot of battery coolers because they had a lot of battery problems with their technology on their side of things.
75
00:07:58.138 --> 00:07:59.219
So it was great at the time.
76
00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:06.685
But, yeah, it's interesting with the new technology of, you know,
77
00:08:08.326 --> 00:08:14.730
like all the hybrids and battery sort of cars.
78
00:08:14.750 --> 00:08:23.394
I mean, you go to different countries, you've got trucks now, you've got aerospace stuff.
79
00:08:23.454 --> 00:08:26.556
There's a lot of pretty much everything –
80
00:08:28.180 --> 00:08:30.483
around the world, you know, needs calling.
81
00:08:30.503 --> 00:08:32.907
So, you know, we're quite fortunate in that way.
82
00:08:33.468 --> 00:08:33.688
Cool.
83
00:08:34.049 --> 00:08:36.592
This stuff all interlinks in some ways.
84
00:08:36.612 --> 00:08:40.058
I want to dabble about your own kind of four-wheel career for a moment.
85
00:08:40.078 --> 00:08:42.581
Let's sort of hook right for a second, Paul, if we can.
86
00:08:43.282 --> 00:08:47.488
I got to come to what was a home workshop back in the day.
87
00:08:47.508 --> 00:08:53.215
There was a Ford Falcon in there that ran white, green, and maybe a bit of yellow paint scheme.
88
00:08:53.956 --> 00:08:57.200
You were training with Guy Andrews back in the day as well.
89
00:08:57.240 --> 00:09:00.945
You had a decent crack made in supercars, didn't you?
90
00:09:01.755 --> 00:09:02.315
Yeah, we did.
91
00:09:02.455 --> 00:09:04.016
It was funny.
92
00:09:04.036 --> 00:09:14.379
It was actually I'd done, after I finished racing motocross and supercross, I went and raced Stadium Off-Road.
93
00:09:15.300 --> 00:09:15.520
Yes.
94
00:09:15.760 --> 00:09:23.102
And so they were the cars that were from the Mickey Thompson series from America.
95
00:09:23.162 --> 00:09:28.524
So when that series went bust, a heap of Australians went over and bought all these cars.
96
00:09:31.876 --> 00:09:33.337
I can't remember the promoter.
97
00:09:33.357 --> 00:09:34.939
It wasn't Phil Christensen.
98
00:09:35.059 --> 00:09:39.002
He was the Supercross promoter, but it was another promoter.
99
00:09:39.863 --> 00:09:44.607
And anyway, so we went and started racing that.
100
00:09:44.627 --> 00:09:45.789
I was only 17.
101
00:09:46.369 --> 00:09:49.212
I don't even think I had my license or anything like that.
102
00:09:49.852 --> 00:09:52.595
And basically it was awesome because it was –
103
00:09:53.155 --> 00:09:55.917
It was motocross with a roll cage around you.
104
00:09:55.957 --> 00:10:00.862
So, you know, it didn't make a difference what you hit, really, to a point.
105
00:10:01.822 --> 00:10:16.235
But, yeah, so I started off racing that and it was after the first race that we raced, I had a guy from Yokohama, a guy called Alan Bradshaw, who was an off-road guy.
106
00:10:17.345 --> 00:10:21.571
for them and, and that come up to us and said, Hey, cause we had no sponsors or anything.
107
00:10:22.092 --> 00:10:24.415
Oh, we want to sponsor you and do this and do that.
108
00:10:25.676 --> 00:10:31.805
And at the end of that season, he said, yeah, I think you should, you guys should go and race supercars.
109
00:10:32.366 --> 00:10:33.047
And, um,
110
00:10:34.439 --> 00:10:38.665
Yeah, never raced a go-car, never raced on tarmac, anything like that.
111
00:10:39.707 --> 00:10:49.381
And so we went and bought Steve Alry's Ford supercar and, yeah, not nice.
112
00:10:49.561 --> 00:10:51.103
what we were doing or anything like that.
113
00:10:51.123 --> 00:11:04.960
We knew a few people who'd been in supercars, hired them, and I think the first time I drove a supercar was down around the cul-de-sac at K&J Radio in Grumman.
114
00:11:05.060 --> 00:11:05.340
LAUGHTER
115
00:11:06.862 --> 00:11:14.332
And just to make sure that I could change the gears before we went to Lakeside for a club day or whatever it was.
116
00:11:15.393 --> 00:11:19.979
So, yeah, my learning curve was very, very steep.
117
00:11:20.580 --> 00:11:22.202
Yeah, that was back in –
118
00:11:23.543 --> 00:11:32.852
1997, late 1997 and then 1998 was my first year racing in the supercar series.
119
00:11:34.314 --> 00:11:38.138
And I think there's a very famous moment on TV.
120
00:11:38.878 --> 00:11:59.654
of uh dick johnson taking me out at um lakeside when he was lapping me and um you know me waving him to go down the inside and took me out and um he was leading the race and i think it was the last race that he was actually leading before he retired and um he um yeah i'm sure you know
121
00:11:59.994 --> 00:12:02.077
obviously took me out and John Bell beat him.
122
00:12:02.658 --> 00:12:07.786
And anyway, that was probably a famous moment back then.
123
00:12:08.286 --> 00:12:11.832
I think it made play of the day on Channel 10, if I seem to recall, mate.
124
00:12:11.932 --> 00:12:14.676
So it got replayed a little bit.
125
00:12:15.036 --> 00:12:28.762
You had quite a chapter there with supercars and it probably, you can fill in the blanks here for me, it probably helped in parallel with the growth of ultimately what PWR has gone on to become in a performance sense and in a global sense.
126
00:12:29.382 --> 00:12:35.865
Was it something that you wanted to do just purely from a competition sense as Paul Wheel or you saw it as a business vehicle in the same breath?
127
00:12:36.640 --> 00:12:40.783
Well, it started out as a competition thing, really.
128
00:12:41.784 --> 00:12:59.375
Mostly, you know, it was one of those things of, you know, we'd been around racing our whole life and it was, you know, really the next step in motorsport and it was a pinnacle of motorsport and still is a pinnacle of motorsport in Australia.
129
00:13:00.356 --> 00:13:01.357
And, you know,
130
00:13:02.352 --> 00:13:06.638
We ran as a privateer up until 2003, end of 2002.
131
00:13:06.658 --> 00:13:10.463
We swapped, you know, 2003, we swapped to Holden.
132
00:13:10.483 --> 00:13:12.226
And it was actually the stage of where –
133
00:13:21.634 --> 00:13:27.056
the story was that where TWR was, had too many drivers.
134
00:13:27.416 --> 00:13:36.679
So, you know, they had Mark Skaith and Jason Bright and Todd Kelly and Rick and Murph and, and, and everything like that.
135
00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:49.964
And then also they had still had Peter Brock in the background and, and Brocky was, you know, you know, we all know, you know, the history of Peter and how, how great he was as a, as a driver and, and what he achieved.
136
00:13:49.984 --> 00:13:50.064
And,
137
00:13:50.864 --> 00:14:00.928
and TWR owned all those teams, and it was back in the day where you only owned a certain amount of teams.
138
00:14:01.848 --> 00:14:12.612
And so we had a couple of licences, and they needed a spot for Jason Bright to go to because there was too much of a clash there with Scafie.
139
00:14:12.632 --> 00:14:13.473
Yeah.
140
00:14:14.833 --> 00:14:25.260
And so we were fortunate enough to be able to do a deal with them and we ended up owning Team Brock and that.
141
00:14:25.280 --> 00:14:35.747
So which we only ran the Team Brock thing for a year under Team Brock and so it was Jason Bright and myself and –
142
00:14:36.908 --> 00:14:44.370
And it was a little bit weird because in 2002, I drove with Marcus Ambrose at the Bathurst 1000.
143
00:14:44.470 --> 00:14:52.773
And at that stage, I already knew that we were, you know, we were moving to Holden.
144
00:14:54.073 --> 00:15:14.163
And, um, so it was a little bit weird of, um, you know, drive, driving, driving with one of the best Ford teams that there was stone brothers and, um, and, uh, not driving my own car with my own team and, um, and then moving, basically moving, you know, straight away to, to Holden.
145
00:15:14.203 --> 00:15:16.524
And we, you know, it was, uh, yeah.
146
00:15:17.324 --> 00:15:26.908
The supercar's biggest thing was that we weren't allowed to cross data and all this sort of stuff and interlinked us.
147
00:15:27.008 --> 00:15:35.272
And they put so many restrictions on us at the time that made it very difficult for us to actually, you know, we weren't allowed to test.
148
00:15:35.292 --> 00:15:38.193
We weren't allowed to do anything, you know, really at the time.
149
00:15:38.853 --> 00:16:08.545
And I think the first year was, um, yeah, I think, uh, Jason basically finished second in the championship and, um, and, uh, and so that was, um, that was quite a good time of, um, you know, going to, to Holden and over, over the years we, you know, we sort of stepped away from, from the HSV side of things and, and sort of took our own route, but we were fortunate enough to have, um,
150
00:16:08.985 --> 00:16:13.489
Great drivers, as in, you know, got to work with Jason Bright.
151
00:16:14.350 --> 00:16:16.332
You're a good mate, Greg Murphy.
152
00:16:16.352 --> 00:16:17.233
Murphy.
153
00:16:17.373 --> 00:16:20.595
Murphy was very, very good, very, very passionate, as we know.
154
00:16:20.615 --> 00:16:27.141
You know, he didn't like toilets at Bathurst very much, poor to lose.
155
00:16:27.261 --> 00:16:30.064
But, you know, he spent about five minutes, I think, in one.
156
00:16:30.304 --> 00:16:31.525
I don't know what he was doing.
157
00:16:32.526 --> 00:16:32.946
But...
158
00:16:33.987 --> 00:16:59.205
But, you know, those sort of guys, you know, Cameron McConville, Paul Dunbarrow, and I think, you know, the thing was Supercars helped us as a company to be able to, you know, try different things, try new technology, try R&D, everything like that with the radiators and with the oil coolers.
159
00:16:59.545 --> 00:17:03.088
And I think it, you know, played a big part of, you know,
160
00:17:04.112 --> 00:17:11.657
especially in Australia, of getting our brand out there in front of people.
161
00:17:11.717 --> 00:17:13.698
So that definitely did play a big part.
162
00:17:14.795 --> 00:17:19.319
Your career, mate, I mean, you're over 100 starts, a decade long in supercars.
163
00:17:19.879 --> 00:17:34.190
Probably one of the moments, and I know you've opened up about this in the last year or two that immediately comes to people's minds, I think is 08 and that crash at Bathurst, which you described, I think, as something that you were pretty fortunate to survive, mate.
164
00:17:34.210 --> 00:17:38.474
Just share what unfolded that day and the way you dealt with it.
165
00:17:38.954 --> 00:17:42.897
Yeah, it was, yeah, two, yeah, I had...
166
00:17:44.218 --> 00:17:47.259
I was actually co-driving for our own team.
167
00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:51.700
We had Andrew Thompson, who was a young guy who was driving for us.
168
00:17:52.300 --> 00:17:56.661
And it was a practice session.
169
00:17:57.121 --> 00:18:01.822
And I was actually a little bit quicker than Andrew was.
170
00:18:02.442 --> 00:18:07.463
And so we were tossing up whether to have me qualify for a car or have him qualify for a car.
171
00:18:08.223 --> 00:18:33.281
And so I went out at the start of the session just to see sort of, you know, what sort of, you know, lap time we could do and what the car had and made a mistake over the top there, you know, where the grate is there where we dropped down over the grate and actually, you know, scraped the wall and had too much steering angle on.
172
00:18:33.601 --> 00:18:35.763
And when I bounced off the wall, spun.
173
00:18:36.973 --> 00:18:39.873
backwards and spun across the track.
174
00:18:41.014 --> 00:18:53.616
And it was always in the back of my mind because we lost a great friend in 2006 with Mark Porter there in a similar spot who crashed and got hit by another car and got killed.
175
00:18:54.276 --> 00:19:04.678
And it was always in my mind that, you know, if I was in that situation that I'd start the car and try to, you know, move it no matter what.
176
00:19:05.178 --> 00:19:05.958
But, you know,
177
00:19:07.212 --> 00:19:10.554
You know, when that happens, you don't even think about that.
178
00:19:11.075 --> 00:19:30.428
And then so I sat there, you know, I was talking to the guys on the radio and then Chris Pither thought that he was going to be a world champion and set the world alight and basically center punched me, you know, probably if he had got me two inches to the right further to the driver's side door, I probably wouldn't be here.
179
00:19:31.468 --> 00:19:32.789
You know, I had –
180
00:19:33.990 --> 00:19:44.339
Yeah, split my spleen in half, fractured my L1 to L5, punctured my lung and everything like that.
181
00:19:44.739 --> 00:19:52.726
And, yeah, it was one of those things, very, very fortunate to be able to – I didn't walk away.
182
00:19:52.746 --> 00:19:56.689
I got stretched away, but very fortunate and –
183
00:19:57.952 --> 00:20:18.041
And it was funny because, well, funny now looking back, but it was funny because, you know, I don't remember, I remember going into the ambulance at the top of the hill and I don't remember actually hopping out of the ambulance in the medical centre.
184
00:20:18.601 --> 00:20:20.782
So I remember everything else.
185
00:20:21.482 --> 00:20:22.423
except for that part.
186
00:20:23.223 --> 00:20:36.153
And my wife, usually my good friend Tim Lay, who lives in Orange, so my wife usually flies to Orange and goes out for lunch on the Friday with his wife, Alicia.
187
00:20:36.494 --> 00:20:43.199
And anyway, they had the TV on and they'll walk him, but it was on mute, and I'll walk him past and everything like that.
188
00:20:43.499 --> 00:20:48.643
And anyway, they're trying to get ready and Emma's phone starts blowing up and...
189
00:20:50.258 --> 00:20:54.360
And they go, oh, yeah, Paul's had a bad accident and all that sort of stuff.
190
00:20:54.420 --> 00:20:56.881
And she goes, oh, well, he'll be all right.
191
00:20:56.921 --> 00:20:59.483
They'll just take him to hospital or something like that, won't they?
192
00:20:59.583 --> 00:21:03.585
Or, you know, they'll probably bring him to Orange or he'll be in hospital at Bathurst or whatever.
193
00:21:03.625 --> 00:21:05.065
We're getting ready to go to lunch.
194
00:21:05.866 --> 00:21:07.707
And anyway, Tim said, oh, yeah.
195
00:21:08.947 --> 00:21:17.089
or it might have been Daryl or Tim, one of the two, Daryl Beatty, goes, no, I think you need to get your ass here right now.
196
00:21:17.389 --> 00:21:18.930
This is pretty serious.
197
00:21:19.730 --> 00:21:28.832
And it was one of those times, you know, when you're, you know, like every time at Bathurst you get checked at every checkpoint for a pass.
198
00:21:30.615 --> 00:21:33.536
And anyway, they never got checked for a pass whatsoever.
199
00:21:33.556 --> 00:21:34.457
I just drove straight through.
200
00:21:34.477 --> 00:21:36.758
I had no passes, drove straight through.
201
00:21:37.458 --> 00:21:43.961
And because we were waiting for her so that they could put me in the helicopter and fly me to Sydney.
202
00:21:44.702 --> 00:21:54.226
And so anyway, so it was a little bit more serious than, yeah, going to Orange Base Hospital just for a checkup.
203
00:21:55.207 --> 00:21:58.148
So, yeah, flew me to Sydney and I'm strapped in.
204
00:21:58.168 --> 00:21:59.289
Yeah.
205
00:22:00.089 --> 00:22:08.772
Yeah, I'm on the bottom of the, well, not on the bottom of the helicopter, but strapped in and sat, you know, on the floor of the helicopter and looking at the roof.
206
00:22:08.832 --> 00:22:12.253
And she's going, oh, you should have a look at this view over the Blue Mountains.
207
00:22:12.273 --> 00:22:13.113
This is beautiful.
208
00:22:13.253 --> 00:22:16.014
And I'm going, do you just shut up?
209
00:22:16.114 --> 00:22:17.914
I said, all I can see is a roof.
210
00:22:17.974 --> 00:22:19.135
I can't even move my head.
211
00:22:19.155 --> 00:22:19.255
Yeah.
212
00:22:20.275 --> 00:22:36.768
And then so they fly me into Westmead and anyway, she's there and she goes, oh, it goes to the pilots and the doctor who was with me goes, oh, hang on, can we just take a selfie up on the roof of the helipad?
213
00:22:37.448 --> 00:22:40.370
And I'm like, oh, God, this is unbelievable.
214
00:22:40.991 --> 00:22:45.594
And so we get into the emergency and –
215
00:22:47.848 --> 00:23:07.895
And so they go over everything and check everything, and this guy sticks his finger up my bottom to see if I had, yeah, there's obviously something up there that has a reflex, that gives you a reflex to tell something, you know.
216
00:23:08.615 --> 00:23:10.536
And I said, well, mate, what are you doing there?
217
00:23:10.596 --> 00:23:12.857
I said, we haven't even changed names.
218
00:23:12.937 --> 00:23:13.977
It's not even the first day.
219
00:23:13.997 --> 00:23:15.638
We haven't had a beer or anything.
220
00:23:15.858 --> 00:23:16.658
Like, what are you doing?
221
00:23:17.547 --> 00:23:21.769
Anyway, and so that was interesting.
222
00:23:21.849 --> 00:23:29.912
And Westmead Hospital on a Friday night in Sydney is very interesting with police and everything like that.
223
00:23:30.792 --> 00:23:33.413
And it was about three days in.
224
00:23:33.613 --> 00:23:37.155
The physio come in to me and goes, hey, you've got to get up and –
225
00:23:38.390 --> 00:23:40.231
start walking around and all that sort of stuff.
226
00:23:40.251 --> 00:23:42.292
And I said, mate, I can't get up.
227
00:23:42.352 --> 00:23:43.193
Like I, you know.
228
00:23:44.193 --> 00:23:52.117
And anyway, so he hops me up and I go, you know, got to take a step and, you know, start screaming like a baby.
229
00:23:52.177 --> 00:23:52.297
And...
230
00:23:55.339 --> 00:24:09.424
And he goes back to the, I was in the neuro and spinal ward, and he goes back to the doctor on call, and they relook at the x-rays, and they missed, in emergency, they missed all the fractures that I had in my back.
231
00:24:10.565 --> 00:24:11.365
So, yeah.
232
00:24:12.731 --> 00:24:16.777
So, yeah, it was a quite interesting one, that one.
233
00:24:18.580 --> 00:24:24.889
But, you know, quite fortunate, you know, getting hit at, you know, probably 180 Ks, you know, close to 200 Ks and, you know,
234
00:24:27.833 --> 00:24:43.301
You know, you look back at the photos and you look back at the photos of the car and the roll cage had split behind the driver's seat and actually had started to come up into the driver's seat and puncture the back of the driver's seat.
235
00:24:43.381 --> 00:24:55.348
So, yeah, we're quite fortunate because if that had gone through, it probably would have come out through my chest somewhere and, you know, we would have been on a whole lot of different, you know, might have been a different story.
236
00:24:55.368 --> 00:24:55.668
Oh, wow.
237
00:24:57.429 --> 00:25:09.920
That sort of ended the V8 supercar career of, you know, I was only driving part-time there because I was working full-time with PWR.
238
00:25:10.780 --> 00:25:12.402
So, yeah, that sort of ended that.
239
00:25:12.882 --> 00:25:17.085
The great thing is, though, mate, you've been able to get back behind the wheel, which I think is tremendous.
240
00:25:17.105 --> 00:25:21.008
I mean, the doctors could very easily have just said to you, no, stop, no more.
241
00:25:21.608 --> 00:25:27.292
You dabble again, I think, if I've got the timeline right here, again in stadium trucks, there's a little bit of success in that too, mate, isn't there?
242
00:25:27.852 --> 00:25:32.613
Yeah, doubled again in the stallion truck stuff with the Robbie Gordon thing.
243
00:25:34.314 --> 00:25:39.595
And so, yeah, doubled with that a little bit.
244
00:25:40.736 --> 00:25:56.500
I think I probably made another play of the day again there in Darwin when I went off the jump sideways and rolled six times and landed back on his wheels and drove it back to the pits just because I didn't want to get out and...
245
00:25:56.900 --> 00:25:58.221
fall over because I was too dizzy.
246
00:25:58.241 --> 00:25:59.281
Yeah.
247
00:25:59.961 --> 00:26:02.582
And my eyes were, you know, rolling around my head.
248
00:26:03.823 --> 00:26:06.704
And so I drove back to the pits.
249
00:26:06.744 --> 00:26:09.445
But yeah, we won a couple of races there.
250
00:26:09.485 --> 00:26:10.546
We had some fun there.
251
00:26:10.566 --> 00:26:16.148
Yeah, I sort of got to know, sort of, I knew Toby.
252
00:26:16.448 --> 00:26:18.029
Before that, I went to the pits.
253
00:26:18.669 --> 00:26:34.438
I met Toby in 2017 at Fink, but yeah, I got to race against Toby and Robbie Gordon and the dude with Paul Morris doing it, and we had some great fun doing that sort of stuff.
254
00:26:34.878 --> 00:26:36.299
It wasn't very nice on the body.
255
00:26:36.819 --> 00:26:38.400
I can give you the hot tip.
256
00:26:38.460 --> 00:26:46.745
It wasn't very nice on the body whatsoever doing that, but yeah, we won some races and we had some success there and yeah.
257
00:26:47.245 --> 00:27:04.118
had some fun and you know it was a shame to see um that uh you know that series didn't keep on going here and you know in australia with the with the supercar rounds because you know i think some at some rounds there was more people watching the stadium trucks and then the supercars
258
00:27:15.238 --> 00:27:16.478
Come to Baja for us.
259
00:27:16.618 --> 00:27:18.199
So we've talked about this year.
260
00:27:18.379 --> 00:27:20.119
Let's talk about next year.
261
00:27:20.159 --> 00:27:22.240
You have a new truck coming.
262
00:27:22.500 --> 00:27:35.003
The events of recent weeks with the refueling drama and going so damn close to winning the Baja 1000 has not in any way dampened or tempered your commitment, the peer review to this.
263
00:27:35.203 --> 00:27:37.763
There's a new gen truck, I think, in the pipeline.
264
00:27:37.903 --> 00:27:40.624
What can you tell us about that truck technically, what it will be like?
265
00:27:41.104 --> 00:27:44.385
And then secondly, when you get your hands on it so you can start the prep for next year.
266
00:27:45.110 --> 00:28:13.917
Yeah, so basically what we had done was there's only two new Gen 2 Mason four-wheel drives getting made and we were able to, for a guy called Jesse Jones who actually gave Toby his first star in a trophy truck in America, helped us out and he had one ordered
267
00:28:16.303 --> 00:28:18.244
And so we bought that off him.
268
00:28:20.205 --> 00:28:21.806
We've had some hold-ups.
269
00:28:22.227 --> 00:28:31.012
Unfortunately, Mason has, we've been able to get the machining done and programming and everything like that.
270
00:28:31.112 --> 00:28:37.336
It's a totally new designer truck where we can change camber caster.
271
00:28:37.656 --> 00:28:44.620
We've got a lot more flexibility of being able to change a lot of different stuff compared to the first-generation truck.
272
00:28:45.560 --> 00:28:46.721
still four-wheel drive.
273
00:28:48.081 --> 00:28:58.665
We can run a bigger engine in there, which we run a Toyota engine, which is made by Joe Gibbs.
274
00:28:59.265 --> 00:29:01.386
So the NASCAR team made that engine.
275
00:29:01.406 --> 00:29:03.567
So we're running around about –
276
00:29:04.567 --> 00:29:06.229
1150 horsepower.
277
00:29:06.450 --> 00:29:08.952
So just a few ponies under, under the hood.
278
00:29:09.853 --> 00:29:14.538
Um, and that, so we're sort of being delayed until about Christmas time.
279
00:29:15.179 --> 00:29:19.364
Um, so we're hoping to be able to start testing, um,
280
00:29:20.974 --> 00:29:22.796
you know, the start of next year.
281
00:29:22.816 --> 00:29:24.718
It's got a bigger fuel cell.
282
00:29:25.940 --> 00:29:29.143
So if you put up enough fuel in it, you should be able to finish a race.
283
00:29:30.064 --> 00:29:32.287
But we've got a bigger fuel cell.
284
00:29:32.327 --> 00:29:33.548
So we got it right now.
285
00:29:33.588 --> 00:29:35.210
Our current truck has about 105 gallons of fuel.
286
00:29:37.152 --> 00:29:38.093
to be able to go in there.
287
00:29:39.093 --> 00:29:42.116
This has around about 140 going.
288
00:29:42.176 --> 00:29:52.284
So we can do something like a San Felipe 250, which is a 250-mile race, without having to do a tyre or fuel stop.
289
00:29:52.724 --> 00:29:56.267
So it gives us a great advantage.
290
00:29:56.567 --> 00:30:03.213
The thing that, you know, for me was the biggest, the thing was, you know, the...
291
00:30:04.073 --> 00:30:14.271
development side of things and being involved with a manufacturer to, to actually develop something, um, different and something new was exciting.
292
00:30:14.812 --> 00:30:14.972
Um,
293
00:30:16.648 --> 00:30:33.692
We don't know, we're taking a gamble of, we don't know how good this truck's going to be, but if anyone in America who builds trophy trucks, Mason are the best in the business, and I believe in those guys.
294
00:30:33.732 --> 00:30:37.793
They prep our race car for us as well.
295
00:30:38.794 --> 00:30:44.675
So I believe that they're the best, and I think that they are going to be able to,
296
00:30:45.235 --> 00:30:54.041
you know, pull something off straight out of the box, that's going to be very competitive and step up the game even more.
297
00:30:54.061 --> 00:31:01.847
You know, as we're seeing these races, you know, we've finished second twice this year at the 400 and 500.
298
00:31:03.548 --> 00:31:05.810
we lost the 500 by 35 seconds.
299
00:31:06.510 --> 00:31:12.295
So 500 miles and first and second were covered by 35 seconds.
300
00:31:12.555 --> 00:31:21.261
So it just shows how close the racing is getting, the game and the level is stepping up.
301
00:31:21.341 --> 00:31:23.703
There's a team called Concrete Motorsport.
302
00:31:23.783 --> 00:31:28.867
They've got four four-wheel drives so that they can pre-run in
303
00:31:29.187 --> 00:31:39.974
in the four-wheel drives and they race and, you know, they got, yeah, you know, two, one spare race car and that and they race in a four-wheel drive.
304
00:31:39.994 --> 00:31:45.978
So it just shows how the, you know, competition level is just going up and up and up like in every sport.
305
00:31:46.058 --> 00:31:48.740
You know, it doesn't make a difference if it's supercars or if it's,
306
00:31:49.981 --> 00:32:02.862
Well, supercars probably a little bit restricted now compared to what it used to be, but you look at Formula One and everything like that, your level of technology is just always growing.
307
00:32:05.369 --> 00:32:09.870
Yeah, it's coming into the off-road world, which for me is exciting.
308
00:32:10.230 --> 00:32:17.832
They're an amazing piece of machinery, more than a million bucks worth, and super cool to watch from the side of the road.
309
00:32:18.152 --> 00:32:24.113
I want to bounce through a few things to finish here, and we'll go kind of quick fire here, Paul, with your answers, all right?
310
00:32:24.133 --> 00:32:26.274
So firstly, true or false?
311
00:32:27.280 --> 00:32:37.184
When you call time on the supercars or tin top chapter of your career, you get a gig with Thomas Mazira doing some driver training at Porsches.
312
00:32:37.644 --> 00:32:39.484
How was the white knuckle fever and all that?
313
00:32:39.524 --> 00:32:40.505
How long did you last?
314
00:32:41.965 --> 00:32:53.469
I think I lasted about 12 months because it was very scary sitting in the passenger seat, especially with some of these special people who buy Porsches.
315
00:32:53.489 --> 00:32:54.430
Yeah.
316
00:32:55.455 --> 00:32:59.418
It was a lot of fun, but it was a passenger seat, definitely not my side.
317
00:32:59.818 --> 00:33:04.000
I'm told you were reaching for a brake pedal that wasn't often there on your side of the car.
318
00:33:04.361 --> 00:33:06.202
Let's come to your good mate, Timmy Lay.
319
00:33:06.802 --> 00:33:15.848
He is a great supporter, and as you're going through your recovery from a life-threatening, basically, crash, he was your wheelchair man for a little bit.
320
00:33:16.048 --> 00:33:18.150
Is he a terrible assistant in that regard?
321
00:33:18.910 --> 00:33:27.197
He is a terrible assistant and especially, well, a terrible assistant, a terrible friend at the time.
322
00:33:28.438 --> 00:33:33.402
Whatever button he could push on the bed to do whatever it done, oh, what's this button do?
323
00:33:33.622 --> 00:33:33.882
Push.
324
00:33:34.102 --> 00:33:34.983
What's this button do?
325
00:33:35.023 --> 00:33:35.404
Push.
326
00:33:36.464 --> 00:33:40.407
And then I had to go to the toilet and so obviously,
327
00:33:41.829 --> 00:34:00.245
when you got your hospital gown on, the little rear end is showing and he was trying to push the wheelchair and take photos of me, half my ass and at the same time to be able to show everyone.
328
00:34:00.265 --> 00:34:00.365
Yeah.
329
00:34:02.053 --> 00:34:02.874
Oh, what a champion.
330
00:34:02.894 --> 00:34:03.514
What a champion.
331
00:34:03.614 --> 00:34:09.597
Did, true or false, your wife hit a record amount of potholes on the way back to the Gold Coast from Westmead?
332
00:34:10.257 --> 00:34:10.938
Yes, she did.
333
00:34:10.998 --> 00:34:20.943
She hit every single pothole on the way back from the Gold Coast because we tried to – we said to them, can we fly a helicopter back?
334
00:34:21.023 --> 00:34:21.403
No.
335
00:34:21.843 --> 00:34:22.724
Playing low?
336
00:34:22.904 --> 00:34:23.344
No.
337
00:34:24.405 --> 00:34:26.106
And I'm like, oh, God, we've got to drive.
338
00:34:26.826 --> 00:34:28.207
And, yeah, every pothole.
339
00:34:29.047 --> 00:34:38.612
The Formula One connection with PWR has meant that you've had the opportunity along the way to meet some star-studded operators in that field.
340
00:34:38.952 --> 00:34:44.875
I think, is it true, Carlos Sainz might have driven you in the boat at Monaco to the track one day?
341
00:34:44.915 --> 00:34:46.176
He was your chauffeur fundamentally.
342
00:34:46.196 --> 00:34:46.736
Is this true?
343
00:34:47.517 --> 00:34:48.517
Yes.
344
00:34:48.577 --> 00:34:50.198
Well, yeah, Monaco in 2013.
345
00:34:51.939 --> 00:34:55.280
big massive fanboy moment and Emma's going like, who's this old dude?
346
00:34:55.881 --> 00:35:06.024
And I'm like, this is Carlos Sainz, he's a two-time world rally champion and Carlos Sainz Jr. was actually on the boat as well and wasn't in Formula 1 yet.
347
00:35:06.204 --> 00:35:15.408
And yeah, had massive fanboy moment and one of the best experiences I've ever actually had and it was with Red Bull fans.
348
00:35:15.968 --> 00:35:20.992
was kindly enough to invite us over there back in 2013.
349
00:35:21.012 --> 00:35:24.074
But, yeah, he was a great chauffeur.
350
00:35:24.735 --> 00:35:25.115
I love it.
351
00:35:25.255 --> 00:35:28.698
Lunch with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, I think, too, which is pretty special, mate.
352
00:35:29.018 --> 00:35:33.742
Toby Price says, How expensive is it to take a piss at the borderline?
353
00:35:35.042 --> 00:35:37.163
It is very expensive.
354
00:35:37.543 --> 00:35:40.084
It wasn't me who was taking the piss.
355
00:35:41.045 --> 00:35:51.869
It was someone in my truck, which was a marketing guy, Matty McAlpine, and I think it cost us about $300.
356
00:35:51.949 --> 00:35:54.950
I did tell the policeman to take him to jail first.
357
00:35:54.970 --> 00:35:55.030
Oh.
358
00:35:56.991 --> 00:36:03.976
and that because they go, oh, you've got to come with us, you've got to go to jail, da-da-da, you know, they're now very corrupt over there.
359
00:36:04.656 --> 00:36:09.419
And I said to him, I said, mate, I can't control what this guy does out of my car.
360
00:36:10.040 --> 00:36:12.021
And he's in your car.
361
00:36:12.041 --> 00:36:15.503
I said, well, he's outside of my car, Wayne, not inside of my car, Wayne.
362
00:36:15.944 --> 00:36:17.285
So I said, he's not my problem.
363
00:36:18.045 --> 00:36:19.106
I said, take him to jail.
364
00:36:19.207 --> 00:36:19.787
I don't care.
365
00:36:20.308 --> 00:36:25.153
And he goes around to Matty and goes, oh, your friend, your friend don't like you.
366
00:36:25.173 --> 00:36:26.515
He said, take you to jail.
367
00:36:29.595 --> 00:36:33.477
So it ended up costing us $300 US, so it was a very expensive piss.
368
00:36:33.877 --> 00:36:34.597
Two to finish.
369
00:36:35.038 --> 00:36:39.640
You get to, with your crazy mates, enjoy a bit of two wheels again.
370
00:36:39.700 --> 00:36:48.944
He's stopped doing them nowadays, but Darrell Beattie ran some fantastic outback dirt bike tours across the Simpson Desert and all these wonderful places.
371
00:36:48.964 --> 00:36:53.726
And if memory serves, you and Wheelie and others went to the very top, mate.
372
00:36:53.746 --> 00:36:54.567
You went to Cape York.
373
00:36:54.607 --> 00:36:55.067
Is that right?
374
00:36:55.610 --> 00:37:02.075
Yeah, went to Cape York and then through COVID he couldn't get a lead rider.
375
00:37:02.095 --> 00:37:08.339
So I went and done three tours with him up there in Cape York.
376
00:37:08.499 --> 00:37:19.647
And I had the last tour we'd done, we had Troy Bayless and some of the guys from Ducati and being the lead rider, yeah.
377
00:37:20.367 --> 00:37:27.272
Yeah, so every day was a race with those guys, and especially with Troy and Nat.
378
00:37:27.452 --> 00:37:30.695
And I was just like, boys, I'm not fit enough.
379
00:37:31.075 --> 00:37:34.237
Back then I was like, I'm not fit enough to do this every single day.
380
00:37:34.357 --> 00:37:36.519
And it's my third week in Aurora.
381
00:37:36.539 --> 00:37:37.299
Give me a break.
382
00:37:37.839 --> 00:37:40.541
So, yeah, great fun.
383
00:37:41.402 --> 00:37:44.224
Got to see, you know, stuff that you never –
384
00:37:44.604 --> 00:37:56.016
Never would see, you know, going across riverbeds, carrying bikes, you know, across because the water was so high, you know, crocodiles, all that sort of stuff.
385
00:37:56.437 --> 00:37:57.178
It was amazing.
386
00:37:57.578 --> 00:37:57.999
Crazy.
387
00:37:58.739 --> 00:38:06.388
To finish, the girls have a passion for a different kind of horsepower and you are about to go and join them, aren't you?
388
00:38:06.848 --> 00:38:08.029
Yes, I am.
389
00:38:08.149 --> 00:38:14.796
My oldest daughter is a very good dressage rider and very, very, very proud of her.
390
00:38:15.016 --> 00:38:23.905
She was the youngest at 13 to be representing Australia at an international dressage event.
391
00:38:24.725 --> 00:38:27.847
as an official Australian team and done very well.
392
00:38:28.427 --> 00:38:30.668
And so we're going to Florida.
393
00:38:30.808 --> 00:38:35.730
Emma, my wife, and Abby are already in Florida now.
394
00:38:36.231 --> 00:38:40.113
And the youngest, Miller, and I actually leave tomorrow morning.
395
00:38:41.293 --> 00:38:48.677
So we're in Florida up until April, which is great for two reasons.
396
00:38:48.717 --> 00:38:51.438
Great for Abby to be able to follow her passion and,
397
00:38:52.118 --> 00:39:01.085
And one day, hopefully, hopefully make it to the Olympics and make it as a professional sport, you know, as a professional.
398
00:39:02.387 --> 00:39:07.971
And that's her goal, which I think she will be able to do and achieve.
399
00:39:08.832 --> 00:39:13.796
And on the second thing, I've been over there.
400
00:39:13.856 --> 00:39:20.321
It helps us, you know, with the racing side and R&D in testing of this new car.
401
00:39:21.798 --> 00:39:27.841
you know, the horses has been a passion of Emma's, you know, ever since she was a kid.
402
00:39:28.521 --> 00:39:44.648
And, you know, I believe, you know, at the end of the day, it doesn't make a difference if it's for recreation or fun or whatever, professional-wise, you know, you should always follow your dream of what you want to do and what you're passionate about.
403
00:39:45.448 --> 00:39:51.651
And, you know, that's, you know, one of our mottos, you know, of, you know,
404
00:39:52.011 --> 00:39:54.573
what we do with our family is no risk, no fun.
405
00:39:54.873 --> 00:39:59.016
And, you know, we definitely take a lot of risks in what we do.
406
00:39:59.036 --> 00:40:05.821
It doesn't make a difference if it's in business or in sport, in motorsport, horses and everything like that.
407
00:40:05.841 --> 00:40:18.570
So, you know, it will be a very good learning experience for her, for Abby, and hopefully it's a, you know, it's a Kickstarter for her to, you know, you know,
408
00:40:19.250 --> 00:40:23.113
follow on to go, you know, higher places in the sport.
409
00:40:23.373 --> 00:40:27.395
And, you know, her ultimate goal is to represent Australia.
410
00:40:29.156 --> 00:40:36.841
And, you know, most of the competitions and most of the, you know, all the good riders are in Germany.
411
00:40:37.382 --> 00:40:42.465
And, you know, one of her goals is to be, you know, based as a professional out of Germany.
412
00:40:42.505 --> 00:40:43.666
So, you know, if we can...
413
00:40:44.306 --> 00:40:52.369
If we can contribute and help her to be able to achieve that, it will be a great goal.
414
00:40:53.290 --> 00:40:54.110
Great stuff, mate.
415
00:40:54.130 --> 00:40:59.812
Hey, nice to chat with you about that and nice to see that you're supporting her in her own endeavours.
416
00:40:59.832 --> 00:41:02.413
Great to reflect a bit on your own career.
417
00:41:02.453 --> 00:41:03.714
You talked about no risk before.
418
00:41:03.734 --> 00:41:08.416
There's been some risks taken along the way in a business sense that have paid big dividends.
419
00:41:09.116 --> 00:41:16.679
You've proven, mate, the kind of hands-on learning, even though you left school at year nine, has still served you immensely well.
420
00:41:16.719 --> 00:41:23.881
And you've continued to play in the motorsport arena in an area that is deeply loved by your family.
421
00:41:24.101 --> 00:41:25.402
Give your dad our best, mate.
422
00:41:25.422 --> 00:41:26.402
Tell him to keep powering.
423
00:41:26.422 --> 00:41:27.002
Merry Christmas.
424
00:41:27.042 --> 00:41:28.823
And thank you very much for coming on the pod today.
425
00:41:29.612 --> 00:41:30.372
No problem, mate.
426
00:41:30.412 --> 00:41:31.273
Thank you very much.
427
00:41:31.433 --> 00:41:33.414
And same to you, Rusty.
428
00:41:33.554 --> 00:41:48.562
And it was great to see you in Mexico and have you experience what we get to do four times a year of how mad that place is and how passionate the people are down there.
429
00:41:48.902 --> 00:41:51.644
And, yeah, Merry Christmas to you and to your family.
430
00:41:51.724 --> 00:41:53.465
And thanks for having me.
431
00:41:53.545 --> 00:41:54.165
It's been a pleasure.
432
00:41:54.345 --> 00:41:55.386
Thank you for having me there.
433
00:41:55.426 --> 00:42:02.850
It opened my eyes immensely to that event, and I've got a little bit of an understanding now of why you and Toby love it so much.
434
00:42:02.890 --> 00:42:05.752
So to conclude, mate, you've gone ultra close with that 1,000.
435
00:42:05.772 --> 00:42:07.012
Go and win it next year.
436
00:42:07.032 --> 00:42:08.053
We wish you all the very best.
437
00:42:08.466 --> 00:42:09.627
Yeah, mate, that'll be the goal.
438
00:42:09.667 --> 00:42:16.313
That's what we said on the, I think, the Wednesday night when we'd done the interview that we're going to win this race, and we come damn close.
439
00:42:17.073 --> 00:42:22.117
So, yeah, definitely next year, or next year one isn't going to get away from us.
440
00:42:22.177 --> 00:42:27.262
So we'll, you know, we'll be trying our best to win everything we can.
