inpitlane.com | Archive

EASTERNATS TO CALDER PARK

28. October 2009

The popular Easternats auto festival is moving across town to Calder Park. Easternats promoter Jon Davison announced today that a long term agreement has been negotiated with Bob Jane, to stage the event at the Keilor based venue commencing 2010. The move comes after Sandown Park owners the Melbourne Racing Club [MRC] terminated the Licence Agreement in June. Negotiations with both the MRC and the City of Greater Dandenong proved fruitless, whilst the benefits of moving to Calder Park became increasingly obvious.

LOEB STRIPPED OF RALLY AUSTRALIA WIN

6. September 2009

Citroen driver Sebastian Loeb of France has been stripped of his win in this year's Rally Australia. Sebastian Loeb lost the rally after all three Citroen C4s received one minute penalties for a technical infringement. The stewards' gives the win to Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen, who further extends his championship lead to five points with just two rounds to go. The penalties were imposed on the cars of Loeb, his team-mate Dani Sordo and Citroen Junior driver Sebastian Ogier - who had finished third and fourth due to "an irregularity in their cars' anti-rollbars". Loeb won the event on the road by 12.5 seconds from series leader Hirvonen. Hirvonen's battle with Spanish Citroen driver Dani Sordo was a thriller, the two traded places five times in 10 stages.

“GREENIES” SABOTAGE RALLY AUSTRALIA

4. September 2009

So called "Environmental" protesters have carried out their threat to sabotage Rally Australia, the 10th round of the World Rally Championship. Despite failing in their attempts to stop the rally via legal means, protesters resorted to throwing rocks onto the road causing Special Stage Six to be cancelled. Protesters also disguised themselves as marshalls and waved yellow flags at competitors causing then to slow down thus sabotaging their run. Members of the No Rally Group were yesterday distributing flyers to local residents urging them to try and stop the event, even if it resulted in breaking the law. “There is now no option but action,” the flyer read. The protesters have been supported by a fringe radical group called "The Seventh Generation". NSW Police have brought in extra staff to the area to try and protect rally participents and spectators fiollowing several threats.

ACL IN LIQUIDATION: FAMOUS ENGINE BUILDER TO FOLD ?

26. August 2009

Australian Automotive and aftermarket performance parts manufacturers ACL have gone in to voluntary liquidation. The company which was born out of the famous Repco brand - the people responsible for Sir Jack Brabham's world championship winning engine and Formula 5000 power units - filed for liquidation today leaving 200 jobs in doubt. The liquidation comes only two month after an injection of Seven Million dollars of taxpayer funds.

VALE: STUART HUMPHREYS

22. June 2009

The cast and crew of In Pit Lane would like to pass on their condolences to the Friends and Family of Stuart Humphreys. Stuart was a partner in Picture Framing of Bay Road who sponsored In Pit Lane late in 2008. Stuart was a passionate supporter of the sport and a former manager of racing at both Winton and later with the Light Car Club of Australia at Sandown. Stuart raced and rallied in an Escort and most recently had built a wicked 68-69 Mustang which ran a complete Falcon XR8 running gear. He had also recently purchased a Lotus 7 which was run by his great friend and business partner Haas. Stuart was a regular viewer of In Pit Lane and came on board as it's main sponsor in late 2008 thus keeping the show on the air. He also donated several pieces of Grand Prix memorabilia which were auctioned on the show to assist the Flag marshals and Fire marshals. Despite his long battle with cancer and other health issues he was never one to let it slow him down and as recently as two weeks ago he was still planning various motorsport related projects. I saw Stuart early last Thursday to give him some DVDs after he'd rung me asking for stuff to watch while he was in Hospital. It was obvious then that he was fading fast but he still managed a smile as I gave him the discs. Sadly he never got to see them. Stuart was a wonderful raconteur regaling me with many wonderful and usually libellous stories about the sports greats. He was a large but gentle man and the affection he held for his beloved Cockatoo Rex was most touching. When we featured Rex in our TV ad for the Framing business he was delighted. On behalf of all of us on In Pit Lane and the Victorian motorsport community we say farewell Stuart and thank you for everything.

PENSKE POWERS SATURN ?

9. May 2009

Roger Penske has always been ambitious in his business pursuits and this week it has been announced that 'The Captain' is set purchase all of Saturn. However after being told that he could not legally purchase the hydrogen filled luminous body, he decided to simply to turn his attention to the defunct GM brand of the same name. General Motors is in the midst of a fire sale, yes thats right, all the big brands, Saab, Hummer, Pontiac and more, have all got to go! As the automotive giant remains on a $15.4billion government subsidised life support system, its restructure has meant bargains are to be had!. Considering their dire financial situation, the announcement made last week of GM's brand restructure, surprised noone. The move will see GM offload several brands in a move to focus their attention to their 'core four', Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC. Saturn is one of the brands that didn't make the cut. Saturn Corporation was established in 1985 to combat the success of Japanese imports in the small car market. First dubbed as 'The different kind of car company', it was always the poor cousin to GM's more premier brands such as Chevrolet and Cadillac. Like much of the US Automotive industry, Saturn suffered heavily from mismanagement and the imports it was designed to compete with, eventually accounted for its demise. Saturn spokesman Steve Janisse has revealed that several bids for the company have been made, however they wouldn't be revealing any of the interested parties until early June. A cautious Tony Porson, spokesman for Penske Automotive Group has stated they are considering the Saturn purchase, “It's very premature to assume anything will be done. I can confirm to you that we are looking at it”. Roger Penske has achieved virtually everything in the automotive world, however resurrecting a car company may be too much even for 'The Captain'. Saying that, Roger Penske's motorsport interests are as vast as they are succesful, with teams running in IndyCar, NASCAR and ALMS. His stint into Formula One in the mid 70's recorded a victory and he has more Indy 500 than any other team owner. Off the track the Penske Empire also includes the world's second largest automotive dealer network, Penske Automotive, representing over 250 franchises. If anyone can do what General Motors couldn't, It'd be Roger Penske to do it.

HOLDEN BOSS CALLS FOR V8 SUPERCAR DIVERSITY

4. March 2009

Holden Managing Director Mark Reuss has questioned the long term future of V8 Supercar racing in Australia if it continues with just two brands. Speaking at the Melbourne International Motorshow Reuss told In Pit Lane that the series needed to expand both it's makes and models to survive. "the first weekend I spent here (in Australia) was at the Clipsal 500 which is a great race and a lot of fun" he said. "it's a great sport but, I think the sport needs more, and I think that having (just) two brands in a race is something... I've been around a lot of racing in the United States where you have two brands and eventually people lose interest in that." Mr Reuss said that the sport needed different cars and different makes to survive.

WANT HIGH PERFORMANCE ? DON’T ASK GM

19. February 2009

General Motors USA have disbanded their high performance arm as the company fights for survival. GM's High Performance Vehicle Operations, based in Detroit has been wound up effective immediately with staff redeployed to other areas of the company. Spokesman Vince Muniga told reporters that "All high-performance projects are on indefinite hold," The unit, similar to Australia' HSV created low-volume vehicles for GM's divisions designed to appeal to enthusiasts and bolster the company's image. Products effected included V-series Cadillacs and the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, HHR SS and a V-8 version of the Colorado. Muniga said that there are no plans for high-performance versions of upcoming cars. The move is a part of GM's viability plan which was presented to the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday. In the plan, GM said its future-product focus would be on fuel-efficient cars and crossovers. What this might mean for cars like the Corvette, and the new Camaro is anybody's guess. Whether there are any local implications for brands like HSV or the companies racing plans is not known at this stage. A spokesperson from GMH said that the operation of the successful HSV operation in Australia was not affected and it was business as usual.. If you want to read the updated viability plan in full click (and it's depressing reading) click here.

AUSSIE AUTO SHOWS MERGE

3. February 2009

Conformation today that the 2009 Melbourne International Motor Show (MIMS) starting February 27 at Melbourne's Exhibition Centre will be the last in it's current form. From 2010 the event will alternate with Sydney under the new title of the Australian International Motor Show. MIMS organisers The Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC), and its new car division, AADA (Vic) and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), organiser of the Sydney Motor Show and have announced the formation of a new Motor Show Joint Venture to run the new event. The move comes after many years of often bitter rivalry between the two cities, both seeking to be the pre-eminent Auto show in the country. VACC Executive Director, David Purchase said that today's announcement was “a significant and important step forward for the future of motor shows in Sydney and Melbourne and establishes a strong relationship between the FCAI and VACC which no doubt will be of benefit to the broader Australian automotive industry,” FCAI Chief Executive, Andrew McKellar said that the new relationship will allow a new direction, while maintaining the tradition and heritage of the motor shows in the two capital cities.” One sticking point still to be announced could be a regular date, Melbourne's early March date fits perfectly into the packed Melbourne major events calendar, often running close to, or concurrent with the Australian Grand Prix at the nearby Albert Park. Sydney is commited to it's traditional October date and it's this date that will feature the first of the new combined shows in 2010. The move to combine the two shows came after pressure from manufacturers and the media who considered the proliferation of motor shows in a small market like Australia as being too costly”

PONTIAC AXES AUSSIE UTE

7. January 2009

General Motors US division Pontiac have axed plans to sell the Holden Commodore Ute in the USA. The car was to have been marketed as the Pontiac G8 ST but according to Pontiac spokespersin Jim Hopson the Aussie sourced V8 no longer fits the companies new direction. “With Pontiac being more focused on sporty, fun-to-drive cars, we took a long look at the ST and it didn't fit with what our future vision of Pontiac would be,“ Hopson said. “At that point, we decided to not proceed with this vehicle.“ According to Holden the decision will not have any effect on continued sale of the G8 sedan in the US. However several US based media outlets have claimed that Pontiac will eventually become a one or two model niche marque and it remains to be seen whether there will be any room for the Aussie built Commodore. The G8 is manufactured at Holden's Elizabeth plant in South Australia and any cutback in overseas sales won't bode well for its workers. The only good news from the decision is that at least the attractive lines of the original wont have to be further butchered by the General's US design team.