AUSSIE ICONS BACK IN PIT LANE

Classic Car Specialists Brooklands Classic Cars and iconic Australian Sports and Racing Car manufacturer Elfin have joined forces to bring C31's popular live motorsport tonight show In Pit Lane back to Melbourne's TV screens. The new series of In Pit Lane will commence 9.30pm Tuesday night September 7th, live from the studios of RMITV in the heart of Grand Prix City, Melbourne. Special guest will be popular V8 Supercar star Jason Bright driver of the Trading Post Commodore for Brad Jones Racing. Paul Sabine of Brooklands Classic Cars said that the sponsorship of In Pit Lane was a great choice for the company. “In Pit Lane has developed to be an icon in Australian motor sport and Brooklands Classic Cars are delighted to assist in fostering IPL’s ongoing success." he said. Mr Sabine said that Brooklands had been catering to car enthusiasts and owners of interesting and sporting cars for many years and clients could rely on that experience when searching for that special car. "The sort of hard core enthusiast and classic car lover that buys our cars and uses our services are the very same people who regularly tune into In Pit Lane." he said. In Pit Lane host Brett Ramsey said he was delighted to be able to continue with the show which is now in it's 15th straight year of production. The show finished it's last season in May and looked set to disappear forever due to a lack of sponsorship. Now thanks to Brooklands Classic Cars and Elfin, the show returns for a new 13 week series to cover a busy three months of local and international motorsport.

V8 SUPERCARS ANNOUNCE NEW SANDOWN DEAL

V8 Supercars Australia will today announce a new long term deal with Melbourne's Sandown Motor Raceway. The new contract will see the popular Melbourne circuit make several major changes to the pit area plus some on-track work to meet the demands of the V8 circus. Work has already begun and the first stage should be completed by the time of the Historic SandownReturn of the Thunder meeting in November. That meeting as well as the V8's and the Horse Racing Sandown Cup will form a major festival for the circuit in November. The announcement will be made today (August 24) at a media conference at 11.00am Melbourne time to be attended by V8 Supercar boss Martin Whitaker, Sandown track manager Wade Calderwood, and racing legends Allan Moffatt and Dick Johnson. More News this afternoon.

RICHARDS RUNS NEW CARRERA CUP CAR AT SANDOWN

A surprise visitor to the Sandown pits for today's open practice for round three of the Victorian State Circuit Racing Championship at Sandown. The new challenger of the reborn Carrera Cup series completed a handful of laps with Jim Richards behind the wheel. The new car features more advanced aerodynamics than the previous model with a wider rear wing and more pronounced front splitter. The new car is also more powerful than the car it will replace with power increased to 450 bhp. The car was entered for the day via Porsche Cars Australia who were testing the car for compliance with noise regulations. Porsche Cars Australia have made no secret of their desire to return the Carrera Cup to the local racing scene. The return to the V8 Supercar support calendar could cause some consternation in the ranks of the Australian GT Championship who have established for themselves a popular niche in several major V8 events.

DANDENONG COUNCIL DROP EASTERNATS CHARGES

The City of Greater Dandenong have withdrawn all charges against the company of former Sandown promotor Jon Davison in regard to alledged breaches of the council permit at the Repco Easternat staged at Sandown in April 2009. The charges against Davison and the event were the catlyst for the axing of the popular event from the Sandown calendar. The cancelation of the Easternats and the subseqent cancelation of a replacement event at Calder Park Raceway led to a riot at the Bob Jane T-Mart store in Chadstone in March this year. The City council has issued Mr Davison with six infringement notices for permit breaches at the 2009 event  including excessive noise levels and burnouts in places they were not permitted. According to a media release by Mr Davison the withdrawl of all charges was supported by the Magistrate at hearing today (July 21). The City of Greater Dandenong was not available for comment.

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WIN TICKETS TO HISTORIC SANDOWN

With a record 420 competitors taking part, this weekend’s 18th Nationallube Historic Sandown (November 6-8) can claim the largest entry ever seen at the popular Melbourne circuit since it opened in 1962. As well as capacity fields in most categories, some 100 V8-engined historic touring, sports and open wheeler racing cars will compete in 16 races over the weekend. A highlight of this year’s meeting is the final and deciding round of the 2009 Biante Touring Car Masters series, with former Bathurst winners Jim Richards and John Bowe again locking horns in their Falcon Sprint and Chevrolet Camaro respectively. Three generations of the Brabham family will also be on track for a unique Speed Comparison, with Victorian Historic Racing Register Patron Sir Jack dropping the flag on his Le Mans 25-Hour race winning son Geoff in a BMW M3, his grandson and rising Formula Ford star Matthew aged 15 and four times Australian champion John Bowe in a racing GT40 replica.

EASTERNATS TO CALDER PARK

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.

LOWNDES & WHINCUP COME HOME TO HOLDEN

It's official. The Triple Eight team of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes will race a Holden in 2010. Speculation had been growing that the British owned team would switch to the General Motors marque after Triple Eight was dropped from official Ford support earlier this year. In a press conference held at Holden's Port Melbourne headquarters this morning, the announcement was made that the championship team would be making the switch to Fords for 2010, Holden Executive Director Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, Alan Batey  said that “Holden has a long and proud history in motorsport that stretches back over 40 years and today's’s announcement is an exciting step into the next chapter.” “Our commitment and passion for motorsport has not wavered. Today we are making a clear statement on how much we value this sport which is also a very smart, responsible sponsorship decision.... click headline for more.

IMG LINK RAISES THE STAKES IN F1 BREAKAWAY

Website Grand Prix.com is suggesting that global sports management juggernaut IMG could be the people behind the promotion of an "alternative F1" series. IMG is one of the World's largest sports promotion and management companies and if anybody can rival Bernie Ecclestone for professionalism and global reach then it's IMG. IMG has a global portfolio that includes many of the worlds biggest sporting events and the company has plenty of motorsport experience including running a number of major street races including the Surfers Paradise Indy race and several Champcar rounds in the USA. It also has run Bathurst and the Sandown enduros here in Australia. Currently they are responsible for the media and marketing rights to events including the LeMans Series, NASCAR, NHRA Drag Racing and The World Speedway Grand Prix. Interestingly IMG is also a media partner of the Williams F1 racing team, one of only two current F1 teams to commit themselves to the traditional FIA series next year. FOTA is scheduled to meet tomorrow to discuss the planning for their series, certainly, if as rumoured IMG is involved, then the chances of it happening and operating successfully just got a whole lot better.

FERRARI WINS SANDOWN BUT LAMBORGHINI TAKES THE TITLE

The Ferrari team of Nick O'Halloran and Alan Simonsen took out the Sandown GT classic last weekend. Held over two one hour heats the black Ferrari crossed the line over 16 seconds ahead of the Viper of Ross Lilley and former Nations Cup Champion Greg Crick. Tony Quinn making his debut in the ex Peter Hackett Aston Martin DBRS9 led the race at various times but fell back to third late in the race. The Lamborghini team of Ted Huglin and John Bowe came through to finish fourth with former F1 driver Ivan Capelli impressing everybody with his speed in the Maserati Trofero. Max Twigg in a Porsche GT3 Cup Car was sixth to take out Class B over the team of Michael Locisano and Marc Cini with high profile Hollywood actor Eric Bana also in a Porsche in third. Only 13 cars finished the race which was dealt a blow on Friday when the cars of Championship Contender John Kaias and Kim Bourke came together during private practice. With Kaias out Mark Eddy in the Lamborghini became the Australian National GT Champion after a seventh place finish.