Helmet, Gloves, Lipstick.

It will be tricky to get this point across without sounding lecherous but (deep breath) I enjoy watching female racers. There you go, I said it. There is no sexual undertone to this but the fact is that there are inherent differences in the way both professional and amateur lady racers drive to their male counterparts. The aggression is different, the car control different and above all, the approach to what it is all about is totally different.

It would appear to my male eyes that the overly aggressive “must win at all costs” approach of most men on the track is missing in the ladies seat. There seems to be much more control and measured forethought when it comes to the overall approach of a race giving the viewer a completely different perspective. It is unfortunate that televised races tend to focus on the upfront battles rather than equal showing of all competitors but in the rare instances where they follow a female racer, take the time to notice the lines and car attitudes for they are quite different.

I am not a team owner or professional driver recruiter and I don’t recall seeing written explanations as to why some of the top tier females are in their position but surely this different approach at the big end of town must bear some weight?

I count among my friends many ladies sure, but as motorsport enthusiasts definitely. A lot compete at karting level, attend track days, instructional courses and look to better their race craft in any way possible as any self respecting driver should but… if they are being trained in the ways of a male racer, how exactly is that bettering them if their whole approach is from a different angle? Has Danica Patrick reached her peak at nearly getting there only because her trainer was a guy? Perhaps if Milka Duno, Katherine Legge and Sabine Schmidz got together and formed a team, the results would prove this point? A motorsport marketer’s wet dream but we may never know.

Next time you are watching an event with mixed competition don’t focus so much on the cut of the race suit but the race itself and see if I am on the right track. And ladies, you are being noticed!

Bump and Grind – Carrera Cup Style

INCA Motorsports saw some action during April. Some pretty and some pretty heavy!

Gold Coast, April 28, 2011

Outing number two for the #17 car was at the Bathurst Motor Festival (April 22-24) where the INCA machine clinched a best third place in the one hour race. Key opponent Ted Huglin in a Lamborghini Gallardo couldn’t keep pace with the new Porsche despite being ahead. The bumper to bumper Morse code toward the end left Ray Angus with a significant repair bill in preparation for Carrera Cups second outing for 2011.

The Gold Coast team has spent a huge amount of time readying the car for round two after incidents at both the Australian Grand Prix support race and Bathurst’s Festival. While the television coverage and slow-mo replays were beneficial to sponsors Tuya Silver and Depulu Wheels, having a repair bill this early on has to be considered “just a part of the close racing that is Carrera Cup. It’s this action that’s gets the fans going and the television mobs filming.” says Ray. A point not missed by television executives either as Channel Seven will be broadcasting the remainder of the seasons’ racing live.

Results at Bathurst Motor Festival
2011 Production Sports Car Race 1 4th Overall (First Porsche)
2011 Production Sports Car Race 2 7th Overall (Second Porsche)
2011 Production Sports Car Race 3 3rd Overall (First Porsche & Fastest Lap)

Internet chatter since the release of INCA Motorsports new car and livery has been intense. The bold choice of colours makes the 997 Porsche stand out from the crowd but is not to every forum experts ‘taste.’ While colour debate is abound, the positive spin off is of sponsor exposure. “Without Tuya Silver and Depulu wheels we wouldn’t be here. Now we are and everyone can find us in the pack!”

Follow Ray Angus in the INCA Motorsports Porsche 997 live on Channel Sevens coverage on Sunday May 1 (1PM AEST) from Barbagello Raceway.

###

Media Contact:
Dijon Johnson +61 4000 42244
media@INCAmotorsports.com
INCA Motorsports
PO Box 1357, Paradise Point
Gold Coast, QLD 4216

http://www.INCAmotorsports.com

http://www.facebook.com/INCAMotorsports

*High resolution photos & interviews available on request.

Just another fork in the road?

I’ve enjoyed the calm of the past few days. It’s given enough time to take stock of the first few months of the year and to get a grasp as to actually what has happened. Weather events, family, sporting, social and of course business, all tend to roll into one until you have these quiet times to reflect on the direction each has taken.

The weather, as unpredictable as it is, seems to have relaxed a little allowing city caretaker’s to tidy up after the storm and flood damage. Homeowners have had time to do the same – that is if they still have one. And family dramas have settled with the help of our Easter rituals of chocolate, alcohol excess and sleep-in time!

Business is the curly one. It is never what you expect, seldom what you dream and always a reality that you must contend with and do what you can. The world economy often dictates what becomes of businesses small and large and the financial crisis we have endured has seen winners and losers of all entities. It would appear we are now on the flip side of the economic drama with most surviving companies in rebuild mode. Great for jobs, great for other businesses and great for governments looking for tax dollars to repay some debt, but for me it is great because I now have a clear view of what works and for what reasons.

When I planned my business more than ten years ago, the entity I imagined was a polar opposite of what I have now. Looking back along the path (not always a good thing if you read my blog post “No advantage in backward looking”) there is a correlation between events as described above and the path my little business has taken. I’ll concede that some changes have been due to calamities within other businesses, an ego-driven desire to have the bigger/better/bolder product than the nearest competitor and also if I am honest, through opportunities allowing immediate personal gain. But regardless of the changes, the resulting outcome has left us in a place where I am ready for more action.

What is the next big thing in this niche market that will elevate the brand to new and immediate heights leaving the naysayer’s stuttering? What future event will bring about that particular change and in what form will it come? We can no longer call ourselves a new business, so does that bring a new set of challenges to the table?

OK, enough reflecting in the desert spoon of history, time will tell and only then can we mark today as another fork in the road.

INCA Motorsport – One of these cars is not like the other…

Gold Coast, March 21, 2011

Looking at the press images of Australia’s 22 strong 2011 Carrera Cup import quota it is impossible to tell them apart. This coming weekend at the 2011 Formula 1 Qantas Australian Grand Prix all that changes.

As the Carrera Cup season recommences after a two-year hiatus, new liveries will expose the allegiances of the drivers and teams set for battle in this the first of a seven round series.

One new-comer but no stranger to the Porsche product is Queensland’s Ray Angus in the INCA Motorsports entry. Having competed in the GT3 Cup Challenge Series over the last three years, and most recently finishing third outright in the Challenge division of the Australian GT Championship, Ray and his team have stepped into the big league with one of the latest imports of 997 GT3 Cup Cars.

Supported by official team partner Depulu Wheels and sponsored exclusively by Tuya Silver for this race meeting, INCA Motorsports is set to show the F1 crowd what close racing is all about. The 2011 spec car having increased capacity, power and noise, will prove why Porsche have the fastest single make series on the planet.

Sporting a field of international drivers, V8 Supercar pilots and touring car professionals, Ray believes race fans are in for a great surprise. To show sponsors and supporters that a small independent team can be competitive and ‘mix it with the big boys’ will be testament to the passion this Queenslander brings to the Category.

To find out more* and to support INCA Motorsports, follow the link to the team website and of course watch the first race live on TV.

The fastest one make series in the world!

###

Media Contact:
Dijon Johnson +61 4000 42244
INCA Motorsports
PO Box 1357
Paradise Point
Gold Coast, QLD 4216

http://www.incamotorsports.com.au/

*High resolution photos & interviews available on request.

Bahrain’s King Upsets Mustard

I have been accused of being an f1 tragic and even an F1 twit all because of my disappointment at the cancellation of the season opener in Bahrain. And that’s all it is really; disappointment. I am not likely to go out and petition the King and suggest he wraps all this up pronto so that we can get on with an hour and a half of level one motorsport. I am simply upset that I have to wait a month for the kick off. What’s so tragic about that?

Without wading into a political debate about the actual reason behind the postponement, I fully agree with the decision, however if it had come about through some sort of financial demise a la the A1 franchise then surely that would be a different story and for the world over for that matter. How that particular episode came about is a bitter pill even now and what ever happened to the cars?

So it looks as though Melbourne will host round one again this season, as it did for many years and perhaps that is not a bad thing. Allowing more time for team setup, pit practice and a little bit of pressure off the production pieces that weren’t quite ready will go a long way to providing better viewing when the circus does eventually roll into town.

And so to the 2011 predictions. Both the tragic and the twit that is in me says that the Tifosi will be cheering loud at season close with a world champion, the coloured bovine supporters will be wondering why a Webber is still in their team and the Germans will be comfortable with their number one son. As for der Englischers, like Bahrain’s tourism board, they will be wondering what to do next.

There you go. That’s bound to lose me some more Facebook friends!

Ego’s – Big and Even Bigger

There was a time when a 185 kilowatt Holden Senator was a very powerful beast and an output that most auto manufacturers (and I include the über brands here) aspired to. Should a performance car released today bear the proud badge of 185 or even 200 kilowatts then it is likely to be ignored by the ‘performance’ crowd. So how has it become that mega power figures are now demanded to gain any street credibility and why do we need 300+ kw taxi’s on our streets?

In Seventies Australia and I am sure other parts of the globe, the government had a crackdown on the then Muscle Car scene after an infamous Wheels Magazine photo had a Ford Falcon indicating 150 MPH on a public road and an illegal drag race in downtown Sydney between a GTHO and a GTS Monaro saw similar speeds.  The rapid introduction of emissions legislation literally smothered the performance potential of all cars at the time. Devastating news for car lovers I am sure but could you imagine driving one of those cars today with technology in tyres, braking and suspension and not forgetting safety measures being what they were? There is a reason why men had hairy chests back then.

How long now will it be when the road dictators jump in and say that performance output can’t be any greater than X or possible road speed can’t be any greater than Y and a combination of X divided by Y must be equal to the pulling power of a goat on Red Bull? In principle I would agree as a 335 kw Falcon GT wouldn’t be any quicker to a legal highway speed than a Peugeot city blob and really, how much raw grunt can you use on a road car. When you can have just as much fun with half the power on the road and the track, it is getting a bit much especially when driver training is still at 1970’s levels.

Perhaps a Horsepower Tax is the answer? There you go Ms Gillard, forget the Flood Tax, charge everyone more registration costs i.e. the more gruntier the car is against said goat. Or how about road charges based on how good a burnout a car does because lets face it, that’s about all an HSV’s power is good for

The correlation between road safety and manufacturer sales will always be a hot topic and the sooner a stand is made on power figures, voluntary or enforced, the safer our roads will be. Until then Messrs HSV and FPV, it’s all about stroking and not just egos.

This call may be recorded for training…

It’s been a little while since my last blog post but not because of anything sinister or severe. The floods have receded, the sun is out and the world seems a better place. Just tell Telstra that.

This is the seventh week that we have had issues with Australia’s largest telecommunications company and despite endless explanations, continual identification requests and condescending call centre molls they can’t seem to honour their customer service charter. Has this corporation gotten so big that the tail its chasing is its own and the completion cycle can never be?

I have been lied to, I have been promised solutions in indeterminate time frames, and blame has been laid upon all and sundry EXCEPT Telstra! Why can’t they just man up and admit that they have stuffed up, they don’t know what they are doing and the person I am talking to is not on the northern suburbs of Sydney but in the dust precinct of Calcutta.

I am truly over it, them and Tom Smith, Lucy Jones from customer service in Melbourne. It’s blatantly clear now why they don’t have an office where you can turn up to voice your concerns. It’s just so terrorism doesn’t come to head office.

To quote an earlier blog post “Happy New Year”:

‘I will waste at least eighteen hours of my life talking to the idiots at Telstra in Bangladesh, Bombay or the Philippines and about one hour to a Manager in Sydney, all of which will still leave issues unresolved and with continued vows never to use them again.’

That was in anticipation of a years worth of drama. The reality is that as of now, that time frame is history. Thanks.

The Road to Confusion

As we head closer and closer to the Formula One season opener at Bahrain, both the experienced and not so are considering the difficulties of the most complex automotive cockpit ever.

Considering the revised rules for the moveable wings, the return of KERS and the myriad of brake bias adjustments there is certainly no shortage of buttons, dials and knobs to play with.

The role of the F-duct in last years racing added enough of a workload to some drivers that particular events saw them elect not to use it at all. Not because of technical reasons but simply that the driver didn’t have the mental capacity to cope with an additional option on a challenging circuit in the racing environment.

Now I am not saying these blokes are dummies, far from it, but there must be a point where trying to gain the extra half a tenth of a second actually impedes your efforts.

Moving on from F1 for a moment, have you driven a modern BMW? How many possible settings in suspension geometry and performance does an M5 have? I have no doubt that most of what is there is purely for wank value and look-at-me specifications because surely the average (and probably not so average) BMW driver doesn’t have the technical/mental capacity to utilise all of its possible functions to effect or in the fashion that Hans in Munich had envisaged. So why are they there at all?

All the technicality of a modern race car and the pioneering machines of F1 do contribute to usable equipment in our road cars – that is a fact. But wouldn’t it be interesting to see a list of innovations that made it to your premium vehicle over the years only to be dropped in later editions due to driver complexity? How many of these innovations caused an accident rather than prevented one?

So where will the designers of my beloved Formula One racing take us this year? Adding remotely adjustable wings to the car has been developed to bring more stimulating racing to the public, a job it might do well but I can’t help but feel that it’s getting all a bit too much. Better racing through simplicity might be the call someday.

As for moveable wings – expect to see it on your next Ultimate Driving Machine in 2013. I hope not.