[retro]

Team Perkins Racing V8 Supercar racer Steve Richards looks back on the latest round of the 2005 Championship, at the Shanghai International Circuit, China.



"Hi folks.

"To say that the first trip to Shanghai was a success would be a fairly big understatement. AVESCO, who quite often are on the receiving end, did an incredible job logistically to bring a very well organized event the way of the Chinese. Basically the whole circus were accommodated in the one location, including the media, support staff, television etc. Each team was issued with an ?at-track' interpreter and buses were ferrying the teams out daily from the hotel to the circuit. At the track, everyone ate in the very flash corporate facility located above pit lane and when the teams arrived, the cars were already sitting inside their garages at containers at the rear of the garages ready to be unloaded. I know that I do not know the full story about the logistics of the travel, but I am sure it has taken everyone a very long time to get to this point, so a big congratulations! In saying all that, it was a great organizational effort by our guys for the first fly away meeting to have everything in order that we needed on the ground in China, while trying to go racing in the week prior, and a drive day slapped in the middle. A great effort.

"It was a good idea to get to China on the Monday evening, as it gave a good amount of time to get a little accustomed to their culture. Most V8 drivers had activities lined up with their own sponsors or commitments with Network Ten. I spent some time at a 200 year old heritage tea house doing a story about racing heritage and then took a quick look around old Shanghai, which I can tell you was a massive eye opener. Yep, it was exactly as you would imagine it, with chickens running through shops and noodles being cooked on the side of the road, with people going about their daily business. There were many other funny things that occurred over the next few days including the daily trips to the circuit on the buses. One of the bus drivers even fell asleep on the way out to the circuit one morning, creating a fair amount of turmoil, not to mention some of the antics of the taxi drives we were apart of. What ever the case, the trip was fantastic and I recommend anyone eyeing it off for next year to have a crack. Oh and ladies, the shopping is something else, but that's another story!!!

"Now, aside from all of the other stuff, how was the Shanghai International Circuit and its facilities and what about the racing?

"The facilities for those that saw on TV were incredible. Massive garages, similar to Bathurst, a huge pit lane, offices and toilets in the garage area and that was for the teams. The fans were superbly catered for also. The huge spaceship like structure above pit lane with the grandstand can hold 50,000 plus people, along with other seating around the place can hold up to another 60 or so thousand. The track layout was also certainly unique. While there were not many fast corners, there were quite a few corners that wound back on themselves, which is a lot different than what we are used to. Of course there was a very long straight to contend with and I think the racing was pretty good.

"I must admit that after a reasonably hectic few days of commitments, it was nice to get to the circuit for the first day of on-track action. Friday was scheduled for one 2-hour session of practice where we could complete a total of 30 laps. Mid afternoon, however, the heavens opened up and we copped it fairly wet. The worst thing about the rain was that for the first time, we all had two brand new sets of tyres to use and at this point we could not due to the rain. It did, however, dry up towards the end and we were all able to have a go in the drying conditions on slicks. During the wet part of the session one thing for certain was the track had plenty of grip. I am sure the warm temp had something to do with it, but most guys were quite encouraged by the amount of wet grip available. During the session we developed a small high speed vibration, which took about 25 minutes of analyzing, to ensure nothing more sinister. I had driven through the gravel a few times and may have taken on some extra ballast somewhere. We finished the session in P6 not far off the pace.

"Saturday dawned a great day. We had made some changes to the car for qualifying which was right on the mark! Finishing the session in 4th position. The car felt terrific. The shootout lap was a good one, very satisfying and the quickest lap we had achieved for the weekend. Not quite good enough for pole as Skaife grabbed us by 0.15 of a second.

"As it turned out, 2nd was not a bad place to be as it put us on the racing line for the run into turn one. The first race was a little shorter than the two on Sunday, 22 laps instead of 30. I got a pretty good start and lead until the stop for two rear tyres. The guys did a good stop enough to keep us in the lead. The car developed some under-steer with this setup and seemed to be a little slower on heavy fuel, particularly the long loaded corners like turn 1, 5 and 10. We were managing to keep TK behind us, but just managed to slip wide at turn 1 which was enough for Todd to slip on by. He was then able to slip away a bit, before we closed in at the end. When car 11 lightened up a little the cars performance was much better.

"Second position again for race 2 and I made another good start although I did miss the lights a fraction, but we lead once again into turn 1. Again the car battled with its performance early on, but we lead again up until the stop. This time we changed the left side tyres which gave the car a better balance after the stop, but Skaifey was able to put a couple of good laps together and got us after his stop. The car was again the same as race 1 coming good by race end. A second place the result. With TK in third.

"Going into race 3 Skaifey, Todd and I were all tied on points. As the day went on more cars were becoming competitive. At the start I made a cracker and lead once again. The car had the best balance of the weekend and the team had kept a good set of tyres for race end, which was looking good. Skaifey made a shocking start and was swallowed up which effectively left the battle up to Todd and I. There were, however, a couple of guys very close by. The car was again a little slower on full tanks compared to TK but we lead again up to the pitstop. The first three cars pitted together, so it was going to be down to the guys in the pits to work their magic. The Castrol Team Perkins guys pulled a cracker and got us out quick smart, but it was going to be close with Ambrose.

"As we neared pit exit, Marcos came across from his stop and slammed into the side of car 11. Not happy Jan! While the end result gave him a ‘Stop & Go' penalty for contact in pit lane, it could have damaged a tyre. Luckily it did not and we got away with it. Todd was going pretty good and put a pass on me that stuck. At this point I was in a position that I did not want to be gobbled up by cars behind battling for position with Todd, so I did not defend to the death. It did however work out OK. Second on the weekend was a great result at a new circuit and the Castrol team did an outstanding job. TK won the round from me and Paul Radisich.

"We closed the gap in the Championship and the event was a roaring success and will only get bigger over the next few years as the Chinese come to learn about our sport. For those that are interested it is definitely a place to go and see!

"Darwin is next up. We had a pretty good result there last year, finishing 2nd, so we are hopeful of another podium.

"Thanks."



Steve Richards