Chequered Flag Chat

Tony Bates is the epitome of the gentleman racer, a highly successful entrepreneur whose preferred recreational pursuit is driving fast race cars. These days he drives an Audi R8 GT3 car but his beginnings are far more humble.

 

Here’s the story of how Tony went from “smashing into everything bar the ambulance” during his 2002 racing debut to winning the Carrera Cup TAG Heuer Challenge national title in 2016.

If you live in Canberra and you’ve learned to drive recently, there’s a fair chance you’ve been taught by an instructor from the Fifth Gear Motoring school and spent some time in one of their Mini Coopers.

 

Fifth Gear Motoring is owned by Daniel Flanagan, a racing competitor with a passion for driver education. On this episode of Chequered Flag Chat, Daniel talks about the links between motorsport and road safety.

It’s Bathurst time!

 

In a special Great Race preview episode of Chequered Flag Chat, sports journalist Shane Jones joins Lachlan Mansell to discuss some of the variations and rule changes for this year’s event, as well as assessing the chances for each of the 25 cars in the field.

He has more than four decades of experience racing in events such as the Bathurst 1000, Bathurst 12 Hour and Nurburgring 24 Hour, and now Phil Alexander is using that expertise for the benefit of the motorsport community, providing the knowledge and logistics to help new people enter the sport.

 

On this episode of Chequered Flag Chat, Phil fascinates us with some of the enthralling stories from his career, as well as talking about the services provided by his RaceAway Track Time operation.

Motorsport sponsorship used to be solely about exposure and brand awareness – put a sticker on a race car, spectators will notice and recognise the brand. These days though, sponsorship is about so much more than that – it involves elements such as staff and customer incentives, business-to-business networking opportunities and various other benefits.

 

On this episode, we look at the changing nature of motorsport sponsorship – why companies continue to invest and how they justify the expenditure.

 

Our guest is Maddi Scordia-Smith, who has a wealth of experience in the digital marketing arena, inside and outside the motor-racing industry.

Matt Braid is CEO of the Australian Racing Group (ARG), which runs a suite of national categories including TCR Australia, S5000, Trans Am Australia and Touring Car Masters, along with the Bathurst 6 Hour and Bathurst International events.

 

In our chat, Matt talked about his time at Supercars, and prior to that, his roles in the automotive industry including his stint as Managing Director of Volvo Cars Australia.

The Australian Formula Ford Championship has been in existence for more than half a century and it’s still going strong. In our category critique, we look at Formula Ford's history, advantages and disadvantages and investigate why it has such an amazing record for breeding future stars of the sport.

 

2015 Australian Formula Ford Champion Cameron Hill joins podcast host Lachlan Mansell to break down the ins and outs of the category.

The Benalla Auto Club is unique among Australian car clubs in that it owns not just one, but two permanent racing circuits – Winton and Wakefield Park. It also controls the Australian Auto Sport Alliance (the AASA) and the Australian Motor Racing Series (the AMRS).

Our guest this week is the CEO of the BAC Group - Chris Lewis-Williams. 

Chris has been in the top job for almost five years and in our chat he talks about the progression of the businesses in the last five years, highlights, challenges and plans for the future.

What will the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic be on the Australian motorsport industry? How will the current circumstances change the progression pathways for young racing drivers aspiring to forge a professional career? How will state and national categories be affected?

On this episode of Chequered Flag Chat, Lachlan Mansell and Dave Stillwell tackle the big questions.

He may not have quite reached the household celebrity status of his son Grant, but Craig Denyer has an extensive CV that includes program director roles at some of Australia’s biggest commercial radio stations, motorsport commentary at some of Australia’s largest events and administration for categories such as V8 Utes, Australian GT and TA2 and events such as the Bathurst 12 Hour.

In a fascinating podcast episode, Craig talks about his career and also offers some forthright views on the current state of play in the Aussie motorsport industry.