BigBlog

Please be advised that i’m no longer blogging here but you can find my new, improved and “very exciting” blog at http://jasonrichards.beinvolved.com.au/ Hope to see you there soon...!!

Have you ever wanted to experience the thrill of flying around the Sandown circuit in a V8 Supercar?

Now thanks to Telstra and Brad Jones Racing, you can make that dream a reality, whilst at the same time supporting a worthy cause - the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

What’s that you say? It’s over? Well thanks to special arrangements between the Red Cross, Kochie's Business Builders and Telstra Charity Auctions you have your chance to bid for the prize, as well as several fabulous others.

You can sing with Adam Harvey. Get some swimming tips from Brooke Hanson or train with Nathan Hindmarsh and your footy team. To bid for your once-in-a-lifetime experience visit: http://tradingpost.com.au/charityauctions

The full prize is a hot lap at the Norton 360 Sandown Challenge, Sandown, Victoria. Plus, 4 x 3 day general admission tickets to event, a grid walk for 2 people and signed merchandise pack.
 
The ‘hot lap’ will be on Friday July 31 and dates for the event are July 31 to August 2.

JR

Dreams of winning my home race have been put on hold for another year but I’m   still hopeful that one day I will stand atop the podium in New Zealand.

I didn’t have the weekend and the bottom line is the car wasn’t fast enough, but there were other issues throughout the weekend which hurt the cause.

I actually headed over to New Zealand on the 9th of April to spend some time with the family in Nelson and had a great time catching up with everyone, before embarking on one huge week of media in the lead up to the Hamilton 400.

Needless to say the actual racing was not what I had hoped for. The first race was ok as we took a low risk strategy into the race and looked to climb through the field, and we did finishing tenth, which I felt was a good result.

We tried to do the same thing in the second race, but it wasn’t to be. When Jason Bargwanna hit the wall at turn seven and as I went to go down the inside collected me. There wasn’t anything I could do about the incident and it cost me five laps in the pits as the team worked furiously on fixing my steering.

Once again Jamie Whincup controlled the weekend for Triple Eight Racing and I don’t know when we will see a change to his dominance. Jamie is simply on another level right now and everyone else is playing catch up.

I actually shudder to think what it may be like mid season when the rest of the teams with the 888 package put it all together. At the moment it’s looking like a long season for all of us Holden drivers, unless we can find something in the cars.

So far Lee Holdsworth is doing very well to be ranked second in the championship for Garry Rogers Motorsport. Having said that, GRM were very quick early in the season last year as well, so I don’t know how much of a true indication of their true form it really is.

I was also very impressed with the efforts of his teammate Michael Caruso at the weekend, he has really come on and improved this year.

There were a couple of issues I was unhappy with over the weekend including why they once again had tyre bundles on the circuit. I was lucky not to roll the car after hitting them coming through the chicane.

Having rolled a car before at Pukekohe and Queensland I can’t understand why on earth they would still place drivers at risk, for what was a deterrent to kerb-hopping at the chicane. They penalised us for it at Clipsal, why not just do that again?

I have had a bit of a mixed reaction to the new qualifying system. In some respects it’s great. The qualifying is hectic and the fans certainly get more value for their money with the Sunday qualifying session.

Conversely I don’t think having it an hour before the race is a good idea. How do you fix any problems you may have with the car, especially if you hit a wall?

While I am having a crack at the new system I also think the 20 minutes is patently flawed, by that stage you only have one set of green tyres left and if you don’t get out before the session is red flagged, or are on a hot lap when it is red flagged, then you suffer like I did on Sunday morning.

The session is more about luck than it is who has the fastest car. If you’re unlucky you miss out, simple as that and it’s not a good system.

I actually thought the first qualifying system we used at Clipsal was fair and worked for everyone as it rewarded good and aggressive driving, but I guess V8 Supercar disagreed with me.

Anyway I caught a bit of the F1 coverage at the weekend and was pleased to see Mark Webber on the podium, although I will admit with his luck I was nervous for him in the last few laps.

It’s great to see new teams up on the podium and I can’t see Ferrari or McLaren really adapting until they have had time to try things with the cars once they are back in Europe. I think Brawn and Red Bull may well have to make hay while the sun shines and they are doing just that. The big guns have the money to catch up.

Although Red Bull and Brawn have the experience of Adrian Newey and Ross Brawn and I expect that to be a factor. Brawn knew they had a car in September last year and I do think they will continue to be competitive.

I’m back in Melbourne now and looking forward to taking the family to the Storm v Warriors match this weekend. I met Warriors’ captain Steve Price last weekend and he’s invited me out to the game, hopefully the boys can grab another win.

JR

Even though there were no points to take away from the Grand Prix weekend I couldn’t be happier. We have had our second event of the year and the car was once again quick as I battled it out for top Holden with Will Davison and went very close to the new HRT man.

It feels great to be able to achieve results consistently and race at the pointy end of the grid again, I kept it there for most of the weekend and would have finished higher in race three except for a fuel pressure problem which slowed me down and allowed Russell Ingall to pass me.

As I mentioned Will and I were the top two Holdens at the weekend and it must be leaving the likes of Garth Tander, Paul Dumbrell, Tony D’alberto and even my teammate Cam McConville scratching their heads as to why the two new Walkinshaw Performance Racing drivers are coming to grips with the cars better.

While Will and I have been performing well for Holden it’s amazing to see the difference between the Ford cars. Team 888 are still getting more out of their cars than anyone else. Other teams have the same car but don’t seem to be able to get the pace out of them that Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes are.

The speed Jamie has shown in that car is plain scary. He was overtaking people around the outside through corners and was making up time hand over fist on the weekend. I have no doubt had he have not had an engine problem in qualifying that he would have blitzed the field again. Instead of that his teammate Craig Lowndes did.

In saying that I believe we can continue to improve here at Brad Jones Racing and a podium is not too far away for us. Maybe it is even possible for me to be on the dais at my home race in Hamilton, which would be a dream come true in front of all my friends and family.

It’s possible we just have to get everything right on the weekend for it to happen.

As you all know I love my Formula 1 and the weekend was no exception. It’s always a buzz to be at the Australian GP where all the action happens.

I was thrilled to see Jenson Button win the race and Rubens Barrichello finish in second. If you check back on my last post you can see I tipped the Brawn team to take out the race. So who followed my advice and backed them?

Not too long ago both Jenson and Rubens would have been fearing for their respective careers when Honda withdrew their backing from Formula 1 and it was such a feel-good moment to see two guys who have always brought a lot of personality to the track back on top and over the dramas that haunted them at Honda, and maybe just maybe there is a new dawn in F1.

On an aside I’m sure Martin Brundle was more than happy with Jenson’s win!

Having said that I don’t think it will be too long before Ferrari and McLaren get their houses in order and are back on top of the game, although I would like to be proven wrong.

It is for that very reason I believe Sebastian Vettel blew it for Red Bull. Early in the season when points are on offer for the lesser teams, you take them however you can get them and Vettel choosing not to yield to a clearly faster Robert Kubica, who had good tyres on, was actually quite stupid.

Vettel only succeeded in losing his team and Kubica and BMW points they would have otherwise had as well as podium finishes. I’m sure if he had his time over he would act differently.

As for Red Bull it was a tough day at the office. Mark Webber once again was cursed with bad luck and was caught in an incident which was not his fault as the Brawn of Rubens Barrichello damaged his car beyond repair on the opening lap.

I wonder when the Aussie will get some luck, because surely it has to turn at some point.

I’ve spent some time relaxing this week but lost golf at Eagle Ridge to a mate of mine who I now believe is an absolute burglar, which should sum up the round.

If any of you watch V8 Extra make sure you catch me on the show this week or if you are in Sydney I will be at the AAAA show at the Dayco, Infomedia or Motospecs stands.

Also thanks for all your comments in the regard to the start of the season. I appreciate the support. Keep them coming and I’ll try and answer as many as I can.

JR

Another 5th today and overall, lost a spot when fuel pressure problems slowed car towards end of race. Real solid weekend, just can't wait to drive it again.