Ozemail Loses Battle To Have Car Ready

[Aquarius]

with compliments of Racenews

Brad Jones Racing
Oct 18 2004
Bathurst Hero Loses Battle To Have Car Ready


Bathurst podium hero Brad Jones has lost the battle to have his #21 OzEmail Falcon ready for the Indy 300 V8 Supercar contest on the Gold Coast this weekend. After a week of frantic work, Jones and his Albury based BJR team have conceded defeat on the Ford that suffered major damage after ending up on its roof on lap 30 at the Bathurst 1000.


The team will now prepare the spare OzEmail car for the event, a decision that brings some disappointment for Jones – “The #21 car was very badly damaged at Bathurst and at the time we didn’t hold much hope. When we got the car back to Albury, the crew were determined to give me my regular car to drive for Indy but in the end, there was just too much to do.”


“We only have two days to get the spare car ready to go. It needs a full driveline fitted and some internals but it shouldn’t cause too many dramas for the guys,” Jones added.


“The car that I will now be driving is JB’s [John Bowe’s] Falcon from last year, so it’s heritage isn’t bad but it will mean getting used to a whole new car for just one race meet. The only time I have spent in the old #888 Falcon was at Bathurst and Sandown last year, so it’s going to be a tough transition.”


Questioned on the extent of the damage to the #21 OzEmail Falcon, Jones added – “It’s big, bloody big. I would hate to think of the cost but it will be the biggest repair bill that we have ever had.”


After BJR’s enormous effort at Bathurst, coming so close to winning the holy grail of motorsport, coupled with a hectic week of car preparations, the team has had absolutely no rest. A fact that is not lost on the #12 OzEmail Falcon driver, John Bowe.


“Brad [Jones] and I really want to do well at Indy this weekend because it’s the only way that we can repay the crew for their amazing efforts over the past few weeks. They really have worked themselves into the ground to not only prepare a car, a week or so ago, that was capable of winning at Bathurst but now also trying to get Brad’s car ready. It’s been a super-human effort.

[retro]

Yeah he said at the press conference at Bathurst that he would probably drag out the old car.

[lookleft]

Bigger that Adelaide??? Wonder if the old upside down signs will come out again...

This is just a PR job to capture some inches - he was always going to run the old car at Indy. Little sense in doing a pile of work on a car to debut at Indy, just looking for trouble!

[GTRMagic]

The #21 car is pretty badly hurt... it can probably be repaired given enough time, and bodies, in the right panel shop...

If the team genuinely tried to fix this chassis in the timeframe, good luck to them... hopefully it will be back together for Tasmania or Eastern Creek....

Be funny if Mr Jones finds he actually likes this chassis

[mixxer]

With Indy being the concrete canyon it is, it could end up being a blessing in disguise

[mjt57]

In the Racenews article, it says, in part..

"At Indy in 2002, the BJR duo were in contention to record the first double podium result for the team, with Bowe in 2nd and Jones in 3rd with just a handful of laps remaining. The infamous kerbs at the Surfers Paradise street circuit catching them out, with simultaneous kerb-hopping infringements handed to the pair. A result that, according to Bowe, will not be repeated;"

What's so bad, dangerous, cheating, advantagous about "kerb hopping"?

In in reference to the above incidents, how much kerb hopping did these two do?

[Trevor P]

mjt57.
The race track is the black stuff between the kerbs. In the old days, the kerbs were stone walls. If you couldn't stay on the black stuff, then you would severeley crash your car - and yourself. Drivers nowadays have it far too easy!

[mjt57]

Originally posted by Trevor P
mjt57.
The race track is the black stuff between the kerbs. In the old days, the kerbs were stone walls. If you couldn't stay on the black stuff, then you would severeley crash your car - and yourself. Drivers nowadays have it far too easy!

Doesn't seem to be an issue in other classes of racing that I watch. Particularly F1. Hell, even the MotoGPs in the weekend were doing a bit of "kerb hopping" (albeit it can be a recipe for disaster...)

Perhaps it's yet another rule with which to ping drivers and teams with - like that ridiculous one at Can'tberra where exiting pit lane, one or two drivers had their wheel ON the line, not over it, and were pinged.

[1200Datto27]

Apparently the V8's where damaging the curbs when they straight lined the chicanes, and the CART guys had a big whinge about it, so any car that put more than about half a wheel over the line was pinged. However, as with most things, there was a bit of a bias with who got reported and who didn't.

[cavvy]

Originally posted by Trevor P
mjt57.
In the old days, the kerbs were stone walls.

Drivers nowadays have it far too easy!

Hang on, the Thunderdome hasn't been closed that long ... did I see you at the Showgrounds or was it Claremont?

[Crash Test]

The best wall to stop people cutting corners is a concrete wall (of which they were a lot closer in the early days at some of the chicanes) or the good old protruding star picket