Synopsis

Despite a setback in Race One that saw Peter Fitzgerald in the Falken Tyres Porsche finish near the rear of the field, the Melbourne production car racing legend fought back in typically gritty fashion to lead the majority of Nations Cup Race Three at the 2002 Fosters Australian Grand Prix against the odds whilst appearing in front of a trackside audience of 300,000 and a live television audience estimated in the millions.

Welcome

For many years Fitzgerald Racing Services has been the preferred stable for Porsche competitors. Now the formalising of the relationship with Porsche star of recent times, Tony Quinn, sees the team renamed as the Falken Tyres VIP Pet Foods Porsche Racing Team.

This event was again the season-opener, albeit a non-championship one, for Australia’s most exotic motor racing series: the Nations Cup, its prestige and importance being emphasised by inclusion on the schedule of both of Australia’s
international gala motorsport events, the Formula
One Grand Prix and Gold Coast Indycar.

 

With updated cars from Ferrari and Porsche, and the mooted introduction of the new Holden Monaro, the issue of performance parity would again be very topical.

The specifications of the Porsche GT3 were expanded to allow the entry of the 911 GT3 Supercup car. Specially designed by the factory for competition use in the one-make Supercup Series (Europe) it is 90 kilograms lighter thanks to the use of carbon fibre in the doors, side- windows and boot. Interestingly it also sheds its hand-brake in the pursuit of weight reduction.

With 20 more horsepower than last year’s GT3 the overall the power-to-weight ratio is significantly improved, plus a large rear wing adds greater aerodynamic performance.

Nations Cup also rules allowed the introduction of the Ferrari Michelotto, a faster more powerful evolution of the F360 Modena. And the Lamborghini Diablo GTR, debuted in 2001’s last round would be formidable.

So, again the Porsches would have the biggest challenges in 2002, especially at a track like the Albert Park Grand Prix circuit.
A record entry list of 28 cars with a combined value of AUS$25m competed over four-days with Thursday being the busiest: Practice and Qualifying Session plus Race One.

"The preparation schedule was extremely hectic as the car arrived late, and painting of the new Falken Tyres Porsche took longer than expected. This placed a lot of pressure on our crew and left no time for development.

"We took our car, and five customers’ cars, to Phillip Island Raceway on the Monday of the Grand Prix week to test them out. The fastest time I posted was disappointing at 1min:40.9 seconds: I was expecting 1min:37 or 38.

"Needless to say, the final days prior to this event were very long, and we arrived at the Grand Prix circuit late on Wednesday. And to cap it off we had a hassle on Thursday obtaining all our tyres that had arrived late from Japan.

An interesting aspect of the Nations Cup races was the entry of Ryan Briscoe: a 20-year old expatriate Australian in a Ferrari Michelotto. He won the unbelievably tough European title for Karting, the essential stepping-stone for legends such as Michael Schumacher.
"He is currently Toyota’s official Formula One test driver, the acknowledged next-step away from actually getting a berth in the world’s ultimate show, and is widely regarded as a certainty to be Australia’s next Formula One driver".

Practice Session

With only one Practice Session I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome, we were 4th fastest, but with a couple of seconds deficit to Jim Richards. We had pitted to make a change in 2nd position, and unfortunately didn’t make it out again in time. It was whilst I was in the pits that we were pipped back to 4th.

Qualifying Session

We made a set-up change and the result was worse, not better. During the session I pitted and made some suspension changes and fitted tyres to the left-hand side.

 

I posted a faster time than the morning by over 2½ seconds thanks to re familiarising myself with the circuit, and was placed in 5th whilst Jim was nearly three seconds quicker on Michelins.

"An issue holding us back was the car’s weight. It is homologated (approved by the rules) to have a minimum weight of 1170 kilograms, but our car was 40 kilograms heavier than it should have been.

 

I estimated that this equates to approximately 1 second per lap at this circuit, this would have moved us up one position to be ahead of the highest placed Viper of Morgan.

"Further, there was no time to fit the MoTec on-board computer management system to the new Falken Tyres/VIP Petfoods Porsche, and the fuel measurement equipment (gauges and sender) was variable.

"So notwithstanding this, our performance had been respectable".

Race 1

"Rolling starts are again the format for 2002, and I got a very good one in this race moving straight up to 4th spot. I held onto the faster cars ahead, Lamborghini, Viper, and Richards’ Porsche, ‘til lap two at which point they started to pull away as I lost grip, and I had no real answer for Jim ahead of me in 3rd place.
"In pursuit, at Turn Five, I clipped one of the tyre-stacks which are used at various corners and chicanes, this pushed the front bumper bar and mudguard-liner onto the front tyre. Smoke started to appear from the front right corner of the car but I pressed on cautiously unaware of the exact cause of it. Meanwhile, Morgan (Viper) and Armstrong (Porsche) caught me and I looped the car at the end of the main straight diving too deep under brakes.
"The trackside Marshalls displayed a black and red-ball flag. Known as the "meatball flag" it can mean either a problem with your car or bad sportsmanship: as I was on my own, I returned to the pits. My crew chief immediately evaluated there was no significant problem and waved me back out.
"Despite the visit to the pits I slipped back to settle for 20th place".

Race 2

"I started in Race One’s finishing place of 20th, obviously with plenty of cars to pass. But due to the reverse grid starting procedure used last season I was well used to having to step carefully past less-experienced competitors and the carnage that often arose.
"The first lap was incident-packed and at Turn Three cars spearing off in all directions and the Porsches of Coleman and Scaysbrook ended up in the sand trap, followed by more cars falling off the track on Turn Six.
"I managed to keep my nose clean and set about making up a lot of positions, the Falken Tyres Porsche had risen to 8th by lap two.
"Meanwhile, the front-runners had opened up an unassailable gap but I grabbed 7th place from Morgan when he spun his Viper and then 6th from Armstrong (Porsche). I was closing on the Viper of Russell but ran out of laps, finishing only two seconds behind him.
"Overnight we had changed the suspension settings back to the Porsche factory’s Supercup settings. The car didn’t feel any worse but the rear moved around under brakes particularly under hard-braking: this was responsible for my spin at Turn One.
"The lap times were a bit slower but this was more a factor of the track temperature being hotter and my many passing moves".

Race 3

"Race Three’s starting order was a reverse grid, but only for the top twelve cars, not the entire field: this put me on pole position with most of the more powerful cars several places behind. I had a plan to get a good start and open up a gap on them whilst they fought their way past a couple of "middle-markers" who were in between.
"Things went as planned and I bolted to a big lead and my crew kept me informed of the size of the gap I held.
"Unfortunately, I started to struggle with rear grip and by lap five had been caught. I held onto 3rd place for the remainder of the race but succumbed to the superior power of Morgan’s V-10 engined Viper close to the finish and missed a podium placing by only two seconds".

Race 4

"I went in to the final race with essentially no changes to the Falken Tyres Porsche except for new tyres on the rear.
"Starting positions were derived from a combination of points from the first three races and this placed the Falken Tyres Porsche in 8th position.
"I had some concerns about this because I would be behind the Vipers, who are known for the lightning acceleration and would be slow through the first few corners, where the Porsche is quickest.
"And that is what happened. Meanwhile the front-runners were away quick, but fortunately for us there was a downpour of rain on Turn Three and between here and Turn Six I was able to make the most of the Porsche’s nimbleness and make some passing moves in the wet conditions.
"Whilst the damp conditions were favourable I set about opening as large a gap as I could between the Falken Tyres Porsche and the Viper of Geoff Morgan. The track was only wet at the top section, but wasn’t wet for very long even there. Morgan eventually closed the gap and we swapped positions depending on the dampness of the track. I eventually had no answer for his V-10 power and he got past.
"Meanwhile, Richards was dicing with Briscoe until his Ferrari inexplicably veered left and hit a concrete wall very hard. Apparently his car had suffered suspension damage from some contact early on.
"This moved us up the order into 4th place, in a relatively short race of six laps there was not enough time to claw back the position from Morgan and climb onto the podium. We crossed the finish line only 1.2 seconds behind him, but an impressive 14 seconds ahead of the other Viper of Russell.

Summary

"In consideration that we debuted a brand new car with no prior testing it was a respectable result to get two 4th placings and a 6th. The first unfortunate race (due to a visit to pit lane) I believe I would have finished at least in my starting position of 5th.
"Nonetheless, I felt a little flat when comparing our result to Jim Richards’. We definitely need to do some homework on tyres to match the performance that he wrung from his car on Michelin tyres.
"After the event on the Monday morning there was a meeting of the Parity Review Committee to review the performance of all cars and make adjustments to the vehicle parity.
"The outcome was that Richards’ Porsche was decided upon to be the benchmark. This means that Makes slower than his would be "advantaged" whilst Makes faster would be disadvantaged. Specifically, the Vipers were relieved of 70 kilograms in weight: the Ferrari Michelotto had its maximum engine revs reduced by 500, and the Lamborghini had its maximum engine revs reduced by 800.
Jim Richards, who is also sponsored by Falken certainly didn’t do us or Falken any favours by running on the Michelins/Pirellis on the weekend and our next event ( Clipsal 500) is certainly going to be a tough one.
The Clispal 500 V8 Supercar event promises to deliver massive exposure but will be a tough event. The Adelaide street circuit is a combination that suits the different marques in different ways, but, a corner mid-way along the back straight had been partially straightened to allow a higher top-speed, so this will tip the scales further in favour of the big-engined cars". Although brakes are equally, an important part of running at this circuit.
Both Tony and I are going to run some tyre tests (last year’s v this year’s) prior to going to Adelaide. We can only hope that we can find an answer soon to our problem and I must admit that in the past the Falkens have normally performed well at street circuits. Only time will tell!!

Fitzy

Peter and the team at Fitzgerald Racing Services would like to thank the partners for their much valued support!