MOTORSPORT: Rick Kelly's up for the new fight

Like him or not, Kelly is a great talent -- as a racing driver and as a public figure, or what might be called media performer. You don’t have to agree with what he says, but he speaks well -- in a roguish way.

HSV Dealer Team has rolled out its VE Holden Commodore racecars with slightly tweaked orange-and-black livery -- and Kelly’s has the No. 1 on it.

"That’s a pretty special thing, to see your car sitting there with #1 on the door," Kelly says. "That gives me a lot of motivation to go out there and work towards being a better driver, someone who can repeatedly have the #1. This year is the year I really want to achieve my full potential.

"The way last year ended in terms of the controversy [over the damage to Ford rival Craig Lowndes’ Falcon in the title-deciding race at Victoria’s Phillip Island] and the comments we got definitely works for me as a positive because it’s going to give me a lot of motivation heading into this year.

"We’re going to use that in a way in which we can beat those guys again.

"I enjoy that side of it. That’s what motor racing’s about and it’s great to have fans who are that passionate about it on the Ford side and the Holden side.

 "I think there’s going to be a bit of ‘aggro’ go down this year -- but it won’t necessarily be between me and Craig. There’s a few on the Holden side and a few on the Ford side and I really look forward to that.

"This year’s going to be extremely exciting with the amount of competitive cars that are our there and there’s going to be a bit of fire flying between a few of the guys.

"Initially we may not be [a pacesetter as the VE is developed, although everything under the body is pretty much a carryover from the previous model]. We’ve got all the ingredients there to make an improvement on the 2006 pace we had, but it’s going to take some serious work."

The VEs will be tested at Winton the week after next, ahead of the start of the season at Adelaide’s Clipsal 500 on the first weekend of March.

Kelly and teammate Garth Tander are now confirmed in the team until the end of 2008. It is as good a line-up as you’ll find in the V8 Supercar ranks -- the reigning champion and the driver who might well have been, and who many regard as the quickest in the sport.

Having seen the guy in the next pit bay take a title may be just what Tander needs to climb to the top of the ladder.

"I came here because I knew this team was capable of running at the front, and nothing that has happening in the past two seasons has changed my mind," he says.

 "We all work well together -- this is a team in every sense. I am very happy here but, more importantly, I know that I have a great opportunity to win a championship with these guys."

Note: Holden Racing Team’s launch, with the confirmation of Ford veteran Glenn Seton joining Mark Skaife for the endurance races, has been pushed back into next week.

The Total Racing Expenditure Cap is intended to restrict teams to spending $6.75m on racing this year and $5m next year.

Team owners say that distribution of a 50-page document at the 2006 grand finale at Phillip Island did not give them enough time ahead of this season.

Leading the opposition, although he claims it is not a rebellion, is Roland Dane, boss of Craig Lowndes’ Triple Eight team.

"I don’t see it as a revolt at the moment, but there is a lot of dissatisfaction," Dane says in Auto Action. "There won’t be full support until there are answers to some of the questions."

David Richards, boss of Ford Performance Racing parent, Prodrive, says there is "effectively a moratorium" and wants a major rethink of the cap.

So who is Paul Cruickshank? He’s a former mechanic at Dick Johnson Racing, the team Bowe was at in the peak of his career in the 1990s.

Originally from New Zealand, Cruickshank has worked for the likes of Fred Gibson, also overseas, ran the Prancing Horse Racing stable, and also fields cars in the Porsche Carrera Cup. His operation is based at Yatala, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast -- ironically, close to DJR.

The Ford Falcon that Bowe will drive for Cruickshank will have an engine built by Stone Brothers Racing and with suspension and some other modifications from Triple Eight.

"I’ve known Paul for a long time -- we worked together at DJR and had a lot of success together including a Bathurst win," Bowe says. "Over the years we’ve stayed in touch and remained close friends.

"Running his own V8 Supercar team has always been one of Paul’s ambitions, so I was delighted to see him get it off the ground last year, even though I wasn’t involved.

"Paul has been smart with how he’s gone about it, putting good people, good facilities and the right resources in place, which you have to do to be successful in this game.

"Developing any new team takes time, but I think that my experience from over the years can help speed up this process and that we can surprise a lot of people this year."

Bowe will drive the Glenfords-sponsored Falcon for the first time on February 19 during the team’s first test day of the year at Queensland Raceway.

Bowe will carry the number 111 in honour of Cruickshank’s close friend Mark Porter, who died after the V8 development series crash at Bathurst last year.

At the opening round of the V8 Supercar Championship, the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide on March 1-4, Bowe will equal Peter Brock’s record number of championship starts.

He has not notched either the success or popularity of Brock, but Bowe can race towards his chequered flag mighty proud of his career.

Might the bourbon connection lead him to a V8 Supercar endurance drive with Dick Johnson Racing some time, now that DJR has a three-year deal with Jim Beam? Alex Davison has already scored an endurance race slot with DJR, which will see him paired with younger brother Will.

The A1 GP series that swept through Sydney last weekend is investigating running its V8 open-wheelers on ethanol fuel from next year.

The open-wheel series is being scheduled for Eastern Creek again on February 1-3 next year -- if the concept survives after losing hundreds of millions of dollars in less than two years.

Atkinson, a brilliant fourth in the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, did four runs over a 5km course near Rada in his updated 2006 Subaru Impreza in clocking a best time 0.2sec quicker than the Ford Focus of Finland’s Marcus Gronholm, who made two runs.

"I love driving on the snow," Atkinson says. "I did my first ever WRC test on snow a couple of years ago and I have loved snow driving ever since. In the rally, though, I will go for points. I may be more aggressive in Norway (the following weekend) if I do well in Sweden."

Atkinson’s Subaru teammate, Norwegian Petter Solberg, was third in the Swedish shakedown, 0.3sec slower than the Aussie, while France’s triple world champion, Sebastien Loeb, was fourth after five runs in the new Citroen C4 that won the Monte Carlo.

By the time pre-season testing resumes next week in Barcelona the car will have a new seat for him. He says that, after two weeks in the cramped cockpit, he doesn’t feel that he would want to race as it has been, "but I am not really bruised".

The RB3 has not been up to the mark again this week at Jerez, on the western side of Spain, in either Webber or teammate David Coulthard’s hands. Webber has generally been the quicker of the pair, though, although yesterday the Scotsman was faster – by a little more than 0.2sec. However, he went off the 4.423km track soon after midday and five minutes later Webber stopped out on the track.

Red Bull is not alone in having problems. So too has dual world champion Fernando Alonso’s McLaren Mercedes MP4-22, Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari F2007 and Ralf Schumacher’s T107.

The RB3 is running the aerodynamic package with which it was launched two weeks ago but that is said to be a lot different to what it will have for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 18. The optimists are saying the chassis has somewhere near the necessary raw pace but needs the updated aero package to show its full potential.

It has been a bit closer to the pace this week, at best 0.8sec behind the leader, but Webber’s scorecard still does not look good -- 15th of 16 drivers on Tuesday, 10th of 16 on Wednesday and 11th of 16 yesterday.

Red Bull’s end-of-week reports says Webber and Coulthard worked "on programs that involved a bit of everything: traction control, aerodynamics, mechanical set-up and tyres".

"Inevitably, on a car that has virtually no carry-over parts from its predecessor, the three days did not go completely smoothly, with a drive shaft failure and a gearbox glitch interrupting proceedings," it says.

"But it was still a productive test, during which we got through all our planned program and made progress over the three days," maintains chief test engineer Ian Morgan.

"The working relationship with Renault continues to grow and we got on top of our problems, covering a respectable mileage. It's a fast pace at this time of year and now we have just two days to turn the cars around and start testing back in Barcelona."

The F1 form guide has been confused in any case this week, with the McLarens not as dominant as at Valencia last week.

The new Toyota-powered Williams FW29 has been something of a surprise, with Alex Wurz -- the Austrian who has taken Webber’s place there -- up towards the pointy end.

Ferrari’s F2007 has still not set the world on fire, although Felipe Massa was quickest mid-week, while BMW-Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld topped the timesheets in yesterday’s wet conditions. Renault packed up and departed at the sight of rain.

American youngster Marco Andretti’s second outing in F1 testing has been low-key, but he’s in a year-old Honda anyway.

Bridgestone’s head of track engineering operations, Kees van de Grint, told autosport.com: "Originally we thought we would use hard and medium in Melbourne, but now instead there may be a possibility we might use medium and soft. It is too early to answer. Until all the teams have tried (the soft tyres) we will not have a clear picture. We need to analyse."

Bernie Ecclestone has flagged a likely expansion of the calendar to 20 races. That’s most likely a ceiling the teams have effectively imposed.

Ecclestone has made it known he would prefer 25. Of course he would – that could mean about another US$200 million a year in fees from race promoters, for starters.

The latest potential race to bob up the radar is at St Petersburg in Russia. It’s the city’s second attempt at getting a GP. Construction plans for a circuit were approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May 2001 but then the money could not be found.

Heading the drive this time is Russia’s Sports Minister Viatcheslav Fetisov, once a celebrated ice hockey player who won two Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings and two Olympic gold medals.

Some well-established GPs may go in coming years, most likely -- but not necessarily -- from Europe. F1 technical chief Mike Gascoyne, now with Dutch team Spyker, has had an interesting comment on the situation. "Apart from Monaco, is there any grand prix that you couldn’t lose? I don’t think so."

With so many places supposedly trying to get a GP, how long before South Africa and Holland join the queue?

South Africa has a great F1 tradition and there was massive interest there just a couple of years ago in a Minardi two-seater exhibition. Holland also has an F1 history, consistently has drivers in or on the fringe of F1 and has businesses pouring money into the sport. And the bumper attendance at the A1 GP round there showed the strength of the country’s support for motor racing.

The Daytona winner will get at least US$1,443,250 -- tough, that’s less than the $1,744,855 Sam Hornish Junior got for winning last year’s Indy 500. That said, the Daytona runner-up will get a minimum US$1,041,525 and even last place will pay at least US$226,295!

That’s more than first prize at eight rounds of the Nextel Cup last year.