In the wake of recent events in Sydney I would like to say to anyone who thinks about road racing: pull your head in!

I’m very fortunate, I get to race cars for a living, and I have racetracks to drive on, but when I get out on the track I can feel relatively safe in knowing my car is designed specifically for racing, and that we drive under controlled conditions where all the cars are going in the same direction.

Obviously we still have big accidents, which can be a result of driver error (from professionals) or things like oil on the circuit. Racing for a living is great, but there is risk involved.

Street racing is simply stupid. You put other people’s lives at risk as well as your own, and people wind up dead, be it an elderly couple in Sydney or a young woman who died while racing at high speed in WA.

Men, and it is mostly guys, get their licences and think they are great drivers, and between the speeds of 50-100km/h they probably are, but once you push to the limit, things can happen and invariably they do, and then you get guys trying to save a car who have no idea how, and then tragedies occur.

Cars are like loaded guns. In the hands of the wrong person or an irresponsible person, they can do great damage. If you want to race go to a track. Most tracks have open days where people can race their vehicles. Keep the speed off of our streets and stop innocent people from dying!

Back on to the subject of V8s and to answer Kerry my favourite track is Bathurst, but I also love racing at Oran Park and to a lesser extent Sandown raceway, where anything can happen and there is plenty of passing.

It’s also good to see someone noticed the increasing presence of NZ-born and bred drivers in the series, but there are also many mechanics over here from NZ who do a fantastic job.

Shane Van Gisbergen is a serious talent and he has done well to pick up a drive with Stone Brothers, but he will face a steep learning curve at Oran Park, when he is on debut. Time will tell how good the kid is, but he has got talent.

Char and I still haven’t had our baby, but the longest we will wait is next Wednesday. We saw “Knocked Up” at the movies on Friday and naturally it seemed pretty funny for a pregnant couple.

Anyway take care - JR

Just had a day testing at winton. 2nd to last for year. Car going good….watch out oran park.

Queensland was a pleasant surprise, well after the first race anyway. I thought the Queensland curse may have struck again when Shane Price spun me in the first race, which eventually forced me to retire with a bent tyre rod. I don’t think Pricey was too innocent on that one, but we’ll leave that on [...]

I’ve had plenty of media attention this week after my blog and comments about the Queensland raceway, even landing on the back page of The Courier Mail. It’s the first time V8s have had the back page of Queensland’s biggest paper. It was a landmark occasion.
 
My comments have generated plenty of discussion and have the [...]