The Australian MUSCLE CAR Magazine Podcast

Sometimes, when a podcast recording session comes to an end, the conversation continues and can range over many more topics than were covered originally - and fortunately the tape keeps rolling. That is exactly what happened to us with Brian. As you'll hear, his grasp of contemporary motorsport is up-to-date and well considered - so it's interesting to get the informed perspective on today's motorsport scene from a driver who made his name in the 1960s. In Part Two, this extended 'interview' makes for interesting listening as Foley offers some 'character-analysis' on several well-known drivers in Formula 1, as well as loacl Supercars heroes - not everyone gets off with a 'positive review' in his opinion!

In the 1960s there were two men called 'Mini Kings': Peter Manton, and Brian Foley. When the Morris Cooper S was the Giant Killer in touring car racing around the world, these two champions made history, beating almost every muscle car from the times! In this fascinating chat, 'Foles' traces his racing history back to the late 1950s in early touring car racing - he won his class in the first-ever Australian Touring Car Championship at Gnoo Blas in an Austin A40Farina. Foley was also one of the first drivers chosen for the official BMC 'works' team at Bathurst in 1966 - the year the Mini dominated the Great Race. While best known as a Mini specialist, Foley also made a name for himself in a Porsche 911 in the early '70s when the German sports car was still eligible in touring car racing, and a wild V8 Alfa Romeo Sports Sedan. Foley was a man of many talents and just as many trophies to confirm his status as a star.

Success built on success! In part two we pick up the story in 1973 when Goss was already a well-established star in touring cars and had extended his racing into Sports Sedans and the fearsome Formula 5000's. The story continues to include his unsuccessful appearance at the le mans 24 Hour classic in a Porsche. Goss's early career rivals all his contemporaries - raced there, won that could have been his motto!

The Early Years There have been many drivers who've won the Australian Grand Prix, pre-Formula One and many more who've won the Bathurst 500/1000 since the race started in 1960 at Phillip Island but there is only ONE driver who's won both - John Goss! Part One of his podcast series introduces John's early career racing in Tasmania, through to the early 1970's driving Falcon Touring Cars.

In Part 2 of our chat with Wally Storey, we move on to his time as a senior engineer in several of the bigger, more successful teams in the Supercars world. After his time with the Holden Racing Team he helped set up the Wayne Gardner/Coca-Cola-sponsored team, before moving on to Tasman Motorsport and Brad Jones Racing. His behind-the-scenes recollections give us a fascinating insight into how teams sometimes operate; how drivers like Brock Feeney got their start in the 'main game', and how sponsorships can determine the fate of drivers and teams. Wally is almost certainly one of those who has 'been there, done that!'

In motorsport you will hear the word 'versatile' used to describe top aces like Shane van Gisbergen, Colin Bond and Jim Richards - drivers who are renowned for their ability to be fast in any car, and in any conditions: whether dry, wet and on dirt. The word versatile also fits the bill in the case of Wally Storey, but for different reasons. Because while Wally was a very handy steerer - good enough to almost win the Formula Ford Driver to Europe Series - he was equally adept on the other side of the armco, in a variety of roles: racing car designer, builder, preparer, race engineer and even test driver. In a career that took him from a specialist engineering company in western Sydney to building and overseeing some of our top touring cars - and orchestrating Holden's shock win in the Bathurst 1000 in 1990 - Wally Storey has done it all. Part 1 of the fascinating conversation covers his early days and how he taught himself many important skills - both as driver and an engineer.

In the 1970s and into the ‘80s they were solid privateer touring car entrant/drivers. But as their careers behind the wheel began to wind down, both men would go on to become movers and shakers in the sport behind the scenes. Forbes tells us about his decision in 1990 to swap his Group A VN Commodore racer for the new and controversial all-wheel-drive Nissan GT-R ‘Godzilla’ – which delivered Bob Forbes Racing victory in the Sandown 500 and third place at Bathurst in 1991. Then, after selling up his race team, Forbes got involved behind the scenes alongside Tony Cochrane in the creation of what we know today as Supercars Australia. In this episode Forbes gives a candid account of the sometimes-heated negotiations between the teams, the track owners and the TV networks that went on behind closed doors. After V8 Supercars was up and running under Cochrane’s leadership, Forbes made a return to team ownership, this time with Ford, as the Blue Oval lured Holden star Craig Lowndes away from the General to race an AU Falcon V8 Supercar. Moore meanwhile tells of his ‘90s foray into 2.0-litre Super Touring racing, and the story of how he managed the almost-impossible in bringing the Williams Engineering ‘works’ Renault team out to run at Bathurst in 1997.

Part one of Forbes and Moore, where we talk to these privateer racers who are not only both ‘characters’ of the most interesting kind, but were both without doubt ‘the best of the rest’ in the Torana-era! Starting as true amateurs paying their own costs, their careers were often parallel but they never managed to team-up, always being fierce competitors on-track and friends off-track. Both drove cars at Bathurst with Dick Johnson - Bob shared his Torana XU-1 in 1971 finishing fifth outright and Graham shared with Dick in a Ford Capri V6 in 1976 finishing 10th outright. Part one tells of them as drivers – Part two will follow, taking up their stories as team owners and ‘movers and shakers’ in the world of Muscle Car racing!

Warwick’s race-winning record is second to none in the fearsome Formula 5000 era! The only Australian ever to win the Tasman Series against all comers and the AGP joining Sir Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark, Sir Jack Brabham! He raced against Frank Matich, Niel Allen, Alan Jones, Mario Andretti, AJ Foyt and many others. His second-by-second retelling of the horrendous crash in the Lola T300 at Surfers Paradise Raceway in 1973 that almost took his life is chilling to hear. He says, ’99 times out of 100, I should have died that day! He happily admits to only occasionally being a Muscle Car driver in the terms of road-car-based racing cars, but if an F5000 isn’t a real Muscle Car then what is?

Before regular TV broadcasts, we relied for race reports on the written word published by newspapers and magazines. The Australian motor racing media in the 1960’s and ‘70’s were trail blazers for today’s TV and social media ‘talking-heads’. The written word had to convey fact and emotion to the reader in a way that could be understood by the millions who read their reports and opinions. Two of the best exponents of this ‘black art’ are Phil Christensen and Peter McKay. Now both ‘retired’ from their previous occupations, their memories of racing, drivers, cars, overseas trips to Grand Prix, le Mans and more, plus numerous controversies will keep you entertained and enlightened!

John Smith was a fiery, super-competitive openwheeler star who in the early ‘80s matched it with then-current Formula One drivers in the Australian Grand Prix run at Calder Raceway in near-identical Formula Pacific Ralts. He is widely regarded as one of our best-ever in single seaters, but ‘Smithy’ also had a long and successful career in touring cars - in ‘works’ Toyota Corolla touring cars and then the Supra Turbo, which Smithy dubbed the ‘White Whale’. Join Smithy and Australian MUSCLE Car Magazine founder Ray Berghouse for a trip down his memory lane, exploring the races, rivalries (and several spectacular crashes) from that section of the golden era in Australian motorsport.

Spencer Martin has a long and incredibly successful career behind the wheel, driving everything from the stunning Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 250LM in the mid ‘60s to a near-stock-standard Volvo 242 GT in which Martin and David McKay raced in the 1979 Bathurst 1000! ‘That bloody Volvo!’ as some of the other drivers dubbed it. Spencer drove for ‘Sir Mal’ and Bob Jane in Brabham Formula Tasman cars and Monaros for Harry Firth’s Holden Dealer Team among others, but it all started with the Boomerang Service Station Holden 48-215! Join two-time Australian Drivers' Champion Spencer Martin, for a trip down memory lane, exploring races and rivalries from a golden era of Australian motorsport.

In this unique episode, the Chairman of Chevron Publishing and founder of Australian Muscle Car magazine Ray Berghouse interviews three of the luckiest men alive - the only three people on the planet to have edited Australian Muscle Car magazine. Beginning with launch editor Mark Oastler, moving to the tenure of Luke West and on to the incumbent Steve Normoyle, ‘Bergie’ takes these three seasoned journalists and muscle car tragics on a trip down memory (and pit) lane. From memorable issues to ones that some wish to forget, this is a rare look under the bonnet at Australia's best-loved muscle car magazine, narrated by the blokes in the hot-seat. Special mention also to the silent heroes that design the magazine, and wisely don't dabble in podcast appearances, art directors Danny Bourke and Chris Currie.

With a career spanning continents, decades and a myriad of vehicle classes, Sue Ransom has, among other things, five Bathurst starts, multiple top ten touring car performances and a host of drag racing records to her name in both Australia and the United States. From rallying, circuit racing, Top Fuel drags and even Funny Cars, Sue has lived a life on the edge and as you'll hear, even survived the occasional parachute malfunction. Join us this episode as Sue relives these high-octane adventures with her customary humour, grace and eye for detail - sharing more than a few stories that could only have come from this legend of Australian racing.

As long-time PR man for the legendary Holden Racing Team, Weissel (known to his friends as ‘Wally’) spent many years working alongside drivers such as Peter Brock, Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife as well as the likes of Jeff Grech, John Crennan and Tom Walkinshaw. As you might suspect, those exciting years provided some great yarns and on this episode of The Australian MUSCLE CAR Magazine podcast series, ‘Wally’ casts his mind back to that magnificent era and shares some of his most memorable moments - like having Brock ‘road-test’ ‘Wally’s’ own Commodore around the back streets of Port Melbourne – exciting stuff!

Strap yourself back in for part two of MUSCLE CAR Magazine's far-reaching conversation with Colin Bond, this time diving deeper into his rallying career alongside the likes of Ari Vatanen, Hannu Mikkola and David Richards. From memorable cars to memorable crashes, Bondy doesn't spare the details and we the listeners are the lucky ones, getting these cracking tales from his long and super-successful career straight from the man himself. Who else has won Bathurst, the Australian Touring Car Championship AND the Australian Rally Championship – NO ONE!

There aren't many, if ANY, Australian racing drivers with the resume as good as Colin Bond’s. He won races and rallies almost too numerous to count; he made his mark on all surfaces and took on all comers, leading to some legendary rivalries and teaming with some iconic teammates. Over a 40-year career, he drove for Mitsubishi, Holden, Ford, Alfa, Triumph and even in a F5000 McLaren for Frank Matich! In this episode, part one of a marathon chat, Bondy gives AMC listeners the inside line on some of the highlights from his storied career and in typical Colin Bond fashion, he doesn't hold back. Enjoy this episode - part two is just as good!

As his website notes, legendary cartoonist John Stoneham known to the world as ‘Stonie’ has been published in newspapers, the motoring and motorsport media for some 40 years, which means he's got a whole lot of stories about some of the most memorable years in racing. He’s a man who can truly say, ‘been there, drawn that’! He's rubbed shoulders with the good and the great (and one or two fellas who weren't so impressed with his work – F1 World Champion Niki Lauda for one), and on this very special episode of The Australian MUSCLE CAR Magazine Podcast series, Stonie takes us from the Adelaide Speedway to the high-falutin world of Formula 1, as always with a pen in hand.

Broadcasting and motorsport legend Garry Wilkinson shares what went on behind the scenes and behind the cameras during some legendary years of the Australian motor racing and the Great Race in particular. Interviewed by Australian MUSCLE CAR Magazine founder Ray Berghouse, Wilko spills on everything from swimming in sewerage ponds to mixing it with drivers like Brock, Grice, Johnson and Moffat. With more than sixty years in the business, Wilko has seen it all, done most of it himself and has the receipts. Kick back and listen to some very special yarns from a golden era of Australian motorsport.

Episode 2 features the iconic Kevin Bartlett, one of the most storied and versatile racing drivers in Australian motorsport history. KB’s career started driving his Mother’s Morris Minor convertible at the first ATCC meeting at Gnoo Blas, Orange in 1960. He went on to drive Alec Mildren’s Alfas at Bathurst, Formula Tasman, Formula 5000 and the sensational Channel Nine Chev Camero - "KB" has done it all and lived to tell the incredible tales. Hosted by Australian MUSCLE CAR Magazine and Chevron Publishing founder Ray Berghouse, these are tales told by those who lived them, in their own inimitable style.