Hi there to all my Rare Spares friends,

The past month or so has been very busy for me with the launch of the FPV new models, some FPV and Ford owners’ club events and lots of PR work for Dunlop and Wilson Security, both long time sponsors and friends of mine, just as Rare Spares are.

Having said that, the step down from professional V8 Supercar racing is taking some getting used to, I can tell you.

After 23 years as a professional driver and being in the V8 category since its inception in 1993, going to the V8 rounds in a PR and Ambassador role is so different but nonetheless rewarding. I get to interact much more and I have met lots of interesting people this year but boy I miss driving those cars! At the recent Perth round I had so many butterflies in my tummy just before the race, it was nearly as bad as being in the race itself.

The V8 Supercar season so far has been very see-saw between Ford and Holden, which is what it was designed to be I guess, but my money for the championship is still on Garth Tander to do back to back titles. He is in a great team at HRT and is at his peak of his driving and mental ability. Mark my words, it is very much a mental game winning championships.

I am really looking forward to doing some more racing in the various historic cars. The big muscle Camaro is fantastic fun; overpowered and undertyred and the brake performance is very limited too but it’s just great to race against cars I grew up admiring. Just like Torana XU1, Falcon GT, Chargers and of course the iconic Monaro and Mustangs.

I have also had a few races recently at the historic Winton Festival. It was like a step back in time with cars all the way back to the thirties, plus it was a good chance to wear my shiny Rare Spares driving suit.

I raced a Brabham BT36 with a Ford FVA engine, built 38 years ago and when it was new, it was driven by Tim Schenken who is now the V8 Supercar Race Director. This was in the era of treaded tyres so it was very exciting experiencing the grip or lack of it.

Unique Cars magazine are going to do a story on it so it’s another opportunity to wave the Rare Spares flag which I obviously love doing.

Finally, I had a drive recently in a mate’s Torana SLR 5000, which he has restored to better than new, all with Rare Spares parts of course!  What a All the best and happy restoring, till next time.

Cheers, JB