Caltex Racing's Russell Ingall on the Great Race

Caltex Racing's Russell Ingall on the Great Race Release Date: 02/10/2006 Teams: Stone Brothers Racing Drivers: Russell Ingall Following are the V8 Supercar Champion’s thoughts on what it takes to win a Bathurst 1000 and why it is one of his favourite events on the V8 Supercar Championship Series calendar... “Thinking back over the years, if there is one single thing it takes to win Bathurst, it would be not making a mistake. Obviously you have to have a good car, you have to drive smart, you have to have a good strategy, you have to have a good crew but that’s all a given now days, you have to have that to win any race, not just Bathurst. “But at Bathurst in particular, you cannot afford to make a mistake. I suppose you can draw that across the board of the whole team, but it is more driver. If the team messes up a pit stop and a wheel doesn’t go on properly and you loose ten seconds, or if the fuel takes an extra two seconds, it’s not a big deal; with so many pace cars you catch up; it’s not a big problem. “But the driver sticking it in the wall is. If a driver hits the wall, bends the steering, you have to drive the car all day with bent steering. If a driver punishes the car too much at the beginning so you jump in at the end and you have no brakes or if a driver has over-revved the engine and it’s got no power at the end, that’s a problem. “So the driver factor in not winning or finishing Bathurst is a lot higher than at any other place we visit. You have the length of the race, how hard the track is and the distance; you are doubling up the chances of mistakes all the time. Driver error is the biggest cause in not finishing Bathurst. Getting to the end is all about being smart. “Unfortunately it seems that the smartest drivers through our normal Championship races don’t always drive smart when they get to Bathurst. Whether it’s because of inexperience, or trying to win the race in the first lap or trying to be a hero too early, I don’t know. “When you go to Bathurst, you have to respect the track and go there without the ego. No matter where you are in the Championship, or how well you are doing and how big your ego is before Bathurst, you don’t take it with you because Bathurst breaks egos. “Bathurst is one of my favourite events but it’s very different to other circuits. I classify other tracks like Adelaide and Indy as favourites enjoyment wise because I like street circuits, they are more of a thrill to drive. “Bathurst I enjoy for a different reason and probably more for the reward at the end. It’s a harder race to win so the enjoyment factor is probably at the end of the race, not during it. During it, it’s just hard work. It’s not fun during the day because the speeds that you do and the distance that you go, physically it’s hard and it’s just killing you every lap. But if you win the thing the rewards are pretty high and that’s where you get the enjoyment, when you park it.”