Alex Yoong in V8s

[Also a Believer]

It appears that the hard work of a ten -tenths poster has paid dividends.


Alex Yoong, ex-Formula 1 and Champ Car driver, has joined Shane Beikoff Racing for 3 Rounds of the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series. Racing the Shane Beikoff Racing AU Falcon, Yoong will contest the next three rounds of the Konica Minolta Series at Eastern Creek, Queensland Raceway and Mallala.

"Alex intends to use the Konica Minolta Series to gain V8 Supercar experience, and become familiar with the machinery and set-up, in order to secure a V8 Supercar Championship Series endurance drive later in 2004," said Yoong's Australian manager Ross Cadell.

"We are currently negotiating an endurance package for Alex, and decided it was best for him to gain some track time in the Konica Minolta Series with help from his Malaysian backer, Pan Global," Cadell continued.

"Shane Beikoff Racing appeared as the ideal platform to take this step, with a good team balance of machinery, experience & budget for Alex to learn the craft of racing V8 Supercars," an excited Cadell explained.

“We have all contributed towards Alex’s Australian debut with Pan Global, Shane Beikoff Racing, Alex & myself all contributing financially to make this a success. We are all revved up & excited at the prospects and look forward to showing the talent this young guy has,” Cadell continued.

Alex Yoong raced 19 rounds of the Formula 1 World Championship with Minardi from 2001 to 2002, with a 7th placing in Australia in 2002 as the highlight of his F1 career. Alex is probably more noteworthy to Australians as the Minardi team-mate in 2002 of Australian F1 racer Mark Webber.

Yoong competed in 3 rounds of the USA Champ Car Series in 2003, finishing 9th in his debut race in Mexico.

Shane Beikoff Racing team manager Shane Beikoff is exhilerated with the deal with Yoong, stating it as a major step forward for the Brisbane-based V8Supercar team.

“Signing Alex for the Konica Minolta Series is not only a positive move for Shane Beikoff Racing, but it is a coup for the V8Supercar category. Alex had other overseas driving options but has chosen our V8 Supercar category to continue his racing career. The experience Alex gained recently from Formula 1 and Champ Cars is significant and we should welcome his input into the category,” Beikoff explained.

"We have been searching for a driver with a budget to work with for selected Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Rounds, and when Alex expressed interest and explained his future plans, it seemed to fit into our structure," Beikoff continued.

"We will be able to provide Alex with the stepping stones he needs to progress to the V8Supercar Championship Series. We are all enthusiastic and cohesive in our efforts with Alex and look forward to working with the 28-year old Malaysian.

Shane Beikoff Racing will test with Alex Yoong in the next few weeks, and Alex Yoong will make his V8 Supercar debut at Eastern Creek on 29th-30th May.

All the progress of Shane Beikoff Racing and Yoong, as well as exclusive behind-the-scenes photographs, can be found at the Shane Beikoff Racing website, www.shanebeikoffracing.com.au .

Shane Beikoff Racing is proudly supported by Dieseltech Springwood, Protec Paints, Tractor & Engine Spares, Turbo Brisbane, V8Supercar Hot Laps, Ironfarmers Parts & Equipment, Sumner Park Smash Repairs, and Rebel Signs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[mayhem]

Well done Ross!

[Ross Cadell]

Cheers Guys,

Thanks to Shane for really bending over backwards to make this happen. Alex really wants to make a career in Aus and is prepared to do whatever it takes.

Stepping from F1-Cart-Konica is a strange progression but we have all seen the "guest appearances" of Euro races before come down and produce little. Alex is speaking with some main series teams about both the enduro's and 2005 and in order to give himself the best chance in any testing or drive opporunities thought it was best to get into a car asap.

Dont go predicting wins or anything it is all about learning the machine away from the hype of the big races and working with Shane and his team to develop the car and himself to suit the condidtions. This is something that he did very well with Dayle Coyne in Cart last year.

We will see how it goes.

[Also a Believer]

I suppose Ross that this association might also help Shane gain further sponsorship to better the car. Hope this all works for you and well done.

[pete55]

Good on you Ross. I know you've worked hard for this.

[jetsetter]

I'll be watching with interest to see how Yoong adapts to the V8's.

[marcus]

I hope he does well , well done to you Ross and Shane on giving Alex a go , we wait to see how he goes.

[pplater]

Kudos Ross. In 6 months you scored the Dynamik drive for Dale and the Konicas for Alex.

Great Work.

I hope to see Alex back at B24 this year, perhaps a V8 M3 might tempt him...

(Don't answer that!)

[Also a Believer]

I am sure that a m3 v8 would tempt him pplater if one was available.

[mountainstar]

So has he given up his F1 dream?

[CooperS79]

Is the Beikoff Racing AU current spec? Or is this just so that Alex can get used to the cars? Nothing against Beikoff racing but I would have thought that Alex may have gone with a more current spec car. Anyway good luck to him for Eastern Creek.

[Just Do It!]

Alex will go well, but maybe not in the Beikoff car.

Onya Ross.

A man is not a camel!!

[Also a Believer]

The Beikoff Au has only had 10 or so starts in its life from what I understand.

The car is good and with alexs input should get better.

[mayhem]

Is the Beikoff AU a (source unknown) shell with the engine/gearbox etc from his EL?

[Also a Believer]

think that is the facts.

[tiko]

Great news for Alex.
But honestly now are Shane Beikoff Racing capable of mixing it with the likes of DJR, HYL etc.?
I don't think i've ever seen the car in the top 5, maybe an occasional top 10. But I hope they have a good shot at it and good luck.
Do they have an engineer or someone thats going to help Alex not only drive the thing right and fast but set the car up etc.??

[GTRMagic]

The source of the car run by the "other SBR" is the ex-Rod Salmon OneWorldSport AU chassis, built by a FoMoCo engineer, under the watchful eye of SuperCheap team boss John McLean.

It was a good car, with a lot of new thinking... did Bathurst in 2000 with Salmon and Damien White at the wheel, and Bathurst in 2001 with Terry Wyhoon.

The car had a bingle at Bathurst in 2001, (with Salmon at the wheel).... while the remnants were sold off to Craig Bastian's Abacus team, including a strong spares kit.

The bulk of of the equipment was transferred by Bastian's team into another shell, while this shell became the show car.

Shane Beikoff purchased the shell from Bastian, restored it to full working condition, and transferred a lot of Stone Bros-designed equipment out of the EL run by the 'other SBR' team late last year, including a genuine SBR EL-spec engine.

So the car has a has something of a pedigree.

The new driver will get a test session according to the release, so will likely be able to share his reputed knowledge of car set up to that team.

From the way it reads, Alex is on a learning curve, where results arent absolutely important, but getting miles in the cars, and in traffic with other like minded racers looks good on the resume come Sandown/Bathurst time.

Makes sense to me

[marcus]

I remember Alex test drove for Lansvale either last year or the year before.

as I cant remember back that far how did he actually go in that test even though it was probably his first time at the creek and first time ever in a V8?



Just curious to know that all

[pplater]

Originally posted by mountainstar
So has he given up his F1 dream?

I posed this question to Alex well before the E.Creek test. here is his reply:

There is always more that you want to achieve, always another challenge. Formula 1 was great, and I may return. There is more I want to achieve in open-wheelers, in the champ car series. Maybe Le Mans…

[Vee8]

Originally posted by marcus
I remember Alex test drove for Lansvale either last year or the year before.

as I cant remember back that far how did he actually go in that test even though it was probably his first time at the creek and first time ever in a V8?

Just curious to know that all

IIRC, Alex's best lap at EC was about 3-4 seconds slower than McConville's best in the same session, but I think Alex was driving the LRT spare car so a head-to-head comparison isn't really able to be drawn.

But having only a single test session and a handful of laps under his belt would suggest that Alex still has much to learn about V8SC, something I think he is more than willing to admit.

[TC 2]

I congratulate Shane Beikoff Racing for securing the services of Alex Yoong. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if Alex stuggles to match Shane's lap times. For the uneducated, Shane is a very talented race driver that is competing in a very competitive category that (in my opinion) has been spoilt by the level one teams.
Good on you Shane, and I hope that you can secure the necessary funding to display your talents in the future.

[GTRMagic]

Originally posted by Vee8
IIRC, Alex's best lap at EC was about 3-4 seconds slower than McConville's best in the same session, but I think Alex was driving the LRT spare car so a head-to-head comparison isn't really able to be drawn.

But having only a single test session and a handful of laps under his belt would suggest that Alex still has much to learn about V8SC, something I think he is more than willing to admit.

Thats funny, its not quite what the team reported, or indeed Racefax... nor someone who actually had someone at the circuit at the time. 3 to 4 seconds indeed!

Anyone would think that the driver is running in Konica to get miles for an enduro seat... oops, exactly what the press release says! Amazing!

[GTRMagic]

So Alex Yoong has had his first run since the brief shakedown at Queensland Raceway earlier in the week....

This car has run at Wakefield Park, Adelaide and Winton before coming to Eastern Creek... it is interesting to take a squiz at the relative time difference between

Wakefield: Q1 Fastest A.Jones 59.8707, gap from fastest 2.0993s or 3.5% (Beikoff)
Adelaide: Q1 Fastest M.White 83.7746, gap from fastest 6.1428s or 7.3% (Foster)
Winton: Q1 Fastest A.Jones 83.209, gap from fastest 3.7315s or 4.5% (Beikoff)

So if we take a squiz at the Eastern Creek results from today.... Q1 Fastest A.Jones 92.9976, gap from fastest 2.0134s or 2.2% (Yoong)

Based on the Winton result, as it is closer in terms of car age/condition etc etc, the difference in speed in the car between these two rounds, being a combination of driver and car setup coming from the driver with the same engine/suspension package aboard, is 2.3% of poletime....

Now this didnt seem so easy, since after the first session, where the car didnt look particularly happy on circuit, that the springs, roll bars and other tweakables were adjusted/removed/replaced... then the driver came managed to get in the top 8 in P2, to make the top 50% qualifying....

Car ended up 17th in the qualifying session, with significant improvement in each session.... for having a sum total of 44 laps in the car! (QR shakedown 10, P1 12, P2 13, Q1 9... totalling 44)

... should make for very good race prospects tomorrow!

[marcus]

I got lost with that really , sorry GTR Im sure it made sense to someone not in my condition

so he qualified 17th then did he ?

Not to shabby first time out and a grid of 30 , well done Mr Yoong

[GTRMagic]

The good news continued today, well for most of the sessions...

Uncomfortable with changes made to the car overnight, (which seems to have caused the only off the driver had all weekend!) the team changed the car back to its previous day's specification...

Out in R1 looking aggressive, quicker than the 3 ex-SBR cars in the field... had the lights on, and doing some overtaking to-and-fro with Mr Tilley and Mr Scifleet.. and almost took Robert Jones on the line...

R2, well not so good.. it seems the PanGlobal car was punted by a purply/blue Actron car on lap 6, which sent it into a spin... only to be clobbered by Robert Jones, who had nowhere to go....

Result.. broken upright, bent diff, bent doors, bent quarter panel, sideskirts... no race 3 for Alex...

In the top 8 at the time, and looking menacing.. the result could have been so much different....

Interesting too to see some Ford heavies hanging around the Beikoff garage, looking on in earnest... while current FPR driver Mr G.Seton was a noted watcher from the other side of the same garage... it seems the pitlane litwok was very curious to understand what was happening with Mr Yoong!

Here's hoping an enduro drive beckons, the driver certainly did enough in the specification of car he was running to warrant a test in a main series car, with a view to an enduro gig!