Team Noske

[sevi]

Since when do the Bates boys need testing?

[GTRMagic]

I presume they need to scrape the rust off Sevi.... they would be corrupted by the AWD surefootedness of the underpowered rally Corollas, and need to get back into the rhythm of 620bhp and 300km/h...

[rdmdog]

Well I wonder who will be the first to say I told you so?


".....A second car in the same colours will be driven by young star Mark Winterbottom, who recently won the Konica V8 Supercar Series for SBR, and regular V8 driver Mark Noske."

Well done Mark and good luck for the endurance races.

[sevi]

I don't do "told you so's".

[rdmdog]

Well done Mark and team. Best finish this year!

[Jono]

Mark,

What sort of results do you & Mark expect from Sandown & Bathurst this year???

[GTRMagic]

The press announcement said something about the driver expectations being top ten to top five. The lead car is likely to have slightly more pace but mechanically they will be the same

[M Noske]

Jono,

I believe a top five in each race is a realistic goal.

[silvervsix]

Mark do you feel a bit like Cam Mclean last year your AU went missing in Action from the telecast on Sunday. Great result though

[M Noske]

Silversix,

Yea dissapointing were not gettng much coverage, but then again I guess we need to be more at the pointy end.

Watching yesterdays race last night, it seems we weren't the only team not getting much coverage.

[mjt57]

Originally posted by M Noske
Silversix,

Yea dissapointing were not gettng much coverage, but then again I guess we need to be more at the pointy end.

Ah, the age old problem. Electronic tunnel vision at its worst. Thing is, all sports suffer from it.

Better luck at Sandown.

[Onlooker]

So Mark,
Now that the drive is out in the open what is the plan for next year??
Do you see this as an oppurtunity to demonstrate your skills to a potentual sponser or a new team owner for 2004.It must now be becoming obvius that it is going to take a 10 fold improvement in funding to produce better results than you have achieved this year.
Do you have a multi year deal with Lansvale or was this year a one off, toe in the water exercise to re-establish your name?
How did the boys take it at the work shop that you were driving elsewhere,though you may not mean it the feeling that your best option was to drive for another team to get a result,it must have been a bit of a shock to them.
How big an effort will you be putting into the car given that it is a lot of money to spend for 2 other drivers who I doubt are paying for the drive,just to save the fine.
Who is the lead driver of the SBR car,do you have an idea yet.ie will you or MW qualify the car or will it be whoever is quickest and if that is the case are you garenteed equal practice time or will you do the lions share of the driving and MW just learn the ropes in the big league?

Thanks, I relise you may be not able to answer all the questions but try your best.

[M Noske]

Onlooker,

I see the SBR opportunity as a chance to finally achieve a strong endurance result and also a chance to learn as much as I can from a winning team.

Your correct we do need more funding to improve our results and all the team is aware of that. Condisdering the budget we have been left to operate on due to sponsorship issues our results have been ok, not outstanding though. But when you consider the budgets some other teams operate on compared to ours were not doing too bad a job.

I won't comment on our agreement with Landsvale. But this is not a one off exercise by any means. We are actually in heavy negotiations with a new naming rights sponsor for 2004-2007. This team will continue into the future and expand.

Naturally the guys weren't over the moon with my SBR signing, but they realise if I manage a strong result at each endurance race it will help my profile hence helping out team with potential sponsorship.

The effort going into my car for both enduros will be the same if I was driving it. Both drivers will do a sensational job in our car and it's in the teams best interest to finish as high as possible. There not going there to make up the numbers or as you put it "Save the fine"

I haven't spoken with SBR about who is lead driver. Those details will be finalised in due time by SBR management.

[Onlooker]

Thanks,
Good luck at SBR
PS how hard are the SBR cars to drive?Crick had a fair bit of trouble adapting to the set-up,is it vastly different to what your car "feels like"

[M Noske]

The SBR cars are fantastic to drive, quite different to my own car understandably, but very user friendly.

I'm very positive that by Sandown Mark and I will be up to speed and knocking on the door.

[Dirk]

Congradulations Mark on acquiring a drive with an outfit such as the Stone Brothers. I really hope that you do well!

[Onlooker]

Now here is the challenge:many before you have failed, so go forth knowing that failure will not be unexpected.

No driver has been able to duplicate the feel that a HRT car has after driving one,
Longhurst, Morris, McConville,Lownes,Mezera and Brock to name a few have all sampled the HRT cars at their peak but when driving another car have obviusly not been able to convay to there teams(Rod Nash racing,Team Brock,Big Kev,Lansvale etc) what it is that makes the cars so good.Is it a heap of shock,softer springs,higher or lower roll centres,weight transfer whatever,they get out of those cars looking like hero's and then qualify 25th at the next race in their regular drive.
May the force be with you.

[GTRMagic]

I would assume that Mark N would be the lead driver in the #9 car, primarly as Mark W will be running the Konica 25 lapper on the Saturday for the experience, and having to do those laps, and perhaps 99 more on Sunday would possibly ruin even the fittest of drivers.

Indeed Mark N is obviously the more mature and experienced of the pair, and seems used to different cars, what with the 2 VX's last year, and a multitude of cars before that.

It should be an interesting match up, and I wish them well

[FatBoy]

Congrats on the SBR drive Mark, i hope you do well and have a great result...

I have to say having read through this thread the way you have handled the questions etc has been very impressive. It's great to see a V8 driver in here contributing to the forum and not shying away from what the guys are asking... You are a credit to your team... or teams as the case may be...
Once again, best of luck...

Cheers,
Paul...

[GTRMagic]

They have to maintain the Caltex Share Price:SBR race win index... if you take a peek at the share price of Caltex on the ASX, and look at when Ambrose started winning consistently, it appears that a positive correlation can be proven

If they win Bathurst, the price may blow $4.00 a share.... yay! I might be back in the money

[RRR]

Originally posted by GTRMagic
I would assume that Mark N would be the lead driver in the #9 car,

I think you'll find that Noske will be quicker than Winterbottom initially, but Winterbottom's raw talent will shine towards the end of the weekend.

The pair are a likely top five contender, but the team will have all their focus on the #4 car of Ambrose/Ingall.

[jetsetter]

The Noske/Winterbottom team could well be the suprise packets of the enduro's, i wouldn't be suprised if that car was up near the top come the finish of both races.

[GTRMagic]

I would totally agree with that jetsetter, it will take some doing though, raw speed has been shown from the SBR cars before but sadly not translated into results all that often in the enduros

[silvervsix]

Wonder what the odds you would get for winterbottom to get pole at Bathurst, could would be worth a look.

[paydriver]

Hey I have figured out the link.. the Noske car has a large Panasonic logo on each side, Neal and Rick Bates drive Toyota rally cars, ToyotaF1 race with Panasonic naming rights sponsorship... so it all fits... kind of