Steven Richards is an Australian motorsport legend who has recently announced his retirement from Supercars racing. He will no longer be running team SRM (Steven Richards Motorsport). I would like to list some of his outstanding career achievements.
Steven Richards was born on the 11th of July, 1972 in New Zealand.
He won the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 1994 before becoming a professional full time driver.
In 1995 Steven Richards made his Bathurst 1000 debut with co-driver Anders Olofsson, finishing 4th under the Gibson Motorsport team.
In 1996 Steven Richards moved over to Garry Rogers Motorsport.
In 1995 and 1997 Steven Richards also competed in an Alfa Romeo 155, Honda Accord and then he drove a Nissan Primera. In 1996 he made his Australian Touring Car Championship debut in a Holden VF Commodore.
Steven Richards competed with his father, Jim Richards at the Bathurst 1000 in 1996 and 1997 and again in 2004.
In the 1997 Bathurst 1000 he and his father finished in 2nd place.
At the 1998 V8 Supercars Bathurst 1000 as a co-driver to Jason Bright, Richards finished 1st for Stone Brothers Racing.
In that same year he finished 2nd with co-driver Matt Neil in the Touring Car Bathurst 1000. This was an amazing feat because they were driving a Nissan Primera for UK bases Team Dynamics.
He then backed up his Bathurst 1st place the following year (1999) with co-driver Greg Murphy for Gibson Motorsport.
He continued in the same way for nearly another 20 years with one success after the other.
Steven Richards has 5 Bathurst 1000 wins: 1998, 1999, 2013, 2015 and 2018.
He has also won pole position for Bathurst in 2004 and 2007.
In 2014 (just to prove he wasnt too old to be racing he won the Australian Carrera Cup Championship and scored 5th in the Australian GT Championship.
In 2016 he ran in both the Australian GT Championship and Endurance Championship under his own team, Steve Richards Motorsport (SRM).
In total Steven Richards has:
completed 451 races
12 race wins
& 60 podium finishes.
Now work that out. It means he at approximately gets 1 podium finish per 7 races. Not bad at all.
Teams that Steven Richards have driven for are:
Garry Rogers Motorsport 1996 1997 1998
Gibson Motorsport 1999 2000
Ford Tickford Racing 2001
Perkins Engineering 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006.
Ford Performance Racing 2007 2008 2009 2010.
Ford Performance Racing 2011 2012 2013
Red Bull Racing Australia 2014 2015
Team Vortex 2016 & 2017 and Autobarn Lowndes Racing 2018.
On the weekend of the 4th to the 7th of October 2018 was the 2018 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
It was the 58th running of what has now become the most well known race in Australia.
It was also race 25 in the annual championships.
The weather was poor throughout the preliminaries to the race and the rain and wet track gave additional challenges in fine tuning the cars.
The results of the lead up events proved interesting with the following drivers clocking the fastest times:
·Practice 1 – Will Davison.
·Practice 2 – Alex Premat (a co drivers only session).
·Practice 3 – Richie Stanaway.
·Practice 4 – Luke Youlden.
·Practice 5 – Michael Caruso.
·Armour All Qualifying – Jamie Whincup.
·Practice 6 David Reynolds and Luke Youlden.
·Top Ten Shootout – David Reynolds.
·Warm Up – Scott McLaughlin and Alex Premat.
When it came time for the big race to start the skies didn’t clear but it did stop raining and the track was looking a lot dryer.
For the start of the 161 lap race David Reynolds and Luke Youlden started on pole position, alongside them was Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell.
I assume I am not spoiling anything about the results by mentioning Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards started 9th.
Erebus Motorsport were running 1st and 2nd during the opening laps due to Jamie Whincup bogging down off the start line. I thought, “It’s a long way to go and there is plenty of time for a pro like Jamie Whincup to make it up’.
Most of the main drivers started the race. The only co-drivers to start the race were Ash Walsh, Tony Dalberto and James Moffatt.
Cameron Waters was not happy with Chaz Mostert due to an incident at Forest Elbow. Chaz Mostert came into contact with David Russel while he was co-driving for Cameron Waters. The car suffered badly in the contact and got a broken steering arm.
Ash Walsh went off track twice due to out braking himself.
James Courtney had an engine failure while his co-driver Jack Perkins was at the wheel. It couldn’t be repaired and they received no point and DNF.
In the first stint David Reynolds went to 23 laps before pitting and handing over to his co-driver Luke Youlden. Luke Youlden ran wide at turn 1 and I thought that the Red Bull cars were going to run 1st and 2nd after but that wasn’t the case. Youlden managed to keep the lead.
The first Vodafone Safety Car was deployed due Dean Fiore slowing down due to hitting the wall at turn 1.
On lap 40 of 161, The Red Bull Holden Racing Team car number 1 driven by Paul Dumbrell was in second place to Luke Youlden. Coming down the main straight he lost a front right wheel, which also took the hub along with it. Paul Dumbrell had a lot of speed but amazingly managed to control the car back to the pits with just 3 wheels!!!! It wasn’t that controlled because at one stage he looked as if he was going to run into the back of Tim Slade. My first thought was, ‘OMG – slow down! Don’t do too much damage’. The end result was going a lap down which to be honest is not a bad effort considering the repairs needed.
They were well into the race when the rain started to come down and most drivers pitted for the correct rubber. Some teams choose to stay on dry tyres which I thought was a bit risky. I guess it wasn’t that heavy and if it just spits then it is ok to stay on slicks.
In the middle Alex Premat nearly had a massive crash when he was re-joining the race after going off track at the ‘Bottle O Chase’ at high speed. Im sure it wouldn’t have impressed Scott McLaughlin one bit.
Chris Pither avoided an accident which I didn’t think he would pull-off because he was so close to the car in front of him.
Towards the end of the race David Reynolds was still leading with Craig Lowndes following close behind in 2nd place.
Prior to the race David Reynolds stated that he hadn’t been sleeping well and feeling pretty aweful (probably nerves about the big race). As the race moved on past half way David Reynolds told engineers he was cramping and fatigued but still chose to drive on. The team repeatedly asked him if he was OK and he should come in and handover to his co-driver Luke Youlden.
David Reynolds soon stated he had blurry vision but was still determined to carry on. He was called into pits and given fluids with electrolytes and a few other things.
When he was just about to leave the pits he had another cramp and spun his wheels while still jacked up. He was given a drive through penalty which he had to serve and it just broke his lead that he had maintained all through the race. He even had set a lap record earlier but now it was clear he had to come back in for an unscheduled pit stop to hand over to Luke Youlden. The lost time was too much and they finished up crossing the line luck 13th. It was a sad moment for the Erebus team.
If there was anyone that you would wish was going to be in a position to take advantage, it would be Craig Lowndes. He recently announced his retirement from full-time racing and is considered by many as a great driver plus a hell-of-a-guy! I even wished this win for him as a perfect way to close his last year of full time driving.
It was lap 133 when Craig Lowndes took the race lead and was never headed, meaning no one could catch him. It was a big lead too that no one was closing. He finished an incredible 6.2919 seconds ahead of Scott Pye. The crowd just went wild!
Results for race 25
1st Craig Lowndes & Steven Richards – Autobarn Lowndes Racing. 2nd Scott Pye & Warren Luff – Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing. 3rd Scott McLaughlin & Alex Premat – Shell V Power Racing Team.
The next event is the Vodafone Gold Coast 600 19th to the 21st of October 2018.
Can Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards win the 2018 Pirtek Enduro cup?
The 2 races at the Gold coast will be races 26 and 27.
if you have any Questions or Opinions on how the race panned out please feel to let me know via.
Today is 9 years since passing of the King of the Mountain Peter Brock. At the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 back in 2006 Iva Davies played the song Heroes, Craig Lowndes was in tears before the race started. Because Peter was his Mentor and friend, Craig was lucky enough to drive Peter’s 1972 Torana xu1 before the main race got underway.
Mark Skaife drove with Peter Brock back in 1997 during the Primus 1000 Classic, the 05 Mobil Holden Racing Team Commodore had a problem with the car starting and slowing on approach to turn 2, inbetween laps 51 and 52. At that stage of the race there was 110 laps to go, in the 1997 Primus 1000.
Peter lost his life competing in a Tarmac Rally as a result of him hitting a tree, while his co-driver Mick Hones was OK.
Craig Lowndes, Russell Ingall and Jason Bright have there say on Brock, Rest in Peace Brocky. Peter died at the age of 61.
These 3 videos are about the tribute to the King of Mount Panorama, Bathurst after Lowndesy won Bathurst in 06. He lost it on the podium and was very emotional saying he won it for Peter.
Peters, Bathurst domination started way back in 1972, the most Bathurst wins is 9 for the King, his student Craig Lowndes is on 5 Bathurst victories.
You are missed Brocky by everyone in the V8 Supercars community.
List of Peters co-drivers at Bathurst were –
Larry Perkins
John Harvey
Allan Moffatt
Mark Skaife
Gentlemen Jim Richards
