You’re right, there were several other Kiwi drivers enjoying success of one sort or another on the global motor racing stage over the past couple of weekends.
One was drifter Darren Kelly, who ‘broke the internet’ with the surprise unveiling of his new ‘whip’ at the opening round of the US’s Formula Drift series at Long Beach.
But more on that car in another column.
This is a column, you see, in which I (yes, again!) highlight the feats and generally sing the praises of Shane Robert van Gisbergen (aka SVG), a bloke who continues to re-write the manual on what a racing driver can – and indeed should probably – do.
Not only – for instance – does he keep turning up in what to any other current Repco Australian Supercars series driver might seem like just another ‘weird little corner’ of the wider motorsport world, he also ends up excelling against all-comers in these often self-contained ‘corners’ when he does. And it is that ability which sets him apart.
Seriously. What SVG has done so far in his career is unprecedented. Sure, in the twilight years of his career Aussie icon Peter Brock competed in events as diverse as the Le Mans 24 hour and a Round Australia Rally. Colin Bond was also a – very – successful rally driver before and during his own lengthy career on tarmac across the Tasman.
But neither got close to Shane’s record of winning Australasia’s premier tin-top series AND his home (single-seater) Grand Prix in the same season (2021).
And with the news on Monday that he will add a drive – at Bathurst no less – in a Chevrolet-Camaro in the new Trans-Am series? For which you can check out Shane’s reaction in this wonderfully expressive YouTube clip. Honestly, it fair boggles my mind.
Particularly when the announcement comes hot on the heels (just the next morning in fact) of a breakthrough podium finish in the opening round of this year’s Australian Rally Championships at Canberra on Sunday.
Not to mention word earlier in the year that he would make his Le Mans 24 Hour debut in June behind the wheel of a Ferrari 488 GT Evo he will share with British driver Sam Bird and young Brazilian Felipe Fraga
It all just adds yet more leaves to the SVG legend, doesn’t it?
Of course, those of us Kiwis lucky enough to have been around since the earliest days of what is turning out to be a truly remarkable career for the now 32-year-old have already seen with our own eyes a lot of what is impressing the hell out of a new-generation of commentators and critics at the moment.
Even before he made his move from racing ATVs off road to one of Dennis Martin’s nuggety little 1200cc VW-powered Sabre Formula Firsts (after winning the SpeedSport Scholarship in 2004) SVG had been turning heads with his ability to adapt quickly, effectively and with the minimum of fuss to very different vehicles and (often on very) different surfaces.
It was obvious to anyone paying attention at Western Springs, for instance, where, as a pre-teen, Shane took on and was soon soundly beating the best Quarter Midget racers (on clay), before making a seamless transition to Karts (on tarmac) in his first years as a teenager.
Third place overall and his first Rookie of The Year award in the 2004/05 NZ Formula First championship proved he had what it took to see his father Robert (aka ‘Cheese’) and good mate and #1 sponsor at the time Eugene ‘Trade Parts’ Corkery stump up the necessary cash to buy a competitive car for ‘the young fella’ to drive (to a memorable series win and second category Rookie of The Year title in as many years as it turned out) in the 2005/06 NZ Formula Ford championship.
That win – in turn – led to an offer from Lyall Williamson for Shane to join Daniel Gaunt in a two-car Giltrap Group-backed team to contest the Toyota Racing Series.
Despite his stated aim even way back then being to pursue a career in the ‘Aussie V8 Supercars Series,’ the TRS offer was considered too good to turn down and in what has become a trademark of sorts Shane applied himself diligently to the task of extracting the absolute maximum amount of pace out of the car with the minimum possible impact on it, and everyone and everything around him.
Not only that but something few fans today know, is that Shane is – and to my knowledge always has been – totally 200% dedicated to his craft.
This was impressed on me early in the scheme of things when Shane was still living at home. With a professional career looming you might think that Shane would have developed the odd ‘outside interest,’ (you know, like Golf or doing Triathlons) if for no other reason than to ward off what those less dedicated to the cause might see as inevitable career hiccups further down the track.
Not Shane Robert van Gisbergen. Even before he crossed the Tasman in pursuit of his dream to race V8 Supercars (as they were known as back then) his dedication to ‘the cause’ was complete.
Once a week, for instance, he would make his way to Papatoetoe to compete with a ragtag bunch of other ‘early adaptors’ in the forerunner to today’s Sim comps.
Then come a weekend if he wasn’t somewhere competing on one of his father’s trick Yamaha YF-Z450 quad bikes, you would be just as likely to find Shane with one of his many scale model race or drift cars practising at the local RC track.
Even a couple of years later, when he was well settled on Australia’s Gold Coast, if he was ‘home’ for some much-needed RnR, the best place to find him would actually be the Waiuku Dirt Track Club’s cool little raised clay oval in the Auckland ‘Supercity’s (very) far south-west.
For a while there when EA -EF model Ford Falcons were two-a-penny at car wreckers across the Auckland isthmus someone would inevitably have a ‘spare’ for Shane to wrestle round the kidney-shaped oval and for everyone else to appreciate just how good ‘Cheese’s young fella’ was – and obviously still is!
Of which hold that thought because 12-13 years on the kudos are again streaming in for SVG – this time from fellow Talk Motorsport columnist (and very much guru of the Australian Rally scene) Peter Whitten.
The occasion was the Netier National Capital Rally, the much-anticipated opening round of the 2022 Australian Rally Championship, last weekend.
Key interest for Kiwis this year was the debut appearance by SVG in an Aussie Rally Champs event – in a competitive front running car to boot; a Red Bull-backed Skoda R5,
Like Peter I knew that SVG would be quick; how quick and whether or not he could run at the sort of relentless pace eventual winner Harry Bates would bring to the table, were the only issues Whitten had.
History was soon to tell us all, however, that he shouldn’t have worried. Not only did Shane match the times of Australia’s best rally drivers he managed to beat them all in two stages, including the final Power stage which you can watch for yourself here:
Where this latest chapter in the kaleidoscopic world that is his current career leaves Shane is a question best answered with hindsight rather than foresight.
If you are looking for an answer right now though, can I suggest that you watch the YouTube video of the bugger testing the Trans-Am spec Chev Camaro I included a link to at the start of this column.
With his face clearly visible thanks to his choice of helmet (the rally-spec open face he had worn the day before in Canberra) it didn’t take long for a smile to break – then stay – out on Shane’s face as he accelerated out onto the track and proceeded to give the Tim Shaw-owned car a thorough workout.
It was – in short – a portrait of Shane Robet van Gisbergen in his happy place.
And more power to him I say!
Mo’ power!
Speaking of more power, reigning Valvoline D1NZ champion Darren Kelly was very much the toast of the opening round of this year’s Formula Drift series at Long Beach (last weekend) when he debuted his latest Heart of Racing-backed ride – a twin supercharged V12-engined Aston Martin Vantage.
Though work on the actual build of the car was still going on at the track in the lead-up to the opening series round Darren managed to qualify it but decided against running it in the Top 32 on race day.
Comments