- 2017 Sandown Retro Round Livery
- Commemorative Packaging
- Numbered Certificate Of Authenticity
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Item No.18653RRP $169.
1/18SCALEDelivery 1st Quarter 2018
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Delivery 1st Quarter 2018CRAIG LOWNDES & STEVEN RICHARDS’
2017 SANDOWN RETRO ROUND LIVERYCRAIG LOWNDES & STEVEN RICHARDS’
2017 SANDOWN RETRO ROUND LIVERYColumn by
Craig LowndesREFLECTIONS ON RACING OVERSEAS
RIGHT ON
TRACK
E e In
T
wenty years ago,
we ventured to
Europe to race in
Formula 3000. We
had great success
with the Holden Racing Team
(HRT) in 1996, winning the
championship, Sandown and
Bathurst, but my plan all along
was to try to get to Formula 1.
My whole upbringing was
open-wheelers and it was some-
thing I wanted to get back into.
The 1996 season was a stepping
stone to where I wanted to get
to, with the support of Tom
Walkinshaw.
It was the first time I’d left
Australia so it was a culture
shock. Living and racing for an
Austrian team, the language
barrier meant we struggled to
communicate. And, obviously,
it was a completely different
team structure and mentality to
what I was used to back home.
In terms of my driving style,
I needed to try to go back to my
old open-wheeler style rather
than a touring-car style. For the
first half of the year we had one
engineer covering both cars.
And my teammate Juan Pablo
Montoya came from an open-
wheeler background, so he
definitely had a different mind-
set of what he wanted from the
car, which didn’t help me.
I was hoping for a second
season, so although it was great
coming back to Australia to race
in the endurance events and
seeing family and friends, it did
make me realise how homesick
I had been. The way HRT
welcomed me back reinforced
that in Europe the team and its
structure was probably not the
right fit for me.
I also saw firsthand how GregMurphy had evolved as a driver
in the time I was away. There’s
no doubt that he’d had a tough
year himself. There were a lot
of mechanical failures, which
obviously puts a bit of strain on
not only the driver but for the
team. The team were underper-
forming because we were lucky
enough to win a championship
the year before and then Greg
was hoping to continue that on.At the final round of Formula
3000 we were told we couldn’t
go on for a second season
unless we could find the funds.
Returning to Australia was
an easy fit for everyone, but
it meant the team had three
drivers (Mark Skaife, Greg and
myself) for two seats.
It was very disappointing
that we couldn’t continue in
Europe, which is what I wanted,
but then also to see Greg,
unfortunately, miss out on the
drive. We had been quite good
friends for a long time and
that was sad to see given his
progress in 1997.
On reflection, it was a
disappointing season overseas
because we didn’t get the
results that we needed to con-
tinue into a second year. But we
gave it a go, which is the most
important thing.- Craig
“THE WAY HRT WELCOMED ME BACK
REINFORCED THAT IN EUROPE THE
TEAM AND ITS STRUCTURE WAS
PROBABLY NOT THE RIGHT FIT.”