Interview With V8Supercar Star Jason Bright

51 Thoughts was very privileged to get an exclusive interview with V8 Brad Jones Racing Team BOC driver and a driver in this year’s Bathurst 1000, Jason Bright. We were fortunate enough to be able to get Bright’s view on how the motorsport has changed him and the competition through-out the years, car and team maintenance and the importance of experience in V8 Motor Racing. We were able to get an insight in to the mind of a great V8 racing driver. It was a delight to be able to talk to a humble man. Here is what he and we had to say about Bathurst and Motorsport this year.

In our interview with Jason Bright, we had to first ask him this “What were your expectations of this years’ V8 Season? Do you think that with the car of the future that it would be more competitive this year?” Bright replied with an answer that was honest and not what he has being taught to say in any interview. His reply was, every year a new challenge comes forward to face you, it’s something that you can’t really stop, and with everyone driving the new car of the future, every team is evenly matched and we didn’t really know what to expect when we first started. Bright mentioned the importance of understanding the car and practicing at the times provided by V8Supercars to make sure that the Car of the Future was really for the first race of the 2013 season, he had this to say “We use the same amount of time as other teams to test our cars. Practicing for us usually starts between August and January. Every team usually only has one day to practice driving on their new cars before the racing gets serious”

This year Jason Bright is still racing for Brad Jones Racing, he will also be driving the new car of the future. We also asked Bright what he thought of the changes from the old fuel – Unleaded – to the newer fuel that is used E85. What we found from his answer was this the change in fuel doesn’t affect how the car runs. The car is still able to race the same, the differences between the fuels is that the new E85 is environmentally friendly and the smell of fuel emission has a much cleaner smell as compared to the old Unleaded fuel that lets of a lot of fuel emission and has a horrible stench, as well as being bad for the environment and adding to the already badly polluted air. At 51 Thoughts we agree with the new fuel change, with being able to have more fuel efficient cars we are able to still have the same quality of racing and the roar of the engines without all the pollution that comes with these motor vehicles.

An important question that we were able to ask that is quite important to the public and is knowledge that we usually don’t know of, and we were made aware of that. The question that we put forward was “Are you a privateer or factory based team?” We also asked if the team got half of their funding from Holden and other outside sponsors to confirm what questions people have about how sponsoring works in V8 Racing. We interpreted Bright’s’ answer as, Holden doesn’t make any contribution sponsoring wise towards Brad Jones Racing and my car sponsored by Team BOC, instead Holden gives gear for the drivers and their cars. There major sponsors are Team BOC, Lockwood Racing, and Wilson Security, this is where most of the funding that makes racing these cars possible come from. Bright also mentioned that there are several other minor sponsors such as Faux, that make up the end of the teams budget. We were able to come to the conclusion that the Holden Racing Team is a privately owned team, as compared to Triple Eight and FPR. 51 Thoughts was able to get a huge insight in to how racing teams operate, who would have thought that each driver has three main sponsors but are also sponsored by smaller businesses that are interested in having their names known in the racing scene. So we now know that the Holden Racing Team isn’t actually owned by Holden or anyone brand or business, but they are the product of different brands and businesses coming together and each having their share of a car.

As we all know the new format for this year has changed from the old format that we are so used to, is now a format that sees drivers race for half the laps then stop for a 10-20 minute break, and then the race is restarted with a rolling start. This format is called 60/60. Many people that have heard of the new format and have being huge fans V8 Racing, would argue that changing the old format to this newer one is absolutely silly. Thank goodness, not only do they abandon the format in the endurance races this year, they have also gotten rid of it for next year.

After the devastating death of Jason Richards, a trophy was named after him in his honor as a V8 racing legend. We asked Bright about the importance of what winning the Jason Richards Trophy meant to him, and his feelings about what it was like coming in to Pukekohe this year. Bright attended Bathurst for sixteen years as a spectator before becoming a professional driver in the competition. To Bright it was huge winning Bathurst, with the amount of racing experience that he had. After winning the trophy it opened up a lot of doors for him. The year that Jason Bright won the Jason Richards trophy, a memory that we should all remember when Bright jumped for joy and broke a light fixture. But the importance of winning the trophy to Bright was a very special win for him in his career. Winning the trophy meant restoring pride in the team and bringing respect for JR back to the team. It was easy to see that BJR had high respect for JR, 51 Thoughts was able to feel that in his interview, Bright had spoken of Richards with the respect that he deserved as a racing legend and great mentor to some of the greatest V8 race car drivers. Jason Bright came in to Pukekohe knowing what to expect and he was determined to win the trophy, going up against other drivers.  Bright had also mentioned that the memory of JR will live on in the team forever.

Interesting side notes; Jason Bright had mentioned that because of Ford leaving, they are investigating replacing the iconic Formula Ford series with a series like Formula Toyota. The last question that we had to ask this great, humble man was one that would inspire the next generation of professional V8 drivers. With Bright’s technical knowledge of how a V8 car works, the grind and grit of what’s under the bonnet, we asked him as a face of a driver that is driving a new revolutionized car of the future, if he had any tips for up and coming V8 supercar drivers today. An interesting point that Bright raised was this, that in order to be a good driver you need technological knowledge as well, and that is knowing what goes on under the hood of your car, how your wheels move on the circuit, and safety precautions that are taken to ensure the safety of the driver and co-driver.