Back in May last year we sent our cameras to Australia for round four of the V8 Supercars Championship, and it was at the Winton Motor Raceway where we caught up with Toll Holden’s Garth Tander…

The video is over here, but the full transcript is just below... You choose!

Tell us a bit about V8 Supercar racing..

Well VA Supercar racing, was born in the mid nineties. Er, and it was born out of the old Group A touring car er, formula that was raced in er, Europe predominantly. And then er, decided that for Australia they wanted more of a Ford versus Holden formula. Er, V8’s er, five litre engines er, big horse power, small tyres, lots of sliding around and something that really represents what the Australian market likes to follow.

Can you talk about the passion between Holden and Ford?

Er, look it’s, it’s incredibly er, massive the rivalry between Ford and Holden. Er, it was born way back in the sixties at, at Bathurst and Mount Panorama, the famous one thousand kilometre race, where the old Falcons and the old Monaros were racing against each other in that period of time and it’s really stemmed from there and it continues to er, be this huge rivalry where a lot of the fans are very tribal about who they go for. You’re either born into a Holden family or born into a Ford family and er, that still continues today, and that’s what a lot of the success of V8 Supercar’s based on the back of.

Can it split a family if you get one side that likes Ford and one that likes Holden?

Well you can get a lot families where’s there's erm, you know, half Holden, half Ford, or one of the young family er, er, follow Holden and it’s predominantly Ford family. So I’m sure it only splits it while the races are on TV or while they’re at the track. But er, lots of healthy arguments take place from what I hear.

What are the cars like to drive?

The cars in predominately in race car terms are not the nicest car to drive. If you compare them to a formula car or a sports car, they’re certainly don’t have the aerodynamic grip or the er, the mechanical grip that those sorts of cars have. But what our cars very, very unique, they have a locked rear axel, so no limited slip diff, so that makes a very unique driving style. Er, lots of horse power. Relatively small tyres, so er, really have to be very, very patient when you drive the cars. A very unique driving style and a lot of the Europeans and Americans that come to Australia and drive our cars for the endurance races, really take a while to get their head around them.

Is it a unique style of driving, particularly to the 8’s?

Yeah look it certainly is a, a unique style of driving. Er, any formula driver that comes to our country and drives these cars, any of the er, European touring car drivers, coz they’re now er, small, two cylinder er, four cylinder, two litre er, engine cars, so they don’t have the horse power you know. They find it very difficult to adapt to because as I say, technically our cars aren’t the most advanced, but it puts on a, a fantastic show, and that’s what our racing’s all about, putting on a good show.

What's the development like of this car?

Well the VE Commodore started life as a V8 Supercar in 2007. It was released as a road car in late 2006, but er, started 2007. So we developed that car for eighteen months prior to racing it. Er, it comprised to the rules that er, they have a V8 Supercar called Project Blueprint, whereas the car, both the Ford and the Holden are very, very similar. Technically, aerodynamically and engine wise. Erm, so we er, developed it heavily prior to 2007 and then ongoing development as it always is in racing, ongoing development with suspension and er, engine componentry.

You were a success in that first year. What's it like?

Oh look you know, for me personally winning the championship of 2007 was a fantastic achievement for me, because I’d been in the series for ten years at that point and come very close on a lot of occasions, so to finally crack, crack it through for a win was fantastic. But also to be able to do it first year in with the VE Commodore, because we knew how much effort had been put into the VE product as a road car, as well as a race car. So from a marketing point of view, it was a fantastic result for Holden also.

What's the key to your success?

Oh look I think the key to success in V8 Supercar racing is no different to the key to success, success in Formula One, NASCAR er, Lamont, any of those sorts of races. It’s just hard work er, smart people and working together as a team and erm, you know we, we do that quite well. We had fantastic year in 2007 and er, look it’s very, very competitive in V8 Supercar racing. There's a lot of very, very good teams here. So it’s a matter of doing a job as a whole, better than everyone else in pit lane.

How does your experience help when the year isn’t going as well as it could?

Well I think it’s important er, when you don’t have a fantastic start to the year like we’ve had this year, is to not get erm, impatient and not wanna get back to the front in the first, in the next race, or you know, it’s a, it’s a very long season. We do fourteen races er, fourteen rounds a year, so that’s twenty eight races. Erm, so there's a long, a long year ahead of us. So it’s important not to try and get back to the lead, head of the leader board in the very next race you know. It takes time and you just gotta chip away at it and erm, I think experience and, and, and team work will help with that sort of stuff. Its, a lot of young guys get, fall into the trap of wanting to be impatient and get to the front in a hurry and then er, you find yourself sliding further down the championship leader, ladder board.

How closely do you race against Jamie Whincup?

Oh look at the moment, Jamie’s certainly the benchmark of V8 Supercar racing, there's no doubt about it. I have to remind him quite regularly that he was my team mate when he very first started in V8 Supercars, so I’d like to think that I probably taught him a little bit, but erm, yeah he's gone on to do fantastically well. He's in a great team. Triple Eight are very, very smart operation, do a great job. And er, and they’ve got it all going on at the moment. There's no doubt about that. But erm, you know, we’ve proven in the past that we’re, at least equal to them if not better than them, so erm, although we’ve had a bad start to the year, I feel that we can catch them by the end of the season.

What do you make of Winton as an event?

Oh look you know, Winton is a, is a circuit that’s in erm, rural Victoria. It’s right, it’s almost in the middle of Melbourne and Sydney erm, so it’s certainly a different erm, fan base that comes to this race. And, and it’s important for us to service all of Australia, not just the capital city. So erm, having the opportunity to race in a rural area is good for us. Erm, the circuit itself erm, it’s certainly not like going to Shanghai, the facilities there or erm, or er, even Bathurst for that example. But erm, you know, it’s, it’s adequate for what we do. There’s good, good fan facilities here. Erm, the track itself very unique. It’s incredibly cold here at the moment, so that weather wise is very unique. So erm, each circuit we go to throughout the year certainly throws up its own challenges and that’s what's great about our series.

What's it like to join such a successful team?

Erm, look driving for HRT is er, it’s a fantastic honour. It’s a fantastic opportunity and erm, having that er, through your career is probably something a lot people strive to have that opportunity and erm, privately I don’t think a lot of driver would say ‘oh I really wanna drive for HRT’, but having the opportunity to drive for either factory team I think is er, what a lot of drivers would look for. So being given that opportunity’s fantastic. Erm, huge supporter base. Its massive supporter base and erm, when I first joined the team in 2007, I really, at the end of 2007, I really didn’t have my head around how much much support HRT has and erm, you know, being able to spend that much, the amount of time with the fans that we have is fantastic and erm, how much support’s out there for our team is huge. So erm, yeah getting your head around that and being used to that I guess is erm, is, does take him a little bit.

And finally, what are you thoughts going into this weekend?

Look, Winton for us is, is our test circuit so erm, you know, we expected a, a good result. We won the round here last year. Erm, actually uniquely we were equal on points with Will in his old team and Jamie Whincup. All three of us equal on points. Erm, so it’s certainly gonna be a tough event. Er, half the field pretty much tests here at Winton race way, so having, everyone has the same advantage I guess erm, as we do, but erm, our car’s traditionally very, very good here and erm, we’re looking for a very strong result and a result that hopefully kicks start our championship campaign.