Stone Brothers Racing's team manager Dave Stuart
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6:00 AM Mon 23 January, 2012
Source: BigPond Sport
REGARDED by many as one of the most genuinely nice people in pit lane, Dave Stuart has been a familiar face in pit lane for over ten years.
Previously with Dick Johnson Racing, Stuart is now busy running Stone Brothers Racing's (SBR) three-car outfit and engineering the SP Tools Falcon on race weekends.
We sat down with Stuart to chat about where it all started and what it's like working with Kiwis Ross and Jimmy Stone …
BIGPOND: Dave how did you become involved in motorsport?
I got into motorsport as an apprentice mechanic. The garage I worked at in Blue Mountains had a speedway car, so at the age of 15 I started working and building racecars. I worked for Walter Giles, who is now a crew chief in NASCAR in the United States.
I started racing motorcycles at around the same time and it progressed from there. My first paid job in motorsport was working in the 125cc GP category in Europe. I was at a dirt bike race and a friend of mine was going over and I jokingly asked if they needed a mechanic and it turned out they did! So he arranged an interview with the team and it went from there.
BIGPOND: How did you then make the shift from two wheels to four?
I worked for a variety of teams in GP and Superbikes over the years. In 1999 I worked for the Ducati dealer team in Australian Superbikes and we won the championship with Steve Martin. Shortly after, the team disbanded and I was offered a job at Dick Johnson Racing.
I was with DJR from 2000 until the end of 2006, when SBR offered me a job and that’s where you'll still find me!
BIGPOND: Do you still have an interest in motorbikes and two wheel racing?
Honestly, motorcycles will always be my first love. It was a great period of my life. Having said that, V8 Supercars is the premier motorsport category in Australia and probably also the best touring car championship in the world, so it’s a real thrill to be team manager at SBR.
BIGPOND: You’ve switched roles a few times at SBR, particularly in the last 12 months. What was an average week like for you last year?
Throughout the week at the workshop the day-to-day focus is on running the team, making sure that we get everyone to and from the racetrack and that the guys have got the tools and equipment they need.
Once we get to the racetrack my focus shifts to being, at the moment, the engineer for car #9. I have jumped in and out of that role a few times- for Alex (Davison) in 2010 and Jason Bright in 2009. I enjoy both the race engineering and team manager roles.
BIGPOND: You are literally surrounded by Kiwis at SBR! Do they drive you mad?!
I think the makeup of the team is roughly 70/30 in favour of the Kiwis! Once you get past the accent its not too bad. Ross and Jimmy are great to work for and we’ve got a great bunch of guys.
I think any boy that travels from New Zealand through immigration has got a hot line straight to Ross and Jimmy because there’s always a good Kiwi boy looking for a job!
There’s always a bit of rivalry when it comes to other sporting codes… Kiwis live eat and breathe rugby union so the world cup was a great source of entertainment for everyone. There was quite a bit of ribbing going on.
BIGPOND: Lee Holdsworth joins the team this year, your thoughts?
I’m torn a little bit because Alex and I are good friends and I’d like to see him continue in the championship.
Lee is an exciting guy and I think he’s going to fit into the team really well. Again we’ll have three top-line drivers this year and I’m really looking forward to Lee settling in and doing the job.
Realistically, Triple Eight are at the top of their game so if we make less mistakes this year than we did last year I think we can be the ‘best of the rest’ and push them for the occasional race win.
