Ford Rising Stars Racing

Australia’s rising star in truck prime movers, MAN, has joined forces with the newest V8 Supercar team, Ausdrill Ford Rising Stars Racing, [FRSR]. The team has this year moved into the main V8 Supercar Series with a largely WA based commercial support base after being one of the best performers in last years Fujitsu V8 Supercar Development Championship, winning two of the five rounds. MAN trucks were chosen by the team for their proven on time performance as the team will race in every state of Australia this year.

The relationship between FRSR and MAN in Australia will see their state of the art, two car transporter being towed by an MAN TGA 26.480 model prime mover.

“These days the V8 Supercar paddock has become a mini truck show not only for truckies but for the business’s that attend the events”, Jim Morton, team owner of FRSR said today. “What better exposure for a brand than in the V8 paddock with 30,000 to 300,000 people attending race weekends. With Australia’s population spread out around the perimeter of our huge country long haul truck routes are the norm and this is where truck comfort, reliability and driveability are paramount. The new MAN prime mover has the latest generation automated constant-mesh gearbox named TipMatic. With MAN TipMatic, shifting and clutching are electro-pneumatic -there is no clutch pedal. This year V8 Supercars are running a sequential gearbox rather than the traditional H pattern gearbox and like the MAN’s Tipmatic gearbox it reduces fatigue and makes it easier to drive”, he said.

We are proud to be associated with AV Truck Services of Perth who are supplying the prime mover. AV Truck Services won the 2007 Chairman’s Award, which recognises the Dealer of the Year for Western Star Trucks Australia and MAN Automotive Imports. It is the second time in three years that AV Truck Services has won the award”, Jim Morton from FRSR said.

Mr David Robinson of MAN’s Western Australian distributors, AV Trucks said,”We see a role for the team and its drivers in spreading the word about the new technology involved in our latest trucks. Just like a V8 Supercar, driver comfort and safety are key issues contributing to success in business or racing”.

“These days our concentration with the Supercar engines is less on outright horsepower and more on driveability. It’s the same with truck engines, and the MAN D26 Euro 4 engine which produces 480hp/353kW power for easy long haul driving”, he said.

The MAN FRSR TGA 26.480 model prime mover can be seen with the team at the WA round of the V8 Supercar Championships at Barbagallo Raceway on the 9th, 10th and 11th of May.

Ford Rising Stars Racing Team’s flagship commercial partner is Western Australian, diversified mining and services company, Ausdrill Pty Ltd. Ausdrill are also a major user of Man trucks. Ausdrill provide leading edge services in mining, drill and blast, exploration, procurement & logistics, manufacturing, telecommunications and automotive industries with operations in Australia, United Kingdom and Africa. They are looking at their involvement in the V8 Supercar team to increase their brand awareness and in particular attract employees to their Western Australian business operations. In particular they are looking for mechanics, machinists, boilermaker welders, drillers, fitters, mechanical engineers and spray painters.