Over the weekend we released our 50th episode with guest Jessica Dane just in time for the Supercars return to Perth, Western Australia. Another fantastic guest who by the end of it left us feeling like we’d known her for years! Here’s a look back at the other episodes.
Back in 2020 the motorsport world ground to a halt as COVID-19 hit and I, Shane Lawrie, became bored with not being able to talk shit with other motorsport people. I had already started writing articles and doing interviews for the now defunct DriveTribe website and following a very large dummy spit on my behalf I founded the Behind the Sport website to continue writing away from DriveTribe.
It was all to do with a certain Ex-Supercars DisGracie driver.
Anyhoo. Just prior to that dummy spit, I spoke with Brent Peters a complete motorsport nerd and asked if he wanted to come do a podcast with me, he jumped on the opportunity and we had a quick test run in a Facebook Live with fellow motorsport tragic DJ Laubscher jumping in for a chat.
Now strap yourself in, this is a long one, so why not listen to the latest episode while you read this!
A couple weeks later we launched Behind the Sport Episode 0001 with three guests, DJ Laubscher, John Coleman (ex DriveTribe) and local racer Andy Malkin. Technical woes were prevalent as Coleman’s internet could best be described as no better than North Korea’s access to the world.
In Episode 0002 we tried to combine a new found passion of mine, American Football into the chat and had a very loose conversation with two of the Perth Broncos girls Laura and Ruth. We also invited Antonio Astuti on for a chat who was supposed to be competing in the cancelled 2020 F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne in an S5000. He told us about his first time racing and not wanting to be lapped, so he pulled into the pits and retired to make sure of it.
Episode 0003 we switched to the one guest per episode format and chatted with John Le from RaceKraft Simulations about sim gear as we had seen a huge increase of people wanting to go sim racing due to COVID and the rise of professional leagues which were already out there, but not as well publicised.
Things got super loose in Episode 0004 as Adam Marjoram came on and told us things we probably didn’t need to know (or want to?) but he had us laughing from the time the camera switched on in front of the lace curtains until we ended the post-episode off air chat.
Episode 0005 saw us talk with local commentator Jarrod Maclean aka J MAC about his experience and how he doesn’t fan boy while meeting some fantastic racers in his career.
Episode 0006 and we managed to get Supercars driver Nick Percat in for an honest chat about flappy paddles and sim racing.
Episodes 0007 and 0008 were for the ladies with Madeline Stewart and April Welsh joining us to chat about their careers so far and future plans.
Episodes 0009 and 0010 were with youngster Joshua Fife another of the Brad Jones Racing camp and local pint sized racer Laura Byrnes who competes in the Late Model series in Speedway. She also told us about being 13 years old and “road raging” at Daniel Ricciardo at a track day.
Australian Touring Car and Supercars legend Brad Jones came in for a chat on Episode 0011 giving us an insight into some of the formative years of Australian racing, giving Peter Brock a hard time about his fastest lap being as a passenger around Bathurst and of course the infamous Jackie Chan races in Hong Kong.
From old school to new school, ex-junior dragster turned drifter Luke Veersma was up next for Episode 0012 before Ken Collier from ARG joined us for Episode 0013 to discuss the Bathurst International. Looking back now perhaps the episode number is why that event still hasn’t occurred yet, but is set to kick off this year finally.
Chase Hoy and Nick Scaracella made up episodes 0014 and 0015. Chase Hoy shared with us broken bone stories and karts being driven over him while Nick told us stories about tourist busses at Phillip Island and his hopes to be back on his feet ASAP after a work accident.
We went down the 1/4 mile strip next with Kyle Putland on next and my own personal lack of knowledge about drag racing on display in a big way.
Episode 0017 and we headed overseas to talk to F1 photographer Mark Sutton who has spent 30+ years in the motorsport photography field and has been trackside for all of the most recent major events in Formula 1 history. Good and bad.
Episode 0018 we had two guests on as they were both a bit shy, however Stuart Home and Joe Begic from Arise Racing came on to talk about the Radical cars and themselves with Joe entering the upcoming King of the Hill event plus being a late bloomer to motorsport.
Episode 0019 and World Time Attack legend Ian Baker joined the call for a chat about the previous 10 years of WTAC and to give us the inside scoop of WTAC being run under lights in 2021. However this event didn’t happen but it did in 2022. We were still first to hear about it!
We went Karting for the next two episodes with Tall Tony and King of the Hill winner Tom Bowsher jumping into the hot seat for a talk about their history in motorsport. Tony would have to be the tallest guy we’ve ever seen in karting.
Episode 0022 saw rally super star Molly Taylor join us going through rally history and her competing in a rather unique event in Lithuania. Since the episode was recorded she went on to become a champion in the Extreme E series.
Staying on Rallying, we roped Dean Herridge into appearing on an episode after our original guest Max McRae was a complete and utter no show, still waiting for that apology Max!
Dean had spent the weekend prior to the chat doing on-air hosting duties for the Make Smoking History Forrest Rally which we were producing all the video content for.
Episode 0024 saw the arrival of Mike Young who was able to step away from new dad duties to chat about rallying in Asia, mobbed by fans in India and competing in an electric rally car.
Episodes 0025 and 0026 saw us chat with local drifters Jimmy Russo and Jamie Worroll about themselves and the upcoming Driftability event coming up at Wanneroo Raceway. Some entertaining chats with both of them.
Episode 0027 and we grabbed the events manager at Wanneroo Raceway, Cameron Edwards for a chat.
Episode 0028 and we got the man behind Targa West, Ross Tapper strapped in and chatting about how he got involved with Rally and helped grow the sport in Western Australia.
Episode 0029 we circled back to the DriftAbility event talking with one of the committee members Jackie Russo about the event, its history and the goals they have set.
Rounding out Season 0001 with Episode 0030, Jordan Love joined us before he jetted off to Europe to return to the Europe Porsche leagues. He also told us about the challenges faced with racing during COVID-19.
Need a break? Have a Kit Kat .. and listen to our latest episode!
Season 0002 started off with a bang as we prepared to interview our guest and we had a drop in to the studio in the form of Adam Marjoram for Round 2 with him.
Episode 0032 the patient Tom Hamlett joined us to talk about PomTec and Hyundai Excel racing after being bumped by Adam in the previous episode.
Episode 0033 and we caught up with Paul Trengove who had recently taken up the position of general manager at Perth Motorplex after being involved with the opening of The Bend in South Australia.
Episode 0034 and local (and usually interstate) legend who seems to be known by most people, Geoff Duckworth, joined us to tell us about what he loves about motorsport the most.
Newly appointed (well sort of newly) Motorsport and Events Manager of the WA Sporting Car Club, Marc Roissetter joined us for Episode 0035 telling us about his time in the middle east managing motorsport events.
Episode 0036 Denver Parker jumped in the seat and confirmed that his reputation as a roll over expert is greatly exaggerated.
Episode 0037 saw us chatting to Ian Board from the Junior Dragsters in Western Australia which gave us a fresh insight into the sport.
After a very interrupted start to Season 0002, we returned with Episode 0038 where I took the time to interview Brent Peters as he’d just bought my dream car and I wanted to know more about it. We also dropped the video format as the majority of our consumption was on voice platforms only.
Episode 0039 and the bubbly Charlotte Poynting gave us an insight into the FIA Formula W series, bump drafting with Robby Gordon and more.
Episode 0040 new to TA2 racing Brock Boley came for a chat to let us know he’s still keen on WA motorsport but will be tackling the national stage in the mighty TA2 category which is growing each month.
Episode 0041 and 0042 saw the return of the ladies with Tayla Dicker and Madison Brown joining us for chats about both of their motorsport journeys. Tayla in comparison is quite seasoned to Madison but both running very different disciplines with Tayla in tin tops and Madison pointing a 2000HP Funny Car down a straight bit of track.
Episode 0043 and we grabbed Alex Newton who got his motorsport start in Sim Racing during the COVID 19 lock downs having a great chat about what turned the switch on for him. Plus we learn that one of his biggest celebrations to date, was for a 7th position.
Episode 0044 was the second part of our chat with Ian Board which turned to more personal discussions around motorsport than the previous episode about the Junior Dragsters category.
Episode 0045 and former Supercars driver Alex Rullo took some time away from installing two snails on a Lambo to give us a rundown of what it takes (hint: its not nessecarily skill) to make it through to Supercars.
Epiosde 0046 and another former driver in the Super series of events, Grant Johnson came on for a chat. A late bloomer who got a chance to run in the V8 Utes series and now sits on 7 straight championships in Western Australia.
We’re almost there to the big 50 .. with Episode 0047. Charlie Bullis, digital content producer for Supercars explains how kicking down doors rather than polite introductions got her into the industry.
Episode 0048 and someone who didn’t necessarily want to get involved with motorsport, Brooke Newson joins us with how she feels her resistance to motorsport has potentially cost her track time and enjoyment.
Episode 0049 and we kind of feel a bit bad for Gianni Lutzu. Not only is he getting beaten by an evil care bear turned commentator Chris Mitchell in sim racing, he was one episode off being the 50th guest and became the proverbial thorn!
And of course, the big Episode 0050. We searched high and low, got told by Daniel Riccardo’s PR team that he wasn’t interested and ignored by Lando. Which just gave us more reason to feature Jess Dane as our 50th guest! If you only listen to one episode, I really recommend this one is it. I will say no more!
So what’s the plan moving forward? We moved off video but there’s a high chance we will be back on it when we move to a new studio later this year. We are also launching an NFT project called Because We Love Motorsport which will in turn making funding available for a variety of motorsport projects and opportunities.
So stay tuned, listen in, drop us a review and rating on your favourite podcast site and be ready for our next 50 episodes!
You can listen to any of our previous podcasts by clicking which one you’d like to listen to below.
