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<H1>Wayne Gardner<H1><P>
Wayne Gardner is the first Australian 500cc World Motorcycle Champion.
Wayne won his World Championship in 1987. Wayne Gardner is now racing cars
throughout the world and is currently competing in the All Japan Grand
Touring Car Championship for the Toyota works team Le Mans, driving the
Esso Tiger Supra. He is also competing in some Australian V8 Supercar
races. After retiring from motorcycle racing Wayne took up racing cars in
the Australian Touring Car Championship (now the V8 Supercar Championship),
he started his own team,Wayne Gardner Racing in 1984, sponsored by
Coca-Cola. Wayne joined the works Team Le Mans in 1999 after previously
racing for the FET (1998) and SARD (1996, '97) teams<P>
<H1>Motorcycle Racing<H1><P>
500cc World Motorcycle Champion, Wayne Gardner fell in love with motorcycle
racing at a young age. At the end of 1976, a Wollongong (his home town)
Motorcycle Club member persuaded Wayne to try road racing. He put road
tyres on his 125cc Yamaha dirt-tracker, headed to Sydney's Oran Park
Raceway and finished second. He was hooked by road racing, and knew
immediately what direction his life was going to take. Motorcycle Racing
was in his blood... "I was convinced this was what I wanted. Something
inside me told me: 'This is it, this is the way to go." Wayne Gardner
became the first Australian to win a World Championship in 500cc Motorcycle
Racing. Although Wayne now races cars - he says that Motorcycle Racing is
still the closest thing to his heart.<P>
<H1>Car Racing<H1><P>
Like many world motorcycle champions before him, Wayne Gardner was always
attracted to the idea of testing his talent in car racing once his grand
prix career was over. When he was young Wayne wanted to race cars not
bikes and, if it wasn't for circumstances in his home town of Wollongong,
Australia, he may never have become the 1987 motorcycle world champion.
"To be honest," he recalls, "I always wanted to take up car racing but I
ended up going down the motorcycle route, just through riding mini-bikes
after school with my friends. I have a real love affair with motorcycles
but I'd always had this thing in my head about being a car racer." Wayne
now races cars full time, competing in the All Japan Grand Touring Car
Championship for the Toyota works team Le Mans, driving the Esso Tiger
Supra. He is also competing in some Australian V8 Supercar races.<P>
<H1>Motorsport<H1><P>
Wayne Gardner is a true member of Motorsport history. the 500cc World
Motorcycle Champion, Wayne Gardner fell in love with motorcycle racing at a
young age, and went on to become the first Australian to win a 500cc World
Motorcycle Championship. His motorsport interests don't finish there
though, since retiring from motorcycle racing, Wayne now races cars full
time, competing in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship for the
Toyota works team Le Mans, driving the Esso Tiger Supra. He is also
competing in some Australian V8 Supercar races. Motorsport is in Wayne
Gardner's blood, and he hopes that his car racing career will see him
trough at least into his 50's.<P>
<H1>Japanese GT Championship<H1><P>
Since 1996, Wayne Gardner has been competing in the eight-round Autobacs
All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC). The series began in 1994
and is Japan's number one motor racing series with works teams from Toyota,
Nissan and Honda competing and average attendances of 45-60,000 fans per
race. Divided into two categories, GT500 and GT300 (nominally 500hp and
300hp), the GTC grid of highly-modified Japanese and European sports cars
includes Toyota Supra GTs, Nissan Skyline GT-Rs, Honda NSXs, Mazda RX-7s,
Ferrari F355s, McLarens, Dodge Vipers and Porsche 911 GT3s. Up to 40
factory-backed and privateer cars start each race and parity is achieved
using a power-to-weight ratio and air restrictors to control maximum
horsepower. Wayne Garnder now drives for the Toyota works team Le Mans,
driving the Esso Tiger Supra<P>
<H1>Toyota Supra<H1><P>
The Toyota Supra Wayne Gardner races in the All Japan GT Championship bears
little resemblance to its road-going little brother. For a start its
turbocharged, two-litre engine puts out a staggering 470 hp, enough to
propel it to 300 km/h on the long Fuji Speedway pit straight. Based around
a steel monocoque (or cabin) and clad in ultra-light, carbon-fibre
bodywork, the Toyota Supra uses sophisticated underbody aerodynamics and a
large rear wing to 'glue' it to the track at speed. Air rushing under and
over the car creates 'downforce' literally air pushing down on the car
allowing very high levels of grip, late braking and stratospheric cornering
speeds. It's an engineering phenomenon first used in Formula One in the
seventies and known as 'ground-effect'.<P>
<H1>V8 Supercar<H1><P>
Wayne Gardner has been competing in V8 Supercars since 1993. The
Ford/Holden touring car battle dates back to the sixties and has continued
almost unbroken since then. The aim of the latest version, V8Supercar
(created in 1993), is for both marques to be as close as possible in
performance terms, referred to as 'parity'. This is achieved by a tightly
controlled technical formula, which also acts to keep development costs
down. Similarly, testing is restricted to 'home' circuits only and the
number of tyres available is also strictly rationed. More about tyres
later. At a minimum of 1350 kgs, V8Supercars are among the heaviest
racecars in the world, only American NASCARs weigh more. <P>
<H1>World Champion<H1><P>
Wayne Gardner had a good feeling about the World Championship '87 season
right from the start. Gardner knew he had the package to give the World
Championship title a very good shake, and he did. In 1987 Wayne Garder
became the first Australian World Champion 500cc Motorcycle rider.
Wollongong hailed its home-town hero when 10,000 people turned out for a
'Welcome Home Wayne' parade in the city mall. The newly-crowned World
Whampion was named Australian Male Athlete of the Year (beating Wimbledon
champion Pat Cash) and ABC TV Sportsman of the Year. He was also created a
Member of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the following year's Honours
List. Motorcycle racing had arrived in Australia, thanks to the new World
Champion - nicknamed the Wollongong Wiz.<P>
<H1>500cc Motorcycle<H1><P>
World 500cc Motorcycle Champion, Wayne Gardner won his World Championship
only 3 years after first competing in the 500cc Motorcycle Championship<P>
<H1>Moto Grand Prix<H1><P>
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