At the time of writing this column it’s difficult to think of a subject to talk about. Sure... I’m excited about the start of the new season but as subject matter most of the big stuff was sorted out before the end of 2004, when we broke the story about Team Perkins Racing and the new Autobarn outfit, just to name one.

The last month or so has actually been taken up with new liveries and teams announcing their final details for 2005.

Looking forward into the new V8 season I see the teams that had the least change in the off-season starting ahead of the game as their competitors sort themselves out.

The non-championship round at the Melbourne GP hasn’t been the best form-guide and don’t expect anything different this year. Some teams will use or – depends when you are reading this – will have been using it as a test, but not in a technical sense. Most of the main players will have the techo stuff sorted out before the GP, it’s more of a test on how the team ‘gels’ together, how it handles those unexpected challenges that always occur on a race weekend. Other teams will just be keeping their cards close to their chests.

Mind you, it will take more than one race meeting for a team to get up to speed, but come the Adelaide 500 the teams with their act together will get a jump on the rest.

Some teams will catch up quickly, some will take all season to close the gap and others will self-destruct.

Also, look out for the teams that haven’t had major changes and still seem to be struggling. This is not good for morale as crew members and drivers always want to move forward after working so hard.

This is different from the new teams, where there is a ‘honeymoon’ period. If it doesn’t quite work out for that round they go back to the workshop, have a de-brief and concentrate on the big picture.

It’s when you have arrived at that ‘big picture’ and are still struggling that beats you up mentally. Seeing yourself moving forward – even in little steps – is important and I can’t tell how good it feels when you achieve that first win.

Cheers

Big Hair Nev