Motor racing is a team sport, even if most of the sport’s fans are driver focused. But without the right team behind them, even the most talented steerer would be nothing.

There are guys inside every team who wear the tag of team manager, chief engineer or some other bizarre title. In essence, that person is the wingman to a driving combination that can hopefully take out the top prize.

We sat with four of them for a chat about Bathurst.

Rob Starr is the team manager at the Holden Racing Team and will look after car #2, most likely to be driven by Mark Skaife and Garth Tander. Starr is a three-times winner of the Great Race as a chief engineer or team manager.

Andrew Clarke: Talking about last year, did you split it into two parts?

RS: I think everyone probably tries to do that. The reality is that you have to make sure you get to the last stint and be in a good position. You’ve got to have the car capable of going quick at that stage and be in the right place. You’ve got to be sensible early and get yourself to that last stint.

AC: Now that you’ve got 850 horsepower you’re really going to go through the fuel, aren’t you.

RS: Oh I wish. Obviously having engine horsepower the economy may not be as good, but that’s probably a bit out of my ballpark. Usually you can’t get horsepower without using fuel so maybe you have to back them back a bit if it works your strategy better.

AC: Is this a race where you spend a lot more effort controlling the natural urges of a driver?

RS: I guess it depends on how they’re driving. If they seem relaxed in the car and the car’s in a good position it’s probably more just keeping them focused, but in a lot of ways the shorter races are more hectic and the adrenaline and the need to push harder is probably higher, which to be honest is probably more work.

Barry Ryan has tasted the bitter blows of Bathurst with Steve Richards, having been fast enough to win each of the past three Bathurst races only to strike some sort of on-track drama – such as flying wheels and kangaroos. This year he wants to win with Richards and Paul Dumbrell.

AC: It’s been a long time between drinks for the Perkins’ team at Bathurst; what are you going to do to change that this year?

BR: Have drivers that can think straight. The last few years we’ve just had drivers put it into walls or kangaroos, or just being too slow. We’ve just got to make sure the driver’s up to it.

AC: You’re quite confident about the car then?

BR: I haven’t had any Bathurst failures in the last three years in the lead car, so I can’t see any dramas with the car. And we’ve been top 10 and on pole two years ago, so there’s nothing wrong with the speed.

AC: How much leeway do you leave yourselves for race strategy?

BR: That’s something we’ll try and improve on this year with fuel economy, because we probably weren’t the best out there last year on that, and it sort of robbed a bit of strategy. So this year we’ll have a bit of room to move, hopefully.

AC: You’re probably out of the championship running already – does that change your Bathurst attack?

BR: Not for me personally, but a lot of guys on the team centre a lot of it around Bathurst, and if you can win Bathurst and you don’t win the championship, I suppose that’d be one thing to take out of the year.

AC: Is Bathurst a race where you need to talk to the drivers more?

BR: Yeah, definitely this year we’re going to do that, but in the past we probably haven’t done it as much. They need to be kept on a leash, but you can only do so much. You try and keep them confident and keep them under control, but at the end of the day once they get in the car you can only say so much to them.

Barry Hay has one V8 Supercar Championship Series to his name as Russell Ingall’s engineer. He will guide Ingall and Luke Youlden to what he hopes is his first Bathurst win.

AC: It’s a long time since Ford’s won. How are you going to change that?

BH: We’ve had a bad start to the year, but I think probably in the last two races you’ve seen an improvement, not up to the standard that we’re used to, but better. We made a lot of major changes at Christmas time in the off-season and it has taken a while to sort, and it’s lending itself more to a Bathurst-style set up.

AC: SBR, out of all the lead teams, is the most affected by having non-regular co-drivers – is that an issue?

BH: Well, it’s not really a big deal to us in as far as hooking Luke up with Russell because they’ve got a history and they go quite well together. All the guys have got the opportunity to put their number one’s together but we tried that unsuccessfully – it’s all about pairing the style of drivers rather than pairing two superstars together.

AC: Is this a race that you have to spend a lot more time talking to the drivers trying to control their urges?

BH: It’s a controlled race, there’s no doubt about that, because it’s not necessarily even your own guys – there are so many other pitfalls from guys that aren’t under control and that can bring your race unstuck. You have to run them on a short leash the whole way through; you need to try and be their eyes and ears and try to avoid dramas before they come up. It’s a survival race for everybody, not just the drivers, and the teams play a huge role in getting the car around the track 161 times.

AC: How keen are you to win?

BH: We’re red hot to do that, and you know we’ve got good cars and Russell obviously knows his way around the track. He’s done it a few times himself, so mate we’re just desperate – and it’s gotta be our turn.

Campbell Little worked on Ford’s last Bathurst winning assault, and last year with Craig Lowndes looked set to add another crown. He will again care for Lowndes and most likely Jamie Whincup in the 888 Falcon.

AC: Last year must have been heartbreaking for you guys, how do you pick yourselves up from that?

CL: Craig was running fairly strong but I think in his own head he had an agenda because he wasn’t sure how well Yvan would drive the car. He admitted later than he wanted a little bit of a buffer and unfortunately lap 10 isn’t the time to have a buffer. We attempted to slow him down without saying, ‘Hey, slow down’, but it didn’t happen.

AC: Obviously this year there’s a good chance you’re going to pair Craig and Jamie in the lead car. Does that change your approach?

CL: There’s a good chance we’ll do that, but it doesn’t change anything. You hope that both drivers will be right up to speed and quite comfortable, so it gives you a little more flexibility.

AC: This year you seem to have lost a bit of that pace edge that you had at the same stage last year. Does that change your angle at Bathurst?

CL: I don’t think that’s quite right. We’ve made a few little mistakes in qualifying and we didn’t have a good car at Willowbank, but in general our car has been good, but there’s been two Holden’s in particular that have made a big step up from last year. We were luckier at this stage last year, where we’d qualified on pole a couple of times, and I think we’ll have a pretty good car for both Sandown and Bathurst.

AC: It’s been a big dry spell for Ford. Can you win it for them?

CL: I’d hope we could. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for quite a few years. Our car’s been quite reliable and we’ve looked at everyone else’s strategy from last year, and HRT in particular just kept their nose out of everything early in the race and picked up the pieces late in the day by having a good consistent car. Craig last year wanted to lead the race every lap of the way and I don’t know if that’s the way to go racing there.

AC: Is this a race where you need to spend a lot more effort controlling your driver?

CL: I don’t know about during the race. It’s particularly difficult for the likes of Craig, where he is a highlight and is dragged from pillar to post during the week, so to get your mindset right before the race is quite difficult. In all honesty, talking to them once they’re in the car is a bit of a band-aid – if they don’t go there with the right mindset I think it’s too late then.