Normally one would class Richards as an eternal optimist, but when he starts using words like "quietly concerned" you know that V8 Supercars, though not so much his team Ford Performance Racing – which was finally on the up in 2006 – is giving him some heartburn.

While FPR might be one of the smallest cogs in his international racing empire, it nonetheless represents a sizeable investment for the former accountant turned rally navigator turned motorsport mogul, and with the troubles currently besetting his road car division, Ford Performance Vehicles, he doesn’t need any more Down Under grief. So what’s his problem with the Total Racing Expenditure Cap (TREC)?

"What is the purpose [of TREC] ?" Richards rails calmly. "Is it to save money? Is that the purpose of a regulatory body, to save people money? Or is their purpose to get equal racing and to keep the championship alive? To my mind [TREC] is almost admitting defeat in TEGA’s regulatory role in the series.

"I don’t think they [TEGA] are capable of administering the technical rules clearly enough... If you are good at administering technical regulations, what you achieve is parity of performance for the lowest cost. After that people will still spend money but the spend will be less effective in performance. The driver and the circumstances on the track will make a bigger difference [than the money spent]."

Richards goes on to point out that all V8 team employees have to sign a Rights Of Access document that allows TEGA watchdogs to go over all their personal financial and tax documents, to weed out any suspected rorting of TREC. He’s not happy.

"We are, potentially, subjecting them to $20,000 fines for what is a ridiculous intrusion of their privacy; it’s totally inappropriate. We have spoken to all our staff and explained things, and they think it’s quite unreasonable and I agree with them. Surely the authorities should be there to regulate the cars to make sure that a team with less budget is not penalised as much. If the lesser-funded teams had access to a car and engine that was equivalent to the one that Steven Richards or Craig Lowndes drives, wouldn’t that make for a better spectacle? Don’t we have to find ways in which that will happen? Not that we bring everyone down to the lowest level."

Richards believes the added financial reporting to TEGA will drown teams in a mountain of paperwork.

"I started off my life studying to be an accountant and I thought that I had got out of it. It looks like it has come full circle now. We are putting an enormous added level of legislation of non-added value onto things. It will affect even the smaller teams... The amount of paperwork they going to go through; administration that they are going to have to take on – if that is what ends up coming to fruition..."

For all V8 Supercars’ sabre rattling over the introduction and policing of TREC, a large document that was presented to startled teams at the last round of the 2006 championship, it seems TEGA has already had to do a back flip over its immediate implementation, according to Richards.

"I believe there was some common sense at the last board meeting and they have deferred everything for six months to have a more careful look at it," he says. "They will have a proper review process in six month, which I believe Roland Dane (Triple Eight Engineering) is leading and I am very comfortable with that."

Then Richards gets all optimistic again: "I have this innate faith that they will see when something is ludicrous and will not work."

One of the potential loopholes in TREC that was quickly spotted was that marketing budgets are not currently included in the racing cap, which could lead to teams finding a way of filtering marketing dollars into racing operations, and this is already the subject of re-examination by TEGA.

But Richards, it seems, is totally against TEGA’s whole ‘budget racing’ ethos and perhaps it’s no wonder, as FPR is widely believed to have had the biggest budget in the business despite Richards saying he has cut it by 20 per cent over the last two years. After joking about having to move FPR into team manager Tim Edward’s garage if workshop rent and overheads were included in the TREC, he gets serious again.

"We want this championship to be the best in the world, we do not want it to be the lowest common denominator," he says. "What we should be doing is encouraging teams to access the right equipment, to raise their game to be able to compete at a serious level. We are not going to take it right down to the lowest common denominator."

Talking of technical denominators, does Richards fear the arrival of Holden’s new VE Commodores, even though Falcons have been given a balancing aerodynamic parity adjustment?

"When you introduce a new model, you are obviously concerned where you end up. You have to hope that the governing body has done their sums properly and it all balances out. All our indications are that the change in aero on the Commodore and the Ford will actually make for better racing."

Richards added that FPR has no plans to field a Development Series car, saying that with two main-game cars and the ‘customer’ car of Team Kiwi he doesn’t want to stretch his resources (read TREC budget) too thinly. We move onto more of Richards’ pet peeves, off-shore races for starters. Again, he’s not in favour.

"Our priority has to be the domestic supporters; we should not go chasing Dinars in Bahrain or RMB in Shanghai, we should make sure that we deliver to Ford and General Motors’ customers in Australia and New Zealand first of all. One or two races abroad? Okay, but they have to be profitable for the teams and they have to have the support of Ford and General Motors as well. It is also not worth it to race in front of grandstands that are 10 per cent full."

Richards is even more sceptical about the level of interest in V8 Supercars overseas, particularly on television, despite V8 Supercar’s much-hyped international viewing figures.

"NASCAR is a phenomenon in the States, just as the V8s are here, but it doesn’t export. Cricket doesn’t export to America, nor does F1; we have to realise that there are cultural boundaries that sport doesn’t cross. That is why I am cautious about making sure that the domestic market is strong and that you do not ignore the loyal fans following the sport for years, chasing something elusive you may never find."

With Prodrive in bed with Ford, Subaru (World Rally), Aston Martin (sportscars) and whichever manufacturer supplies engines and chassis for his new Formula One team in 2008, you’d think that Richards would be in favour of more manufacturers in V8 Supercar, right? Wrong. Instead he wants a new long-term commitment from Ford and Holden. And if they won’t?

"If neither company is prepared to make a long-term commitment then you have to consider bringing in a third manufacturer. If I were organising the championship I would be seeking five to eight-year commitments out of the manufacturers. You could imagine if Ford said, ‘Sorry, we cannot afford to support any teams, we cannot continue’. What would happen?

"The championship does not know how beholden they are to those two car manufacturers and it doesn’t pay enough attention to their needs and delivering value to those two companies. Without their support the championship wouldn’t be where it is today."

Then Richards sounds an ominous warning.

"The financial circumstances of both companies may lead them to question their involvement in the series. I watched the British Touring Car Championship absolutely boom in the ’80s and ’90s then it went bang and dropped out of sight – dropped out of sight!"

The fact that the BTCC – a successful series with multi-manufacturer backing – went belly up so quickly, further reinforces Richards’ cautious stands on protecting the Ford/Holden status quo and nurturing V8 Supercar in its own backyard.

By the way he was still smiling when he ambled off down Southbank to his next meeting. Perhaps he is still an optimist.