Paul Morris Motorsport

Paul Morris Motorsport
ManufacturerFord
BMW
Holden
Team PrincipalPaul Morris
Race DriversPaul Morris (1995–2014)
Charlie O'Brien (1995–96)
Geoff Brabham (1995–97)
Craig Baird (1997)
Matt Neal (2000, 2008)
Kevin Schwantz (2000)
Owen Kelly (2000, 2007, 2009)
Aaron McGill (2000)
Ashley Stichbury (2001)
Wayne Wakefield (2002)
John Faulkner (2003)
Alan Gurr (2004, 2006)
Paul Radisich (2005)
Fabian Coulthard (2006–07)
Steve Ellery (2006–07)
Russell Ingall (2008–11)
Boris Said (2008, 2011, 2012)
Tim Slade (2009)
Greg Murphy 2010
Tim Blanchard (2010)
Allan Simonsen (2010)
Yvan Muller (2010)
Jack Perkins (2010–11)
Steve Owen (2011–12)
Jan Magnussen (2011)
ChassisBMW 320i
Holden Commodore VS
Holden Commodore VT
Holden Commodore VX
Holden Commodore VY
Holden Commodore VZ
Holden Commodore VE
Ford Falcon FG
Debut2000
Drivers' Championships0
Round wins1
Race wins2
2012 position15th

Paul Morris Motorsport, also known as its business name of Nemo Racing,[1] is an Australian motor racing team that competed in V8 Supercars between 2000 and 2012. The team also won the 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 and four Australian Super Touring Championships. The team is based at the Norwell Motorplex in Norwell, Queensland and currently competes in the Super3 Series.[2]

Background

The team was born out of a split of LoGaMo Racing, owned by Tony Longhurst, Frank Gardner and Terry Morris. After the 1994 Australian Touring Car season, Longhurst wished to continue in the Australian Touring Car Championship while Gardner and Morris wanted to stick with the Australian Super Touring Championship. At the end of 1994, Gardner and Morris bought Longhurst out, with the latter forming Longhurst Racing to race a Ford Falcon EF in the 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship.[3]

History

Super Touring

In the LoGaMo days, the team had a long association with tobacco sponsorship. After 1994, this was not able to be renewed due to the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992 and the Benson & Hedges sponsorship concluded at the end of 1994. For the next three years, the team competed in the Australian Super Touring Championship with Geoff Brabham and Paul Morris driving BMW 320is. Morris won the series in 1995 and 1997, while Brabham teamed with brother David to win the 1997 Bathurst 1000, after the Morris and Craig Baird entry had been disqualified.[4] A third car was entered at some events in 1995 and 1996 for Charlie O'Brien and in 1997 for Baird.

At the end of 1997, BMW withdrew their support and the team closed. Gardner retired and sold the Performance Driving Centre in Norwell to Morris. After racing for PacWest Racing in the Indy Lights Championship in 1998, Morris reformed the team with Tim Neff, racing a BMW 320i to victory in the 1999 Australian Super Touring Championship, which he repeated in 2000.

V8 Supercars

Single-car origins

Morris entered the V8 Supercar series in 2000 with an ex-Holden Racing Team Commodore VS. The car was destroyed at the Oran Park round in 2000 when Morris was involved in a fiery crash with Mark Larkham at the start of one of the races.[5] Later in the year the team upgraded to a Commodore VT purchased from James Rosenberg Racing.[6][7]

In 2001, the team completed its first in-house built Commodore VX, not before winning the Calder Park round in the older VT model.[7][8] It proved to be the only race and round victories for the team. The team generally raced one car until 2005, when it began preparing the Team Kiwi Racing car under a customer deal.

Expansion to two cars

In 2006, after purchasing a Level 1 licence from Tony Longhurst, it expanded to two cars with Fabian Coulthard, Alan Gurr, Steven Ellery, Jack Perkins and Shane Price sharing the No. 39 car.[9] In 2007, Coulthard, Ellery and Owen Kelly drove the second car.[10]

In 2008, Russell Ingall joined as the driver of the second car bringing title sponsorship from Supercheap Auto. At the end of the year, Morris retired and was replaced by Tim Slade in a deal brokered by former V8 Supercar team owner James Rosenberg, who also took on ownership of Slade's car.[7]

In 2010, Greg Murphy replaced Tim Slade with backing from Castrol.[11][12] The team moved away from self-built cars, buying two Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodore VEs.[13]

In 2011, Murphy was replaced by Steve Owen.[14]

Customer entry and demise

With Ingall and Supercheap Auto departing at the end of 2011, one REC was leased to Tekno Autosports while preparation of the remaining car was contracted to Dick Johnson Racing. The team's two Commodore VEs also passed to Tekno in exchange for a Ford Falcon FG.[7] In 2013, the remaining REC was sold to Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.[15] At the end of the year, the leased REC was returned from Tekno Autosports and sold to Dick Johnson Racing.[7] This signalled the end of the team after 13 years in the championship.

Other racing activities

After Morris' full-time V8 Supercars career ended at the end of the 2008 season, his team entered the Development Series, later known as Super2, in every season up until 2018. Morris himself entered selected rounds from 2009 to 2015, while at its peak the team entered four cars in the 2015 season.[16] The team won its only two championship rounds in 2017 with Anton De Pasquale at the wheel.

In 2019, the team withdrew from Super2 and instead entered in the newly renamed Super3 Series.[17]

Paul Morris Motorsport manages trucks for the Stadium Super Trucks, with the Norwell Motorplex serving as the corporate headquarters for the series' Australian operations under the Boost Mobile Super Trucks name.[18][19]

Bathurst 1000 Results

Year No. Car Drivers Pos. Laps
2000 29 Holden VT Commodore Australia Paul Morris
United Kingdom Matt Neal 		12th 158
67 Holden VS Commodore Australia Owen Kelly
Australia Aaron McGill 		DNF 2
2001 29 Holden VT Commodore Australia Paul Morris
New Zealand Ashley Stichbury 		12th 159
2002 29 Holden VX Commodore Australia Paul Morris
Australia Wayne Wakefield 		DNF 135
2003 24 Holden VX Commodore Australia Wayne Wakefield
New Zealand Andy McLera 		DNQ 0
29 Holden VY Commodore Australia Paul Morris
New Zealand John Faulkner 		DNF 5
2004 29 Holden VY Commodore Australia Paul Morris
Australia Alan Gurr 		DNF 50

Supercars drivers

The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in the Supercars Championship, in order of first appearance. Drivers who only drove for the team on a part-time basis are listed in italics

Super2 drivers

The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in the Super2 Series, in order of first appearance. Drivers who only drove for the team on a part-time basis are listed in italics.

Super3 drivers

The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in the Super3 Series, in order of first appearance. Drivers who only drove for the team on a part-time basis are listed in italics.

References

  1. ^ Australian Securities & Investments Commission extract company no 010 769 052 Nemo Racing Pty Ltd formerly Frank Gardner Racing Pty Ltd formerly Logamo Pty Ltd formerly Tony Longhurst Racing Pty Ltd
  2. ^ Home Holden Driving Centre
  3. ^ Normoyle, Steve (1995). The Great Race 15. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN 1031-6124.
  4. ^ Normoyle, Steve (1997). The Great Race 17. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN 1031-6124.
  5. ^ Noonan, Aaron (24 June 2016). "Saturday Sleuthing: The Dude's lucky escape". Supercars.com. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  6. ^ Normoyle, Steve (2000). The Great Race 20. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN 1031-6124.
  7. ^ a b c d e REC sale the end of an era for Paul Morris Speedcafe 4 December 2013
  8. ^ Normoyle, Steve (2001). The Great Race 21. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN 1031-6124.
  9. ^ Normoyle, Steve (2006). The Great Race 26. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN 1031-6124.
  10. ^ Normoyle, Steve (2007). The Great Race 27. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN 1031-6124.
  11. ^ "Murph confirmed as PMM driver". Official site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series. 17 December 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2009.[permanent dead link‍]
  12. ^ Murphy confirmed as Castrol driver at PMM Speedcafe 17 December 2008
  13. ^ PMM to benefit from transition phase Speedcafe 23 February 2010
  14. ^ "Biggest opportunity of my career: Owen". Speedcafe. 21 December 2010. Archived from the original on 5 January 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  15. ^ Lucas Dumbrell set to buy second V8 licence Speedcafe 18 November 2012
  16. ^ Paul Morris to field Gracie in Dunlop Series Speedcafe 19 November 2014
  17. ^ Herrero, Daniel (22 March 2019). "Paul Morris Motorsport Super3 car unveiled". Speedcafe. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  18. ^ "Rights deal signed for Super Trucks in Australia". Speedcafe. 6 May 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  19. ^ Howard, Tom; Herrero, Daniel (6 September 2019). "Super Trucks corporate experience to be run at Norwell". Speedcafe. Retrieved 6 September 2019.