History of SBR

Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) is one of the premier teams in Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series racing and has built up an enviable record since its establishment in 1998.

The Stone Brothers Racing Team captured The 2004 V8 Supercar Championship with Marcos Ambrose (Pirtek Racing) 1st and Russell Ingall (Caltex Havoline Racing) 2nd Overall. During the season the team won 5 of 13 rounds and claimed 5 pole positions along a 1st,2nd finish in Round 9 and a 1st, 3rd finish at round 13.

During the 2003 season the team won 8 of 13 rounds and claimed 5 pole positions along a 1st,3rd finish in Round 3 and a 1st, 2nd finish at round 7.

SBR also won the 2003 Konica V8 Supercar Championship with Mark Winterbottom. Mark finished on the podium in 6 of 6 Rounds including 4 Round wins and 5 Pole positions. Mark also claimed pole position and the Race win in the non championship 1 Hour Race at Bathurst.

The Stone Brothers story is one of motor sport passion, commitment and opportunity that has seen the team become one of the most professional in Australian motor sport.
The story is about brothers Ross and Jimmy - New Zealanders born and bred.
The pair's introduction to the sport was the New Zealand Formula Ford Series in the mid-1970s. Ross won the New Zealand Gold Star in the 1977-78 season driving a Cuda Formula Atlantic designed by the brothers, but retired from driving soon after to establish a business.

Their first foray into Australian motor racing was Ross' visit to Bathurst in 1985 to engineer the Auckland Coin and Bullion Exchange Commodore driven by Denny Hulme. He then returned to run Graeme Crosby's Commodore team in 1986 and the Nissan New Zealand team in 1987.

Today when you think Stone Brothers Racing, you think Ford. Ross and Jimmy began their long association with Ford in 1988, running Sierras for Andrew Miedecke, Andrew Bagnall and Kevin Waldock over the following five years.

Waldock's impressive results as a privateer included a fifth at Bathurst in 1991 and sixth in 1992.

Jimmy moved to BMW's Australian factory-backed squad in 1990 which included Tony Longhurst, but the brothers reunited at Dick Johnson Racing in 1992. With the brothers on board, DJR posted a second place at Bathurst as the Group A era ended and the V8 era began.

The pair had their first taste of victory at Bathurst in 1994 when they engineered the winning Falcon of Dick Johnson and John Bowe.

In 1995 the Jimmy and Ross Stone-prepared and Bowe-driven Falcon took out the Australian Touring Car Championship and the Sandown 500. It was the second consecutive time the car had won the Sandown 500.

In 1996 the Stone Brothers left DJR to establish a Queensland-based team with former Formula One world champion Alan Jones. The team was backed by Phillip Morris, ran under the title of Pack Leader Racing and signed Paul Romano to partner Jones in the driver's seat.

Only months after setting the whole team up, two immaculate blue and yellow Ford Falcons were on the grid in round one of the Australian Touring Car Championship at Eastern Creek.

After a slow start to the season, Jones produced second places at Lakeside and Mallala and claimed eighth in the series. The Pack Leader team did not have a successful outing in its first Sandown and Bathurst events. At Sandown, the Alan Jones/Alan Grice car retired while the Paul Romano/Andrew Miedecke car finished 10th. While at Bathurst Jones had his Falcon in front after lap 25 but on attacking the mountain on the next lap the car slowed and burst into flames. Romano's car also had mechanical problems putting an end to the Pack Leader Challenge.

There was a change of direction in team sponsorship towards the end of 1996 with Phillip Morris being replaced with Komatsu and Pirtek. Another driver Mark Larkham joined the camp with his sponsor Mitre 10 to take over the Romano car. He operated a satellite team in 1997 culminating with a third in the Bathurst 1000.

Jones produced some solid results through the year but his best was saved for last with a third place finish and a win in two of the races at Oran Park. However this would prove to be the last race for Jones at the team with a split coming before the end of the year.

Pirtek continued to support the newly-named Stone Brothers Racing in 1998 and enabled the team to sign up young gun Jason Bright to run a Falcon through the V8 series. This started an association between SBR and the development of young stars - an association that continues today.

It was a toppsy-turvy year for Bright as he demonstrated his raw potential and learnt the tricks of the trade the hard way. In the first round at Sandown he set a lap record but finished with a badly damaged car. He produced his first ever podium finish in a V8 Supercar in round seven at Calder Park and then claimed his and the team's first ever pole position at Hidden Valley.

Then a fairytale began. At Bathurst in 1998 the Pirtek Falcon driven by Jason Bright and Steven Richards recovered from a near disastrous qualifying accident on the Friday to record a memorable win in the 'Great race'.

SBR's reputation for race car engineering excellence was crowned by the victory at Bathurst when a superior fuel strategy and bullet-proof reliability saw the Pirtek Falcon take the chequered flag ahead of the increasingly competitive V8 field.

Ford Falcons have tasted victory twice in the Bathurst 1000 in the V8 Supercar era - 1994 and 1998 - both times with cars engineered by the Stone Brothers.

For SBR, the 1999 season was notable for two reasons. Firstly, the team gave the new AU Falcon its first ever race and round victory at Hidden Valley in the Northern Territory. Secondly, Mark Larkham posted the fastest ever lap around Mount Panorama when he took pole for the Bathurst 1000 in his SBR-prepared Mitre 10 Falcon.

In 1999 Bright continued with SBR in a new AUXR8 Falcon while a second car was built for Mark Larkham although he ran that car as a separate entry with his own Mitre 10 backed team.

Bright gave the team and the new model Ford its first Championship Round victory at Hidden Valley in round five. He also finished on the podium in three other rounds and started from pole position three times.

The new millennium brought a few changes at SBR with Tony Longhurst steering a Caltex Havoline Falcon into 10th position in the series while Kiwi Craig Baird took Bright's seat in the Pirtek Falcon. This started an era that continues today with Caltex Havoline and Pirtek the major backers of the Gold Coast outfit.

Unfortunately it was a lean year for SBR in 2000 with the only podium finish being a third place at Phillip Island for Baird. However Longhurst and, new recruit, David Besnard came within a few laps of winning Bathurst. Unfortunately Longhurst had a coming together with a backmarker which ended their run.

Youth was the focus once again in 2001. After successfully guiding Jason Bright into the top echelon of V8 Supercar drivers, SBR provided full-time seats for two more rising stars in Marcos Ambrose and Besnard.

Besnard was given the key to the Caltex Havoline AU Falcon while British Formula Ford ace Ambrose returned to Australian motor sport aboard the Pirtek Falcon.

Ambrose won his first V8 Supercar round at Hidden Valley and added successive third places at Pukekohe and Sandown, while Besnard took a podium position at Oran Park. Overall Ambrose's brilliant first-year V8 performances provided him with the award of Rookie of the Year.

2002 saw SBR go to the next level in performance with Ambrose and Besnard becoming household names in Australian motor sport.

Ambrose lived up to his potential with a third place finish in the series. He ended the season as the leading Ford driver and provided SBR with its first end-of-year top three finish.

The season concluded with SBR on top. The Pirtek Falcon driven by Ambrose was the superior vehicle on the track at Sandown taking pole position and winning the two races, while Besnard's Caltex Havoline Falcon was also one of the fastest finishing fourth overall.
Prior to Sandown, SBR had success with Ambrose winning a race at Phillip Island and numerous other podium finishes, and Besnard winning the VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 with Simon Wills in his first V8 Supercar victory.

SBR also launched a junior development program in 2002 providing an opportunity for kart star Mark Winterbottom to show his wares in the Australian Formula Ford Championship. His inaugural year showcased his talent with a second place in the series securing a ride with SBR in the Konica V8 Supercar Series in 2003.

The team is based on the Gold Coast in Queensland and uses the Willowbank circuit near Ipswich as their home testing track. Behind the scenes, a team of more than 30 work around-the-clock to maintain SBR's high level of motor racing professionalism led by Team Manager Ross Stone and Chief Engineer Jimmy Stone.

SBR is proudly supported by Ford, Caltex, Pirtek, Bosch Spark Plugs, Dunlop, Stegbar, Duracell , Milligans Food Group, Classic Model Cars, LG Electronics, ,Dlink, Coretech, PPG.

Home