A lot has happened since I last wrote my DB column (that only few of you good people read when bored...!) But for those of you who are interested in what happens in my manic world, keep reading and you find some interesting and enlightening things.

I am now sitting in a chair at Heathrow, a place I know a bit too well, ready for a long trip to Australia. Why Australia? Because I will be testing the FPR Ford Falcon V8 at the famous..... Winton Raceway ....on Monday. Yes, back in those Aussie V8s for an attack on the Bathurst 1000, which I will fly to straight after the Petit Le Mans.

I have to admit I am feeling pretty good about this year, because FPR is one of the teams to beat this year, and won the Sandown 500 last weekend. I will be driving with talented New Zealander Matt Halliday at Bathurst, rather than Jason Bright, who I shared the car with last year. I know he is a Kiwi, but I married one, so we should get on!

Let's go back a bit. The last two races I did were in the American Le Mans Series at Road America and Mosport in Canada.

Road America is the best track in America as far as I am concerned. The place just flows, with its long straights and sweeping corners challenging any driver who wants to take it on. In the Panoz, I did just that, taking my life in my hands, throwing the car on my back and squeezing everything from it - all to be sixth on the grid, some two seconds off the pace! All the drivers are driving the balls - normally with a capital B - and we still can't make up the time. The Porsches and Ferraris are too fast and it is a bit frustrating being in this position.

In the race, I was determined to go for it even though the task looked big. Off I went, got to the second corner in fourth and powered down the long straight - on seven cylinders when it should have eight. Then, as the revs came up to change gear, the engine kicked into life and off I went chasing the track. I got on the radio to announce the problem to the team, all to no avail as they couldn't hear me, Crap!

The engine problem got worse with each lap - and then the team got on the radio to ask why I was so slow. I kept trying to talk to them, pushing and pulling all the buttons in the cockpit, but had no communication to the pit, even though the pits could talk to me. We have a 'radio down' plan, where I am asked questions by the team and have to click once for a 'yes' and twice for a 'no'. As you could imagine, they never asked the right bloody question, so I got to thinking how I might achieve this when, suddenly, I came up with a bright idea.

As I came past the pits, I came off the throttle and back on really quickly .... blap, blap, blap!. Then a voice came on the radio asking "do you have an engine problem? Yes, they got it!. A safety car came out and into the pits I went. Typically, as I was coming down pit-lane, the radio sparked into life, causing a mass communication, squeezing everything that had happened into ten seconds.

Anyway, they couldn't fix it and, with the engine getting worse and worse, it was a boring end to the race.

On to Mosport and, if you think Road America was bad, I didn't even drive in the race in Canada! My team-mate, Scotty Maxwell, was all geared up for his home race and was pumped up to do the best he could in front of his adoring family and friends. He got off to a good start and was keeping up with the leading pack when a slow prototype tried to pass down the inside of turn three. Whack! Off they went, and Scott hit the wall hard. End of race.

We had the usual antics afterwards, with each driver blaming the other, but my view is that they both got a little confused as the prototype dived down the inside while Scott was giving it space on the outside, thinking he would go around that way as the faster ones do. The prototype driver probably thinks Scott was blocking him, but that wasn't the case. The prototype driver said in an interview that all the Panoz drivers were 'amateurs'. Maybe myself and the rest of the Panoz drivers have a bit more to do in our careers to become pros!

I have just arrived here to read that Peter Brock was killed in a car he was driving in a Targa Rally in Western Australia. The whole nation is in shock and in mourning for a guy who touched so many people. It is like Ayrton Senna dying and the effect it had in Brazil. I knew Peter, and he and his wife Bev welcomed me to their home, where I stayed a couple of times, enjoying their company. Like the rest of Australia, I am deeply sad at this time.

I have written a tribute to Peter in my Life section of the web.

DB