News & Events

21 October 2011 – PWR Wins The Premier  Of Queensland’s Export Award

6 October 2011 – PWR  Keeps The Indy Racing League Cool In 2012

2012 Dallara / PWR Oil Cooler & Radiator Package

PWR is very excited to announce that PWR Radiators and Oil Coolers are the controlled (spec) component for all Indy Racing League cars starting 2012. PWR manufactures the Radiators and Oil Coolers for Dallara who then supplies them to the Indy Racing League teams. The Radiators and Oil Coolers are manufactured at the PWR global manufacturing facility in Ormeau, Queensland Australia. PWR worked tirelessly with Dallara to design and develop an extremely light weight and highly efficient cooling package, specifically suited to the 2012 Dallara IRL concept.

30 September 2011 – PWR HOLDEN RALLY TEAM – DAY SEVEN

PWR Holden Rally Team - Finish Fourth Overall In 2011

IT’S BEEN a successful final day of the 2011 Australasian Safari for the PWR Holden Rally Team, with Craig Lowndes and John Panozzo topping leg seven to finish fourth over-all. It was a satisfying result for the team, although Lowndes admitted he was disappointed to miss out on a podium finish. ”I’m happy with where we ended up considering our big accident on day five, but over-all I’m a little disappointed,” he said. “We had the speed, the resources, the team and everything to win, there’s not doubt about that, but it’s just that accident that put us back. ”But I’m happy that we recovered and I’m very thankful the team repaired the car to allow us to finish,” he added. “So to finish fourth over-all after the all the drama we’ve had, I’m pretty happy.” Lowndes said that even though he couldn’t win this year’s event, he’ll be back in 2012 to give it another shot. ”Oh I’ll be back,” he said. “I’ve always loved the Safari, because it’s relaxed and you can have a joke and a laugh with the other competitors at night. It’s very hard to do that in the V8 Supercar world. And you meet a lot of new people and go through towns you would never go through. Plus you catch up with the motorbike guys, who are just nuts. So for me the Safari is a lot of fun and it’s actually quite relaxing.” Steve Riley and John Doble were the over-all winners of the 2011 event in their 2008 Mitsubishi Pajero, with John Purshouse and Mcshane David second and Adrian Dilallo and  Robert Masi third.

29 September 2011 – PWR HOLDEN RALLY TEAM – DAY SIX

IT’S BEEN a satisfying day six of the Australasian Safari for the PWR Holden Racing Team, with Craig Lowndes and John Panozzo jumping from seventh to fourth in the standings after crashing out of the lead yesterday. Lowndes said he was pushing his Holden Colorado to the limit to make up for the mistake which cost the team a near certain victory in the 4000km event. ”We actually had a good day,” he said. “Obviously the objective was to make up some time, and we were actually pushing quite hard because I was probably a little annoyed after yesterday and with what went on. ”It’s just such a pity we had the little mishap yesterday,” he added. ”Because really if you look at the whole safari, the car has been quick, we’ve been competitive, we’ve won stages but we had that one mistake. So today was satisfying.” With the event heading into its final day tomorrow, Lowndes said a podium finish is still in sight. ”It’d be nice to get back into the top three, but with the time we have to make up, it’s a bit of a tall order,” he said. “Tomorrow is a short day, in terms of kilometres, so there’s not a great opportunity to make up some time. We’ve got to make up an hour to make third position and to do that we need some luck to go our way, but who knows. We had a 29 minute lead, and all of a sudden we clipped a tree and it was gone. So we’ll see what happens, we’ll push hard, there’s no doubt about that.”

28 September 2011 – PWR HOLDEN RALLY TEAM – DAY FIVE

IT’S BEEN a horror fifth day at the Australasian Safari for the PWR Holden Rally team, with Craig Lowndes and John Panozzo crashing out of the lead in stage one. The pair’s Holden Colorado struck a tree in this morning’s

PWR Holden Rally Team Sustain Damage On Day Five

session, tipping it on its side and extensively damaging the rear suspension. “It’s really, really disappointing,” said Lowndes. “We started today really well, but about 12 kilometres from the end of the first stage, I got the rear wheel stuck in a rut and unfortunately there was a tree waiting around the corner. We were only in second gear, but we clipped the tree with the rear wheel and it tipped us on our side. We assessed the damage and tried tocontinue, but we had to get towed out for the last 12kms.” The accident means Lowndes and Panozzo, who were leading the event by a comfortable 30 minutes, now sit a distant seventh in the standings. “It’s not looking good for us to win it now,” said Lowndes. “It’s really disappointing. We had 29 minutes up our sleeves, and I think at the point of the accident we’d probably picked up another eight minutes. So it’s really disappointing, but that’s motorsport. “We want to finish though,” he added. “We’ll repair the car and who knows, the way all the cars are going, potentially we could still end up on the podium, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed and see what happens in the next couple of days.”

27 September 2011 – PWR HOLDEN RALLY TEAM – DAY FOUR

THE PWR Holden Rally Team has maintained its lead after a trouble free run on leg four of the Australasian Safari. Racing over three stages, Craig Lowndes and John Panozzo enjoyed a mistake free day to preserve their 20 minute lead over the rest of the field. ”We didn’t get lost today, which was a good thing,” said Lowndes. “I think it’s the first day we’ve managed to get through the day without any navigation or driver errors. So we had a great

PWR Holden Rally Team - Extend Lead To Over 20 Minutes

day, there were a few challenging tracks to find and it was actually quite rough, but we got through it. ”The final leg of the day was really good,” he added. “It was more sand dunes and a lot more flowing with third or fourth gear corners, which the Coloardo really likes. There were probably three or four sections there where we were in top gear pulling 200km/h so it was really enjoyable.” Tomorrow competitors face their toughest challenge yet, with the field racing over a ‘marathon leg’ which bans teams from completing their normal midday service. ”Tomorrow is very important with it being one of the marathon days, so it’s going to be pretty critical to make sure we get through that,” said Lowndes. ”But I’m comfortable with our 20 minute lead. I’m not really too hell bent on trying to increase the lead, I’m just making sure I maintain it and look after the car. We’ve just tipped over the halfway mark, so it’s going to be good if we can go into the last couple of days with a 20 minute lead.”

26 September 2011 – PWR HOLDEN RALLY TEAM – DAY THREE

THE PWR Holden Rally Team continues to dominate the 2011 Australasian Safari, with Craig Lowndes and John Panozzo extending their lead to over 21 minutes on day three. Racing over the longest leg of the event to date at 550km, the pair enjoyed a trouble free run in their Holden Colorado. “On the whole we had a good day,” said Lowndes. “The first leg, which was 230 kms, the car ran smooth and we were just picking our way through and keeping out of trouble. There were some very rocky sections, and the navigation was very difficult. “Once we got through that, we prepared for the long haul with two big stages this afternoon,” he added. “We had a really good run through the whole 317kms, but we made one little mistake. I thought a turn was a 45 degree corner, but it ended up being a 90 so we rubbed up against a tree and dinted the roof of the car. But other than that the car ran beautifully.’ As leaders of the event, Lowndes and Panozzo will once again be the first car on the road when leg four kicks off on Tuesday morning. The day will see competitors cover 458 kilometres before returning to event headquarters at the remote outback town of Laverton, WA.

25 September 2011 – PWR HOLDEN RALLY TEAM – DAY TWO

IT’S BEEN a trouble free run for the PWR Holden Rally Team on day two of the Australasian Safari, with Craig Lowndes and John Panozzo extending their lead to 14 minutes over the 325 kilometre stage.
Bouncing back from a difficult first leg yesterday, Lowndes said things are steadily improving inside the #100 Colorado. “We had a good day today,” he said.

PWR Holden Rally Craig Lowndes and John Panozzo Maintain 14 Minute Lead

“Starting off as the first car on the course isn’t the preference for me at the moment, because you have to cut your own tracks, but the car ran faultlessly all day. “The main thing for us is trying to minimize our navigation errors, but they’re still very high,” he added. “You lose more time trying to find right tracks than actually trying to go fast. But we’re improving and Johnny and I are working really well together.” While Lowndes continues to lead, Paul and Kees Weel have decided to withdraw the team’s sister car after crashing heavily on rough terrain yesterday, “Yeah, we’re out,” said Paul. “We’re keeping the car in the trailer. The biggest problem is we don’t a spare bumper bar, which is kind of essential for us to go bashing through the bush. It’s really disappointing, but that’s the way this event goes.” Leg three kicks off bright and early on Monday morning, with competitors facing a massive 550 kilometre stage to make the overnight stay in the isolated town of Laverton, WA.

24 September 2011 – PWR HOLDEN RALLY TEAM – DAY ONE

THE PWR Holden Rally Team has finished day one of the Australasian Safari on top, despite both Holden Colorados suffering extensive damage over the 415km stage. Craig Lowndes and John Panozzo finished over 7 minutes in front of the field, recovering from a collision with a tree to take an early lead in the 4000km event. “We had a great day,” said Lowndes. “Today was the first official day of the Safari and we had a really good run until about the 60km mark. We navigated ourselves a little bit wayward and we ended up in some forest area, which is where I got the damage on the Colorado, backing into a tree. “So the first stage was really good, but it was really slow speed for most of it,” he added. “Some sections you could actually open up the car and have a bit of a run down the fence line, I think at one point there we were doing around 180km/h.” While things were positive for Lowndes and Panozzo, the same can’t be said for the team’s sister car, with Paul and Kees Weel enduring a day to forget. “It was just a shocker all day really,” said Paul Weel. “From the start we had some navigational issues and it was just a comedy of errors, everything went wrong. It’s really disappointing. We got caught out on a real slippery bit on some plants, and hit a tree on the driver side pretty hard.” The damage is so extensive the team is considering withdrawing the car from the event. “Really we’re too far behind and we’ve got too much damage,” said Weel. “You know, maybe it’d be better for us to concentrate on Craig’s car and make sure one wins. But we’ll reassess that before the morning.” Leg two kicks off tomorrow, with cars racing over 325kms before reaching the event’s overnight stay at Sandown in the Western Australian outback.

23 September 2011 – PWR AUSTRALASIAN SAFARI RELEASE – PROLOGUE

PWR Holden Rally Team: From Left, Craig Lowndes, John Panazzo, Paul Weel, Kees Weel

IT’S BEEN a strong start to the 2011 Australasian Safari for the PWR Holden Rally Team, with the two car outfit finishing first and seventh in today’s prologue session. Paul and Kees Weel took bragging rights over the 19.3 kilometer stage in Geraldton Western Australia, with today’s results determining the starting order for leg one tomorrow. The father and son duo beat home their closest rival by 26 seconds – an impressive effort considering the pair rolled their Holden Colorado. ”Prologue was very interesting,” said Paul Weel. “Everything was going good for the first couple of kilometres, but then things got really slippery and it went wrong at a hard right along a fence line. We weren’t going quick, only about 30km/h I’d say, and I felt the car tip and it went straight over, which wasn’t ideal. ”We were lucky though, we landed just back on our wheels, so we were able to keep going,” he added. “There’s not much damage, just a new windscreen and some panel damage, so running wise the car is fine. But we’ll be good for the start tomorrow.” Craig Lowndes and John Panazzo enjoyed a trouble free run to finish seventh, although Lowndes admitted he would have preferred to finish higher. ”I was aiming for about fourth or fifth, but yeah I’m happy with seventh,”he said. “We had a nice, clean straight run. The car is good and I’m just getting back in the swing of things. We didn’t want to do anything silly or put ourselves in danger, but all in all the car is exactly how I remember it, so tomorrow it really begins.” With today’s pologue session complete, the Safari officially begins tomorrow, with leg one seeing competitors’ race over 415 kilometres from Geraldton to the event’s overnight stop in Mount Magnet.

14 September 2011 – PWR HOLDEN RALLY TEAM COMPLETE TESTING