NETWORK: In Pit Lane

Australia’s longest-running prime-time motorsport show In Pit Lane is widely respected throughout the industry.

Established in 1996, In Pit Lane is a weekly television programme that covers motorsport at national and international level from Supercars and TCR Australia, to Formula 1 and MotoGP.

The 30-minute show is produced at the RMITV production facility in Melbourne and broadcast on community channel C31 Melbourne, with episodes also uploaded to YouTube.

It is hosted by respected motorsport identity Brett Ramsey and co-host Craig “Doc” Gladigau, with the former developing the concept for the show while recovering from a serious back injury.

“I was doing some rehab and while waiting for the bus to come and pick me up there was a sign on the bus stop that said ‘have you ever wanted to do your own television show?,” Ramsey reflected.

“Due to my academic background being in film and television and while I was bored stiff because I wasn’t doing anything, I decided to look into it.

“I called the number on the form for OptusVision, at the time an alternative to Foxtel because they were looking for content, so that’s how it all started.”

The pilot series featured six episodes including nine-time Bathurst 1000 winner Peter Brock, who coincidentally did his final interview with the show, several weeks before his death in 2006.

“When proposing the show, I listed a few names including Brock and one of the representatives from Optus said ‘well, I don’t know anything about car racing, but even I know who Peter Brock is, you’d never get Peter Brock on the show,” Ramsey recollected.

“So I rang HRT [Holden Racing Team] at the time and I told Wally Weasel the story and he said, I’ll see what I can do, but Brocky is very busy of course.

“I picked up the phone 20 minutes later and I hear ‘G’day Brock here, what do you want and when do you want me?

“He came into film and was of course Mr Professionalism, he went around and introduced himself to all the members of the crew, all the people working at the office at the time and went to the General Manager’s office and said, look, the sport needs a show like this – Brocky was a great supporter of the show.

“Tragically, he filmed his last interview with us two weeks before his passing, we had to pre-record the interview as he was travelling to Goodwood, but he was really intent on coming into film as he had a lot to say.”

Since its formative years, In Pit Lane has surged in popularity, hosting well-known names and shows at world-class events.

“We’ve had all sorts of people with both in the studio or recorded interviews with on location, I mean, I’ve interviewed everybody from Stirling Moss, Sir Jack Brabham and Graham McRae to Craig Lowndes and Glenn Seton, over the years,” Ramsey added.

“We’ve done shows on location at the Macau Grand Prix, Goodwood Festival of Speed, we even did a show from Ordos in Inner Mongolia for the Asian Audi R8 LMS Cup.”

It also has become widely known for its unique twists.

“It’s unique in that it’s a talk show format, it is like RPM meets David Letterman, we have a lot of fun with it and we don’t take ourselves seriously,” Ramsey added.

“We also have a live band on set, which makes it really interesting as I wouldn’t imagine there are too many motorsport shows in the world that has live music.

“It has been great fun over the years and hopefully it continues for a little while longer.”

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