INTERVIEW: CRAIG LOWNDES – CASA DI LOWNDES
Ever wondered what it’s like to live like Craig Lowndes?
Ever wondered what it’s like to live like Craig Lowndes? Well Craig and his wife Lara invited Auto Action into their home to show just a little snippet of how the pair live when they both have some down time.
Craig Lowndes on track at Symmons Plains
There are very few ordinary days for Craig Lowndes.
When he’s not racing around the country for Supercars races he is just as often flying around the country for his work with team partners and personal sponsors.
But when he does get time at home, Lowndes and his wife Lara are happy to sit. Talk. Tend the veggies and the garden. Perhaps some mountain biking or a ride on their motorbikes.
There is Lola, too. She is their baby, a three-year-old rescue dog – a Jack Russell-Pug cross – that brings fun and love to their lives.
“In my whole career, I’ve tried to have it well balanced. Still have a home where I can mow the lawn, play in the veggie patch, have a normal life,” Lowndes tells Auto Action.
Craig Lowndes at home
This is a rare insight, delivered on home ground.
For the first time, Craig and Lara Lowndes have invited a reporter into their Brisbane home for a look at their lives. There are cups of tea, a tour, relaxing chat and the chance to catch up with Old Mate before he hits the road again for Townsville and the races that follow.
As we talk, one thing stands out beyond the honesty and integrity of this couple. It’s the dividing line Craig sets between work and family, reflected in the use of two words – “I” and “We”.
When Craig is talking about himself and his private life he uses “I”, but as soon as the subject turns to racing it becomes “We”, even when he is describing a piece of on-track action where he alone is in control in the car.
“Brock used to have a crack at me all the time about that,” Lowndes laughs.
“For me, the driving and racing sense is about a team. It’s about ‘we’. I’ve always been like that.”
Since he has become the Peter Brock of the 21st century, both as a motorsport superstar and a natural driving talent, it seems like the right time to get into the relationship he had with the Bradman of Bathurst.
“I learned a lot from him. And I took a lot out of what I learned. We’re all our own people,” Lowndes says.
“There are a lot of similarities in what Peter was and what I am. I’m happy to give back. A lot of drivers don’t do that.
“The biggest thing I took out was not the driving side, it was the other part of the business. It’s the corporates, fans, diversifying enough that it’s not only motor racing.
“I still think of the times when I first started. We’d go to a corporate facility and Brock would be talking about driving the Torana in ’72 at Bathurst. I was in awe. It was a story from when I wasn’t even born.
“His ability to capture the attention of people was really incredible. And it’s a trait that I hopefully learned from him as well.”
Craig Lowndes behind the wheel of his Supercar
Things are different in Brisbane today as Lowndes is completely off-duty, casual in shorts and an unbranded polo shirt, running the home tour and then – a huge honour – providing a quick peek inside their personal shed.
It was Lara who bought the house, when she decided it was time to move north from Melbourne to join Craig in Queensland. She laughs as she talks about the auction for the house and how she managed to get a whole bunch of bonuses while buying the place at a bargain price.
“I said I wanted the home theatre, and the pool table, to stay. I got them,” she says.
The house sits on three acres, although only half is landscaped with the rest left as virgin bush backing onto a public reserve.
It’s one of three properties that share a common driveway and security gate through to a tight-knit little community.
It’s a sprawling four-bedroom place with lots of open-plan living areas, as well as a pool – alongside the veggie garden – and a large outdoor deck that’s complete with a fountain. There is a a long looping driveway and, once past the house with its two-car garage, there are a couple of sheds. One is positively giant, with four roll-up doors on the front and another for access on the end.
“It’s the biggest one I could get on the block,” Lowndes says.
It houses predictable dirt bikes, road bikes but also the Lowndes’ Ford Cortina that once lived at the Ford Discovery Centre in Geelong. And that’s all we can reveal.
“I was cool with the shed as part of ‘Blue Land’, so long as there was ‘Pink Land’ as well,” says Lara.
“It’s pink and blue here and a bit of pink has crept into the shed.”
There is plenty more to discuss as we move back to the deck for another cuppa. The couple are protective of their personal details, and Craig avoids discussion of his first marriage and the children – Levi and Chilli Blue – who have ridden along on the back of his helmet almost since their birth.
Even so, Lara is happy to talk about a life and career in Perth that had her qualifying as a Pharmacogeneticist, which is infinitely more complicated than pushing pills at the local chemist, and then completing post-graduate units in business. She spent time in the World Rally Championship, then touched down in Melbourne to begin a serious career with NAB that means she can still operate happily as a well-paid consultant.
Somewhere on the road she ran into Craig and they became friends. Not close, but with a connection that allowed her to share technical insights from his job when they sat with a quiet beer. Then his situation changed and they became more than friends.
“We got married in 2015, in December. Just here in Brissie. It was the world’s smallest wedding, just family and kids, and some really close friends,” Craig says.
Their life together is relatively predictable at the track, where Lara is the back-up team to Craig in the spotlight, but once they get home they wind down.
“I’m a bit of closet introvert. Anything where I can get away. Particularly music, and classic musical,” she says.
“We get out on the motor bikes together. Once you get the helmet on you cannot afford to be thinking about anything else. And I love the speed of go-karts.”
Craig Lowndes away from the track
Lowndes knows that time is running down on his Supercars career, but he’s still confident in his speed and commitment and happy to have a deal locked in place with Roland Dane at Triple Eight Race Engineering until at least the end of 2019.
“The atmosphere and work ethic at Triple Eight is something I’ve really enjoyed. I’m also loyal. I also feel that Roland has reciprocated that. He’s very loyal and said he would only run a third car if it was for me.
“It wasn’t about money, it was about longevity beyond the driving sense. So in two more years it’ll be 15 years I’ve been with Triple Eight, which is the longest serving team I’ve been with.”
Further into the future, he’s already thinking about the day when he will become an endurance co-driver and what it will take to stay competitive and perhaps make a run of Brock’s record of nine Bathurst wins.
“Watching people like Skaife and others step down, it’s really important to be circulating in something. To be honest, the idea would be to co-drive, and look for another vehicle to do miles in. Whether it’s a GT, I’m not sure yet.”
So that’s the future, at least in general, and there is lots more in the day for Craig and Lara.
But there is one more yarn that’s worth telling, about their annual ritual on the way to Bathurst for The Great Race each October.
“Just drink less beer,” Lowndes laughs, before Lara picks up the story.
“We take a different approach. We try and fall off the grid,” she says.
“Every year we drive to Bathurst, take the caravan, do a training camp for a week,” she says.
“We train each morning, up to lunch, take the mountain bikes, do stand-up paddle boarding.
“We literally sit and fish for a couple of hours each night. It’s a physical and mental shutdown to get ready for the week ahead.”
NO MORE KIDDING
Craig Lowndes isn’t “The Kid” anymore
It’s time for Craig Lowndes to get a new nickname.
The salt-and-pepper sprinkling of grey hairs and his 43rd birthday last week are solid proof that his days as ‘The Kid’, the handle he was given during his trainer-wheels days with the Holden Racing Team, are done.
Lowndes agrees and says he is happy also to move away from an unwanted tag as ‘The Smiling Assassin’.
“No. I’m not The Kid. But it didn’t worry me, also being called The Smiling Assassin,” he says.
So, how does he feel about taking on ‘Old Mate’ as his call sign?
It seems to fit, since he is not young, he’s a friend to almost everyone, and you could easily find him sitting in the corner at the local pub like so many other old mates who go quietly about their lives and never give a hint that they could be anything special.
Ironically, Old Mate is one of the tags used by his wife Lara.
“Old mate? That doesn’t worry me either,” Lowndes smiles.
And then the change is cemented in place by a single sentence.
“Hey, Old mate, what do you want to drink. Tea or coffee?” Lara calls from the kitchen.
NO TITLE IN 2017
Craig Lowndes has conceded his title chances in 2017
Craig Lowndes says this year’s Supercars series is the toughest of his career.
“This championship, this year, is out of control. It’s one of the toughest since I’ve been involved with in the category,” Lowndes told Auto Action.
He has already given up on any slim chance of claiming the crown for Team Vortex, writing it off as a development year, and his honest target is to finish in the top five by the end of the season.
Perhaps with a seventh win at Bathurst in October sharing his Triple Eight Commodore again with Steven Richards.
“We won’t win the championship this year. Our aim this year is to be back in the top five. We’re sixth at the moment and I still think that we can be fifth,” Lowndes says.
But don’t think he’s given up completely on a fourth title, to add to the ones from 1996-98-99 – despite his veteran status.
“I think I can win it next year,” he states.
“To be honest, this year is a really a building year. I’ve had four engineers in the past four years. I’ve got Irish this year. That’s John McGregor, he’s the crazy Irishman.
“We’re building a foundation for next year. What he lacks in experience he makes up for in enthusiasm.
“I still think that we’ve got speed, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it. We just need to work on the consistency, which we haven’t had at the moment.”
Not surprisingly, given his current points position and his incredible record in the enduros, Lowndes is looking to the marquee events at Sandown, Bathurst and the Gold Coast.
“The focus this year is now the long-distance part of the year. Richo and I are obviously very keen to make amends from last year with the gear lever rod problem, was a surprise. We’ve now beefed that section of the car up.”
As for the championship, Lowndes is not making any predictions and is sticking to his inside view of the track action.
“Team Penske have stepped up, Red Bull are there, then Rick Kelly put it on pole at Darwin, there’s Chaz Mostert, and Cam Waters has stepped up.
“You’ve got now, genuinely, eight to 10 quality winning racecars any weekend. It’s just insane.
“So, when we talk about a tenth of a second in qualifying, that’s two rows on the grid.”
A LOWNDES IN WRC
Craig’s isn’t only motorsport history in the Lowndes house
The Lowndes house is full of motorsport memorabilia, including all but four – three gifted away, one stolen – of the helmets he has used through his racing career.
But there is a surprise in the pool room, where Lara’s mementos are taking the top spots.
They come from her time in the World Rally Championship, when she worked as a team drivers co-ordinator and all-round fixer with the Suzuki and Peugeot factory teams.
There is a race suit and gloves worn by two-time champion Marcus Gronholm as well as a framed Impreza WRC picture signed by Subaru team members, including Colin McRae and Possum Bourne.
Lara grew up in Perth and was often hanging around the service area during the days when Rally Australia starred in the West. When she got the chance to join the circus she took it.
“Rally Oz was always the weekend before my university exams. So I’d be cleaning cars and then studying,” she says.
“My original plan was to go to Europe, travelling for a gap year. Then I started with Suzuki in the junior championship, for Sardinia and Greece.
“It was actually Marcus that said there was a driver co-ordinator role coming up, so I jumped to Peugeot. It was great. They paid me to travel the world.”
She was even offered a chance with Peugeot when the French maker decided to shift its motorsport focus from the WRC to Le Mans, but her time on the road was over.
“I made the decision to come back and get on with a career,” she says.
She did that well but failed completely on the promise she made herself when she arrived back in Melbourne.
“When I left World Rally I said I would never get involved with a driver or a mechanic or anyone else from motorsport,” she laughs.
PAUL GOVER
Article originally published in Issue 1714 of Auto Action.
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