'Soup: What are you doing these days?

WG: I race in the Japanese GT Championship. I drive for Toyota. It's an all-out works effort, factory driver.

'Soup: Not too many of the bike racers have made a successful transition into cars. Eddie Lawson tried it, Kevin Schwantz dabbled with it, but it was difficult.

WG: Yeah, I had my troubles as well. Adapting to a car, I think, be it Kevin, or Eddie, or whoever, they can adapt, it's not a problem. If you can ride a motorcycle you can drive a car. From that point of adapting to it, is reasonably easy. The difficulty I've come cross is understanding the car, in other words, knowing, in obviously a short time, what to adjust in the car, to get it to turn more, or balance, or whatever. So understanding the technical side is quite a new thing to grasp, quite difficult to grasp.

'Soup: What's the most difficult on the technical side?

WG: Well, you know, coming in (to the pits) and saying, "it's understeering here, but it's slow corner," or whatever. And then you say, "I think it's the spring," or, "I think it's the rollbar," or, "I think the roll-set is too low," or, "It needs more camber," or whatever.

'Soup: You have more degrees of freedom with a car?.

WG: "It's a lot more finer. On a bike, if the bike's not right you can actually overcome it by your riding style. But in a car, you've got to get the car right. Understanding the balance of the car, what to change in the car is one of the difficult things to get on with. That's pretty hard, but I've got a grasp of that now, which is pretty good. Some of the biggest problems is dealing with the politics of the whole thing, sponsors and so on, is quite hard.

'Soup: When you were on bikes, you were a big fish in a small pond. Now, when it comes to cars, you're a small fish?

WG: I'm a tadpole! But there's a lot of different series in the world. I race in the Japanese GT series, and they're pretty good cars. Look, I would like to be at a world championship level, but I'm really too old for that sort of thing now. Really, you're only talking about Formula 1 these days regarding world championship standards. So, apart from that, there's what? LeMans for sports cars, and the Japanese GT. So I ended up in the Japanese GT, and I'm pretty happy.

'Soup: And how are you doing in the Japanese GT?

WG: Oh, I've won a few races since I've been involved with it, and I've been to the podium and so on. The series is a lot more difficult now. It's impossible to win every race. If you get a win, you get penalized 50 kilograms. So you only have a chance once a year to win. That's the way this series is.

'Soup: What do you think about that?

WG: It's a bit hard to swallow. They look at it from the point of the show for the series. I think if you look at it from that aspect, it's a good thing. That way, every manufacturer gets a turn at winning, the sponsors get a turn at winning. It's not the same winner, week in, week out. From a personal point-of-view, I don't like it, but from a series - as a promotion, as a show - I think it's very good.

'Soup: Do you think the politics in car racing is more complex than bikes?

WG: Yes, yes. Because, as I've said to you, if you have ability on a bike, it comes to the top very quickly. In a car, if you have ability and you're not in a good car, it doesn't come to the top. Cream comes to the top very easily in bikes, but not in cars. Politics plays a part in getting in the right car with the right team with the right tires with the right mechanics and the right budget and it goes on and on. There's a lot more to it.

'Soup: When you started in cars did you have a hard time getting sponsorship, or did you have to funds things yourself for a while?

WG: I retired, and I didn't know what to do, really, at one stage there. I was invited for a couple races in a car, and I went pretty good. I thought I could do this, this is reasonably easy. Fortunately, then I got asked to drive touring cars, for a works team in Australia. I fell in to that, and went one year with them. I drove the Bathurst (car endurance race); I've had third a couple times at Bathurst. Then I started my own team with Coca-Cola sponsorship. That was hard, because we never had enough budget, and we were on Dunlops at the time and Bridgestone was the best. There was problems for the next three or four years. I suppose the good thing out of that, looking back in hindsight, I got to do what I wanted with the car, because it was my team and my cars. I could adjust the cars to how I wanted, I could do as much testing as I wanted. I actually got to play with suspension a lot. For example, if I wanted to put more camber on the front, I went and drove the car and say, "oh, I see what that does." You know what I mean? You get to go out and play with it a little bit, with the car. Eventually I sold the race team and at the same time got a ride here (in Japan). It would have been difficult to keep the two going.

'Soup: Have you done a lap time at Suzuka in a car faster than you did on a bike?

WG: Oh yeah, yeah. Our cars get around here in about one minute, 58 seconds, or two minute flat, or something like that (note: a good lap time at Suzuka for a MotoGP rider stands at about two minutes, five seconds). Top speed we are slower than the bikes, but braking and cornering, it's another world. You've got four great big fat tires sitting on the road. When we come back here next time I reckon we will be right around 1:56, or 1:58, around that mark. So, yeah, they're fast cars.

'Soup: So you've stepped up another level.

WG: Well, I wouldn't call it stepped up. I look at it as really a step down. I've come from a world championship status and level to a local, national championship. Although I hold great faith in the championship here, because they are great cars, they look good, they sound good. The race is a two hour race with two drivers, so there is a mandatory driver change. There are a lot of exciting elements to it, plus they are trying to expand it out of Japan. We just had a race in Malaysia, and it all worked very well. There is a big fan base there; about 30-odd thousand were there. The future is sort of targeted at expanding - Korea, I know Australia wants a race, Thailand. I hope it will build into an Asian-Pacific series. I hoping it will happen, and the expansion has started. But more importantly, I'm in a very good team with a good manufacturer, and it's factory effort. I turn up with a helmet under my arms and get in the car. It's a great sponsor with Esso, and I've got my personal sponsor here, which is Coca-Cola. So I've got a very good, nice, neat package of sponsors and support.

'Soup: You did LeMans a few years ago.

WG: Yeah, a couple years ago. We made it about halfway. It was an under-funded, under-prepared car. But I knew that from the beginning. I went and did it purely to get the experience. Whenever you talk to a team, they say, A) have you got experience?, and B) have you got money? Now I can say, yes, I had the experience. We probably would have finished, if we kept going, up around sixth or seventh place, around there, which would have been dead respectable. But the engine broke around halfway.

'Soup: You've raced Suzuka and LeMans - the two biggest endurance races for bikes and cars.

WG: Yeah, I won Suzuka back in it's biggest days. That's why they want me back here, that's why I'm here, basically. They did a survey for the rider the fans most wanted back. I haven't even raced (motorcycles) for a long time. That's pretty nice of them, I'm very proud of that. But it's difficult to compare (Suzuka and LeMans), it's like comparing apples and oranges. Bikes are a lot more personal thing. As I said, you put so much body effort and physical effort into it. With a car, it's strap in and away you go. Again, the car does the performance for you. Both are endurance events. I like endurance events. And it's all about having a good team, and good partners. And having a happy rhythm in the team. Getting a good rhythm going to it, and keeping the same rhythm going down the day.

'Soup: What are the high points of your Suzuka 8 Hours?

WG: Probably when I had to run with Tokano. He was really slow. I would get it into the lead, and he would give it back. I had to ride five hours out of the eight that day. I started, and I finished. I don't know how I did it. I was pretty sick for a couple weeks after, heat exhaustion. I just over-did it.

'Soup: Was that your first win (at Suzuka)?

WG: No. I think it was my second.

'Soup: Did you win with Moriwaki?

WG: No, but I was pole position, which was fantastic. Oh, yeah, that is probably my greatest memory. When we got pole position on the Moriwaki, I remember going to see Mamora, and he was crying. It was so nice, to give him that much thrill, reward. He was just crying, he was so happy. That, to me, that was probably one of my greatest moments, greatest memories, of seeing that. It made me happy. But in the race - what happened? - we broke down or something.

'Soup: What was the low point?

WG: Running out of fuel once, at the hairpin (1990, factory Honda). We would have won it again. They did not have a reserve on the fuel tank, and we underestimated the fuel count. I ran out of fuel at the hairpin, the worst place possible. I tried pushing it, but I was (frustrated) and threw it down!

'Soup: Weren't you starting to think about the fuel for a few laps before?

WG: No, because I don't think about that. I just go out and ride hard, and let the team deal with that. That's just the right way to do it. The other low point was running with Dominique Sarron one time, and he dumped it. Another time was with Mick (Doohan), when he crashed and broke is finger. Mick hit another bike, and smashed his finger. It was disappointing, but good to see he was okay. But whenever you lose - I just hate losing.

'Soup: You weren't too happy after your fourth win.

WG: Yeah, in '92. That was my last one. I remember after that race, I was talking with HRC at a party. Oguma was the boss then. He said, "Ah, well done. I guess we'll see you back again next year." I said, "No, I'm not coming back." He said, "Ah, you want more money!" and I said, "No, no, no?." I said no more 8 Hours. I was going to retire as well. I was happy, but I was sad, too. It was sad for me to think about retirement. He said, "Ah, we'll talk later." He thought I would change my mind and I would just ask for more money. But I stuck to my guns and said, "See you later." In fact, I went to Donington (the next weekend) and that's when I announced my retirement from Grand Prixs.

'Soup: And you won.

WG: And I won then. Announced my retirement on Saturday, and won on Sunday. Yeah. I did that because I wanted to win, and I wanted to show I wasn't retiring because I couldn't do it anymore, I couldn't win anymore. I wanted to show that I wanted to retire on my own stature, and I want to retire because I want to when I'm number 1. And I won the day. That was a special race for me because I had the broken leg (from the first GP of the year at Suzuka). It took a while to come back, but once I got my confidence - the bike was fantastic. It's just a shame I fell off (at Suzuka), because I really believe it would have been between Mick and I for the championship. And then he fell off and broke his leg. Shit happens, doesn't it?

'Soup: Does the 8 Hours help prepare you to get through the second half of the season?

WG: Oh, I think so. It's hard work, I think it's hard to concentrate on this, and then get back to your normal program. I think it's distracting, but I always liked coming because I knew how important it is to Honda. And I always came because I knew I had a lot of fans here. And I actually quite like riding the four-strokes. I really, if anything, prefer them more to Grand Prix bikes. I really enjoy them, they're quite nice. They're like big lounge chairs. They're not as aggressive, and they're smoother. I really enjoy the V-4, it's a great motorcycle. I still love riding a 500, because they're special as well. Four-strokes were always just fun to play with. The 500s are fun, but they're nasty as well.

'Soup: Do you get on bikes very much these days?

WG: I haven't ridden to many dirt bikes lately, because I've been focused on driving. But I've got some road bikes and stuff, yeah, that I still play with. I'm still a big kid out on the streets. I keep telling meself to slow down, because I'm on the back wheel everywhere. I'm still a big kid. I've got a CBR900 in Australia. I still love it. I still have a big passion for motorcycles, and always will have. It's my biggest passion, but I'll take on cars as a new adventure, something that's new and exciting. Something that you can do until ...I've prolonged my life a little bit in motorsports.

'Soup: What about other personal things?

WG: I got divorced in 1995 - or '94 - from Donna. I met a new girl, Tony Atkinson, we're married now. Well, it's as good as married. We've got a house in Sydney, we live in Manly. My house is on the waterfront; we've got a little beach on (Sydney harbor) bay. It's beachy, casual surfy style place. We really love it. And I've got an apartment in Monaco. I've got two little kids now. Two little boys. One's named Remy, it's French name, and I've got a new boy named Luca.

'Soup: Luca?

WG: Yeah, Remy and Luca. I live in Monaco four months a year, and I lived a lot in Europe, I suppose about half of my life. I didn't want to have the ordinary Australian names. I wanted something with European flair to it. The Luca Cadalora name, I thought, was a pretty nice name. Remy was something short, but strong, and something people really couldn't change too much. Remy and Luca. It's very different, but that's what I wanted.