Fujitsu GRM Takes Hawaiian Tradition to New Level

In the team’s typical flamboyant style, Fujitsu GRM is tackling the ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600 the way it knows best. A feature of this year’s outfit are the one off drivers suits featuring a Hawaiian shirt, board shorts, tattoos, and of course the mandatory Garry Rogers bling.  

The suits were especially made in Italy by Freem.  

At the conclusion of the Gold Coast event two of the suits will be retained by Freem and GRM to go in their collection. The other suit will be signed by the Fujitsu GRM drivers and auctioned. One hundred per cent of the proceeds will be donated to Medicine Sans Frontieres, the world’s leading independent organisation for medical humanitarian aid and an organisation close to Rogers’ heart.

This builds on the team’s tradition of dressing in Hawaiian shirts at the event. “It started years ago,” Rogers said of the tradition.

“How it originally happened – do you know Mario Andretti? I was at Honolulu on a holiday; he was on the beach in this raucous shirt. I started talking to him and I said, ‘why do you do that?’ and he said, ‘if you want to be different you’ve got to look different and do things that are different to other people’. So I thought that made a bit of sense, and then we came up here and I thought Gold Coast and Honolulu are similar… so we started it."

Rogers isn’t sure how he will trump the Hawaiian drivers’ suits next year – but in true form, is thinking big.

“Next year I reckon we might do something really radical. I don’t know what it’ll be, but it’ll be something really different! The suits look great, and it's a great charity.”

Does Rogers think his team has a chance of holding the trademark surfboard trophies this weekend at the ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600?

“My current feeling – I have to say we should go ok, but things can arise you can’t control so if we can just manage what we can manage, leave the rest up to the lap of the gods, hopefully it goes ok.

“Of course we all want the best result, that’s why we come and do this. We have to be careful we don’t have unreasonable expectation but with our car speed, I don’t see any reason why we can’t have a very solid result.”

Fans will notice the #33 steered by Scott McLaughlin and Jack Perkins still running the chrome livery designed for the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

While it wasn’t the original plan, given there wasn’t much damage to the car at the last event, it was easier for the team to keep it as is – and if the car continues to get a clean run, the livery will remain for the following events.

“I suppose the next thing we do is, if we come out of this unscathed, we run it at Phillip Island and if we come out of that unscathed we run at Homebush. I would think we probably will – it’s different enough and come the end of the year, we’ll have different cars anyway.

“It was a lot of work to do it and it seems a shame while we have it, to pull it all apart.”

McLaughlin participated in the ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout to start from fifth with Jack Perkins, while Alex Premat/Greg Ritter will start from 18th.

Click here for full qualifying results, or here for Top 10 Shootout results.

More information on the race suits can be found on the GRM website.