Picture this: it's the opening round of the 2005 Konica Series at Wakefield Park, and over 30 drivers are sitting on the grid. A couple of drivers at the Goulburn track are being paid to race, but the majority have forked out obscene amounts for a shot at V8 Supercar glory.

One of these drivers is a rich bloke paying $50,000 per round to a team to compete in AVESCO's feeder series. Alongside our cashed-up friend - who'll cough up a massive $300,000 for the season - is a driver who paid just $3850 for his year of V8 racing. Doesn't sound fair, does it?

Not until you realise that the latter was the winner of the main 2003 Chance of a Lifetime (COAL) competition, 'claiming' his prize of a season of Konica racing. Some 15 months earlier this talented (and lucky) driver emerged victorious from a gruelling elimination process run by MoPro Australia.

Before we go any further, we should return to the present day. We should also point out that this unnamed 2003 COAL winner could be reading V8X right now. Over the coming months, MoPro Australia will hold time trials to determine who'll pedal its bright yellow ex-Paul Weel AU Falcon in 2005.

The annual COAL program is no pie-in-the-sky deal. Already, two aspiring V8 guns have completed Konica seasons, following stellar performances in the elimination rounds. At the end of 2001, West Aussie Grant Johnson outperformed all challengers to score a drive in the 2002 Konica Series, finishing that series a highly respectable 10th. And last year, production car racer David Russell won the COAL competition, and has battled the Konica kids throughout 2003. Russell finished 12th on the 2003 Konica points table, after a final round accident derailed his hopes of a top eight championship result.

Johnson - no relation to Steven or Dick - has used his year in the COAL Falcon as a springboard to a level one V8 Supercar enduro drive (See breakout).

MoPro's marketing guru, Michael Goode, said the inaugural COAL winner's career has since taken a step forward.

"Grant Johnson proved that this competition is a worthwhile career move," Goode said. "He's earned a drive with Mark Larkham's team at Bathurst this year. By all reports Larko was absolutely rapt with the job he did at Sandown in atrocious conditions."

MoPro has revamped the 2003 Chance of a Lifetime competition. Instead of just a single year of Konica racing, the winner of the program's major prize will receive two seasons of racing. Next year, there is the choice of a season in one of four Australian categories - Formula Ford, Formula Three, F4000, or V8 BRutes. He or she will then step up to Konica competition in 2005 to take the wheel of MoPro's AU Falcon. The move to offering two seasons, stems from a desire to offer the competition's winner a structured development program.

"We've gone to a two-year program, because it is such a big ask for someone with minimal racing experience to jump into a V8 Supercar," Goode said.

"This year we have catered for people who want a year developing their skills in an openwheeler series. And those who cannot physically fit into an openwheeler, can run a season in the BRute.

"With the openwheelers, we'll actually contract that out to a leading team in the series of the winner's choice. We've proven this year, with the Pedigree ute, that we can run a front-running team in the BRute series, with David Griffin being a race winner.

"By doing it this way, we can take the 2003 winner along to test sessions to get some miles in the V8 Supercar. So when they arrive at their first Konica round, they are not being thrown in at the deep end. That's the best way we can help develop a driver."

With the 2003 COAL winner not racing in V8 Supercar until 2005, it begs the question of who will drive MoPro's AU Falcon in 2004? That drive has gone to the winner of the 2003 MGF Trophy Series, Jamie Cartwright.

Speaking of the MGFs, the little British open-top sports cars were one of the cars used in the COAL competition's elimination rounds. A season in the MGF Trophy Series, or its replacement, is the first prize on offer in COAL's secondary, or 'level two' competition.

MoPro also offers a third level, for complete novices, with drivers competing in Daewoo Lanoses. This article can't do justice to the scope of the three COAL competitions, and the prizes on offer, but you can find full details at www.chanceofalifetime.com.au

"It's not a lot of money, when you consider that the major prize is worth $550,000," Michael Goode continued. "This competition can throw up surprises. David Russell had not driven the Daewoos before, and he ended up beating some well-credentialed drivers such as Alan Gurr and Matt Coleman."

OK, budding V8 guns get ready to outplay, outperform, outdrive. The V8 tribe has spoken ...

The Other Racing Johnson We'd be lying if we told you that winning the inaugural Chance of a Lifetime competition has set Grant Johnson on a course of V8 Supercar fame and fortune. Yet, it's fair to say that being the inaugural COAL winner helped Johnson take a few more steps up V8's game of snakes and ladders. Johnson finished a respectable 10th in the 2002 Konica Series standings, with a number of top 10 race results. This year started quietly, before he was called up to enduro duty with level one operation, Orrcon Racing. "Winning COAL definitely helped me get a drive with Larko's team," Johnson enthused. "Through MoPro's contacts I was offered a test with Mark's team at Queensland Raceway. From that test came the offer of a drive at Sandown and Bathurst." Johnson's Orrcon Racing teammate, Kerry Wade, is also from WA and a good mate. Johnson, 29, was full of praise for the COAL program. "It's great to turn up to a race track with just your helmet, and have everything prepared for you," he said. "It's really the only way I could have done a season of Konica competition. Unless your parents own a multinational business, it's virtually impossible to raise the budget to do the V8s. The top Konica teams want up to $60,000 per meeting for a drive." As to the future, Johnson hopes a strong showing at Bathurst leads to a call up again next year. "Realistically, I'd like to get another enduro drive in 2004," he said. Johnson's Occupation: He works in his family's roof restoration business

What the Hell is MoPro Which race team is Australia's largest? Holden Racing Team perhaps, or Ford Performance Racing? It's a little known fact that MoPro Australia is the country's biggest race team - at least in terms of car numbers. "At the moment, we're running 42 cars out of here," MoPro's Michael Goode said. MoPro's workshop, located at Guildford in Sydney's west, is home to 40 MGFs and Daewoos, plus a V8 Supercar Falcon and Commodore V8 BRute. MoPro's founder and managing director is former racer Paul Pickett. "I'm a plumber by trade. I raced myself, and I will race again," Pickett said. "I ran in Super Touring in a BMW and later a Hyundai. "Previously, we ran a fairly decent-sized plumbing business, and got sick of not being paid. So five years ago, we decided to turn our hobby - motor racing - into a business. At least now we get paid up front, and it's much more enjoyable! In the plumbing business you're lucky if you get paid within six months - if at all." When Hyundai Excels were selling like hotcakes, Pickett formed a Hyundai body enhancement business, HVE. This was later sold off, and he concentrated on MoPro's racing endeavours, which in 2003 included Chance of a Lifetime, and a series for the Daewoos and MGs. Both these makes will be replaced in '04. "We've grown enormously over the last few years - and we're about to take another step, hopefully," Pickett said.

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