Speed up slow select - was gone blind

Hi folks.

I've got my select working now, but I haven't received the speed 
increase I'd expected.  It replaced an earlier select which combined a 
single explicit join with multiple froms.  

The first select is the old one, the second  one is the new one (with a 
new join).  The new one takes 24 seconds to run while the old one took 
29.

How can I redo the select to improve the speed, or what else can I do to 
optimaise the database?

original (ugly)
~~~~~

SELECT r.r_id, r.r_registration, r.r_chassis, r.r_vehicle, r.r_fuel, r.r_pack_mats, r.r_delivery, (date(r.r_delivery) -
date(now()))AS r_remaining, r.r_created, r.r_completed, r.r_salesman, r.salesman_name, d.d_des, de.de_des, u.u_id,
u.u_userid,u.u_username, u.u_salesman, u.u_target, t.t_id, t.t_des, s.s_id, s.s_des, c.c_id, c.c_des, co.com_count,
co.com_unseen
 
FROM (SELECT r.r_id, r.r_t_id, r.r_d_id, r.r_de_id, r.r_s_id, r.r_registration, r.r_chassis, r.r_c_id, r.r_vehicle,
r.r_fuel,r.r_pack_mats, r.r_delivery, r.r_salesman, r.r_created, r.r_completed, r.r_u_id, u.u_username AS salesman_name
FROM(requests r LEFT JOIN users u ON     ((r.r_salesman = u.u_id)))) r, users u, request_types t, request_states s,
dealershipsd, departments de, customers c, comment_tallies co 
 
WHERE    (r.r_d_id = d.d_id) AND (r.r_s_id = s.s_id) AND (r.r_c_id = c.c_id) AND (r.r_t_id = t.t_id) AND (r.r_d_id =
d.d_id)AND (r.r_de_id = de.de_id) AND (r.r_u_id = u.u_id) AND (r.r_id = co.r_id)) 
 
ORDER BY r.r_id;

new
~~~
SELECT r.r_id, r.r_registration, r.r_chassis, r.r_vehicle, r.r_fuel, 
r.r_pack_mats, r.r_delivery, (date(r.r_delivery) - date(now())) AS r_remaining, r.r_created, 
r.r_completed, r.r_salesman, sm.u_username as salesman_name, d.d_des, de.de_des, u.u_id, u.u_userid, u.u_username,
u.u_salesman,u.u_target, t.t_id, t.t_des, s.s_id, s.s_des, c.c_id, c.c_des, co.com_count, co.com_unseen,pl.pl_id,
pl.pl_descas plates
 
FROM requests r
left outer join users sm on sm.u_id = r.r_salesman
left outer join users u on r.r_u_id = u.u_id
left outer join request_types t on r.r_t_id = t.t_id
left outer join request_states s on r.r_s_id = s.s_id
left outer join dealerships d on r.r_d_id = d.d_id
left outer join departments de on r.r_de_id = de.de_id
left outer join customers c on r.r_c_id = c.c_id
left outer join comment_tallies co on r.r_id = co.r_id
left outer join plates pl on r.r_plates = pl.pl_id
ORDER BY r.r_id;

-- 
Gary Stainburn
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