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Gray to miss Townsville, but fired up for TCM return
HE WILL unfortunately miss Round 3 of the Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters Series this weekend – but watch out for Jeremy Gray’s Ford Capri Perana later this year.
Gray was looking forward to the series’ return visit to Townsville this weekend with his reinvigorated Capri, however was a late withdrawal from the event following a mechanical issue at a pre-event test.
“We had an oil pump failure when testing at Queensland Raceway and although I don’t think we did any damage, we did not want to risk it,” he said.
Up until recently the Capri had lacked engine performance when compared to his rivals but had always been a great handler.
“With the recent engine upgrades to the 302 cubic inch Windsor, I felt we would have been on a par with our rivals.”
“It has been a long-winded project due to Covid, as we felt that we had to do something in terms of race results – it is unfortunate that we have had this last minute setback.”
The car dates back to the tarmac rally Perana campaigned by the Miedecke’s, Andrew and George, however remains only the basis of the current car which uses panels made from the moulds used on the iconic Allan Moffat Cologne Capri.
“Our Capri adds to the variety that is a feature of TCM, racing in and among those Toranas. We tried the LS (category spec engine) at first but that just did not sit well with the motor sport fan faithful, so we went to the Windsor,” Jeremy said.
Whilst instigating the program to up-spec, Jeremy has also been mentoring his 15-year-old son Rylan’s budding career where he has been racing Aussie Racing Cars and Hyundai Excels.
“He has been practically living at Norwell Motorplex and learnt so much at the racing school. I just wished it had been around in our day.
“The plans for Rylan in the future include a move up the category and I would like to give him a couple races in the Capri at some stage.”
The third round of the Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters Series will see the series’ return to the NTI Townsville 500 this weekend, July 8-10, with all four races and qualifying to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo Sport.