News
Rebuilt TCM cars aiming for Sandown return
BOTH cars badly damaged in the unfortunate Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters crash at Townsville are well on the way to being completely rebuilt.
Whiteline Racing and Cameron Tilley Racing have worked miracles to repair both cars following the Townsville accident, that saw brake failure pitch Michael Almond’s Camaro into the back of Tilley’s Valiant Pacer at Turn three.
While Whiteline’s Camaro will definitely race, Tilley’s Pacer remains an ongoing project with his prospects of reaching Sandown still on the fence.
Both cars required herculean efforts to rebuild however both were saved from being written off thanks to the remarkable efforts by their respective teams.
At Whiteline Racing’s Adelaide base, Chief Engineer Pete Jones and lead panel expert Pete Flaherty undertook much of the work on the #95 1969 Camaro, which was stripped back for an almost complete rebuild.
The car was taken to Northside chassis and suspension repairs in the Northern Adelaide suburb of Willaston to be placed on their chassis jig. That business is owned by Bernie Stack, a former TCM and Whiteline racer.
Tilley, meanwhile, has completed much of the work in house at his own business in Sydney’s Northern suburbs, with the Pacer entering the paint shop late last week.
A rear clip from another donor car was stitched to the rear of the Valiant which is now whole again and resplendent in Tilley Blue.
A significant amount of work continues to be underway with the car only fired up for the first time on Thursday night.
The Valiant’s participation in the fourth round of the championship remains a ‘wait and see’ approach with Tilley likely to make the final call early next week.
Regardless, a strong field 0f 20 has entered for the series’ return to Sandown for the first time since 2019.
The full entry list will be revealed next week.