Well known Bathurst sportsman and businessman Steve Ingwersen will this weekend put the boots and his beloved Churches United soccer strip to one side and put on his brand new fire-proof overalls as he takes up a new challenge in life – car racing.
The painting contractor has always dreamed of racing, he was a great fan of the late Peter Brock and he already owned a V8 Supercar built by Larry Perkins when a new category of racing came along, the Shannons V8 Touring Cars.
Once upon a time when a Ford or Holden V8 Supercar reached its too old date the car was parked in the corner of the shed, sold to an enthusiast or stripped to race as a sports sedan.
Now they can race in the V8 Touring Cars as Ingwersen will be doing with his VS Commodore at Mallala in South Australia this weekend.
“I’ve always loved the racing and was a mad fan of Brocky. I used to paint his shed at Bathurst in the pits each year and was always keen to start racing myself,” he said.
“I’ve got a few mates who were keen to do something together as a unit on weekends and then the new V8 category came along, we had a car to run, so here we are.”
The newly painted bright red Commodore even carries signage around the car advertising for the Brock Foundation, which Peter Brock founded.
While he has never raced, the 39-year-old has had two test sessions in the Commodore that was built by Perkins Engineering for Ron Searle and performed very well.
“We’ve been to Wakefield Park twice and found it [Commodore] to be pretty good to drive. It’s got plenty of power and the brakes are fantastic, but it’s a lot harder on corners, though a lot of that was rubber, for we only had old tyres on at each test day,” Ingwersen said.
“We kept improving the car with changes and in the finish did one minute, five seconds lap times, which we were pretty happy about.
“I’m really looking forward to it, but I wish I’d known before hand just how much money it does cost, it is really expensive.
“I’m not kidding myself, I’m too old to go too far, but I plan to do this for a few years and I do have an ambition and that is to race at Bathurst [Mount Panorama].”
The V8 Touring Cars are for de-registered Falcon and Commodore V8 Supercars which have been raced since 1997.
BA Falcons and VY/VE Commodores are not allowed at this stage, so it’s all models prior to those.
They have a control camshaft, rear wing, ECU and tyres which will go a long way to keeping the cars even. Frank Lowndes, father of Craig, is in charge of the technical side.
Ingwersen's Team Roar consists of his mates and family. They are Geoff Simpson, David Hughes, Paul Gibbons and children Michael (14) and Jake (9).
Supporters of the Team Roar entry are Bathurst Holden, Bathurst Car Cosmetics, Bathurst Paint and Panel, Richard Steele Solicitor and Roguez.