Bairnsdale Speedway driver Trent Wilson is about to return to the track after some time away from racing as he spent time working on customers race cars, before recently investing in his own car which will see him back at Bairnsdale Speedway on February 28th in the locally popular Division 2 Hot Rod category.
With seventeen years of racing behind him, Wilson has taken on an enthusiastic role behind the scenes that has seen him off the track for most of the current season. He has undertaken developing his own fabrication and suspension business to take on race car work, that has already and will continue to see other drivers hit the racetrack.
“There is a lot of good people all working hard to get cars onto tracks. Tony Longhurst who we hope is racing next season and is my personal major sponsor, the Cormack family, Kate Stuchbery and her crew, and my own team of people, the class is growing incredibly right now.
We should have fifteen plus local cars next season, we are personally working with at least six Division 2 Hot Rods at the same time as working on other cars. Our Club Bairnsdale has the Victorian title for the class next season, and we are all trying to make sure everybody is on track, has experience and ready to go when that comes around.” Shared Wilson.
Trent Wilson Racing also includes Chris Greaves a fellow racer in the Division 2 Hot Rods, with a third car currently being built for a yet to be determined race driver. The original intended driver has indicated they may change tact, nevertheless Wilson will have a third team car before next season gets underway.
Another member of the team next season will be ten-year-old Xavier Wilson, Trent’s son. The team are currently putting together a Junior Sedan for Xavier to begin his Speedway career around December this year.
To get Trent Wilson Racing back on track, Wilson recently purchased from Latrobe Valley based racer Leigh Mitchell the current Victorian title winning race car built by Jason Bruce. The XF Falcon race car was originally from the Standard Saloon category before a whole lot of work went into converting it to specifications to suit Division 2 Hot Rod competition around two seasons ago for Mitchell. The car is beautifully put together and has been well maintained and looked after by Mitchell.
Wilson could run in some race divisions more popular in terms of competitor car count, however there is a story behind why Wilson has a connection to the class. Wilson’s connection with the Division 2 Hot Rod class came via the late Wayne Meer. Wayne who was a friend and very much family for Trent, brought him a race car when he was aged fifteen to give Trent the opportunity to live his dreams of being a race driver.
Meers had been a race driver himself in the Division 2 Hot Rod class, and he took Wilson to every race meeting he could, he showed Trent what was required in the way of maintenance of the race car, explained to him the techniques required to be a race driver on track. Meers always wanted Wilson to be a Division 2 Hot Rod racer, and Wilson has honoured that wish for Meers, and due to this friendship, a humble Wilson calls his new race car, Meersy’s car.
Wilson is a very competitive racer and in recent seasons has been Victoria two in the Division 2 Hot Rods, and last season was the Bairnsdale Speedway Association Division 2 Hot Rods Club Champion. Along the way there have been some lap and race time records in Division 2 Hot Rods and another class Wilson competed in, the Limited Sportsman. Currently Wilson holds the twelve lap Division 2 Hot Rod Bairnsdale Speedway record.
With Darren Adams from Power Up Performance as the engine guru for the team on anything that Wilson cannot do himself or chooses not to do himself. Adam’s work is very well known and highly recommended.
Trent’s race crew include longtime Bairnsdale Speedway stalwart Garry Severs as Crew Chief. Gary has more experience with regards to Speedway than most people have already forgotten. Sheree Curnow is Trent Wilson Racing’s team manager organising title paperwork, race day nominations, and whatever else is needed. Race day crew also includes Steve Overton, Shannon Overton, Tash Kelly, and Travis Edwards.
Wilson would encourage interested competitors to start putting a car together for next season. “So many of us have been busy putting cars together and we thought we were on the way to maybe around twenty-two cars for next season. A recent communication on our social media allowed us to discover car owners we didn’t know where building cars and others coming back making situations known, we are now looking at more than thirty cars and could potentially be twenty plus at Bairnsdale on many of our race meetings.
The class is a very affordable class with some really close, fast racing through the field, from the front to the back where drivers are still developing. I do not want to leave anybody out so without mentioning names there is probably nine or ten drivers that could win the feature on any given night if we can all be at the same event.”
Wilson went on to share that people in the teams are willing to help each other during the night and try and keep as many cars as possible on the track until the end.
Division 2 Hot Rods have long been in Gippsland and Nyora and Drouin used to have strong car counts back in the day. As new classes have come into the sport of Speedway, the class has treaded water for a while however Rosedale and Bairnsdale members are determined to grow to forty regular cars up and down Gippsland and to take the class outside of the Gippsland zone if any tracks are interested.
“I like to race at Swan Hill, and I know some of the other competitors who made an appearance up their last season agree with me. I am open to racing anywhere and we have been invited to Darlington and Laang. We just need these cars on track so that we can deliver a decent travelling field to anybody that wishes to program us.
Promoters should consider; we are a Sedan class that does not look like any other Sedans they program. You could program three or four classes that look the same, or program two of them and lock us in for a race date, it is much more spectator friendly when fans can see we look different, they know what we are. It would be nice to go to Rushworth, Alexandra, Wangaratta, Wahgunyah, Redline, even Avalon in the coming years. I have some ideas being shared with me to share with our promotional group in the coming months.” Added Wilson.
Trent Wilson Racing would like to acknowledge and thank the following supporters
Riviera Trailers
Trent Wilson Racing Fabrication and Suspension
Power Up Performance
Shaza’s Cleaning and Support Work
Written by
Dean Thompson
Dean Thompson Media
For Trent Wilson Racing
