Driver – Cam Wilson
Australian Trans-Am Series – Slideways Chevrolet Camaro prepared by Fataz Competition Engines/Ian Woodward
Keema Cars Excel Cup – Slideways Hyundai Excel prepared by BPRO, a part of a four car Slideways sponsored team led by multiple class champion Brett Parrish
2017 to Date
Australian Trans Am – Pole and one race win on debut in category, second in the season standings behind Shannon O’Brien
Keema Cars Excel Cup – Pole and four race wins from four starts
Cam Wilson Racing Resume
2016 Hyundai X3 Nationals Champion
Race winner in V8 Utes
Pole sitter at the Sandown 500
Former CAMS Queensland Gemini Series Champion
Third in 2016 Keema Cars Excel Cup – 16 races, 6 wins, 14 podiums, 1 pole position
Previously raced in Queensland Geminis, Saloon Cars, HQ Holdens, Mazda MX5s and Production Cars
Later this season Cam will campaign the Camaro in three Touring Car Masters events at Queensland Raceway, Bathurst and Newcastle
On QR weekend in both the Camaro and Hyundai…
“One thing’s for sure, they are two completely different cars,” said Wilson.
“The Camaro has over 600 horsepower, you sit on the left-hand side of the car, and you have to push the brake pedal with 650 pounds of pressure just to get the car to start pulling up. Around QR it has a top speed of 240km/h.
“Then there is the little Hyundai, which obviously still a lot of fun, but it has a top speed of about 160km/h, it’s a controlled category, so every car is about the same.
“The Hyundai’s have about 30 cars entered, which is always good fun, I love the racing aspect of it.
“The Hyundai is right hand drive, changing gears with a different hand to the Camaro, and you only need about 100 pounds of pressure on the brakes.
“I think the biggest thing with the way the event will work out will be jumping between the two all weekend long; just as I start adapting to one, I then have to jump out and pretty much change everything I do, and get in the other side of the other car.
“I don’t think the speed difference between the two will be all that much, but I think the biggest thing with driving two cars in the one weekend is that you are going from one side of the car to the other.
“Once you are driving you are just looking straight ahead, but when you are sitting on one side of the car, you allow a bit of extra space to the other side.
“The trick will be finding the apexes and the kerbs as best I can between the two, the one thing you don’t want to do is run over the kerbs too much.
“Also the difference in the braking, the pedal pressure and the braking points are very different; if you drive the Excel like the Camaro, you will quickly get all four tyres locked up.
“Between the two, the braking distance vary by about 100m at turn three, I wouldn’t want to confuse them when I jump back in the Camaro, that’s for sure!”
On success first time out in both classes recently at Lakeside…
“Straight out earlier in the year, the chance to race both of the cars at Lakeside was awesome,” said Wilson.
“When I took this year’s racing program on board, I was very excited about the prospect of racing both cars on the one weekend, more for the mental challenge than anything.
“The cars are polar opposites, we get to do that this weekend at Queensland Raceway, which is great, and towards the end of the year back at Lakeside.
“I’ve always liked a really good challenge, both categories are awesome fun and they are hard work to be at the front of the field.
“To get two pole positions at Lakeside on different weekends was great, but to do that on one weekend would be something else.
“The plan is to bring my best mental game along, I just need to switch off from the rest of the world and dial myself in.
“I’m pretty busy with work and all of that stuff at the moment, so as per my last meeting in the Hyundai, I won’t get a practice or test session, it will just be straight out in qualifying.
“I’m going to have a bit on, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
On how the V8 Ute compares to the Trans Am Camaro…
“It was described to be as being very similar, and in some ways it is,” said Wilson.
“The Camaro is a completely different beast in the sense that it is a good 500kg lighter than the ute, and it is also has 200 plus horsepower more.
“That straight up is a massive difference, the power to weight ratio of the Camaro is just super fast, while the Ute was more like a heavy production car with a good sounding engine.
“The trick with the Camaro in Trans-Am racing is that they run those cars here in Queensland with a cross-ply tyre, so it’s not a radial tyre, and the difference with those tyres in terms of construction is that they are lot like a drag car tyre, they flex and they move around quite a lot.
“You have to be very well balanced when driving it, and that’s where the similarities with the Utes come back into play.
“You can cook the tyres on the Ute very quickly because of the weight.”
