McMahon Returns for Hampton Downs Festival
Photo Credit: Phil Noble
LEADING Heritage Touring Cars driver Carey McMahon will return to Australian Trans-Am for a one-off appearance at this weekend’s New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing at Hampton Downs.
The 2015 HTC Group A Champion will drive Ian Woodward’s 1970 Ford Mustang that is currently on the marketplace in the Trans-Tasman Challenge with the local Historic Muscle Cars.
This follows the first weekend of the Trans-Tasman battle at Hampton Downs where Australian driver Shannon O’Brien (Pontiac Firebird) claimed pole position and the first two race wins at the Tasman Revival, as fellow Aussie Anthony Tenkate (Ford Mustang) won the final.
McMahon has previously raced in New Zealand at Highlands Park, as several cars from the Touring Car Masters raced against the local Central Muscle Cars in 2015. The Sydney-based driver is looking forward to experiencing the revamped Hampton Downs facility.
“I haven’t been there before but i’ve heard that they’ve got fantastic facilities and running on the new extended track is going to be awesome.”
“I'm very much looking forward to participating in the Kenny Smith Festival. The opportunity to drive Woody's Trans-Am Mustang was simply an offer too good to refuse.
“I actually know Kenny Smith, in fact i’ve got a 635 BMW that he once owned that was originally owned by Charlie O’Brien and shared with John English at Bathurst. So all four of us will be racing at the Festival this weekend.”
McMahon previously sampled John English’s Trans-Am Mustang at Queensland Raceway in 2016, and is coming to terms with the driving style required by the Trans-Am cars.
“They’re older technology, so they don’t steer into and out of corners like a later model car as the Group A Sierra does.
“The Sierra runs full slicks whereas the Trans-Am cars run on these conventional-style Hoosiers, and that’s a tyre I haven’t had a lot of experience driving on. There’s a real art to driving on those tyres and learning to drift the car with those tyres.”
“I love these Aussie vs Kiwi challenge events and am excited about joining the other Aussies for a great weekend of racing.”
