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Back to October 2011 Motorsports News Archive
| 05-10-2011 at 09:00: Barbour Makes Mountain Debut | |
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Having joined the series for the first time last season, Barbour returned to the category at round four armed with a purpose built 1973 Chrysler Charger E55 V8, and with additional open wheeler events under his belt thanks to his Australian Formula Ford Championship racing, it’s time to tame the mountain, and the masters. The E55 Charger has undergone a significant upgrade since the shortened run at Muscle Car Masters, with Les Small joining the team to assist while regular spannerman Tony Black is overseas. Les and Barbour’s father Mark were in the 1986 Bathurst winning entry, so to celebrate the 25 year anniversary working together once more for a second generation racer is something more than special as father Mark explained, “Elliot is very happy to have the experience and proven success of people like Les Small, John Sidney, Tony Black, and Rod Smith helping him towards his goal of a successful debut at Bathurst. “Having achieved my own success at the renowned circuit, Elliot has grown up knowing the enormity of the task to win at Bathurst, and having Les (Small) on board with the Barbours once more, we’re looking forward to an incredibly enjoyable and hopefully successful weekend.” Since coming on board, Small has been overseeing the upgrade and completing plenty of research and development on the vehicle including a full steering and suspension upgrade, setup modifications, and engine maintenance. John Sidney has spent many hours fine tuning the Penske shocks, and developing some major suspension components, all guiding towards a stable machine for young Barbour to tackle the challenges of the mountain. The front end has been fully rebuilt and has new front torsion bars, steering box and steering shaft, to add to the new rear springs and adjusted shocks to allow more travel so young Barbour is no longer riding on the bump stops. The pedal box has now been assembled correctly providing the young gun with a fully functional and trustworthy brake pedal, a necessity on the demanding mountain circuit. With both Small and Black on hand with Fujitsu and V8 Ute entries, Rod Smith Racing, along with fellow racer Ben Neilson will spanner the car on Bathurst event weekend. Having won many races under Rod’s care, Barbour is looking forward to his debut at Bathurst, knowing not only does he need to overcome the challenge of jumping from open wheel to V8 once more, but also the toughest Masters field yet, and one of the toughest circuits in racing, but the young gun is keen to go racing saying, “Racing at Bathurst is what I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember and to be racing on the Bathurst 1000 weekend is even bigger and better. “My plan is to be racing in the big race one day and I think the TCM series is a great way to go for my first outing at Bathurst in cars that really started the big event all those years ago. “To be racing against legends like Jim Richards, John Bowe and Glenn Seton will be pretty cool and I’m lucky enough to know many in the series, as well as have a few mates also racing with plenty of experience so I will be picking their brains to try and help me over the weekend. “The Charger has had some big improvements since Muscle Car Masters which it was in massive need of so hopefully now it won’t be such a hairy ride. “All round I just can’t wait to hit the track Thursday and hopefully have a great weekend.” Images: Dirk Klynsmith www.graphicdakphotos.com |
The youngest competitor in the Touring Car Masters field, at age 20, Elliot Barbour will make his Mount Panorama debut this weekend on arguably the biggest weekend in Australian motor sport, the Bathurst 1000.
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