pic: Lee Wallis
Jason Clements is a seriously fierce Improved Production Queensland competitor and is after the number 1 door plate in 2018.
Clements leads the way for the over 2-litre championship in Queensland with 266 points. His nearest rival is David Waldon (current National under 2-litre champion) on 254 points. Rod Lynch rounds out the top 3 with 199 points to his name, but with 125 points available at the last round, the championship is wide open.
Clements, from Lismore New South Wales, runs a mechanical workshop in Ballina and started racing karts at age 15, but dabbled earlier on with bikes.
His fascination for machinery, cars and bikes was what drove his racing ambition. Following a few massive accidents on bikes, he was introduced to karts by a friend of his fathers.
Clements bought a second-hand kart for $1,600 which he would use to claim success in. With a small budget and very little sponsorship, Clements was motivated to make the most of everything he had.
Clements raced in a round of the 1995 CIK Kart World Titles and from there was offered a drive for Graham Mein in a Ralt RT4 F2 car (1.6L single cam Nissan engine). In 1998 he won the Queensland Championship and was awarded the CAMS Driver Award.
Next stop in Clements career was Formula Atlantic, racing a Cosworth powered Ralt RT4 and Al Unser Jnr’s Domino’s Pizza 1986 Indycar that he would describe as “extremely fast and rewarding”.
In 2006 Clements decided to start a tin-top career where he found Improved Production and purchased a Toyota AE86 where he had a heap of fun racing sedans.
Justin Wade (a current Improved Production competitor in Queensland), offered Clements a drive of his BMW E36 M3. This particular car has an extensive history in Improved Production, racing at many of the Improved Production National meetings. It is a car that Clements now owns and runs himself.
Clements, when asked what his favourite car was to drive, explained that it was hard to choose but his current BMW E36 M3 was his preferred weapon of choice.
“I just love driving race cars. I’d have to say my current car, the BMW E36 is my favourite. Iain Williamson (MoTec Queensland and Masterson Motorsport), my son Kyler (Clements) and I have put so much effort into the car setup to make it what it is”, said Clements.
“We are always changing it, always improving it”.
While Clements has learnt not to expect anything in motorsport, he explained that he was heading to the 2018 season closer at Morgan Park simply to enjoy his time.
“I’m just heading into Morgan Park to have a good time and enjoy the racing. I’ve learnt not to expect anything in motorsport as anything can, and does happen”.
As Clements claims his competition on track is “the stopwatch”, he will travel to Morgan Park with the main goal of spending time with his family away from work.
