Bathurst driver Terry Nightingale has received a late call up to join the five car Williams Race Tech team and make his V8 Ute debut in the sixth round of the V8 Ute Racing Series at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 meeting at Mount Panorama next week.
Williams Race Tech based in Victoria at Corowa has been fielding Utes for some ten years, and this year will introduce two V8 Ute rookies to the Bathurst round, with Nightingale in the #43 Holden VE SS, and Geoff Fane in the #42 Holden VE SS Ute.
The other three driving in the Bathurst round are Kim Jane in the #27 Bob Jane T Mart Ford Falcon EF, Spud Wood (#41 Battery World Holden), Geoff Fane (#42 Holden) and Allan Letcher who will be driving the new #19 Ford Ute FG.
V8 Ute drivers get nicknames, and the Bathurst driver has been dubbed Terry – The Bathurst Bandit – Nightingale.
At all events in which the Nightingale Motorsport team compete during the remainder of this year and all of 2015, they will be promoting the Bathurst 200, which is the Bathurst Regional Councils campaign to celebrate Bathurst’s 200th birthday in 2015, and as such the #43 Holden ute will be carrying appropriate signage at the Bathurst 1000 meeting.
However like all motorsport it comes at a cost, and while it’s been a struggle to obtain the required budget he is very close now.
“I’d really like to thank everyone thats helped out so far, for it didn’t look as if we had a chance to reach the budget a week ago,” Nightingale said.
“In a short space of time we’ve received support from some wonderful people, with Bathurst Holden, which is great because we are racing a Holden, and then the Bathurst RSL who have been absolutely great supporters of motorsport in Bathurst, and then we picked up some more from a couple of great guys, Mick Obo Bryant and Phil Bryant the local Kleenheat distributors.
“We also have two Sydney companies on board, with Baxters Coaches and TKR Transport.
“Then just yesterday we signed Panorama Road Safety thanks to Matty Irvine. It’s really great to have them on board for they do a fantastic job in the community and we in motorsport should do more to try to help them,” said Nightingale.
The 26 year old Nightingale Motorsport driver has been battling for years to get an opportunity like racing a V8 Ute at Bathurst, and has been doing great things behind the wheel at several different tracks across three states over the past two years in mainly endurance racing, racking up wins, places class wins and pole positions in BMW E460 M3 and Mazda MX5’s from the TargaRacing team.
He also scored a podium in his debut drive in the new and exciting Excel Series.
“I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to race at the Bathurst 1000 for a long time, and when I spoke to Wayne (Williams), the team owner, he told me he had a drive available I jumped at it,” said Nightingale.
“The old man (Brian Nightingale) raced here in the Bathurst 1000 during 80’s in the Group C days in the 80’s, and to be able to get a chance to race here on this weekend, on the world’s greatest track at home is a dream come true.
“Making it even better is doing it in a V8 Ute. With the exception of V8 Supercars they are Australia’s most popular category, and while I haven’t driven one as yet, they apparently are great to drive.
The two twenty practice sessions on Thursday will be very important for Nightingale, as he has never even sat in a V8 Ute let alone drive one.
What is in his favour is that he has raced on the iconic Mount Panorama, having made his racing debut at Mount Panorama in February driving in the HQ Enduro with 2012 NSW champion Chris Buckley, when he made the HQ fraternity sit up and take notice when after just six laps in practice and another four in qualifying put the car 4th on the grid.
A very well known on track commentator at tracks in NSW and Victoria, Nightingale will be doing double duty at Mount Panorama over the weekend, as he juggles his racing duties with commentary, as he will be with Bathurst’s 2BS broadcasting the racing, and after the third V8 Ute race on Sunday morning will be making a dash to grab his microphone and will be working the pits all day.
