Touring Car great Brian Walden is back in Supersports
Former Touring Car competitor, Brian Walden, made a surprise appearance at Supersports racing at the final round of the 2021 Industrie Clothing New South Wales Supersports Championship last December, and then showed he will be continuing the Supersports challenge for a while longer by racing hard at Round 1 of the 2022 Industrie Clothing New South Wales Supersports Championship at Wakefield Park on February 26.
Brian Walden’s racing career started around 1970, first in a Mini Sports Sedan, then in Sports Cars, and then in a variety of Improved Production cars.
In the 1990’s, Brian then moved into Touring Cars, racing in the popular AMSCAR Series at Amaroo, and also in the 1997 Bathurst 1000.
Brian continued to race almost everything there was to race, from Pontiac Grand Prix and Chevy Monte Carlo NASCARs, Commodore Sports Sedans, to a Mercedes A45 Production Car with class wins in the Bathurst 6 Hour, over a 50 year-long motorsport career.
So, after a 50 year-long career, what does a real Racer’s Racer like Brian Walden move into next? How about into a lightweight high-speed Supersports prototype racing car in the 2022 Industrie Clothing New South Wales Supersports Championship!
With little fanfare, late last year Brian unexpectedly appeared in the Industrie Clothing New South Wales Supersports Championship driving a Garth Walden Racing (GWR) prepared Radical SR3. Yes, that’s Brian’s son, and who has also raced almost everything at a high level over the last 20 years, including GT cars, and Supersports.
They very clearly share the same race-winning motor racing genes!
With Garth Walden also being the proprietor of Radical Australia East, an agent for the ubiquitous British-designed and built Radical racing cars, it should be no surprise that Brian would be behind the wheel of a Radical Supersports car!
Brian Walden may not have the greatest expectations for fighting at the front of the Radical SR3 class, at least not for the next race or two, although at Round 1 of the 2022 Industrie Clothing New South Wales Supersports Championship at Wakefield Park on February 26th, Brian demonstrated that he could push a racing car as hard as it could go, with lap times in the tricky damp conditions that were several seconds faster than other categories would be on a dry day.
Brian’s appearance in the 2022 Industrie Clothing New South Wales Supersports Championship shows that all real racers can aspire to and get into Supersports prototype racing cars, from junior karters to the more senior experienced drivers.
Photo – Brian Walden in his Radical SR3 at Wakefield Park, and (insets) Brian in his Touring Car days with his VP Commodore, and Garth in his current ride, an AMG GT.
For more information on the 2022 Industrie Clothing New South Wales Supersports Championship, contact Darren Barlow on 0439044128, visit Facebook Supersports Racing New South Wales Australia, or visit https://www.supersportsracing.com.au/