David Reynolds is not sure if his latest Supercars contract will be his last, despite signing for Team 18 at the age of 38.
The 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner will next year form one half of a veteran line-up at the Charlie Schwerkolt-owned squad, alongside Mark Winterbottom.
The latter is a race winner this year, prevailing at Hidden Valley in the weeks after he celebrated his 42nd birthday.
By way of contrast, the podium in Race 9 of the season at Wanneroo, when Broc Feeney beat Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki to victory, was comprised of drivers with a combined age of 69 years at the time.
Furthermore, Walkinshaw Andretti United is expected to announce the promotion of 19-year-old Ryan Wood from its Super2 programme in coming weeks, and Dick Johnson Racing will give 18-year-old Kai Allen his Supercars Championship debut in a wildcard entry in this year’s Bathurst 1000.
However, asked on this week’s Speedcafe Newscast if Reynolds sees himself finishing his career at Team 18, he replied, “I have no idea right now.
“Motorsport’s a funny sport. It doesn’t rely a lot on physicality. It’s not like running or football where your body gets tired; motor racing, it’s got nothing to do with that.
“So, you can actually drive until you want to step out of the sport.
“I always tell a story about when I was 21 years old, fast Porsche racer; I thought I was like one of the fastest Porsche drivers in the world.
“I used to get my arse handed to me by a 58-year-old boy named Jim Richards, week in, week out.
“You can honestly drive up until you don’t want to anymore or you don’t have the motivation to.
“As long as you’ve got the motivation to win and get up every day and be better, you can drive for as long as you want.
“Plus, with age comes experience, so you have a better risk assessment when you’re older, so there’s many factors to driving later in life.”
While Team 18 is an exception to the apparent youth push, it is not alone in fielding at least one driver who is around four decades into their life.
41-year-old Will Davison, who has proved a match for 27-year-old team-mate Anton De Pasquale, has at least one more season to run at Dick Johnson Racing, while 43-year-old James Courtney is set to remain on the grid next year, with either of the Blanchard Racing Team or Matt Stone Racing, and 38-year-old Tim Slade is likely to remain at PremiAir Racing.
Triple Eight will start 2024 with a 21-year-old in Feeney and a 25-year-old in Brown, although Craig Lowndes recently signed a new deal which will see him contest the 2025 Bathurst 1000 as a 51-year-old if plans for more wildcard campaigns do indeed come to fruition.
At Reynolds’ current team, Grove Racing, 20-year-old Matt Payne is on a long-term deal and his team-mate next year will be Richie Stanaway, who is currently 31.
For Reynolds, a longer contract was a key part in his decision to shift to Team 18, despite the promise shown at Grove.
“At the Grove’s, they’ve got a lot of potential; it’s going to be a really kick-arse team,” he predicted.
“But, I’m just looking for a longer-term deal, really, and it’s going to be at Team 18.”
Meanwhile, the driver whom Reynolds will replace at Team 18, Scott Pye, has emerged as one of the leading candidates for the Matt Stone Racing seat which has become available due to Jack Le Brocq’s move to Erebus Motorsport.
Discussion about this post