Perennial privateer and former Bathurst 1000 regular Cameron McLean remains hungry to drive in Australia’s top racing category, but says the injection of youth in the V8 Supercar class these days makes it hard for ‘once-a-year drivers.’
Speaking to Speedcafe.com.au for its weekly ‘Where are they now?’ column, McLean said that family and business have taken precedence over the past few years, although he is keen to have another run at The Mountain – one day …
“I’d obviously like to keep going to Bathurst in V8 Supercars, but there’s a lot of young blokes out there who are showing a fair bit of speed. It’s pretty hard to compete,” he said.
“You’ve got to be committed for the whole year – not just two weekends a year.”
“I haven’t made any phone calls. I read about the (endurance driver) rule change, and I thought about it, but you’ve got to be committed to it properly. It takes time to do it.
“We’ll just see what unfolds over the next couple of months. There’s certainly interest there from me. It’s been a couple of years, but I’ve stayed pretty fit, and with the sequential gearbox, they’re probably a bit easier to drive. I’d like to drive one of them with those gearboxes in there. I can just imagine it would make it a lot easier when you don’t have to think about it.”
“I can certainly do it. There’s no trouble there. I’ll look at sorting some things out over the next couple of months and see where it goes.”
McLean is a former Australian Sports Sedan, two-time Super Tourer Privateers’ Cup winner and V8 Supercar Privateers Champion. His best result in the V8 Supercar endurance races was in 2004 with Russell Ingall at Stone Brothers Racing where the pair finished second at the Sandown 500.
The Queenslander’s last Bathurst start was in 2007 with Garry Rogers Motorsport. He finished ninth with Greg Ritter.
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