Speedway champions Jock Goodyer, Joel Berkley, Kaidon Brown, and Callum Harper took to the tarmac – each for the first time in their careers – under the guidance of TFH Racing and series regulars Chais Tippett as well as brothers Diesel and Josh Thomas.
Driving brand new cars, the dirt track stars took to the circuit all day in short runs, setting about learning as much as possible about a completely different style of racing.
Despite one mishap for Speedcar champion Brown ending in the gravel at Turn 2, the day was smooth and free of major incidents.
Brown has an impressive roster of drivers in his corner whose knowledge and advice he will tap into, including Shane Van Gisbergen, NASCAR star Christopher Bell, and Supercars regular Macauley Jones.
The Thomas brothers set baseline lap times, with the Speedway drivers then being able to compare telemetry throughout the day.
Super Sedans national champion Berkley set the quickest time of the four, ending up within reach of Josh Thomas’ time, but insisted that the stark difference in racing style is a steep learning curve.
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“There is not much I can take from driving the Super Sedan, maybe back when I used to race Production Sedans, I’ve taken a little bit from that. The only tarmac stuff I’ve done is a rare outing at a hire kart track,” said Berkley.
“It was good fun, but it’s hard to really tell when you run it by yourself. It’ll be a different ball game next weekend.
“We shared the track, but we weren’t near each other, we were around 15-20 seconds apart.
“We all got plenty of laps and a bit of enjoyment out of it all, just trying to figure out the difference from what we normally do from a driving side.”
Harper and Berkley in particular described a habit of trailing the throttle through corners, as when racing a Super Sedan you always keep the throttle open to an extent.
Legend Cars Australia series regular Tippett was on hand to assist, labelling the initial test as “impressive”.
“I think they’re going really well, you know, considering a couple of them started today a few seconds off the pace and we’re just getting it lower and lower every time they go out there,” Tippett told Speedcafe.
“It’s very impressive, especially considering these boys haven’t ever driven off the dirt.
“We’ve got a lot of good names here: Jock, Callum, Joel, and Kaidon, all accomplished and Speedway Legends at this point now.
“So we’ll see how they go at Sydney and yeah, we’ll see how they feel about these cars.”
A flight delay left Goodyer with only half the day’s running, but the Sprintcar champion was able to adapt and absorb information on the fly, having not watched the other drivers on track or completed any simulator laps.
Further bridging the circuit and speedway worlds, the full AASA Short Track Nationals season will be broadcast on Speedway streaming platform Clay-Per-View.
The four Speedway stars will be among an expected field of 40-plus Legend Cars for the inaugural event in Sydney, with $10,000 on the line for the winner.
“Clay-Per-View coming on board helps us a lot with their viewership as well,” said Tippett.
“It’s going to be a massive event, a good couple of nights just to rip into it, see how we go and, you know, 10 grand on the line, everyone wants to be in it, so we’ll see how that goes.
“The viewership’s a big thing as well, these guys obviously have their followings and their franchise. So they’ll get a lot of views for us as well. They’re just making the series bigger than what it’s ever been.”
Legend Cars Australia will be supported in Sydney by Stock Cars Australia, AASA TT, Formula RX8, and the Australian Formula Ford Championship.
The Legend Cars Nationals will be held at Sydney Motorsport Park on the short ‘Druitt’ layout on April 25-26.
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