It is the 75th time Darren Smith and Garry O’Brien have had the opportunity to hear someone tell their story.
Our guest on this episode is Mike Henry who talks about his ongoing time in motorsport from his beginnings. We also catch up on the latest happenings on the state and club motorsport scene as the season draws to a close.
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/67e5b14a-79c1-4765-aff9-98a5822b2d94/
Mike’s philosophy says it all. While his aspirations to be a rock star didn’t quite figure out, he considers himself to be a lucky bloke who went racing and seen a lot of stuff.
His introduction to motorsport came by the way of attending Speedway meetings from the age of 12. His work life started as an apprentice mechanic with a Melbourne Holden dealer while his motorsport career began on a rather unaspiring level.
He joined Holden Special Vehicles in 1987, and his first job was to paint the floor in the new premises the company was set to move into.
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His stint with the late Tom Walkinshaw was working on the road car side of the business before he left the group to pursue a degree in Control Systems Engineering.
Via a brash letter and a funded flight, he was able to rejoin the Walkinshaw by means of a funded move to England to work on the Volvo G70.
From there, he was drafted across to the Arrows Formula 1 operation from 1998 to 2002 where he worked mainly on engines, after which he experienced roles in Indy, IRL, Le Mans and the A1 GP.
He then decided to return home and worked at HRT/HSV from 2005 which reaped Supercar championships, Bathurst exploits which included the one that got away.
After 2009 he was on ‘gardening leave’ before he did a stint at Borlands Racing Developments before he joined Sonic Motor Racing. Sonic has and is extensively involved in Porsche Carrera Cup and Formula Ford where Mike worked for an extended period, before decided he had enough. However, he was wooed back to a consultant role with the Blanchard Racing Team.
It is also worth catching up on the other entertaining 74 Grassroots Racing Podcasts. We have had many of the big names in the sport, where they discuss where it started for them and their progression through their careers.
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