WHAT’S IN THE WORKSHOP – WALL RACING

What’s in the workshop – Wall Racing – Photo: InSyde Media

As many teams have taken the opportunity to complete a variety of projects during the hiatus from competition, Wall Racing is no different.

By HEATH McALPINE

The renowned customer outfit led by David Wall runs multiple programs across TCR, GTs, Carrera Cup and even Sports Sedans, which has kept the small, tight-knit team busy during the pandemic.

“The plan was to do whatever we could, just ride the wave to keep going and hopefully the wave wouldn’t be for too long,” Wall told Auto Action.

“We’re lucky enough to have a fair few programs running here, we have TCR, we have Carrera Cup, we have GTs as well as some existing customers that do some local events.”

Wall Racing received two Honda Civic Type R TCRs from Asian team KCMG in anticipation of Paul Ip competing in TCR Australia, but due to travel restrictions and business commitments he won’t be participating in the updated six-round TCR Australia calendar.

“Unfortunately, Paul can’t come this year, he’s a Pro-Am driver and he’s running businesses, plus other things in front of him,” explained Wall. “His cars are here, but he can’t get here so we’re definitely looking for a driver to fill that seat for the year.

“Whether or not we can do that for the whole year or a couple of one-off events, time will tell.”

Upgrade work was also completed to the team’s fleet of Civic Type R TCRs also the team is also continuing a development program of its own to try and take the TCR Australia crown.

“We’ve tried things that we’ve been wanting to do, but haven’t had time for during the year last season,” Wall said. “Just thoughts from the engineers and drivers of what they’d like to have more from the car. We’ve been trying to find that avenue and essentially it has taken us a bit of time, but we’ve been slowly chipping away with that in the background.”

Testing is anticipated to take place just prior to the opening round of TCR Australia season on August 15-16 at Sydney Motorsport Park to test the development and to get the driver’s eyes back in.

Wall Racing has had to rebuild two chassis during the pandemic, plus a re-shell. The Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo owned by Adrian Deitz is currently being rebuilt after the Bathurst 12 Hour and has been stripped right back to a bare chassis.

“The Lamborghini was completely stripped back to a chassis and rebuilt back up to the current Evo spec,” Wall explained. “To be fair, parts weren’t drama even though they came from Europe, we put in our order for the parts we needed and we had them here within two weeks.

“First things first are to get it back running, make it all beautiful then hit the ground running.”

Another is a Porsche GT3 Cup S that is being restored to a museum piece rather than a repair job, while a Carrera Cup chassis is being re-shelled after an incident in Adelaide.

A sentimental piece of machinery in the Wall Racing workshop is the Chevrolet Corvette Trans Am that Wall’s late-father Des drove to an Australian Sports Sedan title and he hopes to race sometime in the future.

“My dad’s car has been in the family for a long-time and we had to do some work on it, some maintenance,” said Wall.

“I gave it a 10-lap shakedown at Wakefield Park, it was to get it out to be honest, for the car was driving me for the first five laps and then I started to get my eye in.

“I’d like to do a one-off round in it, they have a memorial trophy for my dad at particular events each year and I’ve always said I’d really like to get that trophy. I gave a crack in 2016 at Sandown and that was the first time I’d driven it, but I’d definitely like to do another round somewhere.

“I’d really like to drive the car at a place like Phillip Island or The Bend or SMP, I’d think it’d be pretty cool.”

A bucket list item was also ticked when Wall was offered a chance to drive the 2019 Bathurst 12 Hour winner, now owned by client Paul Tresidder.

“I’ve always wanted to drive a current model GT3R or RSR or something along those lines,” Wall said. “Paul was good enough to offer me a drive and I couldn’t get my suit on quick enough!

“I was bolting wheels on and doing everything else with boys for the day and then got to do a 10-15 lap run at the end of the day to tick that box.

“Very, very nice car. The car is very fast and no wonder it was so fast around The Mountain!”

As racing gets back underway, What’s In The Workshop will continue albeit in a staggered manner.

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