Tilley’s battle-hardened Pacer to hit TCM double ton

Cam Tilley’s fan-favourite Valiant Pacer is set to become only the fourth car in Touring Car Masters history to hit the 200 race milestone.

The Pacer has developed a cult fan base over its 199 race journey thus far, and after going through the ringer with an extensive rebuild after its crash in Townsville in 2022, Tilley can hardly believe that his beloved Pacer is on the verge of its hard-fought milestone.

AUTO ACTION spoke to Tilley on his way up to Newcastle, where he hopes to hit the historic milestone in the Trophy Race.

“It’s hard to believe that from when I first climbed into this car, that it would reach 200 races…the first thing that comes to mind is, how much did that cost me!” Tilley laughed.

“To turn up and do 200 races with the Pacer, bloody hell! I’ve driven in more TCM races than that obviously, but for this car alone to hit that mark…there’s only a handful that have done that so in my mind, that’s a huge achievement for me.

Cam Tilley gets off to a flyer in his Pacer in the Trophy Race at Sandown. Jack Martin Photography.

“But I’ve got to get it through practice first. Had to start the year at Tassie with an old engine that I had parked on the floor for two years.

“It’s the first V8 that I had in it, which is all steel so it’s very heavy, there’s no aluminium heads on it so it’s down and power and quite heavy, it’s more than 40 kilos heavier than the other engines.

“It’s not really shy on power of course, but the main thing is that it just keeps going, and doesn’t spread itself all over the track or something stupid like that!”

Can the Pacer snatch a podium in its 200th? The nature of the circuit will suit the lighter machines like the Torana’s, even though Steve Johnson’s #33 Mustang appears unstoppable, but you can’t discount the storied Pacer from writing itself another chapter.

“It’s obviously not an ideal track to carry the extra 40 kilos over the front wheels, but we’ll see how it pans out,” Tilley continued.

“I was a bit off the pace in Tasmania, but I’ve serviced it every night over the past week just to keep her reliable, but I’ll do my best, maybe a bit of chaos might help.”

Tilley fought hard to rebuild his #60 Pacer after its massive crash at Townsville in 2022

The blue #60 Pacer made its debut in 2008 when it had a screaming Hemi six under the hood, and raced it until 2011 before switching to a Ford 302-powered Ford Mustang TransAm.

The beloved pacer then returned at the back-end of 2014 where it picked up scattered podiums over its journey, before finally breaking its hoodoo in 2021 at Mount Panorama in the Trophy Race. 

In 2022 the Pacer finally saluted in a feature race at SMP, where Tilley stormed home over the unstoppable Torana’s of 6-time TCM Champion John Bowe, and that year’s eventual Champion, Ryan Hansford.

Fans feared the worst after a massive crash at Townsville, when the rear of the Pacer was torn off when Michael Almond’s brakes gave way in the Whiteline Camaro, with both cars receiving extensive damage.

Cameron Tilley posing with the TCM fan favourite after it got a new 358ci Mopar engine in 2018

Tilley then made a shock comeback after working his proverbial off to get it back on track at Sandown that season, where he scored a shock pole in the wet before it was stricken by race-stewards due to not enough laps being completed by the field in the wet. 

The extent of the damage that the Pacer took at Townsville put the future of the fan favourite TCM car in doubt

He then went on to grab a podium in the trophy race, proving that you can’t keep this tough and durable Pacer down. 

That’s why you can’t write it off for Newcastle, cause Tilley’s go it alone TCM Pacer is the fan-favourite that just keeps on giving.

GO PACER!!!

Tilley led from lights to flag in the Trophy Race at Bathurst in 2021 to win his first TCM race in the #60 Pacer

The only other cars to reach the TCM 200 milestone are Whiteline Racing’s 1969 Camaro SS (279), Mustang ‘Sally’ (233) and Whiteline’s 1970 Camaro RS (220).

Fox Sports 506 and Kayo will show Friday’s action, which includes Qualifying (12:20pm) and the TCM Trophy Race (3:15pm).

They’ll also show the first two championship races of the weekend, set for Saturday at 9:15am and 12:00pm local time.

The final race of the weekend on Sunday will also be broadcast live and free on the Seven Network, at 1:15pm AEDT.

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.

AUTO ACTION, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport