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Stillwell family to continue racing legacy

Michael David Stillwell

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 8 September 2023

The Stillwell name has been part of Australian motorsport for over 70 years and the story will continue at Australian Production Cars level at Sandown this weekend.

Father-son combination David and Michael Stillwell are making their APC debut in a #6 Ford Mustang Mach 1 in the fourth round of the season.

With one session already under their belt, the Stillwell Family Racing squad can tackle the remainder of a busy four-race weekend after finishing 15th in opening practice.

Whilst both Michael in his seventies and David in his thirties have entered, the older Michael is planned to drive in all 30-minute races with his son to work as data engineer.

Michael Stillwell said they are coming into Sandown with open expectations.

“After an initial Friday shakedown at Sandown in early August our Mach 1 successfully participated in a one day event at Phillip Island mid-August where our focus was on car setup and suspension tuning,” Michael said.

“Our focus at the Sandown round will be on consistency and on further fine tuning of the setup, and we will see where we finish up.

The Mustang Michael and David Stillwell will be racing around Phillip Island. Photo: Steven Duggan, SD Pics

“Sandown is one of our home tracks, and I have plenty of experience racing there on its various configurations.

“The limited testing to date suggests it has quite a sweet handling package as well which will suit Sandown’s mixed layout of fast sweeping corners and tight ones as well.

“We don’t have any high expectations at this stage, other than to just enjoy the weekend.”

Michael and David are following in the footsteps of Michael’s father and David’s grandfather, Bib Stillwell, a four-time Gold Star winner.

Bib Stillwell started racing in the late 1940’s where he competed against the likes of Sir Jack Brabham and Lex Davison.

After scoring Australian Gold Star wins in both a Cooper and Brabham Tasman spec cars, he was rewarded with a works Aston Martin drive at Le Mans.

Inspired by his dad’s feats, Michael Stillwell also jumped behind the wheel.

“After kicking off my own motorsport career in go-karts under dad’s watchful eye and following a year working for the Brabham Racing Organisation in the UK, I was Larry’s teammate in the 1971 Formula Ford series, and I beat him once only in the wet at Amaroo Park!” Joked Michael.

“I also raced in the Australian Touring Car Championship in a very quick and successful Ford Escort Twin Cam and a number of Bathurst 500s followed along with a number of years with a giant-killing Escort BDA in Sports Sedans through the 1970s.

“After some time away I returned to racing in the early 2000s competing in the BMW Drivers Cup, built a BMW 3.0 CSL Coupe and have competed successfully in Targa Tasmania, Rally Tas and Classic Adelaide tarmac rally events. 

“More recently I have also been a participant in the Porsche Sprint Challenge and Production Sports Cars.”

The Stillwell Ford Mustang will be one to watch at Sandown this weekend with the first of four APC races at 11.05 AEST on Saturday morning.

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION or subscribe HERE

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