The wild journey to the Des Wall Trophy for Ingram

Precision National Sport Sedan Series leader Peter Ingram collected the prestigious Des Wall Trophy at Sydney, but it was far from an easy drive to the destination.

Ingram was forced to start last after missing qualifying due to a broken driveshaft, but a brilliant recovery driver to third in Race 1 set-up his weekend.

This ensured he was within striking distance for the deciding final race and he hunted down Steven Tamasi to take the trophy, but that is only just part of the story.

Lifting the Des Wall Trophy at the end of a trying weekend made it extra special for Ingram.

“It is a really special trophy to win,” he told AUTO ACTION.

“Everyone that has ever been involved or knows anything of Sports Sedans knows of Des Wall and everyone speaks very fondly of him, unfortunately I was not racing when he was.

“To win an award with his name on it is very special. A lot of Sports Sedans drivers work hard to achieve it so it’s pretty cool to do it in my second attempt.”
Ingram’s Mazda RX7 was fast out of the gates, topping Practice 1, but it was not without dramas.

“We had a bumpy Friday,” he recalled.

“We only had the two practice sessions and halfway through the first I had an issue in the front end steering and was not sure what it was so I retired the car.

“Thankfully I did because we found a part that was damaged.”

But even bigger concerns would come in Practice 2, which left his team in an ultimately unsuccessful dash to repair the car in time for qualifying.

However, the eight-person team came heartbreakingly close, but unfortunately Ingram was forced to start Race 1 from the back.

“I was coming down the straight in top gear and just broke the drive shaft,” Ingram explained.

“In the process of the development of the car we have two prop shafts and they are not the same and I had forgotten I had needed a bracket in order to mount the spare shaft.

“So what we thought was going to be a quick job, we realised it wasn’t because we had to fabricate a bracket.

“The boys worked feverishly to get it in, but missed qualifying by 30 seconds to a minute.

“We literally put the car on the ground and one of the guys came over and said ‘no, that is it’ so it was a bit of an emotional moment because I cannot recall a time we had not got the car out.

“Obviously fighting for the championship I was stressed and frustrated with the situation and I have never seen the team more emotional.”

Ingram was able to put the setback behind him and produce a special comeback drive to third in Race 1.

However, there were more dramas off the start as there was confusion over whether it would be a rolling start or single-file Safety Car restart due to a retirement on the formation lap.

Then there were Safety Car boards still being displayed at Turn 1, which meant the Mazda RX7 did not start passing rivals until the following corner.

In the end Ingram came within 2s of snatching second from Brad Shiels after making strong moves at Turns 4 and 6 especially.

In Race 2 the championship leader then took the fight to Tamasi, but fell short after they clashed coming out of the Turn 8 hairpin.

This meant it all came down to the final race where the Des Wall Trophy was on the line and Ingram won the battle convincingly.

He sensed Tamasi “cooked his rears a little bit” and the Mazda blazed past the Holden Calibra down Brabham Straight and charged to glory.

Ingram now enjoys a handy 50-point lead in the Sports Sedans title race over Geoff Taunton ahead of the penultimate round at Sandown on August 23-25.

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