SPECIAL FEATURE: BEN WALSH

In issue #29 of Velocity magazine we ran the special feature on SuperUte driver Ben Walsh, here is that story direct from the magazine.

Ben Walsh has pretty much raced every type of race car on offer. In 2018 the Queenslander quite literally looked to new heights with Super Utes, Australia’s newest category. Walsh pilots the distinctive blue and yellow number 8 Car City Toyota Hilux.

Ben followed the traditional motorsport pathway as a youngster and rose through the Karting ranks. He was quite successful in the junior International category with two South Pacific Karting Championships, seven State Karting titles and two Bridgestone Kart Prix Championships to his credit.

A move to circuit racing followed as Ben initially tried his hand at sedan racing in 1993-94 with a HQ Holden and continued on his winning way. Walsh scored 10 pole positions, 7 race wins and 2 lap records in 93, which earned him the Rookie of the Year title. The sedan racing success spurred Ben Walsh to seek bigger challengers. In 1994 a love of open cockpit racing, coupled with a lack of formula racing in Australia, led Ben on a well worn path to Europe. It was a career that Walsh continued to climb for almost ten years. He first raced in France and finished runner-up in the Formula Renault Series in a Winfield Elf. In 1995 he moved to England and won the British Formula Ford Aintree Scholarship. In 1997 he was runner-up in the Malaysian Formula Campus Championship. 

1998 was the watershed year in the racing life of the young Australian. Ben won the Formula Asia F.I.A. International Asian Drivers Championship and was also named the Australian

International Driver of the Year 1998 (hotopenwheelers.com). Walsh also claimed both the Chinese and Malaysian national championships in the Asian Formula 2000 category.

1999 promised even more when he was set to run in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship with T.O.M.S Toyota, who were widely acknowledged at the most successful F3 team in the world at the time and it was also at the same time that Toyota had just announced their plans to return to F1. At the precipice of his career Walsh’s world came crashing down when a suspension component failed in private testing at Mt Fuji Speedway. The injuries sustained brought a sudden halt to his racing ambitions.

Ben returned home for rehabilitation and motor sport took a back seat as he built a successful business, though the racing bug still remained. As the business grew and became less reliant on Walsh alone, Ben had the opportunity to return to the track. In 2016 he jumped into Australia’s smallest one make category, the Aussie Racing Cars Series and won the ARC Masters Cup Championship in his debut year.

Two years on and Ben Walsh has moved from David to Goliath, his hands full racing the massive Car City Hilux.

“I have the fortune of being backed by the largest used car complex of any kind in the Southern Hemisphere, Car City Ringwood and Minchinbury who have put me into the Western Sydney Motorsport, Car City Hilux for the inaugural SuperUtes series, so our partnership is an ideal fit.

I have raced quite a few different classes, but this new series, the SuperUtes, are seriously challenging. A completely new kettle of fish, they are unlike anything else out there, not like anything I’ve raced in the past. The things have unbelievable brakes and handle extremely well considering their weight. It really is a lot of fun”.  Ben Walsh told Velocity Motorsport Magazine.

The new category sees The Car City Toyota Hilux joined by Ford Rangers, Mitsubishi Triton’s, Isuzu D-Max’s, Holden Colorado’s and Mazda BT-50’s.  Walsh’s ute is one of three Western Sydney Motorsport Supported Hilux’s, the same team he raced with in the Aussie Racing Cars.

“When I had a look at the engineering of the SuperUte, straight away I thought there

has been a hell of a lot of thought that has gone into this,” Walsh said. “Obviously the diesel engine, the way you drive it is very different, but the actual car itself with the suspension and the braking, it has been designed as a proper race car. That’s what lured me to the category .”

Ben’s best results in the category’s maiden series to date has been a third place on the streets of Townsville, a tight and twisty concrete jungle and a third at Queensland Raceway.

“We made great progress in the development of the ute at Townsville and Ipswich, this class is new to everyone, we are still developing the cars greatly, there is a lot more to come from the Car City Ute. Ben Walsh said. “Watch this space!”

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