Apprentice Vining-Falvey steps up with guidance from the Master Bowe
Apprentice Vining-Falvey with Don Dimitriadis and Master John Bowe
As the days until Round 2 of the Masters tick down, the days of track and seat experience for Touring Car Masters rookie William Vining-Falvey are on the up, with a first successful test day of his Mustang machine checked d off at Winton Raceway yesterday.
Vining-Falvey is certainly the most inexperienced racer in the strong Masters field, but that hasn’t stopped the series’ young--gun putting it all on the line, having made his d debut in the Don Dimitriadis owned Mustang Coupe at the season opener last month having had little more than 20 minutes at the wheel of the stunning #98 entry.
Having never driven muscle cars s before, Vining-Falvey is an apprentice on many levels, having raced in odd club meetings before making the big step up to Australia’s premier muscle car series and learning under the pressure of the lights, cameras and a full field of passionate racers on the big stage.
Utilising Round 1 as effectively a test to gain seat time, learn the Savy Motorsport prepped car and have a taste of the challenges to come, Vining-Falvey set out to seek an in-depth understanding of the synergy bet tween man and machine, and machine and circuit, taking to the Winton track alone for the most part, with invaluable guidance from dual Masters champion, John Bowe along for the ride, explaining, "Will is a friend of mine, and I’ve know his family through WesTrac for a long time. He is essentially a rookie and I like helping young guys to learn where I can.
"The Touring Car Masters needs to attract new blood, and Don Dimitriadis who owns the car, has put a lot of effort into that lovely Mustang, so fast tracking the learning curve for Will is the least I can do.
"Touring Car Masters cars are quite difficult to drive, with way too much power for the grip available, so it’s nice to be able to pass on all these years of technique experience.
"Will is in the early stages of a very steep learning curve, but he is a terrific addition to the series, is at the wheel of a great car, and has a lot of potential as his confidence and seat time grow."
With Bowe having offered to join Vining-Falvey and the crew, the day saw the apprentice and the master discussing and actioning improvements to take the 1964 Mustang progress from a good car to a great car, one that Bowe believes has the pace and reliability to be up the front, and with a growing confidence for the rookie driver, he too believes that a lot has already been achieved, with much more to come, saying,
"Don (Dimitriadis) has given me such a great opportunity to be involved with a great team, in a strong car, in an incredibly challenging series so our test day was just what I needed to go to the next level in car control, learning a lot from JB’s (John Bowe) pointers on braking and race-craft, and with that comes the confidence I both want and need to take on the full Touring Car Masters season.
"Making minor adjustments along the way, we’ve seen quite an improvement with the Mustang already and by the end of the day’s sessions I had taken over four seconds out of my times from the morning.
"We’re now looking ahead to make sure that this season sees the Mustang further into the pack, with the main aims to match my skills and confidence with the car’s performance, finish all of the races cleanly, and hopefully see some great team results along the way. It’s a challenge I’m looking forward to."
Given that Top Gear Festival Sydney was the first actual race in Vining-Falvey’s short career, his commitment is unquestioned, his enthusiasm shines through, and his performance improving with every lap, making this Masters apprentice once to watch this season.
The Touring Car Masters is proudly supported by Shannons Insurance, Rare Spares, Unique Cars Magazine and the 2013 Australian Muscle Car Masters, with official suppliers Hoosier Tires and Australian Sports Marketing, and official technology partners Sandman Technical.