Even at 75 Peter Watson still loves competing. He was on the track on Sunday in his Amaroo Clubman. Photo: Barry Smith 170213BSB01
AGE isn’t slowing down Peter Watson. If anything, at 75 he’s getting quicker.
That’s how it is on the track at least, with Watson going as fast as he ever has in Sunday’s Lapdash out at Oakburn Park.
The meet was run by the Tamworth Sporting Car Club, which Watson has raced with in two stints.
First in the mid-70s when his pride and joy was a 1968 Holden Monaro.
“I’ve always been interested in motorsports,” Watson said.
“I raced for about five years in the 1970s.”
Back then the club used to race hillclimbs up to the lookout.
Then about five years ago he rekindled his racing passion and purchased a 1995 Amaroo Clubman sports car.
“A friend of mine, Gundy Hunt, had one,” Watson said.
“I was always interested in those cars.
“I went looking and it probably took me about six months to find what I wanted.”
The car is based on an English Lotus sports car and is fired by a 1600cc Toyota 4AG twin cam engine.
It is pretty much as Watson bought it.
The only work he’s done to it is general maintenance.
“It’s a good little car,” he said.
“Gundy does some work on it when I want some work done.”
He said it’s running well at the moment. The weekend proved that, with Watson clocking a fastest lap of 42.68secs.
“That’s the quickest I’ve been out there (Oakburn Park),” Watson said.
His previous best was 43.38secs.
The car is also road-registered and Watson regularly takes it out for a spin.
“There’s a group in Tamworth that go on the road,” he said.
He’s also a member of the Holden Car Club and still takes the Monaro out for drives.
These days though he doesn’t travel to race as much as he did, although he is planning to go over to Gunnedah for its hillclimb in March.
“They’ve reinvented the Gunnedah one,” Watson said.
“They used to have a Gunnedah hillclimb in the old days.”
Watson is not one to shirk from a challenge, in fact he seems to relish them.
In 2010 he completed the gruelling 1750km ride from the Barossa Valley to Tamworth in support of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
Before that – as a 51-year old – he competed in and completed the prestigious Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon.
“You had to qualify (to compete),” Watson said.
He still cycles and swims regularly, when he’s not behind the wheel.