Livin’ the Davies dream

By Marc McGowan
DANDENONG speed demon Graeme Davies lived the dream last month when he competed in round one of the VSC Sprintcar series at Drouin Speedway.
Davies, 44, has been involved in motor sport for two decades, including 15 years of speedway racing, but had yet to reach the start line in a sprintcar race.
“It has always been a dream of mine to own a sprintcar, but it has taken quite a while to get one,” he said.
“I believe I’m at my peak now, and it’s been a life-long ambition to get there.”
Davies had no intention of just making up the numbers in Drouin, scorching into third place in the final to make a promising start to his goal of a top-five series finish.
He paid $7000 for his sprintcar, which had to be shipped from Perth, and spent countless hours – and $12,000 – rebuilding the vehicle.
Fortunately, Davies is a mechanic by trade, but maintaining a sprintcar is still an expensive pursuit.
“On average, you go through 120 litres of fuel per race meet, and tyres are anywhere between $300 to $500 each and you can burn a tyre out in one heat,” he said.
“I had a practice day in Rosedale (last month) and went through two tyres.”
Davies was surprised with his third placing after stepping up from mini-sprintcars, which he had competed in for the past two seasons, but feels the higher speeds complement his self-professed “aggressive” driving style.
He is looking no further ahead than the sprintcar category despite making a successful transition so far.
“I’m happy with racing sprintcars. If I get into the opens or 360s it would be great, but it just comes down to dollars and how much you want to push your sponsors,” Davies said.
He is also hoping for a strong result at the sprintcars state title at Nyora Speedbowl on 31 January.