Photo: Andrew Hutchison
Well, that’s racing wrapped up for the year. It has been amazing and a year I will never forget. Finishing off my year in Fastlane Racing’s Driver Development Program with a win, a podium, pole position and a number of fastest laps in my first three race meets is something that I am very pleased with and I really wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone.
Everything I am able to do in my racing would not be possible without the hard work and effort of all those who support me. Racing is a very expensive and complicated sport, and while there is one driver, no one would be able to make a career in motorsport without backing of supporters. So I would like to firstly thank all my sponsors, Impressions the Home Builder, Grand Toyota Wangara, Rvend, Online Logistics Solutions, Signarama Joondalup, Kingsway Community Bank Branch (Bendigo Bank), Focused Recruitment, Fullworks Fire Safety and Genesis Fitness Club.
I am also very fortunate to have sponsors who take such a keen interest in my ambitions, and it has been so great having so many of them present at some or all of my races. In fact Ian from Impressions the Home Builder was not only there each event but would come along to many practice sessions as well! Everyone that came along during the year made it very special.
I would like to say a big thank you to Brett Lupton, who has provided me with a car to test and race for the year, and has always had the car set up brilliantly and has had it in great condition, his experience is second to none and his advice has always been amazing.
Peter Major, who coached me when I was just starting in Formula Ford. He taught me all the techniques on how to drive quickly and race well, and set a great base for me to build upon, and I look forward to learning much from him into the future. Adrian Fogliani, who has been there for my race meetings and has been my race engineer, giving me tips after each race, and making setup tweaks when I needed them. Ken & Collin, for letting me spend a few days in their workshop to learn about how each race car works and what each part does to make the car drive. I appreciate everything they have all done for me.
I want to thank Morena, for setting up my fantastic website which has created a great way to branch out to a wider audience and potential sponsors. She spent ages making sure it was just right, and I am so pleased with the result.
Thank you to Errol & Jenny Gilmour, Jon Collins & Luke Spalding and his family, for allowing me to spend a race weekend with their Formula 3 team to get a feel for how big events work in motorsport, and to also see the behind-the-scenes work of a Formula 3 race team. Their support across the year, and from a number of people amongst Australian F3 has been very encouraging for me.
My quiz night, which was a great fundraising event for my racing, could not have been possible without the help from many people to did an awesome job at getting the event set up. I would like to thank Helen & Jules Carr, Vanessa Staples, The Clarke Family, Kaye Kubach, Scott Griffiths and of course “Quiz Master” Ian Harris who all helped to set up my quiz night, get the table positionings sorted out, run the quizes, and do all of the other side-activities and behind-the-scenes work. Without them, this great event would not have been possible. There were many others who contributed to this night, and I want to thank them all, and including all of the 250 odd people who came along!
I would also like to thank everyone who is a part of “Team Calan”. Everyone who supports me in whatever way is recognised in “Team Calan” and I feel proud to have this logo to represent them all on my car, and I intend to as long as I race.
And as always, a massive thanks to my family, who are constantly supporting me and have put in massive amounts of time and effort into allowing me the opportunity to chase my goals.
Finally, a big thank you to everyone out there who is following me and giving me amazing support. It means a lot!
Looking forward to 2016!
Calan