Young up-and-coming race car driver Cameron McLeod clocked the fastest time for Practice 2 of the Dunlop Super2 Series in the Thrifty Bathurst 500 on the weekend with 2:19.5711s.
The Caravan HQ sponsored third-generation racer competed in a PremiAir Racing-owned Holden ZB Commodore and finished Race 2 in eighth position after being caught up in a pile-up in Race 1.
The 19-year-old from Brisbane, who is also sponsored by Coca Cola, is the son of long-time racer and well-known industry veteran Ryan McLeod and grandson of 1987 Bathurst 1000 co-winner Peter McLeod.
He was a standout in last year’s Super3 Series, winning the 2023 Mike Kable Young Gun award.
The award honours the achievements of a rookie driver under the age of 30 – during the season he won the most Super 3 rounds of any driver in the series, with four first places and he achieved nine pole positions and set 10 fastest lap times across the 12 races.
“That was pretty cool, it was a pretty big thing to win. I got to go to the V8 Supercars Gala (to get the award) and if you get invited to that it’s really cool,” he said.
Cameron’s other notable wins included all three races of the Gold Coast 400 event in the Australian Sports Sedan Series, a clean sweep in the Kuhmo Touring Car series final round at Bathurst and the Marc Cars Australia Championship.
He’s not only had success in Australia but overseas as well – he competed in the British Formula 4 Championship Series in England as well as the Creventic series in Abu Dhabi and the Dubai 24hrs event.
While Cameron is firmly focused on winning the 2024 competition, he said he dreamt of driving on the iconic Nürburgring in Germany and competing in the 24 Hours Le Mans race in France, one of the world’s most prestigious races.
His list can’t be complete without the Bathurst 1000 as well.
“That’s the three I want to do,” he said.
The young driver said he looked up to Australian racer and Repco Supercars Championship competitor Chaz Mostert, who won the Bathurst 1000 in 2021 with Lee Holdsworth and in 2014 with Paul Morris.
“I’ve always looked up to Chaz. I’ve met him before, he used to race for my dad and he did the Bathurst 12 Hour, which is where I met him,” he said.
Cameron’s next race is scheduled for May 17-19 with The Perth SuperSprint). Other races will follow on July 5-7 (NTI Townsville), September 20-22 (Penrite Oil Sandown 500), October 10-13 (Repco Bathurst 1000) and November 14-17 VAILO Adelaide 500.
You can follow his progress via his social media page.
Most people like to chase the sun when they’re travelling in their caravan – but for proud parents Ryan and Belinda McLeod, they’re supporting their youngest son, Cameron, a race car driver.
The Queensland-based couple bought their first van from Caravan HQ and took their children on many memorable holidays. But when the kids outgrew their bunks and Cameron started car racing, they decided the van would have another use other than just holidaying.
Now, it’s trips to various racetracks around Australia during the 2024 Dunlop Super 2 series season. The competition provides a clear pathway for young drivers to hone their skills and showcase their talent in front of Supercars Championship teams and millions of fans.
The van has turned into the family’s trackside home – Cameron has a place to sleep and relax between racing and training and Belinda caters for the crew, and everyone involved.
Cameron isn’t the only race car driver in the family; Ryan is a widely respected industry veteran who enjoyed his own career in motorsport and his father Peter McLeod won the Bathurst 1000 in 1987.
But while Ryan spends his days trackside supporting Cameron and running one of the country’s leading specialist motorsport suppliers, Racer Industries, he’s incredibly proud of his son’s achievements.
“He’s doing an excellent job in his selected endeavour and we’re trying to give him all the support we can to continue the trend of him performing at the top level (in his program). He won the Supercars Young Gun Award (the Mike Kable Young Gun Award for 2023) and it’s quite a gong to get that,” he said.
“Having the support gives him confidence and he knows he’s got people behind him who are sharing his enthusiasm and backing him. It’s very pleasing.”
Ryan said he was thrilled when Caravan HQ came on board to sponsor Cameron in 2023 and again for this season.
“It’s exciting for us to be involved with Caravan HQ because we see the way they’re doing things, and the scale and branding (they have) echoes what we’re trying to do, be dynamic and competitive,” he said.
“We want to be excellent in racing and that’s what they’re doing in their market. They’re not just happy to be a little shop, they want to be on a bigger scale with bigger products and that aligns really well with us.”
Ryan said his relationship with Caravan HQ boss Kevin went back years.
“Motorsport is quite a large community but once we told people where we got our van and started taking it to the tracks, more people started to go to Kevin to get their vans,” he said.
The first van the family owned was a Network RV van, which they purchased from Caravan HQ. As the kids grew older, they pretty quickly grew out of it, so two years ago Ryan and Belinda decided on upgrading to an On The Move Traxx Series 3 19’6 caravan instead.
The couple are both very committed to running their motorsport supply business Racer Industries and supporting their son and the team, but that doesn’t mean that holidays are out of the question.
“It (the caravan) gets used all the time, we do everything from weekend getaway trips up north – we’ve been to Birdsville and all sorts of places. Most of the time it’s at the track but we’ve taken it to the beach at Currumbin, down to Melbourne and we’re taking it to Adelaide in May,” Ryan said.
“With all the car racing (I did), whenever we went somewhere it was always flying and hotels. It’d be airport to racing track to airport again. I like the freedom of the caravan. It doesn’t matter if it’s two hours, 15 or 20 hours, or three days, that’s the part I like.
“Even now on route to (race) meetings we take a day and stop at the places that I’ve previously driven past but never stopped at. I’ve been driving on the Hume Highway for the past 20 years to tracks but now we’re stopping and pulling off the road to see them, I really like that.”