A mutual love and respect for the Holden brand, plus a combined passion for racing, has seen father/son duo Terry and Brandon Hough create a tribute race car which will take to the Carina track this weekend.
The Bundaberg men, along with their race partner Fletcher Smith, have recently finished modifications to their VE Holden Commodore and plan to put it to the test against 25 other vehicles in the upcoming Street Stock Division.
The team said they wanted to pay homage to Holden since hearing of the company's demise last year and decided to kit out their VE Commodore with a brand new look.
“Our VE Commodore is inspired by a couple of different Holden racing team liveries that have been used in the V8 Supercar Championships spanning the last 30 years or so,” Brandon said.
“We wanted a combination of iconic Holden looks over the years so Ash Media did up our design and then the car was wrapped with that design by local company Signmax Bundaberg.”
Terry said the 2006 Holden VE Commodore, which the team had been racing in its plain form for about three years prior, had also been updated with a new paint job to its panels and other modifications to its interior.
“We have had the VE for three years now and thought it was time to give it a bit of an update,” he said.
“With Holden no longer being produced in Australia we decided to do a bit of a tribute to the Holden Racing Team.”
The vehicle is just one project that the family have been involved in when it comes to racing, with Terry and Brandon sharing a mutual love for life on the track.
“Brandon and I probably spend more time working on the car and talking about car racing than anything else, much to my wife's disgust,” Terry laughed
“It gives us a topic of conversation. Our worlds, when it comes to our work life, are totally separate so this brings us together.”
Brandon said his passion for Holden and racing had been instilled in him from an early age.
“Growing up it was always something I watched Dad do and so I wanted to do it too,” he said.
“My love for Holden comes from the family – growing up we had every model of Commodore that was ever produced.
“When we decided to race it was just a natural progression that Holden was the car we were going to race in.”
This weekend Brandon will be behind the wheel of the updated VE Commodore for the first time in the Autobarn Carina International Speedway Street Stock Division.
“We have 25 cars in our division which is the largest group in the state for this season,” he said.
“It should be a really good meet – we generally go pretty well in Bundaberg – plus there is $1000 prizemoney to win.”
It's an exciting moment for Terry, who said he was more than happy to sit back and watch his son race now that he was semi-retired from the track.
And when it comes to who the better driver is out of the pair, Terry was gracious in admitting his son was a stand-out performer at the Speedway.
“Brandon drives pretty good, he is reasonably cautious,” Terry said.
“I would agree with that, I am definitely the better driver out of the two of us,” Brandon laughed.
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