Alan Tidbury has the need – the need for speed.
The Point Cook resident will take on Winton Motor Raceway at the end of this month for the 42nd Historic Winton, Australia’s longest-running race featuring historic cars and motorbikes dating from the 1920s until the 1980s.
Mr Tidbury, a former motorbike racer, will drive a 1951 Cooper MkV that he bought a couple of years ago, deciding it was time to compete in a “more comfortable” vehicle when his hip started giving him trouble.
He will race in the regularity competition at the Historic Winton, where he will nominate a time that his Cooper will take to race the circuit and try to meet that time. The driver closest to his or her nominated time is the winner.
“It’s not designed [just] as a race; it’s designed as a parade for spectators,” he said.
“Having the regularity competition allows you to get into motor racing and meet the guys.”
Mr Tidbury started his racing career in 1982 in the UK, then moved to the US and finally Australia through his job as an engineer with GM motors.
Now that he’s retired, he’s rented out a little factory in Hoppers Crossing with a few other men, where he spends his time buying and fixing up vintage cars and motorbikes.
It’s an expensive hobby, but “what else are you meant to do with your money?” he asks.
