Drewer called back for modern Cannonball, becomes 'Undertaker'.


After winning class last year in his first attempt at the grueling event, US based Australian racing driver Tom Drewer has been called back for this year’s TIRE RACK One Lap of America (May 5-12), the successor of Brock Yates’ infamous Cannonball Run of the early 70s (immortalized by movies Cannonball Run and The Gumball Rally).

Billed as “the toughest eight days of racing featuring the fastest street-legal cars on America's most challenging racetracks”, the 2012 One Lap of America spans ten states, nearly 3,500 miles (over 5,500km), and visits nine motorsport parks. No support crews are allowed and competition stages include a number of disciplines including skid-pad, autocross, short-track oval, road-course and drag-racing.

Drewer (Adelaide, AUS), an American IMSA Prototype Lites Champion, will be driving with 2011 US GT Champion Steve Loudin (Chicagoland, IL) in a 4260 pound, 425 horsepower Hemi powered 2008 Dodge Magnum SRT-8 automatic station wagon.

The Tricel Honeycomb / NARRA / American Outfitters / Frankenstitch Promotions sponsored car is affectionately known as the ‘Hemi Hearse’ and fittingly the team is entered as ‘The Undertakers’. They will race against ten other teams in the SSGT2 Big Bore class, including a factory entered Roush Performance Stage 3 2013 Ford Mustang. A total of 75 cars will compete in this year’s event.

Drewer was due to drive with Loudin last year until a family emergency resulted in Loudin withdrawing his entry and Drewer gaining a seat in a 400hp Chevrolet Corvette LS-1 powered 1987 Porsche 944.

Without ever sitting in the car prior to the first competition stage, Drewer finished with 10 class wins and 5 top fifteen outright results to take the Vintage Foreign class win and 21st overall with co-driver and car owner Joe Browne. The 2011 One Lap was won outright by Le Mans and Rolex regular Leh Keen, driving a Nissan GT-R.

Loudin also has One Lap experience, finishing 4th in class in the 2006 event, co-driving a similar SRT-8 magnum with Aaron Vanassche.

Over the past couple of years, Drewer and Loudin have shared much success on the track. Drewer coached Loudin to back-to-back series wins in 2010 and 2011, including winning the GT-2 class of the inaugural US GT Championship.

And while the pair know each other well, after spending a week together in their Hemi-Hearse, there’s unlikely to be any secrets between the Undertakers.

You can follow their progress via twitter @HemiHearse (twitter.com/@HemiHearse).


History of the Cannonball Run and the TIRE RACK One Lap of America

Devised by Brock Yates, the then senior editor of Car and Driver Magazine, the Cannonball, or ‘Cannonball Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash’ was a “flat out, no-holds-barred race” from New York City to Redondo Beach, California with competitors navigating US highways at speeds well in excess of the posted limits. 

With safety advocates hot on his heels, and a realization it was only time before he might end up before a grand jury, Yates ended the event and turned his attention to immortalizing the Cannonball by writing the screen play for Cannonball Run (1976). However, the best representation of the original event is possibly The Gumball Rally (1976). 

In the 1980s Yates created a “kinder, gentler” successor, in which competitors weren’t required to speed. The Cannonball One Lap of America was born. Beginning as an endurance rally with points given for following precise instructions, the event began to take on more and speed events at the competitors’ requests. 

In 1992 the event found its current format, near 24 hour driving each day with competition stages held as time-trials on race tracks throughout the United States. 



About Tom Drewer

Drewer has been touted as one of Australia’s future Le Mans winners by respected motorsport commentator and cartoonist, John ‘Stonie’ Stoneham. 

In his first year of North American competition Australian Tom Drewer dominated IMSA Lites 2 in 2008, taking the Championship with 11 pole positions, 10 wins, setting 5 lap records, all on unfamiliar circuits. 

This gave Tom back-to-back Championships across the Pacific after he took the Australian Thundersports Sports Car Championship for West Race Cars in 2007. Drewer’s driving duties were split in 2007 with seats in both the Fujitsu V8 and V8 Giant Supercar Series, the feeder categories to Australia's premier motor racing series, V8 Supercars. 

Drewer made his transition to cars in 2002, driving Formula Vees and winning the FVASA Drivers’ Championship, after a stellar karting career beginning at age 7 and once backed by triple World Champion Nikki Lauda’s airline, Lauda-Air. 

Australia’s AutoAction magazine named Drewer ‘Best Overseas Rookie’ in their 2008 annual awards while prestigious Wheels magazine put Drewer in their ‘Hot Half Dozen Watch List’ for 2009. 

In 2010, Drewer was asked to make the world debut of the new Volkswagen GTI by American works team APR Motorsports, and drove a Formula 3 car for the first time at Philip Island, for R-Tek Motorsports. He was also awarded the coveted ‘Granton T. Harrison Memorial Trophy’ by the Sporting Car Club of South Australia.

Last year Drewer won class in the grueling week long Tire Rack One Lap of America event, in his first ever attempt. Recently Drewer competed in at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide V8 Supercar event, driving an Aussie Racing Car.

When not behind the wheel, Drewer acts as a spokesperson for the North American Road Racing Association, their US GT Championship and Whelen US TimeTrial Championship.

Learn more at www.tomdrewer.com

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Tom Drewer has won class in his first attempt at the One Lap of America (The Advertiser)


Tom Drewer has won class in his first attempt at the One Lap of America, week-long event which has its origins in the Cannonball Run of the 1970s. Article appearing in the South Australian newspaper, The Advertiser, on May 13, 2011. Click image to view entire article.

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Drewer wins class in Cannonball Run successor, One Lap of America.



Australian international sports car star Tom Drewer has won the Vintage Foreign class in his first ever attempt at the gruelling week-long Tire Rack One Lap of America, an event that has its origins with the infamous Cannonball Run of the early 70s (immortalised by movies Cannonball Run and The Gumball Rally).

75 cars including works entries from Roush Performance, MazdaSpeed, Dodge, BMW Performance Driving School and TopSpeed Motorsports started the week long competition billed as “the toughest 8 days of racing featuring the fastest street-legal cars on America's most challenging racetracks!”.

Teams covered over 5000 miles with no support crews, beginning in South Bend, Indiana (near Chicago) down the East Coast to New Orleans and back.

Multi-disciplinary competition stages including time-trials, autocross and drag-racing were held at Grissom Air Force Base, the BMW Performance Center test-track and circuits scattered down America’s East Coast including the famed Daytona International Speedway (home of NASCAR’s Daytona 500 and the Rolex 24 At Daytona sports car race).

Drewer finished with 10 class wins and 5 top fifteen outright results to take the Vintage Foreign class win and 21st outright with co-driver Joe Browne. Continues...

Commenting on the win Drewer said;

“This was quite a special win. Many people take years to win class in One Lap and I’ve done it in my first attempt!

Not only was this event one of the most grueling and challenging I’ve ever competed in, but it was extremely satisfying to win in an unfamiliar car on many unfamiliar tracks.

The level of competition was very high and I’m proud that we took Joe’s home-built 944 and mixed it up with the factory efforts and big budget teams.

One Lap of America is something every true driver should do.”

Notable drivers in the event included overall winner, and Le Mans and Rolex regular, Leh Keen (TopSpeed Motorsports Nissan GT-R), World Challenge Mazda factory drivers Charles Espenlaub and Jason Saini and Grand-Am Roush drivers Billy Johnson and Jack Roush Jr.

Drewer secured a last minute drive in the Corvette LS-1 V8 powered Porsche 944 co-driven by Joe Browne after originally planning to drive with Steve Loudin in a SRT Magnum.

Having never stepped into the car prior to the first competition stage, Drewer showed his class and versatility by finishing 13th outright on the wet skid pad, out pacing both Roush entries and eventual winner, Leh Keen.

Commenting further on the event Drewer said;

“This has been an amazing week. I thought the event was all over before it had even started, and then I got the call from Joe [Browne], owner of the Porsche 944.

I’d never driven on a skid pad, let alone a wet one. And my first time driving the Porsche was out to the event. Our first result set the tone for the week, and immediately I knew if we kept it all together, and on the black-stuff, we might be in with a shot.

Summit Point was my first laps in the car on a circuit. Luckily I’d been to Summit testing the American Le Mans Panoz GT2 car so it was a case of feeling out the balance of the Porsche. But we had to tread carefully through this event– both front wheels were literally shooting out flames and molten brake material.

We managed the brakes at Carolina Motorsports Park too, and although I was first in class in the morning session, my teammate suffered from the fading brakes and had a spin costing us valuable points and dropping us to second in class points.

It was a worrying sign but we made a 3 hour detour on the transit between Summit and BMW to pick up new brake pads. With no time to change them we pulled into Daytona with the sound of metal on metal.

Daytona was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I was determined to make up for Joe’s spin with my first ever laps around Daytona, and I pushed hard– flat through the banking and braking as late as I could into 1 and carrying as much speed as I could through the bus-stop.

With all the factory and high horsepower efforts I was surprised to see we were so far up in the standings, 15th overall.

The long nights of transit started to wear on me after Daytona, but with the great result I knew we could claw our way back to first. We had a couple of nights with only 2 hours sleep. Honestly being able to pull the helmet for the competition time-trials was a relief because you stopped focussing on how tired you were, the headaches, the deliriousness.

Joe had an epic performance at the drag strip and I pushed hard on the remaining circuits. It was a case of analyzing new tracks and balancing risk and reward. We dominated the remaining events, consistently bringing home top 15 overall results. But because of that spin at CMP we were behind in the points right up to the second to last day.

At Autobahn, again I just tried to extract as much as I could out of my self on two new tracks in what was still a relatively unfamiliar car. Two more class wins and top fifteen results finally gave us the buffer we needed, and all we had to do back at the Tire Rack skidpad on the final day was cruise to seal the deal.

This has been epic. While it’s not a conventional race, it’s a very special event. The level of competition and the camaraderie is outstanding, and I’ve just added another six US circuits to the CV.”

Drewer’s team mate, Joe Browne, added;

“Tom is a world-class racer. It was his first one-lap and he pulled it off with style and grace, driving fast on the track and safely on the road. We were lucky to get him on the team.

It’s been my dream to win class on One Lap and I couldn’t have done it without him.”

###

History of the Cannonball Run and the TIRE RACK One Lap of America.

Devised by Brock Yates, the then senior editor of Car and Driver Magazine, the Cannonball, or ‘Cannonball Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash’ was a “flat out, no-holds-barred race” from New York City to Redondo Beach, California with competitors navigating US highways at speeds well in excess of the posted limits. With safety advocates hot on his heels, and a realisation it was only time before he might end up before a grand jury, Yates ended the event and turned his attention to immortalising the Cannonball by writing the screen play for Cannonball Run (1976). However, the best representation of the original event is possibly The Gumball Rally (1976).

In the 1980s Yates created a “kinder, gentler” successor, in which competitors weren’t required to speed. The Cannonball One Lap of America was born. Beginning as an endurance rally with points given for following precise instructions, the event began to take on more and speed events at the competitors’ requests. In 1992 the event found its current format, near 24 hour driving each day with competition stages held as time-trials on race tracks throughout the United States.

Learn more at www.onelapofamerica.com

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Drewer to drive USA Cannonball Run successor.


US based Australian racing driver Tom Drewer is to compete in this year’s TIRE RACK One Lap of America event (April 30 to May 7), an event that has its origins with the infamous Cannonball Run of the early 70s (immortalised by movies Cannonball Run and The Gumball Rally).

The event is billed as “the toughest 8 days of racing featuring the fastest street-legal cars on America's most challenging racetracks!”

Competition time-trial stages are held at Grissom Air Force Base, the BMW Performance Center test-track and circuits scattered down America’s East Coast including the famed Daytona International Speedway (home of NASCAR’s Daytona 500 and the Rolex 24 At Daytona sportscar race).

Driving for almost 24 hours each day, competitors are given just enough time to transport between stages, enduring a week covering over 5000 miles from Chicago down to New Orleans and back, with no support crews.

Essentially confined to their car for days on-end, competitors “battle fatigue, weather, traffic and the demands of high-speed competition with both unknown amateurs and seasoned professional drivers like Parnelli Jones, Price Cobb, John Buffum, Elliot Forbes Robinson and Hurley Haywood.”

Drewer, an American IMSA Prototype Lites Champion, is set to drive with Joe Browne in a modified 1987 Porsche 944 fitted with a Chevrolet Corvette LS-1 engine. Nicknamed ‘Ex Puppy’ because its engine transplant means it can now “run with the big dogs”, the 944 now has around 400hp (A stock 944 has 152hp).

Until early this week Drewer was co-driving with Steve Loudin in a 4260 pound, 425 horsepower Dodge Magnum SRT8 automatic station wagon. However due to a family emergency Loudin withdrew his entry. Drewer coached Loudin to victory in last year’s Viper Racing League Championship, and amongst his own driving commitments continues to coach Loudin in his 2011 US GT Championship campaign.

“I thought my One Lap had ended before it had even begun. Steve was heartbroken, as was I, that we could no longer compete. I know it was tough for him to withdraw, and my thoughts are with him and his family.

But it’s fantastic to be given the opportunity by Joe. I had a 944 Turbo road car back in Australia, so I know them well, albeit not with 400 horses under the bonnet!

The Cannonball events became instant legends and it’s going to be special to take part in its successor, the One Lap of America.”

The TIRE RACK One Lap of America begins Saturday April 30 near Chicago, Illinois and ends the following Saturday, May 7.


History of the Cannonball Run and the TIRE RACK One Lap of America.

Devised by Brock Yates, the then senior editor of Car and Driver Magazine, the Cannonball, or ‘Cannonball Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash’ was a “flat out, no-holds-barred race” from New York City to Redondo Beach, California with competitors navigating US highways at speeds well in excess of the posted limits.

With safety advocates hot on his heels, and a realization it was only time before he might end up before a grand jury, Yates ended the event and turned his attention to immortalizing the Cannonball by writing the screen play for Cannonball Run (1976). However, the best representation of the original event is possibly The Gumball Rally (1976).

In the 1980s Yates created a “kinder, gentler” successor, in which competitors weren’t required to speed. The Cannonball One Lap of America was born. Beginning as an endurance rally with points given for following precise instructions, the event began to take on more and speed events at the competitors’ requests.

In 1992 the event found its current format, near 24 hour driving each day with competition stages held as time-trials on race tracks throughout the United States.

Learn more at www.onelapofamerica.com


About Tom Drewer.

Drewer has been touted as one of Australia’s future Le Mans winners by respected motorsport commentator and cartoonist, John ‘Stonie’ Stoneham.

In his first year of North American competition Australian Tom Drewer dominated IMSA Lites 2 in 2008, taking the Championship with 11 pole positions, 10 wins, setting 5 lap records, all on unfamiliar circuits.

This gave Tom back-to-back Championships across the Pacific after he took the Australian Thundersports Sports Car Championship for West Race Cars in 2007. Drewer’s driving duties were split in 2007 with seats in both the Fujitsu V8 and V8 Giant Supercar Series, the feeder categories to Australia's premier motor racing series, V8 Supercars.

Drewer made his transition to cars in 2002, driving Formula Vees and winning the FVASA Drivers’ Championship, after a stellar karting career beginning at age 7 and once backed by triple World Champion Nikki Lauda’s airline, Lauda-Air.

Australia’s AutoAction magazine named Drewer ‘Best Overseas Rookie’ in their 2008 annual awards while prestigious Wheels magazine put Drewer in their ‘Hot Half Dozen Watch List’ for 2009.

Last year, 2010, Drewer was asked to make the world debut of the new Volkswagen GTI by American works team APR Motorsports. He also drove a Formula 3 car for the first time at Philip Island, finishing second in the National Class for R-Tek Motorsports. He was also awarded the coveted ‘Granton T. Harrison Memorial Trophy’ by the Sporting Car Club of South Australia.

Learn more at www.tomdrewer.com

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Drewer integral to Loudin’s Championship.


Newly crowned 2010 NARRA Viper Racing League Competition Coupe Champion Steve Loudin has attributed most of his championship winning success to his coach, Australian sportscar star Tom Drewer.

Upon receiving his Championship trophy Loudin called Drewer up to the podium to share the award. “I couldn’t have done it without my coach Tom Drewer, who has pushed me and my driving to a new level throughout the season”, said Loudin. “I have the utmost respect for Tom, and he is wise beyond his years. He is an amazing instructor, and anyone who is lucky enough to utilize him will see great results. I look forward to next year. I just hope he isn’t snatched up by one of the big guys!”

The Tricel Honeycomb Racing driver clinched the championship in a climatic and drama-filled final round of the Viper Racing League at Nevada’s Spring Mountain circuit, in which he had to endure downpours and desert heat.

Set to the backdrop of Nevada’s Death Valley and the Spring Mountain Range, from which the circuit takes its name, the VRL race coincided with the final round of the Dodge Viper Cup and NARRA’s Viper Days Performance Driving School...


Drewer, who has won sports car championships both in America and Australia was equally thrilled with Loudin’s win. “It’s almost as good as winning from the drivers’ seat! I’m extremely proud of Steve. He’s had a fantastic season and he thoroughly deserves this Championship. And he did it in real style this weekend, gaining class pole position and race win.”

The championship had come down to the wire, with only a few points separating Steve, his arch rival Tom Antonelli and Cathy Stout leading into the final round. With all the competitors feeling the pressure, Drewer put an equal amount of effort into managing Loudin’s mental focus as well as extracting the speed and performance required to win.

“I had set out a stringent program to maximize the five sessions leading up to qualifying, to keep Steve’s mind on his own progression and not that of his competitors.”

However that strategy changed with the onset of heavy rain.

“It was then about managing risk versus reward, but I felt it was very important for Steve to go out and continue to explore the circuit, which was new to him, in the changing conditions– especially as rain looked a possibility all weekend. We were not leaving anything to chance and to preserve our allocated rain tires for the more important sessions, we grooved slicks to give us extra track time.”

Unfortunately the difficult conditions caught fellow championship contender Tom Antonelli by surprise when he ventured out on to drying circuit. His championship hopes came to an abrupt end when he came unstuck navigating standing water leading onto the pit straight. Antonelli’s Competition Coupe hit the inside wall and the damage sustained was severe enough to end his weekend.

“The rivalry between Tom and Steve is only matched by their camaraderie. Steve was so devastated the Championship had in-effect been decided by a cruel blow, rather than a straight fight, that he was actually in tears for Tom. The respect and friendship these two guys have is amazing considering how hard they battle it out on the track. It’s what NARRA’s Viper Racing League is all about.

The pressure on both of them was immense and when it comes down to the wire its about who remains calm and collected. Continuing to head out in the wet had its element of risk but I thought we may also gain a mental edge over Tom, who sat most of the sessions out. It was a shame as I was looking forward to a ‘battle royal’ on the racetrack, just as it’s been all year. But hat’s off to Steve who has produced the results all year.

I have coached Steve at numerous events this year and each time we’ve won the majority of the races and the weekend, all at circuits I’d never driven around which is certainly makes it more of a challenge from a coaching stand-point, but something I thrive at.

It’s been particularly rewarding to extract the most out of him. For me his drive at Pocono, earlier in the year, was the standout of the season. I was pushing him so hard from the sidelines and he responded, keeping his focus and delivering lap after lap within a tenth or two. And let’s not forget that amazing reverse grid start, coming off the back to pass all but one of the entire field into the first corner. But it’s just one of the many examples of why he deserves this championship so much.

It’s been fantastic to see Steve become a stronger driver throughout the year and I’m very proud to have been involved in his personal development and his Championship win.”

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Drewer a front page star of the Greenville News.


Australian Tom Drewer stars on the front cover of the Greenville News after attending Michelin's Motorsports on Main event in downtown Greenville, South Carolina featuring the American Le Mans Series.

Drewer, along with fellow ALMS drivers Ian James and Benjamin Leuenberger helped Dr Don Panoz show the new Abruzzi 'Spirit of Le Mans' for the first time publicly on US soil. The car was unveiled to the media at the Le Mans 24 Hour in France earlier this year.

Drewer, who completed a successful test in the Panoz Team PTG Esperante GT2 last year, has been test driving the new Abruzzi road car.

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Drewer honoured with Granton T. Harrison Memorial Trophy.

The Sporting Car Club of South Australia has honoured one of their own, young Australian sports car star Tom Drewer for outstanding achievement in competition.

The trophy was named after Sporting Car Club of South Australia Granton Harrison whom raced the likes of Sir Jack Brabham. Previous winners include 1993 British Formula Ford Champion and V8 Supercar driver Russell Ingall. Tom Drewer’s father Mike, instrumental to his son’s success and a long time member of the SCCSA, accepted the award.

In a letter to club members Drewer said of winning the award, “It is very humbling for my achievements to be recognized by the Sporting Car Club alongside other drivers such as Russell Ingall...



"To leave everything behind in Australia to take on the American Le Mans Sports Car Scene was both the hardest and easiest decision to make. Spraying champagne on top of the podium at famous venues such as Sebring, Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca make all the sacrifices and challenges of being overseas and pursuing my dream of racing at Le Mans all worth it.

There is nothing like looking down to see the Australian flag next to your name as you climb into the cockpit to take on some of the best up-and-coming talent in the world.

When I’m racing I am racing for everyone back home. Every fastest lap, pole position and podium, and the 2008 IMSA Lites Championship, has been fuelled by the thoughts, wishes and support of those back home.

I can think of no better example of this than the 2008 Utah Grand Prix weekend when I did a Skype video link-up from the airport to the supporters’ dinner held at the clubrooms. The packed clubrooms cheered me on to set a IMSA Lites 2 track-lap record that still stands, first in class and an unprecedented 2nd overall.

To know that my car driving career started with the Sporting Car Club of SA, competing in Hillclimbs at Collingrove and the State Championships at Mallala in a Formula Vee, makes me a very proud member. To be recognized by my club and my peers is extremely special and I look forward to being able to re-unite and have a beer with you when I’m back in Adelaide.”

Drewer returns to his home in Australia in late November to spend Christmas with his family and prepare for the 2011 season.

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Drewer flies in from USA to race in Australian Formula 3 Drivers Championship.



American based Tom Drewer is to race for the R-Tek Formula 3 team in the Australian Drivers Championship at Phillip Island this weekend. (May 1-2).

It will be Drewer’s first race in a Formula 3 open-wheeler with the former Adelaide driver in his third year in the USA concentrating on driving prototype sports cars in the IMSA American Le Mans Series.

In his first season (2008) in the USA Drewer won the IMSA Lites 2 Championship with ten victories, eleven pole positions and five lap records.

Last year he competed in a Panoz Elan L1 sports prototype and finished seventh in the senior title chase with ten top 10 finishes, a pole position, and a podium finish in the last race of the series to his credit.

As a result of his successes Drewer has been rewarded with successful tests in an Oreca Courage Formula Le Mans LMPC prototype sports car and the Panoz Team PTG Esperante GT2 machine.

Two weeks ago he also successfully drove for the APR team in the world racing debut of the VW Golf Mk 6 GTI at Barber Motorsport Park in Birmingham, Alabama USA.

The event was a two and half hour endurance race as part of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge for production based cars.

Commenting from the USA today on his ‘Down Under drive’ Drewer said:

"It’s only a brief visit back to Australia, but its fantastic that Ian Richards from R-Tek has given me the opportunity to race a Formula 3 Dallara in the Australian Drivers Championship. The decision was only made today and I will barely make it to Phillip Island in time to jump in the car!

The drive has also come with support from Daily Planet and James Rosenberg from Gawler Farm Machinery, who of course supports another South Aussie driver Tim Slade in the V8 Supercar Championship.

Ian Richards is a great race engineer and a friend of my father Mike, and I am really thrilled to be driving one of his cars.

Not having driven a F3 car before, we will just see how it goes.

I have certainly raced plenty of high down force cars on the ultra fast North American circuits such as Road Atlanta, Miller Motorsport Park, Laguna Seca, and Mosport in Canada, so I guess that experience and the nature of the Phillip Island layout should help, but as with every new car it will be a steep learning curve particularly with no testing".

The Australian Drivers Championship is Australia’s premier open-wheel category and attracts a diverse group of competitors from around the world including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and China.

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Drewer to work on Golf game. (Motorsport eNews)


Tom Drewer will make his debut in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge this weekend... (Article appearing in the April 2 edition of Australian Motorsport eNews).

To continue reading article click on image.

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Tom Drewer to make international racing debut of new Mk6 VW GTI with APR at Barber.


Australian racing star Tom Drewer, has been selected to drive in the historic international racing debut of the 6th generation Volkswagen GTI for the VW DriverGear supported APR Motorsport team.

Drewer will drive in Round 3 of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, a 2 hour 30 minute endurance race, at the Barber Motorsport Park, Alabama (April 8-10).

Held as part of the 2010 Indy Grand Prix of Alabama the weekend Drewer will join fellow Australian’s Ryan Briscoe and Will Power to be yet another Aussie competing.

"I feel very honored to be given the responsibility of the world racing debut of the new Mk6 Volkswagen Golf GTI,” he said.

The race will also be Drewer’s first in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge and his first for the Alabama based APR Motorsport, the competition arm of the highly regarded aftermarket performance product company APR.

“You could say I’ve been thrown into the deep end- there are many firsts this weekend. It will be the first race for the new VW Mk6 GTI, my first time with APR, my first race at Barber, and my first weekend in the
Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Hopefully we can add another first to the list by the end of the weekend.”

But while a rookie to series, Tom has no shortage of experience behind the wheel, or that of a Volkswagen. Prior to heading to North America Drewer sampled the high horsepower of the Australian Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series while also competing in light-weight high down-force prototypes as the factory driver for West Race Cars Australia.

Drewer won the 2007 Thundersports Sports Car Championship and was offered a drive by West in the American IMSA Prototype Lites Series, where he dominated the Lites 2 category winning 10 from 12 races and the 2008 Championship. Last year, 2009, Drewer competed in the Prototype Lites 1 category and successfully tested both the American Le Mans Series Challenge car (LMPC) and a Panoz GT2 car. However, it was in the beginning of his career when Drewer found his love for VW’s.
























“I’m an absolute Volkswagen junkie, so it is a dream come true to be able to represent VW and APR. I think it all started because my father’s Australian Formula 2 racecar used a Golf engine. Back in Australia I even used to proudly wear the VW logo on top of my go-kart helmet because I love the ‘dub’ that much.

For my first road car I bought a Golf - a 1976 Mk1 - which my father and I worked pretty heavily, installing a 16v engine out of a later model GTI. I hill-climbed that car, and when it was time for my first true racing car we bought a Super Vee (VW powered open-wheeler), so I’m really going back to my roots this weekend.”

And that he is. To support his early racing Drewer worked for an Australian APR agent, German Auto, in South Australia. For the record, Drewer won the Under 2000cc Road Registered category at the 2001 South Australian Hillclimb Championships in his 1976 VW Golf Mk1, was 2002 South Australian Super Vee Rookie of the Year and the 2003 FVASA Super Vee Drivers’ Champion.

“I enjoyed great success in Volkswagens so I’m hoping I can continue the trend for APR and VW DriverGear in the new Mk6 GTI.”

Jeff Mishtawy, Director of Motorsport for APR, shared his sentiments on having Tom join the team, “I’m really proud to have signed him. Tom has driven such a large variety of cars and has so much experience; I’m looking forward to working with him on the car. Having a driver of his calibre providing feedback to a brand new car is an absolutely ideal situation, and I’m sure we’ll show that with our pace in April.”

Drewer’s APR VW Golf will run in what is know as the ST (Street Tuner) category competing against a field including Honda Civic SI, BMW 328i, Mazda MX-5, Mazda Rx-8, Kia Forte Koup, Chevrolet Cobalt SS, and Mini Cooper S.

Sharing the car with Drewer is APR Motorsport team principal Stephen Hooks. With both Drewer and Hooks behind the wheel it will be a historic debut for the Mk6 GTI as it’s taken on track by two drivers with a deep history with Volkswagen products.

Drewer summed it up; “My fist car was Golf, and so is my next. I’m returning to where it all began, behind the wheel of a Volkswagen GTI. I can’t wait!”

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