Brisbane club fixture Wayne Wakefield is ending his hiatus from V8 racing and finding time to get behind the wheel once more.
Wayne's brother Gavin, Wild FM Radio, and a Carl Cox gig are all to thank for the local motorsport's legend initial foray into dance music, but the decision to leave V8 racing in the first place was unfortunately forced upon him.
“It's a sport that's governed by money and I didn't have strong sponsorship behind me. If you're not racing in good equipment, it doesn't matter how talented you are, it's impossible to win races. I used to win championship races and had lap records in just about every country, but because I didn't have enough money in sponsorship I couldn't put myself in a front-running car. It's a difficult sport to dominate unless you've got the right backing behind you.”
However, Wayne was able to transfer his highly competitive nature towards his nightclub, Electric Playground. “We came into a pretty competitive market being a Valley nightclub. I wouldn't say we're the dominating club in town, but we've definitely earned our stripes and earned our place in the Valley. It's similar to my racing success because we didn't have the budget of the bigger clubs, so I found myself in a similar situation.”
This year's winner of the V8 Ute Racing series, Ryal Harris, sparked Wayne's return to the sport. “I'd never met the guy before, but our paths crossed down at the Gold Coast 600. When he heard my name, he goes, 'My God, people have compared me to you in motor sport circles', so that was one of those freaky moments. I told him how I'd been wanting to get back into it and he was the catalyst to make it happen. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have done the last couple of races this year.”
The state of both racing and Wakefield has changed in the six years he's been away from the sport, but Wayne is confident about his return. “[V8 racing] is a lot more competitive now. To be honest, I think the level of drivers out there is probably not as strong as it was five years ago, but it's still ultra-competitive. I still feel I can be competitive in the sport if I can get myself into the right car. I've always kept my fitness up. I've actually found a new form of fitness called CrossFit, which is relatively new. It's a really intense training that brings out a high level of fitness. I'm not concerned about my fitness, it's better than it ever was.”
So what does he mean by “the right car”? “It's a controlled series, so there's a parity between brands, but my family's always had a Holden. It doesn't really matter who I represent, but Holden has got sentimental values.”
Electric Playground frequenters need not fear, however. The club will go on. “I'll still be actively involved behind the scenes. I'm only going to fully commit to the racing whole-heartedly if I can get the correct sponsorship and put myself in the equipment to be able to win races again. I'll still DJ at the big events, but I'll probably take a back seat on the week to week stuff.”
Wakefield aims to put himself back as a front runner. “I would love to win Bathurst and to compete full time in the V8 supercar series in a competitive drive. Probably second to winning Bathurst would be to win the championship.”
And with his competitive drive and knack for success, it wouldn't surprise us if he did.
