SOME have described Supercars’ Gen3 platform as a blast from the past, but Bryce Fullwood last weekend wound the clock back even further with a Commodore Cup cameo.
The Brad Jones Racing driver was behind the wheel of a 1986-built Holden VH Commodore at the Middy’s 2023 NT Titles at Hidden Valley.
His return to the wheel came in an old car owned by Jason Robson – who’d purchased a newer edition from the Fullwood family – and the result was victory in the Combined Class All-In finale.
It certainly didn’t come easy, though.
“My first ever race in a car was actually a Supercar so we weren’t involved at the local club before I started the journey,” said the 25-year-old.
“I reckon maybe four years ago we built a new car, Dad (Brad) put a lot of time and effort in to building a new car and he actually hadn’t raced it in a good couple of years and we never really ironed out some of the little problems.
“I sort of said to him after the (Darwin Triple Crown last month), I used to race the car and it was a heap of fun. It’s a completely different type of racing going back to the grassroots level, it just reminds you how fun racing is with all of the pressure off and that sort of stuff.
“So I said to Dad while I was up there, why don’t we get it out and go race it? I was up there and we started doing a heap of work on the car and he was like, bugger it, ‘I want to race it’.
“So he ended up actually racing it and then I borrowed a car from a friend of ours.
“He was actually about to pull it apart for it to never see a racetrack again because he really doesn’t like how far off it is, so I convinced him to race it because Dad kicked me out and I ended up winning in it.
“It was good, because that car is a good couple of seconds a lap slower than our car (that Brad drove).
“I mean obviously I’m racing against plumbers and sparkies and stuff so luckily I have a little bit more in the driver department to bring but it meant that I was actually trying pretty hard to stay in the race, so it was good fun.”
Fullwood added his love for the simplicity of the VH Commodore.
“Our cars, there’s so much information and we’re after every thousandth of a second we can find,” he said.
“These cars, there really is no data. We’ve got GoPro footage and that’s our data. They’re really simple cars.
“The most electronics they have got in them, at least in the car I was in, was a shift light.
“They’re really basic cars and it’s good fun just to go back to grassroots level racing.
“Going back to racing Commodore Cup is sort of like going back to racing go-karts, it’s really family orientated and I love it.
“Dad and I are very hands-on with the car. I don’t think it really matters how far I get in my racing career, I will always really enjoy going back and racing with Dad.
“It’s pretty awesome to be able to help him with some footage and just help him get his car better and just enjoy going racing again. “
