PAUL Weel was a regular in V8 Supercar racing for a decade from 1998 to 2008 as both a full-time and co-driver in the championship – and his family’s team built and raced a lot more Falcons than you may think!
Weel and father Kees moved into V8 Supercars in 1998 with a Tony Longhurst-built EL Falcon before building their own AU Falcon for the 1999 season.
All up, Paul Weel Racing built and raced five different AU Falcon V8 Supercars from 1999 until its final year of operating as a single-car Ford team based in Queensland in 2002. From there it set up base in Melbourne and swapped to becoming a Holden team, firstly under the banner of Team Brock and then PWR Racing and Supercheap Auto Racing.
To compare, Stone Brothers Racing – which built six AU Falcons – is the only Ford team to have built more AU Falcon V8 Supercars in that period from ’99 to ’02.
Dick Johnson Racing and John Briggs Motorsport constructed five each and Glenn Seton’s Ford Tickford Racing built four. Mark Larkham’s M-TEK squad, Tony Longhurst’s Castrol team, Brad Jones’ OzEmail team, Steve Ellery’s Supercheap Auto team, Gibson/00 Motorsport and Toll Racing each built two AU Falcons, meaning the PWR Ford roll out of new cars was impressive!
One of these cars, PWR 02, has just emerged for sale in the V8 Sleuth Online Showroom here.
This car was, like Weel’s original AU Falcon, built using a Peter Beehag-supplied body shell and debuted in the opening round of the 2000 Shell Championship Series at Phillip Island as the team’s #43 K&J Thermal Products entry.
Weel drove this particular car up until later that season when it was sold to Dean Canto’s car owner Terry Steer and raced by his driver at Bathurst and for part of the 2001 season.
The car later competed in the Konica Series (now Super2) in the hands of Tim Gordon and former Super Touring Independent star John Henderson before it found its way to Western Australia prior to being sold to its current owner in Queensland.
Now presented in a 1999-spec K&J Thermal Products livery, PWR 02 is available to buy here in the V8 Sleuth Online Showroom featuring a range of spares.
It comes with three sets of rims, wets, new Kumho slicks and practice sets, lots of spares, pit radios, wheel alignment bar set, original CAMS log book, a Pantech transporter Mitsubishi Fighter with custom tailgate lifter, racks and winches for loading/unloading, a full list of receipts and plenty more.
The asking price?
You’ll have to check out the listing on the V8 Sleuth Online Showroom here to find out …
