Australian racing driver
Cameron Eric "Conkers" McConville
(born 22 January 1974) is an Australian racing driver and motorsport celebrity. While retired from full-time competition, McConville still races occasionally and is an in-demand endurance event co-driver. McConville spent 14 years as a professional driver, ten of those in the largest Australian domestic category,
Supercars Championship
. McConville has also written for several magazines and presented several television programs and up until the end of the 2009 season was the colour commentator for
Network Ten
's Australian coverage of Formula One. McConville announced his retirement from full-time racing for the end of the 2009 season.
[1]
He is also rumoured to be
The Stig
in
Top Gear Australia
.
[2]
McConville now works with Porsche Centre Melbourne as the Motorsport Commercial Manager.
Early years
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McConville began his motor racing career at the age of eight racing
go-karts
in first local then national championships, culminating in several
Victorian
titles. At the age of fifteen, he became the youngest ever holder of a CAMS racing licence with a brief foray into
Formula Vee
racing before moving onto the highly competitive
Formula Ford
racing category in 1991. In 1992 he was chosen to be the 'works'
Van Diemen
driver and he won the prestigious
Motorcraft Formula Ford Driver to Europe Series
beating future champions such as
Craig Lowndes
and
Steven Richards
.
This victory (he was the youngest ever winner of the series) drew national attention and a testing role with
Dick Johnson
's
Shell Ultra-hi Racing
. McConville impressed Johnson and was included in the driver line up for the
1992 Tooheys 1000
in the team's second
Ford Sierra RS500
. McConville easily qualified the car, but in the wet conditions that marred the race it was decided to let the more experienced pair of
Terry Shiel
and
Greg Crick
handle the driving of the tricky, but powerful, turbocharged car.
His solid performance in practice at Bathurst meant he was invited back to DJR for the
1993 Tooheys 1000
, where he paired with
Paul Radisich
in Shell team's second
Ford EB Falcon
V8
. Unfortunately, whilst in third position, and under pressure from
Tomas Mezera
in the
Holden Racing Team
VP Commodore
, McConville miscued going over Skyline, got the car sideways and clouted the wall, causing what turned out to be mostly cosmetic damage to the Falcon. However, the damage the #18 Shell car was done and Radisich/McConville would ultimately finish in 8th position, 10 laps behind the winning
Larry Perkins
/
Gregg Hansford
Commodore. McConville's crash at
Mount Panorama
proved to be costly to his rising career.
After several years of driving for lesser teams, his persistence finally paid off when he teamed up with prominent
Melbourne
businessman
Tom Warwick
to drive a
Porsche
993 RSCS
in the Australian GTP championship during the 1996 season. He won the series in the last race of the year beating championship favourite
Jim Richards
. In 1997 he was chosen to replace
Greg Murphy
as the
Audi
Australia
'works' driver (largely due to his success the previous year) where he finished third in the
Australian Super Touring Championship
. In 1998 he was narrowly beaten to the championship by team owner
Brad Jones
in somewhat controversial circumstances.
Supercars career
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An impressive part-time drive in the 1999
V8 Supercar
championship saw the
Holden Racing Team
offer McConville an endurance co-drive, pairing up with the then championship leader
Craig Lowndes
. Together they finished in second place at the
Bathurst 1000
race. This performance earned him a full-time contract with the newly expanded
Rod Nash Racing
for 2000. In 2001 he moved to the
Sydney
-based Lansvale racing team where he continued to impress in under-funded, less-developed machinery. He remained with the team until he was offered a contract with the
Garry Rogers Motorsport
outfit in 2004 after he was the outright winner of the Bathurst 24 hour race in 2002 in a
Holden Monaro
driving for the same team. The move to the Garry Rogers team proved fruitful for McConville when he took his first championship race win at
Winton Raceway
in 2004. In 2005 he took on team leader status at GRM with the departure of
Garth Tander
to the HSV dealer team. The following year, McConville was lured to Kees and
Paul Weel
's
Supercheap Auto Racing
outfit to pair with
Greg Murphy
after the retirement of
Paul Weel
in 2005.
In 2007, Cameron began a new motorsport reporting role with
Channel Ten
, including co-hosting the
Formula One
coverage.
[3]
In 2008, he joined up with his former boss Brad Jones to drive the number 14 Commodore after the team made the switch from
Ford
to
Holden
with the support of Walkinshaw Performance in the pursuit of better results. WOW Sight and Sound soon signed on as McConville's major sponsor for the 2008 championship. McConville immediately highlighted the new relationship with an excellent third at the
Adelaide 500
. After two mixed seasons McConville announced his decision to step down from full-time racing at the end of the season, the announcement came soon after a nasty crash at the
Phillip Island 500K
. During the off-season it was also announced that McConville would not be returning to his on-screen role with Channel 10 and McConville set up a business franchise in tyre retailing. A change in V8 Supercar endurance race regulations made McConville hot property as a co-driver in 2010 and he was quickly announced as a co-driver for the
Holden Racing Team
.
McConville stepped back into a race car at the
2010 Bathurst 12 Hour
and co-drove a
HSV R8 Tourer
to third place. Subsequently, McConville picked up a drive in the
2010 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series
driving the Eggleston Motorsport Commodore which also enjoyed support from Holden Racing Team's parent organisation
Walkinshaw Performance
eager to get McConville additional racing prior to the 2010 endurance races. In the lead up to the
2010 Sucrogen Townsville 400
,
Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport
announced that McConville would be replacing
Daniel Gaunt
in the team in the short term.
[4]
McConville was a last minute entrant for
Team BOC
at the
Falken Tasmania Challenge
of the
2011 V8 Supercars Championship
. He replaced
Jason Bright
in Race 24, who withdrew after qualifying due to a rib injury. McConville started at the rear of the field and finished 19th.
Career results
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Bathurst 1000 results
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]
*
Super Touring
race
Complete Bathurst 24 Hour results
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]
References
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External links
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]