Two-time Bathurst 1000 winner Will Davison has reflected on his famous family’s history racing in Tasmania, just one day out from his own 18th appearance racing Supercars on the Apple Isle.
Davison and Dick Johnson Racing team-mate Anton De Pasquale are in Launceston today ahead of on-track action beginning tomorrow at the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint at Symmons Plains Raceway.
The pair visited Longford’s Country Club Hotel on Thursday morning, located on the final corner of what was the Longford street circuit.
The Longford circuit hosted racing in the 1950s and 60s, including two Australian Grand Prix.
However, its most famous story involved Davison’s grandfather Lex, who suffered a massive accident in 1962, ultimately crashing his Cooper-Climax into the pub itself.
Miraculously uninjured, Davison got out of his wrecked car, dusted himself off, and walked up to the bar to order a brandy. The pub’s bar is now fittingly named the Lex Davison Bar.
“The enormity of being here for me, it never gets lost on me,” said Davison.
“Believe it or not, it grows by the years. I’ve been coming here for near on 20 years now, but the history of it gets stronger and stronger.
“What my father did for me and what his father meant to him … the imagination grows as the years go on. To think back of the legends that raced here, and the tales that this town tells, it’s just absolutely incredible.”
Lex was tragically killed at Melbourne’s Sandown Raceway in 1965, some 17 years before Will was born, but the racing genes have continued through generations of Davisons.
Will’s father Richard, uncle Jon, brother Alex, and cousin James are all current or former racers. With his one-year old son Dash accompanying him to most of his races, Will nervously laughed at the prospect of a fourth generation continuing the family trade.
Davison and De Pasquale are both in the top 10 of the Supercars standings heading into this weekend’s event, but are still chasing their first wins of the 2024 Supercars season.
On-track action begins Friday, with Races 17 and 18 of the 2024 season to be held on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Live coverage of the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint can be found exclusively on Foxtel, with live streaming available on Kayo.