WHEN a young Cameron McLeod was sidelined from go-karting for three years, it was a series of sticky note pleas that convinced his father to give him another shot.
Ryan McLeod is a well-known figure in the motorsport industry through Racer Industries, not to mention being a five-time Bathurst 1000 starter (including for John Faulkner Racing) and a Super2 race winner.
Ryan’s first three Great Race attempts came with his father Peter, who won the 1987 Bathurst 1000 alongside Peter Brock and David “Skippy” Parsons for the Holden Dealer Team.
So, racing was very much in Cameron’s DNA.
There was a lull to overcome, however, from 2014-16.
“Dad started his MARC Cars program and he got pretty busy with that, so that’s when he started focusing on that,” Cameron explained.
“I think I was leaving sticky notes all around his room: ‘when can we get a go-kart again?’
“Since then I think he knew I loved it so much and I really wanted it and I have put a lot of effort into it.
“I pestered and pestered him and then finally we got going again in 2017.
“I was nothing really special in go-karts, I won a couple of races here and there, but I think when we stepped into cars, that’s when I got all my Dad’s knowledge and granddad’s knowledge and we had a lot of helping hands from a bunch of other really experienced guys.”
Among them was Tim Slade, who assisted the young gun at a Formula Ford round at Morgan Park in 2021. Three years on, McLeod will make his Repco Supercars Championship debut as Slade’s co-driver at PremiAir Racing, in the upcoming Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.
Adding to the full circle narrative is that Ryan McLeod was on the radio for Slade when he contested his maiden Great Race with Paul Morris in 2009.
“The more I grow and the more I hang around the sport, the more I figure out what my Dad has done,” said Cameron, 19.
“He has helped a lot of people out in his career, so some of them are repaying him by helping me out, which is fantastic.”
And what about his Wollongong-based grandfather?
“I think it means a bit to him,” McLeod, whose family will join the Setons in the ultra-exclusive three-generation Bathurst Great Race club, told V8 Sleuth.
“Obviously he hung out with Brock a fair bit, which is really cool, so he tells me a bit about how Brocky was as a guy and things that he did that made him such a good driver.”
This is only the beginning of the road for the 2023 Mike Kable Young Gun Award winner, and he’s keen to progress with PremiAir – who are also supporting his Super2 program.
“They have actually put me on a cracking deal here, so I can’t thank them enough,” said Cameron.
“It’s probably a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity really, the deal we have got, so they have helped me out a lot and it wouldn’t be possible without them. It literally wouldn’t.
“So I think that’s the biggest part and I think the more that I can keep that connection with Peter… I want to stay loyal with him, because obviously he helped me get this far to where I am now.”
