Supercars legend in Longford ahead of Symmons Plains Supersprint

Supercars driver Will Davison toasted his grandfather Lex at the Country Club Hotel at Longford today, in the bar named after the F1 legend who spawned three generations of race car drivers.

Davison will race in this weekend's NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint which revs up today at Symmons Plains, and each year he calls into the pub where Lex crashed in spectacular fashion.

Lex Davison won the Australian Grand Prix four times plus the 1957 Australian Drivers' Championship.

During a Friday afternoon practice session in 1962, Davison’s Cooper-Climax was travelling at more than 140 miles per hour when it became airborne over a bump, hit a tree “which plucked everything forward of the soles of my feet off the car and spun the car around in the process”, ricocheted into the hotel, destroyed the foyer and then rolled backwards across the road into a grain store.

Following the spectacular crash he famously got out of what remained of the car and casually strolled into the bar and ordered a brandy, more annoyed by the fact he had to pay for it than the fact his race was over.

“I never got the chance to meet my grandfather but I grew up with the legendary story and the inspiration of everything he achieved,” Davison said.

“I’ve been coming to Symmons Plains for eight or nine years and each time I take the time to call in and have a quiet moment at the Country Club – you can almost hear and smell the race cars from back then.”

There’s no doubt that Davison is in the right family if you have a need for speed.

His father Richard Davison was the winner of the 1980 Australian Formula 2 Championship and raced on the famous Longford circuit, and his brother Alex Davison has won numerous titles including the 2004 Australian Carrera Cup Championship as well as competing in Supercars for several years.

Cousin James Davison has competed in the IndyCar Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series. His grandmother Diana Davison was one of the first female racing drivers in Australia. Even his step-grandfather Tony Gaze was a F1 driver.

Davison will be looking to keep some momentum going in his Ford Mustang GT, having achieved pole position in his last race in Sydney.

“We’re certainly keen to try and capitalise on that qualifying speed and nail some big race results,” he said.

“We’ve got good understanding of the car, we’re consistently competitive, we just need to unlock that bit of extra magic.

“The field is closer than ever before in the history of the sport, just 100ths of a second will make up numerous positions so it will be critical to be near the front of the grid.

This is borne out by the fact that 11 of the last 13 races at Symmons Plains have been won from the front row.

Davison won at Symmons in 2012 and 2016 and was on the podium in ‘21 and ‘22 (including a lap record), and is currently sitting sixth on points, behind leader Will Brown, Chaz Mostert, Broc Feeney, Cam Waters and Matthew Payne.

He said he’d love to have the local fans come up the merchandise stands during the designated signing times and say hello, adding that the chance to get close to the action and the access to the drivers is a real feature of Supercars.

Racing action:

Friday: Practice for Tassie Tin Tops, Aussie Racing Cars, Porsche Spring Challenge, Formula Ford and Supercars.

Saturday: Race 17 Supercars qualifying 1pm, racing 4.10pm.

Sunday: Race 18 Supercars qualifying 12.50pm, racing 3.05pm.

Tickets from $16.