Tim Slade

Tim Slade
Tim Slade in in 2014
Nationality	Australian
V8 Supercar Record
Car number	47
Current team	Walkinshaw Racing
Series championships	0
Races	181
Race wins	0
Podium finishes	9
Pole positions	1
2014 Championship position	17th (1646 pts)

Tim Slade (born 3 August 1985 in Hornsby, New South Wales) is an Australian motor racing driver. Slade currently competes for Supercheap Auto in a Holden Commodore V8 Supercar under the Racing Entitlements Contract held by James Rosenberg Racing, in the International V8 Supercars Championship.

Early career

Slade first appeared at a national level racing Formula 3. During the 2004 Australian Formula 3 Championship, Slade, in his rookie season with Team BRM, won his first race when making a one-off appearance at the penultimate round of the series.^[1] Slade returned to Formula 3 for the following season but had scored just 25 points after the first four races (compared to the 57 points of joint series leaders Chris Alajajian and Michael Trimble) and the season was curtailed at that point.^[2]

Taking a step backwards, Slade competed in his first full season at national level in 2006, racing for Sonic Motor Racing in the 2006 Australian Formula Ford Championship. Slade narrowly lost a season long battle with John Martin for the title.^[3][4]

V8 Supercars

Turning his back on open wheelers, Slade moved into the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series for the 2007 Season, starting the season with ANT Racing in a Ford BA Falcon. However Slade's season was blighted by a team shift mid-season, moving to MW Motorsport and finished ninth in the points but showed some promise, including a second place finish in the reverse grid race at Queensland Raceway.

2008 saw Slade form his own team, Slade Speed, acquiring a Holden VZ Commodore from Perkins Motorsport. Early in the season Slade won the Wakefield Park round, but poor results at Queensland Raceway and at Mount Panorama plus the limited resources available restricted Slade to seventh in the series results.

Early in 2009 Slade was announced as the replacement driver for the retiring Paul Morris at his own team to graduate into the 'main game' series.^[5]

In 2010, Slade moved teams to the newly formed James Rosenberg Racing, Driving the #47 Wilson Security Racing Falcon. His best result of the year was 5th Place at Darwin and later on at Phillip Island with Co-Driver Jack Perkins. For 2011, Slade remained with the team, with a new title sponsor of the #47 Falcon, Lucky 7.

Also in 2012, Tim joined Erebus Motorsport for its Bathurst 12 Hour campaign, driving the team's SLS AMG GT3. He along with Jeroen Bleekemolen, Peter Hackett and Bret Curtis finished the race in second position.

He had his breakout year in 2012 aboard the Lucky 7 Falcon, where finished fifth in the Championship. The Stone Brothers Racing team was sold at the end of 2012 to Erebus Motorsport who brought in the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG to V8 Supercars under the Car of the Future regulations. The announcement in September 2012 saw Erebus Motorsport become the fourth manufacturer in the category, joining Ford, Holden and Nissan.

Career results

The Ford FG Falcon of Tim Slade at the 2010 Clipsal 500 Adelaide

The Ford FG Falcon of Tim Slade at the 2011 Clipsal 500 Adelaide

References