Tim Leahey was a rising star of the local motorsport scene at the turn of the millennium and has found a home in Monochrome GT4 Australia for his first full-season tilt in sometime.
After deciding to commit to building the family car dealership in Orange, Leahey continues to be a contender as proven by scoring a clean-sweep of the Am Cup results and a third outright in Race 1.
Deciding to jump into Monochrome GT4 Australia proved an easy decision when one of the latest BMW M4 GT4 G82s became available.
“I’ve done two or three races a year with my good mate Beric Lynton and before that I had a break because I tried racing as a young fella, but decided I didn’t quite have enough to get paid leaving me to get a real job,” Leahey recounted.
“I’ve worked pretty hard on the business side of things, but what happens when you’re a kid go karting then into car racing it’s always in your blood and you can never shake it. Choosing this was probably the right opportunity as I’m a BMW dealer and this M4 GT4 G82 became available, so I grabbed it.
“One thing leads to another, so I race it here, then in another event and I’d say I’m semi-committed.”
Having debuted the new BMW at the Bathurst International last year, Leahey had only tested the M4 once before taking it to the premier circuit in the country as he proceeded to enjoy a successful weekend.
Recent driving opportunities came in the Meguiar’s Australia Production Car Series driving one Lynton’s title winning Class X M4s meaning Leahey is the perfect candidate to provide a true comparison.
“Chalk and cheese,” he said when comparing the two versions.
“Trying to make a race car out of a production car is very difficult. Very similar power between the two versions, but this is proper-built, proper brakes, proper cockpit set-up, proper safety. It’s a good thing.
“It’s enjoyable to drive, they’re not as harsh to drive as a GT3, but still have aero and are predictable to drive.
“These are great cars, well built, for a race car reasonably priced and it suits me to do a couple of races in these cars.”
The next round for Monochrome GT4 Australia is at The Bend Motorsport Park as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries on May 31-June 2 to be broadcast live on the 7mate and 7plus.