As Invercargill racing driver Jamie Conroy completed his domination of the 2013/2014 New Zealand Formula Ford Championship at Taupo earlier this year the side of his Mygale Formula Ford carried the words ‘Racing For Wal & George’.
The names referred to Wal Willmott, the engineer on Conroy’s all conquering Mygale, while George was George Begg, the former Drummond based racing car constructor who passed away in 2007. Motor racing had been good to Wal and George. Wal, originally from Timaru, met Bruce McLaren in 1962 and was hired to work for him as a mechanic in the Cooper Formula One team. The following year McLaren started the McLaren Racing Team and Wal became their first mechanic. Now settled in Invercargill, Wal is still held in high esteem by todays McLaren F1 outfit who tweeted their congratulations when Jamie clinched the title.
Begg was initially a motor cycle racer, competing overseas including at the Isle Of Man. When he returned to New Zealand he started his own engineering company at Drummond in Central Southland. The business specialised in farm machinery but as he sought more challenges Begg started building racing cars. He also took a sabbatical, working at McLaren before returning to continue building race cars in the ‘Toyshop’ at Drummond. The Begg cars raced successfully on both sides of the Tasman and even during a campaign in Europe but in 1976 a great era in Southland and New Zealand motorsport history came to an end. George and his wife Freda moved to Christchurch before eventually retiring to Hervey Bay in Queensland.
Wal takes up the story. “Before George became ill he and I talked of finding a good young kid to give a boot along. We had a scout about but nobody stood out. George passed away and then Jamie came on the scene,” says Wal. At the beginning of the Formula Ford Championship Conroy was looking for an engineer. Wal didn’t feel he would have the energy do a whole season but would do “a couple of races” until the team got something sorted. “There is nothing like winning to raise energy levels,” laughs Wal who stayed on for the whole season after Jamie started an amazing winning sequence. “He has been well worth the effort. It has been so good it is kind of nice to put something into it,” he says.
Wal admits flicking an email to Freda and family as Jamie reeled off win after win. Wal also says that while he and George were looking for any young driver with potential the fact Jamie is a Southlander would have been “the icing on the cake for George.”
The scale of success has been a bonus. “At the beginning it would have been nice to win the championship but we realised so many things can go wrong – it was a dream run,” says Wal.
Jamie says it is “cool” that Wal has elected to help him. “While George has passed away and I had heard of him before I didn’t know much until Rick Michels of Evolution Motorsport told me a bit about him.” Rick and wife Fiona have been extremely influential in Jamie’s rising fortunes in motorsport. Like Wal and George they decided that they would like to help a young guy from karting. Unbeknown to Jamie they spent time watching and Rick tells of a day at the kart raceway where Jamie was involved in an incident which saw his kart flip. Rick and Fiona watched and were impressed with Jamie’s calm attitude as he and his father, Richard, got to work and fixed the kart with no fuss before Jamie went out and won the next heat. They decided to give Jamie an opportunity to race their Formula Renault Racing car at Teretonga, later followed by their Hydraulink Star Car, in which Jamie has since set numerous lap records. Jamie says “I will never forget the wonderful opportunity that Rick and Fiona have given me. Without them I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today.”
With these people in his corner another who has been instrumental in Jamie’s rise is Mike Horgan of Horgan Farms. Mike owns the Mygale and considering Wal’s links with Bruce McLaren it is a nice synergy that Horgan idolised the likes of McLaren as he was growing up. He was introduced to Jamie via a karting contact and the relationship grew from there. For Mike it has been quite special to meet and get to know Wal and Jamie. “Mike took a big gamble on me, but I feel I have made it worth his while,” Jamie say’s.
Best of all thanks to the dreams and generosity of others Jamie Conroy has been given his opportunity and he has taken it!
Jamie Conroy’s Formula Ford campaign was supported by Horgan Farms, Evolution Motorsport, Progressive Engineering Southland Ltd, Waikato Milking Systems, Gulf, John Deere, Gallagher, SP Tools, Hydraulink, George Wilson Sales Ltd, Sievwright Auto, PPG, E Hayes, Southern Wide Real Estate, Radcliffe Electrical and R & A Williams.
Photos credit: Geoff Ridder.
