Yes, SpeedSeries so far this year may have been completely different compared to 2022-23, especially at a time during the mixed paid/free TV experiment on Stan and Nine (via 9Gem and 9Go) before Motorsport Australia took back the rights at season’s end for the competition to return on Seven once again.
But that doesn’t mean SpeedSeries can be completely forgotten when times have changed since then as fortunate to catch up with one of the drivers competing there via the competition’s series of race categories in Trans-Am Australia.
His name is Jackson Rice who currently races the No.7 Ford Mustang for Dream Racing & hails from Albury-Wodonga – right in between the NSW-Victoria border.
This interview is available both in written and video/audio form below:
SpeedSeries/Trans-Am so far of 2024
1. First of all, it’s great to hear from you as it’s been a long while for me to catch up since the end of last season. How is SpeedSeries going on right now compared to the last 1-2 years?
Really good, I feel like the Seven Network coverage has been fantastic this year with the support of Seven (via 7mate on TV) and the 7 + app. For us personally, it gave us fantastic value to our sponsors & our supporters. It also gave us track time and vision & I think it really boosted our (Trans Am Australia) category that brought really good incentive for other people to join us, especially going into 2025.
2. How much do you miss the International drivers coming here as well as the S5000 open-wheel category?
I think this year’s Bathurst International event is the last year they’ve proposed (with the event not returning next year) & I think the International drivers we have coming here are awesome. They brought a different perspective of class that gave an International and world view of the categories they’ve competed (from Sports cars to World Touring Cars & the likes).
The S5000 open-wheel category are awesome machines & it’s said those guys (the drivers who competed last year) couldn’t have the numbers (on the grid) to compete. But I think all those categories (like the GT World Challenge, GT4 Australia Series & TCR Australia) with the organisers involved are really cool to watch. It’s a shame it’s going to be the last hurrah that they (the S5000 open-wheel organisers) won’t continue with it.
3. Speaking of the journey you’ve had so far this season, what was your 2024 like so far if you can describe it in just a few words?
It’s been positive with a huge learning curve. So yes, it’s been an all-round positive.
4. I looked at your Facebook/social media page lately & there’s a quite a few related to Supercars, how much preparation of you driving these race kind of touring cars or sedans have benefited your Super2 opportunity?
Massively…I think the Trans-Am is a fantastic category that opens doors to a lot of avenues including working towards Supercars & those high-end performance categories.
So Trans-Am where it’s at right now has fantastic value with some of the guys in there who are true professionals that previously raced in V8 Supercars before through co-driving (at Endurance Races like the Bathurst 1000) or full-time.
Guys like myself – who are young and trying to make a name for our ourselves – I think that mix (of both youth and experience) presents really well for those who are scouting for talent including Super2 (Supercars main feeder category), and it’s been a massive help for me to step from a Trans-Am into a Super2 by driving a high-powered rear wheel drive race car.
5. Looking at the present when it comes to Trans-Am, what would be the No.1 thing you wished you could’ve done any better & how you will apply this to your next set of Trans-Am races later this year in November?
I think the biggest thing we like to improve on is finishing our races.
We have very consistent pace with the guys at Dream Racing giving me a consistent race car but we’ve been really unfortunate to have some mechanical failures which sort of put us a bit on a damper with our season’s race results.
But we had a couple of podiums where we’ve been consistently inside the Top 8 or 6 before we were able to finish consistently to then drag more podiums at the end of the race and not having a DNF towards the end of the 2024 season would probably make a big difference for us.
6. Other than Trans-Am wait until November, do you have any other races you got lined up like the TA2 Muscle Car Series you’ve competed in the past?
I’m planning to, I like to race some more other than the usual Trans-Am. We’ve been fortunate with our sponsors and budget this year, so I won’t definitely rule it out to come back and compete in the TA2 events to keep me busy & in the seat for the next round at Bathurst in Trans-Am.
Being present at Sandown Raceway while talking a couple of other race tracks across Australia
Other than his ongoing Trans-Am season, there’s more to life from Jackson who is currently helping out at Sandown Raceway this weekend where we will pick it up from here.
1. Great to hear you’re in Sandown for the weekend, I was wondering if it was an different event you’re competing there?
I’m just down here with a couple of guys who are new drivers that come in to the team we compete for racing such as meeting them before they compete on the new Toyota 86 races. But I’m business where I don’t have to drive which is alright.
2. How’s the atmosphere like at Sandown Raceway?
It’s fantastic! I love coming to the Victorian VMRC (Victorian Motor Racing Championships). They have good grassroots & state-level racing with a great variety of categories & it’s really good being involved & see grassroots racing. To come back especially post-COVID, the atmosphere’s really good.
Pause
Link of the weekend’s events LIVE and on-demand on BlendLine TV’s YouTube Channel here.
3. Speaking of Sandown, I hear they are going to knock the place down while looking to build a new race track next to Avalon Airport. I was wondering if this was true?
I’m unsure at the moment. I know there were proposed plans (of Sandown being knocked down for housing) but unsure if it’s going ahead. But Sandown is such an iconic venue that in the end, there was so much support behind it to keep it now that I think it will be pretty harsh to get rid of.
4. I heard there’s a different SpeedSeries category event going on at Phillip Island within Victoria in the GT World Challenge as wondering if they’re hosting this alone or a part of the main event support bill?
Yeah, I believe it’s a standalone event with the GT Festival with just GT3, GT4 and other Production Car categories.
Pause
Link to watch the GT Festival weekend race at Phillip Island also on GT World’s YouTube channel here.
5. With Wakefield Park over in Goulburn, they were also being under threat at one stage due to the noise but now they still get to keep the track?
It’s interesting that they’ve come back and made provisional changes to keep the noise down. I think they’ll definitely come back to run events with no issue. With the noise restrictions, I think they’re going to run less events and it will just be selected to certain race cars to make sure that they don’t break that noise barrier they’ve set.
His best moment of racing and even the Olympics also in 2024
And other than racing cars, what’s your favourite moment of 2024 so far across motorsport and even the Olympics when our Aussie team had their best campaign recently at Paris? I’m also wondering which Olympic sport you’d be best competing in if it was for gold?
I think our podium at The Bend Motorsports Park (South Australian Round between May 31-June 2) was a great achievement for us & the team. We had real pace we showed that we competed with the big teams like GRM (Garry Rogers Motorsport), TFH & The Racing Academy.
So that’s been a fantastic sort of point for me personally.
Then you know throughout the Olympics, the Australians really had our best campaign at Paris 2024. So it’s really cool to be Aussie and to be pretty proud when your country does well.
And for myself if I was to compete in a sport, that’s a hard one, I enjoy doing water sports so maybe I’ll probably go with Rowing since being by the water was pretty cool. I think the guys have endurance who use a lot of upper body & core strength which a lot of stuff really translates to racing cars, so something similar I reckon I would give it a crack.
Post-Notes
We wish Jackson all the best of luck as he will be back for the back-to-back November Trans-Am Australia races at Bathurst and Adelaide. He is so someone who loves watching NASCAR, especially on a Monday morning with the Cup races.
As said, if you want to keep a good eye on his driving progress – Seven & 7 + is the place to be for everything SpeedSeries.
You can also follow him and his Dream Racing team across social media:
And yes, He sure gave a wonderful shoutout also to none other than our Aussie own Leigh Diffey, who is set make his full-time commentary debut in the NASCAR Cup Series for the US NBC network, starting with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 race at Daytona tomorrow morning our time at 9.30am AEST. You can tune in live on Fox Sports via Foxtel/Kayo Sports back here who has the live local NASCAR TV rights.
