Australia remains a country close to Walkinshaw’s racing heart with an involvement in local racing for just over three decades, beginning with the debut of the Holden Special Vehicles racing program in 1988.

However, TWR’s first trip to Australia was four years earlier in 1984 when they brought a pair of Mobil-backed Rovers to compete in Group A at the Bathurst 1000. The following year Tom returned but this time with three V12 Jaguar XJ-S race cars and won for the first time at Mt Panorama.

TWR’s relationship with Holden began in 1987 and from that Walkinshaw’s most famous team, the Holden Racing Team (HRT), was born. Over 26 years, HRT yielded seven Bathurst wins (1990, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2011) and six driver championship wins (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002). Walkinshaw also produced two other driver championship wins with their HSV Dealer team (2006, 2007) bringing their total to eight.

Winning Bathurst on debut in 1990, HRT hit its straps in the mid-1990s with the emergence of Craig Lowndes and the late, great Peter Brock, before drivers like Greg Murphy, Mark Skaife, Jason Bright and Todd Kelly pushed the team to the mantle as the most successful touring car team in V8 Supercars history.

Walkinshaw’s relentless desire for success continues, as the Supercar team re-emerged as Walkinshaw TWG Racing, the combination of three international powerhouses, ready to continue the legacy the Walkinshaw Racing has built in Australia.