Elliot’s story

Elliot started out his racing life in a pram at the Calder Park Thunder Dome watching his uncle, Marshall Brewer race in the AUSCAR series.

He was introduced to the passion of car racing and inspired to race cars by his father and uncle. This saw him go from the Dome to Circuit watching. As a young boy, he supported his father racing an historic touring car and followed his uncle’s racing career, culminating in the NASCAR series at the end of the Thunder Dome in 2000. Together, they still enjoy what has been a lifetime involvement in car racing.

2004 saw Elliot drive his first Go Kart. This really kick-started his love and passion for racing. He began competing at the age of 12 as a Go Kart ‘P’ plate driver in the Junior National Heavy class. In the first 12 months he took out 3rd place overall in Junior National Heavy at the Oakleigh Go-Kart club. Oakleigh is one of the oldest competition kart clubs in Australia and boasts some now famous driver names that have passed through the club, such as Steven Richards, John Faulkner and the Macrow brothers, to name a few. Elliot also won the prestigious “Most Improved Driver’ for his class in 2005.

Elliot continued to race karts for three years with more success at the end of 2006. He attributes his learning the fundamental skills of race craft and control to those formative years of his karting career.

In 2007, at the age of 16, Elliot moved up to racing cars. He was offered a full season of supported racing in the Rob Southouse owned and operated Mercbits fully prepared and sponsored HQ race car.

He enjoyed an exciting year driving the incredibly demanding HQ in an equally competitive competition. Elliot started off running mid-pack in a big field of bash and barge. He believes that the HQ Holdens made him the driver he is today. "They teach you to get every bit of corner speed you can in a heavy car with little power, that smooth is definitely fast and that you need driving aggression to be competitive."

He competed in the state series and two national events finishing 6th in the championship. Elliot considers the best thing about his first race in the HQ series was the fact that he didn’t come last. His best result was in Tasmania at the Symmons Plains HQ Nationals where he started 19th on the grid and finished 8th against the best in the country. He achieved one of the fastest times in the race and was only 2/10ths slower than 2nd place.

By the end of the 2007 year in the HQ’s, Elliot had gone from mid-field to Top 10 at a national level.

2008 saw Elliot buy a Porsche 944 and compete in the Porsche 944 Challenge Championship. His purpose built left-hand drive Porsche 944, has been built and is maintained by Rod Smith Racing.

Elliot competed in all 22 races of the season, accomplishing a top 10 result in 20 of the 22 starts. He also achieved Top 3 podium finishes in the last 8 races and a lap record at Oran Park. At the end of the season, Elliot placed 4th in the 2008 championship, achieving “The most outstanding achievement by a first year member” award.

On completion of a successful 2008 season, Elliot was offered, and enthusiastically accepted, the opportunity to be a driving instructor for Fastrack Racing. He teaches people how to drive a V8 super car and also does ‘hot laps’. Elliot instructs at Calder Park and has track knowledge of Sandown, Eastern Creek, Winton, Phillip Island, Symmons Plains and Oran Park.

In 2009 Elliot dominated the Porsche 944 Challenge amassing an unrivalled 16 podiums from 19 races. During the season he achieved 3 pole positions, 6 race wins and 3 rounds wins from six rounds, including 5 fastest laps in a race (3 at Winton and 2 at Sandown). Elliot’s success can be put down to his driving ability as well as the expert support and experience of Rod Smith Racing, which saw them dominate the 944 series.

2010 Elliot was invited to drive one of the series prepared cars at the recent Phillip Island round of the Australian MINI Challenge. Although having no experience in driving a MINI, and unfamiliar with the front-wheel-drive technique of driving, Elliot impressed. He won Race 2 of the weekend and finished 3rd for the round.

Elliot Barbour signs for 2011 with Evans Young Guns Squad

2011 holds greater challenge and excitement for Elliot as he moves closer to his dream of driving at the top of his profession. His next step is driving in the State and National Formula Ford Series.

Elliot can’t wait to get behind the wheel of his new Mygale Formula Ford. He has driven a number of different types of vehicle but history shows that if you want to progress your career to a professional level you need to do Formula Ford.

Elliot had been keeping a close eye on Evans Motorsport results in both the National and Victorian State Championships and seeing the impressive young team, having met the crew and seen their facilities – his decision was pretty easy and he signed off on a deal.

Team owner Joshua Evans is equally excited by the signing of Barbour and predicts 2011 will be another strong year for the team.

"Elliot has a very mature and focussed attitude towards his racing and I think this will be huge benefit to his progress. Although he has never driven a Formula Ford before, his experience and success in driving a number of different types of vehicles should help him adapt quite quickly".