Cameron McConville
McConville signing autographs at the 2006 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park
Nationality	Australian
Born	22 January 1974 (1974-01-22) (age 49) Melbourne, Victoria
Supercars career
Debut season	1999
Teams	John Faulkner Racing Rod Nash Racing Lansvale Racing Team Garry Rogers Motorsport Paul Weel Racing Brad Jones Racing Holden Racing Team Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport
Starts	330
Wins	2
Poles	0
Best finish	10th in 2005
Previous series
1990 1991–92 1996 1997–98 2011–12 2012-17 2015,17	Victorian Formula Ford Australian Formula Ford Australian GT Production Australian Super Touring V8 Utes Australian GT C/ship Carrera Cup Australia
Championship titles
1992 1996	Australian Formula Ford Australian GT Production

Cameron 'Conkers' McConville (born 22 January 1974) is an Australian racing driver and motorsport celebrity. While retired from full-time competition, McConville still races occasionally and is an in-demand endurance event co-driver. McConville spent 14 years as a professional driver, ten of those in the largest Australian domestic category, Supercars Championship. McConville has also written for several magazines and presented several television programs and up until the end of the 2009 season was the colour commentator for Network Ten's Australian coverage of Formula One. McConville announced his retirement from full-time racing for the end of the 2009 season.^[1] He is also rumoured to be The Stig in Top Gear Australia.^[2]

McConville now works with Porsche Centre Melbourne as the Motorsport Commercial Manager.

Early years

McConville began his motor racing career at the age of eight racing go-karts in first local then national championships, culminating in several Victorian titles. At the age of fifteen, he became the youngest ever holder of a CAMS racing licence with a brief foray into Formula Vee racing before moving onto the highly competitive Formula Ford racing category in 1991. In 1992 he was chosen to be the 'works' Van Diemen driver and he won the prestigious Motorcraft Formula Ford Driver to Europe Series beating future champions such as Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards.

This victory (he was the youngest ever winner of the series) drew national attention and a testing role with Dick Johnson's Shell Ultra-hi Racing. McConville impressed Johnson and was included in the driver line up for the 1992 Tooheys 1000 in the team's second Ford Sierra RS500. McConville easily qualified the car, but in the wet conditions that marred the race it was decided to let the more experienced pair of Terry Shiel and Greg Crick handle the driving of the tricky, but powerful, turbocharged car.

His solid performance in practice at Bathurst meant he was invited back to DJR for the 1993 Tooheys 1000, where he paired with Paul Radisich in Shell team's second Ford EB Falcon V8. Unfortunately, whilst in third position, and under pressure from Tomas Mezera in the Holden Racing Team VP Commodore, McConville miscued going over Skyline, got the car sideways and clouted the wall, causing what turned out to be mostly cosmetic damage to the Falcon. However, the damage the #18 Shell car was done and Radisich/McConville would ultimately finish in 8th position, 10 laps behind the winning Larry Perkins/Gregg Hansford Commodore. McConville's crash at Mount Panorama proved to be costly to his rising career.

After several years of driving for lesser teams, his persistence finally paid off when he teamed up with prominent Melbourne businessman Tom Warwick to drive a Porsche 993 RSCS in the Australian GTP championship during the 1996 season. He won the series in the last race of the year beating championship favourite Jim Richards. In 1997 he was chosen to replace Greg Murphy as the Audi Australia 'works' driver (largely due to his success the previous year) where he finished third in the Australian Super Touring Championship. In 1998 he was narrowly beaten to the championship by team owner Brad Jones in somewhat controversial circumstances.

Supercars career

An impressive part-time drive in the 1999 V8 Supercar championship saw the Holden Racing Team offer McConville an endurance co-drive, pairing up with the then championship leader Craig Lowndes. Together they finished in second place at the Bathurst 1000 race. This performance earned him a full-time contract with the newly expanded Rod Nash Racing for 2000. In 2001 he moved to the Sydney-based Lansvale racing team where he continued to impress in under-funded, less-developed machinery. He remained with the team until he was offered a contract with the Garry Rogers Motorsport outfit in 2004 after he was the outright winner of the Bathurst 24 hour race in 2002 in a Holden Monaro driving for the same team. The move to the Garry Rogers team proved fruitful for McConville when he took his first championship race win at Winton Raceway in 2004. In 2005 he took on team leader status at GRM with the departure of Garth Tander to the HSV dealer team. The following year, McConville was lured to Kees and Paul Weel's Supercheap Auto Racing outfit to pair with Greg Murphy after the retirement of Paul Weel in 2005.

In 2007, Cameron began a new motorsport reporting role with Channel Ten, including co-hosting the Formula One coverage.^[3]

In 2008, he joined up with his former boss Brad Jones to drive the number 14 Commodore after the team made the switch from Ford to Holden with the support of Walkinshaw Performance in the pursuit of better results. WOW Sight and Sound soon signed on as McConville's major sponsor for the 2008 championship. McConville immediately highlighted the new relationship with an excellent third at the Adelaide 500. After two mixed seasons McConville announced his decision to step down from full-time racing at the end of the season, the announcement came soon after a nasty crash at the Phillip Island 500K. During the off-season it was also announced that McConville would not be returning to his on-screen role with Channel 10 and McConville set up a business franchise in tyre retailing. A change in V8 Supercar endurance race regulations made McConville hot property as a co-driver in 2010 and he was quickly announced as a co-driver for the Holden Racing Team.

McConville stepped back into a race car at the 2010 Bathurst 12 Hour and co-drove a HSV R8 Tourer to third place. Subsequently, McConville picked up a drive in the 2010 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series driving the Eggleston Motorsport Commodore which also enjoyed support from Holden Racing Team's parent organisation Walkinshaw Performance eager to get McConville additional racing prior to the 2010 endurance races. In the lead up to the 2010 Sucrogen Townsville 400, Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport announced that McConville would be replacing Daniel Gaunt in the team in the short term.^[4]

McConville was a last minute entrant for Team BOC at the Falken Tasmania Challenge of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship. He replaced Jason Bright in Race 24, who withdrew after qualifying due to a rib injury. McConville started at the rear of the field and finished 19th.

Career results

Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Car#	Team	Car	Co-driver	Position	Laps
1992	18	Dick Johnson Racing	Ford Sierra RS500	Terry Shiel Greg Crick	11th	134
1993	18	Dick Johnson Racing	Ford EB Falcon	Paul Radisich	8th	151
1994	39	Challenge Motorsport	Holden VP Commodore	Chris Smerdon	13th	151
1996	10	Larkham Motor Sport	Ford EF Falcon	Mark Larkham	DNF	3
1997*	11	Brad Jones Racing	Audi A4 Quattro	Jean-François Hemroulle	3rd	161
1998*	1	Brad Jones Racing	Audi A4 Quattro	Brad Jones	3rd	161
1998	18	Dick Johnson Racing	Ford EL Falcon	John Bowe	DNF	80
1999	1	Holden Racing Team	Holden VT Commodore	Craig Lowndes	2nd	161
2000	54	Rod Nash Racing	Holden VT Commodore	Geoff Brabham	DNF	105
2001	3	Lansvale Racing Team	Holden VX Commodore	Rick Bates	10th	160
2002	3	Lansvale Racing Team	Holden VX Commodore	Warren Luff	15th	159
2003	3	Lansvale Racing Team	Holden VX Commodore	Tim Leahey	20th	144
2004	34	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden VY Commodore	Garth Tander	DNF	133
2005	34	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden VZ Commodore	Andrew Jones	4th	161
2006	51	Paul Weel Racing	Holden VZ Commodore	Greg Murphy	DNF	104
2007	50	Paul Weel Racing	Holden VE Commodore	David Reynolds	DNS	0
2008	12	Brad Jones Racing	Holden VE Commodore	Andrew Jones	DNF	40
2009	8	Brad Jones Racing	Holden VE Commodore	Jason Richards	2nd	161
2010	2	Holden Racing Team	Holden VE Commodore	Garth Tander	3rd	161
2011	1	Holden Racing Team	Holden VE Commodore	James Courtney	7th	161
2012	22	Holden Racing Team	Holden VE Commodore	James Courtney	4th	161
2016	222	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	Nick Percat	3rd	161

* Super Touring race

Complete Bathurst 24 Hour results

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Overall position	Class position
2002	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Garth Tander Steven Richards Nathan Pretty	Holden Monaro 427C	1	532	1st	1st
2003	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Nathan Pretty Garth Tander Steven Richards	Holden Monaro 427C	A	527	2nd	2nd

References

External links

• Holden Motorsport
• Cameron McConville career summary at DriverDB.com
• Cameron McConville driver statistics at Racing-Reference