Sporting his slim frame and trendy shaggy blonde hair style, he slides into the Lancer Evo III with complete ease and begins explaining that the simplest way to get into the racing car is to hold the side bar and to slide your bottom half in first. His focus is on strapping me in with the sophisticated racing seat belts that have the ability to make the passenger one with the seat. “Are you ready for the ride of your life?” Arthur asks. Within 5 seconds of take off we reach 80km ph, the trees a blur as we speed past. Arthur can see the fear on my face. “I get the picture”, I yell over the sound of the engine. He laughs and replies, “Does that mean you’ve had enough?” But for Simon Arthur it is never enough.
Simon Arthur is a motor racing star at the age of 29. After having spent most of his life racing motorbikes, he now races cars. He enters competitions nationally, independently or with colleague and co-driver Martin Notaras. He has already had countless significant wins, including pole position in the last two rounds of the 2005 Aussie Racing Car Series, Sandown Melbourne, and Indy in the Gold Coast. Most recently, in September 2006, he wrapped up the National Dutton Rally Series in Melbourne.
Arthur won the drivers category outright, and came second in the team’s category. “Arthur should have been racing cars 10 years earlier and he would be driving V8’s by now, said co-driver and friend, Martin Notaras. “He is very talented”.
Arthur, who is known everywhere as “Simmo”, was born in Temora NSW, but soon moved to Wolumla in the far south coast where he spent most of his formative years. He has a Catholic background but is not a practising Catholic. His parents are separated and he has a younger sister. Arthur grew up on a farm and was able to learn to ride bikes at a very early age. He began racing motorcycles at the age of seven and continued until he was 24 or 25. Arthur’s racing career very nearly ended prematurely in 2002 with an accident where he broke his leg severely. Months of rehabilitation saw him focusing his interests on something with 4 wheels and a shell. Initially this new interest took him road racing and “bush bashing” but as the years have gone by, Arthur has taken his interest to a more professional and mature level.
Arthur had his first taste of competition in a car in 2004, where he drove the Lancer Evo III at Southern Districts Motorsports Hill Climb at Fairburn in Canberra. He won that event. Then he was asked to drive the car in the 2004 NSW Dutton Rally. The rally is a tarmac, non-navigational rally with the driver and the co driver driving each stage one after the other. The team won the rally outright, and Arthur also won four stages outright. “Simmo is one of the most talented drivers I’ve ever seen, he’s qualified everywhere we’ve been,” said major sponsor and boss, Peter Pulford.
Arthur’s boss at Pulford is also his major sponsor. Peter Pulford sponsors him mainly because he enjoys it. Peter used to be a driver himself and still gets a thrill out of it. “It gets work for you, it’s good fun and it is all I’ve ever done”, he said.
Arthur is now at a point in his life where he has learned to control his cars, his bikes, his emotions and his mind. “Racing takes a lot of concentration. You must be fit – mentally and emotionally fit. It’s all about training your mind. The more you do it, the better you get”. He takes his racing very seriously, although it is not his only job. Arthur works at Pulford Racing Engines in Mitchell, Canberra.
At the workshop he assists in modifying and building racecars, bikes, servicing cars and working with Harley Davidsons. He also has his own business on the side, which keeps him busy making competition brake lines for cars and bikes. He supplies to Pulford Race Engines and nationally to other automotive businesses. Arthur’s life is built around cars - it is his work, his hobby and his weekend interest - all indicating his absolute passion for motorsport.
“Happy Days!” is the Simon Arthur philosophy. It is something you hear Arthur saying all the time. This statement truly reflects the need for speed man. Motor racing is a passionate outlet for Arthur’s happy life. He describes himself as a very fun kind of person, “that’s how I’m known in motorsport circles as well. I love to party”. He enjoys social gatherings with friends and family, and generally going out and having a good time.
Arthur has always wanted to be involved in motorsports on a professional level, and he is a very competitive person, always searching for that win. The car, the speed, the precision driving and that win, that is this passionate man’s ambition, it’s what keeps him going.
He applies this competitiveness and commitment to everything he does in life. “Whatever I do in my life I always put in 100 per cent and be the best that I can”. In his paid employment he is diligent and constantly focused on customer assistance. In his social life he never makes a commitment he can’t keep.
After taking off in the Lancer Evo III the ride continued. Both hands firmly gripped at the wheel we tore up the street at 100km per hour, Arthur laughing as the car picked up speed, and watched my expression. The drive up Point Hut road was gaining speed quickly and dramatically. The engine became so loud it was hard to hear yourself think. Arthur yelled at me “I’m going to show you how I do my racing turns on the track, and if I need to turn around really quickly this is the way it’s done”. He ripped up the electronic boost control, dropped the gears in the manual race car and the car spun, immediately it had done a complete 180. All of this is happened as I sat watching the terror trip, which read 71km ph. The ride continued.
Why would people like Arthur want to make a living out of such a dangerous sport? This driver’s response is: “Just that competitive spirit. And I don’t know what, there is something about driving or riding, it doesn’t matter what it is – a bike, truck or a car – or any racing vehicle. It is just something I’ve got a crazy passion for”.
Arthur’s hero’s and driving idols are Juan Fangio for his amazing raw driving abilities, and Ayrton Senna for his absolute dedication to the sport. Arthur would love to make money out of his passion as many before him have. “To make money would be the ultimate dream. But it’s not something that I think is likely to happen. That would be a bonus. But that’s not why I do it, not for the money.”
The benevolent side of this man sees him wanting to have a family, happily married with a beautiful wife, and world travelled. “I plan to do a lot more travelling. I want to go (back) to Europe, to South America, and I want to do Central America”.
As the ride began drawing to a close, his face lit up as he used his final opportunity to accelerate faster and harder.
And it became more and more obvious that it is total passion Arthur feels when he gets behind the wheel. “For me, racing with forty other cars around me on the track is just the ultimate, I love it, I live for it!”
Arthur is most happy when he is controlling anything with a motor. He builds his life around it. He explains the feeling of getting behind the wheel as an incredible rush of adrenalin. “Like when I get out of a car after racing or doing a stage. I’m pumped. Crazy, like mad out of control. The desire to make it, the desire to win. That’s what I like, that’s why I do it. That’s what makes me get into the car”.
Read more @ www.simonarthur.com |