Darryl Speers started racing AUSCAR’s from the second round of the 1988/89 season and continued on racing until the category came to a sudden halt in the 1999/00 season.

The July 1988 edition of Thunderdome mentions Darryl racing against the clock to make his debut in the June 26th race, the story reported that he was a young mechanic who acquired a body shell from Reg Hunt in February 1988 with fellow AUSCAR competitor Dave Weatherhead putting the engine together.

Darryl finished 26th in points in 1988, 8th in 1989/90, 20th in 1990/91, 21st in 1991/92, 28th in 1992/93, 22nd in 1993/94 and fifteenth in 1994/95.

Darryl finished ninth in the 1995/96 season; it was at the time his second Top 10 season finish.

Darryl then finished seventh in the 1996/97 season, seventh in the 1997/98 season and twelfth in the 1998/99 season.

A combined non-championship round of AUSCAR and Sportsman racing was held at Calder Park Raceway on June 23rd, 1999, the round brought Darryl great success, he won all four of the races.

The 1999/00 season started off well for Darryl and he was second in the championship behind Matthew White before the series came to a sudden halt.

After AUSCAR, the #31 that Darryl drove was seen at Wakefield Park for many years where people could pay to drive it or be driven in it.

The #31 popped up again in 2017 as it was spotted among a bunch of AUSCARs lined up in a row at Winton.

In 2018, the car was declared purchased and it was then restored and put on sale for $8500.

The fuel tank, boot spoiler and the fuel pipe/dry break connection rear quarter to tank were listed for sale in 2022.

Lukas Gates purchased the car and brought it home in December 2022 and started to restore it to racing condition.

Jamie Jordan became the owner of the #31 car in 2024 and continued on the work of getting it ready for Stock Cars Australia competition.

For fans of the #31, you can follow the car’s progress on ‘AUSCAR #31‘, the page has a nice mix of past photos and present restoration photos.

Car numbers
#31