Tim Slade

Tim Slade is a racing driver from Australia who spent most of his career driving in the Australian V8 Supercars Championship in which he made a debut in 2009. He was a race winner two times.

Currently, Slade drives the #14 Holden Commodore for Brad Jones Racing. He joined the team in 2016, previously spending time with Walkinshaw Racing, James Rosenberg Racing and Paul Morris Motorsport.

Tim Slade

Tim made headlines as a Formula Ford runner-up

Tim Slae was born in August in Hornsby, New South Wales. As a boy, he was fascinated with cars and in 2004 debuted at the national level, driving in the Australian Formula 3 Championship. Actually, Slade had only one appearance in the penultimate round of the season and managed to win the race, driving for Team BRM.

Next year, driving a car owned by a businessman James Rosenberg, Tim continued his Formula 3 career but was dropped out of the team after the fourth round of the season. He was well behind the series leader and the team’s opinion was that he is not good enough to compete for the title.

Slade was without a drive before the beginning of 2006 campaign and he had to accept a call from Sonic Motor Racing Services team to become their driver in the Australian Formula Ford Championship which was a step back in his career. However, Tim proved that he is capable of fighting for the title. He finished the season as a runner-up, narrowly losing to John Martin.

Tim Slade at Bathurst, 2008

Switch to touring cars racing

Slade left formula racing at the end of 2006 and turned to the racing in Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series, nowadays known as the Dunlop Supercars Series. The first season in the championship wasn’t bad as he finished 9th overall, with a 2nd place at Queensland Raceway as the highlight of the season.

In 2008, Tim again got a financial backing from Rosenberg who bought him a new Holden VZ Commodore. Slade’s results were mostly good. He won the race at Wakefield Park and was constantly among the front runners but in the last couple of races, his form dropped, so he finished 7th in the standings.

Tim Slade driving a Ford, 2010 V8 Supercars championship

V8 Supercars Championship debut in 2009

In 2009, Slade moved to the highest rank of V8 Supercars Championship. Driving the Paul Morris Motorsport’s Holden, Tim finished 23rd in the Drivers’ championship and picked some valuable experience for the years to come.

James Rosenberg formed his own team in 2010 and Slade became a part of it. Now he was behind the wheel of Ford Falcon and moved up to the 16th position overall. The best result of the campaign was the 5th place at Phillip Island.

Two good seasons with James Rosenberg Racing

The seasons of 2011 and 2012 were the best in Slade’s career so far. He was 9th overall in 2011 and he was in very good form. For the first time in his V8 Supercars career, Tim scored a podium finish. Actually, he scored three, all at Queensland Raceway where he was twice 2nd and once 3rd.

Tim Slade, Clipsal 500 Adelaide 2011

In 2012, the results were even better. Driving his Ford Falcon sponsored by Lucky 7, Tim had numerous top 10 finishes and again stepped on the podium after three races. Slade finished 2nd in Sydney and 3rd at Phillip Island and Yas Marina Circuit before taking the 5th place in the championship.

Switch to Mercedes was a failure

At the end of 2012, the team used the new car – Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. That car wasn’t nearly as good as it was expected and Slade struggled during the 2013 season and finished 22nd in the final standings, scoring only four top 10 finishes out of 36 races. Tim also competed in the Australian GT Championship but the situation wasn’t any better since he finished 24th. In the second half of the season in V8 Super Tourer Championship, he was 11th overall with one race win and other five podium finishes.

Tim Slade with Erebus Motorsport's Mercedes-Benz coupe

Beginning with Walkinshaw Racing

After a pretty poor year, Slade moved to Walkinshaw Racing in 2014, as a replacement for Russell Ingall. After many years Tim was again behind the wheel of Holden and the results slightly improved. His best results were the 3rd place in the races at Winton Motor Raceway and at Surfers Paradise, while in the championship he moved to the 17th position.

Tim Slade,Holden, Walkinshaw Racing, 2014

Small progress continued in 2015 when Slade took the 13th place overall with the 2nd place at Hidden Valley Raceway as the best result of the campaign. That was his final year with the team and Tim was preparing for the new challenge.

Move to BJR and maiden win in Supercars career

In 2016, Slade signed with Brad Jones Racing, another well-established team of the V8 Supercars Championship. The beginning of the season was relatively slow but later Tim’s performances became better and he won both races at Winton and also finished 2nd at Hidden Valley Raceway. It was followed by some strong finishes in other races and Slade finished the season 8th in the points. At Bathurst 1000, he finished seventh together with Ash Walsh, repeating his best result from 2009 and 2012.

The same year Tim also won the Pro Class of World Time Attack Challenge in Sydney, driving a Nissan Silvia S13.

Tim Slade debuted in V8SC in 2009 and finally scored his first victory in 2016

Victory in the GT endurance race at Laguna Seca

In 2017 Supercars season, Slade stayed in the #14 Holden Commodore, scoring two podiums on a way to 11th place in the championship. His endurance co-driver Ash Walsh has been replaced for Bathurst 1000 race due to injuries during practice so Slade was sharing a car with Andre Heimgartner. They finished ninth. One more season in the #14 Holden follows in 2018. Scoring no wins or podiums, Slade finished eleventh in the points.

In 2019, Slade continued to drive the #14 Holden in the Supercars Championship but his most notable result came in another competition. In March, he joined HubAuto Corsa to drive a Ferrari 488 GT3 in the California 8 Hours at Laguna Seca Raceway in the USA, together with Nick Foster and Miguel Molina. Surprisingly, they won a race.

Tim Slade (left) celebrates victory at Laguna Seca

Photo: alchetron.com speedcafe.com sportscardigest.com supercars.com