It is hard to imagine that James Courtney is Supercars’ oldest main game driver.

He still exudes a youthful persona, is quick with a smile and is enjoying his time in the sport as much as ever.

However, a seventeen-year and counting career in the premier Australian category is not the whole story.

From a very young age, Courtney was focused on becoming a professional racing driver. Like other young Aussies, Courtney missed much of his youth and teenage years at home in Australia having fun doing what teenagers do best. He was busy working his way through Karting Championships in Europe which then led onto a path in various Formula cars all leading to an end goal of Formula 1.

A key to the success of his early motorsport career were the people around him.

Wisely, the family sought out well-credentialed mentors and management to assist the young Courtney. Legendary Tony Kart boss, the late Jim Morton, was instrumental in his early development which led to international success with the Tony Kart brand. At the age of fifteen, Courtney was the 1995 World Junior Karting Champion and World Formula A Champion in 1997.

“From a young age, I was lucky to have great people around me. It all started with Mum and Dad, but they could only do so much,” Courtney told The Race Torque.

“I was lucky enough to get introduced to Jim (Morton) then Neil Crompton who was involved very early on and still is. Neil introduced me to Alan Gow and that is how it all started. I wouldn’t be doing this today if hadn’t been for Jim putting his hand out to help me.”

Courtney had spent three years racing Karts in Europe but in his mind, he was resigned that he was heading home and most likely working in his dad’s business with a view to taking it over one day. Getting a racing budget for a young Aussie was, and is to this day, a very tough assignment. However, the meeting Neil Crompton set up with Alan Gow changed the course of the young Courtney’s life forever.

“I met Alan and a week later I was on a plane to go and live with him,” James said. Interestingly Courtney knew little of Gow in those early days.

“To be honest I did not realise how powerful Alan was in motorsport. I just thought he was some Aussie bloke who had an interest in motorsport overseas,” Courtney recalled with his trademark grin.

“Once I got to the UK, I realised what a big deal he was! Alan has been not only a very big influence in my career but also Touring Cars globally. It was daunting but I didn’t realise how daunting it was until I got there and realised who he was!” he added.

Open Wheel racing in Europe is very cutthroat and Courtney was straight into it in his first year, contesting the British Formula Ford Championship and winning it in 2000. He then moved up to Formula 3 as part of the Jaguar Junior Team the following season.

2001 was another outstanding year for the young Aussie winning the British F3 championship on debut. He dominated the Championship again in 2002, and as part of his Jaguar Junior Team status, gained a test drive in the Jaguar Formula 1. The test was held mid-season at Monza and possibly changed his life and racing career forever.

“As a young kid I always wanted to do Formula 1 and was solely focused on that and trying to get there,” Courtney told of his F1 dream. “A bloke from Penrith in Western Sydney driving one of the greatest race cars ever built was pretty amazing.”

But the outcome was not as Courtney or his team had ever envisaged.

Reports in all global media detailed Courtney’s horrendous crash at the Monza test. Courtney was driving an original-spec Jaguar R3, carrying out mechanical testing for the 2003 design. Running at Monza, Courtney suffered the mother of all accidents, crashing at more than 185mph. 

“It looked like a plane crash – the track was closed because there were bits of car everywhere,” he told Australia’s Daily Telegraph newspaper at the time.

“I was doing 330km/h in top gear, and I got on the brake, [but] the rear suspension failed and pulled the rear wishbone out of the gearbox. A wheel was off the ground, and I hit the wall.

“I went straight into the wall at 306km/h and I got sent backwards at about 70g – they told me I was lucky my retinas did not detach because of the force of the crash,” reported the Telegraph.

Despite the crash, Courtney looks back philosophically on the F1 test. “It was a pretty emotional day and something I had really sacrificed my whole childhood and time with my family to achieve it. Millions of people try and don’t get there, and it is something I have a lot of people to thank for.”

The setback was not only physically and emotionally difficult for Courtney, but it also saw him give away what was most likely a back-to-back F3 Championships as he held a commanding lead at the mid-point of the season when the Formula 1 test was held.

The turning point in 2003 was a move to Japan.

“I set out to be a professional racing driver and I could get paid in Japan, where staying in Europe I was not going to get paid,” he said. “It was a great deal with TOMS and Toyota, and I really enjoyed the Super GT program. I stayed in Japan for a few years. The cars were amazing, but the culture couldn’t be more different. It was pretty hard to live there. You either loved it or hated it.” Courtney laughed.

And so, to Australia and Supercars. 2005 was Courtney’s first taste of Supercars as he teamed up with Jim Richards in the HRT Commodore for Sandown and Bathurst. A promising eleventh place at Sandown was wiped by a shocker at Bathurst. Jim had qualified the car in the Top 10, but it was out after a crash on Lap 7. But Courtney was heading home to race full-time in Australia.

“I had nearly done a deal to drive for HRT in 2006 but recall Todd (Kelly) won an event which triggered his contract rollover.” James said. “Ultimately, I ended up at SBR (Stone Brothers Racing) and this whole crazy journey started, which seems like yesterday but is now seventeen years ago!”

And just like that, the famous Pirtek Falcon was relinquished by Marcos Ambrose and was now in the hands of Courtney. His first race in 2006 was the Clipsal 500, a tough initiation.

“I crashed in both races!” Courtney said. “Saturday was in the wall at Turn 8, and the next day there was a big accident I think at Turn 3 and thought I had cleared it, but it was not to be. Then I went to the Grand Prix (at Albert Park) and the same thing happened. It wasn’t a baptism of fire, it was a bonfire!” 

Courtney enjoyed three seasons with the Stone Brothers, grabbing a Bathurst 1000 podium in 2006 and being awarded the Mike Kable Young Gun award. In the following two seasons, Courtney continued his progress with his first win coming in 2008 at the Queensland Raceway round of the Championship. Six podium appearances in 2008 and sixth in the Championship showed he was now a force in the local series.

IN PART TWO: How Courtney helped lure Adrian Burgess to Australia, his DJR Championship year, the controversial switch to HRT and his recent Tickford resurgence. Click here for the whole story.

Top left: Gold Coast 2006, Top right: On the Adelaide 500 podium, 2007, Above: Oran Park 2008. Pics: Mark Walker