GUEST SPEAKER - Leigh Holmes

Leigh is a Civil Engineer with Spiire Australia
Grew up with a good work ethic from his parents and wanted a career that would reflect those values
Had a career with Flood Modelling and had good background knowledge having been through 3 major floods in Numurkah
Leigh is now a Director of the Company
Building new towns and spaces is not about the engineering but about building places for people to live these days
Leigh came to talk about his passion for motor racing (fast) and his competitive nature that has led him in to go cart racing
Numurkah has a great Go Cart Track which was established in 1959 and is one of the oldest in Australia
Leigh met Graham Powles and grew up with him as a mentor - he passed away last year
Go cart racing connected families that went around racing together and becomes a community
Graham was remembered as a man of perfection
He had an engineering shop in town
Also built go carts
Graham raced carts overseas and commenced manufacturing go carts around Australia
Leigh worked for Graham in the shop one summer and remembered the high standards he set putting together the carts
Leigh was with the Powles family when graham won his first national Championship with his own cart
Graham's son Glenn also raced carts and Leigh looked up to him as well
Graham and Marg were a powerhouse for the Go Cart Track and Club
The club is struggling currently as it is very expensive to run and maintain the tracks
There are about 7,000 cart racers in Australia and is the sport which can lead into Formula One racing
It is very expensive to go Professional in carts
There are a lot of categories and racing groups
Kids from the age of 7 years old can start racing
The seniors race at a speed of 110-130 km/hr
The carts are simple but sophisticated and are now push button start rather than the old ‘push’ start
Leigh won the title series last year
It is a big commitment on time, as it requires a 3-day weekend to race, 10 times a year
His sport has also driven him to excel in his work life as well
Leigh is also interested in the engineering side of the carts as well as the racing