Why Warren Luff is one of Australia’s most sought-after co-drivers

If you search for photos of Warren Luff you get a better snapshot of his racing career than any stat-sheet summary can provide.

The 45-year old Queensland-based driver has a long racing career, making his national debut in 1995, becoming a Supercars co-driver in ’99, winning the V8 Utes series in ’02, going full-time in Supercars in ’04 – and that’s not mentioning his impressive sports car and one-make Porsche resume.

Yet, its not until you begin typing Luff’s name into an image search that you really begin to get the full picture.

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Craig Lowndes, Garth Tander, Chaz Mostert, Scott Pye all feature alongside the platinum-blonde Luff, all of them grinning from ear-to-ear spraying champagne upon the rostrum of the Bathurst 1000 – or standing 12 foot tall atop a car having just won the Sandown 500.

This is where Luff’s considerable talents behind the wheel are best exemplified. He is the person that some of Australia’s most successful racing teams go to when they need a safe (and fast) pair of hands for the biggest event of the year – the Bathurst 1000.

Since 2012 Luff’s record at The Mountain is shockingly impressive with six podiums from nine attempts. Each of them with either Triple Eight or Walkinshaw Andretti United (nee Holden Racing Team).

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So, what is it that has teams baying to get him into their cars? According to Luff, it’s relatively simple.

“Look, there's no real secret to being a good co-driver, you've just got to be able to get in and get the job done,” he tells MOTOR, making it sound oh so easy.

“It's also about putting aside your ego, you're not out there to prove a point. It's about, staying out of trouble, maintaining position, gaining a position where you can, trying not to lose position. But just, realistically, don't do anything silly.

That sounds straightforward in isolation, but even Luff recognises the job at hand can get more challenging when you factor in the unique complexities of endurance racing at Mount Panorama where “you've got walls and changeable weather and all those sorts of things”.

“But it's just, as a co-driver, it's not your job to win the race because you're not in the car at the end of the race, when the real race really starts, you're there through those middle stints,” he explains.

“So, it's about being able to bring the car back every time, in the best position that you can, and get that lead driver back in, so they're in a position at the end of the day for when the real race starts.”

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Luff hasn’t competed full-time in a national racing championship since 2014 – when he finished runner-up in a closely fought Carrera Cup battle to Steven Richards. That may cause some to underestimate Luff’s ability to be match-fit. Do not make the same mistake.

While he may not be spending time in race cars, Luff’s day job as a professional stunt driver at Movie World on the Gold Coast sees him driving cars on (and over) the limit day-in, day-out.

“Skidding a Holden SS ute around is completely different to driving a V8 Supercar around Bathurst,” he admits. “But when you break it down to the basics of driving, it's still developing that seat of the pants feeling and responding and reacting to a car that's moving around underneath you.”

The stunt driving has been a full-time job for Luff since 2008, but he’s been helping the team at MOTOR even longer. We’ve been asking him to thrash some of the country’s quickest road cars since 2004, and he’s gotten pretty darn good at it since then.

“I think the big thing for me is being able to get the best out of any car,” Luff explains. “One of the things I've really prided myself on and honed over the years is, generally, it doesn't matter what car I get in, usually, in 90 per cent of cars, I'll do like an out lap and two flyers, and generally that's it. And usually the fastest lap that I'll do is actually the first flying lap. If not, sometimes the second.

“Key to this is being able to quickly identify where the grip level of the car is, and the brakes, and how it gets the power down. And being able to do it in those one or two flying laps is something that I’ve really worked hard on getting right over the years. And is something I'm quite proud of.”

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That finely honed ability puts him in good steed for the 2021 Bathurst 1000. This year there will be no 500km enduro in the lead-up. Luff, along with almost all other co-drivers, will have just a few practice and test laps at Sydney Motorsport Park under their belt before heading to The Mountain.

While he admits that this year’s preparations have been “really hard”, Luff isn’t too worried.

“For someone like myself, it's having those years of experience where you've driven plenty of miles around Bathurst, you've driven plenty of V8 Supercars, and you've done those thousands and thousands of laps over the 19 odd years, that you can tend to jump back in and get up to speed relatively quickly,” he says.

“Like this year, for example, the last time I drove the car was at a ride day at Phillip Island at the start of the year. So, normally you would've been along to a couple of test days and usually, in the past, there's always been those co-driver sessions in the lead up to the enduro. So, yeah, look, it does make it tough, but it does sort of play into the hands of some of the more experienced guys, like myself, where you've got that experience that you can call upon.”

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Making an already disrupted lead-up to The Great Race more challenging is the fact Luff has a new co-driver for 2021 – Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Bryce Fullwood. The Northern Territory native is more than two decades younger than Luff, and is in his second full-time season in Supercars.

“Bryce is one of the exciting young guys that's coming into the sport,” Luff says of his new co-driver. “It's been a tough 18 months for him with COVID and everything going on, and inconsistencies with the calendar, and being able to test and all that sort of stuff.

“So, for these young guys that have come in in the last year, or even this year, it's been a baptism of fire because it hasn't been the normal year that you would expect, where you've got events that flow one after the other, and you can build on that momentum. But he's a great young talent and I'm sure that he and I will be there pushing on hard come Bathurst, and the team will put us in a position that we can fight to be up the front towards the end.”

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If we didn’t know any better, it’d be easy to dismiss Luffy’s easy-going personality as a well-trained veneer. But not so, he is as genuine as they come, down to earth (his countless nights in dodgy motels on the road with MOTOR is testament to that), with a devilishly quick wit. Those personable traits are another tool he utilises when moonlighting as a racing driver.

“Be that guy or girl that is happy to go do the PR appearances, and go do the sponsor functions, and the autograph sessions and do all that sort of stuff,” he explains.

Despite all the success so far in his career, Mount Panorama holds a special place in Luff’s heart to this day.

“I've always loved Bathurst,” he explains. “Bathurst is one of those bucket list places where everyone wants to be able to race. And I still remember being that six- and seven-year-old kid, sitting there watching Bathurst with my dad, being awestruck by the race, the event, and the whole atmosphere and everything like that.

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“So, to grow up and not only to get to race there in support categories, but to then, finally, have my chance to race there in V8 Supercars, and to have been doing it now ever since 2002. And yeah, to have been on the podium now six times, it's something that, honestly, dreams are only made of.

“If I could go back and tell that six- or seven-year-old kid sitting on the lounge, that one day, not only are you going to race there, but you will have stood on the podium six times, it's something that you wouldn't believe is even possible. It's a magical place to be able to go and race.”

When the Supercars circus heads to Mount Panorama in December, make sure to keep an eye on car #2. With Warren Luff involved, history tells us that it will be a dark horse come the end of 161 laps of racing.

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