Obituary: Peter Rowsell
As karters were preparing for the AKA Nationals in WA, Go-Kart Club of Victoria Life Member Peter Rowsell passed away.
In honour of their fellow club member, karter and friend, Matthew Wall, Jordan Ford, Lee Mitchener and Adam Willison all carried special 'RIP Raggy' stickers on their karts at the Easter classic.
For the benefit of club members, GKCV President John Wall wrote a tribute for Raggy, which is published below.
It is with much sadness that I have to report to our members Peter Rowsell’s passing after a long illness, on the 14th of April.
I met Peter approximately 18 years ago when my family were first involved in Karting, serving our “apprenticeship” in the Junior National Light ranks in the old Brooklyn days. At that stage, we knew nothing about karting and often wondered when we would ever finish a race, due to driving errors and mechanical failures.
Then we were fortunate enough to meet Peter and Marie at the track. At that time, Peter was very competitive in the Clubman over 40’s class. Peter must have felt sorry for Matt and he guided both driver and budding mechanic through the basics of kart setup and driving hints. From those days, we never looked back and we never forgot the assistance and help that Peter gave us. This loyalty followed Peter when he and Marie became proprietors of Western Karts and we were enthused and honoured to be customers and carry the Western Karts stickers on our side pods!
I do know that we were not the only family to benefit from Peter’s kindness, assistance and encouragement over many years and I am sure that dozens of karters and families will remember Peter’s assistance as well.
As long as I can remember, Peter had always been involved as a committee member for the Go Kart Club of Victoria in one position or another. He had served tirelessly as secretary in recent years and only stepped down from that position a few short years ago.
Peter and Marie were awarded life membership in recognition of their services to the club over many years. It was a pleasure to work with him for the benefit of the club and we always had a great time.
One of Peter’s greatest goals recently, was to archive all the karting memorabilia and anecdotal paperwork, photographs that the club had amassed over the years. As Peter’s legacy, we will do our best to publish and make available these fascinating pages from years gone by.
Peter may have passed on, but his memory will be cherished and honoured for years to come and his famous phrase...”see you on the black stuff” will not be forgotten.
Our deepest sympathies to Marie and Claire.
John Wall
President GKCV
