The Bathurst driver picked up the first trophy of his new sporting pursuit on Sunday when placing second in his Group N class at the Historic Sports and Racing Car Association’s Tasman Festival.

Held over two days at Sydney Motor Sport Park, Goulding raced a distinctive 0-1300cc class yellow Morris Cooper S.

It was the first round of the new championship and Goulding was pleased how it finished up.

“It was only my third event, so to get a result was not too bad. I basically only got my licence three-four months ago,” he said.

“I did the Muscle Car Masters event down at Eastern Creek and I blew the car up there, so I only did one session, that was pretty impressive,” he laughed.

“So then we rebuilt it, fixed it and put it all back together and I did an event at Wakefield and then this one at Eastern Creek.”

READ ALSO: Rebranding is good news for Bathurst driver

READ ALSO: Lap record hunters expected at Challenge Bathurst

READ ALSO: Whincup aims for another 12 Hour podium

While driving at race meetings is something new for Goulding, he is by no means a stranger to motor sport. His father was involved in the industry and he has previously worked with other race outfits.

“My Dad has run Eastern Creek and Amaroo for the last 35 years and he’s retired recently, but I’ve always been involved in that type of car racing,” he said.

“I’ve helped guys like the Aubin brothers with their motoring adventures. I’ve always wanted to do it [race], but I’ve never really had the resources or money to do it.

“But now at my stage of life where my boys have gone – there’s no more supporting kids and all that sort of stuff – I can spent a bit of money on myself.”

Goulding’s weekend began with qualifying on Saturday morning, but his run lasted less than two minutes as mechanical issues forced him back into the pits. Fortunately his fellow competitors came to his aid.

“We got there Saturday morning and had our qualifying session first off and I did one complete lap and bent a push rod and bent a valve. So basically the whole top of the engine had to be taken off,” he said.

“My team-mate did exactly the same thing, so it was a very hectic Saturday morning. It only got fixed because of the camaraderie in the group.”

Keep up to date with the latest sports news by clicking here

Once back on track Goulding enjoyed the chance to race in a 31-car field which included Ford Mustangs, several makes of Holden, a Chevrolet Camaro and seven other Morris Coopers.

His quickest lap over the two days was a 1:56.1675, but as Goulding spends more time racing, his times will get quicker.

“We are going to try and do more rounds next year and see if we can rack up a class win or an overall podium or something like that,” he said.