WITH a flowing mullet, flat-brimmed cap and mirrored sunnies there is no doubting Macauley Jones is his own man, yet he also has the utmost respect for his family history and Mount Panorama.
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The son of Brad Jones, nephew of Kim Jones and cousin of Andrew Jones, it is no surprise that Macauley Jones joined them in becoming involved with motor sport.
The 26-year-old is currently in his second season as a full-time Supercars driver and the #3 Holden Commodore he steers is part of the Brad Jones Racing stable.
He would love to deliver a strong result for his family in the Bathurst 1000 - a race the Jones family has not yet been able to win - but given he is still learning his craft knows he has to be realistic in his expectations.
"It mean it's a very hard one, I'm probably not setting too many goals this year because there are so many variables. You know, you just want to be as fast as you can and I think that will come into play on the day," he said.
"I definitely love the fact that as a family we've got that history there and I hope I can live up to that expectation, enjoy that same success as well.
"I hope to be racing for many years to come and hope I can find success there. I've had success there in Super2 and had the ups and downs just as the rest of my family has had.
"But that's the nature of that track and that race meeting - it's one of the greatest tracks in the world."
Jones, who is sharing his seat with Tim Blanchard at Mount Panorama, has two top 10 finishes from his five previous Bathurst 1000 starts. The best of those was a seventh alongside Nick Percat in 2018.
This season Jones admits there "was a period there were I wasn't feeling over confident in the car" but he's learned and he's improved. That process continues at the Mount.
"Hopefully we can have a strong Bathurst and we can keep chipping away. We are chipping away getting there and feeling more and more confident in the car," he said.
