Dowe joins the Melbourne-based team in the purchasing manager role, his responsibilities including managing the spares inventory and facilitating the transition to the new-for-2023 Gen3 regulations.
His extensive experience includes stints in F1 with Ensign, Brabham, Wolf, Ligier and Arrows, IndyCar with Chaparral and Newman-Haas, and sportscars with Tom Walkinshaw Racing.
He also has Supercars experience having held roles with Kelly Racing and Walkinshaw Racing.
“I’m happy to join Team 18, knowing many of the people in the team already," said Dowe.
“It’s good to work with people that are wanting to achieve as opposed to just rocking up to work every day.
"There’s a fresh impetus to get things right which makes walking through the door every day a nice feeling.
“I was in my garage at home working on my go kart and Dennis [Huijser, Team 18 crew chief] called me. I enjoyed working with him back in the Walkinshaw days and we have a very heads-up relationship, and we went from there.
"It’s enjoyable for someone to pick up the phone and ask you to come and help and be part of the growing structure of the team.
“Gen3 is a huge undertaking because it is a complete car with very little carry-over from anything else previously. It’s an opportunity to put in place some structure for how we manage inventory and control what we order and look after the dollars and cents, because cash flow is always the thing that we must keep an eye on.
“I’ve been there and bought the t-shirt in so many other areas. I’m excited to find a situation where everything runs smoothly, we have all the bits we want in the time frame we need it as opposed to scrambling around at the last minute.
"There’s 97 working days to the first of February next year and that’s going to be a killer for all teams up and down pit lane if you don’t stay on top of things.”
Team 18 owner Charlie Schwerkolt said having Dowe on board will allow the performance side of the operation to focus on the remainder of the 2022 season.
"We are pleased to have Tony agree to join Team 18, he possesses an outstanding wealth of successful racing experience and is a valuable addition to our racing operations," he said.
“With new developments emerging daily for Gen3, it was critical for us to be on the front foot to prepare for the build of the new cars without compromising our focus on the final three rounds of this year’s championship, and appointments like this will contribute to that.
“To have someone of Tony’s experience in the team is invaluable and we have no doubt the entire team will be able to feed off his years of success in all forms of motorsport to drive the team forwards.”
