South Island Endurance Series Gears Up For Season

It may be just over 3 months until the 2020 Carters Tyre Service South Island Endurance Series bursts into life but there is already significant interest in the popular series, and the 2020 edition is likely to be the first major Motorsport Series to be completed in New Zealand this year. The Series enjoys one of the widest and wildest variety of cars competing and Series secretary Cate Paddon confirmed another year of stable rules. “This season we only have a couple of very minor rule changes. With the world changing in response to COVID-19, our series is pleased to boast we are business as usual” she said “We have the three hour Series where we have everything from 2K Cup cars to world class GT3 machinery competing, whilst we also have the always popular one hour series where although we have kept a lid on the exotic cars allowed, we will have some really fantastic machinery fighting for the titles.”

With Series entries recently opening there is already good interest in the 2020 Series which will revert to its traditional 3 round; Teretonga, Ruapuna and Levels format before finishing the year by hosting the 2020 New Zealand Endurance Championships at Highlands Motorsport Park. “With all the South Island circuits having been closed under lockdown for the last couple of months, and winter being a traditionally quiet period anyway, we are looking forward to bringing them some big fields of exciting cars and close action racing to help get them back on track” said Paddon.

The Series is part way through a multi-year sponsorship agreement with the 100% New Zealand family owned business, Carters Tyre Service so will again be able to offer a huge prize & prize money package for competitors. As well as prizemoney, there are also many other prizes & awards on offer across all the classes in both the 3 hour & 1 hour Series. On top of the prestige of winning the coveted South Island Endurance Series title, there is further impressive silverware on offer including the main prize of the South Canterbury Toyota Cup for the overall 3hr series winners, and other trophies including the Southern RV under 2 litre challenge and the Matt Heagney Memorial for first 4cyl home, plus trophies for all class winners in both the 3 hour & 1 hour Series. 

“We are really thrilled to be able to offer another incredible prize package, and thanks really go out to our generous series partners” said Paddon. “We will again have some serious prize money to give away plus magnificent prizes & spot prizes and not to forget both our pre-race and post-race social functions that are fast gaining legendary status.”

The Series always surprises with its seemly constant arrival of new cars into the Series and this year will be no exception. One exciting addition will be the newer 2018 spec Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 of title sponsors Carters Tyre Service. With Audi R8 GT3’s dominating the Three Hour Series for the past couple of seasons, and the GilbertsonJMR SaReNi Camaro GT3+ being one of the few cars to be able to match their outright pace in 2019, the new Silver Arrow will no doubt be a front runner when these cars line up again in 2020. “We always have an amazing array of cars and this season is no different, you can guarantee there is some exciting new machinery set to fill our grids” quipped Paddon.

With separate races for the 1hr and 3hr Series, both have several capacity based classes being, Class A: 0-2000cc, Class B: 2001-3500cc and Class C: 3501cc and over, excluding factory built race cars. There is also a Class D for the likes of the Porsche Cup Cars, V8 Supertourers and FIA GT4 cars, and finally class E (for 3hr only) for the FIA GT3 and similar cars. “The great thing about this series is that we always have such a great mixture of cars across all the classes” said Paddon. “No matter what car you have there will always be someone at your pace to race with, plus its often the smaller more reliable cars that are the most impressive as they work their way up through the fields.”

The 2020 Carters Tyres SI Endurance Series will be run with a round held at each of the three traditional South Island race circuits. The Series starts at Teretonga Park, Invercargill on Saturday 12th September, then to Mike Pero Ruapuna, Christchurch for round Two on 3rd October with the grand finale at Levels Raceway, Timaru on 17th October 2020.

The Club then host the 2020 NZ Endurance Championships at the magnificent Highlands Motorsport Park on November 7th 2020. Competitors who have competed in the 2020 North or South Island Endurance Series’, and meet the South Island Series eligibility criteria, are invited to attend this championship event where team’s line up for a winner takes all single race to decide the 1hr and 3hr Motorsport New Zealand Championship titles.

With Series entries only just opening there are still plenty of spaces available on the grid, and dollar for dollar Endurance racing represents the best value for money Motorsport available. Competitors can still register their interest by contacting Series Secretary, Cate Paddon, via e-mail at sierdc@outlook.com or phone 027-841-2560.

Any potential competitors, crews and supporters are welcome to be added to the clubs e-mailing list by simply sending an e-mail to the above address, or via the Clubs facebook page at www.facebook.com/sierdcnz. Information on the series sponsor can be found at www.carterstyres.co.nz

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