Cooler Temps No Barrier To Hot Action On Track This Weekend

Once upon a time, not that long ago, summer was for circuit racing, winter for rallying, and it was very much a case of ‘never the twain shall meet.’

Recently however, there has been a noticeable ‘change in the seasons,’ the opening round of novelty endurance race organiser Dr Jacob Simonsen’s new Sanctioned NZ Championship 3- and 6-hour Pro Series at Hampton Downs this Saturday (July 09) as good an example of the trend as any.

When Dr Simonsen first arrived back ‘home’ in NZ after years spent living and working overseas, he says he was ‘intially surprised but also frustrated in fairly equal measure’ by how event organisers (mainly clubs at that stage) would fight ‘tooth and nail’ for a date between Labour Day (Oct 26) and Easter to run a circuit-based meeting – and to hell with any prospective entrant if the day or date might not suit.

“Which all seemed a bit silly to me,” says Dr Simonsen, “particularly since we have such a temperate climate.

“That and the fact that there is so much capital tied up in a circuit these days I would have thought that the owners would want to see some sort of return on investment across all 12 – rather than just the warmest 6 – months of the year!

“But there you go.”

It was with this thought very much front of mind that Dr Simonsen first brought the novelty 24 Hours of LeMons event to New Zealand in September 2016 – and since then the Auckland-based motorsport entrepreneur has run the majority of his other events here in circuit racing’s traditional ‘off-season.’

Last year, he also ‘dipped a toe’ in what he calls the ‘more serious’ side of the sport’ with the inaugural NZ Championship status Pro Series – again kicking it off with a round at the Hampton Downs circuit in the middle of winter

With close to 30 squads - from across the local motorsport spectrum – fronting for this inaugural event, Simonsen realised that it wasn’t just he who enjoyed getting out and about when the days are short and the nights long.

This year’s Pro Series again kicks off (this Saturday, July 09) at the Hampton Downs circuit in the northern Waikato before a second round at the Taupo International Motorsport Park on Saturday July 30 and final at Pukekohe Park Raceway, Pukekohe on Saturday August 20.

Entry numbers are up again – to 39 for Saturday’s opening round - with NaZCAR series regulars like Taupo’s SsangYong Ute team Ghost Dog Racing, and Ray Chamberlain’s Team Assassin Racing’s diminutive Mazda 3 set to line up alongside entries from established NZ endurance race specialists like Paul Burborough from the Wingers Bayswater squad, and former NZV8s category driver Nathan Pilcher now running a Suzuki Swift.

Even young kart and Formula First category front-runner Reece Hendl-Cox from Whakatane has put together a team to compete.

“With all the effort we’ve put into developing what is now New Zealand’s largest Endurance series, we’re obviously thrilled at the unbridled support from competitors, sponsors and the public,” Dr Simonsen said last night.

“We pioneered an Endurance series based on lap-times after watching how much fun our 24-hour ‘Lemons’ teams were having battling between all makes-and-models of cars, regardless of cc-rating, horsepower, or modifications. And that has worked equally as well with our Pro Series.”

“Also, the idea of running the series across multiple tracks offers teams more variety, as well as making it more of a challenge for all involved. Add in the other great variable at this time of the year – the weather – and you’re going to have to be pretty ‘on-to-it’ to win one of the rounds let alone be in contention for one of the NZ titles at the end of the series.”

Action on track at Hampton Downs on Saturday is due to start at 9.45am with a practice and qualifying session after which both the 3 and 6 hr. races are set to start simultaneously at 11.00am.

The 3-hr. race then concludes at 2.00pm, the 6 hr. at 5.00pm.

More information on upcoming NaZCAR events can be found on the 24 hours of NaZCAR page on Facebook at facebook.com/Nazcar24

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