Canterbury set to welcome NZ Truth V8s

Motorsport fans from Canterbury, and beyond, will want to head to Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway at Ruapuna Park over the weekend of 24 and 25 November as the NZ Truth V8s thunder into town.

The NZ Truth V8s headline the GT Radial 200 event, which also features MotorSport New Zealand’s premier racing championships like the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup and the MTA Formula Ford Championship.

The 2007-08 NZ Truth V8s Championship got underway at Pukekohe earlier this month, and the phrase ‘action-packed’ barely begins to describe the V8s’ first weekend of racing.

As expected, the talent-packed field of V8 drivers didn’t fail to deliver spectacular on-track action.

John McIntyre, defending V8 champion, dominated the opening round in the BP Ultimate Ford. The Nelson-based driver was quick to adapt to the new three-part V8 Supercar-style qualifying sessions to take the first pole position of the 2007-08 season. The new qualifying format sees the whole V8 field get a 20-minute session, then the fastest 20 drivers another 15-minute session and, finally, the quickest ten competitors contest a 15 minute shoot-out session.

McIntyre, like fellow frontrunners Angus Fogg in the Havoline Ford and Andy Booth in the Tasman Motorsport Holden, said he enjoyed the new format. “It involves the team more, and it’s pretty intense. You’ve got to balance the number of laps you need to do to get quick times without chewing through your weekend’s allocation of Dunlop racing tyres too fast.”

McIntyre, who moved to Nelson from Auckland last year, went on to win the first two races and, in wet slippery conditions for the reverse grid race, came through from the rear of the field to take fourth place and an early lead on the NZ Truth V8s championship points table.

Now heading his one-season-old team, Hawke’s Bay-based John McIntyre Racing, McIntyre is focused on winning a second V8 title. He commented: “It has been a very rewarding start for us after a lot of hard work on the BP Ultimate Ford in the off-season. We now go to Powerbuilt Tools Raceway in the lead with a straight, fast car.”

Driving the leading Holden into second place on the V8s points table, Auckland-based Booth was pleased with the results achieved by the Tasman Motorsport/Firepower Holden team. “To finish the opening round second overall with a couple of fastest laps is really encouraging,” said the two-time V8 champion. “It shows our winter programme has paid off and the whole crew is now focused on the championship and giving the Holden fans something to cheer about.”

Always a serious contender for the V8 title, Havoline Ford driver Angus Fogg is hot on the heels of Booth in third place overall as the V8s head to Canterbury for championship.

Racing a Ford for the first time in this series after four seasons in a Holden, 2005-06 V8 champion Kayne Scott knows he has many more opportunities to score points and get ahead of the leading trio. With just three races of the six round championship completed, the Hamilton-based Fujitsu Ford driver is sure to be challenging for the lead particularly at Powerbuilt Tools Raceway where, last year, he scored pole position, a first, a second and a third to take maximum points from the round.

Of particular note this season was the signing of former two-time world touring car champion and V8 Supercar regular Paul Radisich to drive the Tracer Motorsport-prepared HPM Racing Ford. Radisich said the car was as fast as any on the circuit, but small mechanical issues during the opening round sees the Melbourne-based Kiwi head into the GT Radial 200 event in eighth place overall.

Presently ahead of Radisich on the points table, Pukekohe’s Dean Perkins had a strong start in the GT Radial Ford to hold fifth overall. Booth’s team-mate and another former V8 champion Paul Manuell holds sixth in the Orix Holden and is looking forward to racing on the Canterbury circuit. “We tend to go well there; it’s technical and we like that,” says the Pukekohe resident. Australian V8 Supercar driver Cameron McLean holds seventh with the Brisbane driver returning to the New Zealand V8s series for his third season in the newly-branded Tex Onsite Ford.

Unusually, it’s been the activities going on off-track for the NZ Truth V8s in the three weeks leading up to the GT Radial 200 that have captured the attention of media and fans.

McIntyre’s team lost their spare parts truck in a freak fire on the road south from Pukekohe and the team is working frantically to replace the destroyed items. “Fortunately no one was injured and the winning racecar was untouched. The support and offers of help we have received from sponsors, V8 teams and supporters has been overwhelming! The team has bounced back so quickly and positively that it has galvanised us as a team, we will be stronger than ever at Ruapuna; look out..!”

Pinepac ITM Holden driver Andrew Anderson got caught out in the second race at Pukekohe. Forced into a spin, Anderson’s car was then T-boned by Julia Huzziff’s Steel Fab Holden, the series’ only female driver left in the unenviable position of literally having nowhere to go.

Testimony to the strength and design of his Holden’s roll cage – the car was formerly raced by Paul Manuell and built by Anderson’s uncle, Wayne Anderson – Anderson got out of his badly-damaged car uninjured.

“Wayne has already started building a brand new car and reviewing all the components which can be salvaged from the written-off shell,” says Anderson. “Obviously we won’t have this car ready for the Powerbuilt Tools Raceway event, but we hope to have it ready for testing before the A1 GP meeting in Taupo in January. For round two of the NZ Truth V8s Championship, we are looking to lease a competitive car.”

Following surgery to repair a torn kneecap tendon, Huzziff faces a two month recovery period. The family-owned and run team has launched a public appeal for donations to help them rebuild the car and get Huzziff racing again. See the Julia Huzziff Racing website www.jhr.co.nz for more details.

In another incident, former Super Truck champion Inky Tulloch’s Cat Rental Ford suffered extensive panel damage after an earlier tangle with Adam Brook appeared to have damaged a brake line.

“I simply lost all rear brakes on that one application at the left corner, fortunately missing Simon Richards in front, and then hit the tyre and Armco barrier in the centre of the track,” says the Southland transport company director.

With G-forces of 4.7 on impact at 141 km/h, Tulloch said he was bruised after the crash, but otherwise okay. “The relative lack of injury is a credit to the safety systems built into our cars and the HANS devise I wear. Structurally the car’s fine and it will be ready for racing at round two.”

Kerry Cooper, general manager of The MotorSport Company which promotes the NZ Truth V8s Championship, says several drivers must also be acknowledged for the work they’re doing to support some of New Zealand’s charitable organisations.

“One of this season’s rookies, Chris Adams who’s moved up from the V8s development series, has created a very positive involvement with Cure Kids,” says Cooper. “And Andy Booth hosted two young men who suffer from cerebral palsy at the Pukekohe event, which was a real highlight for all involved.”

Adams, who lives in Mosgiel, explains his involvement with Cure Kids. “We had a health scare with my son earlier this year, so I decided to do something good for a children’s charity and choose Cure Kids. At each event, we get together with our major sponsor MasterTrade to put on a breakfast meeting where children and their families being helped by Cure Kids can come along and meet the team. We also auction hot laps, our crew members have shaved their hair for donations and I’m giving Cure Kids 50 per cent of the profits from merchandise sales.”

Booth says he’s looking at working with the Cerebral Palsy Society again in the future. “This really was a special thing for me to be involved with, and I’ve offered to do the same at other venues.”

Cooper says it’s great to see the popularity of the NZ Truth V8s able to be used in a positive way to assist charities. “With 32 professional teams and drivers now contesting the V8s Championship, this series is now bigger and more popular than ever. It’s a real credit to our drivers that they’re using their own public profile to assist others less fortunate.”

More information about the NZ Truth V8s Championship can found on www.nzv8s.co.nz .

Tickets for the GT Radial 200 are available via the website or by calling 0800 4NZV8S (0800 469 887) until the Wednesday preceding the event, or at the gate. A weekend adult pass (three days) costs $40 at the gate ($35 via web/free-phone) or there is a Saturday-only option for $20 and a Sunday-only option for $35. Children 14 years of age and under are free of charge when accompanied by a paying adult.