West Auckland resident and a familiar face in the circles of circuit racing, kartsport and more recently rallying in the New Zealand Rally Championship. Steve Cox gets to realise a personal dream and ticks another box on his extensive items of things to do in his motorsport bucket list by competing in the 2022 Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour over Easter.
Cox is partnering Australian Peter Bray in an R8 Commodore and he has already done some testing in Queensland, and produced some pretty satisfying lap times.
Cox said, “I was pretty confident having done a lot of circuit racing in New Zealand. Once I came to grips with the new track and a new car it was very satisfying to record some very encouraging lap times.”
Great news despite contracting Covid while in Australia and a nervous wait to get home to prepare for Rally Otago – the first round of the NZ Rally Championship.
“Competing at Bathurst has been a dream of mine for many years and it is extremely exciting to think I can get to do what my hero’s such as Shane Van Gisbergen and Scotty McLauchlan do.
“For Bathurst, the plan is to win our class, but not do anything stupid, Bathurst has broken many hearts if you underestimate this circuit. With the walls and many changes in elevation it will be a challenge.
“We plan to make four pit stops during the race which means Steve and Peter will get approximately 90 minutes each stint in the car. “A top ten finish would be absolutely fantastic and not at all impossible“ said Cox.
59-years-old and recently retired, Steve has successfully competed in many forms of motorsport and previously enjoyed some success in rallying during the nineties, however, after a serious crash in one of the Raglan stages, turned his talents to circuit racing competing in Super Sedans and 2K Cup before re-entering the world of rallying by building a very fast 1984 KP61 Toyota Starlet and competing in the New Zealand Rally Championship for the past four years alongside long time co driver and friend Laurie Brenssell.
We have an exciting year on the rallying front in 2022. Laurie and I have chosen to run a Magnum Motorsport H6 Subaru which is part of Jeff Judd’s stable of cars.
Steve also says, “2022 will see the fast red Toyota Starlet at the Classic Rally of the North and later in the year at the seven-day Silver Fern Rally.”
Cox also plans to do an event or two in his magnificent replica F40 Ferrari which he had built in the early 2000’s.
“We also have our new project on the go now which is a tribute to the short-wheel base Group B Audi Quattro, built around the specs of the “fire-breathing” Audi Quattros that graced our rally roads in the eighty’s. It is hoped to have this project completed in time for the WRC Rally New Zealand.”
So with Steve and the team having a very busy season ahead he said “Am I excited to be competing at Bathurst? Hell yeah, dreams do come true.”
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