Catering for the growth of interest in the southern hemisphere’s largest one make race car competition, the Castrol BMW Race Driver Series has altered eligibility to the open class which allows entry for cars that have been locally developed.
Previously cars had to follow factory BMW specification or that of specialist tuning partners like Hartage, Schnitzer and Alpina. Entry now allows pretty much any BMW engine in any BMW body race car to compete in the seven round series.
Split in to three groups – the newly extended Open, plus 2L and E30 categories have over 100 cars that compete in the Castrol lubricant backed series on a regular basis.
Detailing the entry criteria expansion for the Open class, series president Gordon Legge says there is a ‘by committee approval’ for cars with a turbo charger addition that is outside the factory specification.
“We’ve also added a time bracket to differentiate between categories of car in the open class. To cut through the technical eligibility we have a control time. If you go faster than the threshold, then you move in to the next category.
“Based on lap times set at Hampton Downs, if you’re faster than 1min 13 sec you’re in the A class, between than at 1min 18sec you’re in the B class, with a C class for cars under that time.”
The continued growth of the series has also seen newly crowned champions emerge from the season-ending prize giving. Taking out the overall driver title across the 108 drivers who competed was South Auckland’s Ian Davidson, the winner of the Open Class B category. Open Class A winner was Andrew Nugent.
The E30 title went to Matt Griffin after a season long battle with Aaron Hodgson. Matthew Seddon was third while Mark Crompton took the over-55 driver title (Keith Mitchell memorial trophy), and finished fourth overall in the category.
Taking overall 2L category honours was Auckland’s Peter Ball.
Seven rounds have been scheduled for the 2016-2017 season – using the Pukekohe, Hampton Downs, Taupo and Manfeild race circuits. Run from mid-September through to early April 2017 two of the rounds will be at the televised premier summer series.
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