In theory the NZ Government’s decision late last month to plunge the country back into the strictest (red) setting of its new Traffic Light-based COVID-19 pandemic response system should have spelled a final end to Auckland-based novelty motor race organiser Dr Jacob Simonsen’s most ambitious undertakimg to date – a continuous 24-Hour race at Hampton Downs with an entry of over 100 cars and more than 500 drivers; finally due to be run later this month.
Despite the unprecedented interest from grass roots competitors and teams from all over the country it certainly looked like the Feb-19-20 event was living on borrowed time and that sooner or later Dr Simonsen was going to have to make what most figured was going to be a hard but predictable call.
As it turned out, that call was made on Sunday (Jan 30th). But rather than call it off, Dr. Simonsen came out fighting, stating that not only was an event still very much ‘on’, but also that – in tweaking the race format to better suit the current COVID-19 predictions – he had come up with a simple, cost-effective way to run other, similar events under the ‘red’ shadow of the COVID-19 Coronavirus.
“First things first,” he said, “our event at Hampton Downs is definitely going ahead over the weekend of Feb 19 & 20. That, as far as I as I am concerned is ‘the big story,’ we are back racing again, which is huge!”
“OK not as a continuous 24-Hour race as originally planned, true. But the beauty of the new one-day race format I have replaced it with is that it can run under any of the current Traffic Light formats – including, obviously, red.”
Under the new format – which he has tagged “Lemon Squeeze” (for obvious reasons!) – the current (red) COVID-19 rules limit gatherings of people using My Vaccine Pass guidelines to 100 persons per zone.
With 100 teams (each with a maximum of 4 team members) you can see straight away why a single 24-Hour race was not going to be feasible.
However, by splitting the field in two (and allocating 50 teams their 8-hour race on Saturday and the other 50 a second 8 hour one on Sunday) Dr Simonsen was starting to get somewhere. Then by splitting the vast Hampton Downs pit area and apron into two self-contained zones housing 25 teams each, each day, he knew his job was done.
“Not only that, but by creating a simple, practical way to run a completely COVID-19-compliant meeting at Hampton Downs later this month, the new format can be brought out, at very short notice, to guarantee the running of future events as well.”
“For instance,” says Dr Simonsen, “ If NZ is plunged back under a COVID-19 ‘red’ scenario prior to any future NaZCAR events, we can simply deploy this cunning new format and go ahead with our events anyway.”
“Our customers have been incredibly patient and loyal throughout the various lockdowns, so this is my way of standing up and saying NO MORE postponements or cancellations – let’s get you crazy buggers back onto the racetrack. Whatever it takes!”
Dr Simonsen also confirmed today that both the NaZCAR 3-day/24-hour event in May, and the annual continuous 24-hour enduro in September are still scheduled to go ahead at Hampton Downs, provided the region sits at Covid-19 orange light or less.
More information on the new Lemon Squeeze NaZCAR/LeMons race weekend can be found on the 24 hours of NaZCAR page on Facebook at facebook.com/Nazcar24
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