Organisers of the MOTUL Honda Cup are getting involved in grassroots motorsport in a big way this coming weekend as they aim to grow the class and support budget endurance racing.
There are four speed groups competing in the first of the NaZcar Pro events this weekend – which is being billed as a preliminary round – and the MOTUL Honda Cup will award $1000 worth of prizes to the first Honda competitor who crosses the line at the two hour mark, regardless of whether they are racing the three or six hour events. The first series commences in July and runs over three rounds.
NaZcar grew out of the Lemons racing event and is designed to cater for lower budget racers who compete in domestic series such as Honda Cup, but to give them an endurance series where they can race within budgets and against competitors of similar speeds.
“The NaZcar Pro series is a chance for the everyman to be a champion in endurance racing without spending an absolute fortune,” said NaZcar’s Jacob Simonsen.
“There has been a massive demand for those in the lower and middle level of motorsport in New Zealand to go endurance racing. The national series have done exceptionally well in producing a high calibre field, but for many it’s simply out of their budgets.
“There are groups and classes – like Honda Cup – doing their thing out there and doing it well to develop racing at the grassroots level. To have them involved in an endurance series that has a similar philosophy is great for everyone involved and a win-win for racers at that level.
Those shared values were reflected by MOTUL Honda Cup President Greg Spark, who added: “It’s a great way for us to spread our wings and attract racers just starting out in motorsport,” he said.
“We have always structured our series to cater for the racer or enthusiast wanting to start at the beginning and move up classes as they develop their car and their driving skills and our involvement with NaZcar is designed to spread that word out within events and series which are also promoting grassroots inexpensive motorsport. NaZcar also adds the opportunity for us to do longer distances and enjoy our cars even more.”
The MOTUL Honda Cup has been the best and most popular motorsport series in New Zealand for Honda racers for over a decade and was out on show at the recent New Zealand Grand Prix event, where it put on three superb races, all of which have a different format.
Several competitors from the weekend are also planning endurance runs in the NaZcar pilot event as well as the main series.
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