People vote with their feet and like it or not, the four big circuit attractions for spectators are Supercars, super trucks, drifting and classic car racing. Rather than these events fitting around national championship rounds, it can be the other way around.
Unfortunately for purists, Formula First, Formula Ford, TR86, SsangYong Utes, V8 Utes, BNT V8s and the Castrol Toyota Racing Series (TRS) are not enough to get plenty of people through the gate. While all these classes can be entertaining and provide some riveting race action, they are not in the league of the top four.
The sad part about this, is that we have here in NZ, some of the best young international talent coming to race in the TRS each summer. History will show that many great F1 drivers cut-their-teeth on Kiwi circuits. We are in the midst of a truly great legacy for NZ motorsport, yet the punters prefer the squeal of tyres, the thud of V8 engines or gladiatorial trucks that should be carrying freight out on the highways.
Hence, we have a conundrum for the organiser of our summer series of racing, Speed Works, in setting a calendar.
It is no use organising a meeting on the same weekend as the top four as we have said, people will vote with their feet. The last example of this was the second round of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series at Teretonga Park, Invercargill, back in January this year. 500kms up the road, the South Canterbury Car Club held their Super Truck meeting on the same weekend, along with the Central Muscle Cars and Historic Touring Car series’. The attendance at the Timaru International Raceway was extremely good. The crowd at Teretonga could be described as disappointing.
This year the Timaru club are set to go with another Super Trucks meeting 30-31 January.
A week later, 140km up the road in Christchurch, the Canterbury Car Club will host their annual Skope Classic car meeting over Waitangi weekend.
Outside of the NZ Supercars round, this would have to be the biggest race weekend in New Zealand. It’s popularity with entrants, enthusiasts and the general public seems to increase every year. Even if you’re not a classic car buff, it is a good day out for the family. Lots of noise, cars, hot dogs and a guaranteed Canterbury nor’wester blowing. You can walk through the huge pit area and see a multitude of cars being prepared and worked on, or find a spot of shade and watch the endless racing over two days.
The conundrum for Speed Works is that these type of events are almost set in stone. They are so important for these car clubs as they are the highlight of the season and important revenue earners. Arranging a summer series has to be achieved around these annual fixtures.
Given that it appears that the Castrol Toyota Racing Series will start a week later (22-24 January) than last season in order to give time for quarantining of international drivers, it makes Speed Works job that much more difficult in obtaining South Island dates and fixtures.
Speed Works managing director Geoff Short is reported to have said, “To be efficient with the two South Island rounds, you’d need to do the two back-to-back. Let’s say we did Highlands Motorsport Park first. That would mean that on the second weekend we’d be clashing with Timaru and you’d be struggling to get the [support] categories to make an event work. As much as we clashed [in the 2020 season] and it wasn’t ideal.”
What if there was a change with the tradition of starting the Toyota Racing Series in the South and ending in the North Island? Hang on a minute, while that may have been the tradition of the last 16 years of TRS, the real tradition was set in the early years of NZ motorsport which eventuated into the Tasman Series, of starting in the North and winding its way down the country.
For many of those years, the first meeting was the New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe Park in Auckland, followed by the Levin International, the Lady Wigram Trophy race in Christchurch and then the Teretonga International in Invercargill. We could, in 2021, start with the NZ Grand Prix meeting (my money is on Pukekohe hosting it for the next three years) and finishing with the Lady Wigram Trophy race at the Mike Pero Motorsport Park in Christchurch.
I can already hear the cries of ‘Noooo’ echoing down the country and hitting the Cook Straight. But then, what are conundrums for, other than finding solutions!
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