Indeed. While it was British politician and Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, who first coined then popularised the phrase that ‘a week is a long time in politics,’ as I have experienced first-hand in the past seven days, a hell of a lot of ‘other‘ stuff can happen in a week, stuff which can have a profound effect on your mood – and because of it, on your overall wellbeing.
You wouldn’t have had to be a rocket scientist, for instance, to pick up on the way I’ve been feeling of late, the Government’s latest, longest – and some indeed would say, most cynical, COVID-19 lockdown robbing me effectively of my very essence, my – if you like – ‘reason for being;’ travelling around the country to and from major motor racing meetings, reporting back to people who couldn’t be there how the event panned out.
Sure, as I have done with the many and varied regional kart race meetings around the country I have been tasked with covering over the 20+ years I have been involved with KartSport, I can often do just as good a job by remote control; picking up the basic results from the Speedhive website, telephoning the photographer to get his or her take on things, then one or two of the drivers just to make sure I haven’t missed something important, or got ‘the wrong end of the stick,’ before finally filing a ‘who won what’ report.
Major meetings – like, for instance, the formerly annual NZ round of the Repco Supercars Championship, or one of the new-wave of participatory-but-non-competitive multi-disciplinary ones (like Choice Events’ CARNIVAL, or one of Premier Events’ Chrome Expression sessions) – are different. Because there are so many people – both with their own cars entered, and there to watch, you have to be there to soak up the atmosphere to do the event and/or those running it justice.
Speaking of which, if you are one of those interminable bores still stalking Facebook for any chance to jump on the ‘all things about motor racing were better back-in-the day/in-my-day’ bandwagon can I suggest that rather than disappoint yourself by attending a round of a the national motor racing series this summer….then complaining bitterly afterwards that all the drivers looked like they were 12 (probably because they are!!!) and that all the cars ‘looked the same’ (ditto if it was the Best Bars Toyota 86 class you watched) can I suggest you save your time, money (and spleen!) and head (this weekend as it turns out) to Taupo to experience the Kaspa Transmissions-backed CARNIVAL event at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park (it’s a 3- day event running from Friday Nov 12 until Sunday Nov 14).
Don’t get all salty, either, if you live south of Cook Strait. For the past three or four years the company that holds the NZ rights to the Chrome Expression Sessions, Premier Events, has been running rounds at both Hampton Downs in the northern Waikato in the North Island and at Christchurch’s Mike Pero Motorsport Park (Ruapuna) in the South (Island). And it just so happens that the next one scheduled is the South Island one over three days between Fri March 04 and Sunday March 06 2020. So you haven’t got long to wait for your own chance to see what all the fuss is about.
These events are – by their participatory nature – best enjoyed from a seat in your own nominally street-legal performance car. But you’d have to be a particularly bitter and twisted old bugger not to be carried away even for just an odd and fleeting moment by the raw enthusiasm and sheer Iggy Pop-style ‘lust for life’ of some of the younger (and not so young, it must be said) participants.
This, of course, was not supposed to be a column about events. My original intention was to highlight the fact that Tony Quinn had successfully managed to finalise deals to buy the two circuits he has had his eye on here (Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park at Taupo) and in Australia (Queensland Raceway (QR) at Ipswich) if not quite on the same day, at least in the same (last) week.
First up came news of the sale of the lease, management contract and right to operate QR (aka the Paperclip). Though the circuit doesn’t have the best of reputations amongst Supercars drivers (who for years have complained about its limited mix of corner profiles and braking area bumps) and the Supercar championship hasn’t actually had a round there since 2019, as the only public facility of its type in the south-east-Queensland area it is very much a blank canvas…one which – conversely – is very popular with what here we would call the clubsport, grassroots and/or new-wave of participatory-but-non-competitive, multi-disciplinary customer bases.
I know, I have thoroughly enjoyed sitting back and watching any number of ‘some really good/others totally rubbish’ videos made by Australia’s new generation of YouTubing Drifters as they showcase (of otherwise) their ‘sick’ skills at the Spring and Autumn Matsuri meetings at the circuit.
In saying that I doff my hat to Tony and the success his small but utterly resolute team have already enjoyed based on ‘our’ side of the Tasman.
Because he remains an ‘IBM’ (you know… it’s short for an ‘Incredibly Busy Man) I can just see him doing what he does best – acquire (or build) an asset, extoll a vision of how he wants to see the asset perform, then entrust the process of achieving that vision to a cadre of hand-picked lieutenants.
Led – from the front- by the force of nature that is Josie Spillane, ‘Tony’s team’ has proved as adept at managing what in effect is a motorsport-based theme park in the heart of one of New Zealand’s premier tourist hotspots, (Highlands) as they have been adding value to a more conventional motor racing circuit complex (Hampton Downs) an hour’s drive south of the country’s biggest city.
In both cases Quinn has not been afraid to spend (invest!!!) significant amounts of his own money on attractions (the museum at Highlands, the ‘National circuit’ extension at Hampton Downs and the Hire Go Kart tracks at both venues) and on what I will call first-world infrastructure like….tile-lined loos that are never less than scrupulously clean.
Interestingly, Quinn told Speedcafe website reporter Simon Chapman last week that;
“Our major contribution for QR will be to bring the experience we have with the premier events and ancillary activities that we have developed in New Zealand.”
That, and an estimated $AU10 million to make it happen!
Coincidently that is roughly what Quinn agreed to pay (albeit in NZ dollars) for his other circuit purchase last week; Taupo Motorsport Park Ltd (aka Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park).
The $NZD9.8 million is an extra $NZD2.7 million over and above the $NZD7.1 Quinn offered but which was subsequently rejected by shareholders earlier in the year.
Considering what it costs to buy – say – a decent sized dairy farm just up the road (Reparoa, $NZD6-8 million) or even a near new McMansion on a few hectares just outside Taupo ($NZD2-3 million) $NZD9.8 million comes across as something of a bargain for an experienced operator like Quinn with a vision for what he wants to achieve and a trusted team ‘on the ground’ itching to get to work.
“Third time lucky,” he said as he officially announced the purchase last Thursday (Nov 04). “We’ve still got a few i’s to dot and t’s to cross before settlement in about a month but it’s a significant day.
“We’ve (also) got plenty of plans to get on with – in fact, the New Zealand team will have a busy summer, learning the park and getting to know the customers and the various arms of the business.”
Me?
As I said at the top of this yarn, it’s amazing the difference – on virtually every level a week can make.
For Tony Quinn, the week was one in which – by coincidence – he was able to put a line under two important deals.
To him the deals could well be just about ‘doing the business.’ But honestly, I couldn’t care less. What was important to me last week was what the news of the consummation of those two particular deals did for my state of mind.
They gave me something positive to focus on in the near future, rather than the ‘becalmed-in-the-doldrums’ feeling of my current ‘ultra-limited horizon,’ ‘locked down at home at Level 3. something, whatever,’ funk.
So, cheers for that Tony, the money you are about to invest in these two new ventures has already started to bear fruit. Roll on 2022. Already things through my eyes are starting to look better.
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