Look, if you’re getting sick of me constantly harping on about the history of our sport please make your feelings known in the comments section.
Until I get a solid ‘move on ‘ya bugger and come up with something more contemporary’ though I’ll continue – for no better reasons that no one else seems to want to or even doing it, at the moment, and the fact that – honestly, and in all seriousness – I find the stuff fascinating.
Take this past Saturday for instance.
Having completely missed the opening round of the grandly titled Mickey Thompson New Zealand Stadium Championship 2021, at the Counties Manukau Offroad Racing Club Inc’s new offroad racing track at Auckland’s Colin Dale Park out by the airport, last month, I was definitely not going to miss the second (round) this past Saturday.
I’m actually still kind of pissed that I missed the first round, seeing as how colleague Mark Baker (long-time PR of the Offroad Racing Association of NZ, ORANZ) and I had been plotting our coverage of both meetings in the magazine I edit, NZ4WD, for months.
In my defence, I was on a deadline, and despite being the Editor of New Zealand’s only monthly magazine dedicated to covering the sport of Offroad Racing in this country had not heard a peep from either promotor Phillip Hagan or anyone else from the event, either months before (when you’d imagine they would be soliciting sponsorship) or closer to the time (with offers of free tickets to try and get us on-side for some ‘free publicity).
To be fair on Philip (Hagan), I did receive a generic press release e-mail on Thursday outlining what was planned around Auckland’s COVID-19 Levels (obviously there would have been major issues over numbers at the event had Auckland remained at Level 2 over the weekend) but only after I moaned long and hard to Mr Baker about the lack of comms the first time around.
The result was that I spent the first Saturday beavering away in my home-office rather than enjoying even a short break watching history not so much begin made as repeated in the general area 92 years apart.
That’s right, ‘history not so much being made as repeated in the general area 92 years apart.
I know I’ve alluded to NZ motoring pioneer George Henning’s purpose-built speedway track built around the perimeter of the Pukaki Lagoon in Mangere before – in two different stories in fact – albeit both linked to Auckland’s dedicated motorsport precinct, Colin Dale Park, situated on Prices Rd (which branches off Puhinui, the main road to and from Auckland International Airport from the south and east of the Supercity).
In the first case it was about karts and plans – since deferred though I am assured still ‘live’ – to build a full international-spec 1.3km track on a patch of land on the southern side of the access road to the flash new (and already completed) car park slap-bang in the middle of the Park.
More recently I raised the idea of precedent when I was writing (in general support of) the Auckland City Council’s plan to centralise all Open Wheel speedway (Think Western Springs) at a (yet-to-be-built) all-singing, all-dancing venue at Colin Dale Park.
As it turned out both groups involved appeared to have got cold feet over the logistics – or rather the fine print – of the deal. And for the moment, anyway, the ‘home’ of Auckland Speedway remains Western Springs – where they have been racing Midget cars – in particular – since December 1937.
Through all this, members of the Counties Manukau Offroad Racing Club have been beavering away to complete their own dedicated outdoor ‘stadium track at the western end of the ‘Park and run New Zealand’s first (contemporary) two-round ‘Stadium-style’ (i.e., short course) championships.
So, anyhow, it was with a certain level of anticipation that I was finally able to switch off my office computer, slip on my best bucket hat, slap on some +50-factor sunscreen and head out the door into an absolutely bluebird Saturday afternoon to – indeed – see what all the fuss about the new stadium-style outdoor track and the cars, trucks and UTVS which made the first round such an impressive ‘event.’
With both the Waterview Tunnel and South-Western motorway link making it an easy 25–30-minute drive from downtown (or in my case West) Auckland to the Puhinui Rd turnoff I made excellent time getting to the new track in less than half an hour.
Because I had absolutely no idea what to expect once I got there a couple of things stood out straight away.
1/ The first was the fact that ‘Stadium is actually a misnomer. In fact, I think it does the absolutely heroic nature of the artful combination of natural undulations of the land itself, and man-made jumps and heavily banked corners something of a disservice.
2/ Think ‘stadium’ and – I’m sorry – my mind immediately conjures up visions of the huge launching pads and resultant aerial action, plus the unnatural switchback turns and stutter-bumps of the Supercross-inspired US ‘truck’ scene (both in and outdoor).
3/ The Colin Dale version not only seems to flow a lot better it also appears to reward all comers as well; from young Linc (‘son of Mad Mike’) Whiddett’s ‘to scale’ Yamaha YZ450F 4-stroke-engined ModKart through to the many and varied models of UTV right up to the V8 Nissan-engined ‘monster’ truck of offroader and rally ace Raana Horan.
4/ The key to maintaining both the track itself and the credibility of the venture will be in keeping the dust down. It was the apparent billowing clouds of pungent, gritty dust which – according to contemporary reports – proved the ultimate undoing of George Henning’s’ grandly planned and executed ‘Mangere Speedway,’ events on it eventually petering out in 1934 when the Borough of Onehunga finally managed to convince the local motorcycle and car clubs who were hiring it to swap their allegiance to the council’s own new ‘dust-free’ venue at Gloucester Park.
5/ The crowd itself probably measured around 1,500 people at its peak, with most there to support friends and family members.
6/ Which made me think…give the place and the sport some time to grow and I can see a bright future for ‘under lights’ racing on a grand scale.
Imagine if for instance you had fields of up to – say – 60 + UTVs rocking up once a week to try and qualify for one of 20 spots in a quick-fire 12-lap final.
Throw in a B-Main final for the next 10-12 finishers with the top 3 from that race given a lifeline back into the A-Final.
Because the track already looks like a large Euro-style US outdoor MX track I know, I could also make a case for adding a 2-wheel component to a regular Thurs/Fri/Sat night support class roster. In saying that though, I don’t mean typical 250 & 450F 4-stroke MX Bikes. No, in this case what I’ve got in mind is some sort of uniquely Kiwi large capacity category which might or might not be based – say – on Suzuki’s 90-degree 650cc SV V-twin engines in stripped and lightened frames and complete with pukka Dakar Rally suspension, brakes and bodywork.
ORANZ already sanctions a couple of kids’ ‘Truck’ classes so you’d include the one closest to a ModKart’s pace to include the 10-15 years in your plans.
Which just leaves a couple of feature class – which, on the strength of what I saw on Saturday would have to be 2WD Prolite ‘Trucks’ (Utes to you and I) and the sort of long, large and powerful ‘buggies’ veterans of the offroad racing scene like Richard Crabb now drive.
What I’m talking about, of course is Entertainment, not racing of course, and yes there is a difference.
From what I saw on Saturday though the raw material is there. It just needs a little moulding, and to get some sort of regular racing ‘day’ underway someone with vision, energy, and access to enough of his or her own money to get the idea off the ground.
Back in 1929 that person was George Henning, here in Auckland NZ.
Fast forward exactly 50 years (to 1979) and it was California offroad racer Mickey Thompson who took offroad racing and packaged it up a la Supercross for a new, largely urban audience.
Now, a further 42 years later, the ball – by some cosmic coincidence – has bounced back into our court.
If nothing else, make a point of heading out to the next big “Stadium offroad meeting at Colin Dale Park.
If you are anything like me – and I’d imagine, old George Henning – you will be well-impressed; both with the place, and the very real potential wrapped up therein!
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