The thought of letting loose twenty Formula 5000’s followed by a muster of Formula 1 cars from a similar era has to be one of the most compelling reasons to adhere to Canterbury Car Clubs promotion of “relax in a state of excitement”.
The Formula 5000 Tasman Cup Revival series is no stranger to the Mike Pero Motorsport Park.
“The cars are the stars” says David Abbott from the New Zealand Formula 5000 Association. “Some of these cars have been driven by legends of the sport. They are big, grunty vehicles that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you hear them for the first time”.
“They’re hard to drive but they’re ferociously quick. They’re way smarter than the modern day GT cars even though they are 40 years old. We raced at Phillip Island (Australia) recently and they were quicker than the Moto GTS; you’re talking close to 300km/h on the straight; if you are a petrol head, its heaven”.
For six wonderful years in the 1970s, the stock block mostly 5 litre Chev V8 Formula 5000 was New Zealand’s national single seater formula. Cars like Lola, McRae, McLaren, March, Chevron and Talon were all on the grid in this era and they will again race around Christchurch’s acclaimed 3.3 kilometre circuit at Ruapuna.
Kenny Smith will be driving his Lola T332 HU54, the Interscope car run originally by Danny Ongais, who was known as the “flyin Hawaiian”. The car was sitting in a museum in the USA until Smith bought it in 2010 and restored it to its former glory.
Smith – now 75 is coming off a celebration of his career at the Hampton Downs circuit, is as enthusiastic about the cars now as he was back in 1976 when he won the Lady Wigram Trophy race. “They’re real racing cars, many of the more modern ones are bit like roller skates”, he often says.
Smith’s career, which now spans 59 seasons of continuous competition in many single seater categories, show no signs of slowing down.
“People like speed obviously, how fast they go, but I think they like the fact that they have V8s in them and unlike a lot of these modern cars, the difference still comes down to the driver”, he adds.
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