Saturday

The usual team arrive at Hawkswood on Friday to start setting everything up for the weekend for the thirty enthusiastic entrants for the Saturday and the thirty entered for the Sunday. By sun down all is looking good with all gear checked and working well. It's a very relaxed team at The Staging Post.
Saturday dawns fine if a bit breezy and the first competitor arrives at 7.30am to get a good pit position, that's keen. With documentation, scrutineering and other bits out of the way it is very much on time as the Clerk of the Course and Motorsport NZ Steward give the course the thumbs up it's time to get serious. First away is Allan Kermeen in a Starlet, the only 1300cc car.  He had the fastest time for maybe 30 seconds before the next car ran. All is going well everyone taking it easy getting a feel for the road, some reporting it's a bit bumpy in the fast middle bit, the wind is getting up a bit.  Midway through the second group of run one a radio call from point two 'car over bank' oops, a delay sets in as things get sorted and an unscheduled lunch break is taken.  During this time the wind really blows and the ezy-ups become ezy-downs and the mad rush to try and save them but many damaged or broken and the big Hawkswood banner taking off. At the end of run one it is Michael Skivington in the incredibly fast Honda Civic with the fastest time. Doing very well to set his fastest time of the day is Geoff Combe in his 'I am still learning how to drive it', Ignis, must see what that means! Is it an acronym for something, something, something, something Suzuki?
Run two: after the delay it is like doing your first run as most have forgotten their first run. Everyone keeps it on the road this time with the lock-ups appearing at the usual corners and the strong headwind slowing cars on the long straight to the finish line, but many still well over 200kph. Daniel Burgess has taken top spot with a three and a half second improvement, Robert Owen in his Camaro paints the longest black lines off the start line even with a slipping clutch. Les Summerfield has his repairs fixed after missing the first run.
Run three: All is going well apart from the timing gear not liking the strong winds and blowing the finish line radio signals away from start control, or some other high tech reason for not working as they should have. Once again all goes well with only Garry Mechen in the V8 Escort out with over heating issues, with most improving on previous runs. With three lady drivers were taking part which was great to see and while Melanie Smith was out in front, (a very experienced speedway racer) Carmen Rae in the MX5 and Danielle Mitchell driving Mark Halliday's Evo 1 RS had a closer battle with Carmen finishing just .77 of a second ahead. There is no change at the top of the field.
It was decided to make run four the last run as the radio marshals had been very exposed with no ezy-ups to provide some shade and reporting getting sunburnt and there was a BBQ and beers to be had all for free, thanks Ratec. There are one or two improvements in the fourth run. The biggest improvement was by the oldest driver, having had his afternoon nana nap, he went 2.22 seconds faster and went from 16th place to11th in his 240z.
Best sounding cars of the day, the Smith Impreza RS, Garry's V8 Escort, Doug's 240z
Everyone is back at The Staging Post for the BBQ and prizegiving. Special thanks to Teresa for doing most of everything, James H for Cof C duties, to all radio marshals for sitting out all day in such unpleasant conditions, to Repco and Safa Tool Boxes for providing the prize for most memorable moment. After a mistimed run Danielle's husband Bryce said he had been terrified on that run and now he had to do it again.  Danielle reckons he won't get in a car with her again.

For results Click Here.

Sunday

A fine day was welcome, gentle breezes light cloud and afternoon sun made for a much more enjoyable day for the helpers. Country Gents and VCC had a field of thirty superb classic and vintage cars for the Sunday event with a couple of very rare cars. One is the Iso Grifo designed by the guy who did the Ferrari 250 GTO, and the 1948 2 litre V12 Ferrari Tipo 166. Jeremy Stace's Jaguar E Type was fastest from run one on 1:11.84, followed by Steve Donaldson, BMW Hartage H26, on 1:12.56 in 2nd and Nick Sullivan in a very quick 1964 Mini Cooper S with a time of 1:12.85 for third, and the evergreen old peddler Avon Hyde in the Austin Special 1:13.02.  Robert Owen set a fastest time of 1:14.64 for 6th overall and with a slipping clutch which finished working on run three. It must have been the thrashing it got on the South Island Targa.

The day ran like clock work with three runs completed by the lunch break and four more runs in the afternoon to give seven runs and all finished by 3:30pm. A number of Ratec Motorsport members competed as they don't have Japanese cars.  They were Geoff Anders, Rover Tomcat, on 1:17.82 for 14th overall, Darryn Harper, Ford Capri, Tony Orr, 1978 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, Allan Wylie, 1936 Ford V8 Coupe, Ainsley Murray, Mustang Cobra Saleen,  Malcolm Graham, Bentley Arnage T, and Joe Gillman, 1935 Ford V8 Coupe.  This was a fantastic weekend of motorsport to end the year on.

For results Click Here.

Malcolm Graham in his Bentley Arnage T. Photo: John McDonald