Hidden Valley... Team Kiwi make it !!!!!!!!!

[mtpanorama]

Reasults from pre-qualifying in darwin.

1 - CAMERON MCCONVILLE (NSW) - Holden - 1:09.9179
2 - RODNEY FORBES (NSW) - Ford - 1:10.4450
3 - DAVID BESNARD (QLD) - Ford - 1:10.4979
4 - PAUL ROMANO (QLD) - Holden - 1:10.7975
5 - JASON RICHARDS (NZ) - Holden - 1:11.0146
6 - TYLER MECKLEM (VIC) - Holden - 1:11.6473
DNQ - DEAN CANTO (NSW) - Ford - 1:11.6789
DNQ - MATHEW WHITE (VIC) - Holden - 1:12.0787
DNQ - CHRISTIAN D'AGOSTIN (VIC) - Holden - 1:12.4062

Team Kiwi qualify for a race! Bit of a disapiontment for Canto and White after some of their earlier results this year.

Yeeeeehhhhaaaaaa ......... Rodney made it through. How many will he take out in turn 1. With the luck of team kiwi, it will probably be Richards

[elephino]

Well I think I have discovered something about Team Kiwi..the further from NZ they race, the better they go. So they should do well in WA...but the NZ race will be a shocker

Actually, good luck to TKR

[Crash Test]

Yay for Kiwi!

Besnard- What are the chances of him to be forced to prequalify for the next meeting??

Rodney- Give the bloke a break, by process of elimination, he wont have any bad runs left in him, this weekend he'll come good and win the thing

Canto- For all the speed he had at Adelaide, it doesn't seem to follow him anywhere else...do you reckon he builds up to it over the weekend??

The problem for the DNQers is that they need the miles more than anyone, but they will always be behind the 8 ball. They only have the same number of testing days as HRT, yet HRT effectively have 5 times the cars to collect data with....life aint fair

[nz_tourer]

Go you good thing Jason!

Now convert that into a top 20 round result yes thankyou very much.

[DAVID PATERSON]

It's good to see Team Kiwi finally get a run. Good luck to them. All they need now is a top 20 finish and that should give them enough points to automatically get through for the future rounds.

How bad does it look for Besnard to be in that car and that team and prequalifying? Especially so when you see how well Ambrose is oing. Although Besnard went from prequalifying to qualify in the top 10. How's that for a reversal of fortune?

What didn't Canto get a run, I thought the fastest 7 went through from prequalifying to join with the top 25 pointscorers to make 32 starters?

Poor White and D'Agostin travelled all the way from Victoria to Darwin only to pack up on Friday night. Shame, shame, shame! Still no-one has explained to me why there is only a 32 car grid for every round, regardless of the track capacity.

[Crash Test]

Because Tony says so!

I think there are a ideas behind it- for one, they couldn't fit any more V8s on the Canberra circuit unless they were stacked on top of each other.

It's just about the right number to fit in a plane.

Better off having 32 "pros" and not have anyone from "Planet Mork"....

16 2 car teams i think is their plan....

Of course none of this saves it from being a complete heap of ********...

[PBR]

I don't know why they don't let these who don't qualify stick around and top up the grid if anyone has to withdraw like this weekend.

Seems a lot of money and effort to waste to only run Friday.

Grant

[elephino]

Well it was good enough to get Jason into the GMC400 next month as there is no prequalifying, only the top 32 in the championship.

[nz_tourer]

A make or break round for some. Poor Dean Canto who now misses two rounds in a row, well it was out of him and Jason so good on ya Jason now he will get some decent kays done. Besnard did damn well all weekend, lucky for him too.

[Accee]

Dave B did well at the weekend. I am pleased for him as he has had a lot of bad luck.
I think he has moved to Queensland with the rest of the team, so that might make a bit of difference.
I feel for teams that dont qualify as they have the same expenses to get the team there ...and it is tough when they dont even make the track for the races.... harder to attract sponsers...and the times that seperate them are split seconds.
If it was a big time difference then they dont deserve to be there.
There is always a need for new blood in the sport, and I wish team Kiwi well.

[ASR]

Hi all,

I visited Team Kiwi today at the first stop in their country wide
road show. Sundays result seems to have been a big moral boost for
Angus & Co.

[nz_tourer]

Hi ASR, do you know when the tour is coming to Auckland? I heard it started in the south island somewhere, you from down there?

[ASR]

Hi nz_tourer,

The tour started in Invercargill today and according to NZ Speedsport
mag (May) they travel up country and finish in Otorohanga on June 2nd.
I assume they'll be in Auckland soon after that since they're based there. They haf the 'T'car and the Primera with them and Jason joins tommorrow in Dunedin.

[Crash Test]

Welcome aboard ASR

What do they do in their tour? Is it a shopping center type thing, or are they at the track?

[ASR]

Thanks for the warm welcome Crash Test,

Most of the venues are at local Holden dealership showrooms as was the case here. The cars are not roped of or anything, so you can open the door and have a good poke around and they'll open the bonnet for you so you can drool all over the engine. They're selling merchandise which they almost insist on signing for you. (No queuing or begging)
Very casual and 'one on one' with drivers and team personnel so it's a great opportunity to talk to them before they get too fast and famous.

[Crash Test]

Sounds like fun

A few of the teams around here are open to the public (DJR and CAT) but the public can't really get too close to the cars

[nz_tourer]

About a couple of months before Bathurst Team Kiwi had open test days around the country. I saw them at Puke and at the time I think they just had one of Larrys cars, and another VT, and they were working on them openly and were receptive to the public.
Foggy mentioned on telly the other day that his car was joining the circus at Wellington (me thinks) and that it hadn't been touche since Adelaide and was still showing its race scars.