HAMPTON DOWNS - BRUCE MCLAREN FESTIVAL 2010

[NAC]

Originally Posted by socram

For those with access to NZ's TV1 - the first meeting being played on Sunday Feb 7th, 2:30pm to 4:00pm.

Following weekend is the Pukekohe meeting for an hour. No idea what classes are being covered or the overall format.

Awesome, thanks for the heads up

[rogerwills]

I'm just back to Moscow after 6 weeks or so away in NZ.

I had a great couple of weekends at the Festival. Hi to all of the people here who came and said hi at HD and Pukekohe.

It was my first time racing in NZ and a lot of fun.

I had 2 good weekends in the McLaren although an issue with the new aluminium sump cracking meant I missed a couple of the qualifying sessions / races and also sprayed a bit of oil now and then onto the following cars - mainly the Elfin ME5! There was not a lot of regulation regarding tyres and there were some cars on slicks others on treaded tyres so it was fun to be in one of the oldest CanAm cars out there, on treaded tyres and running up the front!

I was fortunate to be awarded best McLaren car of the 2 weekends and best CanAm driver. Nice trophies for both!

The Cooper was outgunned in the Tasman races against much later cars but I held my own and had fun running around top 10 at HD. I had some of my best battles ever in the car against Rod Jolley (which for the record I won) and they go down as some of the best and closest racing I've had in the Cooper, even including the Silverstone Classic races against Enrico in 2009 which were epic! Unfortunately I lost it at Pukekohe on Friday and made contact with the barriers going onto the straight. It did a fair bit of damage to the bodywork but thankfully chassis etc is only lightly bent and the car is on its way back to UK to get sorted out for the start of this season.

HD is a really great circuit albeit very short. The new section that will be added this year will make a real difference. There are some great technical corners and you never really get a second to rest on a lap as even the straight has a kink in it (and a bump that makes the car go light!).

Pukekohe is old and tired but a challenge in a different way. It is incredibly bumpy but also one of the fastest circuits I've ever driven - lap times on Friday when totally dry were averaging over 100mph including 1 hairpin and another fairly slow corner! It really takes some kahunas to push hard at here especially with almost no run-off areas anywhere (as I found to my peril).

A huge congratulations is deserved to Jim Barclay and the other organisers for pulling the whole thing together. The crowds were incredibly enthusiastic and loved seeing the cars, especially some of the stuff that had been bought in from Europe and elsewhere.

It is a very long way to take cars for relatively short races but a great reprieve from the northern winter (especially minus 25 in Moscow!!) and I can see the event going from strength to strength in the future, this being the first one. Despite short races and a bit of chaos in the schedule, it was very well run, great attitude from officials and marshals and to my mind a massive success.

Roger

[johnh875]

Great report Roger, I'm sure you will treasure the 'Best McLaren' award from this event.

[simon drabble]

Well done Roger - that trophy cupboard must be groaning under the weight of the fast accumalation of hardware!!

[Mike Bell]

Thanks Roger (and well done!), socram, NAC and others for the pics and reports. Great to hear about cars, drivers & circuits other than ones am familiar with. Will have to go on the wish list..............

[socram]

Next year about the same time, Chris Amon festival. I didn't get the chance to catch up with Roger, but many drivers and visitors reckon that two weekends at HD would make an overall better festival. Pukekohe was/is hopeless for spectators and it would save all the overseas drivers having to pack up their containers just to shift the cars and gear half an hour up the road.

A ten day festival really would be something! (There doesn't have to be racing every day.) Not sure if the track extension will be ready for next season (I'll keep you informed) but whilst the CanAms and F5000s and super hisorics would be able to stretch their legs, I think the Formula Juniors and smaller cars might be better suited to the current 2.8km track.

For those wanting to escape the northern winter, NZ has to be the place to go.

[horizon]

Great to see the Pics From HD's ! Thank you to all. Why not Taupo for the other race ? Not just for the track , but better Hotels, sight seeing etc. In "selling" the trip to overseas people, the wifes are the ones that make the decision to leave home for 2-4 weeks.

I've done the SFoS 4? times with cars from the States. Three tracks in 3 weekends is about the Limit for everyone. Two Great weekends is better than 3 average weekends. How do expain Invercargill to a lady used to 5 star hotels! Track is the best in the counrty .........When it's not raining/blowing

[MACJAC]

Originally Posted by horizon

In "selling" the trip to overseas people, the wifes are the ones that make the decision to leave home for 2-4 weeks.

I've done the SFoS 4? times with cars from the States. How do expain Invercargill to a lady used to 5 star hotels! Track is the best in the counrty .........When it's not raining/blowing

Dont explain, just give her a weekend pass to Queenstown...(or Milford Sound with millions of sandflies for the weekend) she would welcome a tent at Teretonga after that...

Disappointed to not have coverage of all the class's from HD on TV1 yesterday, might get lucky with Puke next weekend

[socram]

Puke coverage is only an hour, so don't hold your breath as there were 10 classes at these events, so they'll probably cover the F5000's again.

The 60's saloons HD TV coverage might have been sponsored, so they might be on again too.

I think CRC may have come up with the TV coverage money at the 11th hour when the original TV sponsor dropped out, but I am only guessing.

[The SpeCTator]

It was billed as the largest meeting ever in NZ and it certainly lived up to the headline.
Well done to everyone who put the 2 meetings together, you have created a great platform upon which to build.
Having traveled from the UK with my wife it was fantastic to see so many cars that we would never get to see racing in the UK.
The F5000 was the best grid we have ever seen and Kenny was pure class, the other races were brilliant too.
Perhaps the most striking thing was how friendly everybody was, the drivers, the organisers the spectators, even the hi vis jacket officials.
Big thanks to socram for his welcome and t shirts , Peter and Jan Bennett and Michael Rosemary and Martin, spectators as crazy as us!
Sad that Roger damaged the Cooper but it was pure class to see him racing Rod Jolley at Hampton. Such different styles Roger very sideways at turn 4 opposite locking out of the corner lap after lap and Rod driving almost on rails, neither party loosing or gaining on each other!
This event is now set in the world calender and can only go from strength to strength with the Amon meetings next year.
With a little luck we will be back

[gary396]

Currently planning a holiday to Aus and/or NZ for the end of this year & early next - sounds like it be worthwhile making sure that we are down there in January 2011 !

[johnh875]

Unfortunately a bit too early for racing in Aust - need to be here in late March for the Phillip Island Classic & Albert Park GP.

[gary396]

Originally Posted by johnh875

Unfortunately a bit too early for racing in Aust - need to be here in late March for the Phillip Island Classic & Albert Park GP.

Yes, we've been lucky enough to have been before a couple of times and have missed the main racing calendar on both occasions. Timing next time will be in order to meet up with our son who will be working in Aus for a year starting next month - starting with 6-months part-time work in Melbourne - so he'll be there for the GP! It's also got to be timed to coincide with my wife's 'significant' birthday so holiday dates likely to be early Dec to mid-late Jan.

[socram]

Mid to late January it is odds on that there will be classic racing at Hampton Downs or both Hampton Downs and Pukekohe. This year, we had our normal classic meeting at HD one week before the McLaren meeting. That is a two day meeting and usually with about 12 classes.

AES & Arrow Wheels - sports, saloons and GTs - theoretically road-going with a great variety of Euro cars, in two speed groups.

BMW open - exactly what it says, but some real racers included

BMW E30 - usually two fullish grids

Alfa Romeo - exactly what it says - all Alfas

Formula Juniors and historics

Historic Formula Ford

Either Formula Libre or Muscle cars. If this is the week before the Amon meeting, I doubt that the F5000s will run, but who knows?

Well worth a visit anyway. Following on from early February is the Southern Festival of Speed, which is extremely popular for overseas visitors, with three meetings over three weekends.

Certainly beats the UK cold...

[gary396]

Socram - dates noted thank you! After a coldish winter here the thought of getting away next winter certainly appeals especially if I can combine it with some historic races in Oz & NZ. Thanks, Gary.

[pieterbakker]

.

There will be lots of racers from outside NZ, so I was expecting a bit more class.

Why not race on the original circuits, instead of only two circuits, one of then newborne?

.

[socram]

What do you mean by a bit more class? What original circuits?

Not sure what your point is? Are you referring to the Festival or the club meeting that preceded it? The club/national meeting is just that, but still attracts well over 250 classic cars.

Pukekohe dates back to 1963 but other tracks are long gone. The South Island still has several good tracks and its own popular festival of speed that attracts several cars from the north island as well as overseas.

North Island has just 4 tracks - Manfeild and Taupo - both several hours away from Auckland where 25% of the population of NZ live.

Pukekohe and the new Hampton Downs tracks are close to the airport and fairly close to the docks. Pukekohe is a horse racing track first and foremost, HD has been built as a motorsport venue and the general consensus from all levels is that it is a top circuit already, even without the long circuit, due to the undulating nature. It is a cross between Donington, Oulton Park and Cadwell Park and for both drivers and spectators, fantastic.

The logistics and costs of repacking 25 to 30 containers just to travel half an hour up the road from HD to Pukekohe is bad enough and no doubt if it hadn't been for Calvin Bonney's generosity (he has a trucking company), it would have been extremely expensive. Shipping those containers down to Manfeild or Taupo and then back to Auckland to ship them out again would have been prohibitively expensive for the overseas entrants.

Without being complacent, this Festival event has to be one of the best anywhere and you can bet your life, having got number one out of the way, they will have learned a lot and can only improve and that will attract even more drivers and cars from overseas, and if we locals get shoved off the grid to make way for overseas guests, we'll move aside willingly.

Having said that, the opportunity for a ten day festival at HD looks very attractive and the options unlimited.

[MACJAC]

Originally Posted by pieterbakker

.

There will be lots of racers from outside NZ, so I was expecting a bit more class.

Why not race on the original circuits, instead of only two circuits, one of then newborne?

.

Pukekohe & Teretonga are the only two circuits in NZ that still retain the original layout that most 'Classic' cars & drivers of the days gone by would have been familiar with, Taupo,Hampton Downs& Manfield didnt exist, Levels & Ruapuna & have been lengthened, Ardmore & Wigram airfield circuits, Levin, & Bay Park are gone, along with the Dunedin & Waimate Street races.

I really hope that as a country of petrolheads we could organise it so that it starts @ Pukekohe / Hampton / Ruapuna / Levels /Teretonga for what could be a five week road trip, for locals its tough wherever your located, If your down south like us it a long haul north to round one & then a week by week race trip back home [ assuming no major breakdowns or dramas ]. Same applies in reverse to others.
For overseas folk it is or could be a bit more organised with shipping available inward @ Auckland & out at Dunedin while the crews etc have a 3 day side trip each week..... probably see more of the country than the average Kiwi

[275 GTB-4]

I thoroughly enjoyed the two meetings at Hampton and Puke...agree that Puke needs some resurfacing!!

Fabulous cars...

It wouldn't take much for Hampton to host a V8 Taxi round from Oz...some more concrete in the pits for a start, a home for Race Control etc

[275 GTB-4]

Originally Posted by rogerwills

And several people from here are attending.... me included.

We are taking the McLaren M1B and also the ex-Bruce McLaren Cooper T51 grand prix car.

Hi Roger...I think that was me passing notes to you on the A380

Cheers, Mick

[socram]

Plans for the concrete, pits and control tower have been in existence for a while. As a brand new circuit, there is still a lot to do but delays caused in the main by two government departments, delayed the whole project by over two years and swallowed millions of dollars that could have gone into the track and facilities.

The paddock will host a conference centre by the middle of next month, containing a restaurant. Check out the official Hampton Downs website for future plans.


"I really hope that as a country of petrolheads we could organise it so that it starts @ Pukekohe / Hampton / Ruapuna / Levels /Teretonga for what could be a five week road trip, for locals its tough wherever your located, If your down south like us it a long haul north to round one & then a week by week race trip back home [ assuming no major breakdowns or dramas ]. Same applies in reverse to others.
For overseas folk it is or could be a bit more organised with shipping available inward @ Auckland & out at Dunedin while the crews etc have a 3 day side trip each week..... probably see more of the country than the average Kiwi"

I'd love to do 4 or 5 rounds, but

A) the entry fees alone would be equivalent to my annual race budget.

B) I don't want another divorce

C) Although retirement is looming, at the moment I need to work.

D) The travel and accommodation costs (including getting across to the South Island and back) make the whole trip as expensive as a trip to Europe for locals and you have to add that on to the travel costs for visitors.

E) I wouldn't want to be an overseas entrant having to unpack and repack a shipping container six times in six weeks. Transportation of shipping containers is not cheap, so getting them down to and across to the other island would be another massive cost. It certainly wouldn't be much of a holiday.

E) Not many overseas entrants would be able to spare 6 weeks away.

Sounds great, but unfortunately, a bit impractical for too many people.

The Southern Festival of Speed is already a success in its own right.

[275 GTB-4]

Originally Posted by socram

Plans for the concrete, pits and control tower have been in existence for a while. As a brand new circuit, there is still a lot to do but delays caused in the main by two government departments, delayed the whole project by over two years and swallowed millions of dollars that could have gone into the track and facilities.

The paddock will host a conference centre by the middle of next month, containing a restaurant. Check out the official Hampton Downs website for future plans.


"I really hope that as a country of petrolheads we could organise it so that it starts @ Pukekohe / Hampton / Ruapuna / Levels /Teretonga for what could be a five week road trip, for locals its tough wherever your located, If your down south like us it a long haul north to round one & then a week by week race trip back home [ assuming no major breakdowns or dramas ]. Same applies in reverse to others.
For overseas folk it is or could be a bit more organised with shipping available inward @ Auckland & out at Dunedin while the crews etc have a 3 day side trip each week..... probably see more of the country than the average Kiwi"

I'd love to do 4 or 5 rounds, but

A) the entry fees alone would be equivalent to my annual race budget.

B) I don't want another divorce

C) Although retirement is looming, at the moment I need to work.

D) The travel and accommodation costs (including getting across to the South Island and back) make the whole trip as expensive as a trip to Europe for locals and you have to add that on to the travel costs for visitors.

E) I wouldn't want to be an overseas entrant having to unpack and repack a shipping container six times in six weeks. Transportation of shipping containers is not cheap, so getting them down to and across to the other island would be another massive cost. It certainly wouldn't be much of a holiday.

E) Not many overseas entrants would be able to spare 6 weeks away.

Sounds great, but unfortunately, a bit impractical for too many people.

The Southern Festival of Speed is already a success in its own right.

B) I don't want another divorce

C) Although retirement is looming, at the moment I need to work.

Considering the pressure you are under...thanks for the advice!!

[edholly]

The latest Australian 1960s Racing Car (Groups M & O) newsletter covers this event pretty comprehensively for our Groups ... if you want to read it (44 pages) go to:-

http://www.hsrca.org.au/default.asp?...article&ID=108

If you want to be added to the email distribution list ... just send me a pm ...

Ed