7 minute read
4WD sport
The ‘other’ grand prix is back
Save this date: 19 November 2022
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It’s a one-day off-road racing spectacular that will attract the fastest drivers in the sport, a defiant ‘salute’ to the Covid lockdowns that have held New Zealand in suspended animation for two years.
The 2022 New Zealand Offroad Grand Prix evokes a series of similar events held on the old Grand Prix course at Te Atatu, over the hill from the long defunct Footrot Flats theme park.
Organisers say the inspiration for the new event is drawn from the runaway success of the original 1990s version and also from the events organised last century in the USA by the originator of stadium short course racing, Mickey Thompson.
It will be held on the edge of the biggest population centre in New Zealand at CountiesManukau club’s purposedesigned stadium track in Manukau.
Manukau racer-turnedpromoter Tony McCall is working closely with the Counties club to deliver the event and says the track is the only venue that offers the combination of excellent viewing, top facilities and a challenging format for the drivers.
“We are expecting some serious grids of racers from all over New Zealand. It’ll be a heck of a day.”
The racing format will borrow from both off-road racing and Nascar, with two in-class heats of four laps enabling the classes to run against machinery of similar performance levels.
These will be followed by in-class ‘semi-main’ or quarterfinal events over seven laps to decide class champions and 3-4 feature races over ten laps.
The timing, he said, will be ‘fast and slick’.
“We won’t be waiting around for people to get their hair done, we’re going racing!”
McCall says the November event will also be the only time off-road racing appears on free to air TV in New Zealand, with the racing being edited for a post-event programme.
“The TV audience for coverage we have scored there for past events has topped 250,000. But of course, there’s nothing quite like being
DIY focus on the kids
Off-road racers know the future of the sport rests with the next generation. That is true of every sport. A decade ago, Auckland racer Richard Crabb and a group of helpers got together to set up a youth category.
Starting with tiny Chinesesourced ‘fun buggies’ – pull-start engines, simple transmissions – the hard core of this group got a ‘pathfinder’ group of children up and running to demonstrate the viability of the new class.
Previously, the sport had languished with a handful of new racers coming in as teenagers.
The new class ran at main events – but on a separately plotted ‘gentle’ course.
Once parents saw the fun the young racers were having a steady stream were on board and the next step was to introduce the first of the current crop of Kiwitrucks – still paced for the younger set. Rules opened up the Kiwitruck ‘J’ and ‘M’ classes to racers as young as six years and a top age limit of 15 was set in the rules.
The sport’s governing body played its part, enshrining the Kiwitruck class into national championship race weekend formats. The growing fields were also able to race at stand-alone events on Richard Crabb’s farmlet near Silverdale. Grids at these events mushroomed to 20 or more across the two classes.
Now, Bay of Plenty racers are organising a standalone race event at the TECT Park near Tauranga. They say they have noted strong interest from families, partly because the kid racers get to compete on a fully developed ‘grown-up’ track and partly in response to the specific focus of the event on the kids.
The inaugural race day is set for 14 August; more information is available from Gary Baker on 021 304 864. He says the event is a ‘toe in the water’ to gauge actual interest and racer turnout will decide whether the event becomes a regular occurrence.
Off-road racing -
trucks are going off
Who is doing what as the sport recovers from Covid
The unlimited class for 4WD and RWD trucks in Kiwi offroad racing is changing fast. New American trucks are now beginning to dominate the grids, others are being sold and traded, and the roll-out of NZ-built ProLite and other designs continues at pace.
Craig Carlyle transformed an American-built ProLite singleseater truck with a meticulous build capped by a “MoT” colour scheme and this year has passed the driving duties of the truck to son Ash. It now runs in a ‘stars and stripes’ colour scheme.
Whakatane’s Mal Langley has sold his mighty ‘Big Yellow’ class 8 and it has done its first enduro at Woodhill in the (probably slightly nervous) hands of Arlene Frost. A superbly finished 4WD truck that made its debut in 2017, it runs imported Nissan ‘Frontier to Titan’ fibreglass body panels.
Martin van der Wal has re-invigorated his homedesigned and built truck, a blend of American and local design principles and was third in class at Woodhill. Van der Wal built from the popular American ProLite plans which are available free online. He selected a Gen 4 Chevrolet LS engine driving through a Turbo 400 auto transmission to a Nissan Patrol differential.
Paul Hackett is making a welcome return to the sport with a new truck imported from America, though it suffered mechanical issues at Woodhill. He is also developing one of New Zealand’s faster Jimco class one cars with a view to racing in Australia.
National Championship sponsor Joel Giddy has imported ‘Big Dog’ – the fastest Pro4 race truck in New Zealand – for short course use, reverting to his agile and
1: Leigh Bishop is flying higher, going further. 2: Ricky Mays’ new American truck.
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fast Yamaha UTV for enduro racing.
Also switching from the UTVs to his new truck Leigh Bishop. He has been progressively developing his Chev-bodied V8 truck and going faster through the past nine months with input from some of the sport’s most experienced racers.
Andrew Hawkeswood has become a mainstay of the unlimited truck class, wheeling out his imported V8 unit for the Stadium events at Colin Dale Park in Manukau. He is a likely contender for the 2022 Mickey Thompson New Zealand Off-road Racing Grand Prix in November.
Hawke’s Bay racer Shayne Huxtable held up the flag for Kiwi-built trucks by winning the class at the Woodhill 100.
National champion Nick Hall remains a force to be reckoned with in both short course and endurance racing with his Vertex-backed Toyota Chev ProLite.
In the south, NZ4WD contributor Bryan Chang is in the final stages of rebuilding his Giti Tyres Chev ProLite after smashing the gearbox during Covid lockdowns. He aims to be at several events before year’s end, including the 2022 Mickey Thompson New Zealand Offroad Grand Prix.
An all-new local build is likely to show itself at the end of the year, veteran racer Hans Gurau readying his new ProLite build for the Offroad Grand Prix in November.
Missing in action are racers like Dale Buckley (turbocharged his ProLite four cylinder), and Jono Climo (Trophy-truck style Toyota Hilux). Likewise, multiple Woodhill 100 champion Raana Horan has been racing in Australia, meaning his mighty 4WD Nissan Titan remains in the shed.
Though these racers are ready, many say there are more waiting to see what the coming season offers before wheeling out their trucks.
1. Shayne Huxtable is constantly evolving his home-engineered truck. 2. Paul Hackett’s new American truck.
3. Arlene Frost’s first national championship enduro race in the ex-Langley truck. 4. Class champion Nick Hall has seen his share of chequered flags. 5. The ever-spectacular Andrew Hawkeswood.
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E for Extreme
