Really good posts there guys, makes for very interesting reading. Steve and John, your comments are really positive. I tend to share a similar positive view, although I'm less at the cold-face than Dale. I look at where HMC started, and I look another 12 - 18 months towards the future, and I feel pretty positive about it.

HMC has been up and running for about 2.5 years. When the rules were first drawn up, there was not one single car in New Zealand that actually fitted them without at least some minor changes required. Dale's Mustang required several changes (eg, wheels, tyres, front a-arms, diff housing etc). There were 10 HMC cars racing at the 2014 Festival in January. There were another 8 - 10 cars that are 100% HMC compliant, and could have been there, but for various reasons, such as financial, or mechanical problems etc (eg, Rodger Cunninghame and Colin Dawson from Invercargill are planning bi-annual visits to the Festival, Craig Stacey had mechanical issues, a couple of others have personal issues etc). Add to that, there are another 10 cars that are either currently being built, or currently being imported out of the US to race in HMC.

Most cars coming to HMC are being built in NZ. Buying a car out of the US is a great idea, and can get you on the track faster, but even that has its challenges, as you still have to find a car that suits your needs, and there isn't a huge pool in the US of available cars. So you have to go looking. And once in NZ, those cars usually require work to comply, either with HMC, MSNZ, or to the owners personal standards. So still a lot of work involved, and commitment made by the owner.

So now you have close to 30 HMC compliant cars. Given the category was started 2.5 years ago, I think thats pretty good. Ray is absolutely right, you'll never get all your cars on the grid at one time, that just doesn't happen. To get 30 cars on the grid, even for a high profile event where owners are really motivated to be there, you probably need 45 cars on your books. For lower profile events, the numbers always diminish further. But I think HMC is headed in the right direction, and I'm pleased by what has been achieved in a very short space of time, from a set of rules in which, at the beginning, not one single car complied with.