Wow - just looking at the photos and the official results I can see I missed a great weekend's musclecar racing.
"The cars are the stars" is a great strapline. However for this event (see post #96) they were on this occasion rivalled by the three gentlemen who are part of NZ "big banger" history. Dale you have put a helluva effort into making this thing a success and the great support you have received must make all the effort, phone calls, correspondence, time away from your business, and overseas travel, seem worthwhile.
The F5000s have always been the stars of NZFOMR and it's great to see it continues to thrive - and the 60 second barrier broken at HD. However given the depth in the two saloon classes that competed together over the two weekends, you must already be close to knocking the fast but fragile F5000s off their perch. With all the safety car intrusion they suffered, I'm sure the combined 0 - 3000cc and over 3000cc classes provided a better spectacle in many respects.
The guys in the smaller class must also be congratulated for playing their part. Great to see Howard and Angus and others reminding us of how "giant killing" minis and escorts etc used to spice up the battle and not just make up the numbers.
Hugely encouraging, when's the next bash Dale?
PS - Lovely photos as always Nigel!
Last edited by Murray Maunder; 01-29-2012 at 10:36 PM.
Yes Dale, we did have some 'issues' with the AMCO Mini over the second weekend. It was fine with me on the first weekend, but then my driving could be best described as 'fast' rather than racing!! The cooling of the water and oil in the new engine is woefully inadequate. We have tried very hard to keep everything in period, but old Cooper S radiators were never up to much in their day, and are certainly hopeless now. But, we have the technology, I think, to correct the problems, which we probably would have found out if we had had time for a test, instead of using the Festival as a test session. Never mind, Angus had a huge amount of fun racing with the American Muscle..... is just the sort of challenge that he likes, and gave the crowd something to cheer about.....the little guys against the big guys. I also have to complememt your drivers in the over 3 litre class, as it was sometimes difficult to see the Mini as a number of your class were left-hand drive, and through some of the corners was a pretty close thing, but thankfully there was no contact. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you Dale for being such a good co-ordinator, giving your time generously to chat to all sorts of people asking silly questions and being patient with them, when I'm sure you could have been checking tyres or oil or something. The whole weekend was a credit to you all......we will be back with a cooler car next time!!!
Dale - when you get a chance, can you give us a summary of how HMC is looking post NZFOMR?
How is the tyre choice scenario panning out?
How did the Aussies enjoy the event and their time here?
What sort of parity exists in your opinion between the Aussie TransAm specs and HMC's as it certainly looked like there were about 10 or more guys really getting among the action?
Is it realistic to think that a similar support may continue (or even grow) for Aussie's to come here and for the Kiwis to reciprocate?
Pete Hanna would be smiling the way the weekend(s) reflected the best of times at Baypark when he imported Aussie drivers to liven things up.
Last edited by Murray Maunder; 01-29-2012 at 11:38 PM.
More to come later - I'm off to the beach
I would have to say that the HMC races had the patrons stacked up to the fenceline as much as the F5000 cars. There was a lot of happy banter both during and after the races and they were really impressed by the line up of cars. For me it was like a trip back to the days of yore when we really looked forward to the next installment and to the new cars likely to be seen on the grid.
Both Howard Wood and the Fogg's put on spectatular shows and were fantastic to watch when the weather gave them a helping hand. Angus beat the heart out of the Mini but to see that car either leading or in the midst of the V8 pack brought back some great memories to all who witnessed the shows. He had a grin a mile wide after each race where the car didn't expire from the thrashing he gave it.
HMC take a bow - it was an excellent show all round especially the smoked tires around the whole of the sweeper leading into the start/finish straight. Craig had some marvellous in car video footage of this and I hope he can post it for the benefit of those who weren't there to witness the events.
Nigels fantastic shots do justice to some great moments on track - great to meet up with you too.
Last edited by kiwi285; 01-30-2012 at 05:11 AM.
Gerald, having Angus(Mini) and Howard(BMW 2002) perform at the level they did amongst all that heavy iron was fantastic and just the exposure we need for HMC and U3L Histroic Saloons and GT's, and didn't the Aussie's show the way, they proved that with limited equipment you can get these cars to go, 350 engines only, 98 pump gas, drums on the rear, no dry sumps, limited front brakes and most important 15" wheels!!! i spoke non stop the whole weekend explaining that one can feild a "Historic" car and still play up front with a limited budget, the proof was Angus, Howard and the Aussie's!! and all those resisiting the 15 wheel change have NO answer, i was just luving it!!!Originally Posted by AMCO72
And as for been Co-ordinator, all i had to do was "push that stone of the mountain top" that now can't be stopped, I also must thank Robin and Karen Greenland and Mike Wigmore, these 3 done a great job of releaving the pressure from me by sorting grid positions and handling all sorts of issues, well done you 3!! and as always these events are a TEAM effort.
Pleasantly worn out, more to come!!
Dale Mathers
What a great two weekends, we started 16 races including the BMW races and finished 15 with only a sheared bolt on the alternator bracket which caused an engine temp spike (but caught in time) spoiling a perfect record but more importantly met a lot of neat people and finally found someone who spends less on clothes than I do, Dale..
Along with Gerald, I too want to thank you Dale for all the effort that has gone into the weekends. These things don't get off the ground by themselves but this was bigger than that and I think will become a runaway train. The under 3 litre class needs someone to do a Dale, I wish I could volunteer but don't have the time. Maybe, if a person with both the technical and organisational/ publicity skills can't be found, a couple of people with the complementary skill set may out there. Hello, any volunteers?
ps. Thank you Robin and Karen, outstanding, a little sticker with grid position placed on the steering wheel well before each race and a results sheet as soon as they were available. Believe me, that did not happen in all the classes I ran in and makes everything run so much more smoothly, even if Angus managed to snaffle a better grid position when one of the Mustangs was in the wrong grid box!
Last edited by Howard Wood; 01-30-2012 at 09:56 PM. Reason: Found two more races i had forgotten!
Murray, wouldn't ol Hanna just luv it!! shame he ain't still around, RIP must be close to 15 years now!!
Im working with Tony and Chris for one more event before summer's out(yeah, what summer), maybe the Legends in march? but what im really wanting to do is set in concrete the 12/13 summer season so all can have plenty of time to set those dates aside!!! and hopefully the U3L Historic Saloons can get themselves sorted(they on there way i know) as at this stage we still need to lean on each other.
The 15" tyres are magic, myself, Craig Stacy and Kevin Gimblett purchased 3 leftover sets from the Aussie's and even Steve Malam can see the sense in 15", as really they have a performance advantage, lots of sideways as well as the period look, exactly what we're after. I luv'd the Goodyears and laid down a fast 1:13.9 which is a big drop from my previous 1:15.8 on toyo's!! of-course we had Howard and Angus in the 1:16's as well so all very close!! the time frame i've given is mainly that most need to remount calipers for smaller front rotors, not a hard job.
The Aussie's all had a BLAST big time, and much talk about coming back for Hulme with more cars!!! I'll let them settle for a month and review it all from there. There was much talk about bring the 2 class's closer and reviewed the differences as really there's not much in it, something to work towards!! and im sure we will get over there for a play, i can see myself, Stacey and others blasting around Lakeside!!
Otherwise, onwards and upwards.
And your rite Howard, having Robin and Karen sort the grids, number the steering wheels, call us when ready, etc was fantastic, even the Aussie's thought that was a good idea and are going to do the same back home!! goes to show we all need to keep an open mind
PS: can't afford clothes with my motorsport habit!! LOL
Dale Mathers
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