Pitcrewdesign's Blog

V8 Supertourers part 3.

Well the weather looked a lot better on the sunday than it did on saturday, It wasn’t raining. The morning kicked off with the V8 Challenge cup scholarship test drive of the V8 supertourer prototype which was then followed with hot lap rides. Before the second race the support categories each there second race of the weekend. I have to the racing was awesome with close battles going down and plenty of passing to boot. The Second race for the supertourers was also action packed and also had one of the biggest crashes I have seen at Manfeild for a while with Colin Corkery sparing off into the the tyre bundle right in front of a big crowd. These cars are built with safety in mind and he walked away and even jumped the pit wall. Once the recovery crew finished doing a fantastic job the race progressed with a sprint to the finish. The feature race in the afternoon was set to be a big one, but the rain came in during the V8 challenge cup race and the race started with a damp surface. Over the course of the 30 lap race the track did begin to dry out and some were to decide wether or not to switch to the slicks. Andy Booth took this gamble and the lap times dropped but it was not enough. Greg Murphy went onto the win the race with a fast charging John McIntyre in second and an excellent drive from Richard Moore taking third place. It was a fantastic weekend of motorsport with heaps of on track action. I have to thank Supercheap Auto Racing for letting us hang out in the pits even if it was only for the morning, it was a great experience being able to see all teams and cars up close. Thats it for my coverage from the V8 Supertourers, can’t wait until I get to see these beasts again.

2012: 05/08
CATEGORY: Racing
TAGS: Ford
Holden
honda
Supertourer
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V8 Supertourers Part two.

The weather report for the weekend looked grim, Rain and lots of it. We turn up to the track early in the morning and are greeted with a rather wet track. The practice session the day before was split with part dry and part wet. In the dry they were lapping Manfeild around the 1 Min 8 sec mark. With the wets wrapped around those 18 inch wheels, the time difference was quite impressive with only 4 or 5 second drop. The day consisted with qualifying just before lunch and race one during the afternoon. When the big boys weren’t out on track there was still plenty to watch with the support categories. It was the final round of the honda cup so the racing would be very competitive. The other classes on show were the Pre65 cars, All comers saloons and the V8 challenge cup.

Once arriving at the track we were told that the supercheap cars were not going to be racing due to on going engine problems and decided not risk further damage.

Before the cars were loaded onto the transporter, I managed to get behind the wheel for a quick photo. I didn’t really want to get out.

It was the first time the teams go to try out the wet tryes and still managed to set fast times.

Im sure there was a wheel here a minute ago.

The V8 Challenge cup is the main support class for the Supertourers and a Scholarship drive is awarded to one driver which then gets to test drive the Supertourer prototype car.

The infamous Manfeild stream on the approach to Toyota turn 1. This shows how much rain there was during the morning.

And the race begins with pole sitter Jonny Reid drag racing Paul Manuell to the first corner.

From pole to flag Jonny Reed takes race one with John McIntyre second and Greg Murphy taking third spot on the podium.

Next up will be all the action from Sunday so stay tuned.

2012: 05/03
CATEGORY: Racing
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V8 Supertourers part one.

Well the weekend I’ve been looking forward to finally arrived. The weekend that would bring a new class of race car to Manfeild. The V8 Supertourers were in town for the third round of the series. After seeing the previous rounds on tv it was an event I didn’t want to miss. Plus it was great to see the Supercheap Auto cars up close. These cars have the whole package, they look staunch, Sound amazing and they aren’t to bad at lapping the track. On the friday they had all the teams in the Palmerston North square for public scrutineering and a driver signing session. It was a good chance to meet all the drivers and get that all important autograph.

The Supercheap Auto racing cars are using the livery from Russell Ingalls 2011 car.

The DTM inspired wings look great.

Those Hankook tyes wrapped around forged aluminium wheels fill the guards quite nicely.

Andre Heimgartner’s car. A young gun usually found racing open wheelers.

Mr Greg Murphy, with missing the last round due a back injury, would be looking to make that up with some wins.

Another V8 Supercar driver to add to the impressive line up, Steven Richards.

Inside the cars its all business. A collapsible and adjustable steering column, Sabelt steering wheel and Race technologies electronic dash and a gear shifter connected to a Quaife sequential gearbox.

What race car wouldn’t be with an assortment of switches that control all the electronics.

The side exit flamethrower.

A new addition to the V8 Supertourers, bonnet vents were added to help things cool down.

When the car is put into the transporter, the driver side door is removed so that it can be easily steered into the tight confines of the truck.

Andre’s car being packed away to before heading off to the first practice session of the weekend.

Couldn’t help but take a photo of the Supercheap truck. Looks a lot like Optimus Prime but in white.

Next up will be a look at Saturday, with Qualifying, the first race and the support classes.

2012: 04/30
CATEGORY: Racing
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Stickers.

Over the weekend I got the package I’ve been hanging out for. My stickers had turned up. A big thanks to Abbitt Wilkerson for making these awesome stickers. Hit him up here if you want some stuff made. I’ll have these with me at most events I’m at including the Mantools Road and Track series and The United Travel Winter series. Later on I’ll look at setting up an online store which will have stickers and some other goodies I have in the pipeline. Cheers.

2012: 04/30
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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DMNZ Taupo

Over the weekend I managed to squeeze some time in to go see the drifting while I was in Taupo. This was the second DMNZ event I’ve been to at the Taupo track and both times the weather has been great. These events look like a lot of fun and good place to practice, one day I wouldn’t mind building a slider. Right lets get straight to the photos, below is a gallery of the short time I was there. Enjoy.

2012: 04/24
CATEGORY: Drifting
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Classic Car Breakfast Club.

Last sunday I was able to attend the Classic Car Breakfast Club monthly meet up before I went onto Manfeild. This was my first time attending and probably the earliest I’ve ever shot. The club meet on the second sunday each month. With a donation of a few cans of food for the food bank will get you map for the planned route. The weather was perfect for a morning drive around the local country side. I have to thank Geoff and Glenys Boyden for letting me come along and taking some photos. I had a good time and think I need to brush up on my automotive knowledge.

2012: 04/23
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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Tarmac Rally.

Over the weekend there was plenty of motorsport action to view down at Manfeild. On saturday I went over to check out the 2wd tarmac rally ran by the Taupo Rally Classic Car Club. The day was broken up into five stages which they used various layouts of the track. The first stage utilized the loop road back onto the front straight. This was the first time seeing this layout being used and it looked like a lot of fun. Where the pit wall ends further down the the straight a chicane was added which led to a few close calls as to who would let who go first. The other stages incorporated parts of the backtrack and the full length track. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of this type of stage rally as its something a bit different.

2012: 04/19
CATEGORY: Racing
Rally
TAGS: Corolla
Escort
Levin
Tarmac
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Playday at Manfeild.

Easter sunday, the sun shining and full of chocolate eggs. What better way to top it off than watching a laid back track day with people enjoying their rides. I was only there for an hour but that was enough to capture a few snaps. I also took my new toy along, I got myself a Gorpo HD Hero2 as an early birthday present. I set this to time-lapse mode and let it do its thing. Below the photos is the video time-lapse. Next weekend is the first round of road and track and I can’t wait to film it.

Playday —- Video link.

2012: 04/09
CATEGORY: Racing
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Pitcrewdesign on Flickr.

After I shot the IRC meet at Manfeild earlier in the year I set up a Flickr account so that I can have another place to show case my photos. Theres not a lot on there at the moment but I will be adding to it over the rest of the year.

pitcrewdesign on Flickr

2012: 03/31
CATEGORY: Racing
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4&Rotary Jamboree

Now that I live in Palmy, means having to actually drive longer than 2 minutes to get to Manfeild. So on sunday I made the journey to check out this years 4&Rotary Jamboree. Judging by the car park there was a lot of people there. The main building which housed the show was packed and even walking through to the pits was a struggle at times. With so many cars to look at I decided to start with the show and shine then work my out to the drifting and time attack. It was good to see some local road and track regulars mixing it with the rest of the country. So check out my gallery below and enjoy.