The national final of the Asset Finance Off Road Race Series was held as part of Manukau’s Full Throttle Weekend, so we headed out to Colin Dale Park to see what it was all about.

With a variety of classes catering for vehicles ranging from kids’ purpose built off-road carts through to 600ci or more of full space-framed V8s and a couple of road-going four wheel drives, there was something for everyone. If you don’t mind a little bit of dust and mud, that is.

When offered the chance to occupy the passenger seat of Raana Horan’s championship-winning Nissan, I jumped at the chance. Powered by a supercharged 5.6-litre Nissan V8, the truck makes more than 600hp and, more importantly in this scene, over 1100Nm of torque, so I knew I was going to be in for a cool ride.

I watched the truck during a few races earlier in the day and saw the massive air it was getting over the main jump, but it wasn’t until I was strapped in and sitting on the start line that it really hit me just how crazy this was going to be. And it wasn’t until we approached the main jump at speed that I realised how fast and hard these guys were hitting it. Yep, I puckered up pretty quick.

With the landing of the first jump over, I could relax in the knowledge that Raana is one of the best drivers in one of the best-prepared vehicles. With just five laps of the short course and a 605ci Ford and a supercharged Toyota to compete with, it was full throttle the whole time. I was impressed with how well Raana could throw around the 2.2-tonne vehicle, and surprised to find out that he’s only been campaigning it for a season and a half. (more…)

It’s called twilight, but it’s not the same Twilight that teen movie-goers get stupid about.  The Denny’s Twilight 250 is not about vampires and werewolves, but organisers say this all-new offroad endurance race will still send adrenalin levels through the roof for drivers and spectators alike.

The race will be held this Saturday (Nov 20) and will cover 250 kilometres of high speed roads and logging tracks in the Woodhill Forest northwest of Auckland.  Not only is the event longer than most such races in the sport, it is unique in being run through late afternoon and into the evening.

“This is the only chance offroad racers have to compete in dusk and darkness using high powered spotlights to see their way to the finish.  It’s going to be quite a ride,” said organiser Alan Butler.

The event is being staged by the same team that organised the Denny’s Woodhill 100 in June.

“We have gone heavily into the big fast logging roads to create our 15 km race lap.  Probably 80 per cent of the race distance will be on loose-surfaced but well-formed roads, the rest on logging tracks,” said Mr Butler.

As a result, racers at the front of the field are expected to hit speeds of 200 km/h or more in the faster sections.

The organisers have secured support from Denny’s New Zealand and Raana Horan’s Exhibition Hire Services.

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West Auckland offroad racer Donn Attwood crossed the finish line in the recent 160 km endurance offroad race at Manukau in absolute agony.

He had driven most of the race distance with crippling cramps in both his legs, and had to be helped from the car at race end.

But the result that awaited him was well worth the pain: he has won both the final race of the 2010 Asset Finance New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship and the outright title itself.

Attwood, who won the first round of this year’s championship but has not had winning form since, had qualified outside the top ten for the race.  Several unlimited-class trucks and race cars qualified ahead of him along with two racers driving fast Super 1600 cars similar to his: local racer Warren Rogers in sixth spot and Wayne Moriarty of Christchurch in seventh.

South Head’s Raana Horan, third on points for the championship, had qualified on pole.  He had dominated the top five shootout, lining up on the front row of the grid in his supercharged Nissan Titan V8 alongside Neville Smith’s Cougar Honda Turbo.  Behind them were Nick Leahy in his diminutive but fast Cougar Challenger VW and Clim Lammers in his Nissan turbo-powered class one car.

But at the rolling start of the enduro, as Smith and Horan fought over the outright lead, Attwood forced his way into contention with a determined first lap, accelerating from 12^th overall to sixth in one lap and then settling into a steady rhythm.

“I was aiming to stay in touch with the leaders and see what happened.  From fifth in the points table I knew the title was probably a long shot, but stranger things have happened and it’s important to conserve your car through a long fast race like this so you can capitalise on any opportunities that you get.”

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South Head’s Raana Horan has made history at the 30th annual Woodhill 100 offroad endurance race, becoming the first driver to win the event in a four wheel drive vehicle.

The punishing 175 km endurance race is rated the toughest in the sport in this country.   The event celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and is believed to be the only New Zealand motorsport event to have been run in the same location throughout its duration.  Through the past 29 years, the race had only ever been won by specialist “space framed” offroad race cars.

Horan qualified on pole and leapt into the lead with a dominant start, launching the massive Nissan Titan utility down the short straight to the “holeshot” first corner.

He was chased hard as the field entered the forest by Whakatane’s Malcolm Langley, who hung off the big Nissan’s rear bumper in his Mitsubishi EV0 VII engined Bakersfield single-seater.  Hawkes Bay driver Shayne Huxtable followed Langley in his Nissan turbo-powered car.

The only truck able to stay with Horan and the leading bunch was the rear wheel drive Nissan of Gary Baker, who was fourth overall.

As the field emerged from the first 28 km lap, Horan was in control, throwing the big truck into corners as if it were a rally car half its size.  He led Langley by 20 seconds.  Missing from the front-running bunch was Huxtable, whose Nissan engine had exploded at half distance.

Baker was up to third, chased by west Auckland driver and race organiser Donn Attwood in his Bu-Mac RV Toyota Super 1600.  Kumeu driver Rene Sciarone was fourth, driving a Chenowth Toyota as part of the two-car Pinepac team.

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