This weekend’s (11–13 March) penultimate round of the NZ V8s championship at Taupo puts defending champion Craig Baird in a pressure position to reel in the 45-points needed to get the series lead.

Currently sitting in second overall on 792 points after five of the seven rounds on the 2010/2011 summer series calendar, Baird says the coming weekend is more about driver ability. Leading the series is Angus Fogg with 829 series points.

Baird is piloting the #1 United Video Racing Ford and the Gold Coast based Kiwi has three races worth a possible 225 championship points ahead:

“Taupo’s race circuit is one where you can drag a lot more of the lap time out of being in the seat, as opposed to just relying on horsepower – it’s a track more reliant on driver ability,” he said.  “Plus after our engine got hot at the recent Manfeild race round, we’ve got a newie for the Taupo weekend.”

But it’s not a point the father of two ranks as taking up the most of his recent thinking time.  With 25 New Zealand championship titles to his name, Baird says he’d give-up the hard fought accolades in an instant if he could re-unite a broken family from any one of the recent disasters.

“As a nation of Kiwi’s we’ve had a tough time this race season.  We started in the wake of September’s Canterbury earthquake, then the Pike River mining tragedy and now the recent devastation in Christchurch. to bring home someone’s mother, sister, brother or father for any one of my championship wins – I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

“I was reading a newspaper here in Australia and there was a picture of a father, son and daughter, who’d just been given news their mother wouldn’t be ever coming home after the 22 February Christchurch quake.  It puts your whole life in to a new perspective, especially as a father, you have an empathy, a wanting to do anything to change the situation.” (more…)

Defending New Zealand V8 champion driver Craig Baird says this weekend’s 11 — 13 February race weekend at Manfeild will be a challenge he is capable of turning to his advantage in the race for the 2010/2011 title.

Currently second in the standings, Baird’s United Video Racing team Ford has already had a share of the title lead before a disastrous final race at the last round near Timaru.  Baird now trails leader Angus Fogg by 56 points after the fourth of seven rounds.

“It’s been a track we’ve done very well at in the past,” said the Queensland based Kiwi.  “Getting pole position like we have in the past does set the theme for the weekend.”

“Certainly getting solid points in the first two races is important, but surviving the final reverse grid race is just as crucial — that’s the sealer to your weekend and what un-did us at Timaru. A track like Manfeild is very good for the final race; being open with the cambered corners you can have a good crack because of the higher number of passing opportunities.  A championship is about finishing every race — one position ahead of your rivals.”

And that’s what Baird says is the luck factor motorsport has as an Achilles heel:  “We’ll all have a bad race somewhere along the lines and I’d like to think that bit of bad luck is now behind me — the fortune scales can swing back.

Reinforcing the point, the reason Baird was forced to retire at the series fourth round near Timaru was from an impact that created a mechanical failure.  Dropping oil from the car’s rear differential Baird was amid a flurry of cars that slid from the track on the slick surface conditions.

Investigating what caused the failure, team head Garry Pedersen found a large impact to the rear of the #1 United Video Racing Ford set in motion a chain reaction.

“A massive hit in the rear side of the car broke the Watts linkage pin that holds the rear differential in place.  The impact also sheared mounting bolts in the rear, which allowed the diff to move, pulling the centre out of it — and allowing its contents to spill on the track,” said Pedersen. (more…)