John McIntyre, the two-time NZV8 race champion, is right in the hunt for this season’s BNT V8s Championship title having won the penultimate round in Taupo last weekend.

With two second places and fifth in the reverse grid race, McIntyre’s points’ haul from the weekend moves him to third on leader-board, just 45 points away from series leader Angus Fogg who has 944 points. Kayne Scott is second with 937 points.

“The weekend couldn’t have gone better. That was our first round win all season, so we’re understandably delighted. The Talley’s Ford was genuinely quick all weekend and it was nice to have a little luck go our way too,” says McIntyre, from Nelson.

“Now John McIntyre Racing is very much in the running for our third NZV8 championship title and it’s going to be all on when we get to the championship final at Hamilton on 17 and 18 April.”

McIntyre says the weekend’s first race was the most enjoyable. “Having started beside Kayne on the front row, we were racing hard right from the outset – the intensity was phenomenal! We were the only competitors doing times in the 35s [McIntyre’s top ten shootout time was 1:35.613]. I got very close to passing Kayne at some points, but second place was still good.”

McIntyre also finished in the same position in race two, “…but I was very lucky to get safely around the first corner after the car was hit from behind during the run into turn one. Jason Bargwanna came through into the lead and while I had the pace on him for much of the race, he’d lost both the wing mirrors on his car. At Taupo, you really need the driver you’re following to be able to see you in their mirrors, so I was cautious about not putting myself in a position where he didn’t see me trying to pass.” (more…)

All it took was a faulty $22 steering joint to cost Andy Booth, any chance of challenging for a top 3 championship position at round 6 of the BNTV8 series held at Taupo Motorsport Park last weekend. The tie-rod pin snapped little more than 1 lap from the finish of race 2 as the two-time champion held a comfortable 6th position ahead of current NZV8 champ Craig Baird sending the #23 Holden Commodore straight off the track into retirement.

Booth started the weekend qualifying 8th in Saturday’s top ten shootout continuing his record of making every qualifying shootout this season, the crew later discovered a faulty front shock absorber so confidence was high for much improved race pace on Sunday.

Race 1 started with the expected biff and bash into turn 1 with several cars getting turned around in front of the field. The Rock Commodore settled into 6th position as part of a trio of cars chasing down the fast starting John Penny. On the second lap Booth shot down the inside of Penny into turn 1 but locked the rear brakes and ran wide, losing the position plus 2 more. The order remained unchanged for the rest of the 10 lap race and Booth crossed the line in 8th position.

The ill fated race 2 started well with Booth moving up into 6th position after more 1st corner niggle. The first lap jostling created a 2 second gap between the lead group and The Rock car, with improved handling Booth was able to match the pace of the lead group but could not close the gap. Half way though lap 9, the steering joint snapped going through turn 7 and Booth’s race was done.

“I couldn’t believe it when the steering broke but hey, that’s motor racing” Booth said after the race “We had ball joint break on the same corner of the car in practice so it may well be that the steering component was damaged at that time but really it’s just one of those things”

The opportunity to end the weekend on a high came with the 20 lap final race and Booth was determined to make the most of it. After chasing initial race leader Nick Ross for 6 laps The Rock Commodore seized the lead when Ross was slow onto the straight. Booth then lead for the next 6 laps whilst engaging in a thrilling wheel to wheel battle with emerging star Scott McLaughlin who had been devastatingly quick all weekend. The battle had the crowd on their feet for several laps but with the grips level on his car starting to fade Booth struggled to hold off the Supercheap Auto car of McLaughlin and ultimately had to relinquish the lead after a fierce braking duel at the end of the main straight. (more…)

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…)

Competitors in the New Zealand V8s series commence their 2008-09 championship battle at the Taupo Motorsport Park on the weekend of 3 and 4 October. This season’s championship takes in seven rounds around the country from October to March, with a non-championship event at the Hamilton 400 V8 Supercar race in April wrapping up the summer’s action.

Traditionally the popular New Zealand V8s racing series has started its season at Pukekohe Raceway, but the 2008-09 summer series incorporates a refreshed calendar and small amendments to the technical regulations.

The championship events are:
- Round 1 (Fujitsu 200), Taupo Motorsport Park, 2-4 October 2008
- Round 2, Pukekohe Park, 7-9 November 2008
- Round 3, Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway (Christchurch), 28-30 November 2008
- Round 4, Timaru International Motor Raceway, 9-11 January 2009
- Round 5, Teretonga Park (Invercargill), 16-18 January 2009
- Round 6, Manfeild Park (Fielding), 27 February – 1 March 2009
- Round 7, Hampton Downs Motorsport Park (Meremere), 20-22 March 2009

The New Zealand V8s will also participate in a non-championship trophy round as part of the Hamilton 400 V8 Supercar event in April 2009.

Nelson-based driver John McIntyre is back to defend the title he’s won for the past two seasons and faces intense competition from archrival Ford drivers Kayne Scott and Angus Fogg. Fogg has launched his own team, Angus Fogg Racing, with their ex-International Motorsport Ford now running with the assistance of former New Zealand V8 competitor Kevin Williams and new sponsor LG Electronics. Former champion Paul Pedersen returns to the Ford camp in the sole International Motorsport V8 entry, while long-time top-class Holden campaigners Andy Booth and Paul Manuell will also contest the series again, Booth in a brand-new car.

Each championship round follows a similar format to last season. There are three races in each round: one 12-lap race on Saturday afternoon, one 16-lap race on Sunday morning and one 20-lap race on Sunday afternoon, all with rolling starts. The starting order for race one is determined by qualifying times with qualifying following the same three session format as last season. Competitors line up for race two in the order they finished race one, then points earned in the first two races are calculated, and the order reversed for the starting grid for race three. Qualifying on Saturday mornings involves all competitors in the first 20 minute session, the fastest 20 competitors move onto to a second session of 15 minutes, then the fastest ten have another 15 minute session to determine grid positions one to ten.

Amongst some smaller technical amendments, the major change in terms of regulations is the option to use a four-speed Jerico gearbox for both Fords and Holdens. All competitors continue to race on the specified ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ tyres supplied by Dunlop.

New Zealand V8s series co-ordinator David Slater says the Jerico gearbox is optional for all competitors. “However the lower purchase cost and greater strength and reliability of this purpose-built racing gearbox have meant many competitors opted to fit it this season.

The New Zealand V8s championship forms part of a comprehensive television package produced of all the MotorSport New Zealand-sanctioned championships. All the season’s races and driver interviews are shown on Television New Zealand’s Powerbuilt Tools Motorsport and Sky Sport’s Fujitsu MotorSport NZ programme.

The full entry list is as follows: