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.

(more…)

Current production class national champion Anthony Hewitt, current ThunderTruck class points leader Gary Baker, and four of the fastest Super 1600 class cars in New Zealand head up the entry list for the 2010 Denny’s Woodhill 100, a 175 km one-day endurance race in the punishing Woodhill Forest north-west of Auckland.

With two weeks before the event happens on Sunday June 6, racers throughout New Zealand are readying their vehicles for the toughest event in the sport.

This year, the Woodhill 100 is a round of the 2010 Asset Finance New Zealand Offroad Racing National Championship.  With two rounds already run – one in the North Island and one in the South island – Christchurch driver Wayne Moriarty holds a narrow points lead in his Super 1600 class Cougar Toyota.

Four Auckland drivers are aiming to change all that.  Donn Attwood, James Buchanan and brothers Rick and Rene Sciarone are all driving fast, agile Super 1600 cars.

All four are well versed in the challenge offered by the Woodhill 100, and it’s arguably their “local” event, as all four hail from West Auckland.

Attwood, driving a two-seat RV Magnum with Toyota power, led the championship after the first North Island round after a fierce battle with Bu-Mac Motorsport team-mate James Buchanan, who has stepped up to the Super 1600 class this year in an immaculate and fast Evo-bodied Cougar Toyota.

“Stepping out of a VW Challenger into a class 3 is amazing. The new car just fit, first time; it feels so perfect straight out of the box that it’s uncanny.”  Buchanan says the car is in many respects a rolling showcase for his engineering company’s work. “Woodhill’s THE race to try to win.  The first round was cool, a great battle in the enduro, but this is the one trophy to get your name on.”

(more…)