New Zealand Touring Car Championship

[Samwhk]

Hopefully the thread title isn't too misleading, couldn't think what else to call it.

Was having a You Tube trawl and came across this gem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc3X7D_q4YM

Would love to see more, or do some reading on the old days if anyone has any material.

[flyingduck]

Great video there love seeing the early and mid 80s racing.

[flyingduck]

This one brings some memories, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDAeth_Zo1Y

[Samwhk]

Originally Posted by flyingduck

This one brings some memories, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDAeth_Zo1Y

Yeah, I loved watching those things as a youngster, the Olds always did it for me.

Hopefully as time goes on, more people unearth some old Kiwi racing footage. Some of touring car stuff from the early to mid 90s would be cool to see again.

[flyingduck]

From the same person that uploaded the race you showed Sam it had a Full Nissan Mobil race. I'll try to dig some other youtube stuff up as there is some more on there I have seen in the past.

[Samwhk]

Thanks FD, I've watched those Nissan Mobil ones, great to watch in the off seasons.

What ever happened to the NZTCC? I remember it being mainly production based inthe early 90's (I was only kid though, so may be remembering incorrectly). Did the TraNZam Lights kind of take over, and then morph into the NZV8s?

[raymond]

Originally Posted by Samwhk

Thanks FD, I've watched those Nissan Mobil ones, great to watch in the off seasons.

What ever happened to the NZTCC? I remember it being mainly production based inthe early 90's (I was only kid though, so may be remembering incorrectly). Did the TraNZam Lights kind of take over, and then morph into the NZV8s?

Sorta. It went from Production cars, to FIA Group A to a class called Schedule S which was a new Zealand thing...

[Samwhk]

So schedule s was what that weapon of a Bluebird that Foggy drove ran in?

[NZSTfan]

Just found this from 2004...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prHqe6gR4DQ Not sure if its been posted on here before?

36 cars....all thru T1 no worries. Now that's an impressive field

[mikuni]

Originally Posted by Samwhk

So schedule s was what that weapon of a Bluebird that Foggy drove ran in?

Yeah that's right. The Bluebird, Telstars, BMW 3's, Primera's, Sentra's, Corona's.

It was quite good to watch, and the fields were good, but there were multiple classes so it was a little deceptive. There were often only a handle in the 2 litre class, and the BMW's cleaned up many of the years. I believe Toyota brought the Altezza in towards the end and that did well.

This was in the early 2000's and Super Touring had just collapse under the massive development expense and then, manufacturer withdrawal. Believe it or not, I believe ToCA actually looked at Schedule S as a replacement, when they were running a production based series. Instead they took on S2000 rules, and this stayed in place for another 10 years or so (and was quite successful).

I'm not sure exactly what happened around this time, but there was a V8 field racing, which traditionally ran mostly Holdens, usually VL's and VK's. It was around this time that they were upgrading to more modern chassis' and a few Fords began to come through. With the strength of the Australian series and the collapse of Super Touring I wouldn't be surprised if it were simply a case of sponsorship moving towards the V8's, which helped fund more chassis' and eventually this turned into NZV8's?

[Samwhk]

Originally Posted by mikuni

I'm not sure exactly what happened around this time, but there was a V8 field racing, which traditionally ran mostly Holdens, usually VL's and VK's. It was around this time that they were upgrading to more modern chassis' and a few Fords began to come through. With the strength of the Australian series and the collapse of Super Touring I wouldn't be surprised if it were simply a case of sponsorship moving towards the V8's, which helped fund more chassis' and eventually this turned into NZV8's?

That would've been TraNZam Lights?

[mikuni]

Originally Posted by Samwhk

That would've been TraNZam Lights?

That sounds about right. I think it gained national championship status in the late 90s and took over from the 2 litres as the main game in the early 2000s under the guise of NZ V8 Touring Cars (or similar)

[Samwhk]

And was schedule s basically a production class, similar to group n?

[Icarus_nz]

Not exactly. There was a period of overlap.
TraNZam (local version of the SCCA Transam category) arrived in 1993(?)
The initial concept was Stars in Cars with many big names in these brilliant big purpose built race cars.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nxXWhxRlDS8

NZ Touring Cars kept on til 97 or 98(?) with good enough grids and a fairly interesting format - other than the fact that mostly Bairdo was the winner
I remember him stuffing his 320 across the grass on the inside of railway at Puke to take the lead. The inside wheels were still on the track so that was fair. Opened my eyes to what was a 'gap' I tell you.

TraNZam Lites arrived also around 93 as a single make Commodore class. Plenty of old Police cars and Taxis as doner cars!
Initially it didn't really have much in the way of numbers, or it must be said, support from the governing body.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NRvC0tT_NYc

The class chuntered on until numbers in TraNZam were a bit poor and Touring cars were struggling. By now Falcons were allowed as well.
Touring cars morphed into 2L tourers then disappeared to leave production cars and suddenly TraNZam Lites became NZV8s and were the future.
The timing was good. The technical spec was right and we really did have some golden years. The back-markers could be relied on to tear a whole bunch of gear up so what wasn't to like?

That's enough history for one cause then you get into the whole bun fight that brings us til now.

Interestin tho, those old jiggers from the 80's. Sooooooooooo crude by today's standards.

[raymond]

When Trans Am Lites started (Schedule TL), weren't they all Commodore 6 cylinders?

[Icarus_nz]

Originally Posted by raymond

When Trans Am Lites started (Schedule TL), weren't they all Commodore 6 cylinders?

Never. VC and VK 308's

[mikuni]

Wow. I never put 2 and 2 together that 'TL' stood for TraNZam Lites. That's very interesting.

Anyone able to find any other footage from the old days? I wonder if TVNZ has any archive footage.

[raymond]

Originally Posted by Icarus_nz

Never. VC and VK 308's

Thanks. I remember helping to build Jamie ketts yellow/green TL Commodore...and for some reason thought it was a 6 cylinder. I'll put it down to old age and gravel rash...

[promax]

Originally Posted by raymond

Thanks. I remember helping to build Jamie ketts yellow/green TL Commodore...and for some reason thought it was a 6 cylinder. I'll put it down to old age and gravel rash...

186 or 202 powered ex TLs VC/H/K.. ran with the HQs.. did they not? pre the current Super 6 Saloons.

[pukekoheracer]

Latest Doc from NZV8 for this coming weekend

Quality Stuff

http://nzmotorracing.co.nz/nzv8-tour...ong-field.html

[pukekoheracer]

Club racing at its best Yesterday at Ruapuna

[promax]

you were there puke? or just stirring again?

[raymond]

Originally Posted by pukekoheracer

Club racing at its best Yesterday at Ruapuna

I wouldn't know, I wasn't there.
However I can understand what you are saying.

At the moment; historic racing excepted, both the current "Tier One" and ST meetings could be described as this. Especially when compared to the days not so long ago when we had 30 plus NZV8's, and Formula Fords and 4 other subscribed classes.
Maybe even compared to the late 70's and early 80's with a dozen Formula Pacifics and a shed-load of Shellsport cars...I don't know; because it is a matter of opinion.

What it does illustrate is the fractionation of classes hasn't helped, and the sooner we start to all play on the same playing field the better. The reasons for the initial split may have been justified, but now we need to move on and use what we have. In ST we have a promotions group that could benefit all National classes, and we obviouslyt still have competitors out there who really just want to race.

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by promax

you were there puke? or just stirring again?

He was there. I wasn't though, I was at HD for the Howden Ganley Festival, some brilliant racing, huge grids, spectacular cars and a helluva lof of noise, which is how we like it.

Not a huge crowd compared to last year I'm told but they may get better numbers this weekend (or not).

There was a demo by a number of cars there (sorry I'm off topic) but there was an insane little mid-engine Peugeot 207 rally car (with Renault engine!) built from the ground up by a young Kiwi lad from Coromandel - there's an article on it and him here http://www.motorequipmentnews.co.nz/...s-rally-rocket

Very impressive feat for one so young - reminds me a bit of John Britten!

Don't know in which rally class you could compete with it though...?

[socram]

I thought the numbers were pretty good at HD Friday and Saturday. (I wasn't there Sunday) By Friday 10am there were more spectators there than at any televised top level (sic) meeting of recent times.

The big giveaway on TV is whether or not there are spectators on turn 3 (over the hill) where the unobstructed view is of one of the best corners anywhere for spectators.