Levels Raceway

[ncr2003fan]

How Much does it cost to get in at Levels raceway?

[sevi]

What is a level raceways?

[Just Do It!]

LMAO. Ingnorant ruddy Aussies :P Levels Raceway is a goat track at Timaru if I remember rightly.

It will cost jack to get in - No Carrera Cup, BRutes, Supercars, Procar or anyone at the NZ national meeting.

Take $30-40 for a ticket including pit pass and some tucker for race day Sunday at a conservative guess!

[Peter Walsh]

Mate pay no attention to the Aussies who do not know what it is like to be able to roll up for 20 bucks on the day' move freely wherever you like and enjoy some of the closest and most exciting racing you are likely to see.Just for the aggrevation you copped here come along to the ORIX Team Racing bus and corporate facility tell the boss man your with Mr Keen and they will shout you beers all day and you will enjoy the best bbq in years.They are not pretentious and I know if you are a motor sport fan they would like nothing better than to see you there and shout you a coldy.Thats what makes em great.

[sevi]

Well I am sorry.
At least I now know, that is why I asked the question.

[Deano]

Originally posted by mr keen
Just for the aggrevation you copped here ......

Jeeees! Agravation??

Sensitive ruddy Kiwis.

[Ross Cadell]

Gents, I for one Aussie think the track is a wee ripper.

I was there for a race in around 96/97 and the big loop at the southern end of the circuit was mad to watch the TranZ-Am's around and even better to drive in an FF. The Back straight needs to be longer though.

For further info when you have had a "Shandy" too many a Taxi from Timaru to Christchurch airport then cost NZ$124 but is a very pretty road to be chauffered along and cheaper than booking another flight. There is a nice Sandstone Pub at the eastern end of Timaru that will also supply the grog you need to rule out driving as an option.

A must say I originally thought and for half the weekend that the track was called "leavils" until I was able to decipher the accent.

[sevi]

That would be about the price of a cab from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, wouldn't it?

[Tracy]

Hi All

The ticket contacts are on the motorsport company webpage

www.motorsport.org.nz/mrnz

The number to call for tickets to Levels is 0800 484 6278.

[Peter Walsh]

Yeah OK just a bit sensative about the series here in the mother ship.Levels raceway is ok and as some one who is a racing tart and regularly attends Aussie and international events I have seen a few tracks and facilities in my day.The kiwi tracks apart from Taupo are pretty neat and the facilities for the punters are now a very rare commodity in the world.You can still roll up with a bus, trailer, marquee or whatever, erect it and have the big day out.Try that at anything to do with International Money Grabbers.

[Warwick]

Originally posted by mr keen
Mate pay no attention to the Aussies who do not know what it is like to be able to roll up for 20 bucks on the day' move freely wherever you like and enjoy some of the closest and most exciting racing you are likely to see.

I dunno about the move freely wherever you like bit,last time I went to levels for a meeting like that,they had 12500 people there and you couldn't even see the track as it was 6 deep from the Southern loop down to the decreasing radius.

As far as a track goes it's my favourite one to race on in the country!

[Amonfan]

If you have GPL, you can race on Level's , and Just Do It, its like a goat track, makes Winton feel like a Le Mans, hehe.

[prn 31]

This is a bit OT, but as we have the Kiwis attention then here goes....

Whereabout is the Levin racetrack and is it still used? Did Toyota use the Levin name on their Corolla because they racked up their first Corolla win there or what?

[Just Do It!]

prn 31,

The Levin circuit I believe still exists in some form. Its pretty pvergrown, but if you got in touch with Allan Dick at Driver Magazine in Auckland, he knows a lot of the circuit history and some years ago he did a feature on it in his magazine.

As to the Toyota concept of using the Levin name, I cannot confirm that - though I will go so far as to say that it was done in conjunction with Chris Amon is all that I have been told.
As for the Corolla ever racing at the Levin circuit, I am unsure. Manfield would have been functioning when the Corolla was released, I am almost certain. What I don't know is when the Levin circuit stopped being used.

Plans are afoot for a huge circuit near Wellington that could include an oval up to 2 miles in length I am told, but this too has all gone a little silent.

[promax]

there's a race track in levin? lol

[Teretonga]

There was a race track at Levin. it was 1.12 miles long, inside the horse racing track, and sort of looked like a kidney shape or an oval that someone had kicked in on one side. They ran internationals there right up till 1971-72 (Jim Clark in a Lotus 49 vs Amon in a Tasman Dino in 68) The last event I saw there was won by Johnny walker in a F5000 Lola T330 Repco V8. Beat Bartlett, McRae, Lawrence, Max Stewarts T400. They ran a whole support programme of 14 short quickfire races before a crowd (at the international) of 12000-15000 people. Great Place.

[prn 31]

Originally posted by Just Do It!
prn 31,

The Levin circuit I believe still exists in some form. Its pretty pvergrown, but if you got in touch with Allan Dick at Driver Magazine in Auckland, he knows a lot of the circuit history and some years ago he did a feature on it in his magazine.

As to the Toyota concept of using the Levin name, I cannot confirm that - though I will go so far as to say that it was done in conjunction with Chris Amon is all that I have been told.
As for the Corolla ever racing at the Levin circuit, I am unsure. Manfield would have been functioning when the Corolla was released, I am almost certain. What I don't know is when the Levin circuit stopped being used.

Plans are afoot for a huge circuit near Wellington that could include an oval up to 2 miles in length I am told, but this too has all gone a little silent.

Thanks for that.

However I think Corolla Levins predates Chris Amon's involvement with Toyota. We are going back to the racing Corollas of the 70's here. Alas Levin has just become another model for Corollas over here, no motorsport aspirations at all. The hot Corollas (well mild to warm) are called Sportivo!!

[GTRMagic]

What motorsport aspirations does any of the Toyota range have? The Celica picked up a class win at the 24hr but does that mean the inability to produce power below 4,000rpm is forgiven? It just gets worse putting that very same engine in the slightly lighter Corolla package...

I still hanker for the good old days of Village Grand Prix at Blacktown

[prn 31]

Originally posted by GTRMagic
What motorsport aspirations does any of the Toyota range have? The Celica picked up a class win at the 24hr but does that mean the inability to produce power below 4,000rpm is forgiven? It just gets worse putting that very same engine in the slightly lighter Corolla package...

I still hanker for the good old days of Village Grand Prix at Blacktown

Ahhh, bring back the days of the Village Grand Prix .... Remember going there when I should've been at Uni lectures. No guessing which was more fun!

Careful GTR, I own a Japanese buzzbox that only comes alive at 5700 and goes bonkers to 8000 plus. Mind you, I never did get to drive the latest Celica as the dealer salesman wasn't paying attention and I walked up the road. Still I wasn't displeased from reading the road tests, though having 6 speeds would be nice.

As for the Corolla Sportivo with Celica engine; nice idea but poorly executed. They needed to do more then "lets just drop it in." It needs to be tuned to the car, but it seems that the marketing people were too busy patting themselves on the back to let the engineering guys in on the plan.

GTR, surely you of all people know why the genuine sporty Corollas of olde were called Levin?

[GTRMagic]

Of course, the Levin was the sports model of the venerable Sprinter we never got to see here, but was Bob Holden's frontline weapon for many a year. 4AGE engine, with a disc brake and LSD equipped rear end, it was the Corolla contribution to Group A for seemingly forever.

There are a couple of new model Levin Corollas in the marketing types' carpark... so it seems the illusion became somebody's reality

I dont mind the idea of being able to rev the bejeesus out of one of these things, but just like a WRX, it can get very tiresome in traffic....