Ssangyong Racing Series [renamed]

[Mark Petch]

Instead of cluttering up other threads on New Zealand motor racing categories post your thoughts on the SARS category here.

The SARS [Ssangyong Actyon Racing Series] has the backing and support of both Ssangyong Korea, and the New Zealand importers The Great Lakes Motor Company, owned by father and son motor racing enthusiasts Rick and Deon Cooper, who dreamt up the concept and 'sold' the idea to Korea.

FYI. the cost of a "turn-key" SARS ute is $30,000 +gst, it can be financed and or leased for as little as $3,000 per race meeting and comes complete with a spare set of race wheels and tyre's.

Rick and Deon approached me at the NZGP meeting at Manfeild earlier this year and shared their vision to assist young competitors to get into something affordable after they have decided to move on from Karting or Formula first etc.

Having been one of the first people to purchase a Nissan Sentra [for John MacIntyre] when that one make series started back in 1993, and with the recent demise of the Suzuki Swift Series, I believe there is still a need for affordable one make racing, and the Coopers ute concept is a very novel twist on an old theme. As such I readily agreed to help were I could and that's mainly in getting the Series off the ground and attracting the sort of competitors that Rick and Deon Cooper want to help realise their dreams.

We will continue to give any genuinly interested young person the opportunity to experience the SARS utes at no cost to them for a weekend racing, save for any panel damage, and I am very grateful for the support of the Coopers in affording me the opportunity to allow these youngsters to "try before they buy" i.e.. before there parents or backers have to make any financial commitment.

[JamesK]

Originally Posted by Mark Petch

....Rick and Deon approached me at the NZGP meeting at Manfeild earlier this year and shared their vision to assist young competitors to get into something affordable after they have decided to move on from Karting or Formula first etc.
.... As such I readily agreed to help were I could and that's mainly in getting the Series off the ground and attracting the sort of competitors that Rick and Deon Cooper want to help realise their dreams.

ex V8ST Web site,
Who will race them? Anyone can, male, female, young or old, with a fondness for fun and adventure; and for those with the desire to give motor racing a crack. The SsangYong Actyon Racing Series is restricted to amateur drivers – that being those who have not competed in a Tier 1 Championship during the past 12 months.
And as we all love being entertained, it is also a chance for us to be amused with the celebrity drivers filling quite a few seats. To date names on the list include ex-All Blacks Norm Hewitt and Todd Blackadder and TV personality Leigh Hart.
And Hart sums things up very clearly "As one of the country's top unprofessional drivers, with the NZ record for rolling rental cars, I am looking forward to kicking some serious arse.

Interesting mix

[Goat Boy]

Remember Llana Coc-Kroft and David Lange used to race in those celebrity races? Lange was quite good despite his bulk...

[promax]

Originally Posted by JamesK

ex V8ST Web site,
Who will race them? Anyone can, male, female, young or old, with a fondness for fun and adventure; and for those with the desire to give motor racing a crack. The SsangYong Actyon Racing Series is restricted to amateur drivers – that being those who have not competed in a Tier 1 Championship during the past 12 months.
And as we all love being entertained, it is also a chance for us to be amused with the celebrity drivers filling quite a few seats. To date names on the list include ex-All Blacks Norm Hewitt and Todd Blackadder and TV personality Leigh Hart.
And Hart sums things up very clearly "As one of the country's top unprofessional drivers, with the NZ record for rolling rental cars, I am looking forward to kicking some serious arse.

Interesting mix

i was wondering why Christina was named as one of the drivers? she's way to talented to be classed as an amateur? SsangYong's press release was rather amusing though.. claiming her last Tier 1 outing.. was in TRS rather than NZV8s

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by promax

i was wondering why Christina was named as one of the drivers? she's way to talented to be classed as an amateur? SsangYong's press release was rather amusing though.. claiming her last Tier 1 outing.. was in TRS rather than NZV8s

Is that Christina Aguilera or Christina Applegate? I'd pay to see either of them drive, frankly...

[JamesK]

If Rick and Deon hadn't entered 7 of their SsangYong utes in the 1hr event the total numbers over both 1 and 3hr classes would have been approx 30.

Is the reason for the 2 NI endurance series is that one is sponsored by "Mahindra" a supplier of utes, and the Origin series with its chief benefactor the supplier of the SsangYong ute ?

[Goat Boy]

Asian turf wars, right here in little ol' New Zild! Who'd have thought?

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by JamesK

If Rick and Deon hadn't entered 7 of their SsangYong utes in the 1hr event the total numbers over both 1 and 3hr classes would have been approx 30.

Is the reason for the 2 NI endurance series is that one is sponsored by "Mahindra" a supplier of utes, and the Origin series with its chief benefactor the supplier of the SsangYong ute ?

JK, It was my idea to enter the Manfeild round of the Origin Series and it grew from 5 to maybe 6 utes to start with to 9 SARS utes. In no way were we there to prop the Origin Series up, I only proposed it to Rick 3 weeks ago following the one off and totally last minuet [Friday night before the race] appearence of Faine Kahia in one of our promo utes at the Taupo round of that series. I was also dissapointed to see how poorly the round was supported and if it was not for our utes it would have been a complete disaster for an all day event. There was absolutlely no spectators even though the spectator entry was fOC, however to be fair we did not expect any real spectator interest in such an event.

[Rob29]

Originally Posted by Goat Boy

Is that Christina Aguilera or Christina Applegate? I'd pay to see either of them drive, frankly...

As an outside observer from the UK I was baffled as to what this thread was aboutHowever I seem to remember and have in my records somewhere a Christina Orr who was a promising single seater driver?

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by Rob29

As an outside observer from the UK I was baffled as to what this thread was aboutHowever I seem to remember and have in my records somewhere a Christina Orr who was a promising single seater driver?

Yes indeed.

[JamesK]

Originally Posted by Mark Petch

.. I was also dissapointed to see how poorly the round was supported and if it was not for our utes it would have been a complete disaster for an all day event. There was absolutlely no spectators even though the spectator entry was fOC, however to be fair we did not expect any real spectator interest in such an event.

With the amount of information now available via social media, it was disappointing nothing was available on their Facebook page between the completion of R1 on the 7th and completion of this last round.

I also notice a question yet unanswered on their Facebook page,
"Why was the 3hr race called at 2hr 30m ?"

Any idea ?

[Woolley]

I've tidied up the thread by removing the technical discussion of whether it should be allowed as well as one of the usual nasty posts. Please may we keep one thread at least as a civil discussion. You don't have to support the series or agree, but disagreement must be reasonably expressed within the rules of the site and the more common rules of human decency.

Thank you.

Now, back to Christina Applegate... and are volunteer crew members welcome? I'm sure there's something vaguely useful I could do!

[Langers]

SARS? Really? You couldn't find a better acronym than one associated with a condition that has killed hundreds of people and nearly brought Hong Kong to a standstill?

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by Woolley

I've tidied up the thread by removing the technical discussion of whether it should be allowed as well as one of the usual nasty posts. Please may we keep one thread at least as a civil discussion. You don't have to support the series or agree, but disagreement must be reasonably expressed within the rules of the site and the more common rules of human decency.

Thank you.

Now, back to Christina Applegate... and are volunteer crew members welcome? I'm sure there's something vaguely useful I could do!

Thanks Woolley, much appreciated, and yes, volunteer crew members are welcome, not a lot to do to these rigs unless they crash them!

[CDM]

Originally Posted by Mark Petch

... not a lot to do to these rigs unless they crash them!

Umm..... then how come the only two that did the 3hr both DNF'd???

[CDM]

Are these really going to be exciting to drive?? The pics on the facebook page don't make them look like they handle very well at all & from what I can see they are about 7 seconds per lap slower than what looks like a 2K Cup Corolla.....

[promax]

Originally Posted by CDM

Umm..... then how come the only two that did the 3hr both DNF'd???

some how I don't think the SsangYongs were 'the rig' Woolley was volunteering to work on

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by CDM

Are these really going to be exciting to drive?? The pics on the facebook page don't make them look like they handle very well at all & from what I can see they are about 7 seconds per lap slower than what looks like a 2K Cup Corolla.....

Exciting to drive? Why don't you ask Brook Reeve's, Faine Kahia, Christina Orr, Cory Holmes etc they all have face-book pages, I think you will find that they are indeed exciting to drive because at the end of the day they require a lot of skill to get the best out of and lap times are only relative to what is around you.

Not knocking the 2K cup but the winners in this category are all spending way more each weekend they race, than they would in a SARS ute, and no television or any media coverage for their efforts.

[promax]

in this day and age.. a small article in a local paper and delayed tv coverage on a Sunday afternoon is hardly a big deal. with the number of entries in 2KCUP (70-80 in their 2nd season) sponsors would be silly not to throw a little bit of money their way. if the guys that run this series.. do a good job.. who knows how successful this season becomes.. and what talent it unearths.

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by promax

some how I don't think the SsangYongs were 'the rig' Woolley was volunteering to work on

Correct. Don't know one end of a spanner from the other.

[BlueBlood]

Originally Posted by CDM

Umm..... then how come the only two that did the 3hr both DNF'd???

Mark,

you may have missed this question as it was on the previous page.....

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by BlueBlood

Mark,

you may have missed this question as it was on the previous page.....

Thanks BB, as we never entered any SARS utes in the 3 hour race I missed that "barbed" comment.

Following the end of the 1 hour race, the organisers invited any of our ute drivers that wanted to experiment with tyre pressures or just clock up some more seat time to rejoin the field doing the 3 hour race. I do know that Andy Wright took up that offer and was in and out of the pits trying higher and lower tyre pressure's before parking his ute for the day. Obviously if a second ute also trundled out to cut a few more laps I was unaware of that.

Obviously the My Laps transponders registers the vehicles as still in the race, which they most definetely were not, [A] because they were not entered in the 3 hour race and [B] nor did we pay the greater entry fee required for them to do the 3 hour race.

[flyingduck]

Originally Posted by Mark Petch

Exciting to drive? Why don't you ask Brook Reeve's, Faine Kahia, Christina Orr, Cory Holmes etc they all have face-book pages, I think you will find that they are indeed exciting to drive because at the end of the day they require a lot of skill to get the best out of and lap times are only relative to what is around you.

Not knocking the 2K cup but the winners in this category are all spending way more each weekend they race, than they would in a SARS ute, and no television or any media coverage for their efforts.

I disagree with that statement mark. Happy to compare accounts with you any time on the costs of 2kcup vs the utes but I don't see why the need to knock either series. I will say you will see 2 full grids this season of 2kcup cars this year with loads of competitive driving. I'm sure many of the including me have Sabelt seats as you were an original supporter of the 2kcup class

I would say the top 2kcup boys would give your ute boys and girls more than a fight. But happy to be proven wrong Mr Petch

2kcup has had it first year on to year 2 The lasts years series champ is coming back so is 2,3,4 the guy in 5th is looking for other challengers and is currently beating evos and wrx at his most recent rally down in wairapa. So that says to me the class is in pretty good shape but I know in America similar classes have waiting lists to join so work is still to be done.

Good to see other classes thinking about costs and racing each other not the bank. All the best for the new class. I look forward to seeing 30 utes doing battle but don't limit yourself to that aim for totally full grids increasing each year. Sorry to hijack you thread a little

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by flyingduck

I disagree with that statement mark. Happy to compare accounts with you any time on the costs of 2kcup vs the utes but I don't see why the need to knock either series. I will say you will see 2 full grids this season of 2kcup cars this year with loads of competitive driving. I'm sure many of the including me have Sabelt seats as you were an original supporter of the 2kcup class

I would say the top 2kcup boys would give your ute boys and girls more than a fight. But happy to be proven wrong Mr Petch

2kcup has had it first year on to year 2 The lasts years series champ is coming back so is 2,3,4 the guy in 5th is looking for other challengers and is currently beating evos and wrx at his most recent rally down in wairapa. So that says to me the class is in pretty good shape but I know in America similar classes have waiting lists to join so work is still to be done.


Good to see other classes thinking about costs and racing each other not the bank. All the best for the new class. I look forward to seeing 30 utes doing battle but don't limit yourself to that aim for totally full grids increasing each year. Sorry to hijack you thread a little

Not knocking the 2K Cup at all FD, Autoquip/Racer products support the 2K Cup as you allude to, what I am saying is that you can fettle the 2K cup cars and most of the front runners are putting a fair bit of effort into the allowable upgrades, as well as the cars set-up's camber, castor, toe's, brake pads, dampers etc, and if you don't have that expertise yourself then you have to pay somebody that does.

None of the above is permissible in the SARS utes, everything has to be the same and we have made tools and jigs to ensure that nobody can get away with tweaking anything put the tyre pressures and how much fuel you elect to put in the vehicle.

Granted the entry level is much higher in the SARS ute because you are buying/leasing a brand new vehicle that has a long useful life after racing, but both categories offer genuinely low running costs which attracts more people into our sport and that has to be a good thing.

[flyingduck]

As to your point on costs cars set-up's camber (must be standard), castor (must be standard), toe's $45 for a wheel alignment which I'm sure you need to do in the utes as well or free if you want to use a string line, brake pads (mine lasted a full season including 1 hour enduro) need to be the same size as the standard one but you are free to chose the compound, dampers well at the start of the season I replaced my shocks for 150 + GST a corner but I can tell you the championship winning car didn't do that and I won't need to for this season. The suspension has to be standard no coilovers allowed. Springs are free and you could spend a little on these but still must be at legal ride height for the road. As I said if you would like to sit down and go through the costs you will see there is not a better priced series to race in.

But I think from looking at your entries that I have seen the Utes are going to be used as a stepping stone to bigger and better things, 2kcup is about people going out and racing. I'm never going to go much further than basic club level racing and I'm happy with that. You should bring a ute along to a meeting at some stage to show the competitors your class and the budgets to run for a season and you might get some interest but I would not be saying it's cheaper than 2kcup or you will just get arguements.

Just out of interest what sort of lap times do the utes do around Hampton downs, not that is the point of the series it is low cost motoring that encourages close racing but hey I'm a racer so you always like to know lap times.