A podium, champagne and trophy! Those were the very unexpected but very much appreciated rewards for a weekend of fun in the Mazda MX-5 Racing NZ series, that kicked off last weekend at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon, near Palmerston North, last weekend.
As NZ dried out from the deluge, Manfeild was the only track operating in the North Island, and home to the Super Sprint NZ racing series, headlined by the Toyota TRS open-wheeler series.
And as a support category that’s cost-effective and relatively easy to get into, the MX-5 Racing NZ series has been one that’s appealed to me enough to find and be able to run a car in the series. We started racing late last year to get into the swing of things, even winning a race, and joined the four-round Summer Series for 2023, in our Fairview Motor Group-supported, JPS-liveried DRIVEN MX-5.
A two-day event, Saturday continued the non-stop rain, and so it was for qualifying, which was fine with modest power and grip from the Hankook R-S4 all-weather road tyres.
In a field of 17 cars, including series champions Markku Braid, Nick Cummings (2022 champ) and regular top runner in the Toyota 86 series, Justin Allen, not to mention a number of new and existing guys all capable to fight for a podium and win, we racked up sixth in the wet qualifying, 1.3 seconds off Nick Cummings on pole, who was 0.6 secs ahead of Justin Allen.
With three races comprising a normal, reverse-top-10 and then a combined grid race, we threw outselves into turn one’s wet race on Saturday with gusto, going from sixth to second at turn one, overshooting it, recovering in last place, and working back up to sixth place again. Justin Allen took the win ahead of Cummings and Braid.
Starting from fifth for the reverse-grid race two to beautiful dry skies on Sunday, this was a killer race, with the top six guys fighting it out in a battle group at the front. Check out our on-board video for some great action, at times four-wide and vying for the lead.
After eight laps, Cummings, Allen and Braid sorted the top three, with our MX-5 in fifth, 0.3 secs behind Mike Greenfield.
So it all ramped up for race 3, the live televised TV race on Sky TV, CRC Motorsport TV3 and Fox TV in Australia. Starting fourth on the grid, alongside Markku Braid… theoretically. On the dummy grid, Markku’s car wasn’t revving clean and he was stuck, unable to make it onto the grid. Terrible luck for him, as organiser of the series, but good luck for us.
So red lights out, a good jump was promising, but our car is hampered by a worn/baulking 2-3 shift, which means it’s a slow shift for our car. This allowed others to close in and pass us by the first corner, but getting momentum back and fighting back into third place, the top two were gone. Cummings and Allen were off and finished in that order, four-seconds apart.
For the DRIVEN MX-5 it was lonely for six laps, trying to avoid missed 2-3 shifts, before Oliver Sapsford closed in for the last two. Needing a defensive line, he made one attempt that we fought off, then on the second-last corner of the last lap, he made a big dive around the outside of the third-gear Higgins corner, but hit the marbles and slid off the track, offering the Fairview/DRIVEN MX-5 some breathing space to cruise to the chequered flag for the final podium spot, live-on-TV post-race interview with Stephen McIvor, podium presentation, trophy and champagne!
That puts us third in the championship after round one, and with Markku’s electrical fault hopefully diagnosed as a corroded isolator switch, and more racers rejoining the series, we’re looking forward to running in all the summer series rounds in the Mazda Series with the RX-8s, at Taupo (Feb 11-12), Pukekohe’s final race meeting (March 24-25) and Hampton Downs (May 6-7).
Though a podium was a big bonus, results don’t matter, it’s just a great way of having fast fun in a cheap and safe way.
See www.facebook.com/MX5RNZ for more info.
