Launches This Weekend
The V8 Utes are well known on both sides of the Tasman for their exciting and no-holds-barred racing style, something that race fans always look for.
The opening round of the New Zealand ENZED V8 Ute Racing Series will kick off this weekend at Timaru along with the other big monsters of motorsport, the Super Trucks and the TraNZam’s.
“We have been working on the launch of this Series now for over 3 years and it’s finally great to see sixteen race Utes about to take the first round” explained Ash Cairns Chairman of the New Zealand V8 Ute Racing Series “I’m sure the series is going to be extremely popular in new Zealand as it is in Australia and our close working relationship with the Australian V8 Ute Racing Series will ensure a return to the fantastic Trans Tasman Challenge events of the previous year.”
"The expansion of the V8 Ute Series in New Zealand is a major milestone and given that the technical specifications will mirror those of the Australian utes it gives us a great opportunity for some special events in the future" explained Australian V8 Ute Category Manager Bill West.
Aaron Slight and Temuera Morrison are two New Zealand household names planning to bring extra excitement to the Series. Slight who will be driving a Holden SS Commodore has extensive track experience as a former professional motorcycle road racer with various titles under his belt including the Australian Superbike Championship. Whilst Temuera who will steer a Ford BF Falcon XR8 is best known for his acting roles playing Jake “the Muss” Heke in Once Were Warriors and the bounty hunter Jango Fett in the Star Wars series.
The BF Ford Utes have been built in Australia by Les Small whose pedigree in motorsport dates back to the late 70's. Based in Melbourne, Les has built and run racing cars for Peter Brock, Allan Grice, Dick Johnson, Allan Moffat, Graeme Crosby, Greg Ritter, Nathan Petty, Paul Morris, Grant Denyer and many more. Les has managed teams that have won at Bathurst, Sandown Phillip Island and many other Australian National Championships and now leads the engineering team of Paul Morris Motorsport.
To date, Les has already built 16 Aussie Utes and is real keen to see his latest batch of Utes racing in New Zealand.
The new VE Holden has been built by James Brock of Brock Race Engineering. James has had extensive experience in motorsport as a competitor, engineer and race car builder. James has worked with Holden Special Vehicle, Triple Eight (UK), and Harrop Engineering. He has previously prepared both the Nations Cup V8 Monaros and a number of V8 Utes for the Australian series, in which he competed as a driver for a number of years.
If the Australian Series so far is anything to go by, Ford and Holden rivalry will be rife with close racing and plenty of exciting on track action to start the first round of the ENZED V8 Ute Series at Timaru International Motor Raceway, south of Christchurch, this weekend.
Race DatesRound 1 Timaru April 4-6Round 2 Teretonga April 11-13Round 3 Ruapuna TBARound 4 Taupo May 9-11Round 5 Pukekohe May 23-25Round 6 Manfeild June 13-15
