Porsche, Lotus and Mercedes – there will be some sensational cars on the grid when the 2017/18 motor racing season begins at Teretonga Park near Invercargill this weekend.
The opening round of the 2017 Carters Tyre Service South Island Endurance Series heads the action on Saturday with the 1 Hour race timed to start at 11.30am and the 3 Hour at 1.30pm. The action continues on Sunday with racing for the Noel McIntyre Drainage Clubmans Saloons and Sports and Racing Cars, presented by Downer.
Each year the Endurance races bring some very exotic racing machinery to Teretonga Park and this year is no exception. In the 3 Hour race 2015 Series Champions, Angus and George McFarlane of Christchurch, return with their Porsche 997 Cup R while former multiple V8 Champion John McIntyre of Nelson teams with Simon Gilbertson of Taradale to debut a Manthey-spec Porsche 991 MR. Matt and Dwayne Carter of Auckland return in their Mercedes AMG SLS GT3 while Scott O’Donnell of Invercargill and Allan Dippie of Dunedin, winners of the 3 Hour Race in 2015, return in their Porsche 991 Cup Car. Local driver Jordan Michels, fresh from a successful trip to test race cars in Australia, joins former V8 star Eddie Bell of Christchurch in a BMW.
The 1 Hour race features more spectacular machinery in what appears to be a very open field. O’Donnell and Dippie will also contest this event in one of the several Porsche’s of various models in the field. Alexandra driver Bruce Davidson will run his Chev Corvette while Jim Wallace of Australia is in a BMW M5. There is also some New Zealand built hybrid type cars while Michels combines with Boyd Wilson of Invercargill in a Falcon for the 1 Hour.
A good field of cars is entered for the Clubmans Saloon races on Sunday with Liam MacDonald in his 6 litre Falcon, Brian Scott of Dunedin in his Corvette, Adam Cullen of Dunedin in his Nissan GTR and Dion Dawson of Invercargill in a Saker GT sure to be prominent. Michels continues a busy weekend, driving a Star Car in the Saloon Car races on Sunday while also piloting a Formula Reynard in the Sports & Racing car events.
The on track action starts at 9.45am on Saturday and 10.00am on Sunday. Admission on Saturday is $15 for adults while children 14 and under are free. Sunday’s admission is free to everyone.
