The self-confessed motorsport fan is brimming with excitement over the history-making event, during which he’ll be amongst the action.
Mauger is an experienced racer and will take part in the Historic Touring Cars category aboard an ex-Colin Bond Ford Sierra RS500.
The Caltex machine is one of eight of the turbocharged Group A rockets entered in a 38-car field that also features Super Touring and early five-litre V8 cars.
“I bought it about four months ago,” Mauger told Speedcafe of the Sierra.
“I’ve only driven it in two race meetings and it scares the living daylights out of me, but it’s fun and it’s a really good group of people to race with.
“Our races are only six laps long, so we’ll get out feeling 10-foot tall and bulletproof compared to the ‘real’ blokes doing 61 laps. I take my hat off to them.
“But as long as we have fun and have a beer afterwards, that’s what it’s all about.”
An earth moving and construction company proprietor, Mauger’s long-held motorsport passion has seen him own and race a wide variety of machinery.
“My father was into cars and racing for a long time,” he explained.
“I inherited a car called the Stanton Special with a Tiger Moth aeroplane engine in it.
“It set the New Zealand land speed record in 1958, 173 miles per hour down a country road.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have a Formula 5000 and a [McLaren] M23 Formula 1 car, which took me all over the world.”
Mauger also spent time racing GT3 Porsches and was set to compete in the 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour before being badly injured in a road accident in the lead-up to the event.
The passenger in a BMW X3 rental car that was rear-ended by a fuel tanker at a set of traffic lights, Mauger was placed in a three-day coma having suffered 21 broken bones and a collapsed lung.
“Everyone needs a ‘come to Jesus’ moment and I certainly had one then,” he recalled.
“That’s when I started to do mayoral stuff.”
Mauger was elected as a councillor in 2019. He became mayor in 2022 and was re-elected last year.
“I certainly missed motor racing and got back into it,” he said.
“I’m not going to travel around the world like I used to, I’ve been there and done that, but I want to have fun at local race events.
“And this is certainly a bloody beauty.”
Among Mauger’s former race cars is the ex-Matt Neal Nissan Primera Super Tourer that is set to compete this weekend in the hands of Steven Richards.
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