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Uncles Club returns to Hampton Downs National Circuit!

3 March, 2017

 

After a brief hiatus from the Hampton Downs National Circuit — instead using the Club Circuit — Uncles Club have announced that their twilight track nights will return to the National Circuit on Tuesday, March 28, 2017.

Regular supporters of the events questioned the move to the Club Circuit late last year, and the management team have recently addressed this in a statement. 

The statement said, “With the new ownership of Hampton Downs there has been a huge investment in the facilities to complete the dream that was founded by Tony Roberts and Chris Watson.

“No one can deny that the vision was bold and many people got behind the concept by investing in the apartment complex. As time progressed and the funding lines became exhausted, the development at this world-class facility came to an abrupt halt and so Hampton Downs was offered for sale — up stepped Tony Quinn and in record time he has transformed the facility.”

“Uncles Club was originally formed by a group of apartment owners wanting to enjoy the track on a casual basis in the twilight hours. After a period of time the number of people attending the track time grew and the need for better systems around the management of each group was required, and so we took over the management of the track activities. 

“Under the new track ownership the cost of track hire was increased to reflect the capital investment, and at the same time the availability of the National Circuit was reduced so the only option was to continue the Uncles Club track sessions on the newly formed Club Track. 

“Since that time we have seen a reduction in the support of Uncles Club and this has been due to a number of reasons, but by far the largest reason for the drop in numbers attending has been the size of the Club Track. We have been able to negotiate a return to the National Circuit as a one-off on [March 28], 2017 to see if there is still support for Uncles Club. It is quite simple: ‘use it or lose it’.”

With the announcement of the one-off move back to the National Circuit as a tester, and all other Uncles Club track dates cancelled, it will be important to show your support by attending the twilight track session to ensure future events can, and will, take place.

 

Event date:
Tuesday, March 28

Where:
Hampton Downs Motorsport Park.

Times:
Registration: 4pm
Drivers’ briefing: 4.45pm
Track time: 5–7pm

Cost:
$125 bank transfer, credit card, or cash on the day (subject to availability)

 

Reminders:

  • All drivers are to be over 18 years of age
  • All drivers need to hold a current full driver’s licence and not a probationary licence
  • Fire-retardant overalls are required (drivers and passengers)
  • Helmets required (drivers and passengers)
  • Enclosed footwear required
  • Cars must be to WOF standard
  • No drifting allowed
  • Passengers can only travel in caged cars
  • Base boards for jacking in the pits are required to prevent damage to tarmac

Lunch with … Cary Taylor

11 September, 2024

Many years ago — in June 1995 to be more precise — I was being wowed with yet another terrific tale from Geoff Manning who had worked spanners on all types of racing cars. We were chatting at Bruce McLaren Intermediate school on the 25th anniversary of the death of the extraordinary Kiwi for whom the school was named. Geoff, who had been part of Ford’s Le Mans programme in the ’60s, and also Graham Hill’s chief mechanic — clearly realising that he had me in the palm of his hand — offered a piece of advice that I’ve never forgotten: “If you want the really good stories, talk to the mechanics.”
Without doubt the top mechanics, those involved in the highest echelons of motor racing, have stories galore — after all, they had relationships with their drivers so intimate that, to quote Geoff all those years ago, “Mechanics know what really happened.”

ROTARY CHIC

6 September, 2024

Kerry Bowman readily describes himself as a dyed-in-the-wool Citroën fan and a keen Citroën Car Club member. His Auckland home holds some of the chic French cars and many parts. He has also owned a number of examples of the marque as daily drivers, but he now drives a Birotor GS. They are rare, even in France, and this is a car which was not supposed to see the light of day outside France’s borders, yet somehow this one escaped the buyback to be one of the few survivors out in the world.
It’s a special car Kerry first saw while overseas in the ’70s, indulging an interest sparked early on by his father’s keenness for Citroëns back home in Tauranga. He was keen to see one ‘in the flesh’.
“I got interested in this Birotor when I bought a GS in Paris in 1972. I got in contact with Citroën Cars in Slough, and they got me an invitation to the Earls Court Motor Show where they had the first Birotor prototype on display. I said to a guy on the stand, ‘I’d like one of these,’ and he said I wouldn’t be allowed to get one. Citroën were building them for their own market to test them, and they were only left-hand drive.”