LYONS DOMINATES HAMPTON DOWNS F5000

England's Michael Lyons (Lola T400) won all four MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series races at the first New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing - celebrating BMW Motorsport meetings at the Hampton Downs circuit south of Auckland over the weekend but series point leader Steve Ross (McRae GM1) added the icing on the cake with a new outright track lap record. Lyons, who with father Frank and mother Judy, has been traveling from the UK to contest rounds of the New Zealand-based MSC series for the past four years, showed an inkling of what he could do at the two New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing meetings last year and took up where he left off this, claiming pole position in the qualifying session on Friday then leading all four races - including the feature 15-lap final - from start to finish. "The weekend has gone pretty well hasn't it" the 20-year-old from Essex north of London said after his meeting clean sweep. "Last year we weren't quite as well prepared and it was all a bit last minute. Also I hadn't really driven the car much that year. This year we did most of the British championship, which we won, so we were better prepared with the car so it's great to be able to come out here and be able to do so well." After winning both races in hot, dry conditions on Saturday, the first from Steve Ross, Ken Smith (Lola T430) and Clark Proctor (March 73A) and the second - after Ross and Proctor tangled at the first corner - from Smith, Mark Dwyer (Lola T400) and Brett Willis (Lola T330), Lyons led home a fired up Smith, Proctor and Ross in the rain-delayed third race just after lunch time and 15-lap feature final later in the afternoon on Sunday. While the third race was very much a non-event because of the intervention for four of the eight laps of the Safety Car (while Kerry McIntosh's bent Begg FM2 was retrieved from the safety barriers on the run up to the start/finish straight) the 15-lap feature saw Lyons, Ross, Smith, Proctor and Dwyer set a cracking early pace, a sign of just how quickly the leading cars were circulating, Steve Ross breaking the new outright track lap record Lyons had set during the first race on Saturday.

YOUNG LYON TAKES F5000 RACE ONE IN NZ

Young British driver Michael Lyons (Lola T400) has made a winning return to New Zealand's MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series, dominating the first day of competition at the third round at Hampton Downs. In front of a large crowd gathered for the first of two New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing - celebrating BMW Motorsport meetings at the 2.8 km circuit south of Auckland the 20-year-old second-generation racer from just outside London topped the time sheets in qualifying on Friday afternoon and won both today's eight lap MSC series races, the first - in the morning - from series points  leader Steve Ross (McRae GM1), defending series champion Ken Smith (Lola T430) and high-profile former NZV8 and now Targa driver Clark Proctor (March 73A), and the second from Smith, regular UK visitor Mark Dwyer (Lola T400) and Rotorua driver Brett Willis (Lola T300).

RADIO GOODWOOD IS ON THE AIR

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is one of the worlds biggest celebrations of motorsport and it’s colourful history. The run up the hill at Lord March’s estate has become a must see for hardcore enthusiasts and attracts a the worlds best drivers and a stunning array of cars. This year’s festival features a special tribute to Indycar [...]

MOFFATT & FRENCH REUNITE FOR GTHO CELEBRATIONS

The famous all-Ford XY GTHO ‘front-row‘ of the 1971 Hardie Ferodo 500 grid at Bathurst will be re-formed at this year’s Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport from March 18-20. Race winner Allan Moffat and his factory Ford team-mate John French will be together again at the meeting to mark the 40th anniversary of both the famous Phase III XY GTHO and its finest racing hour. Around 40 XY GT and GTHO Falcons will be on display to celebrate the historic occasion. Meanwhile a series of limited edition prints on canvas by artist Mike Harbar depicting the three leading XY GTHO Falcons of Allan Moffat, John French and Fred Gibson in ‘The Dipper’ on the first lap of Bathurst in 1971 will be auctioned at the meeting. Queenslander John French, who qualified his XY GTHO alongside Moffat for the ’71 Bathurst, is the official Patron of the 2011 Phillip Island Classic.

SPORTSCARS RULE AT ISLAND CLASSIC

Sportscars will take centre stage at the 2011 Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport. The annual event is widely regarded as the biggest and best in Australia has again attracted a huge entry of approaching 500 vehicles. The most popular category of the meeting are the Production Sports Cars, with 105 already entered – around a quarter of the total cars at the meeting! The Group Sa and Sb cars are again fully-subscribed, with a lone Shelby GT350, a Chevrolet Corvette and a Morgan Plus 8 taking on 12 MGs, nine Austin Healeys, eight Triumph TRs, four Porsches, a Lotus Elan and a Mercedes-Benz 190SL. And in the always-popular Group Sc, at least 10 Porsche 911s will face three De Tomaso Panteras, three MGB V8s, three Ferraris, a Renault Alpine and a Corvette Stingray. With the feature event of the meeting being the Sunday’s 30-minute race for big banger sports cars, the 2011 Phillip Island Classic features one of the strongest sports car fields seen for many years, with nine Lolas, six Porsches, two Elfins, a Sauber-Mercedes and a genuine Ford GT40 amongst the early entries.

CLASSIC PORSCHE LINE UP FOR PHILLIP ISLAND

Porsche have continued their recent support for the Phillip Island Historic Classic with the announcement of a star line up of cars for the meeting on March 18 - 20. The cars coming the Porsche Museum include the famous 935/78 coupe nick-named ‘Moby Dick’ by Porsche race mechanics because of its large and extended ‘whale tail’. The Moby Dick was with climax of 935 race car development.  Powered by a 621 kW (845 hp) turbocharged 3.2 litre six-cylinder development of the production 911 engine, it reached a top speed of 366 km/h at Le Mans in 1978. Perhaps the most recognisable of all Porsche race cars – the famous 956/962 which won the Le Mans 24 Hour seven times between 1982 and 1994 – is also part of the exclusive collection that will be seen at the Phillip Island Classic in March. The car secured for Australia is the Rothmans 962 raced to victory in 1987 by Derek Bell, Hans Stuck and Al Holbert. From the 1960s comes the eight cylinder 908/02 Spyder that won the 1969 Targa Florio and the 718 RS 60 Spyder that won the 1960 Daytona 24 Hour race. Other special Porsche's in the collection include the lightweight 911 SC raced by Walter Rohrl in the gruelling 1980 San Remo rally and a V10-engined Porsche Carrera GT road car from 2003.

RAIN RUINS HAMPTON DOWNS AMON CELEBRATION

TORRENTIAL RAIN FORCES EARLY END TO FIRST NZ FESTIVAL OF MOTOR RACING MEETING Torrential rain has forced event officials to postpone Sunday’s programme at the first NZ Festival of Motor Racing - Chris Amon - meeting at Hampton Downs today. Racing yesterday was compromised by the monsoon-like conditions and officials decided this morning to call an early [...]

NEW McLAREN DVD RELEASED: Your chance to win!

From the most humble of beginnings in the quiet town of Remuera, New Zealand, Bruce McLaren went on to become a major force in International motorsport. Today his name lives on in the championship winning cars of Formula One as well as a growing sportscar empire. Now the popular Australian magazine Motorsport Legends has produced a stunning [...]

WILLIAMS WINS LADY WIGRAM TROPHY

Auckland driver Roger Williams (Lola T332) is the latest in a long and distinguished line of Lady Wigram Trophy holders after winning an incident-packed Christchurch Casino Lady Wigram trophy feature race at the second round of the 2009/10 MSC NZ Formula 5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series races at Christchurch's Ruapuna Park. Three-time Lady Wigram Trophy winner Ken Smith (Lola T430) from Auckland and 2007/08 MSC series champion, local man Chris Hyde (McRae GM1), were joint favourites to win this year's 16-lap Lady Wigram Trophy feature race at the 2010 Christchurch Casino Lady Wigram trophy meeting - but both struck problems. Smith - who joined race two winner Hyde on the front row of the grid for the final - was swamped at the start when he missed a gearchange, got caught up in a first lap clash between Lola T332 drivers Sefton Gibb and Tony Richards, and was finally forced out by a broken front right hand balljoint. Hyde meanwhile, was slowed and finally stopped by a battery problem. After two relatively uneventful sprint races on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning the Lady Wigram Trophy feature was real thrill-a-minute stuff with Hyde getting the initial jump on quickest weekend qualifier and race one winner Steve Ross (McRae GM1) with eventual race winner Williams slotting into third place in front of former series champion Ian Clements (Lola T332) then a gap to Australian driver Aaron Lewis (Matich A50), Tony Richards (Lola T332) and Aaron Burson (McRae GM1).

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