Festival Celebrates Beemers
Hampton Downs, in conjunction with Coombes Johnston BMW, hosted the annual Motorsport Festival over the weekend of 11 – 12 January. The two-day event showcased some of the finest BMW machinery both racing on track, or on static display around the park. The racing was not only for the Beemers it also included Bathurst Allcomers, Honda Cup, NZ Sports Cars, and Formula Open. Although it didn’t have the same size crowds as the Ferrari Festival or Porsche Festival from a few years ago, it was nevertheless a popular event among enthusiasts. The lunch break on both days allowed the BMW owners to do the “BMW Club Track Cruise” on the extended international circuit in sweltering conditions.
The main drawcard for the event was the one-hour endurance race, which had 35 BMWS racing each other for the win. Starting off from second place, Peter Beguely soon passed Andrew Nugent for first place, where he stayed until midway through the race when he had to pit, putting him down to third. He then made up the places again when the two men in front had to come in for their stops.
Not only open to drivers of the BMW Race Drivers series, the BMW Allcomers race featured various different models that had raced in classes over the years. One of these was the white BMW 2002 of 1969 vintage owned by John
Hudson, however, the fastest on track was Kent Baigent in one of the latermodel BMWS, who won races one and three and came second in race two.
In keeping with tradition from the previous two festivals that centred around Bathurst, the Bathurst Allcomers features race machinery that has in some
way been related to the big mountain. Standing out was Glen Chappel’s 2006 BMW 150D, which he had purchased in the UK. The car is built for endurance and had been raced at several European 24hr events including Nurburgring and Barcelona. Its 3.0-litre twin-turbo diesel puts out 330kw. Chappel purchased the car “mainly because it's different and no one believed a diesel could be competitive”. He went on to win the first two races and came second in the third race.
The release of the new doco-movie about NZ racing legend Ken Smith during the weekend at Hampton Downs meant it was only fitting that he was racing, od course, in the Formula Open alongside track owner Tony Quinn and son of Chris Watson, James Watson. The three fought tooth-and-nail all weekend, Watson fared best and won all three of the races. Tony Quinn’s weekend came to an abrupt end in the third race when he pulled into the pits with an unknown issue. Racing in this class was also yachting Team New Zealand main man Grant Dalton in his sportscar. A regular to the track, he recorded two fourth places and a DNF.
The Honda Cup was also represented with a variety of mostly Civics and Integras. As its Facebook blurb says this is a “Clubman style competition for Hondas to bring back some of the fun, and affordable entrylevel racing”. Paul Muldoon won this round of the Honda Series, driving a 2.4-litre Honda Civic.
Finishing off the activities on both days was the Kumho Tyres Pre-65 race. These cars were a mix of all sorts and included a Mini class within. One of the stand out cars in this field was the yellow Chevy Nova of Bill Mckinnon. The Ford Thunderbird of Stuart Crosby was also just as spectacular on the race track.
The wait will now be on to see what the organizers can come up with next year.
The Thoroughbred and Classic Car Owners’ Club, known to one and all as Taccoc, held its last race meeting for the year — Christmas at The Downs — on December 8 at Hampton Downs. Invitees to the event were PPG Classic Trials, Historic Formula Ford and Formula Junior, European Race Classics, Historic Muscle Cars, and the BMW Race Driver Series. The day’s racing was held under sunny skies with just the odd niggly shower in the afternoon that wasn’t quite determined enough to wet the track.
Following practice, the racing started at 10.45am when the PPG Classic Trials cars started their 15-minute session. Apart from the BMWS, all classes had three 8-lap races over the day.
The main event was the BMW Series’ one-hour endurance race. Various BMWS from the series took part in classes covering the small E30s right through to the five-litre GT machines campaigned by the likes of Warwick Mortimer. The race included pit stops for a driver change or a compulsory run around the car. A sprightly Peter Beguely racing his 2007 BMW E92 M3 came out on top having completed a total of 49 laps. He crossed the line a mere two seconds ahead of second-placed Kent Baigent in a 2017 M4 GT4, while third-placed Tony
Easton was 29 seconds back from the leader, followed home by the various E30 and 2-litre class cars.
The European Race Classics featured guest driver Paul Adams, best known for his long history in rallying in New Zealand. He entered in a BMW 2002, one of the first new BMWS imported into the country by BMW’S first franchisee, Ross Jensen Motors.
Another surprise addition to the day was Warwick Mortimer’s Mazdaspeed Le Mans car, still on site from the day earlier when Hamptons hosted the Mad Mike Summer Bash. During the lunch break, Mortimer fired it up to do a few demonstration laps. Ear-numbingly loud, but what a sight to behold.