Baigents all go on V8 Supertourers
Sponsors from Matamata invited to join racing team
Curious racing fans have been milling into Matamata’s Baigent Motors, eager to take a look at what manager Justin Scelly has been working on.
Over the past two months, Mr Scelly and mechanic Paul Dudley have built a Holden Commodore V8 race car almost entirely from scratch.
Auckland driver Mike Ninkranz will race the car in New Zealand’s premiere V8 series, the V8 Supertourers.
‘‘I have built and engineered cars for other people so I have built up quite a lot of experience in the last eight or nine years,’’ said Scelly.
‘‘I thought it was time to take that next step forward into the premiere series.’’
Scelly and Ninkranz have formed racing team Maverick Motorsport Group and will compete against top drivers such as Greg Murphy and Shane Van Gisbergen.
‘‘We are quite proud of ourselves to get to this level,’’ Scelly said.
‘‘I think there were a lot of people that never thought we could get here, including [ the people from] V8 Supertourers.
‘‘We’re not expectant of winning a championship or anything. ‘‘We have never being involved in this level of competition before so this year is a big learning curve for us.’’
The team missed the first round of the series at Hampton Downs last month and hoped to get out on the track as soon as possible.
‘‘The only think we are lacking is sponsorship,’’ Scelly said. ‘‘They are expensive cars to run. ‘‘At the moment the main thing we need is the parts.’’
The team was based at Matamata and Scelly said they hoped to have the stickers of Matamata businesses on their car.
‘‘I would love to have local sponsors,’’ he said.
‘‘With Baigents being a local company and me being a local guy, I would love to push something for Matamata.’’