Leaving boredom in the dust
‘‘These kids think it’s bloody marvellous.’’ Wayne Morris, Reefton Area School team honorary mechanic
Dust clouds and the sound of twostroke fury filled the country air at Tapawera as the region’s paddock racers were given a fullthrottle test of their abilities.
Organised by Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and Tapawera Area School, the 2018 Top of the South Grass Kart Challenge returned to Tapawera Area School’s playing field, with the blessing of principal long-time supporter, principal Kelvin Woodley.
About 20 teams took part in 32 derby or team races on Friday as part of the annual running of the event, which has grown in popularity since its inception in 2013.
NMIT tutor Kevin Edgar has been involved with the event since day one, having previously run a similar event in Southland.
He said the main objective was to provide a fun yet practical way for students to showcase their mechanical and driving expertise beyond the workshop.
‘‘The kids get so involved in building and fixing [the karts], and everyone’s got the same motor and gearing.
‘‘It’s very rarely the motor itself breaking down, it’s the throttle, brakes or the kill switch, and as much as you tell them to check it, it’s like ‘Yeah, yeah’, and they haven’t – but that’s part of the fun of it.’’
After weeks of careful assembly and thorough testing, racers navigated their self-built machines through a challenging course that put their technical knowledge to the test. The dry track made for quick times in both the multilap derbies and team relay events.
The fastest team on the day was a combined trades academy team from Murchison Area School and Waimea College.
For several karts, mechanical issues or steering errors saw them towed back to the pits for some swift repairs.
With previous winners Nelson College and Timaru’s Mountainview High School absent, this year’s start list featured a strong rural presence, with school teams from Murchison, Motueka, hosts Tapawera and Reefton joining NMIT’s trades divisions.
After a morning of solid results, the Reefton Area School quartet of Ian Clarke-Payn, Ben Siebelink, Jack Bolton and Matthew Duncan found themselves racing the clock to fix a broken chain on their machine, affectionately dubbed ‘‘The Lawnmower’’, in time for the final derby event.
Fortunately, chaperone and honorary mechanic Wayne Morris was able to remedy the problem in time.
‘‘It hasn’t been running too bad, really – last time we were up here it ran into a tree and smashed a front wheel off it,’’ he said.
‘‘These kids think it’s bloody marvellous . . . I’ve heard two of them say they want to go to polytech now.’’