Doing it right
The end of one year and beginning of the next is always a time of change. Racers refettle their trucks, other trucks arrive from overseas or roll out of workshops herein New Zealand, and it’ s no different for our team. The GT Radials Ford Falcon is no more. It’s done great work over almost a decade now, and the highlights are fondly remembered – class titles at regional and national level and an NZ1 at the hands of my son Owen. This, remember, was the first New Zealand build ProLite design to grid up in Class 8. And it is still one of only two four-cylinder turbo Pro Lite designs in the country. So we must be doing something right. But now it’ s time to rethink and reanimate some ideas in a new set of clothes. The Ford link was always intended to tie us in to the Ford Falcon utes that the GT Radial dealer network ran – and we used the same big decals on the same colour base, first bright red and later white. Now with the demise of the Falcon, the dealers are running around in Rangers and the cost of switching to a Ranger body for off- road racing was excessive, given that nobody has panels for sale in New Zealand. You could gold- plate the things for what it would cost to buy them in the USA and then ship them here, though we got close to doing it. Instead, we’re going to an all- new Chev Silverado supplied locally by Cougar Race Cars with a vinyl wrap in a real stand- out graphic scheme done by Damian at NZ Signs. In December we were test- fit ting the panels to work out mounts and also looking at graphics packages. The keywords: bolder, brighter, more! We even evaluated one that referenced the ‘master’ brand, Giti. As one of a handful of offroad racers invited to Rod Millen’s Leadfoot event there was some pressure on to get the truck looking just right for the massive spectator audience that attends that event. So we went through a range of concepts and made our choice. What did the truck end up like? If you missed Leadfoot, you’ll have to come to the first southern round of the championship to find out. Why a Chev and not a Ford you ask? Many reasons. The race truck is towed by... our mighty Chev Silverado. In addition, buying local means when we smash or lose a panel, it’ s simpler to replace. And finally, it’ s just a great looking set of panels. So the Falcon body panels have done their dash, but of course the GT Radial team continues. As the old saying goes, it’ s much easier to look after an existing sponsor than to have to find a new one, and our relationship with GT Radial Tyres goes back more than a decade. So we must be doing something right. On the topic of doing things right, it’ s that time of year again, and the new ORANZ championship sponsor framework is finding favour among companies interested in the championship and the sport. This year the overall naming rights sponsor opportunity remains, but we’re selling categories rather than classes at national level to leave the clubs space to sell class sponsors for their rounds of the championship. In each case we offer the category to incumbent sponsors before approaching other companies. The progress so far: we welcome back Warren Adams’ 4WD Bits as sponsor of the 4WD/ race truck category, covering all the truck classes 2- 4- 6 and 8. 4WD Bits sponsored all four classes in 2017. We welcome back Joel Giddy’s JG Civil as sponsor of the UTV category, covering the fast- growing and spectacular U and S classes. JG Civil sponsored S class in 2017. And we welcome back Richard Crabb and Crabb racing, sponsors once more of the youth category Kiwitruck classes. It’ s fantastic to see sponsors recommitting to the sport. Likely to be confirmed over the Christmas break was the naming rights sponsorship, which was offered first to Polaris as existing naming rights sponsor; and a backer for the race car category ( 1- 3- 5-7- 9-10 and Challenger). This year sees the championship titles fought over at new venues - at Taranaki and Manukau ( the ‘evolved’ Prices Road course that Kevin Hall and others have worked so hard on) - and at some classics as well. Numbers are up, the UTV classes are looking good and we’re talking sensibly about how to address the proliferation of classes at the top level – through transition and adaptation. So it looks like ORANZ is doing something right too.