START YOUR ENGINES
This time of the year, the lights burn bright into the night in workshops throughout Taranaki as race drivers and their crews toil hard to prepare their cars for Stratford Speedway’s opening night.
Stratford Speedway is Taranaki’s home of speedway and has been consistently packing the crowds in for more than 50 years. Their new season kicks off on October 28 at 7pm.
There will be four major events on the opening night - City of New Plymouth Classics for Superstocks, Midgets, Streetstocks and Adult Ministocks while the remaining classes will run for their City of New Plymouth Classic events over the next two meetings.
“We will be hosting four national titles this year; the New Zealand Modified Championship, New Zealand Minisprint Championship, New Zealand Stockcar Grand Prix and the North Island Midget Championship,” says club captain Jarrod MacBeth,.
“When you add in other events such as the Under23 Stockcar Championship, teams racing, invitational classes like sprintcars and TQ’s, Taranaki champs and all the other local titles, it’s going to make a really good season. We renewed the track last year, so it’s in top condition. We’ve had a couple of practice sessions and drivers have been clocking some great times.”
The club has approximately 200 drivers; and, when the support crew are taken into account, the numbers involved quickly add up.
Speedway’s importance to the region’s economy tends to fly under the radar. The local drivers and crews usually race in 10 or 12 meetings per season in Stratford, and also travel to away meetings. They all spend money on steel, engineering, paint, signwriting, tyres and fuel and many other products and services.
“We run 19 race meetings from late October to early April and regularly pull in crowds of 1500 spectators,” says Jarrod. “Our big national-title meetings often draw crowds of over 4000. All those spectators spend money throughout the province.
“For example, we should have well over 100 cars in December’s New Zealand Stockcar Grand Prix. Over 70 will be visiting cars, whose drivers, crew, family and supporters will be buying fuel, food, accommodation, and going shopping.”
Demolition derbies are a guaranteed crowd pleaser, and this year the club has scheduled four events. They comprise a Boxing Day derby, a Teams derby, an end of season derby and a caravan derby, with 13 competitors already lined up for the latter
event which will take place on November 18.
‘‘We’ve got a really good contingent of derby drivers and want to give them as much track time as possible,’’ explains Jarrod. ‘‘A few years ago when scrap metal prices were high, derby numbers were lower. Cars are now more readily available at minimal cost, especially through Facebook ‘buy/sell’ pages.
‘‘You only need to strip the car and fit an internal roll bar and five-point harness. Most drivers borrow their race gear (clothing). You can buy used fivepoint harnesses from competitors in the mainstream classes that are still fine for derbies for as little as $50.’’
The Youth Ministock class (for drivers aged between 12 and 16 years of age) continues to go from strength to strength. Last season, the club sometimes needed to run four races and use a rotation system to ensure all of their young drivers could compete in three races per meeting.
The Youth Ministocks have worked well for the club as a feeder into their other classes. For example, Stratford’s Tyler Walker started off in the Youth Ministock class and is now a front-running driver on the national scene in the stockcar class. He is only one example, there are many more.
‘‘There’s a great deal of competition between the young drivers. The cars are very even, so it mostly comes down to driving skill. It’s not the fastest class, but the racing is very close.’’
A youth ministock car can be completely setup for between $4000 and $5000 and require minimal running expenses. A driver can race a car for four years and still sell it for a price similar to the initial cost. There are many 10-year-old cars still racing competitively.
‘‘The young drivers learn valuable driving lessons,’’ Jarrod says. ‘‘They learn car control and the ability to see what’s going on around them, not just in front of them while driving. They also know what to do if they get into a slide, because it’s all happened in a controlled environment before they get onto the road.’’
Last season, the club ran the TQ class for one meeting and the response was so good that they’ve decided to do the same again this year and the TQs will run as a support class for the North Island Midget Champs, something that will appeal to openwheel fans.
Teams racing is always extremely popular and Jarrod says there will be eight teams in this year’s West Coast Stockcar Teams Champs. ‘‘The West Coast teams meeting was unfortunately rained out last season, this time we have scheduled it for January when the weather will hopefully be more stable’’
‘‘It’s always a juggling act to have around six classes racing nightly out of nine classes of car. We’re changing the pits around because they’re getting a bit too cramped to cope with the everincreasing numbers. It can be pretty dark under the bonnets doing repairs at night in the pits so we’re also adding LED lights which are considerably brighter than the existing lights.’’
This year all of the classes will run radio receivers. The drivers wear an earpiece to take directions from the officials. They can then be informed if there is a crash on the track, or whether the yellow or red
light is on. This will improve safety and speed up events.
The club strives to retain its family focus, Jarrod says, and continues to run family-oriented events such as the massive fireworks display at the second meet on November 4. They are expecting a typically large crowd.
‘‘It’s easy to spend a hundred bucks on storebought fireworks; but you can come here with the family for $42 and see a spectacular professional display and have a night at the speedway,’’ Jarrod says. ‘‘Bring a picnic along and enjoy a family oriented event. This year there will also be a greater variety of on-site food.’’
The club’s website at stratford-speedway.co.nz has information on all upcoming meetings which you can use to keep informed throughout the racing season. Jarrod says their Facebook page, which has more than 6000 members, is also worth joining to gather information and follow competitors.