Motorsport events feel rarely of national significance
AFTER the excitement of the Otago Rally earlier in the month, followed by the MercedesAMG C63 launch a few days later (see this week’s cover story), last weekend was a quiet one for me. Time was spent catching up with family and friends and getting on top of some overdue household chores.
Somehow, progress on one of the chores — clearing stuff out of the basement — was interrupted by the lure of a stack of old motor racing magazines, dating back to the 1990s. Leafing through them, I came across an opinion piece by Canterbury journalist Linday Kerr, with observations that hold as true today as they did then.
Kerr’s contention was that no matter how much a motorsport event bills itself as being of ‘‘national significance’’, the reality — except among staunch fans — is it attracts little attention beyond the town or region in which it takes place.
Rally New Zealand was the event being singled out for attention in the opinion piece — Kerr’s argument was that since the event back then was based out of Auckland, with a sideleg to Rotorua, people elsewhere in the country had, at best, a passing awareness that it was going on.
That view certainly resonated with me, because last weekend the Australian Supercars visited Taupo, but I would have been none the wiser to that fact had someone not mentioned it to me at work on Friday.
For many years, I have kept a close eye on the Supercars, motivated in part by patriotic pride in the winning achievements of the many top Kiwi drivers competing, and also enjoying (from a neutral position) the bipartisan Ford versus Holden banter.
With the latest of the Kiwi-Australian Supercar greats — Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen — now racing in the United States, and it now being a Ford versus Chevrolet show, my enthusiasm has diminished.
Attention did pick up when one of the five Kiwis contesting this year’s series won the first of the two Taupo races. That driver was Andre Heimgartner, the victory his first in supercars on home soil, and only his second in the category.
In terms of the overall series though, this does not look like a season in which Kiwis will come to the fore. Race two at Taupo was won by Queenslander Will Brown, who leads the series by a handsome margin, having scored three wins and four second places from the eight races held. When Brown hasn’t been winning, teammate and fellow Queenslander Brock Feeny has grabbed the victor’s spoils.
Brown and Feeny both drive Chevrolet Camaros for van Gisbergen’s old Supercars team, Triple Eight Racing.
The topplaced Kiwi in the series is Richie Stanaway; he’s fourth in the standings, but this placing is largely the result of consistent performances, as he hasn’t managed a podium spot so far in 2024.
Having devoted the first part of this editorial to racing matters, it’s appropriate to conclude it by acknowledging the recent passing of Kiwi car industry great Sir Colin Giltrap.
From small beginnings with a single car yard in 1960s Hamilton, Giltrap built an automotive empire, which today spans 19 dealerships across Auckland, imports nine automotive brands into New Zealand, and employs about 1000 people.
Sir Colin’s success in business was matched over the years by extensive philanthropy, and support for pretty much every Kiwi racer who has headed offshore and made an international career out of motor racing in recent decades.
Liam Lawson is just one such racer. Others among the many that have benefited from Giltrap’s support over the years include Greg Murphy, Scott Dixon, Shane van Gisbergen,
Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber, Mitch Evans, and Haydon Paddon.
I was lucky enough to meet Sir Colin a couple of times. While well known for shyness in public situations, once he relaxed into a conversation with a small group, he could hold an audience, especially when they shared his interest in advancing the fortunes of Kiwi motorsport and its drivers on the global stage.
Sir Colin’s often low key, but always hugely significant influence, will be hugely missed.