Plenty of thrills on offer at speedfest

MOTORSPORT

Brendon Egan Classic Speedfest will celebrate its 20th birthday at Teretonga Park, near Invercargill, this weekend and organiser Rick Michels is promising another spectacular showcase.

The annual event has been reinvigorated after a lull, and an exciting assortment of classic cars has been assembled for the twoday extravaganza.

Cars belonging to some of the biggest names in motorsport have featured at Classic Speedfest, including Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Denny Hulme and Bruce Mclaren, and this year will be no different.

Some of the star attractions include the Formula 1 Mclaren M23, which will be driven by Phil Mauger, and the Begg FM5 of fellow Christchurch driver Lindsay O’donnell.

The Mcbegg sports car, which was built by Drummond’s George Begg, has been reproduced and it is hoped will be up and running at the weekend.

Kiwi expatriate Kerry Anderson, who lives in Hong Kong, has raced in the Classic Speedfest at Teretonga every year since its creation, and will be back to race in his D-type Jaguar replica.

Another interesting vehicle on display this weekend will be a British touring car that was run by the infamous Vic Lee Motorsport team.

The British touring car championship team regularly headed to the Netherlands for testing and after one such test in 1992, were found to have cocaine valued at more than £6 million hidden in its transporters – which led to Lee being sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.

About 170 entries have been received over nine classes for the weekend, which delighted Michels.

‘‘Some of the rarest vehicles in the world turn up here and compete. It’s a very big event for us on the calendar.

‘‘A lot of blokes legendary cars.’’

The focus of the Classic Speedfest is more about reminiscing and showing off some of the most sought-after cars in New Zealand, rather than taking the chequered flag first.

‘‘These guys have a lot of money tied up in their gear.

‘‘There’s a lot of older people, who couldn’t afford to do it when they were younger and now can,’’ Michels said.

‘‘It’s a very relaxed weekend. A chocolate fish [prize] is about as good as you’ll get.’’

Teretonga is the last stop on the New Zealand classic series tour, which began with two weekends

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in of racing in Auckland late last month and stops in Christchurch and Timaru. Michels said the Classic Speedfest gave southern petrolheads a unique opportunity to see many cars they normally would not get to see at a motorsport event, and he expected another large turnout.

‘‘Most of the drivers

enjoy talking about their cars more than driving them,’’ he said with a laugh. ‘‘For the public, it’s a really good opportunity that they only get once a year basically. It’s very rare.’’ The event gets under way tomorrow with an unofficial practice session, and racing on Saturday and Sunday.