Everything is utterly serious when it comes to touring car races in the Southern hemisphere. Sometimes it’s even too serious. While acquiring media accreditation for the V8SuperTourers, a local series in New Zealand, could be compared to getting a driving licence, my struggle for media credentials for the V8Superсars was equal to getting a FIA Formula 1 license. Meaning, it was almost impossible.
Why is it so difficult?
All right, it’s the most popular motor racing series here. Let’s say it’s the only round hosted by New Zealand, while all the rest are held mainly in Australia. Okay, I give up, it is a truly fascinating event. The drivers make no bones about each other as they do in Formula 1, for instance: Oh, my God! There was a contact! Here’s a penalty and hurry up to the pits.
These men are fighting for life or death here. Oh no, we shouldn’t be talking about death, but each race there is someone smashing the wall really hard. For example, David Wall crashed his car last weekend and dropped out of the competition.
Apart from regular “hugs” with safety barriers, you can watch constant car contacts and cars flying out to the grass, which is natural for high speeds and intensity of struggle present during all rounds of this championship. There is always a keen struggle going on both on the start and in the course of the race, making the V8Supercars so fascinating for the spectators.
First laps and start are especially dramatic. That is why each photojournalist tries to occupy a good position somewhere closer to the start. But that is only in case he or she had received media accreditation. I remember when I first saw a touring car competition.
About four years ago, I was watching one of its rounds in a local diner. A thought came into my mind when chewing another piece of unhealthy food: “Wow! There is so much dynamics here and things change incredibly fast!” And now, for the second year in a row, I come to the Pukekohe Park Raceway to make photos and watch this event live.
However, no media credentials this time also. I knocked on almost all doors in New Zealand, met with many people who were at least somehow related to touring car races. But in vain. I tried to contact V8SuperTourers’ bosses, racing teams and their representatives. No success either.
The series has its own media group of accredited photographers and no one else is admitted. And just to make sure nobody had a chance to enter, they put a double fence. So that not a single spy could crawl in and make pictures.
“Give it some jandal”
The series initially included two large manufacturers — Ford and Holden (which were displayed by Falcon and Commodore models respectively). But later Nissan Altima and Mercedes E63AMG joined the entry list. Also, starting from this year, two Volvo S60s can be found among the participants. A promising Kiwi driver Scott McLaughlin is driving one of them. Last year, a 19-year-old driver won a V8Supercars race becoming the youngest pilot to score victory in the history of this competition.
By the way, the famous phrase “Give it some jandal” belongs to Scott. “Jandals” are plastic shoes like “flip flops” in the UK. It means “put the pedal to the metal” or in other words “put your foot down on the accelerator and speed up”. This phrase was pronounced by Scott after one of his wins and became extremely popular — it has its own group in social network now and a best-selling fashion line.
Hunting as a spy
V8Supercars have a great number of fans. Several hundred thousand people might attend the event in the course of one racing weekend. That is why, when I tried to book a parking lot online, it turned out that they had all been sold out.
So I went there on the off chance without any ideas on where to park my car and which spot to use to make pictures of the event. It seems as if the town of Pukekohe, located close to the venue, comes to life during the racing weekend and starts making money out of everything, especially the parking spaces. While the price of parking at the official venue is $10, local businessmen were asking $15 or even $20. I found the best-guarded parking area where my car was safely blocked by other vehicles. Perhaps, that was an anti-theft measure. That was a real adventure — in the middle of the day, being late everywhere where you can’t be late, looking for a solution how to get out of that trap with police and other follow-up entertainments involved.
Here are my conclusions — “expensive” does not guarantee being “the best”. That is why the next day I went to a cheap place. Free entry in spite of being deep-knee in mud. And it was not far away from the track, just a five-minute walk. I know people who had to walk 15 or 20 minutes to get to the venue, so I should say that first problem has been successfully solved. The only thing left was to find a hole for taking pictures.
Racing weekend extended over four days this time, including Thursday and Friday, as it coincided with the Anzac day. Three or four races of the main series take place within these days usually. Grid positions are determined by qualifying sessions, which precede each race. Apart from weekend’s major “heroes”, there are also races of accompanying series — GTR-NZ, UDC V8 UTE RACING SERIES, and V8SuperTourers.
Access denied
As it turned out later, my “access all over the track” ticket was not granting permission to all points across the entire area. That was upsetting. Especially after several times of being asked politely not to stand in this or that spot. So I got really sad. Perhaps, I looked totally unhappy, as one of track’s marshals smiled at me and nodded towards a huge gate in the fence and said: “You can shoot from over there, kiddo. Just stay out of track, alight?”
So a happy 30-year-old “kiddo” ran to that gate used as an exit for service vehicles and starting taking pictures of the event. Right at that time UTE vehicles came out — it’s a series for pick-up trucks. Together with that, I was trying to remember that sad expression on my face. And I should say that it helped me several times during the event.
Sold my soul to the devil
Usually, before the race of the major series, all cars line up on the start according to their positions after the qualifying session and then comes the time for the so-called grid-walk. All team members come out carrying different types of tyres. It’s the last chance for a team to choose the most suitable compounds basing on weather conditions. A grid-walk is also a chance for the VIP guests to talk to the pilots, have a few photos with them, while photographers can make nice shots of drivers fully prepared for the race.
Only team members, VIP guests, media representatives, and the holders of “all access” tickets can find their way to the grid-walk. I belonged to neither of these categories and was standing sad near the gate while things were humming on the grid. Perhaps, my “universal sadness” worked out again and a man in Jack Daniel’s suit approached me with a question why I was standing there and not on the grid. After two minutes of conversation, the heavy double gates leading to the track opened up in front of me.
So here I am, in the thick of the action on the grid-walk, among beautiful promo-girls, brave pilots, their serious teammates, and die-hard fans. Moreover, starting from that time I was making pictures not only for the Dragtimes, but also for the Jack Daniel’s team. And the next day at this time I would be here again, on the grid, inhaling the smell of steamed race cars and absorbing this cool autumn pre-race euphoria.
Race cars
As the name suggests, all cars in the V8Supercars series use a V8 engine delivering around 600 hp and restricted to 7,500 rpm. Their top speed is over 300 km/h. Those are production vehicles, more lightweight, fitted with a roll cage and an entire package of aerodynamic elements, usually supplied by the manufacturer.
All cars are equipped with the Australian-made six-speed Holinger gearbox. According to various sources, the price of a V8Supercars race car lies within $600,000 plus another $150,000 for the engine. In addition to that an engine overhaul is needed every couple of thousands of kilometres travelled. Each team spends an average of $8 million per season for car maintenance, participation in races, and staff salary.
They used to spend even more, however, the teams were handed a budget cap to even the chances. The amount of tyres allowed to use during the season (including practice sessions) was also limited. In fact, all cars are equal, which makes the feud on the track even more spectacular. That is why the major task of the team is to choose the right tactics and driver.
Drivers
If you measure the driver’s talent according to his place in the overall standings, then we are talking about Mark Winterbottom, the driver of the Ford Pepsi Max Crew. Craig Lowndes (Red Bull) comes second. Obviously, New Zealanders support drivers coming from their country. There are only three Kiwi drivers in the 25-driver field — Scott McLaughlin, Shane van Gisbergen, Fabian Coulthard.
Passions run high here and might even come to the boil. If fans love someone, their love is crazy; if they hate somebody, they do it with all the fervour of their hearts. A reason for hatred might be some accidental setup on the track, or the way it had happened to Shane van Gisbergen. There are fans who love him for his talent and ambition, but there others, who can’t stand him. And that is related to a scandal, which happened in the end of 2012.
Back then, he broke a contract with the Stone Brothers Racing prematurely and announced about the end of his career in the V8Supercars. However, a few months later, to everyone’s surprise, he returned to the Championship as part of the Tekno Autosports team. Moreover, he was driving a Holden. Changed a Ford for a Holden!
Taking into account that V8Supercars is a also a feud between two manufacturers most popular here, there was a tide of public anger and even now, more than a year later, I can hear a lot of voices of haters around, although Shane is among top five drivers of this championship. But those, who understand that a driver has the right to control his career and does not need to explain his actions to anyone, support him. For his talent. By the way, van Gisbergen has scored victory in Race 12 this weekend.
As for me, I support Coulthard. Because he is cute :) Here’s my simple woman's reason.
The result of this racing weekend are:
Race 10 — Jason Bright, Team BOC
Race 11 — Mark Winterbottom, Ford Pepsi Max Crew
Race 12 — Shane van Gisbergen, Team TEKNO V.I.P. Petfoods
Race 13 — Scott McLaughlin, Valvoline Racing GRM.
