It’s all kicking off

Put down that Christmas ham, it’s time to get back into action.

Hopefully the holiday season fun hasn’t made those overalls too tight.

Also hopefully the summer has been a great time to get the maintenance done – though we all know there will be stuff to be done right into race week.

We’re just a month out from the first round of the championship, which happens on Valentine’s Day at Colin Dale Park up in Manukau.

It’ll be the first top-level run for the new UTV open class and also for the evolved ‘blended family’ of class five and Challenger cars.

So now the UTVs get an equivalent of class one, an anything-goes category that emphasises innovative design and construction without budget constraints or the need to stick to off-the-shelf components.

I’m picking that’s a clear path to the title for someone like Carl Ruiterman, possibly the best UTV racer in the sport, or rising star Noah Hutchison.

I hear a few southern racers have seen the potential of the move to combine class five and Challenger. Drop a good VW 1.6-litre flat four into a decent class five chassis (one of those American ones) and get a torque monster that’s lighter than water-pumper class fives, has proper wheel travel and loves to jump. What’s not to like?
So anyway.

Round two is in the Bay of Plenty at TECT Park on 21 March. This is one of two short-course tracks up north that I’m very keen to bring the Giti Chev to, it’s rapidly built a massive reputation among racers.

Round three is the first southern event, to run at West Melton on 16 May. So the first three are all well-spaced, one a month. But watch out: the epic Woodhill 100 endurance race is round four, on Sunday May 31, just a couple of weeks after the Christchurch event. Not sure many southerners will be able to do both.

Another enduro is next, up Nelson way in Spooner’s Forest. That one’s always a good blend of tighter tracks and wide-open fast rally-style roads.

The last regional round is a two-day affair in August down at Slim Slee’s farm, venue for the NZ1000 in alternate years and also the ‘Rednecks with Paychecks’ fun event.

Then of course there’s a stand-alone one-day event that’s always good, the New Zealand Short Course title at Palmerston North. The Giti Chev is likely to make a trip north for that one, it’s a great day of racing.

In the meantime, has everyone been watching the Dakar? Baja’s cool, the Mint is mint, but Dakar is the most extreme offroad endurance race in the world. Go to Youtube and type Dakar in the topic search box. From classic Porsche 911s through the crazy trucks to the main game, it’s huge.

Ford and Toyota are battling for Dakar supremacy, and Ford’s Coyote V8-powered Raptor is looking like the absolute Dakar weapon.