| Top race cars entering the longest, fastest and toughest off-road endurance race in New Zealand are the latest addition to the line-up for this year’s CRC Speedshow. Stars from August’s Asset Finance Taupo 1000 – a daunting two-day high speed blast through narrow tracks and wide, fast logging roads east of Taupo – provide yet another angle to the diverse array of motorsport cars, teams and drivers appearing at CRC Speedshow in July. Race director Tony Saelman says Speedshow has featured off-road racing before, but this year the focus on the Taupo race – the longest off-road race in the Southern Hemisphere – adds a fresh aspect to the annual motor sport and automotive extravaganza which takes place at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds on July 23 and 24. Saelman says the Taupo 1000 is the biggest race in the sport down-under. “It’s fantastic to have the spotlight on the Taupo 1000 at CRC Speedshow in 2011. We run the race every two years and it attracts the fastest off-road race teams in New Zealand and overseas. This year, we have already secured entries from Mexico, the USA and Australia for the 19 to 21 August event. “We are looking forward to the chance to show the best cars and trucks in the sport and give people some insight into the spectacular and punishing test this race represents for teams and drivers.” CRC Speedshow developer and organiser Keith Sharp is also looking forward to the dynamic display of top off-road race cars. “Tony tells me that competitors in the Taupo 1000 will average speeds of 100 km/h or more and many cars and 4WDs exceed 180 km/h on the faster sections of the course. By comparison, the iconic Baja 500 and Baja 1000 off-road races in the USA often have average speeds of just 45-55 km/h. This shows just how tough and exciting this racing is. It’s going to be fantastic to find out more about this challenging form of motor sport when the Taupo 1000 display comes together at CRC Speedshow.” Centre-stage in the off-road display is the new two-seater Desert Dynamics Chev race car of defending champions Clive and Max Thornton. The Whakatane-based father-son team won the previous Taupo 1000 in a V6 engined Southern Cross race car, but have upgraded to the all-new American-built car and Chev V8 power to meet the challenge of the 2011 event. The 2011 Taupo 1000 course includes a little of everything, says Saelman. “Big, fast logging roads where the V8s will have some exciting times and tight and twisty river tracks where the more agile race cars will be in their element. Sections of muddy track where there is no choice but to plough through chilly black slush. Some classic rally-style sections of roads and some where no rally car would survive. So drivers will need to be ready for anything, and pit crews will definitely have a job to do to keep race cars in the chase.” Competitors race over a 51.1 km lap and must complete ten laps each day of the two-day event to stay in the chase for the title. The Asset Finance Taupo 1000 is set to run on August 19 - 21, again based at the Te Awa Airfield, Kaingaroa Forest, around 60 km from Taupo. The Taupo 1000 stand will be inside Hall 1 and will be approximately 300 sq m in area (see latest floor plan on the Speedshow website). |
The sand will also have the Taupo 1000 VW Amarok “pace” car along with several top New Zealand and international vehicles including Australian Tom Dixon’s vehicle. It is also hoped that another international truck will become a feature of the large stand. |
