Hampton Downs Festival of Speed January 2010

[Cam Townshend]

I attended the practice session today for this weekend's event at the new race track near Auckland, called Hampton Downs.

Please forgive my unprofessional photography skills in the photos that follow.

Photos 1+2
1950 Maserati Tipo 8CLT/50

Photos 3+4
Cooper 500 Mk6-1V-52

Photos 5+6
1961 Cooper Climas Formula 1

Photos 7+8
McLaren F1

Photo 9
McLaren

Photo 10
McLaren M6 GT


I have more photos for anyone who is interested. No GT40's there today. Maybe one or two will show up over the main festival days during the weekend.


Regards


Cam
Auckland, NZ

 

[Cam Townshend]

Con't

Photos 1+2
Stanford Special

Photos 3+4
1906 Veteran Derracq

Photos 5+6
1952 Bugatti Type 44 R35A

Photos 7+8
Alfa Romeo 1935 Monoposto 8C 35 Type C

Photos 9+10
Jaguar (previously a Ford V8 special?)


Cam
Auckland, NZ

 

[Jac Mac]

Race results & lap times for those of you who might know people who competed at this meeting...MYLAPS

 

[Andrew Robertson]

I was there saturday and sunday. There were 30 F5000s racing which was awesome, a reasonable selection of muscle cars, a small group of canam vehicles, and a huge amount of older historic stuff.

Of the canam grid, there was a 8.8 litre March 717 there which was a beast, and a very nice neat and quick orange 5.8 litre M1B that was pretty much the best of the rest, including the big block M12.

The quickest F5000s were lapping at about the same time as the March - I'm not sure who ended Sunday with the fastest lap.

The track looked like fun, and the event was well organised and catered - I'm looking forward to going for a fang there.

Andrew Robertson

 

[Tim]

I second that.

I only went for the Sunday but what a day, the sound of the big V8s was totally awesome. A grid of 36 F5000 for the first race on the Sunday, This they believe to be a World record grid.

1:03 was the quickest time I heard of by a Canam car.

That car was really hooked up as was Kenny Smiths F5000 and he won both races I saw on the Sunday.

Plans are for a bigger Festival next year.

 

[Cam Townshend]

I was fortunate enough to be in one of the apartments for the three days, and each apartment can tune their tv's into the lap times for every race. From memory ( which is getting poorer by the day ) I think Kenny Smith did a 1min 2.8 secs lap which would probably be the fastest lap time for the track so far.

The start of every F5000 race made the apartments shake. And it was brilliant that members of the public were allowed to walk through the pits and the marquee housing all the cars. Most people who attended are saying they had an awesome weekend. Hopefully the drivers and crews have enjoyed themselves and are planning a return next year with their cars.

It was reported in the paper there was (NZ)$40 million worth of race cars attending the meeting. Not bad for little old NZ on the bottom of the world.

I have a few photos of some of the race action and will upload them tomorrow.

I have found a very short clip on youtube of the F5000.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_iURhE-dbY



Cam
Auckland, NZ

 

[kiwi ka]

Dont wont to be pedantic but there were 40 F5000 cars on the program with some late entries plus ring F1 cars. The best event ever with over 400 entries.
Russell

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

They sound epper:epper:epper:epper:Awesome. On my goal list for next year.

 

[Cam Townshend]

A link to some photos that are a little better than mine.


HAMPTON DOWNS - BRUCE MCLAREN FESTIVAL 2010 - Page 6 - 10-Tenths Motorsport Forum

It has been decided that next year the festival will be a tribute to Chris Amon. This should make for another interesting collection of attending race cars.

Cam
Auckland, NZ

 

[Jac Mac]

Round Two @ Pukekohe, link for Lap Times via My Laps, only friday practice & first Qualifying session so far:.... MYLAPS

Results from tomorrow(saturday) & sunday (NZ TIME, we are way ahead of the rest of you folks......) will be updated on this link.

 

hey there Mac, will you be at the Skope Meeting. i'm coming down for that and levels. i want to talk to you about lsd for morgan diffs. regards steve carr. ps have done a deal of work on the formula junior , so now it corners better than the rest but not enough straight line speed. the lad is happier now.

 

[Jac Mac]

Steve, you have a PM.

 

[Jac Mac]

For a lot of very good pics..... Ground-Sky Photography then click on the 'Hampton Downs' link. Using same site ...Pukekohe will be up on late wednesday or thursday this week. Pics are sorted by different class's, car type/#, or drivers names so you should be able to find what you want. One old chap by the name of 'Ondrack' had quite a good run

 

[David Sturch]

Jac,

I see Murray Sinclair running two Canam cars and a monoposto in the Super Historics and the Tasman Series. I know he had the B16 and his Lotus for sale. He must have sold them. Hampton Downs look's like a nice track.
Dave

 

[Jac Mac]

From speaking with Greg & the other guys travelling with JO & TVR it sounds like the track design is well thought out, someone commented that it seemed to have 'favourite' corner or feature from just about each permanent track in OZ & NZ. The rise & fall design plus several areas where cars tend to get 'air' were a new challenge for some. Must be quite technical as JO's times kept coming down all weekend & he usually gets to grips with a circuit fairly quickly [apart from Ruapuna/ChCh where the kitty litter seems to attract him at least once each year..... maybe if he reads this he will take the hint & put an end to this tendency...save a lot of cleanup time]

With the event being centered around the McLaren theme I think many guys left other cars at home.... next years event is to feature Chris Amon, so will probably have a large F1 content, just have to wait & see..

 

[Cam Townshend]

The icing on the cake will be if they complete the extension to the track by the time next year's event comes around. Am looking forward to the V8 utes this weekend.


Cam
Auckland, NZ

 

[Jac Mac]

For a lot of very good pics..... Ground-Sky Photography then click on the 'Hampton Downs' link. Using same site ...Pukekohe will be up on late wednesday or thursday this week. Pics are sorted by different class's, car type/#, or drivers names so you should be able to find what you want. One old chap by the name of 'Ondrack' had quite a good run

Click on NZFMR Pukekohe on the above Ground-Sky link for more pics,,,
For Kiwis TVNZ 1 is going to have some HD coverage from 2/2:30 thru 4pm this coming Sunday 7th feb & Pukekohe on following Sunday 14th. Of course all the ChCh crew will be @ Skope SFOS Powerbuilt meet...

 

[Derek]

I attended this event as a competitor from Australia and did both weekends. What a blast.:thumbsup:
For thsoe of you lookig at Groundsky I'm Formula Ford 54
In a couple more years I'll be back. Once the wallet is replenished.

Cheers,