Page 19 - Hampton Downs News Today

The fleet landed in NZ comprised 26 cars and you’ll notice they are pretty bright. That’s another good thing about having factory supplied machines: you get cars that look great on track, in outrageous hues that would be something close to sale-proof in our market. Why are Kiwis so scared of anything beyond white, silver and black? The cars come complete with a shipping container of point-of-sale material, including instructions on how to pack and unpack the whole lot with millimetric preci...

Thursday, 4 March 2021, 5:52 pm “With Covid lock-downs rearing their head again and forcing the postponement of the Summer Series Championship at Hampton Downs this weekend, the ramification of the delay to the Speedworks Championship summer series will have negative number on a number of entries already received for both the 1 and our new 2 hour event” said David Dovey, President of the NIERDC organising club. "Looking at the impact on entries for our first event, our management committe...

The sudden lockdown in Auckland over the weekend was accompanied by checkpoints on the city’s boundaries to stop non-essential movement through the region. Newsroom’s co-editor Mark Jennings was one of those caught in in a queue that trapped some people for up to 10 hours. The main police checkpoint on the southern border of Auckland on Sunday was a farce. Despite the experience gained from enforcing earlier lockdowns, the resources committed to...

Covid 19 coronavirus: Families stuck in traffic for hours - confusion at Auckland borders 28 Feb, 2021 05:11 PM 8 minutes to read Vehicles joined a gigantic queue to get back into Auckland on Sunday. Video / Kahu Rangiuia Some families have spent up to 10 hours stuck in traffic caused by delays at Aucklands level-3 Covid-19 checkpoints. One woman, who didnt want to be named, said shed been in traffic south of Auckland for six hours on Sunday - and the overall trip was nearing nine hours. She le...

A long, painful wait for hundreds of motorists as police set up checkpoints.

Thousands of drivers were forced to queue for seven hours to get into Auckland after Jacinda Ardern locked the city down due to just one Covid case. New Zealands largest city entered a week-long Level Three lockdown at 6am on Sunday, forcing  1.7million people to stay at home unless they are shopping or travelling for work. Checkpoints set up along major highways leading into the city were packed with motorists who spent hours in their cars on Sunday trying to enter the city.  Police told res...

Thursday, 25 February 2021, 7:20 am Expect fierce superbike action such as this when the lights go out at Hampton Downs in just over a weeks time. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com FEBRUARY 24, 2021: If there is one event on your motorcycling calendar that should not be missed this season, then this is probably it. Ready to mark its fourth anniversary at the popular north Waikato race track on the weekend of March 6-7, the Mike Pero MotoFest is sure to again rate as New Zealands "must se...

Champion Matthew Payne with the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy. Picture Bruce Jenkins In the process he added his name to an impressive list of former TRS champions. An impressive 25% of the current F1 field are TRS graduates and the FIA F2 and F3 championships are also bristling with racers who’ve competed and won in TRS. Matthew Payne could well be another significant graduate and champion in years to come based on his dominance in 2021. Payne has won five TRS races since Shane van Gisbergen�...

Saturday, 13 February 2021, 4:12 pm Payne had a comfortable lead early on and never looked back. Starting from the front with a time that would have put him on pole for the hotly-contested NZ Grand Prix at the challenging and fast Circuit Chris Amon in 2020, Payne made a clean getaway and was quickly into his stride. He had established a lead of two seconds within the first four laps and then pushed that out to over four seconds at the halfway mark. A drive without any mistakes left nothing in...

Thursday, 11 February 2021, 2:08 pm The 2021 Castrol Toyota Series will be remembered as being unique in the COVID-19 world, but it has also seen the emergence of a major new Kiwi racing talent in Matthew Payne. Against a field of established stars at the New Zealand Grand Prix, Payne made his mark with a trifecta of third place finishes. He went even better the following weekend with two race wins from the two races securing the Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup in the feature race. Matthew Payne le...