26/11/06

MACKENZIE STILL IN TOP TEN

Young North Shore Ford Falcon V8 driver, Haydn Mackenzie, has retained his place in the top ten in the Parker Enzed NZV8 touring car championship, after the torrid second round meeting at Ruapuna.
“It certainly wasn’t a very good meeting for us, but with so many others having all sorts of problems in the changeable conditions, we are very happy to be in tenth place overall in the championship,” said Mackenzie.

Mackenzie qualified in a disappointing 20th place and finished the first race in 15th place, complaining of a lack of speed down the main straight.

“It was very frustrating as others flew past me down the straight. My Tracer team spent some time checking the car over and found we were only getting 85% of full throttle, so I was looking forward to a better result on Sunday,” said Mackenzie.

In the delayed second race, with all the red-flag stoppages and interruptions in the difficult weather conditions, Mackenzie was hit very hard by Cam Hardy in a door and then had gearchange problems which cost him three or four places, finishing in 15th place again.

“My Tracer team all pitched in to help repair my car and get it ready for the third race – I really appreciated everyone’s help when they were also busy with the team’s other two cars,” said Mackenzie.
In the appalling wet conditions, bad luck soon befell Mackenzie when his windscreen wipers stopped working.

“There was nothing I could do and as I couldn’t see very much, I pulled to the side out of the way of the other drivers and made my way to the pits where the team found an alternator wire had come off. Fortunately there was a safety car stoppage at the same time so I rejoined, but in the conditions I tried to keep out of the way of the fast guys coming through the field and concentrate on keeping on the track and out of trouble,” said Mackenzie.

Another 15th place in Race 3, but with many other drivers having problems, Mackenzie heads into the next round of the championship in tenth place with 158 points, 20 behind Manuell and three ahead of Booth.

06/11/06

TOP 10 FOR MACKENZIE

Mackenzie, now racing under the umbrella of Tracer Motorsport, kept refining his brand new Ford Falcon after each race during the weekend, qualifying 17th, and finishing ninth in the first race and 12th in the second and third races to accumulate 92 points for the meeting and be in ninth place overall.

"After the first Pukekohe meeting the previous two years, I was in 14th place, so this is a big improvement.
"We decided to build a completely new car this year and reorganize our whole operation with the objective of finishing the season inside the top ten. This is a great start to achieve that.

"I got behind the wheel of the car on the Monday prior to Pukekohe for a short test at Taupo. When we got to Pukekohe we had a series of dramas with carburetors and a modification to our roll-cage which saw the Tracer team get behind us to have us back at the track for qualifying on Saturday.
"During the meeting we refined and adjusted the set-up of the car as I worked on my driving technique. There is plenty of room for improvement now that I have a car and engine of this quality and the help of an experienced team. All I need now is a generous sponsor to help pay the bills!" said Mackenzie.

Article by www.nzmotorsport.co.nz

31/10/06

HYDRAULINK'S BESNARD BUOYED BY NZV8 TEST

Debuting the brand new Hydraulink Racing Team challenger to the 2006 NZV8s championship season, Queensland based David Besnard was buoyed by the Monday test in his brand new #48 Ford BA Falcon.

In a long queue waiting for the necessary control parts to be able to test his new car package, Besnard said the half-day at Taupo was a forward facing step.

"Yes, it's going to be right up there – and for a new car it feels great," he said."Now we've run we can look at the data to assess changes knowing there is a lot to be had for Pukekohe. And knowing that there is improvement we still went pretty quick, so it's going to be good."

The Taupo test was also the first time running the new Dunlop D14 specification of tyre. "I think it's what the category needed," he added. "I think the cars were over gripped before and with the harder tyres the car will certainly slide around more and will take more car control. That reinforces my belief we have the potential to win this season. "It's good to finally get to the start and I've got every confidence in the team."

The team also ran Taupo's Pete Roberts and Auckland's Haydn Mackenzie in their respective Tracer Motorsport run race cars. Roberts in the #33 Ford BA Falcon said he's looking forward to putting some of his recently learned knowledge in to practise. "Mr Besnard showed his talent and I'm really thrilled to be learning alongside him. I've already picked up a few tricks."

"The tyres weren't as bad as I thought they'd be – it'll take a little bit to learn the car setup but we're on the right direction." "Especially using the Moose Rolfe factor," he quipped while referring to the teams head engineer.

For 22-year old Mackenzie, his time at the wheel of his brand new #20 Ford BA Falcon was also deemed a success. "Basically I thought the car felt great; even though we were testing on the older engine I think the car has a huge amount of potential." "A lot of it is to be back out there again, after having not done anything in a V8 during the off season. I've got a much higher bench mark this year and will be interesting to see if I can achieve it."

Due to the delays in supplying teams with control parts the Pukekohe race circuit will be used for team testing on Thursday before the official season practise begins on Friday. Qualifying takes place on Saturday morning (split in to two groups according to previous practise session time) with the first 12-lap race expected to start at 3:30pm in the afternoon. There is a 16-lap race on the Sunday morning with the full-reverse grid race set down for 2:40pm over 20-laps of the 2.841km circuit.

The Pukekohe weekend is the first race weekend in a seven round series that travels the country. The Mike Pero Motorsport Series also includes the A1GP round at Taupo (21st January 2007) and V8 Supercar event to conclude the season (22 April 2007).

Article by www.nzmotorsport.co.nz

17/10/06

THREE CAR NZV8s PACKAGE FOR TRACER MOTORSPORT

With the 2006/2007 NZV8s season just over two weeks away, Tracer Motorsport have been up-sizing their team ability to challenge the approaching race championship.

Following the early confirmation of Australian David Besnard in the #48 Hydraulink Racing Team Falcon, the team have confirmed the re-signing of Taupo's Pete Roberts in the #33 car, along with Auckland's Haydn Mackenzie in a third Ford Falcon.

The three car package will be run by the Tracer Motorsport team – who have built and will maintain the NZV8 cars for the season. Able to retain his seat following tense times securing funding, Taupo's Pete Roberts expressed relief at being able to start the first round: "I'm rapt to be back in the team and am looking forward to driving with David Besnard as a team-mate – it's just another step forward to building my skill base," said Roberts.

"We've managed to raise enough funding to race in the series this year. And that comes with a big thanks to Tracer Motorsport for their assistance in running me again. Although I've still got naming rights available on the car and anyone interested should get in touch," laughed Roberts.

Boosting the team to three is 22-year old Haydn Mackenzie. Having contracted the Tracer Motorsport team to provide a new Ford Falcon car, he has taken further steps to have the crew prepare and run it for the season. "With the class becoming more and more professional I had to step in to a professional team who could run the car," commented the young Aucklander.

"We were approaching the top-10 last season and now I want to be consistently inside the top-10. With the right team and a brand new car it's the only way I can achieve better results." Also confirmed for another season with the team is media manager Lance Hastie, who recently completed a week at the Elite MotorSport Academy.

"It's a good thing," said team manager Greg Bellingham. "I know how much Lance put in to get ready for the Academy, and from what he's said, he's got a new found perspective on what our drivers endure to be front runners. So we're really pleased to have him back again and it should help our results in the news."

The 2006/2007 season starts on the 3rd of November at Pukekohe, covering seven rounds around the country to finish mid-April 2007 at the Pukekohe V8 Supercar weekend.

Article by www.nzmotorsport.co.nz

09/06/06

TRACER MOTORSPORT TO BUILD TWO NEW NZV8 CARS

In a joint venture, Tracer Motorsport, that run the Hydraulink Racing Team, will build two new NZV8 cars for the coming 2006/2007 season.

One will be for their own driver signing Craig Baird while the other will be for Aucklander Haydn Mackenzie.The deal with Haydn Mackenzie Motorsport is to replace their previous car with a fresh top-tier package.“The reason why it’s Tracer Motorsport: it’s because – they build the best, quite obviously,” said Haydn Mackenzie.

“We had a one off built car that was very soft in the chassis, so we knew that we had to get a new one. We were looking at who was building the chassis that runs at the front, and sure it comes down to the driver, but it comes down to having a good chassis too. We needed a chassis that really works.”

“With the goals that we had set, we wanted a top-15 in the past season and next year we definitely want a top-10, so we are needing to go to a chassis that will help us get there.”

To be built at its Rotorua workshop, the Tracer Motorsport team expect to deliver both cars in early August. The 2006/2007 NZV8s season starts in early November, covering seven rounds up and down the country to finish mid-April 2007.

Article by www.nzmotorsport.co.nz

News from last season >