PUKEKOHE 2007

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:33 am

Pokarekare Ana....................................
....................................Makuku Tonu i
Aku Roimata e..

This weekend we say goodbye to V8Supercars competing at Pukekohe.
The 2.8 km, fast, flowing circuit, South of Auckland, first hosted a round of the V8Supercar Championship in 2001.
Next year the V8Supercars travel further south, to the new street circuit of Hamilton.

That the undulating circuit, with its long bent back straight is fast.......
The V8Supercar lap record is 56:07 secs.

The program.
Friday. Practice, 50 laps.
Sat. Qual. 12:00 to 12:55.

Sat. Race 1. 43 laps
Sun. Race 2 . 43 laps
Sun. Race 3. 43 laps.

Please refer to the V8Supercar Calendar for TV broadcast times.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:40 am

Fast Fact: For those intrepid souls in the tipping comp.
There has not been a Ford on the front row since 2000.

Southernman · Post by **Southernman** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:51 pm

Starting this thread with Pokarekare ana. The greatest love song from Aotearoa.

I thought that you would start of with Kia ora, haere mai, Pukekohe.

Plenty of media coverage for the last race ot Pukekohe. I'm going to miss this track.

I hope Hamilton does well from next year. A good turnout is expected.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 7:25 pm

Southernman wrote:Starting this thread with Pokarekare ana. The greatest love song from Aotearoa.

I thought that you would start of with Kia ora, haere mai, Pukekohe.

Plenty of media coverage for the last race ot Pukekohe. I'm going to miss this track. I hope Hamilton does well from next year. A good turnout is expected.

I loved being at Puke, for whatever the reason
Hanging out of a side-car, flogging a Fiat 850 Abarth, tiptoeng around in a Ferrari 250LM, are great memories of a great place. Jeez, a bloke was a flamin lunatic

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 5:44 pm

Top 15 in practice were:

T Kelly...............55:7719
Courtney
W'bottom
Tander
R Kelly
Lowndes
Ingall
Davison
Whincup
Skaife
S Richards
Johnson
J Richards
Bright
Holdsworth............56: 3535

Note the gap from 1 to 15,
Don't blink at the wrong time on this track.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 1:00 am

The first race was an absolute cracker

Frosty and GT dooked it out, lap in and lap out.
Steve R and RK dooked out lap in and lap out.
On a circuit with a lap time under the minute, one hiccup in the pits and it's bye bye Birdie.
Skaife is running out of pit crew to sack, the wheel guy walked straight back into the garage, threw his helmet gloves etc on the floor and sat on a bench with his head in his hands, awaiting the guilliotine. Courtney looks a little older, and none the wiser for his long pitstop.
The control brakes are about as useful as an umbrella in a mudslide.
FPR need to prepare a car for a few more race laps.
GT is on track for the title that should have been his last year, but for a certain "gentleman" who comes from a country north of England. He, GT that is, seems to have found that rare ability to combine outright speed with a mature approach to car preservation. Either that, or even I could blow Rick to the weeds in GT's sweet little rocket.
Geez, I am going to miss this track........277 kmh down to a first gear bumpy right hander......and the brave ones do it side by side

I'd hate to be the fella that nurfed Ingall, going into the pits. The little fella must have given him permanent earache by now.
Some of the midfield dices were simply bloody exciting.
Roll on tomorrow.

Southernman · Post by **Southernman** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 8:24 am

Fantastic racing throughtout the field. Not only was there close battles all over the place, the drivers did it in a clean manner.

Tyre wear was the difference between Tander and Winterbottom at the front of the field.

A record crowd of 46,000 turned up at Pukekohe to watch the race. I expect simular numbers today.

Southernman · Post by **Southernman** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:19 pm

I missed most of the second race so I'm not sure what happened to Winterbottom. In the third race the quality of driving was at best average.

A number of drivers went of the track, all blaming equipment. One big crash, a couple of safety cars. Tander would have won it if his pit crew didn't have trouble with a nut. (not referring to his pit crew.

)

I'm going to miss this track. At least New Zealand V8's will still be racing here.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:34 pm

I, through misadventure, arrived home in time to see Rick Kelly alight from has car at the end of race 3. See the F1 Idiots bar for a full explanation

Southernman · Post by **Southernman** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:44 am

V8 supercars chief executive Wayne Cattach has denied rumours that the last race race shortened from 43 laps to 36 laps so Australian TV could go to AFL. He blamed local recovery staff of panicing under pressure and "losing the plot". One lap shootout at the end of the race wasn't a good way to finish at Pukekohe.

In my opinion the recovery staff could have done a better job but when a car is on its roof in the middle of the track it takes time to clean up.

On a positive note the crowd for Sundays meeting was 51,347.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:00 am

Wonder where the rumours came from?

One peice of carbon fibre left on that high speed straight could have had disasterous results.