Vintage Kart Meeting Strikes a Chord

Vintage Kart Meeting Strikes a Chord

With over 120 karters from all over New Zealand and a seven-strong contingent from Australia the kart meeting this weekend at KartSport Hawke's Bay's Chemz Raceway on the outskirts of Hastings will be one of the biggest and best supported on the New Zealand KartSport calendar.

Yet, when the first group of drivers and karts line up on Saturday morning, they'll be something very different about them. The karts themselves will be 25 years or older, and many of the drivers will be twice that…and more.

Not that that is going to stop everyone thoroughly enjoying New Zealand's first Vintage Kart Grand Prix meeting, as one-time Junior class star and now retired race car driver Rhys McKay of Auckland says.

"Some of the most fun I've had was in karts in the '80s, so when I heard about vintage karting I just had to get involved, " says McKay. "Motorsport was simple back them and I made a lot of good mates when I raced karts."

Like many of his fellow racers McKay sold his karting gear in the late 80s and moved to cars, first to Formula Ford, then Touring Cars. But when he put the word around that he was keen he found a suitable vintage kart (a Parilla-engined 1980 Ultimate Tecno) which he has tidied up, tuned and will run for the first time this weekend.

Joining him at the meeting is a cross-section of drivers young and old.

Some - like Logitech Rotax Max Challenge front runners Ryan Urban, Tiffany Chittenden and Matthew Hamilton - are taking time out from their contemporary careers to have a bit of fun.

Others like Kiwis Mike Dickins and John Hamilton, and Australian Jon Targett, are former champions, long retired but still with a deep love of karts and karting.

Also entered are former kart, Formula Ford and TraNZam champion Shane Drake, and karting and car contemporary Greg Murphy, the latter sharing a kart with Mark Cowley.

All are interested in preserving and demonstrating local karting history and as event organiser Mark Jenkinson says, each grid will - literally be a snapshot of local karting history.

"The oldest kart is a replica of the first ever 'go kart' made in August 1957,it'll be on display, and we also have the first commercially produced New Zealand kart, a high-wheeler, built in 1959 by the Callendar Motor Company in Taranaki. Johnny Callendar won the first New Zealand 200cc championship in it and his son is bringing it over for the event."

Also at the meeting will be the actual Birel kart which British driver Terry Fullerton won the 1973 World Karting Championship in, owned by Auckland enthusiast Graham Harrison.

The entry has been split into classes from original high-wheelers which will run in a Parade class, to 100cc decade groups from the '60s, '70s, '80s (the most numerous with three separate groups), to Supers (135-250cc) as well as Midgets and Juniors. There is even a 'Ladies and Gentlemen's class!

The inaugural New Zealand Vintage Kart Grand Prix is being run by Vintage Karting NZ which affiliated with KartSport New Zealand in 2014.

There will be action at Chemz Raceway (Roy's Hill) on both days this weekend, with tuning on Saturday and demonstration runs class-by-class on Sunday.

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