The Kartsport New Zealand National Championships are always run over Easter weekend, and this year they were held in Hamilton. Having won the Rotax Lights Title in 2011 and running with No. 1 on the NAC Insurance kart for the last year the plan was to try my hardest to make it two years in a row!

This wasn’t going to be easy because as well as having to beat the locals (including the Kinsman brothers Daniel and Mathew, Kane Taylor and 20 other fast Kiwis) I would again be racing against one of the world’s best Rotax karters — 12-times Australian national title winner, David Sera.

After coming secondat the 2011 world finals in November, David has been racing at a couple of big meetings in the USA over the last few months, winning twice in Arizona and coming second again to the world No. 1, Ben Cooper (UK), in Florida.

Having placed second to David last year myself at our North Island championships I knew it would be a tall order to beat him, but I was going to give it my best shot.

Again my friend Shaun Morris would be coming with Peter and me to help us crew the pits, which is always a huge help. We left Auckland at 6am on Wednesday for the first day of practice.

By the end of the day I was one of the quickest, but with not much in it between the fast guys we knew we needed to find some more speed on Thursday’s practice run especially as David Sera would be having his first run then, having not been present for the Wednesday practice.

Thursday again went well — I was the quickest with David having a couple of kart problems and still learning the track.

Friday was qualifying day for all the nine classes, and with the Rotax Lights racing on Saturday our two qualifying runs were in the morning. We got to have a short practice before qualifying (called the tuning run), which went well, with the NAC Insurance kart feeling fast.

Usually the first qualifying run is the quickest, and with only enough time for around six laps, I knew I had to put in my best lap.

My fourth lap was the quickest and was enough for pole about 1/10 second ahead of Mathew Kinsman. Meanwhile, David finished back in 10th after having a tyre problem.

The second qualifying run was indeed slower but again I got the quickest time — just ½ a 1/10-second faster than the second quickest, David Sera. This moved David up to eighth place in the grid for the two heats on Saturday.

That night we went back to the motel feeling good, knowing we had a fast kart.

Saturday we had a short tuning run, two 8-lap heats, a 12-lap pre-final and the 18-lap final; with only the final counting towards the title.

The two heats went well and I won both, with Mathew Kinsman coming in second, and David finishing fourth and eighth.

The pre-final went the same way with me winning again but this time it was Daniel Kinsman finishing second and David had a DNF due to motor problems. This put David at the back of the grid for the final.

I went into the final feeling pretty good but knowing Daniel Kinsman would be trying hard — even after cracking a rib during the first heat when he was hit and taken out by a flying kart he had managed to get on the front row for the final!

The final started well and after a couple of laps in the lead I was just starting to pull a small gap on the following kart when the red flag came out and stopped the race after an accident. Meanwhile at the back of the pack David had somehow managed to pass nine karts on the first corner and four more on the second and when the race was stopped he had already made it up to seventh place with most of the race still to go.

On the restart I got a good start and led up until lap 10 when I was surprised to see David pass me and open up a gap. I knew I had good speed but it took me a few laps before I could start closing the gap; I was then pulling about 1/10-second per lap on him for the last three laps but with not enough laps left it was over — David taking the win by about a ½ second from me.  My friend and enduro partner Stan Tangaroa Green finished in third place around three seconds back, just in front of Mathew Kinsman, who finished fourth.

So now I’ll be running No. 2 on the NAC Insurance kart for the next year, but I still think we did OK. First Kiwi and almost a clean sweep!

David has rated his title-winning race in New Zealand as one of the finest races of his career, so coming second to him is not all bad!

David is now looking at moving into car racing; expect to see him in Aussie V8s in a year or two.

I am hoping to be able to race at the Australian Rotax Nationals in September, which is an event David has won for the last six years in a row, but this year he may not be competing. He has offered to help me run so maybe I can still win a No. 1 this year!

If not for that red flag …

Daniel Connor

I will also be trying to retain my number one on the kart at the Kartsport NZ National Sprint Kart Championships held in Hamilton over Easter weekend in April.

The first round of the Rotax Max Challenge series was held at Palmerston North on Friday 17th & Saturday the 18th of Feburary
This year we had an extra hand in the pits, a friend, Shaun Morris, who has recently stopped karting to race cars. The three of us headed south on the Thursday stopping at the Hamilton track on the way to do some motor testing. Spending all afternoon at Hamilton it was a long drive to Palmy arriving at the motel around midnight.
Next morning it was up at 6 am and off to the track for the Friday practice day.

With around ten practice sessions we had time to do a lot of setup changes to find a fast kart. The Palmerston north track is known as one of the country’s more technical tracks and finding the correct set up is important.

At the start of the day last years’ round one winner Andy Schofield was the quickest, driving a brand new European Zanardi kart, around half a second quicker than us. Some of the others to watch out for out in the field of 19 were Daniel Kingsman (last years series winner) Aussie Tyler Greenbury (one of Australia’s top karters recently back from the world finals) Kingsmans older brother, Mathew, and local driver Fraser Hart. Fraser was unknown to us having been out of karting for the last 3 years, but we were told he was very quick and is the brother of Josh Hart, one of NZs top karters.

As the day went on our pace remained around the same despite others starting to slow as their tyres got older. We then put on our new practice tyres at the end of the day posting what we think was the quickest time of the day. Being a twilight meeting there was some more practice on Saturday morning before qualifying started at 11am. We took the time to fine tune the chassis on the good tyres before fitting a new set for racing.

It was announced there would be a $200 cash prize for the drivers that qualified on pole for the three Rotax class’s, put up by Manawatu Toyota.
In the first 5 minute qualifying a bunch of the fast guys, including me, went out together with the intention of drafting each other to get a tow to improve their speed, but after tripping over each other I managed to find some clear air and pulled off my fastest lap of the weekend to take pole and the $200. After the two qualifying sessions it was: Daniel Connor 1st, Daniel Kingsman 2nd,Fraser Hart 3rd.

In the first 10 lap heat it was all on with Daniel Kingsman and myself swapping the lead in the first lap a number of times before Fraser got in the mix letting Kingsman get a gap and take the win, with myself finishing second, 3 tenths of a second behind him.
The 2nd heat was another battle, again Kingsman winning, Fraser second and myself third.

The 16 lap pre-final went the same way with the three of us boys lapping around the same speed, pulling out a clear gap on the 16 following karts.

After making some changes to the kart for the 22 lap final I again found myself fighting for second with Hart on the opening laps and with Kingsman pulling away a little in the lead. After about 6 laps I managed to pass Hart again. The two of us were doing lap after lap, barely a metre or two apart, until the checkered flag signalled with Kingsman less than one second ahead.

Mathew Kingsman finished 4th around five seconds back then it was Christchurch’s James Penrose 5th with Aussie Tyler Greenbury 6th

To finish 2nd in the first round of six is a pleasing result, last year we left this round in 14th place after a shocking weekend.
Now we know we have the speed to run with Kingsman on a good day!
Bring on round two, Tokoroa 14th April.

Over the 4 meeting series and a total of 25 cars, we had one DNF but finished 12^th  overall in the series. After a wee break for a few weeks we headed to Bay Park, Tauranga. A field of 22 cars attended which was a mix of their local drivers as well as  Auckland cars. We spent a few weeks going over the car and finding a few things that were wrong. We were starting to get confidence back into the car. After the first two heat races (we started out of grid 13 for the feature which did seem to be unlucky from the onset) I was four laps into the race and I went into turn 1 a bit sideways and stuffed up. A few cars missed but it only takes one and he cleaned out the front axle so that was the end of the night for me. I’m so glad I didn’t have my wife with me on the tow back home after admitting it was my fault.

Feb 4^th  we were back at the springs and with the NZ Sprintcar champs on in Christchurch a total of 7 cars turned up. To make it interesting we had a pole shuffle at the start of the night, which is two cars running for a lap and the winner stays out for the next car to  challenge. I was the first car up starting on the inside and won. The next driver came out and he chose the inside. Straight away I knew I had to be on to it to get into turn 1 first. I had a great start as we went across the start line side by side, but with the pedal down I lost sight of his car to my left so I went into turn 1 hard. The next thing I knew there was a bump and the other car climbed over my left nerf bar and rear bumper, went into the cockpit and tipped over. I stopped on the back straight and my crew chief ripped of what was left on my side nerf bar. With no bar on the left and being open wheel racing I decided it was in my best interests the be cautious. The next driver chose the pole line as well so at the start I let him go as I had no side bar. If  the other driver and myself touch it would be massive carnage so I played it safe. After the 2 heat races being short and sweet we got to start off grid 2 for the feature. At the start as I came around to the start box the green came on early and I expected it would be a restart and the yellow would come on, which it didn’t so I dropped back a little bit and finished  5^th in the feature. When you see the officials at the end and  they go “yeah we went early to green but it didn’t matter did it?” you know you got shafted.

We then went to the NAC Drag Combat at Meremere to put the car on display and had a great day. It was a fantastic chance to talk to a lot of people who don’t normally attend open wheel racing as well as watch some awesome drag racing. We are looking forward to putting the car on display again at the Ardmore Showdown with Wings Vs Wheels.

The last two shows at the springs we have had 18 car fields and have finished in the top 10 in both the features. Now that we seem to have the car demons sorted, its great getting confidence back in the car. We now look forward to a great finish at Western Springs for the season on the 3^rd  of March. We will continue to travel to other Sprintcar Events until the end of April which will see us at a private track in Ohakea called Harrisville which is home to Winged Thunder 4 and is looking to be a fantastic day!

We would just like to thank everyone for their support. A huge amount of time has gone into trying to sort the car out and the help we have received from other teams has been invaluable. There truly are some great people in speedway!

There was no testing allowed the week beforehand at the Todd road track but we managed to get a key off the kart shop to a local track called Oakleigh. It was a very technical and demanding track which rewarded talented drivers. We used this track time and the morning to make sure we were happy with the kart and fixed any little problems we encountered. We only had one day of practice at the Todd Road track, we didn’t want to waste sessions sorting out problems with the kart. After we were happy with it and had done around 30 laps we headed down to Todd Road, Melbourne to setup our pit area for the next 3 days. We finally got everything sorted and went back to the motel to get some well deserved rest.

Friday the 27th came and we were at the track at 7am ready for practice. There were 51 entered in my class, but as the track limit was only 39 we needed to be split into 2 groups. This was the biggest subscribed field at the meeting and definitely the biggest field I had ever competed in. After walking the track with David Sera my first run on the track was successful with the NAC Kart being one of the quickest in the session.

The bad thing was during the rest of practice we didn’t get much of a gain managing to only get two tenths quicker than our first run. We couldn’t get the kart any quicker despite whatever changes we made, but our tyres were getting older than my fellow competitors who had fitted new tyres after the first few sessions so all was not as bad as it seemed. We were running about mid-pack during the practice day, with the fastest seven tenths quicker than us. After seven sessions the practice was over. We decided to move the seat back to try to gain more rear grip for tomorrows qualifying.

On Saturday we knew we would do better with a new set of tyres. Making a few small changes after the morning tuning run we headed into qualifying hoping for a good performance. Competing in a field of Australia’s  best including Aussie six- times Rotax Lights National Champion and World #2 David Sera (Who was our team mate for this meeting), also another world #2 Joseph Mawson (round one winner) and a lot more of Australia’s best drivers, many of whom had driven at the world finals before. After the first Qualifying run Daniel came in and said that he posted a good time but the stewards said that the computer system had not picked up his transponder so after a few worrying minutes they told us they just had the wrong number. Fortunately the problems were sorted out and I had posted the 3^rd Quickest time ahead of David Sera and also Joseph Mawson. In the 2^nd Qualifying I then slipped back to 6^th after  David and some others went quicker, though I was still ahead of Mawson. This put me on start in position 3 for the heat races as the field was split into two groups. I then went on to finish with two 3rds and a 4^th in the heat races and almost winning the 2^nd race but slipped back to 3^rd after engine tuning problems. This put me off position 8 for Sundays Pre Final. With 12 competitors now knocked out, there were 39 left for the pre final and final. We were very happy with how the day gone !

In the pre final I  moved up one spot to finish 7^th but I knew that I could run in the top 5 and maybe race in the top 3 if we set

the kart up right and got the tuning correct. The final was up and I knew this would be a tough race. After all, it is only the final that counts so no one holds back. Just before we left for the grid the air temperature rose to 37 degrees in the shade! And the air density meter plummeted so we decided to put a leaner jet in the carburettor.

This proved to be the wrong move as the engine ran lean and popped the entire race costing me pace down the straight. I struggled to keep up with the karts in front. Finally after 24 laps and 20minutes of racing at heart rates of over 160 beats per minute the race was over. I finished 12^th

Not bad out of 51 but I was still a little disappointed knowing we had the speed to be in the top 5 or even on the podium. At least I had showed we had the speed and level of skill required to run at the front in the previous heat races and qualifying sessions. All in all it was a special trip, my first overseas race. The trip taught me a lot and showed that me that myself and the NAC Insurance kart have the ability and speed to foot it with the best in Australia when we get everything right. Also pitting with an Australian legend and National champion David Sera was a real buzz.

I’d like to thank Peter Welch for all of his help on this trip. It wouldn’t of happened without you!

Also thanks to NAC Insurance, Right Karts, Arrow Karts, Melbourne Kart Centre, Dold Industries Arai helmets, Auckland Hydraulic Supplies and Morley Engineering.

Daniel Connor

With only one run on Saturday because of the rain I played it safe and just drove it down the track with some power applied past half way it still went 166mph.   Just from that I could tell the tune was safe and felt like it would see low to mid 190mph. There wasn’t too much sleep had on Saturday night as I was busy thinking about the setup for the car for Sunday. We had made a few changes in the rear end, engine/tune up etc and I was nervous to see if it all worked.

1st pass – the burnout felt good and the tune seemed very safe.

It went 1.11 in the 60 foot, 4.795 and 147.8mph to half and 7.381 at 189.55mph.

I was stoked to say the least. The tune was super safe so made no changes and knew it would 60 foot quicker the next pass once some heat got into the track.

 2nd pass – it went 1.08 in the 60 foot, 4.65 and 150.6mph to half and 7.303 at 186.30mph.

Now it was time for me to work on the tune up and make some power.

 3rd pass – I bogged it on the line but ran it out the back at 191mph. This told me it’ll go fast if it sticks.

 4th pass – it went 1.096 in the 60′, 2.988 to the 330′, 4.53 and 159.63mph to half and 6.995 at 196.99mph in the full 1/4!!!!!!!!

 It was just mind blowing! It felt as if ten years of dreaming just came true!  I’ve dreamed of the day I’d have a bullet proof 6 second engine, designed, built and tuned to run in NZ along with a NZ built chassis!  No off-the-shelf intakes and turbos, and no logging. Track tuned, solid clutch and all designed and hand made here at Curran Brothers Racing.

Thanks Castrol EDGE, NAC insurance, Masterpower Turbos, HPC Coatings, Mickey Thompson tyres, Popeye Pics, Driveshaft Specialists & GRP,  Paul Jackson, Dylan and the crew, my wife and family and all of our customers and supporters.

Here is a video of the weekend, thanks to Robert Miller for the footage

Like our Facebook page  for frequent updates from the track.

Brent

www.curranbrothersracing.com

Heat 1 saw us off the rear of the field, which was perfect to try out the car. After the green flag dropped we held back a bit and then got into a groove. We managed to catch the tail-end of the field and pass a few cars, finishing 8th. Heat 2 was going to be the true test as we were off grid 2 and with grid 1 being empty, we had the front row to ourselves. The pack behind us had USA Ricky Logan, two ex -NZ champs Dean Brindle and Carl Wilson, as well as two hard chargers  Greg Pickerill and Ryan O’Connor. After the green flag dropped and the pedal went down, Logan kept trying to get by until the yellow flag came out on lap five. We got a great restart and then coming off turn 4 side by side, Logan managed to make the pass stick. We placed 2^nd but when we returned to the pits the response from other drivers, crews and spectators was amazing. I was soon to find out that 3^rd place was about a straight away behind us. It was an awesome feeling. We got to start out of grid 8 for the feature. At the start we got a few cars and were in the front pack with the car handling great. As we went into turn 3 I had made my mind up to pass the car in front. I tried another line up high, going in was good but I got on the gas a bit early and turned it around, only to be hit by a hard-charging Brindle. This ripped the side nerf bar and muffler off, as well as ending our night. Overall the changes we made were good and it was great to know that we have the car speed as well.

During the week everything was fixed up and we were heading into the first of the International Sprintcar nights.

On November 26 we rocked up to a full 22-car field of sprintcars from all over the country and the three USA drivers Sammy Swindell, Donny Schatz and Peter Murphy. For some reason the promotion watered the track more than normal so the first sprintcar heat was early in the night. We started out off grid 3 with USA #15 Schatz off 4.The pole line was still under water so when it went green grid 1 was a bit late on the start and  Schatz got a good jump off the start, so into the 1^st turn we had gone back to 5^th. We held our spot to finish 5^th with a good gap back to 6^th. Our 2^nd heat we were off grid 8 with two ex-NZ champs behind us. The track seemed to be getting a dry line in the center so we adjusted the car to suit. Sadly, as we went out to get pushed off there was still moisture in the track and  straight away I knew we were going to be to tight. As we entered turn 1 the car was that tight that we biked up on 2 wheels heading to the wall. Hard on the brakes we pulled up nicely but lost two places. I soon got into a groove again and caught up to the rear of the pack, but to pass was going to be hard as the pole was still drivey and the centre was a wet/slick. Halfway through the race the red light came on for a massive crash. Sadly the officials left it as a closed red so no crew were allowed out, so we couldn’t make some minor changes to the car.

With 3 cars DNFs, we placed 7^th which gave us grid 15 for the 30-lap feature. We got a good start and the changes we made were great. But into lap 2 a car behind us went for a gap that wasn’t there and turned us around. We got a restart from the rear of the field, but as we got into the race I wasn’t happy with the way the car felt. I managed  to pass a few cars but as the track slicked out and the car didn’t stick that great. I kept pulling the top wing back to get drive but we were still loose. Coming off turn 2 on a slick patch I turned it around and  rolled on to the infield with 2 laps to go. It was a mixed night as I wasn’t happy with myself as the team had worked so hard all night. Later during the week, as I went to clean the car, I noticed the rear Jacobs ladder was bent, which will unload the right-rear tyre, hence the feeling I got when we were racing. We now head into the Xmas/New Year period where we will race on December 26 and 31, and and January 2, 5 and 7.

 I hope everyone has a great Christmas / New Year. Stay safe and thank you to everyone for their  support.

Since Daniel started karting one of our favourite places to race is the Tokoroa kart track. In the three and a half years we have been racing the local club has done a fantastic job extending its short but fun track to almost double the length with an up and downhill section to make it one of our top tracks to race on.
This year the Tokoroa club offered free entry to NZ’s current national title-holders for their anniversary meeting, and with the news that the first Rotax Junior Max Challenge Cup was to be held there, we felt we had to go!
With prize-money up for grabs for the Rotax Junior Cup there was a top field with 23 of the top juniors entered from as far away as Christchurch.
The Rotax seniors was just as well supported, with 22 entries including one of NZ’s top karters Matthew Hamilton from Christchurch (3rd at the Rotax World Finals 2009 & 2010) and some fast Waikato locals, including Andy Schofield, who also represented NZ at the world finals in 2010, as well as one of Daniel’s fellow Mt Wellington clubmates, current club champion Mason Armstrong.

We left Auckland early Saturday morning keen to get as much practice as we could to test some kart “updates” and find a good setup for the Sunday race day. By the end of practice we felt we were the fastest, just a little quicker than Hamilton, and with new tyres for the race day it was all looking good.

The race day was run with the random grid draw format, that is predetermined grids for the 4 heats and then a final with grid positions taken from the combined 4 heat results. All 5 races are just 10 laps and you get to drop your worst race at the end.

We decided to do the tuning run (practice) on old tyres and scrub the new tyres in on the warm up lap of the first heat, even so I clocked Dan with the fastest time in the tuning run.
Our grid draws were 12, 18, 5 & 9

First Heat,
Dan drove well, finishing 2nd just off 1st place taken by one of the fast local drivers David Meszaros, who started on grid 2. Unfortunately Matthew Hamilton lost a chain and finished 21st

Second Heat
Another good drive, Dan finishing 6th from 18th with Mason Armstrong taking the win and Hamilton 3rd and Schofield 5th

Third Heat
A win this time for Dan from 5th on the grid, with Schofield 2nd and Armstrong 3rd

Forth Heat
Just when things were going too easy Dan got taken out in the first corner, losing his nose cone and having to sit out the race and watch from a flag point. Started 9th finished 22nd.

Final
After the DNF in heat 4, instead of starting the final on pole Dan was on grid 5, still OK if he could get a good start. We knew we had good speed. Unfortunately Dan slipped back to 7th on the first lap and was held up for half the race before getting back to his 5th starting spot. Meanwhile the leaders had opened up a gap. Not one to give up, Dan put his head down and in two laps was up with the front bunch. He then passed Meszaros, Armstrong and on the last lap Hamilton to finish 2nd behind Schofield.
We thought this would be enough to take the win for the day but it would be close.
In fact, on points both Dan and Mason Armstrong were tied with 11 points each. But on countback Dan was declared the winner with one win and two second places, with Mason 2nd, Schofield 3rd 12points and Hamilton 4th 13points.

All a bit close in the end, but a satisfying result and another great day’s racing at Tokoroa!

The Rotax Junior Max Cup was won by a very happy fellow Mt Wellington Club member CJ Sinclair who also took home the $1000 prize for first place.

A good day out for the Mt Welly club drivers.

The NAC Insurance/Champion Oils Sonic Motorsport #11 Maxim Sprintcar hit the track for opening night at Auckland’s prestigious Springs Speedway. After two successful weekends of practice runs, things were going as planned till late in our first heat race when we had engine troubles. The team quickly got to work to fix the problem back in the pit area before our next race. We went for our second heat race, where we finished 8th with no problems at all which gave the team confidence going into the night’s feature race to be contested over 20 laps.

With the problem in our first heat and an average finish position in second heat, this was to place us near the rear of the grid for the last race of the evening. We got a good start in the feature, getting up to mid pack and setting consistent lap times. On lap 14, Daniel Eggleton half spun trying to pass another car in turn three, who I was chasing down. With being so close at this speed, I tried to avoid the incident but couldn’t quite manage to stop in time, colliding with Eggleton ending my night.

The team had done a magnificent job on the night under pressure and I appreciate this. We now have a weekend off, so we can get focused on fine tuning the car and get it ready for two massive nights of racing back at Springs Speedway, with the main night being the World Sprintcar Classic on 26th November.