New Zealand’s longest, toughest offroad race, the Polaris NZ1000, will be the first race for a Christchurch-based offroad race team with a US-built truck unlike anything raced in New Zealand to date.
Mike Blackmore is a newcomer to the sport and has imported a factory-built Honda Pilot Trophy Truck with all-wheel-drive and a mid-mounted 400 bhp 3.7 litre quad-cam V6 engine. The new truck has a central driving position and has contested Pike’s Peak and the Baja 1000. Its build cost at Honda Racing Developments in California is rumoured to have been in six figures.
Offroad Racing Association South Island vice president Bryan Chang says Blackmore has pushed hard in the past few weeks to get the new truck compliant with New Zealand racing regulations but received certification last weekend.
Blackmore is the only known Christchurch entry in the flagship endurance race and he says he will treat the NZ 1000 as the ‘ultimate shakedown’ – a chance to get plenty of seat time in the new truck in preparation for a full race season in 2016.
The race weekend begins on Friday with qualifying at the track near Lichfield in the south Waikato. Race days are Saturday and Sunday. To be in with a chance of victory, drivers must complete at least 500 km (ten laps) per day. There are three former champions racing this year: Alan Butler (1998), Tony McCall (1999, 2003) and Clim Lammers (2000, 2005, 2007 and 2013).
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