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Kiwis get ready to fly at race festival

Kiwis get ready to fly at race festival

Sharing space with over 500 other cars from mainly Europe, the Kiwi prepared Honda Civic entered for the 2006 24-hours of Nurburgring car race have been given the all-clear to race in this year’s event.

Alongside BMW Supercars and exotic Maserati’s, the little Honda Civic Type-R has passed the necessary documentation checks and the four-driver team have completed the mandatory training to contest this Mt Everest of race events.

Based in Germany’s North West, the 24-hours of Nurburgring is the largest of its type in the world – with a whopping 210 cars contesting the feature race the team have entered. With over 200,000 spectators expected again this year many arrive up to a week prior to claim a piece of ground around the 25.4km circuit.

Wednesday afternoon was a chance for the team to meet the fans already on-site – with a parade of the circuit taking over two hours to complete. Facing thousands of passionate fans who often blocked the track to get a closer look at the cars, the team took a photo stop at a corner near the local town of Adenau - where the team’s Kiwi logo has been painted on the track.

A Thursday afternoon dyno tuning session using the New Zealand built Dynapack Chassis Dynamometer has put broad smiles on the faces of the team – with the car’s computer now optimised for the higher grade European petrol. Freighted to Germany in the same container as the car, it drew an impressed crowd at the sound of the Honda V-TEC engine under load at the back of the Kiwi Team Nurburgring pit garage.

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The result of a year’s planning; the team has been assembled from an idea by Auckland’s Dr Greg Taylor to contest the world’s largest endurance race. Preparing a Honda Civic for the race, it was the first step toward attaining the goal of finishing the marathon weekend. Accompanied by experienced drivers Mike Eady, John McIntyre and Tim Martin, the twelve-strong team of Kiwi’s have spent the week at the track putting the finishing touches to their campaign.

After a week of extremely hot weather, the temperature has been subdued by cloud cover as the drivers prepare to take driving shifts during the race that starts at 3pm on the Saturday (17th June).

Support for Kiwi Team Nurburgring comes from: Dynapack Chassis Dynamometers, Eurosilicone Breast Aesthetics, Cosmetic Art, Advan Yokohama Tyres, Racetech Seats, Hella NZ and CRC.

Keep up-to-date with the teams progress via their website www.ktn.co.nz


Ends.

Photo images are available by return email: lance@car.co.nz

Editors information: driver information.

Drivers

Dr Greg Taylor

Team owner of the Kiwi Team Nurburgring team, Dr Gregory Taylor, was introduced to the fascination of the Nurburgring by Wayne Moore, a friend of Mike Eady, when they drove together in Greg’s Porsche 968 in the Pukekohe 6 hour race 4 years ago. Since then, Greg has travelled to Germany twice as a spectator for the 24 Hours of Nurburgring race, both in 2004 and 2005. He was stunned by the event, with over two hundred cars starting the race, and over a quarter of a million spectators present for a whole week before and after the race.

In 2005 Greg also had the chance to drive a number of laps on the track in the week prior to the race. His two days of driving there whet his appetite and gave him the inspiration to form a team to take on the 2006 24 Hours of Nurburgring race.

Contrasting Greg’s need for speed is his occupation as a leading Auckland Cosmetic Surgeon, while he also enjoys sailing.


John McIntyre


John McIntyre has consistently been at the front of the field in all forms of motorsport he has competed in. He is currently one of the leading drivers in New Zealand and has had the opportunity to drive many varied types of race car. He has competed in a multitude of different races and classes through his career.

The highlight to date has been driving a WPS sponsored Ford in Australasia’s most prestigious race, the Bathurst 1000.

John has always been the nice guy of New Zealand motorsport and has always conducted himself in a professional manner both on and off the track.

John has a young family and is also a vehicle salesman for Archibald and Shorter.

Mike Eady

Mike is Kiwi Team Nurburgring’s most experienced endurance racing driver. He trained at the Winfield Racing Drivers School in France and has competed in races in England, France, Australia and Germany.

However most important is his previous experience of the notorious Nurburgring. In previous 24 hour races at the Nurburgring, Mike placed in the top three in his class in 2000, and won his class in 2001 and 2002, driving for the Volkswagen Racing factory team.

Mike is also a New Zealand motor racing champion in both Touring Cars and Bridgestone Porsche racing.

When Mike is not racing around the race tracks of New Zealand, he can usually be found working on them with his business as an Advanced Driving Instructor.


Tim Martin

With a successful 10 year background racing Go Karts, Tim is the youngest member of the Kiwi Team Nurburgring team. He jumped straight from Go Karts to a Porsche GT3 Cup Car at age 20 in 2003, and since then has worked hard to get to the front of the field.

Following his first season driving the Porsche, Tim was identified as one of the most talented young drivers with his selection as one of 6 circuit racing drivers to take part in MotorSport New Zealand’s Elite Motorsport Academy.

With an ultimate goal of winning the Le Mans 24 Hour race, Tim’s first endurance drive was with Greg in the 2004 and 2005 Pukekohe 6 hour races.

Tim works internationally with Porsche as a Driving Instructor for the Porsche World Roadshow.

Ends

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