Local F5000 Series Will Go Ahead – But New Round Dates Very Different To Those Originally Planned

The good news for Kiwi motor racing fans - starved of world-class historic motor racing action by the New Zealand government’s response to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic - is that the organising committee of the NZ Formula 5000 Association has confirmed this week that the hitherto cancellation-hit 2021/22 SAS Autoparts MSC NZ Tasman Cup Revival Series will indeed go ahead this season.

“That’s right,” spokesperson for the NZ F5000 Association,” Glenn Richards said this morning. “We knew that we were going to be up against it when we first sat down to nut out the original calender. But that was when we had only just heard about the Delta strain and Omicron had yet to be identified.”

“Since then both these variants have played havoc here, with Delta leading to NZ’s longest ever Lockdown and Omicron meaning we are now back in a ’red’ operating environment – meaning, incredibly – that all three rounds scheduled so far have had to be cancelled.”

In theory the Canterbury Car Club’s decision to call off its 32nd annual three-day Skope Classic meeting next weekend (Feb 05-06) could well have been the straw which broke the back of this season’s 19th annual SAS Autoparts MSC NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Series. If only because – with an eye on COVID-19 as well as cost, the organising committee – had put together a compact 4 (rather than the more usual 5 or even 6) round series this season.

A good idea had the first three rounds been able to go ahead as planned. Not such a good one however, if the opening round of the 2021/22 SAS Autoparts MSC Series was also the final – as would have been the case had not organising committee member Glenn Richards called a special meeting – via Zoom – last Thursday evening to discuss ‘what to do next?’

“One option,” Richards explains, “was simply to accept that our season and series had been snookered by COVID-19 and that with the HRC still willing and able to have us at its annual Legends of Speed meeting at Hampton Downs at the end of March, we just run at the one meeting this season and accept it as – if you like – a fait accompli.

“The other (option) was to dig our toes in and say ‘hang on a minute, we’re all adults here, the reason we own these beautiful old racing cars is actually to race them. So, let’s pull our Big Boy Pants on and actively canvas clubs still willing to put on race meetings and try and come up with at least two more chances to run our cars before the 21/22 season morphs into 22/23.”

As it turns out it was the second option which received a unanimous vote from the assembled committee members, two of which had already been in touch with meeting organisers in their particular regions and were able to table serious invitations to the race committee for ‘replacement’ events.

The first was back at Christchurch’s Mike Pero Motorsport Park at Ruapuna over the April 9-10 weekend, the second at the now re-named Taupo International Motorsport Park (nee Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park ) at Taupo on May 14-15.

There are still ‘I’s-to-dot-and-t’s-to-cross’ for all parties involved, particularly with little firm idea of how NZ will be affected by the Omnicron variant of the COVD-19 Coronavirus over the next 4-6 weeks. However, Richards believes that with all the proper protocols (access limited to those with a Vaccine Pass, signing in, social distancing, mask-wearing, etc, etc) in place, the chances of catching COVID-19 at any motor race meeting are probably no better or worse than they would be if everyone involved with the SAS Autoparts MSC series parked their cars up and stayed at home.

“And I’m very happy to report, says Richards,’ that no one on the committee wanted that!”

The SAS Autoparts MSC NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Serries is organised and run with the support of sponsors SAS Autoparts, MSC, NZ Express Transport, Bonney's Specialised Bulk Transport, Mobil Lubricants, Pacifica, Avon Tyres, Webdesign and Exide Batteries.

2020/21 SAS Autoparts MSC NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series

Original Calendar

Rnd 1: CANCELLED 12-14 Nov 2021 – The Sound MG Classic, Circuit Manfeild Chris Amon Feilding NZ.

Rnd 2: CANCELLED 21-23 Jan 2022 – Taupo Historic Grand Prix - Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park Taupo NZ

Rnd 3: CANCELLED 04-06 Feb 2022 - Skope Classic - Mike Pero Motorsport Park Ruapuna Christchurch NZ.

Revised provisional calendar

Rnd 4/Rnd 1: 26-27 Mar 2022 – HRC Legends of Speed Hampton Downs Waikato NZ. .

Rnd 2. 8-10 April 2022 – Scaled back Skope Classic meeting - Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Ruapuna, Christchurch, NZ.

Rnd 3. 14-15 May 2022 - HRC Classic Taupo - Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park Taupo, NZ.

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