sampler from round 4
30 car grid [max for the circuit ] - 3 practice sessions- qualifying and 4 races over 3 days

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...6345385&type=3

90% of the cars running Gear X close ratio gear kits and Hankook slicks

most sucessful one make race class in the country

 

Beautiful picture, and it looked like a FUN *** event.
I wish their was such a turnout down here

 

awesome pictures, I would love to see those numbers around here, by any chance do you have your rules printed or published somewhere. I would be very interested to read them.

 

Thats awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!
Had some ideas floating around in my head in how to "tastefully" cut air vents into my bumper and now i see how it can be done

 

In a crash where you can't open the doors how do you get out of the car with these windows?

 

I was about to say the same thing. Looks like a really fun event with huge amount of support.

-Charles

 

www.hondacup.co.nz -under documentation - tech regs

 

all cars race here with windows as they in most countries except USA.

The plastic window in the picure would come away with a good push !

 

we were limited to a grid of 30 cars for this event but have a 40 car drivers list which we can run at some tracks

 

video from one of our new young drivers - first season rookie - starting near the back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR4CP...eature=related

 

We were running as a support class for the V8 Super Tourers

video from remote control helicopter !

http://vimeo.com/37158896

 

Wow!!! Cool pics and cool cars!!! I saw a bunch of familiar faces in the pictures as well!! It was nice to see Big Al, Trevor, Martin, Tim, Noel, and Richard and their cars. It's great to see a 30 car max field for both the 1600 & 2000cc Honda Cup classes. It reminds me of H1 and H2 fields at the HPD Honda Challenge National Championships

Hi to all my Kiwi friends down there and I hope to work with you guys again for this year's 25hr!

 

Amazing view! Love it! Can give some specs on the helicopter rig you were using?

 

Hey Johnathon its a small world . Mo's down here helping out and having some fun . Exstended his stay a few more weeks and helping out stripping out a donor shell for the fd2 rebuild .I will be strating on the shell prep next week and hopefully will be done end of May Trying our best to get back up and for me hopefully 3rd time lucky .

I cant understand why you havnt got something like this running in Northern and Southern Cali

 

bladescenes.com

 

anyone else read their 5 page rule set??? (i like this)

 

It's a pretty open ruleset like any gear ratios (that fit in stand. trans), any damper including remote reservoir, lightweight body panels, flares, F and R undertrays, but no engine cylinder overbore allowed except on B series engines. You can use Dot tires or slicks with a weight break for the Dot tires.

It could end up being a very expensive series to run competitively in though, especially if people are building cars to the extent of these rules.

 

I saw the whole Kiwi contingent in those pics Trevor, Big AL, Martin, Tim, Richard, Noel... Wait there was a Mauricio there too.

Im glad Richard is back behind the wheel!
Seeing all this makes me want to enjoy a 11 hour plane ride to go see this in person.


Looking forward to seeing the relaunch of the new FD2.
Rest assured we'll be ready for you all when you return to California for the 25 hour.

I think Im going to join up on the NZ hondas web site so i can follow more closely.

Thanks for posting Al.

 

Very cool!

 

Good to hear that you're using a donor shell for the FD2 rebuild! Can't wait to see it.
LOL...Mauricio...that guy!!! Do me a favor, keep on eye on him...especially when he's been drinking because he has a tendency to pass out on the curb and lose his cell phone. LOL LOL!

Yeah, that makes two of us.

 

man that heli cam was awesome

 

Make that 3

 

he has been staying a few days with each of the drivers but we sent him to a resort town ]Taupo] by bus today and he will be staying at a backpackers tonight which is renown for huge parties .

Tomorrow is a big bungy jump [think he may back out] then downhill luge and off to stay with Ritch [roll the fd2 fame] then back here to wanganui for more work on the fd2 .

Will try and get Mo to post some photos of the donor

 

bottom line is it works for us with over 40 racers

close ratio gear kits are a cheap way to make the cars quick without resorting to lower finals - do it right the first time

the majority of our drivers could not tell the difference between remote and non remote canister shocks or adjust a 2 or 3 way shock

our minimum race weights are quite high so no one spends money on mega exspensive carbon panels

flares are allowed but max rim width and max spacer width nullify any benefits other than possibly some extra drag and bling factor

we only run b, h and k series here and didnt want guys running bored k20. for parity reasons

our top b series cars are on a par with k20 repowered eg and ek's

most cars run slicks except the newbies and hankook do us a great deal on slicks with most cars running soft compound on the rear and med on the front

you can spend money in any form of motorsport and from my experience the production/spec classes can cost as much as the clases with freeer rules

with freer rules there is less cheating and less time and cost spent on teching cars

We are all racing for the fun of it and if someone wants to spend thousands for a trophy at the end of the years we dont have any problems with that .

 

It's kind of satisfying to me to see the New Zealnand Honda Cup series doing so astoundingly well!
It was only BACK IN 2004 that myself and a brave handfull of racers started HondaCup as an alternative to the current Honda Challenge which as some of us saw then and is proving even now to be on a downward slide. Some of us were banned for a couple of years for our opinion of the rules and the rulemakers.

The series was entusiastically sanctioned by So Cal SCCA. Unfortunately it failed in 2007 mainly because most Honda racers at the time were told if they ran with us they would never be welcome at a Nasa event again. Rather a childish and unfortunate attitude to take but that is all water under the bridge now.

I take great pride that in 2006 I invited Big Al to come and run one of my racecars at a couple of Honda Cup events at Phoenix. Al was so impressed with our easy to follow rule set he took the whole idea back to New Zealand and with a few minor tweaks has created the most successful one make race series in a country of under 4 million people. With full fields and reserve drivers at every event, using a 5 page rule set. A series that allows drivers to think outside the box and show a little innovation.

While here in California with a population of 38 million we have what? 10 or 15 mediocre cars running on a regular basis? with a rule book that a lawyer could not understand.
The theory of keeping everything cheap aint working either! Ask some of the front runners how many of their stock motors have blown up in a season?
I have always been a fairly generous sponsor of many Honda Challenge competitors but I have to say that recently it's become painfully obvious that my sponsorship dollars are better spent overseas,. For example Every car in the New Zealand series is equipped with GEAR-X Equipment. We have a 2.0 liter series in PERU that specifies our GEAR-X K Series Close ratio gear set as the spec for the series! Here in the USA they would rather squeeze an extra 50 hp out of a B16A than use a Close ratio gear set that could be good for a couple of seconds per lap?
Anyway... Good luck with everything down under Al, It's nice to see that somebody is doing something right!
Perhaps I should retire and come home and run the Honda Cup in the South Island?

We hope to see some of you back this December for the 25 Hrs at Thunderhill and I hope you can get the FD2 rebuilt in time.
Phase II, my New Civic Si is underway at this end, we already have a couple of big name international drivers interested.
Cheers,
Kiwi