Full competition drag strip planned by Pegasus club

Press, 17 September 1976, Page 6

Full competition drag strip planned by Pegasus club

By

JOHN FRIDD

Drag - racing, the fastest growing form of motor sport in Christchurch, will come of age next season with the building of a full competition strip at Ruapuna Park. The Pegasus Bay club has been using the halfmile straight on the Ruapuna motor-racing circuit for its meetings, but even after building a short starting pad at the western end of the straight it’s still too short for the faster dragsters to stop comfortably at the other end. Some reach speeds of around 180 m.p.h. at the end of their runs and have only a quarter-of-a-mile in which to stop at Ruapuna —dragsters are not designed to drive fast around corners.

The club will push the straight east through Rothmans comer on the circuit and add another quartermile to it. In addition, the straight will be widened by 20ft. giving it a total width of 60ft to bring it up to A grade strip standards. “We expect the project to cost, about $40,000,” said the club’s president, Mr

Roger Gregge, this week. “In addition, the Motorsport Association of New Zealand wants us to build catch-fencing along the straight’s entire length, which will cost a bit more.” Finance for the enterprise will come mainly from a debenture issue floated by the Pegasus Bay club — it will offer 1800 debentures of $25. When the issue is 75 per cent full, work will start on the alterations. “The additions will provide a margin for error,” said Mr Gregge. “They will also attract a lot more top cars — I know of several people around Christchurch who would build full-blown rails if we had an A grade strip.” The club has a full programme of eight fullysponsored meetings planned this season, and the first, last Sunday, attracted 4000 people. Meetings last year attracted crowds of up to 13,000 and the provision of

a full competition strip will no doubt encourage top North Island drivers to make the trip south. Such a strip will be a great asset to the top Christchurch driver, Ron Collett, who is determined to lower the New Zealand open record this season but has to make costly visits to the Champion strip in Auckland at present to achieve this aim, as he cannot give his new 1000 h.p. rail its head at Ruapuna. Collett gave the machine its first trial last Sunday, and encountered a few minor difficulties. After two runs, his crew noticed a bulge in the aluminium panels on the car, and discovered that part of the chassis had bent. “We’ll have to strip down and redesign that bit,” said Collett. “We’re also not happy with the clutch—we need a lot more slip, as we’ve got more traction now, with the engine at the back."