Bit of Le Mans at Ruapuna

Press, 25 February 1980, Page 19

Bit of Le Mans at Ruapuna

A little bit of Le Mans and Bathurst will come to Ruapuna Park on March 2 when the Blackwell Motors 3ZB Southern 200 saloon car race is run. The winner will have to complete 131 laps (200 km of the Ruapuna track and all cars will have to pit at least twice — once to change at least one tyre and once to take on at least 10 litres Of fuel.

Prizes and prize-money in excess of S2OOO have been arranged by the Canterbury Car Club.

Competition will be in three classes. The first two will cater for cars from the South Island production saloon series (New Zealandassembled cars up to two litres and “supercars” up to six litres) and the third is for any road-going saloon car, modified or unmodified.

Barry Lloyd, of Ashburton, a veteran production sa-loon-car driver, might be hard to beat in his Falcon

JXA GT. However, he may face strong competition from his arch-rival, Jim Little, of St Andrews. Little badly damaged his potent Charger E 49 in a crash at Teretonga recently, but hopes to have the car ready for the Ruapuna long-distance race. Larry O'Connor, of Christchurch, will be an unknown quantity in his Porsche 911 S, a car which will be well suited to the event, and the Chev Camaro of Alan Farrar could also be a threat. The organisers are confident of having a full field of 30 cars for the race, which will be the richest saloon car race run in the South Island.

The meeting will also feature a round of the national Escort Sport championship as well as a one-hour production motor-cycle race, which might have up to 50 starters.