Race series likely for Group A saloons

Press, 7 February 1985, Page 28

Race series likely for Group A saloons

With the Nissan Sport 500 races on the Wellington street circuit and at Pukekohe still fresh in the mind, there comes news of a possible world championship race series for Group A saloons.

It appears that the idea of such a championship has been under discussion at international level for some months and it now seems likely that the series will go ahead.

However, it remains to be seen whether the series will be sanctioned by F.1.5.A., international motor sport’s controlling body. An announcement, one way or the

other, is expected shortly from F.I.S.A.’s Paris headquarters. If F.I.S.A. gives the series the green light, six races are expected to be included in the series. The Spa 24hour race and the Silverstone Tourist Trophy, in Belgium and Britain respectively, would constitute the European section, while in Asia races would be at Macau, the Portuguese colony on the shore of mainland China, and at Mount Fuji in Japan.

The Australian and New Zealand races would be held at the famous Bathurst circuit in New South Wales,

and Pukekohe near Auckland.

Selection of the Pukekohe circuit rather than Wellington’s new downtown street and wharf circuit could result in some heartburning among motor sport followers and the capital’s city fathers who, it is said, were highly satisfied with the first race held there recently. Now they they are anxious that the race continue as an annual fixture and an event carrying world status would obviously have considerable promotional value for Wellington. However, the Wellington course makes for stop-go-

stop racing, as evidenced by the fact that the winning Volvo 240 Turbo averaged around lOOkm/h, or less than 60 m.p.h., and the race itself was reduced from 199 laps — about 500 kilometres — to 150 laps because of the inordinate time it would have taken for the race field to complete the longer distance.

No doubt, alterations will be made to the Wellington course with a view to achieving a higher average speed, but from the purely international viewpoint, the Pukekohe “long” circuit of about 3.5 kilometres is, perhaps, the better venue, , at least in the meantime.