Round 4 – NZIGP Tasman Revival

What a weekend! Round 4 of the NEXEN Tyre E46 Series in the Scholarship car took us to Taupo this time. We picked the car up and started a three car convoy to Taupo, with different start times (kind of like a reverse handicap race, with Mum starting from pit lane – she was on the Secret Weapon Mission). The first hint this was going to be a tricky weekend was when Mum made us ‘tourist’ – she ended up in a different place to us, we had no service, so she snuck past in to 2nd place – the recently reopened Blue Springs in Putaruru is quite nice for a mid trip walk, if you’re in need of a break, or want to slingshot the opposition!

The forecast for the weekend was looking spicy, but we had our fingers crossed it was right (I might’ve been on my own). On Friday, I had my test session booked thanks to Taupo Motorsport Park, and Mum’s Secret Weapon, Brendon Leitch was on the radio. The idea was, that Brendon would coach me and run through some video, to help add to the invaluable lessons learned from Race Jase in our coaching session supplied as part of the Scholarship. His message was clear – get out there and push the car as hard as I could… but don’t hit anything! Having Brendon on the radio is a bit different… it made me get my head down, and get on with things. I had fun pushing the car and hard, and getting her to dance on the infield curbs (have you seen the new circuit limits amendment? WOOHOO!)

We packed up and headed home as the rain set in, and there wasn’t much more benefit for me in the wet – the scholarship day was wet, my day with Race Jase was wet, and we were happy with the car… time to fuel the driver, and watch some video!

Saturday morning brought the weatherman’s prediction – SPOT ON… rain, rain, snow on the mountains… cold wind and more rain. I headed out for qualifying feeling confident with me and the car. The Dayle ITM cheerleading squad got themselves organised, and it was all action stations! I can tell you that driving a neat little E46 in slippy slidey conditions is one heck of an arm workout – somewhere in the middle is the catch point! Brendon told me to get my head down, and we got stuck in! He’s pretty quiet on the radio, unless I get a bit lippy! Our coaching paid off, and I set a PB of 1:47:90 – placing me in P8 on the grid for Race 1.

Race 1 was dry. The NEXEN Tyre Scholarship car has a neat feature to help my cheer squad spot me – only one headlight made me easy to spot down the back straight. I got an epic launch and got stuck in battling hard, racing door handle to door handle and bouncing from 4th- 6th after lap one. A stopped car brought out the Safety Car, and we lined up behind it. Awesome work from Race Control meant that it was only half a lap before the restart, looking for the greens and the Safety Car Control line. We hurled ourselves in a BMW blender down into turn 1, and I felt the accelerator peddle wobble. A quick call to Brendon, and the advice was not to blip on the downshift and I nursed it home – finishing with another PB in 6th overall. Back in the pits, again the BMW Committee and community proved just why this is the best class to be part of, with parts and tools to get us fixed, and I don’t think that accelerator peddle is ever moving sideways again.

Sunday arrived, and with some overnight data and more to improve on, I threw it all out the window as the conditions were ridiculously wet. Dad tried to tape up the air intake in the door to stop me resembling a mop when I got back to pits. I got another blistering start, and came out of turn 1 in P3!!!!! YEAH!!!! Let’s GO! I must have absolutely surprised myself and the car, because that was the best we got to, and while still battling hard, wiser heads prevailed and I fell back to P6 again.

Mental note to self… don’t drop your undershirt when it’s wet, as it soaks up water like a wee sponge… I headed out on the grid for race 3 in P9, wearing my big sisters fireproof undershirt (thanks Shiane!) By now, as a grid, we were more like ducklings having earned our webbed feet in the rain. I was pretty determined to move forward fast and keep improving. I took the revs up to 2.5 – lights went out, and awwwwaaaayyyyyy we went!!! I came out of Turn 1 in P4 and had some epic battles throughout the race – it is so much fun racing side by side, especially through the infield – and I was having an awesome time being the last of the late brakers into Turn 12! (Mum doesn’t approve of Doc Hudson’s advice) I crossed the line in P5 – wrapping up my best ever weekend in the car.

Massive thank you to the BMW Race Driver Series Committee and the rest of the BMW Race Driver Series grid, Brendon Leitch, and the green Nexens that I held onto from round 1!

Matt Smith