In September 2006, the “Radio Sport BMW Series” made its debut at Pukekohe. Starting out as a single open grid, it welcomed a wide range of machinery — from Colin Briscoe’s trusty E30 through to Gerry Hodges’ 635CSI. Back then, you could bring almost anything along and find yourself on the same grid.

Fast forward to today, and the Open Class has retained that spirit of variety, but evolved significantly. What began as one big “open” category has now grown into four distinct classes — GT, A, B, and C. All four run under the same set of rules, but are separated by “break out” lap times, ensuring drivers compete against others with similar pace while still embracing the diversity of cars.