The monsters of offroad racing left their over-sized tread marks in the dirt at the TECT All Terrain Park for the first time on Sunday.
Offroad racers shared a 4km forest loop with Motorsport BOP competitors as a trial run for exciting plans that will see the hi-tech unlimited class buggies and Thunder Trucks competing locally for the first time since the Wild 300 races in the Rotoehu Forest more than a decade ago.
Bay Offroaders spokesman Clive Thornton said Sunday's event was a success and outlined plans to run a high-profile event in the park next year.
"It's been a fantastic day and everyone has had fun," said Thornton.
"The Bay Offroaders are now a shareholder in Te Matai Motorsport Inc (the umbrella organisation developing the motorsport area within the park) and the way forward is to develop our own designated offroad area in conjunction with the other groups.
"In the second half of next year we hope to have a 200km enduro and the following year host a round of the ORANZ national points series."
Because offroad racing is a natural terrain sport it can be up and running relatively easily.
"Compared to other sports there is a smaller amount of work for our requirements," Thornton said.
"We have the loan of a bulldozer and operator early next year and that will push some new tracks through.
"By linking those up with some sections of the forest roads, like the ones we have used today, I think we can create a 10km loop. So something like a 10-lap race would give us a 100km enduro and we might run back-to-back 100km races in a day.
"It's a fantastic opportunity for offroad racing. I have to say it's all credit to the tight-five or six who have been working on the park for the last few years."
Thornton and his son Max both raced their new Chevrolet LS6 V8 powered Desert Dynamics racer on Sunday while 2010 class 1 national champ Malcolm Langley (Whakatane) had his Mitsubishi Evo engine Bakersfield single-seater in action and Gary Baker ran his spectacular Nissan V8 ThunderTruck.
Baker was instrumental in making the event a day out for Camp Quality, the national charity that supports children living with cancer and their families.
The Bay Offroaders allowed the Camp Quality group to try some of the KiwiTrucks junior class machines and have rides in both offroad racers and rally cars.
"Some of the younger ones have been out in the Kiwi Trucks and have also been for rides with some of the offroader drivers and in the rally cars," said Baker.
"I've taken six around the track today and none of them seemed scared.
"They are steely kids."
Campbell stars
Tauranga's Phil Campbell clinched the Motorsport BOP club championship on Sunday and claimed a last-gasp outright win at the sprint event in the TECT All Terrain Park.
The final event of the MBOP club calendar used the 4km Sam Dunlop Rd gravel course with 17 competitors taking part.
After two rounds of competition Campbell - driving his front-wheel drive Mitsubishi Mirage V6 - held second position and trailed the Subaru Impreza WRX of John Bouzaid by just over two seconds.
An impressive final run delivered an improvement of nearly five seconds for Campbell and co-driver Venita Fabbro and put them at the top of timesheets while Rotorua's Paul Martelli (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo3) was also a final run improver to grab second place away from Bouzaid while Whakatane's Hugh Goldsmith (Mitsubishi Galant VR4) finished fourth.
Campbell held a commanding lead in the club points series before the final round and has wrapped up the 2011 championship.
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Tauranga's Phil Campbell (Mitsubishi Mirage) wrapped up the Motorsport BOP club points series by winning Sunday's gravel sprint event. Photo: Greg Henderson.
Motorsport BOP gravel sprint (Sam Dunlop Rd) results:
1 Phil Campbell (Mitsubishi Mirage V6) 2m 47.46s; 2 Paul Martelli (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo3) 2m 48.34s; 3 John Bouzaid (Subaru Impreza WRX) 2m 50.15s; 4 Hugh Goldsmith (Mitsubishi Galant VR4) 2m 54.09s; 5 Shane Wright (Nissan Skyline) 2m 56.71s; 6 Ian Wood (Toyota Corolla) 2m 57.07s; 7 David Holder (Toyota Levin) 2m 57.18s; 8 Brett Fisher (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo3) 3m 00.58s; 9 Mitch James (Toyota Starlet) 3m 02.12s; 10 Jarrad Dixon (Toyota Levin) 3m 03.18s.
Big test in Macau
Having dominated the German Formula 3 Championship and won on debut in the GP3 Series, this weekend's Macau Grand Prix is the biggest race yet in the fast-moving career of young Tauranga racing driver Richie Stanaway.
Stanaway, 19, lines up among a field of 30 young hopefuls from all of the major Formula 3 championships and other junior single-seater formula looking to win a race that helped to launch the careers of drivers including Michael Schumacher, Riccardo Patrese, David Coulthard and Ayrton Senna.
The Netherlands-based Van Amersfoort Racing Team has prepared a new Dallara-VW for Stanaway to race at Macau. The race on the demanding 6.1km Guia street circuit and includes a very fast waterfront section as well as a narrow and twisty climbing and descending section through the city.
After Macau it's expected Stanaway will test a Formula Renault 3.5 car for Gravity-Charouz racing at the Motorland-Aragon circuit in Spain before returning to New Zealand.
Waikato winners
Tauranga's Justin Herbert and Te Puke teenager Michael Scott were race winners at the third round of the Independent Race Classes summer series at Hampton Downs on Sunday.
Scott enjoyed his best weekend yet in the Formula First championship qualifying second fastest and winning a close-fought opening race in which the top five drivers were separated by just 0.65secs.
All three Formula First races saw the top-five cars break away from the field and finish the races covered by little more than one second.
It was Scott's first national level victory in the Formula First and he followed up his win with a fourth and a fifth place later in the day while young Papamoa driver Jason Carter posted an eighth and two ninth-place finishes.
Herbert continued his impressive form in the GT2 category with his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo although he was slowed in race one with a blown intercooler pipe and finished a lap down.
Race two saw him take the GT2 class win and finish second behind the GT1 Holden Commodore V8 Supercar of Nick Chester.
Herbert excelled in the heavy traffic of the final combined GT1, GT2 and GTNZ handicap race to start from the pitlane in 18th and come through the pack to win from Chester.
"We started third to last from the pitlane and came through to get the outright win ahead of Nick Chester," said Herbert. "We were actually quite lucky to start the last race because it was delayed and that gave us enough time to fix a gearbox issue."
Tauranga's Brian Gray in his quad-rotor Mazda RX7 was the GT1 runner-up behind Chester in the first two races while the best of the Tauranga drivers in the GTNZ class was Roger Conder (Nissan Silvia) with a third and second placing before finishing sixth (and third placed GTNZ competitor) in the final combined race.
The next round of the IRC Series is the Thunder in the Park meeting at Pukekohe on December 3-4.