Pitstop: Dixon's season one to forget

After yet another disappointing result in the latest round of the Indy Racing League championship at Kansas, Scott Dixon must be wondering when his luck will change.

Two years ago Dixon and Chip Ganassi's Target team were riding high on the way to the title. At Richmond that year the Kiwi star was fastest in practice and qualifying and led every lap of the 206-lap race. This year he got as far as lap 39 before he was hit by Dario Franchitti and ended up in the wall.

That has been typical of Dixon's disappointing 2005 season. In the latest race at Kansas he managed to qualify seventh, his best position all season. But at the second-to-last pit stop an aerodynamic component failed on the inside of his right front wheel cover and the car picked up a lot of drag.

On an oval where races are won by centimetres, he dropped off the pace and finished 18th, with only one car behind him.

After eight rounds of the championship, Dixon's best finish is sixth in the St Petersburg street race in Florida, his only finish in the top 10. Four times he has been put out of contention by an accident. 

Dixon says team boss Ganassi is relaxed about the situation, but the American is used to winning and will do everything in his power to get back on the podium.

Touring cars at Taupo

Taupo is pencilled in for a round of the New Zealand touring car championship in March but only if the track is upgraded to cater for a full field of 36 cars.

If the improvements are not made in time, the round is likely to be switched to Ruapuna in Christchurch.

Premier national championship classes for next season will be the touring cars, Formula Fords, Porsche GT3s and Toyota single-seaters.

The New Zealand Grand Prix at Invercargill will be contested by the Toyotas for the first time.

At five meetings there will be races for cars from the production racing series - Mitsubishi Evos, Subaru WRXs, Honda Integras and similar two-litre models.

Unlucky break

A $2 part cost Team Kiwi Racing the chance to jump near the top of the V8 Supercar Championship rankings after the sixth round in Darwin.

Paul Radisich finished in the top 10 in the opening two races, but a small oil fitting broke off midway through the third race and he finished down the field.

Team Kiwi finished ninth overall for the weekend in Darwin despite the problem and Radisich retains eighth place in the championship.

Floods hit team

Mark Porter's campaign for the second-level Australian V8 supercar championship has survived a battering from some of the worst weather to hit the Gold Coast in years.

Last Thursday the Steve Ellery Racing team were unable even to reach their workshop because of the flooding.

But Porter's Ford Falcon survived and he is keen to improve his ninth placing in the championship at this weekend's round at Eastern Creek, Sydney.

The Kiwi had a poor opening round in Adelaide but he bounced back with a fourth placing at Wakefield Park, Goulburn. Minister of speed Aussie Foreign Minister Alexander Downer took a break from listening to Phil Goff when he was taken for a ride in Russell Ingall's Falcon Supercar at speeds in excess of 260km/h around Darwin's Hidden Valley Raceway.

Downer, who holds a Confederation of Australian Motor Sports competition licence himself, was blown away by the experience, saying he rated it as "one of the best things I have ever done".