Eric Thompson: V8 racing still has a lot to learn

Sixteen-year-old Mitch Evans ahead of Daniil Kvyat. Photo / Paul Estcourt.

Having watched Bathurst over the weekend I realised what a well-run motorsport event and series should look like.

I have mentioned in the past the split within V8 racing in New Zealand and how it wouldn't come as a great surprise if the entire class implodes.

I hope not, and am looking forward to some sort of compromise so fans of V8 racing can get to see big fields going hammer and tongs at each other rather than mediocre numbers struggling to get into double figures.

Hot on the heels of the V8 split came the news that the Aussie owners of the V8 Supercars series have pulled the pin on racing in Hamilton after 2012. It's interesting to note that acting chief executive Shane Howard hasn't mentioned a preferred option for 2013 and beyond, and hasn't ruled out leaving these shores. I would suggest that thinking comes from a concerned New Zealand resource consent folk, or the tree huggers worried about rare snails, or whatever, will force getting a new track up and running into the too hard basket.

However, there is still the Toyota Racing Series. Although no confirmed list of drivers and teams has been announced, if last year's series is anything to go on, it should again be a good solid field of the young, the fast and the future of racing.

Last season we saw a number of overseas drivers, and locals, go wheel-to-wheel during the summer and the same names have been popping up throughout Europe during the open wheel season over there. Chief among them was TRS champion Mitch Evans who showed he has the goods in the GP3 class, and just this weekend finished just off the podium in his one-off race in the last round of the British Formula Three championship.

Never being one to rest on their laurels, the TRS organisers have tweaked the series for 2012 and all five races will be back-to-back. Now in its eighth season and on the back of a record number of overseas drivers (nine) last time, racing every weekend will be highly attractive to overseas drivers and teams. There will be huge cost savings and folk will not have to be away from home for too long.

The cars that are raced are an attractive alternative to European drivers who are contemplating chancing their respective arms in series like the British and European Formula Renault and various Formula Three championships, and GP3 to certain extent, which get under way in late March.

With such an intense series on offer and the ability to get hundreds of race kilometres under their belts, foreign drivers will arrive back on the continent race-fit and raring to go. An added attraction is that racing in New Zealand is cheaper than in Europe. Even more so with the downturn in the world's economy and I doubt, other than Nascar, there is anywhere else in the world where there are five races in five weeks.

When the series first kicked off in 2005 there were seven races held over six months, which was way too long and many fans lost interest. More recently, the series has been fought out over three months between January and March and now the compressed action starts at Teretonga, January 12-15 and finishes off at Manfeild, February 9-12.

Series organiser Barry Tomlinson has said inquiries have been steady and he's confident of putting together another high-class field of drivers from New Zealand and overseas. Of last year's crop of young drivers, Evans has won races in GP3, Englishman Alex Lynn has shown his pace in the British 2.0-litre Renault series and Russian pilot Daniil Kvyat is third in the European Renault series. Another from TRS, Richie Stanaway, has just won his second European title and Brazilian Lucus Foresti finished seventh in the British Formula Three championship.

An added bonus for the new crop of young drivers about to pit their skills against one another is that European based single-seater driver Chris van der Drift is heading back home to New Zealand as part of the M2 Competition team. More's the shame though; he won't be competing but rather acting as a driver-coach for the team. Van der Drift is no stranger to coaching and driver training having been involved with Peter de Bruijns' karting team at European and World karting events and also performance road cars, Formula BMW, Formula Renault, GP2, A1GP, Formula Master, Formula Renault 3.5, Formula Superleague and specialist driving schools.

Now, if the prospect of a whole new bunch of super-fast youngsters, established talent and well-run teams doesn't take your mind off the weeing contest surrounding NZV8s, you may as well take up crochet.