Pitstop: Dixon home to cheer on mentor

By BOB PEARCE

Indy Lights champion Scott Dixon escapes from a wintry Indianapolis and his Champ Car work to see some local racing.

Motor-racing stars Scott Dixon and Kenny Smith will swap roles this week at the championship meeting in Taupo.

The 20-year-old Dixon, back home for a break from preparing for his first season in Champ Cars in the United States, hopes to be able to get to Taupo to see the 59-year-old Smith continue his quest for his first national Formula Ford title.

Since Dixon began competing in the United States, Smith has commuted from his South Auckland home to act as his racing mentor. He was trackside in California when Dixon clinched the Indy Lights title in October.

Since then Smith has romped to a commanding lead in the Formula Ford championship, while Dixon has been testing the PacWest Champ Car, with the new Toyota engine which replaces the Mercedes power from last season.

"The tub is much the same as last season, but there have been small aerodynamic changes and the car is 50 pounds (22kg) lighter," Dixon said in Auckland.

"The big improvement is the engine. It is much easier to get the power down smoothly through the gears.

"In the last test at Sebring we ran with heavy fuel loads for long runs and it was pretty encouraging. Even with that set-up we were only half-a-second off the quickest lap."

Mauricio (Mo) Gugelmin, the team's Brazilian driver retained from last season, did one day of testing while Dixon did the other.

Dixon has been hard at work in the gym building up his lean frame, particularly his upper body.

"I don't want to get too big," he said. "It's really about adapting to the bigger G-force loads and getting relaxed in the car."

Champ Cars race for 200 miles (320km) and on fast ovals hit top speeds of more than 230 mph (370 km/h), putting great strain on the drivers.

Dixon, still to be officially launched as the team's second driver, will have some familiar faces in his new racing environment. Two of his mechanics from Indy Lights have come with him to Champ Cars and one of these, New Zealander Blair Julian, has been with him since he started in the United States.

The racing season begins at Monterrey in Mexico in a couple of months, but Dixon has only a brief break at home before he has to head back to his snowbound Indianapolis base.

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Southland single-seater star LeRoy Stevenson will drive a Chev Camaro from the Mark Petch stable for the rest of the Tranzam championship. Stevenson raced in the first round at Teretonga in a Ford Falcon XR8 and will relish the chance to step up to the Camaro.

The first round was dominated by Ashley Stichbury in the Petch team's Chev Corvette and he will be the man to beat next time out at Ruapuna on January 7.

The 21-year-old Stevenson, a former Formula Ford champion, finished second behind Andy Booth in the recent four-race Tasman Formula Holden series.

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Aussies are chortling because former world Formula One champion Mika Hakkinen and his wife, Erja, have produced a son exactly nine months after the Melbourne Grand Prix.

It should be noted that first-born are often late arrivals and the Hakkinens spent several days on holiday in New Zealand before flying to Melbourne.

Fast Finns seem to have a romantic attachment to New Zealand. Rally star Ari Vatanen competed here and then brought his wife back for a honeymoon.

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Scot Allan McNish hopes to finish his career in the American Le Mans sportscar series with victory on the streets of Adelaide in the Race of a Thousand Years on New Year's Eve.

McNish shares an Audi R8 with Rinaldo Capello and will win the series merely by starting. He is moving on to join the fledgling Toyota Formula One team, which will be racing in 2002. Kiwi Greg Murphy, who will share a Panoz LMP-1 with Aussie Mark Noske, has raced at Le Mans, finishing second in his class in a GT Porsche in 1996.

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The tight Taupo circuit may produce some upsets when contenders in three national championships compete on Friday and Saturday.

Aucklander Paul Manuell is dominating the V8 tourers after perfect records at Pukekohe and Teretonga; Kenny Smith has a handy lead in the Formula Fords; and Michael Shepherd has had a flying start in the Formula Firsts.

Other classes on the busy programme include HQ Holdens and Pre-65s.

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The British Grand Prix seems certain to stay at Silverstone for the next few years.

The circuit, owned by the British Racing Drivers' Club, had come under fire when its antiquated facilities were exposed by dreadful weather when the grand prix was staged at Easter.

Octagon, owners of rival track Brands Hatch, will take over the running of Silverstone and pour millions of dollars into an upgrade.