KEY POINTS:
A spate of robberies from teams in the NZV8 Touring car championship is causing a great deal of concern.
Several teams have reported break-ins at their workshops and team transporters, with specific items being stolen which suggests the thieves are stealing to order for specialist parts.
Indygo Racing
are the latest victims - their entire set-up was stolen.
Between 4.30am and 6.30am on April 28, someone broke into a secure compound (surrounded by an eight-foot razor-wire fence). The thieves moved several trucks, including a Western Star rig, to get to the team's truck and trailer unit. This was parked hard up against the building and was completely hidden from the road by four other trucks. The truck and trailer had to be connected, the truck hot-wired and a shift ramp made to get the rig out.
Security sources said the robbery had to have taken place in that two-hour window as the area was checked every two hours.
The rig had everything in it. In the trailer was the race car, tyre trolley with all the mounted slicks and wets (12 plus what's on the car) and also the tool trolley. The trolley also held spare brakes, four shocks, sway bars and mounts, radios and a laptop. In the truck was a set of panels, two brand new front splitters, engine, gearbox, diff, front and rear springs and a six-by-three meter Ezy-up tent.
The 11m trailer is unique as it was imported from the States. When combined with the truck, it's over 17 metres long, the same as a semi. Estimated cost of the theft is between $280,000 and $300,000."
At the Taupo round earlier this year, the Hydraulink Racing Team had their weekend' preparations disrupted by a burglary. Aside from tools, specific V8 race parts were stolen in the early morning raid.
With losses amounting to many thousands of dollars, team manager Greg Bellingham says it was a very carefully planned operation, "They would have gotten away with more if the vicar from the church next door hadn't seen them.
"He described them all wearing balaclavas, but they took off before he could get their car registration."
The thieves appear to be very selective. Thieves would usually take both radiators, in this case they took the new model. The same with the brake pads - they fished through and took the Endless brand front ones - they knew what they were doing.
Another victim has been young North Shore driver Haydn Mackenzie, who had his transporter broken into when it was parked outside the Tracer team's workshop in Manukau City. key items stolen include front brake parts, a wheel alignment machine, a corner weight machine, a gearbox, springs, shocks and tools.
And this followed a similar theft from another of the Tracer team trucks just before the Taupo round of the championship. Up to six V8 teams have now had equipment, parts and tools stolen.
"The parts being stolen are specialist parts used for motorsport competition, and the thieves are taking just what they want and leaving other parts and equipment behind," says Haydn's father Andrew Mackenzie.
"I would urge all teams to be extremely careful about the security of their workshops and transporters, and to report any suspicious offers of parts at cheap prices."
