KEY POINTS:
Two-time defending NZV8 champion, John McIntyre, is leaving the safety of his tin-top race car and going naked for the first time in his career.
McIntyre is going to try his hand at racing an open-wheeler at the A1GP meeting at Taupo this weekend.
It should be interesting,
as drivers tend to manhandle and muscle the big taxis around a track, whereas the paper darts of the Toyota Racing Series need a little more finesse.
But McIntyre prides himself on a smooth driving style, so we'll just have to wait and see.
He will also be the oldest rookie on the grid, which can either be a good or bad thing.
"I was described recently on the TV as a V8 veteran, as the kids also testing on the day were 15 or 16 and half my age, so I suppose I'm a rookie veteran," laughed McIntyre.
It's all well and good being able to handle a V8 but what about the sleek and svelte-like TRS car?
"It was awesome. It's a whole new perspective on driving," said McIntyre. "The track looks different. You can see all the kerbs and apexes. Since you're sitting in the middle of the car you get a much more balanced view of the track.
"You feel all the bumps unlike in a V8 where you know they're there but they don't really affect the car as much as a single-seater."
The new recruit to the TRS class managed to complete 60-odd laps on his practice day with only one spin, and in a bit of an eye-opener, managed the fastest lap of the day.
"I'm not joshing you, I managed to beat all those young kids. It got even more interesting especially when they all put new tyres on and we stayed on our old ones and were still fastest. We had a four-second-a-lap improvement from the first session to the last one."
McIntyre was mixing it with four international drivers, out here for the international mini series within the main TRS series, in a rookie test session around Ruapuna. One thing he did discover, was just how physically demanding driving a TRS car is and how different the skill sets required are from a V8.
"They're a very unforgiving car to drive, whereas the V8 is forgiving. You drift a V8 nearly all the time but there's almost zero drift in these cars [TRS]. When I spun all I did was run a little wide on to a kerb with the rear wheel, which is normal fare in a V8, and it skipped a bit so I put a bit of opposite lock on but it spat me all the way around like a top.
"I couldn't believe how physically different they are to drive. My calf muscles are still way tight as we speak and my neck muscles are a little stiff. You're sitting flat on the floor and a whole bunch of different muscles are used. I've still got the bruises from how tight the cockpit is," said McIntyre.
By the sound of excitement in his voice as he talks about his first outing in a single-seater, at the end of the weekend we might be talking about McIntyre as the defending NZV8 champion and current TRS pilot.
