Pitstop: 1990s F1 car in action

Kiwi racer Kenny Smith. Photo / Michael Craig

Evergreen Kiwi racer Kenny Smith will be in command and control of the Adrian Newey-designed Leyton House March Formula One car from the 1990s at the Gulf Oil Howden Ganley Formula 5000 Festival later this month.

Spanish ace at Ruapuna

Former Spanish national motorcycle champion David Vazquez will be taking on allcomers at the opening round of the New Zealand Supersport Championship this weekend at Ruapuna. He will pilot a Yamaha YZF-R6 prepared by the Dr Du Little Race Team out of Christchurch.

Renee takes V8 wheel

Nineteen-year-old Renee Gracie will be the first female racer to contest the V8 Supercars Dunlop Series in 14 years. The young Aussie will race for Paul Morris Motorsports in a FG Falcon after two seasons in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia.

Setback for Honda

Honda's return to Formula One as an engine supplier has run into its first roadblock. The McLaren engine supplier has been told its powerplant has to be homologated by February 2015, unlike Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault who had a year to develop their engines during the 2014 season.

Under the hood

It could only happen in the world of Formula One. The blue riband of motor racing is losing teams hand over fist due to the extraordinary cost of going racing, so decided to have a discussion about introducing even more engine changes.

That's right, a working group has come up with the idea to increase power output to 745kW (1000bhp). The idea is to make the cars more challenging to drive and more attractive to fans. A better idea to get more fans to watch would be to reintroduce passing into the sport.