Bathurst in the Park goes off with a roar!
New Zealand’s own Bathurst in the Park roared its way to success with V8 fans and petrol heads making their way to Pukekohe Raceway on Sunday, in support of the Kids in Cars charity.
From 9:00am until 4:00pm there were varied kinds of racing action, including muscle cars, race cars and V8 Supercars on offer for hot laps. I was even lucky enough to sneak a front seat ride in one of the Holden V8 Super Utes, which drifted around corners leaving clouds of smoke in its wake.
Over lunch spectators were given a spectacular show with the Hulme CanAm Supercar taking two lucky punters for the rides of their lives around the track. This was accompanied by the stunt Utes drifting around each other, speeding Suzuki swifts and V8 Holden’s competing in speed heats diving in and out of cones.
One of the drivers of the Holden’s was ‘Racing’ Ray Williams, a popular driver with the public as he tended to break the speed limit when taking them for rides. I kept this in mind when jumping into the front seat of his power-horse of a car, but was both relieved and nervous when he showed his 35years of experience and began to take me through the step by step instructions of controlling the beast, whilst hitting 250kmph!
While some were experiencing adrenaline pumping rides around the track, others were entertained by the live feed from the actual Bathurst 1000 in Australia, V8 simulators, food stalls and carnival rides for the kids. Then there were those that just sat in the sun and enjoyed the gorgeous weather that the week had been lacking.
It is also fantastic that all the proceeds raised from this Kids in Cars event are being donated to the Kidz First Children’s Hospital to help fund new paediatric equipment.
If you missed out on this extremely fun-filled day this weekend, don’t fret! The boys and their toys will be back again on January 16th 2010 to raise more funds for Camp Quality and I will definitely see you there.
By Kelly Bowen.
