The New Zealand motorsport calendar's largest annual entry card is expected at Pukekohe Park Raceway this weekend for the annual 'Thunder in the Park' spectacular, and one machine that epitomises the high horsepower event is the Chesters Plumbing & Bathrooms Holden V8 Supercar.
Owned and piloted by Nick Chester, the VZ Commodore started its life as a Team Dynamik project for the V8 Supercar Championship, but the intrusion of the credit crunch meant the build was shelved before it was ever able to hit the track.
That is, until Chester and his team got their hands on it and began a heavy modification programme that has resulted in a 760hp machine capable of setting low 54-second lap times around Pukekohe reaching speeds close to 300km/h.
The build took much inspiration from current GT and Endurance race cars in Europe, with parts fitted from modern GT1 Lamborghinis and Porsche RSRs, with a view of taking the modern V8 Supercar platform and taking full advantage of the relaxed rules in the GT1 category to tailor a package that handled and stopped just as well as it went in a straight line!
The Thunder in the Park won't be Chester's first visit to Pukekohe this season. At the recent Tier One event in early November the Supercar demolished the Sports GT field with a clean sweep of all three races.
In the weeks since, the current European GT3 spec Michelin front tyres were fitted to the car with new Ohlins TTX shocks, leading to even further domination of the GT1 races at Hampton Downs and providing a tantalising prospect for what lies ahead for the Thunder in the Park meet this weekend.
Chester himself is no stranger to piloting high horsepower machines at breakneck speeds, having successfully campaigned a monstrous Mitsubishi Evo 2 in the now defunct Super GT class, winning the outright 2005/06 Championship prior to the purchase of the current Supercar. But there is no doubt that with the reputation the V8 is gaining in Australasian motorsport circles, this is Chester's swansong.
Nevertheless, he has some stiff competition in the Greenslade's Furniture Store Tauranga GT1 & GT2 Series, with a number of other V8 Supercars and fire-breathing Tranzams all out to take the challenge to the uber-supercar.
Given the number of recent additional modifications however, it would be tough to bet against Chester at Pukekohe this weekend.
The Thunder in the Park event is also a chance for the diverse IRC classes to head into the Christmas break with the upper hand in their respective championships.
Be it the mighty Central Muscle Cars, nimble Formula Firsts and NZ Sports Cars, or races within races in the Mazda Pro 7s, SS2000, NZ Six, Pre 65, Mini Challenge and Bridgestone Porsche racing, there's something for everyone this weekend at a Pukekohe Park circuit that never fails to put on a show.
The Pukekohe round is the fourth of a seven round calendar for the 2011/12 IRC Series, which travels from Manfeild to Taupo, and up to Pukekohe and Hampton Downs.
The action kicks off at 09:00am each day; each class with a qualifying session and one race on Saturday, and two races on Sunday. Tickets are $20 and children under 14 are free.
