Posted: 15 April 2012

Please find attached photos from the Mangawhai Round - If you wish to view more photos from Mangawhai or the 1st Round at Manukau - go to www.hardout.co.nz

click on images to enlarge

Posted: 15 April 2012

Massive grids for Leader Products Class Three

The most hotly contested class of the day was Leader Products class three for Super 1600 cars, where the entry hit 14, though the start grids lost Richard Crabb when the Albany racer was unable to get his new engine sorted on the dyno in time for the weekend. Like Tony McCall, Crabb ended up pit crew for his son who was racing in KiwiTrucks.

The class was looking set to be a walkover for Pukekohe’s Nick Hall after he took two wins in a row and the track became fast and grippy. Lee Bailey lost a wheel, Ernie Hogg was slowed in the first heat in his Southern Cross when he found the conditions made the car understeer in the corners, and Devlin Hill’s new American car did not finish a race all day.

Then in the third heat, Hall spun his US-built single-seater on the infield hairpin, losing a place; he got back on the track but on the next (white flag) lap he suffered a flat left rear tyre and was forced to limp the car around a whole lap to make sure of a finish, ending up fourth. A charging Steven Stokes won that heat and then hammered home the advantage in the rain-swept final heat, winning after a race-long battle with Hall. Ernie Hogg had recovered his form in the second and third heats, leading the second until bested by a flying Nick Hall and taking fifth in the third race, but he suffered a flat tyre and did not finish the final heat.

The points tally in Leader Products class three went in Hall’s favour with 64 for the weekend ahead of Stokes on 56 and James Buchanan on 54

Posted: 11 April 2012

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Posted: 11 April 2012

Well, another National Round has been and gone - below is a very brief rundown of the weekend.

I will provide an update once the results are made public.

The 2nd Round of the Nationals were held last weekend at Mangawhai.

On Saturday there was to be 3 x short course sprint races (6 laps of 1.1kms) for each class and on Sunday there was to be an all-in short course 160km (40 laps x 4kms) enduro race.

After some race preparation on car 310 on the Thursday night and Friday morning the car was loaded and ready to go by 10.30am on Friday.

Scrutineering was to be held later that day from 3.00pm to 6.00pm.

As Ernie’s dad, Peter Hogg was on his way from Levin to Mangawhai with a contingent of cars from the Palmerston North Club including his own Class 3 buggy, a Class 8 truck belonging to Martin van der Wal and a Class 4 truck belonging to Rowdy we decided to meet them at the BP Silverdale service station and escort them to Mangawhai.

Leaving BP, we introduced our southern friends to the joys of Easter traffic and a 1’15" minute trip turned into a 2’ hour slog up the motorway and through and beyond the tunnel.

Arriving at the track we unloaded the car and proceeded through scrutineering - there were a few minor issues that needed to be dealt with and we were all go.

We decided to leave the car and trailer at the track, so set it up and secured the gazebo and left for home.

The southern boys all had local accommodation arranged so they returned to their abodes after all successfully getting through scrutineering.

Leaving Albany at 7.00am on the Saturday we arrived back at the track, unloaded all the tools etc and tidied up the minor issues from scrutineering the day prior.

We attended drivers briefing, checked out the grid positions and returned to get ready for the first race.

It was great to see that well over 50 cars were entered for the weekend overall.

There were 15 cars in our Class and my first race was off Grid 6, which because they were starting 5 wide, meant I was the inside car on the second row.

We had one look and see lap - it was very wet and muddy - we got back and gridded up.

The race started, and we were off, I pushed to the inside and was 3rd round the first hairpin, it was very, very, very wet and muddy and there were some incredible holes.

I followed James Buchanan into one of these holes and he almost barrel rolled out of it, and then I hit and almost followed suit.

The track was very slow as a result of the conditions, but I was going pretty well despite this when on the 3rd lap, I hit the main jump on the start / finish line so hard that when I landed I snapped the left rear axle and limped to the side of the track.

It was game over for the day as I had not brought any spare axles to the track.

On closer inspection at the pits, we also discovered that we had destroyed the brake line as well to the left rear wheel.

We loaded up the gear and car ready to leave and then we decided to spend the rest of the day supporting some of the other cars and watching the other classes.

The track took its toll on many cars, and there were broken cars everywhere, there were rollovers and there were abandoned cars in the mud - it was an absolute shame as it could have been so much better had it not been so wet.

The southern boys all fared well, with Martin taking 3 wins from 3 races to end the day leading Class 8.

We decided once racing was finished to go home and repair the damage, so we left for Mikes workshop back in Albany.

We got to the workshop, removed & replaced the axle, removed & installed a rebuilt CV (as the existing one had been damaged) and replaced the brake line - it was midnight once we had loaded up the car ready to go again for the next day.

Off home for a shower and some sleep.

Back up at 5.00am, I took the car down to the other workshop and fuelled the race car up on Avgas and we left Albany at 7.00am.

We had to stop in on Martin van der Wals truck on the way to the track so that Mike could do a tig repair on a broken exhaust mount in Martins truck.

Tig repair completed, we carried onto the track and unloaded the car and setup the gazebo, tools etc ready for the day’s racing.

We attended the sprint qualifying for the grid position for the "all in" enduro and disappointingly qualified very badly in 25th position (chose the wrong line through the swamp and got bogged down in 2nd gear) with Dad in a far more respectable 14th position.

Went to drivers briefing and Mike decided he would co-drive so after the drivers briefing we were back in the car heading out to the grid setup.

Once in the correct position we had a look and see lap of the course - unlike the sprint course, the balance of the enduro course looked fast with only a couple of wet boggy areas to negotiate.

We returned to the starting grid area in our position.

After a small delay, the race started and we were underway - again got a great start and within half a lap we’d made up a dozen spots.

The course was awesome apart from where we used the sprint track which was just a bog hole - everywhere else on the course you could chose your line - in the bog there were really only two lines available.

We settled into the race and pushed the car hard - after a few laps we lost the power steering and it was just a muscle fest after that as I muscled the car around the course with no finesse whatsoever.

We passed the 20 lap mark (halfway) which seemed like an eternity.

The steering was so hard that we managed to work and loosen the bolts securing the steering wheel to the steering boss - we pulled over to the side of the track and Mike re-tightened the bolts.

Underway again we pushed as hard as we could with the steering - after a while we saw the "7 laps to go" sign.

Knowing there was only a few laps to go, we pushed a bit harder, while all the time the steering wheel was again becoming looser and looser.

With 4 laps to go the steering wheel finally let go and we ended up in the gorse bushes.

I got out of the car and Mike found the missing bolts between the seats and re-bolted the wheel to the boss.

I jumped back in, we got ourselves belted in and rejoined the race - ending that lap we came through the white flag and had one lap to go.

One final lap to go and we careered around the track for the last time.

Upon coming down the hill to the finish line we noticed a red flag and a car upside down on the finish line and unfortunately the race was finished under the red flag.

There was some confusion with the red flag and the chequered flag been flown by separate people as to what was happening but in the end, everybody got through and completed the race.

We have no idea where we finished but we were passed 3 times by Tony McCall and lost about 4 laps with running repairs to the steering wheel, so guess we could have completed 33 laps out of 40 laps which we guess, easily puts us in the top half of the field overall for the enduro.

Overall it was a great day - most unfortunate that the swampy bogs claimed so many victims but I guess that is offroading but more likened to winch challenge events.

That was the last race for us in Car 310 - we have decided not to race again but instead concentrate our efforts on the new Class 1 car and hopefully get it ready for Woodhill.

Posted: 6 April 2012

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Posted: 6 April 2012

Firstly we would like to announce two new sponsors to the WRT family of sponsors:-

Odyssey Batteries - www.odysseybatteries.co.nz - Contact - John Wightman

WRT will be running the awesome Odyssey "Extreme Racing 30" battery in the new Class 1 Scorpion (34AH @ 20hr rate, 925 Pulse Amps, 450CCA, Extreme Application AGM Battery) - see the website for further details.

Powerhouse Ltd - Commercial Structural Steel Manufacturing & Installation - Contact Roy Baddiley (021 955 697)

Specialises in the manufacture and installation of commercial and industrial structural steel works.

Thank you again for the new sponsors - their logos and links will be up on the team website shortly.

Posted: 6 April 2012

The 2nd Round of the National Champs is to be held over the Easter Weekend at Mangawhai (Molesworth Rd).

Record entries are expected, and if the 1st Round was anything to go by, there will be some very close racing and great action.

Details as follows:-

Friday Scrutineering at the Track 3.00pm till 6.00pm

Saturday Class Sprint Races 11.00am till 3.00pm

Sunday Enduro Race Time Trials Starts 9.30am

All In Enduro Race (150km) Starts 11.30am

Prizegiving - Club Mangawhai (next to Golf Course) Starts 7pm

Further details can be found at www.aucklandoffroadracing.co.nz or www.oranz.co.nz

Posted: 6 April 2012

WRT will again be entering the Class 3 race car for the Easter round.

We will be busy preparing the car for Easter this week.

Rather than basing ourselves in Mangawhai for the weekend, we will be travelling from Albany each day.

Being so close to Auckland, this is a great opportunity for those that have not been to an offroad race event to go along and watch the racing.

This is a spectator friendly course for both the Sprint Races on Saturday and the Enduro on Sunday.

It would be awesome to see you there if you are able to make it.

If you want to know what the weather is doing on the day - give us a call on my mobile as we’ll be at the track early each day - my mobile is 021 515 854.

We look forward to seeing you there hopefully.

Posted: 20 March 2012

More photos from the 1st Round at Manukau below

click on images to enlarge

Posted: 16 March 2012

Well, WRT’s debut National Round has been and gone.

As the Class 1 car is still awaiting a gearbox from the States and is still a couple of months away, WRT decided at the last minute to enter the Class 3 car - No 310.

Although the entry fee was paid a week prior, the final decision to enter was only made on the Friday before the race.

We also decided that since it was a short course event, that we’d keep the car as light as possible, so for the first time we were going to race one up in the car and Mike would sit it out for the days racing.

There was a last minute run around on Friday to pick up a new helmet visor and pick up the new 6 x 3m ezyup.

An early morning 7.30am start on Saturday saw me load the car onto the trailer and head round to Mikes workshop for some race preparation.

Wasn’t a great start when the trolley jack wouldn’t work - so an hour later the trolley jack was fixed and we were ready to go again.

Starting from the front and working back, we jacked the front up and greased the front end.

Also adjusted the king pin tolerances and reset.

Noticed the dust light wasn’t working, and found the bulb broken and on removal of the bulb we must have shorted the circuit and the daylights also stopped working, tracked the problem back to a blown fuse which we replaced.

Checked the horn and found that it wasn’t working, had power to it so we needed to replace it, so another horn was found in Mikes workshop and the old one was removed and replaced with a new one.

Checked all the fluids and topped up where necessary.

Went to start the car to take it for a brake test and found the fuel pump wasn’t working - finally tracked this back to a blown fuse as well, so decided to replace all the fuses in the fuse box.

Car started and we took it for a road test and then loaded it and all the gear onto the trailer - was 2.30pm!

Needed a few other things, so dumped the race car outside the house and went and collected some race gas (av gas) from my workshop, picked up some air filter oil, and tried looking for a "for sale" sign to stick on the car without success.

Kim and I then headed across to scrutineering at 5.00pm.

Caught up with my Dad & Bubs at scrutineering who’d brought his recently purchased Class 3 car up from Levin the day before and had been hanging around scrutineering all afternoon looking at all the cars and catching up with people.

I unloaded the car, went through the brake test no problems, dropped the car off for the scrutineer and went and registered.

Scrutineering was no problem and I loaded the car back onto the trailer.

Decided we’d all go out for dinner - so did so and we headed home about 10.30pm.

Got home, and backed the trailer into the driveway and still had a few things to do.

I removed air filters and sprayed them, let them sit and fitted them.

Then added 10 litres of race gas to the tank.

Felt like there was some rain around so chucked a tarpaulin over the car.

I then replaced the visor on my helmet and drilled and installed the tear off posts and fitted the tear offs.

Filled the chilly bin with beers and water and loaded everything into the car and trailer - then went to bed - it was 1.00am!!

Woke up at 5.30am and got ready to go - was pouring with rain - left home at 6.15am to meet Dad & Bubs at 7.00am so that we could get to the venue when the gates opened at 7.30am and get a good spot.

Arrived at Colin Dale Motorsport Park at 7.30am and the rain had stopped - great!!

Found a park, set the ezyup up, unloaded the car, unloaded the tools and spare tyres, set the chairs out - we were ready to go.

Decided to walk the track with the guys who came up from Palmy - was wet and greasy!

Decided then to walk around the pits and see some of the many new cars that had turned up - was a great turnout and officially 59 cars had entered on the day with 13 cars in Class 3.

Drivers briefing held at 9.30am and was completed quickly and efficiently.

The rain was still holding off!!

Race 1 was up, so jumped in the car and gridded up at the back of field and made our way out onto the track.

Race started and it was all on - the track was very wet and very slippery and we made our way around only to find the race was stopped and had to be restarted - apparently almost everybody jumped the start!

Second time round, we were off again, I began to realise very quickly that the cars with the paddock / hand cuts tyres definitely had more traction and at that stage I decided that we needed to get purpose paddock tyres for the Class 1.

Given the conditions, I also couldn’t believe how much quicker the car was with only 1 person in it - definitely for short course racing it is an advantage - for enduros it would not be so at all, but for short course acceleration and braking it was a definite advantage.

Back to the race, it was very slippery and the steering brakes were used to keep the nose on the tyres on the corners, it was over as quickly as it had started and I had made up a few places from my grid position and finished 8th with Dad right behind me in 9th.

Jumped out of the car quickly to watch the Class 1 race which was straight after ours.

They found it just as slippery with Clive Thornton spinning out twice, but the stand out car was Malcolm Langley, and Tony McCall certainly had the foot down.

After the race finished, it was back to the car to get it ready for the next race - clean the numbers, remove the clumpy bits of dirt, check the car over, get the belts ready, put new tearoffs onto the helmet, dropped some more fuel in the tank, reset the tell tales on the coilovers, shocks and bump stops and it was ready to go.

Race 2 was up, jumped in the car and gridded, this time I was in the front half of the field and out onto the start line.

Race started and I got off to a flyer and was 1st into the second corner, managed to hold onto this position till the last corner of the race when Nick Hall passed me on the outside and took 1st place - bugger - made mental note to ensure Class 1 car has good rear view mirrors! Dad finished in 8th place.

Back into the pits and followed the same routine.

Race 3 was up, gridded up this time in middle of field and out on start line. Had a bit of trouble seeing the start lights so jumped the start a little but held it back (with a few others), starter went through the sequence again and we were off again.

Track was beginning to become very tacky and traction was beginning to improve and track was becoming familiar so was beginning to feel comfortable and I managed to find the best lines finally, race was soon over and I finished in 5th with Dad behind me in 6th.

Dad was having an absolute ball out there racing and he was wrapped in his car being the second time only he had raced it.

The feature race was next, and they were combining Class 1 and Class 3 together with Class 3 off the front with the Class 1 behind.

It began to rain!

We gridded up and went out onto the track and the rain never let up - we started the race and it was an absolute mess keeping the cars pointed in the right direction, there was plenty of contact due to the conditions and on the 2nd lap I was contacted heavily and ended up puncturing my left rear tyre and in one lap I went from 5th to 15th as I found it almost impossible to get any drive from one tyre and the two right hand corners on the track were impossible to get round with drive coming from the inside tyre only.

Visibility was also an issue due to the conditions and I drove most of the race with my visor up.

I ended up just circulating for points and I finished 2 laps down and in 12th place overall but 5th in Class 3 - so overall not so bad.

After coming off the track, I completed a quick eye wash and then we packed the whole shebang up and loaded it all back into trailer.

After half an hour, we were all loaded and ready to leave, and after some goodbyes to Dad & Bubs we departed the venue.

Overall it was a great days racing, it was great to race in such a competitive field and it was great to race against my Dad, and apart from the slippery and wet conditions it was an awesome days racing.

Definitely bring on Round 2 !!!!!!!!!

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Posted: 14 March 2012

Over 20 years ago Ernie "Big Fella" Hogg raced against his father Peter "Hoggie" Hogg in stockcars at the Palmerston North Speedway and history repeated itself last weekend during Round 1 of the ORANZ Nationals held in Manukau when both Ernie Hogg (Car 310) and Peter Hogg (Car 323) entered their Class 3 offroaders.

It was Peter who introduced Ernie to the sport of offroad racing at last year’s National Round hosted by Peter’s club at Palmerston North - the rest is history as they say and it’s all Peters fault!!

The Hogg family over the generations have been very much a "petrolhead" family with Ernie’s grandfather (also Ernie Hogg) and father Peter, and also brother Mike having competed in all manner of different motorsports including unlimited hydroplane racing, A grade stockcars, standard stockcars, offroad trials, motocross etc all at various levels from the top down.

Peter has recently stepped up from his Class 5 offroader that he raced for several seasons and purchased the ex William van der Wal single seat Toyota 4AGE powered Class 3 offroader.

Since the purchase Peter has been busy upgrading the rear suspension amongst a few other things and managed to have one club outing at his home track for the Palmerston North Offroad Racing Club prior to travelling from Levin to Auckland to race last weekend.

The days racing for the 2st Round consisted of 3 x 5 lap sprint races and 1 x 15 lap feature race. The races were held over a 1.1km farm circuit with two jumps.

The track started off slippery after rain from the previous night, and settled down during the day as the rain stayed away, with the track becoming more tacky as the day wore on, apart from the last race when the skies opened again and turned the feature race into an absolute mud bath.

In all 4 races Peter was allocated a grid position on the start line slightly ahead (between 1 and 4 positions) of Ernie in a field that started the day with 16 or so Class 3 offroaders.

Ernie was able in each race to pass by Peter as they both raced for positions but then both cars then remained in touch visually with each other for the majority of each race apart from the last race when Ernie received a puncture on his left rear tyre early in the race.

The last race was very much a lottery as the wet conditions spread the field out as a result of spins, loss of traction, resultant contact between cars as the cars struggled with the handling in the slippery mud.

Final results for Ernie and Peter in the overall field are unknown at this stage as we await the results to be published but it was pleasing that both cars were able to complete each race and were competitive.

We can say though that the top 3 class positions for the day in Class 3 were 1st Nick Hall, 2nd Steven Stokes and 3rd Jay Murray.

Peter was absolutely stoked with his car in all aspects and he finished and returned each time to the pits with his customary smile a mile wide - Ernie was equally happy that he got the car through the day and was competitive with the top half of the field and would have been more so if he had some "paddock / hand cut tyres" to run on the car.

It has to be said that the nostalgia of the event for both of them racing together was pretty cool and it meant a lot to both Peter and Ernie that they could both rub wheels together and compete against each other in such an awesome event and Ernie only hopes that when he too is 65 years old like the old man, that he is still living and enjoying life as much as his dad does.

Bring on the 2nd Round!!

Posted: 14 March 2012

If you are looking for photos from any of the major "Offroading Races" around - there are none better than from local photographer "Craig Dawson"

Craig was at Round 1 of the 2012 ORANZ Nationals at Colin Dale Park in Manukau over the weekend and took close to 500 photos

His photos are available for viewing and purchase on www.hardout.co.nz

Instructions to view photos:-

1. Go to www.hardout.co.nz

2. Hover mouse over "Craig Dawson" and click on "Craigs Photo Links"

3. Click on "All Craigs Albums" at bottom of page

4. Click on "ORANZ Round 1 2012"

Posted: 7 March 2012

WRT still busying themselves in the new car - progress from last weekend:-

1. Old fuel tank cap and filler removed from side of car

2. Old fuel tank fill socket in tank removed and blanked off

3. New fuel tank fill socked added to top of existing tank

4. "Jaz" tank cap and filler added to drivers side panel

5. New aluminium side panels made to driver and navigator sides

6. All old brackets removed from engine bay

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Posted: 28 February 2012

WRT require a “custom” quality auto electrician to wire out the new Class 1 Scorpion

Please call Ernie Hogg on 021 515 854 if you can recommend anybody.

Posted: 28 February 2012

1. CNC floor mounted pedal box remounted as top mounted pedal box on lightweight custom made corten steel bracket.

2. CNC throttle pedal mounted to floor.

3. Aluminium chequer plate floor installed.

4. Custom aluminium panels manufactured to front of cockpit area.

5. Polystyrene dash mould manufactured for new carbon kevlar dash to be made.

6. Polystyrene / MDF bonnet mould manufactured for new carbon kevlar bonnet to be made.

7. New angled support struts added to support front of roll cage.

8. Seats lowered by 75mm and shifted back 50mm

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Posted: 25 January 2012

Work is underway on the Class 1 car – the car is the process of being stripped down and the following has been removed - body panels, belly pan, bonnet, roof, seats and seatbelts, fuel tank, dash board including all gauges, day and dust lights, wheels

We have also fabricated a trolley that enables us to lift the car onto it and give 25mm wheel clearance, where we can take the wheels off and the trolley gives us the ability to move it around the workshop and spin it through 360 degrees.

Next to go is the:- front a arm suspension and shocks, rear shocks, power steering, CNC pedal box, CNC steering brakes

First bit of fabrication is an angle brace to roof of roll cage (see photos) and lower and move back seat mounts.

Keep posted.

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Posted: 22 January 2012

WRT finally took delivery of the Class 1 Scorpion on Friday 20th January.

After a short delivery trip it arrived at the premises of Phoenix Engineering / Renegade Customs where the fabrication work will be completed.

After removing the body panels, the car was photographed and then placed in the workshop.

Follow the website and monitor the progress over the next 7 weeks to see if we can make it to the start line for Round 1 of the Nationals.

Call Ernie 021 515854 if you want to stop by and check out the progress in person

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Posted: 20 January 2012

The WRT Car 310 is now for sale – initially the car was going to be purchased by a member of WRT in-house but a change in circumstances has unfortunately resulted in the car being up for sale again.

It is a shame that this car will leave the WRT stable as we have invested a whole heap of time and money in the car – but unfortunately it has to make way for the new Class 1 car!

If you’re looking for one of the quickest and reliable two seater Class 3 cars in NZ then check it out on the following:-

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/specialist-cars/competition-cars/auction-440772052.htm