The last couple of times I’ve been on track have been in Eevees MX5 at the MX5 club fest and Ruapuna multisprint. Both times Benny, a friend and owner of Garage 5, has suggested I should get myself into the upcoming MX5 south island series.
Well I’ve only gone and done!
Super excited to be taking on the MX5 Heritage Cup 2025 four round series in a leased car from Garage 5.
I’m so excited to be back in a race situation in such fun cars, to be racing against friends, but also to get to tackle a couple tracks I’ve never done before!
I’ve raced at all the north island tracks but never been to Teretonga or Levels. I can’t wait to check them out. Even Ruapuna I’ve only done track days at not a proper side by side race.
Knowing Eevees car and having heard so many stories from the past season and MX5 seasons in the north island I had certain expectations about how close the racing was. You expect it in a one make series where the cars are so equal that it can be difficult to overtake, that can bring out the “rubbings racing” in people. So when, a week out from the first round, I finally got the chance to take a proper look at the car I was going to be driving I was a bit taken by surprise.
This thing is so mint.
Garage 5 #43 is perfectly straight with an immaculate paint job. Crap I can’t be banging doors in this. Hell I don’t want to put even a tiny scratch on it. Maybe there won’t be any bump drafting after all.
Story is it’s a new build Benny has put together. It has done only one previous round and a few track days that’s it. Benny’s got another blue car he’ll be driving (for the rounds he can attend) so this one was available for me to lease. How cool!
I was at Garage 5 for a seat fit and final checks before shipping the car down to Invercargill. Benny was a legend as always, so patient with me trying out all different seats and positions before fitting everything and even changing the steering wheel to one more my liking.
Fair to say I was now even more excited to be going racing.
Off to Invercargill. Eevee and I flew in for the round like rockstars, meeting our cars at the track as they came off the car transporter.
It was a track I’d never driven before. It was a car I’d never driven before as I’d got myself organized too late to do any track days at Ruapuna. And yet I was quick to come to grips with it all.
The week leading up to round 1 I had been watching Deans efforts at Teretonga the previous year and had looked up other Teretonga onboards on youtube. Not only that but I found a mod for the Teretonga track in Assetto Corsa and an MX5 car to tackle it with. Bashing out laps in the sim was an awesome way to learn the basics of the track. By the time I rolled out on the real thing on Friday I already felt comfortable with the layout, now it was just a matter of dialling in specific lines and braking points.
The vibes in the paddock were top tier. There were only 6 MX5s entered for the round so we were all close across the weekend. Sharing equipment, sharing driving tips, sharing lunch. It was such a lovely bunch.
Deans car arrived later in the day before Dean himself was there, he was only flying in Friday night to attack the race weekend with no practice, and everyone was happy to help get his car off the trailer and into the paddock alongside the rest of us. When we couldn’t start it to actually do that we happily chucked some of our own fuel in to get it moving.
You wont get a better group to go racing with. It was like one big race team that only became fierce rivals while in the car, then were a big family again as soon as we got back to the pits.
Friday practice was so much fun. Getting back in a race car and bringing myself back up to speed and getting up to speed at a high commitment track was an absolute joy.
The first session of the day I was figuring it out. I knew from watching videos and racing in the sim that turn one was high speed, high commitment on entry. So right off the bat I sent it in there. What a thrill! I felt like a super star late braker toying with the limits at that corner. The rest of the track wasn’t so easy were I was happy to be committed but didn’t have the technique quite figured out.
So session one I was happy with how much the sim had helped but still very much green. In the second session I felt comfortable and was pushing hard and impressing the others but clearly still had time available if I could figure it out. By the third session it really felt like I was going for it. I was ten odd car length behind Mike and Eevee up the road and could see I was slowly catching them. Perfect! So far those two were looking like bench marks.
I didn’t get my own lap timing going, having difficulty downloading anything with the terrible reception at the track, but the times for the last couple sessions were available on speedhive.
After the final practice sessions we got into the lap times on speedhive. And I was slower than the other two? How can that be when I could see I was catching them. Certainly I’d made mistakes and missed gears a couple times but overall I was sure I was catching. It didn’t make sense to me and had me doubting my view on what had happened in that session. The official timing system gives very precise times measuring when the timing device on your car crosses the line. There’s no way it could be wrong yet you can’t catch up to someone while being slower.
I went to bed literally not believing the times. Confident I had the car speed to make for a competitive race. This was going to be fun.
At documentation on Friday we got a goodie bag. The official program was fancy as and got me all excited to see my name in it.
We also learned that for the races, due to only have 6 entries for the round, the MX5s would be on the back of the grid with the Club Saloons. We were racing against Porsches! amongst a real mix of different cars that were all expected to be faster than the MX5s. Seriously take a look at the program pic above that lists the cars it was bonkers.
Leading up to this first round and over the course of the practice day I had come to learn something of the legend of Dean. Dean was one of the MX5 entries who had raced last year. He wasn’t doing the Friday practice but his reputation would have everyone still expecting him to rock up Saturday and qualify pole. And I had watched his onboard from the year before, the man went from last to first in one lap! Crazy good.
In qualifying I went for it. Putting all Fridays learnings into practice.
So stoked to qualify P2! Starting on the front row baby.
Race one I had a moment at the exit of turn 1 on the second lap but it was nothing compared to the moment that happened behind me. As I went wide I had Mikes voice in my head from the previous day saying how you can run wide at turn one and use all the run off and even the grass and still keep your foot up it. So I did and held my breath.
I had a bit of a moment having to catch the car. As I quickly checked my mirrors I learned Eevee and Mike in behind were following me wide and Mike had more than just a bit of a moment.
Ending up way off track stuck in the gravel we all got treated to a safety car as he was pulled out.
After a couple laps of safety car Dean got a much better start than me and with only a couple laps left I didn’t have a chance to chase him down.
So I finished second! Epic result. And Dean didn’t pull away anything crazy so there was potential to fight again in the coming races. Albeit a short race I was still hugely buzzing after being back in the thick of some racing action for the first time in years.
Onto Sundays action with race two of the weekend. For race 2 I again get to start second (we ended up starting all races in qualifying order), this time with confidence I could take the fight to Dean in a race situation. It was also clear that cutting through the slower club saloons was critical for keeping up on lap one. So the mission was clear.
But boy did I make it hard getting a bad start.
A few laps in with Dean running away I had one eye on Eevee and Mike in the mirrors. Out of the final turn I missed the shift from 2nd to 3rd. Like really missed, tried a few times before I had success. That is a very slow way to exit a corner. Crap Eevee could easily pass me now and Mike would likely follow him through. I hugged the inside line down the straight hoping I might fight Mike into turn one. But to my surprise Eevee instead went for the bump draft! Haha that was awesome. We had been joking about doing it overnight and now first time out he’d made it happen. We shared some good laughs after the race about but for now not only was that hella fun it let me keep the position (Eevee thinking it might help him keep Mike behind).
I regathered my pace and pulled back away to finish with another second place! A near escape and awesome result. Stoked.
Race 3 my start again left me plenty of work to do. Eevee got past immediately and I had Mike all over me. Picking your lines within the frantic first lap with slow club saloons around is so critical. Coming into the last corner I chose the outisde, Mike trying it on down the inside getting partially alongside. I knew he was coming and went to brake as late as possible, thinking ahead to carrying speed around the outside and onto the straight. But I broke too late and went rallying.
I was so so mad at myself. Throwing away another chance to race at the front with the same mistake I’d already made the day before in practice. Dumb. But having been out here before I knew I was safe to carry on over the grass and get myself back on track. And having been on the outside I hadn’t made contact with anyone as I headed off. Time to attack the recovery and worry about emotions after the race.
I rejoined racing Mick for last/6th. He had been off the pace all weekend so heading into turn one on the outside I still fancied my chances. But boy was he committed on entry, braking later than even I dared on the outside. I was impressed. So he had the spot but by mid corner he was backed off and I was already angling for the inside on exit where I did claim the spot.
I had the pace to pick off Callum after that. I kept pushing and could see I was catching Mike but there wasn’t enough laps left. I finished in 4th after the 5 laps as we again got lapped by the silly quick club saloon things. Eevee had a mega race catching up to and putting pressure on Dean to finish second.
Kicking myself for that mistake but also not too worried with the car still straight and running beautifully.
For the final race we were again back to our qualifying positions for the grid. But the twist for this one is it would be a rolling start, and 8 laps instead of 6 (so that’s 7 laps for us given we got lapped every race). An exciting change that meant I wouldn’t have to worry about my crap grid starts. Let’s go!
Because it was a rolling start and we had the club saloon grid all ahead of us naturally I was still in the last corner as it went green. Dean got away beautifully so I was back to playing catch up off the start.
I was super committed though. After three days of racing I was confident in the car and knew I had it in me to take on Dean for a race win. Into turn one Dean made it past the club saloon back marker and I wasn’t going to let there be a car between us. So around the outside I sent it deep and heard the squealing of the tyres as I kept within touching distance of Dean.
It was an almighty battle. I chased Dean. I overtook Dean. I was leading the race! This is epic. I was defending with everything I had, holding the inside line and not giving any space for a dive. Right at the end I got a scruffy exit after defending into the final corner and that’s all it took. Dean got a run and pulled off the move into the first corner. I was back in second throwing everything at it to try come up with a passing option. But there was nothing doing. I got a nice exit from the last corner the last time around and started pulling up alongside Dean but the line come up all too fast. One more lap I might have had him! Dang those club saloon rocket ships.
Well that was exciting. Quite disappointing to not pull off the win but boy what a great race. Dean got the clean sweep winning everything but he’s not untouchable. I was determined that round 2 I’d get one back.
Shortly after the races the car transporter arrived. It was a bit of a thrill driving over the ramps between trailers, and then nervous moments reversing back closer to the edge. Again feeling like rock stars as we let others take care of getting our cars where they needed to go.
Couldn’t be much prouder of my first effort in the MX5 Heritage Cup. My first time at the track and I was already taking the fight to last years top contender. That’s bloody awesome. And the atmosphere at the track and between the MX5 drivers was absolutely the best. Such a fun weekend. I can’t wait for Timaru and the rest of the season.
