Tyre toasting arena enlarged at Manfeild

PARTICIPANTS in one of the most popular crowd thrills hosted at a big annual celebration of modern car culture at Manfeild are being given more room to play.

The venue’s burn out pad, a polished concrete low-grip surface on which cars are made to lose traction to the point where the driving tyres smoke heavily, has been enlarged.

Organisers of the V 4 And Rotary North Island Jamboree, which returns to the Feilding venue for a ninth consecutive year on March 24-25, have funded the extension and are excited by the potential a bigger arena brings.

“With the area now around 18 metres by 18 metres we can accommodate bigger cars, particularly the large American V8s,” says event director and promoter Azhar Bhamji.

“A bigger area gives the competitors a bit more space so they can move around the track rather than just holding the car in one spot. This year we will also have a ‘tip-in’, so they enter the main area off a driveway then start the full effort.”

The Feilding tradesman who laid the additional concrete is, fittingly enough, a performance car fan and agrees his Mazda RX7, souped up to produce an astounding 420kW, would leave quite a signature in rubber.

Concretepolish.co.nz principal Jeffery Glynn is happy to leave the doughnut action to others, however. He prefers testing his machine in the professionally-overseen roadcar-suited track days occasionally hosted on Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon.

“The car is not really set up for drifting … I like going fast in a straight line.”

Mr Bhamji says the pad takes what would be an anti-social behaviour on the street into a safe and responsible enjoyment zone.

“We’re delighted to do it as a way of giving back to Manfeild but it’s also a proven way to get kids off the street and into a place where they can do this stuff in a safe and responsible manner.”

The enhancement adds more allure to an event whose status within the modified car and drift scene is such that it has grown into a full two-day 9am to 5pm undertaking.

Horsepower-flexing activities that draw thousands of fans include drifting, superlap and powerskid competitions.

There’s also a sound-off to establish car audio bragging rights, cruising sessions and a chrome expression car show within Manfeild Stadium, where traders also show off their fare.

Manfeild chief executive Julie Keane says Jamboree has comfortably achieved national cult status.

“The 4 and Rotary series has become New Zealand’s biggest after-market automotive and lifestyle event and the Manfeild round has historically been extremely well-supported.

“One of the exciting aspects is that it opens our venue to a new audience of considerable size,” she says.

Jamboree attracts large crowds of young, media-savvy, technology competent and brand-conscious big-spending individuals across both sexes.

From Manfeild’s perspective, those people were no less enthusiastic about cars than, say, the crowd that came to the venue’s flagship motor-racing event, the New Zealand Grand Prix.  “They just have a different area of interest.”

Saturday’s programme places primary focus on Chrome Expression sessions, which allow drivers of road-tuned cars to enjoy the circuit.

Sunday is the business end of the weekend with burnout competitions, drifting, Meguiars Show and Shine and the Prowear NZ Superlap Series, a time attack racing event in which competitors chase the fastest timed lap.

Full event details and entry forms can be found on www.4androtary.co.nz

Caption: Jeffery Glynn and his hotted-up Mazda RX7 on the newly-expanded burn out pad at Manfeild.

Back