The event began in festival style today with the pit lane open to the public and the starting drivers making their way to the track to take their positions. Every man and his dog was out surrounding the teams and soaking up the electric atmosphere. Bands rolled on to the track and it was a very special occasion. The parade slowly got dispursed after about half an hour and the engines started to fire up. All people were removed from the track and the pace car moved off with the lead group behind. Ten minutes later the top vehicles were flying past the pits in excess of 200kph lead by the Ford GT40 and followed closely by the Manthey Racing porsche’s. The scream engines and air displacement from so many speeding vehicles was amazing and as they sped past the crowd erupted with noise. The Kiwi Team pits were all standing watching Timmy Martin lead the team off in the Audi RS4, and further down the track Brian McGovern and Dean Cockerton were easing the 2 Honda Civics in to the long event.
The opening moments
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