September 01, 2017 - TKR Pre-season testing

Thomas and Grandad Barney drove to Hampton Downs on Friday morning to undertake some pre-season testing in the BMW Mini. There were a number of things tested, including different profile tyres to alter the gearing of the car and to improve lap times. After a successful day, and a new personal best around the Hampton Downs circuit, Thomas returned to New Plymouth on Friday night. The season starts at the end of September at Hampton Downs, so the team and TKR is full of optimism of a good season.

September 24, 2017 - KartSport Taranaki Round 2 Winter Series

R2 of the Winter Series was held at a wet and dry KartSport Taranaki. After a tentative start, Thomas went on to win four of the five races, with a braking mistake causing him to hand a race win away in H5. A trying day with the setup of the kart, but good speed in the drying conditions.

September 30 / 1 October, 2017 - Icebreaker Meeting Hampton Downs Motorsport Park

The first event of the 2017/18 BMW Race Driver Series was finally here. Thomas was excited about getting started after some pre-season testing which yielded some extra car speed. The weather was good and Thomas managed to put the TKR Mini on P9 in qualifying. A great effort, considering the quality of the 22-strong field. The first race was a good showing, with the TKR Mini ending the race in 9th position. Pretty happy with the day’s accomplishments, the team shot down the road to the Rangiriri Tavern for a good old fashioned kiwi meal….and the pub did not disappoint!

A good sleep and a refreshed team arrived early at Hampton Downs to a wet day. After all the prep was done for the day, Thomas discovered he had been given P14 and a 25s handicap for the two Sunday races. Scotty Balsom (TKR Head Mechanic) and I had a discussion about the car setup and made some changes, based around the heavy weather. Thomas wanted to go out and prove a point…..and that he did! He started the race and absolutely carved the field up, hitting the lead after 4 laps and then driving off to build a margin of 18s over 2nd place and scoring his first Touring Car win! This was an awesome result for Thomas and TKR.

So, Race 3 was looking like another good result, but the rain had eased a fair bit. Lining up again from P14 brought a great 8 lap race, with Thomas again dominating the field until the very last straight. Peter Ball had managed to get enough traction with the drying track to catch and pass Thomas with about 100m to spare! Still, a 1st and a 2nd wasn’t a bad way to spend the day! Very happy with the performance of the car and Thomas did an exceptional job behind the wheel in very tough conditions. Thanks to all those who support Thomas, TKR and the team. Here’s a link to the race on You Tube….

October 23 to 25, 2017 - Ginetta G40 Junior Scholarship, Blyton Park, Lincolnshire, England

Following making some valuable connections with motorsport royalty when in the USA, the team was made aware of a unique driving scholarship which was held each year in the UK. Thomas was strongly encouraged to enter the Ginetta G40 Junior Scholarship, the top prize being a fully funded drive in a Ginetta G40 race car in the 2018 Ginetta Junior Championship. The class is aimed specifically at 14 to 17 year old drivers wanting to make the transition from karts to cars. Once entered, the team was to travel to the UK on 18 October to contest the scholarship. Thomas undertook an intensive physical and media-based training programme to prepare for what lay ahead of him. Once in the UK, after a horrendous 27hr journey, we crashed the night in Harpenden with family (thanks Kirsty and Tim!). The next morning, we collected the motorhome and then travelled to collect Jessica from her school in Essex, travelling to Lincolnshire the very next morning. After a long drive, we arrived at Blyton Park Driving Centre on Sunday afternoon, and watched some of the public having a track day around the circuit. We camped in the motorhome at the track in preparation for the Monday evaluation day. Thomas and Robert didn’t get much sleep in anticipation of what was to come. Thomas faced up to the evaluation day like a professional, tackling the difficult physical challenge with vigour and scoring 16/20, pretty good compared to others. Next up was the evaluation runs in the G40 racecars with the instructors. Thomas completed a couple of familiarisation laps before pushing the car. By the end of the two sessions, he was banging out very respectable lap times, only 1/10th or so off the fastest, who had been testing in the cars at this track prior. There were 33 entrants on his day, and he was second fastest. Then he approached the media interview panel, who grilled him on his career aspirations etc. He aced this, scoring 20/20 and really impressing the judges, who were from ITV4 and other motorsport commentary backgrounds. At the final announcement session, Thomas was named in the top 12 to progress to the Finals day on Wednesday 25! Outstanding, we were all very impressed. After a day off to try and recouperate, we were ready for Finals day.

Wednesday rolled around quickly and another early start to the day. Thomas was itching to get on board the G40 and drive to impress. Drive and impress he did, setting fastest times by up to 1.5s per lap, even faster than the 2017 G40 Champion, who was on track as well. The professional teams were monitoring his lap times and telling us great things about his performance. He did have a slight half-spin in a car which was (watching all who drove it) a real handful and very unsettled. Thomas was disappointed to have been given this car, because when he got back in a well set-up car, he was back on form again straight away. The only driver who came close to him on track was a French driver and a Spaniard, who had been doing some factory team testing prior to this event. He then went into the media room for another intensive interview session, blowing the judges away with his level of maturity for his age. Time had come to announce the top 12 from both evaluation days. Expecting to get to the next stage, we were absolutely shell-shocked when his name was not called out. In fact, not one foreign driver made it to the top 12 stage, which was a little frustrating? Thomas’s dream had come to an end. He was very professional about it all, until we got to the motorhome, where the disappointment was very evident. Of all the motorsport events we had attended, it was abundantly clear Thomas wanted this one the most. We could not understand why he could score so well in every area, be fastest on track and still be overlooked. Very deflated we returned to London and dropped Jessica off to her school and arranged to fly back to NZ. A very long flight and plenty of time to try and digest what had gone wrong. Once we got back to NZ, we requested feedback from the scholarship to work out how to improve for the future, but really got nothing that explained the rationale behind the decision?

We have a number of people who supported and helped prepare Thomas for this experience:

Phil Quninney of Harcourts Taranaki

Roger Tonkin, bloody good guy and very helpful with the media preparation side of things

Gary O’Keeffe, also helped prepare Thomas for the media interviews, thanks Gary

Louise, Simon, Thomas and Jessica Jansen for seeing us off and welcoming us home in person...his own little fan club! You guys are awesome!

They say what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, so if this is true, Thomas will smash the next opportunity like this that comes along!

November 4, 2017 - Youth Ministock City of New Plymouth Classic, Stratford International Speedway

Following a big trip to the UK, Thomas was keen to get some good results at Stratford for his first hit-out of the season. We were unable to attend the practice meetings so had to be happy with what we got. The track was pretty good and in H1 managed to get to P2 behind a very fast Will Hart. He started P15 for H2 and was going awesome until a rookie driver was smashed into and in turn put Thomas up the wall damaging the car too much to be repaired. It seems like we can’t get a break at present! Thanks to Collingwood Traffic Management and all our supporters.

November 11, 2017 - Youth Ministock Club meeting, Stratford International Speedway

Last week was a bit frustrating, as the Collingwood Traffic Management Ministock showed great pace but a driver who should have known better put an end to our great campaign. This week was about getting back to where we know we are, pace-wise. Thomas came out firing, starting from P5, he managed to get up to P2. An average restart meant he had to settle for P2 when he could have won the race. Thomas was fastest on track which was great. H2 was a start from P15 and great race pace again, bringing the car to P2 again and fastest car on track. H3 was also a good run, although a setup change meant he could only advance from P16 to P6. Thanks to Collingwood Traffic Management, Grandad Barney, Motorsport Import Co. Ltd and all our supporters.

November 18 / 19, 2017 - Round 3 BMW Race Driver Series, Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupo

After missing Rd 2 of the series, due to the UK adventure, Thomas was itching to get behind the wheel of the TKR machine! With a lack of trailers to get the cars to the track causing some angst, the team finally arrived late in Taupo on Friday night. Thomas and Grandad Barney had travelled earlier in the day to test the #321 car, which was very pleasing. After a long night by Scott Balsom and Robert, the cars were ready to run. Thomas went out in qualifying on a dry track and put the Mini in P13. The first race of the weekend was held and Thomas got a blistering start off the line, passing 5 cars into turn 1. As the race settled in, the faster cars slowly caught and passed him, leaving Thomas in 12th at the tape. A good result, but the cars he was battling made the lap times look poor, 1s a lap slower. A good sleep on Saturday was had and a refreshed team arrived early to the track to a wet day. Thomas was given P15 and a 40s handicap for the two Sunday races. Feeling optimistic after the Hampton Downs result in the wet, we were hoping for more of the same? He started the race and again carved the field up, hitting the lead after 3 laps and then driving off to build a margin of 30s over 2nd place! Another outstanding result for Thomas and TKR.

Race 3 was looking like another good result, but it was like Hampton Downs “Groundhog Day” as the rain has eased a fair bit. Lining up again from P15 brought an exciting 8 lap race, with Thomas again dominating the field until the very last lap. Four “rocketship” BMW’s had managed to get enough traction with the drying track to catch and pass Thomas , leaving him in 5th place across the line. Very happy with the performance of the car, Thomas did an exceptional job behind the wheel in changeable and tough conditions. Thanks to all those who support Thomas, TKR and the team. The next meeting is planned for February 2018, but there will be other meetings which we are looking into.

November 27, 2017 - KartSport Taranaki Club Champs

Thomas hasn’t been in the kart since September. The day was hot and dry, so Thomas was hopeful for a good day. He started well and won all 5 heat races, claiming the Club Championships for the 5th time from 5 attempts, across 3 classes. It was a very pleasing day, and Thomas drove really well. He bettered his PB by 3/10ths of a second, which was also very pleasing.

December 26, 2017 - Youth Ministock Club meeting, Stratford International Speedway

After what seemed like an eternity since racing the Collingwood Traffic Management ministock, the Boxing Day meeting rolled around. After some really good preparation the whole night turned out to be a disaster, with heavy rain ruining the night’s racing. Such a disappointment to have had to wait so long between meetings, and then take the car home clean! Next event is 13 January!

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March 25 and 26, 2017 - Legends of Speed Meeting, Hampton Downs Motorsport Park

This meeting was the final round of the BMW Race Driver Series, of which we missed the first three meetings due to issues with engine modifications required by MSNZ. Despite this, after only completing two rounds of the series so far, Thomas was actually sitting in 24th spot out of 37 cars. This also meant he was 3rd in the group of cars who had only completed two rounds of the series which is impressive. We were keen to benchmark how far Thomas had come since his first meeting at Hampton Downs in December. No testing was possible on Friday due to other commitments, so it was straight into race day on Saturday morning. The car looked quick and Thomas seemed to have it all together. Despite giving away significant horsepower to his competitors, Thomas was able put the BMW Mini on P15, with a 1:23.799 (faster by 8 seconds than the first meeting at Hampton Downs, a great improvement!). The first race was early afternoon in nice warm and dry conditions. It was a good race and he was able to move up two spots to 13th across the line after some committed driving. Happy with the day and no issues with the car, we left the track and were hopeful to receive a good and fair handicap for the two Sunday races. Once again, however, the handicap proved problematic, with Thomas being handicapped 25 seconds on the front cars, with the potential to make up 1s per lap (or 8s in total for the races) meaning he would never catch them! Undeterred, he drove the pants off the car in both races, but couldn’t manage better than 21st place. Frustrated by this, and with no handicap adjustment for Race 3, Thomas battled away, then got caught up in a “fender-bender” which inflicted some cosmetic damage to the LF corner. With a noise coming from the LF wheel, Thomas chose to come into the pits only to find it was a minor bracket touching the tyre. So a DNF (first one!) for R3. The car shows great speed when pushing clear air, but having to deal with traffic means getting gout of the throttle a lot, which he can’t afford to do. Either way, some more valuable learning completed. Thanks to TKR for the race meeting and the effort they go to for us. Special thanks to Grandad Barney and David John, Auto City, Deli NZ, Pure NZ, Collingwood Traffic Management, Motorsport Import Co. Ltd and all our supporters. We are looking forward to the final results being posted and the 1 hr Enduro in May. Plans for 2017/18 are well underway...watch this space!

April 8, 2017 - Youth Ministock City of New Plymouth Classic, Stratford International Speedway

Thomas was keen to get back behind the wheel of the Collingwood Traffic Management Ministock after missing the Taranaki Champs with other racing going on. On the back of two recent race wins and two podiums, we hoped for a good meeting. Race 1 was going fantastic, with Thomas sitting in 2nd behind the rapid Will Hart across the line. However, he was excluded from the final result for the race when it was deemed he caused an incident mid-race. Rather than 0 points, he could have been sent to the rear of field? R2 was a great drive from the very rear of field to 6th place, although some contact caused by others meant another trip to race control. There was no case to answer, but we have suspicion that someone is jealous of his speed and is trying to cause trouble. SNZ have been made aware of this and we await the outcome! R3 was awesome, with another great drive to 2nd. Thomas led a lot of the race, but made a poor restart on one of the red-lights during the race, handing the win to another driver. So, a frustrating night with the officials again, but the car is showing plenty of speed. The old tall poppy syndrome seems alive and well in speedway, just like karting. We’ll keep battling and doing our best, interesting that the rear bumper has lost its paint, not the side rails and front bumper, which you’d expect if there was a lot of contact going on??? Thanks as always to Collingwood Traffic Management and Corson Tyres. Hopefully the officials will not be as influenced by others in the new season.

May 28, 2017 - KartSport Taranaki Round 4 Summer Series

After a break from karting, it was awesome to get Thomas back into the kart for this weekend. The kart was fitted with the ex-Lawson Rotax engine, which hadn’t been turned in anger for a couple of years. Straight out of the box, it was very fast. Thomas won all five races, the GP and set a new Clockwise track record by over 1s as well. The new record is now 27.910s, bringing his haul of track records to four. The engine was sent to Mat at IKS Race Engines to get checked for the next event, the WPKA Goldstar event on 4 June.

June 4, 2017 - Championship Round, 2016/17 Manawatu & TRC Toyota WPKA Goldstar Series - KartSport Manawatu

The team decided to travel to this meeting to have a run against some stiff competition to see whether Thomas could match his previous pace in the kart against his old rivals. The meeting was run in the reverse direction to normal and we had not spent any time working out a decent setup for the old kart. However, Thomas drove well in H1 and was in third spot, when he was crashed into by an over-eager driver trying to pass, so a 14th placing. H2 was also going well, but while sitting in 4th place, Thomas made a mistake and got the LR wheel onto a kerb which turned the kart around, another 14th, bugger! H3 was another great race, with Thomas coming from the mid-pack to end up in 3rd. He was struggling with a lack of rear grip, so after a chat with Darryn McDonnell, we made a change for H4. The change was great, allowing Thomas to find 0.5s and be pretty competitive, ending up 5th from the very rear. The final was a start from the mid pack again. This was a great race except for a rookie causing contact and shuffling Thomas back to 10th, eventually recovering only to 9th. This meant Thomas finished the day in 9th overall. A good race in the GP brought Thomas home in 3rd, and finally a trophy! Thanks to Darryn McDonnell for the help to get Thomas going faster. Special thanks to Grandad Barney and all our supporters.

June 25, 2017 - KartSport Taranaki Annual Enduro Club Day

The KartSport Taranaki Enduro event has always been special to Thomas since he won it for the very first time as a Cadet in 2011. He has won it for 5 times consecutively since then. The weather was very wet for the three heats. Thomas finished 2nd in H1, after a spin mid-race allowed Nathan Cox to get past and win by 29s. Thomas bounced back to win the next two heats, giving him pole position for the 50 Lap Enduro. Thomas led from start to finish, pitting on Lap 29 and winning the race by 2 laps from 2nd. A satisfying day and great to win the Enduro for a sixth time in a row. Thanks as always to Grandad Barney, Donna and all Thomas’s supporters.

July 21, 2017 - Allen Berg Racing Schools High Performance Driver Training, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, USA

The following report by Thomas outlines the highs of a high performance driver training day at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with Allen Berg Racing Schools, facilitated by ex-F1 driver Allen Berg.

“While I was on holiday with my family, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to travel to Laguna Seca with my Dad. It was a long six hour haul to Monterey Bay, travelling there and back overnight. I was fortunate to meet some highly successful drivers, who had impressive backgrounds in motorsport. I felt really humbled that they would share the knowledge they had with me and especially Allen Berg, who was an Ex-Formula One driver. My day started out with an early morning track walk at 6:30AM, however I found it difficult to sleep because of the excitement. The track walk was very interesting and most of the lines were similar to the video simulators I have played. On arriving back to the pits, we were greeted by the 10 Formula Renault cars that were lined up on the pit straight and I couldn't believe I was given car number 9, the race number of my favourite driver ever, Scott Dixon. I then met the team, who was lead by Frosty, the race manager for the day. We got suited up and I was chomping at the bit to get racing. Before doing so, we had to learn about some of the characteristics of the car. We had five race sessions over the day, each race session was separated with an observational run in a minivan. In between sessions four and five we had one-on-one mentoring with, would you believe, another Thomas. We got to study the way that we went around the track and how to improve our lines. I was looking to go into my last session and to nail it and drive the absolute wheels off the car. I was really hoping to impress the whole team, but especially Allen Berg. The last session went amazing as we were the fastest car on the track, also going faster than the mentors that day and my lap times were almost identical!

I have learnt so many new skills from driving a car with a sequential gearbox. I also learnt how to drive an open wheeler and how to deal with aerodynamics aids. I have got so many people to thank, including my Mum, my Dad, my two sisters (Jessica and Hannah, for supporting me to have two days out of our holiday to take up this opportunity).

Highlights of the day were:

New skills behind the wheel of an open wheel racecar

Learning to use a sequential gearbox

Meeting a genuine F1 driver and learning from him

Understanding of the role of Thomas needing to sell himself to potential sponsors/supporters

Racing other experienced drivers and being significantly faster than them

Learning about downforce and aero-related characteristics

Being in an engineer/driver situation and working one-on-one together to maximise performance

High speed driving techniques

Driving on such an iconic race track

Driving a car with number 9 on it

August 20, 2017 - KartSport Taranaki Round 1 Winter Series

After returning from the USA on a high regarding the unique and satisfying experience at the Allen Berg Racing Schools facility at Laguna Seca, it was R1 of the Summer Series time at KartSport Taranaki. After fitting the new bodywork to the kart, Thomas proceeded to win all the races during the day, including the GP. During the day, Thomas broke the existing track record in the Anti-clockwise direction, previously set by Jackson Rooney. This brings the number of track records held to 5, which is a great achievement.

February 11, 2017 - Youth Ministock Club meeting, Stratford International Speedway

Following a great weekend in Taupo, Thomas was keen to get some good results at Stratford. He was determined to drive as good as possible, even with the track surface being very rough. In H1 he battled away and edged out the driver in 2nd place for his first race win on the last two laps!! His first speedway win in effectively his first season, very impressive! He backed this up in H2 with a 3rd place from the very back of the grid, another fantastic display. Happy with two podiums in two races, Thomas then managed a 2nd placing from P18 on the grid which was outstanding. By now the track had really deteriorated and was very rough, but he kept his head down and drove hard. So, three podiums in three races….we couldn’t have hoped for more. Thanks to Grandad Barney, Collingwood Traffic Management, Motorsport Import Co. Ltd and all our supporters.

February 18 and 19, 2017 - Tasman Revival Meeting, Pukekohe Park

Pukekohe was the next round, and was always going to be a tough assignment as it is just a horsepower track…of which the TKR BMW Mini has a minimal amount compared to our competition.

With all the learning and maturity shown to date, Thomas was never going to be an easy-beat and he set about his work just as before. The fast cars dominated qualifying on Saturday 18 February again, but with grit and determination, the TKR Mini was still fast enough to record an 11th place, 6 rows from the front of the grid. With a field of 24 cars, this was an outstanding achievement, and Race 1 brought a 12th place finish which was so much further up the field than we imagined. The handicap races on Sunday did not go to plan, with a jumped start mistake in Race 2 by Thomas handing him a 10s penalty which placed him down the finishing order in 21st spot. This race was also marred by a red flag incident which involved a driver who had criticised Thomas for his driving earlier, so there was some significant irony in the accident they caused! This incident did gave away any advantage he had carved out, allowing the fast guys at the rear to close the gap significantly prior to the restart. Race 3 was also a tough assignment, with the handicap he received being too great to make up enough time on the cars that qualified slower than the Mini. The race ended with a 20th placing and some more valuable experience gained, not to mention the hard task of dealing with this result after such high expectations for a top 15 finish. Once again, the officials and pit controllers came over to say “Well Done”. Happy enough, the team is now focussed on the final BMW Race Driver Series points round at Hampton Downs 25 & 26 March. Special thanks to Grandad Barney and David John, Auto City, Chooks Trailers, Deli NZ, Pure NZ, Collingwood Traffic Management, and all our supporters.

February 25, 2017 - Youth Ministock Club meeting, Stratford International Speedway

After a mixed weekend at Pukekohe, Thomas was hoping for more good results at Stratford. The track was still really rough however. In H1 he battled away only to make a mistake on the last lap and end up 12th. Race 2 was a great comeback drive to secure another speedway race win! However, the track had cut up pretty rough, so the meeting was abandoned for safety reasons. The Collingwood Traffic Management ministock is starting to hum now! Thanks again to all Thomo’s supporters.

February 4 and 5, 2017 - MSNZ Premier Championship Series Meeting, Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupo

Brimming with confidence, attention turned to Taupo Motorsport Park for Round 5 of the BMW Race Driver Series. Having never seen the track before, some pre-event testing was had on Friday before the race meeting. Thomas has always adapted to a new track well in a kart, and the touring car was no exception. Thomas came out firing on Saturday morning during qualifying, using the superior speed of the nimble little Mini through the tight sections of track to gain a lap time advantage over the far more powerful and heavier cars. Thomas did a fantastic job, qualifying the car in 11th (27 car field) and really throwing the cat amongst the pigeons! He then followed up this giant-killing performance with a 10th outright placing in the scratch race. His peers could not believe the speed he had in the Mini on such a technical race track, with many walking away from the TKR pit site shaking their heads in disbelief. One even told Thomas that “we don’t pass on the corners in this class, only the straights!”. None of them expected to see the potent BMW Mini alongside them in the braking area when they thought they had passed him only a moment or so earlier down the straight and despite the reduced horsepower in the BMW Mini.

Sunday was another great day, the first handicap race netting a 20th after some average handicapping. Race 3 was far better, with Thomas really asserting himself and securing a 5th placing after a very spirited drive. The weekend gave him 10th overall, with 17 cars behind him….all with plenty more horsepower. Pukekohe is the next round, this is also the second-to-last round of the series. Once again, a very special thank you to Darren & Sue Mansell (for the loan of your house for the weekend!), Donna and Hannah (great photos Hannah!), Grandad Barney and David John, Auto City, Chooks Trailers, Deli NZ, Pure NZ, Collingwood Traffic Management, and all our usual supporters.