Nick Cassidy, the very talented 17-year-old New Zealander, scored a win in round three of the New Zealand Racing Series at Taupo, New Zealand, on Jan 29, 2012 – and therefore takes his points lead into round 4 at Hampton Downs next weekend. Here, in conversation with The Flying Lap’s Peter Windsor, Nick talks about his relatively tough weekend in Taupo, the ins and outs of the Toyota car set-up – and the return of Mitch Evans to the series.
Josh Hill, talented grandson of Graham and son of Damon, is currently in New Zealand, driving for ETEC Motorsport in the Toyota Racing Series – an ultra-competitive, five-circuit, 15-race championship for 215bhp single-seaters. Josh won the opening race, at Teretonga, on the South Island, and talks to us on January 24, 2012, just prior to the third round, at Taupo, where the drivers will be competing for the Denny Hulme Trophy.
17-year-old New Zealander, Nick Cassidy, is leading the ultra-competitive NZ Toyota Racing Series after the first two rounds at Teretonga and Timaru. Another very talented Kiwi destined for stardom, Nick spoke to us from his home in Auckland on Jan 25, 2012, prior to round three of the series in Taupo this weekend.
Longford was one of those circuits – very fast, very spectacular…and very dangerous. There’s a jocular feel to this video from the 1964 Tasman race, but that’s how they were back then. It hides the tragedy of Timmy Mayer’s practice accident in the second Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd Cooper-Climax. Tim was pushing hard in the afternoon session, enjoying himself in the beautiful little car that his brother, Teddy, had helped to produce. He took off over one of the many bumps on the street circuit – nothing new there – but his landing on this occasion was skewed. The car spun into one of the trees you can see early in the first lap here, on the straight leading up to the tight right-hander, Pub Corner. Tim – a wonderfully fast driver who had made his name in a rapid Lotus 23 against the likes of Graham Hill – was killed instantly. That was on the Friday. On Saturday there was a motor race….
New WilliamsF1 signing, Bruno Senna, is very much his own man and in my view a driver well capable of winning races with the right car. As a reminder of his cool, calm approach, here is a clip from the interview we did with him last September on The Flying Lap.
I had a lot of fun yesterday, talking to Rubens Barrichello on The Flying Lap – and these were two of the highlights. At the top of the show I asked Rubens about 2012 – about the current situation at Williams and his mindset right now. Ruben’s positive nature and zest for the racing life continues to amaze. Then, a bit later, the subject inevitably turned to Michael Schumacher. Rubens corrected me when I suggested he’d given the “win” to Michael in Austria, 2002, and so I re-worded my comments to say “he’d let Michael finish first”. The winner’s trophy, of course, went to Rubens. We talked about Indy the same year – Rubens said he and Michael had never spoken about the finish that day – and then we spoke about Hungary, 2010, when Michael had almost forced Rubens into the pit wall…
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