It was a really tough weekend for the whole team at Manfeild this weekend for the third and final round of the Mahindra North Island Endurance series. We had the race win in our sights but they were crushed along with the Super Ute as it rolled over in the short Friday practice.
The ute was a weapon throughout the day on Friday, keeping up with V8 utes and NZV8s and turning people’s heads and overtaking others by surprise. We had worked non-stop to fine tune our suspension and brakes after the previous round and once again improved immensely. Late in the afternoon one of the other SsangYong Dealer Team test drivers took to the wheel and was on the last lap of the session when braking into turn one the rear brakes locked. With the wet and slippery grass off track he then became a passenger. The Super Ute slid from side to side hitting the gravel trap sideways which caused it to roll. The Driver crawled out to safety and is fine.
We worked late into the night Friday fixing panels, replacing windscreens and making sure everything was safe to race the next day.
Parts were driven all the way from Taupo so we could get the Super Ute racing fit. The SsangYong Dealer Team did a fantastic job to pull together and scrape through qualifying and make the grid for the start of the 3 hour race.
Halfway through the race, and winning our class, the engine had had enough and blew off a radiator hose. As we lost water and the engine over heated we were forced to park on the infield. Unfortunately unable to fix the ute we were classed as non-finishers.
A massive thanks to Deon Cooper and the SsangYong Dealer Team, Mark Petch, Auckland Performance Tuning, Greg Helleur and Randell and Tim Edgell from Edgell Performance for their hard work to make the Super Ute the Weapon it is!
As disappointed as our overall result is for all the hard work put in, the SsangYong Dealer Team and I are looking forward to shaking up the South Island! Times like these only make the win so much sweeter.