Just how significant the A1GP will be in the history of New Zealand Motorsport will be decided, debated and written about in the future. It is the view of this columnist that this is unquestionably significant. We have been fortunate to witness something very special for the last three years at the A1GP Taupo, single seaters that will be seen as a unique part of our history.
What could be viewed as more significant is the wonderful talent in our country that has driven these amazing machines, yet little has been mentioned in the media. In their defence this series is all about the ‘countries’ and not the drivers.
We have had F1 drivers (Narain Karthikeyan, Robert Doornbos and Alex Yoong), IRL drivers including Tomas Enge and Marco Andretti as well as a mixture of names that we are likely to see on the world stage in the future.
Just as we look back at the 1960s and extol the ‘great’ drivers in the Tasman series, our next generation of avid motorsport fans may say the same when they read about this series.
The cars are fantastic. The current Ferrari powered A1GP car is stunning in the flesh. They are extremely quick, lapping 10 seconds a lap faster than our quickest class, the Toyota Racing Series. It is a truly international event that has put Taupo on the world stage.
This is not a eulogy. We don’t know what the future of the series will be in this country. We do know that this has been a wonderful celebration of modern machinery raced by an elite class of drivers.
