Ten days after the John McIntyre Racing NZ V8 race car sustained substantial damage at the Timaru round of the NZ V8 series, repairs are progressing at speed in the team’s Hawke’s Bay workshop.
“The team and our suppliers are all doing an amazing job to get the JMR Ford back on track for the fifth round of the series at Manfeild over the weekend of 13 and 14 February,” says two-time NZ V8 champion John McIntyre.
“We are 100% focussed on getting the car right. There is no way this car is being written off,” explains McIntyre from his home in Nelson.
“Certainly the front and the rear of the car were damaged – significantly – but the central core of the car was strong and protected me, as the driver, as it was intended to do. Essentially we were left with two doors and the roof intact as far as exterior panels go, so there’s certainly been a huge amount of work to do.”
McIntyre says that the car is now back at Lodge Auto Centre in Hastings , the car’s home-base, after nearly a week at City Collision Repairs in Napier.
“These guys have the right equipment for a precision job. The JMR Ford has been on the chassis- straightener, primarily as a precaution as the chassis wasn’t damaged, but you need to check every detail. Much of the time at City Collision Repairs has seen the rear and the front sections being ‘stitched’ back on to the car. They’ve gone further than we thought and the car looks like new. They’ve tidied up all the wear and tear, all the stone chips. It looks great and we really appreciate their quick turnaround.”
McIntyre also acknowledges the tremendous service provided by Timaru Motors Ford and Avon City Ford in Christchurch .
“You wouldn’t have believed the service level if you hadn’t experienced it for yourself. Within an hour of JMR submitting our order for replacement Ford parts, both dealerships had the orders made up and on their way to us in Hastings . Being able to source parts so quickly has been critical to getting this job done in time for the next round. I’ve worked with both of these Ford dealerships for many years and their response has been phenomenal.”
At Lodge Auto Centre, the JMR team with Craig Field in charge, first stripped the car of all removable parts before it went to City Collision Repairs, then they’ve gone through all the parts carefully. Many parts have been crack-tested, and now the car’s back, everything’s being re-fitted and tested as much as possible before the only official practice sessions the NZ V8 competitors get on Saturday 13 February.
McIntyre says once the car is restored to race-trim, replacing all the sponsor graphics is the next major task. He feels confident the JMR Ford will be in the best possible condition for racing at Manfeild and would like to express his appreciation to the JMR team, the team’s suppliers and the many supporters who have sent emails and made comments on Facebook.
“Hey, it’s never say die around here and we know we’ll be ready for racing come 13 February, but it’s also very much appreciated to have had so many positive comments about JMR in the past two weeks, so thank you all.”
