Photo: John McIntyreCastrol is raising the stakes in New Zealand motor racing with an additional offer to the winner of this year’s Castrol Suzuki Swift scholarship.
The scholarship is already one of the most desirable in New Zealand circuit racing with its offer of a season racing in the Suzuki Swift Championship and has brought to light a string of fast race drivers in its three year history.
Now, Castrol has spiced up the challenge with the offer of an extra enticement: a chance to ride with multiple champion Johnny McIntyre in the Castrol EDGE backed JMR Ford Falcon NZV8 Touring Car.
The offers the winning driver a mentoring programme and a rare chance to experience V8 Touring Car performance first-hand.
Announcing the programme during judging of the 2010 scholarship at Ruapuna race track near Christchurch, Castrol’s Marketing Manager, Jayne McEwan said competition for the prized Suzuki swift drive grew tougher every year.
“This programme is our way of acknowledging the winner and giving them an additional helping hand. Many drivers now look to the Castrol-supported Swift Championship for its close racing and well managed format. This additional offer gives racers an idea of what it is like to take the next step into a NZV8 drive. The rest is up to them!”
Along with the full Castrol Suzuki Swift Scholarship package at a value of more than $50,000, the 2010 scholarship winner will receive
• Up to 15 minutes per race meeting with Johnny McIntyre to talk through the circuit, race tactics or anything else required
• A 20 lap NZV8 test at the end of the season at Taupo Motorsport Park. Time and date to be agreed but likely to take place at the end of April-May
• Personal tuition from Johnny McIntyre for this test.
The test will start with a series of laps sitting alongside Johnny McIntyre in his NZV8, followed by five laps driving with Johnny McIntyre in the passenger’s seat. The next part of the test will be a stop to debrief and examine vehicle data from the laps completed.
The winner will then be given three five-lap stints in the car on their own, pitting at the end of each set of five to examine data and discuss with the pit crew and Johnny McIntyre.
“This is a serious opportunity for an aspiring touring car racer: they not only win a sponsored drive in the most competitive and successful one-make championship in New Zealand, they also get unprecedented access to one of the best NZV8s and also to the car’s driver.”
McIntyre says the offer is “sensational”.
“Getting started in motorsport is hard, that’s well known. Few young competitors receive much in the way of mentoring, but with this offer Castrol is giving one racer an incredible opportunity and I suspect a real eye-opening experience,” he said.
Castrol scholarship backs rising race talent
For Castrol, the Suzuki Swift Scholarship represents a chance to give New Zealand’s rising race talent a helping hand.
The support offered and the testing sessions that decide who will receive the scholarship award each year help young racers focus on their dreams, and give them valuable lessons in racecraft, media awareness, race fitness and mental conditioning that will stand them in good stead wherever their careers take them.
At stake is a whole-season racing package that is worth up to $50,000 – including the use of a Castrol-branded scholarship race car. All cars in the series are prepared identically, meaning the emphasis is strongly on driver ability and the racing is close and often spectacular.
The arrival of the Swifts in the top tier of New Zealand’s summer motorsport season is proof positive that the category is doing what was intended, and that the scholarship has added a valuable dimension to the series.
Year after year, each winner of the scholarship has gone on to demonstrate their potential on the track and off, with podium positions, race wins and often a series title their reward.
Inaugural scholarship winner and two-time champion Cody McMaster, Ben Dallas and Matt Gibson are testimony to the quality of the scholarship selection process, and each will readily say they are the better for having had the Castrol-backed step up into such a close-fought championship.
Castrol’s Jayne McEwan says the company is “very pleased” to continue its close association with New Zealand’s most successful one-make race series.
“The Suzuki Swift Sport Championship – and the integral scholarship supported by Castrol – are an important addition to New Zealand motorsport. They give young racers a chance to show their abilities in a close, exciting, hard fought and cost effective category,” she says.
