KEY POINTS:
The A1GP cars and subsequent races may have pride of place over the weekend but it would pretty boring if that's all the racing fans got to see.
The support races over the two days include V8 Utes, Porsche GT3s and the mighty Muscle Cars.
These bellowing behemoths couldn't be more different from an A1 car if you tried. They are all about brute force and ignorance, coupled with the aerodynamics of a brick. But boy, do they sound good. Listening to seven plus litres of V8 pig iron bellowing its heart out at 6000-odd revs, turns your stomach to jelly and assaults the ears.
After watching the Porsches fizz through the tight section of the Taupo track, a couple of hundredweight of 1970s and 80s buses are truly a sight to be behold. They weave, wobble, twist and slide around like an epileptic pig in a vat of jelly.
Drivers watching their hands go back and forth, back and forth, even down the straight, must be like watching a tennis match.
One of the competitors, Ross Francis, is in a bog-standard-looking 1968 Ford Falcon GT and looked as if he was off down to the dairy for a pint of milk, in a glass bottle I might add.
There's even a rego sticker in the window. However, I think he'll struggle a bit come race day, as he's up against Chevy Camaros, Holden Torana AX9s, Mustangs and the like, including a Mercedes 560 SEC.
These things go like a bat out of hell down the long back straight at Taupo but they don't half tie themselves in knots going into the Chase at the end. Should make for a great spectacle.
