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Team Kiwi boss David John is adamant they will have a car ready for the sixth round of the V8 Supercar championship in Darwin later this month.
Team Kiwi Racing lost their battle to convert a car for this weekend's round at Eastern Creek, Sydney. John said there was not enough time to get the leased car ready for yesterday afternoon's scrutineering, estimating 240 hours and $40,000 of work needed to be completed in 36 hours.
The decision not to send Pukekohe mechanic David Mills to Sydney with two mechanical and electrical engineers to help to prepare the car was made late on Thursday. John said they would accept whatever fine was levied by the board of the Touring Car Entrants Group of Australia.
"The only way they could have made it to the grid was to lease a race-ready Holden. We have a contract to race a Ford and that's what we will stick to - even though it is going to cost us a fine of up to $150,000."
Prodigy Motorsport, with the support of Mills and his team, have informed Team Kiwi they can provide a BF Falcon in time for Darwin.
Anyone who has either been a competitor or a team owner in motorsport knows it's expensive. If a team doesn't have a global sponsor with bottomless pockets, they're going to struggle.
Team Kiwi are no different from many of the other Supercar V8 teams with their constant struggle to fund each round, which can cost up to $500,000.
Previous driver Jason Richards, now with Tasman Motorsport, can sympathise with the plight of John, and Team Kiwi Racing - he drove for the team for two seasons. Richards remembers it as a challenge and recalls how occasionally money was tight.
"At the end of my time with David and TKR, however, I had received every cent owing to me," said Richards.
John is flying to Sydney tomorrow to meet V8 Supercar Australia officials and Prodigy about future plans and attend the Eastern Creek round.
Team Kiwi, which had a $500,000 car written off when Paul Radisich crashed during last year's Bathurst 1000, struck more problems this week when Ford Performance Racing cancelled their engineering contract because of a dispute over money.
John hoped there would be progress on that stand-off next week but in the meantime reaffirmed his desire to keep the team operational.
"It's not about selling out, we've got goals and aspirations and dreams we still want to achieve," John told Radio Sport.
"We've been punched, we've been pushed over - but we've just got back up.
"We have to focus on making sure it's [Team Kiwi] there at the end of the year."
John has four candidates to drive the car, although he would not reveal their identities as they are tied to rival organisations.
"They're contracted to other teams and before we make a choice we want to put a car in front of them," he said.
Two Australians and two New Zealanders were in contention for the drive in the Northern Territory, though before a decision was made the sport's governing body needed to be satisfied they had sufficient race experience.
- Additional reporting NZPA
