From the rack to the track

Three class A contenders battling spray as they complete the first lap of the gruelling nine-hour production car race at Pukekohe in 1967. Photo / Supplied

In an age when purpose-built 485kW V8 supercars draw crowds to racetracks, it's almost impossible to imagine a race for standard showroom sedans capturing the public imagination.

Nowadays, how many people would queue to see a battle among bog standard Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon V8s, Toyota Camry and Nissan Maxima V6s, Toyota Corollas and Mazda 323s, Kia Picantos and Suzuki Altos?

Yet through the 1960s and into the 1970s a long-distance race for standard road cars drew thousands to the Pukekohe racetrack, south of Auckland.

The Wills Six-Hour saloon car race - later the Benson and Hedges 500 - became the second most important New Zealand motor race, after the Grand Prix.

It had the status in New Zealand that Bathurst had in Australia, and winning it was big news for carmakers and racing drivers.

Winning drivers became household names, and for car companies a win on Saturday could mean sales on Monday.

In the great tradition of long-distance racing, the Wills brought together cars of vastly different performance: Humble and slow Volkswagen Beetles and Fiat Bambinas shared track space with powerful thoroughbred Mark II Jaguars, Alfa Romeos and Lotus Cortinas.

Jaguar's lithe Mark II sports saloon dominated the early races, winning the inaugural event in 1963 and again in 1964 and 1966.

An unlikely race car won in 1967, a luxury Mark 4 Ford Zodiac V6 driven by Timaru father and son Ernie and Gary Sprague.

The Mark 4 was a great whale of an American-style sedan, and on the racetrack it leant at crazy angles in the corners; but it was fast and powerful and it prevailed.

That was the last Wills Six Hour race; the following year rival tobacco brand Benson & Hedges took over sponsorship.

It was also the beginning of a remarkable domination of the event by Timaru drivers.

They were a tight-knit group that included the Sprague family and the man who became synonymous with the B&H 500, Leo Leonard.

Leonard shared the winning car five years running, from 1968 to 1972. The first two wins were in 3.3-litre Vauxhall Victors, the next three in Chrysler Valiants - twice in V8-powered sedans, once in the two-door Charger Coupe.

It was the first of the Charger's remarkable seven successive B&H wins. Leonard shared the winning car twice more, in 1975 and 1977. Another Timaru pairing, Jimmy Little and Graeme Richardt, won in 1976.

Pukekohe is demanding for drivers and cars, and the long-distance races used the arguably even more demanding original track layout that included a loop towards Manukau Rd.

Cars would thunder down the hill, then brake to almost a standstill for the impossibly tight acute-angled elbow left-hander that led into the Loop. Mark 4 Ford Cortinas would axle tramp spectacularly under braking there, Fiat 1500 Crusaders would lift the inside rear wheel as they rounded the corner, Mark 4 Zodiacs would almost scrape their door handles on the road.

The straight from the Loop up to Railway Corner was lined on one side by an open drain and on the other by 44-gallon drums.

It wasn't the safest place, Pukekohe. There were no safety barriers, just white-painted plank fences. Nor was there much safety gear in the cars, bar seatbelts and the drivers' helmets.

Not all the endurance races were riveting. By its nature long distance racing can have long boring passages, but the Pukekohe enduros enthralled the public, drivers and manufacturers.

They were a test of everyday cars performing in a far from everyday environment, a test of driving skill, strategy and car preparation. They were true classics.