Pitstop: Halliday races round the globe

Aucklander Matt Halliday, who begins New Zealand's campaign in the A1GP series this weekend, will be racing on three continents in three different types of car over the next three weeks.

Halliday will be hoping to repeat his podium finish in the first A1GP race at Brands Hatch last season when Black Beauty takes to the track for the first time this season at Zandvoort in Holland.

The weekend after, Halliday will be driving a Ford Performance Racing Supercar in the Bathurst 1000 in Australia, and on October 21-2 he will contest two rounds of the Asian Renault V6 series at Zhuhai in China.

Unhappy Dutch fans offered refunds

Dutch fans disappointed that their hero Jos Verstappen has failed to reach agreement on terms for the A1GP races at Zandvoort have been offered refunds in advance of the season-opener. More than 100,000 tickets had been sold.

Father and son team in silver fern

Blair Robson, national rally champion in 1974 and 1978, will have son Patrick as co-driver when the first Silver Fern Rally roars into life at the top of the South Island next Saturday. They will pilot a new Ford Escort RS with a 1700cc steel block BDA engine on the week-long marathon.

Loeb out with broken arm

New Zealand rally enthusiasts will be wishing world champion Sebastien Loeb a speedy - but not too speedy - recovery from the broken arm keeping him out of the Turkish round of the championship on October 13-15. Loeb, who has been dominant in the series this season, may be at the wheel of his Citroen again to clinch the title at the November 17-19 Rally New Zealand.

Bumper season ahead for Huntly

Tiger Woods is missing this time but Huntly Speedway is set for a boom season. Entries are up 40 per cent, guaranteeing near-capacity fields in most classes.

Cunningham brothers stick together

Former world kart champion Wade Cunningham is in France this weekend supporting younger brother Mitchell's assault on the same title at the Circuit Gabriel Thirouin at Angerville, south of Paris. Wade won his title in Italy in 2003 before moving to the US and winning the Indy Pro motor-racing championship in 2005.

Kiwi BMW duo race in Shanghai

Back in China this weekend, this time at the Shanghai International Circuit, are New Zealand's two Formula BMW Asia contestants, Earl Bamber and Dominic Storey.