The 2024/25 Formula Open New Zealand season roared to life with the Ice Breaker meeting over the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of September at Hampton Downs.
While numbers in the season-opener are traditionally lower, the GVI.Kiwi-sponsored triple-header saw none other than the legendary Kenny Smith return to the grid.
Smith has contested select FONZ rounds in the ex-Marcus Armstrong Auckland Toyota-sponsored FT50 TRS car. However, this time out, he was in his pride and joy: the 1990 NZIGP-winning Swift DB4 Formula Atlantic.
The three-time New Zealand Grand Prix winner bought this car in December 1989 to contest the Peter Jackson International series and campaigned it until the end of the Atlantics in 1993.
Apart from the odd outing in the late 90’s, it was dismantled and has sat in Ken’s shed for many years. After a three-year restoration and a couple of false starts, it finally hit the track for the first time in over 25 years. And what a return it was.
Smith, now 83, is competing in his 66th continuous year of racing. To emphasise that he has lost nothing in speed, he was quick out of the box and went fourth fastest in qualifying.
Kaleb Ngatoa joined Smith in the small but quality field and put the 1989 & 1991 NZIGP-winning Swift DB4 on the pole with a blistering 1:02.298, one second clear of reigning series champion Toby Mc Cormack, now in the ex-Marcus Armstrong Tatuus FT50. Ethan Sillay was a whisker behind in the very quick Reynard RF92H. Smith was fourth, two-tenths ahead of Gary Rush in the Hydraulink-sponsored Swift DB4.
Two new additions to the Jim Palmer Cup group, Reagan Edwards and James Corban, were within half a second of Smith and Rush for sixth and seventh. They were followed by Bryan Hartley (Swift DB4), Paul Couper (Tatuus FT40), and James Harriman in his dad’s FT50.
Smith showed he had lost none of his speed or cunningness when he drove around the outside of Toby McCormack and Ethan Sillay and nearly got Ngatoa in the process in Race 1. He instead decided discretion was the better part of valour and slot in behind the young pro driver from Marton. Smith harassed Ngatoa early in the 12-lapper, but the Canadian Airlines-sponsored Swift slowly started to pull away from Smith, whose Ford BDA in the back of his car was not quite strong enough at this early stage of the season.
Mid-race, Toby Mc Cormack pulled off a brilliant inside pass on Smith into turn one to take second.
In the pack, Rush was fending off a determined Corban and Edwards, who were scrapping furiously in their FT40s. Hartley was behind, dealing with a new high-powered Toyota 4AGE that constantly overpowered the four meeting old Avon slicks. Unfortunately, it all came to a sticky end when Hartley lost control coming out of the Tradezone Sweeper and collected the inside concrete wall.
On Lap 9, the last lap board was shown, as the marshall had been given a timing sheet that said the FONZ race was only 10 laps, not 12.
Ngatoa saw this and decided to see if he could do a minute flat. As he came up the hill on the tenth lap, he uncharacteristically kept his head down to minimise the drag. He crossed the line thinking he had won and cruised back to the pits two laps too early. This left McCormack to take the overall win, with Smith second and Rush third.
Corban was the first in the Jim Palmer Cup for FT40s, McCormack in the Graeme Lawrence Cup, and Smith in the David Oxton Cup.
Race Two on Sunday looked like a cracker, as the grid is set at the fastest time of the weekend to date. Ngatoa was on the pole with a time of 1:02.298, with the hard-charging Mc Cormack alongside at 1:02.887. Smith was third fastest, with young Edwards putting in a time just under a second off the 66-season veteran. Rush was next, with Hartley just in behind him.
It should be noted that Hartley made the race courtesy of the other Formula Atlantic drivers donating parts to get him going. James Watson, who is taking a sabbatical this season, drove an hour down from Henderson to supply an upright and rear gear shift cover and various other bits. Rush donated his spare wing, and Smith dived into his parts supply to help out. But, alas, it all came to nothing when a CV broke, most likely due to the previous day’s crash, putting him out on lap one.
At the race start, Smith made another blinder to get past McCormack and fall behind Kaleb Ngatoa. From sixth, Sillay came through the field like a knife through butter, first dispatching Rush and Edwards in quick succession before he homed in on McCormack, who was trying to pass Smith. Sillay dealt with both of them in one fell swoop and then chased down Ngatoa, catching and passing him at half-race distance.
Sillay was left to cruise home to his first-ever Formula Open New Zealand win.
Edwards was first home in the Jim Palmer Cup for FT40s, McCormack in the Graeme Lawrence Cup, and Sillay in the David Oxton Cup.
Race Three was the 15-lap final, and it turned into a real scrap between two groups. At the front, Sillay was on form with a pole time of 1:01.654, with Ngatoa alongside him, six-tenths slower. McCormack edged out Smith by seven-tenths on the second row, where both drivers were within a second of the poleman.
The second group back had Rush in fourth on 1:04.382 and Edwards alongside him. Corban and Hartley followed, all covered by just one second. Rounding out the field were Paul Couper and James Harriman, who were separated by less than one-hundredth of a second.
At lights out, Ngatoa beat Sillay into turn one, and McCormack battled it out with Smith over third. Further back, Rush was fending off a determined Edwards, and Corban and Hartley were glued together with the latter in front.
The race continued like this for ten laps, until on Lap 11, it all went badly wrong for Corban and Hartley.
Corban got a better run off of turn ten and was making a bid for the spot when the blue lights were shown for a fast-closing Ngatoa about to lap them. What happened next made for some spectacular, if not expensive, photography when Hartley and Corban came together with the smaller FT40’s rear wheel coming into contact with the big wide slick on the back of the Atlantic, launching Bryan Hartley into the air in what could have been a rollover. Luckily, Hartley came back down to earth, albeit with a very hard landing that broke his Swift’s front suspension.
Needless to say, this brought out the safety car, which ended the race.
However, the drama was not over yet.
Ngatoa pulled out of the lead and into the pits with a broken diff, and Smith followed him in with low oil pressure. This left Sillay to take the win on track, with McCormack in second and Edwards a well-deserved third after a race-long battle with Rush.
Race three winners were Edwards in the Jim Palmer Cup, McCormack in the Graeme Lawrence Cup, and Sillay in the David Oxton Cup.
For the round, McCormack triumphed overall, ahead of Edwards and Harriman.
Formula Open returns on October 19-20 at the Octoberfast Truck Race meeting at Manfeild.
Great to see Ken Smith has lost none of competitive spirit.