Announcing Season 7 and our new sponsor…
| We have a big season coming up and firstly it involves announcing our title sponsor and new name for 2KCUP, the “Store Rite Logistics 2KCUP” . We are pleased to partner with Chris O’Driscoll (a 2KCUPer himself) from Store Rite Logistics and part of this deal will see Store Rite Logistics taking center stage with a Store Rite Logistics window banner on all cars showcasing their brand. With their support we have been able to make season 7 our biggest season yet. Store Rite Logistics is a privately owned multi -site 100% kiwi company that aids in every aspect of your logistics/supply chain needs. Store Rite Logistics has the flexibility to adapt our services and tailor our approach to suit your business’ core needs. They are flexible with their approach but rigid with the desire to succeed. Store Rite Logistics offers a diverse range of services at realistic prices. To find out exactly how they can benefit your business see their website storerite.co.nz or feel free to contact Chris direct on – chris.odriscoll@storerite.co.nz We are also pleased to announce that we have sorted a deal to have Ridder Photography at all tracks this season and part of that agreement will see event pictures up the same night as the event on our facebook page. There are many other bits of information that will come out in the coming weeks, but the most important of which can be seen below. Here are the important links, but please read the below before you click links and enter etc. Season 7 Entry Form – https://forms.gle/aPRz2VsSKPMd9SSp7 Season 7 Rules – https://bit.ly/2NbfYJo We are pleased to announce the following dates for season 7, please note only the summer season dates are part of season 7, the B&H500 does not count for points. 2KCUP Enduro 2019: 5th October – Pukekohe – B&H 500 – Entry at http://www.motorsportentry.com/ 2KCUP Summer Season: 21st September – Hampton Downs – Official Test Day 23rd November – Hampton Downs – 2 Grids – 2 x 33min Races 7th December – Manfeild – 1 Grid – 2 x 33min Races 16th February – Pukekohe – 2 Grids – 2 x 33min Races 28th March – Taupo – 2 Grids – 2 x 33min Races 16th May – Pukekohe – 2 Grids – 1 Hour Televised Finale Note: There is no provision for 3 grids, all rounds will be sellouts if we reach 92 entires, this is especially so at Manfeild where we have only organised to have a single grid of 46 cars. Only in the extreme case where we have an excessive waiting list will we introduce additional grids. Planning like this has enabled us to offer the best pricing possible. Entry fees and how it will work We are stoked to be able to slash the entry fee down to $260+GST ($299) for the regular rounds and$326+GST ($375) for the final round which will be live streamed by thefastfiles.com. The sole reason we have been able to deliver this reduction in entry fee is because Mark Mallard and I have formed a company 2KCUP Ltd to take on the risk and negotiate a better deal for all. Only the B&H Endurance Race will be using the motorsportentry.com entry system. For season 7 everyone will enter each round through 2KCUP and this process will be highly streamlined as we will capture all your details when you first enter the series. The exact process on how you enter a round is currently TBC, but as we have all your details the draft plan is have an email address of round1@2kcup.com which you simply send an email to with the subject as the race number and name (ie #3 James Watson), you will be sent an invoice to pay (for that round) and once paid we will send you an entry acceptance. As I said this process will get finalised between now and September but it’s going to be simple as. Virtual Safety Car and race radios Granted we are able to talk directly to competitors over radio we will be the first class in New Zealand to trial using a “Virtual Safety Car”, our planned process is to call a Virtual Safety Car at which point a 10 second count down will commence and during that time drivers must reduce speed to 50kmh. Once the hazard is cleared there will be another 10 second count down at which stage racing will resume. This should see far greater response times in being able to release safety/recovery vehicles onto the circuit. In order to do the above we need direct communication with all drivers, but at the same time we didn’t want to offer a crap product or spend too much. This left us in an awkward situation as anyone in the radio industry (or any other industry) will tell you cheap and good don’t generally go in the same sentence. With help from our sponsor Store Rite Logistics and our new radio partner “Motorsport Communications NZ” we will be leasing high quality in car radio’s at all rounds this season. Drivers will pickup their radio from documentation on race day and return it at the end of they day to the same spot, all for no additional cost. The radio’s themselves are a high quality ICOM product that has a replacement cost of $750 per radio, so renting and absorbing that cost makes a lot more sense over buying $75k of radios and trying to absorb that. If you do forget to return the radio it can be posted to Motorsport Communications and no charge will occur if it’s within the same week. The radio’s themselves might not require an ear piece for someone running a standard exhaust but we would recommend a headset and talking to http://motorsportcommunications.co.nz/ who have the following 2KCUP specials on offer: Single Ear Speakers $50.00 inc gst. Semi-Custom Dual Ear Speakers $130.00 inc gst. The other option is to use your own 3.5mm stereo headset or solution you may have currently. Either way we will have some radio’s to test at the Official Test day and find what works best, we will also trial some mock virtual safety cars to find what works best. The race radio will also be an effective tool for race control to communicate to drivers to not only resolve issues, but prevent them. MSNZ and 2KCUP It’s no secret that Mark and I have been in discussions with various governing bodies over the last 18 months and after countless meetings we felt the best deal was to be had with MSNZ. The wheels are still in motion on officially enacting the changes that we have formally agreed on, but once announced we will be able to advise initiatives that will reduce the financial cost to those starting out in the sport. Notable Changes in the Rules Aim: Racing of unmodified production road cars that are generally available for less than $2000. The wording has been altered slightly to represent that it’s not necessarily the car you bought that has to be $2k but the fact the exact model of car you purchased could generally be had for under $2k. An example would be if the car you bought was $5700 ready to race with a cage. 2.2 – All cars must have a minimum of a half cage with side intrusion bars once their log book is more than 12 months old. This is the best compromise we could come to between keeping the barrier of entry low whilst also ensuring that people raise the minimum level of safety they have over time. We aren’t saying you become more dangerous after one year, but we feel that’s more than enough time to figure out if motorsport is for you or not (or that particular car). If you choose to continue after the first year then we want to see a minimum of a half cage with side intrusion installed. The reality is that if you install just a half cage by itself you remove the crumple zone between the B pillar and the back of the car, this means the crumple zone in the front becomes overwhelmed in absorbing energy and the end result is the A pillar and floor failing. Here is an example of a crash from last season where this occurred, the driver was lucky not to loose both legs: 3.4 – Drivers holding a 2KCUP Superlicense have the right to always be on the fast grid irrespective of qualifying result. The 2KCUP Superlicense is at the sole discretion of the 2KCUP to hand out. HT1 won’t be back for this year but we did like the idea of a superlicense, in this case it enables 2KCUP to fairly promote someone who is faster but had a bad qualifying, from a safety standpoint this ensures that recognised fast drivers are always in the fast grid and that the slow grid doesn’t have anyone wanting to be a hero in it. How the superlicense gets handed out is a secret but here is a top tip, if you really really really want one then sandbagging into the slow group is a way to get one. 4.2.1 – The top 10 after qualifying will receive additional points, 1st = 10 points, 2nd = 9 points, 3rd = 8 points and so on in a diminishing linear fashion until 10th gets 1 point. From feedback we have changed it from a top 20 to top 10 reversed for the first race and will still be giving out qualifying points to those top 10. 4.9: Spec Cups – Should more than 8 entries of any particular model/engine be received, the 8 or more entries for that particular model will be delegated their own “SPEC” cup in place of the GT6, GT7 or GTS cup they were previously racing for. A likely example are SPEC Integra and SPEC Levin. Whilst HT1 is gone, SPEC cups are the new buzz word, these cups ensure that if everyone jumps on the band wagon of a particular winning car then you all get moved out of the GT6/7 category and can race against each other instead. This also means it’s easy for someone to start up their own race series within 2KCUP as you will automatically get a SPEC Cup once you have the numbers. This rule also ensures it’s a diverse battle for the GT6 and GT7 cup. If you are still GTS material you will still race in GTS, the S meaning slow. New things that are “open” but must not disadvantage a competitor who doesn’t have the change. Suspension Bushes Mag Wheels Engine Mounts Radiators Pretty simple really and we don’t see this changing much for anyone. 2.1 – Individual waivers may be granted at the overview committees discretion but in general the model of car entered must be released at least 15 years ago and be of similar or less performance than a Honda Integra DC2 SiR. We wanted to be clear that anything joining the series will be bench marked against against the Honda Integra DC2 SiR, this is to ensure that we firstly don’t get faster as a serious but the series also remains it’s level of competition. 2.5 – 2.5: Petrol engines must be Naturally Aspirated unless the engine capacity is under 1500cc. Up from 1400cc if you want to run a turbo Starlet you now can, but it will have to be standard and won’t be winning anything in that form, but the option is up to you if you want some boost in your life. 4.3 – Every competitor’s points will be recalculated prior to the last round where each team will be able to drop their worst result. This means if a competitor has completed at 5 rounds only their best 4 results will count in the recalculation. From many seasons data and feedback we are going to change to a 5 round season with only a single drop round from round 1, 2, 3 or 4. This not only reduces the total cost of doing a season but also means we have a season that doesn’t heavily bias any track in particular. 4.4: Teams may be moved up a GT class if their pace is near equal or faster than the leading cars of the class they would move up too. This is to ensure the GT6 class is the faster class and the GT7 class is slower. 4.7: Constructors Championship – Each Constructor consists of 2 teams and their total points are the combination of those 2 teams points. The 2 teams must be nominated at the start of the season and are not bound by class, but are bound by manufacturer. The constructor with the most points at the end of season is awarded the constructors championship. We have reduced the requirement from 3 down to 2 teams for season 7 so more teams can take part in this element of racing. To be clear, a constructor points is the total points of 2 2KCUP teams combined, for example #3 with 100 points and #4 with 200 points combine will have a constructors team with 300 points. The rest of the rules are pretty much the same with minor changes in wording to make things easier to understand. |
Prosport Auto is now offering a Front and Rear combo pricing deal for 2KCup competitors. When a set of front pads are purchased, rear pads can be purchased at an extended discount rate. This will save $45 per combo purchased. Available from the 1st of JULY, 2019.
Old Example Pricing:
Front or Rear Pads are $400 inc GST, plus freight.
Front and Rear Pads, $800 inc GST, plus freight.
New Example Pricing:
Fronts Pads only – $400 inc GST, plus freight.
Front and Rear Pad combo – $755 inc GST, plus freight.
Prosport Auto has seen time and time again the gains in using a good and well balanced rear pad. While the ENDLESS pricing is initially high, the value is second to none when it comes to $/km and they produce excellent lap times and consistency. The last four seasons Series Champions were all using ENDLESS brake pads.
Please get in touch with Mike on mike@prosportauto.co.nz or 0211747427. The new pricing will be available via email/phone.
That is all for now, thanks for reading this far and I look forward to seeing you all this season.
Kind Regards,
James Watson
