NZ Touring Cars Championship


The BNT V8s Championship, now known as the "TransTasman V8 Series" is a New Zealand-based motorsport category of touring car racing. Since its inception in mid-1990s, the series has gone through various branding changes. The former names include the 'TraNZam Lights', 'New Zealand V8s' and more recently the 'NZ Touring Cars Championship'. In 2015, it absorbed the V8SuperTourer field, a series that had previously run in direct competition of the BNT V8s.

History

The New Zealand V8s category journeys to various race tracks around New Zealand. This series somewhat resembles but differs in many ways from the Australian V8 Supercars, primarily in terms of the level of technology. The NZ V8 series focuses on cost containment and control to make sure that the series is not dominated by one make or team. It is technically more basic than the Supercars, but also tends to be a bit more spectacular with a lot more close-action racing due to limited grip and braking capabilities. Unlike the Supercars, the NZV8 races are all sprint races so there is no requirement for elaborate pit crew setups.. The vehicles themselves are visually almost indistinguishable from Supercars, and grids are typically 10 to 28 vehicles in size. A number of Australian Supercars drivers now race in the NZV8's such as David Besnard, Luke Youlden and Cameron McLean for example, as the series has come to be recognised as an outstanding class in its own right, rather than a poor cousin of the Australian V8 Supercars. Supercars teams have previously been involved; Team Kiwi Racing has run two-car teams in the series in the past as a development groun.
The winner of the 2005/2006 season was Kayne Scott driving a Holden Commodore, who took the trophy after a controversial season that initially saw Angus Fogg awarded the trophy, only to lose it in the court room. The 05/06 season saw Fords dominating for the first time, and there were loud cries of lack of parity from the Holden teams. It was clear that the Falcons had a considerable edge over the Holdens in power in the low and mid-range, so significant that MSNZ changed the rules and allowed the use of a carb spacer on the Holdens to shift their torque curve. This saw an improvement in the competitiveness of the Holden teams, with Holden driver Kayne Scott dicing for the championship lead. However, Andy Booth was the only other Holden driver consistently in the top-ten, and the Falcons continued to dominate in general. The series was ultimately won in convincing style by Johnny McIntyre in a Ford.
The 07/08 season has seen a dramatic shift towards entries from Ford teams, with Fords outnumbering Holdens by nearly two to one, and many existing Holden-based teams switching to Ford, including former champion Kayne Scott. This is a direct result of the perceived lack of parity over the last two seasons, with the Fords being significantly more competitive. However, any disparity between the two camps is questionable after the first round of the 07/08 season at Pukekohe; John McIntyre produced a convincing opening round win, but was dogged all the way by Andy Booth who was clearly equal in performance and handling. That said, former champion Paul Manuell was the only other Holden to finish the round in the top 10.
The 07/08 season also sees a reduction to six rounds in the championship. A seventh round is still run in conjunction with the New Zealand round of the Australian V8 Supercars, but due to a conflict in television broadcasting rights it no longer forms part of the NZ competition series, and is instead treated as a separate trophy round. The 07/08 season also sees former V8 Supercar driver and two-times FIA World Touring Car champion Paul Radisich, driving a Ford Falcon in the series.
The 08/09 season was a neck and neck battle between Ford BA Falcon drivers Kayne Scott and John McIntyre, with Scott winning the title by a mere 9 points. Third was versitel driver Craig Baird.
The 09/10 season again was a close battle. This time Craig Baird came out on top from John McIntyre. McIntyre had nightmare meeting at the fourth round at Timaru failing to finish any of the three races. Baird won by 75 points. Third was defending champions Kayne Scott.
The 10/11 season was boiled with controversy. Kayne Scott was stripped of his first six rounds points for technical infringements, as was visiting Australian V8 Supercars driver Jason Bargwanna at Ruapuna. Scott and his team were livid with the ruling which handed the title to John McIntyre with Craig Baird runner up and Andy Booth in third.

Scoring system

The car

Motorsport NZ granted championship status to the V8 class for the 1996–97 season, at which time it was officially known as TraNZam Lights. The class was renamed to NZ V8 Touring Cars for 1998/99, to NZV8s for 2005/06 and to NZV8s at the commencement of the 2007/08 season. It became NZ Touring Cars for the 2015/16 season then for the 2017/18 season was named the BNT V8s due to naming rights..
SeasonChampionVehicle
1996–97 Greg TaylorHolden Commodore
1997–98 Wayne HuxfordHolden Commodore
1998–99 Paul PedersenHolden Commodore
1999–00 Mark PedersenHolden Commodore
2000–01 Paul ManuellHolden Commodore
2001–02 Ashley StichburyFord Falcon
2002–03 Mark PedersenFord Falcon
2003–04 Andy BoothHolden Commodore
2004–05 Andy BoothHolden Commodore
2005–06 Kayne ScottHolden Commodore
2006–07 John McIntyreFord Falcon
2007–08 John McIntyreFord Falcon
2008–09 Kayne ScottFord Falcon
2009–10 Craig BairdFord Falcon
2010–11 John McIntyreFord Falcon
2011–12 Angus FoggFord Falcon
2013TLX: Jason BargwannaHolden Commodore
2013TL: AJ LauderFord Falcon
2013–14TLX: Nick RossHolden Commodore
2013–14TL: James McLaughlinHolden Commodore
2014–15TLX: Jason BargwannaToyota Camry
2014–15TL: Kevin WilliamsHolden Commodore
2015–16Class One: Simon EvansHolden Commodore
2015–16Class Two: Brock CooleyFord Falcon
2016–17Class One: Simon EvansHolden Commodore
2016–17Class Two: Liam MacDonaldFord Falcon
2017-18Class One: Andre HeimgartnerToyota Camry
2017-18Class Two: Liam MacDonaldFord Falcon
2018-19Class One: Jack SmithHolden Commodore
2018-19Class Two: Justin AshwellFord Falcon