WHAT’S IN THE WORKSHOP – TRACK TEC RACING

What’s in the Workshop – Track Tec Racing

New Zealand-based TCR Australia team Track Tec Racing have entered a time warp during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By HEATH McALPINE

Team owner Matt Waters explained that the team had focused its efforts on restoring two BMW super tourers during the period, one that carries with it much infamy.

“We have two BMWs that were both Bigazzi run cars, one is being stripped at the moment and basically having a complete recondition,” Waters told Auto Action. “It will receive a brand new engine, which is on the dyno.

“We are bringing the car back to its former glory.

“One is an ex-Paul Morris BMW 318is that is a 1993 model and he drove in 1994. We believe it’s the car that tangled with teammate Tony Longhurst at Winton resulting in the famous incident where Longhurst punched Morris through the window.”

The goal was to head to Bathurst with the two cars, but parts delays have meant the focus is preparing the BMWs for the New Zealand Historic Touring Car Championship, which comprises many other super tourers including the rare Mazda Xedos.

“With COVID-19 parts are an issue so we’ll get them on track as soon as we can,” said Waters. “Ideally, we were going to Bathurst this year because they were going to do a historic touring car event up there, but we’ve decided to restore them before we do that.

“At the moment, the engine is easy, we have had a guy in Auckland sourcing the parts for us. We’re not going to use a genuine BMW Motorsport block because they are too expensive. You can buy them, we have one in the workshop, but the rest of the parts are ready available from BMW or we get a lot of components from America.

“It’s not easy, but there are lots of people around that have components in their shed as they ran those cars. Driveshafts are among the bits and bobs that I need to make the thing nice again so the search is going to be vast to find it.”

The team is also full steam ahead with its TCR programs. Track Tec were set to participate at the Asia Pacific Cup at the Australian Grand Prix and TCR Australia’s opening round at Sydney Motorsport Park earlier this year.

Track Tec Racing at the Australian Grand Prix – Photo: InSyde Media

Although the team went back to NZ, the cars and tools remained in Australia in preparation for when travel was allowable and racing returned. Track Tec are on the search for drivers as Dutchman Stan van Oord can’t travel.

In the meantime, a third Audi RS3 LMS TCR is still at Track Tec’s base at Highlands Motorsport Park where testing of potential drivers and rising stars is on the cards.

“We have three TCRs and two of them are in the container at Melbourne at the moment due to the Grand Prix cancellation,” Waters explained.

“We are still waiting for the bubble to expand so we can travel to Australia and do the TCR Series with those two cars. The third TCR we have over here, we plan to do some testing with some potential TCR Australia drivers and Kiwi kids.

“We’ve held back on bringing the cars back for as long as we can because we want to do the series.”

Track Tec also has some minor projects happening in the background including preparing the last competing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo for the upcoming endurance championship as well as restoring a few French hatchbacks, a passion of Waters’.

What’s your team currently working on? Let us know at [email protected] and we could feature your team in our next ‘What’s In The Workshop’ feature

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