The man behind the Batmobile

Of all the Kiwis to come to the mountain and tackle the Touring Car Masters, one car stood out, Tristan Teki’s “Batmobile.”

Teki not only won the Duggan Family Hotels Touring Car Masters Trophy Race, but also captured the hearts and minds of all those who saw it.

His fire-spitting Camaro left a flame of fury as the fumes burnt Danny Buzadzic’s challenge to take a tense win from 14th on the grid.

Commentators and fans alike, both at the track and on TV, fell in love with the wild 1969 Camaro capable of more than 900 horsepower.

Teki explained the inspiration to create the Kiwi “Batmobile” came from his kids.

“The Batman thing came along because the kids were little and built it seven years ago,” he told Auto Action.

“We went to the track and someone else had a Lightning McQueen car and that’s all the kids could talk about, so I asked what should we do that is cool?

“At the time the Batman movie was out and they thought it would be cool.

“The kids shoes all the pictures and laid out how it would look.

“It has been six years now and the kids are bigger and older but I am not allowed to change it because we have built a little fan base.

“Kids come in with toys, which is so cool. That’s how it came about.”

A key feature of Teki’s Camaro was the massive exhaust flames that could have potentially deterred a potential attack from Buzadzic in the Trophy Race.

He admitted the nature of the Aussie racing fuel sent the James Bond style exhaust into overdrive.

“With a bit of heat the exhaust becomes way bigger than normal! He said.

“There is different fuel here you see. The fuel is a bit more rich and oxygenated race fuel.

“That’s why the flames are now a metre long because they never used to be more than half a metre.

“I was worried it would catch the front of a car!”

Last weekend was Teki’s second trip to the Mountain, but first in the powerful Camaro Batmobile.

He said simply driving around Mount Panorama was a thrill, let alone winning.

“Never of even dreamt of winning. We just came here to learn the track and have some fun. I am loving it,” he said.

“Having 15 cars from NZ come over is a big effort for such a big event.

“The time getting the car ready was massive with around 400 hours. You do every possible thing you can.

“Everyone loves these cars in Australia and New Zealand is the same.

“There are three big classes in New Zealand with so many fans still into these old jiggers and putting a ridiculous amount of horsepower in them with little grip and brakes.

“That is what makes them so much fun.”

Reflecting on the Trophy Race win, the two-time Central Muscle Cars  said the conditions, lack of track experience and the Camaro’s tendency to chew tyres made it far from simple.

“Trying to learn the track in the rain was not ideal so we had to put our head down in the race and make up a lot of speed,” he said.

“We were way faster than in qualifying and managed to move up to the front pretty quickly.

“It was just tyre management after that because the back tyres were starting to blister and they started to catch me again.

“They were faster across the top, but had enough speed on the straights and the loud pedal was the saving grace.”

Teki’s previous visit to the Mountain occurred with a much less powerful Camaro and he enjoyed using the significant upgrade.

“When I raced at Bathurst nine years ago, I was in a Group 2 car, which was also a 69 Camaro,” he said.

“As soon as I came back I thought ‘I need to build a Group 1 car’, which are the bad boys.

“We are pretty unlimited with the engine in terms of what we can do.

“This is a new engine done by Lamden Motorsport and it is an absolute powerhouse.

“The only issue we have is tyre management because it just blows them off.

“When its unlimited, we are 900 horsepower but dropped for 280 for this event in line with the Aussies, which is all good.”

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