Busy Start to the Year

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Jan and Feb is traditionally a quite month for Celtic Speed.  In the past seasons it would be spent preparing cars for the new season where there are a number of tasks that have to be completed including crack testing and rebuilding major components and painting the cars.

This Jan and Feb the team travelled to New Zealand to contest the Race of Champions Revival in Taupo. This event was preceded by a series of races at Hampton Downs near Auckland on the North Island.

It was the teams first visit to this beautiful country and Hampton Downs proved to be a spectacular venue with a number of F1, Formula 5000 and touring car racers putting on a great show for the spectators. The F1 grid saw a great variety of cars including McLaren, Lotus, Surtees, Hesketh, BRM and of course Tommy Dreelan in his March 761-4 ex Arturo Merzario car.

Tommy had a good run in all 3 races with a best result of 2nd place.

In the second weekend the team moved to Taupo for the next round of races, which included the Race of Champions Revival. This race included a Combined race for Formula 5000 and F1 to reenact the race of champions.
The F1 Hesketh of Michel Lyons won the race after a close battle with local hero Kenny Smith in his Formula 5000, Kenny still races at the tender age of 75!. Tommy results were 2nd, 3rd and 2nd.

The final weekend moved to the South Island at the Christchurch venue where Tommy completed a great run of results with a close 2nd place finish to Lyons.

The team then headed back to the UK to prepare for the new season, which starts with Group C races in Jarama, Spain on April 1st and 2nd.