The Woodhill 100 is the oldest event in New Zealand offroad racing, and is the longest continually-running endurance race in New Zealand motorsport.  Organisers say they have plotted a new race course that will take the drivers further into the northern end of the forest than last year, and will start the event from a new pit/start area accessed in the same way as in previous years.

Entry numbers are expected to follow the trend at the first and second northern rounds of the championship, with drivers who have raced at both rounds able to net an additional 20 points by contesting the Woodhill.  Leading entries in this year’s race include Devlin Hill, who won the second round of the championship outright, Pukekohe’s Nick Hall, who leads class three for the series, and 14 year old Taine Carrington, who is the youngest ever outright leader of the championship.  Carrington is running a new class 7 car this year after crashing at last year’s Woodhill 100.

Also racing there as he continues fine-tuning his new BSL Terra Chev single-seater is Tony McCall of Manukau.  The big car dominated at the second round until it destroyed a cv joint on the second day with just 10 laps of the enduro left to run, and McCall says he’s still in the hunt for the outright title.
“The genesis of this car from CAD drawing to turnkey racer has been extremely fast.  The thick mud at Mangawhai identified a need for more engine cooling capability, and the CV joint we broke there identified the articulation at the rear was too much so we have come down in ride height to reduce the angle from 25 degrees to 20.  That means we reduce our suspension travel by a couple of inches – but there’s still around five inches more than the previous car had,” he said.
In addition, McCall has switched to series sponsor Mickey Thompson’s tyres.  “We’ve now reached a point where case and compound matter as much as tread design, the power of the engine is just massive and we need a good set of covers to get the power down.  That’s going to be critical in the sand at Woodhill.”

There will be a separate race for the Kiwitrucks youth category at 7.30 am on race morning using part of the main event race course
Though it is a forest endurance race, spectators turn out in significant numbers to catch the action, with plentiful vantage points close to the start-finish area and the leading racers topping 220km/h on the faster sections of the course.

The first chance to see the cars will be at scrutineering on the Saturday between noon and 3 pm at PinePac Kumeu.  Qualifying and the race will all take place on the Sunday of Queen’s Birthday Weekend, June 3; with the qualifying sprints run from 8.30 am and race start at 11.00 am.
The forest access for the race will be signposted for northern and southern traffic at the roundabout on SH16 near Parakai.  Admission is $10/adult, children under 15 are free.