Gate 7, Pukekohe Showgrounds, off site field. A small, keen group braved the somewhat inclement conditions to test their cars on a freshly mown grass paddock. The courses were ably set out by Brian Hood and Ken Williams to challenge the cars and drivers to navigate through each course as quickly as they could without losing control. Sounded simple enough, however, seeing as how this was going to be the first time I was allowed to drive dad’s (Chris Haliday’s) car, it was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

Course 1 was a good old slalom with a couple of tricky gates to manoeuvre through. Each driver was given three attempts at getting their best time. My time wasn’t exactly record-breaking, but it did get progressively quicker which was comforting. It felt amazing to be in control of a car with such power and acceleration and luckily I didn’t hit the only tree in the paddock. After a couple of hours of expressing my need for speed, we took a break for lunch; good old kiwi fish and chips. To warm up for Course 2, I snuck in a few 360s just to see what the car could do. Wow what a treat!

Course 2 was a Four Leaf Clover course testing both the nimbleness of the car and memory of the racers; lots of wheel spinning in this one.

Course 3 was a great way to finish off the day. I helped Brian set out this course. It consisted of a crescent at the start and finished with a few sharp corners and 360° turn at the end. Then the driver would have to go back to the finish line, going through the adjacent gates. Seemed easy enough, but both my dad and I forgot to go through one of the gates resulting in our final race times not being recorded. Luckily we learnt from our mistakes and produced a couple of good lap times.

The day for me was challenging, nerve-wracking, and above all, EXHILARATING. I enjoyed every second of it and couldn’t think of a better way to spend my Sunday with my family. It was a great experience and provided me with life long memories. As I am quite a competitive person, it was great to see how I compared to some of the other drivers who were much more experienced. I might not have beaten everyone but I came out at the end of the day with a smile on my face and a new found love for my dad’s car.

The confirmed results are as follows:

Entrant’s name
CAR type
Run 1/1
Run1/2
Run1/3
Run2/1
Run2/2
Run3/1e
Run 3/2
Total best
of 3 run times
Place
Ken Williams
SEC 420
35.82
34.69
35.13
52.62
54.22
44.3
42.09 (1)
129.4
1
Brian Hood
SEC 420
37.63
36.59
35.85
56.75
54.47
45.46 +5
42.91 (2)
133.23
2
Chris Haliday
CLK 230
37.41
36.28
36.194
59.4
56.88
53.75
43.10 (3)
136.92
3
Greg Lokes
350 SL
38.44
36.63
39.16
64.47
58.59
44.84
43.91
139.13
4
Geoff Bogue
C350 CDI
42.44
37.91
37.00
66.56
56.61
48.63
46.47 (5)
140.08
5
Barbara Lokes
350 SL
44.12
39.75
38.65
61.00
59.47
49.75
46.66 (6)
144.78
6
Kath Winn
SEC 420
49.5
41.94
38.53
77.38
61.37
51.12
44.91 (7)
144.81
7
David Winn
SEC 420
59.56
47.48
39.25
61.09
65.38
52.53
44.66 (8)
145
8
Tom Haliday
CLK 230
50.34
47.53
41.4
75.56
65.87
50.4
53.14 (9)
167.67
9
Lindsay Cook
C180
40.5
39.62
39.69
61.97
62.82
Sean Macey
SLK 230
39.34
36.53
35.62
58.57
56.31
Phil Henley
450 SEL
40.07
37.34
35.47
57.85
56.65
Diana Popova
SLK 230
45.25
43.28
40.56
64.59
58.85

I want to encourage all you Mercedes owners to come and join us at our next event. Everyone is welcome and I can promise you will have many enjoyable memories and experiences in the Mercedes-Benz Car Club. So pack a picnic and some sun block and I will be seeing you there.

Hoping everyone had a safe and happy holiday period.

Tom Haliday