Every November there’s an event that fills Taupo Motorsport Park with more horsepower and action than any other month. That event is Supercheap Auto Powercruise.
This year’s event, held over November 12–15, saw the track opened up for an extra day than before, giving the 360 entrants even more bang for their buck — and Kiwis being Kiwis, almost all of them took up the opportunity at hand.
The V8 contingent did seem to be outnumbered by the Japanese-made vehicles this time around, and even managed to get dealt to in the off-street drags by a Skyline, despite having a wild blown T-bucket in the semi-finals.
Powerskid entrants were down on the usual, but at least this time the V8 lads held their own, thanks to Braden Smith, Ryan Gracie, and Ricky Ireland’s blown Chev-powered machines showing who’s boss.
Come burnout time, Liz Gracie took the keys to her Camaro back from Ryan and taught the boys a few things about making smoke.
Of course, the import mob did their best too, with Josh Fabish giving the wall a slight nudge in the process.
In terms of carnage, the drift sessions saw plenty, with only a handful of drivers mastering the art, and the rest spending plenty of time facing the wrong way while trying.
Powercruise isn’t just about the on-track action though, with a decent number of cars in the show and shine, and more worth looking at in the pits.
If you’re keen on joining in on the action, the madness is set to return to Hampton Downs in April 2016, before taking over Taupo once more on November 18–20, 2016.
