Powercruise: Taupo gets rocked!

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Come burnout time, Liz Gracie took the keys to her Camaro back from Ryan and taught the boys a few things about making smoke.

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Of course, the import mob did their best too, with Josh Fabish giving the wall a slight nudge in the process.

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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.

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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.

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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.