Welcome to the home of the Motul Honda Cup

Hondas are at home on the racetrack with the sophisticated suspension and high tech motors that are delivered from the factory.

Performance and reliability is the true essence of the "Powered by Honda" legend and that is what wins races! Many people have been searching for a place to race Hondas in a unified field and that time has arrived!

The Honda Cup Register recognised the growing demand and in 2008 established the Honda Cup Series to provide a venue for the legions of Honda fans around the country. Some cars are modified, others less so, but our format provides great racing, strong camaraderie and a wider community that is perfect for developing your car and your driving skills.

Now in its third season the Motul-backed series continues to attract strong grids and provide competitive and enjoyable racing for both new and experienced Honda enthusiasts. Many of the country's top Honda tuners have joined the series to support the racers and "competition-prove" their parts, so the battle will be epic for what is quickly becoming the best thing in import racing. If you have a track day Honda, are building a track Honda or want to go racing in the easiest and most exciting way possible, then this is the series for you.

Join Honda Cup today – and live the dream.

Honda Cup Round 4 - Legends of Speed 3rd and 4th March at Hampton Downs.

It's a two day event with some of our classes running just one day and others over both days for a change. There is also a practice session on the Friday for those wanting to test.

The winner of the last race in each class will win a shield named after one of New Zealand's Legends of Speed. These will be presented at the Motorsport Clubs award night later in the year.

Classes running will be Arrow Wheels, Alfas, AES / TradeZone, Superhistorics and Formula Suzuki, Historics, Production Muscle Cars, Classic Japanese, Honda Cup, Classic Trial, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, Advanced Adhesives Allcomers Saloons, ACES and Arrow Wheels.

This will be a great event and will provide a change of format and size of event, while remaining low key and relaxed. Enter online on at www.motorsportentry.com

Contact Chris Watson, mobile 027 482 7542 or Melissa Morgan for more information.

Biggest Honda racing field ever set for Hampton Downs V8 SuperTourer round.

The biggest field of racing Hondas ever assembled in New Zealand is set to open the action at the most exciting race meeting in New Zealand for years.

Then Honda Cup is the opening act at the new V8 SuperTourer series inaugural weekend at Hampton Downs on February 17, 18 and 19 and again at Round 3 of the series at Manfeild in April.

The Motul Honda Cup has been running in New Zealand for three seasons, but 2011-2012 is the first time it has run a summer series instead of a one day format winter championship. Interest has been huge, with racing drivers aged from their teens to their late 60s trying their hand in powerful VTEC Honda chassis that represent the whole spectrum of the Type-R genre.

The field will include many vintages of Civic, Integra and CRX models from the 80’s to the current, and some of the tuning on the cars represents the latest thinking in club Honda racing globally.

"Hondas make great racing cars simply because they are strong, exceptionally reliable and easy to tune whether you are an amateur or professional outfit" explained series director and founder Alan Stewart.

"Even with a stock engine you can be competitive in our series and as we control costs as best as we can, we have seen a significant influx of new drivers who would have otherwise probably not have committed to circuit motor racing. There’s a strong community developing and to be on the bill at the V8 SuperTourer round is exciting for everyone concerned in the series".

"We will be aiming to put on a great show, as well as showcasing the driving and engineering skills that can be seen at every level of the series".

Electronic entry now open for Hampton Super Tourer Round.

Enter online for the Hampton Super Tourer round over at the motorsportentry website.

Your username is your last name followed by your initial, and your password is your competition licence number followed by "pwd".

For example, Joe Smith whose competition licence number is 12345 has a user name of smithj and a password of 12345pwd.

If you have not entered one of our events before, click the "Not Registered?" button on the left and follow the instructions.

If you are having any problems email Melissa Morgan.

Walters heads series after Pukekohe

Showing his class as one fo the series and club racing's top drivers, Mark Walters (pictured) debuted his 1.8 engine in style at Pukekohe, demonstrating blinding speed and taking his first race win to leave the circuit as championship leader.

Championship protagonists Martin Dunn and Dave Grigor were eliminated from any meaningful points after their race one shunt and Alan Stewart fell victim, as did quite a few, to the draconian noise police now regularly in operation at club events at the circuit.

A challenging day for many left Mark ahead on the points table, with Cambridge's Shane Parsons in second after a very consistent day.

The series moves to Taupo long track for the next round on January 14th and 15th and it will be a fascinating round. Tradtionally it favours the high powered K20 cars that can stretch their legs on the long back straight, but you just cannot discount either Walters or parsons from stealing the limelight once again. With fewer noise restrictions, Alan Stewart will be a force.

Trevor Strong is due a great result in his EK20 and there should be other K20 powered cars from Dave Grigor, Richard Gee, Martin Dunn and Gavin Boyne. Expect Warren Tunley and Gary Wilson to set a fearsome pace in the 1.6 class and watch out also for Logan Morrell on his home circuit and with a long straight to let his Civic Sedan loose on.

Big weekends looming large!

The New Year will bring the series first foray into events that last longer than a single day and all of our competitors can look forward to (hopefully) a much more relaxed atmosphere over two days where they can fiddle around with the set up of the car, enjoy watching some of the other motorsport on offer and telling their mates about the lap that got away that was two seconds quicker than anything they ahd ever done before.

Taupo on January 14th and 15th is a Tasman Revival meeting being run by the Historic Racing Club and you can expect to see some cool big open single seaters racing in the Super Historics, as well as the Formula Suzuki cars that are also eligible for this class. There are a number of other classes running as well and it should be a great weekend, with a good atmosphere, warmer weather and plenty to look at and talk about.

In February we have the V8 SuperTourer series debut weekend where the Motul honda Cup is on a select bill that includes the V8 Challenge Cup for older V8s, the Central Muscle cars and the V8 SuperTourers themselves. This is shaping up to be a massive weekend of motorsport -possibly one of the biggest domestic motorsport events in years.

We have a superb weekend of racing and track action lined up. Testing on Friday, qualifying and two races Saturday and two races on Sunday. We are looking at the format of this and how we can make the most of it for Honda Cup, so we may tweak the formats for that weekend only. What is awesome is that this programme, and six tickets for each entrant, will cost just $300.In terms of dollar cost per day on track ($100) that is unrivalled by any series in New Zealand.

Right, here is the important bit! If your appetite has been whetted for these big events (And the two that follow which we will cover in a coming newsletter) then you need to be thinking about it NOW. We will ONLY accept entries for the V8 SuperTourer round from those who have raced in Honda Cup this summer season and anyone wishing to race at Hampton Downs MUST race at Taupo on January 14th and 15th. Why? Well quite simply we do not want people unfamiliar with the series or its regular runner turning up and 'being a hero' for what will be our biggest weekend to date. This will be fine for the series regulars, but if you are an intermittent competitor then you must take note of this condition.

We will be limited to 30 cars and two reserves so we are lookign to secure just 32 entries.We have had 29 and 27 from Winter Series rounds, so we could quite possibly go well above this 32 threshold, so it WILL be a first come first served basis and we will be liasing with www.motorsportentry.com to close off entry for Hampton Downs when the limit is reached. There is no limit on the number of entries for Taupo however. So if you do fancy a one off racing weekend with the Honda Cup, then that'll be the perfect way! Entry is available NOW for Taupo at www.motorsportentry.com and will be available very soon for the V8 SuperTourer round.

Electronic entry for Taupo

Enter online for the Taupo round (14th and 15th Jan) over at the motorsportentry website.

Your username is your last name followed by your initial, and your password is your competition licence number followed by "pwd".

For example, Joe Smith whose competition licence number is 12345 has a user name of smithj and a password of 12345pwd.

If you have not entered one of our events before, click the "Not Registered?" button on the left and follow the instructions.

If you are having any problems email Melissa Morgan.

Battle resumes at superfast Pukekohe

Motul Honda Cup - the country's leading series for production-based Honda racing cars - is hoping to see its biggest entry to date at the second round of the new Summer Series which takes place at the Pukekohe circuit on October 29th.

The winter series round at the same circuit three months ago attracted 27 cars and organisers are hoping to top 30 with several more cars set to make their season debut or return. Notable and fast will be Trevor Strong in his Strong's Electrical EK20 Civic, Steve Taylor's awesome FD2, Shane Parson's unique CRX, David Grigor's Golden Homes DC5, Martin Dunn's Hexagon Motorsport example and Mark Walters' consistently quick EF.

There will also be plenty of interest in Gary Wilson's 1.6 EG Civic, back in Honda Cup with a very special 1.6 engine that the Whakatane veteran is hoping will push him well inside the 1.10s and up to the sharp end of the grid. Winter series regular Brent Hay is also back and hungry for success in his immaculate 1.8 DC2. Also racing for the first time in its brand new New Zealand Hondas livery will be Rik Wakelin's 1.8 EG, which showed flashes of real speed at Round 1 at Taupo. Richard Gee will be running his last race with 1.6 power before installing a K20 while series director Alan Stewart should also be out in his newly liveried Hankook DC2. Motul New Zealand boss and series regular Tim Pollard was right on the pace at the last Pukekohe meeting in his ex-Japanese Touring Car Championship DC5 and will be right there again.

The battle in the 1.6s will be fierce. With Gee effectively ruling himself out of 1.6 and 2.0 litre with his mid-season engine switch, Wilson, Warren Tunley and Jason Weel all set to do battle at the front. The Motul Honda Cup is the guest series running in the Auckland Car Club's Summer Series round at the venue and there will be plenty of motorsport action to enjoy outside of qualifying and the three Honda Cup races. Muscles Cars, Classic Japanese, Alfa Trofeo and the new Aces class are amongst the classes scheduled to run on a busy day of racing.

New sponsor from Round 2 onwards!

Adidas Eyewear joins Honda Cup to reward racers who stand out from the crowd.

Motul Honda Cup, the premier racing series in New Zealand for Honda saloon and sports cars, has secured elite sporting sunglasses brand Adidas Eyewear as a series sponsor.

Adidas Eyewear will back a new initiative, the Adidas Eyewear Driver of the Day award, which will reward the driver who has produced the most eye-catching performance on track during the race meeting with a pair of the latest Adidas sports sunglasses.

The driver will be nominated after each round and there will be a presentation and photograph at the subsequent race meeting. The idea of the Adidas Eyewear Driver of the Day award is simple. It's all about standing out from the crowd and that's what the series officials off track will be looking for. It may be a recovery drive from a spin, a great single pass, or even a series of great moves in a handicap race. In other words, anyone can win it and we will have five winners.

Adidas Eyewear Sales and Sports Marketing Manager Mark Finlay was delighted to confirm the company's involvement in the Honda Cup, adding: "We're excited to partner with the Honda Cup and be able to support the new summer series. With our performance and casual eyewear options ideal for any driving conditions, we feel it is a great way to showcase our range and support this exciting race series."

Registered Honda Cup drivers will also receive a discount on anything in the comprehensive Adidas Eyewear range. Adidas products are used by many of the top athletes in the world and are a popular choice for the world's leading racing drivers in NASCAR, Indycar and Le Mans sports cars both in and out of the car.

I have some cool little stickers the same as the logo, the idea of which is to go inside the cars, hopefully on a spot on the dashboards that is the same for everyone where in car stuff can see it (the importance of this will become apparent later).

We will also create a little area in the sponsors section where we'll put the models popular with the race drivers - Evileye etc. Still to be confirmed who makes the call, but I reckon it should be the perfect job for Wayne as he never gets to do anything controversial!

Motul signs up for summer

Specialist motorsports oil company Motul has announced title sponsorship of the new-look Honda Cup summer series.

Motul has provided seed funding for the developing series during the three winter championships it has run over the past two years and is a natural fit for Honda Cup. Managing Director Tim Pollard is a keen racer and will run in the series in his own ex-Japanese Touring Car Championship Integra DC5.

"It's a great market for us," commented Pollard. "There is a huge opportunity for Motul to become the lubricant of choice for a younger generation of talented engine tuners and developers, many of whom choose Hondas for their bullet proof reliability and high basic performance. As well as that, the series has secured two very high profile meetings in the V8 SuperTourers, and it will be great to have a significant presence at those events as part of the package."

Confirmed Summer Series Dates

• Round 1 - September 18th Taupo (one day)
• Round 2 - October 29th Pukekohe (one day)
• Round 3 - January 14/15th Taupo (two days)
• Round 4 - February 17/18/19th Hampton Downs with V8 SuperTourers (three days)
• Round 5 - March 3/4th Hampton Downs (two days)
• Finale - April 27/28/29th Manfeild with V8 SuperTourers (three days)

The Origin

In 2004 long-time Kiwi Honda enthusiast and racer Al Stewart returned from a working holiday in California. While working there for Race Team Special Projects he was lucky enough to gain a drive in one of the team Integras in two Honda Challenge rounds. The idea was implanted in his mind and on his return Al set about setting up a similar Honda Challenge series in New Zealand. To ensure the series got off the ground smoothly Al decided to run the series in conjunction with the existing SS2000 – Under 2 litre Saloon Series.

This made perfect sense. The SS2000 class was a national eight round series that was already enjoying success and had been running for many years. A set of Honda Challenge rules were drafted by Al and presented at the annual SS2000 AGM. The class was taken on board by SS2000 and 2005 saw the first season of Honda Challenge in New Zealand proudly sponsored by beer giant Carlsberg. Both SS2000 and Honda Challenge have continued to enjoy success with large grids and exciting racing.

The numbers of Hondas racing in New Zealand has continued to grow each year with Hondas now being the dominant marque in the series. The marquee has a massive following in New Zealand and has one of the biggest auto forums in the southern hemisphere, NZ Hondas.

But as they say…there is more! Al said he is constantly being asked by new racers how and where they should get started. He will often be heard talking about his early years at clubmans meetings at Manfeild in the 70's and how these were some of the best times he ever had in motorsport. This is also the view of many of the racers of that era.

The result has been the advent of a Clubman style competition for Hondas to bring back some of the fun and affordable entry level racing that is sometimes lacking into today's hectic range of summer series. A mini series to allow new Honda competitors to get out on the track and mix it with some of the more experienced drivers in a low key fun race meet is indeed the perfect step up the ladder for a growing band of talented young drivers and engineers modifying or building cars for the growing NZ track day scene. Our winter rules are simple, the racing is all held over one day and the rounds spread apart to assist the cash flow!