Dunedin's Arron Black has had better weeks.
Black has been trying desperately to replace two blown engines in time for the ASKO Endurance Series' second round at Christchurch's Ruapuna raceway on Saturday.
Things first went pear-shaped for Black last Friday, when the motor of the BMW E46 WTC, in which he shares the three-hour series, class two (2001-3500cc) drive with his brother Stu, ''just flew to bits'' during testing.
The siblings switched to their back-up Toyota Starlet, dropped down to the class 3 and 4 (0-2000cc), then went ahead and won it.
Arron has spent all week trying to get a new engine going in the BMW and was hoping to have it professionally tuned into shape by Saturday.
''I've gone from being the most prepared that I've ever been to being way behind the eight ball,'' he said, on Wednesday.
The Starlet would be on stand-by again, but it, too, has engine issues and is awaiting the arrival of a new manifold from the United States.
''We will be there in some shape or form,'' Arron said.
Fellow Dunedin drivers and series rookies Paul Coghill and David Hunter also had their share of troubles but managed to nurse their ex-Kiwi Team Nurburgring Honda Civic home to second in class 3 and 4.
Coghill said the thrust bearing in the clutch started to fail 15 minutes into his 90 minute session.
''I had to double to get down the box and with half an hour to go couldn't get it into second.''
Further up the field in class one (3501cc+), the new Corvette C6R of Alexandra duo Bruce Davidson and Dave Garden was running as high as sixth overall before an on-track incident sent them into the sand. They lost five laps but clawed back from 23rd overall to 11th.
Garden said they were the fastest of the ''home-built'' cars, after spending two years constructing the 6.2-litre Corvette.
''We are really happy. It's every bit as quick as we were hoping.''
Up in the GT class, Dunedin's Allan Dippie and Invercargill's Scott O'Donnell were also impressed with the speed potential of their Porsche GT3 Cup S - newly purchased from the Asian GT Championship.
However, they lost 17 laps last weekend repairing suspension damage after a ''wee rub with another car,'' Dippie said.
He added that the series had really stepped up a notch this year and despite the endurance length, the racing went at sprint pace from start to finish, making contact with other cars a reality.
''It's good, clean racing but it's certainly very tight.''
The one-hour race series boasts a capacity field of 45 cars.
Teretonga pole sitter and race winner Grant Williams (RX7 V8) will be flying solo at this event as regular co-driver Deane Buist is at Rally Wairarapa. Highlands Motorsport Park owner Tony Quinn (Aston Martin DB9R) set a lap record at Teretonga but will not make the journey north.
Dunedin driver Chris Henderson's new Toyota AE86 V8 was initially giving the Porsche 997s a run for their money at Teretonga in class 1 but engine issues eventually saw him drop out.
He and Dunedin's Brian Scott (Corvette C5), who was second in class, will be among the pace-setters on the fast Ruapuna circuit. Teretonga class 2 winner Hamish Ellingham (Mitsubishi Evo 9) will again square off against a horde of BMWs including the rapid BMW E30 M3 of Dunedin's Warren Good and his co-driver Ron Mackersey which took second in class.
If it is going in time, class 3 and 4 will see the giant-killing Toyota Starlet of Stu Black, who finished sixth outright at Teretonga, head the small-car class but he will be challenged by Queenstown's Grant Aitken in his Toyota 86.
