''You've got to work together,'' father and speedway competitor Andy Erskine, of Queenstown said. ''We do have a lot of fun.''
Erskine (42) and his two children, Lucas (14) and Keely (12), turned heads as a family when racing at the Cromwell Speedway last week. Erskine races sprint cars, and Lucas and Keely race in the youth ministocks class.
Erskine said the family's joint involvement in racing - supported by possibly the most important person in the equation, his wife Mandy - was a ''lot of work'' but ''a lot of fun''.
Erskine started speedway racing aged about 16, encouraged by his father Russell Erskine, of Cromwell, and uncle Aven Erskine, of Winton, who both still race saloons.
Erskine then left the sport aged about 20 but got back into it in his early 30s.
Previously in the top five in his class in the South Island, Erskine's goal is to get back to that ranking, after slipping to the top 10-15 after having 18 months off from the sport because of family and business commitments.
''I want to get back up there. You definitely need to strive for something.''
Previously the Cromwell Speedway president for eight years from about 2008-16, he praised the contribution the speedway made to the racing and broader Cromwell community. He still loved racing, and was increasingly interested in the technology that was making speedway cars get faster and faster.
''I just like fast cars, really ... I want to get right into it, and put myself out there. I've still got a lot to learn, and I keep chasing that - how can we be faster, quicker, better and more consistent? There's something out there that I'm chasing.''
It was great to see his children giving speedway a go and he enjoyed encouraging them in their various sporting pursuits, he said.
Lucas said he loved the adrenaline of racing and his goal was to have ''a couple of wins''.
Keely said the best thing about speedway was ''being able to drive a car - not many people aged 12 are allowed to do that''.
Speedway president Daryl Ainsley said the Erskine family represented all that was good about speedway - ''that's what we base speedway on. It's a family sport''.
Competitors had fared well at this week's meets - the fifth round of the War of the Wings on Saturday, and the Sprintcar King of Cromwell, on Monday - although conditions on Monday had been ''trying'' because of extremely hot conditions that dried up the track and challenged racers.
Two significant successes were those of Ray Stewart, of Cromwell, who won the supersaloon class at both meets, and Jamie Duff, of Christchurch, who won the sprintcar class at both meets, Ainsley said.
