As sunshine fell on the Highlands Motorsport Park race track yesterday, so did the lap record.
Drivers were practicing ahead of the Highlands 101 weekend, which begins today, when several competitors posted times close to 1min 33sec.
Although a practice time could not be an official lap record, Richard Muscat was the fastest in an Erebus Mercedes SLS AMG with a time of 1min 33.509sec.
Last year, the lap record of 1min 34.671sec was set by New Zealand driver Craig Baird.
About 15,000 spectators are expected to attend the racing, with ''thousands'' of pre-sale tickets already sold.
Highlands manager Mike Sentch said pre-sales were similar to last year's event, the first official event held at Highlands.
Owner of the facility, Tony Quinn, won the 101 race at that event.
Drivers to keep an eye on included Richard Muscat, Shane Van Gisbergen, Rod Salmon, Paul Van Leonhout and Mark Griffith, among others.
About 80 cars will take part in different events during the weekend, including the Australian GT Championship, One Hour and Euromarque races.
During the weekend each car will use about eight sets of tyres, and burn through about 100l of fuel per hour.
Mr Sentch said, a year on from the first 101 weekend, having another international level event showed New Zealand ''wanted it - and we are ready to deliver''.
He was ''ecstatic'' about the racing, and excitement had been tangible.
''You can feel it, smell it, and if you could taste it, it would be just as good.''
Highlands marketing and events manager Mel Kees said there was ''heaps'' of entertainment aside from the cars, including pit walks, aerial acrobatics, skydivers, a drift car on the track, food and drink vendors, and a ''safari park'' including an adventure playground and ''huge'' model dinosaurs.
Gates open at 8am today and tomorrow, with vehicles on the 4.1km-long track about 9am.
