The driveshaft is not John Whelan's best-loved car part.
Last year, he broke two of them in his Toyota Racing Series (TRS) debut at the Hamilton street race and the same component snapped while exiting the pits in Saturday's second qualifying at Pukekohe Park.
The Dunedin driver had posted third-fastest time on the final lap of the first qualifying session before mechanical misfortune marred his next outing.
As his team repaired the drive shaft which is "a wee bit known for breaking," in TRS circles, Whelan sat out the next qualifying run, leaving him on the last grid position in race two and three.
In a weekend punctuated by TRS drivers taking spins off the circuit, he was no exception, coming to grief over Pukekohe's "mountain" on the second lap of the first race.
"I was pushing a bit hard with cold tyres, went wide and when trying to keep it in a straight line hit a bump in the grass."
He avoided major structural harm but a damaged upright bolt holding the suspension on to the wheel hub had to be replaced for the last two races.
Achieving a sixth and fifth in a meeting where eventual series winner Auckland's Mitch Cunningham and Whelan's team-mate Michael Burdett both speared off the track was some consolation.
"The circuit is so bumpy but you had to push on and if you didn't dodge the bump right you would bounce off sideways," Whelan said.
