In a shortened contest punctuated by uniquely Australian dramas, Allan Dippie's team bettered its qualifying position by 21 places to finish 13th overall in the Bathurst 12-hour race at the weekend.
Driven by Dunedin's Dippie, Scott O'Donnell, of Invercargill, and Bob Grove, of Auckland, the two-wheel-drive BMW 130i avoided the "rivers" of flooding, kangaroos hopping across the circuit and a huge gum tree which toppled on to the track.
Working their way up from a qualifying position of 34th, the trio claimed third in Class C and clocked 191 laps around Mount Panorama on Sunday - 11 laps shy of race winners Paul Morris, John Bowe and Gary Holt in a BMW 335i.
"It was all about being a bit tactical, even though we weren't the fastest car there," Dippie said yesterday.
The New Zealand team topped up its fuel and changed drivers during the prolific safety car periods, pitting only five times in the 12 hours.
In what was described as one of the "most extraordinary incidents" in the circuit's history, a 24m gum tree fell just past the exit of Forrest Elbow corner, at the top of Conrod Straight, just before 12.50pm, in the race's seventh hour.
None of the almost 40 cars running at the time was hit but they were stopped behind the safety car for about an hour while emergency crews removed the tree.
Dippie, who brought the BMW home, believed the Motorsport Services-run team "batted way above its weight" and credited team principal David Taylor - who won a trophy for team management - for helping them bring the 3-litre BMW back in one piece.
Southland's Inky Tulloch and Australian team-mates Rod Salmon and Damian White were forced to retire after debris split the exhaust pipe of their Mitsubishi Evo X RS on lap 156.
The damaged pipe was burning the driver's feet through the firewall and leaving the car with gear selection problems.
The team was also concerned about heat affecting the brakes, the event's website reported.
Tulloch's team had run at the head of the field for about nine hours before its demise.
John Whelan, of Dunedin, had a horror smash at Manfeild at the weekend when the brake pedal bias bolt broke on his Falcon during an NZV8 testing session.
He was travelling at about 200kmh when he hit the brakes going into turn one.
"The pedal was just dangling there.
"I had absolutely no brakes at all," Whelan said.
He only had time to knock the car down a gear and prepare for impact into the tyre wall at 170kmh.
Whelan credited the "very strong" structure of the V8 and his HANS (head and neck support) device for letting him walk away with nothing more than a slightly sore neck, but his team will be working hard to resurrect the car before the final round at Taupo on March 20 and 21.
Grant Aitken, of Queenstown, had a weekend free from mechanical woes and won the first production series race in his Mitsubishi Evo 9.
Placing third in the following two outings has left him 32 points shy of class winner Scott McKelvie and with a clear aim for next month's finale.
"The equation is quite simple.
"I have to win three races."
