The BNT V8 SuperTourers and the Toyota Racing Series will share the race card for the first time this weekend at Highlands Motorsport Park.
It means fans will get to see the seasoned veterans of V8 racing such as Greg Murphy and Angus Fogg battling it out with young guns Richard Moore (22) and 2013 championship runner-up Ant Pedersen (25).
In the TRS, 23 youngsters from all around the world unleash some testosterone via their wings-and-slicks racers.
The seven-round, V8 SuperTourers championship opens this weekend with a battle between last year's frontrunners set to take place from the outset. Hamilton-based Pedersen was a ''very close'' second to Murphy last season and the title went right down to the last race, series promoter Bernard Carpinter said.
Murphy, who has recently moved back from Australia to his home region of Hawkes Bay, welcomed the close competition, as although he is keen to retain his hard-won title, he doesn't want to have it easy.
''I want it to be a tough championship,'' he said.
''I want the series to grow, to have more competitors and to be more competitive. If you have one guy winning all the time, it's boring.''
Murphy was looking forward to returning to the Highlands track, after driving in the inaugural Highlands 101 meeting in November for the final round of the Australian GT championship.
''It's a challenging circuit, no question about it. It's got a lot of corners and if you make a mistake at one corner, in a lot of places that hurts you for the next corner.''
Because of the way the corners flow into one another drivers would have to be at their best to pull off overtaking moves, Murphy said.
''You've got to get it right for corner after corner, lap after lap. I enjoy driving it.''
Cromwell's Central Otago scenery surrounding the track gave it a special atmosphere, he added.
''It's a stunning location, just spectacular. It's something else.''
''Tony's [Quinn] done such a beautiful job with the circuit and he's always willing to look at ways to improve it,'' he said.
Murphy is also pleased with a change to the engines' electronic control units, which will make the cars easier to drive.
''Until now, the massive torque of the seven-litre engines has come in with a sudden bang, but now the torque will come in more gradually and it will be easier to control the cars by modulating the throttle pedal.''
The SuperTourers have a 12-lap race today at 2.25pm and another 12-lapper at 10.35am tomorrow, followed by a 20-lap final race at 2pm.
The meeting will host round three of the TRS with 19 internationals and four New Zealanders driving the fast single-seaters. The highest placed Kiwi is Invercargill's Damon Leitch, in fifth but keep an eye out for 16 year-old James Munro, of Christchurch, who won his first wings-and-slicks race at the TRS second round in Timaru last weekend.
Promising an overload of horsepower and plenty of corners taken sideways, the UDC V8 Utes and the 36-car field of Autosure Central Muscle Cars, are also on the programme.