Brock Timperley is excited to finally have the opportunity to race alongside mentor and friend John McIntyre in this year’s Golden Homes North Island Endurance Series.
The two will be steering McIntyre’s ex-New Zealand V8 championship-winning Ford Falcon, which has since been souped up to match V8 SuperTourer modifications.
It is the same car that Timperley managed to claim an outright win with at Pukekohe in the 2019 one-hour series, as well as win that year’s class title.
Timperley and McIntyre first met in late 2017 at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park for a test day in then-Brock Cooley’s NZV8 Falcon.
McIntyre was instantly awed with the high level of maturity and talent in the young Timperley and afterwards offered to assist the budding driver in accelerating his career.
“For the lack of miles he had done in a race car, Brock’s feel for the car and his pace that day in Taupo was highly impressive,” McIntyre told Velocity News.
“I got on with him really well and decided to help him get into the NZV8 championship. I was also there to assist him in reaching the final stage in the Australian Driver search where he finished in the top-six.
“But this will be the first year we will have raced with each other, which is really exciting.”
Timperley says that without McIntyre’s help over the last four years, he wouldn’t have been able to unlock his full potential.
“John has allowed me to turn a hobby into a career,” Timperley said.
“I have learnt so much from working with him. He has taught me a tonne with the driving aspect, such as car handling and one-lap pace.
“But he has also been there with me off-track, giving me the best advice on how to tackle certain things. I can always count on John to point me on the correct path to achieve something.
“He has been a massive part of my career so far, and I know he will have an even bigger role in my future. I cannot wait to finally race with him this season.”
For this year’s North Island Series, the AV8 Falcon McIntyre and Timperley will be driving will run with the iconic #47. It is the same number McIntyre has raced with for most of his career in New Zealand.
McIntyre last drove the Falcon’s chassis in the first-ever Hamilton 400 in 2008 in a non-competition NZ V8 Touring Car event. He would claim pole in qualifying and win all three races to cap off a perfect weekend.
Since leaving McIntyre’s hands, the Falcon has undergone several modifications.
Wayne Anderson now owns and modifies the car out of his AV8 Motorsport team, with Timperley tasked with driving duties.
It is a change in pace for McIntyre. He has only contested the South Island Series in his Chevrolet Camaro monster the past few years.
While he intends to return to the Camaro later this year, he says the opportunity to race with Timperley in the Falcon was too good to turn down.
“I really wanted to do a one-hour this year after doing lots of three-hours,” McIntyre said.
“I also wanted to race in something that doesn’t have ABS or traction control, a real driver’s car. Returning to the same chassis I won the NZV8 championship with before makes it even better.”
Timperley’s sole endurance outright win to date came at Pukekohe in 2019 when he pounced on the misfortunes of others and ran at a steady pace to ensure he claimed victory.
While another outright win remains an ultimate ambition, Timperley is still targeting success this coming season.
“I think we have a solid package for a class 1 car,” he said.
“The Falcon is a modified SuperTourer with an LS7 engine, 570 horsepower and six-speed sequential gearbox. So, it is a fast car.
“With John now in the car as well, I believe we can get a top-three in class. To do that, though, we need to execute a good strategy and make no mistakes.
“But we have won before, so anything can happen.”
The first round of the 2021 North Island Endurance Series will be at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park in Taupo on April 17.
Main Image: Matt Smith