|
|
Saker RSC in New Zealand
The extreme in sports motoring
Heritage
|
|||||||||||||||
|
saker - bird of prey
|
The man behind Saker, is Mr Bruce Turnbull, the founder of Saker cars.
1981: Serious racing in 1981 in a Fronzelli 2L Sports that Bruce rebuilt, winning the 1981 and 1982 NZ GT Championships.
1983: The design and rebuild of the Keram Formula Ford Race Car was completed. The Keram, in the hands of the winner Kevin Ingram of Fielding, went on to win the Formula Ford Championship that year, competing against opposition the likes of Reynard, Lola and Vandeman.
1984: Heavily involved in Formula Ford including the design and build of an experimental Formula Ford called the Tull 84C. It was technically advanced then, featuring pushrod inboard suspension not even found on the formula Pacific/Atlantic cars of that era.
1987: The car evolved into the highly successful Tull 86C and raced in the 1987 season taking pole position at the Pukekohe Grand Prix Meeting in the first year. The car proved to be extremely quick and reliable, and it is still used today in the Mansfield Racing School.
1988: The birth of the Saker SV begins, one whole year, by the one designer, and was spent shaping by hand, full size in wood, nothing less than perfection was acceptable. Bruce dedicated over 2000 hours to the refining of the beautiful curves. The objectives of the design being: A. speed and manoeuverability B. High Down force C. Low centre of gravity. By progressively taking the three components to the extreme and tuning them together into one cohesive unit, the Saker SVS GT Racer was born.
1990: The car is competing successfully in events such as the Whitakers Classic Car Racing at Mansfiled ( minutes away from the Saker Factory ), the Wellington Street Race, Wings and Wheels at Ohakea Air Base, Formula Libre including Formula 5000 and Formula Pacific Single Seaters, plus numerous sprints and hill climbs.
2000: The Saker website started attracting racing teams from Holland, USA and Japan. The world market was sitting up and noticing this successful GT racer.
2002: Saker Motorsport Europe established. Saker Racing USA established.
2003: After rigorous testing at the famous ZandVoort and Zolder Race Tracks, the Saker was chosen by the Dutch National racing Team, " Racing Concepts", over all other cars. Fifty race cars were ordered to replace the entire team. Saker assembly plant is setup in Holland to serve the Euorpean markets.
2004: The Saker challenge is launched, first race in April 2004 at Zanvoort, Holland, the Sakers came in 1st, 2nd and 7th. A week later a Saker SVSGT gained a third overall and second in class at the Dutch National GT race at Zandvoort, competing against a field of Porsche GT3s, GT2s, BMW V8, Marcos and many more. Extreme vehicles are appointed as dealers for NZ, plus director of marketing global operations. On June 3rd, the RSC is officially launched, featuring on TV1 news at 6. The RSC is destined to be a huge success. Saker have been invited to compete at Bathurst with the 450HP Racer being built now. Bruce Turnbull receives four trophies from the NZ Sports Car Association at the 2004 Awards ceremony. Saker Europe's first race in Germany at the Oschersleben Track, against 911 Turbos, GT3s and BMW E30s. The Sakers qualified 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. The Germans got serious quickly for the race, but the Sakers finished 1st and 2nd on the podium.
|
|||||||||||||||
