{"id":612010,"date":"2026-04-17T02:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/612010\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T02:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:29:14","slug":"supercars-news-mayor-racing-ford-sierra-at-christchurch-super440","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/612010\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars news: Mayor racing Ford Sierra at Christchurch Super440"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Christchurch
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhil Mauger’s Ford Sierra. Image: Richard Opie <\/p>\n

The self-confessed motorsport fan is brimming with excitement over the history-making event, during which he\u2019ll be amongst the action.<\/p>\n

Mauger is an experienced racer and will take part in the Historic Touring Cars category aboard an ex-Colin Bond Ford Sierra RS500.<\/p>\n

The Caltex machine is one of eight of the turbocharged Group A rockets entered in a 38-car field that also features Super Touring and early five-litre V8 cars.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI bought it about four months ago,\u201d Mauger told Speedcafe of the Sierra.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve only driven it in two race meetings and it scares the living daylights out of me, but it\u2019s fun and it\u2019s a really good group of people to race with.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur races are only six laps long, so we\u2019ll get out feeling 10-foot tall and bulletproof compared to the \u2018real\u2019 blokes doing 61 laps. I take my hat off to them.<\/p>\n

Click here <\/a>to see what it takes to build the Gold Coast street circuit <\/p>\n

\u201cBut as long as we have fun and have a beer afterwards, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Christchurch<\/p>\n

Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger at Thursday night\u2019s welcome ceremony. Image: InSyde Media<\/p>\n

An earth moving and construction company proprietor, Mauger\u2019s long-held motorsport passion has seen him own and race a wide variety of machinery.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father was into cars and racing for a long time,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI inherited a car called the Stanton Special with a Tiger Moth aeroplane engine in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt set the New Zealand land speed record in 1958, 173 miles per hour down a country road.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been lucky enough to have a Formula 5000 and a [McLaren] M23 Formula 1 car, which took me all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mauger also spent time racing GT3 Porsches and was set to compete in the 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour before being badly injured in a road accident in the lead-up to the event.<\/p>\n

The passenger in a BMW X3 rental car that was rear-ended by a fuel tanker at a set of traffic lights, Mauger was placed in a three-day coma having suffered 21 broken bones and a collapsed lung.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone needs a \u2018come to Jesus\u2019 moment and I certainly had one then,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I started to do mayoral stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Mauger was elected as a councillor in 2019. He became mayor in 2022 and was re-elected last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly missed motor racing and got back into it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to travel around the world like I used to, I\u2019ve been there and done that, but I want to have fun at local race events.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this is certainly a bloody beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among Mauger\u2019s former race cars is the ex-Matt Neal Nissan Primera Super Tourer that is set to compete this weekend in the hands of Steven Richards.<\/p>\n


\"\"\/
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