{"id":626522,"date":"2026-04-23T21:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/626522\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T21:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:28:16","slug":"supercars-news-why-feeney-rated-old-school-ruapuna-so-highly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/626522\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars news: Why Feeney rated \u2018old school\u2019 Ruapuna so highly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/088-Feeney-EV03-26-MH7_6563-088-Feeney-Ford-2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"Why Feeney rated \u2018old school\u2019 Ruapuna so highly\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBroc Feeney at the Christchurch Super440. Image: Mark Horsburgh<\/p>\n<p>Most drivers got a taste of Ruapuna before the Supercars circus rolled into town.<\/p>\n<p>Behind the scenes, many were keen to reserve judgement until race day \u2013 and rightly so, as it turned out.<\/p>\n<p>Feeney was one of the leading voices praising efforts to revamp the facility from club circuit to full-fledged Supercars venue.<\/p>\n<p>Corner exit run-offs were extended in parts, new kerbs were constructed, and the circuit was lined with grandstands to fit 60,000 spectators.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fcttn.com\/products\/v8s-in-nz-tee\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-1.webp\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>By all accounts, Ruapuna Raceway delivered in spades.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cComing here a few weeks ago and seeing it without all the grandstands and all the big sheds they put on, it seemed like it needed a bit of work,\u201d said Feeney.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut, to be honest, when we rocked up here this weekend, it looked like a completely different track already.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone involved at Ruapuna did a fantastic job to get it up to scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1028553\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/088-Feeney-EV03-26-MH7_1076.jpg\" alt=\"A general view of Ruapuna Raceway. Image: Mark Horsburgh\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>A general view of Ruapuna Raceway. Image: Mark Horsburgh<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.com\/supercars-news-2026-christchurch-super440-pit-lane-garages-upgrade-phil-mauger\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Upgrades to the circuit are planned<\/a>, with safety improvements a key focus for the Canterbury Car Club with support from the Christchurch City Council.<\/p>\n<p>A new pit building is also front of mind. Resource consent for permanent garages is set to be submitted soon.<\/p>\n<p>For this year\u2019s race, the pit lane awnings were extended with temporary tents to give teams more shaded capacity.<\/p>\n<p>That went some way to alleviate the fears of some drivers who tested at the track earlier in the weeks and months leading up to the event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be honest, I thought the pits were actually pretty good with the shades out the back,\u201d said Feeney.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving garages is great for the local car community as well. You certainly get your weather over here, so being protected in a garage is great.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve got some plans in place, what they want to do with it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously Supercars committing here for at least three years is a great eye on the future for those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.com\/supercars-news-2026-christchurch-super440-pit-lane-garages-upgrade-phil-mauger\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christchurch pit lane upgrade on track for 2027<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>As for the track itself, Feeney gave a glowing assessment.<\/p>\n<p>Passing was at a premium across all four races, but Feeney wasn\u2019t perturbed by the difficult nature of the narrow \u201ctwisty\u201d layout.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHearing a few comments over the weekend, there were certainly a lot of positives out of it,\u201d said Feeney.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI actually quite like the old-school style of the Ruapuna track.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe go to some pretty beautiful race tracks now that are world-class, 15 to 20 metres wide, and sometimes that actually takes a bit of the fun out of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo go literally back in time a little bit to an old-school race track was a lot of fun to drive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you made a move it had to be pretty bold, but I think it still produced some great racing over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s such a tight and twisty track that we\u2019re probably not used to in Supercars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe racing was very difficult to try and pass someone, but doing a qualifying lap had lots of challenges and it made it lots of fun to drive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure, as we all saw, there was lots of dust on the weekend. There\u2019s consequences, and that\u2019s a great thing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou go to so many tracks where there\u2019s 10 metres of concrete on the exit and then you start talking about track limits and all this not fun stuff.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo actually have dirt and consequences when you make a mistake is good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year was the first in a three-year deal between Supercars and the New Zealand Government to race in Christchurch at Ruapuna.<\/p>\n<p>Although Feeney was pictured with his Triple Eight teammates promoting Highlands and its Project29 campaign, the Ford Mustang driver said he\u2019s looking forward to a return.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I\u2019ve said all week, the people here in Christchurch have absolutely made this event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey always make the New Zealand event so special and I\u2019m looking forward to coming back the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/t.cfjump.com\/92797\/b\/250635\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/250635.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broc Feeney at the Christchurch Super440. Image: Mark Horsburgh Most drivers got a taste of Ruapuna before the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-626522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}