Eager for another crack at the Trackman Trophy

Vaughan Cornelius has his eyes set on having his name and his car etched into the history of the Trackman Trophy.

After he and the team had won pretty much everything they could have won last season, he says the opening night trophy remains elusive after seven seasons behind a production saloon wheel.

Having twice previously finished runner-up in the New Zealand GP and twice been runner-up at South Islands, as well as a two-time Nelson Club champion, Vaughan believes he has what it takes to bring home the goods.

"We put in one of the best seasons (last year). . . any trophy we could have won, we did win.

"The most special was the Pam Nixon Memorial Trophy. She's a former racer who died of cancer in the last off-season and it's pretty special to be the first winner of that."

While the off-season is often a time to work on your car, Vaughan and his 12N Honda Prelude hadn't much to do before opening night.

With the car less than two years old, having been built up after being gifted by fellow local speedway enthusiast and competitor Steve Russ, it's still in top condition despite a couple of superficial scrapes and dents.

While only the chassis, engine and body are the same as the car that rolled out of the factory, Vaughn says they didn't know what to do before Steve jumped on board with an offer of help.

"He gave us a couple of cars.

"It helped us heaps because we didn't know what to do, our car was getting a bit too old and we had no idea how we were going to get a new one."

With memories of falling asleep behind the local speedway grandstands, Vaughan says it was never a question if he was going to race as well.

"I got sick of watching him doing it and thought I should myself. And now he's the one who's full-time pit crew.

"It's always been in my blood."

While his dad, Chris Cornelius, drove Street stocks, Vaughan says he always wanted to race production saloons.

"I credit a lot of it to the car, my dad does the set up. There's a little element of the driver, but you have to have the car under you as well.

"Because you can't hit other cars out of the way, you need to rely on speed."

Vaughan says without his dad's input and expert knowledge, he wouldn't even have a car out on track.

And with a couple of good practice runs already in the books, he's confident in their chances as they eye up another season.

With the newly formed Aotearoa Cup in Cromwell and a number of other big races in the upcoming calendar, Vaughan says it wouldn't be possible without the support of his sponsors, Fitzgerald Construction, Specialised Structures, JAK Raceworks, Troopers Tyre Services and Nightrave Greyhounds.

"If we didn't have them, we wouldn't be able to go down South to race."