It’s been a little while since my last newsletter update, and there’s plenty on the go as Summer approaches us!

In-car footage from the WTAC
As many of you will have read in the recent press release, the World Time Attack Challenge with Team RevolutioNZ didn’t quite go to plan.

Here is an in-car account of the final demise of the Evo, where the driveshaft exploded as I began what was only my second flying lap ever around the Eastern Creek circuit. http://youtu.be/ZjYBbGTKwj4

Check out 1:56 where the rear subframe collapsed, followed by the driveshaft at 2:23. There’s a rundown of the event in a post-event interview with MGN Inc. here.

LIVE Interview on D1NZ TV
I was a guest on D1NZ TV a couple of weeks ago – a live show staged at Auckland SsangYong. It was a new experience having people write in live via an online chat room to ask questions, and an awesome way of interacting with the public. I’m sure this form of media will grow from strength to strength in the future.

Take a look at the show at www.livestream.com/d1nz/video?clipId=pla_e0ce61d1-abd9-4cfa-8e6a-bd08e3ada398 – my interview is at about 32:00, where we discuss the recent World Time Attack, as well as upcoming projects in NZ and off-shore too!

New technology partner: Sony New Zealand
I’m pleased to welcome Sony New Zealand on board as my new technology partner looking into the future.

I’m particularly looking forward to getting my hands on the hotly anticipated new Sony Tablet S, launching in NZ in November, and utilising it for data telemetry, in-car footage review, track maps, lap timing and live timing in future race events.

Check out the Tablet S here – it’s a wicked little unit!

Buzzin’ like a Hornet!
One of my side projects, Hornet Performance Nutrition, launched today and our sports & nutritional supplements are now available for sale online.

Check out the website here, and if anyone is in the market for whey protein, creatine monohydrate, thermogenic fat burners or complex multivitamins, enter ‘JONOLESTER’ at the checkout for a 10% discount off your order!

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Jono Lester

WTAC Pre-testing at Hamptons

The Team RevolutioNZ Evo made a massive 912hp at the crank (over 700hp at the wheels) on the dyno last week, and this showed with crazy top speeds around a damp and undulating Hamptons circuit in our pre-testing last weekend.

We used the day to road new parts and ensure there were no issues with the car before it was shipped to Sydney. And to ship her off with a clean bill of health was a credit to all the people who have put in so much effort behind the scenes in the past few weeks.

Sydney, here we come!

Yesterday, the car in its fresh new livery was shot for the upcoming issue of NZ Performance Car Magazine, and then loaded into a shipping container along with the six kiwi drift cars heading to Aussie to compete.

It’s come up looking absolutely awesome, and I can’t wait to get down to business in three weeks at Eastern Creek!

Follow our World Time Attack Challenge campaign on the Team RevolutioNZ website, Facebook page and Twitter feed. To check out the event itself and what this ‘Time Attack’ is all about, go to www.worldtimeattack.com

Injury halts ‘Fight of the Century’

The ‘Fight of the Century’ fundraiser against my buddy Simon Evans unfortunately had to be cancelled on the week of the event, with Simon dislocating his shoulder in training.

It was a massive disappointment for both of us, but Simon is expected to make a full recovery from his pending surgery and we both discovered a new respect and admiration for the art of boxing during our four months of training.

A look back at Formula Challenge

I was doing a clean out the other day and found an old DVD of the Formula Challenge Series back in 2005. Take a look at the season recap, where Taupo was still 1.4km long, Geoff Bryan still presented Shell helix Motorsport on TV1, and I was a chubby 14-year old boy.

I’ll have plenty of updates for you all throughout the World Time Attack Challenge. Until next time, stay safe and all the very best!

The workload certainly hasn’t let up since my debut in the Toyota Racing Series a few weeks ago in Taupo! There’s been plenty to keep myself and the team occupied as we pursue some exciting opportunities over the next few months.

FIRST (AND SECOND) IN SUPERLAP TIME ATTACK
The latest NZ Superlap Time Attack event took place at Manfeild in late March, and it only took a single flying lap in the Castrol Edge Evo for us to take the outright victory for the third time. I also finished in second place in the Cheapskates Toyota Supra to score a 1-2 finish on what was a terrible day weather-wise with tyre choice a real challenge!

A big thanks to Scott Kreyl and Dave Green for the opportunity to pedal their awesome machines once again!

ONTO THE WORLD TIME ATTACK CHALLENGE
Today it was announced that I will be traveling to Australia to compete in the World Time Attack Challenge; a battle of the world’s best import tuners at Eastern Creek, Sydney on August 5-6.

On the back of the recent Superlap victory at Manfeild the Evo and I received an exclusive invitation to represent New Zealand in the event as Team RevolutioNZ, with the pre-event build programme already well underway before we go testing in June.

The’Invitational Pro’ class we are competing in is the draw card of the event, and make no bones about it; these guys mean business! The 2010 champion, CyberEVO, piloted by Japanese hero ‘Tarzan’ Yamada, lapped under the V8 Supercar lap record at The Creek, on DOT rated tyres, in a 4-cylinder Mitsubishi much like our own!

There are entries from all over the world, including Japan, the UK, USA and of course Australia, with 120 entrants in total across three classes. It should be an awesome event! Team RevolutioNZ was announced as a competitor in the WTAC today, with links here for the press announcement and vehicle profile.

LOADED UP…
I’m pleased to welcome Loaded Isotonic Sports Water, and its sister product Zero Water, on board as new partners to keep me well hydrated and energized in the car, at the race track and in the gym!

Loaded is a terrific tasting product that has been formulated to contain over 50% more electrolytes than any other isotonic sports drink in New Zealand. Pick some up from your supermarket or dairy and try it out for yourself!

RACERS IN THE RING
It’s just as well I now have Loaded and Zero Water on my side, and in my corner of the ring, as I prepare to take on my good friend Simon Evans in a three round boxing match on Saturday, May 28th.

The fight is part of a fundraising evening at the Auckland Boxing Association in Mt. Eden, supporting the talented North Shore Weightlifters and their trip to the upcoming World Championships.

Simon and I have a hefty weight on our shoulders, fighting as the curtain raiser to the professionally carded main event on fight night, despite both being rookies! The organisers are clearly putting a lot of faith in our pairing to put on a good show, and while it’s for a great cause, there will be no holds barred in the ring – much like on the race track!

Tickets go on sale in the next couple of weeks for General Admission and Corporate ringside seats, and I’ll send out an update at that time with the details. Sponsoring a fight is only $100 – the entire event, just $500! – so to anyone keen to support a good cause, book a corporate table and enjoy a big night of action, please get in contact with me and I’ll send you an info pack.

We’ve set up a Facebook page for the fight, for those that want to follow: Lester vs. Evans – Fight of the Century

Thanks to each of you for your continued support, and until next time!

Jono

It sums up my debut in the Toyota Racing Series perfectly.

My family are single seater purists and always have been, but it?s taken me until the grand old age of 21 ? surprisingly the oldest driver in the championship! ? to have my own taste of a wings and slicks racing car.

A car without a roof. A car with this ?downforce? thing I?ve heard so much about.

A car with a new outlook on racing lines. A car that both allows you – and forces you – to drive through a corner, and not out of it.

The last minute nature of my entry into the TRS at Taupo was actually a good thing, as it allowed me to arrive fresh and open minded with no reservations, concerns or worries. I had nothing to lose, so this would be an event as much to enjoy as to further myself as both a driver, and a racer.

I knew immediately that in running with ETEC Motorsport and working directly with Andy Neale, I would have one of the best teachers in the game, and this gave me great confidence. Andy is old school, just like my father, which made for an easy transition.

Thursday testing gave me a chance to familiarise myself with the car, and Friday bought more of the same.

Finding the optimum car setup was irrelevant at this stage, and for most of the weekend; the goal was more to find a balance that I was comfortable with given the style I?ve become accustomed to in a GT car.

Honestly, we didn?t have time to reinvent the wheel.

So with this frame of mind and some subtle changes made by Andy and the ETEC team, we rolled into qualifying on Saturday morning reasonably confident. After a gruelling session I finished up in seventh place. Second on the grid was just half a second up the road, but I was still a bit disappointed that we couldn?t eek out another tenth or two from the new tyres.

I had to keep reminding myself, as did those around me, not to bee too critical of my performance this weekend. But, as any driver will tell you, the top spot is the only end goal we have in sight.

RACE ONE

Race one went really well. Starting off the dirty line with a slipping clutch, I was still able to make a clean getaway and passed my team mate Jamie McNee on the first lap.

I then went about hunting down the next car in the train, and my car got stronger and stronger as the race progressed. This allowed me to apply quite a bit of pressure to Damon Leitch in front, while I had the same being dealt to me from the rear from McNee.

This was how it finished though, and I secured fifth place at the flag.

RACE TWO

With the same grid position for the second race, I made an even better getaway this time and passed Leitch at the first corner. Again, the car was slow to start, but was a rocketship as the race progressed and the tyres settled into a working temperature. I had a race-long battle with Alastair Wootten, and being tucked up under his gearbox gave me the chance to get a feel for using the aero efficiently in traffic, where the front end threatened to wash out on me at every corner.

A hectic last lap with Woots and Nick Cassidy allowed me to slip past the pair of them around the outside of the turn 11 sweeper onto Taupo?s long back straight, and cross the line in fourth position.

This gave me second row start for the reverse top six final race, which was the race of the weekend in my opinion!

RACE THREE

In the first lap shuffle I found myself down in fifth place, but knowing my car would get stronger as the race went on, I set about keeping as close to the leading train as I could, locking into a battle with Nick Foster and McNee. I slipped by McNee with a couple of laps remaining, and pressured Foster until the very last lap where he made a small mistake and I picked up fourth from him also.

With a fifth and two fourth place finished, I finished my first weekend in the TRS in fourth overall. And sitting back now, I must say that yeah, I?m pretty bloody happy with that!

It was definitely a big ask to jump into a totally unfamiliar car and be competitive, but we handled ourselves professionally and worked the weekend to a plan. And in the end, it was all we could have asked for from a ?toe in water? exercise.

The Toyota Racing Series is a terrific championship in all facets of the word. I saw that first hand at Taupo, and I aim to be back for a full crack at the championship in 2012.

People have been right to comment on why I have suddenly decided to take this path, but the honest answer is that my path remains unchanged.

My goal is still to race at Le Mans, and to build a career in endurance racing. And if the Toyota Racing Series provides an affordable summer racing programme for me and my supporters, as well as a platform to learn and develop even more as a driver, then it?s a diversion I am happy to take.

To Barrie Thomlinson and TRM, ETEC Motorsport and my sponsors for the weekend: Radiance ?Supplements for Life?, Gourmet Direct ?100% NZ Grown Meat?, Opti-Flex, Vortex Racewear, Hornet Performance Nutrition and AAA Roofing, I can?t thank each of you enough.

Until next time,

Jono

I?ve put countless hours of effort into putting a package together for the New Zealand Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, since my return from Italy and the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in September. Time was never on our side, but we gave it a shot nevertheless.

At the same time though, we have been quietly working away on my future in motorsport overseas. As terrific as the New Zealand championship is and as handy as it would have been for seat time, big picture thinking had to take precedence.

It has become more important for us to focus on what looks to be a terrific opportunity overseas and channel all of our energies into that, because of its long reaching benefits and the potential of securing a full time seat in one or more competitive international championships.

Generally when someone doesn?t end up racing not much is said. People tend to recoil. I don?t see this as being very professional, and I am conscious that there are many family members, friends, past-and present supporters and the like that are interested in where we are at right now, and why.

Details will come to light in good time. Motorsport is a world shrouded in secrets and paranoia ? for fear of protection of one?s reputation and integrity sometimes we need to keep out mouths zipped and get things over the line before talking about them candidly.

There is a good chance I will be back in a car in the New Year in New Zealand in preparations for our overseas plans for 2011. But, it won?t be a Porsche?

To everyone who has offered me their time and assistance over the last six weeks of intensive fundraising for the NZ championship, I thank you and apologise that it didn?t come off, but I am confident that what we have in the pipeline will be as exciting and surprising for all of you as it is becoming for myself and my family.

I wish the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge series the best of luck for the upcoming championship, and look forward to seeing Bairdo and Jonny ?J1? Reid do battle from opposing camps once again.

Onwards and upwards!