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Speaker 1: We're back into the summer of motorsport. This weekend, the

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Speaker 1: opening round of this year's nixt Gen New Zealand Championship

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Speaker 1: is underway at Hampton Downs. It's got reorganized last year

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Speaker 1: in an attempt to tidy the calendar and bring a

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Speaker 1: bit of order to the season. Tony Quinn's behind it

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Speaker 1: as founder of National Race and Group Promotions, and Tony

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Speaker 1: as well as Tony Morning Morning must it must give

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Speaker 1: you a real sense of satisfaction, you know, given what

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Speaker 1: you're doing for the sport and you're getting the rewards

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Speaker 1: and seeing the fruit of your labor, all of.

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Speaker 2: Those things make and you know, I just I love

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Speaker 2: New Zealand. I love the place. I love the people.

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Speaker 2: I even love the toilets. I think it's a great place.

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Speaker 2: It's definitely God's country. And this morning I've just arrived

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Speaker 2: at Hampton Downs and it's looking a picture.

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Speaker 1: I was going to say, it's a clear blue sky.

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Speaker 1: Certainly my part of the world. I'm assuming down the

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Speaker 1: road it isn't yours. As you sit there looking at

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Speaker 1: that facility, and whether it's Tower Pa or Highlands or that,

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's got to fill you with some pride

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Speaker 1: doesn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it does, and I suppose because it's been it's

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Speaker 2: been part of my life and I've been totally engrossed

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Speaker 2: in the whole thing. I don't I don't get to

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Speaker 2: see the impact of the change because I see the

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Speaker 2: change happening week to week. But when you do revisit

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Speaker 2: it after a period away, it is a special place.

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Speaker 2: You know, Hunting Downs is a proper racetrack, you know,

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Speaker 2: it's it definitely is fit for purpose.

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Speaker 1: Anyway, just take us through this this reorganization. What did

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Speaker 1: you discover what needed to be done last year? Did

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Speaker 1: that work? And how you sit then for this year

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Speaker 1: or is there more to do?

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Speaker 2: There's always more to do. But the sport was in

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Speaker 2: a bit of disarray and disorganized and uneconomic, and people

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Speaker 2: weren't getting paid and they were relying on volunteers too much,

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Speaker 2: and you know, people didn't want to do it because

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Speaker 2: it was there was no point in doing it because

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Speaker 2: it get paid to do it. So we took it

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Speaker 2: on last year at the last minute, and so through

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Speaker 2: the season and at the end of that we said, right,

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Speaker 2: this is what needs to happen to fix it, if

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Speaker 2: you like. And so this year is really our first year.

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Speaker 2: We did it last year to sort it out, but

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Speaker 2: this year is our first year of being a true

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Speaker 2: promoter of the summer series. And you know we've brought

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Speaker 2: people on like Repco and Sky. You know, there's some

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Speaker 2: good people behind it this year, and you know it's

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Speaker 2: looking really good. We've got some really positive news about

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Speaker 2: some of the superstars that are coming out this summer.

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Speaker 2: And this is where New Zealand fits into the whole

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Speaker 2: global motorsports scene. Our season is when everybody else is

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Speaker 2: having winter holidays, you know, you know in the northern hemisphere,

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Speaker 2: and we need to re rebirth that whole situation. It's

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Speaker 2: been forgotten about for the last decade or two, and

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Speaker 2: we need to rebirth that whole opportunity for people to

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Speaker 2: come from Europe in America down to New Zealand in

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Speaker 2: the summer. We need to get the tourism thing gone,

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Speaker 2: because that's what New Zealand's good at. It's good at

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Speaker 2: lots of things, but it's really good at tourism. And

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Speaker 2: I believe that everybody that comes here meant seriously. I

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Speaker 2: still have people from Australia that come to Highlands and

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Speaker 2: say how long has this been here? For I can't believe.

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Speaker 2: And I'm not just talking about highlands. I'm talking about

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Speaker 2: the actual environment. And for some strange reason, all the

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Speaker 2: dollars that we spend on television and magazines telling everybody

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Speaker 2: how good it is, when they get there, it's just

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Speaker 2: a totally different experience from them. So, you know, I've

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Speaker 2: always thought New Zealand. New Zealand's strength is its natural beauty,

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Speaker 2: and if we can get people here to see it,

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Speaker 2: I think it's a job well done.

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Speaker 1: Exactly. You mentioned Sky a moment ago, television coverage and motorsport.

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Speaker 1: What are the numbers around it? Is it successful? And therefore,

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Speaker 1: you know, not only for the fan watching the cars

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Speaker 1: go around the track, but the fact that you're putting

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Speaker 1: New Zealand out to the world.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look all, yeah, yeah it is. And I think

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Speaker 2: what I would lean on is that there has been

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Speaker 2: a tendency to be very traditional about it and rely

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Speaker 2: on the traditional motorsport fan. But I think what we've

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Speaker 2: seen in the last five ten years is F one

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Speaker 2: reaching out to far more, a far bigger audience, and

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Speaker 2: their numbers have just gone berserk, and off the back

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Speaker 2: of F one, we should all be trying to keep

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Speaker 2: up with them with you know, lifestyle segments as well

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Speaker 2: as the sport. I believe that there's a lot more

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Speaker 2: need for lifestyle content in television with the sport, and

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Speaker 2: again that that can bring in tourism. And you know,

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Speaker 2: you need to use every second of television to promote

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Speaker 2: what you've got. You know, it's it's yeah, it's all

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Speaker 2: right watching cars going round and round, but they need

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Speaker 2: to And look just at the weekend last weekend, we

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Speaker 2: were at the Gold Coast and we saw the cars,

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Speaker 2: the vight cars jumping over the curb. Yeah, and you

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Speaker 2: know that's already got millions and millions of eyeballs around

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Speaker 2: the world. So you know, that's our job in New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: We have to we have to. We're a small country

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Speaker 2: and we need to try as hard as we can

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Speaker 2: and we will, but we just need to be And

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Speaker 2: tivs are good at thinking outside the square as well.

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Speaker 2: So so brace yourself. Who knows what's going to happen.

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Speaker 1: Right yourself? Good on you, Mike, Good to catch up,

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Speaker 1: appreciate and have a fantastic weekend and a good season.

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Speaker 1: I have a summer. Tiny Quinn, founder of the National

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Speaker 1: Rising Group Promotions I got everything, They got the GT

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Speaker 1: world and they got the GT four finishing up. That's

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Speaker 1: in Australian contest. Movie. Grig movie is in a GT

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Speaker 1: Bowl this weekend, so those two are coming across. The

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Speaker 1: Testament will be finished up. So you get everything from

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Speaker 1: the eighty sixers through to the glamour cars and the

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Speaker 1: fan experience, the whole thing. So Tony Quinn is to

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Speaker 1: be congratulated for his energy and effort and success in

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Speaker 1: New Zealand motor racing. For more from The Mic Asking Breakfast,

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Speaker 1: listen live to News Talks at B from six am weekdays,

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Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio