
Simpson Back For Toyota 86 Trophy Series
Fifty four year old Simpson competed in the Toyota 86 Championship in 2023, which Noel describes as a 'trial by fire'. The season was represented by strong starts and good levels of race craft, but by his own admission Noel never really adapted to the car to get the race pace needed to be at the front.
Before that Noel was a regular competitor in the Porsche series between 2021 and 2022 and won the Boxster trophy in both years and the Porsche Cup in the final year.
'The Toyota championship in 2023 was a real eye opener for me,' he said on confirmation of his entry into the four round winter series which begins next month.
'There was lots of talent and fierce competition and a lot to learn as a result of that, but I enjoy the Toyota 86 and am looking forward to getting out there again in the Trophy Series.
'It's a car you have to be very precise with and consistent with especially given how close all of the fields are. And that is the challenge, as there is always something to learn.'
Having taken time out to support his children in international alpine skiing with eight back-to-back winters away travelling around the globe to support them in competition, Noel is looking forward to being able to focus on his racing over the next few months.
'I've been revisiting a lot of the data from 2023 and have run a few test days so hopefully I'm going to be able to hit the ground running and be competitive from the word go.'
Simpson will be backed by Lexel Systems when the series gets underway at Hampton Downs on May 9th.
2025 Toyota 86 Trophy Series
Rd1 9-10 May 2025 Hampton Downs - NZIGP Finale
Rd2 21-22 June 2025 Taupo Int. Motorsport Park - Taupo Winter Series
Rd3 5-6 July 2025 Manfeild – Circuit Chris Amon - Manfeild Winter Series
Rd4 26-27 July 2025 Taupo Int. Motorsport Park - Taupo Winter Series
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Scoop
16 hours ago
- Scoop
Malesala And Simpson Extend Their Time With Pulse
Shooter Amorangi Malesala and Australian midcourter Gabi Simpson will remain with Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse for the rest of the ANZ Premiership netball league. With Malesala drafted in as a temporary replacement for Khiarna Williams, who is still rehabbing a shoulder injury, and Simpson adding cover for Maddy Gordon and Whitney Souness, the Pulse have opted to retain the 12 players allowed per squad. ``After injury-restricted build-ups Maddy and Whitney have only recently returned to playing at this level and more recently playing full minutes, so there's still uncertainty there,'' Netball Central Director of High Performance Waimarama Taumaunu said. ``And, it's a very short season, so if anything should go amiss, we have the cover rather than facing a last-minute search. ``Amorangi and Gabi are seasoned players, they're very professional in everything they do, very positive team members and have added enormous value.'' Starting her season as a training partner with the Magic, talented shooter Malesala, is now living the dream while re-launching her elite level career. ``I'm super blessed to be able to stay here permanently for the rest of the season,'' she said. ``I guess that was not really part of the plan and it was a matter of just taking each week as it came but to be able to be here and for Anna (Andrews-Tasola, coach) to have the belief in me to be here and to be a part of the Pulse, I'm super grateful. ``I've loved every minute of it. It was definitely an eye-opener coming in because from the outside looking in, the Pulse are a tight-knit team so being able to be here and to experience that week-in week-out has been awesome for me. ``In order to grow my game and coming to a new environment, a clean slate gives me that ability to learn more about myself and to also immerse myself in this high intensity environment and it's been pretty good so far.'' Former Australian Diamond and Queensland Firebirds centurion, Simpson has put her physiotherapist clients and fledgling Australian Rules football career in Brisbane on hold to extend her stay in Wellington. ``I definitely didn't expect to be here for the whole season but I've felt so welcomed and it's such an enjoyable place to play netball,'' she said ``Now I just really want to contribute to this group to see how good we can be, and I'm really excited to be able to be here for a little bit longer. ``I think the newness about it all has been super refreshing and for me as well, being able to play without much expectation and not a huge amount of ambition other than to make this group great is a really refreshing and freeing way to play. ``They're a great bunch of girls and a great bunch of coaches. They've really taken me in and taught me a lot about the New Zealand way and their style of playing netball. And I really love the depth of culture in this team, it's a special thing to be a part of.'' After traversing the length of the country, Simpson had to wait until halfway through the season before playing her first game in Wellington at the Pulse's spiritual home of TSB Arena. While that resulted in a disappointing loss to the Mystics, the passionate crowd left a lasting impression. ``Walking out in front of that crowd was unreal…..it's loud, it's yellow, there's so much energy that you can feel it, so it's really special to walk out in front of something like that and I guess create a new home,'' she said.


Scoop
18 hours ago
- Scoop
Jones And Thomson Closer Than Ever To Victory In Japan
With New Zealand rally legend Hayden Paddon on hand to help and advise over the weekend, Jones and Thomson but a relatively slow start on stage one behind them to be one of the pace setters on the afternoon of the first day and throughout the second day of the eight-stage rally. The strong result moves them to second in the championship standings at the halfway point of the season. 'We were third overall and had a great final day with two stage wins and a second place,' commented Jones. 'We just missed out on second overall by 1.8 seconds which is a little frustrating but again it was really close overall and we were only 14 seconds off winning. 'The championship is that tight that it is the tiny details and tiny issues making all the difference. We lost a chunk of time on stage one when I wasn't really on the pace, and it would have been very different without that but overall, three stage wins across the weekend out of eight is positive. 'We had a good feeling with the car, and we will move to the next round with confidence that we can make that next step up I think.' Paddon was impressed with what he saw, adding: 'I've enjoyed helping Zeal and Bayden over the weekend and seeing the progress they are making in and out of the car. Seeing them standing on the podium after closing the gap to the leaders was the icing on the cake.' The Morizo Challenge Cup is a new category run as a class within the All Japan Rally Championship. All crews compete in Toyota's GR Yaris, where tight rules and limited modifications put the focus on driver skill and teamwork. All drivers must be under 25 years old and the objective of the championship is to provide a stepping stone to higher rallying categories for Japan's rising rally stars. With a Japanese mother, Jones' entry into the championship was welcomed. The Kiwi duo go again at the next round at Hokkaido over the weekend of July 4-6.


NZ Autocar
4 days ago
- NZ Autocar
2025 Lexus LBX Morizo RR Review
Toyota has unleashed four GR variants and now Lexus has taken the smallest and turned it into the top LBX model. Naturally it isn't called a GR but an RR variant of its compact LBX crossover line-up. And unusually it has Morizo in the name. That's because this particular LBX was developed in part by 'Master Driver' Akio Toyoda, Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation. On track, Toyoda's nickname is Morizo, so that's why the RR is known thus. Morizo was also one of the mascots of the 2025 World Expo held in Japan. Who knew? The RR in the nameplate refers to Rookie Racing as opposed to Gazoo Racing. Anyhow, the RR is closely related to the GR Yaris, just like LBX is related to Yaris Cross. For they utilise the same platform. However, the RR Morizo is somewhat wilder, more athletic. It's 15mm wider and rides 10mm lower than the others in the range. The driver's hip point is also 10mm lower for that sense of oneness with the vehicle. Its body kit is nicely restrained, and features body-coloured wheel arches and side skirts. It's full of purpose but not too ostentatious. This is a Lexus, after all. It's all very smooth too, in that aero-inspired way. Powering the RR is a 206kW/390Nm three-cylinder 1.6L turbopetrol, mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. Evidently the bodywork, suspension (multilink instead of torsion beam rear), brakes and tyres were uprated for optimal performance. The car's head designer, Kunihiko Endo, said the concept was about bringing a smile to the face of the true enthusiast while offering the refinement of a Lexus. And indeed in the right circumstances this will make some smile while others might find themselves laughing maniacally. Contributing to those special moments is an electronically controlled All-Wheel Drive system, and front and rear Torsen limited slip diffs. Also enhancing athletic ability is significantly enhanced body rigidity thanks to almost 500 extra spot welds and an additional 13m of structural adhesives. There are special underbody stability braces and a rear performance damper as well. Active Sound Control amplifies driving sounds through the audio speakers. This involves synchronising engine and exhaust resonances as the vehicle accelerates and slows. The RR is evidently Morizo's weekend drive. He believes it will 'redefine expectations in the luxury small SUV market'. And he is right about that, except for one pesky rival with a similar aim. Purely coincidental it was that we drove the facelifted Cupra Formentor VZ just before hopping into the Lexus LBX Morizo RR. I hadn't at that stage cottoned on to the fact that both of these sell for just under $90k. And while the Formentor is larger (4451mm vs 4190mm) with a bigger four-pot 2.0 engine, they're both five-door sporty compact crossovers. Each features a warmed over turbocharged engine and both have AWD to help them stick. Each looks absolutely up for it in the styling department too, with bulging body work, big wheels, and proper attitude, especially up front. Both go hard but the Spaniard with its bigger, more potent (245kW/420Nm) 2.0L IL4T has the performance edge. The slightly smaller LBX with its tricky diffs is a bit more of a corner terrier than the Formentor but it's otherwise Cupra all the way. It looks more aggressive, is half a second quicker on the sprint and doesn't really put too much of a foot wrong. Okay, there's not a whole lot of legroom in the rear, but the LBX is worse off on that front, as it is for luggage space (315 vs 345L). Where the Formentor truly nails it is in the ride and refinement stakes. The RR is simply loud over coarse chip surfaces – 78dB is so un-Lexus like – where the Cupra's worst is a more acceptable 72dB. And the Formentor ride is a decent cut above with its adaptive dampers – literally you can go from soft to hard in 15 steps – where the LBX has fixed suspension. Not that the LBX is as firm riding as its GR progenitor but it cannot compete with the user-adjustable adaptive damping of the Cupra. The final arbiter to my mind is that the LBX is based on the GA-B small car platform underpinning the Yaris Cross. And it shows, despite efforts to cover this up. Yes, there's lots of alluring Alcantara but there are hard plastics where there really shouldn't be on a car costing this much, the central screen is slow and old fashioned and Lexus still seems fixated with control systems that obfuscate. Try changing the data you see in the instrument panel. It took me several days of mussing before stumbling on how to do it. Yes, the information is there but it isn't that easy to manipulate. It reminds of the Lexus answer to iDrive which was tricky to use for left handers and was eventually ditched. This latest effort is almost as annoying. Okay, so changing the trip data can be a bit of a mission but then no more so than most of the controlling touchscreens that blight many of the new energy cars we drive nowadays. And in many ways the basic nature of the core car makes this otherwise simple to operate. To your left and in front of where the centre bin isn't (no room for that) are three buttons, one of which is for the Sport mode. The default is Normal. An AWD button changes things from variable to 50-50 fixed. We rather liked the even more tied down feel of the latter. Not quite so straightforward though is the manual shift mechanism. You pull back on the lever to select manual, all good but you don't then pull back again to return to Drive. You must push across diagonally to the right while pulling down or else you'll select Neutral on the go. Weird. And annoyingly this won't run in eighth gear at 100km/h. Or it least it won't most of the time. You need to be doing at least 105 before it flicks into eighth and holds it there. So generally on the open road, you're in seventh. Which may explain why the best fuel use figure prior was 13.3L/100km. A bit much, especially given the claimed figure of 9.5L/100km (rightcar agrees). Perhaps the previous driver became intoxicated by the yowl of the hot 1.6T triple on the boil. This is meant to run 0-100 in 5.2sec but we fell a bit short on that front, with a best of 5.4sec (Formentor 4.8sec). The 80-120 overtake of 3.3sec was also a little down on the three sec run of the Cupra. Enough for bragging rights. As to our fuel use, we managed to halve the previous best figure for a time – it uses about 6.5L/100km on cruise control during motorway running. Expect eights when you're not hitting it, just cruising (similar to Formentor) and roughly around 10L/100km when having a little fun. Going mental will net you into the teens and likely a ticket or two. But it does turn the hydrocarbons into a musical warble in Sport mode or with ESP off. That's thanks in part to Engine Sound Enhancement. The rest of the time the music from the 13-speaker Mark Levinson sound system will just have to suffice. Those even contemplating this car will know what they're in for. It's essentially for couples with nothing more than a dog, or maybe grandkids on occasion to transport, given limited room in the rear and the luggage compartment. While this may be based on a compact Toyota, you'd not know it from the way it drives. It's genuine fun under the right conditions but is just too intrusive on our coarse chip surfaces, detracting from its otherwise gentler side compared with GR Yaris. You should also drive the like-priced Formentor VZ if you're after something just as fun, but if anything more premium in feel and refinement, quicker, roomier and just as menacing to behold. Lexus LBX Morizo RR $89,900 / 9.5L/100km / 215g/km 0-100 km/h 5.43s 80-120 km/h 3.33s (94.22m) 100-0 km/h 34.89m Speedo error 97 at an indicated 100km/h Ambient cabin noise 78.3dB@100km/h Engine 1618cc / IL3 / T / DI Max power 206kW@6500rpm Max torque 390Nm@3250-4600rpm Drivetrain 8-speed auto / AWD Front suspension Mac strut / swaybar Rear suspension Wishbones / swaybar Turning circle 10.8m (2.3 turns) Front brakes Ventilated discs (356mm) Rear brakes Discs (281mm) Stability systems ABS, ESP, TV Safety AEB, ACC, BSM, LDW, RCTA, ALK, AHB Tyre size f/r-235/45R19 Wheelbase 2580mm L/W/H 4190 / 1840 / 1535mm Track f-1580mm r-1585mm Fuel capacity 50L Luggage capacity 317L Tow rating Not rated to tow Service intervals 12 months / 15,000km Scheduled servicing 4yrs / unlimited km Warranty 4yrs / unlimited km ANCAP rating Not yet rated Weight (claimed) 1485kg