EightyOne Racing - Levi Trotter

Busy couple of weeks. Ran at the NZ rotax max challenge last weekend. It was an awsome meeting running a rotax engine and Mojo tyres that don't fall over after 80 laps. Results were a mixed bag, qualified 5th but found good pace after that finishing 3rd in both the heats. Sunday finals day went 180° and the pace fell out of the kart after the temps fell. Brought it home in 6th for the final, not as far up as we would've liked but sitting 4th on points was a small consolation to take away.

Onto this weekend where I swapped a rib protector for a Hans and a roll cage, got chucked dads keys and took the honda out for some laps at manfeild, thrown a curve ball with rain all day. Had an absolute ball, and had Dad reaching for the jesus handle coming into turn 7 at over 165kph 🤣. Thanks to Manawatu Car Club and the effort by the volunteers standing around in the rain today. Definitely won't be the last time you'll see me in that car. Roll on winter series?? 🤔

Last Weekend we competed in Kartsport Hawke's bay's Blossom event.
One day of testing, and 10 heats of racing over two days. Having not been at the track for 18 months it showed in our pace and set-up. We struggled all weekend to get the kart hooked up but finally got there towards the end.
Plenty of good race starts and quick passing throughout the heats helped me hold onto 2nd for the weekend, with that podium spot being decided on the last lap, last corner where I managed to sneak past old mate Reed Phillips Racing to clinch it by one point, shot mate 🤙🤣
Well done to RyanHealey29 for being dominant all weekend, well deserved.
Thanks to the Fletcher family and the Gaskins for a memorable weekend off track.
Also thanks to Shane Wood for checking in and helping to try get the sled cranking all weekend.

NZGP 2025 tagged and bagged!
After chasing dad around the race track the last few weekends, we came out the gate in fridays practice sessions on the pace, and with a relatively untouched kart from a practice weekend 3 weeks earlier.
Saturday morning saw us qualify in p6 out of the 43 best drivers in NZ, with a couple from Aus and USA. This gave us p4 for our heats after the field was split.
Heat 1 we crossed the line in p3 🤘
Heat 2 saw us and few other karts shown the grass at turns 1 & 2, ultimately dropping us to last but managed to recover a couple of spots.
Our pre-final on Sunday morning saw a couple of minor changes to the kart, which didn't work and could see that in the karts pace. Started p8, result p8.
This gave us grid 12 for the final, setting the tone for outside grids all weekend 😵‍💫. Got the word from the boss to hang the elbows wide and send it. Picked my way through the field crossing the line in P4. One spot from the podium but super stoked to be back up on pace and being able to battle confidently.
Massive thanks go out to Shane Wood for all the help over the weekend and keeping my head in the game, Uncle Graeme Curtis for accommodating us once again and the CRG NZ team for the pointers getting that CRG kart rocketing.
Onto Nationals at easter.....
Würth New Zealand
CLAAS Harvest Centre Central Districts

Top Half Series R3 at one of my favourite tracks Kartsport Hamilton.
First laps here since may, but quickly remembered how cool this place is. The weather held out for us only just, and we made slow but steady progress with getting a setup dialled in the CRG.
Heat one P15 - P7
Heat two P34 - P17
Heat three P5 - P6
Heat four P16 - P5
Final P6 - P7
This gave us a 5th for the weekend from a full grid of 34 karts.
Was great to get some quality laps under my belt here, and catch up with friends and family. I made some mistakes on track, dad made some on set up but came away with some valuable data and alot of positives going forward in the lead up to North Island champs here in two weeks. Had some good close (sometimes too close) racing, dodged a couple of nasty crashes and made it home in time to catch the last 20 laps of bathurst.
Huge thanks must go to Hayden Walker for the wicked job on the Arai GP-7 helmet, got soo many comments on how awesome it looks!

Top Half Series Round 2 Auckland by numbers....
1236 kms travelled
255 litres Diesel burnt (and 5 litres of z95)
33 VMR entered
56 karts passed
280 BPM Dads max HR
200 points accumulated
8th for the weekend
8th in the series, up from 11th after round 1.
Alot of positives to take away from the weekend, no penalties or pushbacks. Some mega passing and on track battles. Moved forward in every race bar the final, where I made a rookie move which cost me a podium for the weekend. 90% of this game is all up top and we're at 85 just chasing that last important 5%. Onwards to a busy next 4-5 weeks with round 3 and North Islands at one of my favourite tracks, Kartsport Hamilton.
Thanks again for the support from...
CLAAS Harvest Centre Central Districts
Würth New Zealand
Trotter Contracting Ltd
Top Half series Class sponsors CRG NZ
Shane Wood for the support
And Graeme and Sue Curtis for the accommodation when up that end of the country.

Been a bit slack on this thing lately 😅.
At Goldstar Hawkes bay back at the start of this month, we did well coming home with a 4th overall from 19 karts.
Next was a CIK clubday at Manawatu cut short due to the weather and lack of daylight, struggled for pace all day finishing 8th from 16.
Then back at Manawatu for round 4 of the Kartstars Series where I missed the test day due to being pretty sick. Qualifying and heats we were well off the pace as expected, and suffered some pretty extensive damage. Started the Final in grid 24 and emptied the tank physically and took home a 10th, which felt like I had won given how the weekend had gone
Last Weekend we shot up to one of my favourite tracks Hamilton for their club points round and had some great battles collecting 3rd for the day from 18 karts.
Thanks to Shane Wood, The Stowe Family and all my sponsors for the help over the last month or so
Onto Goldstar Manawatu this weekend, followed by a short break out of the kart.

Grandads turn this weekend in the Historic Stockcars. 3 generations racing over 3 weekends, with dad spinning laps next weekend at Manfeild, how cool!!

Another weekend of "could of's"...
Competed at the New Zealand Grand Prix this past weekend at Kartsport Hamilton.
Testing on Friday went ok, slowly taking a tenth off here and there.
Qualifying on Saturday was unfortunately abysmal with a time putting us 29th from 34 karts.
Changes were made for heat 1 and things were looking good until a carburetor left the chat... DNF
Heat 2 we were on grid 16 and made some good ground moving up to 7th.
Heat 3 had grid 16 again and moved up to 11th, we were starting to find some pace with the driver/kart package.
This gave us grid 12 for the Prefinal and again we made ground on the field coming in p8.
Combined points gave us grid 19 from 34 karts for the final....
Managed to avoid the usual first turn carnage and got a wriggle on, slowly working my way through the field up to 5th position where I held until 3 laps to go, where I was squeezed over the apex through the sweeper and over the other kart coming to rest in the bags. No injuries thankfully, just winded. Thanks to Zach for coming over to make sure I was ok. A disappointing end to what could've been a mega weekend, although its great to see we can be near the pointy end in such a competitive field. Biggest thanks must go to my sponsors CLAAS Harvest Centre Central Districts, Würth New Zealand and LZ Tech Services. We would still have been floundering around the back without the help from the Stowe Family, Shane Wood and the rest of the tasman team.
Onwards... upwards 🤘🤘

Weekend in Hamilton getting some laps in before the NZGP next weekend. Great to be back at one of my favorite tracks in the country.

Happy birthday to this scallywag!!!! Double digits maaaaaate!!! Here's to many more 21st photos...... 😎🤣

Well thats kartstars and Rok cup series wrapped up....
A weekend of rain rain and more rain in Rotorua at the Sulphur City Sprint meeting. Took the approach of do what needed to be done without error.
Qualified 5th
Heat one finished P4
Heat two finished P3
Prefinal started P3 finished P2
Started the final P2. The skies opened part way through and I backed right up to keep it on the black stuff, dropped a couple of spots with some kids blitzing past on wet tyres to come home 5th.
Combined points put me on 3rd for the weekend and retained 2nd for Rok cup and kartstars.
Thanks must go to....
Kartsport Rotorua for a great event, in trying conditions
Tasman Kart Supplies for the team support for the weekend and Gareth Exton for pulling me into line when I need it 🤔😂
My sponsors
CLAAS Harvest Centre Central Districts
Würth New Zealand
Trotter Contracting Ltd

Another epic weekend for the entire team with a great trophy haul, the best trophy going to Maureen 💎💎, couldn't think of anyone more deserving.