Highly successful, United Kingdom-based, Dunedin-born motorsport team principal Dick Bennetts was inducted to MotorSport New Zealand’s wall of fame at the annual awards night last weekend.
Bennetts (72) founded West Surrey Racing (WSR) in 1981 to compete in the British Formula 3 Championship, and 14 years later the team bowed out of F3 as the most successful team in the history of the series, in terms of race victories and titles.
In 1983, a young Ayrton Senna joined WSR and proceeded to win the first nine races of the season, a feat never to be emulated. In later years, Senna attributed much of his success to the guiding hand of Bennetts.
There was more F3 success to come, including with future world champion Mika Hakkinen.
In 1996, Bennetts and business partner Mike Ewan, also an ex-pat Kiwi, moved WSR’s focus to the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), originally with Ford. Now as the official BMW team, WSR’s first touring car title was in 2004, a feat repeated in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Following WSR’s 2018 BTCC success as the reigning Drivers’, Teams’ and Manufacturers’ Champions, the team was named the European Race Series Team of the Year in the Professional Motorsport World Expo Awards in Germany.
The MotorSport NZ Wall of Fame was established in 1994 and is in MotorSport House as a permanent reminder of the achievements of past and present members who, through their endeavours, have been instrumental in showcasing New Zealand’s motorsport achievements to the world at large.
- by Catherine Pattison
Photo: Supplied
