Heather Spurle - Bathurst 12 Hour

DEDICATED TO SUCCESS

H E A T H E R S P U R L ESPORTS HISTORY (New Zealand)• Represented Waitemata City -National League Indoor Basketball 1974-76• 1st Junior Women's Division -inaugural Auckland 'Round the Bays' race, 1973• Represented Auckland - Long distance running 1972-75HEATHER SPURLE M.B.E.Heather's motorsport career spans back 22 years havingdriven a variety of race cars from Formula Vee, Sports cars,Formula Ford, Formula Atlantic, 2.0 litre and V8 Touring Carsand American Transam cars.Various levels of success have been achieved within this timeagainst competitive opposition and in some instances, againstteams with substantially higher budgets and superiormachinery. Heather competed in Formula Vee, Formula Ford &Sports Cars before graduating to the premier Formula Atlanticclass in 1985. She has proven to be a consistent driver regularlyattracting high profile media exposure by way of her resultsand self generated promotions. Numerous podium placesthroughout the five round series culminating in a 6th place inthe 1992 New Zealand Grand Prix.6 t h N Z G R A N D P R I XIn April 1989 Heather claimed two UIM Women's WorldWater Speed records in both the Grand Prix Hydroplane andUnlimited classes earning the title as the fastest woman in theworld on water. In March 1990, Gina Campbell (England)successfully challenged both records with a speed of234kph (146mph). Heather was only weeks away from hernew challenge date at Lake Ruataniwha and on May 26 1990was successful in raising Campbell's record's by nearly 50kphto set two new World Records of 271kph (169mph). Withsponsorship from the world's largest vehicle manufacturerGeneral Motors, under their product brand AC Delco,Heather received a dedicated 1 hour of Nationaltelevision coverage via documentaries and news items,plus extensive radio and media exposure.1 0 T H S A N D O W N 5 0 02 3 R D B A T H U R S T 1 0 0 0An invitation was accepted to drive for one of thetop privateer Group A Touring Car teams for the 1990Australian Endurance Championship. Driving a HoldenCommodore the team ran as high as 6th place beforeengine problems saw them drop to 10th at theSandown Park 500 km's and achieved a credible 23rdin the Bathurst 1000 km's despite the car sufferingpersistent electrical problems during the race.>>

H E A T H E R S P U R L EHeather was awarded the Member of the Order of theBritish Empire Medal (M.B.E.) by Her Majesty the Queen andthe New Zealand Commemoration Medal for her outstandingmotorsport achievements and services to sport, on and off thecircuits.A break was taken fromactive competition to furtherher business career returningto the circuits in 1994 tocompete in the newlyestablished Peugeot TouringCar Series. After achievingregular podium finishes throughout the ten race seriesHeather was employed by Peugeot Concessionaires NewZealand (Peugeot importers) to head up their factorysupported driving team for the following two years.Through Peugeot Concessionaires New Zealand Heatherdrove a Peugeot 306 XRdt to break the New Zealand outrightdiesel land speed record. This project, managed by husbandand motorsport promoter Brian Lawrence, culminated insecuring both the flying mile (118.894mph) and flyingkilometre (191.448kph) records in very adverse weatherconditions. She also claimed a new flying mile sprint record(116.354mph) for the Peugeot 106 Club Sport on the same day.O P E L A S T R AHeather was invited to contest the 1995 Nurburgring24 hour driving an Opel Astra Group N touring car. The teamqualified 3rd in class against factory backed teams and racedas high as 47th out of 156, leading their class, before gearboxproblems caused a lengthy pit stop. Their final placing was10th in class and 67th overall.T R A N S A M C H E V R O L E T C A M A R OThe same year an invitation wasreceived from the American basedteam of Bruce Jenner Racing forHeather to drive the team's Camarofor the final two rounds of the NewZealand Transam Championship.Their regular driver, American ChrisKneifel, had to return to the USAearly and could only compete in 3of the 5 rounds. Despite havingnever driven a Transam car and withminimal time to acclimatise herself,her debut exceeded everyone'sexpectations netting a 4th, 5th and4 x 6th placings from 6 races.>>

H E A T H E R S P U R L EIn July 1996 Heather returned to Europe to compete withSchirra Motoring in a 24hr Super Touring Car Challenge at SpaFranchorchamps in Belgium. Engine problems curtailed theirprogress early in the race whilst placed 3rd in class.Heather headed up Peugeot Concessionaires driving teamto challenge the New Zealand 12, 18 & 24hr diesel endurancerecords in a Peugeot 306 XRdt at Manfeild Autocourse. Againthe project was managed by husband Brian Lawrence and wassuccessful in establishing 3 New Zealand Diesel Endurancerecords and exceeded the Outright National Endurancerecords at the same time thus being rewarded with a total of6 National records during the 24 hours challenge.The 1999/2000 season saw Heather again step into theBruce Jenner Racing Camaro for the final two rounds of theNew Zealand Transam Championship. Heather impressed withexcellent qualifying and race results claiming an 8th, 6th and2 x 4th’s in 4 starts in a season which proved to be one themost competitive in the history of the class.In 2000/01 Heather campaigned a Porsche 911 3.8 RSR in theNew Zealand Super GT Championship achieving regular polepositions and podium finishes.N Z L A N D S P E E D R E C O R DA move to Australia in 2001 curtailed Heather’s NewZealand racing activities, however she continued to pursue herdriver coaching and trainingprograms.M O S L E R M T 9 0 0 R – 5 T H B A T H U R S T 2 4 H O U RIn February 2003 Heather andMartin Short, boss of the topBritish GT team RollcentreRacing were in discussion toteam up for the Bathurst 24Hour event scheduled inNovember. Short had finished3rd in the 2002 event and waskeen to get Heather on boardfor the 2003 assault. Howeverjust weeks later in MarchHeather was diagnosed withOvarian cancer.Immediate major surgery wasfollowed with chemotherapy & radiotherapy over the next 6months with the terrible accompanying side effects. However,in September just days after the radiotherapy programfinished, Heather flew to England to test the V8 enginedMosler and stunned the team with her performance atDonnington Park.>>