In a rare 'off week' for the Cup teams, that leaves not much in the way of touring car racing as we only have the Nationwide race from Mexico City, right?

Not really...if you guys get a live feed from the V8 Supercars that is.

Hamilton...home of the Waikato Chiefs, perennial underachievers in the Super Rugby but the 'Mooloo men' can claim they were the first province to win the revamped National Provincial Championship (rebadged as the Air NZ Cup) in 2006 and also a rather popular place to buy wine from. Actually, Hamilton are having a big weekend this week as not only is the V8 round there but the Chiefs host the unbeaten Canterbury Crusaders in what will probably be, if it isn't already, a sellout game of rugby on Friday night.

For he past seven odd years, the New Zealand round of the V8 Supercars was held near the country's biggest city; Auckland. The Pukekohe circuit was a Holden benefit, with hometown boy, Greg Murphy, using it as his personal playground as he stomped on everyone for the first few years before the other Holden teams nicked his setup and were able to topple him for the round win.

However, the contract for Pukekohe ran out last year as the V8's wanted a street course instead of a purpose-built track...and the town of Hamilton stepped in to fill that gap. Not only that, but they also put their hand up to host the WRC round when that contract ran out a couple years ago as well...ensuring NZ kept their place on the rally calender.

So, welcome everyone, to the motoring capital of New Zealand.

The round is a three-race sprint one, like Pukekohe was, and will kick off with practice tomorrow (Friday) with both qualifying and race one held on Saturday while races two and three are on the Sunday.

track map of the Hamilton round of the V8 Supercars.

Alas, the weather may prove to steal the show as the North Island has been pretty much in constant rain so far in April (though the forecast looks ok for the weekend...but we're only halfway through the week of course). That will make things much more interesting as a few drivers have already said that this could be a crash-fest round and the slippery roads would only exaggerate those beliefs. Common sense says that drivers who excel on the streets of Adelaide and the Gold Coast will be the ones to beat...but if the rains come down, it's anyone's guess who will be in front after three races and 400km around the streets of Hamilton.