peter ward - v8 ute driver

8/3/2019 Peter Ward - V8 Ute Driver

1/21

story & photos by craig lord

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2/21


3/21

68 / V8RACER


4/21

V8RACER /69

Ihave been lucky enough over the yearsto

follow the code of V8 Ute racing in New Zealand since

its inception. I have had the opportunity to see drivers

doing their thing on the track, and had the chance to

talk to them a lot in the pits and most of the time thosechats are about their weekend of racing.

Understandably, many drivers like to keep their lives

outside of the track private, but sometimes you nd

that there is something of incredible interest about a

particular driver that needs sharing, something that

shows the human interest side of motorsport away from

the revving engines and screeching tyres. I found this in

New Zealand, with a man from Auckland who now has

a secondary home down South. Because of this I ew to

Christchurch to spend a few hours with him on the job

and I didnt realise the depth and emotion of what I was

going to see.Peter Ward is a family man, business man, and racing

man predominantly in that order. Those who follow

the V8 Ute Racing in New Zealand would know Peter

as Wardy or more appropriately as Kaos. His racing

nickname was changed after the rst season of racing,

more out of fun than honest reality, but in saying that, he

has certainly had his fair share of on-track scrapes.

For Peter though, life is not all about racing, but he

does have a passion for it. He was one of the originals

in the NZ V8 Ute racing game, one of the handful that

helped bring the game into his country after watching

the new code unfold in Australia. He admits that the rst

time he went around a track it was the noise, the feel and

the rush, and the not having a clue of what to do, that

made him so excited about the idea.

Trust me, we were pretty bad when we rst started

states Peter, I mean were talking about guys who had

superviio i u o.

he o oe .


5/21

70 / V8RACER

NED DAWsoN


6/21

V8RACER /71

never raced before, it was just one of those things in life

that looked like too much fun to not try.

He went to the Utes because it was a V8 but wasnt

anywhere near as quick as a touring car, and because themajority of the original starters in the eld were learners

it made it kind of equal, that allowed Peter to race with

others of closer abilities. Because of that, he has achieved

what he wanted out of racing Utes since its inception on

the NZ circuits fun but of course he would love to

achieve more, but he only has partial control over that,

given he has others on the track at the same time, with

the same goals. But the earlier points made are more

important to Peter his family and his business, because

without those there would be no Ute racing...

Peter Ward is part of the brains trust behind Ward

Demolition, and his world changed on the 22nd of

February the date of the second terrible earthquake to

hit Christchurch.

Ward hails from Auckland and as soon as he saw how

bad the quake was he was on a plane to Christchurch.

When it comes to buildings that are coming down instead

of going up he felt that his experience as a demolition

man would be benecial.

I knew they would need people with unique skill sets.

I work with structures so I can look at a building and

pretty much tell straight away if its safe to be working

in or around, that only comes with experience. You cant

teach that says Peter. But as soon as I landed I headed

to the Civil Defence HQ to register but they blew me off.They didnt even want to take my name which, still to this

day, I cant understand, given that Ward Demolition is one

of the biggest structural specialists in the country.

Peter left the city still scratching his head and went

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.

D DAWsoN

i ei pio

i per.


7/21

72 / V8RACER

bi o e

i equipe.

te e re oeer i.


8/21

V8RACER /73

a oe o rex, ui poe ever op.


9/21

74 / V8RACER


10/21

V8RACER /75

thedevastatiOninsidetheredZOneOfchristchurchisnOwamajOrpart

Ofpeterslife


11/21

76 / V8RACER

te o e ctuii, ie e wr e i

ever ore.


12/21

V8RACER /77

20 kilometres up the road to a small town called Kaiapoi

where he had a team doing a shopping mall demolition,

this was the 23rd of February, one day after the quake,

and he and his team set about their own tasks.He then received a phone call in the early evening,

asking for him and his team to come help in the centre

of Christchurch, as it happened the help was needed at

the spot where the city was hit the worst Madras Street,

home to the devastated Canterbury Television (CTV)

building.

The Ward crew had been working all day in Kaiapoi,

now they were part of the recovery team at CTV taking

over as night shift. The crews we replaced were

shattered, they were running on E and needed a good

nights sleep. We took over and let them relax till they

returned at around 9am the next morning, this happened

for three straight days.

With 166 people perishing inside the CTV building

when it collapsed, this was not a demolition job, this was

a recovery operation. And it was something that Peter

was fully mindful of. As the materials around the building

lessened it meant we didnt need so many people on

hand to operate the equipment, and that was perfect for

me because I could reduce the crew and keep the young

workers away from the site. We were getting close to

where the crche was located amongst other parts and I

didnt really think that they needed to see that. They had

already seen too much.

The processes during the phase of this recovery wereemotional not only for friends and family who lost their

loved ones, but also for the people who were doing

everything they could to reunite them. The teams working

on the site, the Japanese and the Australians were all

with166peOple

perishing

insidethectvb

uilding

whenitcOllapsed,

thiswasnOtad

emOlitiOnjOb,

thiswasarecOv

eryOperatiOn.

12 our .....


13/21

78 / V8RACER

ie i e, ee o reuer opee oro,

e wr e eure e iori opoe ouii re ve.


14/21

V8RACER /79

feeling the same way, and months later they are all still

feeling it. This was brought to the fore when the man who

seems so rough and tumble, had a moment during the

interview that showed his true human side. While askingPeter about the CTV work it was starting to become very

clear that there was much more going on, that there

was a bigger picture to be seen, and his next statement

ensured that I saw it with a better understanding.

Its not just the magnitude of the CTV building; its

really the whole of what we have to deal with down here.

The reality is that I have knocked over peoples houses

because they are unsafe, and there are people who have

lost everything. Some of these people have very little to

start with and now its all gone says Peter. I had to bring

my wife and my kids down cause they needed to see this,

they needed to see what the television doesnt show, and

I needed them to understand why I was away from home.

It was here that Peter went quiet, and here that I could

see his eyes change from crystal clear, to mist.

I moved to asking him about his racing, and that again

brought forth the state of affairs that Peter was dealing

with. While he had moved temporarily to Christchurch to

help with the quake cleanups, New Zealands summer

season of motorsport had not yet nished with the nal

Taupo round and then the support racing at the Hamilton

round of the V8 Supercars to still contend with. Peter

made the decision to attend both, and whether that was

to go racing or simply to get out of the zone for a while,

is something only Peter and his wife will know, but heopenly admits that the Taupo round wasnt too good.

Taupo was awful, I did shocking. I struggled and I

dont know if it was a car setup or my driving, but it was

probably both. I had intentions to do some practice but


15/21

80 / V8RACER


16/21

V8RACER /81

cei up criur i o e o uozi reovi. eoi proe o

eure i re oe ri.


17/21

82 / V8RACER

eer e o peure i vio eoi peope oue, uue uii u oe o.


18/21

V8RACER /83

for both Taupo and Hamilton I had no opportunities to

do so, given what work is needed to be done here. From

there Peter had a simple philosophy for Hamilton, I left it

to the boys, I just turned up and drove. I was either goingto hit the wall or deal to the race, there seemed to be no

other option! The option seemed to work as he ended up

forth overall for the weekend. Dont however think that he

did it alone, because Peter puts a heap of it down to his

family who were there to support him, he is an ultimate

believer in the fact that you cant go racing without them.

Back in Christchurch, on average, Peter works around

twelve hours a day in the eld, then goes back to the

rental house to try and deal to the paperwork. His

work is the same whether its demolition of buildings

or demolitions on a track, the ethics are high but he

surrounds himself with good people to make things

happen. And although he may be in the South Island,

his business base in the North Island city of Auckland

still has to operate. Hes had the usual problems of staff

being poached from both bases, but he clearly states

that its just part of the business and you deal with it.

Unfortunately it seems that things like that keep his

personal hours longer.

The work in Christchurch will be ongoing for years,

and because of that Peter will be staying longer to train

up a crack team of local building professionals but ones

who can pull things down so that others can build them

back up. Its a remorph for our business group, we are

making changes like all businesses have to do and thereis still so much to be done. I do have issues about being

down here as I am away from my family for so long and I

am concerned about that, but there will be a time when I

can come and go with shorter stay times.


19/21

84 / V8RACER

to eer, iou rie i ere i o ri.


20/21

V8RACER /85

With so much having to be done in Christchurch thebig question is denitely when will that time come?

With Ward Demolition being the crew that will spend

the rest of 2011 and some of 2012 demolishing the Grand

Chancellor Hotel, they are there for the long haul. But

even though Peter is all about up-skilling his staff, its not

something that he feels can be done short term. I need

to be here at the moment because these buildings are in

a weird state. They need me and Im willing to do it. There

will be a time when a building will catch me out, just

hopefully not while anyones in it, but Ive been doing this

for over twenty years and as I said before you cant really

teach this, you just grow a feeling for it. You can take it to

scientic and engineering levels, but the nuts of it is that

a building or structure is a frame or block work and they

are alive in a way.

It seems from where I have been looking, that the city

of Christchurch may in fact have an unsung hero in its

midst. Sure hes not doing it for free; he like all the other

contracting companies have businesses to run and that in

turn provides employment to others. But he is providing a

skilled service that many ignore, they only take an interest

in the work that the media heavily covers such as the

Grand Chancellor, or they take an interest because things

may seem to be taking too long and they dont consider

the epic amounts of paperwork, red tape and authoritiesthat have to be dealt with to try and speed things up. But

the fact is, whether Peter and his team are at a house, a

small ofce, or a multilevel accommodation hostel, its the

love of the rumble that keeps them all going. V8R


21/21

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peter ward - v8 ute driver

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