Farewell Rocket Ron Kirkman

A motorsport legend reaches the finish line

Larger than life, always ready with a laugh and always keenly interested in the people he met on his own journey - ‘Rocket’ Ron Kirkman passed away in Whangarei on 22 March, aged 84.

Rocket became a motorsport media darling when he contested the first Silverstone Race to the Sky at Cardrona at the tender age of 70. In the company of a bevy of fast racers half his age, Rocket contested every Race to the Sky. Each time, he stormed up the hill at the sharp end of the open wheeler field and usually came away with a podium placing. He won his class in 2001.

Held in the Cardrona Valley near Wanaka, the high-profile event known as the Highlands Race to the Sky began in 2007 and was last held in April 2015. It was the longest gravel hill climb in the world, covering 14.5km, with 135 turns as it climbed from 450 metres to 1500 metres above sea level.

More than 100 vehicles contested that final event. Kirkman’s Super Quad suffered a fuel pump failure in the final qualifying run, dropping him to seventh in class from a potential podium position. He had posted a 9:20 time in practice runs; the outright winning time was just 40 seconds faster.

So this month I’ll turn the column over to some good mates in the sport who knew Rocket, organised events he race in or raced against him.

 

Paul Sutton was a key figure in the operation of the best ever Taupo 1000s – the ‘Saelman years’. He’s also been a handy racer in his own right.

“I first met Rocket at a Taupo 1000 when the UTVs were a demo class. I loved his ‘can do’ attitude, nothing seemed to faze him. I admired his zest for life and old-school willingness to give anything a try, especially if it meant making part A fit into part B when it wasn’t meant to. 

It was Rocket who talked me into getting into a U class, so then I got to compete against this absolute legend. We had some interesting tussles over a few events but the most memorable were the 2014 Woodhill 100 and the subsequent Taupo 1000. We exchanged track positions a few times, and many late night repairs were done under canvas.

Ron was always on the look out to improve stuff, so I ended up machining a number of 'Rocket-proof' clutch spiders for his various Arctic Cats as the OEM ones just seemed to keep breaking. Ron was a fierce competitor who would take the time to talk to other racers, giving us the benefit of his knowledge and often hard-won experience.

He had a strong sense of fair play, and although he liked to test the limits from time to time, he was passionate about the rules being applied equally to everybody.

Rocket, you were a mountain of a man, a gentleman on and off the track. You will be deeply missed by many. I can only hope that I age with as much ferocity and tenacity as you. You have left some pretty deep tracks for us all to follow.”

 

Paul Sutton, left, with Rocket at the 2014 Woodhill 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bryan Chang – Yoda – has been around the sport since forever. He raced against Rocket Ron at all but the very first of the Race To The Sky hillclimbs.

“The Silverstone Race To The Sky was an antipodean Pike’s Peak. Between 2007 and 2015 this global motorsport event attracted the luminaries of offroad racing, hillclimbing, truck racing, motorbike enduro and rallying. Legends raced in our backyard: Possum Bourne, Rod Millen, Monster Tajima, Kenneth Erikssen, Rocket Ron Kirkman.

Yes. Rocket Ron. At 70+ and with a Pike’s Peak venture under his belt, this Whangarei identity became a regular at this international hillclimb, racing a mad (and ever more modified) Honda quad up that 14 km course with its hundred-plus corners and its elevation change from 450 metres to 1500 metres above sea level.

Get that: 135 turns, short to medium length straights, all at a punishingly constant 11:1 gradient that sapped the grunt out of my truck’s Lexus V8. And this guy’s doing it on a long quad bike, no roll cage, high-tuned Honda engine sucking air under the seat, tyres scrabbling for grip in the marbles and dust.

He ended up running a class 10 style home-built open wheeler, and was on for a podium finish at the last RTTS until a fuel pump failed in a pre-run and robbed him of time on the course essential to a fast clean run in the final. Did the smile falter? Not a chance.

I raced every RTTS except the very first one; Rocket Ron had one up on me there. Every year he was there with that huge grin on his face. Talk about loving life.

Then he pops up in offroad racing, just as the UTV phenomenon begins. His alliance with the Arctic Cat brand added spice to those early days – pre-Yamaha, pre-Can Am when Polaris was ‘it’ and the 800 and 900 cc stockers were the thing to have. Ron even went on to debut the wider (more stable) Wildcat version. That UTV had real potential.

Ron was a larger than life presence in pit lane at the best Taupo 1000s and even won the UTV class there. He also fronted for the punishing Woodhill 100 – a 160 km sprint race that truly beats up man and vehicle – well into his 70s.

I was sad to learn he was crook, and sadder to find out he was gone. But what a way to live your life. I reckon a lot of people could learn from Ron, and maybe a lot of us have woken up to the ‘do it now’ idea since Covid reared its knobby head.

Will I still be racing in my 70s? Will I be following in Rocket Ron’s wheeltracks? You bet I’m going to do my best!”

Bryan 'Yoda' Chang and Rocket

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A farewell to a legend: Rocket Ron Kirkman, 11 June 1936 – 22 March 2021