At Aggressor Chassis we remain staunchly committed to;

• Excellence in the field of Midget Race car design, fabrication and preparation,
  
  
• An unwavering commitment to continually seek ways to improve every aspect of our business
  
  
• The firm belief that our customers are of supreme importance in our everyday lives
  
  
• Our pride in knowing that every item we produce is the very best we can make.
  

Where did we come from?

As with all successful advancements in motorsport there is a story to be told, and many lessons to be learned along the way.

Like most innovations, Aggressor Chassis started as a dream. A dream of how Midget chassis could be made better. In 1995, Midget chassis design had taken a quantum leap from the accepted ultra conservative “USAC” configuration and in the absence of local manufacturers who would listen to his somewhat radical ideas a young Justin, with encouragement from his father Mike, set out to design and build his own cars for the family to run at Western Springs Speedway.

In true Kiwi “Blokes in their Sheds” tradition two chassis were initially produced for the 1994 season. Second meeting out one was destroyed (driver was uninjured) providing valuable if inadvertent feedback as to areas of improvement. Next meeting was indeed a dream come true as the surviving car not only won that night’s feature but also set a 25 lap record for the Springs that held for some 10 years.

The dream continued that same year as the sole team car not only set a track one lap record but also, cheered on by 35,000 delirious fans, Justin drove the car to a prestigious World 50 lap Derby win at the Springs against a field that included  nine time winner Ron “Sleepy” Tripp and Midget legend Jimmy Sills, and of course New Zealand’s best. If there ever was something to prove, it was done now.

Drawing on many lessons learned, a third car was built for the 1996 season, this time pushing the boundaries a little further to what the still largely conservative Midget racer world considered a radical approach. From the proverbial go to whoa, the new car was built in three weeks. With Justin’s brother Shaun now handling the driving chores, first time out had the new Gaerte powered car win both heats, the semi and the feature.

Looking further outside the circle, the team scraped up enough funds to get the new car to Australia for the Midget Title races at Sydney’s Parramatta City Raceway. A not too best effort in the heats saw the car having to come off grid 18 in the feature up through the field to heartbreakingly fall victim to a minor engine component failure while challenging for the lead. But we had drawn attention to ourselves, and Western Springs promoter and entrepreneur Bill Buckley, knowing a good thing when he saw one, took us under his wing. The backer we needed to take us to the next step had found us.

For that 2003 Season, in order to refine the product we decided to build cars for our own team only. This was a mission for a one-man band with some 5 cars running out of the shop but we continued to push the learning curve upwards. To our immense good fortune, visiting American Midget ace Cory Kruseman joined the team for the International series, bringing not only driving skills but also priceless design input and advice.

At the end of this season we relented our in house policy and supplied a car to owner Brad Dent for Sydney ace Mark Brown to drive in the 2004 season. Again success endorsed our design decisions with “Browndog” winning three features against what had to be the toughest competition seen in years.

The 2005 season saw the new Aggressor roll out, the one you see today. As well as our in house drivers, we were honoured to have American ace Davey Ray join us for the annual International series. Davey immediately liked the car and was fast from the get-go. He headed the points for the International Test Series and won the Southern 25 at Christchurch. Unfortunately a heavy crash the following weekend had us reluctantly ship a damaged car to Sydney to meet shipping schedules. A frantic thrash starting on a wednesday night saw us make the Speedcar Super Series field at Parramatta the following saturday with Davey transferring from the B main to the back of the feature grid. An inspired drive through the field saw Davey challenge Jerry Coons jr for the lead only to have a tyre failure end the night.

The next weekend, Australian Title night, was ours – Davey took the Australian title from a class field that included 3 of our cars, Davey,  Mark Brown and Shaun Insley. Later that same season we recorded a second in the New Zealand Championships with Shaun Insley.

The 2006 season saw a new car for Mark Brown, a combination that swept all before it. From 21 starts we recorded 18 podiums and an amazing 7 feature wins, taking titles in the Speedcar Super Series, NSW State, Queensland State and posting a second in the Australian title. Here in New Zealand Bryce Townsend won the North Island Championship and the John Webster Memorial with Shaun Insley second.

We took the team to the US Midwest in mid 2007 to what has to be the toughest school in US Midget racing, the Badger Series at Fireman’s Angell Park in Wisconsin. Scott Buckley, Bryce Townsend and Shaun Insley found the competition savage but managed a heat win and a fifth in the Main. Bryce and Brad Mosen made it an all Kiwi front row for the next night’s feature and we got some good press from it. As a result we got “noticed” and bought the inevitable protest down on our bodywork. Nevertheless, next night out saw another heat win and another front row in the feature.

This season, 2007-8 at the Springs sees Aggressor take another move forward as the premier New Zealand midget chassis fabricator with cars for new track one lap record holder Brad Mosen, an evergreen Lance Beale, Bill Clarkson, Scott Buckley, Bryce Townsend, and Shaun Insley to name a few. The recent purchase of the Breka operation has greatly increased our client base and, incidentally our workload.

To suggest it has been a lot of hard work to get to this point would be an understatement. It hasn’t been an easy ride but in motorsport it never is. However that vision we had some 12 years ago remains undimmed, if anything, the fires burn brighter than ever as we look to the future and continue our journey onwards.

We look forward to being at your service!