Sports car racing had changed since it was first introduced as the secondary event to the ‘main feature’ in the early 1950s. This was a time when virtually all of the competing cars were genuine factory-built, roadgoing sports cars with a greater level of performance and roadholding than your average family saloon. That changed very [...]
For those not familiar with the Schlumpf Collection, this is one of the greatest car collections on the planet. But the story behind it is just as fascinating as the collection itself. Hans and Fritz Schlumpf were Italian-born Swiss residents who moved to the small French town of Mulhouse, near the Swiss border, when their [...]
The tier two class I refer to primarily means the South Island Formula Ford Club, whose championship (now referred to as Formula 1600) attracts fields in excess of 30 competitors. One of the factors behind the success of this racing series has been the decision of the organisers to encourage entries from owners of eligible [...]
In late 1964, Shelby American began production of the very first Shelby GT350 Mustangs, at the behest of Lee Iacocca at the Ford Motor Company. Ford’s aim was to build the requisite number of cars to homologate the Mustang for Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) production sports car racing. Iacocca wanted the Mustang to [...]
At the 2018 Historic Racing Club’s Icebreaker Meeting at Hampton Downs my attention was caught by a tiny, shiny alloy-bodied sports car – the considerable volume and unique sound from its exhaust system and the fact it was well out in front in each race made it hard to miss. A plate over its number [...]
For the majority of classic car owners, the cars they own and enjoy represent a specfic period in time. That can relate to a time of amazing style and design or a one when huge developments and progress were being made on the automotive engineering front. For others it’s all about a car that reminds [...]
Like many of a certain age, blu-tacking that famous Alpine stereo poster of a Lamborghini Countach onto his bedroom wall was Darren O’Neil’s initiation into the world of supercars. At the age of fourteen the motoring bug had well and truly bitten. Brought up in a pretty tough family “on the wrong side of the [...]
The debate as to who was the greatest driver of all time will continue long into the future and, quite correctly, each era has provided somebody who stands head and shoulders above the rest. For me, with no further discussion allowed, the greatest was Scotsman Jim Clark. Simple statistics tell this story. Clark was Formula [...]
Bruce Harré spent his childhood on a farm near Hunterville, in the central North Island. In his last year at Wanganui Technical College, he boarded next door to the motor racing family of Doug and June Lawrence and their four sons, which set the course of his future as his enthusiasm for cars and motorsport [...]
As we settle back into our routines after the Christmas break, I find myself making resolutions and planning for the year ahead. It is my favourite time of the year, looking at a relatively clear diary and not knowing what the year will hold. For many it is a time where car projects gain a [...]