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Lowndes scores Camaro drive

28 October, 2014

 

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“The Highlands 101
November 8–9, 2014
Highlands Motorsport Park
Cromwell, Central Otago”

It’s looking like November’s Highlands 101 endurance race is set for a shake up with V8 Supercar driver Craig Lowndes jumping into the Chev Camaro of Inky Tulloch.

The front-running Holden-driver isn’t the only V8 Supercar driver taking on the gruelling event, as rival Shane Van Gisbergen is also tackling the race, driving a McLaren GT3 with Australian GT Championship driver Klark Quinn. 

The Kiwi star and the Aussie champ are both entered for the 101-lap enduro, the feature race of the Highlands 101 event running over the weekend of November 8–9 on the Central Otago circuit.

Lowndes is excited to race at Highlands for the first time and to pilot the wild-looking Camaro GT3-spec race car.

“One of my biggest reasons for doing the event is to get to race on the Highlands track,” says Lowndes. “It looks awesome, I’ve heard great things about it and I can’t wait to get there. Learning new tracks is both challenging and fun, I am looking forward to it.”

Not only will the event be the first time for Lowndes at the track, but it also marks the first time Tulloch’s Camaro has been on the track as well. Tulloch says he’s really looking forward to having a professional of Lowndes’ ability in the car.

“The early form of the Camaro has been promising, but we’re still working through some of the ‘new car’ gremlins,” says Tulloch, who was leading a recent endurance event in Christchurch before a sudden and unexpected mechanical failure.

“Craig is an outstanding driver with outstanding technical ability to get the best out of any car, so I’m looking forward to racing with Craig and seeing him help uncover the true potential of the Camaro.”

Lowndes is also happy to have been asked to drive the Camaro. “It’s a new car to the category and I haven’t even seen it yet. But it’s got a good pedigree, and on paper it looks very competitive. It’s a GM product and it’s quite different from the GT cars I’ve raced previously.”

In regards to the Highlands 101 race format with its running start for one of a team’s two drivers, Lowndes says, “We haven’t had a chance to think about who’ll start in the car or who’ll be running yet. It’ll be up to Ian, so maybe we’ll just toss a coin! I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

Van Gisbergen has the advantage over Lowndes of having previously raced at Highlands and also having raced the GT3-spec McLaren MP4 12C with Tony and Klark Quinn in February’s Bathurst 12-Hour Race, where he set a new lap record for ‘tin-tops’ at the Mount Panorama circuit.

The Gold Coast-based Kiwi says the Highlands circuit is fun in every car he’s driven there.

“I have visited Highlands a few times now and have driven a number of cars around there. I watched the 101 from the commentary box last year; it’s a different format to most GT races with the Le Mans-style start, so that should be fun too!” says Van Gisbergen.

“The McLaren is awesome to drive — I love driving GT cars so I’m certainly looking forward to having another go. Klark is a really good driver and, although the seat needs to go quite a way forward for him, in the racing we have done together so far, we have been competitive so I hope we can have a go at getting top step of the podium!”

Tickets are available for the event online from TicketDirect, or at the gate during the race weekend. Visit highlands.co.nz for more info or check out Highlands on Facebook.

NZ Classic Car magazine, March/April 2025 issue 398, on sale now

23 February, 2025

An HQ to die for
Mention the acronym HQ and most people in the northern hemisphere will assume this is an abbreviation for Head Quarters. However, for those born before the mid-’80s in Australia and New Zealand, the same two letters only mean one thing – HQ Holden!
Christchurch enthusiast Ed Beattie has a beautiful collection of Holden and Chevrolet cars. He loves the bowtie and its Aussie cousin and has a stable of beautiful, powerful cars. His collection includes everything from a modern GTSR W507 HSV through the decades to a 1960s Camaro muscle car and much in between.
In the last two Holden Nationals (run biennially in 2021 and 2023), Ed won trophies for the Best Monaro and Best Decade with his amazing 1972 Holden Monaro GTS 350 with manual transmission.
Ed is a perfectionist and loves his cars to reflect precisely how they were on ‘Day 1,’ meaning when the dealer released them to the first customer, including any extras the dealer may have added or changed.

You’re the one that I want – 1973 Datsun 240K GT

21 February, 2025

In the early 1970s, Clark Caldow was a young sales rep travelling the North Island and doing big miles annually. He loved driving. In 1975 the firm he worked for asked Clark what he wanted for his new car, and Clark chose a brand-new Datsun 240K GT. The two-door car arrived, and Clark was smitten, or in his own words, he was “pole vaulting.”
Clark drove it all over the country, racking up thousands of miles. “It had quite a bit of pep with its SOHC 128 hp (96kW) of power mated to a four-speed manual gearbox,” he says. Weighing in at 1240kg meant the power to weight ratio was good for the time and its length at almost 4.5 metres meant it had good street presence.
Clark has been a car enthusiast all his life, and decided around nine years ago to look for one of these coupes. By sheer luck he very quickly found a mint example refurbished by an aircraft engineer, but it was in Perth.