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Team Tander and Quinn win

10 November, 2014

 

Tony Quinn and Garth Tander win the Highlands 101 endurance race

Tony Quinn achieved one of the objectives he’d set himself for last weekend’s Highlands 101 race meeting when he and Garth Tander won the endurance race at Highlands Motorsport Park in dramatic fashion. As Quinn told us prior to the November 7–9 event he had his sights set on both the Highlands 101 race win and the Australian GT Championship title, and while he failed to eclipse Richard Muscat in the race to the Championship, a last-minute turn of luck saw him come up trumps on track.

The pair were coming second right up until the very last lap, following behind Richard Muscat and Craig Baird’s Mercedes-Benz, which had been in the lead for more than 90 laps of the 101-lap race. The Mercedes-Benz ran out of fuel only a few metres from the finish line meaning Quinn and Tander could pass them into first place.

When questioned about the last lap of the race Tander said, “The guys radioed me to say keep an eye out for the Merc, it’s going really slow. Coming out of the hairpin going up to the bridge, it wasn’t going at all, so I was yee-hahing on the radio as I went past and that was it. We were actually battling the Merc quite a bit after the earlier pit stop and we were close to going a lap down, but by staying on the lead lap and keeping the pressure on them, they pitted a lap before we did and that was the difference to buy us enough fuel to the line.”

During the 101 laps, Tander managed to break the Australian GT class lap record three times giving him a new lap record of one minute and 31.716 seconds. The same Aston Martin Vantage GT3 was used that Quinn previously won the inaugural Highlands 101 last year, with Fabian Coulthard, as well as taking out the Phillips Island 101 earlier this year with Tander. The weekend’s win marks a record-making three-peat of 101 race wins in Australian GT racing. 

 

NZ Classic Car magazine, November/December 2026 issue 408, on sale now

18 October, 2026

Star status for classic Porsche
A long search ends: finding the right car
Unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1963, the Porsche 911 heralded an iconic lineage of sports cars, known for their exceptional performance, remarkable racing reliability, and adaptability, second to none.
New Zealand Classic Car, in conjunction with Star Insure, recently conducted a photo competition to find 13 suitably impressive classics to grace the pages of the magazine’s 2027 calendar. A flood of entries showed that Kiwis recognise eye-catching designs and restorations. Many are handy with a camera, too, and have entered some outstanding results.
The choice was not straightforward, with multiple stunning entries, and Geoff Long’s immaculate 1990 Porsche 911 (964 Factory designation) took top honours. Fortunately, Geoff had Ethan Hanlon handy to take the accompanying photos while working in his office.
“I’ve got a young employee who is doing work experience in my office at the moment, and he’s a very avid photographer. So, I said, I’ll buy you breakfast and then why don’t we go and take some photos. He found the right spot, and he spent over an hour photographing.”
Originally sold new in Japan, hence the right-hand drive, the Porsche was resident there for four years before being exported to New Zealand, as Geoff recalls.
“I bought it two-and-a-half years ago, but I looked for it for over two years, because it’s just the colour scheme, interior and exterior I was after. The service file that came with it is extensive; I mean, it’s been beautifully looked after, which is what I wanted to continue, as it does get driven. It doesn’t sit in the garage.”

Classics on the green

16 October, 2026

Many pretenders vie for the title, but the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance gets my vote as the biggest thing since sliced bread.
The 71st edition of the world’s pre-eminent and best-known concours event featured 28 classes, judged by a 180-strong jury, which also chose the recipients of 26 special awards.
The size of the event, the number of visitors, and, most mind-numbingly, the sheer number of amazing cars, is almost overwhelming. There are so many quality cars to gaze upon, and so many people gazing at those cars, that it is almost impossible to cover everything.
Notable among the many attractions were the centenary celebrations of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, an elegant Talbot-Lago Grand Sport, Hermann Graber’s Swiss-bodied cabriolets and coupés, the jewels of Otto Vu Italian V8s, early Alfa Romeos, Lincoln and its centenary, and cars with unorthodox propulsion systems.