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Will this weekend see New Zealand’s first four-second pass?

27 November, 2014

This weekend (November 29–30) is going be a big one — the second round of the IHRA NZ National series will be hitting Meremere Dragway following the first round at Ruapuna in October.

The big news for Auckland Harley Davidson’s Spring Nationals 2014 is that the Marsh Motorsport/Mountshop Team will be in attendance with their Top Fuel dragster, meaning New Zealand’s first four-second pass may be just a few days away!

As always, there will be the usual exciting drag racing that Spring Nationals never fails to deliver, and awesome cars on display.

The Saturday is a test and tune day and gates will be open at 9am. The track opens at 11am with one round of non-compulsory qualifying at 3pm.

Make sure you’re ready at the track at 9am on Sunday, November 30 for Spring National, and if you’re up and about early head along for when the gates open at 8am. Gate entry is $10 for the Saturday, $20 for the Sunday, or $30 for the whole weekend. 

Bronze treasure unearthed

20 August, 2026

The car was put away in favour of something more practical, and when his father was unable to drive any more, Matt’s friend asked him to come and take a look at his dad’s old Holden. It turned out this was one of those phone calls that leads to that feeling of pure joy in the classic car world — the ‘barn find’ that turns out to be even better than expected. The HT Monaro had been put to bed some years before and had not seen the light of day since. Layers of dust and boxes of junk littered her undercarriage and bodywork and access points all around.

NZ Classic Car magazine, September/October 2026 issue 407, on sale now

16 August, 2026

We love bugs!
A bit of TLC that became a major restoration
The 1302S, or ‘Super Beetle’ as it became known, was built for two years before it, too, was replaced by a further-enhanced Beetle, the 1303, continuing an amazing 65-year lineage for one of the World’s best-known shapes.
The world’s best-selling single-model vehicle, the VW Beetle, possibly established another record for the amount of controversy it has created since the inception of the Type 1.
In a meeting with Hitler in June 1934, Ferdinand Porsche was contracted to build a ‘People’s Car’ that could accommodate two adults and three children, was air-cooled and simple to maintain, and could cruise economically at moderate speed along Germany’s proposed new Autobahns.
Our feature car, a 1972 1302S ‘Super Beetle’, was found by Dave and Michelle Dickie in Mosgiel a few years back. It was a runner, but like most VWs of this age, it needed a little TLC. They were looking for a daily driver for Michelle when they first came upon the VW being sold locally on behalf of its owner.
“The owner offered it to his grandchildren, and they didn’t want it, so he got the guy out at Mosgiel in the Mobil petrol station to sell it for him, and he put it on Trade Me for them. We never met the owner, and we were always dealing with the guy at the petrol station. We put a bid on it, and we were the only people that bid on it.”
Their bid was eventually successful, eight years ago. Not knowing much of the history, in situations like that, it’s always a risk buying a car, but they were in for a bit of a surprise.