SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

Taupo Thunder Drags canceled

17 December, 2014

We’ve just been informed that the entire 2014–’15 race season planned for Taupo Thunder Dragway has been canceled. Promoter Ken Galvin stated in his release that only 11 racers had pre-entered for the events that were set to take place on December 28, 2014 and January 3, 2015, which makes running them not financially feasible. Added to this were date clashes with the nostalgia event planned for Masterton Motorplex on the same date in January — taking this into account it was easy to understand the decision. Ken states that he feels that the date clash would be detrimental to the sport, which has added to him pulling the plug.

The cancellation of these summer events has given room to promote the track for the following season, in which Ken plans to run a televised winter drag racing programme covering America vs New Zealand, Summer Nationals, Drag Fest, and a Vintage Drag Meet — yes, that’s four events over seven days, all on TV if all things run to plan.

There will still be some great drag racing action over the summer season, including the nostalgia meet at Masterton Motorplex on January 3, and the Nitro Shootout at Meremere on January 10 — we’ve just got a reason to look forward to winter now.

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.