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Get familiar with the law this summer

2 December, 2014

This summer, over the holiday season, there are two things Kiwi drivers should look out for on the road. The speed limit tolerance has changed and the drink-driving limit has also been lowered.

From now on drivers caught with between 251 and 400 micrograms per litre of breath alcohol will be hit with a $200 fine and 50 demerit points. Get caught a second time, and you risk losing your licence for three months. For drivers below the age of 20 the limit is still zero so if you’re the sober driver, you’ll need to be sober. Women are being urged to be particularly careful as they have less body water than men to absorb alcohol.

The lower speeding tolerance has also come into force and will be effective until the end of January with police warning everyone that they will be pulling over any driver caught exceeding the posted speed limit. After a controversial move to try and do away with any form of tolerance — a zero tolerance, effectively — the 4kph tolerance has been reinstated. That said, “Anything over the limit is speeding and anyone speeding can expect to be pulled over,” says Dave Cliff, police assistant commissioner of road policing.

We’re all keen on a few brews under the sun and to get out of the city quickly, but it’s worth bearing these changes in mind — avoiding unnecessary fines and demerits is always good, but it’s cool being able to reach the holiday destination unscathed too.

Coaching from the bench: Casting plastic knobs and rubber parts

16 July, 2026

Casting rubber items is simple if you have a good original to work with. The item doesn’t have to be perfect. You can use plasticine to smooth out cracks, and you can even make whole prototypes out of low-fire modelling clay available from craft stores if you need to. Prototypes can also be made of wood or metal.
You will need mould dams to contain the liquid urethane moulding solution until it cures. You can build boxes out of strips of wood, but I have found that small plastic boxes and bowls such as those you would use for leftovers in your fridge work well if you spray them with a mould release agent.
Temperature is important to the chemical processes involved, so work in an area that can be maintained at around 20 degrees. You will also need adequate ventilation because the fumes can be dangerous to breathe. And you will want to wear latex gloves to protect your hands.

Fraser Cars – low flying into the fourth decade

10 July, 2026

With almost three and a half decades under its belt, Fraser Cars is one of New Zealand’s longest-surviving car manufacturers. The company first opened its doors for business in 1988, during the boom time for kit manufacturers. During the ’80s, around 40 different companies were building kits and turnkey cars for this niche market. Of those, only Fraser and Almac Cars (established 1981) are still in business today.
Most of the new kit car companies were killed off in the cradle by the threat of new legislation that never eventuated and definitively by the sudden availability of high-performance Japanese cars when the floodgates to second-hand imports were opened. The now long-retired founder of the company, Neil Fraser, first came across Lotus Seven replicas while racing Lotus Cortinas in the early ’80s. He regularly found himself racing against a little Caterham, a Lotus Seven–styled car built in England. He was very impressed by its simplicity and handling. In 1986 Fraser built his own Lotus Seven–type car, using the knowledge he had gained from several close looks at the Caterham.