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Three-day North Island Targa: Final day

16 June, 2014

 


Photo : Fast Company / Ben Hughes

Orewa pair Leigh Hopper and Simon Kirkpatrick completed a winning trifecta in this year’s Targa North Island tarmac motor rally which ended in Rotorua on Sunday – despite a quick detour through a farmer’s paddock early in the first stage on the final day. As well as claiming overall victory Hopper and Kirkpatrick also won the Instra.com Allcomers 4WD class from Gill and Robinson, and fellow Aucklanders David Rogers and Aidan Kelly (Mitsubishi Evo).

Like Hopper and Kirkpatrick, last year’s six-day Targa New Zealand event winners, Martin Dippie and Jona Grant, were never headed in their class, Instra.com Modern 2WD, the pair topping the time sheets in 11 of the 17 stages to finish the event just under two minutes ahead of fellow Porsche pair Richard Krogh and Glenn Sharratt from New Plymouth with Perth-based Kiwi Robert Darrington and co-driver Dave Abetz enjoying their best run in recent events to finish third in class in their BMW M3.

New Plymouth husband-and-wife Ross and Carmel Graham also enjoyed a near perfect run on their way to a popular victory in the Metalman Classic 2WD class. Despite their being at least six other combinations capable of matching their pace – as evidenced by the fact that there were five different stage winners – the Grahams started strongly and were as consistent as they were quick.

“We came here thinking that we would do OK but winning is still pretty special,” said Ross.

Also enjoying his best finish in a Targa event so far was BMW 325i driver Rex McDonald who with co-driver Daniel Prince finished second in the Metalman Classic 2WD standings. The pair topped the class time sheets in two stages and ended up just over two-and-half-minutes behind the Grahams and just over a minute up on category young gun Carl Kirk-Burnnand and his co-driver Sam Gordon in a similar BMW with husband-and-wife Tony and Jo Butler fourth in their V8-engined Cheetah convertible and long-time class pace-setters Barry Kirk-Burnnand (Carl’s father) and co-driver Dave O’Carroll fifth in their BMW M3.

Former rally and circuit rachwer Greg Goudie and son Michael from north Auckland were one of the other stage winning duos in the Metalman Classic 2WD class in their newly-built Mk 1 Ford Escort BDA, but were never in overall class contention after an electrical issue forced them to sit out several stages on the first day.

There were some high-profile casualties though, including Clark Proctor and Sue O’Neill (Nissan GT-R35) out with a broken gearbox, former Targa Rotorua winners Glenn Inkster and Spencer Winn, out with engine problems, while three stages on Saturday had to be canceled after the Paul Lampp/Graham Pedler Ford Escort hit and brought down a power pole early in the Hobbiton stage west of Matamata.

And after their usual giant-killing performances on the first and second days, Fiat Abarth 1000 pair Mike Lowe and Phil Sutton tumbled down the time sheets in the Metalman 2WD class on Sunday when they were forced to change engines half way through the final day.

For a full report on the event, look out for the June edition of New Zealand Classic Car magazine — on sale May 26, 2014.

Range Rover CSK — the original SUV

5 June, 2026

The Range Rover, thanks to Charles Spencer King, went into production in 1970 boasting an iconic shape that would last until 1996. The vehicle that would create the SUV moniker came about because Rover decided it was time to add a bigger four-wheel-drive vehicle, one with a 100-inch wheelbase, to the model range. Land Rover made a 109-inch wheelbase model but the standard vehicle had a 88-inch wheelbase.
The new model would be more suitable for road use than the existing Land Rover, which was considered to be predominantly for rural use. To make sure it could cope on any road it came standard with the Rover 3.5-litre V8 engine. The body design was originally sketched by King and went into production with only a few minor touch-ups by the Rover styling team.
According to King, “The idea was to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road ability of a Land Rover. Nobody was doing it.”

Ford’s Mustang – the endlessly hip American dream machine

28 May, 2026

Fifty or so years ago, the only place in New Zealand to see a Ford Mustang was on the racetrack. In a local market severely constrained by a lack of new motor vehicles, the new North American Ford was a dreamy icon boosted by considerable motorsport success.
Import licences for cars were limited, and if Kiwis travelled abroad, the amount of currency they could take with them was restricted. What’s more, those funds could not be used to buy a car for importation back home. Yet it was OK to spend the money on heavy drinking at a London pub, Gucci shoes, sable fur coats, and excessive stays at the Hôtel Martinez at Cannes in France.
However, any rare Mustang that landed on our shores would not be destined to pose around Auckland’s then trendy Queen Street on a Friday night but would more likely be found in the care of well-known racing drivers on the starting grid at local motor racing tracks.