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V8 victory at Pukekohe for Murphy

16 June, 2014

 


Photo: Euan Cameron

Photo: Euan Cameron

Despite intense pressure and a damaged car, Greg Murphy took out the feature BNT V8 SuperTourers race at Pukekohe on Sunday.

After being pushed across a kerb when Ant Pedersen passed him at close quarters, Murphy said something went wrong with his Holden.

“The car sledged at the next corner and I thought it might have a puncture,” the winner said. “It was really bad over the hill and at turn one but I decided to keep going.

“It was probably a broken shock absorber. We certainly didn’t have the fastest car.”

Young Aussie Morgan Haber and Aucklander Richard Moore closed right up and Haber hounded Murphy for several laps before the chequered flag appeared. The three all drive Holdens for the M3 team.

“That’s my best result in a high-level category,” a delighted Haber said. “I had a few cracks at Murph but he’s smarter than me and he held me out.”

Simon Evans took fourth ahead of fellow Aucklanders Tim Edgell and Mitch Cunningham, Evans and Edgell in Holdens and Cunningham in a Ford.

Ant Pedersen won the day’s second race in his Ford and at one stage held a big lead in the feature race, pushing hard on a damp track. But as the track dried he and some other drivers pitted for slick tyres and this proved a mistake, as their speed advantage was not enough to make up for the time lost in the pits.

Pedersen finished seventh after the pit stop, and he was also second to Murphy in the first race.

Race two saw Angus Fogg finish first by a large margin but he and several other leading drivers copped time penalties because of infringements in a chaotic start. Pedersen said he was disappointed for Fogg, who was officially second, but would take the victory anyway.

Pedersen’s grandfather, also a great motorsport enthusiast, passed away during the week and he was on the driver’s mind during the weekend. “He was the man and I’ll miss him,” he said.

Murphy was third in that race, his first defeat this season after seven straight victories. Evans was fourth and Aucklander teenager Andre Heimgartner fifth in his Holden.

Race one saw Murphy start third on the grid but winning after passing first Evans and then Pedersen at the hairpin. Pedersen had to settle for second, with Evans third followed by Heimgartner and Fogg.

Murphy now leads the championship by a huge 159 points from Pedersen.

The fourth round, and final of the sprint series, is again at Pukekohe, as part of the V8 Supercar meeting over the long Anzac weekend. The three endurance rounds start in September.

 

2014 BNT V8 SuperTourers Championship Schedule

Round 1 January 25-26, Fuchs 250, Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell

Round 2 February 8-9, Manfeild (New Zealand Grand Prix meeting)

Round 3 March 22-23, Pukekohe

Round 4 April 25-27, Pukekohe (V8 Supercars meeting)

Round 5 September 6-7, Taupo

Round 6 November 1-2, South Island (TBA)

Round 7 November 28-30, Pukekohe

The final three rounds are endurance events

Last Tango in the Fast Lane

30 April, 2026

In the mid ’80s, I locked into a serious Nissan/Datsun performance obsession. It could have kicked off with my ’82 Datsun Sunny, though this would have been a bit of a stretch of the imagination, given its normally aspirated 1.2-litre motor — not the sort of thing to unleash radical road warrior dreams. But it did plant a seed, and it was a sweet little machine and surprisingly quick, in contrast to all the diabolical English offerings I had endured.
I was living in South Auckland at the time and was an unrepentant petrolhead. Motor racing was my drug of choice, and I followed the scene slavishly. Saloon car racing, with the arrival of the international Group A formula, was having a serious renaissance here and in Australia and Europe. There was suddenly an exotic air in local racing that had been absent for 15 years.
I was transfixed by this new frontier of motor racing that had hit our tracks in 1985–87 and the new array of machinery on display. In 1986, the Nissan Skyline RS DR30 made a blinding impression on me. The Australian Fred Gibson-run, Peter Jackson-sponsored team of George Fury and Glenn Seton were the fastest crew of the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship. But Kiwi legend Robbie Francevic snuck through to win the Aussie Championship in his Volvo 240T after a strong start and consistent finishes.

NZ Classic Car magazine, May/June 2026 issue 405, on sale now

26 April, 2026

Reincarnation of the snake
We are captivated by a top-quality sports car
The Shelby NZ build team at Matamata Panelworks has endured a long and challenging journey, culminating with the highly anticipated public unveiling of the 427SC and firing up of its sonorous V8 at the 2026 Ayrburn Classic Festival of Motoring in Queenstown on February 20. This is a New Zealand-built car with loads of character and potential.
The car is now back in Matamata, and I finally have an opportunity to get up close and personal with it. But before then, the question that must be asked is, “Why would ya?”
The first answer is easy, as mentioned in the last issue of New Zealand Classic Car (#404). It was a great way to use up all the surplus Mustang parts acquired while converting brand-new Mustangs into Shelbys. The unused new Mustang parts would be great in any kit car, but the 427SC in front of me cannot be classified as one.
This is not a kit car. The reality is that it is a high-quality, factory-made production car.
Possibly the second answer is because the CEO of Matamata Panelworks, Malcolm Sankey, wanted to build a replica of the car that is a distant relation to the Shelby Mustangs scattered around his showroom floor, a car created long before the first Mustang was even thought of, and the brainchild of Carroll Shelby back in the early ‘60s.