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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

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.

The other Q car

12 August, 2026

Say the word ‘bond’ to anyone in the street and around 80 per cent straight away think of pop culture’s least-secret secret agent. The other 20 per cent may think of the wad of cash required to secure a flat or hire equipment that one gets back providing the fixtures and fittings stay much as they were.
However, mention ‘bond’ in specialist classic car circles and people will spin a very different yarn. If you dig deep enough, you will find an eccentric British carmaker that, throughout its 23 years in business, spawned some quirky and charming little cars.
The company was founded by Paul Sharp in 1922 under the name of Sharp’s Commercials Limited. However, the company did not start producing cars until 1948. The first car to carry the Bond name was the Bond Minicar. A three-wheeled, soft-top, two-cylinder eco car, the Minicar was a big hit at the time as the desire for an economical urban runabout that didn’t attract four-wheel car tax was strong in post-war Britain. All in all, 34,285 Minicars were produced over 26 years in a variety of variants.