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Impressive line-up of F5000s at New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing

12 January, 2015

We’ve been looking forward to it for ages, and now it’s just around the corner. The highly anticipated New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing (NZFMR) is being held over the weekends of January 16–18 and January 23–25 at Hampton Downs.

Our excitement is in response to the amazing features that the festival is to play host to in its celebration of renowned Kiwi racer Howden Ganley. These features include Formula One cars, Formula 5000 racers. More than six Formula One cars will be in attendance, but it is the F5000s that are the main talking point. With over 50 confirmed, the NZFMR will host the world’s first Formula 5000 World Series, the winner of which will be crowned after the final race on the festival’s second weekend.

Other features we don’t want to miss include Can-Am cars, the ex-Denny Hulme 1973 McLaren M23, a show and shine, 12 race classes with over 350 racers, eight Australian Trans Am racers competing with the Historic Muscle Cars, parade laps of significant cars, and (weather permitting) a Spitfire and RNZAF display. 

Lunch with Bill Leckie: An Imp’s tale

6 August, 2026

Seeking limelight is part of Bill Leckie’s DNA, but when I asked him if anyone had written about his career and the cars he created, he didn’t think so. Even so, I was delighted when he agreed to sit down with me over a pie and coffee to reminisce. I started by asking how it is that someone who is so fanatical about F1 only ever raced saloon cars? Well, we’ll get to that, but where did things start? “I went to Cornwall Park Primary School and then to Remuera Intermediate where I became good mates with Geoff Perry, son of the legendary motorcycle racing legend Len.” Geoff Perry was 23 and on the edge of stardom when he was killed in a mystery air disaster over the Pacific in 1973. “We used to race around his backyard on a cutdown motorbike. It was friendly competition that I suppose helped hone our racing instincts. There was never much between us and so, by 11 or 12, I had a definite leaning towards speed.”

Mitsubishi’s secret weapon

31 July, 2026

Ewen’s Starion is a little different and special. He saved this one – literally ‘found in a paddock’ — just in time, as he relates.
“Mine is a 1983 Starion. I’ve had it about five years. I first saw it in a paddock at Ryal Bush [north of Invercargill], and I went past it three times. The third time I went back and knocked at the door, but the owner didn’t want to sell. He rang up a year later, and put a price on it, which we accepted. Only thing wrong was the motor was totally dismantled.”
Ewen then set about getting the car back to its current state.
“It took me six months to find somebody suitable to refurbish it back then. Simon Bradley at Midas in Invercargill offered to do it and he did a great job on it. The head was badly damaged around the valves, and Simon said you could get generic cylinder heads now, so he installed one, and it cost $800. It’s made such a difference to the car. Mine is an intercooled, fuel-injected turbo model, fitted with a five-speed manual gearbox. It’s a great car to drive too.”
Except for a small patch of surface rust, Ewen’s car was in surprisingly good condition despite its paddock life.