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Aussie vs Kiwi muscle car showdown at Highlands

30 January, 2015

The battle between Australia’s Enzed Touring Car Masters (TCM) and New Zealand’s Enzed Central Muscle Cars (CMC) is set to be one of the highlights of Highlands Festival of Speed, running from January 31–February 1 at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell, Otago. It will be the third time the TCM and CMC have competed for a trans-Tasman trophy, but it marks the first time the groups have raced on New Zealand soil.

Dr John Elliot, the president of CMC says, “We’re all looking forward to it enormously!” Many of the CMC cars that you know and love will be present at the event, ready to wage war on the track with their Australian cousins.

Double Australian Touring Car Champion Glenn Seton has put his expertise to good use in setting up several leading TCM cars. One such car is the 1964 Ford Mustang regularly driven by Will Vining in TCM’s ProSports class, which he will race at Highlands. Blue Oval fans will also be excited to watch the ’66 Ford Mustang Fastback, driven by 2007 TCM champ Steve Mason, as well as Wayne Mercer’s Falcon XB GT, Tony Karanfilovski’s ’69 Mustang, and Keith Kassulke’s ’74 Falcon Coupe.

That’s not to say Holden has been neglected — with noted historic racer Carey McMahon’s Holden Torana SL/R 5000, and Garry Treloar’s ’72 HQ Monaro making an appearance, Holden’s finest will be well represented by the Aussie brigade.

The event is a celebration of New Zealand motorsport through the years — including vintage and classic saloons, and open wheelers competing on the Highlands’ circuit. As a true family event, the motoring is not the sole attraction; there is also a mass of festival-style entertainment, food, and refreshments to keep every member of the family happy.

Tickets cost $39 for an adult on Saturday only, or $49 for an adult on Sunday only. Otherwise an adult can attend both days with a weekend pass costing $80. Children 16 years and younger receive free entry with a paying adult.

Almost mythical pony

25 July, 2024

The Shelby came to our shores in 2003. It went from the original New Zealand owner to an owner in Auckland. Malcolm just happened to be in the right place with the right amount of money in 2018 and a deal was done. Since then, plenty of people have tried to buy it off him. The odometer reads 92,300 miles. From the condition of the car that seems to be correct and only the first time around.
Malcolm’s car is an automatic. It has the 1966 dashboard, the back seat, the rear quarter windows and the scoops funnelling air to the rear brakes.
He even has the original bill of sale from October 1965 in California.

Becoming fond of Fords part two – happy times with Escorts

17 July, 2024

In part one of this Ford-flavoured trip down memory lane I recalled a sad and instructive episode when I learned my shortcomings as a car tuner, something that tainted my appreciation of Mk2 Ford Escort vans in particular. Prior to that I had a couple of other Ford entanglements of slightly more redeeming merit. There were two Mk1 Escorts I had got my hands on: a 1972 1300 XL belonging to my father and a later, end-of-line, English-assembled 1974 1100, which my partner and I bought from Panmure Motors Ford in Auckland in 1980. Both those cars were the high water mark of my relationship with the Ford Motor Co. I liked the Mk1 Escorts. They were nice, nippy, small cars, particularly the 1300, which handled really well, and had a very precise gearbox for the time.
Images of Jim Richards in the Carney Racing Williment-built Twin Cam Escort and Paul Fahey in the Alan Mann–built Escort FVA often loomed in my imagination when I was driving these Mk1 Escorts — not that I was under any illusion of comparable driving skills, but they had to be having just as much fun as I was steering the basic versions of these projectiles.