Mitch Evans to make NZ SuperTourers debut

30 January, 2015

Single-seater racing star in one of Europe’s top categories Mitch Evans, will be making his ‘tin top’ racing debut in an NZ SuperTourer at the Rush Security Waikato 250 NZ Motor Cup at Hampton Downs over January 31–February 1, 2015.

As the younger brother of the current NZ SuperTourer points leader, Simon Evans, Mitch is excited to get behind the wheel of something so different to what he’s used to.

“I’m just out there to have fun and see how I go. I’ve never raced a touring car before, so no doubt I’ll have to learn a few things along the way,” Evans says.

Mitch took Simon’s Smeg Commodore for a test spin a few weeks back, impressing Simon with his grip on SuperTourer racing.

“On old tyres, he actually put down some pretty reasonable times. I hope he’ll go good. Just not too good! I’ve got a championship to try and win!” Simon says.

If you want to see Mitch in action, you can get an adult weekend pass for $50, otherwise Saturday will cost you $30, and Sunday will cost $40. Discounts for students (under 18 with ID) and senior citizens are available. Kids under 13 are able to get in for free.

 

Design accord

You can’t get much more of an art deco car than a Cord — so much so that new owners, Paul McCarthy and his wife, Sarah Selwood, went ahead and took their Beverly 812 to Napier’s Art Deco Festival this year, even though the festival itself had been cancelled.
“We took delivery of the vehicle 12 days before heading off to Napier. We still drove it all around at the festival,” says Paul.
The utterly distinctive chrome grille wrapping around the Cord’s famous coffin-shaped nose, and the pure, clean lines of the front wing wheel arches, thanks to its retractable headlamps, are the essence of deco. This model, the Beverly, has the finishing touch of the bustle boot that is missing from the Westchester saloon.

Motorman: When New Zealand built the Model T Ford

History has a way of surrounding us, hidden in plain sight. I was one of a group who had been working for years in an editorial office in Augustus Terrace in the Auckland city fringe suburb of Parnell who had no idea that motoring history had been made right around the corner. Our premises actually backed onto a century-old brick building in adjacent Fox Street that had seen the wonder of the age, brand-new Model T Fords, rolling out the front door seven decades earlier.
Today, the building is an award-winning two-level office building, comprehensively refurbished in 2012. Happily, 6 Fox Street honours its one time claim to motoring fame. Next door are eight upmarket loft apartments, also on the site where the Fords were completed. Elsewhere, at 89 Courtenay Place, Wellington, and Sophia Street, Timaru, semi-knocked-down Model Ts were also being put together, completing a motor vehicle that would later become known as the Car of the Century.