Wheels up for the crowds at Ruapuna

29 January, 2015

Tonnes of wheels-up action took place during the IHRA Southern Nationals at Ruapuna on January 25 — and the track had seen a lot of effort to get it prepped for the event.

It was the first time many of the spectators had seen such a full field fighting it out to be the best in their class — even several North Island cars had made the trip to get in on the action. There were a couple of minor breakdowns and oil issues over the course of the day, but nothing that the Pegasus Bay Drag Racing Club crew couldn’t sort.

Amongst the impressive field, it was great to see Brendon Shearing hammering his ’71 Holden Monaro, as seen on the cover of Issue No. 115 of NZV8 magazine. The car runs into the low nine-second zone making it the current quickest street car in the South Island. Not bad for someone who lives an eight-hour drive from the track!

Another previous NZV8 feature car to also stretch its legs was SYCO 8, an ex Hamilton-based Holden Monaro now owned by Chris Daley, all the way from Te Anau.

After a full-on day, the results of the event were as follows. Don’t forget to check out the gallery below and let us know if you were there in the comments.

Supercharged Outlaws

Winner: Graham Christison
Runner-up: Minchington Brothers

Top Street

Winner: Roger Binnema
Runner-up: Gavin Green

Super Sedan

Winner: Jason Fleck
Runner-up: Warren Black

Modified

Winner: Ken King
Runner-up: Cameron Patterson

Competition Bike

Winner: Raymond Lelievere
Runner-up: Andy Urwin Wells

Modified Bike

Winner: Alan Thoresen
Runner-up: Bryn McCaw

Super Street

Winner: Dave Christian
Runner-up: Andy Vaughan

NZ Classic Car magazine, March/April 2025 issue 398, on sale now

23 February, 2025

An HQ to die for
Mention the acronym HQ and most people in the northern hemisphere will assume this is an abbreviation for Head Quarters. However, for those born before the mid-’80s in Australia and New Zealand, the same two letters only mean one thing – HQ Holden!
Christchurch enthusiast Ed Beattie has a beautiful collection of Holden and Chevrolet cars. He loves the bowtie and its Aussie cousin and has a stable of beautiful, powerful cars. His collection includes everything from a modern GTSR W507 HSV through the decades to a 1960s Camaro muscle car and much in between.
In the last two Holden Nationals (run biennially in 2021 and 2023), Ed won trophies for the Best Monaro and Best Decade with his amazing 1972 Holden Monaro GTS 350 with manual transmission.
Ed is a perfectionist and loves his cars to reflect precisely how they were on ‘Day 1,’ meaning when the dealer released them to the first customer, including any extras the dealer may have added or changed.

You’re the one that I want – 1973 Datsun 240K GT

21 February, 2025

In the early 1970s, Clark Caldow was a young sales rep travelling the North Island and doing big miles annually. He loved driving. In 1975 the firm he worked for asked Clark what he wanted for his new car, and Clark chose a brand-new Datsun 240K GT. The two-door car arrived, and Clark was smitten, or in his own words, he was “pole vaulting.”
Clark drove it all over the country, racking up thousands of miles. “It had quite a bit of pep with its SOHC 128 hp (96kW) of power mated to a four-speed manual gearbox,” he says. Weighing in at 1240kg meant the power to weight ratio was good for the time and its length at almost 4.5 metres meant it had good street presence.
Clark has been a car enthusiast all his life, and decided around nine years ago to look for one of these coupes. By sheer luck he very quickly found a mint example refurbished by an aircraft engineer, but it was in Perth.

Wheels up for the crowds at Ruapuna

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