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

Bronze treasure unearthed

20 August, 2026

The car was put away in favour of something more practical, and when his father was unable to drive any more, Matt’s friend asked him to come and take a look at his dad’s old Holden. It turned out this was one of those phone calls that leads to that feeling of pure joy in the classic car world — the ‘barn find’ that turns out to be even better than expected. The HT Monaro had been put to bed some years before and had not seen the light of day since. Layers of dust and boxes of junk littered her undercarriage and bodywork and access points all around.

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.

Wheels up for the crowds at Ruapuna

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