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Shocking news: electric vehicle event coming to Christchurch

27 October, 2015

 

A  new electric vehicle event is set to quietly take over the Mike Pero Motorsport Park in Ruapuna in late November. EVolocity is being marketed as a fast-paced, innovative, and exciting motorsport event with an environmental twist — demonstrating electric vehicle performance and efficiency.

The event is the brainchild of the Association for the Promotion of Electric Vehicles (APEV), which aims to promote the use of electric vehicles and also encourage innovation in the future of transport.

“EVolocity is the first-ever day of electric motorsport in New Zealand, and we think that is pretty special. The sector is growing worldwide with technology and innovation taking electric vehicles to thrilling new places — I am sure those who visit EVolocity will see electric vehicles in a whole new light and some may even come away with a new passion,” says Rob McEwen, executive director of APEV.

Event highlights are set to include a race between the world’s fastest electric drag motor bike and the fastest fuel-powered drag motor bike in the South Island; a race featuring 16 Canterbury high school teams, who have developed their own custom design and built electric vehicles; a showcase of three world record–holding electric vehicles from the US, plus New Zealand’s first Tesla S; and a race between a Ferrari and a Tesla Roadster.

Besides the events themselves, there will be plenty to check out, including the chance to meet Eva Håkansson who holds the title of fastest electric motorcycle in the world (434kph), fastest sidecar motorcycle in the world, and fastest woman on a motorcycle in the world. Kevin Clemens who set 11 world, US National, and US East Coast land-speed records with electric motorcycles built in his Minnesota workshop will also be present.

If you’re keen on heading along, tickets are available through evolocity.co.nz.

Classics on the green

16 October, 2026

Many pretenders vie for the title, but the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance gets my vote as the biggest thing since sliced bread.
The 71st edition of the world’s pre-eminent and best-known concours event featured 28 classes, judged by a 180-strong jury, which also chose the recipients of 26 special awards.
The size of the event, the number of visitors, and, most mind-numbingly, the sheer number of amazing cars, is almost overwhelming. There are so many quality cars to gaze upon, and so many people gazing at those cars, that it is almost impossible to cover everything.
Notable among the many attractions were the centenary celebrations of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, an elegant Talbot-Lago Grand Sport, Hermann Graber’s Swiss-bodied cabriolets and coupés, the jewels of Otto Vu Italian V8s, early Alfa Romeos, Lincoln and its centenary, and cars with unorthodox propulsion systems.

Janspeed recreates the Jaguar sports car

29 September, 2026

Thankfully, a few of these cars made it to New Zealand, the odd one being imported from the UK over the years. However, the 1988 British Racing Green example owned by Bill Slater in Upper Hutt was originally sold as a standard car but converted using the full Janspeed kit by the first owner within a couple of years of buying it.
Bill has owned a few other Jaguars. In fact, after he sold his Jaguar XJ12 in 2018, he found himself pining for another and, when the XJ-S came up for sale, he could not resist it. Having just sold the V12, he was not expecting much from the six-cylinder car other than more reliability and it being cheaper to keep on the road. Naturally, he had heard of the influence Janspeed had on the marque, but it was not until he took the car for a test drive that he became aware of just how superior it was to the car he had just sold. The price of a second-hand Janspeed XJ-S and that of a standard 3.6 XJ-S is quite comparable, making the Janspeed version an incredible bargain, even more so in comparison with other performance classic cars — or even modern cars, for that matter — which cost far more bucks for the bang.