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A day of fast-paced fun at the Metalman Targa Rally Sprint

14 February, 2015

The Targa NZ series is the country’s most well-known road rally series, attracting a vast and varied line-up of cars and competitors — from granny wagons hotted up in the backyard, to cutting-edge racing weapons. There is now a Targa event to appeal to new competitors — the 2015 Metalman Targa Rally Sprint.

The one-day event, to be held on Sunday, March 8 at Ardmore Airport, does not form part of the Sanction Series, making it appealing to a wider audience. To race in the event, you will need a minimum of an M-grade licence, but co-drivers do not need to be licence holders — great for taking sponsors, service crews, friends, and family for a flat-out blast through the countryside!

Multiple stages will be run amidst the picturesque Papakura and Clevedon areas in South Auckland, allowing for alterations to the set-up and testing of competitor cars.

The course follows Monument Road from Clevedon to Hunua, and Ardmore Quarry Road from Hunua to Ardmore. These stretches of road will be repeated four times, with approximately 80km of Special Stage in total. The roads are typical of Targa event stages, making them a great introduction for the Targa Bambina and Targa NZ events held later in the year. The Targa Rally Sprint also gives the opportunity to get acquainted with standard rally safety notes, route books, time cards, and general rally protocol — a great introduction to the Targa experience.

The event has been designed to be family friendly, promising a day of entertainment, and a BBQ in the afternoon. Entry is limited, so you’ll need to head over to Targa NZ’s site to register now.

Photo captured by Owen de Mooy.

 

1975 Suzuki RE5

1 November, 2024

Suzuki had high hopes for its RE5 Wankel-engined bike launched in 1975. It had started looking at the Wankel engine in the mid-60s and bought the licence to the concept in 1970.
Apparently all of the big four Japanese makers experimented with the design, Yamaha even showing a rotary-engined bike at a motor show in 1972. But Suzuki was the only one of the big four to go into production. Like many others at the time, Suzuki believed that the light, compact, free-revving Wankel design would consign piston engines — with their complex, multiple, whirring valves and pistons, which (can you believe it?) had to reverse direction all the time — to history.

Westside story

25 October, 2024

For the young Dave Blyth, the Sandman was always the coolest car and he finally got one when he was 50. “I have always had a rule. When you turn 50, you buy or can afford to buy the car you lusted after when you were 20. I was 20 in 1979 and the HZ Sandman came out in 1978. It was the coolest of the cool — I just wanted one,” he says. “Back then a Sandman cost $4500 new and a house was worth about $20,000. I made about $30 a week so it was an impossible dream then.”
Dave was heavily influenced by the panel van culture of the time. “I started with an Escort panel van and upgraded to a Holden HD panel van with a 186ci six cylinder. I started a van club, Avon City Vans.