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Race to the Sky returns — win the money-can’t-buy experience

25 February, 2015

The Repco Race to the Sky is set to make a welcome return to the event calendar on April 17–19 at Cardrona Valley.

Returning for the first time since 2007, the event is set to see more than 100 cars, bikes, and buggies tackle the world’s longest gravel hill climb. It’s a 14.km course with 135 turns, climbing from 450 metres to 1500 metres above sea level.

If you want to be in amongst the action, Repco has organized a great prize package, giving you the chance to have a money-can’t-buy VIP experience at the event. To enter, all you need to do is spend $50 in store at any Repco branch before March 31 and text your receipt number and name to 244.

The two winners will be drawn on April 1, and will receive two return flights to Queenstown (departing Auckland, Wellington, or Christchurch), three nights accommodation at Novotel Queenstown, two VIP hospitality days at Repco Race to the Sky, two passenger rides in the Repco Race to the Sky car, and, to top it off, two tickets for afternoon entry to Highlands Motorsport Park.

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.