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Wait no more, Leadfoot Festival is here — watch it live on The Motorhood

5 February, 2015

While we’re gearing up to make the trip down to Leadfoot Festival in Hahei for the weekend of February 6–8, 2015, we understand not everyone has the time or budget to make the trip to Leadfoot Ranch. Lucky for those not attending the event, Rod Millen and the Leadfoot team have arranged a special live stream for you to enjoy the action from the comfort of your own home for as low as USD$20 — and we’ve got it right here for you to watch:

Although the festival is perceived as having mostly vintage and classic racers from the golden era, there will be plenty of up and comers to keep us turbocharged petrolheads enthused. For starters, Sloan Cox will be contesting the driveway in his Mitsubishi Evo VIII, which is built on a custom tube frame and sports a 600kW+ 4G63 mated to a Hollinger six-speed sequential gearbox. The centre diff ratios have also been changed which should suit the driveway perfectly allowing for an extremely competitive package and one to look out for.

Three times Pro7 (RX-7) champion and SS2000 champion Andy Duffin will be bringing along his 20B-powered Mazda RX-7 FD, which was on the cover of Issue No. 214 of NZ Performance Car. With a measly 1000kg of weight, a wild 10,000rpm 20B engine, an Elite Racing six-speed sequential gearbox, and some serious driving talent, Andy Duffin should be able to pilot the RX-7 at a competitive rate during the festival.

Host Rod Millen will be contesting three vehicles during the festival, first of which is his Toyota Celica, which he used to break the famous Pikes Peak hill-climb record back in 1994.The Celica is powered by a 671kW (899hp) four-cylinder engine and runs a staggering 45psi of boost. It’s not just the engine that makes it go fast however, the body is made from carbon and the aero is still impressive even by today’s standards. The second is his 2000 Toyota Tundra off-road truck, which was designed and built for competition to support the launch of the vehicle at the time. An extremely light and nimble vehicle, this should be exciting to watch. Rod’s third car that we’ll get to see is his 1973 Mazda RX-3, which he used to win the New Zealand Rally 1975–1977 — a great piece of history.

A swag of competitive drifters will be in attendance including several of New Zealand’s best. ‘Mad Mike’ Whiddett will be bringing along MADBUL, Cole Armstrong will be bringing the Nissan 250GT, ‘Fanga Dan’ Woolhouse in his Holden Commodore VE, Curt Whittaker in his Nissan Skyline R34, Shane Allen in his Ford Falcon, and Jodie Verhulst in her 1993 Toyota Supra.

Almost mythical pony

25 July, 2024

The Shelby came to our shores in 2003. It went from the original New Zealand owner to an owner in Auckland. Malcolm just happened to be in the right place with the right amount of money in 2018 and a deal was done. Since then, plenty of people have tried to buy it off him. The odometer reads 92,300 miles. From the condition of the car that seems to be correct and only the first time around.
Malcolm’s car is an automatic. It has the 1966 dashboard, the back seat, the rear quarter windows and the scoops funnelling air to the rear brakes.
He even has the original bill of sale from October 1965 in California.

Becoming fond of Fords part two – happy times with Escorts

17 July, 2024

In part one of this Ford-flavoured trip down memory lane I recalled a sad and instructive episode when I learned my shortcomings as a car tuner, something that tainted my appreciation of Mk2 Ford Escort vans in particular. Prior to that I had a couple of other Ford entanglements of slightly more redeeming merit. There were two Mk1 Escorts I had got my hands on: a 1972 1300 XL belonging to my father and a later, end-of-line, English-assembled 1974 1100, which my partner and I bought from Panmure Motors Ford in Auckland in 1980. Both those cars were the high water mark of my relationship with the Ford Motor Co. I liked the Mk1 Escorts. They were nice, nippy, small cars, particularly the 1300, which handled really well, and had a very precise gearbox for the time.
Images of Jim Richards in the Carney Racing Williment-built Twin Cam Escort and Paul Fahey in the Alan Mann–built Escort FVA often loomed in my imagination when I was driving these Mk1 Escorts — not that I was under any illusion of comparable driving skills, but they had to be having just as much fun as I was steering the basic versions of these projectiles.