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Heimgartner gets behind the wheel of Super Black Racing’s ‘The Dark Horse’

8 February, 2015

Super Black Racing, the only New Zealand-based V8 Supercar (V8SC) team, have had their official launch at the Sydney Garden Island Naval base. Andre Heimgartner is all set to begin the official V8SC test following the big reveal of the Prodrive Racing (PRA)-prepared Triple One Falcon, alongside his PRA teammates.

Super Black Racing team owner Tony Lentino said, “We are so proud to finally be here and to be part of the Prodrive Racing team. We’re really excited about the year, and finally being able to reveal the car that we call ‘The Dark Horse’ is awesome.”

Aged 19, Heimgartner is one of the youngest drivers to ever compete in a V8SC championship, but is up for the challenge. 

“I know it won’t be easy, but I’m lucky to have such an incredible team of people behind me to help me learn, along with all of our awesome New Zealand fans,” Heimgartner said.

Also on board is Paul Radisich, the touring car legend, who joined the team in Sydney with his official role as team principal. This will see him guide and mentor the team with his experience, which spans across more than 20 years in motorsport.  

Super Black Racing is set to campaign the new Prodrive Racing FG X later in the season. The official V8SC Super Test runs for three days near Eastern Creek before the championship has its opening round in Adelaide in little over two weeks’ time.

Chrysler’s classy cruiser

22 May, 2026

I first saw our feature car, a 1970 V8-powered Regal 770 hardtop, towing a trailer carrying the tidy Ford Anglia classic racing saloon in Broadspeed racing colours that has featured in these pages. The coupe is comparatively rare here, which means anyone contemplating purchasing one of these big two-doors is sure to see prices continue to climb. The latter Charger has claimed much of the Aussie Chrysler limelight, but the simpler and classier lines of this car, which appeared dated soon after its introduction, now have a more timeless appeal.
Former owner, Balclutha motor engineer, Mike Verdoner, remembers the car well. He believes it came from Dunedin originally.
“I’m not sure about the car’s history, but I bought it off its owner at Kaitangata. Unusually, it was advertised in the local newspaper, the Clutha Leader, which was a surprise as these usually go for a lot more money on the internet. I had it for quite a few years. It needed a little bit of work to tidy it up, so I had to decide whether to spend the money on it to do it up, which could have been twenty grand. Its value at the time was not like it is now, so I sold it to Ewan. It’s probably now worth three or four times what I sold it for.”

The Pininfarina 230 SL

14 May, 2026

It’s October 1964, and imagine you’re an automotive journalist covering that year’s Paris Auto Show (Mondial de l’Automobile). As you approach the Pininfarina booth, you come across a car that looks a bit like the Mercedes-Benz 230 SL introduced the previous year at the Geneva Auto Show, a car then arriving at Mercedes-Benz dealerships around the world.
But looking closely, its styling and proportions seem to be a bit different. And it has a fixed roof, unlike the Pagoda-style greenhouse of the removable hardtop seen on the production 230 SL. While today, the styling of the W113, under the supervision of Head of Styling Friedrich Geiger, with lead designers Paul Bracq and Bela Barenyi, is considered a mid-century modern masterpiece, acceptance in-period was not universal. Some critics called out the concave design of its removable roof, which ultimately gave the car its “Pagoda” nickname.