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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.

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.