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2015 Repco Race to the Sky’s big names to do battle

24 March, 2015

The legendary Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima will be making his return to Cardrona, for the 2015 Repco Race to the Sky, held over April 18–19. The eight-time King of the Mountain champion will be joined by a number of competitors, both new and old, for the first iteration of the famous hill climb in seven years.

The opportunity to race the world-renowned course has attracted competitors from both here and abroad, amongst them, Whangarei’s ‘Rocket’ Ron Kirkman — at 78 years of age — the oldest competitor at the event. His age hasn’t slowed him down, nor his 1000cc Honda Rocket Racing quad bike. The quad category will also benefit from Christchurch’s Mike Shackleton, racing his famous ‘Quadzilla’ turbocharged 1300cc quad.

In the two-wheeled basket, Invercargill’s Craig Hyde — Race to the Sky’s original motorcycle ‘god’ — will make his return on the 1992 single-cylinder, two-stroke Kawasaki KX500, with a big challenge ahead in the form of Nathan McAlwee. McAlwee has two entries in two separate classes; a KTM SXF450 in middleweight, and a KTM SXF250 in lightweight.

The legendary Tajima will be taken on head-to-head in the eight-deep unlimited class by Rotorua local Sloan Cox, in the Mitsubishi Evo VIII successfully raced by Andrew Hawkeswood. Down in the open four-wheel-drive class, Mike Turfus will be bringing his own Mitsubishi Evo VIII out to play with the class’s other 12 entrants. The open two-wheel-drive class, within the national hill-climb competition division, will be headlined by Trevor Crowe, amongst its six competitors.

From across the ditch comes Brett Hayward from Victoria, Australia, who is also the current race record holder for open-wheel cars. He’ll be returning to compete in his sixth Race to the Sky event in his brand-new ‘Race to the Sky special’.

The off-road category also looks to be a hotly contested one, with national champ Bryan Chang bringing his championship-winning race truck to 2015 Repco Race to the Sky. Bryan has contested all bar one of the past Race to the Sky events, and will be facing off against Whangarei’s Clim Lammers, and Auckland’s Jono Climo, competing in the Toyota Hilux he designed and built himself, influenced by American ‘trophy truck’ desert racers.

It’s going to be an exciting two days of competition, and Highlands Motorsport Park’s general manager Mike Sentch says, “With so many former competitors, plus a great array of newcomers … I think it’s fair to say we can expect intense competition for the two main trophies.”

He’s not wrong there. Tickets can be purchased online from Ticket Direct, or from the Highlands Motorsport Park offices. A one-day adult pass costs $50, or $80 for a two-day pass. Children under 16 enter free with a paying adult.

Motorman: Blame it on Rio!

22 May, 2025

Following the third polite advisory, I figured there had to be a fair degree of substance to the warning. “If this is your first visit to Rio de Janeiro, please be careful,” came the personal hushed dialogue from the pleasant hostesses on a far from crowded Varig flight from Los Angeles to the famous Brazilian seaside city.
The previous evening I had flown into LA from Auckland en route to the 1985 international launch of the Fiat Uno Turbo. I was prepared for another long haul of just under 12 hours across Mexico, central America, Colombia, and central Brazil to that nation’s third largest city. Surprisingly the 10,500km run from Los Angeles to Rio is actually longer than the 8800km LA-London air route.
With the journey including a brief stopover in Honolulu I expected to travel just under 44,000km for the return journey to sample what was to be a low-volume version of a popular Italian car that would sell in even lower numbers in New Zealand. I like to think this shows nothing more than my deep commitment to my craft. In fact, even though I became lost on the homeward journey my total air miles would be little different.

Pinnacle Porsche

15 May, 2025

We were stopped at the side of the road, setting up the next photograph, when a faded Toyota slowed alongside and stopped. The window was already down to give the driver a good look.
“That’s my dream car,” he said, speaking for more than a few of us.
He drank in the gleaming red paint, shining in the sun, and the car’s purposeful swoops and curves. He exhaled half a lungful of cigarette smoke, gave a hang 10–style thumbs up and drove off.
On the side of the road, against a clear blue background, the Porsche stood out in all its stark red glory. It’s the classic 911 shape on steroids. It has the fat, even pouty, front lip of the G series 911s, added to comply with 5mph bumper restrictions in the US. It also has the oversized haunches to accommodate the wider rear wheels and tyres – a first for Porsche, which also confirmed its supercar credentials – and, most noticeably of all, that enormous whale-tail spoiler. They made it look as if Porsche had abandoned its restraint.