SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

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.

NZ Classic Car magazine, July/August 2026 issue 406, on sale now

21 June, 2026

Rebirth of a brilliant Grand Tourer –1973 Datsun 240Z
How often do we long for that ultimate dream sports car, and that dream comes true? This is about one of the most influential Japanese cars of all time, a car that changed the sports car market.
This is about much more than the restoration of an iconic classic sports car, the 240Z. It’s about the culmination of a dream over many years and the friendships made. It’s about the people who helped and the professionals whose approach ensured that the dream became a reality, an attitude typical of the industry we call ‘classic restoration experts’.
It is no surprise that the outcome after a lengthy search by Conrad Van der Geest for the right Datsun 240Z culminated in a trophy for the best Japanese car at this year’s Caroline Bay Beach, Rock N’ Hop at Timaru.
Originally a roadworthy car in running order, it was left-hand-drive and had been driven for several years by its Timaru owner, as Conrad explains.
“A neighbour, Dave Barron, knew I was looking for one and introduced me to the owner. I had seen the car being driven around Timaru. It was unusual for one of these coming originally from California, so it was a really clean car instead of rusty, as they are prone to rust. The story goes that the grandfather passed it onto his grandson, who decided to sell it, and that’s when it came over here.”
Every issue comes with our FREE huge wall poster; this issue, it’s our cover car for this edition, a 1973 Datsun 240Z

The butterfly effect

18 June, 2026

The man on the mountain bike pedalled over, taking it all in. Gazing in wonderment at this small Japanese coupe with butterfly doors, he said, “Wow, I have never seen one of these before. What is it?” When I told him it was a Toyota, he nearly fell off his bike.
The Toyota Sera is unique amongst ’90s Japanese coupes. The Sera, which is Italian for ‘evening’, can trace its roots back to Toyota’s AXV-II concept car. Launched as part of a trio of Toyota concept cars at the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show, it shared its underpinnings with the P70 Toyota Starlet. The similarities ended there, thanks to the AXV-II’s low-slung and rounded coupe styling with butterfly doors. These doors were held upright by gas struts when fully open. Glass covered the upper section of the doors and the rear hatchback.
These features, much to everyone’s surprise, were carried over to the production Sera in 1990. Toyota marketed the Sera, which means ‘will be’ in Spanish and ‘princess’ in Hebrew, as a funky alternative to the much-loved MR2.