SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

LaFerrari on display at the Australian Motoring Festival

27 March, 2015

If you’re looking for a place to see more than $30 million worth of sports cars, and you just so happen to be in Melbourne over the weekend of March 28—29, then the Australian Motoring Festival at then Melbourne Showgrounds may just be the place to be.

But if you’re like us and can’t quite make it over the ditch, then have a look at what the centrepiece of the 2000-square-metre Ferrari exhibition is. Yes, that’s the $3 million, limited-production, hybrid supercar — the LaFerrari. 

It’s known as Ferrari’s most ambitious project ever, and will be located amidst a huge range of Ferrari engineering and design in the no-expense-spared display.

The CEO of Ferarri Australasia, Herbert Appleroth, says, “Surrounding LaFerrari will be a uniquely Ferrari experience featuring 30 years of Ferrari supercar history, [and] a stunning Ferrari showroom with the latest range of Ferrari road cars.”

The festival started on March 26 and will run through to March 29.

Coaching from the bench: Casting plastic knobs and rubber parts

16 July, 2026

Casting rubber items is simple if you have a good original to work with. The item doesn’t have to be perfect. You can use plasticine to smooth out cracks, and you can even make whole prototypes out of low-fire modelling clay available from craft stores if you need to. Prototypes can also be made of wood or metal.
You will need mould dams to contain the liquid urethane moulding solution until it cures. You can build boxes out of strips of wood, but I have found that small plastic boxes and bowls such as those you would use for leftovers in your fridge work well if you spray them with a mould release agent.
Temperature is important to the chemical processes involved, so work in an area that can be maintained at around 20 degrees. You will also need adequate ventilation because the fumes can be dangerous to breathe. And you will want to wear latex gloves to protect your hands.

Fraser Cars – low flying into the fourth decade

10 July, 2026

With almost three and a half decades under its belt, Fraser Cars is one of New Zealand’s longest-surviving car manufacturers. The company first opened its doors for business in 1988, during the boom time for kit manufacturers. During the ’80s, around 40 different companies were building kits and turnkey cars for this niche market. Of those, only Fraser and Almac Cars (established 1981) are still in business today.
Most of the new kit car companies were killed off in the cradle by the threat of new legislation that never eventuated and definitively by the sudden availability of high-performance Japanese cars when the floodgates to second-hand imports were opened. The now long-retired founder of the company, Neil Fraser, first came across Lotus Seven replicas while racing Lotus Cortinas in the early ’80s. He regularly found himself racing against a little Caterham, a Lotus Seven–styled car built in England. He was very impressed by its simplicity and handling. In 1986 Fraser built his own Lotus Seven–type car, using the knowledge he had gained from several close looks at the Caterham.