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Watch the Race to the Sky action on the big screen

8 April, 2015

There’s nothing worse than being at a hill climb, racetrack, or rally circuit and only being able to take in the action as it soars past your nose. Fortunately, Race to the Sky organizers have taken note — they have arranged a big screen that will show live and replayed in-car footage, interviews with competitors, and much more during this year’s event being held at Cardrona Valley, Central Otago, on April 18–19.

The footage will all be produced by an on-site television production team, who are also making a one-hour television highlights package, which will be screened during TV3’s CRC Motorsport show on May 10.

Some other exciting additions have been added as the event’s event marketing manager, Melanie Kees, explains.

“Make sure you’ve got a good spot in sight of the big screen for Sunday’s top-20 shoot-out — yes, we’ve expanded the traditional top-10 shoot-out to enable the fastest 20 competitors from any class to enjoy a little extra time in the spotlight.

“Spectators can enjoy a range of activities and entertainment in the event village on the plateau. The pit area is open and free to walk around so you can talk with your favourite drivers and check out their awesome cars, bikes, and quads.”

Almost mythical pony

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

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.