SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

Inkster and Winn claim Targa Bambina honours

18 May, 2015

Following the successful one-day Targa Sprint event in Auckland earlier this year, the three-day Targa Bambina event just wound up in Rotorua on Sunday, May 17. Taking top honours were Glenn Inkster and Spencer Winn in the Ecolight Mitsubishi Evo VIII — their second win of the year, after winning the earlier Targa Sprint event.

So far, all is going to plan for the pair, who are determined to both finish and win all three Targa events this year.

“Winning the 20th anniversary event [last year] was obviously our main goal. But having to pull out of the North Island one [with engine problems] last year was like unfinished business,” Inkster said. 

The Targa Bambina left Auckland on Friday, May 15, finishing in Rotorua on the Sunday. Over that distance, the pair won 18 of the 21 stages, finishing four and three-quarter minutes ahead of fellow Instra.com Allcomers 4WD class member Nic de Waal, and his new co-driver Tom Grooten, in their Subaru Impreza WRX.

Image: Fast Company/ProShotz

In the Metalman Classic 2WD class, Foxton-based driver Bevan Claridge and co-driver Campbell Tannock took the victory, and fourth place overall, despite needing to do an emergency diff change on the side of the road.

The class was hard-fought between Claridge and Tannock, event stalwart Barry Kirk-Burnnand and co-driver Dave O’Carroll, Mark and Chris Kirk-Burnnand, and Jason Easton and Campbell Ward. Easton and Ward crashed near Matamata on Saturday, followed by Mark and Chris Kirk-Burnnand pulling out with a broken suspension bolt.  

Adding to the hot competition in the Metalman Classic 2WD class was class sponsor Clark Proctor, and co-driver Sue O’Neill, in the rapid Nissan–powered Ford Escort. Unfortunately, a crankshaft issue forced them out on the Friday.

Image: Fast Company/ProShotz

Just as fierce was the competition in the Instra.com Modern 2WD class — finally won by Simon Clark and Richard Somerville in the BMW M3. Ross and Carmel Graham’s Holden Torana A9X kept the class honest early on in the event, but were unfortunately finished on Saturday morning with clutch problems. In their absence, ex-pat Kiwi Robert Darrington and David Abetz pushed their BMW M3 to the lead and held it until Sunday morning, where they went off-road, handing pole to Clark and Somerville.

With 50 starters, plus another 30 in the allied (but non-competitive) Targa Tour, the vehicle line-up was suitably large to provide a full three days’ racing.

NZ Classic Car magazine, September/October 2026 issue 407, on sale now

16 August, 2026

We love bugs!
A bit of TLC that became a major restoration
The 1302S, or ‘Super Beetle’ as it became known, was built for two years before it, too, was replaced by a further-enhanced Beetle, the 1303, continuing an amazing 65-year lineage for one of the World’s best-known shapes.
The world’s best-selling single-model vehicle, the VW Beetle, possibly established another record for the amount of controversy it has created since the inception of the Type 1.
In a meeting with Hitler in June 1934, Ferdinand Porsche was contracted to build a ‘People’s Car’ that could accommodate two adults and three children, was air-cooled and simple to maintain, and could cruise economically at moderate speed along Germany’s proposed new Autobahns.
Our feature car, a 1972 1302S ‘Super Beetle’, was found by Dave and Michelle Dickie in Mosgiel a few years back. It was a runner, but like most VWs of this age, it needed a little TLC. They were looking for a daily driver for Michelle when they first came upon the VW being sold locally on behalf of its owner.
“The owner offered it to his grandchildren, and they didn’t want it, so he got the guy out at Mosgiel in the Mobil petrol station to sell it for him, and he put it on Trade Me for them. We never met the owner, and we were always dealing with the guy at the petrol station. We put a bid on it, and we were the only people that bid on it.”
Their bid was eventually successful, eight years ago. Not knowing much of the history, in situations like that, it’s always a risk buying a car, but they were in for a bit of a surprise.

The other Q car

12 August, 2026

Say the word ‘bond’ to anyone in the street and around 80 per cent straight away think of pop culture’s least-secret secret agent. The other 20 per cent may think of the wad of cash required to secure a flat or hire equipment that one gets back providing the fixtures and fittings stay much as they were.
However, mention ‘bond’ in specialist classic car circles and people will spin a very different yarn. If you dig deep enough, you will find an eccentric British carmaker that, throughout its 23 years in business, spawned some quirky and charming little cars.
The company was founded by Paul Sharp in 1922 under the name of Sharp’s Commercials Limited. However, the company did not start producing cars until 1948. The first car to carry the Bond name was the Bond Minicar. A three-wheeled, soft-top, two-cylinder eco car, the Minicar was a big hit at the time as the desire for an economical urban runabout that didn’t attract four-wheel car tax was strong in post-war Britain. All in all, 34,285 Minicars were produced over 26 years in a variety of variants.