New Zealand Classic Car contributors win big at MotorSport New Zealand Awards 2015

27 May, 2015

MotorSport New Zealand recognized our best and brightest at their recent annual awards ceremony, MotorSport New Zealand Awards 2015, which was held in Wellington on May 23. The evening began and ended with emotion onstage, as the motorsport community paid tribute to those who have excelled on the track, and contributed off it, in the past 12 months.

For Parkside Media and New Zealand Classic Car magazine, the awards were something of a hat-trick, with three regular contributors to the magazine walking off with awards.

Terry Marshall, who has been providing stunning motorsport images to New Zealand Classic Car for many years, received the President’s Award for the best single motorsport shot of the year. His winning image is pictured above.

Terry Collier was the proud recipient of the Lupp Trophy, awarded to those who embody the very spirit and values associated with the classic and historic racing movement. Terry has also written many features for New Zealand Classic Car — his ‘Kiwi Connection’ feature on the Maserati 250F still stands as the definitive history of these iconic racing cars in New Zealand. Terry was also presented with a Distinguished Service Award.

Once again, our very own Donn Anderson, was recognized as the Feature Journalist of the Year through his July 2014 ‘Motor Man’ column on Jack Brabham.

Also on the classic-car front, well done to NZ Festival of Motoring Chairman, Jim Barclay, who was a deserving winner of the Ron Frost Award.

Other highlights of the evening included Karen Paddon of the South Canterbury Car Club accepting the Distinguished Service Award for the more than 35 years that she has spent working behind the scenes to ensure events in several categories run smoothly.

To close the evening, immensely proud father Bryan Hartley accepted New Zealand’s premier motorsport award — The Jim Clark Trophy — on behalf of his son, Brendon, who is currently competing as a factory Porsche driver in the prestigious FIA World Endurance Championship.

MotorSport New Zealand Awards 2015

The Jim Clark Trophy: Brendon Hartley.
The Rally Founders Trophy: Richard Mason, the current New Zealand Rally Champion — a title he has won five times.
The Steel Memorial Trophy: New Zealand Formula Ford winner, James Munro.
The Lupp Trophy: Terry Collier
The MotorSport Media Personality of the Year Award: Hayden Paddon
Volunteer of the Year: Allan and Sue Baird
Technical D’Honneur Awards: Ron McMillan and Barry Carrington
The Ron Frost Award: Jim Barclay
Distinguished Service Awards: Karen Paddon, John Armstrong, Nigel Russell, Terry Collier, Jill Cowham
Awards of Merit: Steph Harris and Roger Laird.

The Certificate of Outstanding Achievement, Richard and Sara Mason Media Award winners:

News Journalist of the Year: Shaun Summerfield
Feature Journalist of the Year: Donn Anderson
Photographer of the Year (Portfolio): Bruce Jenkins
President’s Award (single shot): Terry Marshall

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.