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MG make their mark on the road and the track

17 August, 2015

It’s not every day that a customer’s new car is handed over by a racing driver, but for lifeguard Ryan Sykes that’s how he received his brand-new MG3 when British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) star Jack Goff handed over the keys to the enthusiastic teenager, fresh from his maiden BTCC victory in Snetterton. 

Ryan is the son of the owner of Norfolk-based company 5 Star Cases, one of Jack’s sponsors, and from the start of the partnership between MG and Jack, Ryan has been hoping to own an MG of his very own.

“My dad started working with Jack in 2013, but it wasn’t until Jack started racing for MG Triple Eight that I started looking at MGs and saw what they had to offer,” says Ryan. “I thought the MG3 was great, so when my old car packed up I knew I wanted one. I got the chance to personalize my car and make it how I wanted it to look, which was pretty cool. I’m glad I did though, because my sister wants one now!”

The MG3, alongside the MG6, is designed and engineered at the MG site in Longbridge, Birmingham, where final assembly also takes place. The MG3 is a new-generation supermini, which brings fun and style to this sector of the market at very affordable prices. The 1.5-litre petrol-powered car can also be personalized, so owners have the option of giving their car their own style statement.

MG was voted the fourth-best manufacturer in the UK in the Auto Express Driver Power Awards in 2015, and they’re the fastest-growing brand in Britain in 2014 as shown by official figures issued by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

No sign, as yet, of an official MG distributor in New Zealand.

Racing Mazdas

12 June, 2026

Both Rod Millen and Ron Kendall were rotary racing kings, emanating from the North Shore of Auckland, where I grew up. And the ultimate rotary techno guru was Bill Shiells, who developed the engine into a rocket ship while working out of Gulf Mazda in Takapuna from 1969, and later in his own business, Rotorsport. He began to extract some phenomenal horsepower from the enigmatic rotary engine. Bill was one of the first to race the Mazda RX-2 Coupe in 1971 and achieved immediate success, causing others to sit up and take notice, particularly the North Shore’s racing elite. They included Robbie Francevic, Rod Millen, Ron Kendall, John Woolf, John Le Feuvre, and Rex Findlay.

Range Rover CSK — the original SUV

5 June, 2026

The Range Rover, thanks to Charles Spencer King, went into production in 1970 boasting an iconic shape that would last until 1996. The vehicle that would create the SUV moniker came about because Rover decided it was time to add a bigger four-wheel-drive vehicle, one with a 100-inch wheelbase, to the model range. Land Rover made a 109-inch wheelbase model but the standard vehicle had a 88-inch wheelbase.
The new model would be more suitable for road use than the existing Land Rover, which was considered to be predominantly for rural use. To make sure it could cope on any road it came standard with the Rover 3.5-litre V8 engine. The body design was originally sketched by King and went into production with only a few minor touch-ups by the Rover styling team.
According to King, “The idea was to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road ability of a Land Rover. Nobody was doing it.”