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Vale Phil Kerr: 1934–2015

24 August, 2015

Over the weekend of August 22–23, we received news that Phil Kerr had passed away on the morning of Saturday, August 22.

Phil, who told his own story in his superb biography — To Finish First — had a long association with Bruce McLaren, who he first met at a hill climb in which both men were competing.

In 1958, Phil would be one of the three finalists for the New Zealand International Grand Prix (NZIGP) Driver To Europe programme, along with McLaren and Merv Mayo. Bruce was, of course, the winner, but Phil would follow McLaren to Europe the following year anyway to work alongside Australian motorsport royalty Jack Brabham — during that time he would champion Denny Hulme. After Denny won the Formua 1 world championship in 1967, both he and Phil joined up with McLaren, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Photo: Terry Marshall

McLaren’s current boss, Ron Dennis, confirmed Phil Kerr’s contribution to the marque via his own condolences: “Speaking on behalf of all at McLaren, I am very sorry to hear the news that Phil Kerr has passed away. Phil was a McLaren stalwart from the company’s very earliest days … now, decades later, the 3000 people who make up McLaren therefore owe Phil a debt of gratitude. On behalf of us all, I consequently extend heartfelt sympathy to his family and many friends. May he rest in peace.”

Everyone at New Zealand Classic Car magazine and Parkside Media would like to extend their sincere condolences to Patricia Kerr.

Photo: A great partnership — Phil Kerr chats to Bruce McLaren

Janspeed recreates the Jaguar sports car

29 September, 2026

Thankfully, a few of these cars made it to New Zealand, the odd one being imported from the UK over the years. However, the 1988 British Racing Green example owned by Bill Slater in Upper Hutt was originally sold as a standard car but converted using the full Janspeed kit by the first owner within a couple of years of buying it.
Bill has owned a few other Jaguars. In fact, after he sold his Jaguar XJ12 in 2018, he found himself pining for another and, when the XJ-S came up for sale, he could not resist it. Having just sold the V12, he was not expecting much from the six-cylinder car other than more reliability and it being cheaper to keep on the road. Naturally, he had heard of the influence Janspeed had on the marque, but it was not until he took the car for a test drive that he became aware of just how superior it was to the car he had just sold. The price of a second-hand Janspeed XJ-S and that of a standard 3.6 XJ-S is quite comparable, making the Janspeed version an incredible bargain, even more so in comparison with other performance classic cars — or even modern cars, for that matter — which cost far more bucks for the bang.

The writing on the wall

25 September, 2026

Deven, a digital content producer in his 20s, says it was the rear-drive Nissan and Toyota drift cars that fired his imagination in his not-so-distant youth and soon had him wanting one of his own. However, like most of us, he had to start in something less glamorous – in his case, a 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. After that, he bought a four-litre V8 1991 Toyota Soarer, a big change from the Mitsubishi.
“It was my daily driver, and it wasn’t that bad to run back when petrol was affordable,” he says.
When he got fed up with filling it up, Deven bought a 1989 Ford Laser sedan, a 1.3-litre five-speed manual, to be his daily driver. It’s in very good condition, bought from a careful older driver, and he still runs it – although he will occasionally also drive the latest in a series of Nissan Laurel sedans. His current one, from 1993, has done the lowest number of kilometres yet, at 183,000. It has the single-cam version of the engine in his Skyline.
“I’ve had four different versions of that car. It was just a car I always liked. It’s really comfortable, quite luxurious. I bought it from a 90-year-old in Hamilton. It’s in mint condition, and everything is standard.”