CRC Speedshow: a weekend built for speed and adrenalin

14 July, 2016

Year after year, the CRC Speedshow never fails to disappoint. It’s a motorsport enthusiast’s dream event in which they can get up close and personal with their favourite motorsport drivers and race cars. Based at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds, this year’s CRC Speedshow will be held on July 16–17 and will showcase what everyone loved last year, and more.

This year, alongside the Teng Tools Grand National Rod & Custom Show that we really enjoyed last year, there will be an area called ‘Memory Lane’, where HRC has teamed up with CRC Speedshow to showcase 20 unique race cars and bikes of yesteryear.

For the Japanese performance car enthusiasts, Auto Mania will be putting on a mega display, including 30 hand-picked performance machines, parts displays, and more, which will be in their very own hall. Also for the turbo-fuelled petrolheads out there, Ross Honor from Dobsons Dyno Tuning will be explaining the fundamentals of the dyno itself and dyno tuning, adding a technical element to the event you don’t want to miss.

For the hot rod and custom crowd, you’ll be pleased to know your favourite segment — the Teng Tools Grand National Rod & Custom Show — will be back with its 2016 edition, featuring a huge line-up of modified classics.

If you’re into getting a great deal, or having the chance to talk to trade experts face-to-face, you’ll be pleased to know that there will be more trade stands at the CRC Speedshow than ever before. Car wraps, car care, lubricants, memorabilia, motorsport art, insurance, brakes, gearboxes, wheels and tyres, automotive web design, vehicle grooming, tools, workshop equipment, GPS tracking, hydrographics, ECU tuning, go-fast speed parts, clothing, and much more!

There’s actually far too much for us to rave on about why you should head to the show this coming weekend. For more information, and to see what you can expect at this weekend’s show, head to the CRC Speedshow website here.

The butterfly effect

The man on the mountain bike pedalled over, taking it all in. Gazing in wonderment at this small Japanese coupe with butterfly doors, he said, “Wow, I have never seen one of these before. What is it?” When I told him it was a Toyota, he nearly fell off his bike.
The Toyota Sera is unique amongst ’90s Japanese coupes. The Sera, which is Italian for ‘evening’, can trace its roots back to Toyota’s AXV-II concept car. Launched as part of a trio of Toyota concept cars at the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show, it shared its underpinnings with the P70 Toyota Starlet. The similarities ended there, thanks to the AXV-II’s low-slung and rounded coupe styling with butterfly doors. These doors were held upright by gas struts when fully open. Glass covered the upper section of the doors and the rear hatchback.
These features, much to everyone’s surprise, were carried over to the production Sera in 1990. Toyota marketed the Sera, which means ‘will be’ in Spanish and ‘princess’ in Hebrew, as a funky alternative to the much-loved MR2.

Racing Mazdas

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.