How do you celebrate rallying in New Zealand’s 50th birthday?

5 August, 2016

Fifty years of rallying in New Zealand will be marked in 2017 with a tour of the nation’s most celebrated rally stages. The week-long tours — one in each of the North and South Islands — will traverse some of the most legendary roads in our rallying history, and are timed to coincide with popular international events.

The first tour, starting in Picton on Sunday, April 2, 2017, has overnight stops planned for Reefton, Christchurch, Oamaru, Alexandra, and Invercargill. The final afternoon sees the tour completed in Dunedin on Friday, April 7, in time for the ceremonial start of the Otago Classic rally.

Similarly, the northern tour leaves Wellington on Sunday, April 23, moving up through Masterton, Gisborne, Napier, Rotorua, and Auckland, arriving in Whangarei on Friday, April 28 to view their popular Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) event.

The organizing committee comprise some of the country’s most experienced officials, responsible for the route plotting of various Targa, Variety Bash, and national championship rallies.

Event Chairman Rod Peat explains the rationale behind the tours.

“We felt 50 years of the sport needed appropriate recognition, particularly for those who may no longer be competing at the sharp end. The daily tour schedule will be very much at gentleman’s hours, with 8am starts and 5pm finishes most days. The roads will not be closed — and will not be timed — but there should be ample time to wallow in nostalgia with old rivals.”

The tourists will complete the route — with a choice of individual days — or the whole tour, in a loose convoy in their own normal road cars. As the start dates near, prospective entrants are being kept up to date within the group’s Facebook page.

All profits from the venture will be channelled to the new Hayden Paddon Foundation, designed to support and encourage young drivers.

Photos: The Paul Smith Collection

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.

How do you celebrate rallying in New Zealand’s 50th birthday?

Contact us

Sign up to New Zealand Classic Car's newsletter