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

Grand Routier — in the french tradition

10 July, 2025

Sitting in Paddy and Patsy Williams’ Dunedin garage is a stunning example of one of these rare French grand routier sedans. It is a 1949 four-door Lago-Record Factory Berline sedan, to give its full name. Daughter Cath let us know how proud she was of her dad, who had been tinkering away in his garage on this car for so many years.
Without exaggeration, it has been a mammoth task. I first saw this Talbot-Lago in mid 2019. The long-nosed, sweeping, curved four-door saloon, clothed in its misty green metallic paint, was quite breathtaking. There’s more than a little English influence in it, too, harking back to company owner Tony Lago’s involvement in the Clement-Talbot-Darracq era. The long front wings and bonnet, usually multi-louvred, highlighted with artful touches of chrome bling, are typical of the era, but these were indeed luxury length. Interiors provided leather-clad, armchair-style seating and ample legroom, with touches of wood and surprising details such as dainty childproof interior locks — a far cry from today’s lozenge boxes.
Paddy, a retired civil and structural engineer, knows his way around a lathe. He has a well-equipped garage-workshop to assist in any machining tasks along with his other passion for restoring classic motorcycles.

The Great River Road

4 July, 2025

A few years ago my family, knowing my fondness for driving, gave me the book Unforgettable Road Trips: Thirty-Six Drives of a Lifetime by Martin Derrick. Most of the road trips listed take less than a day in places like Scotland, Monaco, and Australia, plus one in New Zealand. Most of these places were too far to go just for a short drive but four of them would take several days. My interest was piqued, and those four drives were added to the bucket list. To date, I have done three of them: ‘Route 66’ (USA 21 days), ‘State Highway 6’ (NZ 10 days) and ‘The Great River Road’ (USA 22 days). You can drive all of them in less time, but you could also fly over them. We wanted a decent immersion in their charms.
The great river referred to is the Mississippi. While the name conjures the deep south, the river actually starts at the bottom of the great lakes, before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico about 3800km later. The great road is more of a concept than a specific strip of tarmac, as you can drive down either side of the river on various routes. Regardless of which side you drive, time should be kept aside for detours to places such as Nashville, which is famous for something or other.

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

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