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Speedworks Premier Motorsport Championship set to light up Teretonga Park circuit

18 January, 2017

While summer has seen the Speedworks Premier Motorsport Championship series blazing a trail around the country — namely Pukekohe, Taupo, and Christchurch — the Speedworks Motorsport Championship heads to Invercargill on January 21–22 for a packed weekend of racing at Teretonga Park circuit.

Six New Zealand championship classes, including the Castrol Toyota Racing Series, BNT V8 Touring Cars, Super Trucks, the Toyota 86 Championship, Porter Group V8 Utes, and the wild OSCA, will highlight one of the year’s biggest motorsport events at the track over the weekend.

Castrol Toyota Racing Series

irst up, the international single-seater Castrol Toyota Racing Series is back for its second round, which began in Christchurch over the weekend of January 14–15. The series will conclude with the 62nd New Zealand Grand Prix at the Chris Amon circuit, Manfeild, in February — that’s five back-to-back weekends.
 
Kiwi drivers Marcus Armstrong and Taylor Cockerton both scored popular race wins over the Christchurch weekend, while local boy and third Kiwi in the international series, Cromwell’s Brendon Leitch, will have the crowd on his side as he goes for a home victory.

To date, international drivers fill all but three of the 20 places on the grid. Pedro Piquet  — son of three-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet — F1 team Force India junior Jehan Daruvala, and Ferdinand Hapsburg from Austria head the international cast, but it was Red Bull junior driver Richard Verschoor who came away from round one with the series lead.

BNT V8 Touring Cars

Reigning BNT V8 Touring Car champion Simon Evans heads the entry for the category at Invercargill in his Holden, with former Bathurst winner Jason Bargwanna (Toyota), Christchurch’s Tom Alexander (Holden), Nick Ross (Nissan), and Sam Barry (Toyota) all likely to make a challenge for race and round honours, with Bargwanna particularly fired up after a first win of the season at the Christchurch round. 

These are New Zealand’s fastest V8-powered tin-tops, with a fat field complemented by a second class for older Ford and Holden cars. This class-two battle is being headed by South Islander Liam MacDonald, who has put the cat amongst the pigeons with a commendable performance on North Island tracks that were new to him. 

Running at tracks he knows well on the South Island will be to his distinct advantage, and is sure to attract a lot of local support. He will be coming to Teretonga focused on winning and making it one step closer to the class title.

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Toyota 86 Championship

The Toyota 86 Championship has a reputation for close racing and plenty of action. Young driver Ryan Yardley is the man of the moment in his Carevets example, running under the guidance of former A1GP Black Beauty driver Chris van Der Drift. He left Christchurch with his points lead intact after some keen racing.

Porter Group V8 Ute series

The Porter Group V8 Ute series is running at the Teretonga track for the first time in five years. Several drivers in the series were in the category the last time it raced here, so it is likely that they will go well and challenge series leader, and reigning champ, Paul ‘Auto’ Manuell. Watch out for Geoff ‘SOS’ Spencer and Peter ‘Kaos’ Ward in their Holdens to upset the formbook this weekend. 

The man who has won the last two rounds, however, is Richard ‘Danger’ Moore in his Holden, and it appears he is keen to keep his winning streak going.

NZ Super Truck

Last season, the NZ Super Truck racing made global motorsport headlines, and took social media by storm when a video of Dave West’s monumental shunt on the main straight was released, although this time around the series is hoping for a quieter weekend on track. Just as spectacular as always, the trucks have four races in total for the weekend.

Formula 1600

F1600 will bring together all of the up-and-coming single-seater racing hopefuls, and it is Pukekohe’s Liam Lawson blazing the trail. Catching the eye after only two rounds is Liam Lawson, although Michael Scott has pushed him hard in an older chassis.

Local boy Jordan Michels will be hoping for a home advantage having put in a strong performance in Christchurch.

Support

The national championship’s categories will be supported at the two-day event by three of the strongest South Island categories, hosting the ‘anything goes’ iconic OSCA category and the New Zealand Six field.
 
Testing takes place on Friday, with qualifying and racing on Saturday, and racing all day on Sunday.

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.