Facing down the Howard 3

22 November, 2017

As Saturday, 25 November looms, it marks an important date for competitors in the TQ class at Western Springs speedway, as they compete for not only the Auckland champs, but face down the imposing challenge of ‘Howard3 racing’ all the way from Kansas in the good ol’ USA.

So what is a TQ? Originating from humble beginnings as a chopped Austin 7 chassis fitted with a 500cc motorcycle engine, ‘Three Quarter Midgets’ or ‘ TQs’ have evolved a long way since. As the name indicates, they are slightly smaller than a Midget at around 280kgs and 2.8 metres long. The Western Springs lap record is held by Craig Todd at 14.338 seconds, with drivers averaging speeds of around 95kph during races. The majority of cars are now chain driven self-starting machines featuring 750cc engines running on 98 octane gas.

The visiting ‘Howard3’ comprises twins Nicholas and Matthew, who are 19, and big sister Lindsey age 22.They will arrive and slot themselves straight into some top notch equipment as they compete in both the Auckland title and a special ‘Auckland TQ Challenge’ against three local drivers who will be announced at a function on 23 November at Hanger Bar in Henderson. MCing the event is our own Grumpy Ninja (Warren Sare) who fortunately talks better than he drives.

The Howards will have access to the ex1 Guptill Racing machine, the Le Cren family 14a and the Allwest Racing 5a car, so will have all the tools needed to face down the best of the local stars. Nicholas is noted to have removed the wing off his usual stateside ride in an effort to get use to car behaviour, while Lindsey gave both boys a good hurry up in recent events.

Likely to be in the running for the Auckland team are:

2nz Kaleb Currie Racing — the highest national ranked local driver finishing second in his rookie year at the NZ title
15a and 88a Baker Racing — Ryan and Scott Baker, perennial podium threats at the springs who both have numerous title and feature wins to their names.
16a Ryan Barry Racing — regularly amongst the results and knows the track well
8a Harris Racing Team — Lawrence Baker, former national and local title holder, and one of the most experienced drivers around (yes … that means he’s old)
64a Gina Harris — class stalwart and sure to want to mix it up with Lindsey to see who gets ladies bragging rights.
6a Shaun Cooke — former national mini sprint champ and always quick around the springs
7a Jayden Busch (Busch Racing) — a Johnny Missen trophy winner who is developing strongly
71a Danny Keene — Keene Composites finished last season strongly and has been quick early in the season.

Join us on the Thursday, 23 November, to the meet the Howards and find out who will be flying the Auckland TQ colours against the challengers. For ticket info see ‘Western Springs Speedway’ on Facebook

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.”

Facing down the Howard 3

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