Supercharged Prize: win a Camaro with Fast and Furious Racing

21 November, 2017

With one round of the all new 4Guys Autobarn Fast and Furious Racing left to go at Mad Mike’s Summer Bash, all eyes are on the grand prize of a supercharged 6.2-litre 2010 Chevrolet Camaro worth $52,000. 

The format for Fast and Furious Racing is the brainchild of Tony Quinn. The 3×3 format will see cars line up on the grid for the race start as usual. The twist is that after three laps, the cars will come together behind a safety car for a rolling restart, and another three-lap sprint to the finish line. The action will be fast paced, exciting, and ensure that essentially all the best parts of a traditional race will be condensed into six laps, in an event that is open to all comers.

Each round will feature four Fast and Furious 3×3 races, with the quickest qualifiers starting at the front of the field in race one. A reverse grid will determine the starting order in races two and four, while the driver’s combined times will decide who starts on pole for race three. Competitors will score points based on where they finish in each of the four races. All entrants are in the draw to win the grand prize, with the winner to be picked after the final round on December 9. Entry is open to all categories of race car, although the car must have a full roll cage and MSNZ log book. For tickets and more info go to hamptondowns.com.

Motorman – The saga of the Temple Buell Maseratis

Swiss-born Hans Tanner and American Temple Buell were apparently among the many overseas visitors who arrived in New Zealand for the Ardmore Grand Prix and Lady Wigram trophy in January 1959. Unlike Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Ron Flockhart, Harry Schell and Carroll Shelby who lined up for the sixth New Zealand Grand Prix that year, Tanner and Buell were not racing drivers but they were key players in international motor sport.
Neither the rotund and cheery Buell nor the multi-faceted Tanner were keen on being photographed and the word ‘apparently’ is used in the absence of hard evidence that Buell actually arrived in this country 64 years ago.

Luxury by design

How do you define luxury? To some it is being blinded with all manner of technological wizardry, from massaging heated seats to being able to activate everything with your voice, be it the driver’s side window or the next track on Spotify. To others, the most exorbitant price tag will dictate how luxurious a car is.
For me, true automotive luxury comes from being transported in unparalleled comfort, refinement, and smoothness of power under complete control. Forget millions of technological toys; if one can be transported here and there without the sensation of moving at all, that is luxury — something that is perfectly encapsulated by the original Lexus LS400. It was the first truly global luxury car from Toyota, and one that made the big luxury brands take notice.