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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.

The other Q car

12 August, 2026

Say the word ‘bond’ to anyone in the street and around 80 per cent straight away think of pop culture’s least-secret secret agent. The other 20 per cent may think of the wad of cash required to secure a flat or hire equipment that one gets back providing the fixtures and fittings stay much as they were.
However, mention ‘bond’ in specialist classic car circles and people will spin a very different yarn. If you dig deep enough, you will find an eccentric British carmaker that, throughout its 23 years in business, spawned some quirky and charming little cars.
The company was founded by Paul Sharp in 1922 under the name of Sharp’s Commercials Limited. However, the company did not start producing cars until 1948. The first car to carry the Bond name was the Bond Minicar. A three-wheeled, soft-top, two-cylinder eco car, the Minicar was a big hit at the time as the desire for an economical urban runabout that didn’t attract four-wheel car tax was strong in post-war Britain. All in all, 34,285 Minicars were produced over 26 years in a variety of variants.

Lunch with Bill Leckie: An Imp’s tale

6 August, 2026

Seeking limelight is part of Bill Leckie’s DNA, but when I asked him if anyone had written about his career and the cars he created, he didn’t think so. Even so, I was delighted when he agreed to sit down with me over a pie and coffee to reminisce. I started by asking how it is that someone who is so fanatical about F1 only ever raced saloon cars? Well, we’ll get to that, but where did things start? “I went to Cornwall Park Primary School and then to Remuera Intermediate where I became good mates with Geoff Perry, son of the legendary motorcycle racing legend Len.” Geoff Perry was 23 and on the edge of stardom when he was killed in a mystery air disaster over the Pacific in 1973. “We used to race around his backyard on a cutdown motorbike. It was friendly competition that I suppose helped hone our racing instincts. There was never much between us and so, by 11 or 12, I had a definite leaning towards speed.”