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.

A second dose of Dash

When the car arrived in Wellington in December 2018 it was duly taken along for entry certification. Vehicle Inspection NZ (VINZ) found some wrongly wired lamps and switches — not too bad — but, much more significantly, some poor welding repairs. As the structural problems were probed more thoroughly, we realized the previous owner’s restoration would not do and we needed an upgrade. Dash had made it into the country but it would take some time and money before he would be free to explore any of New Zealand’s scenic highways.
We took the car to our new home in Johnsonville in the northern suburbs of Wellington and I pored over the car in detail to figure out what was next. There were lots of new parts on the car and a very perky reconditioned drivetrain but the chassis needed serious work.

Lunch with… Jim Palmer

In the 1960s, Hamilton’s Jim Palmer won the prestigious ‘Gold Star’ four times and was the first resident New Zealander home in the New Zealand Grand Prix on five consecutive occasions. He shared the podium with Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Denny Hulme, Jackie Stewart, and Chris Amon. The extent of his domination of the open-wheeler scene in New Zealand will probably never be matched or exceeded. Yet he’s always been modest about his achievements.