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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.

Coaching from the bench: Casting plastic knobs and rubber parts

16 July, 2026

Casting rubber items is simple if you have a good original to work with. The item doesn’t have to be perfect. You can use plasticine to smooth out cracks, and you can even make whole prototypes out of low-fire modelling clay available from craft stores if you need to. Prototypes can also be made of wood or metal.
You will need mould dams to contain the liquid urethane moulding solution until it cures. You can build boxes out of strips of wood, but I have found that small plastic boxes and bowls such as those you would use for leftovers in your fridge work well if you spray them with a mould release agent.
Temperature is important to the chemical processes involved, so work in an area that can be maintained at around 20 degrees. You will also need adequate ventilation because the fumes can be dangerous to breathe. And you will want to wear latex gloves to protect your hands.

Fraser Cars – low flying into the fourth decade

10 July, 2026

With almost three and a half decades under its belt, Fraser Cars is one of New Zealand’s longest-surviving car manufacturers. The company first opened its doors for business in 1988, during the boom time for kit manufacturers. During the ’80s, around 40 different companies were building kits and turnkey cars for this niche market. Of those, only Fraser and Almac Cars (established 1981) are still in business today.
Most of the new kit car companies were killed off in the cradle by the threat of new legislation that never eventuated and definitively by the sudden availability of high-performance Japanese cars when the floodgates to second-hand imports were opened. The now long-retired founder of the company, Neil Fraser, first came across Lotus Seven replicas while racing Lotus Cortinas in the early ’80s. He regularly found himself racing against a little Caterham, a Lotus Seven–styled car built in England. He was very impressed by its simplicity and handling. In 1986 Fraser built his own Lotus Seven–type car, using the knowledge he had gained from several close looks at the Caterham.