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The Bruce McLaren story: check out the McLaren trailer now!

26 February, 2017

The inspirational documentary account of Bruce McLaren’s pioneering spirit, unswerving tenacity, and endless passion, McLaren is set to grace the big screen.

Directed by Roger Donaldson (The World’s Fastest Indian), McLaren is set to appear in cinemas in June 2017.

Roger Donaldson says, “I was delighted to be involved in the telling of such an incredible New Zealand story — bringing it to life on the big screen has been a huge effort from all involved in Bruce’s legacy. Ever since seeing Bruce McLaren and Jack Brabham race each other in the Tasman series years ago, I’ve been a McLaren fan. Few people know just how extraordinary his journey was and how much he accomplished in his short life.”
 
Produced by Matthew Metcalfe (Beyond The Edge), and Fraser Brown (Orphans & Kingdoms), the film features contributions from renowned drivers Emerson Fittipaldi, Alastair Caldwell, Dan Gurney, Lothar Motschenbacher, Chris Amon, Howden Ganley, Mario Andretti, and Sir Jackie Stewart, and offers unprecedented access to the McLaren family and archives.
 
McLaren will be released in New Zealand cinemas by Transmission in June 2017. It is to be distributed to the rest of the world by Universal Pictures.

Racing Mazdas

12 June, 2026

Both Rod Millen and Ron Kendall were rotary racing kings, emanating from the North Shore of Auckland, where I grew up. And the ultimate rotary techno guru was Bill Shiells, who developed the engine into a rocket ship while working out of Gulf Mazda in Takapuna from 1969, and later in his own business, Rotorsport. He began to extract some phenomenal horsepower from the enigmatic rotary engine. Bill was one of the first to race the Mazda RX-2 Coupe in 1971 and achieved immediate success, causing others to sit up and take notice, particularly the North Shore’s racing elite. They included Robbie Francevic, Rod Millen, Ron Kendall, John Woolf, John Le Feuvre, and Rex Findlay.

Range Rover CSK — the original SUV

5 June, 2026

The Range Rover, thanks to Charles Spencer King, went into production in 1970 boasting an iconic shape that would last until 1996. The vehicle that would create the SUV moniker came about because Rover decided it was time to add a bigger four-wheel-drive vehicle, one with a 100-inch wheelbase, to the model range. Land Rover made a 109-inch wheelbase model but the standard vehicle had a 88-inch wheelbase.
The new model would be more suitable for road use than the existing Land Rover, which was considered to be predominantly for rural use. To make sure it could cope on any road it came standard with the Rover 3.5-litre V8 engine. The body design was originally sketched by King and went into production with only a few minor touch-ups by the Rover styling team.
According to King, “The idea was to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road ability of a Land Rover. Nobody was doing it.”