SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

Barry Butterworth Classic takes racing back to the good ol’ days

7 February, 2017

 

If you’re unfamiliar with the name Barry Butterworth, that might just be set to change, with some of the most hotly anticipated events on the local speedway calendar approaching. February 11 will see the Barry Butterworth Classic held at Vodafone Western Springs Speedway, in memory of one of the greatest legends on local dirt — a race meeting that takes racing back to the good old days with Sprint Cars, F2 Midgets, Midgets, and TQ Midgets in contention.

In this event, the classes race “like they did in the old days”, with the fastest qualifier starting last, and they then select who they would like to have start back beside them. With the fastest drivers thus positioned at the rear of the pack, exciting racing is guaranteed with a fight to get to the front — just as it was done in Barry’s heyday. 

Find out more information at springsspeedway.com.

A second dose of Dash

24 April, 2025

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

16 April, 2025

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.