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Uncles Club returns to Hampton Downs National Circuit!

3 March, 2017

 

After a brief hiatus from the Hampton Downs National Circuit — instead using the Club Circuit — Uncles Club have announced that their twilight track nights will return to the National Circuit on Tuesday, March 28, 2017.

Regular supporters of the events questioned the move to the Club Circuit late last year, and the management team have recently addressed this in a statement. 

The statement said, “With the new ownership of Hampton Downs there has been a huge investment in the facilities to complete the dream that was founded by Tony Roberts and Chris Watson.

“No one can deny that the vision was bold and many people got behind the concept by investing in the apartment complex. As time progressed and the funding lines became exhausted, the development at this world-class facility came to an abrupt halt and so Hampton Downs was offered for sale — up stepped Tony Quinn and in record time he has transformed the facility.”

“Uncles Club was originally formed by a group of apartment owners wanting to enjoy the track on a casual basis in the twilight hours. After a period of time the number of people attending the track time grew and the need for better systems around the management of each group was required, and so we took over the management of the track activities. 

“Under the new track ownership the cost of track hire was increased to reflect the capital investment, and at the same time the availability of the National Circuit was reduced so the only option was to continue the Uncles Club track sessions on the newly formed Club Track. 

“Since that time we have seen a reduction in the support of Uncles Club and this has been due to a number of reasons, but by far the largest reason for the drop in numbers attending has been the size of the Club Track. We have been able to negotiate a return to the National Circuit as a one-off on [March 28], 2017 to see if there is still support for Uncles Club. It is quite simple: ‘use it or lose it’.”

With the announcement of the one-off move back to the National Circuit as a tester, and all other Uncles Club track dates cancelled, it will be important to show your support by attending the twilight track session to ensure future events can, and will, take place.

 

Event date:
Tuesday, March 28

Where:
Hampton Downs Motorsport Park.

Times:
Registration: 4pm
Drivers’ briefing: 4.45pm
Track time: 5–7pm

Cost:
$125 bank transfer, credit card, or cash on the day (subject to availability)

 

Reminders:

  • All drivers are to be over 18 years of age
  • All drivers need to hold a current full driver’s licence and not a probationary licence
  • Fire-retardant overalls are required (drivers and passengers)
  • Helmets required (drivers and passengers)
  • Enclosed footwear required
  • Cars must be to WOF standard
  • No drifting allowed
  • Passengers can only travel in caged cars
  • Base boards for jacking in the pits are required to prevent damage to tarmac

Design accord

28 March, 2025

You can’t get much more of an art deco car than a Cord — so much so that new owners, Paul McCarthy and his wife, Sarah Selwood, went ahead and took their Beverly 812 to Napier’s Art Deco Festival this year, even though the festival itself had been cancelled.
“We took delivery of the vehicle 12 days before heading off to Napier. We still drove it all around at the festival,” says Paul.
The utterly distinctive chrome grille wrapping around the Cord’s famous coffin-shaped nose, and the pure, clean lines of the front wing wheel arches, thanks to its retractable headlamps, are the essence of deco. This model, the Beverly, has the finishing touch of the bustle boot that is missing from the Westchester saloon.

Motorman: When New Zealand built the Model T Ford

21 March, 2025

History has a way of surrounding us, hidden in plain sight. I was one of a group who had been working for years in an editorial office in Augustus Terrace in the Auckland city fringe suburb of Parnell who had no idea that motoring history had been made right around the corner. Our premises actually backed onto a century-old brick building in adjacent Fox Street that had seen the wonder of the age, brand-new Model T Fords, rolling out the front door seven decades earlier.
Today, the building is an award-winning two-level office building, comprehensively refurbished in 2012. Happily, 6 Fox Street honours its one time claim to motoring fame. Next door are eight upmarket loft apartments, also on the site where the Fords were completed. Elsewhere, at 89 Courtenay Place, Wellington, and Sophia Street, Timaru, semi-knocked-down Model Ts were also being put together, completing a motor vehicle that would later become known as the Car of the Century.