A place to call home: Caffeine & Gasoline

14 October, 2018

 


 

As many car enthusiasts from the upper part of the country are likely to be aware, the organizers of Caffeine & Classics, a free monthly car meet at Smales Farm Business Park in Auckland, have had to implement some changes to keep things viable. Due to the massive numbers the event was pulling, a general cut-off was introduced — cars either older than 30 years, or that are scratch-built, an obscure or exotic model, or one that wouldn’t generally be seen used as a daily driver.

But the news we’re writing about here concerns an all-new event, catering towards those vehicles that may have been displaced by these updates.

“We have made some changes to our current Caffeine & Classics meeting and it has created a lot of discussion,” explained Colin Marshall, from Protecta Insurance. “There was already a need and desire from the Caffeine & Classics faithful for another event south of Auckland City. The time is now right for another event to start at Hampton Downs.”

The event in question is the new Caffeine & Gasoline meeting, following the same formula as Caffeine & Classics — held on the morning of the last Sunday of every month, beginning 28 October.

As Colin mentioned, the location for Caffeine & Gasoline is Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, and features extra coffee and food vendors, in addition to the Hampton Downs café.

The event will be managed on the day by Hampton Downs staff, and is open from 10am to all special-interest vehicles of any origin or style. Even better, being located where it is, the track attractions are right there for anyone keen to make the most of the Sunday!

Keep an eye on facebook.com/CaffAndGas to stay up to date.

Merry Christmas from NZ Classic Car magazine

The Classic Car magazine team is taking a few weeks’ holiday from the work computer and heading to the beach for some kickback time.
Merry Christmas, and have a wonderful summer holiday to all our readers, followers, and fans. Enjoy this special extra time with the family. We will be posting archive articles again in mid to late January.
Have fun, be good and be careful out there.

Two engines instead of one?

Popping two motors into a car is not only complicated, it doesn’t always end well. Donn Anderson recalls early attempts, including John Cooper’s ill-fated original Twini Mini built 58 years ago

For a boost in performance, better traction, and perhaps improved handling to some, two motors seems an obvious solution. It would also eliminate the need to develop a larger engine replacement from scratch, but would that outweigh the not inconsiderable technical difficulties?
The idea of using a pair of engines dates back at least 86 years to the Alfa Romeo Bimotor single seater racing car that was officially timed at 335km/h, or 208mph. Taking a lengthened Alfa P3 chassis, the Italians fitted two supercharged straight eight 2.9-litre and 3.2-litre engines, one in front of the cockpit, and the other behind the cockpit.