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Legendary: The 4Guys Autobarn Legends of Bathurst Festival

22 March, 2018

 


 

Any true Kiwi car lover will have fond memories of their hero cars and drivers lapping Bathurst, but never did any ever imagine that Bathurst would come to New Zealand

Maybe it’s not quite true that no one would ever have expected the legends of Bathurst to come to New Zealand, as, with Tony Quinn in charge of Hampton Downs, we’ve become to expect the unexpected. 

The 4Guys Autobarn Legends of Bathurst event took place over the weekend of January 13–14, and saw not just some of the hero cars from days gone by assemble at Hampton Downs but also many of the legendary drivers — names such as ‘Gentleman Jim’ Richards, Allan Moffat, Fred Gibson, John Goss, Steve Richards, and Paul Radisich.

In case you missed out, here’s a video recap for your viewing pleasure.

A passion for classics and customs

In the highly competitive field of New Zealand classic and custom restorations, reputations are won or lost on the ability to maintain consistently high standards of workmanship. A company managing to achieve this is D A Panel beating Ltd, of Rangiora near Christchurch. Is your classic or custom car restoration stalled, or in need of a refresh, or perhaps you are looking for experts to rebuild that recent import project out of Europe or the ‘States?

Aspen Siris — A roadster for the wrong time

When I visited George Spratt’s workshop in Auckland, I was impressed with the number of vehicles he had tucked away, mostly hybrid or fully electric. Many of them had started life being petrol powered but George has been tinkering with converting conventionally powered cars to electrical propulsion since the mid ’70s.
The Horizon was George’s first attempt at building a car; it was an evolution of ideas about what was considered to be ideal for a car at that time. The shape and style were governed by the choice of running gear and power plant. The size of the garage restricted walk-around viewing, and it was not until it was almost finished that George was able to push the car out of the garage to get the full picture.