SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

Nationwide events: Targa Hawke’s Bay 2019 (17-19 May)

29 April, 2019

 

 

Welcome to another Targa Hawke’s Bay event. This year, we have combined the best roads from the Rotorua, Matamata, and Waikato areas with those from the Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay regions to create an awesome route made up of more than 440kms of special stages and around 700kms of touring crammed into an action-packed three-day course.

This event is brought to you in association with the Piako Group, and we welcome Darrell and his team into the Targa family of event partners. The Piako Group is a well-established vehicle and rural machinery sales and service business with branches around the Waikato region.

We have also made a few changes to the running order of vehicles during the event, with the competition vehicles now leading the Tour group, so, when spectating, please get into a safe place early and wait for the announcement that the road is open before leaving your position.

As always, we appreciate the support from the local communities we travel through and the numerous groups that help along the way. From timing crews to safety marshals, service parks to car washes, we thank you all for your time.

The event will start from Rotorua, and teams will gather on Thursday afternoon on the Village Green to prepare for the official start on Friday morning. They will head north towards Matamata for a morning service before lunch at Lake Karapiro, returning to Rotorua that afternoon. On Saturday, the teams will head south towards Turangi for lunch and then over the Gentle Annie before arriving in Havelock North. Sunday will be around Hawke’s Bay, with lunch in Waipawa and finishing outside the Porters Boutique Hotel in Havelock North. Full event details and maps are listed below. Please check the Targa website for updates on the day: targa.nz.

Peter Martin
Managing Director
Ultimate Rally Group

NZCC_341_20190422_093_091.png

NZCC_341_20190422_093_092.png

NZCC_341_20190422_093_093.png

NZ Classic Car magazine, July/August 2026 issue 406, on sale now

21 June, 2026

Rebirth of a brilliant Grand Tourer –1973 Datsun 240Z
How often do we long for that ultimate dream sports car, and that dream comes true? This is about one of the most influential Japanese cars of all time, a car that changed the sports car market.
This is about much more than the restoration of an iconic classic sports car, the 240Z. It’s about the culmination of a dream over many years and the friendships made. It’s about the people who helped and the professionals whose approach ensured that the dream became a reality, an attitude typical of the industry we call ‘classic restoration experts’.
It is no surprise that the outcome after a lengthy search by Conrad Van der Geest for the right Datsun 240Z culminated in a trophy for the best Japanese car at this year’s Caroline Bay Beach, Rock N’ Hop at Timaru.
Originally a roadworthy car in running order, it was left-hand-drive and had been driven for several years by its Timaru owner, as Conrad explains.
“A neighbour, Dave Barron, knew I was looking for one and introduced me to the owner. I had seen the car being driven around Timaru. It was unusual for one of these coming originally from California, so it was a really clean car instead of rusty, as they are prone to rust. The story goes that the grandfather passed it onto his grandson, who decided to sell it, and that’s when it came over here.”
Every issue comes with our FREE huge wall poster; this issue, it’s our cover car for this edition, a 1973 Datsun 240Z

The butterfly effect

18 June, 2026

The man on the mountain bike pedalled over, taking it all in. Gazing in wonderment at this small Japanese coupe with butterfly doors, he said, “Wow, I have never seen one of these before. What is it?” When I told him it was a Toyota, he nearly fell off his bike.
The Toyota Sera is unique amongst ’90s Japanese coupes. The Sera, which is Italian for ‘evening’, can trace its roots back to Toyota’s AXV-II concept car. Launched as part of a trio of Toyota concept cars at the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show, it shared its underpinnings with the P70 Toyota Starlet. The similarities ended there, thanks to the AXV-II’s low-slung and rounded coupe styling with butterfly doors. These doors were held upright by gas struts when fully open. Glass covered the upper section of the doors and the rear hatchback.
These features, much to everyone’s surprise, were carried over to the production Sera in 1990. Toyota marketed the Sera, which means ‘will be’ in Spanish and ‘princess’ in Hebrew, as a funky alternative to the much-loved MR2.