SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram
Search
Close this search box.

Targa Drops MSNZ for AASA

10 February, 2020

 

 

Last year we covered the new motorsports sanctioning body, Australian AutoSport Alliance (AASA), launched locally by LeMons organizer Jacob Simonsen. The alternative sanctioning body offers an alternative choice for permitting, licensing, and insurance for New Zealand motorsport event organizers, competitors, and officials. It was quickly adopted by Targa New Zealand for the Targa Tour portion of the event, while the main portion stayed under the MotorSport New Zealand (MSNZ) banner.

Now in 2020, the organizers behind Targa have announced that they’ll switch sanctioning bodies completely, with the local-arm of AASA taking over full duties. “I have decided to go with the AASA for both the competition and tour parts of our three Targa events in 2020,” Ultimate Rally Group director Peter Martin says.

“As an event organizer, and someone who is ultimately responsible for the safety of everyone who not only competes in but also is involved in some way in any of my events, I understand that safety is absolutely paramount.

“I found it refreshing this year to find that Jacob and his team at the AASA share the exact same laser-like focus on safety as I do, yet — because most [of] the processes are online — actually save everyone involved in the process of competing in one of my events, in time as well as money.”

The two-day Targa Bambina will return in March (7–8), followed by the three-day Targa Hawkes Bay event in May (15–17), and the five-day Targa New Zealand in the Taranaki region (14–18 October).

NZ Classic Car magazine, January/February 2025 issue 397, on sale now

8 December, 2024

Having dominated the world motorcycle championships of the 1960s, Honda had a crucial decision to make in 1969. Would Soichiro Honda heed his engineer’s pivotal advice?
“Very few examples of the early Civic, a car that set Honda onto the path to becoming a giant of the car world, remain road registered in New Zealand.
Retired Tauranga owner of this example, Graham Inglis is thrilled with his classic little Honda Civic, the first of eleven generations built so far by the company. The Civic became a household name.
“It’s quite amazing the number of people who not only wave, but come up to me in the street and tell me how much they like the little Honda and its colour, and then they want to start talking about it. A guy in our vintage car club wants to buy it and he has been pushing me a bit. It’s not for sale,” he laughs.
Graham bought his 1977 Honda Civic from Wellington enthusiast Julian Foster, who was the instigator of its restoration.”

A star in their eyes – 1968 Ford Galaxie 500

6 December, 2024

“Everyone asks that until they take a closer look,” says its owner today, Brent Harris of Auckland. “They also ask if I’ve done the restoration myself, and I have to tell them no, it is 100 per cent original. It’s the paint listed in the handbook.”
It was the original condition of the car that won Brent over from the moment he first saw it — that and the fact “it just looks stunning”.
Brent had owned a 1968 Mark II Cortina for four years. It was in need of some work and the question arose whether to spend the money or get something different. You don’t get much more divergent than Ford’s different approaches to its markets in the UK and the USA.