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Scott Dixon to pilot Darracq at 2016 Leadfoot Festival

25 November, 2015

 

Leadfoot Festival is, without a doubt, one of New Zealand’s most highly regarded motorsport events. The reason why is simple, and it all began a few years ago — 2011, to be exact — when Rod Millen celebrated his 60th birthday. Rod is a legend in Kiwi motorsport, and, as such, the driveway to his sprawling Hahei property — aptly named Leadfoot Ranch — is a winding, mile-long stretch of tarmac-driving perfection. Rod and his wife, Shelly, organized the inaugural Leadfoot Festival as a private event to celebrate Rod’s 60th, and, after giving it a bit of thought, opened further events to the public. 

The event itself is a three-day festival of automotive culture, and the 150-acre Leadfoot Ranch houses a number of large, American-themed barns and buildings overflowing with mechanical goodness, as well as a huge number of car clubs, stalls, and live entertainment to keep all spectators entertained.

However, the real attraction is what’s on that driveway. A huge variety of vehicles from throughout the ages — from vintage race cars, to muscle cars, to drift cars — are driven hard up the course. 

For the 2016 Leadfoot Festival, there’s an extra special guest, too — Kiwi-born, four-time IndyCar Champion Scott Dixon will be there, driving pedal-to-the-metal up the Leadfoot driveway. “Scott visited Leadfoot Ranch early this year when he was home and was blown away with the property and expressed a desire to compete,” says Rod Millen. “We have been working with Scott to make this happen and it gives us the opportunity to celebrate Scott’s incredible success in motorsports. I am very excited to have Scott Dixon attend the February event.”  

Scott will be driving a 1906 Darracq, one of the first Grand Prix cars, and it’s a far cry from what he’s normally seen behind the wheel of. The Darracq was built in 1906 for the first Grand Prix held at Le Mans, and over a century later, is still being raced — albeit in a more laid-back manner. 

With a 14.25-litre four-cylinder, it’s a slow-revving brute of a thing, but it’s by no means a slow vehicle — especially with someone like Scott Dixon behind the wheel. Though it won’t rev to 12,000rpm like an IndyCar, its plentiful torque should make it a treat to watch over the 2016 Leadfoot Festival. We’re looking forward to seeing it in action!

Performance art

4 April, 2025

Shelby’s targets were Superformance — a South African company that wanted to sell its versions of these cars in the US — and the US-based Factory Five. Their defence was that the name and shape of the Cobra car were abandoned when Shelby American ceased production of these particular models back in the 1960s.
Shelby countered with: “We spent millions of dollars creating the name and the car and winning the world championship. These knock-off-car guys don’t deserve the credit or the profit for what my team and Ford accomplished in the ’60s.”
Superformance painted an even bigger target on its back by also producing a version of Shelby’s Daytona coupé. Other cars in its production stable were Mk1 GT40 and 1962 Corvette Grand Sport replicas, but we’ll focus here on the Daytona.

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.