Take a look at five decades of local rallying

30 January, 2017

Apart from motor racing, the early days of New Zealand’s motorsport scene consisted of car trials and timed events designed to keep to the legal speed limits.

Then in the late ’60s, the influence of European special-stage rallying (closed roads where drivers could go as fast as possible) started to take over.

New Zealanders took to this new form of motorsport like ducks to water. Our smooth-flowing gravel public roads, and the abundance of well-maintained government forest roads, saw the early days of rallying quickly build to events that attracted up to 135 starters.

Grab your copy of the February 2017 issue of New Zealand Classic Car Issue No. 314 to read the full story.


Super affordable supercar

The owner of this 1978 GTV, Stephen Perry, with only a skerrick of wishful thinking, says through half-closed eyes, “It is not dissimilar to the Maserati Khamsin”.
The nose is particularly trim and elegant from all angles, featuring cut-outs for the headlights echoing Alfa’s own exotic Montreal. The body is unfussy, lean with lots of glass, and the roofline shows a faint family resemblance — although on a much more angular car — to the curved waistline of the earlier 105s. The slightly hunched rear means there’s much more space in the rear seats than in the cramped rear of 105s — very much a 2+2 — and a generous boot. These more severe lines are not quite as endearing as the 105’s but they are still classy and clearly European.