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Car guy movies: Baby Driver

24 July, 2017

We’re drawn to any movie featuring fast cars and a good chase scene. When it’s matched to a soundtrack like that of Baby Driver, we’re sold.

Relative newcomer and opposite of Vin Diesel, Ansel Elgort, plays Baby, a hearing impaired getaway driver gradually paying off a debt to a Kevin Spacey’s character, Doc.

Cast alongside Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Lily James and Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the story itself ticks along nicely and keeps the audience guessing, but of course we’re in it for the driving scenes. And for that reason alone, it’s worth a watch. 

Baby Driver is in cinemas now and we’d suggest getting out to see it.

You can check out the trailer here:

And full opening scene here:

A second dose of Dash

24 April, 2025

When the car arrived in Wellington in December 2018 it was duly taken along for entry certification. Vehicle Inspection NZ (VINZ) found some wrongly wired lamps and switches — not too bad — but, much more significantly, some poor welding repairs. As the structural problems were probed more thoroughly, we realized the previous owner’s restoration would not do and we needed an upgrade. Dash had made it into the country but it would take some time and money before he would be free to explore any of New Zealand’s scenic highways.
We took the car to our new home in Johnsonville in the northern suburbs of Wellington and I pored over the car in detail to figure out what was next. There were lots of new parts on the car and a very perky reconditioned drivetrain but the chassis needed serious work.

Lunch with… Jim Palmer

16 April, 2025

In the 1960s, Hamilton’s Jim Palmer won the prestigious ‘Gold Star’ four times and was the first resident New Zealander home in the New Zealand Grand Prix on five consecutive occasions. He shared the podium with Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Denny Hulme, Jackie Stewart, and Chris Amon. The extent of his domination of the open-wheeler scene in New Zealand will probably never be matched or exceeded. Yet he’s always been modest about his achievements.