Get your calendar at the ready — we’ve got the dates for the 2015–’16 Historic Muscle Car series

15 July, 2015

The calendar for the 2015–’16 Historic Muscle Car (HMC) series has been unveiled, and while it may look geared towards those around Auckland, there are talks of extending the love to muscle and classic fans down south.

The season will start on September 12–13 at Hampton Downs Raceway, before heading to Pukekohe Park Raceway on October 3. To kick off 2016, the series will return to Hampton Downs Raceway for the dual-weekend New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing (NZFMR) meeting, being held on January 15–17 and January 22–24, before finally ending on April 2–3 at the Hampton Downs Raceway Legends event, held in conjunction with the Historic Racing Club. Organizers have assured us that this final event will not clash with the 2016 Whangamata Beach Hop event.

The series has made attempts to include Manfeild in this calendar, but this is unlikely to come to fruition until the 2016–’17 season comes around. Expansion to the South Island is also a talking point for the Historic Muscle Cars, but this is only in its early phase of discussion.

The 2015 NZFMR event held in January saw the Historic Muscle Car series produce some exciting racing, with a group of entries from the Australian Trans-Am series travelling from across the ditch to be part of the fun. Aussie Ian Woodward in his signature white Pontiac Firebird proved the man to beat on both weekends, while Kiwis Kevin Gimblett and Roger Williams both appeared strong in their Chev Camaros. The Australians ultimately ended up on top, winning five races to the Kiwi’s three. Check out all the action in the event coverage below:

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Several New Zealand entries flew to Australia to compete in some of the Australian Trans-Am events, with Gimblett, Glenn Allingham, Murray Brown and Dale Mathers all producing strong performances. While these four entries will unfortunately have to skip round one in September due to time constraints, they will return for round two and beyond.

Of course, the series isn’t all about the Mustangs and the Camaros. The Historic Saloon Car sub-series will also make a comeback, with the plethora of giant-killing Ford Escorts, Anglias, and Japanese classics sure to spring an occasional surprise on their high-powered V8 brethren. We’re hoping to see Mike Coory’s stunning Datsun 240K GTR replica among those back on track.

For more action, check out our HMC gallery below.

Racing Mazdas

12 June, 2026

Both Rod Millen and Ron Kendall were rotary racing kings, emanating from the North Shore of Auckland, where I grew up. And the ultimate rotary techno guru was Bill Shiells, who developed the engine into a rocket ship while working out of Gulf Mazda in Takapuna from 1969, and later in his own business, Rotorsport. He began to extract some phenomenal horsepower from the enigmatic rotary engine. Bill was one of the first to race the Mazda RX-2 Coupe in 1971 and achieved immediate success, causing others to sit up and take notice, particularly the North Shore’s racing elite. They included Robbie Francevic, Rod Millen, Ron Kendall, John Woolf, John Le Feuvre, and Rex Findlay.

Range Rover CSK — the original SUV

5 June, 2026

The Range Rover, thanks to Charles Spencer King, went into production in 1970 boasting an iconic shape that would last until 1996. The vehicle that would create the SUV moniker came about because Rover decided it was time to add a bigger four-wheel-drive vehicle, one with a 100-inch wheelbase, to the model range. Land Rover made a 109-inch wheelbase model but the standard vehicle had a 88-inch wheelbase.
The new model would be more suitable for road use than the existing Land Rover, which was considered to be predominantly for rural use. To make sure it could cope on any road it came standard with the Rover 3.5-litre V8 engine. The body design was originally sketched by King and went into production with only a few minor touch-ups by the Rover styling team.
According to King, “The idea was to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road ability of a Land Rover. Nobody was doing it.”

Get your calendar at the ready — we’ve got the dates for the 2015–’16 Historic Muscle Car series

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