Special Stablemates’ Kiwi Connections

16 January, 2021

By Quinton Taylor

Wide doors aren’t a problem when they swing up

Racing McLarens most often do without a lid but the bare-headed versions are rarer among the supercars bearing that name.

That was the look that appealed to seasoned campaigner Ralph Smith, who has added a McLaren Spider 570S to his Central Otago garage. The retired engineer is justifiably proud of his new acquisition and the technical excellence it both represents and contains.

“It’s not brand new but a very well looked after almost-new example,” says Ralph.

The distinctive black and yellow car offers a very different driving proposition from another motor racing legend in his stable, the Lycoming Special.

“It’s got a lot of buttons and I’m carefully finding out what they are all for,” Ralph explains, swinging up one of the massive dihedral carbon-fibre doors to reveal a battery of buttons on the underside panel

The McLaren comes with a soft personalized dust cover embroidered with the McLaren logo. This helps keep the car in tip-top nick and the reveal adds a sense of occasion when Ralph decides to give it a run.

Firing up the 3.8-litre, twin-turbo, 90-degree V8 of McLaren’s own design produces not your usual V8 burble but what seems like a high-revving idle, at least during warm-up. Producing 419kW at 7500rpm and 600Nm at 5000–6500rpm, it will whip the McLaren up to 328kph with a back-thumping 0–100kph time of just 3.2 seconds. Most of this power runs the short distance to the rear wheels through a seven-speed Graziano SSG dual-clutch transmission from just behind the driver’s seat. A few years ago, admittedly, another 3.8-litre engine, Jaguar’s legendary in-line XK6, made just 164kW at 5500rpm and 325Nm at 3000rpm.

The carbon-fibre shell looks impressive but is also strong and light. Designed by Robert Melville, these shells have been built at McLaren’s Woking, Surrey premises in England since 2015.

Massive carbon-ceramic disc brakes at each corner

Secure seats are essential for appreciating the handling

Ralph still gets a kick out of driving his Lycoming Special, advanced for its day

The McLaren weighs in at a svelte 1452kg with all fluids, and stopping power is provided by massive carbon-ceramic disc brakes at each corner. It will come to a stop from 100kph within 32m.

Operate the powered top and a stunning cabin is revealed. The interior is trimmed in a tactile mixture: suede dashboard materials, stitched leather seats and door panels with contrasting body colour stitching, and satin-chrome instrument bezels. This is one classy interior.

Ralph has one intriguing final act to show on his McLaren, popping a tiny service hatch on the rear deck.

“Other than checking the water and oil levels, servicing is restricted to the experts,” he laughs.

Living in Central Otago, Ralph’s in the right area to enjoy some great driving roads and take advantage of the opportunity to drive the car at Highlands Motorsport Park. He is sure looking forward to warmer weather and ice-free roads to go cruising.

Could this be a future classic in the making? I think Bruce would have said, “No doubt about it!”

This article originally appeared in New Zealand Classic Car issue No. 358

Janspeed recreates the Jaguar sports car

29 September, 2026

Thankfully, a few of these cars made it to New Zealand, the odd one being imported from the UK over the years. However, the 1988 British Racing Green example owned by Bill Slater in Upper Hutt was originally sold as a standard car but converted using the full Janspeed kit by the first owner within a couple of years of buying it.
Bill has owned a few other Jaguars. In fact, after he sold his Jaguar XJ12 in 2018, he found himself pining for another and, when the XJ-S came up for sale, he could not resist it. Having just sold the V12, he was not expecting much from the six-cylinder car other than more reliability and it being cheaper to keep on the road. Naturally, he had heard of the influence Janspeed had on the marque, but it was not until he took the car for a test drive that he became aware of just how superior it was to the car he had just sold. The price of a second-hand Janspeed XJ-S and that of a standard 3.6 XJ-S is quite comparable, making the Janspeed version an incredible bargain, even more so in comparison with other performance classic cars — or even modern cars, for that matter — which cost far more bucks for the bang.

The writing on the wall

25 September, 2026

Deven, a digital content producer in his 20s, says it was the rear-drive Nissan and Toyota drift cars that fired his imagination in his not-so-distant youth and soon had him wanting one of his own. However, like most of us, he had to start in something less glamorous – in his case, a 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. After that, he bought a four-litre V8 1991 Toyota Soarer, a big change from the Mitsubishi.
“It was my daily driver, and it wasn’t that bad to run back when petrol was affordable,” he says.
When he got fed up with filling it up, Deven bought a 1989 Ford Laser sedan, a 1.3-litre five-speed manual, to be his daily driver. It’s in very good condition, bought from a careful older driver, and he still runs it – although he will occasionally also drive the latest in a series of Nissan Laurel sedans. His current one, from 1993, has done the lowest number of kilometres yet, at 183,000. It has the single-cam version of the engine in his Skyline.
“I’ve had four different versions of that car. It was just a car I always liked. It’s really comfortable, quite luxurious. I bought it from a 90-year-old in Hamilton. It’s in mint condition, and everything is standard.”

Special Stablemates’ Kiwi Connections

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