If you were asked to describe your dream motorsport event, what would it look like? After consulting with many petrolheads over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion it would probably include beach, beers, babes, and a big selection of sweet cars and motorbikes. One Kiwi had the same vision, but enough passion to make it a reality.

Rod Millen, a Kiwi motoring icon, had dreamed of holding such an event for much of his life. And finally, as a birthday present to himself, his dream came true just over three years ago.

Thus the now famous Leadfoot Festival was born, and 2013 was its third successful year. The event has grown every year, and with plenty of work done since 2012’s event this would be the biggest, most jaw-dropping Festival held yet with the largest, and perhaps most impressive Read the full story »

Our latest issue is in stores today! Inside is packed with as much local action as we could get our hands on. From dring lessons with Murph, to an in-depth tell-all interview with Bruce and Raelene Carter about theior massive trophy haul, and of course our top 24 cover cars unveiled.

Besides this, there’s some great cars, including Aaron Costello’s UNIT; a mental 800hp at the wheels Camaro streeter that he loves to pack the kids into and go cruising. There’s also a very tough 493ci Dodge Charger, injected ’37 Chev and cool custom Ranchero, as well as a concept that’s bound to create controversy.

Grab a copy in stores today, or by hitting the ‘shop’ button at the top of this page.

When asked why they chose to build such an oddball vehicle, Mark and Jeff Stoner’s reply was almost in unison. “We wanted something different,” and they couldn’t have got anything more different if they’d tried.

A friend of the brothers already had the car… er ute, in his possession as an unfinished project and was trying to move it on. As soon as they took a look, they knew it was just the thing they were after, even if it wasn’t the most family-friendly car around.

Exactly who started the bodywork we’re not too sure, although from what we can tell it was first transformed from a 4-door sedan to a Read the full story »

The voting to decide NZV8’s best ever cover car is now open!

The bosses initially wanted us to create a list of the top 10, but we just couldn’t do it, as too many cars that should make the cut, just wouldn’t be able to. Instead with help from our Facebook fans we’ve managed to narrow it down to 24, but picking one above the rest is now entirely up to you!

Make sure to head to www.v8/top24 and place your vote now!

Skinned knuckles, a drained back account and marital disputes are just a few of the offshoots of building a car. You’d think these alone would be enough to turn most people off doing so more than once. And while, in some cases it is, for Taranaki’s Daryl Richardson, one build was never going to be enough. Instead he was happy to get elbows deep in grease to see his most recent in a long line of projects through to completion.

Having owned an XB Falcon sedan not long after getting his licence, he’d always wanted another one. However, first his need for speed had to be satisfied, which is what saw him end up with a procession of various other makes and models.

By no means a one-brand man, despite having had a 10-second Ford Pop and a 10-second Capri, both of which were Read the full story »

If you missed Caffeine And Classics this month (more info here http://forums.v8.co.nz/viewforum.php?f=11&sid=9c0878b669defc12e84919fb3b29760a)

then make sure you head along next month to take part in the action.

Big thanks to the team at Protecta Insurance for the photos, and for hosting the event.

Supporting Batten Disease NZ, the Allcomers Car Show was held on the Market Green at Pharlap Raceway, Timaru, on Sunday 25 May. Held on a beautiful, clear Autumn day, there was a great turn out of both vehicles and people. Public entry was by gold coin donation, which was great value for money. Not only were there plenty of cars to see, but food stalls were available and face painting for the kids. All up it was a great day for a great cause.

Pics care of Rod Dunn (https://www.facebook.com/creativeautophotography55?fref=ts)

The Corvette GTP is essentially a Corvette in name only. Built exclusively for the IMSA racing series, only seven were officially produced. Even the cars GM displays today are not the real thing, making them extremely rare, and the chances of getting your hands on one are pretty much zero.

They first hit the track in 1985, and the cars continued competing until GM pulled the plug in 1989, and sold the cars to Peerless Racing who modified one vehicle to compete at the 24 Hour event at Le Mans. While GM’s efforts focused mainly on a twin-turbo V6 engine, as well as a naturally aspirated V8, the Peerless effort ended up with a 10.2-litre quad-cam 32-valve engine.

Despite the chassis being built by Lola, none of the cars enjoyed the success they should have. They often qualified on pole, but failed to finish races.

While it’d be cool to see a replica on the track, we think it’d be even cooler to Read the full story »

The Austin 400 in Texas has received a unanimous vote of approval from more than 5000 Australian fans, an even bigger contingent of locals and V8 Supercar drivers.

The event hosted 68,891 people across the three days that was mostly dominated by Red Bull Racing Australia’s Jamie Whincup. He won one of the two races today to couple with two victories on Saturday in his VF Holden Commodore.

Lockwood Racing’s Fabian Coulthard scored the other race win of the weekend. VIP Petfood’s Shane van Gisbergen was the other podium getter today.

With a combination of new initiatives for next year to spice up the racing Whincup has no doubt the event has a very long future in Austin, a sister City of Adelaide. Almost the entire Championship and the visiting Australian fans plan to see more of America in the next week or two.

Whincup heads to the Grand Canyon and Alcatraz as part of his US adventure while others are going to wide reaching parts of the US, and many to next weekend’s Indianapolis 500.

He was ecstatic with his on-track victories and just as happy with the event itself.

“I certainly enjoyed it. Whenever we go overseas the locals really look after us and put on a good show. This was a great event and I always seem to like to step up when the quality was high,” Whincup said.

“The number is a very good indication that it went well. We will change it up a bit, maybe throw some soft tyres on and take the mufflers off. We can do plenty of things for next year to spice it up. It was a good learning experience; I couldn’t be happier.

“Everyone enjoyed it. All the autograph queues were 50-50 locals to Aussies which was great. It was highly enjoyable.”

Circuit of the Americas President and CEO Steve Sexton said the outcome of the weekend was extremely pleasing.

“We would like to thank our fans, employees and vendors; the V8 Supercars series managers, teams and drivers; the Pirelli World Championship family; and our incredibly accommodating host city of Austin for helping us stage another spectacular event,” Sexton said.

“V8 Supercars lived up to its billing for dynamic racing and a fan-friendly environment-and we had some die-hard fans here given the very warm temperatures. Our Australian visitors were good sports and loads of fun, and we’re glad that people from around the world had a chance to visit Central Texas and our new state-of-the art facility.”

Coulthard’s race victory remained in doubt until after the day had finished when he was investigated for illegally breaking away from the pack under the Pedders STP Chrysler 300C Safety Car. He all but admitted the error although believes it was a radio problem.

“I admit that I did pull away. I heard ‘green flag’ over the radio and then ‘no, no, no’. I did the best I could but I tried to make it that I bunched up again to make it fair,” Coulthard said.

“It was a radio communication problem within our team. We have had to change frequencies a few times over the weekend as I have been hearing two people on the radio.”

Will Davison went into the weekend Whincup’s nearest championship challenger, but he left the Circuit of the Americas having lost second place.

Davison failed to finish the fourth race won by Whincup after an early tangle with Holden driver Scott McLaughlin wrecked the right side of his car. He finished fourth, ninth and 12th in the weekend’s other races.

That allowed Whincup to skip away to a 142-point championship lead, and teammate Lowndes to leapfrog Davison into second place on a successful weekend for Red Bull Racing.

Direct from the keyboard of Andre Heimgartner:

 

After the transporter left the Gold Coast for Perth, Josh Hunter my team mate and I had 3 days to get our apartment kitchen sorted, so we could cook. Slowly starting to feel like home away from home.

Flew to Perth with the team on Wednesday and spent Thursday unloading the transporter after its very long journey through the heart of Australia. It used about $2500 worth of fuel! Barbagallo is a flowing 2.4 Km long rather narrow track. It has 7 technical corners and is plagued by fine silica sand blown onto it from the surrounding dry countryside. Any tyres used here become near useless thereafter as the silica melds into the outer layer of a hot tyre and creates a new surface structure.

 

FRIDAY PRACTICE

Our Queensland Raceway set up went out the window and we really struggled through session 1. Paul Morris generously lent his expertise to help sort our set ups and session 2 was starting to look better. Both Paul and Steve Owen are running their own cars in DVS now so they have their hands full.

 

SATURDAY QUALIFYING

Didn’t have good rubber to use in practice as we had used up tyres testing at QR. Kept our 2 new allocated tyres for quali and racing. Supercars develop 640HP and if anything I would say they are under tyred so tyre management is

a big issue. Had problems getting power down on corner exits with new front rubber providing more turn in. I qualified exactly mid field at P15. Josh misjudged a brake marker on a flying lap and made contact with a wall at turn 7 ending his chances of a decent position on the start grid.

 

RACE 1

Steve Owen got P1. I got an Ok start making up 1 place. With 30 Supercars on this tight short track it becomes a high speed version of Auckland’s Southern Motorway. At turn 4 Steve got spun causing a huge nose to tail reaction. My bonnet pushed up into an unhealthy looking V shape and my back bumper got mashed. Handling remained intact on my car but Steve had to retire with wrecked steering. By lap 3 I was in 13th under a yellow flag. Habber overtook 2

cars under yellow and slotted in front of me. While this later resulted in a penalty it lead to my undoing. Racing again he wouldn’t let me pass and I resorted to drive around him in turn 1. This would have worked Ok if McBride hadn’t tried to follow me through locking up and shunting me into the gravel trap. So……I finished in P27!!

 

RACE 2

A great start got me from P27 to 24th. We had the car handling superbly by now. Had a clean race steadily making up places and ran out of time, 18 lap race, finished 17th.

 

RACE 3

Start position was an average of first 2 races. Started on P24. Another good start and began picking off cars until I got

to Kim Jane. We had a fantastic dual over several laps, lots of TV time. During this period we had to deal with traffic and we both made contact several times resulting in my steering alignment going to the dogs. I eventually got him trapped behind a slower car on the inside going into turn 1 and tried to drive around both of them. My car just wouldn’t turn in properly and I was sucked into the gravel trap. In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have tried that with steering out of wack.

 

SUMMARY

Josh and I didn’t have the best of luck. We both figured in a lot of action and became very competitive. By the next round we hope to have a dedicated chassis engineer to help us get handling sorted earlier and hopefully qualify better, absolutely essential with a relatively sort race format.

All considered, as a brand new team in round 2 of our first season with good ideas yet to be explored, the future looks promising.

Next round in Oz is at Townsville, a very different circuit.

Next up is V8Supertourers at Puke on May 25/26.

Imagine going into the garage to pull the cover off your much loved Monaro, only to find an EH Holden sitting there instead. You’d be suspicious, and shocked, especially since you’d walked past the covered car many times and never noticed anything wrong.

This was the situation Neil Rutherford found himself in five years ago now.

The Monaro was part way through a rebuild at the time, the second build under Neil’s ownership, and in his eyes it was just about ready for paint.

Neil’s son Steve was the instigator of the plan to take the car while Neil and his wife Tilly were away for a few weeks, then give it a Read the full story »

HSV have today unveiled their latest range of high-performance vehicles, dubbed Gen-F. The launch is one of the most exciting Australian vehicle launches in some time, and is being touted as the company’s most significant model range in its 25 year history.

Based on the new Holden Commodore VF platform, the lineup is all new, rather than just a facelift of outgoing models. Highlights of the Gen-F range include a significant exterior styling makeover including new front and rear fascia’s, tail-lamps, wheels and spoilers.

The new premium interior encompasses new seats, fabrics, instrument panels, gauges, centre console, trims and finishes. Four different engine power options are available, with the most significant one being the 430kW, 740NM option in the range-topping HSV GTS – the most powerful engine to ever be offered in an Australian production car.

A new “SV” option on the three “R8” derivatives – ClubSport, R8, ClubSport R8 Tourer and Maloo R8 offers a power upgrade to 340kW / 570Nm, unique 20-inch SV Performance forged alloy wheels (finished in Satin Graphite), a lo-line spoiler, and distinctive “pitch black” accents on the fender vents and exterior mirrors.

A new range of technological advancements have been added to the vehicles, including Bi-Modal Air Intake, 3rd Generation Magnetic Ride Control, Torque Vectoring and a Driver Preference Dial which controls a range of electronic vehicle performance systems. 

The vehicles also wear new forged brake calipers and larger rotors that offer significant improvements in pedal feel, stopping power and a reduction in unsprung weight.

All models of the out-going HSV E3 range line-up including the recently introduced ClubSport and Maloo models will be available in Gen-F.

The GTS, which is the highlight of the range makes its 430kW thanks to a 6.3-Litre supercharged LSA engine. Other highlights include improved braking performance, an upgraded 9.9-inch diff and stronger axles, as well as brake-torque vectoring, a first for the HSV lineup.

Located conveniently behind the gear shifter, the Driver Preference Dial adjusts the vehicle’s ESC, Traction Control, Launch Control (manual transmission), Torque Vectoring, Electric Power Steering (another new addition to the GEN-F range), MRC and Bi-Modal Exhaust, according to four distinct pre-set modes – Touring, Sport, Performance and Track. In doing so, the vehicle’s handling characteristics instantly change.

The GTS’s new Forward Collision Alert is another first for the manufacturer and makes the cars amongst the safest in the world! A camera, located above the rear view mirror, scans the road ahead up to 14 times per second. When a crash is predicted, the driver is alerted with an audible tone and a visible alert in the Head Up Display. Anticipating hard braking, the system applies sufficient brake pressure to close the space between the brake pads and rotors, thus delivering a quicker brake response time.

HSV’s Managing Director, Phil Harding says “It’s a really proud moment for the team at Clayton”. “The GEN-F range is the culmination of over 4 years of design, development and testing and we’re really confident that we’ve developed the best HSVs ever”.

While pricing for is yet to be announced, Harding confirmed that HSV remains committed to offering the best value high performance vehicles available in Australia. “Value for money has always been, and will continue to be, a key pillar of our success. While we’re not in a position to announce pricing just yet, I can assure our fans that they won’t be disappointed”, said Harding.

Production of the new HSV range will start in two weeks’ time with vehicles due to arrive in local HSV showrooms in early July, with the GTS arrive in late September.

Look out for more info over the next few days, and we’ll bring you news on the pricing as it becomes available.

It’s that time of the month again, or should we say, the best day of the month as the latest issue is in store today!

Gracing the cover is one of the coolest Mopars in the land – the freshly built mega power Dodge Super Bee of Andrew Storey.

Other feature cars include an in-depth look at the Shapes Roadies Top Doorslammer, a wild VL Walkinshaw replica, and a tough 1947 Chev.

On the event front, there’s the ITM400 from Pukekohe, the annual Nostalgia Drags, the final round of Central Muscle Cars and all the action from the Leadfoot Festival.

Our favourite article is the in-depth look at Mickey Thompson – the man behind the name. Of course, there’s plenty more than the above in there, so grab a copy today and check it out. If you’re too lazy to head to the shops, hit the ‘Shop’ button at the top of this page, and get a copy delivered to your door.

We’re big fans of the lead sled scene, which sees cars of ’50s vintage sliced and diced to become the perfect low-and-slow Sunday cruisers. The popularity of cars such as the Hudsons and Mercurys that are generally used to build sleds has seen the price of them get out of control, especially if you’re looking for a desirable two-door version.

Call us crazy, but we think that the Jaguar Mark 1 has a similar shape to the Hudsons and Mercurys, and at around $10,000 for a decent, running vehicle, they’re not a badly priced option for a sled project, if of course you’re willing to step outside the box.

The theory of this build would be that everyone would hate it, but be forced to love it at the same time. Chopping up a Jag would Read the full story »

Team JELD-WEN’s Alex Davison will pair with experienced V8 Supercar co-driver John McIntyre in all three V8 Supercars Endurance Cup long-distance races at Sandown, Bathurst and the Gold Coast.

McIntyre is a long-standing Ford driver and has three New Zealand touring car titles to his name and also won last year’s inaugural NZ V8 SuperTourers Sprint Series.

He is excited to continue his relationship with the factory team after last year partnering Alex’s brother, Will at Sandown and Bathurst.

”I am really looking forward to driving with Alex as he is always one of the drivers in the mix at the end of these long-distance races,” McIntyre said.

“He and the team have been making obvious progress all season since they joined the series and I think we should be strong at all three tracks.

“I’ve worked with Campbell Little before and obviously was with FPR last year so it will be a familiar environment which always helps. The new-spec V8 Supercars have distinct similarities to the SuperTourer I race so that should aid my transition to the new cars.

“I’d also like to thank Charlie for the opportunity as his seat was definitely the best one available and I look forward to what Alex and I can achieve together.”

Team owner Charlie Schwerkolt believes the experience of his two drivers will be a valuable asset come the Endurance Cup.

“I am thrilled to bits to have John join Team JELD-WEN and I am sure he will do a great job for us,” Schwerkolt said.

“Alex has always been consistent and quick at the endurance races and it is all about being there in the closing stages so no matter which driver we paired with him, car 18 was going to be a contender.

“But with John in the car we have two very experienced drivers that know the team and the tracks so it gives us a great chance of gaining high overall results.”

Team JELD-WEN is busily preparing the #18 JELD-WEN FPR Ford for the trip to Austin, Texas for next weekend’s first ever V8 Supercars event in America.

Race 10

CRAIG LOWNDES TAKES VICTORY AGAIN AND CRACKS THE ALL – TIME WIN RECORD AT BARBAGALLO.

After 90 career wins, Craig Lowndes set his sights on a race win here at Barbagallo, and didn’t disappoint. Following teammate Jamie Whincup during the first half of the 60/60 super sprint, Lowndes made what we now know as a race winning move 2 laps into the second half, awarding him his 91^st V8 supercar series win, beating Mark Skaife’s previous record.

Mark Winterbottom’s FPR Falcon looked after its tyres remarkably well and with it roaring towards Whincup, Jamie was forced to hold on and take 2^nd place just behind race winner Craig Lowndes.

Jason Bright was able to secure fourth position ahead of Alex Davidson, Premat, Reynolds, Courtney, Van Gisbergen and Moffat. Coulthard came in 27^th after a disappointing end with a tyre malfunction causing him to veer off the road whilst in 5^th position in the final leg.

Coulthard wasn’t the only one with tyre troubles with Will Davidson also suffering in the first leg. Despite this he was able to redeem himself, finishing 14^th at the conclusion of race 10, just ahead of the exceptional newcomer Chaz Mostert.

After a disastrous crash in Pukekohe, Scott Pye in the Ekol Holden came back and again found himself in trouble after sliding down the grass becoming momentarily airborne following a three – wide squeeze with Kelly and Tander. Pye did manage to get back out for the second half of the race however was black flagged for loose body work.

Maro Engel lost his 9^th position qualifying place to come in 24^th and Tim Slade achieved Erebus’ best result of the race coming in at 13^th, just 3 spots behind top Nissan driver James Moffat.

Garth Tander hit trouble early, managing to get stuck in the Turn 7 sand trap after an incident involving Jonathon Webb and Tim Blanchard which will be investigated following the race completion.

Race 11 & 12 set for Sunday will conclude Round 4 of the Championship and round out a great weekend at Perth.

Race 11

AS THE TYRE STRUGGLE PERSISTED, JAMIE WHINCUP FORGED AHEAD AND CAME OUT ON TOP FOR RACE 11.

With Craig Lowndes’ impressive win yesterday, Red Bull Racing has come up with the goods again amidst Jamie Whincup’s further race win at Barbagallo.  It was an interesting race 11 with all drivers pitting for new tyres during the 100km battle, however Dean Fiore, Scott Pye and Alexandre Premat were the exceptions who daringly tried to escape stopping during the race.

Dean Fiore had this approach working for him with his Dodo Insurance Racing Commodore leading the race, however he was nabbed with seven laps to go by number 1 Jamie Whincup. Whincup fought off Mark Winterbottom and his FPR Falcon as the pair battled for the front of the pack for the majority of the race, which was greatly aided by the duo being amongst the first to pit. This was overshadowed by Jason Bright who eventually took second from Mark Winterbottom with 2 laps left.

Bright in the BOC Holden was only 0.75s behind Whincup at the completion of race 11 after a rather unfavourable start, dropping from pole to fourth. His tyres did have the advantage in the end after pitting 6 laps behind Whincup and Mark Winterbottom, who finished 3^rd.

Craig Lowndes’ attempt at gaining a back to back win following his triumph on Saturday were put to rest as he was forced to veer off the track to avoid Jason Bright in the early stages. Dean Fiore, Scott Pye and Alexandre Premat’s attempt at running the race without stopping proved detrimental after they ended the race coming in at 13^th for Fiore, 19^th for Premat and 27^th for Pye.

The safety car was the sight to see for 4 of the first 5 laps after an incident between Holdsworth and David Wall which resulted in the Irwin racing Mercedes catching the sand trap on turn 6.

The final race for round 4 of the championship is set for this afternoon and by the looks of things, will be a thriller.
Race 12

Jamie Whincup triumphs again in an electrifying race 12 at Barbagallo raceway.

The final instalment of racing at Barbagallo has rounded out a colossal, action packed weekend with Jamie Whincup defeating some tough competition including his team mate, Craig Lowndes and taking out race 12.

Coolant dropped by the SP Tools Mercedes reeked havoc for Whincup with the Red Bull Racing Holden losing the lead, taking a tour through the turn 7 sand trap on lap 15. Alongside Whincup, Mark Winterbottom also was caught by the destructive turn 7 sand trap. Despite initially dropping to 21^st, he was able to recover and take a solid 12^th position. Following the sand trap, Jamie pitted to repair damage and fell to second just behind Craig Lowndes. The 888 star looked like he had race 12 in the bag, however a minute mistake by Lowndes of running wide on the second safety car race restart, allowed the Number 1 Red Bull Racing Holden to slide past with just 11 laps remaining.

The sand traps got another work out with Russel Ingall and David Wall ending their race and causing the second safety car of the contest after becoming severely bogged at turn 7. Race 12’s first full course yellow flag was initiated due to Michael Caruso’s Nissan losing a tyre.

Jason Bright battled the pack and achieved third followed by Will Davidson, David Reynolds, Shane Van Gisbergen, Fabian Coulthard, James Moffat, Garth Tander and newcomer Chaz Mostert which wrapped up the top 10 for the final clash of round 4.

To build this epic creation, we’d start with a 1961 Sedan de Ville, as not only is a four-door cheaper to start with, but there’s really no advantage of starting with a two-door, since every panel will be getting modified anyway.

The vehicle would be narrowed in all Read the full story »

The monthly Caffeine And Classics brunch meets have been rapidly growing, with as many as 100 cars attending the most recent event – not bad for the start of winter!

With vehicles ranging from rare vintage European cars through to classic Japanese vehicles to muscle cars and hot rods, the event offers something for everyone. Better still, with it running from 10am-1pm, the carpark is ever changing.

Event sponsors Protecta Insurance are right behind the event, with their staff attending in their own hot rods and muscle cars, which is great to see.

The event takes place on the last Sunday of each month, and is held at Columbus Coffee Smales Farm on Auckland’s North Shore. It’s on rain or shine, so make sure to head along and check it out.

Australia’s performance car leader, HSV, today announced that its hotly anticipated new model range will be dubbed GEN-F.

Breaking with recent tradition of naming their vehicles using a series nomenclature (E Series 1, E Series 2, E Series 3), HSV needed to look further afield to overcome legal and marketing clashes.

“It was obvious, from the beginning, that we were going to have to adjust our approach, because F Series or F1 wasn’t going to work” said HSV Director of Sales & Marketing Tim Jackson.

“We had three basic objectives. Firstly, we needed to ensure we referenced our vehicle’s relationship with Holden’s VF. Secondly, we have a new generation vehicle so we wanted to use language that people would find easily relatable. And finally, we wanted it to be simple.”

“GEN-F almost picked itself”, added Jackson.

Jackson also indicated some of the rumours surrounding GEN-F were on the mark, but was holding confirmation back until the official release date. “There has been plenty of speculation so you can expect that some of it is accurate. I am just not going to reveal what’s accurate today. We will reveal all on May 15, which will be approximately a month before customers will be able to see the vehicles in the showroom”.

We can’t wait to see them, and will bring you more news as it breaks!

It was the shed on the property that enticed Laurie and Linda Brunt to shift houses some 12 years ago. As Laurie puts it, “We had shit stored all over the place, it all got out of hand, so we needed somewhere where we could get it all under one roof.” It’s a logic that’s hard to argue with, and which resulted in the purchase of a property just north of Paeroa that had once housed the well known Stembridge Transport garage.

To this day, the couple still have passers-by popping in telling stories of how they used to use the garage to have their vehicles worked on. So even before Laurie and Linda shifted their ever-growing collection of oddities in, the building had plenty of Read the full story »

Words: Andre Heimgartner, Photos: Ayrton Bryant

SUPERCAR DVS LAUNCH AND TEST DAY
17/18 April 2013 Surfers Paradise.

I flew in early to help the team clean, polish, and prepare for the big day. Maurie Pickering spared nothing to make it a very special event. The formal lunch at the Marriot Hotel was attended by 80 to 100 guests and I again made some valuable contacts.

Maurie is a good strategic planner and had invited many people which will be key to moving the team forward. He has his eyes fixed on the main game.
Josh Hunter and I now have permanent lodgings on the Gold Coast, so had to go and buy household stuff and set up.

Dad travelled by train to Brisbane on Friday and sat beside a very talkative 87-year-old lady who drove an ambulance in London during WW2. When she heard that he had a son that drove race cars she told him all about the launch she had watched on channel 9 news. That’s what you call penetration!

TEST DAY
On the 18th we were off the Queensland Raceway for a full day of intensive testing.
Josh and I worked separately with our engineers and shared results in the afternoon.
Steve Owen and Paul Morris evaluated results. They also set bench marks.

We made huge progress, first with the shocks which had been rebuilt and finally by re-jigging spring rates and other more subtle adjustments. By days end we had both made serious gains having knocked nearly a full second off our previous best times.
The car feels far better balanced than it did at Adelaide. I can push much harder with confidence.

CONCLUSION
A very satisfying two days. A very big thank you to Maurie and the team for their hard work and also for the faith they have put in Josh and I.

On the plane on the way home I was thinking how lucky I was to get the Finance EZI opportunity in Australia. Like so many things in life it was a train of fortunate events. Starting with being so fortunate to find a generous sponsor base in NZ, to Supertourers which lead to the TKR Carrera Cup drive, which lead to my valuable Paul Morris friendship, the Shannons Supercar Shootout and the Porsche scholarship. Paul introduced me to Maurie Pickering and an offer to drive for his development team. Also finished year 12 at school and changed girl friends during 2012. It was a big year!

All the best,
Andre
 Keep an eye out for more of Andre’s exploits in the coming months.

AJ Lauder has become by far the youngest NZV8s champion, clinching the Gold Star title for the original-specification cars with a solid drive at Pukekohe during the ITM400.

Lauder, from the Coromandel township of Turua, had a big points lead coming into the meeting and drove a sensible race in his Ford Falcon, bearing the championship situation in mind. He finished sixth in his class.

“We had to finish,” he said. “I thought it would be more hectic than it was. “We were told to stay clean.”

Behind Lauder, things were more hectic as several of the less experienced drivers in the 30-car Fujitsu Heat Pumps-backed NZV8s field skated off onto the grass at different points, some bringing dirt back onto the surface as they regained the track.

Lauder’s brother Brad, just 16, retained his second place in the championship even though he finished well down the field. Shaun Varney, who had been a close third, lost ground when he went off the track in his Falcon.
Look out for an interview with the Lauder brothers in an upcoming issue of NZV8 Magazine

 

MSNZ Race Championship calendar:

Round 1: January 12-13, Teretonga (Invercargill)

Round 2: January 19-20, Timaru

TRS: January 26-27, Taupo

TRS: February 2-3, Hampton Downs

Round 3: February 9-10, Manfeild

Round 4: March 9-10, Taupo

Round 5: April 12-14, Pukekohe (V8 Supercars meeting)