There must be something in the water in rural South Auckland, as there seem to be more turbocharged LS1-powered vehicles there than anywhere else in the country. Fitter-welder Zac Wilkinson is the latest to be affected by the turbo LS1 bug, and it looks like he may have it worse than the rest of the locals.

Rather than having the setup in a Commodore, Zac’s new engine combination is in a 1986 Nissan Navara ute which he’s owned and played with for a couple of years now. When first purchased, the car was (more…)

Queensland-based Scot Tony Quinn and co-driver Naomi Tillett (Nissan GT-R35) have successfully defended their Targa New Zealand tarmac motor rally crown, leading this year’s five-day event – which ended in Hawke’s Bay on Saturday - from start to finish.

The win is the pair’s third in as many years in the annual event and marks them as one of the most successfull pairings in its 17-year history.

Though the final day in the Hawke’s Bay on Saturday was the first in which Quinn and Tillett did not win a stage – all seven went to hard-charging young New Zealand rally ace Glenn Inkster and his co-driver Spencer Winn – the pair had done enough on the first four days to guarantee them the overall event win for another year.

“One of the things I’ve learnt over the years,” said Quinn at the finish in Havelock North,” is that to win this event you need to get in front early and stay there. That’s something I learned from Jim Richards when he was winning everything and I was finishing second or third or whatever and it’s advice I’m happy to share with whoever wants to listen. Glenn (Inkster) was trying hard today but I knew by lunch time it would take a miracle - or a decent accident – for us to lose it.” (more…)

Buying a second hand engine or performing an engine transplant? We check out the facts and figures for some common options.

Ford Windsor

The Windsor was introduced in 1962, replacing the previous Ford Y-block engine. The name is derived from the factory in which the first engines were produced in Windsor, Ontario. In 1996, Ford replaced the 302ci (5.0-litre) pushrod Windsor V8 with the Modular 4.6-litre in the Mustang, although it was continued in the F150 till 1997 and the Explorer until 2001.

The Windsor uses a thin-wall cast iron block with a separate aluminium timing chain cover. This feature differentiates it from later Cleveland or 351-series engines, which use an integrated timing cover cast in the block.

There is often confusion about the name of the 2V and 4V Windsors. Although many people assume this to be the number of valves per cylinder, it actually refers to the number of barrels in the carburettor. Another simple differentiation between the Windsor and Cleveland series is the location of the radiator hose — the Windsor routed coolant through the intake manifold with the hose protruding horizontally, while the Cleveland had the radiator hose connecting vertically to the engine block. Until 1964 the Windor’s rods used an oil squirt hole to lubricate the piston pin and rings. (more…)

While sports car racing is a rarity on NZ racetracks that could change in the future with a recent announcement out of Europe. There’s been an important reconnection between the two superpowers of sports car motorsport, the ACO (which does Le Mans and its related Series) and the FIA (which does almost everything else). With these two juggernauts working together, GT Racing is on the verge of achieving a more global appeal.

The main GT racing series was once called the FIA GT Championship but was then split into the GT1 World Championship, GT3 European Championship and GT4 European Cup. From next year the classes are set to rejoin once again, with the announcement a replacement racing series – the new FIA GT World Championship.

Instead of having a variety of cars competing in different classes, the FIA is working to level the performance of existing cars to have them all racing for a single prize. As a result, organisers are expecting a much larger grid that will include a wide range of fine machinery. Teams will represent Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini and Nissan, which are all expected to continue on from the current GT1 series. There are also talks with Mercedes-Benz, Alpina and Chevrolet teams bring them into the new series. (more…)

Get in,” said Benn Milne, driver of the Demon Energy monster truck, motioning towards the passenger side of the massive vehicle sitting quietly on the gravel. I stood there for a while, craning my neck upwards towards the door, well out of reach of my six foot frame. I could tell everyone was watching, I could feel the smirks.

“Climb the tyres!” someone yelled from behind. The pressure mounted as I rued my decision to wear skinny jeans that morning. Apparently, I had to do the splits and climb up the massive 66-inch high tyres with a foot on each. I did eventually get up and into the cab of the Nissan Navara, but to say it was an ugly ascent would be a serious understatement.

HB Monstertrucks’ Navara has a lot of history here in New Zealand, first built in 1987 and known as Kiwi Thunder. New Zealanders grew up watching this machine crush cars and fly through the air, so when the beast came up for sale on Trade Me, interest was strong.

“I saw it online,” says Benn. “I just thought ‘why not? You only live once’.” Picking up the Navara without a engine, transmission or wheels, Benn and his HB Monstertrucks team spent the next year putting it all back together, the cost of which, as you could imagine, is just as super-sized as the 3.5-metre tall truck itself. (more…)

The national final of the Asset Finance Off Road Race Series was held as part of Manukau’s Full Throttle Weekend, so we headed out to Colin Dale Park to see what it was all about.

With a variety of classes catering for vehicles ranging from kids’ purpose built off-road carts through to 600ci or more of full space-framed V8s and a couple of road-going four wheel drives, there was something for everyone. If you don’t mind a little bit of dust and mud, that is.

When offered the chance to occupy the passenger seat of Raana Horan’s championship-winning Nissan, I jumped at the chance. Powered by a supercharged 5.6-litre Nissan V8, the truck makes more than 600hp and, more importantly in this scene, over 1100Nm of torque, so I knew I was going to be in for a cool ride.

I watched the truck during a few races earlier in the day and saw the massive air it was getting over the main jump, but it wasn’t until I was strapped in and sitting on the start line that it really hit me just how crazy this was going to be. And it wasn’t until we approached the main jump at speed that I realised how fast and hard these guys were hitting it. Yep, I puckered up pretty quick.

With the landing of the first jump over, I could relax in the knowledge that Raana is one of the best drivers in one of the best-prepared vehicles. With just five laps of the short course and a 605ci Ford and a supercharged Toyota to compete with, it was full throttle the whole time. I was impressed with how well Raana could throw around the 2.2-tonne vehicle, and surprised to find out that he’s only been campaigning it for a season and a half. (more…)

After a huge prologue day at Hampton Downs yesterday, the Targa NZ cars were officially launched this morning from the Telstra Pacific Events Centre in Manukau, Auckland. It’s a hardcore day of racing ahead for competitors with 4 Special Stages before lunch in Otorohanga, then 3 more Specials before overnight in New Plymouth.  That’s 182 kms of Special Stages and 351kms of Touring.

Yesterday was officially Day 1, and for good reason, it was the day of documentation for the Drivers, Co-Drivers and for the cars they have to pass an engineering and safety scrutineering.

A solid crowd had gathered at the Manukau City’s Telstra Events Centre because there was other motorsport activities as part of Full Throttle Weekend.

Then in the Genesis Theatre there was the Briefing sessions, held separately for Targa Tour participants, then all Service Crews and then Driver and Co-Drivers. These are compulsory sessions and cover a broad range of important topics.

At 1 pm the cars headed off to Hampton Downs for Prologues 1 and 2.  Essentially these are the sessions where the cars are given their last ‘shakedown’. Some were bedding in new brakes and others used it as an opportunity to take sponsors for several hot-laps of this exciting circuit.

Naturally there was much interest in the appearance of the four Nissan GT-R35s. Ex —pat Kiwi Steve Millen from California in his very own Stillen GT-R and it is a work of art.  It has been lightened everywhere with extensive use of carbon fibre.  The carbon ceramic brake disks fill the inner circumference of the alloy wheel.

Tony Quinn from Queensland has had his VIP Pet Foods GT-R35 here before and whilst it looks standard, we know it’s not — it and Tony are fast and that is why he is No.1 seed.

(more…)

Well, what can we say. Bouncing boobies is a great way to advertise a car. Where can we buy one?