New Zealand Historic Saloon Cars Under HRC

Well Legends of Speed was a huge success for us and now we head to BMMP for our final race meeting of the season, The Dennis Marwood Classic, again put on by the good people from HRC.

This for us is a fun event and already our grid is building for both HMC and HSC.

Across from Australia is Nick Bowyer who will race his NZ based Mk2 Escort 1600 Sport and we welcome Nick to our grid.

Also racing will be Karl Sentch in his beautiful Datsun 240Z who will join Tony Roberts in his Corvette to form our initial group of Historic Sports & GT (HS&GT). This is for 1965 to 1974, front engine rear wheel drive Hardtop cars and will develop from there to gauge interest and if enough numbers come along we will form a separate group.
These cars will all run under Appendix 6 Schedule T&C and must be able to get a COD.
If you are interested contact myself or talk to Karl and Tony at the track.

A very suitable car for this group is for sale at the moment and listed here under “cars for sale” is Andrew Metford’s 1974 MGBGT. Have a look and very well priced.

As well as the racing we also will be having our Awards Evening and Dinner to celebrate our season.

Entry is via, www.motorsortentry.com

Cheers
Bruce

Well one season has gone and we are well into planning for the next.
Tonight I will put up the details of our program of next seasons events.

Also Paul Berkahn will be helping me with putting up photos for this thread which is gratefully appreciated as I don’t have the computer software to do this.

Cheers

First up is Terry Price's beautiful Jag, Terry runs a restoration business and this is a fine example of his quality work
Attachment 62480

The Team Cambridge Monaro
John Mckechnie the current owner of the Team Cambridge Monaro as been awarded The Lupp Trophy by Motorsport NZ at the recent Annual general meeting.
(Also shown are the miniature presentation that John keeps along with the Denis Hulme Trophy presented to John at the 2014 Festival.)
After some time spent by John trying to find the original car he eventually found the car and some associated parts in Whanganui. The car was in a poor state so John had the huge task of restoring the car to the beauty it is today.
John at Manfield in 2017
Attachment 62481

Trophies
Attachment 62483

Photo Courtesy of Nigel Watts
Attachment 62482

And this is what John picked up in Whanganui, The left overs of the Coppins Cambridge Monaro. John said the pictures looked worse than the car actually was.
Attachment 62484
A very impressive feat to bring this special car back to its forma glory

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Paul B

And this is what John picked up in Whanganui, The left overs of the Coppins Cambridge Monaro. John said the pictures looked worse than the car actually was.
Attachment 62484
A very impressive feat to bring this special car back to its forma glory

---

Well deserved trophy and accolades, the Monaro restoration deserves a book of its own. Congratulations John!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grant Ellwood

Well deserved trophy and accolades, the Monaro restoration deserves a book of its own. Congratulations John!

---

The Lupp Trophy is awarded for voluntary services and John qualified for that with his work on establishing the Historic Sports Sedan Group plus his restoration of the Monaro and that he regularly races it.

He was up against stiff opposition for this award and it is one of the premier awards for the year given out by MSNZ.

Well deserved.

Congratulations John for being awarded for all the hard work and organizing that you so generously do. Very well deserved.

Also thanks to Bruce and Paul and Dale plus all involved in keeping these series of historic racing going.
The quality of cars and racing is second to none. Well done and may the coming season be the best yet.

Ken H

Thanks guys for your kind words.
Now that its back to how it was, the painful long process of rusty metal replacement is a fading memory.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by John McKechnie

Thanks guys for your kind words.
Now that its back to how it was, the painful long process of rusty metal replacement is a fading memory.

---

John Mck, ERC, Spgeti, Dale and others;
A mate [a neighbour Ian ] is thinking of coming to the Supercars Race in September [ 14-15 ] and wants a navigator/passenger in his Holden Ute so am thinking of joining him - share petrol costs etc - will your guys classes be running.
Ian remembers racing at Pukekohe when Norm Beechey bought his Monaro over - think he did Baypark and Puke one summer in 1971 !!
A photo - not mine - see the credit !!

Attachment 62496

If you Guys are coming - would be a bigger incentive to come. Will have a pit pass and camera !!
Would be the second day the Sunday [ 15th ] - be good to catch up / actually meet in some cases.

Was last at a Supercars event in late 2009, the Sydney [ Homebush - Olympic ] course.
Have the little badge from their - and the Telstra Goody Bag and ticket - no photos though - was hard to get a good view without an expensive stand ticket.

Sorry Roger we are not racing at the Supercars event.

We normally only race at historic based meetings.

Perhaps we can catch up with you at the Taupo Historic GP in January.

Regards

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spgeti

Sorry Roger we are not racing at the Supercars event.

We normally only race at historic based meetings.

Perhaps we can catch up with you at the Taupo Historic GP in January.

Regards

---

Will try for that - Event and Track looks way better than Hampton Downs - was last there Taupo for the 2008 A1 GP when it was a series !! at Hampton Downs in January 2018- long time between meetings [ except for a few Lakeside 2011 - 2015 and that Syndey one in 2009.
Cheers

Roger

Our Calendar for the coming race season is as follows :

3rd November 2019, TACCOC Spring Meeting, Pukekohe,
15/16/17th November 2019, MG Classic, Circuit Chris Amon, Manfeild, Feilding,
8th December 2019, TACCOC Summer Meeting, Hampton Downs,
17/18/19th January 2020, Taupo Historic Grand Prix, BMMP, Taupo,
7/8th February 2020, ENZED Classic, Levels Raceway, Timaru,
14/15th February 2020, HW Richardson Speedfest, Teretonga, Invercargill,
23/24th March 2020, Paul Fahey Legends of Speed, Hampton Downs,
25/26th April 2020, Jack Nazer Classic, BMMP, Taupo.

To enter our grid your cars must have a COD and you must be a registered member or an invited guest.

Cheers

Greetings all,

It’s been a while since I have written in our thread.

It is 4 years ago since we held our first combined HMC/HSC event, the 2016 Festival featuring Porsche.

We have come along way since then and have a very solid base of HSC cars, all period correct and with COD’s.

We have introduced FIA Appendix K cars to our fleet and now have 4 cars in our fleet with several cars being built.

This year with both groups we had 28 cars on the grid at The MG Classic, 25 cars on the grid at the Taupo Historic GP and as we head on our second South Island Tour, we did this in 2017, and will again have 22 on the grid for The South Canterbury Hydraulics Classic at Levels and 22 on the grid at The George Begg Speedfest at Teretonga.

We now have interest from Australia via Group Nb and Nc car owners wanting to join us and individuals racing in HMC our group with Australian Trans Am Cars, one who is doing our full season this year.

Our next meeting is the Legends of Speed Meeting where we will be celebrating Paul Fahey in March.

We want to see historic saloon cars at that meeting on display from Pauls era to celebrate his racing.

Please give me a call if you have a suitable car to display.

Kind Regards

Bruce

My footage from Sunday race one at the MG Classic. Great racing!

https://youtu.be/vXkYL2lRfts

Well we are back….but Historic Saloon Cars are part of HVRA-Historic & Vintage Racing NZ.

Yes Historic Saloon Cars Ltd is a company owned by myself since 2017 and is still under my ownership.
It is time to carry on

We are not in anyway tied to HMC or Pre78’s….and that is a good thing.

It is time to carry on the thread…and yes we allow cars that do comply with MSNZ Appendix Six and that is without question but we do also allow Saloon Cars, Sports and GT’s and Touring Cars from 1/1961 up to 12/1982 that do not quite comply.

Why..because we need the numbers….

Our team is as follows…
Leon Hallett….63 1/2 FIA Galaxie…..63 Falcon Sprint…vintage class winner of Pikes Peak….and SCCA A Sedan 1970 Boss Mustang….not a cheater…and all the cars are historically correct.
Karl Sentch…known by many of you… Capri Perana, Capri RS2600, Escort Holbay…all replicas but again totally correct.
Stacy Lines…the Mini Guy..watch what appears.
Bruce Spgeti Dyer….Historic Elf…and like Leon and Karl the founders of HVRA.

We are not full of rubbish…we are enthusiasts…

We welcome constructive criticism but with courtesy…

If you’re interested in joining us…just give us a call….

Mike Lucas will be our Roaring Season administrator, you do know him from ERC Race Series and he owns one very cool Viva GT replica….please welcome Mike.

Here I am again -- it has been a while since I posted on a web forum -- I used to very active on many web forums (mainly Datsun S30 aka 240z/260z related, I have owned over 11 Datsun's over 30+ years (mostly S30 aka 240z/260z and never a 2+2 only 2 seaters))

So I have been a Zed man for many of years -- however all have been sold now. Sold the last one after I decided to move on my Classic Mini Trackcar -- my first British car, first FWD and first 4 cylinder trackcar. I stepped away from all things car for .... well 12 months. So the Zed connection is why I have the user name nZeder -- as a proud Kiwi aka NZer

I was then asked by Karl Sentch if I would help out with the new HVRA group but doing the grid co-ordinator. How could I say no, a good bunch of like minded individuals, with very lovely presented Classic Cars wanting to have a few good weekends a year racing around the track and have a bit of banter between races.

I now have my second British car -- a Vauxhall Viva GT replica. I am sure many of the ford supporters will be asking why a GM/Vauxhall Viva. For me it is different to the sea of Escort you see on the tracks around NZ, it was factory fitted with 4 link rear solid axle and good front suspension setup -- so on paper looked good to me, and I was asked if it would be a car I would be interested in when it came up for sale.

The old Mini
Attachment 76766Attachment 76767

Old Zed 74 260z 2 seater track car I was building at one point.
Attachment 76768

My first Datsun - a 77 260z 2 seater --- this was the last Zed I sold.
Attachment 76769

My current trackcar -- the Viva GT Replica
Attachment 76770

Regards
Mike Lucas

They are still welcome with the ERC Group, but years ago, we had two groups. Saloons then Sports/GT. We shifted to two speed groups on the grounds of safety as although a quick Lotus Elan is tiny against a Jaguar XJ6, the speed differential was deemed more important.

Over time, the number of sports cars as a percentage of grids has shrunk dramatically and commercially, a small grid is not viable.

We have lost Lotus Elan, Lotus 7, Triumph Spitfire, Morgan, TR3, TR5, TR6, MG Midget, Reliant Scimitar, E Type Jaguar, TVR M Series, Marcos, Aston Martin, Ferrari and most MGB's etc. over recent years.

Equally, as you well know, a fields of Fords and just one Vauxhall merely proves the fact that the spares and knowledge availability is vast for Fords, less so for other makes, especially sports and GT cars.

Setting rarer cars up for racing basically devalues them, as originality is now sought after rather more than a limited race provenance.

The Sports & GT group was included in HSC many years ago due to these cars were disappearing…..as you rightfully have stated Ray.
With the formation of HVRA we continued this on and are building this group…today we have an FIA 70 Corvette, a very nic MGC GTS yes a replica but built in the UK, a very nice MGB GT V8 with C bonnet and Sebring kit, three TR7/8 V8’s, three stunning Porsche 911’s in various configurations, an Alfa Montreal, two Datsuns 240Z’s and several MGB’s….

This is a group for us we want to keep working on building….sadly the Austin Healey’s and early TR’s have gone and that is seriously disappointing….but we live in hope.

The meeting you refer to as Formula Ford was unfortunately wet and the other GM cars stayed in the garage…but our GM and Japanese groups are growing.

Thank you Ray for all the effort you have contributed to over your many years…it has not been forgotten.

Kind Regards
Bruce

Thanks Bruce. Good to see the growth.

Over the years, the ERC group has morphed from 4 cylinder BMC only to today's Europeans.

Whilst we have always supported the purist approach, along with Alfa Romeo, we felt that there were too many cars where total conformity wasn't what many drivers wanted.

We saw ourselves as a logical stepping stone from those new to racing, who may have had a crack at Classic Trials and wanted to step up one level, without getting too serious and still able to run a road car. They could then step up from ERC in whatever direction they wanted. The series boomed and then other classes came along such as 2KCup and initially, the BMW E series.

BMW have tapped into a market where cars are easily available and their various groups have grown.

There always was an opening for classic race saloons and it is great to see your group growing.

However, the ERC group has suffered not so much because of any competition, but many drivers have elected to park their cars partly due to rising costs, partly due to the rarity aspect and partly due to retirement.

Classic Trial was initially a cheaper option for a day on track, and a great starter, but again, rising costs have hit them too, so they haven't fed into the ERC group. Their fields haven't grown and the loss of Pukekohe as an alternative track hasn't helped either group or Auckland based drivers generally.

ERC runs hand in hand with Alfa and often there are combined grids.

We allowed Tony Roberts Corvette and the Datsun Z's as at that time, there was nowhere else for them to run.

Right from my first involvement in 1996/97, I felt I had no choice but to adopt a pragmatic approach rather than a purist approach and I don't regret for one minute allowing in the Corvette and Datsun Z's, nor allowing in later models nor even repowered classics - even though some objected to allowing in 'Hot Rods'. Only one repowered car ever ran (ie non original engine type) despite the critics claiming we'd be overrun.

The rising costs for promoters have inevitably put pressure on financially viable grids and I for one have no problem if there are two or three or more 'classes' in a grid.

The only criteria for us has always been driver respect for other cars as that is far more important than car purity.