May 31st !969 cont'd
May 31st !969 cont'd
Even the Buckler Car Company in the UK produced them.
April 29, 1972
April 6, 1968
Many machines entered in the first Nelson Kart Grand Prix had engine capacities in excess of 200cc, but none was able to get close to the 100cc machine of Ian Miller, of Christchurch, as he took an early lead in the 18-mile event on the reclamation, and increased it lap by lap. The main event over a tough course tested the endurance of the karts and the drivers' skills to the utmost, and before the finish the course took its toll - 14 of the 20 starters did hot finish. The day itself was a memorable one for go-karters, and it is now hoped that this event will not only become an annual one, but will embrace all New Zealand. The go kart club and Nelson Jaycees are to be congratulated on their enterprise in staging such an event.
Des Kelly (Timaru) takes a spill and his badly bent machine and helmet provides a youngster with entertainment.
Some karts, such as this, had three engines.
top -Timekeepers Bill Dodds, Jim Bonnington, Murray Kenning, Ross Benbow and Warren Higgs on their lofty perch
middle -Laps were recorded on a tape recorder by Garth Robinson.
bottom - Bill Munn looks a little dubious.
April 6th 1968 cont'd
August 17, 1963
Judging by recent attendances, go kart racing in Nelson is improving in popularity. Members race on the Sunday on their course by the airport and many families having a Sunday run in the car call in to see these wee bombs in action. These pix were secured for us by Johnny Hughes.
Hi Bry3500 Karting has just got stronger and faster most of our top race drivers today came from A Karting background Jamie
This an advert for karts built by Sinton Engineering. It was in the Auckland Star dated January 2 1960.
Imagine driving a road-registered kart from Auckland to Dunedin.
I remember reading an article in Popular Mechanics magazine in the 1950s about karting in the US where they called them "Micro Midgets"
That is cool!Originally Posted by Milan Fistonic
This an advert for karts built by Sinton Engineering. It was in the Auckland Star dated January 2 1960.
Imagine driving a road-registered kart from Auckland to Dunedin.
Back in 1973 when I was just starting to shoot some motor racing photos I decided to get a bit of on track experience by attending some races at a couple of local kart tracks. The Mt Wellington track was very close to where I lived so I went along with my camera and a couple of rolls of film to see if I could get a few action shots. I approached an official looking chap about going on to the inside of the track as there seemed to be no one else with a camera anywhere in sight. He said I was welcome to do whatever I liked, as long as I didn't get in the way and was careful where I stood.
So I just wandered on to the inside and blasted away at whatever was happening!
After a couple of weeks a few people asked me if I had any shots of themselves racing, so I printed some off and was brave enough to sell them to any competitors who wanted them.
After a while I had people requesting I get shots of their kids or their husbands, etc as there had been nobody taking photos for quite a time. They suggested I also go over to Rosebank Rd and take photos there too, which I did on the alternate weekends, and got a bunch more orders.
I think I did this for about a year, until I was able to get press passes to race meetings at Pukekohe and also got pretty busy doing work for the Auckland Car Club Bulletin. Great experience for a budding motorsport photographer!
Anyway I dug out a pile of negatives I still have from those days when I saw this thread. Hopefully they are of interest to some people. These shots are from Rosebank Rd February 7th 1974.
I can print some more off if people are interested - they have been good to see again after all these years.
Unfortunately I don't have a clue who the competitors are, but I'm sure others will recognise a few people.
Interesting cars in the carparks also!!
Mt Wellington Track 1973
"Mt Wellington Track 1973"
Thank you for posting these images BMC BOY - very much appreciated. Loving the ones from Auckland / Rosebank as well. When I was a kid in the early/mid seventies we used to go to Rosebank Rd because my Father had a control line pulse jet he flew in the middle of the speedway track. We would wander over to the kart track and watch the racing when not being entertained by the jet attempting to tear the Old Boys arms off
Last edited by BMCBOY; 09-23-2015 at 06:50 PM.
WOW! Those images are awesome. Please keep them coming if your have any more.
Really enjoying these, as I'm sure a lot of other people are, especially from the NZ Historic Karting fraternity.
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