The final day of the Rally New Zealand gave way to multiple Kiwi winners in the Vantage Aluminium New Zealand Rally Championship.

Rotorua’s Dean Sumner won the final day’s points and retained his championship lead, but Geraldine’s Hayden Paddon took the round win and honour of first Kiwi home.

“I’m pretty stoked with it,” Sumner said at the Viaduct, “this has to be the hardest event I’ve ever done.”

Paddon was focused firmly on the Production World Rally Championship for the weekend, but said he was very humbled to be the ‘first Kiwi’ in the international event.

Chris West rounded out the top three for the event, a front differential problem on Day 2 kept him from fighting for the lead.

Subaru driver Emma Gilmour’s weekend didn’t go exactly according to plan, she struggled to find a good setup with the car, but kept in the game to score points on all three days of the rally and move into second in the Group N 4WD championship – 19 points behind Sumner.

“This weekend has been difficult, it’s just the pace of the championship really,” Gilmour said.

Open 4WD driver Geof Argyle finished Day 3 with full 32 class points and was also the fastest New Zealander through the four-stage leg.

“I’m pretty happy,” Argyle said, “We got the day win by only a couple of seconds from Dean (Sumner). Unfortunately we couldn’t do more of the rally with breaking the gearbox yesterday.”

Stephen Barker kept a level head to collect the most points and retain his lead in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy, even with Ben Hunt hot on his tail. Hunt won the final day’s points but his off yesterday leaves him trailing Barker on the championship table.

The NZRC takes a two month break before heading up to Whangarei for Round 3 over 3-4 July.

It’s oldies vs youngsters in the hill climb challenge. Watch how the pimped out supercharged modified speed racers fare out against the classic roadster

As the first models of this car are 20 years old, they can now be road-registered in New Zealand

At the 1989 Tokyo Auto Show, Nissan debuted a new car that would single-handedly shake up the entire motoring world, and change the idea of what affordable performance meant forever – the BNR32 Nissan Skyline GT-R. Famously dubbed ‘Godzilla’ by motoring journalists due to its absolute dominance on both the road and the track worldwide, the BNR32 GT-R is a giant-killer with a huge following and an even bigger place in history.

Born at the Track

In the late ’80s, Nissan was heavily involved in Japanese Group A racing, but was struggling with its current and somewhat dated R31 Skyline GTS-Rs. These were eventually scrapped and the need to build an all-new, competition-destroying replacement gave birth to the BNR32 Skyline GT-R. This new machine simply blew everyone away, bristling with technology that simply hadn’t been seen before, not to mention a 373kW-plus, twin turbocharged 2.6-litre straight six, designated the RB26DETT.

As per Group A racing rules, Nissan needed to build at least 5000 GT-Rs to achieve homologation for the new car, which is the only reason the public ever got their hands on the Godzilla. After that initial production run of 5000 was snapped up over the space of a few weeks, Nissan made the decision to open up production indefinitely, eventually building over 43,000 examples before the model was succeeded by the unwieldy and less desirable R33 Skyline GT-R in 1994.

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The world’s top rally drivers are looking forward to tackling the best rally roads in the world on this weekend’s Rally New Zealand, Round 5 of the 2010 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).

After two days checking the 21 high-speed special stages in the 2010 Rally New Zealand, the drivers are itching to get cracking on the first test in Waipu Gorge, south of Whangarei this (Friday) morning.

Later today the cars will return to Auckland where they will be fitted with lights and prepare for a Super Stage in Auckland’s Domain. Gates will open at 5pm and the first car will run at 6:45pm.

This is the first time since 1990 that a Rally New Zealand special stage has been run in the Auckland Domain with the 1.5 km route taking competitors around a selection of the Domain’s sealed roads. However, the 2010 Auckland Domain stage is being run in the dark of an early May evening which will add to the exciting atmosphere for all involved.

When the Rally of NZ kicks off today, multiple world champion and 2010 series leader, Frenchman Sébastien Loeb, will be the first driver out of the blocks, in his factory team Citroen C4 WRC, and is anticipating a close battle among the international stars.

He says the nature of the roads always guarantees a close fight for victory. “It is difficult to make a big difference (in times between cars) on these roads. All the drivers like the New Zealand roads and so everyone will be going very fast,” said Loeb during the pre-event press conference.

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Christchurch based auctioneers Watsons Auctions will be presenting selected vehicles from the collection of the well renowned collector, John Stewart at an auction this weekend.

John’s collection began over 40 years ago with a 1948 Ford Sedan, which is still in the collection. Over the years, John has put his heart into collecting vintage, classic vehicles and memorabilia. Now due to lack of storage space, over 50 vehicles of exceptional quality will be auctioned including a remarkable collection of American and European marques ranging from Porsche, Mercedes, Austin, Chrysler, Dodge, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, Oldsmobile, Willys Jeep, Thunderbird, Audi, Holdens and a fine selection of Fords.

Today (Friday 7th May) there will be a car tour at 2:00pm through John’s collection for those that are interested. There will be ticket sales available at the gate. There will also be another tour starting at 2:30pm on auction day (Saturday 8th May).

This auction will take place on 8th May at 750A Wairakei Road, Christchurch from 9am to 12 noon. Viewing on 7th May from 11am to 3pm.

To find out more about the auction and to view a full catalogue, click here to visit the Watsons Auctions website.

The WRC Rally cars took a bite into their first taste of Kiwi tarmac in the official shakedown at Auckland’s Domain yesterday morning. It was a chance for competitors to test out their machines before the Rally kicks off today. The field will return to the Domain tonight (May 7) for a Super Special Stage with gates opening at 5pm and the first cars launching from 6:45.

We were at the shakedown to capture all the action and bring it to you. To check out the photos click on any image below and scroll through the gallery using the arrow buttons.

To find out more about this weekend’s WRC events click here to visit the Rally New Zealand website.

Robin Reliant Stock Car Race, Hednesford Hills Raceway, West Midlands, England.

For a project that hasn’t sold a car yet, the Hulme Can Am has had serious coverage all around the world and particularly over the last 15 months since Chris Amon first drove “Bear 1’ at the A1GP meeting at Taupo.

After “Bear 1” appeared on the front cover of the “Ingear” section of the UK Sunday Times, articles about the car were published in many magazines and websites around the globe.

This has helped result in hundreds of requests for the Hulme Can Am Offer Document for shares, but the money hasn’t all come in yet. To ensure that “Bear 1” and the company stay in New Zealand and remain owned mostly by New Zealanders, NZ$1.9 Million needs to be raised by the end of May.

For those who haven’t decided on investing in the Hulme Can Am project, the goal is to get 700 investors with an average of $3,000 each by the end of May, and then on to a maximum of NZ$7.5 Million by the end of June.

The IPO offer document can be downloaded from the Hulme Supercars website.

Hulme Supercars Managing Director Jock Freemantle says, “We believe this is all possible, with lots of help in promoting it, and getting as many smallish investors (NZ$1,000 to NZ$30,000 or lots more) as possible. If we do not raise the $1.9 million within New Zealand by the end of May, it is possible that “Bear 1” will be lost to the UK, and to survive, the project could be sold to an overseas investor and moved to their country.”

“Apart from creating a successful, profitable company our next most important goal is to produce an iconic product and develop a skills and knowledge base within New Zealand that may ultimately lead to the establishment of a recognised body of specialist vehicle engineering and design experts and, perhaps, seeing New Zealand become a centre for concept vehicle development.
Once we get to full production, apart from making great returns, the project has a capability of employing up to 50 people and turning over $30 million a year, plus it lets the world know New Zealanders are capable of creating fantastic high quality items.”

For a copy of the offer document, contact Jock Freemantle, Managing Director, Hulme Supercars Limited.  E-mail: jock.f@hulmesupercars.com, or write to Hulme Supercars Limited, P.O.Box 97853, Manukau City 2241, Manukau, New Zealand. Web: www.hulmesupercars.com.