British sports car maker TVR is officially back on the job but not in the capacity many hoped. TVR is now Russian-owned but Austrian-based and is rejuvenating second-hand models with new powerplants and new parts.

It’s an interesting option that sees TVR save money on any development of new vehicles but relies on existing owners desire to upgrade their vehicles. TVR is also sourcing used models itself and then updating them with General Motors’ 6.2 litre LS3 V8 engine which pumps out a solid 317kW of power and 575Nm of torque.

With no new models planned choices are limited to the Sagaris, Tuscan convertible, Tuscan MkII, Cerbera, Chimaera and Griffith. Read full story…

Kiwi rally ace Hayden Paddon is taking a lot of positives from his debut in the Super 2000 class at the final round of the World Rally Championship – where he finished 13th overall and second in class.

Paddon’s use of a brand-new Subaru WRX STI R4 rally car in Wales Rally GB highlighted the potential of the new car and although the Kiwi was frustrated at times not to get it working as well as he wanted, many positives were gained.

“Certainly we got the set-up of the car a lot better on the final day than we had earlier in the event, and I was much happier with the handling and able to press on more. We took a lot of information away from the event – for me, for Symtech and for Subaru, so everyone learnt a great deal and the car has a lot of potential. We tried to have a good battle with Kevin Abbring in a Super 2000-spec Skoda Fabia, but lost time this morning on the second stage when we went wide into a ditch and stalled the car.” Read full story…

It’s that time once again when magazine stores receive the fresh new copy of NZ Classic Car magazine so get down there and grab one before they are all gone. The new December issue is packed with feature articles, news and special features – all to keep you up-to-date on NZ’s classic car scene.

In this month’s issue we have a very special historic cover car, the ex-Chris Amon BMW 3.0CSL. It’s in beautiful condition and we were there to see Amon united with the racing BMW for the first time since he campaigned it in the 1973 European Touring Car Championship. We also have a full recap from this year’s Targa event with plenty of photos of the action. We have a Xmas Gift Guide so you know what to suggest to the misses and also a special supplement giving advice on purchasing a classic car. We look at a locally built Riley-based roadster powered by a Tiger Moth engine and our Motorsport Flashback page focuses on Howden Ganley’s 70th birthday. Our final feature car is a gorgeous 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst once owned by the editor of Motor Trend magazine. Read full story…

Michael Schumacher no longer has more motorsport world titles than any other driver with French rally driver Sébastien Loeb securing his eighth World Rally Championship title over the weekend. Loeb’s latest title was confirmed part way through the final round of 2011 World Rally Championship in the UK following the retirement of the only other contender for the 2011 drivers’ title.

Sébastien Loeb has not only won eight World titles to Schumacher’s seven titles, the Citroen driver’s titles are all consecutive and Loeb’s name and that of the Citroen rally cars he has piloted sit alongside just about every record in the WRC.

Having already won Citroen its seventh manufacturers’ world title in the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship, Loeb went into the final round, Rally GB, the weekend (11-13 November 2011) with his rival, Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen just a handful of points behind him in the Championship title race, knowing he not only had to finish in first or second place to take the title, he also had to win the final ‘Power Stage’ which also provides points for title chase.

For the first seven stages the two drivers were neck and neck, swapping the event lead, with Loeb further under threat when the defensive shield of his team mate, Sébastien Ogier, crashed out. Meanwhile, Hirvonen’s team mate, Jari-Matti Latvala, joined Hirvonen in pouring on the pressure on Loeb and his Citroen DS3.

But on Stage Seven it all went wrong for Hirvonen when he went off the road and damaged his radiator. Ford later confirmed that the damage to his car was terminal and he was completely out of the event, handing Loeb his eighth World title. Read full story…

The police over in Columbia face certain challenges other law enforcement organisations don’t have to deal with. Recently, they were given a unique problem, they had seized a stunning low-mileage Ferrari 348 from a local drug lord and were trying to sell it, but no one was buying. The mint 1991 Ferrari model had only clocked around 1,900 kilometers and had been valued at US$250,000 by Colombian authorities.

With prospective buyers too fearful to purchase the Ferrari the police turned the classic model into a patrol car painted in the Colombian national police’s green and white colors. One it was correctly attired the cops took it on a tour of the country before placing it in a police museum.

The classic sports car was seized back in 2007 from Hernando Gomez Bustamante, also known as “Rasguno” or “Scratchy”, who is currently serving time in prison in the States for drug trafficking, money laundering and various other bad guy crimes.

For the first few years after its seizure, the Ferrari was in the possession of Colombia’s National Drug Office, or DNE, which was supposed to take care of captured assets from the illegal narcotics trade. But the government decided to shut down the division in September because just too many drug assets were mysteriously disappearing.

Now Columbian police are looking for creative ways to treat the seized assets and this Ferrari is certainly evidence.

Subscribe to NZ Classic Car this month and you’ll be in with a chance of winning one of five signed copies of the Bruce McLaren Scrapbook worth $59.

The latest edition in HarperCollins’ superb range of local motorsport books, The Bruce McLaren Scrapbook houses a stunning collection of images – many never published before – direct from the McLaren Family Collection and from The Bruce McLaren Trust. Collated with love and care by Bruce’s sister, Jan, this book is an absolute must for all Kiwi motorsport enthusiasts and is a superb tribute to a motor racing legend. Each of the five copies being offered have been personally signed by Jan McLaren, founder of The Bruce McLaren Trust.

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Read full story…

We can’t imagine a VW Beetle would be the ideal car for pursuing BMW, Mercedes or Porsche-driving criminals, but perhaps the VW had other virtues that made it ideal as a police car? Obviously, the Stuttgart rozzers must’ve been convinced, as this month’s prize model is a 1:18 die-cast VW Käfer Polizei Beetle – resplendent in a glossy two-tone coat of green and white. This model – from Greenlight’s 711 Collection – is nicely detailed and includes opening doors, engine cover (which reveals a well-rendered engine bay) and bonnet (which conceals a spare wheel). Mounted on its own display stand, this Beetle should go down well with VW enthusiasts.

Thanks to the good guys at Toymod – distributors of 711 and Greenlight models we have one of these awesome models to give away. Read full story…

This month SPR Limited has supplied us with two classic V12-powered BRM F1 cars modelled by Spark – the #8 P160 driven by Pedro Rodriguez into second place at the 1971 Dutch GP, and Reine Wisell’s #28 P160B from the 1972 Monaco GP. These two models demonstrate perfectly the lengths that this manufacturer goes to in order to create totally accurate 1:43-scale models. Because these Tony Southgate-designed BRMs share the same monocoque tub, and are essentially the same car, it would have been very easy for Spark to have simply made a few superficial changes, added different decals, and marketed two different versions of same model. But this is not the Spark way. Instead it has gone to the effort of faithfully duplicating both the subtle and obvious differences between the two models.

You will notice the obvious overhead air-box added above the engine, plus the two vanes on the rear wing of the 1972 Marlboro-sponsored P160B. But Spark has also duplicated the less obvious differences between the P160 and P160B. These include – on the ‘B’ – the taller Venturi around the radiator outlet; the addition of front brake cooling ducts; oval oil cooler air intakes (they were rectangular on the 1971 car); and higher side mirrors. All these miniature details combine to create a truly authentic model.

It seems comical that accurate scale models of period race-cars cannot be sold with tobacco sponsorship applied – it’s hardly likely that this would influence a serious model collector to take up smoking! Read full story…