Bentley
March 20th, 2009 by NZ Classic Car
Auckland’s viaduct is all set to come alive with hundreds of classic cars this weekend. The venue for the show is the Auckland Viaduct Harbour, Eastern Car Park (alongside the Maritime Museum), Sunday March 22.
Show time is from 9am to 5.30pm and entry to the public is free.
Car clubs that have already indicated their intentions to be at the show include The Porsche Car Club, Bristol Owners’ Club, Alvis Car Club, The Historic Racing and Sports Car Club, Jowett Car Club and many more.
Individual cars on display will include a 1906 Grand Prix Darracq, 1919 Lancia Kappa, the ex Bruce McLaren Rothmans Cooper single-seater (provided by MOTAT), Jaguar C-Type, Racing Ray Williams’ famous Porsche and a Blower Bentley.
Various exhibit stalls have also been confirmed, and those on hand will include The Bruce McLaren Trust, Hampton Downs, Hulme Supercar, Targa NZ, Continental Car Services (Ferrari, Maserati and Porsche), Independent Prestige (Lamborghini, Bentley and Aston Martin) — plus many more. There will also be a display tent showing old motor racing films from yesteryear.
Get along there this Sunday and check it out.
January 22nd, 2009 by NZ Classic Car
It was 50 years ago that the first Bentley V8 engine was created but no one back then would have thought it would become a motoring icon. This year will mark the 6¾-litre Bentley V8 engine’s 50th anniversary, with the motor having seen its first installation in the 1959 Bentley S2. The mill was enlarged back in 1968 to its current displacement and has seen the addition of turbochargers and intercoolers on the way to its current position under the hoods of the 530-horsepower Bentley Brooklands coupe, Arnage and Azure convertible models for 2009. Possibly, the most amazing achievement is that the engine still uses pushrods.
January 15th, 2009 by NZ Classic Car
A McLaren F1 LM road car and many other exclusive vehicles are now on show at SkyCity in Auckland. The SkyCity Supercar show in partnership with A1GP World Cup of Motorsport opens today at the SkyCity events centre. On display is the new A1 Team New Zealand race car Black Beauty now powered by Ferrari.
The rest of the show is split out into four sections:
Luxury on Wheels – Some of the World’s most famous marques, including Lamborghini, Bentley, Aston Martin, Porsche and Ferrari. Highlights of this section include a Ferrari Enzo, Aston Martin DBS, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder and an Audi R8. For the classic vehicle entusiasts there is Denny Hulme’s McLaren M8A Can-Am Car and a McLaren F1 LM Road Car.
Race Place – A selection of finely tuned speed machines used for circuit racing and a display on how top drivers progress from kart racing to competing with the World’s best. The highlight of this section is the new Black Beauty A1GP car.
Green Machines – A detailed insight into how today’s most energy efficent vehicles work. Models from Volkswagen, Lexus and Hyundai will be on display. The highlight is a diesel powered rally car.
Virtual Racing – Visitors can compete head to head with friends in race simulators designed to replicate the Taupo race track, venue for the NZ leg of the A1GP.
A special feature of the show is a daily seminar hosted by A1 Team New Zealand’s Data Engineer, Jonathan Moury. He will speak on aspects of race preparation, race simulation and data analysis followed by a Q&A session.
The Supercar Show is on from January 15-20, 2009.
Show Hours are Midday – 7pm weekdays, 11am – 6pm weekends.
Admission is $15 for adults and $5 for children.
For more information on the show, click here to visit the SkyCity website
December 12th, 2008 by NZ Classic Car
The Earl of March this week confirmed the theme of the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK, as ‘True Grit — Epic Feats of Endurance.’ The theme celebrates the drive and determination of motor racing’s heroes, who overcame huge physical, mental and mechanical barriers in their quest for glory. From Jackie Stewart’s enduring victory at the 1968 German Grand Prix, despite his broken wrist, to Mick Doohan’s courageous return to motorcycle racing in 1992, without full use of his right leg, there are countless amazing tales of performances far beyond what was thought possible for any human being. When most would have accepted defeat, these few continued to pursue their goals against all odds. The 2009 Festival of Speed will celebrate their unrelenting true grit and the legends born from it.
The 2009 Festival will run from 3-5 July and will celebrate the true motor sport heroes that went the extra mile in the pursuit of victory. Motor racing legends and modern day stars are expected to line up alongside their friends and adversaries at the celebrated 1.16 mile hillclimb, in a tribute to great feats of endurance in competition.
The selection of machinery at the 2009 Festival of Speed is expected to feature a good gathering of the world’s finest competition cars and motorcycles. In action on two-wheels and four will be everything from early Grand Prix and endurance machines, to off-road and contemporary racers. Also featuring will be the centenaries of Bugatti, Audi and Morgan, 50 years of both Mini and the Daytona Speedway, 40 years since Jackie Stewart and Matra’s dominance in motor sport, plus 60 continuous years of both the Motorcycle World Championship and the most famous endurance race of them all, the 24 Hours of Le Mans — Goodwood will celebrate the huge and lasting influence of these marques, circuits and championships as part of the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Complementing the overall Festival of Speed theme will be a host of other attractions. Aside from getting close to the action-packed hillclimb and paddocks, Festival-goers will be able to relish some of the most stylish vehicles ever designed at the Cartier ‘Style et Luxe’ concours d’elegance, glimpse into the future of personal transportation at the BP Ultimate FoS-TECH technology pavilion, see many of motor sport’s famous faces up close, swoon at the mouth-watering display of supercars, witness the exciting sideways action on the Forest Rally Stage and become a part of the action at the off-road activity fields and Junior Festival of Speed.
Goodwood Festival of Speed founder, Lord March says: ‘It will be fabulous to have so many great cars and drivers here at Goodwood to celebrate our endurance theme for 2009. I look forward with much anticipation to seeing some of the great endurance drivers, riders and machines in action.’
The date for next year’s Festival of Speed is now confirmed to be taking place from 3-5 July 2009 with the Goodwood Revival also confirmed for the weekend of 18.19.20 September.
December 3rd, 2008 by NZ Classic Car
Bonhams classic car auction at Olympia, London on Monday saw healthy bidding on a range of unique classics and high performance vehicles. Strong prices were achieved for cars as diverse as a Swedish supercar – the 2004 Koenigsegg – which sold for £172,000 ($482,990 NZ) and a 1913 Adler Kleinwagen Tourer which doubled the pre-sale estimate, fetching £24,150 ($67,815 NZ). Top price in the sale was £342,500 ($961,000 NZ) for a 1931 Bentley 8-litre Sedanca de Ville with coachwork by H J Mulliner.
The sale realised £2.9-million with 68% of all lots selling, reflecting sound selective bidding across the wide spectrum of cars on offer. James Knight, International Head of Bonhams Motoring Department and auctioneer at Monday’s sale said, “We had some excellent results throughout the sale demonstrating that while bidders are becoming more selective about what they buy, they are prepared to pay healthy — and on some occasions record – prices for the right car. Whatever the age or marque, if it ticks the all-important boxes of provenance, originality and condition, the interest remains strong.”
Camera crews jostled to shoot footage of the ex-James Bond 1976 Lotus Esprit, star of the movie ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, which sold for £111,500 ($312,800 NZ) to a private US collector from Atlanta, Georgia, bidding by telephone. Speaking after the sale, he said he was delighted to have secured the car, describing himself as a Lotus car and James Bond aficionado.
August 15th, 2008 by NZ Classic Car
Sitting in this superb classic car streaming along Auckland’s motorway, with one eye on the clock showing a little over 60mph, I reflected on our parallel histories. In 1946 I was a lad, in the Upper Sixth at that very British of schools — Christ’s College in Christchurch. So I take the view that both of us — myself and this car — entered life together, as very young adults reared to believe in our innate superiority.
In our subsequent lives this Bentley has had seven careful owners. I, on the other hand, have been raced, rallied and rolled by two serious owners — five fewer than the Bentley. However, I’ve been loaned out to casual drivers quite a few times, all of whom have been kind in their treatment of me, although all have contributed to my well-used patina. On me it all shows, on the Bentley nothing has changed. This car — chassis number B101LH, engine number B250L — was imported new into New Zealand by Henry Berisford Maunsell of Rathkeale, Masterton. Maunsell was a farmer (Rathkeale Station now being Rathkeale College) and used the car for normal everyday use until he died in 1958. A father and son then owned the car — also farmers of Masterton. In 1978 Dr Graham Cowie of Masterton — a well known General Practitioner and classic car enthusiast — bought it, and at this stage the car had completed 101,389km (63,000 miles).
Doctor Cowie only kept the car for seven months, during which period he did one or two long trips in it as far as Taranaki with no trouble. He commented it was remarkably silent, and the steering was extraordinarily light for such a large car. Dr Cowie lacked the skill to restore the car properly, so it was sold on at 104,900km (65,182 miles) to Howard John and Alan David Jones.
Read the rest of this entry »July 18th, 2008 by NZCC Editor
The British International Motor Show — to be held from 23 July to 3 August — has plenty on offer for car enthusiasts; including the debut of the long awaited Lotus Project Eagle. Another car that will be making an appearance at the show caught my interest; the Bentley GTZ — and no prizes for guessing that the ‘Z’ stands for Zagato. Check out the photo and you can easily make out Zagato’s trademark ‘double-bubble’ roofline. Only nine examples of this ultimate Bentley GT will be produced for worldwide consumption and it’s based on the new Continental GT Speed. The oily bits remain the same, but the body for the GTZ has been completely restyled by Zagato. How much does it cost? Well, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it!
