Found on Youtube: The Shaker Run Car Chase

Shaker Run was filmed in 1985 and was based in New Zealand. The plot of the film is a Doctor named Christine Ruben discovered a lethal bio agent and decides to steal it from the government. She recruits a stuntman named Judd Pierson to help her escape while being chased by the Government. This results in a legendary car chase between the stuntman's pink Pontiac Firebird Trans Am and the awesome Ford Capri Silhouette that was built by Brent Bullivant (but owned by Brian Friend at the time of filming). Here is the famous car chase from the movie. Enjoy folks!!!

Car Review: Twin Cam Mini

This week's car review is on a Mini with a little surprise under the bonnet. Gone is the old pushrod A series motor and in it's place is a G13B 1.3 litre Twin Cam engine out of a MK1 Suzuki Swift GTi!

This car is owned and built by Matt Hendra. The build came about because the turbocharged A series motor that was previously in the car blew up and Matt had a crashed Suzuki Swift GTi lying around. It took five years for the car to be built to it's current stage and the Swift motor is said to have been a pretty straight forward conversion.

This awesome little motor puts out 132 BHP and 95 LB/FT at the wheels. This is a strong amount of power for the 1.3 litre engine. Also fitted are some cool looking individual throttle bodies, a custom made aluminium flywheel, a Link G4 Storm ECU and a block girdle. The engine is backed up to the factory five speed GTi gearbox with a Gripper LSD. The engine is fed via twin fuel pumps, one for low pressure and one for high pressure with a Davies Craig electric water pump to help keep the engine cool.

The Mini sports appropriate "TWIN CAM 16 VALVE" stickers on both sides which are a neat addition that announce what's lurking under the hood.

The interior is a good mix of old and new, with the period style steering wheel, fancy Koso tachometer, Autometer Phantom oil pressure gauge, Davies Craig electric water pump and fan controller and a flash push button start system. This is all mounted on a custom made dashboard and looks race ready.

Seats are Racetech 100's and a full roll cage is also fitted. A fire extinguisher is mounted to the floor as a mandatory requirement for racing.

Mounted in the boot is a foam filled safety fuel tank which is linked up to the twin fuel pumps. The pan around the filler is actually a frying pan and stops fuel from spilling when you refuel.

The wheels are 13 X 7 Performance Superlites that are shod with 175/50R13 Yokohama Advan's. This wheel setup looks great with the red and black colour combination of the body.

The colour scheme is reminiscent of the works rally cars that raced back in the 60's and 70's. However, this car's colour scheme has a couple of extra details such as these carbon fibre styled roundels on the door and the carbon fibre wrapped bonnet.

Here is a video of the engine running. It sounds sweet with a single motorbike muffler.

Overall, this Mini is immaculately built and looks spectacular. I would like to thank Matt Hendra for allowing me to review his awesome little Mini.

What's your verdict on this excellent Mini? Leave a comment below or on our Facebook page. Thanks for reading!!!

Trade Me Find: Chevrolet Corvette Callaway Twin Turbo

This week's Trade Me find may not be NZ built but it is an incredibly rare piece of American automotive history that I felt was worth sharing, a 1987 Chevrolet Corvette Callaway Twin Turbo.

Some of you may remember the Corvette based Callaway Sledgehammer that was built by Reeves Callaway and his team to break records. The Sledgehammer featured a specially built 898 BHP twin turbo V8 and was capable of 410 KMH. This production version is number 40 of 184 built and also features a twin turbo V8 but with 345 BHP instead which propels the car to 286 KMH. The engine appears to be just as it was from the factory and looks great with the twin intercooler's stacked on top of the engine.

The Corvette also sports the signature of Reeves Callaway which is an added touch of authenticity.

The interior appears to be in excellent condition and sports a factory build plate in the centre console. The trim is totally 80's spec with acres of brown carpet and brown leather seats which I think looks pretty cool. Interestingly, the seller describes the car as having a "4 + 3" 7 speed manual transmission. The Callaway also has every option fitted from the factory according to the seller.

This Corvette comes with all of it's original build sheets, manuals and all the documentation from when it was imported into New Zealand. The seller claims it is the only one imported here and it was done by the original owner.

Overall, this car looks superb which is probably due to it only covering 15,200 miles. The car currently has a buy now price of $60,000 and is located in Ashburton. You can check out the listing by clicking here.

What's your opinion on this little red Corvette? Leave a comment below or on our Facebook page. Thanks for reading!!!

NZ Motorsport: A brief history of Manfeild Autocourse

Manfeild is one track that most of us would be familiar with and have attended numerous race meetings over the years. Here is the story behind the Manfeild race track and how it evolved over the years.

Manfeild Autocourse was completed in 1973 by the Manawatu Car Club as a purpose built race course with all the facilities such as toilets and pit buildings. The track's design allowed the viewing of the racing to be uninterrupted as it is built on one field without objects such as trees getting in the way. The name Manfeild comes from "Man" in Manawatu and "Feild" in Feilding. The total length of the course is 3.03 kilometres.

The club held the first event at Manfeild the same year with quite a few cars turning up for it. Classics like the LC Torana were entered alongside cars like this old Austin.

Throughout the 70's, many different cars raced at Manfeild. These ranged from entry level Mini's and Ford Escort's to big wig race teams with Formula 5000's. Formula Ford was also another great starter race series and were raced at the track as part of their series.

In the 80's and 90's, Group A started to kick off at Manfeild and cars like the E30 and E36 BMW 3 series were commonly seen on track. Also, legendary JDM cars such as the DR30 Nissan Skyline and The AE86 Toyota Trueno were also seen on the race course. The NZV8 championship arrived in 1996 and Manfeild is also known for the intermarque sprints where pretty much any car can race as long they have flame proof overalls, a fire extinguisher and road legal tyre's. The 90's also brought forth growth, with the track growing to 4.5 kilometres in total with the addition of a 1.5 kilometre secondary track.

The 2000's brought along further motorsport events such as the D1NZ series in 2003 and the New Zealand Grand Prix in 2008. Today, Manfeild is enjoyed by many due to a lot of classic races being held there such as the MG classic and import car events such as 4 & Rota. The Manfeild park itself has also been expanded to include an arena and other facilities so events such as Horse shows can take place.

Overall, the Manfeild Autocourse is an excellent place to race or watch. Every car fan in New Zealand should check out Manfeild, especially when the MG classic is on as you can get a ride around the track for $5!

Do you have an interesting story from Manfeild? Leave a comment below or on our Facebook page. Thanks for reading!!!

Hot Wheels: Awesomeness on a miniature scale

Ok, I know that you're thinking Home Built NZ is just about real cars, but what happens when you can't afford the cars of your dreams?

Since 1968, Hot Wheels has been the subject of collecting and sharing across the globe and is a far more cheaper option than collecting real cars. In recent years, collecting in New Zealand has increased vastly and Mattel, the producer of Hot Wheels, has met this demand with some pretty cool collectible cars.

For example, Mattel recently released this super cool set of classic Japanese cars called "Japan Historics". These were based on real life cars and feature legends such as the Mazda RX3 and Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R. People promptly snapped them up and now you can only get them through private sellers.

Here's a couple of design shots of both the Skyline 2000GT-R and the RX3. The level of detail on these cars is astounding, note the replica works details on the Skyline and the large flair guards on the RX3 which are styled after the original race cars.

There are also cars to collect that are a bit more homegrown like the legendary MK1 Ford Escort RS1600. Most of us grew up around these cars and they were also built here as well as in the UK. These hot wheels cars aren't superbly rare but hoarders get in to the boxes before they are released and take them all to on sell them for way higher than they are worth.

Hot Wheels cover a vast range of different car cultures, from JDM imports such as the Honda Integra GSR, Exotic italian cars like the Pagani Huayra and American muscle cars like the Ford Mustang. There is also fictional cars such as the "Tail Dragger" that look pretty damn cool. Overall, Hot Wheels is a great way to get into cars and due to a large availability, can be collected by all ages.

If you are a collector of Hot Wheels or other die casts, share your collection below or on our Facebook page. If you would like to read more about Hot Wheels, visit the official Hot Wheels site. Thanks for reading!!!

Historic NZ Cars: Mclaren M1A

The Mclaren M1A was the start of a successful career of the late great Bruce Mclaren. It was the first car ever designed and built by Mclaren and his team and it was made to compete in Group 7 racing in America. The M1A is the second car used by Mclaren to enter Group 7 as they used a modified Zerex dubbed the "Zerex Special" due to the large amount of modifications made to the car. (They completely re-engineered the chassis and added an Oldsmobile V8)

The Mclaren was built on a tubular spaceframe chassis that was made of large diameter tubing. The body was made out of lightweight resin and was made in four different sections. The car had a stressed bulkhead and undertray by means of alloy sheet metal being painstakingly riveted and bonded to the chassis. This added to the cars rigidity and ensured the car was tight on the track.

The M1A was powered by a 4.5 litre Oldsmobile V8 that was built by Traco. This was matched to a Hewland LG 4 speed manual transmission. Braking was supplied by dual circuit Girling calipers and discs both front and rear. Suspension was independent all round with unequal wishbones and adjustable coils in the front, and trailing arms with an anti roll bar, reversed lower wishbones and adjustable coils in the rear.

The car was first campaigned in September of 1964 and was the fastest car on the track at it's first event at Mosport in America. Unfortunately, the M1A suffered a broken throttle linkage and was forced out of the race for a significant amount of time while the team repaired it. The Mclaren got back on track in time to take third place but would have won if the throttle linkage held up.

Further on, the M1A was painted an orange/red with a central white stripe instead of the silver and black livery it originally started off in. The car was retired in 1965 in favour of the Mclaren M1B, which was an evolution of the M1A. This car managed to break the lap record at Mosport not once, not twice, but seven times! This got people talking and so Frank Nichols and Peter Agg from the Elva car company got in touch with Mclaren to build customer versions of the M1A. 24 were built in total and were successful on tracks such as Silverstone and Riverside and were driven by racing legends like Chris Amon and Graham Hill. The customer cars could be ordered with either a 4.7 litre Ford Mustang engine or the same 4.5 litre Oldsmobile engine used in the original car.

Overall, the Mclaren M1A is an excellent car and is one of the great success stories of Mclaren that have helped get the company to where they are now. It is also another great story of Kiwi's building groundbreaking race cars. If you would like a particular NZ built car featured, leave a comment below or on our Facebook page.

Thanks for reading!!!

Found on Youtube: 1961 New Zealand Grand Prix

The 1961 New Zealand Grand Prix was held at Ardmore racing circuit on the 7th of January 1961. The Grand Prix featured many famous local and international drivers such as Bruce Mclaren, Denny Hulme, Jack Brabham and Jim Clark. Brabham took first place in the Grand Prix piloting his Cooper Climax T53 with Mclaren taking second in a similar Cooper Climax T53 and Graham Hill finishing in third place with his BRM P48. The fastest lap was achieved by Stirling Moss with a time of 1:21.2, set in a Climax powered Lotus 18.

 Unfortunately, they stopped racing at Ardmore after the 1962 Grand Prix due to aviation related matters (the track was a temporary circuit on Ardmore Aerodrome) and the New Zealand Grand Prix moved to the Pukekohe racing circuit.

After digging around on Youtube, I found this interesting and neat video from the 1961 New Zealand Grand Prix, courtesy of Archives NZ. Enjoy folks!!!

That was a pretty cool insight into the way we kiwi's used to race. If you have found an interesting video about cars from the good old days, please leave a link in the comments below or on our Facebook page. Thanks for watching!!!