Table of contents for No 314 May - June 2025 in NZ Performance Car

Ah, what a crazy past few months. It’s certainly been all over the place. First up, big thanks to Toyota New Zealand for sending me down south to the GR Festival at Highlands Motorsport Park — that one had been on the bucket list for a while. It was a solid day checking out the machines that South Islanders have been quietly brewing in their sheds, all set against some pretty unreal backdrops. I spotted a few builds I hadn’t seen before, some of which I’ll be keeping an eye on for future features. While the car count was a bit smaller than what you’d get at Hampton Downs, the variety of niche rides and the yarns with the down-to-earth Toyota owners made it worth it. Then came Repco Beach…

Downtime Entertainment’s 4 & Rotary North Island show series concluded on Sunday, 30 March, with the annual trek to Manfeild for what was round two of this year’s North Island–based show series. Held over a weekend that always kicks off with the massively popular track day, Saturday entries actually had to be shut off due to a packed pit area, a full race track, and keen punters lining up from 5am. This year saw a notable number of travellers from north of Taupō who had never been to Manfeild before — and they loved every moment of lapping a real driver’s track. Sunday is always show day, with the hall hosting the show and shine while the race track remained open for what was Impulsive V5 — a rotary-only track…

The Taranaki Car Club’s Back Beach Drift event returned for the first time since 2018, attracting nearly 40 of NZ’s top drifters to what some call the most scenic drift section on earth on 29 March. A huge amount of hard work and dedication from Georgia Wadeson, Brandon Clarke, and Natalie Sanders saw the event come together in a very short period of time — but having not run for nearly eight years made the team even more determined to succeed. With great weather and a big crowd turnout, the local car community was out in full force to see local lad Shaun Potroz crowned 2025 Drift Master. The club tells us they’re hoping to make this event happen more regularly to keep the drift scene thriving in Taranaki!…

Building a car is a hell of a journey. Every single one of us begins with a vision in mind, but, along the way, that initial visualisation can become less than 20/20. Lines are blurred. Barriers and deadlines are broken. Sometimes the rollercoaster just feels like it’ll never crest that ascent. But like all challenging journeys, the destination is often that much sweeter once the vision crystallises into a final form. Dunedin’s Luke Neilan, owner and builder of this spectacular FD RX-7, begins our short chat about the car with a bit of wisdom. “If I had to give anyone some advice, I’d say stick to a plan,” he laughs sheepishly. “I didn’t. Throughout the build, my plans changed so many times, and it cost me so much more time…

Got Instagram? Want print fame on top of all those likes that fly your way each time you post a photo? Want to show us your whip without actually talking to us? Want to see what other readers are up to in their sheds? Here’s the deal: keep an eye out on our story, where we’ll ask you to share your favourite photo on your ‘gram and tag us. Each month, we’ll handpick some of the best shots to feature right here in print!…

Aucklander Haroon Memon is the proud owner of this MR2 project, which started out as an unfinished project found on Marketplace, a rough diamond in need of serious attention. The previous owner had made some progress but eventually threw in the towel, leaving Haroon and his team with the task of bringing the car to life. When it came to choosing an engine for the build, Haroon didn’t hesitate to go with Honda’s K24. It was a natural choice for a car that required both power and drivability. “Honda engines, especially the K-series, are unmatched when it comes to four-cylinder performance,” Haroon explains. With its refined ignition systems, improved head flow, robust block, and chain-driven timing, the K-series offers a performance level that’s tough to beat — something Haroon was…

HERO CONTRIBUTOR WARREN SARE I didn’t really know what to write here, so I asked my kids and they said just explain you are the grumpy guy on the mic at a whole bunch of events. Seemed a fair way to kick off things so allow me to re-introduce myself to those who care. Hi, my name is Warren and, yes, you might have heard me at a Downtime, 4 & Rotary, D1NZ, World Time Attack, or Mad Mike event. I’ve been lucky or unlucky, depending on how you look at it, to have been part of this publication under five different editors, and no one has cancelled me yet … guess I just haven’t tried hard enough. For 25 years now I’ve been around in some capacity since my…

D1NZ’s grand final will have concluded over Anzac weekend (25–26 April), and it’s looking a lot like the title of Drift King will head offshore for the first time — thanks to an unstoppable Aussie force known as Luke Fink. Racking up podium after podium, Fink and the JDM Motorsport team must have one eye on current champ Kase PB’s points record of 442. And by the time you read this, there could well be tiny violins playing in drift pit bays everywhere — except the JDM Motorsport camp.…

The LZ World Tour is heading to New Zealand’s Taupo Motorsport Park on May 3rd and 4th. Featuring renowned YouTube drivers and car builders, LZMFG, Drift Games, and The Choice Files are stoked to bring to your doorstep Adam LZ, Collete Davis, Sammit, Jimmy Oakes and Duane McKeever, just to name a few. Invites have also gone out to some of the biggest names in NZ drifting, so expect insane tandem battles and that electric atmosphere that makes the LZ World Tour so special. The event is about more than just the driving — it’s about bringing the community together. We know how passionate the NZ drift scene is, and we’re here to celebrate that with you. Alongside the on-track chaos, expect a massive car show, vendor village, and plenty…

Imagine talking to a technophobic old boy in Australia, telling him that you’re happy to deposit money to him for a car that you’ve never laid eyes on. That was the situation Tauranga’s Toby Richards found himself in three years ago. That seemingly simple transaction would take five months to complete, as the old fella just couldn’t come to grips with the situation. Toby had very good reason to keep at him though, as the ’79 Mazda 626 in question was as original and unmolested as they get. While his love of rotors — which extends back to his youth — could have seen him switch to a number of other vehicles, the 626 shape was the one that he was set on. While that may seem like an odd…

Like many of us, Christy Bradley’s journey into the modified car world rapidly evolved when she found the company of like-minded friends. For her, that came in the form of the Girlspeed internet forum way back in the early 2000s. In a time before social media as we know it, forums were the place to connect with fellow car lovers. While they mainly revolved around single makes or models, Girlspeed was an exception. As the name suggests, it was a place for female car owners to connect, chat, and arrange meets. The forum was one of the busiest around, and the Girlspeed community was hugely supportive of each other, attending events en masse and producing a number of well-known cars and personalities. When Christy first joined, she was the not-so-proud…

ITCHIN’ FOR THE STREET After years of building and sending his R32 sedan drift car, Auckland local Jono Hopping found himself asking the all-too-familiar question: What’s the point of a sick car if you can barely drive it? With drift days few and far between, Jono set his sights on a new goal: build a street-legal twin. Something he could just hop in, turn the key, and rip around in whenever the itch hit. Pulling the good bits off the drift car was never an option — that thing’s too dialled — so the plan was to build another R32 from scratch. This time, it had to be a factory sunroof with that early-2000s OEM+ styling. Since it was gonna be a full resto, he needed a solid base —…

There’s big news on the horizon for GT-R fans — GT-R Festival New Zealand has officially joined the international GT-R Festival family, alongside the well-known Aussie and US events. The collaboration comes courtesy of Motive Video and Premier Events, who are teaming up to take the local event up a notch. So what does this mean? For starters, the international link-up is expected to bring more media attention from overseas and open the doors to some pretty special guest appearances, such as Hiroshi Tamura — better known as the Godfather of GT-R himself. He will be flying over to meet fans, do some signing sessions, and chat about anything Nissan-related. There’s also talk of exclusive meet-and-greets for GT-R and Z owners, but details are still under wraps for now. In…

Auckland’s car scene is about to get a new addition with Prowear’s Chrome Showcase, an event set to bring together automotive culture, lifestyle, and entertainment in one place. If you’ve been around long enough, you’ll remember the big car events that used to define the scene. Chrome Showcase is looking to fill that gap, bringing a solid lineup of cars, bikes, and attractions for a weekend that’s more than just your average meet-up. It’s open to all makes and models — imports, rotaries, V8s, lowriders, hot rods, you name it. The Bike Show’s got its own stacked lineup too, with everything from café racers to wild Viclas. Two-wheelers won’t be left out. The event will feature NZ’s Top 50 Elite Car Show and Top 20 Motorcycles, plus car club displays,…

Relationships can be a tricky thing to navigate for car enthusiasts at times. We often base our lifestyles around cars — pouring hours of time, and wads of cash, into our hobby. It’s not hard to spend weekend after weekend doing car-based activities; after all, it’s a very fun social activity too. Without even thinking, you can travel five hours with your mates to pick up a project car, fix up said project, experience the thrill of driving it, and feel the pain of breaking it. It’s easy to go through this cycle over and over if you let yourself. To be honest, it’s a time-consuming hobby, and it doesn’t always mesh well with our naturally built-in urge to find a partner, settle down, and build a family. Reading this,…

New Zealand’s rotary scene is a national treasure and must be cherished, if not protected, at all costs. There. I said it. Too often, the whingers and moaners among us car folk like to rip on Kiwi car culture. Sure, things might be flashier, lower, and of higher quality on aggregate among larger and wealthier economies. But as they say, “comparison is the thief of joy”, and, holy moly, was there a crapload of joy going on at the 11th instalment of REunion. If, after 11 years of brapping, you’re not really sure what this festival of all things Reuleaux triangle shaped is about, let us fill in the gaps for you. Every February, the team from Choice Events opens the gates of Taupō International Motorsport Park, inviting any vehicle…

A s champions of Clubfest 2025, the ladies of GIMS are back with another sampling of their rides for this issue of In the Club. Growing in numbers New Zealand–wide, the ladies now have representatives in most areas, so if you’re interested in learning more, just reach out to them or join the social banter. CLUB CLAIRE NISSAN 180SX “Hi, I’m Claire, and this is my LS1-powered 180SX, ‘Pinky’. After stepping away from motorsport for 10 years (thanks to kids and building up Trundles Automotive), I’m excited to return to the track, focusing on drifting and local car club events. “Since motorsport is typically male dominated, I’m proud to be part of the GIMS club, hoping to inspire other girls to get involved and show that we can do so…

PETER HARRISON AGE: 46 // LOCATION: NORTH SHORE, AUCKLAND  OCCUPATION: CARPENTER // BUILD TIME: THREE YEARS LENGTH OF OWNERSHIP: FIVE YEARS NZPC: Hey, Pete. That’s a beautiful example of a KE25! How did you first get into modifying cars? Pete: As a teenager, I was always tinkering with cars. My dad was an engineer, so he was always there to help and teach me. Now that I’m a father with my own car-obsessed teenage son, we wanted a project we could build together. We thought the KE25 would be the perfect base. At first, the plan was to have Fraser Cars fit the engine and sort the brakes, then take it back and finish the rest ourselves — things like the suspension and interior. But as the build progressed, we…