Wellington Car Club Celebrates Being 70 Years Young

Press Release 18 July 2012
Wellington Car Club - for immediate release

Wellington Car Club Celebrates Being 70 Years Young

2012 is an important milestone for Wellington Car Club, as it marks the 70th anniversary for what is believed to be the oldest motorsport club in New Zealand. Following the highly successful running of the NZ Hillclimb Champs Finals by the club earlier in the year, the focus now turns to the formal celebration on the 17th and 18th August.

Starting out as the NZ Sports Car Club in 1942, the club’s name was changed to Wellington Car Club a few years later when the NZSCC effectively became the Motorsport Association of New Zealand.

From there the club has recorded a proud history as one of the most prominent motorsport car clubs in the country. With national and international competitors on both the track and on gravel, the club is recognised as one of the first to establish special stage rallying in NZ. It ran many sprint events in the Wellington area, including well known events at Houghton Bay, Palmer Head, and Paekakariki Hill Road. The last of these classic events still running is the annual Alexandra Road Hillclimb on Mt Victoria, which dates back to the early 1960s.

The club organised and ran the first true high speed special stage rally, using closed roads, as the Silver Fern Rally in 1969. This continued in 1971 as the Heatway Rally, which saw the first international competitors on NZ gravel roads. The rest they say is history as the event grew to become a round of the World Rally Championship and on to become Rally New Zealand.

With a pool of talented drivers, it wasn’t all about motorsport competition. In 1979 a number of club members contributed their skills as stunt drivers in the iconic film Goodbye Pork Pie. And if you keep a close eye out during the chase scenes in Wellington you will see club competition cars with roll cages as the “innocent” bystanders as the famous Mini rushes past.

More recently the club provided many volunteers, officials, and competitors for the Wellington Street Races which ran from 1985 to 1996. From flag marshals and timing crew to safety car drivers and major officials the club was a major part of these international events.

Now it is time to look back and remember all of the good times, the adventures and the friendships that make up such a vibrant club over all of these years.

“We are keen for as many past and present club members to come along”, says current president Gordon Diggle. “We are organising a pretty relaxed weekend that focuses on getting people together”.

The main events are planned for Saturday 18th August, and are centred around the Mac’s BrewBar on Taranaki Wharf.

During the afternoon, the public is invited to come down and see a car display on Taranaki Wharf, in front of the BrewBar. “We are planning to cover as many eras of motorsport as we can, from the historic and classic, right through to the modern”, continues Diggle. “We will also have the band Phoenix Foundation down to play for us, so it should be a good afternoon”. There will also be slideshows and movies from the club’s history running.

In the evening there will be a meal for those who register, and a function designed to get as many stories and anecdotes flowing as possible.

The club is actively promoting this celebration to anyone who has had an association with it, and there is more information on their web site www.carclub.co.nz Including a flyer with relevant information to download, and a link to allow people to register for the various events.

Those wanting to attend the meal must register by 12th August.

Dick Butters competing at Houghton Bay Sprint in the early 1960s to Ron Scanlan competing at Alexandra Road in 2011

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