Auckland Monthly Run - Muriwai Beach

2 August 1998

It has been noticed by the regular participants at our monthly runs that there’s often a ‘theme’ for the day, like all the cars have forced induction or one version of MR2 dominates the turnout. August was the month for red SW-20s. Six of the nine MR2s fitted this description. Bev and her son had an NA each, as did Trent and Andrew. Evan and Paul brought along their red Turbos to complete the set. The non-conformists were Grant with his white turbo, Rob in a blue SC and myself in my silver NA AW-11. Then of course there were those who wanted to be really different, namely Richard in his GT-Four and Matt with his MX5.

It was a chilly start at Mt Eden (when isn’t it ?) so we didn’t hang around too long. Ade had called me earlier in the morning to let me know about a Gymkhana she and Steve were entering in Avondale. This became our first stop for the group. The competition looked pretty serious with many lightweight open wheeler ‘specials’ present. Steve was having trouble with understeer and Ade with braking so I guess they’ll just have to get their Fraser finished before the next event.

The rest of us then headed out to Muriwai Beach on the opposite side of the country, about 30 mins drive. This beach is popular with surfers during the summer but there was plenty of parking on this cold Sunday. After our photo shoot we went looking for some food and found a cafe which looked slightly out of place but I guess even surfies in Auckland still need a morning Latte. There was a half hour wait for hot chips and burgers so some of us opted for Christchurch’s greatest export, the Cookietime Cookie. In the cafe car park we spotted another MR2... another red SW-20 MR2, but the owner was nowhere to be seen.

74KB
The cars lined up at Muriwai Beach.

The weather wasn’t improving so the beach wasn’t the ideal spot to spend the afternoon. We headed back to Auckland to be nearer the warmth of the Sky Tower and also to check on Ade & Steve’s progress. They were just packing up when we arrived but didn’t say where they’d come in the competition so I thought it best not to ask. Does this mean MR2s aren’t perfect ?... Nah, must have been the drivers.

Malcolm Cambridge