82KB1 November 1998
Entry List:
| Driver | Co-driver | Car |
| Jason | Turbo | |
| Grant | Christine | SW-20 |
| Trent | (Matt)* | SW-20 |
| Brad | Eden | SC |
| Rob | SC | |
| Malcolm | (Richard)* | AW-11 |
| Richard | GT-Four | |
| Matt | Jo | MX5 |
| Tim | Supra |
* After retirements of their own cars these drivers became co-drivers.
Yippie, the weather was fine for the first time since July... well that’s not strictly true but it was the first fine Auckland monthly run since July and that’s what mattered. For once it was nice to hang around at the top of Mt Eden without having to hop between fogged up cars just to meet people and plan the day’s events.
The fine weather brought out nine club cars, not all of them MR2s, but a big enough gathering to attract the attention of a mufti police car. What an honour. Jason provided one explanation for his presence as he along with every other black SW-20 owner in Auckland had been questioned over a recent murder in which the suspect allegedly drove an MR2. Yeah right! As if you could fit a murder weapon in an MR2... and what makes them so sure it was black, the kingfisher green colour looks very dark in any light other than the mid-day sun...
Our first drive for the day was down to Pukekohe but just before we got on the motorway Jason and Tim headed off towards the city. Perhaps Jason had seen another cop and decided to make a run for it this time. Richard and I called in at my home to drop off Richard’s ailing GT-Four so he could co-drive in my car. The run was only 10 minutes old and we’d already lost a third of the field!
We regrouped at Pukekohe and caught up with Ade & Steve who were racing their Supercharger in a clubmans championship meeting (see last months newsletter for Steve’s report). Steve was having some close racing but Ade made her start-to-finish win look so easy that Matt’s wife Jo got bored and stole the MX5. Matt jumped in Trent’s car for the rest of the day.
82KB
After lunch we headed out SH2 to Mangatawhiri to watch the 53rd and last stage of the Dunlop Targa. A ‘yet to be erected’ concrete power pole provided us with seating at a sweeping S-bend just after the start so most of us settled here and awaited the first car. Matt decided that somewhere along the 10 km stage there must be a better corner so he headed off in search of perfection. Being the last stage of the 5 day event all the remaining competitors were taking it easy. I’d told everyone to keep an eye out for Mark Parson’s TR7 V8 as he often puts on a show when a crowd is around but even he was playing it safe.
Unfortunately, by this stage of the Targa, Jeff Torkington’s AW-11 MR2 had already retired but we were treated to a brief look at Bill Leckie’s Turbo as it flew by us. We all cheered and Bill’s young blonde co-driver waved at me... er, us. The Turbo’s front spoiler was heavily bandaged but it was in far better shaped than many of the finishers.
To complete our day of motorsport watching some of us headed back to Matt’s place for the Japanese F1 GP. No MR2s competing in this race but the McLarens won... and Bruce McLaren was a NZer... and Chris Amon was his team mate... and he now promotes Toyotas... which is what we drive, so we kind of won that race too.