22KBThe stop at Bethlehem
8:00am Saturday morning; Grant (SW-20), Richard & Brad (GT-Four), Rob (SC), and myself (AW-11) were at the starting point, Ade & Steve (Turbo) weren’t far away. We were all about to embark on one of the longest events in the history of the MR2 Owners Club.
After filling up with gas we said goodbye to the city lights and headed into the unknown, well I knew where we were going but I don’t think anyone else did. It was a quick blast down the motorway and over the Bombay hills before we were joined by Simon (SW-20), who’d come up from Hamilton. Richard & Brad then snuck off to find breakfast, blatantly ignoring my carefully planned schedule.
The next couple of hours driving were fairly uneventful as the roads from Auckland to Tauranga are well used in the weekends and we even met a traffic jam in Ngatea! Apart from this delay the first official stop was at Bethlehem, just before Tauranga, to meet Donel and his supercharger.
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The stop at Bethlehem
We were running slightly behind schedule and Donel had become so engrossed in a book that he didn’t even notice us pull up behind him until I tapped on his window... or perhaps he was reading his MR2 owners manual. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s resorted to reading the contents of the glovebox in this situation.
We went through the introductions, again. Grant lifted his engine cover, again and I took some photos, again. While parked, a couple of young ladies in a blue SC drove by, tooted and waved, but didn’t stop. Shame... Ade might have liked some company.
This was Donel’s neck of the woods so he led us through some of his favourite ‘alternative’ roads, which incidentally were included in the Dunlop Targa later in the month. Our pace was also Targa-like and when we rejoined the main road the aroma of warm brakes was strong. It’s odd how nobody says anything after a stage like that. We all know we’ve been naughty but we just look around with silly grins on our faces.
Our next stop was Te Puke where Peter was waiting. Despite the recent action packed stage we were actually an hour behind schedule at this point. After apologies and introductions Rob decided he’d better head back to Auckland. His gearbox was misbehaving and there was a party back home he couldn’t miss.
A rather familiar looking Mk 7 Jaguar also passed us at Te Puke. Familiar, because we’d already passed him three times that morning. It had been like some sort of tortoise & hare leap frog game. They tooted and we waved so I guess we’d been courteous drivers and Grant hadn’t scared them with his induction noise.
I’d originally planned Te Puke as a refuelling point but those with all the horsepower assured me that they could go another 100km to Opotiki, so off we went. This short stage included the Matata straight which is about 15km long and on one side is the beach and the other is a steep cliff. Quite neat really, if you’re in the right mood.
We also came across the only traffic lights of the day, a one lane tunnel followed by a one lane bridge... red lights at both of them! With the road rage under control we arrived at Opotiki for lunch and compulsory refuelling. Richard tried to drain the petrol station dry filling up his GT-Four while I failed to contain my laughter at his mileage.
The local MR2 (well I’m assuming there’s only one in Opotiki) came out to look but didn’t seem interested in talking. We took over a cafe for lunch and all the locals moved on but not before one of them asked if we had TV’s in our cars. I guess in Opotiki, if you haven’t got a TV in your car, you’re nobody. Bill Gates could come to town, but if he didn’t have a TV in his car...
At this point Simon turned back toward Hamilton to go to work and the rest of us left civilisation completely and went into the Urewera Forest. In the hills around us were the roads that formed the Motu stages which made the Rally of NZ famous. This was car destroying country. As is often the case with altitude, the weather changed for the worse. It started with a couple of golf ball sized water droplets, then we drove into a torrent of water. Headlights went up, speeds came down. Some decided to stop, others went on... confusion reigned.
After reforming the convoy (safety in numbers) we moved on to sunnier skies and by the time we arrived at Makaraka, near Gisborne, we’d all dried out... except for Grant whose power steering electrics were protesting at the treatment but he soldiered on to Mahia building muscles all the way. The road from SH2 out to Mahia Peninsula provided some spectacular views of an unnaturally blue (by Auckland standards) sea. Even petrol head Ade showed her softer side when commenting on the view.
Mahia is a pretty busy place during the holiday season, but this wasn’t holiday season. Margaret, the camping ground manager, gave us all her cabin keys and said “Use as many as you like, bring back the keys you don’t need”. Of course this was a big mistake, we only needed two... but which two. Half an hour later a decision was reached. Once the cars were parked for the night a cold beer and some fish & chips were the order of the day. We wandered onto the beach to see the sunset then made use of the camps TV room by watching Ade & Steve’s racing exploits on video. Not exactly British Touring Cars but Steve filled in the boring bits with an excellent commentary; a great way to end the first day.
Sunday morning everyone was up by 7:30. I’m not sure why as we had plenty of time to make it to Napier. The camping ground was in the shadow of a hill which delayed the sun rise but the antics of the local goats kept us amused in the meantime. Peter headed off to Napier early to meet a friend while the rest of us had a leisurely breakfast before finding a scenic spot to photograph the cars.
On the way out of Mahia a depressed pheasant decided to end it all by walking in front of the lead car, my car. Those following drove through the cloud of feathers and 2 minutes into the day’s driving we all came to another stop. While I checked for impact damage Brad walked back to offer assistance to the bird, none was required, but he did bring me back a feather. Not a great way to start the day so I resigned from being the lead car.
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The line-up at Eskdale Park (Napier). Owner’s and cars from
left to right: Mathew Carter (Blue 92 G-Ltd), Ade & Steve (Silver
‘93 Turbo), John & Kathy Ross (Gunmetal Grey ‘88 SC
T-top), Malcolm Cambridge (Silver ‘84 NZ new), Anne Clement
(‘85 Silver NA), Grant Devonshire (White ‘91 G Ltd), Dave
Fraser & Wendy Whelpton (Red ‘90 G Ltd), Don Svendsen (Blue
‘88 SC T-top), Peter Stonell (Green ‘90 G Ltd), Scott
Davies (Gunmetal Grey, ‘89 NA), Ken & Renee Le Prou (Red
‘91 G Ltd).
The remainder of the trip down Hawkes Bay was uneventful although our meeting point with a group of local club members was changed after we passed each other travelling in opposite directions. Eskdale Park was the lunch venue where the number of MR2s eventually swelled to 12. Although not quite Wellington’s record it’s the biggest club gathering I’ve seen. After a long lunch in the sun it was time to move on as some of us still had 5hrs of driving ahead of us. Grant exited the park in spectacular style with a quick spin on the grass... which I believe was caught on video, so keep an eye on ‘Police Stop’ or ‘Funniest Home Videos’ depending on the highest bidder.
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The line-up at Eskdale Park (Napier). Owner’s and cars from
left to right: Mathew Carter (Blue 92 G-Ltd), Ade & Steve (Silver
‘93 Turbo), John & Kathy Ross (Gunmetal Grey ‘88 SC
T-top), Malcolm Cambridge (Silver ‘84 NZ new), Anne Clement
(‘85 Silver NA), Grant Devonshire (White ‘91 G Ltd), Dave
Fraser & Wendy Whelpton (Red ‘90 G Ltd), Don Svendsen (Blue
‘88 SC T-top), Peter Stonell (Green ‘90 G Ltd), Scott
Davies (Gunmetal Grey, ‘89 NA), Ken & Renee Le Prou (Red
‘91 G Ltd).
The Napier-Taupo Rd is one that I’ve driven many times before but this wasn’t to be a record breaking run. My car’s brakes had started to loose effectiveness earlier in the morning and now Richard’s GT-Four was experiencing similar problems. Donel’s auto transmission was also running out of gears but at least Grant had his power steering back. This was a bit sad for a bunch of modern Japanese sportscars but I guess it was just a sign that we’d better take things easy on the way home.
After a brief pause at the Taupo race track we headed out to a dairy farm south of Rotorua where Ade’s motherly instincts were directed at an MR2 in need of some TLC. Kim, the farmer, had had his MR2 in a million pieces for over 6 years so Brad sized up the car with the race track in mind. This leads onto another story which I won’t go into but the car is still there if anyone is interested.
At Rotorua Peter and Donel departed leaving just 3 MR2s and a GT-Four to complete the rally. By this stage of the weekend all roads looked the same but I believe we went to Hamilton and followed tail-lights back to Auckland.
It was a hell of a drive over some pretty demanding roads and although it wasn’t a trouble free run I wouldn’t have wanted to do it in any other car.
Malcolm Cambridge
Ed’s Note: A HUGE Thanks to Malcolm for organising such a GREAT event!!!
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