NZ Performance Car No 286 October 2020

NZ Performance Car magazine started back in 1996. We were one of the world’s first import performance–based magazines (outside of Japan), something we’re very proud of. Even more so that we’re still in the game, when so many others have come and gone. Not bad from a rag in little old New Zealand, yeah! There comes a time in any publication’s life when it needs to adapt to a changing world, and for us that means putting more focus into creating other forms of content, be it videos, online features, or live-stream questionnaires with your favourite drivers. Whatever it may be, all that takes time, so we’ve made the big call to shift our print edition of NZ Performance Car to a bimonthly publication, allowing the team more time to…

It’s not you, it’s me … you’ll have seen on the previous page that there are a few changes going on at NZ Performance Car headquarters. No, the magazine isn’t going anywhere—for nearly a quarter of a century it has been the foremost performance/import authority in the Southern Hemisphere, and that won’t be changing. However, times are changing and the brand needs to move with them, which is pretty damn exciting—although I won’t be around to lead that charge. This will be my last issue working on P’car, a decision I’ve made in order to focus on new opportunities. Having been on the roster for nearly five years, I’ve found it an absolute pleasure to produce the content that goes into these pages each month. It has taught me a lot…

Fresh out of his 2020 drifting campaign, former national drifting champion Darren Kelly has confirmed that he will trade in burning tyres for chasing grip to contest this year’s North Island Endurance Championship (NIEC) and South Island Endurance Championship (SIEC). Behind the wheel of the International Motorsport–prepared Aston Martin Vantage GT3, Kelly will share driving duties with Aston Martin factory driver Alex Riberas. The entry will mark Kelly’s debut in the series, flying under the The Heart of Racing (THoR) flag, which partners with the Starship Foundation to raise vital funds for New Zealand’s national children’s hospital. “This is a great opportunity to compete in GT racing, alongside Alex,” says Kelly, “[and] as someone who spent a lot of time in paediatric hospitals growing up, the purpose of The Heart of Racing…

Yeah, yeah, dial down the moaning for two seconds. ‘Hybrid’may be one of those nightmare words for anyone into modified cars and conjure up thoughts of mundane commuters. However, hybrids have come a long way since the advent of the Prius and the like. The current-gen Honda NSX uses it and is safely considered a high-performance offering with a combined output upwards of 400kW from factory. Now, Honda wants to repurpose all that technology into the latest Type R, pushing the current 200-odd-kilowatt figure upwards of 300kW and adding all-wheel drive to its arsenal. The claims are coming out of Japan via Best Car and state that this new R will debut in 2022 after the regular next-gen Honda Civic debuts next year. The current engine package will remain, linked to…

It was one of those David and Goliath battles; the organizers behind the SEMA Show were determined to forge ahead with the 2020 incarnation, and right up to the 11th hour it was looking to go ahead. That was until early August, when an unsurprising email landed in the inboxes of thousands of vendors, media, and car builders stating that SEMA Show 2020 was officially cancelled. Ultimately, it is the right call. We don’t know about you, but, to us, walking shoulder to shoulder through absolutely packed halls with tens of thousands of others in the US’s current state just didn’t seem like a good idea—not to mention all the international guests and companies affected by international travel and freight restrictions. It would have been a very different SEMA had it…

The crown for most controversial new car release in recent times is easily taken out by the Toyota Supra A90. Fans of the model line were ecstatic to hear news that there was finally a fresh variant of the much-loved sports car on the way, only to be slightly confused when they found out it would be built not by Toyota but German automaker BMW. Basically a better-looking version of the Z4, with a few suspension tweaks from Toyota, it polarized diehard fans, although it was a smart move given the viability of developing a niche sports car in the current climate. However, one thing always left us wondering: despite being offered with a stout straight-six three-litre turbo native to the Z4 platform, and lower specced four-cylinder examples available in other…