Ashburton Guardian | Motoring | May 10, 2019

Motoring May 10, 2019

Skoda Kodiaq Not a bad Czech

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Farming Motoring

Friday, May 10, 2019

www.guardianonline.co.nz

An absolute Classic Bernard Egan MOTORING

A

t the time of writing two days of Wheels Week Plus have finished.

And what great days they’ve been in every sense – weather and activity-wise.

By the time this is published we’ll be heading into the middle weekend of Wheels Week Plus.

And with the Street Sprints there’ll be excitement aplenty then.

On the second day of Wheels Week Plus Roger Hart and I, as we have now done on many previous occasions, went along to the Rotary Club of Ashburton Plains Classic Car Run to select cars for recognition in defined categories.

As in the past we enjoyed seeing so many great cars.

All sorts, all styles, all ages.

Some we’ve seen before and enjoyed seeing again, some we hadn’t seen

previously and enjoyed seeing for the first time.

Every one of them special.

Very special.

But what’s really special about this now iconic Wheels Week fixture is seeing the owners, who are invariably so keen on their cars, and who enjoy mingling with likeminded enthusiasts.

This year marked the 27th running of this event, and it’s really great the Rotary

Club of Ashburton Plains – who themselves celebrate their golden anniversary this weekend – have continued supporting Wheels Week in this way.

One of the defined categories on the Classic Car Run is for Japanese cars, and this year there were many fine examples of cars from that country.

Two Hondas received recognition – one is a delightful Honda Beat.

Classed as a micro-car because of its

small but very peppy 3-cylinder 660cc motor, the yellow Beat is a true classic.

It was joined by its younger and bigger cousin, a Honda S2000.

The S2000 is a great sports car, and like its little cousin a classic.

And we’re not just saying that because sub-editor Steve has one!

And while the two Hondas are quite different, they share a wonderful pedigree and are real head turners.

A very kind-hearted gentleman

Some vital vintage stats

F

ollowing the incredibly successful Vintage Car Club National South Island Easter Rally, Organising Committee (and Branch) Chairman Trevor Begg has put together some interesting statistics.

One hundred and sixty nine vehicles were driven on three rally routes – the short run being 68 miles, the medium 88 miles and the long route 130 miles.

In total the thirty eight vehicles which were driven on the short route covered 2584 miles (4159 km), 7744 miles (12,460 km) were clocked up by 88 vehicles on the medium run and 43 vehicles on the long route did a total of 5590 miles (8994 km).

The all up total distance was 15,918 miles or 25,612 of those new things.

Fuel consumption is of course hard to quantify, but if the vehicles each averaged 18 miles per gallon, the total fuel used would have been 884 gallons, or 4014 litres.

On this basis the fuel spend for the rally alone would have been in the order of $8900.

That would only be a small proportion of the money spent locally over Easter by those taking part.

So not only was the rally a great event, it also had a good economic outcome for our district.

Another quirky statistic is that 88 vehicles toured on the 88 mile medium run.

Not one vehicle needed to be towed or transported in because of mechanical breakdown.

That really is a wonderful testament to the care and attention given to the vehicles by their owners.

L

ast week, during a torrential downpour, one of our motoring writers – and it wasn’t Roger so it has to have been me – was driving home from Christchurch.

The conditions certainly were not easy and the said motoring writer – that would be me – in discussion with his navigator – that would be Marlene – decided maybe our headlights weren’t quite as good as they could be.

Just as we entered town we noticed a gentleman had braved the elements to wave us down.

Naturally we wondered what was up.

The gentleman concerned had noticed what we suspected, and took the time to tell us a headlight was not working.

This would be a kind gesture at the best of times, to take the trouble to do this in appalling conditions made it even more thoughtful.

When we recognised the gentleman we weren’t really surprised he would do this.

After all this is typical of the things Murray Early has done for many people over many years.

We’ll be among many who have appreciated his kindness.

People like Murray Early make our community so good.

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Farming Motoring

Friday, May 10, 2019

www.guardianonline.co.nz

Game over – for everyone else S everal years ago, a satirical UK car news website published a headline along the lines of “all other car companies give up following release of Volkswagen Golf R wagon”.

The joke being that there was really no point in competing with the fire-breathing hot hatch reborn as a practical wagon, because it would inevitably do everything perfectly.

Game over for everyone else, in other words.

I can’t help but think there might be several SUVmakers who could empathise with this (admittedly completely made-up) news story right now.

Because the best SUV in the country – as voted by Driven and the Automobile Association in 2017 – now has extra horsepower, a feistier character and more aggressive looks. But yes, there is still a self-charging torch in its capacious boot and an umbrella neatly secreted inside a cavity in the driver’s door.

This is the Skoda Kodiaq RS; although that hero Race Blue Metallic exterior paint and those 20-in Xtreme alloys might possibly have told you so already without having to read this far.

In effect this SUV takes Skoda’s most successful template and builds on it with the Czech brand’s iconic RS performance badging.

SUVs that adopt some of the histrionics of a hot hatch have become the new sports currency, as buyer tastes have evolved over the last decade.

Back at the conclusion of the 20th century, the idea of a twin-turbo SUV fitted with snug race seats might have seemed like an oxymoron, or at best a joke along the lines of that Golf R headline.

Not so now. In fact, you can barely move on Germany’s infamous Nurburgring circuit for manufacturers testing SUVs. Skoda is no exception; the Kodiaq RS has been spanked around the track by Sabine Schmitz, becoming the fastest seven-seater SUV to conquer the Green Hell.

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www.guardianonline.co.nz

Friday, May 10, 2019

T

he Concours of Elegance has announced the first of its show-stopping features for 2019: a world-first display of one of every Aston Martin Zagato variant ever manufactured.

From the 1960 DB4 GT Zagato, right through to the Vanquish Zagato Coupé, Volante, Speedster and Shooting Brake, visitors will be able to browse 16 examples from one of the most famous creative partnerships in automotive history.

The Aston Martin Zagato Celebratory Display is being curated by the Aston Martin Owners Club (AMOC), supported by Aston Martin Lagonda and Zagato.

The display will include a number of extremely rare, as well as several unique, models, including one of the most famous racing Aston Martins in history, DB4 GT Zagato 1 VEV. Taking their place alongside 1 VEV are one-off cars including the V12 Vanquish Roadster Zagato, DB9 Spyder Zagato Centennial and Virage Shooting Brake Zagato Centennial.

Aston Martin and Zagato first came together with the reveal of the DB4 GT Zagato at the Earl’s Court Motor Show in 1960.

Initially designed with aerodynamics and light weight in mind – to make the DB4 GT quicker on-track – nobody could have known that this car would provide the spark for one of the motoring industry’s greatest ever double-acts.

For all the icons of Aston Martin and Zagato that abound today, it’s worth noting that after the initial DB4 GT Zagato, the companies wouldn’t work together again until the V8 Vantage Zagato appeared at the Geneva Motor Show in 1986 – over 25 years later.

And then again, it wasn’t until 2002 that we saw the DB7 get the Zagato treatment, including the DB4 GT Zagato-inspired “double bubble” roofline.

Into the more modern era and we saw the next fruits of the Aston Martin Zagato partnership in 2011 – around the 50th anniversary of their first creation – with the V12 Vantage-based V12 Zagato. Then, even more recently, there was the reveal of the gorgeous Vanquish Zagato Coupé, Volante, Speedster and Shooting Brake variants.

Earlier this year, Aston Martin and Zagato revealed the next step in their partnership: the DBZ Centenary Collection, in celebration of 100 years of Zagato – two cars you can only buy as a pair. The special pair includes a Zagato-styled variant of the new DBS Superleggera and a continuation of the original DB4 GT Zagato.

Only 19 pairs are available globally.

That’s part of the enduring appeal of Aston Martin Zagato models – they aren’t just beautiful and ferocious, they’re also extremely rare.

Zagato

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