Iconic cars arrive in New Zealand

Scott Dixon’s Indy racing car that last week helped him win the Indy Racing League (IRL) season has arrived in New Zealand ready for its starring role at this year’s GT Radial Speedshow.

Also being unpacked was a unique race car, a GM1 built by New Zealand 1970s racing star Graham McRae.

The motorsport expo takes place at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland over the weekend of 20 and 21 September and Speedshow organiser Keith Sharp was on hand at Jenners Worldwide Freight as the 650hp V8 Honda-powered Indy car was unpacked from the shipping container.

“It’s just fantastic to see Scott’s car here,” enthused Sharp. “It’s the first time I’ve seen an IRL car up close and it’s a really stunning race car.”

Jenners Worldwide Freight and Honda New Zealand provided financial assistance to ship the car to New Zealand, and Jenners’ director Jeff Crawley was equally as enthusiastic as Sharp as the car was unpacked.

In its original format as a Formula 5000, McRae drove the GM1 to victory in the 1978 Australian Grand Prix. It then went to the US where it was owned by movie star Burt Reynolds and film director Hal Needham, and others, and at some point was converted to a centre-seat CanAm-style race car, which is how it remains today. It has been bought back to New Zealand by its new owner Roger Williams, who has kindly made the McRae available to go on display at the GT Radial Speedshow.

For more details visit www.speedshow.co.nz