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March 10th, 2010 by NZPC
How To wash your car with one bucket of water
March 9th, 2010 by Pedey
Before jumping on a plane and heading back to Auckland last week, I met up with Wellington local and Lowrider enthusiast Mike Toseland, who took me for a roll through the city in his down and dirty 1964 Chev Impala.
Its funny just how many people appreciate a low rider, be they young guys, older ladies or road workers. Everyone was either smiling, pointing or giving us the “make the dro’s go up and down” hand signal. Thanks for the roll Mike!
March 9th, 2010 by NZPC
When RMR collaborate on a project, they only know one way
It takes a particular sort of person to find the positives in a broken back. But then, Rhys Millen is a remarkably positive guy. Especially considering the cause of his injury — a stunt gone wrong while back-flipping an off-road truck (yes, a truck) in preparation for 2007’s New Year’s Eve Red Bull Experiment — could have killed him.
While most of us would be lying in bed feeling sorry for ourselves, the ex-pat Kiwi, 2005 Formula Drift Champion, Red Bull Drifting World Champion and multiple Pikes Peak International Hill Climb champion spent his time rather more productively. Well, as productively as is possible when surfing the net while lying flat on your back. He found a new car. “I had a lot of time to kill surfing around the net and came across the car, which at the time was a concept version,” he tells NZPC from his base in America.
The car in question is a Hyundai Genesis Coupe, which for those in the know will come as some surprise. Millen’s a GM man, surely? But anyone looking at the papers will know General Motors is in no position to be handing out sponsorship deals these days, even to guys with track records as impressive as Rhys’s. “We also had a little bit of insight into GM’s instability at that time, and had the foresight to explore other options on the chance that [GM] decided to pull out on us in the future,” Rhys says. “I sent out proposals to multiple manufacturers, with the biggest push to Hyundai, whose American HQ is five miles down the road from our Rhys Millen Racing [RMR] workshop.”
March 9th, 2010 by NZPC
Name: Kurt Nelsen
Age: 21
Occupation: Engineering Apprentice
Lives: Auckland
Hi Kurt, nice ride! AE111 Levins and Truenos aren’t typically the sorts of cars that are heavily modified in New Zealand, so what’s the story behind yours?
It was cheap and different. It was either this or a Silvia, but at the time I got this, there were just too many of those Nissans running around.
Have you always been a Toyota man or is this the first one you’ve owned?
I worked at Toyota for two years as a parts b*tch, so it was just an easier option to have a Toyota and do it up. I also previously owned a little 
beast of a 1.3-litre Corolla.
March 9th, 2010 by NZPC
When a car company and a magazine come together on a project who knows how it’ll turn out. This new concept from Citroen was developed in partnership with fashion-orientated GQ magazine and has been designed to provide “the ultimate gentleman’s drive”.
In 2008 the GTbyCitroen concept car proved one of the mot popular concepts of the year. The new concept follows the same naming style and is called the GQ by Citroen. Power supposedly comes from an advanced plug-in hybrid drivetrain consisting of a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine. It’s claimed the car can accelerate from 0-100 kph in 4.5 seconds and has an electronically limited top speed of 250kph. But those performance figures may be a notch far fetched.
Groups who worked on the car included GQ editor Dylan Jones, interior stylist Patrick Grant and tailors from London’s Savile Row.
The Citroen GQ concept will be unveiled at a special event in London next week so stay tuned for an update.
March 9th, 2010 by NZPC
Sébastien Loeb has lead home a Citroën hat-trick to win the Mexican round of the World Rally Championship at the weekend (4-7 March 2010) with the six time world champion followed home by Petter Solberg in his privateer Citroën C4 WRC and Citroën Junior Team member Sébastien Ogier putting his Citroën C4 WRC on the third step of the podium, more than a minute ahead of the chasing Ford Focus pack.
Solberg set the pace on the first day of the event, which challenges the drivers and their cars not just with heat, rocks and dust, but also with stages as high as 2800 metres adding to the strain on man and machine. However, taking over the job of ‘sweeping’ the stages as first on the road allowed Loeb to take the lead after four devastatingly quick fastest stages.
Loeb may have gone into the final day with a comfortable lead and with two fellow Citroëns following in his dust, but he was now the road sweeper and he knows from previous Mexican experience that it’s an event that can bite back at the last moment.
“Even if the two stages include sections we’ve already covered over the past two days, I’m going to be the sweeper. I’ll have to find the right rhythm and that’s not really my cup of tea! I prefer pushing as hard as possible!”
At the finish of the 30-kilometre Guanajuatito stage (SS19), the six-time world champion had lost 16 seconds to the quickest drivers.
“Sébastien Ogier and Petter Solberg are going very quickly as they’re fighting for second place. As far as I’m concerned things are okay. I didn’t take any risks and I won’t really push in the last two stages.”
Seb and Daniel continued in this vein, and when they came back to Poliforum de León for the last time, the whole team gave them a hero’s welcome.
“They did a fantastic job on the second day and that’s where they consolidated this mind-boggling victory,” smiled Olivier Quesnel, the Citroën Racing Team Principal. “The C4 WRCs have dominated this rally as they set all the quickest times. They also scored the first triple by a French manufacturer in a gravel rally. I’d also like to congratulate Petter Solberg and Sébastien Ogier for their great duel in the best possible sporting tradition.”
”This victory’s done us a power of good,” Loeb confirmed before stepping up onto the podium. “We controlled our race well and I think that we can look forward to the next events with confidence, as they’ll be run on similar surfaces. Thanks to this victory we’ve taken the lead in the championship and opened up a small gap over Mikko Hirvonen. It’s a good situation even if we’ll have to sweep the road in Jordan.”
After an ‘off’ on day one, Dani Sordo rejoined in the Super Rally and did the job he’d been asked to do; namely, reach the finish and bag the points that went with seventh place in the Manufacturers’ Classification.
“I’ve put yesterday’s disappointment behind me and I’m happy to have set some good times while the other two C4s were battling for second spot. Thanks to this result Citroën has scored more points than its rival in this rally – and that’s the most important thing.”
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