CRC SPEEDSHOW
The 2018 CRC Speedshow was once again held at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland’s Greenlane on 21 and 22 July. With more than 400 cars on display spread across four halls and a ‘Pit Lane’, there was plenty to look at, from the Teng Tools Grand National Hot Rod and Custom Show to the Retro-o-rama retro and vintage market, featuring lots of memorabilia and displays and a little bit of something for the ladies: the salon.
My personal favourite was the Classic Cover Insurance Movie Cars display, which showcased the cars that made the silver screen, such as the Plymouth Fury from Christine, General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard, and the Lotus Esprit that made it into James Bond’s The Spy Who Loved Me. Kitt from Knight Rider was the one that struck a chord with me, having been addicted to the TV show when it was on air in the ’80s.
Directly opposite the Movie Cars display was the luxury cars stand of Giltrap, where there were new model releases from Porsche and Bentley, to name a couple — from Porsche, the magnificent Nürburgring record-breaking Porsche 911 GT2 RS, there in all her glory, while Bentley had the new Continental GT. Adjacent to this was a Mclaren 720S — not a new release, but a fine-looking piece of machinery nevertheless.
No car show is complete (in my eyes) unless there is a Lamborghini or Ferrari involved. Fortunately, there was an Aventador S model, which also made her debut. This led to a long discussion of ‘What would you have?’.
A walk over to Pit Lane, and you could mingle with the drivers and cars that were participating in The Sound Live Action Arena. Opening the action arena was the original Stig from Top Gear, Perry Mccarthy. Adorned in the traditional black logo-free helmet, he demonstrated his skills in a Hyundai i30 N, which is not due to be released in New Zealand until October, before talking to the packed crowd about his experiences from when he was with Top Gear.
The arena also once again included the
popular Ultimate Speed Machine Challenge, which pitted various types of vehicles, such as karts, stock cars, rally cars, and track cars against one another. This included the likes of Kevin Sanderson in his Toyota Hayabusa Starlet and rally ace Sloan Cox in his hill climb Evo.
Finishing off the event on both days was the traditional jet car flame show, which is always a crowd favourite.