MURPHY AT THE WHEEL
Reporter John Lewis holds his nerve for a short stint with former Supercars driver Greg Murphy.
IF anyone else’s hands were at the wheel, travelling at speeds nearing 200kmh down a narrow, windy and hilly backcountry road, it would make me regret what I ate for lunch — egg sandwiches, in case you were wondering.
But with fourtime Bathurst winner Greg Murphy in control of his 2018 Chevrolet Camaro SS, there was a strange (maybe misguided) feeling of relative comfort as we rounded 55kmh bends at about 120kmh and got the front end of the car airborne over the brow of a hill at 170kmh.
These days Murphy is retired from motor racing, but there’s a sense he could do this all day with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a flat white within sipping distance.
As we flew down stage 10 of the Targa Rally, from Waihola to Taieri Mouth yesterday, he said how much he was enjoying the views and the challenge of the road — interspersed with a few muttered expletives when a corner or the brow of a hill caught him by surprise.
To put the speed we were travelling at into perspective, Google Maps says the 12.7km trip between Waihola and Taieri Mouth should take 13 minutes.
Murphy and I did it in less than 5 minutes. Do not try this in your own car, folks.
The Chevy Camaro is a highperformance vehicle in the hands of a professional driver.
It has an eightspeed automatic gearbox and a naturallyaspirated, 6.2L V8, packing 455 horsepower and 455 lbft of torque at 4400rpm, which can push the car from zero to 100kmh in about 4sec.
It is the first Camaro in New Zealand to come off the Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) production line in Australia, which converts the lefthand drive American muscle cars into righthand drive.
Murphy said his appearance at the Targa Rally was part of his work promoting the Camaro.
Now that Murphy and I are good mates, I asked if he could get me a good discount on one.
He seemed very obliging : ‘‘I don’t know about one, but if you bought multiple, I’m sure you could,’’ he said.