Ngawhini Classic Car Hillclimb

Expressions of interest sought for March 2019 Ngawhini Classic Car Hillclimb. A sizeable portion of the New Zealand classic car community will be familiar with the event in south Taranaki. This event has been staged by the Egmont Classic Car Register every second year for the past 24 years, since its revival in 1994. The Ngawhini Hill just outside Hawera first reached motor sport prominence in the mid 1950s, when it was a fixture on the Motorsport New Zealand (MSNZ) Association Gold Star and National Championship calendar. During this time, the hill has played host to homebuilt specials and modified ex– Grand Prix cars. John Apps, president of the Egmont Classic Car Register advises that work is now starting on preparations for hosting this event again in early March, 2019.

Said John, “Although this event has been well attended over many years now, we have noticed that the number of genuine classic cars entering has been declining. Our response to [declining participation] has been to get increasingly ‘ liberal’ with regard to the vehicles that we have allowed to enter. Whilst this has been successful in giving us sufficient entries to keep entry fees affordable, it has undoubtedly ‘stretched’ the definition of the word ‘classic’! … We are now wondering whether we may have made the event less attractive to some owners of genuine classic vehicles.

“This time around, we would like to take this opportunity to invite anyone who has a classic vehicle and may be interested in entering this event to contact me in the hope that we can return the event to something a bit closer to its original historic character. By making this announcement early, we hope that we may be able to boost the number of genuine classic cars taking part.”

If you would like to be added to the mailing list of potential entrants for this event, please email John at apps.jhe@gmail.com.