YOUR STORIES ARE THE BEST STORIES
It’s almost weekly now that I am reminded of just what it means to be the editor of New Zealand’s only performance car magazine. I’ll get tagged in a post by a feature car owner, international motorsport athlete, or even someone who made it into our Social Slam section — it’s a constant reminder of why I do what I do. What most of you probably don’t know is that NZPC isn’t my full-time gig — it’s something that I work on once I get home from my day job. It’s incredibly challenging juggling my personal and work time, and mostly I don’t feel as though I can give the magazine the time and attention it truly deserves.
However, I am notoriously hard on myself in terms of quality and progression, and, looking back over the last near-on three years that I’ve been the editor, it is, in my opinion, the best it has ever been in recent years — honestly, there’s so much content to choose from each issue that we struggle with what to decide on. My contributor base, which was once a loose list of names to call on each time that I needed something photographed in a certain area, is now an incredibly close-knit team, with regular columns and feature-article sections of their own. Now, it’s not just me attempting to make the magazine on my own, but there’s a very talented team behind the scenes that makes it happen each and every issue for you to read.
Weirdly, it feels as though the New Zealand car scene is flourishing yet again in a big way too. We’re getting wilder builds than we’ve ever seen before; we’re getting cleaner restomod projects; we’re getting Euro builds, Japanese builds; and we’re constantly getting submissions from the wider car community with their current projects. Although we aren’t living in the golden early 2000s era, I feel like our New Zealand car scene has matured somewhat and there’s almost more choice than ever. There’s also easier access to quality performance parts than ever, which makes our lives easier as enthusiasts. Personally, I found it incredibly easy locally sourcing HKS, GReddy, and other performance parts for my Civic Type R — seriously, what a time to be alive! Although the street and meet scene is still a big part of our car culture, legal events such as our cruise-style meets are more regular than ever, and for the first time in a very long time, we’ve got affordable, safe, and fun options to unleash our 3–500kW setups — with our willing mates along for the ride in the back seat.
As the editor, I get to see every aspect of the performance car world here in New Zealand, and it’s seriously exciting. Although I don’t get out to many car meets these days, you can be damn sure that I am getting as much seat time as possible, either driving my favourite B-roads or my local race track — because this is where I’m at as an enthusiast for now. I don’t care what segment of the car scene you’re into here in New Zealand, as long as you’re stoked about it. That goes for your car choice too — other people might not understand, but who cares? As long as you’re having fun, and you’re passionate about it. One of my greatest pleasures being the ed. is understanding why that particular feature car owner is so passionate about that particular car, then telling that story. Here’s to seeing just how the car culture will evolve in the next decade here in New Zealand — I can’t wait to tell your stories.
Feels a bit different?
You might notice this issue that the pages have a slightly different feel and that they’re a bit smoother to the touch than our usual shiny gloss. That’s because our printers don’t have supplies of our usual paper in stock and have had to print this issue on a slightly different type of paper. Enjoy the novelty that gives this issue a unique tactile experience on turning the page; it’s a one-off, and next issue we expect to be back to our usual high-gloss sheen.
Posters
We’ve had some inquiries recently about the NZPC posters we used to feature in the magazine; turns out some of you haven’t outgrown the love of plastering them on your bedroom walls! While posters aren’t in the plans for the foreseeable future we are keen to find a way to offer poster-size prints of your favourite shots in some form when we can. Until then, keep enjoying our magazine!