Wheels News – September 2017
Pictured: Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Family
Across the street, but way up-market
Aston Martin finally has the home it deserves. Situated in the new nine-level, 5900-square metre Giltrap Group headquarters, Aston Martin Auckland offers the floor space to showcase up to 15 vehicles as well as a contemporary service centre, modern delivery suite and two luxurious customer lounges. The new multimillion-dollar showroom on Great North Road displays the entire Aston Martin range over two floors, along with a collection of pre-owned Aston Martin vehicles. The facility is New Zealand’s largest and most prestigious combined automotive showroom and office development, and the first building of its type to target a 5-star Greenstar Design rating.
LeMons is back at the Hamptons
Attention all Hartley and Bamber wannabes, LeMons returns to Hampton Downs Motorsport Park this month. Nigh on 30 cars (and I say this in the loosest sense) will be taking to the grid to show off their endurance and ‘theme’ skills. Branded ‘the cheapest motor sport on the planet’, 24 hours of LeMons will be out to break even more records this year. It’s serious motor racing with more than a just a little twist of fun.
40+30 = 70
As if Ferrari didn’t have enough to celebrate, this year the luxury Italian car marque lauds 30 years since the unveiling of the F40 supercar. The official presentation of the F40 took place on July 21, 1987 at the Civic Centre in Maranello (now home to the Ferrari Museum) and was created to celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary – it was also the last car to carry the founder’s ‘signature’. The F40 was a definitive car, the ultimate expression of the technology thus far developed by the Prancing Horse, but at the same time, it went back to Ferrari’s roots – when racing cars were also road vehicles. An extreme derivation of the 308 GTB and of the 288 GTO Evoluzione prototype, the Ferrari F40 was (and still is) a masterpiece of engineering and style. Thirty years of the F40 and 70 years of Ferrari… 2017 is a good year for the Cavallino Rampante.
