Another year at NZ Performance Car done and dusted!
It's been a bloody good one and i'm still blown away by how many builds are still out there and how solid the scene is. We do pretty damn well when it comes to cars, and the people behind them are just as good.
These are a few of the cars I’ve been lucky enough to snap this year, along with some of the best yarns with the owners. Getting to share people’s stories is honestly the best part of the whole gig.
Even though unlimited car content is a scroll away these days, it’s still great to see print still doing its thing, especially here in little wee NZ.
Already fizzing for the next year. Cheers to another one 🍻
I've taken over as Editor for NZ Performance Car Magazine!
What a wild journey it has been and what a start to 2024! Never in a million years did I see myself being handed the keys to one of New Zealand's biggest automotive magazine titles. A magazine that I have been following, collecting and admiring throughout my life. If you told the younger me that I would be the Editor, he would honestly have a laugh.
For those who don't know, I've been on the tools as a content creator for the past few years now. This includes managing the socials, designing pages, adverts and getting out on the field shooting feature cars, filming and writing content. A role which I have thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of.
But now I've stepped into bigger shoes, giving me the biggest responsibility of all — planning, managing and creating the wicked content to keep the magazine and brand alive and thriving! An opportunity to be truly immersed in Aotearoa's unique car scene and a chance to show the world what us Kiwi's are about.
Massive shout out to everyone who has been by my side since day one throughout this journey. You all know who you are and how much I've raved about being in this position for as long as I can remember. We got there in the end. Thank you for all your support! ❤️
My first issue as the Editor will be hitting the shelves in late Feb so let's get straight into it!
Bring on 2024.
#NZPC #nzperformancecar
AUCKLAND YOU SMASHED IT! If you came to our Cars and Cans event last Sunday, you're an absolute legend, because you've been a part of the largest singular food donation ever given to this team!
With this amount of food (which is about the weight of a Skyline R32 GTR), the Waitakere Salvation Army are going to be able to feed Kiwis in need for at least the next month.
You've all managed to help somebody out there going through a seriously tough time - both us and the Salvation Army were blown away by your support. Absolutely incredible stuff guys, thank you all for taking part.
Thank you all for behaving amazingly on the whole as well (most people), you left a great impression on the Kumeu Showgrounds team, so thanks for that - it is critical to our next event there! We look forward to repeating this event again next year, and making it a recurring part of our Auckland lineup.
There was such a wide variety of crazy cars on the day - from BTCC race cars, to US and Aussie muscle, to hectic rotaries, and all kinds of Euro and JDM beauties. We're looking forward to releasing our official photo album shortly, with HEAPS of images to come. After that, we will plug all of the other talented photographers' albums, as well as videos from the day too.
The Bowden's Show and Shine will come shortly as well, so please drop us some photos of cars you think should be finalists, just in case we missed any!
Huge thanks to Select FM who provided great music throughout the day, as well as the delicious food trucks that came out. Big thanks to the Kiwi businesses that supported our event with their stands on the day, and thank you guys for supporting them in turn.
The Salvation Army's team of volunteers put in a mammoth effort on the day, so a huge thanks goes out to them as well, for helping massively to make entry as easy as possible, and for forming an awesome parking team to direct cars! Lana, Isha, and Solene were also MVPs on the day, so huge thanks to them.
THANK YOU SO MUCH if you bought merch or stickers on the day, and we're glad you enjoyed our new shiny logo stickers - this helps us hugely to keep our events sustainable financially, so we really appreciate it.
UNDER 2 WEEKS LEFT! Next HUGE Rotationals event is only 12 days away and you don't want to miss it! Kumeu Showgrounds is going to be packed with cool cars and food donations for the Salvation Army come Sunday 1st of March.
Will Auckland beat the 1.1 tonne food gathering record set by Hamilton last year? Surely!! Tag your mates, send this over to them, and let's make this an unforgettable day!
Great food trucks, hundreds of cars, $500 of Show and Shine prizes thanks to Bowdens Own, and car themed local business stalls - you don't want to miss out on this one...
#rotationals #jdm #carmeet #auckland
HUGE car meet & food drive, open to ALL cars at Kumeu Showgrounds incoming! Don't miss out on this massive day! (For USA, JDM, Euro)
Last time over 700 cars came together, with Hamilton gathering over 1.1 TONNES of food for the Salvation Army food bank, and we want Auckland to SMASH that.
How to attend:
It's only $10 entry per CAR, and each driver/spectator attending brings an item of food to donate.
Note: We don't charge per person, only per car. Spectating is FREE, just consider bringing a food donation!
What to donate?
Canned food, dry rice, dry pasta, or any other non perishable food. Snacks/toiletries also work, and some people even bring shopping bags full of food. But every little bit counts.
The Salvation Army will be present on the day, taking all food donations directly to their food bank. You will be helping to make a serious difference in somebody's life, by enabling them to eat!
Times are tough for some of our fellow Kiwis out there, so this is a hugely effective way to help people directly. It’s ALSO a great way to show NZ that this side of the car community does good for the world.
What's on?
- Expect upwards of 700+ cars as usual, with an awesome variety of vehicles to look at
- Bowden's Own will be sponsoring the automatic entry Show and Shine with $500 worth of prizes. Finalists are chosen after the event through photos, and we host voting on our social media stories to determine the winners
- Choose from an array of awesome food trucks to eat from
- Browse a range of friendly small Kiwi business stall offerings
- Photographers and videographers always go hard at our events, and we love to share their albums after the event, so you might get some snaps if you're lucky!
Location/Timing:
Kumeu Showgrounds - a venue map will be posted to the event discussion page closer to the date.
Date: Sunday 1st March, 2026
Time: 11am to 3pm
Car Entry: $10 per CAR for this event, plus a food donation
Spectator Entry: Free, but please take part by donating too!
KUMEU SHOWGROUNDS is the new home for the next Rotationals: Cans & Cars Food Drive Car event! With the help of the incredible charity behind the Kumeu Showgrounds venue, we’ll have a great home to expand this event further in future events.
There’s tonnes of room to grow further, great entrance/exit options, solid facilities around the premise, and they know car events inside and out. We’re stoked to be able to work with them on this next food drive.
This March 1st event is going to be a breakthrough when it comes to Rotationals events, so make sure you don’t miss out on experiencing this incredible day. We’re back with our main audience in Auckland, have a great venue, and have lots of room to fill.
It’s going to be a perfect way to wrap up Summer! Spread the word, don’t miss out!
A NEW RECORD! Despite the weather, thousands of you gathered a crazy 1140kg of food for the Salvation Army, resulting in about $10,000 worth of food and support for fellow Kiwis in need this Christmas.
If you came to this event and donated, you should be proud! You've helped to do something positive for the world, and we want to thank you for getting on board with this cause.
Being the second Park Up For Hunger of 2025, this actually means that this side of the car community has now gathered over 2.2 TONNES of food for the food bank, which is just unreal.
Whether you brought a can from your pantry, or pulled a whole box or bag of food out of your boot, you've all played a crucial part in the success of these events, and you've made a difference in somebody else's life. Somewhere out there, sooner or later, a struggling family will be able to eat because of you. So thanks for that.
And not only did you do something great, but you also managed to have fun while doing it! The venue was packed with hundreds and hundreds of cars of all kinds on Sunday - from RX7s to Impalas to Ferraris - showing heaps of variety, from grassroots to top level stuff.
It was a shame about the weather, and we're sure we would have beaten the record by more if it was sunnier, but hey there's not much we can do about that eh... And regarding the gate situation, it worked much better this time! But it's still something we want to improve before the next Park Up For Hunger.
Thanks a TONNE to Downtime Entertainment once again, for collaborating closely on this event with us, and supporting us greatly.
We also want to give a HUGE thanks to our amazing volunteers for helping the day go smoothly. James, James (both), Fizzy, and the incredible Downtime team. We couldn't have done it without you!
To the Salvation Army, who really got behind this event, and brought a huge team of helpers to deal with the influx of food, thanks so much.
And a massive thank you goes out to Select FM for very generously bringing their DJ gear over to entertain the crowd again!
We've all shown that the car community does good for this world, so if you're reading this, thank you for being a part of that once
RPS13 time!
Just before the Japan trip, I ventured down to Palmy to pick up this wee 180SX. She’s fairly stock, factory manual, SR20, low ks and the perfect base to dig into.
Big cheers to @snoozinrichy for giving it a once-over before I bit the bullet 🤝
