Rob Mahoney says Hi

[robmahoney]

Hi Everybody, I'm writing to you from Melbourne, where I have lived for the last 30 years, sporadically dreaming of and sometimes driving high performance road cars. I've enjoyed reading the Roaring Season articles and posts for a while now and thought it would be fun to join in.

I grew up spending many days with my Dad, Des Mahoney, while he tore around the back roads of Auckland and the Waikato road testing cars for reviews he then wrote for the Auckland Star, the evening paper which died out in the 1980's. Dad also took me to most of the meetings at Pukekohe from 1963 until 1973, when he left the Star and went into PR. During that time I also had the privilege of being with him when he interviewed leading local and visiting drivers for weekly page in the Star and while he researched his book, "Trio at the Top." It was great fun, I think one of the most memorable moments was when we visited Clive Hulme at Te Puke, where he gave us a spectacular demonstration of his water divining skills. Even my Dad, a typically sceptical Journo, had to admit he had no rational explanation for Mr Hulme standing stock-still while the loop of no.8 wire he was holding in front of him wrapped itself tight around his hands, as he stood over the water main.

In those days racers often drove their cars to the circuit and also used their saloons for joyriding. Some of my earliest memories involved sitting in the back of fearsome cars like Brian Innes's Zephyr, on one occasion loaned to Dad for the day, going for high speed drives through the night with the sound of the open exhaust bouncing off cuttings on the main drag to Hamilton. Dad was a pretty good driver who had tested with Ross Jensen at Ardmore on occasion, coming within 2 seconds a lap of Ross, but he never had the wherewithal or real ambition to take the the track, nor have I, until recently.

Bruce McLaren arrived at our front door a couple of times in his Jag and Mini Cooper while in NZ for the summer and he would generously take us for a ride, demonstrating his great skill without ever making you feel like you were in any danger. His father Les was also a fantastically safe driver on the road, something I have noticed in all the racing drivers I have been lucky enough to observe behind the wheel. Both men were of course, great enthusiasts and always willing to give like-minded people their time and attention.

It broke my Dad's heart when Bruce died as they had always kept in touch socially as well as maintaining a professional relationship since the early days, with Bruce supplying the Star with a regular column for the motoring page. Dad soon drifted away from the sport entirely.

Dad passed away seven years ago and I have his copy of Trio at the Top, poignantly signed by Pat McLaren, Denny Hulme and Chris Amon, amongst other memorabilia.

After experiencing all of that, I was naturally infected by the car bug, and money willing, have owned a few sensational cars over the years, currently one of only two Vegantune Evante TC160's known, which is at present being civilised by Peter Macrow, a great and humble driver/mechanic and father of leading local drivers Tim and Adam Macrow. The Evante had been very poorly maintained for most of it's life and needed someone of Peters calibre to put it right. Now for the roll cage and some time on the skid pan, followed by a few small events...