EDITORIAL
Owners and fans of British and European cars and motorbikes will be out in force tomorrow, as the Outram Domain hosts the 2026 Brit and Euro Car Show.
If you were an intending entrant for this fun day out, but haven’t yet got around to registering, it’s not too late; just front up from 9.30am and register on the day for $20 per car or $10 per motorcycle. Then, from 11am to 3pm, the show will be open to the public with free entry.
While I will be missing this year’s show, I was involved in the previous one and can confirm it is great day out. This is so both for vehicle owners, and anyone else with an interest in British and European cars modern and, especially, classics.
Proceeds from the event will go to the Dunedin Fire Brigade Restoration Society, which is raising funds to build a new transport museum at the Taieri Airfield.
Looking ahead, we are now just a weekend away from the Australian Grand Prix, which marks the eagerly anticipated start of the 2026 Formula One season. Before then there is plenty of motor sport action this weekend to keep an eye on.
For those following the fortunes of Kiwi racers on the international stage, the focus will be on the United States, where the 2026 Nascar Cup continues with a round in Austin, Texas, while this this year’s Indycar championship begins in St Petersburg, Florida.
Shane van Gisbergen has made a fine start to his 2026 Nascar campaign, running strongly in the opening rounds at Daytona, Florida, and Hampton, Georgia. While he ended up tangled in a multi-car pile-up not of his own making at Daytona, the Kiwi stayed out of major trouble in Georgia last weekend, coming home sixth, which is his best-ever finish on an oval track. This weekend’s Nascar action takes place on the Circuit of the Americas road course. Van Gisbergen was unbeatable on road and street circuits in Nascar last year, and will be a hot favourite.
Now aged 45, Dixon is surely in the twilight of his amazing Indycar career. That said, he finished third in the championship last year and also picked up his 59th career win. While winning another Indycar championship might be a long shot, taking his race-winning tally to 60 or a little beyond is definitely possible, and all the better if the next win comes at the Indy 500, which Dixon has won only once, back in 2008.
2025 was Armstrong’s third and best season yet in Indycars, with an eighth-place championship finish built on a string of consistently strong results, including his second Indycar race podium. Securing either or both a first Indycar race win and a top six championship finish would represent further progress for the talented 25-year old.
Scott McLaughlin starts 2026 after a dismal 2025 season in which he failed to win a single race (having won three times in 2024) and just scraped a 10th-placed championship result. McLaughlin did at least finish 2025 with pair of third placings, and the 32-year-old will want to start 2026 strongly and reassert himself as a genuine championship contender.
Looking back at the weekend of motor racing just past, it was great to see Kiwi Matt Payne (Ford Mustang) end the opening weekend of the Australian Supercar Championship places equal first in the points. Driving the new Toyota Supra V8s, fellow New Zealanders Ryan Wood and Andre Heimgartner also enjoyed decent starts to the season, each securing top-10 finishes. Next weekend the supercars race as a support class at the Australian Grand Prix.
Closer to home, last weekend’s race meeting at Invercargill’s Teretonga circuit brought success for several Otago drivers.
Steve Ross won three of the four Noel McIntyre Drainage Club Saloon races in his Ligier JSP3 (pictured), with victory in the other race going to fellow Dunedin driver Arron Black (BMW). Mosgiel’s Len Hallett powered his Ford Falcon to two wins in the HVRA category, while Paul Coory — also from Mosgiel — did likewise in the historic single seater class driving his CAE Sprintcar.
