On Friday we left the Glebe and Queenstown, stopping just out of town to gas up. We drove up highway 6 past the wineries we visited two days earlier, through hills and valleys, stopping for a scone about 10 am in the new section of Cromwell – just 40 miles down the road. It seems part of the original town was under the Lake Dunstan after a dam was built! The Frazer Nash was running well – always with a very throaty exhaust. We hoped for continued good running, as there were black clouds in the distance, towards Dunedin.

We continued on highway 8, took a shortcut over to highway 85 and continued through the great scenery to Ranfurly, about 75 miles further on, arriving just after noon. It was a surprising little town, with a high proportion of "Art-Deco" styled buildings, including the Ranfurly Hotel. Indeed, our arrival coincided with a 3-day "Rural Art Deco" festival, as flags on the lampposts stated. The hotel dining room was expectedly "Deco-ish", so we had a small lunch and explored several shops, including the Centennial Milk Bar. No longer serving up beverages of any type, but rather it is now the town's Art Deco museum – a great place to visit. By 1:30 we were on the last leg of the trip to Dunedin.

The distant clouds looked even darker, but we motored noisily through the countryside, stopping 30 miles from Ranfurly in Middlemarch to top up the gas. We got a few sprinkles of rain, but from Middlemarch it was less than 50 miles to Dunedin, through its large suburban, neighbor town of Mosgiel.

The pre-war Raiders write:

The Raid paused for a day in Christchurch, with a trip out to Akaroa, on the Banks Peninsula --- some very exciting motoring on dirt roads with fantastic views.

On the way back, Terry Rogers, driving John St Julian's replica Frazer Nash, left the road. He was unhurt, but passenger Tony Forster, on a day off from driving our overloaded baggage van had an overnight stay in hospital and the car was badly damaged. A further damper on the evening party at Gavin Bain's house at Governors Bay was the retirement of Hugh Pryke with a broken rear axle (oversize so not able to make use of one of the spares.)

There was most fierce sunshine for the long haul over the Southern Alps via Arthur's Pass to Hokitika and Fox Glacier. Miles of superb Nashing roads --- traffic free with fantastic scenery. Finally arrived at Queenstown for four days of relaxation --- jumping off bridges, jet boating, white-water rafting, steamer trips and exploration of local roads, including the notorious Skipper Canyon, described by Mike Bullett as 22kms of Drumhouse!!

All cars now running well, with only the occasional resort to the welding torch.

Dunedin

As standard on this trip, we were up and down the main streets of Dunedin, sometimes puzzled by the one-way traffic, until we found the Scenic Circle hotel on Princess Street. It was a good thing – the extensive, slow city driving pushed the water temperature to near 100 degrees C, the highest observed on the gauge. Luckily we found the "secret entrance" to the below-level parking garage and joined about 10 other Frazer Nashes there. We rescued our bags from the luggage room, threw them in the room and set off on foot to explore the city.

We found our way down to the "Octagon" and then to the Law Courts and stylish Railway Station – both beautiful buildings that would have looked even better on a sunny day. It was too late in the day for either the Cadbury or Speight’s brewery tour, but early enough (5 pm) to miss the dining crowds at the adjacent Alehouse restaurant, where we had great beer and dinner. We walked back to the Octagon just as an outdoor concert was finishing up - a great end to the day. 

Up early the next morning, breakfast at the hotel and off up the hill "behind" Dunedin to find Three-Mile Road and watch the hillclimb. We had only one false turn and a few miles up the road, we ran into barriers on the road, marking the upper end of the course. The workers let us through to go a little further and park on the shoulder to watch, a hundred yards or so down the road. Or was it up? We had a nice perch on a rise, with a few other workers just beyond the turn-around point. Except for the unknown insects, whose bites we didn’t discover until later! We watched the runs for an hour or so, fiddling with my SLR's tele-extender. Photos with this setup were not great. We snapped a few Frazer Nashes and the Curtis.

We were on the hill until 11:30 and had a little scare as we walked back to the car when one of the racers continued way past the finish line at full throttle – guess it was a "speed"addiction. Took a few photos and then headed back to central Dunedin. We walked to the Cadbury tour, but were again too late, so Shannon signed up for a harbor-albatross-penguin tour and I hiked down through the shopping district, to the Otago Museum – very nice – and to the far end of the city, where I left a note for Barry at the Commodore motel. We drove back to the Commodore and met Barry and arranged to meet at the Albert Arms for dinner. This was a great, old-fashion Scottish-style two-story pub. We had fine beer and rump steaks. The Frazer Nash, left parked on a main street, was unmolested and brought us noisily back to the hotel late.

Sunday was the Southern Festival of Speed street races, just a half-mile straight down Princess Street. I drove down by myself early (7:30 am) and again got through the barriers and found Barry’s "pit" sheltered in the forecourt of an electrical supply shop on Crawford Street. I put the Frazer Nash next to the store entrance, to be part of Barry's pit "display". I walked through the "pits" in the nearby streets and found the Frazer Nash "paddock" on Jervois Street, just a block away. It was an easy walk up Princess Street to pick up Shannon – after breakfast – and back down to the races.

We saw many cars on the grids and on the streets and took many photos of the racers. Barry was racing his Leitch Super Sprint and his customers also had cars entered – Charles McCabe with his Cooper-Norton and Don Nelson with a Brabham BT21R. Just after noon, we joined the Frazer Nash picnic, in a small park adjacent to the course, but the rains came.  So we went to Barry’s covered "paddock" and had lunch there. When the rain stopped and racing resumed, we walked along the course to see the actual races, but never figured out how to get to the infield bleachers – and vendors.

The races wound down about 5 pm and people and trailers were leaving, so it was time for final photos and to get Greg Hunter on his way, to drive the Frazer Nash back to Invercargill. Yes, although we were leaving New Zealand in two days, the car was staying for our next visit! But the old girl just did not want to leave – it would not start! I probably flooded it on the first try and nothing would get it going until we roped it behind Barry’s trailer for a pull-start. Even then, it took several attempts and a bit of running before the engine smoothed out and Greg drove off. My last look at the odometer showed we had gone 1200 miles since leaving Invercargill – just about right for a break-in distance.

We walked over to a nearby athletic club to watch some of the post-race awards, made our farewells to Barry, Marguerite, Brendan and Damon and then walked back to the hotel.

Summing up the Driving

The driving experience had been great - I really liked the 100 km speed limit for all New Zealand roads and seldom found the Frazer Nash "needed" to go faster.  We climbed all the hills easily, sometimes dropping down to 3rd gear, maybe once or twice to 2nd.  We made most of the descents in 3rd - and sometimes 2nd when the brakes had gone past "bedding in".  The exhaust sound was perfect - Barry got this exactly right. New Zealand drivers were good and courteous - no tail-gating that I can recall, but I tried to get on the shoulder and let any driver by who wanted to go faster than me.  The only incident of bad driving happened in Christchurch, as I stopped in a street to let an older woman across and a driver blazed by me on the left and nearly hit her.  I was surprised that pedestrians seem to be mostly ignored by drivers in the cities.

In all respects, the Frazer Nash was MORE fun to drive than I expected, even after waiting 29 years for the experience! It was comfortable, handled and steered well, had good acceleration and sounded like a sports car that really wanted to go racing!

And the work on car was great - so much done in so little time! Among other details, the retractable shoulder-belts that Barry had installed worked just as in a modern car and looked like a "factory" installation. The top, frame and side-curtains also looked "original", but probably sealed "just as well" as in 1952! Just a small amount of spray through the top edge and some outward bowing of the side-curtains.  A little more driving and development and the Frazer Nash will be better than original!

Without a car and in need to get to Christchurch, we hunted up Tony and Angela Forester, who were on the Raid in a rental car following Tony’s off-road excursion as a passenger in a borrowed Frazer Nash near Christchurch. They graciously agreed to take us up to Christchurch and the trip – even in a "modern" – was great fun. We stopped to see the Moeraki Boulders, the old historic district of Oamaru and the Oamaru Auto Collection, a nice small car museum in one of the old limestone woolen buildings.

We continued up Highway 1, through light rain, and stopped just about 30 miles from Christchurch to stay with the disabled Frazer Nash of Trevor and Marjorie Tarring, thought to be a bad magneto. The AA was called, but it was more than an hour before Angela convinced them to send a transport down and take the car to the final Christchurch destination. Finally the car was loaded on the transport and we were at the Cotswold Inn, the final Raid destination.

The Inn was picturesque – a suitable setting for all the cars that had made this final leg. I did not count them, but probably more than 20 were assembled. The evening was the finale, a banquet at Annie’s Wine Bar, near the Art Center. No driving needed, busses had been arranged. It was a great location, with much wine – purchased by the bottle – a few speeches and much singing. As during the entire trip, we both wished there had been more time to get to know all the club and Raid folks – they surely know how to have fun! All over too soon, but we had the good luck to be seating next to Bill Clarke, who offered a tour of Auto Restorations the next day.

We took more photos of the cars before they left for the shipping depot and heard a few great stories about the side trips – one Raider team drove 2400 miles during the three weeks – exactly twice as far as we did. We also heard another Frazer Nash crew went to Bluff, making it more "southern" than my car had been in Invercargill. However, it's likely the southern-most Frazer Nash currently.

Bill came by the next morning in his Ferrari 400 and took us down to Auto Restorations, where he had been a founding partner. It was an extensive facility with new construction just being laid out. Many interesting projects and great cars – their reputation for high quality is very well known.

Bill took us to central Christchurch where we visited Fazazz, Gavin Bain’s business (and Raid sponsor) which sells books, auto memorabilia and cars! The building and location are great and my time there was very enjoyable – Shannon went off shopping nearby in this downtown district and I got a complete fill of "Fazazz-ness".

The last other report:

Leaving the fleshpots and excitement of Queenstown, the Raid set off east and then south through the most impressive countryside. An early casualty was Adam Gentilli, who broke his countershaft. The Nash was dispatched to Christchurch via the AA and the occupants continued on to Dunedin by modern.

The weather was getting colder with rain showers which at least reduced the amount of dust on the minor roads. On to Dunedin by way of several gold towns.

Twelve Nashes plus the Johnson Brescia and Leslie Murray's De Dion took part in the hill climb - very much a power hill! Winner of the FN Class was James Trigwell with David Biggins second in Peter Robert's car, Frank Allocca 3rd in his Targa Floria and John Muschamp 4th in his 328. David Ellis in his first competition event ever put in a stunning time but it was brother Robert who eventually took 5th place and 1st chain drive car.

James Trigwell also won the the Nash class in the two races on the Dunedin street circuit although Robert Ellis led him for the first three laps of the second race. Annabelle Jones, Peter Cobb and Andy Johnson were well up. Very hard racing but no casualties.

On the final motoring day, the heroes including the Bennets in the PlusPower, the Giles and the Cobbs, covered 316 miles including 70 odd on gravel roads. Trevor Tarring and John Sheard ran out of sparks and Peter Cobb split his radiator, but everyone reached Christchurch for a very noisy final dinner.

Signing off now. See you all back in the UK.

It was then March 1, the Raid was over, and it would be our last complete day in New Zealand, so we continued touring Christchurch, walked back to the Cotswold – not as far as it looks on the maps – took more photos of the last remaining Frazer Nashes, and met Barry for dinner. He was in Christchurch on business, and was staying with his parents, so we joined his father and mother at a nice pub-styled restaurant on the north part of the city and had their special beers and more lamb shanks! It was a great meal and we were glad to see Barry once more, just before leaving.

The next day we had an easy trip to the airport by shuttle, Shannon loaded up on blueberry pancakes, and our connection to Auckland, then Tahiti, worked out as scheduled. By 10 pm we were in the Maeva Beach hotel for a two-day visit, but that’s the next story…

Bob Schmitt - Burbank, California (AND still crazy after all these years...)

The driver, at Three-Mile Hill, Dunedin