Taranaki Jaguar Drivers Club

10/09/2024

A really good turnout last Sunday 33 members and 17 cars meet at Mangorei School in the rain. Meet and greet then we headed for a nice Country drive to the Stratford Mountain House for Lunch. The fire was going and was really warm and Toasty. We all enjoyed a yummy lunch and dessert. The weather cleared a little so we all drove up to the lookout. Some more adventorous than other took the 15 minute walk to the new swing bridge. It was very cold and foggy. But a fun day by all.

27/08/2024

A few very colourful Jaguar members at the 2024 Jaguar Rally. Come have fun with us, we are a bit wackey but a lively bunch.

19/08/2024

A few Dream cars at a lengendary car show in the uk.
https://bridlingtonecho.co.uk/classic-jaguar-cars-on-display-in-bridlington/

19/08/2024

Next month's run. Get your Jaguars all polished up and put your chains on the tyres. We are off to the Mountain House for a cruise and a luncheon get-together. Then, we will check out the new bridge before returning for some refreshments.

19/08/2024

Another good AGM at the Fitz. Congrats to all people who got reelected on to the commitee. A very good catchup sharing a lovely lunch set menu with a dessert. Looking forward to the next event.

11/08/2024

Some lovely Jaguars and many more beautiful classic cars up for Auction today at Webbs Auction Auckland. Well I Have Died and gone to Heaven. Beam me up Scotty. Look at these beautiful cars. Im in love. I love cars. Totally Amazing.

09/08/2024

Awesome night at the Rugby Taranakis first home game out with the Jag Boys. Bloody good night alot of laughs. Thanks to Wayne Mccurdy for the tickets to corporate box. Lovely buffett and the drinks just kept flowing all night and meat pies. Apparently Taranaki won which was good. Awesome good times fellas. Sorry Bruce Wallis this was a none car event. Lol

04/08/2024

New Members Welcome. If you got a Jaguar any type old or new. Come along we are a fun club which gets together once a month for a drive. Very social club out and about enjoying life. We love Jaguars but its not all about the cars its about the members having fun. Come along or Give Ozy a call on 021844125.

04/08/2024

Just a Reminder Our clubs AGM is coming up on the 18th August 11.30 am at The Fitz Bar Fitzroy. Lunch and meeting. See you all there.

02/08/2024

The XJ6 Jaguar a true classic. Such a beautiful shape with the leeper and the rich leather and woodgrain. As a little boy use to come over from Aussie to New Plymouth my uncle had one. Loved polishing it. Now i have 2 in my collection Series 1 and Series 2. Used them for mine and Kimmys wedding CARS. Ozy

01/08/2024

Upcoming Events. Casual lunch and a social get together for the Jag Club mid week lunch at 1908 New Plymouth Club on the 13th of August 11.30am. Come for a catch up.

29/07/2024

On Sunday 28 July club members set out from the Z Waiwhakakaiho Service Station for the Awakino Hotel for the annual economy run.Ten cars departed with full tanks and a mindfulness on how to get the best economy from the vehicle, or not at all if you are a Kia or a V12 or non-injected or more interested in lunch at the end!It was a great drive to Awakino with plenty to look at along the way including progress on the new Mt Messenger road development and for passengers like me - a great opportunity to see into the valley and see how much work has already gone on below the big crane.This years economy run organised by Ron Dodunski - thanks Ron for a great outing - showcased a wide variety of our club’s different models from the 70’s to 2000’s and the results showed how far fuel economy has improved!We all enjoyed a sunny lunch at the Awakino Pub before heading back to the Z Waiwhakakaiho to refuel and calculate the economy or not of each car.
Economy Run Results:Petrol Injected:Ron & Diane Dodunski - 6.41l/100kms - F TypeBoyd & Janice John - 6.65l/100kms - XEJohn & Judy Spurdle - 7.53l/100kms - XKRMike Ingram - 8.15l/100kms - S TypeBernie & Trish Hughes - 8.41l/100kms - XJ8Richard & Lynne Milne - 9.74l/100kms - F PacePaul & Pat Ekdahl - 13.11l/100kms - XJSPetrol Non-Injected:Dave & Kim Ferens - 11.76l/100kms - Daimler CDiesel:Harry & Cynth Van Beers - 8.64l/100kms - F Pace

02/07/2024

Another stunning car is the E Type Jaguar. A true peice of Art. Such a classic car beautifully designed. If you were lucky enough to buy one Brand new it was only $5325 back in the day. Now you pay up wards of $250000. Beautiful motoring. Check out the pixs by Ozy

02/07/2024

Heres a really good write up about the Jaguar XJS Beautiful car before its time. Beautiful design and nice lines with the big V12.

https://waimakclassiccars.co.nz/classic-reviews/jaguar-xjs-review-a-cult-classic-cat/

02/07/2024

Another Beautiful Day in the Naki with some of our cars under the Mountain. Visit to a Ford Shed with some old true blue Falcon Racing. Fun times by all our members. Then lunch at Tawa Glen. Some feeling the Cold cuddling up.

02/07/2024

Another Awesome outing organized by Ozy. We all met at Inglewood in the rain and gathered in the bus shelter. Around 36 Jag enthuasts visited a couple of really good cars collections in Stratford. The Gobble brothers. Toko with alot of micro cars and memobillia and Graemes shed with early Ford escorts cortinas and capris. The rain couldnt stop us. Then we all went and enjoyed lunch at Malones. Awesome job Ozy everyone enjoyed themselves. If you want to come along to one of our events let us know.

02/07/2024

Nice midweek lunch at 1908, good attendance, yummy meals and great company! Good get together mid week. Awesome views. More than welcome to come along.

13/09/2023

24/02/2023

Annual Club Gymkhana - 19 February Stratford Racecourse
Once again our club held the annual gymkhana at the Stratford Racecourse on a hot and sunny afternoon with a great turnout of members (25 plus a few extras).Bruce Gray designed slightly different courses this year but with two routes to complete for each driver - one involving a garage park and reverse - some struggled with this (cars conking out and should there have been a garage wall, it would have been demolished!)Following the competition slash fun event we all picnicked in the sun and enjoyed catching up once again.Thanks to Graeme Alldridge for gaining access to the park for our event.
Results:
Fastest all wheel drive mens: 1st - Donald Pitcher (combined time of 98.9)
2nd - Dave Ferens 101.1
Fastest all wheel drive womens: 1st - Kim Ferens (combined time of 103.6)
2nd - Robyn Pitcher 105.1
Fastest 2 wheel drive mens: 1st - John Spurdle (combined time of 105.9)
2nd - Andries Du Preez 106.5
3rd - Richard Milne 106.8
Fastest 2 wheel drive womens: 1st - Kim Fougere (combined time of 109.5)
2nd - Madi Du Preez 118.6
3rd - Judy Spurdle 119.76
Various other vehicles, members and non members competed throughout the afternoon and appeared to enjoy the experience - there’s something about this event which brings out the competitive spirit and the inner child!

20/02/2023

The much anticipated weekend away to Taupō to the Historic Jaguar GP finally eventuated after being postponed in 2022 due to covid restrictions.
The 22 of us who made up the group had a fabulous time - the Waites, McCurdy’s, Spurdle’s, Meharry’s, Fougere’s, Ekdahl’s, Chapman’s, Blackstock’s, Saywell’s, Ozy, Bruce Wallis and Ferens.
We left New Plymouth on Friday morning expecting a few roadworks and Wayne had suggested going via the Waikeria turnoff north of Otorohanga for something different. This route takes you passed the beautiful Waipapa dam and through Mangakino - a very scenic and deserted road. Wayne had indicated this route would take an extra half hour. Unfortunately nearly every car in NZ was on this road that Friday ( a slight exaggeration but it felt like every car!) and every roadwork we came to with a traffic light turned red for us so our 4- 4.5 hour trip turned into a 6.5 hour trip - honestly the worst trip I’ve ever had!
Wairakei Thermal Resort was a very welcome destination and it didn’t take long to get into relax mode. This resort is a few kms out of Taupō and a little tired round the edges but a fantastic place to stay with a large group - highly recommend it - and the thermal pool is awesome too.
On Saturday we headed off to Taupō Motorsport Park for a day at the track and it was so cool to see all the Jaguars of all vintages, shapes and sizes rolling in. The Jaguars were the marque of the event and a special area for display was set up for us all to park in even my E-Pace (or Mazda as Wayne calls it!)
It was difficult deciding what to do first as there was so much to see but first up members from other clubs who had attended our Rally came over and reacquainted themselves so it was nice the connections made at the Rally were still strong.
A definite highlight had to be the hospitality box our club had hired for the day - what a treat! Right above pit lane, right at the start finish line, with our own food and drink service, tables and chairs to sit at or drag outside for better viewing or you could switch off all together if you wanted.
Lunch time was time to fire up the Jaguar engines and do a couple of laps in the Jaguar parade. Dave and Wayne were too embarrassed to go in the E-Pace come Mazda so Judy and I look to the track and I’m sure we looked like film stars! No racing to be had but on the back straight managed to get to 120kms. I can now add track driver to my resume!
The official racing was noisy, hot and well worth watching - many different decades and vintages of car (and driver!) competed. If you want to see a short video of the action here is a link
- Link to video on Youtube: https://youtu.be/7QiQE_-AeYQ
Sunday was another track day, some attended and some choose other activities or returned home to Taranaki. The weather while warm was a bit showery. Cafes, mini golf, craft markets, Huka Falls and the like were the order of the day. Late afternoon found us in the thermal pool then out to the lovely Vines restaurant for dinner.
Thanks everyone for a fantastic weekend away.

17/10/2022

This years Spring Trial was organised by Ian Paul and began with lunch at Caffe Windsor Inglewood - very nice food and service for our group of 20.Ian certainly knows how to create a fun event and this year was no exception. Our instructions were to drive around Inglewood and take photos of various landmarks. Bonus points were on offer for photos with the landmark and Mt Taranaki - not always easy but a sunny clear day helped. Some of the landmarks are featured here as photographed by Brad Hinton and myself. Following the photographic expedition a game of mini putt concluded the day along with judging. It is fair to say some of us are not very good at mini putt! As usual Ian had a twist to this too - the higher the score the better - not that we knew this till the end!It was great to see so many members out participating and some even brought along guests to join in the fun. Thanks Ian for once again organising a fun event.Winners: Brad and Robert HintonSecond: Andries and Madi Du PreezThird: David and Kim Ferens

20/02/2022

The clubs annual gymkhana was held at Stratford Racing Club on Sunday. Picnic chairs were set up and engines revved for a great spin around the two courses. A good turn out of members participated and a warm sunny afternoon was enjoyed by all.

10/08/2021

Lunch and shed visits to Hawera

07/07/2021

We have some 14th Rally memorabilia left over if anyone would like some extras - face masks, grill badges and photo books - email [email protected] - price TBC on request.