Take a trip across the Tasman and you’ll find the first weekend of August boldly marked in shed calendars across New Zealand, as thousands of Kiwi revheads anticipate the 2024 Prowear Chrome Horsepower Festival at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park.
For prospective entrants, the lead-up to this annual extravaganza of all things automotive is always a medley of emotions: frustration, despair, exhaustion, and, for the lucky ones, triumph, as spanners are hurled across garages and midnight oil supplies dwindle.
So, why all the effort? Silly question, really – when you have the chance to access a world-class race track and be safely irresponsible with your mates for a whole weekend, it’s a no-brainer. Just rolling through the gates and being assaulted by the sound of wild idles and big revs, along with the unmistakeable aroma of race fuel, is enough to fire up any petrol-blooded soul.
Sure, the concept of a big car show at a race track is nothing new, but what sets Chrome apart is the way it’s run. Promoter Azhar Bhamji is an automotive events legend in NZ, having spent decades pushing the envelope of what automotive entertainment can be.
In the case of Chrome, that’s a weekend of track cruising, roll racing, burnouts, powerskids, drifting, gymkhana and show ’n’ shine. Not to mention the myriad trade stands and promoters, many of which give back to worthy causes – notably Westie Food Group’s Great Grunta pie-eating contest, which gave $10 from each entry to I Am Hope, a registered charity advocating for positive change in youth mental health in New Zealand.
Run from Friday to Sunday, Chrome is neatly organised to maximise use of the track, with dedicated sessions for cruising, roll-racing and powerskids. It’s something Azhar’s Premier Events crew have down to a fine art, with the track in full use for the whole three days.
“I got a message from a guy who did 110km on the track on Saturday,” Azhar enthused. “If someone can come in and do 110km in one day with the amount of cars we’ve got here, we’re doing something right.”
The International Circuit extension at Hampton Park gets coned off at Chrome to become a separate drift circuit, and with the burnout pad in the drift pits, tyres can get melted with impunity for hours on end without interrupting the track cruising sessions.
The cruising saw a wide variety of metal out for a play. Although the track was loaded with later-model hardware, that wasn’t the extent of it. Take Josh Waldie, for example, who had his wicked ’60 Galaxie out on Friday for some track time, with his full load of passengers effortlessly carted around by its 6/71-blown, 460ci big-block.
Thanks to a tightly run schedule, these cruise sessions were periodically interrupted for roll-racing and exhibition powerskids after the hairpin, with the finals for both held on Sunday on the straight after turn one.
Of course, the rubber-melting antics didn’t end at the track. This year’s Chrome was split between the Hampton Downs track and the NAPA Auto Parts Dragway, just a couple of minutes up the motorway, where the drag racing and burnout action took place.
With the Jacanna Global Logistics Summernats Burnout Competition practice round taking place on Saturday morning, followed by a full afternoon of drag racing, the real show would go down in the hours of darkness.
With the spectator embankment full to bursting, the pits awash with energy, a suite of four-wheeled flame-throwers pad-side, and Summernats judge Matt Rowland specially flown over to adjudicate, Saturday night kicked off the biggest Kiwi burnout comp of the year. With music cranking out of the speakers, MC Hamish Gazzard screaming into the mic against whining superchargers, buzzing rotaries and raw fuel exploding through red-hot headers, the night felt more like a high-octane carnival than your typical burnout comp.
Thanks to Street Machine Summernats, both the winner and runner-up in the burnouts would be guaranteed spots in the ’Nats 37 Wildcard Shootout, so each competitor brought their A-game. There could only be two victors, though, and as the smoke cleared, Leon Kenny in TAINTED and Braden Smith in HAUNT U claimed the ’Nats 37 tickets (see more below).
With that kind of excitement to wrap the Saturday up, it was no surprise that Sunday saw the track antics step up a notch, with the finals of both the roll-racing and powerskids taking place. Not to be outdone, the cruise sessions were all go, too – we’re talking massive revs and cheeky powerskids around the less visible bits of the track.
But all good things must come to an end, and as trailers flooded the pits and the PA gradually fell silent, the roller doors of the Hampton Downs pit garages closed for the final time that weekend. In the weeks that followed, you can be sure that sheds across New Zealand played host to event debriefs over beers, trophy-gazing, spanner flinging, and dreaming. The road to Chrome 2025 had already begun.
SUMMER FLING
Thanks to Jacanna Global Logistics and Street Machine Summernats, the burnout comp at this year’s Chrome offered entrants the chance to fly the Kiwi flag on the Summernats 37 pad early next year. Both the winner and the runner-up at Chrome bagged a spot in the ’Nats 37 Last Chance Wildcard Shootout, giving them a shot at qualifying for the big dance, the Pro Burnouts.
Winner Leon Kenny hails from Masterton, which could well be the burnout capital of NZ. His VZ Commodore ute was originally owned by Aussie Matt Ellis, and Leon had it shipped across the ditch before sending it for a full once-over at Llama Engineering. It now runs a 403ci Warspeed LS package – 1100hp of dry-sumped, injected, billet 8/71-blown stonk.
Braden Smith’s VF wagon, HAUNT U, scored runner-up. Summernats 37 will be Braden’s third ’Nats campaign in his wagon, which is beloved in New Zealand for its raw power and unrelenting tyre fires, something Braden will be pushing to control with the big prize now on the line.
MR CHROME
A lifelong petrolhead, Chrome Horsepower Festival promoter Azhar Bhamji is probably best known as the man behind the legendary 4 & Rotary Nationals, but his career has progressed far beyond just the import scene, driven by a desire to unite all facets of NZ’s automotive culture.
After taking over what was the Mothers Chrome Expression Session in 2013 – then a V8-oriented event just getting by – Azhar utilised his experience and influence to grow it into the success it is now. There is now a Prowear Chrome Horsepower Festival on both the North and South Islands, featuring a vast array of imports, muscle cars, hot rods and supercars.
“Back in my day, there were a lot of guys who were V8 hard; then, as soon as Rod Harvey came along with the Datsun 1200, we saw we could all start working together,” Azhar recalls. “You’ve got to change with the times.
“All I’m doing Chrome for is to unite the scene. At the end of the day, just seeing people smile and have fun doing some of the stuff you can’t do on the street and doing it as safely as possible – that’s what I wanted to create.”
HIGHLIGHTS:
1. NZ South Islanders Che Watt and Rolly Lemin have been campaigning their cars for the past two years and travel many miles to do so. Rolly’s Mk5 Cortina sports a tunnel-rammed, dry-sumped 347 Windsor that spins to 8000rpm, backed by a built C4 and a 9in diff. Che’s 1957 Austin J2 was found in a paddock, but he’s built it into a weapon thanks to a Llama Engineering-built, 6/71-blown LS1.
2. Simon Upham’s 1964 Holden EH wagon was built entirely in his Lincoln Tyre Centre workshop, with countless hours of fabrication by Zak Edgar from Edgarfab. It’s powered by a cammed, tunnel-rammed LQ9, backed by a TR6060 and a full-floater 9in. Beneath, it runs an FDF Corvette Mantis angle kit, box-section chassis, rose-jointed three-link, adjustable Watt’s link, and splined sway-bars front and rear.
3. With fabrication help from Troy Flynn, Grant Cameron’s VL Calais now runs an LQ4 iron block with LS3 rectangle-port heads, a Texas Speed Cleetus-spec boost cam, and a GT42 turbo. Running on pump gas and 12psi boost, it’s pushing 600hp to the rears through a built 4L80. Apart from the Haltech iC-7 dash, the interior is dead-stock and looks as good as new thanks to Waikumete Car Upholsterers.
4. Nathan Thomas’s genuine S-Pack XD Falcon now runs a ProCharged 351 Clevo with forged pistons and rods, topped by 2V closed-chamber heads and a Pro Systems blow-through carby. The old BorgWarner single-rail has been swapped out for a T5, running back to the standard 25-spline rear end, which Nathan is well aware is on borrowed time!
5. Laine Christiansen has owned this XR Falcon wagon since he was 17, and has spent the past two years giving it a glow-up. It now runs a ProCharged, quad-cam Boss 290 topped by a fabricated intake from C&M Performance, good for a stout 600rwhp. Other driver-focused improvements include an RRS front end, an AOD-E overdriven trans from an F150 Lightning, and a Strange 9in with Truetrac guts and 35-spline axle.
6. Jason Curran’s freshly built HZ ute was a barn find that had sat for 21 years, but he’s since improved it a tad via a 6/71-blown, 377ci small-block with forged guts and AFR heads, built by Reece Fish and tuned by C&M Performance. That’s backed by a built Powerglide and spooled Salisbury diff with 3.08 gears. Jason’s keen to turn it loose in both the powerskids and the burnouts.
7. “His name is Oscar because he looks like he just got out of a trash can,” laughed Mark Breckon of his ’66 F100. It runs a bog-stock 352 FE big-block assisted by Holley Sniper EFI, and the three-speed column manual doesn’t stop Mark from beating up on the truck on the burnout pad. Other highlights include a Jalopy Engineering front clip, parallel four-link rear and airbag suspension.
8. Jay Singh’s street-legal VF HSV GTS has run a 9.4sec quarter thanks to a Harrop-blown, 427ci Dart LS. His brother Robbie’s VZ ute has been tubbed to fit 22- and 24in Simmons FRs, and the engine bay is in the mock-up stage with a Shaun’s Custom Alloy billet intake and Garrett GT42R turbo.
9. Chrome was Lewis Frayne’s first outing in his 2004 Toyota Tundra. Originally an Eddie Sharp racing truck driven by Craig Goess Jr, the Tundra still runs the original 827hp, 358ci Roush Yates mill but is now backed by a five-speed Tremec. “The guy I bought it off did a land-speed record in it – 270km/h one way in fifth gear!” Lewis said.
10. Known for terrorising burnout pads in their EV1L69 Camaro, Ryan and Liz Gracie opted to take their VH Commodore to Chrome. It packs a suite of trick gear including custom coil-overs with Bilstein inserts, camber-adjustable top plates and Performance Friction brakes. The dry-sumped SB2 up front feeds a Richmond Super T-10 four-speed and Truetrac-equipped BorgWarner rear end.
11. Former All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick loves his classic cars, and bought this show-quality 1974 Mazda RX-2 as a finished build around four years ago. He’s since had the turbo 13B rotary rebuilt by Scott Stinson, and swapped to a six-speed sequential ’box. “I’ve always been a V8 guy, but it’s cool to own this,” he said. “It’s light, nimble and quick on the track – really good fun!”
12. Braden Smith’s VF burnout wagon, HAUNT U, boasts a screaming, 14/71-blown, 509ci big-block good for 1325hp. The wagon was joined at Chrome by Ramo Simpson’s 6/71-blown ‘Grim Reaper’ HZ Tonner, which features chassis work by Braden. They got results, too, with Braden bagging a trip to Summernats 37 and Ramo earning an Encouragement Award in the burnouts and People’s Choice for powerskids!
13. Taking inspiration from Alex Taylor’s Hot Rod Drag Week build, John Rengelink’s ’55 Chev rocks a twin-turbo LS1, rebuilt by Joel at Arcus Performance. Behind it is a Hughes TH400 with a 3000rpm stall, and a 31-spline 9in in a mini-tubbed rear. “I wanted it to be built strong but driveable, so we’ve had it dialled back on the dyno to 630hp at the wheels and a shitload of torque,” John said.
14. Merissa, Dani and Kylie buckled up for some track laps in Chrome’s quickest bus – Scott Stinson’s turbo 20B-powered WARVAN, a 9sec, street-legal Mazda Bongo van!
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