Thanks for that info Craig I'll just copy the article here and then it does'nt matter if the rotters remove their article.
Local returns with a fancy car
19 Feb 2009
By Lindsay Beer
Former Invercargill man Ross Nicol laughs when he says he is keen to better his best ever lap time at Teretonga Park when he competes at the Leitch Motorsport/Southland Times Classic SpeedFest this weekend.
Nicol, now resident in Melbourne, left Invercargill in 1974 and last raced at Teretonga in 1971. At that time he was racing a Ford Anglia. When he returns this weekend he will be at the wheel of a Ford GT40 Replica. Beating the Anglia's best times around the 2.6 kilometre circuit should not be a problem for him.
Ford GT40's won the Le Mans 24 Hour race four times from 1966 until 1969 and the New Zealand link is strong with kiwi drivers Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon winning the 1966 race with the other great New Zealand Formula 1 driver of the time, Denny Hulme second in a 1-2-3- finish for Ford.
Nicol was born and bred in the south. He attended North School, Rosedale Intermediate and then James Hargest High School before taking up an electrical apprenticeship with H Shuttleworth in Invercargill. He later spent 18 months as a maintenance sparky at the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter before moving north to Christchurch in 1974. There he got a job touring New Zealand for the next eighteen months in a band. Five more years in Christchurch followed before he moved to Melbourne in 1990. There, he became involved in his own business, hiring, selling and repairing PA, sound and lighting systems.
In 1999 in what he describes as a "midlife crisis" he got back into motorsport with a Datsun 240Z and soon after began his GT40 project, building up a replica of the famous Le Mans winning car of the mid to late 1960's. Why such an exotic car? "I have always fancied good looking sports cars," comes the reply.
A chassis and bodywork was procured and the car was built. The spaceframed GT40 replica is fitted with a Ford 302 engine and runs a ZF transaxle. The GT40 has been up and running since 2003 and now it is due to make it's first appearance at Nicol's old stomping ground.
There is lttle doubt he will beat his old lap times this weekend and also little doubt that his latest car will attract a lot more attention in the pits this weekend than the old Anglia ever did.
Nicol will compete in the Turntru Machining Sports Car races against marques such as Lotus, TVR and Jaguar.
The action begins at 10am on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend and discounted weekend tickets for the Leitch Motorsport/Southland Times Classic SpeedFest are available from Auto Centre in Tweed Street, Invercargill until Friday. Tickets purchased at the gate over the weekend cost $10 for a Saturday pass, $15 for a Sunday pass or $20 for a weekend pass.
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I know it needs a pic but you've seen a few of my car at Phillip Island already.
Ross:thumbsup: