This collection of historic New Zealand motor racing photographs from the 1970s and '80s was sent to me by Vern Muller, and taken by his brother in-law Graeme Bennett. Its quite an extensive collection, I counted approx 400 photos altogether.
Graeme isn't/wasn't a professional photographer, simply a race fan who always had his camera handy to capture snippets of the action. The quality of the images is what you'd expect of a non-professional, with basic photographic equipment, snapping shots from within the grandstand, but regardless, these are fascinating, and include some magic cars, and epic events.
Essentially, Graeme is the guy who got Vern into motor racing, in the late 1970s, and its been costing Vern ever since. Vern took up racing in the early 1980s, firstly in a Falcon GT sedan, then an XA GS hardtop, which he later converted into an XC Cobra replica, and he's been at it ever since.
As Vern said of Graeme's collection when he sent it to me, "there's too many open wheelers for my liking". That's OK Vern, the rest of us will enjoy them! Graeme's collection contains most categories that were racing in New Zealand during the 1970s and early '80s, including Formula 5000, Formula Atlantic, big-bore saloon cars, ShellSport, B&H 500, Castrol GTX, Mini 7, Sports Cars, and various other stuff. The majority is of the first four categories I've listed above.
Anyway, with such a big collection I've had to split this over several chapters, so here is Part 1. Enjoy!
