ON THE ROAD WITH A GT40
The offer by phone call in 1990 was dead easy to accept. Geoff Manning was ringing to ask if I would like to spend some time with the only genuine Ford GT40 to have driven the roads of New Zealand. There was little time to ponder since the car was destined to return to England and new owner Ted Rollason.
My answer, of course, was positive and immediate — and what a rare and fleeting experience a few days later to be driving around Auckland streets in such a stunning and wonderful machine. It was soon to be reunited with Rollason, a doyen of the historic racing movement in Britain and who is currently on the board of the Historic Grand Prix Association. Circling the busy Panmure roundabout and heading for suburbia, there was almost no time for photography as I savoured this special moment.
We sorely needed the wide open and traffic-free spaces Auckland is famously not known for, so this foray could only be a small taste of what the car had to offer. Few of the motorists we shared the road with would appreciate the significance of the red-and-white-striped low-slung GT40. However, when we paused to take a few snaps, four young school lads were drawn to the impressive beast and were treated to an inspection of the lusty V8 in the mid-engined machine.
Geoff was a mechanical genius who came with the proper credentials to refurbish
