DRIVING FORCE
Dick Bennetts belies his 70-plus years, both in looks and in the energy he exudes. Despite having been based in England for most of the past four decades, he still refers to New Zealand as home. His first trip to the UK was with his best mate, David Oxton, in 1972, Dick as mechanic. That leads to a question I’ve long wanted to ask him, because everyone in motor racing wanted to be a driver to start with.
“I was hopeless. I started with an E39A Prefect — heavily modified of course — in Otago Sports Car Club events, so when I didn’t get any results in that I graduated to a Zephyr, and after that I stopped any idea of being a racing driver.”
“…so when I didn’t get any results in
