Historical Sponsorship & Rebuilds

Clarke Hopkins – Holden Torana 1977 SS

 

Clark Procter – MK1 Ford Escort

 

V8  Ute Series 2015 (Previously UDC V8 Series)

2015 - The Ute’s, both Holden and Ford, are evenly matched and provide fast close racing.  The Utes all used a 6 speed T56 gearbox.  Despite being a standard box, it handled the rigors of racing well, with synchronizers and hubs being the items most needing attention.

The V8 Ute series, up until this season in 2015, when the V8 Ute series aligned themselves with their Australian cousins, The Gearbox Factory was the only approved repairer for the venerable T56 gearbox.  The same gearbox found in Holden and Ford road cars.  This enabled Gearbox Factory to amass a wealth of experience and knowledge on this model of gearbox.
 

The Gearbox Factory's Cobra Daytona

The Gearbox Factory's owner, Keith Lane, finished his Daytona project in 2010 and was out racing it successfully until his untimely death in 2020.  The heart of the replica Daytona was a 302ci inch four-bolt Ford Racing Boss block that Keith and fellow Gearbox Factory East Tamaki team member, Steve Hamilton, strokes to 347 cubes. It had ported Trick Flow heads, and a Paxton supercharger. At just 6psi boost it developed 680HP. Naturally Keith used the Daytona to showcase one of the Gearbox Factory’s Tremec TKO600 five-speed allow cased manual gearboxes, which at that time they were selling.  Chris Hogg, also part of The Gearbox Factory's team, fitted revised ratios, and a McLeod twin-plate clutch.
 

Performance Race Cars

Over 4 decades The Gearbox Factory has sponsored, serviced and supported a large range of performance race cars. From ordinary New Zealander’s just getting out on the race track, for pure enjoyment, to the die hard professional, who actually makes money racing cars, we have seen and looked after them all.

At The Gearbox Factory they have had the same performance sales staff working for nearly three decades now – Chris Hogg, Manual Sales Manager, actually about to hit his fourth decade. Also Keith Lane, owner, until his death in 2020, had built two Cobras himself, and had raced them both on the club circuit successfully. 

Here’s a further historical slideshow of a few of the other cars that the team have looked after...