This is much more than a ‘make do and mend’ mentality – because New Zealand is so far from everywhere, the first option always considered is: “can we make it” rather than “can we buy it in from somewhere and wait for it to arrive”. By making it you control the outcome, by outsourcing it from overseas you can’t. In the case of Nelson Hartley – big brother to Brendon the 2015 World Endurance Champion for Porsche in LMP1-H (alongside Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard) there is prodigious output as well. Nelson runs Hartley Engines and Motorsport in Palmerston North with his father Bryan (himself a Kiwi Motorsport legend) and a very small team of employees and subcontractors or ‘offsiders’ as they call them downunder. For those of you familiar with the World’s Fastest Indian this one has more than a hint of Burt Munro to it as Nelson makes almost all of the components Kiwi race engine & SPRINT CAR TECHNOLOGY It’s difficult to write up a Kiwi Motorsport story without resorting to clichés and hyperbole about good old-fashioned Kiwi ingenuity. This one is no exception. Just as playing rugby is part of the Kiwi DNA, so too is ‘just getting on with it’ and ‘getting the job done’ in a timely fashion. By contributing writer Charles Clarke Image: Victoria Pickett
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