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News 2nd
July 2012 - Dyno Room You Tube Clip Test Video clip of a 454 being put through its paces in the Dyno Room The Dyno Room has been a great addition to the workshop and is well utilized 18th
March - Wanganui Swartz Tyres Burnout Comp Yesterday
saw the Second running of a Burn out Competition at the Tartek Asphalt
Burnout Pad. 26th
February - Wanganui Street Drags Great
Day in the City Today. The Street drags were will attended by the
public. 58 cars 6 bikes and 2 Junior Dragsters were there to do runs
down the track and entertain the crowd.
25th September - Tararua Hot Rod Show  The Rivers Speed & Spares Workshop was front and centre at the Levin Hot Rod. Grant Rivers had 6 of the Hot Rods / Race Cars he has built and worked on for his customers over the years as well as the Grand Prix Hydroplane "Annihilator Race Boats". Two dragsters running Grant Rivers Engines wee on hand as well. Also in Attendance was the Dallas Rowan Junior Dragster and the Rowan/Rivers Funny Car. The Funny Car did
3 engine fire ups during the day to impress the crowd many of whom
had probably never been tha2600hp engine before. The warm ups by all
the big engine race cars were well received by the crowd. 27th April - Motueka Drags The Rowan Rivers Drag Racing Team went to Motueka in the South Island For what they hoped was a final run for the Season sadly the weather had other ideas and the Rain on both Saturday and Sunday put paid to what could have been an enjoyable Event. The Rivers Team however enjoyed the time socializing and will endeavor to return to the track next year if dates permit. The Dragster and Funny Car have had both Engines run down and put to bed for the Winter. 17th
April - Wanganui Road Rodders Street Drags
 There was a lot of concern this weekend as to what the weather would do Today for the Drags. Torrential rain on Saturday saw a number of cars stay away and not travel thinking the event would not get going. A few showers early in the morning and a very wet first round followed by one last small shower, but things soon dried up and it was only the gremlins with the Lights that held things up ironically to begin with it was the suns Glare making the staging lights hard to see that caused the first problem . Delays with the lights resetting after runs and the Light Tower itself blew over meaning a few new bulbs which were on hand. The Crowd understandably was down in previous years but grew quite quickly once things got underway. The Club decided not to run eliminations and just gave everyone as many runs as they could handle. They did line up a Torana V8 and Mazda Rotary for the battle that everyone likes to see and the Rotary managed to win after the Torana Red Lighted. A quite enjoyable day in the end and I'm sure those attending would have enjoyed it as well. Grant Rivers Gave the Dragster a couple of skids for the crowd Next week they travel to Motueka for the Easter Drag meeting. Picture Gallery Link From the Drags today. You Tube Video Page will have videos added during the week. 11th April - Masterton Motorplex Nostalgia Drags The Rowan Rivers Drag Racing Team went to Masterton on the weekend to have a fun wind down to the end of the Drag Season. The Team took the Blues Brothers Dragster but have stepped up to the Supercharge Outlaw Class. The Supercharge Outlaw Class operates on a first past the post System thus eliminating the need to Nominate a race Time. If they stayed in the C3 Modified class they could be facing a competitor half the speed and time and sitting on the tree for up to 5 seconds after your competitor has left can be a bit of a mind game and result in red lights. There were 4 Supercharge Outlaws at Masterton and the Dragster qualified Number 1 setting the fastest time and Speed of the Weekend with a 7.28et at 189mph. The Team Took the Honors of beating the Australians as well with the fastest Time and Speed which was a pleasant Bonus and a great end to the Weekend Adrian also ran his race car at masterton faced with 60 competitors Adrian made it into the Quarter Finals before he eliminated himself with a 12.90 run having set a dial in of 13.0. Dallas
Rowan Finished 3rd in the Junior Dragster which surprisingly caused
quite a few dramas with the engine needing to be remounted on the Sunday
Luckily There were some track delays and the lunch break , and some
hard work put in by Adrian meant Dallas didn't have to miss a round
of racing. 23rd March
- Meremere Drag Nationals
The Rowan Rivers Drag Racing Team went to Meremere on the Weekend for the 3rd and Final round of the NZDRA Nationals The Blues Brothers Dragster was Raced by Adrian Rivers and he got in 5 runs including an Official Record run in the C3 Modified Class for both ET of 7.273 seconds and Top Speed 185.79 blitzing the old record and backing up the unofficial time set in January. Adrian lost in Round two of the Championship to Andy Chapman when he red lighted the Start. grant rivers Ran the Funny car for the first time this season after rebuilding the Engine and having a new cam fitted. The intention was to just give the car a shake down and see how things went with a half pass in the first run. In the Second run a big Tyre Shake caused a few problems and while trying to drive out of it the car leapt in the air over one of Meremere's notorious bumps causing an over rev of the engine. Grant added a bit more power for round three but in the burnout something was amiss with a dropped cylinder so the car was shut down to avoid further damage. The runs and data from the computer were enough to be able to get the Clutch setting reset so next year should see some big improvements in the car. The Funny Car will go into storage for winter, but the Dragster will make a final appearance at Masterton Motorplex April 9th & 10th where both Adrian and Nicole will drive. 23rd
January - Wanganui Anniversary Drags
Sadly today's 25th Anniversary Drags have been Cancelled due to persistent Downpours that shows no sign of stopping. See the image and Video links below for some of the action from the Burnouts Yesterday. Picture Gallery Link From the Burnouts. You Tube Video Page have 3 Videos up. 22nd January - Wanganui Anniversary Burnouts  Dean put the Ute in the Burnout Comp, This is a 140mph car on the quarter mile and for 30 seconds it chewed through a set of good tyres and made plenty of noise. It was a good crowd turnout at Wanganui Road Rodders first ever Burnout Comp today. While it was a bit windy this helped to disperse the smoke from the burnouts quite quickly. There were 14 entries , each car got 3 runs with the best two runs counting for the score. A time limit of 1.30 was set but the big V8's didn't need that long to destroy a set of tyres. Some of the smaller Jap imports had a hard time getting to grips with the sticky track. The Street Drags are on Tomorrow hopefully the weather plays its part and a good day will be had with a full field of street legal cars competing. Picture Gallery Link From the Burnouts. You Tube Video Page have added one of Raj in the Ford Falcon. 9th January - Drag Racing Masterton  Adrian Rivers running 7.33 at 187mph an unofficial Record Time and Speed in NZ for the Class. It was a very overcast day with quite a strong chilly cross wind. The Dragster got in 3 runs today with the track in the morning proving to be too cold and not a lot of traction. after the lunch break and some more track preparation Adrian went out and did a blistering run which looked shaky at the end as the wind caught the car but it was a great time and speed with which the team are happy with. Picture Gallery Link From the Meeting. You Tube Video Page.(only one at the moment will add more during the week) 8th January - Drag Racing Masterton  Nicole and Adrian Rivers are running the dragster at Masterton Motorplex this Weekend. Yesterday things did not go well when on the first run the transmission snapped the Input Shaft and lost drive. However the Team managed to find a replacement shaft and put the transmission back together overnight. Sunday Morning looks to be overcast and should bring some good times, hopefully the Adrian and Nicole can get in two runs each if things go well. Jet Sprints  Duncan Wilson Last weekend at the Opening round of the Jet Sprint Season saw the two Rivers Speed built Superboats of Duncan Wilson and Pat Dillon finish second and third overall. Some very good lap times on a fast course in front of a big crowd were put in by all the boats. Grand Prix Hydroplanes World Champion  Warwick Lupton in the Rivers Speed & Spares Annihilator Race Boat. Late last year at Yarrawonga, Australia the 3 boat Annihilator Team competed in the World Championships. A lot of racing saw plenty of damage to all of the 9 boats entered but David Alexander in the white Annihilator 2 Boat came home 3rd and Warwick Lupton showed that finishing every race and taking good points is what it takes to Win 24th August 2010 - New Dyno Room Test  Grant Rivers mans the Controls as they take the First Engine up to speed in the newly Completed Dyno Room. The Machine combines the Old and the New very well with an Older Style Control panel hooked up to State of the Art Computer Graphics which displays a multitude of various Data and Graphs and gives all the Information needed to get the best out of the Engines.  Dean in the Control Room  Grant hooks up the Ignition plug. The Test Engine is a Holden 308. The Exhausts are hooked up to a Baffle System that meets Noise requirements by the Council making the Running very quiet. Water is supplied through a large Header Tank. Everything is running Smoothly and Grant will be putting all his Race Engines through the Dyno prior to sending on to the Customers. 9th June 2010 - Jet Sprinters Finish Strongly  Pat Dillon Finished the Championship in 2nd Place The Ford Supercharged Powered Hulk Had a slow start t the Championship Season with a Huge Crash at Round 1 but improved as the season went on. Pat took his first ever Round Win at the Final event at the Featherston Track. Grant Rivers took over the Building of the Ford this Season and the resulting Improvement was welcomed by Pat Dillon.  Duncan Wilson in Lethal Injection had perhaps a disappointing season the Current 2NZ was hoping to improve and Win the Championship but faced stiff competition. A couple of Crashes during the Season would prove costly in the Points Race and Duncan had t settle for 4th place overall. 8th June 2010 - Rotorua Targa Rally Grant and Adrian Rivers spent the weekend running around the Rotorua Roads in the Targa Rally. A very cold and slippery start on Saturday Morning saw many cars taking it easy on the roads. The Mustang was seeded to start in number three position which was way t high up the order for Grant and he caught and passed the first two cars on Stage 1. On Stage 2 the Mustang caught up to the Zero Car which had a 3 minute start and is the last of the Stage warning cars letting people know that the race cars are on the way. A bit of debate between Adrian and Grant about weather they are allowed to pass the car ensued before the Zero car pulled to the left and waved them by. Stages 3 and 4 were a repeat of 1 and 2. with a bit of drama at the end of Stage 4 for Grant with the Alternator failing and the Battery flat a push start saw them make there way back to the Rotorua Pitstop with the Car leading its Class and in the Top 5 of overall Classics. Stage 5, a long winding Stage saw a major Error on Grants part as they approached what was supposed to be a Sweeping Right corner according to the pace notes but in fact was a Right angle Intersection. Grant missed seeing and hearing the call of the Marker sign indicating the Sharp Right turn and arriving way to fast was hard on the breaks and looking for a soft place to Crash not having too many options with a few trees (one of which had the Emerson Holden Commodore Buried in it) It was through the Fence and into the Paddock for the Mustang. Very minor Damage a broken Aerial a few scrapes on the Paint. 5 minutes were lost while cutting the wire away from the Diff and they opened a nearby gate and continued on the way. Stage 6 was a repeat of the previous stage but now Grant was last in Class and 20th in the overall Classics, Grant drove the Mustang hard to set one of the faster times in the Stage and start the long hall back up the time sheets. Sunday saw Warmer Weather but a bit more Rain throughout the Day. Some Very tight and Twisty stages saw the Mustang struggle to make up time on the second placed Volkswagen Beetle, This Beetle is fully raced prepped and has well over 200HP under the Boot and was holding its own on the short Stages. To make matters worse the Intercom in the Mustang was almost unusable and Grant was not hearing the instructions from Adrian. Despite these minor setbacks the Team did eventually catch and pass the Beetle and finish 1st in their Class, They also clawed there way back up to finish 11th overall in the Classics Section and without the mishap on Stage 5 would have finished in the Top 5 of Classics. This was the first time in the Mustang has finished each and every Stage in the Rotorua Targa breaking a 4 year long Curse. 1st
June 2010 - Masterton Drags Final Race Meeting and Awards
 Ardian makes a Speech at the National Drag Racing Association Awards Ceremony as Nicole looks on while Accepting the Second Place Trophies for the C3 Modified Division. They are the most Successful Pairing to compete in the Championships. This year they competed in most of the rounds Alternating the drives at each round. They took the fight to Eventual winner Andy Chapman right to the last round.  Ardian in his Nissan and Nicole in the Mustang go Head to Head in a Grudge Match at the Final event of the Season. The Dragster was also taken to Masterton but this time Grant put on a Blower which certainly made the Car Handle differently with a great deal more Power. No pictures available at this time. Older
Archive News Page 1: 17th February 2008 - June 12th 2006 |
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