Swank Auto Grooming

General information

The History

With all the time spent working on cars during the day at Archibald's Garage in Christchurch and the evenings spent preparing speedway cars, I was involved with a lot of people who were very passionate about Motor Racing. We all wanted to go faster but sometimes our lack of preparation let us down.

The opportunity to work with some amazing cars and drivers at such a young age was a great training ground. Cars such as the Mark II Jaguar taught me so much about the technical side of race car preparation. This era also taught me so much of the attention to detail that was required in order to be successful. I had a belief that if a company focused on absolute detailed preparation of a race car and matched this with driver talent that would be successful in winning races. This was the founding principle of International Motorsport and remains our commitment to drivers and sponsors today.

So with the encouragement of the late Formula One champion Denny Hulme, I started International Motorsport. Denny stayed actively involved with this team until his untimely death at Bathurst in 1992. I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the world's greatest drivers and top car brands; from the golden era of Motor Racing in the 60's and 70's until today, where we are currently experiencing a wonderful resurgence in Motor Racing in New Zealand. We have prepared cars and teams to race in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, South Africa and America.

Fifty years after Denny's encouragement and, thanks to passionate drivers and engineers who've believed in International Motorsport and the sponsors and public that have supported our efforts, I am extremely humbled and encouraged by the future for the team.